Pretty polka dots and sparkly cupcakes

This is a little gifty I made for my friend Hilary's birthday. I found the template for the cupcake on the lovely blog homemade by jill.

After realising a plain background wasn't really going to make the cushion look anything special, or particularly exciting, I rumaged through my million and one draws of scraps of fabric and found the very cute and fitting pink and white polka dot fabric. If it looks familar, it maybe because you remember this?

In my humble opinion, I think it works really well with the cupcake and actually think the Union Jack looks very sweet!

I love the whole cupcake phenomenon that's happening at the moment, and I'm super proud of my interpretation of the trend...and Hilary was pretty happy with her present, so everyone's a winner.

Red Roses...

When I lived in Chester, one of my absolute favourite ways to pass the day when I wasn't working was hunting around charity shops for goodies. And if it wasn't me finding little treasures, it was little miss Celia bringing fab treats back to the hostel.

Four years on, I FINALLY moved all of my stuff out of my parents house, and one of the coolest things I discovered was a little flower stencil book...something I think Celia brought me in Chester. I think I am unable to ever throw anything away...which I think is sometimes a pretty good thing.

So I decided to put the Rose stencil to good use and make this cushion cover...

I am actually pretty proud of this little cover! I think it's almost a bit christmassy...and I just love the pattern. Plus I liked trying out a different technique using fabric paint, rather than my usual felt and applique designs.

This was a really simple little project that has turned out pretty gosh darn perfect...to me :-)

A little taste of America...

In February Paul told me what he wanted for his birthday....tickets to see the San Francisco 49ers vs the Denver Broncos at Wembley. Yesterday, after waiting all those months for Hallowe'en to finally arrive, we headed off to London.

I can't say I've ever been interested in American Football, so I was a little bit nervous about spending three hours watching some big ass men chase a ball around a field!

Walking out of the tube station, Wembley stadium came right into view, the 49ers and the Broncos images plastered onto the front and we became part of a MASSIVE crowd walking up towards the stadium.

This game had been built up to be the Superbowl of the UK, and once we arrived I was definitely excited...I can't say I was expecting that!

My Chemical Romance provided the pre-game entertainment, complete with Niners Noise (the 49ers drummers) and The Gold Rush (the cheerleaders) dancing and drumming their little hearts out.

Then there were fireworks and flames and flags all warming up the crowd...all 83,941 of us! Then Michelle Williams (the er, lesser known girl from Destiny's Child) took to the stage to sing the American anthem, followed by Jeff Beck strumming God Save The Queen on his guitar...and then it was game on!

The game itself is confusing, especially if you've never seen it before in your life. What seemed like every five minutes, play would stop as the cheerleaders did a bit more cheering, or an advert was blasted out on the big screens. What's even more confusing is the fact that the ball is tiny! Well too small to actually see when there are men tackling each other when they don't even have the ball! Eesh!

Even when I tried to watch the game on the big screen, I was still lost, but I waved my flag when instructed, jumped up and down for the mexican wave, shouted DE-FENCE and cheered and whooped when the 49ers got a touchdown. I even got excited when the Broncos scored a touchdown (much to disapointment of Paul) but, like I said, I was clueless and if somebody scored, well who was I not to cheer them on?

Having this little taste of American Football was definitely an experience I enjoyed even though it wasn't what I expected. I can't say I'm now a fan, but hey, it was a once in a lifetime thing and I can at least say I tried it.