133 - Holidays!

So I returned from my holidays yesterday! It was great fun. We only went to England, which isn't too far away from Edinburgh, but it was really nice, and it's one of my favourite parts of the country. Love it (and you can get lots of yummy fish to eat too, which is always good in my book).

So here are some lovely holiday type updates.

I bought books. A lot of books. I love books. I think everyone knows that. I went to a lot of charity shops, and the lovely second hand book store Barter Books. It was lovely. I also stole a couple of Donald's mum and sister that they were going to trade in. So here's the list (I didn't buy as many as last year, so I think I was doing well).

• The Devil Wears Prada by Lauren Weisberger.
• The Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman.
• Interview with the vampire by Anne Rice.
• The Death and Life of Charlie St.Cloud by Ben Sherwood.
• The Book of Tomorrow by Cecelia Ahern.
• The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time by Mark Haddon.
• Dolores Claborne by Stephen King.
• The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux.
• Pet Semetaty by Stephen King.
• Thinner by Stephen King.
• The Tommyknockers by Stephen King.

Now I have to say I am doing something slightly bad on the book front, and I want to say sorry in advance. A while ago I was given a free copy of Nothern Lights, and I was supposed to pass it on for other people to read. Fine I thought. I've always wanted to read the His Dark Materials triology, and so while I was on holiday I had a look for them. I bought the third one (and am hopefully getting the second one from Donald's sister) and I almost bought the Golden Compass, until I realised that it was the same book as Northern Lights. So I swifty put the Golden Compass back, very happy that I already owned one of the books. However, this means if I really like the triology as much as I hope I will, I might have to be a fail and keep my copy of Northern Lights. I guess we'll see.

Then after books, my love is obviously craft. I bought some lovely craft things. I got this nice embroidery kit.



I also got a couple of books, including a lovely Celtic transfer pattern book and Jo Verso's Cross Stitch Year. I already have a Jo Verso book and I love her stuff. Her people are so cute. I found some lovely patterns in this book, which urged me to buy it, including some Halloween cuties and some Snow White characters too.









And on a crafty note, I also did three cross stitch kits. Phew, busy week, but I think they all turned out lovely.








Finally, I came home to find my mum had bought me some lovely new seat covers for my car, Mulder. Okay, so Donald doesn't like them, but I love them. My car is now pretty much as Hello Kitty as it can get.

132 - Summer holidays

So you may not realise, as I've been a post scheduling machine, but I've actually been on holidays this past week. I felt because I had left the blog so unloved for the past few weeks because of moving house, I wasn't going to do the same when I was off for a week.

So to celebrate my return from my holidays today, here's a nice holiday themed etsy treasury (with quite a lot of The Little Mermaid).

'Summer holidays' by SkatesandStitches

Summer time is here, and so are my holidays. Brilliant.

Mermaid Print Nautical ... lindsayart $20.00	Personalized Embroidere... mybedlinen $19.00	Octopus Tie Clip Bar Cl... CosmicFirefly $25.00	Octopus Painted Ceramic... sewZinski $30.00
LA POMME // Bicycle Fl... ikabags $69.74	On SALE Half OFF Ari... SAuvigne23 $2.20	Happy Sun Vinyl Wall Ar... graphicspaces $15.00	Adorable Pink Embroider... mococreations $3.50
Hanging Mobile -- Under... hingmade $68.00	Fondant Cupcake Toppers... KidsCakes $13.95	Ariel and Scuttle Earri... Wwhimsyy $10.00	Beach Bee Jerod fuzfrenzy $25.00
Pin-up Necklace modernpearlco $35.00	Ocean View gallery neck... freerangeart $34.50	Jet setting studs PicaPicaPress $18.00	Ariel Little Mermaid Wo... peanutbutterba... $12.00

Treasury tool by Red Row Studio.

I (hopefully, as this is written before I actually leave) did some crafting while I was on holiday, so I should have some lovely photos to show you of my crafty times. I bought Cross Stitcher, Sew, Cross Stitch Crazy and World of Cross Stitch magazines, and took them all on holiday with me, so craft galore. I also packed a few little craft kits that I had (previously free in magazines or bought) so hopefully I'll have made a start on some of them. You'll get a real-life update from me tomorrow, after all the unpacking and washing sorting I have to do.

131 - Cutest shop ever alert

While I was searching for things to put in my Harry Potter treasury the other day, I came across a wonderful little shop on etsy called The House of Mouse. It's basically lots of fun little fake mice dressed as well-known and not so well-known characters. They also have little houses and such for the mice to live in. Oh my god, I never seen anything so cute, and they are so detailed and incredibly well made it is unreal. I love the shop so much I had to share it with you, so here are my top 10 favourite mice from this new store. Check it out!

Image via http://www.etsy.com/shop/TheHouseOfMouse?ref=pr_shop

Image via http://www.etsy.com/shop/TheHouseOfMouse?ref=pr_shop

Image via http://www.etsy.com/shop/TheHouseOfMouse?ref=pr_shop

Image via http://www.etsy.com/shop/TheHouseOfMouse?ref=pr_shop

Image via http://www.etsy.com/shop/TheHouseOfMouse?ref=pr_shop

Image via http://www.etsy.com/shop/TheHouseOfMouse?ref=pr_shop

Image via http://www.etsy.com/shop/TheHouseOfMouse?ref=pr_shop

Image via http://www.etsy.com/shop/TheHouseOfMouse?ref=pr_shop

Image via http://www.etsy.com/shop/TheHouseOfMouse?ref=pr_shop

Image via http://www.etsy.com/shop/TheHouseOfMouse?ref=pr_shop

130 - ARRG Roller Derby

So, for those of you who don't live in Edinburgh, the Festival Fringe is coming up. It's basically the giant festival (mainly comedy) that takes over the city for a few weeks at the end of the summer. There are shows of every type you can image, and a lot of them are free too, so you don't need to worry about spending lots of money (though a lot of the clubs get to stay open till 5am during the festival, so you may end up spending it all anyway).


I think I'll be checking out if there is anything craft related at the fringe this year (though I know it may be a long shot, but hey, we get some weird stuff here.)


Edinburgh fills up with people from all over the world (even more so that usual), so the city can be very busy it times (especially seeing as it's teamed with the school summer holidays), but if you like that sort of thing, then it's fun. While I'm not too big on the Fringe (a lot of people on the Royal Mile handing out flyers and EVERYTHING is busy to the extreme), there are two events I will definitely be attending this year, and that is the two fringe bouts by my lovely derby team the Auld Reekie Roller Girls (ARRG).

If you live in Edinburgh, or are going to be in the area for these bouts, then come along, because they are going to be awesome! I'm very excited!

129 - Geek craft chic

I've seen this lovely item pop up in a lot of places over the past couple of weeks, and as it kept coming up again and again I felt the need to share it with you (if you haven't seen it already).

The lovely people at Connect Design have come up with this amazing piece of kit for you iPhone. Unfortunately I don't have one, otherwise I would definitely be buying this straight away. It's basically an open weave case for your iPhone which you can cross stitch any design you want on to. Amazing right?

Image via http://www.connectdesign.co.kr/

The kit comes with everything you need including a needle, some thread and a little booklet with some patterns and instructions in it. The charts are even DMC colour coded. How cool is that? And there are six colours of case to pick from, though I would definitely be going for the pink one.

 Image via http://www.connectdesign.co.kr/

Image via http://www.connectdesign.co.kr/

As someone who loves customising things, I think these are amazing. There are lots of pattern choices that they suggest, but if you can get it to fit on the back of the case, you could literally have any design you wanted. So you're phone can look awesome, individual and be kept safe at the same time.

128 - Support local roller derby

Support local roller derby by Kim Hutton featuring thigh high socks

127 - Raverly...am I really behind?

So, I might be a bit behind the times, but I just discovered what I think is an amazing site called Ravelry. Have you seen it? Are you part of it?

I found it while I was looking at a Harry Potter golden snitch knitting pattern and it seemed like one of the most amazing ideas ever. You know I love free patterns right? Well this site is full of them.

It's basically a community site for knitters and crocheters (which maybe explains why I've missed out on it till now, because I still can't knit or crochet properly).

You can sign in, find free patterns (though there are ones that you can buy too), keep track of the patterns you're tackling, upload photos of your own projects, keep track of your supplies and generally just talk to other crafty people. So while you can keep track of what projects you're taking part in, you can also see how many other people are attempting it too. It's amazing.

I totally look forward to learning how to knit or crochet properly so that I can properly take part in this, because it looks like a lot of fun.

In the meantime, here are some of the coolest free patterns I found on the site.

Tiny sandwich and drink.

Image via http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/tiny-sandwich-and-drink

Totoro knitted toy.

Image via http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/little-knitted-totoro-toy

Badger puppet.

Image via http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/badger-puppet

Tardis socks.

Image via http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/tardis-socks-tribute

C3PO.

Image via http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/c3po

Ood plush.

Image via http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/amigurumi-ood

126 - Yer a Wizard

The other day I made my first Etsy Treasury. I know, I don't know what has taking me so long, but it has. I have to say, I had a lot of fun, and I will definitely be making more of them in the future. I found some lovely items from shops I had never seen before.

So seeing as I've just started reading the fifth book, and everyone is going made over the last movie,  here is a Harry Potter treasury.

'Yer a wizard' by SkatesandStitches

Harry Potter crafty bits.

SALE - Harry Potter Mou... TheHouseOfMous... $25.00	Harry Potter Gryffindor... jessicalynnear... $20.00	Owl Earflap Pilot Cap -... amberneecroche... $29.00	HP Set dangercatdolls $55.00
Gryffindor House 13 inc... coollikethat $38.00	This listing is reserve... sequinjar $14.00	Dobby the house elf PD... Phoenixknits $4.50	Hufflepuff Hair Bow Set hogcrafts $7.00
Harry Potter GRYFFINDOR... enchantedcraft $21.00	Golden Snitch Earrings ... ccppolly $7.95	Pixel People - Harry ... weelittlestitc... $5.00	Tiny Miniature Felt Har... Lazzi217 $7.50
Felt Harry Potter Accep... UnluckyPrinces... $3.00	Crocheted Golden Snitch bookpwn $8.00	Harry Potter Applique T... onemoreofme $20.00	Harry and Hedwig sticke... koalateashop $1.00

Treasury tool by Red Row Studio.