Five little ducks went swimming one day...

An open day and charity fundraising event took place today at Mini Magpie's Nursery. Lots of activities to do and things to buy. All in aid of a fabulous cause, all monies go to "Great Ormond Street Hospital".

This was the one activity I could not drag Mini Magpie away from...brings back good memories. It was my favourite game as a child too. Seem to remember winning goldfish though swimming around in clear plastic bags, thank goodness that's not the case anymore, (sorry fish, I fear for your lives with "The KitKats" around) MM's prize was a shiny gold plastic medal and after all that hooking, she didn't want to wear.


All seemed to be going well so touch wood, the nursery has raised fair old amount for a very worthy cause today.

xx


P.S Miss Mischief's winning medal. Miffy rabbit had to wear it. xx

Be Hold! Treasures (part 1)

Discovering forgotten treasures has been something I've found myself doing a lot of  recently. Charity shops just seem to draw me in. What can I say! I'm just so nosey, can't resist a peek inside to see what I can find. 
To see what people think they have no use for any more. Well, what is it they say?  "One mans loss is another mans gain"


Here are a few I'd like to share:

Wit-woo! Fab additions to my growing chintzy china collection. 5 gorgeous soup bowls. I could curse Ikea for persuading the ladies in my family to dispose of all things as beautiful as these lovelies.

And this beautifully illustrated children's book by Mabel Lucie Attwell. I fell in love with these chubby little cherubs. I knew of the British illustrator Lucie Attwell but never before come across any of her books. Simply wonderful and all based on her daughter Peggy, so cute!.  Kinda reminded me of how Mini Magpie is right now, all cute and squidgy. It has that really old but sweet smelling paper smell about it too. Couldn't resist!!

Love this! They have built a "Bird Scarer Man" to help protect daddy's plants.

My favourite type of books growing up were the ones that rhymed and this one is doesn't disappoint. It had to come home with me.

And in amongst some papers on the book shelf, another Lucie Attwell made an appearance. This little bathing beauty titled " I like it here!" well,I'm glad you do as I like you here too, at my house. 

xx

"When everything has gone...

...only love remains"

Just touching base after a very hard couple of weeks but I think the title of my post contains everything I can express at this moment in time. 


Our family lost a very special lady in our lives at the beginning of this month. Such a beautiful person and we all adored her. A mother, Grandmother, Great Grandma and most of all a very good friend. When I sit here and think about it, I sit here with a huge, warming smile on my face, remembering all the fun times we shared as I grew up (I was very close to my gran) and that makes me think what a very lucky girl I am to have been blessed to know someone as wonderful as you, Grandma. I will treasure all those very happy memories. Thank you!! I will miss you so much.


God bless you!
xx

Time Flies When Your Having Fun...

...Oh My! How it does indeed!


I'm sitting here wondering where to start. I have so much to fill you in on our shenanigans of the last six weeks. It has been none stop and a celebration around every corner.


I thought, being as it's the start of a brand new month, and I have some free time on my hands (that has been a rarity lately) I would fill you in with pictures rather than bore you with words, that will come at a later date, haha!


Here's why I have been so absent recently................

We took a family holiday to the very beautiful Southern tip of the UK... I fell in L- O - V - E!!

What an inspirational place! I have never been before and now I can not wait to return. For anyone looking to holiday in the UK, here is a place most definitely worth your time to visit. 

I have a lot to fill you in on my finds but for now, here we are in crystal clear waters.

On our return, Mr Magpie celebrated a birthday, as did I. 

Totally spoilt with many wonderful books and crafty things (thank you so much!!) but my favourite present has to be from Mr Magpie and the Mini One. Mr Magpie has paid for me to attend a screen printing course, (something I have always wanted to try and not had the chance to do until now) at the West Yorkshire Print Workshop in September. A whole weekend of arting about fun!! 


OMG!! I can not wait and what makes it even more appealing is that the fabulous Clare Caulfield is introducing us to this fantastic medium, as she will be taking our course!! I feel such a lucky lady right now, I could burst!!




Next, Mini Magpie turned two on the 23rd of June...

...together with 3 of her little friends, Abbie, Oliver and Oscar (who all turned two with in days of one another)...

...so we mummies decided to throw one big '2 Year Olds' party instead of us all having to visit four separate ones. I offered to create the invites for us all.

We decided that the girlies would have princess fairies...

and the boys would have pirates...

Here's how they turned out...

What fun we all had!! 


Deciding to hire one big room that came with an enormous bouncy castle and huge soft play shapes was a fantastic idea. Then a good old game of Pass the Parcel, followed by lunch and they more play. The best bit for us though, was 'yeah their smiley faces', but most of all no clearing up to do!!


 The four of us 'mummies' met at our local children's centre when the children were a few months old. Since then, we meet once or twice a week and we chat while the 'kidney beans' play to their little hearts are content. Well, until it's feeding time anyways.

What's next, ah! yes the 'Olympic Torch' has been through our area. I spotted this little bus on the M62 earlier last week...

and later that week, this special mention goes out here to our friend Anita, who had the great honour of bearing the torch near where we live. Congratulations!!! How exciting?? One to tell the gran kids!! History in the making! 

Through all of these celebrations, Sara over at Bichinhos na Cabeça awarded me with 

The 

both of which I gratefully accept, thank you Sara and over this week (my next post) will pass them on to share the joy. In the mean time, please pop over to see Sara and see her crafty magic. Say Hi, your won't be disappointed. She has a fabulous blog, to which I am not surprised in the least that she was awarded these two awards, totally well deserved and a very lovely lady as well.

And last, for tonight anyway and by no means least. Looksey here what has come to live at my house!! The very lovely ladies over at Busy Little Sweet Peas made me my very own apple door stop as a thank you, totally no need as it was my pleasure in the first place but I'm absolutely over the moon with it, so thank you sooooo much!!! Please follow the link and pay them a visit.

Well, I won't keep you any longer, but does anyone know where June went??

Sweet dreams

xx

On your marks!! ...get set!!...

GO!!!!!!


And we are off! I can hardly contain (if you pardon the pun) my excitement.

After entering the 'Jar of Love' Swap over at Booty-full Things a couple of weeks ago, the doors have closed and my first ever swap has begun. Thank you so much to Katie at Booty-full Things for hosting such a fan-tabuous swap


I have been partnered with the lovely Rachel over at My Rainbow Vintage Home and Boy! I'm very excited because if you haven't had the pleasure already, pop over and say hi to Rachel and indulge in the delights that Rachel makes, creates and blogs about, you won't disappointed.


Right, first things first...find 'The perfect Jar'.........now let me see.......


Toodle Loo folks...my mission is underway


xx

Something to 'Tweet' about...

...I just gotta tell you, I must, I must! 


If you are looking for a unique gift or just a treat for yourself, something a little different, then Bird's Yard has to be top of your  must 'go look-see' list of places to check out. 

Logo source

Now, as you may or may not have already begun to realise, this here girl, not only likes to chitter chatter on, oh! yes she does, but she cannot resist treasures when they are spied upon, after all isn't that what a Magpie does?? My roving Magpie peepers were wide open in excitement after my visit because within the walls of this gorgeous, distinctive building in Leeds, West Yorkshire are three floors showcasing an abundance of beautifully crafted products, all from local creatives. Goodies Galore!! Please follow the link above to check it all out for yourself!! You will NOT be disappointment with what you will find there. I know I wasn't!!

Bird's Yard- Leeds, West Yorkshire UK
Image Source

Which brings me onto my second shout out of this evening. Two very lovely ladies, one of which I have known for many years now, who go by the name of 'Busy Little Sweet Peas' and have really been living up to their name by creating an array of delights from children's clothing to giant apple door stops (my particular favourite). Something to be bought for all occasions. You can see them for yourself while you are at Bird's Yard, as the girlies have a booth on the ground floor. 


A little of background for you...Busy Little Sweet Peas, are two sisters who love to stitch and create fun and quirky handmade items whilst looking after there own little Sweet Peas, all of whom are their inspiration. 

Here are a few items to give you a taster of what 'Busy Little Sweet Peas' have to offer you.

Image courtesy of Busy Little Sweet Peas

Image courtesy of Busy Little Sweet Peas

Image courtesy of Busy Little Sweet Peas

So clever aren't they? If you like what you see or would like any further information please follow this link to their Folksy site or click on any of their images above to link you back to their Facebook page and you can contact them through there.

Thanks for popping by...till next time, sweet dreams

xx

  

Return of the Mag(pie)

                               

Happy 60th Anniversary Your Majesty!! 
Congratulations!!


Enjoy your Diamond Jubilee Ma'am!!

Oh me! Oh My! Where do I begin? 


Gosh! I feel like forever has passed by since I last checked in with you all but I'm back and how excited am I? 


Very!!!!!!!! To the moon and back that's how excited I am! (Crikey!, I don't where to begin sharing everything with you - I have brain fog or excitement overload, not sure which!!) Not only have I had some fantastic adventures with Mr Magpie and our mini offspring, but over the past three weeks (sorry!, getting on for nearly four, I stand corrected!)  it's been one celebration after another and throughout June this will continue, so please forgive me as my posts will keep coming but just how quickly only time will tell, I have a lot to bring you up to speed on.


So I will start here!


Since returning from our 'olidays (as Mini Magpie called them) and in-between all the merriment of the past weeks, I have been catching up with all my favourite reads. First up, I spied with my "wide open with excitement" Magpie eye... my very first 'SWAP'.  


How many treasures does this Magpie think she could get in a jam jar?? Now there lies the challenge...and OMG!!! I was only very recently reading an article about 'The International Championship League of Matchbox stuffers'. 


"Whhh-at??" I hear you cry. Has she lost it? Where on earth do you read about something like that?? Haha! I was thumbing through Uppercase Magazine, while chilling.


Well, the article described how this Flickr group challenges you to take an ordinary match box and stuff it with as many items as you can. "Hmmmm, I remember doing this in the Brownies back in the day, I think I fancy a new challenge when I return home, I thought. "


So, I could hardly contain my excitement when I popped over to catch up with Katie at Booty-ful Things and found as Katie was approaching 100 followers, to celebrate, (just want to say here, BIG congrats to you Katie by the way, you have totally smashed through and over the 100 followers mark!!) she has created this wonderful 'Jar of Love' swap, inspired by the matchbox challenge she had taken as a child too.

What I fan-tabulous idea, I signed up straight away and can't wait to take part. I'll take a jar over a match box any day, much bigger space to fill with goodies. If you fancy taking part as well, please follow the link above. Or just pop over and say Hi anyways. Katie's place is always full of Booty-ful Things.

P.s Katie, I am hunting out jars as I speak. Some still have contents, but by the time I have a partner, they will be emptied and raring to be filled with pretties.

P.P.s The ice cream in the photo at the top of this post, isn't really an ice cream you know? No, no! It's actually a cake!! How good is that?? We had Jubilee celebrations at work and one very talented lady created this very delectable delight that had us all fooled. I simply had to have one, well, it would have been rude not too.

xx