Reader Appreciation Award!

Oooh!  How exciting! I have been awarded a Reader Appreciation Award by the wonderful Corrie of Plutonium Muffins.

So, there are three guidelines I have to follow.

Thank the person who nominated you
As I've already said.  I've been nominated by the lovely Corrie, author of Plutonium Muffins blog.  I've been following Corrie on Twitter for a while now and we got to know each other a little better when I answered her plea for someone to join her in a KAL for dog blankets for Battersea Dogs and Cats Home earlier this year.  Her blog is well worth checking out I love catching up with her through it.

Answer 10 Questions
There are 10 questions to answer so that you, my readers, can find out a little more about me.  Here goes!

1.  Your favourite colour
I love colour and my favourite does  tend to fluctuate between teal, pink and purple.  Currently my favourite is purple.

2.  Your favourite animal
I am a vegetarian who loves animals.  I do live with many, many animals - rabbits, guinea pigs, gold fish, Giant African Land Snails and a hamster.  I also love cats (the only reason we don't have any is because Mr Bunny is highly allergic to them!)  As far as non-pet animals go I think Owls and elephants are beautiful, and have lots of owl and elephant related items in my house, love donkeys, want to own goats, sheep and alpacas one day and adore whales and dolphins and am a big supporter of Sea Shepherd.  What is my favourite animal? All of them!

3.  Your favourite non-alcoholic drink
I love elderflower and Aldi do great bottles of sparkling elderflower water and apple and elderflower juice - mmmm.  If it's tea, I like Assam and fruit teas.  I'm also partial to a caramel latte and a hot chocolate when it's chilly outside!

4.  Facebook or Twitter
Both!  If you don't already you can find me here on Facebook (gingerbreadbunny) and I'm GingerbreadBun on Twitter.

5.  Your favourite pattern

Now there's a question.  It will have to be a collection of patterns - Aoibhe Ni's Tunisian Lace Shawls.   Theya are gorgeous and I can't wait to make more of them over winter to keep my neck warm.  They are great as you can make them with your ordinary crochet hook.

6.  Getting or giving presents
That's a hard one.  Of course I love getting presents but I also love giving presents, especially when it is something handmade - although that can be pretty nerve wracking to!

7.  Your favourite number
Oddly enough, 7.  Why?  I like the way it looks, it is an odd number and I always think thinks look better in an odd number and it is the number of attempts it took me to pass my driving test.

8.  Your favourite day of the week
It depends on the week and what's happening.  Weekends are a favourite because it is my time for crafting, chilling out, dancing etc etc etc

9.  Your favourite flower
Roses.  They are the flowers I had when I got married.

10.  What is your passion?
Craft.  I adore it.  Being able to make something for yourself is amazing.  Wearing clothing you have made yourself is so satsifying.  I love teaching craft and empowering people to be able to make for themselves to.

Nominate some fellow bloggers

Obviously, Corrie from Plutonium Muffins but apparently she can't be an 'official' nomination. 

In no particular order we have:

Shinybees - Jo is a very old friend of mine who now resides in South Africa.  She is a keen knitter and her blog is very well written and a great read.

iMake - Martine is from Guernsey and explores lots of different crafts.  Her blog is a treasure chest of information and defintley one to subscribe to.

Random Wooliness - Ali is a keen felter and, with my new found love of felt making, her blog is one I check out regulalry.  She makes some beautiful things!

Fresh Stitches - This is the newest blog on my reading list.  Stacey is the designer of the most adorable amigurumi creatures and I can't wait to find the time to make Nelson the Owl. 

I hope you have found out a little more about me!

Thank you again Corrie for the nomination!

Goodbye 2011, Hello 2012!

Photo courtesy of Ludie Cochrane via Flickr

It's that time of the year again when we reflect on what the past year has brought us and think about what we hope the New Year will bring. 

2011 has been a fantastic year for the Gingerbread Bunny.  It was the year that I launched my blog and my (very small) business.  I have enjoyed blogging much more than I initially thought I would and have shared my crafty work and connected with so many wonderful like minded people.  It has been amazing.

2011 was the year I taught myself some new crafty skills.  I learnt how to knit and crochet and I am truly a yarn addict.  (My current work in progress is a jumper!  I never thought I would be crocheting a jumper by the end of the year!)

2011 was also the year I taught my first ever crafty workshops and I loved it.  The feedback was great and I am really looking forward to teaching more in the future.

I hope that 2012 will see The Gingerbread Bunny continue to grow as a blog and as a business.  I am also looking forward to teaching more workshops and sharing my love of crafting with others. 

I have set myself 2 crafty resolutions;

To learn how to do Tunisian crochet.  I saw Holly (who has started a crafty blog - check it out) doing some Tunisian crochet and the final effect is gorgeous.  

I  also what to attend more workshops next year.  I have already enroled on the next Textiles course at night school for this term and am really looking forward to it.  I really want to go on a dressmaking course and definitley need to get myself booked onto another art journaling workshop at Art from the Heart in Harrogate!

Since Mr Bunny is working a night shift,  I will be seeing in the New Year on my own with my art journal and a glass of rose.  I will complete the final page in my 2011 art journal, reflecting on what the year has given me, and will begin my 2012 art journal, thinking about my own personal goals for this year. 
All that leaves me to do is to wish you all a Happy New Year.  See you in 2012!

Me, me, me!

Hello to you all whether you are an existing follower of my blog or a new one (becuase I think I have acquired some new followers this past week!)

What a week I have had - and for great reasons!  So I have to warn you that, in the words of Louise from The Caithness Craft Collective podcast, this post is a bit ME ME ME!!!

Last weekend I was involved in the Art from the Heart bloghop to celebrate their 10th birthday (which is this weekend - Happy Birthday!)  Art from the Heart is my favourite art shop ever.  It is a good hour and a halfs drive from where I live, located in Harrogate in Yorkshire.  They sell the most amazing art and craft supplies and host fabulous workshops in art journaling amongst other things.  I am off there tomorrow morning, very early, for a gorgeous taster workshop with Dyan and maybe to spend some pennies!  So anyway, back to the bloghop, I signed up for it thinking it would be fun.  I was allocated to the 7 Gypsies team and so had to make anything using 7 Gypsies products, photograph it and then share my project in my blog hop post.  What fun!!! So, I made my journal page, filled in the template and set my post up to publish at 10am on Saturday morning.  Good, mission accomplished! 

Now, if you comment on my blog it has to be moderated before it goes live.  I check my iPhone and I have 6 comments to be moderated.  Ooooh, thinks me, how lovely!  However, it didn't stop there and I soon realised that this blog hop thing was going to be much bigger than I ever imagined.  To cut a long story short, I currently have something like 80, yes 80, comments on my bloghop post and, last Saturday, my blog was viewed 695 times!  I still cannot believe it - how amazing!!

So, after that most exciting event last weekend, my Craftseller magazine arrived.  This is a new magazine that is all about selling your crafts.  It is really good, has some great advice in it and projects that you can make and sell.  I got issue one back in May and made some little babushka dolls (you can find them in one of my past blog posts).  I joined the Facebook group and posted a link to my blog post about them (I like to share!) and that was it.  Until I received an email from a lovely lady at the magazine asking me if I wouldn't mind them featuring my dolls on their letters page.  So Issue 2 arrived on Thursday and I am in it, it is small but it counts.  I will also let you into a little secret, but I may be featured again in a future issue.  Squeal!




Me in print

 Now, you may think that that is enough excitment for 1 week, but no.  This morning I woke up rather early and was checking up on all the blogs I like to follow.  I was reading the lovely Random Wooliness blog by the gorgeous Ali, and her latest post, Seven things about me! is all about The Irresistbly Sweet Award she has received from another blog.  How gorgeous it was to read the post and then find that, as part of the award, she has to pass it onto 7 others and I am one of them!  Overwhelmed!  Thank you Ali x

Also this week, yes there is more, I have been asked to teach some workshops and to guest blog on another blog. (Slowly but surely I am taking over the World!)

I have to say that when I started to blog I never imagined that any of these things would happen, but it sure feels great that it has!  Blogging is a fabulous way of meeting like minded people and I have met so many.  So, whether you are an exsisting follower or a new one, thank you for stopping by and making my blog so special! 

The end of summer!

Well, it is here, the end of the Summer holidays (not that we've seen much of the summer).  On Thursday I go back to school and have my pencil case and new school bits 'n' bobs ready to go and have planned lots of exciting lessons to teach my new class.  The start of the new school year is really my New Year, it's a new start, a new class and new lessons and it is quite exciting.  It does, however, mean that there will not be as much time for me to craft and, once again, I will have to squeeze it in during my dinner time and whilst catching up on my favourite TV programmes at night!

The start of the new school year is also a sign that autumn is on it's way and it is nearly time to get the wooly's out - cardigans, jumpers, hats, mittens and scraves!  Hooray!  It is heaven for knitters and crocheters as we can finally wear all the items we have been making during summer. 

I recently bought the Complete Guide to Knitting and Crochet by Nikki Trench after it was recommended to me by a friend.  It is a great book and has lots of information on the history of knitting and crochet, yarn, basic stitches and more complicated ones as well as a good number of modern patterns. 

I have already crocheted hats (one for me in Noro Silk Garden and one for a Christmas present) and am currently working on the Frill Shawl in a gorgeous teal King Cole Haze Glitter.  I have plans for other projects in the book to!  It is well worth getting and I bought my copy for £1.51 on Amazon and I have seen it in Asda and The Works to.  

I can't wait to wear my hat!

Blog Hopping
This coming weekend, 3rd September,  I am involved in something rather exciting in the blogging world - my first blog hop!  All I am going to tell you is that it is all linked to Art from the Heart's 10th Birthday celebrations and includes a bit of a competition.  Check my blog on the 3rd of September from 10am for more exctiting details.    

I love the Postman!

Yay!  The postman has finally bought me the wadding I need to make my bucket bag at the weekend!!! He also bought me what looks to be a great book called Blogging for Bliss by Tara Frey!  Expect to see an improved blog soon!!!!  All I need now are my tags and stamp and I will be a very happy bunny! x