Category Archives: Giveaway

The Merry Month of May

Merry Month of May May is my favourite month, full of promise and optimism. Here in Norfolk the hedgerows are bursting with new leaves and blossom and it won’t be long before the verges are frothy with Queen Anne’s Lace.

Here, in the corner of a field where Planet Penny orbits, there’s a lot going on. Next month the builders move in to build an extension, which will be wonderful when it is done, and a complete nightmare while it’s underway! I’m having a little practice today; as I type I have a man in my garden building a greenhouse. So far I have only had to make one coffee, one tea and one trip to the builders merchants. I can’t tell you how excited I am about it though. We live in such a windy spot and so far we’ve had three mini greenhouses and two rotary washing lines mangled by the wind, and the second hand greenhouse I was given was folded flat by Storm Doris before we even got the glass in.

This time my darling OH said we’re getting a really strong one and so what’s going up is one of these… Rhino Greenhouse …which as it has been very rudely pointed out to me, I can sit on during the next storm to keep it in place!

So watch out for me putting on my Alys Fowler hat and getting excited about growing things, whilst also doing all sorts of styling with bunting and fairy lights (which is the bit the dear OH is most worried about)

So, talking about flowers, I’ve currently had a bit of an obsession with making paper ones. What started me off was Mollie Makes’ The Big Comic Relief Crafternoon and Lia Griffiths tutorial on making paper peonies. Frankly, it’s not the best obsession for me…all that scissor work really annoys my cranky thumb joint…but I just can’t help it. An evening spent catching up on TV whilst cutting out the petals, off to bed after rubbing ibuprofen gel on said joint and then a joyful hour the next day with the glue gun and wire making a gorgeous bloom.I’m now eagerly awaiting a delivery of nicer crepe paper, finer and more subtle in colour so watch this space. crepe paper flower The magazine has sold out now, but I have a spare copy which I would love to pass on to one of you lovelies out there… big comic relief crafternoon …so just leave a comment and next week I will put all the names into a ~~virtual hat~~ Random Number Generator to find a winner. An opportunity to have a sore thumb just like me, and fill your home with paper flowers. Or to be more sensible and chill out in a pompom beard!

I’ll be back before then though, I have another project to share.

See you soon…x

A Little Extra – Happy Crocheting Bag

As promised, another prize! Would you like a Crocheting Bag? Part of my Planet Penny campaign is for regular newsletters, so I’m launching this latest one with a chance to win a fabulous bag to carry your stash.

Would you like to see?

There’s loads of room for your yarn stash, hooks and patterns and a handy shoulder strap for travelling. You can find the bag to buy at Happy Crocheting but I have one to give away exclusively to Newsletter subscribers. All you have to do is to click the yellow button to subscribe and reply to the newsletter with ‘Yes, please!’ to enter the draw, it’s that simple.

And, in the meantime don’t forget there is still time to enter the draw for the Crochet Therapy book as seen in the bag above. Just comment on the post here

So just a little post, but full of goodies. Make sure you are in with a chance to win either the crocheting bag or the book, I’m looking forward to hearing from you.

See you soon…x

Crochet Therapy – hook your way to mindfulness

If you are a hooker like me, you won’t find the idea of crochet therapy the least bit unusual. I’ve been using it for a looong time without even realising it.

However, the gorgeous new book by Betsan Corkhill, Crochet Therapy, made me look at what I was doing in a whole new light. Mindfulness has been about for a little while now, I have an app on my phone and I really do find it helpful. However sometimes its quite hard to empty your mind, especially if you are the creative type.Filling it with yarn means there really isn’t room for anything else!

Betsan Corkhill gives us the chance to find an oasis of calm in our hectic lives with step-by-step wellness exercises and beautiful crochet patterns. There are cushions and throws, mandalas and coasters, wall hangings and bunting. I also love the idea of a Friendship quilt, getting together to make lots of individual small flowers which are knotted together as a symbol of friendship. friendship flowers - Crochet Therapy

And if you haven’t yet mastered the art of crochet, the instructions at the back of the book for getting started are clear and concise, perfect for a beginner.

These are a few of my favourite patterns from the book… Mandalas - crochet therapy bracelets - Crochet Therapy bunting - crochet therapy And I made … No-Stress Balls, just what I need…! No Stress Balls - Crochet Therapy …and a soothing mandala.

I’d love you to have the chance to share a spot of yarny mindfulness, so there’s not one but two copies of Crochet Therapy waiting to be won by one of you lovelies out there.

Just leave a comment below sharing your favourite ways of de-stressing with us all. I’ll put all of your names into the proverbial hat and draw out the winners and the nice people at Quarto will send a copy on it’s way to the lucky recipient. The closing date is Friday 7th October.

And if this isn’t exciting enough, I’ll be back again at the end of the week with another freebie! See you soon …x

And the winner is…Daylight Lamp

This grey and gloomy day seems a very good time to announce the winners of the Daylight Lamp Giveaway. It’s going to brighten the days of the two lucky recipients Gail and Pauline!

The main prize was won by Gail. I love her description of the sort of winter days I enjoy most…

“I live in a town called Horsham, in the south East of England. The thing I love most about winter is the frosty mornings, when all the cobwebs are highlighted in droplets of water, when you can see frost patterns on the window panes and best of all when you see the children on the way to school breathing out just so they can see their breath. It’s just magical.”

…I just hope we get a few of these mornings soon and not the wet and windy gloom which we are currently enduring in the UK… I think Gail is going to need her Daylight Lamp!

If you have noticed I have been conspicuous by my bloggy absence, please forgive me. We’ve had a special delivery in the family, my very first granddaughter, and I’ve been somewhat distracted…

crochet blanket

I can only take credit for the blanket! crochet blanket - Daylight Lamp Giveaway

See you soon…x

All lit up – with a Daylight Lamp and a giveaway!

If you’ve been visiting Planet Penny for a while, you’ll know my main gripe about the autumn/winter period is the lack of daylight. I don’t think I actually suffer from full blown Seasonal Affective Disorder, but I do get rather grumpy, and those gloomy days when you think the sun hasn’t actually risen at all make creating and photography jolly tricky.

So I was very happy to be sent a couple of lamps from the Daylight Company to try out and review, and I know for all you knitters, crocheters and stitchers out there a good daylight lamp is a really necessary bit of crafting kit.

The first one is the Smart Lamp D20 and I love it! It’s light and portable, but the base is heavy enough for it to be really stable so you can adjust it over your work area without worrying about it toppling over.

I’ve found it particularly useful in the evenings by my chair when I’m multi tasking with some crochet, the television and a cup of tea because the light can be angled. In fact it does all this!

It changes colors for improved contrast when reading and colour matching
It is dimmable, allowing you to set the light at the brightness level you require
It is portable, light weight and foldable so you can take it anywhere
It is USB compatible allowing you to plug into the AC Adapter (included) your computer or phone charger.

And then there is the baby brother, the Yoyo light. It arrives looking just like the yoyo it is named after… Yoyo magnifying light - Daylight company …but opens up into a handy little magnifying light, perfect for keeping in your workbox when you need to get up close and personal with your work.

And this is what it does:

Compact foldable pocket LED magnifier
3 bright LEDs
5,5cm (2.17″) lens – Magnification 8D (3,0X)
Ideal to use when out and about
Comes with a wrist strap
Requires 3 x AAA batteries (not included)

Daylught Company Yoyo light (This one gave my camera a funny turn trying to focus!)

I really enjoy finding things which I know will make things just that little bit easier for us creative peeps, and it’s even better when I can offer you the chance to win one of your very own – for FREE!

I have a Smart Lamp D20 worth £65.00 and a Yoyo Magnifyer Lamp worth £15.00 as a giveaway on my latest newsletter. All you have to do is sign up via the PINK BUTTON below and let me know what you love best about Winter VIA THE NEWSLETTER. The Smart Lamp is only available in the UK I’m afraid, but I’m happy to send the Yoyo lamp to any part of the world where you can buy AAA batteries!

So click on the Pink Button for a chance to win one of these fabulous lamps to keep you bright this Autumn!

Looking forward to hearing from you…x

Happy Friday Number 7

Can it really be Happy Friday time again already?

This week’s post will be really short because it’s half term. Not only are there grandsons visiting, but they’ve brought along their new puppy, so it’s very hectic, although a lot of fun and definitely happy.

Alpha dog for Happy Friday

Higgins is feeling a little bit aggrieved at sharing ‘his’ boys with another dog… Mini dachshund for Happy Friday

and a bit grumpy about energetic puppy play all the time, but he’s gradually coming round… Dog montage for Happy Friday Next week we are returning the visit and heading off to the South Coast for a few days so really looking forward to that.

So over to you, what’s made your week happy? If you are linking your post below, please make sure it is relevant to Happy Friday and link back to this post so that as many people as possible find everyone who takes part. I’m rather sad when some people take advantage of something which is meant to spread a little happiness and use it for promotion with posts which are not relevant at all! You can find out how to join in here if you haven’t done it before.

And finally, if you didn’t see my last post, I have a fabulous giveaway of a gorgeous new craft book from Cut Out + Keep. All you have to do is leave a comment, so do join in for a chance to win.

Cut Out + Keep - Cat Morley & Tom Waddington

I hope you’ve had a great week, I’m look forward to reading all about it on Happy Friday!