Big Brother is turning into a typical boy and loves anything with wheels. His absolute favourite programme is Chuggington which he would watch pretty much all day if I let him. Before Christmas he had a couple of Chuggington books, engines and a board book which he loved. They’re all well-loved and splattered in food (before I introduced a ban on toys at the table!). We knew what to get him for Christmas although I think we may have gone slightly overboard. It was all a bit Chugtastic and I only hope he doesn’t fall out of love with it…
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Signing up for festive swaps seemed like a good idea in the months before Christmas and my favourite was the Advent swap, organised by Hookin’ with Laalaa. The idea was simple – to buy, make, gift or thrift 24 small gifts for your partner to open each day of the advent. These could be very inexpensive, or even free (think skincare samples or teabags!). The parcel was also to include a larger gift for your partner to open on Christmas Day. The swap was fun to collect for and I ended up with lots of little gifts which I put…
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On the 19 September 2010 I started a Day Zero list: a place to record your goals, discover new challenges, and gain motivation to achieve them. I have a list of 100 things I want to do over 1001 days. The list is due to be competed by 16 June 2013. This has been a rubbish month for me personally. I think I underestimated how much time I would have with a toddler and new baby to look after so I haven’t managed to complete a single action on my Day Zero list. Aside from changing lots of nappies and…
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I can’t resist a swap, especially when it’s a thrifted Christmassy one so signed up straight away to Lakota’s Faith, Hope and Charity Shopping Christmas swap. The challenge was to send a minimum of 3 items: one item to be sourced from a charity shop, one handmade item and one Christmas decoration of some sort. My partner was the lovely Hope from Pixie’s Ponderings. The parcels were beautifully packaged (almost too good to open!) but one evening last week I couldn’t resist looking at them any longer and did open them. Hope sent me vintage pot holders, a vintage crochet…
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Difficult to believe my little girl is 2 weeks’ old already. Our first few weeks together have been lots of fun although my fingers have been itching to pick up some sewing! As we knew our due date we had time to customise a vest for Little Sister. I would love to claim the idea as my own but, you can probably guess, I saw it first on pinterest! We’ve been experimenting with printing on clothes for a couple of weeks and have previously made a spooky Halloween tshirt and Chuggington tshirt for Big Brother. This is what we made…
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I’ve been feeling sorry for Little Sis as virtually everything she has is second hand from her Big Brother. Last week (before she arrived!) I was sorting through bedding and blankets and found one cream blanket which had hardly been used. So I thought I would give it a bit of a makeover with some dye! I had a packet of Dylon Intense Violet dye which was suitable for hand dyeing (my husband won’t let me use dye in the washing machine yet!). After Edward was in bed I made up the dye and put the cream blanket in the…
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Christmas crafting is in full swing at the moment. I’ve been meaning to make a felt half eaten gingerbread man from Elsie Marley’s pattern for ages and finally got round to it this week. I love the vintage ric rac and used snowflake brads for his buttons. I think it turned out rather well and will look great on our Christmas tree. This is my monthly make for November
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‘Tis finally the season to be jolly which means I’ve been snapping up everything gingerbread to show you over the next couple of weeks. My energy levels are disappearing but I have a few swaps to honour before the arrival of Second Baby. This week I’ve been making a new type of gingerbread house for one swap partner, very simple with a red and white bead hanger and a metal heart on the door. I’m hoping my crafting mojo will return soon. I’ve been struggling to pull out my sewing basket after Edward has gone to bed yet there are…
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I recently treated myself to a copy of Queen of Crafts, a great book full of recipes and ideas by Jazz Domino Holly. It’s a lovely book to flick through for some inspiration although there aren’t many new ideas in it. However, a recipe for button biscuits caught my eye. I love buttons, have a huge stash to decorate my sewing projects, and thought biscuit buttons would be fun to make. I used my own biscuit recipe, divided the mixture into two and added blue and yellow food colouring to both halves which I picked up at Iced Inspirations, my…