Another Monday and today is definitely the last day of our Christmas holiday. My husband is already back at work and I am (mentally at least) prepared for the nursery/school run/station drop off first thing tomorrow morning. We had a small splurge in the Lego shop and bought two new sets. We’ve already built and played with the new Lego Frozen set – Elsa’s Sparkling Ice Castle. The children love it and I enjoyed building it! We also treated ourselves to the new Lego Ideas Bird set which has just been released. I really can’t wait to build them but…
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Indigo is one of the colours of the rainbow, as easily recognised as it is fashionable. From its origins as a naturally produced dye, most common in India, to its ubiquitous appearance in blue jeans today, indigo has travelled far and wide. Just before Christmas I was sent a copy of a new book called Indigo. Inside the author, Nicola Gouldsmith, shows you how to use indigo to dye fabric in different ways, including dip-dyeing, tie-dyeing and printing and stencilling, as well as basic plain dyeing. She then shows you how to use the results of your dyeing to make…
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2014 was an interesting year. My 4 year old started school full-time and our crafting adventures are now squeezed into after school and weekends. Fortunately he hasn’t lost his appetite for crafting and we’ve had fun experimenting with all kinds of materials and techniques. My 3 year old also has the crafting bug and I’m so happy whenever I hear them ask to craft. My favourite post of 2014 has to be our playdough acorns. We love to craft the seasons and both children loved Autumn, watching the leaves change colour and drop. We were inspired to craft and look…
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The festivities have not dampened my children’s desire to craft. We managed to squeeze in another quick New Year craft which I wanted to tell you about. We made a sweet little paper bell garland for New Year. Equipment needed to make a paper bell garland: gold coloured paper scissors pencil pipe cleaners sellotape twine How to make a paper bell garland: Find something large and circular to draw around, I picked an old coffee jar, and drew and cut out 6 circles. Find the top of each circle and make two folds to create the bell shape like…
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I completely failed to make as many handmade gifts as I wanted too this year. As I got nearer and nearer to Christmas I persuaded myself to move items from my little handmade list into next year! Which means instead of rushing to make things I will be able to spend more time making handmade gifts in the New Year. There’s not much to report in my Monthly Makes. I made one wall hanging for my sister which I can finally share with you. I used a pattern from Home Quilt Home by Janet Clare, which is one of my…
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How do you explain the concept of time and a New Year to a 4 year old? He recognises all his numbers and understands days, weeks and months but not a year. I wanted to mark the arrival of a New Year so came up with the idea of paper plate numbers to hopefully reinforce the idea a little. We talked about time and how we measure it, then drew the numbers on four paper plates. We ‘coloured’ them in using some left over craft sand, covering the number with glue and then shaking the sand over each one. The…
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We always seem to pack a lot into each week but the last week has been exceptionally busy. We hosted a family Christmas which was fun but tiring. Highlights included lots of lovely family time, great food, a trip to the local Lido for a Christmas Day walk, more fresh air in Black Park Country Park on Boxing Day and seeing a rather spectacular display of Christmas lights. Last week I found time to finish Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins. It is the last instalment of The Hunger Games, following The Hunger Games and Catching Fire. I’d watched the first two…
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Even on Boxing Day my children wanted to do some crafting! Luckily we were at home so we were able to raid our craft supplies to make some sweet confetti boxes for New Year’s Eve. There’s no way my children will be staying up to see in the New Year but that doesn’t mean we don’t want to mark it in some way. Stay tuned for a couple more New Year’s crafts I’ll be sharing this week. Equipment needed to make New Year’s confetti boxes: plain match boxes assortment of coloured paper paper punches foam stickers How to make New…
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I think one word can pretty much sum up our Christmas – food! After a lovely few days it’s quite nice to emerge out the other side from a family Christmas. We had a traditional family Christmas and the days passed in a blur of baking, crafting, eating, and playing with presents. I don’t think I’ve ever made so many Lego sets in 48 hours! As I said we’re always follow the same Christmas traditions. Every year we enjoy the same meals through Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Boxing Day. We even make the same snacks too, such as homemade…
