Something to sew on

My sewing machine has spent most of its life boxed up and tucked away in a dark cupboard corner. I liked knowing it was there, but wasn't falling over myself about actually getting it out.
I've always been more at home with a pair of knitting needles - sewing machines make me a little anxious. Well they did, and then a few months back I thought it was about time I had a proper go - so out it came, and out it stayed until I'd made a sofa colony of owls from secondhand vintage sheets and bedspreads. They winged their way down to a Christmas craft fair in London last week, and sold pretty well.

The thing is, having the sewing machine out all the time is a bit of a pain, because there's nowhere obvious for it to go, and I daren't put it back in the cupboard. Might not come out again.
It's been majorly getting in the way, so I thought a wooden trolley could be the answer - a home on wheels, and there'd be space underneath for material and other bits and bobs.

Amazingly there were FOUR old trolleys at the local auction last week. Unbelievable. This never usually happens when I'm looking for something. And it gets better, because it seems there's not much demand for trolleys - I got mine for just two pounds. So chuffed about that! It has a drawer at the front, which we eventually managed to prise open - sadly no treasure though, just some mouldy old placemats.

So giving it a revamp is one of my after christmas projects...and there's more...because this came in the same lot.

I'd no idea, until I went to collect the trolley! Not the most beautiful bedside table, but it's got potential - and two bits of furniture for two quid can't be bad. Hopefully they'll both look quite different the next time you see them.
And I've just finished my tiny £2 table makeover - a quick sand and then covered the top with some vintage domino cards I picked up at a french street sale in the summer. Far too lovely to be hidden away in a box don't you think?

Linking up with marvellous Magpie Monday 
and Lakota's Ta-dah! Tuesday

Simple paper stars

I was having all kinds of trouble trying to cut out a cardboard star. I'd practically used a whole cereal packet and it wasn't going well. My daughter watched quietly as I got increasingly frustrated,

'They're all a bit wonky mummy...'

And I had to agree (through slightly clenched teeth) - they weren't great. Where's a star stencil when you need one?

But then I remembered seeing how to make a paper star in an old 70's craft book I found in a charity shop.

So, I dug it out, and everyone had a go at making them, and once we'd got the knack, we were churning out paper stars of all sizes and colours. They're extremely quick and easy....just need to think of something to do with them all now!

simple paper stars

Take a square piece of paper of any size

Fold it in half

Fold it in half again

Keep the folded point towards you and fold again

Still with the point towards you, fold once more.

Now cut off the point on a slant. It's worth experimenting a bit, because the sharper the angle, the pointer the star.

Back to the cardboard one that got us into star mode in the first place...there was just enough cereal packet left, so we stuck a christmas wrapping paper star onto the card and cut around it.
MUCH better!

Crafty decorations from an old Advent calendar

I have a bit of a problem with Christmas tree decorations. I can't stop buying them. FAR too twinkly and tempting. My all time favourites are some Gisela Graham ones from years ago, bought in the days before her decorations lost a little of their magic. I think. You can still get the earlier ones, like her beautiful fairies, on ebay....
But I'm trying really hard not to look this year - and as we've been doing a fair bit of Christmas craft, I thought we'd have a go at making our own, using the plastic tray from inside last year's chocolate Advent calendar. I'd tucked it away with this in mind.

You'll also need some plaster of paris (I used a packet from an old model kit), thread, paint, metallic spray (optional), glue and glitter.

First cut some decent lengths of thread for hanging the decorations - make a loop and tie a knot at the end. Trim the loose bits quite close to the knot.

I put the threads into the moulds before pouring or spooning in the plaster, but you could do it after, if you're quick, and use the end of a teaspoon to push the knot in.

Two parts plaster to one part cold water, is what you're after - having looked up mixing tips, we poured the water into the plaster - and somehow missed all the instructions that advise adding the plaster gradually to the water! This probably would have been better, because ours was thick and lumpy - ideally you want the mixture to have a smooth, creamy consistency, like pancake batter. The backs of our decorations were a little bumpy (if this happens let them start to set and when still softish, wet your finger and smooth over)

Leave overnight if you can, and then carefully pop them out - do watch though, as some of ours flew out, with one or two little accidents. Pick off any extra unwanted bits.

Then decorate them any way you like. My 5 year old painted hers and I sprayed a few, using the leftover gold on the newspaper to add some highlights.

When they were dry we got out the glue and the glitter. Yay! The house is covered in it at the moment. Anything taken out of the kids school bags seems to leave a sprinkly, sparkly trail, and the carpet is glinting at me, no matter how often I run the hoover over it.
It is the time to give in to glitter...

A quick varnish or a coat of clear nail polish would help protect the decorations, and give them some extra shine.

Linking up with Kids Get Crafty over at Red Ted Art where there are loads of fun ideas,

and The Gallery - the theme this week is It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas!

Christmas craft - DIY Nativity

It was the paper houses that first got me thinking about making a Nativity scene - a simple one I could do with the kids. All it took was a straightforward conversion job, and that was the stable sorted. I settled on cones for the figures - perfect for robes, with stuck-on faces and arms. It was fun working out how to do things, but there's A LOT going on in a Nativity. By the time we'd got to the donkey, my 5 year old was rolling her eyes...
Now everything's easy to make, but to do it all in one fell swoop is probably asking a bit much...so I think the answer is a figure or two a day, and build up the nativity slowly - making it more of a christmas countdown event.
Hindsight is a wonderful thing.

All you need is some paper, a glue stick, a ruler (for the stable), scissors and some pens and things for decorating. I used coloured paper, but white is fine, just means a bit more colouring or painting.

First, make the stable, following the instructions for Easy Paper Houses - but before the stick-it-together stage, use a ruler to draw lines for planks of wood across the outside - doesn't matter if they're a bit wobbly as I think that adds to the effect.

For the figures, draw around the bottom of a tin or something like that, then cut the circles in half and make a cone from a semi-circle. Glue and leave to dry. If you want to decorate any robes, you can do this before the sticking stage. We used glitter, stickers and metallic pens.

Draw faces and cut out arms, making them a little wider at the ends for a billowy robe look. My daughter had a go at an assortment of different beards! Glue onto the cones.

The crib for the baby Jesus is simply a rectangle, folded at each end. Cut a thin strip from one side and stick underneath to strengthen it. Then all you need is a rectangle for the blanket and a small circle for the head. I snipped triangles out of the ends to make it look more cot-like.

The donkey is also a rectangle, this time folded in half. Round off one end with the scissors and cut a gently curved-in-the-middle, M-shape for the legs and tummy. Draw and cut out a head. We stuck on a strand of wool for a mane and tail, and for Mary and the Angel's hair - but if this is a fiddly faff too far, just draw them on.

The sheep are little bits of cotton wool with black faces and the star and angel are up high in the sky above the stable on skewer sticks.

I really think spreading out the making would be a fun way to it, and we'll definitely have a go again. Next year.
I'm now cracking on with my Knitivity which is taking AGES, and still a few wooly shepherds short...

Linking up with For the Kids Fridays over at SunScholars

and Red Ted Art's Kids Get Crafty

Soft landing and a calendar cushion

Home life has settled down at last, after all the excitement of him getting back. The days now have a gentle rhythm to them. Not to say there haven't been a few bumps along the way....the morning routine went a bit haywire at the start - I mean, you'd think another pair of hands would speed things up during the mad rush before school, well not straight off as it turns out, we were all over the place! Things eventually calmed down by the end of the first week - just needed time to get used to each other again.
And I have to admit, I am still adjusting to having company 24/7 (as lovely as it is), after being on my own for so long. From nothing to all and back. The story of my life. Maybe a post for another day?

I can see my husband slowly unwinding too. As well as being relentlessly tough, his year away was so regimented and ordered - everything done pretty much straight away and people listened....realisation's dawning that if he expects things to go like clockwork here, he'll drive himself insane!
And the house is lit up like a belisha beacon. He seems to have forgotten how to switch a light off.

Talking of lights - sparkly, twinkly fairy lights - I'm going all out this christmas, no holding back! It's going to be christmas with jingly bells on and lashings of multi-coloured glitter.  I was such a misery last year as he'd just gone to Afghanistan - time to make up for it I think. So to kick things off I made an Advent calendar cushion...

Not sure it'll catch on, but any project that makes a dent in my huge wool supply is fine by me. The cushion's made out of an old jumper I couldn't bring myself to throw away (so soft, but holey - sooo soft though)

This is such a quick and easy knitted cushion cover, and the sleeves make a good pair of fingerless gloves. Old patterned christmas jumpers would be great for covers, wouldn't they?

The tree itself is a large knitted triangle and the little square pockets were quick to do, but the numbers took a while. Don't look too hard - I chain stitched them on and they're all kinds of sizes.

I put some chocolate buttons wrapped in tin foil in each pocket, and the cushion is now sitting at the end of my daughter's bed. It's going to be a bit of a test - more self-control needed than one hanging on the wall or safely on top of the fridge. We'll see...

But this has got to be my favourite Christmas thing so far. It's the picture my 5 year old drew at school for those cards you feel under a great deal of pressure to buy, you know the ones I mean?

Poor old fairy.

Ouch!

Day 363 - Farewell for now...

I've been feeling all over the place this past week - tired, excited, sensitive, impatient, relieved - a familiar old cocktail, as the final days of the Tour tick by. It really doesn't take much to set me off either - Remembrance Day was a given, I blubbed through bits of Children in Need, but it can be anything as random as a late-night documentary about the Bee Gees...yeah, it's a Tragedy, I have no emotional filter at the moment. I've also eaten my own bodyweight in chocolate.

My tolerence level has tailed off too, though that's been happening for a while, slowly eroded through the year. I have joked (half serious) that if anything was going to tip me over the edge, it wouldn't be major, but something pathetically trivial, like a hand towel, or clothes on the floor, or not shutting a door... As mad as that sounds it's the drip, drip effect of living with three little people who know exactly how to do all the things I ask them to do EVERY DAY - but simply choose not to bother. Crushing frustration would have done for me in the end!

But here I am on day 363 - can you believe it? Honestly I can't sometimes. When I look back at my day one post I remember so clearly how I felt - the heaviness, the feeling of responsibility, the loneliness, the worry. And my heart goes out to the wife who's husband takes over from mine, and all the families waiting for their loved ones to come home from Afghanistan.

As much as I'm longing for him to be back, it's a little daunting too. I've been running the show for 12 months and though I'm desperate to share the load, it's harder to let go than you might think.  I want more than anything for it to be perfect when he gets home, but know from experience I can be a little prickly... Emotions are close to the surface - all it takes is an innocent comment about the kids table manners or tv habits or something like that, and out it tumbles. I can take stuff the wrong way - as a criticism of how I've been doing things.  I'm writing this down in the hope I'll remember and stop myself over-reacting, because I know, just as I'm proud of him, he also has enormous respect for what I've been through.
Life is not on an even keel for either of us. And I have to bear in mind how hard it is for him coming back into my space and being a dad again. It will take time for us both to find our level and work as a team. I know that.

And then there's blogging. I hadn't a clue what I was doing at the beginning - like many things in my life I started with loads of enthusiasm and not a great deal of knowledge. I didn't tell a soul about it for a few months. I thought I'd blog about how I was feeling, and I do sometimes, but on the whole I write about other things now, other interests, because that's what I want to do, and I've actually found this distracts me from thinking about how I'm feeling. It's stopped me dwelling so much.

Through the ups and downs blogging has given me a focus. Something that's mine. There have been times, very late at night when I've wondered what on earth I'm doing, but then I sit back and remind myself of the things I have achieved this year.  Like the art exhibition and selling some paintings for the first time; writing again and enjoying it; getting my 2 minute silence poem on the Forces Poetry website; rediscovering my love of crafting and discovering a new love for photography. These are all really positive things, things that wouldn't have happened without the blog. And getting one of my crafty posts featured on Mumsnet recently was the icing on the cake.

But the best bit has been you. Thanks so much for stopping by. And it does make me feel a little emotional writing this, because I had no idea how much the social side of blogging would mean to me 12 months ago. I remember reading posts about 'spreading the blogging love' when I first started and thinking, WHAT?? But I get it now, comments do make the blogosphere go round.  I have met some wonderful, talented people this year, and I am so grateful to them for their support and friendship. They've helped me through a few dips along the way, and I just want to say the biggest, most heartfelt THANK YOU. I am so glad our paths have crossed.
Told you I'm a mushy old fool at the moment!

I'm going to take a break from blogging while we get back into the swing of family life. And if I keep going I'll also have to come up with a new name, because I won't be Single Married Mum anymore.

So, farewell for now, take care, and hope to see you soon xxx