My Easter Safari Mothers Day Weekend!

A different kind of wild weekend to the one I went on a few weeks ago.
This weekend was very random, so much so that i've named it the 'Easter Safari Mothers Day Weekend'
I know what you're thinking, Mothers Day was last weekend, Easter is next month and Safari? Allow me to explain!
Last weekend was indeed Mothers Day but thanks to work commitments and the distance between my mother and me being 250 miles I didn't get to see her so we arranged this weekend instead. Whenever I ask my mum what she wants for Mothers Day I get the same reply each year, "It's a gimmick don't waste your money". Well if I can't waste my money on my mum who can I waste it on? So I suggested doing something for a weekend as she's not close enough to just pop round for a home cooked dinner. This is where the Safari part comes in, I thought about where we could go that wasn't too expensive but where we would all enjoy ourselves. The answer? Longleat Safari Park

Longleat is less than an hour from where my mum lives but i'd never been despite me spending most of my life so close.
On Friday I packed up my car and set off for the long journey from Yorkshire to Wiltshire. The child in me bouncing up and down asking the sat nav "Am I nearly there yet?" but the grown up in me cursing myself for never visiting when I lived so close! After 4 hours I arrived at the Travelodge in Wiltshire and was able to kick off my trainers and de-stress after the hecticness of the motorway. Then all I had to do was wait for my mum, sister and littlest brother to arrive.
That evening we went out for a late Mothers Day meal in a little village pub, which was delicious, then returned to the hotel to tuck into some handmade cupcakes,

I'm really not sure whats going on with that rabbit!

I made these myself and its the first time i've ever made anything out of icing! It reminded me of polymer clay although these tasted much nicer! I have to say though that I have a newfound respect for cake makers. My ideas of beautiful iced flowers became... well you can see what they became!
The next morning we woke up bright and early and set off to Longleat, I have a lot of photos and stories to tell you but it was such an experience over 2 days that i've decided to do a couple of seperate posts about it throughout this week so please check back later in the week (or you could click to follow my blog so you don't miss it!)
Finally I just want to tell you about the Saturday evening, we went to legoland last year for 2 days and knew how shattered we were at the end of each day so we knew this would probably be just as exhausting so we decided to celebrate Easter on Saturday evening (I'm working for Easter weekend this year so I won't see the family) my other brother drove down to join us for the evening and we got a delicious takeaway (well several - subway, chinese and indian!) which we ate in our PJs tucked up in the hotel beds watching Britains Got Talent! Just when we thought we'd had enough out came the easter eggs and we suddenly found a bit of extra room in our bulging tummies!
I arrived back home today and I have to say i'm more tired than my colleagues who had to work night shifts over the weekend! I'm going to have a nice bath then settle down in bed with the laptop to browse through the other blogs taking part in Handmade Monday.
Please come back soon to find out about the safari.
Until next time
Jem
x

Mums Rule!

My mum rules, she rocks, she is simply the best!

Although today is Mothers Day that doesn't mean you can take a break for the rest of the year, oh no! When you think of all the things (little and big things) they've done throughout your lives it seems wrong to only appreciate them for one day a year.
So as today is the official day I thought i'd show you my latest creation which I have rushed to make sure I was able to show you today, its a 'Mums Rules Board'

Mums Rules Board

I used the same theme as I did with my last kitchen board as I love these colours but i've plenty more design ideas for these too.
As its Mother's Day I thought i'd add some Mothers Day rules to it, standard simple rules that most children can follow!

Mothers Day Rules

I hope all you readers who are mothers have a great day and all you readers that have mothers make sure they are spoiled rotten. Unfortunately I won't be seeing my mother today as she lives quite far away and I have to work but we have arranged a get together next weekend to celebrate which i'm really looking forward too.
As usual i'll be linking in with Handmade Monday so once you've finished here pop over and see what everyone else has been up to.
And remember, Mum knows best!

Until next time
Jem
x

A little treat for me!

Another week gone, Handmade Monday sure does make the days pass quick. Once you've finished here make sure you go over and take a look. Bath Bomb Creations are also beginning to host linky parties every Sunday and could really do with your support so please visit them too.

So what have the past few days held for me? A few night shifts (boring!) and i'm now on a weekend off (hooray!) I finally managed to meet up with the friend who ordered the Jessica photo frame a few weeks ago and she was delighted with it. Pretending to be 'ladies who lunch' we went out for a nice healthy-ish meal which I finished off with a big helping of black forest gateau, It didn't help my diet but it sure did taste good!

Onto the handmade stuff, an idea popped into my head for a little plaque, I make different designs for little boys and girls bedrooms but what about the adults? I decided to make one for mum and dads room

I'ts not turned out how I was hoping but after a bit of tweaking I think I can improve it.
Next is something I've made for myself. I made a couple of kitchen boards as Christmas presents but one design stuck in my head. I wasn't sure who to make it for so I decided to treat myself and i'm glad I did

I really love these kitchen boards, there are so many designs possible and I think the caption at the bottom really finishes them off (even if I did forget to dot the I's before taking the photos).

You can have it made with any persons name and the caption can say anything you wish. Even the design can be made to suit any personality.

That's all I have to show this week, next weekend will be Mothers Day so I hope you'll all be remembering it.
Until next time,
Jem
x

Unicorns altered!

Another week gone and it's almost March!  Where does the time go? I'm sure it was only Christmas a few days ago!

Anyway, I'd like to thank everyone who commented on last weeks post about my unicorn plaques, your feedback was fantastic and just goes to show that different people like different things. I've decided to keep both plaque ideas but taken your advice and made a few differences. The unicorns with rainbows are staying pretty much as they are,

I will have a go at writing the name in big colourful letters down the rainbow but if that doesn't look right then I shall just make the letters bolder so they stand out more. As for the plain unicorns they've had a bit of makeover.

I've added the dashed line border to them which I think really makes a difference to plaques and lots of people seem to like this. I might try a rainbow coloured dashed line with the rainbow plaques but I think just one colour looks better on these ones. I've also made the eye darker on the pink unicorn, she doesn't look as evil now as she did with pink eyes! Finally I've added some silver stars to the background. So what do you think now?

Now we can't forget that very soon it will be mothers day. I don't have any children but I love this time of year as I love spoiling my mum. I will do a more detailed post about Mothers day soon but I just wanted to show you a plaque I've made as a mothers day gift idea,

The big teddy will obviously have the pink bow but the little one can have a pink or blue bow depending on whether it's a gift from a girl or boy. I can also add the givers name underneath if requested. I have to admit I'm pretty pleased with these, I'm still working on facial expressions but I'm getting there, a slight change in bow colours and wording and it's a gift for fathers day too!

Enough from me, it's now time to go over to Wendy's Handmade Monday and see what everyone else has been up to.
Until next time,
Jem
x