the tale of the beastie boys

Beastie boys pencil toppers

Once upon a time, last Friday, Mrs P-L decided to do a post about ants, what a strange lady!As she did the school run she began to think. Now everyone knows that when Mrs P-L decides to think, she'll have an IDEA!
"Run, run," Mr P-L shouted "This is a dangerous thing!"
It usually means that Mr P-L will have to help. Luckily for Mr P-L all he had to do was agree with the strange lady and go to John Lewis on his way home from work.
Mrs P-L thought about all the little boys who have to go to craft fairs with their mums, and might like a little something for themselves.
 "How about an ant pencil topper?" said Mrs P-L.
First she got some felt and cut out circles, big ones and small and arranged them several times. When she was happy she sewed them in place, and it made her smile.
The ant then met some friends - spider and caterpillar and they decided they wanted to join the story as well. So they decided to go on a blog hop and say hello to all the new friends and old at Handmade Monday.
What happens next?
It's up to you!

Four for Folksy Friday and a a a

I've been toying with two ideas lately about doing something different with the blog - one is a crafting alphabet and the other is joining in with Folksy Friday. So today is my first fumbling step into this.
First the crafting alphabet idea. Well. my first thought for a - was ants! As an early years teacher who has taught phonics for many moons, a means 'a .. a ...a ... ants' (coupled with my fingers climbing up my arm). All the teachers and mums out there know what I mean!
Now I had ants on the brain, and I was - to admit it - stuck! I couldn't think of a recipe or a make to do (Actually I've come up with several, after the drive to school!) with ants, so I had a look on Folksy and it came up trumps.
So my Four for Folksy Friday are ...


Textile Mug by Miwary

This cute fabric mug from Miwary

Bean bag by Zoe Est Kids

A beautiful big beanbag from Zoe Est Kids

Backyard Party fabric by Michael Miller from Stitch Me Lane

Fab fabric from Stitch Me Lane

Card from Suzy Taylor

This amazing paper cut design from Suzy Taylor

I'm off now to make some ant related items (good for the beastie lovers out there!). I'll post some pictures when I'm done. As an aside, to all those in the know about Jolly Phonics, I have now got the song 'A a a ants on my arm' going round and round in my head!

Ants .......

Not much crafting done this week-end as I spent yesterday ferrying son around and today in the garden.
The strawberries are flowering well,

but have outgrown their tub, I have lots of grand plans for a vegetable and fruit raised bed, but this all depends on when the help is available! So in the meantime it is pots everywhere! The other things that are everywhere are ants! They invaded the kitchen last night - a small skirmish in the ant war - and we are now on full alert! Some even made it through the kitchen window this afternoon. So I am on the lookout for an ant barrier that works. I have read that chalk stops them, but it didn't last night.

The Easter Bunny sign also went out today!
Hoping to get some more knitting and sewing done over the next few days ready for our next fair - Berrow Village Hall, Saturday 23rd April - see you there!