Friday Finds

Tags

cake toppers, dragon, Etsy, friday finds, miss cake, weddings

All of a sudden we’ve got a spate of weddings, which is great. I love a wedding; there’s etiquette, stationery, dressing up, hats, dancing, champagne and cake!

In addition (or maybe because), I feel like I’m just emerging from my small child-centric world view, I’m drawing on the dim recesses of my past to add a few wedding pieces to my repertoire. Lo and behold, as I opened Etsy the other day, and there was a photo of these gorgeous cake toppers!

Love Love Me Do topper by Miss Cake on Etsy

Even if you haven’t got a wedding in the offing, this one reminds me of a recent conversation with Dragon.

Letter Cake toppers by Miss Cake on Etsy

Dragon: Matka, sing Happy To You!

Me: Happy Birthday to you, you live in a zoo! You smell like a monkey and you look like one too!

Dragon: B’ow ca’dles! Fffffff! (beat) CAAAAAKE!

By the Skin of My Teeth

Tags

Batman, dragon, Etsy, foksy, free shipping code, the universe is trying to tell me something, trafford's taste of christmas

You know those weeks where you take a deep breath and think to yourself ‘Perhaps scheduling a crochet class, a craft fair and starting a new Pilates class within seven days of returning from holiday is a tad ambitious, but I thrive on challenges, so I’ll do it!’

..and then fate steps in and reminds you that you’re being a bit cocky.

We’d only been back 30 hours or so when poor Batman found a patch of black ice while manoeuvring Dragon’s pushchair over a kerb and broke his ankle. It put rather a spanner in my precariously-balanced plan for getting through this week (but he’s very apologetic about it).

So I’m trying not to fret myself into uselessness and painting price tags, making signs and finding all the warm clothing I can muster while ferrying cups of tea and trying to reason with Dragon who has decided that only Batman can change his nappies.

In the meantime, to cheer me up, I’m offering free shipping on my Folksy and Etsy shops! Use the code FREQUENTFLIER in the Etsy shop, and you don’t need to do anything in the Folksy shop.

Font – Seriously

Tags

comic sans, dragon, folksy, fonts, house rules, Kipling, orange, seriously

This may only be funny if you’re the sort you’re the sort of person who cares about kerning, but it makes me giggle.

 

In fact, it entertains me so much that I’ve hung it in the dining room to make me smile as I vainly attempt to enforce the ‘no tummies on the table’ rule.

Click the image to be whisked off to my Folksy shop!

365 Simplicity – 227-239

Tags

365 simplicity, dragon, family

Despite all evidence to the contrary, I have not being completely idle…

 

We’ve had my dad and stepmum staying, followed a mere 48 hours later by my in-laws and in two weeks, my mum arrives (don’t worry, we’re not stacking them up in the spare room, they’ve all gone home or to Brazil in the meantime).

What with the tidying and avoiding doing stuff I don’t want to do and the getting-Dragon-to-bed-nostalgia it’s been a bit like living at home again.

However, I haven’t avoided getting rid of stuff, it just never got photographed individually. But trust me, it’s not that interesting, mainly clothes that are now so disreputable that I can’t justify saving them.

…and the good news is that I’m only about 17 days behind, which is pretty staggering.

365 Simplicity – 210-221

Tags

365 simplicity, Batman, clocks, dragon, where does the time go?

Sometimes I think that if a documentary filmmaker took a time lapse film of Misericordia Mansions, you could see the waves of stuff piling up and receding (and I have to say I’d probably watch an episode…would you?).

 

The tide is currently out, after a rather epic weekend of charity shops and a car boot sale I have acquired a vast number of frames, ready for more embroideries and on a rather lucky chance, Batman and I bought our anniversary present.

 

I love my cat clock, it was a gift from a uni flatmate and the last time she visited, she was amazed that I still had it, but after repeated leaps off mantlepieces and other high pieces, it has become un-mendable. The new clock has a very cheerful tick and, we are assured, a chime which just needs the correct size key to bring it to life.

Staggeringly, it was also far below the usual price for things that Batman and I like that we almost didn’t buy it because it seemed impossible. Luckily, we did and it’s lovely.

 

It sparked a clock-related purge and with the additional upheaval of the dismantling of Dragon’s cot (I know, I find it a bit hard to believe too), we’re living in a rather new-feeling house.

Lovely Friends (365 Simplicity – 208)

Tags

bunnies!, childhood memories, dragon, Edward Gorey, gifts from friends, penelope and pip

I have great friends…

The Helvetica sampler which turned up here was given to two friends who returned the favour and gave me a lovely poster which they designed for my birthday.

It’s been sat on the sideboard since May, and we’ve finally got it put up.

I put it in Dragon’s room because when I lie on his bed trying to get him to sleep I can read it. For some reason, looking at the dinosaur alphabet really makes me grumpy (although I love the bunnies).

Vernon the Whale and The Forest Protector are by Penelope and Pip and the large poster is, of course The Gashleycrumb Tinies by Edward Gorey who is absolutely my favourite illustrator of all time. There was a poster of his on our landing and a fair few books of his about the house which I read frequently as a child and I think they were very influential on my artistic style (for better or worse).

365 Simplicity – 156

Tags

365 simplicity, dragon, photo album overreaction

Just found this under the spare bed…

I’m really bad with photo albums, they make go all grumpy (and I have no idea why, when a sketchbook will me go wibbly).

I think I don’t like the fact that they tend to all be portrait or landscape and I get all bristly and offended that they’re cramping my style. Or I’m just lazy..

365 Simplicity – 135-145

Tags

365 simplicity, blog posts, dragon

I’ve kept almost every letter I’ve received (the proper handwritten ones), but I don’t seem to have the same sentimentality about cards.

That may be a bit of a lie, I kept all the engagement cards we got and stuck them into an album (but not wedding cards…I’m very inconsistent). I’ve been holding on to all of the cards we got when Dragon was born, but apart from a few that had useful information or more than five words of text, they’ve gone.

Entertainingly, Dragon had a wee scribble on a few of them before they left…

365 Simplicity – 51

Tags

365 simplicity, childlocks just slow the parents down, dragon

This post seems to not have been published…so here it is, a bit belatedly!

I’ve got another few like this that I haven’t got photos of yet…

It’s more representative than actual in some ways. We’ve started removing some of the child-proofing measures around the house. It’s not that Dragon is in any way more likely to stay out of stuff he shouldn’t be in, it’s just that he’s watched us circumvent the locks enough to learn how to do it himself.

365 Simplicity – 84 Giveaway!

Tags

365 simplicity, dragon, handwash only, malabrigo yarn, sacrifices of parenthood

I think it’s about time that you lot had a chance to benefit from all the clearing out that’s happening around here.

I found these when I was going through my scarf collection. They’re a hand-knit Malabrigo scarflette and fingerless glove set and they’re stunningly warm and very soft. I received them in a swap a couple of years ago and wore them while studying for my matwork certificate. Alas, they are not quite so practical when wrangling a Dragon and so I want to give them to someone who can luxuriate in them before they get ruined.

So you have a week (until Monday 26th March) to leave a comment, and then I’ll randomly select a winner (only if they promise to handwash them)!