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  • Would you like to award someone special a knitted rosette? See the pattern to knit one here!

  • Little Squares Scarf, (quick pattern).

  • Little Squares Scarf, (step-by-step pattern, with lots of step-by-step photos).

  • How to sew up crochet or knitting with an invisible stitch, step-by-step tutorial

  • Sisterhood Crochet Blanket pattern for square.

  • step-by-step pattern for Sisterhood Crochet Blanket square. Makes crocheting this pattern a doddle for beginners!

  • step-by-step tutorial for some basic crochet stitches

  • Tara's failsafe cup cake sponge recipe

  • knitted slipper pattern

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Comments

felicity

yummy colours, it reminds me of last week, poor joshy did succumb to the bright plastic rainbow displays!! and well i did succumb to the bright rainbow cath kidston displays!! he he!!
cant wait to see your new crochet colours! theres a nice wave/stripe bright blanket in crochet today magazine, have you seen it?

felicity xx

Hen

Hi Vanessa,
You know you don't have to justify your purchases to us! I often wonder what on earth people must think when I snapping away for my blog. It doesn't stop me though!
My purchases today were not as exciting as yours but the foam pad is very comfy to sit on on my hard bench. Now I just need to choose the fabric to make the cover for it but that's proving an impossible task.
When done on the fabric purchasing. Surely I should get a referrer's discount now?!
Hen x

lucy@theantidote

What a glorious riot of summer colour. Those little buckets you bought are perfect for collecting sea glass, and I KNOW you love a bit of sea glass.
We are headed of to the beach tomorrow with 90 six year olds! That will be a lot of buckets and spades and nets to watch over (and photograph) x

Moe (Seaweed, Roses & Wool) x

Hi Vanessa,
Oh the colours are just amazing! A yummy rainbow of buckets and spades just waiting to go and have some fun, oh you are lucky to live near such a shop and I agree what does it do to the kids when they see that display? We missed you yesterday, we were also discombobulated for the day from your lack of posting! hope you enjoyed your knitting class, what are you making?
Moe xx
Moe xx

Lululiz

Those are knock out colours, wow! Darned nice photos, too.

Helen Lambert

what wonderful photos Vanessa...I love them, you have such an eye for things...the colours are so vibrant....you should have taken a picture of the man for the blog...and the life guard of course......

Deborah

Your lovely pictures have cheered up a right old soggy day. Takes me back to being about six!
Deb x

Mummy Boo Bear

Lol I love the word discombobulated! My brother uses it a lot too! Love all the colours, and I am now dreaming of a lazy fun filled day at the beach.

Can you feel the gentle pull of the waves?


MBBx

Jennyff

Those colours are amazing, not sure though if you should incorporate them all in your next craft project. I'd have had to make a purchase too, yours will look pretty somewhere in the garden I'm sure. You've left me wanting to go to Scarborough for a colour shock.

Kate Bruning

I am filled with a need to travel to England just for those buckets and spades. I have to admit buckets and spades don't last long in our house between the boys and the dogs (I almost wrote gods... hmmm.). Poor boys, they are now the only one on the beach with yoghurt containers and clothes powder scoops. They also look a bit odd because they insist on wearing their new life jackets making me look like Safety Mum - I counteract it by letting them take giant machetes and flick knives to the beach as well. You have to have balance.

Karen

We have a couple of lovely shops like that on our seafront and my choice would have been the bucket with the little boat on too.
Our best bucket came floating down the River Dart on Dartmoor and my oldest son then aged about 5 waded in to retrieve it. It was shaped like a castle and we still have it 10 years on. Karenx

Laura

You certainly have an eye for pleasing colors! I love the cheerful brightness of the buckets and spades and the beach fun they imply!

Dragonfly

Fabulous photos - they remind me of our summer holiday last year in Pembrokeshire. It was probably the only colour we saw in a miserable grey week, weatherwise!

Pipany

Gorgeous pictures Vanessa. they just burst out of the screen! Hurray, it's Friday and hopefully life will slow a little for you xx

Pippa

Nice to see photos of proper seaside buckets and spades, I love the sight of them too. There is a child in us all still!!

Maggie

Great to have a real toyshop, the sort that children can be children in, not little adults conversing about the latest electronic games. I hate the way children are made (in some cases) to be grown up, too soon. I loved, loved the colours of this posting, and why shouldn't you buy a bucket? I have bought silly children's things like that in the post, with the excuse I would one day give them to my grandchildren. HaHaHa... .paltry excuse. I just loved the look of the thing and had to have it, usually they don't cost more than a couple of pounds, so where's the harm in indulging the inner child.. even if some would say I should no better. Come here and say that if you dare!!!

Maggie

Of course, that should be KNOW better at the end, just in case you were thinking I really had reverted to childhood and couldn't spell proper!

The Curious Cat

COLOUR EXPLOSION!!!!!!

Julie

they are fantastic colours. We are off on a beach trip soon, and I'm itching to be sand castle building, rock pooling and the rest with the children. Even more now I've seen your inspiration!

Liz

What fantastic colours!!! I want to rush out and buy some too - but I don't live near the coast :( As soon as I saw them I thought they'd make funky garden plant pots!

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Hello and welcome!


  • Hello, my name is Vanessa Cabban, and I'm so pleased you've dropped by! I'm an artist and illustrator, working from home. I have two Miniature wire-haired Dachshunds, Ellie and Douglas. I love being part of the blogosphere, reading your comments, and feeling like I'm part of a community. I hope you enjoy reading about my small world.

Books I have illustrated!


  • The Best Gift of All

  • Book and dvd,(narrated by Kevin Whateley), of Bringing Down the Moon

  • There's a House Inside My Mummy

  • The Magic Donkey Ride

  • Down in the Woods at Sleepytime

  • Dear Tooth Fairy

  • Dear Mermaid

  • No Place Like Home

  • Diamond in the Snow

  • Bringing Down the Moon