FRESHLY BAKED SNAKES - GET 'EM WHILST THEY'RE HOT!

I've been a-snakin'.
Makin' and a-snakin'.
Making snakes.
'Widget and Friends' has finally got some friends - snakey friends. I always planned for it to be more than bunnies but hadn't got around to thinking what that more might be. Then one day a snake happened. Actually I saw a pair of tights hanging up in our local shop and though - hmmmm those would make a great snake.
That's how it happened.















There are four new ones in The Warren Sockbunny shop on Folksy - the last load sold right away so hurry if you want one!

A CRY FOR HELP!

Hello? Hello? Can anyone hear me?
I'm down here ...... on the floor, under all the mess.
Please can someone come and get me out?

*several hours pass*

Help!
Please ...... is anyone out there? I'm surrounded by threads and paper and wooden bits and spilt paint and socks and
sandpaper and brushes and dust and apple cores .........

Is anyone out there?
Does anyone have a hoover? or a pitchfork?

ARGGGGGHHHHHH ..... CAUGHT ON CAMERA!

Look! A rare sight .... Me!

And, yes, that is all my own hair .... before you ask.

AN EARLY CHRISTMAS TREAT

I did a swap last week with Helen from Helen Jane's Designs on Folksy. I sent her some wooden stars and she sent me ..... this gorgeous linen, embroidered heart.

It was beautifully wrapped and makes a great gift for when you go a-visiting at Christmas.

I might have to have one every year!

Helen Jane's Designs shop on Folksy

EVER MET A NORWEGIAN LURGLE?

No? You are just about to then. Hotdogandme sent lots of us Folksters a sock making kit to make whatever we fancied from it. The results go into the Crafteroo Children In Need shop on Folksy to raise money for the charity. The full price of the item goes to the charity. YAY.

My Hotdog kit arrived two days ago and last night I made a Lurgle. I can whip up a bunny in a few minutes (having made nearly 500 this year it is hardly suprising!) but this took me about 3 hours!
















Lurgles are funny little creatures, designed to clean up after biscuit eating. Usually only found lurking at the edges of Fjords this one seems to have left it's native habitat probably due to the Great Norwegian Biscuit Crisis.

If you are a particularily messy biscuit eater then this little creature could be just what you are looking for. You can find him in the Crafteroo shop right now - and remember that EVERY PENNY goes to Children in Need.

Click here to go to the shop

CORNWALL, EDEN AND A BIG PILE OF PAPER

Good news! My orange skull and crossbones came second in the Craftjuice.com Halloween competition - second to the totally deserving Brian the Sockdog from my online chum Hotdogandme. Everyone needs a sock doggie, just as they need a sockbunny. Well done Hotdog!

I've been a little quiet of late, me thinks. *yawn* *stretch*. Last week was half term and we actually 'went somewhere'. Somehow it has always been too much of an effort and all too much money to go anywhere else bar the Isle of Wight. All has changed though - collectively we were desperate to 'go away' so we went to Cornwall and very lovely it was too. We stayed at Gwel an Mor and it was fab. Our lodgy thing was lovely - very, very clean and cosy AND best of all we had a hot tub on the balcony! Three small boys liked that very much. There were wildlife things to go on and the boys got to fly the barn owl, handle the grass snake and feed the rescue foxes.

We went to The Eden Project on the way home which was truely awesome and full of arty visual things which got me ooing and ahhing.


The Core was one of the buildings to visit on the site, as well as the two famous Biomes, and was our favourite place because it housed The Seed and The Nutcracker.



















I felt a bit over-emotional watching the video about the making of The Seed. Carved from a mahooosive single block of granite by one man and lowered into place through the building's roof all with accompanying stirring and though-provoking music, followed by much man-hugging and back-slapping when it was finally in place. Very moving. I hope no-one noticed!

Now we are back home and on the 'lunchbox-where-are-my-trainers-I-needed-to-make-a-75cm-roman-shield-and-a-3D-Kensuke's-Island-just-take-a-school-top-out-of-the-laundry-basket' trail again. After emerging from under a pile of laundry I am now under a pile of receipts and papers trying to spread-sheet Half an Acre (nope I haven't done it all along like I should have) before I tackle The Tax Return. I'm even doing monthly sales reports. Some months have only two entries but I'm looking on it as being less work. I'm a glass-half-full kinda gal.
I have lots more to blog about but I must get on with the paperwork - I'm leaning on it right now and the piles are slumping sideways and threatening to merge into one, big avalanche of A4.
More later - as always!

Out and about.

Today was a sale day. Sometimes I do wonder why I bother but I guess one has to show willing! No, it wasn't too bad it as just that I was exhausted. Dog tired. Pooped. Knacked. Why? I've no idea.
The stall looked pretty pukka though ....

The first of the sock snakes came along to help. His name was Green-tongued Snake because his ..er tongue was green.

Here he is being a promo card holder. I'm not sure whether he was inviting or off-putting and I had to keep reminding him NOT to keep tickling hands with that green tongue of his. This is his 'I'm a cute snake, please give me a home' pose.

He did a sterling job until SOMEONE BOUGHT HIM!!
I was gutted! Okay, it was to be expected as he did have a price on and he was very lovely and stripey but it was quite a wrench to see him go nonetheless.



Widget was there as well. He stood there all day, next to the picture on the sockbunny cards, looking proud and dignified. He is always the bunny that people want to buy - must be the rakish scarf.

About ten bunnies went off to new homes today and, of course, Green Tongued Snake. I hope they will all be okay tonight in their new homes ....

Yucky

Today my workroom was too full. Not full of useful things but full of mess. Mess made by me. I tidy the place up and then fling stuff randomly around. It was so bad today that I couldn't even function in it. The picture shows my desk but AFTER I tidied it!
Notice (or rather, don't) that there is Farm Ville up on my lappy...

Everything started splurging in the hall too....










You know when everything around you just feels icky, itchy and in the way? Everywhere I stepped I knocked something and the floor was covered in robots and rockets!

Finally I decided to go out. Properly out. Not out of the room but out of the whole house. Things to do, you see. I got dressed. Yes, I hadn't done that yet. I got all ready and then it happened ..... I went blank. What was I going out for? What was it I needed to get? Could I remember? No. So I sat back down in my pickled and chaotic room feeling grimy and useless, having stepped my way there on a strip of bubble wrap, making it go pop .... pop ... pop, several jiffy bags and an assortment of scrap paper.
The only up-side of this day is that the boxes arrived for the mobiles.

5....4....3...2....1....LIFT OFF!

I've finished it. What do you think?

It is interesting how these things come about. I designed the shapes for my new Outer Space stencil set but had some kind of interuption of signal between the nerve endings in my brain and asked Les to cut them all out in 4mm ply. DUH. All the other sets are in 6mm. So poor old Les had to re-cut them all and I was left with 20 of each of the above 5 shapes. Poo. Now those 4mm pieces have a new purpose assembled as mobiles. I never intended to do mobiles but then I never set out to make bunnies out of socks and look what happened there!














I haven't quite got the balancey bit with the cross-bar thingy right yet and when you buy one you will have to assemble the cross-bar bit at the top yourself - so I'm just working out how to make that nice and easy and neat. Apart from that 'tis done and listed in my Folksy shop. I'll have to make them up to order but that does mean that you can choose different colours if you so wish.

The Party Problem.

I have three small boys. Each boy is in a different class of around 30 children. On average each boy is invited to ten parties over the course of the year. Do the maths. The problem is presents. I have to spend way under £10 for each present otherwise I might have to cancel Christmas and other notable events. Under a tenner means a small box of lego for boys or a piece of crap which gets played with once and then disintegrates into several broken parts. Lego is fabulous but we have half a hundred weight of it. We could seriously open a Lego shop with all of it.
The alternative is yet another football or pair of football gloves but, how many of them can you be given?
So my thought pattern/grumbled words under breath, goes like this:

1. Not another party, boys.
2. I never knew that child was in your class.
3. Do we have to get a present?
4. I'll just haemorage cash then, shall I?
5. What can we get that is under a tenner, not made of plastic and might actually be enjoyed?
6. The nearest good shopping town is a 20 minute drive for heavens sake and I have all my millions of 'work' things to get done. mutter mutter

Now I have the answer! A Hotdog Doggie!! They come all wrapped up with tissue, ribbon and nice bit button fastening, with a name tag and a big of yummy doggy treats. You don't even have to rewrap! What more could you ask for?
To date we have bought all the below and given all except two away....
And the very first one we bought, which we still have ....

Jeremy Beagle!

Even better is that you can get custom orders! YAY! This below is Ron - made to the specific requirements of my 6yr old for his birthday yesterday. He looked very smart in his birthday party gear.

(Do you like the cake? You have no idea how much trouble that caused me and that is not the first doggie cake I made that day. My advice? No matter how tempting a recipe is, stick to 'Deliah's all-in-one Sponge' ALWAYS and do not be tempted by the idea of replacing flour with grated butternut squash to make a chocolate roulade. No, no, no. Recite after me; Deliah, Deliah, Deliah, always Deliah.)

I already have several requests from small boys for more dogs - most notably the 'Skelly Dogs' so that will be some Christmas pressies all taken care of as well. So, Hotdog and Me - you're going to need to get a-making!

Busy, busy. busy

Busy. Very busy. Mustn't grumble though. Or am I just busy because I've yet to fill out my tax return and it is hanging over me. Obviously I'm too busy to get round to it.
So - what has been going on? Well, my workroom floor is a mess for a start ...

It looks even worse today as I've been finishing off all the Christmas decorations. I'm really pleased with them and especially with how the pictures have turned out. Lighting is always a problem for me but I have solved the problem. My lovely neighbour has a beach hut in her garden. Yes. Nowhere near the beach though. It is painted a lovely blue and white stripe and white on the inside. Perfect. Even on a gloomy woomy day, such as today, the light inside is bounced around and turns out really well in a picture.
I've also got Halloween out of the way this week too. Not in a big way. Just a few token items.

A classic white skully and, of course, some bats! Somehow I've still managed to keep the 'Half an Acre' feel with the eyes.

Also up my sleeve are the new Party Girl and Outer Space stencil kits, Robot & Rocket mobiles and some girlie hearts and stars. Here's a quick preview of some of the stencils....

Anyway, I'm too busy for all of this blogging!! More coming soon .......

A few new things today ...

I really didn't want to part with this. Not one bit. It was part of a wholesale order and it was touch and go when I handed it over this morning!

I guess I can paint another one ......
I've also been extra super dooper busy painting up for the christmas events coming up from October onwards. First off the block are the chickens.

These are the more conventional ones - the next batch will be a darned sight funkier. That's it for now. I need to get going. The sewing machine is up and running again so I can make up some more sockbunnies. The 106 I had in stock has dwindled under the 100 and that just isn't enough for the months ahead (said she in confident tones).
Onwards .... onwards .....

Tea Towels are very useful ...

They are..... useful. Very. You can dry things with them. You can also get fantabulous ones. I was given a pack of two for my birthday this year (from the sproglets) but they seemed too nice to use. I found them lurking upstairs yesterday and gave them a wash to get rid of that new, stiff feeling they have.
As it was lovely and sunny (and I've given up the tumble dryer) I hung them on the washing line, back to back to save space.
*EUREKA!!*
Spradoing! An idea!

Pillow case!
"How cute for the kids", you say.
Er ..... actually that's going on MY bed! It is true - I just can't grow up. It'll be on the bed along with my snow monster, plushie red blood cell and other assorted weird things.

And so begins my tea towel obsession .......

CHAIRS (oh okay, and a table).

I do like a chair. We use them so much that I believe they should be more than just functional objects. They should be fabulous objects! Not beige, brown, cream things. No, no, no. We have annoyingly expensive taste - gorgeous, funky things tend to come with a price tag, and the piggy bank contents do not support the taste so we have to be a little creative. This post is about some of the seating things we have in our house and how we made them 'our own'.


Number One: The Freecycle Chair.
One day I had a yen (er, is that correct?) - anyway, I had a yen for a wooden chair.
Ah ha! Freecycle!
This chair was in someone's garage for years. I did take a picture of it in its former state but I'll be jiggered if I can find it.
So, its been painted and a new seat made (by a pal) using Ikea fabric.

Cost:
Chair - £0.00. Seat Cover £45.00. Fabric - £1.00ish





Number Two: The Freecycle Sofa

Sofa: £0.00
Cover: Designers' Guild from the awesome Fabric Warehouse on the Finchley Road £8 per meter.
Custom Cover: Aprox. £180.





Number 3: The Map Table.

Table: £0.00 (cast off from the rellies).
Maps: £9.99 for big one and the other were through Freecycle.

Guess who's kids know where ALL the countries are?!
*smug grin*.

I wrote a post ages ago about the covering of this table ...
"How not to put a map on a kitchen table"












The above two were both old chairs re-covered - both in Designers Guild - all from the fabric warehouse outlet. You've seriously got to make the trip there if you want fabrics.

So - there you have it. Chairs. And a table.

And the Half an Acre Coffee Award goes to ......

*SLURP* I do love coffee, but it has to be proper coffee - not that Nescafe Gold Blend rubbish that is an insult to coffee beans the world over, but real, brewed in a plungey-jug coffee...

So, after extensive research (slurp....slurp) I have decided to award The Half an Acre Coffee Award to Lavazza for it's Crema Gusto coffee! No matter how many others I try, I always come back to this brand. I like it very, very hot, and very strong, which is why I always leave half a cup. I am known for leaving half a cup, because, half way down, it is not very, very hot anymore!
Obvious! DUH.
Once that cup has been given to me,I take ownership and I can do as I like with it and that includes LEAVING HALF OF IT!!
(Not that I'm getting defensive or anything......).

Update on the pet situation

I did have a pet (see the post below). I loved him. I loved my spider. I told my husband that I'd written a blog post about it.

"Oh", he said, "I've just put it out."
"WHAT?!"
"Yup, I used your scarf and flicked it out of the window."

I am bereft.

UPDATE (on the update): There is a new spider in the bath! He is an 8th of the size and he has the full compliment of legs ........

How not to choose a pet ....

Ah yes, a 'How no to' post! If you want to read more about doing things quite wrong, just click on the sidebar link. There are quite a few posts...... haha.
Today's subject is 'How not to choose a pet'.

At Half an Acre we don't 'do pets' very well. It started with the stick insects, which are probably the most boring pets on the planet, as they don't more, make a noise, bite or even smell. They hang around all day pretending to be, er, sticks. If you scare one, it drops off its twig and pretends to be a dead stick. They live for around one year, at the end of which they give up eating until they shrivel up and become dried-up sticks. They are also nocturnal. This means that you have to set your alarm for 3am if you want to see them move. Boring. Boring. Boring. But, me, being me, got a kind of kick out of that and I loved them.

So.
Now we have another pet. Here he is .....

Yup - a spider. He is living in our bath. He has been there around 2 weeks and is very comfy thank you very much. Notice anything? That's right, he only has six legs, the result of my middle son trying to get him out of the bath. So now he's staying put. He's built a lovely web around the place, and there is his leaf (which blew in the open bathroom window) and he has his two fallen-off legs artistically arranged around the place. There is also his collection of 'debris'. You know, dead, sucked dry things.

NEWSFLASH! At this point I would like to interject and point out that we do have two other showers and another whole bathroom so we DO NOT SMELL.

I nearly moved him once but me, being me, thought that he looked kinda at home and thought I'd just let him be. He is only a six-legged spider, how can he survive out in the world?

So, there you have it, how not to choose a pet. Don't choose a weird pet which makes anyone visiting your house look at you strangely. Do not choose a pet whose existence might compromise your personal hygiene. Do not keep stick insects because they are boring as hell and do not keep a disabled spider in your bath because that is just a little odd.

Knitoceras Woolyensis (Lower Baarasic)

My lovely old friend Ruth sent me a present which arrived today. When I say 'old' I mean I've known her forever, as opposed to her being a little hunched granny! She is actually older than me, though, by one exact month. She as born on May 6th and I on June 6th, so I guess I can call her my 'old, old friend'. Teehee.
Anyway she bought me a present when she was on holiday and it arrived this morning. If anyone knows me well it is she........




As the label says, this is a
Knitoceras Woolyensis (Lower Baarassic).
A knitted fossil!
I'm still chuckling, as Ruth knew I would.








So - thank you Rupe, I love it! It's comforting to have people who know me so well ...... or is it?! Tee hee.

I have to introduce you to .....

.... someone who never ceases to bring a smile to my face when I see her shop - NiftyKnits. You see, Nifty makes Meerkats. Yes she does. Not just boring Meerkats but fantabulous ones. I have one - his name is Murky and is on/off pals with Widget Sockbunny, depending on their combined moods. Nifty is famous for her Star Wars ones ....... yes, you heard that right!

I've just been rooting around in her Folksy shop to see what she has been up to and the answer is Super Heroes!


And, yes, there is a 'Robin'! She is also offering a Meerkat with your own custom outfit - such as the one below which, I have to say, is totally adorable and might just have to come and live with Murky!

And then there is this!! This picture below has had me chuckling and chortling ever since I first saw it! Nifty, you are a genius and are probably responsible for my emerging Meerkat obsession.

Nifty's shop is HERE - I reckon everyone should have a Meerkat in their lives. Trouble is, now I've caught wind of some other ones, ie Matador Meerkat, I'm beginning to want one of each design. This is good for Nifty but not good for my finances!

How not to enter a competition.

I seem to be able to do quite a lot of these 'How not to ...' posts. Hmmmm, I wonder why? Perhaps I should be learning something about myself from all this!

So - this competition? There was a feature about it in the Daily Telegraph about it - The V&A World Beach Project. Fabulous. I was right over the road from a beach! Make some beach art, photograph it and send in the pictures. You can then plot the exact location on their google map. YAY! Love it!

Ta da da da daaaaaaaa!
Sand Face!

Okay - it's not a masterpiece. It didn't take me very long but there it is. I took this one picture of it.

Last night I did all my uploading and downloading and sideloading of pictures and got down to the business of entering the competition. Now here's the 'how not to' bit.
When entering a competition READ THE INSTRUCTIONS.
Oh how simple.

So - here are the instructions for you to read so you can see why I can't enter.
The V&A World Beach Project

Gah! And I'm not right over the road from the beach anymore. Poo. What an idiot.