What nots and ho hums!

Can you believe another year is almost over!

Seems as though the years are going by quicker and quicker, which makes it more all the more important to cherish those around you and the moments which make everything worthwhile.

I shan’t be too sad to close the door on 2011; it’s had its ups and downs, all of which have made me more excited for whatever 2012 has planned for both me and my family.

I’ve rather enjoyed this impromptu blog break, hubby has been home and I’ve been making the most of lazy mornings and instant coffee mug refills ( he knows how much I need my coffee), but I’m itching to get back to my sewing and blogging!

I have a bunch of ideas which need scribbling down before I commit scissors to fabric; my scrap fabric bin is full of hasty makes which never quite made it! Hopefully I will be sharing these with you soon.

We had a wonderful Christmas, not a snowy one, but the boys enjoyed it immensely, imagine doing some last minute shopping with 2 little boys shouting ‘Merry Christmas’ and ‘Dash away, dash away’ at everyone, they were certainly getting in to festive spirit even if the adults were wondering why on earth we had left everything to the last minute again!

However you choose to mark the passing of one and the beginning of a new year, I hope you spend it with those near and dear.

I shall leave you with a little thought,

You know the fluffy lint that accumulates in the tumble dryer after drying a load of laundry, how many times can you tumble dry an item before you are left with nothing but a zipper or buttons?! I mean really, where does it all come from?

And whilst I’m pondering such ‘serious’ issues, if you line dry laundry, where does all the fluffy lint go?

I'm not ready, another week please!

Ohhhhhhh my gosh!

Christmas is FOUR days away.

I have 2 sleeps before I need to get my gifts ready and wrapped for family who are coming to visit on Thursday, and I have NOTHING!

Let the festive freak out commence!

 I don’t understand what happened, I have made lists and plans and somehow kinda didn’t get round to the whole ‘doing’ stage!

What do I doooooo?!

Seriously, I’m in a pickle, gah! This year Christmas has seriously come round quicker than other years, I’m going to send a very stern letter to those folks at GMT about slowing things down a tad.

On the plus side, I was messing around with some embroidery and mastered the French knot, hurrah! And I think I almost know how to use Twitter, I follow peeps and I even have followers but still haven't sent anything!

Okay, well I had better skedaddle and figure out what I’m going to do!

Any last minute ideas more than welcome, how are your festive preparations going?

Laundry Blues or Reds!

Just over a week before Christmas, and I’m glum.

 I’ve been slowly tinkering around with things around the home, adding some festive decoration here and there, one of which was the red and white blanket you can see here.

I’ve had it for a few years; it’s been laundered before no problem.

This week, I put it in the washing machine, and this happened.

I know it’s horrid; I can barely look at it.

I just don’t understand, it’s been laundered before, nothing happened, but this time, a bunch of tea towels are now a horrendous pink.

I looked up ways to rectify it, tried washing it again in hot water, then tried a colour catcher, I even tried the old ‘sitting on the floor in front of the washing machine, staring at it as it goes round and round’. Nothing works!

I almost just put it in the recycling bin.

Does anyone have any tips on how to fix it?

Or perhaps know where I could buy another one, took me ages to find this one!

I'm off to continue my ‘snow watch’ we are meant to get 0.05cm of snow and I want see it before it all goes!

A week of sickness and bunting!

Seems like ages since I’ve done anything here, well they do say time flies when you’re having fun!

My ‘fun’, taking care of two little boys with the worst colds they have ever had.

Poor little munchkins are certainly having a rough time of it, runny noses, coughing and restless nights. It hasn't helped that this week the weather has been absolutely awful, we've had rain, hail, thunder and lightening and crazy winds, so we are stuck in the house and going a little crazy.

Needless to say, all this leaves me little time for any crafting; I have however managed to knock out this little pouch. 

I'm finally starting to use some of my fabric stash, the ones I purchased for no other reason besides liking the look of them.

I also made some magnetic bunting for the fridge! I know, kinda random, but I was getting fed up with the grey and the ‘ever practical’ hubby said I couldn’t spray paint it, think he’s worried I wouldn’t stop at the fridge! He knows me too well!!

Do you want to make some, here’s how

Grab the following

{Magnetic sheets

Scrapbook paper

Glue, scissors, ruler & pencil}

Adhere the scrapbook paper to the magnetic sheet 9 (not the magnetic side)

Once dry, use the ruler and pencil to draw out your bunting pennants, and cut!

Arrange on fridge however you like!

I’m still loving the red and aqua combo, have you seen the orange which is next year’s ‘colour’? I can’t say I’m a fan, what do you think?

Linking up to some of these

Home work, Making the World Cuter, French Country Cottage More the Merrier Monday Craft o Maniac Monday Organising Mission Monday Pinkapotamus Beneath the Rowan Tree, Home Stories of A-Z, Todays Creative Blog, Show & Tell, Power of Paint Party, Someday Crafts, Sweetpeas & Bumblebees, House of Hepworths, The Shabby Chic Cottage, Beyond the Picket Fence, The 36th Avenue, Fireflies & Jellybeans, 504 Main, 30 Handmade Days, Funky Junk Interiors, Under the Table and Dreaming, Sundae Scoop, Craft O Maniac, ABC & 123, Beneath the Rowan Tree, A Round Tuit, Serenity Now, Freckled Laundry, Homemaker in Heels, Spunky Junky, Funky Junk Interiors, Tatertots & Jello, J & M's Eye Candy, Organize with Sandy, The Creative Itch, Rook no.17,  Creative Spark, Gingersnaps, Blissful & Domestic,Keeping it Simple, Craft Junkie Too, Simply Designing, Making Lemonade, Truly Lovely Blog, Chic on a Shoestring Decorating, Cherished Bliss, Your Whims Wednesday, Lil' Luna, Crafty Confessions, Sugar Bee Crafts, Sew Woodsy, Wicked Awesome Wednesday, Home for the Holidays, My Repurposed  Life, Momnivores Dilemma, making monday marvelous

The Christmas Freak Out!

Is anyone else about to freak out like a turkey on Christmas Eve?

Christmas is too few days away, last time I checked, I had a few months, now its days, and how has this happened? Please someone tell me!

I have, some how, managed to put up some decorations, even made a whole bunch too!

Whilst going through all the boxes of decorations I found some of my very first sewing projects from this time last year, wanna see?

Here we have Mr & Mrs Ginger

I kinda forgot to finish the kiddos, sorry boys!

I made several felt bells with snowflakes and added one of these hand painted rusty bells to each one, I love these bells.

They may not be much, but I’m still totally impressed with these!

These are some of the decorations I made this year.

Trees, a gal’ has to have trees, so I’ve knocked out a few of these and have dotted them around the house.

Hearts! Who doesn’t love hearts?

I doooooo! So made up a whole bunch and have hung them from almost everything I could!

Bunting! Did you really think I could through Christmas without some festive bunting?!

I couldn’t, so I used some lovely red & white fabrics to make this little lovely.

As much as I love making my own decorations, sometimes I see decorations in a store, do a little dance, clap my hands and squeal ‘Ohh, ohhhh Oh!’,  until hubby realises what has caught my attention and asks ‘How many do you need?’

These are some of my most favourite decorations which we have purchased.

Love my reindeer's!

And laser cut decorations!

I also love, love, love these  rustic heart and star decorations.

I have a few decorations which are a mash-up of store purchased decorations and my own handmade tweaks, once I have sorted those out I shall post a tut or two, maybe!

Well I’m off to continue my pre Christmas freak out, anyone want to join me?!

I can’t move like Jagger!!

Can someone please tell my kiddos that their mama just can’t ‘Move like Jagger’, especially whilst spinning round the kitchen holding TWO 2.5 year olds, for 30 minutes!

Honestly, putting the radio in the kitchen so I could listen to some festive music whilst doing some house work was a HUGE MISTAKE.

As soon as I flick the switch, the terrors run in the kitchen, arms out stretched requesting a dance, refusal is futile.

I like to think that back in the day I could strut my stuff pretty darn well on the dance floor, but two kids harm my moves somewhat, I’m lucky that no one can see into our kitchen or people would have wondered what on earth was going on!

I would have been kicked right out of ‘Strictly Come Dancing’ but I sure did get a couple of work outs this week, which is all good as I do plan on adding a few Holiday pounds!!

We’ve had a wonderful time with the boys this week; I decorated the play/craft room and enjoyed some hilarious moments with the kiddos.

Ahren, calling to Ethan

“Come back little fella”

Ahren & Ethan on seeing the decorations I hung in the playroom

“It’s bootiful”

Ethan to daddy when told to leave the PS3 alone

“Hmmmm, no!”

Ahren & Ethan on seeing the candles and fairy lights lit in the living room

“It’s bootiful mummy”

Honestly, everyday they say things which have us screaming with laughter and puzzled as to where they have heard some of these things!

I'm off to finish wrapping a few gifts, it has been looking depressingly bare under the tree!

A Winter's Walk & An Evening Craft

Yesterday we woke up to a perfect winter morning (minus the snow), it was a wonderful clear sky with enough chill in the air that you could wrap up warm.

We decided to take a walk along the beach, whilst there I snapped a few photos, my camera is just a ‘click & point’, and I’m really chuffed with the photos I got.

Once we got back home it was time to bust out some crafting supplies!

One of my most favourite things about exchanging gifts, especially Christmas gifts, is wrapping things up.

The paper, decorative tape, bows, ribbon, accessories, tags ahhh, just wonderful isn’t it!

I have been known to take everything out a box / wrapping just to rewrap everything individually!

This year I’m going to go with parcel paper, ribbons and some homemade tags.

I’ve mentioned before that I was in to card making, which I’ve not done for an age, suffice to say I have a whole bunch of card making supplies which are looking rather lonely at the moment.

If you want to make some tags gather the following

{Die cutter

Tag die

Card stock

Seasonal stamps and ink pads

Scandi embellishments

Glue

Bakers twine}

Using the die cutter cut out a whole bunch of tags, any spare can be used for other crafts.

(You could use a template and cut out tags with a craft knife if you don’t have a die cutter)

Next, using the stamps and ink pads, add a sentiment to the lower half of each tag.

Once the ink is dry, add a blob of glue to the centre of an embellishment and adhere to the centre of your tag.

Allow to dry.

Once it is dry, take a length of twine, fold it in half, thread through the hole in the tag and loop the twine through itself, pull.

Repeat as necessary until you have enough tags for your gifts.

Aren’t they sweet?

Have you decided how you’re going to be wrapping your gifts this Christmas?

Linking up to some of these

Home work, Making the World Cuter, French Country Cottage More the Merrier Monday Craft o Maniac Monday Organising Mission Monday Pinkapotamus Beneath the Rowan Tree, Home Stories of A-Z, Todays Creative Blog, Show & Tell, Power of Paint Party, Someday Crafts, Sweetpeas & Bumblebees, House of Hepworths, The Shabby Chic Cottage, Beyond the Picket Fence, The 36th Avenue, Fireflies & Jellybeans, 504 Main, 30 Handmade Days, Funky Junk Interiors, Under the Table and Dreaming, Sundae Scoop, Craft O Maniac, ABC & 123, Beneath the Rowan Tree, A Round Tuit, Serenity Now, Freckled Laundry, Homemaker in Heels, Spunky Junky, Funky Junk Interiors, Tatertots & Jello, J & M's Eye Candy, Organize with Sandy, The Creative Itch, Rook no.17,  Creative Spark, Gingersnaps, Blissful & Domestic,Keeping it Simple, Craft Junkie Too, Simply Designing, Making Lemonade, Truly Lovely Blog, Chic on a Shoestring Decorating, Cherished Bliss, Your Whims Wednesday, Lil' Luna, Crafty Confessions, Sugar Bee Crafts, Sew Woodsy, Wicked Awesome Wednesday, Home for the Holidays, My Repurposed  Life