Down & Out Chic

I discovered Christina's beautiful blog a couple of weeks ago when the lovely Sabine had a link to it. Whatever is good enough for Sabine is good enough for me, so I headed straight over to check it out.

And I was hooked. Christina is so stylish and has such an engaging way of just drawing you right in. She has a varied range of goodies to share, everyone as fab as the next.

I left a comment to say hi and immediately Christina got back to me and asked if I'd be interested in her featuring Blueberry Park. Obviously it took a long time to think about it. A nano-second later I replied!

I'm really thrilled to be featured on Christina's blog and honoured to be this week's giveaway. If you don't already know her blog, go take a look around. Take a coffee with you. You'll be there for quite a while.

Here come the girls

It's been a while since I did the boys' cushions that I recently designed and have been waiting for time to do the girls'. It's quite strange because I normally find girls' ideas come much more easily. But of late I've been struggling with ideas for the girls that work for me. I'm not entirely sure why that is. Whilst there are alot more images and designs you can work with for the girls, it is actually the more striking, graphic designs that work for boys.

It could be because i'm not actually a very good artist. All the images that I thought about using, I just couldn't get quite right when I tried to draw them out. Certainly not at this larger scale. I can get away with the simplicity in my little sized card designs, but on a bigger scale, they just didn't quite work.

I am however pretty pleased with the three that i finished up with. I've got some non-animal varieties that I'm lining up for series 2, but in the meantime enjoy the little creatures that have evolved here.

At the moment they are only available from my Etsy site. But if you like the look of them, watch this space, as any day now I'll be directing you to a gorgeous blog that is doing a Giveaway for your favourite...

Milestones

Life is a bit crazy at the moment. Do I say that a lot? I feel like I say that alot. When life is particularly crazy - like now - it overshadows what has come before. But really, thankfully, our lives are so full that it's always the same. Just crazy for a different reason.

This wave of craziness is due to celebrating, back-to-back, 4 friends' Bar Mitzvahs. Every weekend in June is taken up with the celebrations. It's even more poignant as this time next year we will be celebrating Samuel's. You know when you reach certain milestones you can't really believe you are there? Your children are old enough. You are old enough! Whether it's first steps, first day of school. But Bar Mitzvah? My son? Me?

It's a very exciting, emotional time and I must admit that last weekend, at the first of our 4, I felt very emotional indeed at the thought of this time next year. I used to feel a mixture of delight at seeing my children reach their milestones, as well as sadness of times passed. Now I love seeing them grow into the young people they are becoming and the thought of important milestones as Bar Mitzvahs is what it is all about.

This post didn't start off being about this. I had to rename it half way through! I was merely going to tell you about my new stash of fabric that my lovely auntie from USA brought with her when she came over for a family Bar Mitzvah last weekend! As I said. Life - crazy.

Lucky Number...

6!!

Kirsty from Me, Plus Molly is the lucky winner of my Taster Kit Giveaway. I know you couldn't decide whether Needle Felting or Crochet was what you were after, so drop me a line and I'll get your chosen kit to you as soon as poss...

Thanks for entering all of you. Keep reading as there'll be more soon :-)

Tea Party

I don't normally get around to doing 2 Posts in a day, but when you are just sent this stunning invitation to attend your friend's birthday party and invited to eat cake, drink champagne AND craft at the same time, then you just have to share it with the world.

Isn't it the most beautiful invitation you have ever seen?

Designed by the birthday girl herself :-)

Introducing...Tasty Kits...Giveaway

A while ago I discovered the talented Rachel Henderson and her cute Taster Kits. And in true Blueberry Park style, I had to have them and so they are now in the shop :-)

These kits really are fab for doing exactly what they say on the label - providing a little taster of a craft you may not have tried before. Rachel has packaged everything that you need, along with instructions and project ideas and presented them in a really irresistible way. As it says on the label...'Yummy'!

Try out a little taster of Embroidery, Crochet or Needle Felting. The wool Rachel includes is just delectable. So vivid. I'm sure you'll have lots of fun with them. And they make a perfect little gift too at under a fiver. I think they'll be fine for older kids, say over 8, but I'm not sure they are a good idea to give to little ones, with sharp needles 'n' all.

Go take a look at them. They are such fun! And to make it more so I am giving away one of the kits to one of you. All you you have to do is comment which is your favourite kit before Sunday night 7 June. I'll randomly choose a winner and let you know on Monday.

Charming Prints

I am proud to announce that Blueberry Park is the first official UK stockist of the wonderful Prints Charming fabric panels. Now that's something to get excited about!

As you know, I have been expecting them in for a little while and on Saturday the packages arrived. As you also know, I am a kid on a birthday AND christmas rolled in to one when I am expecting a parcel. But even the coolest of you out there would have been jumping around your kitchen at the announcement of their arrival!


For those of you that haven't had the pleasure of seeing these fabrics in the flesh, they are quite simply stunning. The colours are amazing and the designs quite perfect.
Just to prove a point, last night I sent out a Blueberry Park newsletter (please sign up here if you want to be included) and I heard back from my sister-in-law immediately about how much she loved them. My sister-in-law doesn't respond to my newsletters. She doesn't do crafts. So if non-believers are responding in this way, just imagine the reaction of someone who does care!