A Joint Venture

You may or may not have heard me mention many times on this blog about my good friend Jill, aka OnePinkHippo. This year we were both bitten by the Blythe Bug - it's a dangerous, contagious disease that makes one obsessed with big headed, big eyed dolls...


Valerie-DBF on Flickr has is bad...

Jill and I have talked a whole lot about our own girls and those we've found on Flickr, and we have recently took the plunge and started customising our own. The only thing stopping us from meeting and discussing them further is the silly Atlantic Ocean, as I am in England and Jill in the US. That and about £500 for a plane ticket. So to bridge the gap we have started a joint venture, our very own Blythe blog!

With inspiration from the great Mason Dixon Knitting blog, we will use the blog to write letters to each other about all things Blythe. It will also be a database of Blythe knowledge, including links to free patterns, tried and trusted online stores/seller, customisation tutorials and much more.

So, if you've been bitten by the bug, or you're just curious about these funny looking dolls, pop on over to EssHippo! We'd love to see you there :)

Long Overdue Pressie Post

Wow, why has it taken me over a month to upload these pictures?! Cos I'm lazy, probably.

Anyways, this is the fabtastic Christmas and Birthday package I recieved from my crochet pal Jill over at One Pink Hippo :D

Behold!!

First there was a lovely card from Jill and her girls Arwen and Susie (the words made my Mum go 'Aaaaawwww!!'); a red rubber ducky and a soapy sponge block in the shape of a gingerbread man! I have yet to use this - I'm thinking it will grow when you put water to it?! And a cute Christmas bag!

A pair of socks from the famous Forever 21 *yay!*, some mega cute knee high toe socks (they are very comfy!) and some Spanish rice!

2 of my favourite things! A tiny knit sweater! And a lovely pot holder in the same colourful yarn (I take it it's a pot holder - we don't really have them over here so I'm guessing by all the others I've seen on Ravelry!!).

And last but not least a mini Zhu Zhu hamster plushie!! *Squee!* Plus a kawaii necklace from Claires (I wasn't aware you had Claires over there!!) Not pictured, because I started using it as soon as I opened the box, is a great antibacterial hand cream called Sweet Pea. I love this stuff - I use it ever night before I go to bed, it smells so nice and clean!

THANK YOU SO MUCH for all the wonderful things Jill - I'm lucky to have such a great friend! Be on the look out in the post for a parcel! :D

Goodies!

I got some great goodies in the post last week! I loves getting stuff in the post lol!

First off I got a lovely card from Crystal...


Thank you Crystal - it really cheered me up! It is now sitting on my amigurumi shelf!

Also I got another fab package from Jill!

A cute card and fabric elephant (that my Mum is trying to steal from me!)


2 adorable hats for my new born cousins Alan and Roy (they are going to love them!! I love them!)


And some I <3 NY socks!


Here's an action shot :D



Thank you Jill, I love getting packages from you! Expect one back soon!

Also while I'm here I'd like to point you in the direction of Crystals new craft blog, Make A Mess! We all need some support when starting a blog, so please check it out - it's full of crafty goodness!!

Tagged!

I've been tagged! Jill tagged me on her brilliant blog the other day, so here goes...

1. What is your dream job?
I've always wanted to be an astronomer. I love anything to do with space. But alas, I'm not brainy enough :( Other than that I would really like to be a dental nurse, which I think is abit more realistic :)

2. What emotion do you feel is irrational?
Being obsessive. I'm VERY obsessive. It's totally unnecessary, but I still do it :(


3. Who's your favorite celebrity?


4. You're stuck on a deserted island. Name three people you'd take with you.
Apart from my family, I would take Johnny Depp, dressed as Captain Jack; Jill, so we could talk about crochet and stuff; and Synyster Gates from A7X, with his guitar so he could entertain us and teach me how to play the guitar better :) Are they actually aloud to bring stuff with them?!

5. How did you get into knitting/crocheting/crafting?
I've crafted my whole life - I remember as a kid I would make things out of yogurt pots and cereal boxes. I got into crocheting properly when I saw all the cute ami's on Craftster.org. I sooooo wanted to make one, so I taught myself using YouTube.

6. What's your favorite mythological creature?


7. What's the story behind your username?
Aaahhh, it's a clever one ;) My initials are 'S' 'H', so the 'Ess' stands for 'S' and the 'Haych' stands for the 'H'. I say H-Haych, just to be annoying! ;P

8. Do you like your handwriting?
It's ok. I never used to like it when I was at school - I was paranoid that it was all uneven and messy. Now I don't really care. Plus I hold a pen/pencil in a funny way; I wrap my index and middle fingers right round the pen/pencil and hold it like that :) They didn't like me doing that at school, but as long as you're writing, does it really matter?!

I think I have to tag other people now (can you tell I've never done this before?!) and change the questions. I tag Crystal, Richiesoft and Sarah. I don't think I can tag Jill 'cos she tagged me :)

Questions:

1. Where did you grow up? Did you like it there?
2. If you could go anywhere in the world, where would you go?
3. What was the first thing you crocheted?
4. What are your top 3 favourite TV programmes of all time?
5. Were you a good student at school?
6. What are you most proud of?
7. What skill would you like that you haven't got already?
8. Would you ever give blood?

Package Arrival!

I got a fab package from my crochet pal Jill the other day! :D Here's what I got!

A MERBEAR! YAY! I remember seeing a picture of these before and wishing I could kint! The pink yarn is from a ball I sent Jill afew months ago, so it's gone full circle!

I also got a great book; Sphere by Michael Crichton! It looks really interesting; from what I understand it's about a 300 year old spaceship that's found under the sea! I will read this when I have finished 'Lestat' :)

Thank you Jill!! I love getting packages from you!! Expect one back soon! :D

Pressie In The Post

I woke up this morning with a sore neck and a bad temper, but was cheered up when I found a parcel waiting for me from my good pal Jillz!


Ta-da! It's one of them cute little baby Zhu-Zhu hamsters! Here she is out of her box with her brush, bottle and mirror! I love the fact you get a mirror lol!


On her nappy she has a cute little picture of a Cupcake, so I'm gonna call her Cupcake :D Her new home will be on my desk in front of my clock, where I can keep an eye on her!


Thank you soooooo much Jillz - it really cheered me up! *Hugs!*

Day 18 - Whatever Tickles Your Fancy

Finally my camera started working again! Yay! So here's what I got from the wonderful Jillz when we did a Yarn Swap!


I got all this yarn! There's Red Heart, Sugar N Cream, Fancy Yarn - all sorts. I've already used the brown yarns to make a doll...


The brown, chunky, wavey yarn worked great as hair, and the Red Heart Sports Weight did great for socks and a dress. I have plans for the rest of the yarns - I'm in the middle of making a duster out of the Sugar N Cream stuff and I'm gonna make some ami's with the worsted weight. And a scarf with the fancy stuff. Ooooo the possibilities!


I got more! There was also a Crochet Today magazine (which I've heard so much about but never been able to get); googley eyes, cute buttons (as you can see I've already used one of the little bug ones!) And also a cute little octopus ami! I forgot to take a picture of him - he's sitting infront of my DVD's on my nearly cleared bookcase :D

And that's what I got! Once again a MASSIVE Thank You Jillz for swapping with me - it's been really fun! If ever you wanted to swap again I'd be only too pleased! :D

Yarn Swap Recieved!

I recieved my Yarn Swap goodies from Jillz yesterday! I'm really happy with everything I got - I've been spoilt!

I got loads of fab yarn in all different weights and colours. I also got lots of goodies including a cute little octopus! I'm gonna have to think of a name for him...

A big Thank You to Jillz - I'm really happy with everything you sent! I hope you'll be happy with your stuff!

**I'd take a picture of the stuff I got, but my camera is dead at the moment. Hopefully I'll get some pictures up in a few days :) **

Shame and Happiness

Over the past month or so our TV in the living room has been on the blink. It flashes and goes bright green. Nice. Really annoying - especially when I want to use the Wii Fit Plus at night. So today my Mum and Dad finally went out to get a new one. On the way back they said did my brother and I want something to eat out today and I shamefully said yes. I gave in and had a McDonalds Extra Value Meal. Not good for the diet at all - but I have been good lately so I suppose once won't hurt, right?! It's my weigh-in day tomorrow; I don't expect to have lost much as I've not been doing my exercises either this week as much as I'd like. The shame...

But several great things awaited me on my computer when I'd finished my McDonalds (which was lovely btw...). First off was an email from my crochet pal Jillz saying she'd received her Pink Monstie she won in my giveaway last month, and that they'd had a photo shoot! I love seeing the stuff I've made in their new homes! You can check the shoot out at her fab blog here!

Secondly I'd received my 100th sale in my Etsy Shop! Yay! I opened my shop a year ago this month, so am really happy to have got 100 sales within a year! A Big Thank You to everyone that has either bought something from me, tested my patterns, followed my blog, fanned me on Facebook or anything over the past year - your support is really appreciated! *Hugs!* Here's to another year!

-x-