One thing I love about the beginning of a new month is the arrival of the latest edition of magazines that pop through the letterbox.

I have a little magazine addiction that ranges from magazines for the home, women's magazines to all variety of crafting magazines.

I can't even tell you which is my favourite but I can tell you these are SOME of my favourites (I told you - I have an addiction)

Selvedge is obviously way up there at the top of the list. I love looking at inspiring pretty pictures in magazines, which Selvedge never fails on, but there are so many interesting features in here every month that each edition readily becomes a favourite bedtime read.

A new magazine on the market is Oh Comely. It has a very similar feel to Selvedge - beautiful photography, inspirational lifestyles and stories - and equally full of interesting articles of creativity and curiosity.

My favourite homes magazine is Elle Decoration. I did go off this magazine for a while as I found it too out of reach and aspirational, but either I have changed, although I don't think so, or Elle has become more reachable, that I am back into it in a big way and find there is so much inspiration in every edition.

Another new crafting magazine on the market that has become a regular monthly read is Making. A very appealing quality of Making (like Selvedge) is it's matt finish. I do like a craft magazine who's pages are matt. Is it just me or do they give a more handmade charm? I think so. Making features a variety of different crafts and a range of different artists and applications within that.

Again, there are so many inspirational artists and their work in Making, that it is rapidly becoming a must read every month.

My longest monthly subscription is Red Magazine. Whilst I spend a lot of time living, breathing crafts, Red is a monthly addiction that I don't seem to be able to kick. I like to think of it as The Thinking Woman's Magazine, full of interesting features all of which i go back to read once the initial slow flick-through-at-the-pictures-accompanied-by-a-coffee is over.

The latest flick through has left me yearning for this dress. Well, who can live without the summer's most useful dress after all?

I like to think of my magazine addiction as being relatively harmless. Apart from the damage to my bank balance, both in purchasing the mags in the first place and the money spent on Must Haves I have encountered on the way, goodness knows, there are far worse addictions out there.

Do you ever make things to sell and realise actually you can't bear to part with them?

Well, I'm on a mega zipper pouch making sess and was using some small leftover pieces from various projects.

One such project was the fabric I used for my cushions for the hallway. I decided this would make perfect little pencil and coin pouches, so I set off making a set for the shop.

At the same time I covered a sketch book with some wallpaper (that my friend Tara very kindly 'bequeathed' me) that I was planning to use for my Screen Printing journey as recommended by Gina, my screen printing guru. Gina suggested (I've a feeling you may be hearing the phrase 'Gina said' fairly often around these parts) keeping a journal of prints produced and marking on them what worked, what didn't. I really love this idea as I have a brain like a sieve and to keep a record seemed a genius idea.

Back to the zipper pouches...

Because I was doing the 2 mustard-based projects in tandem, I realised there was no way on earth that these pouches were ever going to make it into the shop. I love the wallpaper that Tara sent me and this gorgeous Skinny Laminx fabric was just made to accompany it, so in record time the pouches were a keeper.

I may just order more of this beautiful fabric to make some pieces for the shop (can't keep a good thing to yourself) but in the meantime, I am more than happy and inspired by having these things for me.

After over 20 years I returned to being a student today. Albeit on a little course, not a fully fledged full time degree kind of course.

I started a screen printing course today and I LOVE it!

I've dabbled with screen-printing a tiny bit in the past (accompanying Manda to the workshop on one highly satisfactory occasion) and have more recently been enjoying the delights of Freezer Paper Printing. But I finally got myself booked onto an actual screen-printing course.

The course I am on is at Factory 4 Workshop in Leeds and is run by a wonderful lady called Gina, who is not only but a fantastic teacher but is so passionate about screen printing that it's contagious. Not that I was worried about whether I would like it or not. From my limited experience I pretty much knew this was for me.

The course is 6 weeks long (2 idyllic hours every Thursday) and I'm just back from the first session. We have learnt SO much already!

We went through the entire process of producing a screen and then printing with it.

We used an image that Gina had brought today and printed onto paper to learn a couple of techniques.

There are 6 of us on the course, all of whom are really lovely and from very different backgrounds, so we are learning a lot from each other too.

I now need to sit down and focus my brain, because at the moment it is buzzing and going in a zillion different directions. As well as making time for the course, I am going to time-table in 'design time' in order to stay focussed and productive. I am very rapidly discovering that the options are endless with screen printing and I am very keen to work out quite how it is all going to fit in with what I do.

Very exciting times...

One of the reasons we all congregated in Bristol over Easter was to all be together to go through Nan's house contents. She lived in a little bedsit by herself so there wasn't a lot there.

It was so nostalgic going through all the photos, birthday cards, postcards that we had all given her over the years.

She was such a hoarder and we discovered photos that we'd never seen before of family members that we had no idea who they were.

Like any elderly person she had collected a lot of bits and pieces, some of which unfortunately weren't fit for much. But there were also some real treasures.

One such treasure was bequeathed to me...

Her sewing box and all it's contents.

And just look at all these contents. Vintage heaven! I did have to wade through the mountains of worn out and beyond use items, but what absolute treasure she had collected.

We just don't manufacture things how we used to. The care and attention to detail on packaging way back when is indescribable and is so evocative of days gone back.

Thank you Nan for leaving me your valuable treasures and thank you Sister-In-Laws for not being sewers so didn't stand a chance!

When the date for Will & Kate's wedding was first announced and it became apparent that we were getting another 4 day weekend, my initial reaction was "What, so soon?" I was not only to be juggling 3 weeks of different school holidays, Easter long weekend, trying to keep up with orders so soon after BCTF, but I was now being told there was going to be even more disruption to our routine.

I didn't anticipate quite how relaxing it was going to be having yet another 4 day weekend. It has been the absolute best.

It started off with us having a fantastic time sipping bubbles at 11am, watching the wedding with friends. Didn't Kate just look amazing? She was just born for the role and I think she is going to be fantastic for the Monarchy. Well, that's my opinion anyway...

On Saturday we had a day trip to York, which involved a walk along the walls, shopping (for me), ice-creams, a picnic in the park and a leisurely ride along the river in a little motor boat. Life really did feel good.

By yesterday we really were in holiday mode and it felt fantastic to wake up yet again and ask "what shall we do today?"

A trip to the Yorkshire Sculpture Park was in order. It is my absolute favourite place in Yorkshire. It's very easy to get to from us and is just big enough to feel you can see everything, without being too large to feel you are missing out on bits.

The exhibitions change several times a year, so even though we go on a fairly regular basis, there's always something new to see.

There is an amazing exhibition on at the moment. Probably the best I have seen there. The work is by a Spanish artist, Jaume Plensa. The work is incredibly tactile as well as visual and appealed to the children as much as it did us grown-ups (particularly with the search for rude words within the letter statues!)

Whilst I absolutely love taking the children to YSP and opening their eyes sublimely to art (there's always a football accompanying our trip there to disguise it as merely a cultural outing), I always come away yearning to revisit the exhibition by myself and take more time over it all.

Whilst the enormity and detail of the sculptures themselves in this exhibition were incredible, I came away falling in love with this etching with the most wonderful Martin Luther King quote:

'faith is taking the first step even when you don't see the whole staircase'

I was very tempted to bring it home, but at £350 I resisted.

I'm not sure if it was the weather, having time to enjoy life, not working, not shlepping kids to various activities or whether I actually enjoy my family's company more than I thought. Whatever it was, I'm a converted advocate of the 4 day weekend and here's to the next, whenever that may be.

I am very much made up of contradictory elements. On the one hand I fail to cross the finishing line when I am almost there. On the other hand I get a bit obsessed so when I have something in my head I have to get on with it.

At least the advantage of the latter is I get things done.

Hence the making of cushion number 2 in double quick time.

Thank you for all your comments and ideas for this second cushion.

I decided to go for using a piece of the first fabric but incorporating the grey too.

I'm really pleased with how this second one has turned out and how they look together. In fact I'm liking them so much that I think I'm going to have to do the same combination in our bedroom.

Or is that overkill?

I just can't bear to have this gorgeous fabric in the place in the house that I pass fleetingly without stopping to admire and appreciate.

I suppose I could always take my coffee break in one of the seats...

How was your Easter weekend? Great I hope.

We have just come back from the best weekend ever. We went to visit one of Matthew's brother's who lives in Bristol. The other bro and his family came over too. We get along just brilliantly. (Take a look at us girls here). I couldn't ask for better sister and brother-in-laws. Really, I couldn't.

And what's more all the cousins, ranging from my big boy Sam at almost 14, down to little Luka at almost 3, are so close and love spending time with each other. They are a great team.

And what's more (just gets better and better, hey?) they all let me indulge myself by being my willing guinea pigs in crafting activities.

I'd brought along freezer paper, fabric paints and bags for a little activity yesterday afternoon and as if they'd be prepped by the other Mum's and Dad's - "you know what Auntie Karen's like. Just humour her and play along..." - they all sat willingly to 'play'. They continued to play along, even when I made them sit and work out their design properly before letting them lose on the freezer paper and paints.

Even Anastasia, aged 4, took it in the spirit that it was meant to be taken...

The boys were surprisingly keen. Hardly surprising. They've know Mummy/Auntie Karen for long enough.

They were only supposed to do one each (at Auntie Ruth and Auntie Alex's request to do one too) but as you can see they all loved it so much that they wanted to do a second. I was so impressed with what they've produced. It was such a fantastic afternoon and a great activity to do with them all as, despite taking some effort and concentration, results were pretty rapid and immediate.

And the bags came in pretty useful for our next activity - having something to carry home the precious rocks in that they had all collected in the rock pools by the beach.