Heart Patches

I mentioned yesterday about getting my craft on, another little project I completed was adding felt patches onto a jumper.  I originally saw this on Pinterest where they had used the needle felting technique to add heart shaped patches onto the elbow of a jumper.   You can find the link to the original source here.

I loved it as soon as I saw it and seeing as I had a stash of merino wool in my craft cupboard thought I'd give it a go. 

It was surprisingly easy as it goes.

 The most difficult thing about it was lining up the elbows, I struggled a bit with this so they are a little wonky. If I had of followed the instructions properly it probably wouldn't have been so difficult, but I'm not one for following directions for craft projects.

Another little crafty project to cross off the list :)  I'm getting good at this.

Love Gem x x x x

Bag Lady

Recently I have been getting my craft on, making the most of my evenings.  When I very first started sewing, about 3 years ago now I had said that I was going to make a bag to store a folding walking stick for one of my relatives, 3 years later there was still no bag made.  Until now that is.

It's a very simple and basic drawstring bag but does the job nicely. 

So much so that I have made 2, as I later discovered another relative also owned a fold up walking stick.  Both relatives had been using elastic bands to hold the stick together when folded up and not in use, not anymore. 

They both seem very pleased with their bags and I can now cross another task of my forever growing list.

~ Gem x

Awards

Right about now I am going to hang my head in shame.  On the 22nd May yes a month ago today I was awarded the Liebster Award from the lovely Bronwyn over at Queen B Creative Me.  I am yet to blog about it.

Firstly thank you very much for my award Bronwyn I do appreciate it.  I'm just trying to get over how it has taken me this long to blog about it.  

I have been awarded this before so I'm going to be a party pooper by not answering the usually questions, plus the fact I am starting to find it really difficulty to share things with you all about me that you don't already know.  If you haven;t had this award yourself before now please feel free to add it onto your blog from me :)

I was also contacted the other day by Lexie from Pieces Of Wonderful to tell me that I had another award over at her place.  This time it was the Versatile Blogger Award.  

I have been awarded this one before also so again won't be answering the usual questions but again if you have not received this award before, you have now :)

Thank you so much ladies.

I hope you all have a lovely weekend, I must say I'm rather looking forward to it :)

Love Gem x x x x

USHER 2012

Any of you that have been following my blog for some time will know that I am a HUGE Usher fan.  I'm in love with the man and have been following him for many many years.  A few weeks ago he announced a one of show being held at the HMV Hammersmith Apollo.  I knew I had to go and thanks to my mum managed to get tickets to go.  This would be my sixth time seeing him live and it did not disappoint.

The show was about his journey. 

He talked loads about his journey, about his relationships, about his life, his music and his fans, as well as singing tracks from his whole range of albums right up to his latest that was released that same day.

All I can say is he was amazing but if I am honest I am a little bias.

I had driven there and I'm really glad I did.  We saw some great sights and they were even better on the drive home

Now all I need to do is wait until he announces his next tour hee hee exciting stuff!
Love Gem x x x x

I Won A Giveaway

Lexi over at Pieces Of Wonderful was running a beautiful giveaway, full of lots of lovely things.  I of course entered but never imagined that I would win.  Well guess what I did, I won.

It was wrapped beautifully, almost to the point that I didn't want to open it.

It had to be opened though and inside the box were all of these beauties, again nicely wrapped.

After unwrapping everything this is what I had. 

I couldn't even tell you what my favourite gift is, I love them all.  here is a closer look.

A cute china cup and saucer

A handmade broach

A pretty glass

A hand crafted photo frame.

A handmade keyring and needle case

And this gorgeous 3d card

Thank you so much Lexi, I am one lucky lady and I love my goodies. 

If you are not a follower of Lexie's blog then you are missing out, she has a great blog here and also uploads some fab photos on Instagram if you are on there, you can follow her on @lexie_b29.

Love Gem x x x x

Writtle

To finish off the week it only seemed right to have another afternoon tea.  This time we decided to stay local.  I had heard about tea rooms in Writtle but had not yet tried any of them.  We opted for Bygones opposite Writtle Green.

You walk in through the door straight into a boutique type gift shop.  The shop was lovely, I can imagine them selling some beautiful pieces at Christmas time.  At the back of the shop was a door leading to the Tea Room outside.

It wasn't at all what I had expected.  I felt as though I was sitting in a garden shed, which in theory we were. 

It was decorated well, I loved the colour choices.  They had a range of tin signs with cakes and scones on hanging on the walls which added to the theme they were running with.  They had some rustic hearts on the wall which would have worked well if they had of thought about where they had placed them all a bit more but it looked as though they had just been plonked anywhere which was a shame.

We ordered afternoon tea, it tasted good but it wasn't presented very well.  It was brought out all cramped on a tray along with someone else's order.

I loved the milk jug and thought it was a shame that the teapot was one of those metal ones you get in cheap hotels, and the sugar was in a bucket along with packets of sweetener, it just really didn't look good.  The place also lacked hugely in atmosphere.  In the corner was a tacky jukebox you would expect to see in someones dated house, as if that wasn't bad enough they were playing this awful pan pipe music that just seemed so far away from everything else they were trying to achieve.

One thing I did love was this door.  I loved the fabric behind it and the effect it gave, it worked really well.  It's just a shame that not everything else did.  There were cobwebs hanging from the ceiling and the attitude of the staff wasn't too impressive either.  I think it is safe to say that we will not be returning to this particular establishment.

There are still plenty more tea rooms to try, and I can't wait to try them all :)

Love Gem x x x x

Dedham & Flatford

On Thursday we headed out to Dedham, which is right on the Essex and Suffolk border.  I had heard about it before, but after seeing some photos taken by Lissy Lou I just knew I needed to check it out for myself and boy am I glad I did.

Once we arrived we decided to take a walk down to the riverside to take a look at the boats and the lock.  It was beautiful.  I actually felt as though I could have been on holiday elsewhere in the UK, let alone only being about half hour away from home.

The boats looked so inviting.

I would love to live in the lo0ck keepers cottage, it looks beautiful.

This reminded me of The Notebook.  It looks so romantic.

As lunchtime drew nearer we popped into the Essex Rose Tea Room which is owned by Tiptree Tea Rooms.

Wow.  It was a beautiful building with wooden beams and beautiful surroundings.  The windows were beautiful.  sadly the tea room was very busy and so i felt a little rude taking photos of people while they were eating and drinking, the website has a few pictures but if I'm honest it really doesn't do it any justice.

We ordered high tea which came with your own choice of three sandwich fillings on either white or granary bread, 2 fruit scones with jam and clotted cream and 6 cakes  between the two of us, and a pot of tea of course.  It came served on a beautiful cake stand.

In fairness the scone wasn't as nice as the one we had at Blackmoore but it all still tasted delicious.  The sandwiches were lovely and the cakes, well who doesn't love a cake :) we were unable to finish them all so they boxed them up for us to take away. 

I loved everything about this place the building, the staff the food and most importantly the atmosphere.

After lunch we took a walk down the high street, albeit a very small high street but it is a very lovely one.

Once we had wandered around we drove on to Flatford.  On the way the heavens opened but we thought as we were so close we would stop by anyway.

Another beautiful village.

The houses are gorgeous.  I could see myself living somewhere like this.

Both of these place are definitely somewhere I will be returning to once the summer finally arrives.

~ Gem x