Bill's

A few months ago, some friends and I wen for a girly weekend to Brighton! 

we had all planned a little bit of our trip and one of my lovely friends found this great restaurant called Bill's. 

Now Bills is a chain but it is fantastic! It feels like a one off and the bohemian restaurant layout gives off a great atmosphere, plus the food is great and is value for money. 

thought you would like to see some pics of this great place :) 

The fab metal tea pot

Eggs Benedict, yum!

Full to the brim (there was a queue to get in)

The lovely Helen with her smoothy

the wonderful Claire enjoying the orange juice

Me in desperate need of Tea!

Battlesbridge, Essex

Battlesbridge, in Essex, is home to the Battlesbridge Antiques and Craft Centre. Housing over 80 dealers selling antiques, crafts, also offering valuation services and s motorbike museum!

I went with some friends to have a look for some bits for a new flat, it is a treasure trove of wonderful finds. It is so quaint and the variety of items for sales is amazing.

To be honest I think I could have lived there!

Demonstrating at the Tweetup!

On Wednesday I demonstrated at the Brentwood Tweetup. This is a wonderful even held on the first Wednesday of every month for people who tweet in the Brentwood area.

I was asked if I could demonstrate a Christmas craft, so I decided to show everyone how to make a cute Christmas fairy for their trees, and you can watch the video.

Enjoy!

My First Craft Fair

Yes you read right! I did my first craft fair!

A few weeks ago I exhibited at a small Christmas craft fair in Halstead, Essex.

I had my little stall and all of my stock.

I can defiantly say that it was a learning curve but it was lots of fun!

Making a Christmas Wreath

On Monday14th November I went along to a lovely village pub to learn how to make a beautiful Christmas wreath.
The class was taught by Claire Mackaness, from Beautiful Things. She can also be found on Twitter @clairemackaness.

So you start with a pollystyrene hoop and a ball of yarn. Don't worry if you run out of yarn you can use other colours or tie off the end and start another ball of the same colour.  

Tie on the end of your yarn and pin the knot to the polystyrene hoop and relax, now your knot won't move!

As the first part of making the wreath can take a while, you need patients and mulled wine to get you in the Christmas spirit!

DON'T PANIC (MR Mannering!). If you get tangled up pin the yarn to the hoop and untangle it :) (Even our lovely teacher got tangled up!

This is what the final product should look like. Then it's time for the decoration!!! This is my favorite bit, and Claire provided the most amazing embellishments.



Everyone had a brilliant time and I can defiantly say that the people make a class as much as the activity.

If you live near Brentwood in Essex  and you would like to take part in one of Claire's classes you can find the full list here. 

How to Make a Roly-Poly Bird!

On Friday at 6pm 18 Brownies turned up on the door step of Cherry Green Trees camp site and lodge expectant of a weekend full of exploring, playing, and most importantly, crafting!!! 

Each pack holiday that we run is based on a theme, and this one was Roald Dahl. The girls were divided into three groups based on one of his books and the leaders (including me) became characters from the books. 

The craft that I was elected to run was the making if the Roly-Poly Bird. This is an easy make, but also fun. It does require the concentration of the children doing it and it was remarked upon several times that each group that sat at my table was silent :). 

The instructions can be found here.

I got the girls to cut out all of the pieces that they needed to make the birds using templates that I had prepared earlier (how very Blue Peter!) and then made them read the next step from the page.

To make things move a little faster instead of getting the girls to stick the limbs of the bird onto the first plate I let them use a stapler as once the second plate is stuck on top you wouldn't see the staples.

The birds turned out fantastically and I was so please that when the girls were asked to evaluate their holiday the mentioned making the birds as one of their Favourite activities!

Interview on Phoenix 98FM...Continued

You can no find me on the Phoenix 98FM blog.

I am working hard to find a way to post the audio of the interview onto my website. I should have it up by the weekend!

Leigh-on-Sea

This weekend we had one of our best friends come down from Liverpool to stay with us for the weekend.

On Sunday it was soooo lovely and sunny that we decided to take a little trip to the sea side with her and another friend from University.

We didn't fancy the bright lights of Southend and so headed to a place we had never been before, Leigh-on-Sea.



Leigh is a beautiful little fishing village on the Thames estuary full of tea rooms, cockle stands, pubs and crafty shops. In other words, Heaven!




As we walked trough the streets of Leigh we came across The Old Foundry. This is a beautiful crafty shop, selling childrens books and clothes and products from Kath Kidson and Orla Kylie



However I think the best thing about this shop was it's amazing product display featuring an old bus!




I also found these little tins featuring well known brands including KitKat, Heinz and Coleman's.




We then stopped off and got a well deserved ice cream before taking an accidental stroll to Southend, we didn't realise they were so close!

Shamballa Bracelets

This Saturday I went along to the Brentwood Bead Shop to learn to make Shamballa bracelets.

I was my usual self and managed to turn up 5 minutes late! After being greeted by the lovely Nina I went up stairs and met Nina's mum Carol, who was teaching the class, and the three ladies who would be learning with me.

I sat down to find that Carol had already written out a list of the items that I would need to make the bracelet (I used this bit of paper to write my notes on).

I must admit that the bracelets look complicated, they do take a little bit of time to get used to but when you get the hang of it it's easy!

Using a clip board to clamp the bracelet is really useful but I also found that using some pins to attach the main body of the bracelet to my trouser leg also helped.

Carol is a fantastic teacher and the girls I was learning with were lovely. If you do live in Brentwood or near by keep an eye on their Facebook page for classes. They are also on Twitter @brentwoodbeads.

After the class I was so pleased with the fact that I could make these complicated looking bracelets that I bought enough for two more! And here they are...