Good enough to eat.

I've gone cross stitching mad recently and have been tasked with making a few things for our home and for others. I'm currently designing something for my Sister, making a wedding present for some newlyweds and I just finished stitching a cupcake for a birthday card.

I'm really pleased with how it turned out especially as it's a little bit different to my usual choice of pattern (it's by Cross Stitcher magazine by the way). I didn't have the exact colours to hand so I'm happy that the alternatives I picked worked well.

I don't know about you but now I'm hungry!

You have read this article crafts with the title . You can bookmark this page URL http://oscarthemaori.blogspot.com/2012/06/good-enough-to-eat.html. Thanks!

A "super" wedding.

Yesterday Jonathan and I attended the wedding of Steph and Sam, Steph being somebody who works for Jonathan. We had been looking forward to the wedding and knew it would be good fun, judging by the comic book style invitation which promised Mexican food and a barn dance!

The ceremony was held at Sheffield Botanical Gardens and after a rather dark and drizzly morning miraculously the sun made a glorious appearance for the whole of the ceremony which we were all thankful for as it was all based outside with just a little bit of cover for the bride and groom.

The grooms Sister sang "Stand by Me" as the bride made her way around the gardens with 2 bridesmaids and her 2 dogs in tow. As one of my favourite songs of all time it almost brought a tear to my eye but I managed to keep composed! (as a side note, later on she sang "we're going to be friends" which I hadn't heard before but I LOVE it. Youtube it!)

The bride looked beautiful and it was such a unique ceremony in the sunshine and beautiful setting.

As huge comic book and superhero geeks fans the reception was full of amazing comic related things to keep us all amused, from the table centre pieces and tableplan to the holders for the pic n mix. Each table had different theme and ours was the Batman table complete with a batman comic and other bits and bobs.

I must also mention the wedding cake at this point which was brilliant!

We were seated near to the pick n mix table which was probably a huge mistake. I ate so many Love Heart sweets I think I was close to a sugar overdose.

Food came in the form of a Mexican buffet and they even made me a special vegetarian enchilada so I was very pleased. Everything tasted great, and was washed down with a huge slab of chocolate cake (plus more pick n mix...).

We were seated with the other people from Jonathan's department at work so it was nice to be seated with people that we knew. 

Once everyone was suitably stuffed and the speeches had been made out came the band and the barn dancing teacher who proceeded to teach some willing volunteers how to barn dance their way round the dancing area. It looked like a lot of fun but we were happy to watch from the comfort of our table. My excuse: I had heels on! Obviously not suitable barn dancing attire. That's my excuse and I'm sticking with it :)

After a couple of drinks and a chat with the newlyweds we said our goodbyes and headed home to Rotherham. What a great wedding!

You have read this article diary with the title . You can bookmark this page URL http://oscarthemaori.blogspot.com/2012/06/a-wedding.html. Thanks!

Jubilee party & a workshop at The Button Tin, Rotherham.

Last Saturday my friend Katy and I booked ourselves onto a workshop at The Button Tin in Rotherham (which I mentioned in this post). The Button Tin is located inside the Imperial Buildings in the centre of Rotherham which is really quite a fascinating place. It is most definitely worth a look if you're passing. My friend and I dream of opening our own shop (a bead & supplies shop to be precise) in one of the empty units but we would require a lotto win of some sort first.

To join in with the jubilee celebrations the Imperial Buildings housed a party full of live music, bunting, cakes, poetry, cups of tea, a vintage style hairdresser, and workshops to take part in. 

Katy and I opted to do the half day workshop where we spent a good few hours picking out materials and making bunting. It was such a lot of fun although I'm so bad at picking colour schemes and fabrics. That was most definitely the hardest part, but once I got going I was fine. It was great to take in the atmosphere and the music whilst cutting, ripping and pinning fabric together.

We were stationed on tables outside The Button Tin workshop but there were ladies inside on the full day workshop. After a peek inside to have a nosy and marvel at all the wonderful things Gemma keeps in her workshop we could see they were making the most beautiful fabric pieces with freehand sewing machine writing, buttons, embellishments and all sorts.

We will definitely be signing up for another workshop once some new dates are published. I haven't used a sewing machine since I did my Textiles A-level so I will no doubt need to brush up my skills (I am flabbergasted at just realising that my A-levels were nearly 10 years ago! *sob*). I'm toying with the idea of buying a mini sewing machine from John Lewis but I'm not sure whether I'd have the confidence to make things at home.

Lots of people turned up to the jubilee celebrations and so many people were dressed in vintage clothes, really getting into the spirit of things. The vintage style hairdresser was busy transforming modern hairstyles into victory rolls and I was very tempted myself but unfortunately we didn't get chance.

There are a handful shops within the Imperial Buildings so once we were all bunting-ed out for the day we had a browse round and I picked up the most pretty vintage plates. I thought they would perfectly house a piece of cake but since I got them home I've been too scared to use them as they're so delicate.

Have you done any Button Tin workshops? If not, have you got any plans to? You should!

You have read this article adventures / crafts / diary with the title . You can bookmark this page URL http://oscarthemaori.blogspot.com/2012/06/jubilee-party-workshop-at-button-tin.html. Thanks!

DIY: hen party bags.

For my Sister's hen do my Mum and I wanted to put together party bags for all of the "hens" to say thank you for flying out to Vegas for the wedding and for the rest of the celebrations. My Mum, Sister and I put our thinking caps on and started to source items that we could use to populate the gift bags.

My Mum found the bags themselves online and had some personalised just for the occasion. We were really pleased with them and couldn't wait to get started filling them up!

We wanted a good mix of useful products and silly things too. We thought it would be nice to include products and items that could be used throughout the evening, along with a few things that would come in handy for the rest of the trip.

Here's what we included:

* pocket tissues
* traditional sugared almonds in a pretty organza bag
* a handbag sized hairspray
* a handbag sized deodorant
* Love Heart sweets
* A willy straw (I had to persuade my Sister to let me include one tacky thing :))
* A rosette for each hen to wear that evening
* A bag of Mini Cheddars incase anyone got the munchies
* Headache & Upset Stomach Relief for the following morning
* Tic Tacs to keep the alcohol breath away
* a nail file
* some Kiehl's skincare samples
* a personalised necklace

I must say a big thank you to Kiehl's who supplied my Sister very generously with lots of samples for each hen. It was really nice of them to do this and of the products I've tried so far I've been impressed. Thank you so much!

The bags went down so well with the hens who loved the items we had picked for them and proudly displayed their necklaces and rosettes for the evenings activities that lay ahead.

I'd like to say a big thank you to all of the hens for making my Sister's hen night so special and so much fun!

You have read this article DIY with the title . You can bookmark this page URL http://oscarthemaori.blogspot.com/2012/06/diy-hen-party-bags.html. Thanks!

Life lately (through Instagram) #4

I feel a tad 'meh' today so in an attempt to cheer myself up I thought a blog catch up and a slice of about half a carrot cake would cheer me up (it did apart from I feel a bit sick now... quelle surprise).

Life lately has consisted of:

becoming a vegetarian, taking photos of Lily and Lola, trying to be more healthy (with the exception of the carrot cake of course), dreaming of a new kitchen and being torn between a smart, classic wooden/white combo or a kitsch polka dot dream...

buying new artwork for our home, sleeping, taking Lily and Lola out in the sunshine (and having to carry Lily most of the way once she gets too tired)...

cross stitching, reading craft magazines, burning candles, browsing Pug related tranklements, Lily playing with a ball for the first time since I adopted her all those years ago...

eating ginormous pizzas (pre-vegetarian) and sunny days out with friends.

You have read this article diary / instagram photos / lily and lola with the title . You can bookmark this page URL http://oscarthemaori.blogspot.com/2012/06/life-lately-through-instagram-4.html. Thanks!