Ganglabs #2 - The Koselig Blanket

Do you remember my very excited post back in June about how I got shortlisted in the very first Wool and the Gang Ganglabs challenge? Click here to read all about it...  (The competition was extremely popular and you may be interested to know that the three winning designs are now available to buy as knit kits )

Pretty Nostalgic & Clothes Show Live sewing competition

Fabulous magazine devoted to all things vintage, Pretty Nostalgic have teamed up with Clothes Show Live 2013 and are calling all crafters, makers, designers and customisers to show off their creative skills in a great new competition.

The Best Customised Party Outfit Competition is open to everyone and the winners get free tickets to Clothes Show Live 2013 where you will see your work showcased at the Pretty Nostalgic Customisation Station plus a chance to feature in the magazine itself.

What do you need to do?

First you will need to download an entry form from here and send it in, along with before and after photographs of your reworked party outfit by October 1st 2013.

There are three catagories - mens, womens and kids outfits - and the initial stage of judging will be based on this entry so make sure you include lots of detail about how your outfit was constructed, materials used, inspiration and, of course, a picture of the final outfit being modelled.

A selection of entries will be invited to the Pretty Nostalgic Gathering in Bristol in late October for the next round of judging where the final three outfits from each category will be selected to go forward to the grand final at the Clothes Show Live 2013. Pretty Nostalgic will be hosting their own Customisation Station where visitors can bring their own outfits for advice on customising and redesigning. The final designs will be on display in this area.

You can enter all three categories if you wish and the judges will be looking particularly at good use of upcycled and recycled clothing and cast offs - so go to town, raid granny's button tin, scour the charity shops and ask friends for things they don't want anymore and get creative.

DATES and DEADLINES

Entry closing date : 1st October 2013
Semi finals :  26th/27th October 2013 at Pretty Nostalgic Gathering, Kings Weston House, Bristol
Finals : 6-10 December 2013 at Clothes Show Live 2013, NEC Birmingham

GOOD LUCK!

'Boost your stash' Giveaway Winner!!

Wow! I was a little overwhelmed by the number of entrants to my little giveaway!  I think one or two lovely people may have shared it on MSE as a lot of traffic came from there over the weekend! Whoever you are, thank you!

It took me best part of an hour to collate all the entries from here, facebook and twitter, writing all the names on slips of paper, folding them up ready for the drawer...

Let me introduce my special, utterly non-biased but very cute assistant - Roo

**Congratulations**

Mia Fergusson

Mia left this comment on the blog post and also entered via facebook and twitter

"i would love to win , there is so many things i could make but id love to give making teddy bears a try."

I would love to see what you do make with your new bundle, Mia!

Thanks to everyone who took part and if you would still love some of that beautiful fabric I have the fat quarter bundle for sale here at the special price of £9.99. I'll even refund the postage charge if you message me when ordering mentioning that you entered the 'Boost your Stash' giveaway.

A slap up meal at Inn on the Wye

Last night we went out!

Without the small boy in tow!!

It doesn't happen often so please will forgive the excessive use of exclamation marks...

A few weeks back I won a competition on Facebook  - a three course meal for four, plus a bottle of champers at a lovely local pub/restaurant called The Inn on the Wye.

Situated on the banks of the River Wye with the fabulous ruins of Goodrich Castle just across the river this popular gastro pub has recently changed hands and had a bit of a spruce up.  I had been here before but it was quite a few years ago and far too much Stella was consumed on that occasion for me to remember too much about it!!  These days it's a well proportioned country style pub, with lots of comfy sofas, a big fireplace and various rustic dining tables about the place. They have a small number of rooms too if you want to use the Inn as a base to explore the local area. They also do wedding packages.

Stupidly I didn't have my blogging hat on last night so no photographs of food to share. You'll just have to take my word for it that it looked gorgeous and tasted even better.

I had a warm goats cheese salad with balsamic dressing for starters and haddock and beautiful crunchy steak chips with tartare sauce and mushy peas for main. Delicious!! (chippy fare this was not... oh how I wish you could see it!)  

The portions were well on the generous side - so much so that none of us had any room for dessert. But that wasn't a problem - our waitress just took our order and wrapped it to take away!

The service was brilliant and the atmosphere was relaxed making the evening thoroughly enjoyable.

If you are ever in the area I heartily recommend the Inn on the Wye!

 We brought our champers home too.

Now just need something really big to celebrate!

Please note :: This is not a sponsored review post - I won the competition run on their Facebook page and was under no obligation to write about it. I just felt I had to share coz it was just soooooo good!

Pin it to WIn it! - A Crafty Competition from Abakhan

As I mentioned in my previous post those lovely folks over at Abakhan have finally got themselves on Pinterest - you can follow them here - and to celebrate they have launched a brand new competition.

Follow the instructions below and you could win yourself a £20 voucher to spend on any Abakhan goodies you like!

Easy peasy - who doesn't love spending hours browsing and pinning lovely crafty goodness, or is that just me? 

So what are you waiting for? There is a huge range of crafting essentials to be found on their website from knitting, crochet and felting to patchwork, toy making and clothes patterns. There are plenty of children's crafty things too - fabric paints (we used them to make a fab 'Retro Rocket' softie here), funky foam, Fimo modelling clay and lovely sew-your-own kits.  The only trouble you might have is choosing products for only ONE project!

Good luck!

ps - If you don't have a Pinterest account already, it's very easy to set up. Just be warned it will suck away the hours like nothing else . . .   (in the nicest possible way :-) )

Introducing... Lou Lou's Luxuries

One of the best things about being a part of the fabulous online crafting community is some of the lovely friendships with other designer/makers I have formed over the past 18 months or so. Some are old hands with plenty of experience, on hand to offer help and advice. Then there are others who were relative newbies, setting up around the same time as me and we have watched (and encouraged) each other as we grow and develop our businesses.

One of the first people I started talking to on Twitter was Kerry 'Lou Lou' Milne. She was selling her fabulous range of vintage inspired pieces on Folksy at the time but has since gone independent and set up her own website Lou Lou's Luxuries. To celebrate the launch Kerry agreed to spill the beans a little on her inspiration and aspirations...

So, Kerry, how long have you been making jewellery? Why did you start?

I've always loved making things, my mum has countless cross stitches, pillow covers, plaster casts and bracelets that I've made since I could tie a knot but I never thought I'd do anything remotely crafty in the future.  It wasn't until last year when I had some time off from the day job and started playing around with beads and vintage bits and bobs.  Low and behold...a couple of months later Lou Lou's Luxuries was born!  And she's here to stay (I hope!).

Where do you find inspiration?

My Jewellery is definitely inspired by history, nature and fashions of the past.  I've always been a bit of a history geek and funnily enough one of the first ever books I borrowed from a library was a fashion through the ages book.  I love the style and sophistication of the Victorian era - especially their love of pearls!  I'd love to think that my style encapsulates the feminine style of a by-gone era.

Can you describe a typical Lou Lou's Luxuries customer?

Oooh let's have a think!  The typical Lou Lou's Luxuries customer is someone with a love of vintage fashion, someone who loves to feel feminine and beautiful with simplistic but beautiful accessories.  Probably someone with a lot of shoes too!

Any plans in the pipeline you can tell us about? What does the future hold for Lou Lou's Luxuries?

That's a secret ;)

Describe your style in 6 words

Vintage, feminine, sophisticated, luxurious, beautiful, wearable

Apart from making jewellery are there any other arts/crafts you practice or any you would like to learn?

I have tried my hand at lots of different things over the years!  I've tried card making (nope...not very good at it!) I've made soaps, I've done some wood work, cross stitching and I'm also not too bad at knitting :)  Although I only seem to knit in the winter and every year I have to buy new needles because I loose them during the rest of the year!  But watch out...I may add a line of knitted luxuries to the website in about November hehehe.

What would be your perfect day?

Hmm...my perfect day would probably happen on a Sunday :) And a perfect Sunday doesn't start until about 11:30am.  That's about the time to move from bed onto the sofa and await a delicious bacon sandwich from the other half, followed by a gallon of coffee and and film snuggled up in front of the telly.  Squeeze in a bit of crafting and then a Sunday roast and that's the day sorted!  Oooh and if there could be some sunshine and the scent of fresh cut grass coming in through the window then that's a bonus.

Many thanks to Kerry for taking the time to answer my questions, your website looks lovely!

Now, lovely readers, here's your chance to get hold of your very own Luxury from Lou Lou.

Kerry is giving away a fabulous and bang-on-trend flower ring! 

Measuring an impressive 45mm across, this stunning deep red cabbage rose ring will certainly get noticed and would look gorgeous with this seasons rich, autumnal colours.

Set on an Art Nouveax inspired, gold coloured filigree base that can be adjusted to fit any size. Supplied in it's own little pouch so it would make a lovely gift for someone special, if you can bare to part with it!

So how can you get your hands on this little luxury?

First of all visit loulousluxuries.co.uk and have mooch around. What's your favourite item? Perhaps you like the cute Bouquet Dreams earrings? Or the stunning peacock freshwater pearls of Depths of Beauty necklace.

Next, leave a comment here, tell us which Luxury you would love to treat yourself to. (don't forget to include a way I can get hold of you if you are the lucky winner - email or twitter name is fine)

And that's it!

For extra bonus entry you can like this blog with GFC in the column to the right - and leave a comment to say that you have done so.

If you are on twitter tweet the following for another bonus entry "I want to win a little #luxury from @loulousluxuries and #TalesfromMountPleasant http://bit.ly/ommMkl "

The giveaway ends at 10pm on Monday 12th September and is open to UK residents only. The winner will be drawn by a random generator (ie - my other half ;) )

Good Luck everyone!!

This giveaway is now closed. The winner will be announced at 9pm Tuesday 13th Septempber.

Win a Nick Jr Goody Bag!

This giveaway is now closed.

Congratulations to 

Lorraine Cooper

hope your little one enjoys her special prize :)

Join me 'Living Barefoot' Giveaway

My first batch of gorgeous Barefoot Books have arrived and I am like a kid in a sweet shop! This takes me right back to my bookshop days when a delivery of new titles was like Christmas. I absolutely adore the smell when you open the box - new print, unopened books full of delights just waiting to be enjoyed...  The there is the 'oooo'-ing and  'aahhh'-ing as each treasure is lifted out and examined. It doesn't matter how thorough the reps are seeing an image of a book in a catalogue is never as good as actually holding it in your hands....

So, yeah, I LOVE books!  I especially love beautifully illustrated kids books!! And when it comes to illustrations Barefoot Books are definitely amongst the best - from the distinctive (and lovely) oils of Niamh Sharkey  and the stained-glass inspired illustrative style of Olwyn Whelan to the dreamlike quality of Italian artist Nicoletta Ceccoli and the gorgeously bold and colourful work of Debbie Harter plus many, many more.

There are also a large number of story books available with accompanying CD's and Barefoot Books have enlisted the vocal talents of Niamh Cusack (Tales from Celtic Lands, The Faery's Gift), Jim Broadbent (Storytime, The Prince's Bedtime), Miranda Richardson (The Princess and the White Bear King, The Barefoot Book of Stories from the Opera) and Juliet Stevenson (The Tear Thief, The Real Princess)

Amongst their new titles for this year are a series of gorgeous 'Sing along' books complete with 'enhanced' cd's that bring the book's illustrations to life in a little animation with  the words scrolling across the bottom of the screen! Brilliant fun for little ones (and not-so-little ones) and a great way to learn a new favourite.

Check out the fabulous 'Over in the Meadow' below



To celebrate my becoming a Barefoot Books ambassador, I have one copy of this gorgeous book and enhanced CD to give away to one lucky reader!

To enter this competition please do at least one (if not all) of the following:

• Firstly - pop along to Barefoot Books and have a look around at their gorgeous selection of books for children of all ages, then come back and leave a comment telling me which one (or more) you would love to give to the special little person in your life. You MUST do this to be entered into the draw.

For extra entries you can - 

• 'Like' the Tales from Mount Pleasant Facebook page - this will keep you up to date with future competitions, giveaways and new Barefoot Book releases. Comment to let me know.
• Follow this blog with 'Google Friend Connect' or subscribe to the RSS feed by clicking on the tab at the top of the column to the right. Again, please comment to let me know you have done so.
• Post the tweet ' I want to #livebarefoot with @forestflower23 and Barefoot Books' with a link to this blog post.

The competition runs until 9pm Sunday 24th July. The winner will be chosen by a Random Number Generator and the winner will be announced on Twitter and Facebook and emailed if address provided. If the winner does not get in touch within 7 days the prize will be re-drawn.

Please note this competition is open to UK residents only. 

Good Luck x

*please note the prize has been paid for by myself and not provided for free by Barefoot Books. This post is not sponsored by them in anyway. As a Barefoot Books Ambassador I earn a commission on any books sold through my link to their website.

Competiton wins!

Do you ever enter competitions on blogs or posted on Twitter or Facebook and then forget all about them? I know I do! Most of them require no more than a click to follow and a retweet or a comment left and then, as I never win anything, most of them get forgotten about!

One I had completely forgotten about was run by Yorkshire Lavender (you can follow them on Twitter @yorkslavender ) to win a kilo of their fabulous dried lavender. So as you can imagine I was thrilled when the congratulations tweet popped up in my mentions column on Tuesday :) My box of lavender arrived on Friday morning. Do you have any idea what a kilo of dried lavender looks like?

...yes that is a carrier bag full!!!

...and it smells divine :)



I use dried lavender a lot in my designs, usually homegrown and dried so I have limited stocks, so this prize was much appreciated!

We will be holidaying in Yorkshire later this year and we may even fit in a trip to the award winning Yorkshire Lavender farm and gardens and buy a few plants to add to my own garden.

As if that win wasn't enough on Saturday night I was notified that I had won another!  This one run by one of my favourite online fabric suppliers SeamStar . Their competitions are always popular and as this as a bumper giveaway open for a month I knew they would have A LOT of entries and my chance of winning would be minimal. But it didn't stop me hoping...

When Courtney at Seamstar tweeted that I had won one of the three amazing hampers I was over the moon!!!

It arrived yesterday. I hope you don't mind if I share...

Beautifully packaged!

It was my birthday last week - this was like an extra special birthday present :)

I mean - just look at all these lovelies. Who could not be inspired by this selection?

There are even a couple of lovely owl prints by one of my favourite designers Saffron Craig. This one might become the netbook sleeve I have been meaning to make...

Riley picked out this funky bright print 'Lollipop Dreams' by Patty Young as his favourite.

...and just look at this selection of gorgeous cotton voiles by Anna Maria Horner I really don't know what I am going to make with them yet, but whatever it is, it will be special!

There was also a big bag of grosgrain ribbons in just about every colour you could ever need!

Not to mention some habdash extras - pins, buttons and zips.

As competition prizes go this was pretty darn amazing so thank you once again Courtney and SeamStar for making my birthday week one to remember :) I can heartily recommend that you visit the wonderful 'Seamzine' blog for all the latest products, projects, competitions and giveaways.

And good luck...next time it could be you!