2012 ~ looking back

Here I am ~ just a little bit later than normal ~ taking a little nostalgic trip back through the highlights of my blogging year.

I love that I am able to look back at the Button Tree Craft archives, as it gives me a chance to be reminded of all the lovely everyday things that otherwise might be forgotten if they were not blogged about.

January 2012 ~ baking Gruffalo cookies with the small people. Baked to perfection and covered with chocolate sprinkles for fur and enjoyed with a nice cup of tea ::

February 2012 ~ I managed to knit my very first pair of socks ~ and was feeling very pleased with myself ::

March 2012 ~ Still enjoying the beautiful flowers that I received for my birthday ~ I really do want to try and have fresh flowers in the house more often this year as they always look so pretty ::

April 2012 ~ I went on some very lovely but very wet walks in the April showers wearing my new green and blue stripey wellies ::

May 2012 ~ I knitted some stripey Jubilee socks in the garden whilst enjoying the glorious May sunshine ::

June 2012 ~ I added a few more stripes to my Little Boy Blue Blanket ~ this blanket is still waiting to be finished ::

July 2012 ~ I added some more squares to my Summer Garden Granny Blanket ~ this blanket is also still waiting to be finished ::

August 2012 ~ We enjoyed some lovely Summery days on the beach ~ we are so very lucky to stay in such a beautiful place, with all this on our doorstep ::

September 2012 ~ I knitted myself a pretty lacy scarf in cosy blue merino wool ::

October 2012 ~ We went on a trip to Alton to visit family and enjoyed a lovely day out at Alton Towers ::

November 2012 ~ I knitted a seaside inspired scarf for my Advent Swap partner ~ Ada Bea. This was my very first attempt at coming up with a pattern of my own ::

December 2012 ~ We took a ride on The Polar Express as an early Christmas treat ::

I have really enjoyed this little look back at 2012 and reminding myself about things that made 2012 a special year for me and for my family. I love the fact that blogging allows me to keep all these special memories close by and that they will be there for my children to look back on when they are older. Thank you to you all for sharing this little journey back in time with me too ~ I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did.

Wishing you all a very Happy 2013 :O)xx

Merry Christmas

Just popping by to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. I hope you all have a wonderful time and that all your Christmas wishes come true :O)xx

Advent swap

A few months ago I signed up to take part in Laa Laa's Advent Swap and I was paired up with Ada Bea ~ who has a lovely blog called Vintage Sheet Addict.

These were the parcels that I sent ~ I really did enjoy putting together the swap parcel for Ada and my daughter was also really enthusiastic about it and gave me lots of help and advice along the way, suggesting that " the lady might like this" in practically every shop we went in to! She also handmade a present for me to include in the parcel too.

If you fancy having a peek at what I sent to Ada then you can pop over to her blog and take a look. There is also a Flickr group for the swap if you would like a wee browse at all the other swap pressies.

It has been really has been rather exciting having a little pressie to open up each day ~ much better than having a chocolate Advent calendar! In fact, my children want to know why they can't have an Advent parcel to open every day and are asking if I can make them up a box each for next year ~ we shall see!!

This is what I have received so far::

Day 1 ~ embroidery threads
Day 2 ~ a little bar of Green and Blacks chocolate
Day 3 ~ a pretty sea shell
Day 4 ~ a pack of vintage wall paper
Day 5 ~ a little bar of Green and Blacks chocolate(this one didn't quite make it as far as the photo shoot as it was too tempting and got eaten with a nice cup of tea)
Day 6 ~ heart decorations
Day 7 ~ vintage sheet material

I'm looking forward to the opening the rest of the parcels and will let you know what's inside once they have been opened :O)xx

Giveaway Winner

Thank you to everyone who left a comment on my recent bloggy birthday Giveaway post.  This year I somehow managed to get my brain into gear and work out how to use the Random Number Generator thingy ~  however, I didn't quite manage to work out how to post a picture of the said generator results onto my blog!

The lucky number selected was comment number 11 which was from Tales from a handmade home. Congratulations to you! ~ please can you e mail me with your details and I will get your book posted out to you sometime very soon :O)xx

The Polar Express ~ All Aboard!

Last weekend we headed off to Weardale as we had booked ourselves tickets on The Polar Express!

We all love the film of The Polar Express ~ we watch it faithfully every Christmas Eve ~ so the chance to have an actual trip on it was too much for us to resist.

We boarded the train at Stanhope station and set off on our journey through the dales towards the North Pole. The small people were dressed in their pyjamas and dressing gowns which made it seem even more magical for them.

Each carriage was decorated with Christmassy wreaths and baubles and had it's own conductor and fleet of singing and dancing chefs who served everyone with cups of hot chocolate and delicious chocolate chip cookies. During the trip the story of The Polar Express was read over a sound system whilst the chefs carried a beautifully illustrated book up and down the aisle for all the children to see.

For those of you that are not familiar with the story ~ it is a lovely story about a little boy who is just starting to doubt the reality of Father Christmas. He embarks on a magical train trip to the North Pole ~ along the way there is a ghostly hobo who preys on the boys doubts, but he is looked after by the kind conductor and all the other children who are on the train dressed in their pyjamas and dressing gowns. At the end of the journey he has his beliefs reaffirmed when he meets Father Christmas at the North Pole.

Our journey towards the North Pole was really enjoyable ~ the chefs went up and down the aisles singing and dancing and the ghostly hobo made the occasional appearance trying to steal the children's golden train tickets. As the train got nearer to the North Pole all the children on the train got very excited ~ pressing their little faces to the windows trying to get the first glimpse of Father Christmas. Once we reached the North Pole, Father Christmas and his elves boarded The Polar Express and all the children got a chance to tell him what they would like for Christmas and he gave out silver bells from his sleigh to all those who believe!

It really was a most enjoyable trip and I am now starting to really get into the Christmas spirit ~ not many sleeps to go now!! :0)xx

A Thank You and A Giveaway!

Firstly, I would like to say a huge Thank You to everyone for all the good wishes and bloggy hugs that were sent our way when my daughter went in to hospital for her operation.

I am pleased to report that the operation went very well, and although there were some hysterics before the pre-med, she managed to cope very well with the procedure. They decided to use "sleepy" gas to put her to sleep and then did what they had to do with needles whilst she was out for the count! Everything is healing up very nicely and she returned to school yesterday complete with a set of crutches. It will still be a few weeks until she is running about again but I am just so glad that everything is done now and we will just have to keep our fingers crossed that the legs grow at the desired pace and sort out their differences!

Last week ~ on 21st of November to be precise ~ I noticed that I been blogging for four years. I can't quite believe that it has been that long ~ but it has! I love being part of this lovely bloggy world ~ it truly is a wonderful place to be ~ packed full of inspiration and ideas and lovely like minded crafty souls like you!

To say a big Thank You to all of you that take time out of your day to read my ramblings, I am having a little Christmassy giveaway. Up for grabs is a copy of the new Mollie Makes Christmas book and I will also add a few other Christmassy bits and pieces to the parcel ~ although I haven't quite decided what they will be yet!  All you have to do to enter this giveaway is to leave me a comment on this post ~ it would also be lovely if you were a follower of my blog too.

I will leave the giveaway open for a week ~ until Thursday 6th December ~ so that the lucky winner can enjoy the book and hopefully have enough time to make a few things from it before Christmas arrives.

Good Luck and I look forward to reading your comments :O)xxxx

Tomorrow

About three years ago my daughter's dance teacher took us aside and told us that she thought that there was a slight difference in the length of my daughter's legs. She had noticed this because she was paying particular attention to the posture of the girls in the ballet class. Up until then we hadn't noticed that anything was wrong ~ but when we looked more closely we did see that she definitely had problems when she was trying to stand up straight. We promptly made an appointment with the doctor and the doctor did indeed confirm that there was definitely a difference in the length of her legs by about 1.5 centimetres. The correct term for this condition is Leg Length Discrepancy.

We were then referred to a Paediatric Orthopedic Consultant so that her legs could be monitored by X rays and MRI scans to see if the discrepancy became worse. Unfortunately, over the last couple of years it has now gotten to the stage where the difference is 3.4 centimetres ~ which is now fairly significant.

Whilst this is not really bothering her at the moment ~  it could have major implications later in her life if it starts to affect her back and spine.

Tomorrow she is being admitted in to hospital to have an operation to take growth cells from the knee joint of her longer leg so that hopefully her shorter leg will catch up when she takes her biggest growth spurt as she approaches puberty. She is absolutely terrified! She has a huge fear of all things medical ~ mostly needles ~ and although we have managed to successfully avoid these things in the past she will obviously need to have an anaesthetic which will obviously involve a needle.

I know that she is going to find this whole experience incredibly difficult and there is no doubt that she is going to be in some amount of pain afterwards. I really wish that I could change places with her and that it was me instead of her that was going to have to go through the operation tomorrow.

I am trying desperately to remain calm but inside I am terrified too! xx