Waitrose wouldn't make us a fire engine cake so we did it ourselves...

Its Sam's 3rd birthday next week but we decided to have his party today as lots of people are away next week-end. As Sam is obsessed by all things Fire related, I decided ages ago to order him a fire engine cake from Waitrose for his party. Job done I thought. However I completely forgot that you have to order it 7 days in advance. When I phoned to book it 6 days in advance, I was told that it was too late! The cake lady in our village couldn't help either as she was completely fully booked. It seems like you have to be much more organised and on the ball than me if you want someone else to make your birthday cake for you! So there was nothing else for it. Jon was going to have to take on the birthday cake challenge and make one himself.  And he did!

Yes those are Curly Wurly ladders! (They wilted slightly in the heat!!)

A very happy boy!

Who needs a boring old Waitrose cake anyway!

Who are you???

I knew it would happen eventually. I've got 3 beautiful dresses here and I just can't work out who sent them. I'm really sorry if it was you and I haven't been in touch to say thank you but I just can't work out who you are!! There was no card with the dresses but I do recall a recent email saying that 3 dresses were on their way. I've searched and searched through my emails but I just can't find it and I can't remember who sent it. (I blame having children for my terrible memory!!) Please, please let me know if you made the dresses below so that I can apologise profusely and tell you how lovely your dresses are. (Besides its driving me mad not be able to remember who you are!)

First of all we have a beautiful red and white dress with pretty flowers

and matching red ties

A pretty dress with orange and yellow flowers and matching orange ties

and a gorgeous pink dress with tiny little flowers and pink straps. All beautiful. Thank you whoever you are!!

I've really discovered the power of Twitter over the last few weeks for making contacts. The following dresses all came via Twitter from people I don't know. How amazing is that? The dresses will all be going to Kenya later in the year courtesy of someone else I made contact with via Twitter!

Two gorgeous dresses from @rachelhenning. Both made from a lovely hot pink fabric. The first has blue ribbon ties

with a cute little blue heart detail.

The second has pink ribbon ties. So pretty.

These two gorgeous dresses dresses came from @kimblebob. The first made from a very pretty flower fabric which has silvery shimmery bits all over it and very pretty green ties.

The second made from a white fabric with tiny little pink butterflies, birds and flowers. It has a pretty lace detail and matching white ties. Lovely.

and last but not least two beautiful dresses from Lynn who also came across the appeal on Twitter. Two gorgeous floral dresses which will fit slightly older girls which is fantastic. The first is yellow with co-ordinating brown ties and detail including 2 cute little pockets. So pretty. I really must try and make some pockets for my next dresses as I love the way they look.

The second dress was made from a pale pink/orange fabric with green trimming and more cute pockets.

Thanks to everyone. I really appreciate all your support. That makes 140 dresses now!!

Theres a dolphin in the bedroom!

We have done a few reviews now for the lovely people at Find me a gift and with the summer holidays coming up they asked Izzy to review another one of their great craft kits. We both love doing this as they always come up with fab suggestions and offer things that are perfect for Izzy's age. The thing that Izzy really wanted to try this time was the Window Mosaic Kit. 

It arrived the very next day and Izzy was very excited to receive a parcel in the post addressed to her for a change.

We choose the lovely dolphin design

The kit comes with the mosaic design sheet, a see through plastic tile that you build your mosaic on, tiles of different colours which you break up into tiny mosaic squares and some suction cups for sticking the finished article to the wall. What I love about this kit is that the mosaic tiles stick to the plastic board yet are completely removable so  you can use them again and again and move them around if you make mistakes. I found this invaluable with younger children like Izzy. The kits I have seen before have all involved sticking tiles down permanently. The tiles are jelly like and very easy to use. Look at that concentration!

You simply place the see through plastic tile over the design and match the right colour tile to the picture. Easy peasy! Izzy and I ended up doing it together and both really enjoyed ourselves. It was strangely relaxing. This kit would be enjoyed by anyone from about 4 upwards. I have to say I really enjoyed myself!

and here is the finished article on Izzy's bedroom window...It looks fab and really catches the sunlight coming through the window.

Izzy loved it and I was really impressed with the quality of the kit. I would definitely recommend.

You can find out more about 'find me a gift' on twitter and facebook.

I was also very tempted by this kit which might well feature on Izzy's Christmas list!

Find me a Gift also have a 30 day no quibble money back guarantee if you decide you don't like what you buy.

Beautiful Butterflies!

3 more dresses arrived today from Stephanie at My Calico Heart along with a very lovely card taking the grand total to 131 dresses! The dresses were all gorgeous. The first made from a lovely yellow bird fabric.

with lovely stitch detail on the hem. So cute.

The second was a lovely vintage looking rose fabric with pink ties

and the third a yellow and orange rose fabric which is really pretty. It has little orange stripes in the background.

which look lovely against the green binding ties. Stephanie has a facebook page which you can find here. Thanks Stephanie.

I'm a bit obsessed with butterflies at the moment as Izzy is having a butterfly themed party for her birthday in September so I was over the moon when I stumbled across a gorgeous company called Utterly Butterflies. As soon as I saw their gorgeous pictures I knew I had to buy one for Izzy's bedroom. They are little handcut paper butterflies which are mounted and framed and are so so pretty.

You can also personalise your picture with names, dates and even photos.

My only problem is I can't decide what to choose.

They even come with the most gorgeous butterfly tag. How pretty is that?? Its a work of art by itself!!

You can also choose from other shapes like this lovely heart picture

and for boys this gorgeous star picture.

They also have a facebook page which you can find here. I'm off for another look!

I ran out of pegs....

I've had so many new dresses recently that I thought I should do another washing line shot to show them all off particularly as another 50 dresses are off to the Home of Hope Orphanage in Malawi in August. More information and photos to follow hopefully.

I took advantage of some (very rare!) sunny weather and hung them all out but I actually ran out of pegs (and space on the washing line!) They look gorgeous. I am also very pleased to now be an 'International Partner' of the 'Dress a Girl Around the World' charity in America which was the original inspiration for the appeal on my blog. This just means that I will be named on their website as the UK contact to help make it easier for people to get involved. Dress a Girl have sent over 34,000 dresses to 47 different countries so far which is pretty amazing. There is lots more info about what they do on their website.

Big thanks to Linda at Lindy's Loops for sending a lovely dress for the appeal. Its so pretty. I love the fabric.

and look at the gorgeous detail on the front. It has the cutest little rabbit button. Beautiful!

A lovely lady called Auriol wrote a post about the appeal this week with a great tutorial on how to make a dress on the Groupon blog that she writes for. Its well worth a look. It has some great ideas for making things like flower corsages. You can find the blog here.

I did a little bit more sewing too. A few more lavender bags for teachers presents and also for Izzy's buddy at school. I also made a little Purse for her.

and another twelve!

Three lovely parcels arrived at the end of last week but its been so manic here I've only just managed to get photos taken and up on the blog. Apologies to lovely dress makers, I just don't know where the times goes.

The first lovely parcel was from Marie who has a lovely blog called A Sewing Odyssey. Marie sent three gorgeous dresses. The first was this lovely vibrant orange and pink dress with a pink spotty band  at the bottom.

The second dress was made from very pretty blue fabric with pink flowers and pink spotty ties.

and the third this very sweet little floral pattern with a co-ordinating blue band and bias binding.

Naomi from Woollylakes sent two gorgeous dresses. She has a lovely blog which you can find here. I just love this fabric. So pretty and vibrant. The first dress has red straps

and the second purple. Absolutely lovely.

and the third gorgeous parcel came from @Hula_Mummy who I met recently on twitter. She also has a lovely blog called Lakes and Pebbles. The parcel contained seven beautiful dresses!

Two dresses made from this gorgeous fabric which is so pretty with lots of little flowers all over it. They have co-ordinating blue ties.

The other five dresses were made from pillowcases which had been hand dyed 'Sunflower Yellow' and Bahama Blue'. Such a great idea for transforming white pillowcases.

The dresses also all had the most gorgeous little felt flowers on them. I love the way that all the dresses are so different. I have been so inspired by peoples ideas. The yellow dresses have a flower at the top and bottom.

Look how pretty they look......

Two of the blue dresses had a row of flowers along the bottom which I love.

and the last blue dress has a flower at the the top and bottom.

It looks great next to the pretty handmade bias binding

Huge thank you to everyone! Thats 127 dresses.

I finally got round to some sewing too. It was Izzy and Sam's Great Grandma's 93rd birthday at the week-end so I made 2 lavender hearts for the children to give her.

I think this is a Tanya Whelan fabric?

and a pretty love heart fabric

They took no time at all to make so I've decided to make some for Izzy's teacher and the teaching assistants at her school who are all so lovely. I'm also going to make something for Izzy's 'buddy' Olivia.  In Izzy's school they give each reception child a 'buddy' from year 6 to help them settle in. It has worked so well and the buddies have been amazing at taking on the responsibility and helping the reception children settle in. They deserve a big thank you. I have so many things I want to make. I just need to find some time to sew!

I also want to mention very quicky a great new initiative that Mencap have started called Make With Me.

Its about using making and baking as a way of raising awareness and fundraising for the brilliant work that Mencap do to support people with learning disabilities. I will blog about this more next week but if you have the time do pop over for a look. There is a great recipe card telling you how to make cake pops!