Blog Archives

crochet or big mac?

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I’ve got my first craft fair this saturday, which is why I’ve almost completely dropped of the blogging radar, again! I’ve been so busy making stuff, I feel half dead!

My darling hubby has maybe not been as supportive as he could have been, prompting my title, here’s what the little sweet heart said:

“do you know what love all this time you’re spending, you’d be better off working in mac donalds for £7 per hour, at least you’d get a free big mac!”

now that’s love for ya aint it!

any way before I show my gallery of snaps I’ve got to say a huge thank you to the gorgeous knitexpressions, check out this amazing prize I  won:

cool huh! hop on over and check out this amazing blog, you’ll love it so much!

huge hugs

Teresa

p.s I still haven’t forgotten about those awards, coming soon. x

yay! littlepoppits is back!

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Oops I fell of the blogging radar, again! I’m guessing I might always be like a little mole popping in and out! But hey, I was pleased as punch to find two surprises waiting for me, yay! I am the lucky winner of knitxpressions amazing giveaway, and also the gorgeous Antionette over at Fashion and fun after 50 nominated me for a super sweet award, how cool is that for a welcome back to blogging!

In my defence this time I have a good excuse, we’ve been on holiday to Portugal. We had such a great time and didn’t want to come home, I’m glossing over Hollie nearly choking to death on a sweet and Josh falling on the marble floor and getting concussion, but that’s just how we roll!

Looking forward to checking out what all you gorgeous chums have been up to, so look out for a cute little mole heading your way soon!

two sunny girlies!
the kids find those famous golden gates!
my little man!
our little slice of heaven!

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magic monday

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I’m so excited to share this magic moment for my monday linky with the olivers mad house!

I did it, I’m chuffed to bits, over the moon, away with the fairies………………………….

I did my 10K in under 60 minute’s! Ok so at 59:24 only just, but that is so cool for me! On the downside I didn’t beat the hubster, he clocked in at 53 seconds, but hey you can’t win em all! So mumma poppit is still running, and even starting to shift some of my rhino butt. Yay!

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yay! peppa
the hubster!
the band playing
me

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Magic moment time!

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I’m back and checking in with The oliver’s madhouse to share another magic moment with you guys! I love this link as it always makes me see how lucky I am to have so many!

This is my Joshua’s on his First Holy Communion. We had heaps of fun with family and friends and soon forgot about how manic it was to get everything ready!

As for Josh, well just look at him angelic and smart, there’s got to be some magic going on there!

angelic and smart!

Yay its raining awards!

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It’s raining cats and dogs here at littlepoppits! and awards too! I am so chuffed and its a great opportunity to pass them on to some of my gorgeous blogging pals.

Thanks so much to ddlollybabe (check out some truly inspiring crochet and pop over there now), and lovinghomemade (gorgeous home made baking and heaps of other home made crafts.) who nominated me for the sunshine award. Yay!sunshine-award

I would love to pass this on to 10 of my gorgeous blogging pals:

Then the very lovely coop-poop nominated me for the very inspiring blogger award. Thank you coop poop! If you keep chickens or even if you don’t you should head over there and take a look. It’s chooktastic!

inspiring2

For this award I would love to nominate:

gutted I can’t say more!

So the rules are to thank those who nominated me and tell those I have nominated and share 7 random facts about myself: here goes:

  1. I am bonkers!
  2. I love my chooks (far too much!)
  3. I have three gorgeous little poppits!
  4. I love to crochet and do crafts
  5. I would love 2 Llamas! (did say I was bonkers)
  6. I love to go running
  7. I love a good cup of tea

if I’ve got any links wrong, do tell me and I’ll sort it. x

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Come on chooks enough already!

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omg! the chooks are so ruling the roost in our gaff right now!

It’s been raining bucket loads our end and the wind is blowing a gasket, as for the chooks, well lets just say they are not best pleased!

For all the noise they’ve been making I may as well have a cockeral! I tell you they can certainly blast out a good racket, they’re worse than the kids!  I reckon I’ve worked out what the fuss is all about: they want in, into our gaff I mean, I know this cos they keep pecking at the door!

Well I’m sorry chooks much as I love you it’s not happening, like never!

 

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Pretty crochet flowers

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If you ask me girl can never have too many flowers. I love to give and receive a bloom, but what I really love is to crochet some! There’s nothing cuter than a little bunch of crochet flowers displayed in a simple jam jar on your kitchen table, as part of a brooch or even to brighten up winter shrubs in your garden, and with a little practice you can easily achieve some stunning effects.

Give it a try and see if you don’t get hooked yourself, if your not already that is!

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The pattern I’ve used here is from one of my fave books: Crochet Bouquet by Suzann Thompson.

make 5 chain and join with a slip stitch to form a ring. then there is only one round:

make 3 chain and do 2 treble clusters into ring. yarn around hook, insert into ring, yarn around hook and draw through 2 loops on hook (do this twice) yarn around hook and draw through all 3 loops on hook. Repeat for a total of 5 times. Fasten off, and weave in all yarn ends.

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Vintage finds at a place near you!

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Those of us who love a bit of vintage and retro spice in our homes, probably love stores like Cath Kidston, Orla Kiely, and Laura Ashley to name but a few.

That’s cool if you’ve got the purse for it, but in this economic climate many of us haven’t, and if that’s you,  I’ve got just the job!

Grab your coat and get on down to your local charity shops, boy can you bag yourself some great finds. Then you’ve got the likes of car boot sales and thrift markets. For these my top tip is wait till closing that’s when you grab the bargins they want to get rid of and you want to pocket!

The hottest thing with this kinda vintage thrift is,  it’s unlikey anyone else will have it, you can pat yourself on the back because it was cheap and you were eco- friendly! Best yet if the kids, ( or being honest me ), break it it didn’t cost the earth!

So here are just a few of my finds, I’ve gotta be honest I need to scale down!

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♥ Gifted Crochet Bracelet ♥

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I love crochet and once you have mastered the initial steps you can whip up a lovely gift in next to no time! I found the best way to  learn was heaps and heaps of practice, so here is a little project to have a go at!

This project can be made using any yarn or beads available to you, you just need to adjust your hook and needle accordingly.(Usually your chosen yarn will specify the size of hook required, I usually find the best thing is to have a selection handy and play around until you reach the desired effect. Here I have used necklace cord and a 2.5 mm hook.)

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Once you have chosen your yarn the first thing you need to do is thread your beads. Get a length of thread and arrange in a U shape threading the ends of the U through the eye of the needle (as shown here):

Then arrange your yarn through the U:

Thread the needle through your bead:

Thread through and pull your bead down until it reaches the yarn:

Continue until all your beads are threaded. (it’s much better to have too many than not enough as you won’t be able to add more beads later):

Great, you are now ready to begin your beaded crochet. The next step here is to fasten on. Make a slip knot as illustrated here:

Insert the hook through the loop, and catch the tail with the end. Draw the yarn through the loop on the hook:

Pull the tail to tighten the slip knot around the hook:

Now we can begin to crochet:

Yarn around hook and pull through, you have just made your first chain stitch!

Continue 9 more times for a total of 10 stitches:

Now you need to slip stitch into the first chain to form a ring:

Yarn around hook and pull through, you are now left with a ring:

Yarn around hook and make 5 chain stitches. (you can adjust this number according to yarn and wrist size):

Now you can start your beaded crochet. Bring your bead right down to your work on the hook. Yarn over hook and chain stitch as normal incorporating the bead:

Continue this process until all beads are incorporated with an even spacing between them of 5 chain stitches (or your chosen amount). After your last bead work 5 chain, then a further 10 chain stitches, finishing with a slip stitch into the first chain of the 10 to form a ring to match the start:

Fasten off. (cut yarn leaving a good length for darning in, Yarn around hook and pull through.) Thread an embroidery needle to the end of your yarn and darn in neatly through several stitches, and cut thread:

Yay! one cute bracelet:

And from the back! You can either hook the ring around the bead to fasten or pull through to give a leaf effect:

Now you can gift wrap your creation. I tend to keep a whole stash of boxes, tissue paper etc. for this. Grab yourself a cute box and pop in the bracelet wrapped in tissue paper:

Customise your box by adding a cute crochet flower:

For a vintage feel wrap using some wallpaper. This one is vintage Laura Ashley. (You can find loads of stuff like this at charity shops and thrift markets.)

Wrap up and tie with a scrap of yarn and you got yourself one cute little parcel:

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