Plot Progress

I have no children this morning, which is a rare treat and the sun is shining so I have been pottering on the plot. Although everyone else might, we never tire of taking photo's of the plot. We keep them in albums for each year and we look back on them as a visual diary to see how the plot looked in previous years. Here is what it looked like when we took the first half over!!!!!!! back in 2007

It was bad!!! Little Finn looks tiny up against the brambles. We have gained another plot to the left hand side since.

As I have mentioned in previous posts the weather has held everything back this year, nether the less it is probably the prettiest it has been and it is finally as we want it. I have taken loads of photo's this morning, I won't bore you with all of them, but here are a few of my favorites

Some of you might remember a post from a few weeks ago when I had a friendly little Robin who kept landing next to me whilst I was digging. The last couple of days he has been replaced by the most crazy looking Blackbird, who has been quite happy for me to take snaps of him whilst posing.

Thats it for today, thanks for stopping by.

Hayley

Finley & The Frog

As promised here is an update on the plot, ready for lots of photo's!
This year everything is slow at growing normally we are struggling to walk along the paths in June, but as you can see in some of the  photo's not this year. Finley has been very helpful with his new fork and spade and helped me put the main crop spuds in. We came across our first frog of the summer, we normally give them a little health check before we put them somewhere safe, they usually have leaches stuck to them, this one was covered, me and Finn managed to get a few off, but then got a bit worried they were going to attach to us, urghhh. So we took a quick photo of him playing dead in Finns hand and then popped him safely in the rhubarb.

Please excuse the way the boys dress on the allotment, they are not scruffy all of the time just most of it and both live in wellies!

On the plot we try and leave tree stumps and natural objects to attract wildlife the boys love looking under them to see what they can find.

 At the back of the plot we have sown grass seed this is going to be the boys area to play, we have a lovely mini bench to go between the tress and they have made some pretty ribbons to hang from the trees.

As the grass thinkens up I will be adding more things to make this area nice for the boys. Ok her are just a few general pics.

Earlies, Squashes, Sweet Peas, Strawberries and Small Fruit Bushes.

Main Crop Spuds, Purple Sprouting Broccolli, Sprouts (they are diddy and under the net)

Garlic, Onions and Leeks

Sweetcorn, Peas, Cougettes, Runner Beans, Bollotti Beans

We are finally picking a few strawberries

The Peas are in flower

As are the beans

Thanks for stopping by, the weather doesn't look great today and no work tomorrow so I feel a late crafting session coming on!

Hx

Down On The Plot

Here are a few pics from the plot today.

The purple sprouting had to come out as I needed to dig the bed over, but I felt a little sad as the flowers looked so pretty and the bees were loving it.

This cute little Robin kept landing right next to me, he was only a couple of foot away, but wouldn't stay long enough for me to get a really good shot. Those aren't my weeds by the way!

The weeds at the front aren't mine either! Looking pretty good, if I do say so myself.

Thanks for reading.

Hayley

Wellies, Worms & Wall Art

Where did the Sunshine go again today, whilst I didn't venture down to the plot in the awful weather Sam followed his Dad down in his wellies and bought me another present, for those of you who do not like snakes (or lizards without legs) look away now!

He loved this "golden one" so much he was kissing it! it took some time to talk him into to taking it back where it belonged.

With work, shopping and DIY today there was no time for crafting again, however here is a project I made a few weeks ago, which is now hanging in my newly (almost finished) hallway.

I made this again with the sale-a-bration DSP, the daisies and scallop circle die, notice a little bit of a theme of my favourite SU! products. Its finished off using the "hope & strength" and "notably ornate" stamp sets. I had to buy the Hope set as my initials are HH and I think the butterfly is gorg!

Hope you like it.

Sushine and Slow Worms!

As the sun was out today, finally! it was straight down to the plot after the school run, whilst I was trying to get runners in and do a bit of weeding Sam (my youngest) was on his normal mission to find slow worms, which he succeeded in! He either always picks the dopey half dead ones or he is the slow worm whisperer of the isle of wight. He has been making them homes and feeding them slugs and when he goes back sometimes a few days later they are still there, he really seems to charm them.

I didn't take this one today, but here is a picky of my plot taken last week. I am glad it is zoomed out it looks like there are no weeds lol.

As you can see it is still quite sparse due to the lack of Sun, so much for the islands sub tropical climate! My fingers are now crossed that we do not get a frost or the runners will be gonners!

Needless to say there was no time for crafting today, but here is a card I made a couple of days ago, it was Finley's birthday at the end of April and I made a small bundle of these for him to write thanks.

I made this one with all SU! products. "Crumb Cake' and "old Olive" cardstock some of the retired sale-a-bration DSP and the daisies 2 die. The 'thank you' stamp in old olive is from one of the old hostess sets, "because I care", which has the lovely hyrdangia  in it. I am really pleased with these little cards and I am still in love with the daisies die, which as my friend pointed out the other day they are turning into my signature as they end up on a lot of my cards.

See you soon

Hx

Hello and Welcome to my first ever blog!

Hi I am Hayley and very new to blogging! I enjoy looking at other crafters blogs for inpiration and thought I might give it ago. I love crafting and am a little obsessed with stampin up! products as you will see. I hope to post all of my crafty projects here as well news and pictures from my allotment.

This bank holiday weekend has been a bit of a washout with the rain meaning not much has happened on the plot apart from the odd bit of watering and picking. So me and the boys have been doing a little baking and I have been getting ahead with my crafting so that when the gorgeous Summer arrives I can be amongst the veggies.

Here is the first project I wanted to share:

I made this cute little cup cake card using the SU! scallop circle die for the big shot, although I use it in the cuttlebug. I simply cut it out on plain white card and cut it in half. Using the retired "Everyday Enchantment" DSP from the recent sale-a-bration and the scallop border punch I made the cup cake case. The rest of the materials are a miss match from my stash finished off with the cherry's stamped with the retired set "on a pedestal" and the happy birthday stamp from  the "happiest birthday wishes" hostess set, which I received free when I hosted a party for my Stampin Up! demo Sarah. You can view here blog here for tons of inspiration or to place an order, although her first baby is due tomorrow, so she maybe a little pre occupied for the next fews weeks. Good Luck Sarah! Anyway back to the card, I was really happy wth how it turned out, but will be making them entirely from SU! products next time as the colours are not quite as well matched as I would have liked.

These little bags are so cute, I have cut out and embossed the top note and then cut it in half width ways. I then made a template freehand for the bottom of the bag and then cut it out in the "beyond the garden" DSP. I added a little ribbon for the handle and a flower embelishment which I think are really pretty and surprisingly from poundland! Really simply, but perfect for little girls birthday's.

My last card for today is entirely SU! (well almost). the card base is "cajun craze" layered with a little bit of dark brown paper and then "more mustard" DSP. I have used "chocolate chip", the first ever ink pad I bought and still one of my favourites, with the "hopeful thoughts" stamp set and then embellished with leaves and ink splats from the "french foliage" set. I am not a lover of "cajun craze" and got it in a paper share, but actually I am really pleased with how it has come out.

And lastly for today, made with nothing at all from SU! here is the yummy gluten free banana loaf me and the boy's made. It really isn't bad!

Thats it for my first ever blog, thanks for reading ad hopefully see you back again soon.