Thirty Days of Happiness – Three

 

Need I say more?

In praise of creativity…

I love that I am creative. I may not be the greatest craftswoman in the world (In fact, I’m fairly sure that I’m not) but I like that I’ll give anything a go. I love that I can combine old shirts and new fabrics to create playmat/quilt for my friend’s beautiful new baby…

  

I love that with enthusiasm (and a good deal of frustrated swearing) I can turn offcuts of wood into a shockingly shoddily made dolls bed (part of a princess and the pea playset for a certain niece who is about to turn 5)…

Are either of these the reason for the title of this blog?

Nope…

…The Bean is very fond of my comb and likes carrying it about, ready to comb her or my hair at a moments notice. This morning as I was rushing out of the house I couldn’t find it, no doubt tidied away in her play kitchen (she’s also very fond of tidying, apparently everything lives in her washing machine), I have a spare, somewhere, but thankfully my creative mind sprung into action…it’s surprising effective combing your hair with a fork. Yep. That’s how we roll.

30 Days of Happiness – Two

The Bean has just given up her morning nap which means we can join some of her friends at a local ’soft play’ group.

I loved seeing how happy the Bean was before…(check out all those new teeth!)…

during…

(Quick break)

and after…

Dropping the nap went well then… : )

Work in Progress Wednesday

There’s been just a simple little bit of crafting going on this week – you can’t get much more straightforward than a simple knitted child’s scarf. I normally prefer the smoother look that stocking stitch produces, but I figured a scarf that narrow would roll up too much (I’m too lazy to block) and that the Bean, who is currently a big fan of squishing things, would prefer the thicker scarf.

It’s such a simple, quick knit – only 20 stitches across in DK wool. I’m using Robin Paintbox wool, which I bought for £1.50 from a recently discovered wool shop in my local town. The picture doesn’t really do it justice, it’s actually a lovely mix of white, raspberry and pink shades. I bought it partly because the Bean seems to be turning into a girly girl (albeit still a rough and tumble one) so the pink will go down well and partly because it reminds me of the beautiful wool used by Nicole over at the brilliant Frontier Dreams and yes, I do know that I am kidding myself in believing that the beautiful hand dyed wool she uses could be replicated in my £1.50 find but hey, that’s as close as it’s going to get.

Christmas crafts

Some of my lucky (?) friends and family got lovely handmade goodies for Christmas…here is just some of the crafting goodness that went on…

These cushions were made for a couple of friends. The cushion on the left is of the flag of our county – (thankfully it’s quite a simple flag  – gotta love straight lines!) but my favourite is the bunting cushion on lovely thick cotton sheeting, which gives the cushion a nice crisp, weighty feel. Thanks to a recent discovery of ‘Bondaweb’ this cushion was ridiculously simple to make. I simply cut out a large rectangle for the actual cushion, hemming the ends. I then cut out four triangles from fabric and Bondaweb and ironed them onto the cushion*. I then zig-zag stitched around each triangle to add definition and (hopefully) longevity.  *Before getting angry with the Bondaweb and curse it for not working, check you have first removed the backing paper…and that’s all I have to say about that.

 

I was really pleased with how this turned out (once ironed). It was a idea that had been floating about in my head for some time (at any one time, a small proportion of my brain is always thinking about bunting), which is always dangerous as if it had turned out badly I’d have been all the more disappointed, but it actually turned out really well. 

I also made some felt Christmas tree decorations in a variety of designs, some decorated with buttons in muted tones, some bright and some ‘vintage’ shirt buttons (i.e. cut off an old shirt destined for the recycling but let’s call it vintage and it sounds so much better).

I also made a little bunny for my niece T. It’s always a bit worrying giving a toy to a child as you have no idea how well it’s going to be recieved – so naturally I was thrilled when she immediately hugged her and said “Oh, I shall call her Ballerina Bunny Love”…erm…okay then, as long as you’re happy…

My favourite part was the little shoe laces (admitedly that’s probably not the technical ballet term).

They looked somewhat different after a night of hugging.

Tsk, I nearly forgot (again). Although not at all related to Christmas crafting, here’s a shot of Poorly Micheal which I made for cheering the Bean up when she gets sick. I’ve shown it to her and she’s pretty much shunned it, however I’m hoping he’ll grow on her, or she’ll never get sick, either suits me fine.    : )

 

I got the idea from Nicole at One Hook Wonder, who in turn got the idea from the inspirational Molly Chicken blog (I’ll try to find the proper links later). I love the way we have all interpreted the idea in a different way whilst still keeping similar elements.

That’s all for now folks…

Christmas round up!

Ugh, okay, so apparently I am quite bad at this regular blogging lark. Ho hum. Well, there’s an advert out promoting healthy living which says ‘Start again in 2010′, which is what I’m going to do (start again I mean, not eat healthily – I love chocolate too much for that…)

So, Christmas was pretty wonderful around here – quite, peaceful and spent with family, exactly as I’d hoped it would be. The Bean ‘helped’ fold out the branches on our (ridiculously small) Christmas tree and then got a little over excited by rugby tackling it and squishing it all up again.  Adding the jingly bells she chose was her favourite part (well, that and playing with ‘jingly bag’ (apparently it’s all about bells this Christmas).

   

The tree was the perfect size for the knitted decorations I made earlier in the year

 

and just big enough for my lovely tree topper which I found on sale the year before last (but was too shattered to put decoration up last year) (the Bean was only 7 weeks old at the time).

The Bean loved her dolls cot and crocheted blanket (so much so that she tried to climb into the cot at first sight) and loves tucking teddy up to sleep (then dragging him out by his leg).

The bargain of the decade was the whirly bug ladybird I found at a car boot sale for £3. Yep, £3.

I’ll post some pictures of Christmas crafts soon (hopefully tomorrow but hey…who knows?!) Along with shots (finally) of this little character (can you tell who he is yet?)

Here’s one of the presents Father Christmas brought me (I told you I liked Chocolate…)

Work In Progress Wednesday!

Well well, it’s been a while hasn’t it! After the Bean’s birthday we all came down with a horrid cold which we still haven’t entirely shaken. I decided that if I was going to wait until I felt entirely better I’d be posting pictures of the Bean’s second birthday instead.

So, a little later than planned – the Bean had a wonderful  birthday and part of the day was spent at a nearby aquarium. She loved it because she got to fulfil her long held ambition of being able to touch the glass on a fish tank (it’s all she wants to do in the doctor’s waiting room). Seeing her excitement was one of my favourite parts of the entire day.

 

Proudly clutching her super special birthday mug…

 

After our special day out, we had a little party in the evening with the Bean’s grandparents. On the Saturday we had family over in the morning and friends in the afternoon (it’s only a small house, hence the split) and on the Bean’s one year and one week birthday (still following…?) we had five of the Bean’s own-age friends over for the afternoon. I’m wondering if 5 birthday events will become the norm? I guess we’ll find out next year…only 11 months to go…

Craft-wise i’ve been quite busy too…after writing, then staring in disbelief at the extensive list of Christmas presents I’m kidding myself I’ll have time to make, I have actually (to my surprise) made a rather sucessful start. Of course I did get distracted by (finally) starting to make a ’Poorly Micheal’ for the Bean (despite mentioning in one of my first posts that I was off to make him, I only got so far as designing him). He’s come together really quickly and should be finished tomorrow, ready to go in time for any winter coughs and colds. I should have pictures of him (as my WIP), along with some of the other things I’ve been making but for some reason the camera won’t download any photos so you’ll have to wait until I get that one sorted!

Phew!

Well, the Bean’s birthday party (well, parties!), is over - all cards read and smiled at (apparently cards are very funny) and all presents unwrapped. The Bean only really got into unwrapping gifts on the last two presents but should be ready to go at Christmas. I’m certainly not someone who expects gifts or cares in the least about monetary value but with each gift the Bean received it was so touching to see how much thought people had put into their gifts and how much the Bean is loved. It was a priviledge to spend one of Bean’s special milestones with such good friends who are and will continue to be, so influential in her life. There is also nothing to compare with the feeling at the end of a busy day when the house is quiet, your baby is peacefully sleeping and you’re curled up on the sofa with your husband…even if it is whilst watching Doctor Who.

30 Days of Happiness – One

Sorry for the lack of recent posting – there has been a lot of Bean-Birthday goodness going on this week which has meant not much time for anything else. In the mean time I thought i’d jump on the ‘30 days’ bandwagon, not sure if i’m meant to post about something from the current day but I did write this post last week and forgot to publish it (?!!)…

Spending Wednesday before last having a picnic in the park with The Bean.

 

 

I love that she can choose what food she wants, that she know when she is hungry and thirsty and can let me know. I most especially love how she drinks from her beaker, I don’t know why I especially love this, I think it’s because she is just so proud of herself!

 

Look out for Birthday goodness coming soon…!

Busy Bean

The Bean has learnt a new skill today. Oh dear.

(I love that little hand!)

What have we found?

Oh, just a blender, wedding china and heavy granite placemats, lovely…

Can anyone guess what i’ll be doing this week?