Now that my swap partner has received my parcel I can reveal all. Meridian Ariel organised this swap to coincide with the release of Tim Burton’s re-imagining of the Alice in Wonderland tale. Loving all things Burton-esque I decided to take part. My partner Katie is an extremely talented knitter, so I was very excited to be matched up with her. I was also pretty nervous because, as I’ve mentioned before, I’m not particularly gifted when it comes to crafting. While googling Alice in Wonderland craft ideas I stumbled upon some amazing Japanese material which I knew I had to have. The idea of making a pencil case was inspired by that and the fact that Katie is a teacher. The fabulous Vonnie was an absolute star in helping this idea become a reality, and I couldn’t have done it without her. I also found some heart themed tea lights to represent the Queen of Hearts and a lovely Cheshire Cat notebook.
Please excuse the dirty wall in the photo - small children and all that.
Anyway, in return I received this:
I must admit, I was secretly hoping that I’d receive some knitted socks and am absolutely over the moon with them. Katie also sent some chocolate which a certain someone devoured before I could take pictures. I want to say a huge thank you to both Katie and Apryl for making this swap so enjoyable.
I still haven’t written my essay. I have finished watching season 2 of The Wire though. Seriously, I just can’t get into the zone. I’m going to have a go at writing something tonight when the kids are in bed but basically I’ve resigned myself to a late night tomorrow.
So, today we baked bread. Well, when I say baked bread what I mean is that Devin emptied a packet of bread mix (Parmesan and Sun-dried tomato) into a bowl and mixed it with some water before kneading and stretching it, shaping it, leaving it to rise and cooking it. He did a rather wonderful job and both he and Brodie declared it delicious.
I also received a rather wonderful present in the post yesterday. This gives me yet another opportunity to big up the amazingly talented ilovespoiltpig. My rubbish picture does not do this piece justice. I absolutely love it and have been wearing it constantly.
The deadline for the Alice in Wonderland swap organised by Meridian Ariel is fast approaching. I have a stickie note on my computer with ideas for projects but am undecided in terms of what to make. I think I may be having a crisis of confidence because I know that I’m not artistic in the slightest. I also realise that I wont have a great deal of time to make something, what with all my uni deadlines, but I want to make something cracking for my swap partner.
A while ago I signed up for Eileen’s Christmas Bauble Swap. The task was to make a bauble for your partner’s Christmas tree using things you already had in your craft supplies. I was partnered with Annie. I set about sewing something using felt and beads. Here’s what I came up with (excuse my rubbish camera phone picture):
I was pretty impressed with it, especially since I haven’t sewn anything in ages. I also sent Annie some sparkly felt and some buttons from my stash. In return I got this amazing package:
I love the knitted Santa, which now adorns my Christmas tree. Thank you very much to Annie for her lovely bauble and thank you to Eileen for organising the swap.
So, after a period of absence (and obvious depression due to lack of computer) I’m back with a shiny new laptop. I have been keeping up to date and reading your blogs using my ipod touch over the past few weeks but I hadn’t managed to update my own blog.
The past month has been pretty manic in terms of work and uni. I seem to have a lot going on and as well as working Monday to Friday, I’ve been at uni classes on a Saturday. I’m glad to see the back of that routine. This has meant that craftwise I have achieved very little. I baked for Dev’s school fair (chocolate cupcakes and caramel shortcake) and managed to make some masks for the kids Halloween.
I’ve just posted off my parcel for the lovely Eileen’s Christmas Bauble Swap. I shall post details once the swap has been completed. I’ve also signed up for an Alice in Wonderland themed swap in the New Year over at Meridian Ariel’s blog. I’m looking forward to this one and hoping that I can come up with something amazing for my partner, whoever that may be.
Right now I have reports to write and a daughter to get to bed so I shall leave you with this photo of said little girl, trying out her new look (Skater style).
During the summer I signed up to do Meridian Ariel’s 80’s Fantasy Movie Swap. I was partnered with the lovely Becca. Here’s where the panic starts. I’m a pretty good baker, and I write (poems, short stories and an endless stream of academic papers) but when it comes to anything else vaguely artistic or creative I tend to strike out. So, I chose a Labyrinth theme for Becca’s parcel and came up with the following:
The resin keyring is layered with purple glitter and some metallic heart shapes and reads ‘Jareth’ in honour of the awesomeness of David Bowie’s character. The brooch has assorted metallic shapes and an egg timer, which sort of represents the time Sarah has to reach the castle at the centre of the Labyrinth.
The mask was inspired by the ball scene towards the end of the film. I also sent some caramel shortcake, pick and mix sweets, wadding and various assorted beads.
In return I received this:
To say I was overwhelmed and utterly delighted with my Kiki’s Delivery Service themed parcel would be an understatement. Look how utterly gorgeous Jiji is:
In fact, I appear to be having a little difficulty convincing a certain young lady that it does not belong to her.
And the rest of my goodies:
A huge thank you to Becca for all my goodies and to Apryl for organising the swap. I honestly can’t wait for the next one.
Alas, today there are no pictures. I have been crafting and baking, honest guv.
Today I had a mass bake. I made Raspberry and Lemon Muffins, Caramel Shortcake and Chocolate Cherry Cupcakes. They were all a disaster in one way or another (although they’re all edible). The muffins weren’t very lemony and, despite being coated in flour, the raspberries sank to the bottom. I also overcooked them a little so the tops are a bit hard. The caramel of the shortcake has some little bits of sugar which haven’t dissolved properly (boo). I also overcooked the cupcakes a little but, more importantly, the icing isn’t quite right. I used my usual chocolate gooey icing but I think it’s a little too sweet. Hmmmm…..maybe I just need to get back in the swing of things.
I have also been crafting but I can’t show you that yet as it’s part of a swap. Crafting is something I don’t really do a lot of and I’ve never made things to give to other people so I’m really nervous about this. I’m happy with what I’ve made, I just hope the recipient is happy.
In other news, it’s reports week at school and I’ve just finished mine. I’m leaving the grammar check until tomorrow though because my head is swimming. I need a holiday.
I am well aware that this is less than perfect but I’m super excited by it. Yes, it is indeed the first thing I’ve made from resin. I’m basically experimenting at the moment but it’s so easy and so much fun. It’s a little chunky but I went a bit overboard with my layering. Still, Brodie likes it.
For the past (long) while, we’ve been having problems getting little one into her bed on time. This has had a number of horrific side effects; her being overly tired, resulting in tantrums, stroppiness etc during the day; husband not being able to concentrate on work in the evening; me not being able to study/read in the evening; and most importantly, me being very little child-free time during which to relax. We are all tired and grumpy. I have been reading a book called The Incredible Years by Carolyn Webster-Stratton and came up with The Race to Bed using ideas from it.
The first thing I did was nip to Ikea to buy a cheap clock for the kids bedroom. I then made a poster which displayed their bedtime. This way they knew, well in advance, that when the real clock looked like the one in the poster it was time for bed. There has always been a loose bedtime routine in our house but I decided to formalise it and turn it into a race. Each of the kids has a counter and when they complete a step of the routine, their counter gets moved up a notch. The green and orange posters are reward charts. Every night, when the race has been completed, child gets a sticker. If they stay in their bed all night, they get another sticker in the morning (I cut out 28 little gold and silver circles and used blu tack to fix them so that we could reuse the charts).
This worked like a dream for the first couple of nights. The race really captured their imagination. However, one week on and big one is bored of it (getting him into bed isn’t difficult though) and little one is back to doing her own thing and refusing to go to bed. There are a couple of reasons for this (I think):
- I can’t do it on my own - because the kids do things at their own pace they each need an adult to help them. For example I can’t help little one brush her teeth if big one has already reached the stage of having a story read to him.
- Big one and little one both want (and should get) a different story each night - as he is older, big one tends to get a longer story (we started Harry Potter tonight, yeay) so little one is almost always ready for bed first.
- I don’t think they should be going to bed at the same time because big one is 6 and little one is 2.
It seems to me that bedtime has not yet been sorted out. There are less than 3 weeks before I go back to work and I would really like to sort it before then.
I wanted to write a quick blog about this before I dash off on holiday for a week, so…
A couple of weeks ago I signed up to do a swap on Vonnie’s blog. The swap was to send a box of home-baked goodies, a recipe card and an additional gift. This was the first swap I had taken part in so was a bit nervous about getting it right (and trusting in Royal Mail to deliver it). I was to bake for Debbs. I figured my chocolate cake with gooey icing wouldn’t travel particularly well so I perused Nigella and Rachel Allan looking for inspiration. I charted a couple of my ‘experiments’ earlier and in the end went with one new-ish recipe and one tried and tested favourite.
In the large box is some Jamaica Ginger cake with lemon icing and in the smaller box, Devin’s favourite, Caramel Shortcake. For my recipe cards I took a couple of coloured cards, drew cupcakes on them and applied glitter. My additional item was bottles of orange blossom water and rose water. I often use them in flavouring icing and love them.
Yesterday I received my package from the lovely Livi.
I received a multitude of tupperware boxes filled with these huge Fudge Brownies with Peanut Butter frosting. Yum.
I also received these amazing mermaid and seahorse brooches, which Brodie is very taken with (so I’ve hidden them from her). All in all I’d definitely say that my first swap has been a positive experience and I can’t wait for the next one.
I hold my hands up. I am rubbish; I have no willpower when it comes to shopping for my kids. I think I enjoy buying cute items for them a million times more than I enjoy shopping more myself. The problem is that I’m not much of a bargain hunter and I tend to frequent shops like Next, Zara and Debenhams for the kids clothes. In addition to this they have much more than they need. I am going to try making stuff for them myself soon (I promise) because I have been amazed by the variety of fabric available to buy, however until that happens I need to come up with something else.
This is Brodie sporting her new night dress and shoes for her holiday. The shoes cost me £2 from Asda (reduced from £6, hurrah). She is extra specially chuffed with them because Peppa Pig is her favourite and her best at the moment. I am more pleased with her night dress. In this hot weather she has been wearing PJ bottoms (and no tops). This makes no sense as her legs are always covered by the duvet and her upper body is exposed. I’d been after a night dress for a while and tonight it finally dawned on me to use one of Devin’s old t shirts (I had always thought the age gap between them was too much for hand me downs as she is 2 and he’s 6, and we have no storage in our tiny flat so keeping more than we need to is an issue). Brodie is obsessed with cars so this works well for her but I can’t wait until Devin discards his batman t shirt.
