Chicken Licken's Creations

A Canvas for Granny

2012-01-28T07:38:00.001Z

I think I mentioned that it is my Mum's 70th birthday next week. What do you get for someone who is 70? If they haven't got it by the time they are 70 then they don't need it do they!! I don't think I have ever made much for my Mum so I thought I would have a bash at a canvas for her. Started by covering it with some colours that go with her bedroom...

Then I went mad with more colour, gesso, circles punched from a book, stamping, stencilling and cosmic shimmers!

Finally I cut out some blue tits (and I think a coal tit) and added them along with some words.

I used my new modge podge to cover it all and stick it all well down! So there it goes, my first ever canvas. What did I learn? Don't paint modge podge over Distress Inks, they run!

The whole top!

2012-01-27T06:41:00.001Z

Ta-da! And here it is, all sewn together, with the fourth square representing Burnice's log cabin. I have already shown you that one in close up I think. So that is the top, about 29" square and ready for the next stage. I think we are just backing and binding, not sure if there is going to be more border but I think we shall discuss what we all want to do next time we meet. I think there is some thought to a panelled back, explaining why we did what we did for each person...

Linda's Square

2012-01-26T06:27:00.001Z

This one is the square Linda made me. The fat quarter I gave her was the green spot and she was going to make a piece with the flying geese pattern. However over the course of many discussions I have come to the conclusion that I am not all that keen on patchwork based on triangles....not keen on all the points for some reason! So Linda chose this design, Drunkard's Path, that she remembered I had seen in a book and liked! Hmmmm, wine bottles, Drunkard's Path; do I sense a theme here?

Just look what a fab match the fabric she used is with the fabric I used in my square and then decided to do the borders in!

Tomorrow the final shot of it all together....

Burnice's Square.

2012-01-25T09:07:00.001Z

This was the square Burnice made me. I gave her the fabric that she has used for the bow (and in various other places) so she has made me these four panels. The initials are those of my four children and the charms are a sewing machine (obviously) a clock and a teacup, to represent all the time we spend drinking tea! Then she came across the fabric with wine bottles and thought of me! Can't think why! The colours just look great together, so there was my border!

Close up of that fab fabric!

Friendship Quilt

2012-01-24T17:31:00.000Z

A fair number of months ago Burnice, Linda and I decided to make a friendship quilt each. You may remember me telling you about how we bought each other a fat quarter and then made a 12x12" square for each other which we then exchanged for Christmas. Next we made ourselves a square and then the fourth square was the log cabin where we all meet and we all used the same pattern for that. So now I have the four squares and the second thing that I am REALLY proud about is that this weekend I sewed them all together to make my quilt top. Over the next few days I shall show you them until the final reveal of them all together!! First of all I shall show you the one I made for myself. It was based on a Hobo Quilt and I chose four smaller squares that represent my life. From top L, clockwise they are; cops active, man with a gun, OK and kind-hearted lady. My friends will know why I have chosen these!!! I was a bit nervous that my quilt squares wouldn't go together so I used some fabric in mine that was the same as I gave to Burn and Linda in the hope that would add some "flow" to the final quilt. Stop laughing at me Burn......as a Virgo I struggle with too much randomness!

Mum's 70th birthday card

2012-01-23T07:26:00.001Z

Is it wrong to be proud of something you have made? Well whatever the rights or wrongs of it I am rather chuffed with all I have achieved this weekend. On Saturday I spent almost the whole day (with a bit of chatting and cake eating too) constructing the inside of this card for my Mum's 70th birthday. Then I finished it off when I got home from Gilly's. The front is all stamped and inked.

Inside is this construction. I got the pattern from this month's Craft Stamper and I am rather pleased with it. I think it may have looked better if I had managed to buy some stamens to go in the middle of the flowers but anyway, 'tis done now and I think she will love it!

Tomorrow I will share what else I am rather proud of!

Nearly there with the Art Journal!

2012-01-22T10:26:00.001Z

Week 48 was all about "Wisdom. Are you wise? What words of wisdom can you share? Include a stamped owl". Luckily I do have an owl so I just did a bit of masking, stamped him and coloured him in. Then I sat and thought about my best bits of advice; how I try to live my life.

Week 49 was about traditions. "Do you have any Christmas ones? Use festive colours and stamps". That felt a bit odd using red and green in January! Nice bit of glitter on the holly berries and a few key words to show our traditions.

Last one for this batch is Week 50, just two more to go. This was about "Toys; what did you have and play with? What did you always want? Do you still have any of them? Use vintage image". No stamping in this and I hope the 70's images count as vintage enough! I do still have my Sindy and my Tiny Tears in the loft!

A card!!!

2012-01-18T17:12:00.000Z

Don't faint but I made a card! After completely dipping out on the Christmas card front I thought I HAD to make a birthday card for Burnice or she would never let me forget it! The brown strip is actually on the inside of the card and there is a gap in the front held together by the flourishes and the "B" if you get me! I really am not good at cards; maybe that's because I never enjoy making them!

Art Journal weeks 46 and 47

2012-01-17T16:54:00.001Z

It's been a while but as I said I am determined to finish the projects I have started, so in an effort to do just that I have cracked on with the last few weeks of my art journal. Week 46 was "Astrology; do you believe in it? What star sign are you? Do you read/believe it. Include your star sign". Well I don't really believe in them on a day to day basis. However there are a great many personality traits assigned to Virgo that are "me" so I guess I have to believe in them!

Week 47 was "Are you generous? What is the most generous thing that has happened to you and what was it? What is the most generous thing you have done? Be generous with your stamping". I used my new Caran D'Ache watercolour crayons for the BG and then stamped lots and lots in purples over the top of it. I didn't have a lot to say, so short and sweet!

You're never too old to learn...

2012-01-16T16:57:00.001Z

Think back to last year for a moment if you will, and my struggles learning how to crochet; I am delighted to say that after 30+ years I finally "get it". Not all of it, I haven't worked out how to follow those complicated diagrams, but I can make stuff using crochet! So here is the beginning od a crochet project. This insignificant square is about 3" square.

Here he is joined together with lots of his mates, all exactly the same as him. I decided that once I had the basics what I needed to do was just repeat, repeat, repeat the process so it would finally stay in my brain. This pattern requires 432 squares, all the same, in 24 rows of 18! This is just the first 8 rows, a long way to go but if you look at it from a different angle I am a third of the way there already!

Just a close up showing the first two rows crocheted all together. One of my resolutions is to enter a country show a la Kirsty; maybe this will be my crocheted item....

Finally complete!

2012-01-15T21:14:00.001Z

Just thought I'd show you the front....just so you know I really did finish it. Cleared my decks today and spent a nice chunk of time crafting. I am trying to finish projects off before I start new ones! Not really a resolution, a necessity!

Close up of the tiny bells!

Last 3 days.

2012-01-10T06:30:00.001Z

5th Jan was meant to be about clearing up and packing away. But we haven't yet! so instead I chose to write about our turkey this year.

Last promted page and it was meant to be all about what Christmas meant to us. Well Christmas to me is all about the family and the food! Not a great photo but the best I could find. My shots haven't been that great this year.

As always there is a page left on the back of the album so as we haven't taken our tree down I wrote about the research I have done about Twelfth Night.

There, made it! I just have to do the cover now and we are all finished for another year. Now I need to finish my Art Journal!

JYC 3 and 4 Jan

2012-01-09T07:17:00.001Z

January 3rd was a chance to journal that one memory of Christmas that hasn't yet been told. We had a very quiet one with little remarkable to mark it out from others! The only different thing I can think of is that we have had a different sort of tree and apart from not smelling, it has been the best one we have ever had in 20+ years!

January 4th and it's list time again. This time a list of things to remember for next Christmas. I looked back in last year's journal and I had remembered to do most of those things this year and by some fluke this yearI was all organised with no major mess-ups! It really has been a most laid back festive season for some reason!

JYC 31 and 1st Jan

2012-01-08T20:25:00.001Z

These entries are definately getting plainer as I rush on with them! I hope I don't look back in years to come and think I sold out! New Year's Eve is where we are now and this year, for a change, we went out! My friend Alison invited us over. She has a daughter the same age as Jasper and Eliza and a cutey pie son who is just 6 months old. We had a fabby time with lots of silly games and didn't get to bed til 2.30!

New Year's Day and those resolutions again! I re-visited last years and was quite chuffed to see I had achieved several of them! I set some realistic ones for this year too....I hope!

2nd January was meant to be about the innocence of Christmas but I had nothing to say about that. Instead I chose to reflect on our 2011 which has been difficult at times. A plain page as I wanted it to be calm and peaceful bearing in mind the content of my entry.

So nearly there, last push to the end now!

Day 29 and 30

2012-01-07T08:42:00.001Z

Day 29 was a chance to document that tale of this Christmas that hasn't yet been told! I think I mentioned that Katy is doing GCSE Photography this year so on the day we did the tree she set up the camera in the corner of the room to get some shots for a multiplicity picture. This, she informs me, is where you edit a picture so you can get lots of things all in it together. So here we all are decorating our tree with two images of Jess, two of Jasper, my arm, Eliza and Ken putting the star on top! Love this image but unfortunately the printer is being a bit rubbish. Still, it's in and done!

Day 30 and a review of 2011 in brief. I trawled my photos of the year to find an event for each month.

Jan-we went to the Ballet in London; Feb-I flew to Edinburgh with Jess to visit a Uni there; March-Katy and her Explorere Scout team won the Overland Hike; April-Jess was 18; May-we went to Norfolk to see my brother in law and sister in law, a very sad picture because she sadly died just a few weeks later; June-Jasper and the Scouts took part in their Annual soap box derby; July-Jasper went on Scout camp for a whole week.....he was shattered when he came home!; Aug-I had my first ever quilting class; Sept- Jess went off to Uni; Oct-we went to THe Big Gig with the Guides; Nov-I found a HUGE clutch of 24 eggs in my garden! and Dec-Katy was 16. Wow what a year we have had, some huge changes and our fair share of tears this year too.

JYC Days 27 and 28

2012-01-06T06:30:00.001Z

Day 27 was all about how we sleep differently over the festive period. I always think this is an odd one but when I look through my pictures there is nearly always a sleepy one in there somewhere! I really LOVE this Santa paper but this is the only piece of it I have used! It didn't seem to go with any previous pictures!

Day 28 was about those special things we only ever have at Christmas; those real treats. This year I chose Christmas cake and a small sherry, very christmassy and two things we don't have at any other time of year.

Day 25 and 26

2012-01-05T07:13:00.001Z

Just a quick photo montage for Christmas Day to show what we got up to! Didn't feel it needed any words!

Boxing Day was all about the mints.....that may not have contained mint! And in fact they didn't!

JYC Days 23 & 24

2012-01-04T06:23:00.001Z

Really cooking on gas now! I manages to get chunks of pages done before I went back to work and got madly busy again. So Day 23 was meant to be about stockings, their place in your home and their history. However I have covered stockings in previous books and as the candy cane was meant to be my "theme" this Christmas I decided to write about it's origins instead. This was following a conversation with my Dad on New Year's Day who was convinced they were American in origin!

Day 24 was Christmas Eve of course and for once I was all done by 8pm or so. Jess made the mince pies, I iced the cake (which I forgot to take any pics of) and we all wrapped in different rooms of the house! Then we just had to wait for everyone to go to bed!

JYC Day 21 and 22

2012-01-03T07:19:00.001Z

Day 21 was a chance think about what we have achieved so far. It was also the day that I went to buy the last few bits (apart from the food) that we needed so I chose to include the receipts. Maybe I will look back in a few years and think how cheap things were!

Day 22 was the day for another list. This time one to make sure those last jobs don't get missed. I think this year is my shortest ever "to do" list!

Days 19 and 20

2012-01-02T08:12:00.001Z

Day 19 and it was all about writing letters to Santa. This is not a tradition we have really ever followed so it was another quick page to do!

Day 2o was meant to be about unexpected things arriving in the post (I think it was anyway!). Well again I decided to do my own thing and journal my Christmas meal with Burnice and Linda in the cabin! Oooo we ate sooooo much!

Day 17 and 18

2011-12-31T10:07:00.002Z

I can't quite remember what the prompt was for 17th but I decided to go "off piste" and just add some pics of us going to collect Jess from Bournemouth. We made a day of it, taking everyone down with us. We had a nice meal at Prezzo and then a wander throught the German Market before bringin her back to Sussex for Christmas! A lovely day and it's nice to have her home again.

Day 18 was a chance to talk about your Christmas Menu. We have the same every year so no change here! I do ask if the children would like something different to turkey but they always say no! Their main reason for wanting turkey; so we can have a really yummy Jamie Oliver recipe with the leftovers!

JYC Days 15 and 16

2011-12-30T06:47:00.001Z

Look what difference a nights sleep makes! Pictures right way round!! Day 15 is always one I find a bit tricky to do as we rarely have visitors so I end up writing pretty much the same each year!

Day 17 is a moment to think about what we are grateful for in this busy season. Quite pleased how this page turned out because in the past this entry has looked a bit "listy".

So bit more caught up. Might manage some more today!

JYC Days 13 and 14

2011-12-29T17:59:00.002Z

Grrr, now why oh why have these pics gone sideways?? They are saved straight in my PC and I took them straight? Anyway you will just have to turn your head sideways to look I'm afraid! Day 13 was about Music in the run up to Christmas. I saved tickets and programmes from the various concerts the children have done in the run up.

Day 14 was about "the Rules of present distribution!" I decided to make a stack of parcels to represent this and had great fun making them and using up some card toppers too!

Right, now I need to find out why my pictures are sideways....

JYC Days 11 and 12

2011-12-27T07:44:00.002Z

Day 11 was time to think about the tree; how it is decorated, and special decorations, lights, tinsel and so on. This year Katy is doing photography GCSE so she has taken lots of photos and I used two of hers on this page. Our tree this year was meant to be red and white with a touch of silver to go in with a whole candy cane theme but when I unpacked all the decorations we had barely any red or white ones! We went with glass, and anything with red on it in the end and the compulsory lametta, red this year for a change, and I included a piece or two as an embellie.

Day 12 was about Christmas's past and as part of the book I just did for my Dad I had this picture of us at Christmas. I did struggle a bit to work out the exact date but we moved to our new house in November 1977 and the first Christmas we didn't have a piano and I think the whole of the lounge carpet was up as we had a leak somewhere. That makes me think this is probably '78 or'79 and I would have been 10 or 11 and Sarah would have been 7 or 8. Also the tree is stood where our TV was and we didn't have a TV that first year either!

JYC 9&10

2011-12-26T08:45:00.005Z

I hope you all had a lovely Christmas Day! In the mad dash to the day I did manage to squeeze in an evening of craft and used it to start catching up with this years Journal. Never before have I been so behind! Still, I have taken lots of photos so I am sure I will get there eventually.
Day 9 and we were considering Traditions. I guess when you think about it we all have lots of this that build up over the years into our own version of Christmas, coming in from both sides of the family. A quick page so I just listed a few of ours.

Day 10 was about wrapping. Always last minute in this house, although this year we were done by 8pm on Christmas Eve! Never has it been done so early!

Now I just need another quiet evening to catch up some more!

Friendship quilts

2011-12-23T15:14:00.002Z

Ages ago, way back in about September, Burn, Linda and I decided to make friendship quilts. So we each bought 2 fat quarters and gave them to each other to be made into a 12" square for each other. These were then going to be our Christmas gifts to be made into a quilt each in the New Year. Are you with me still? I decided to use my Hobo Quilts book to make three squares, one for each of us, using panels that were relevant to each of us. First I did mine. The panels mean (from top left, going clockwise) cops active, man with a gun, OK and kind hearted lady. If you know me then you will recognise the significance of these ones!

Linda gave me a fat quarter with houses on and this is her panel. She loves her garden, has a big dog and lives near the sea so her squares mean (again top left going clockwise) well-guarded house, good water, housewife feeds for chores and work available.

Burnice gave me a fat quarter that was black, grey and white spots. It is her cabin we go to once a month and she nearly always supplies us with cake or biscuits so her squares mean (same order) woman, bread, here is the place and anything goes.
I will show you the two I got from them when I get some decent light to photograph them and then next year we will join them into 3 quilts!

An unusual card...

2011-12-22T22:23:00.003Z

I always try to make a Christmas card for my class teacher from the children each year. I have done a few different ones over the years but this year I was a bit stumped. However we have just done a Nativity called "Christmas with the Aliens" so I asked every child to paint an alien. Then they added details in pen before writing a Christmas message on the back.

We had some great ones....

I then made them a space ship and mounted them in it so the teacher could take them out and read them! The words are lines that the aliens say in the play! The children LOVED making their aliens and I think she loved it too. Not very Christmassy but a good reminder of what we did this year!

Still going...just

2011-12-15T07:13:00.003Z

Day 8 is a chance to show what Christmas preparations are happening around us. I hadn't taken very many pictures but as I work in school there are always little bits about. I haven't had a chance to take pictures of lights or shop windows as all my shopping has been online! I added some frosty pics too, think that might be the closest we get to a white one this year.

Next Day.

2011-12-13T16:40:00.002Z

Was a bit fed up when I did this page. Well not really but I still have sooooooo much to do and I have been poorly and the weather is rubbish blah, blah, blah! Today's prompt was about lists; lists of what you still have to do and I found that just too depressing. So instead I typed a conversation with myself about where I am with Christmas today, (well on 7th). I am refusing to panic...

JYC Day 6

2011-12-12T19:06:00.002Z

Hooray, we seem to be cooking on gas now and I can show you Day 6. This was a chance to talk about a tale of two Christmases; or a good versus a bad Christmas. I chose to talk about my choice to "theme" my Christmas this year instead. I am quite pleased with the long photo I used on the LH side. And it's meant to be blurry...it's an effect!!!

More JYC

2011-12-11T21:15:00.002Z

Well I can't get the earlier pictures to load straight so lets go with Day 5. Advent calendars is the theme so the first photos in my album are of the ones we are using this year. No Jess this year so only three at home. We did post her one to open in Bournemouth though!

Journal Your Christmas.....at last!

2011-12-11T09:25:00.002Z

Grrrr I am having technical glitches with my PC/Blog/Picasa at the moment!

Finally I have started to Journal this year's Christmas. The first 2 days WILL not rotate round the correct way so we I will have to start you off with Day 3 and thoughts about cards. For the BG I used the envelopes of the cards we have received so far. I also included this year's Christmas stamps. So at last I am under way, many days behind but off the starting blocks!

A Book for Dad

2011-12-04T19:46:00.003Z

In August my Dad was 70. So what did he want for his birthday? Well, he is having a house built in America at the moment so "nothing" was his reply. I couldn't let such a date go by unmarked so I decided to make him a book with pictures of him growing up. Now this was a tad complicated because he divorced my Mum when I was 16 and I have no photos of his "new" wife although things are very amicable. My Auntie Sue was great; since my Nana died she has all the family photos so she scanned an e-mailed me several. Then my Mum dug out a load and I was able to make him a very plain book, containing some pictures that I hope he will be able to cherish.My Dad with his Mum and Dad and then a war time picture that Nana probably sent to Grandad. He was one of the original Desert Rats fighting in North Africa in the War. My Dad went to University in Cambridge and this is him in the infamous "Bumps" races, then on his wedding day to my Mum.And here are my Mum and Dad with me.I was adopted in 1968 and this is the first ever pic of me with them, followed by a pic with Dad on my first Christmas.

These are pics of me and Dad in our garden at Willow Park. I guess I am about 10 months or so...

I gave it to him today; he didn't say a lot but I hope he liked it.

Art Journal Weeks 44 and 45

2011-11-29T06:33:00.004Z

The challenge continues with Week 44..."Inspiration- What inspires you?Are there certain times or places that you are more inspired? Include some inspirational words/pictures" I have to say that if I ever need inspiration I turn to the internet and sites like Blogger, Pinterest or good old Google. I also look in books a lot. I particularly like Pinterest because I can put all those things I find whilst I am surfing, in one place to find again later! Week 45 was about Patience "Are you patient, what in particular drives you potty? Use contrasting colours eg calm/angry". I think, for a redhead, I have a long fuse. I am a slow burn kinda gal! Things will mount up and mount up until POW! I blow! But once it is out of my system I am fine, calmness restored. And what makes me really see red are my children bickering, in fact ANY bickering; answering back, and that can be at home or at school; arrogance, a most unattractive quality and one that makes me see red instantly, so much so that I would not bother to continue a conversation with somebody who was arrogant! Lastly is meaness, I don't have a lot but what I have I share whether it be time or money etc and I don't like to see others keeping to themselves. Fortunately I am blessed with generous friends and family!

More SMASH!

2011-11-28T07:19:00.003Z

Bit more SMASH. THis page is from when we took the Guides to the Big Gig at Wembley Stadium. Again I think I have blogged about this before but this is the bits and pieces from the day. It was an amazing concert, all girls in the audience so extremely loud, especially when The Wanted performed!
Now I think this page is more how I picture SMASH pages. A collection of images, colours and bits that I intend to use for our Christmas this year. It began with the candy cane ribbon and then I found the other pictures about and added them as a memory jogger for when I actually "do" christmas this year.

SMASH Book

2011-11-27T10:18:00.005Z

So have you succumbed yet? I think I told you that I was lucky enough to be given a SMASH Book for my birthday. I wasn't sure if it was something I was going to share or keep private, but my Blog has been so abandoned of late that I thought I better scrabble about for something to show you!

This first page is bits and pieces from when we took Jess off to Uni, way back in September. You have seen the photo of the housemates already because I used it in my LSNED Journal. Thanks to Linda I think I am developing a thing for beach huts...Here we have bits from a trip to the show at Ally Pally. I went with friends who all craft together and we decided to make a list of things to try inspired by what we saw demonstrated there. And what is more I can proudly say we have done the marbling and the melt pot so far!

I am not quite sure if I have quite pitched this SMASH stuff quite right yet....but I am enjoying practicing!

Lots more Peg Bags!

2011-10-30T12:31:00.002Z

When Burnice and Linda came over during the week we had decided to make peg bags. They really liked the ones I had already made and as I want to sell them at Gilly's Xmas Bazaar I made a few more. Burnice was making a green one for a friend and she had enough fabric to cut out an extra one which she very kindly gave to me to add to my little stock! These are the four I made today and I have another one already done so I shall just add a few pegs and they are all ready to go.

Art Journal Weeks 42 and 43

2011-10-29T09:40:00.007+01:00

I have taken my time to do Week 42 because I couldn't decide what I thought! It was all about "Coincidence, do you believe there is more to it than just coincidence? Do you have any stories of coincidences? Include some numbers". I just couldn't make up my mind....

Week 43 was about being sociable. "Are you sociable, do you prefer large or small gatherings, can you do small talk? Can you amuse yourself, do you like your own company? Include an invitation". I always thought I was a social animal and hated to be alone with just myself, particularly as a child. But as my days have become crammed full with being a wife and mother to 4 I crave time alone. Now my lot are growing up I get time alone and I love it...just as long as it's not toooo long, a day is enough at a stretch. And I am much more choosy about socialising; I prefer to pick who and how I socialise. Life is too short to spend time socialising with people I don't know /like! Right, it's official; I am a Grumpy Old Woman!

No invite in this however...I couldn't work one in and I was in a painty mood. I also have a social gathering to attend today that I am unsure about so I think that is swaying my choices.

I crochet....

2011-10-28T13:36:00.003+01:00

OMG! I did it! Remember that hexagon knitted throw and how it needed a crochet edge? Well when my friends Linda and Burnice came over we were too bust sewing to do it so last night I got a book out and had a bash......

...and I did it! Double crochet all round the edge, two rows deep! Obviously this pic only shows one row but it does finish it off. I know it's very basic but I couldn't be more excited....
...even tho' I think I have done it a bit tight and the blanket doesn't quite lay flat! Hey-ho, it's rustic!

We can see you-hoo!

2011-10-24T09:22:00.001+01:00

I am a new addict to Pinterest; guess what I found on there? The pattern for these super cute owls. As owls seem to be "the thing" at the moment I thought these might go down well at Gilly's Christmas Fair. They are very quick and easy to make too!

A Bag for Eliza.

2011-10-22T19:37:00.001+01:00

I am sure you remember the couple of 60's style bags I made over the summer. Eliza has been waiting for me to make one for her too but I mislaid the fabric she wanted me to use. Whilst a-rummaging in the loft last week for wool to finish my blanket I found it so finally I did it for her. This fabric was given to me some time ago; I didn't know what I was going to do with it but I knew I would use it one day. I guess it is meant to be nursery fabric but I think it is rather retro and cool and Eliza loves it as a bag!

Art Journal Week 41

2011-10-20T19:43:00.001+01:00

This week was "Films; What was the first film you saw at a cinema and who with, favourite film, include some film meomorabilia". Well I wasn't quite sure whether the first film I saw was Dumbo or Snow White. I have very clear memories of going to the cinema to see Dumbo and joining the queue but being sent home when we reached the front as that showing was full and then having to go back later for the next showing. I also remember going to see Snow White and ducking down behind the seats because I was scared when I saw the witch! So I Wikipedia-d both films and discovered that Dumbo was re-released in '72 and '76 and Snow White in '75 so from that I deduced that my first film was Snow White! We lived in a cul-de-sac at the time and I went with a girl who lived down the road called Fiona Avery....I won't say she was a particular friend because she was bigger than me and I remember she pinched me REALLY hard one time when I was playing with her. Still I had the last laugh because she poked her fingers through our back gate (after being told not to), and was bitten by our rather anti-social, uber protective, dog at the time!
Anyway I digress, fave film is really any of the three Baz Luhrman Red Curtain films; Strictly Ballroom, Romeo and Juliet (the one with Claire Danes and Leonardo Di Caprio) and Moulin Rouge. In the end I plumped for Moulin Rouge as I just ADORE Ewan McGregor.....swoon!!!

Patchwork knitted throw

2011-10-18T21:12:00.002+01:00

Hmmm well it looks a bit ropey now, but this is what I have been doing over the last few weeks. It is meant to be knitted in very chunky wool but being a meanie I used 2 strands of double knit together and used up some of my stash of wool. The hexagons are in 4 different designs and for some reason the very bobbly ones just didn't come out very hexagonal! Still they went together ok and I think that has pulled them into shape a bit more.

Now I need to crochet an edge.....LINDA!!!! or HELLY!!!! help please! I think that will help hold the shape too. And I have some more ends to sew in but it took me a whole day to sew together so I was bit bored of ends by the time I had joined all the hexagons! Looks a bit of a funny selection of colours in the photo....tis better in real life, honest!

Art Journal Week 40

2011-10-11T17:48:00.001+01:00

Yes it is Week 40! This week we are thinking about "Birthdays-do you celebrate/remember them? Have you had any memorable ones? Use a candle on your page." Well at my messy play session at Gilly's on Saturday I did this pinky pink background using shaving foam and cosmic shimmers. I borrowed the candle stamp from Gilly (bless her-I think we thoroughly ravaged her stash on Saturday- sorry) and rescued the cupcake from wrapping paper in the bin! Mounted it on card and added some glitter to it and the edge of the page and another one in the bag! Just 12, yes really only 12, more to go!

My Crafty Day at Gilly's!

2011-10-10T20:25:00.001+01:00

I went to Gilly's on Saturday for a "scrapbooking" day. Hmm not a lot of scrapbooking got done. I have had a rubbish week and both are things completely out of my control. So first it was decreed that we needed Krispy Kreme Doughnuts, the Glamour selection of course, supplied by my glamourous friend Helly...

As the winner of the most rubbish week AND a Krispy Kreme virgin, I got the glittery one....

...so pretty! We then spent the day getting messy. We played with Sharon's meltpot, used shaving foam and Cosmic Shimmers, made paper roses and then Helly wanted a go with my gesso. Well it is a bit old my gesso, and a bit smelly so the oh-so-gorgeous-Helly soaked a tissue in geranium oil...

.....well what more can you say! Luv Ya Helly!!!

Art Journal Week 39

2011-10-06T21:17:00.001+01:00

Bit late with this one but I couldn't quite decide what to do. Our theme this week was " Are you extravagent? What is your biggest extravagence, use something extravagent". I had all sorts of try-outs for BG but in the end I painted it gold and then embossed the central panel. My extravagent bit was the fancy ribbon with pearls on. Then I was stuck with how to journal!! So this one is definately "less is more". I guess my other extravagence is my Doc Marten boots; I have three pairs so far...

Art Journal Week 38 (I think!)

2011-10-03T07:24:00.001+01:00

This was last weeks but I have been doing my LSNED so I haven't had time to blog it yet! Our prompt was "Are you Lucky, material or otherwise, use a lucky charm". Great excitement as I got to do a B/G using a technique I learnt at Ally Pally with Glimmer Mists and cling film. Then I stamped over it with my new brick stamp and I had a nice rub on that had the word "wealthy" that I crossed out. How could I say I wasn't lucky with all these things in my life; I certainly never win raffles or competitions but where it matters, I consider myself very lucky.

LSNED last few days

2011-10-02T14:11:00.001+01:00

So here are the last few days. Day 28 and I finally managed to knit a hexagon that I have been trying and unpicking about six times! It's not a new lesson but one I sometimes need to remember from time to time when it would be easier to give up.

Day 29 and I think most of the UK has been enjoying these unseasonally high temperatures. We haven't actually done anything different because we have been choc-a-bloc with pre-planned "stuff" but it has been so lovely to sit in the sun and just slow things down a bit.

And lastly, Day 30. A double-edged sentiment here. I had an unexpected day off so I decided to go for it and try a longer run. The pink route is my 2.5 miles I managed today contrasted with my normal blue route.

I also made it to the end of my album! Here are all the pages ready for binding; don't expect daily blog posts from now on! I have a heap of house stuff to catch up on that has been pushed aside to get this done.

LSNED Day 27

2011-10-01T06:46:00.001+01:00

Today was our Harvest Celebration. We walked all the children in Key Stage 1 to a local farm and had it in the open air, in the unseasonally hot, blazing sunshine! They had made bunting which we hung in the trees and we had a decorated harvest table complete with life size animals! The children sang their socks off! This is something the school did for the first time last year but it poured so they were in a barn. I am so pleased to be part of such a fabulous idea...I bet these children will remember their harvests long into adulthood and it is so much more meaningful to be surrounded by all that we are saying thank you for.

LSNED Day 26

2011-09-30T06:24:00.001+01:00

Today our lesson was to be learnt from our environment. This afternoon I took groups of children out into the school field to collect natural things to create an Andy Goldsworthy inspired piece of art work. At the bottom of the field one of the children found these mushrooms. They were growing under a tree where the bare soil was sun-baked as hard as concrete and yet somehow these fragile looking things had managed to force their way through the crust. How can they be so strong? Earlier we also had a prompt about putting in a photo that was particularly good so even though I snapped these by putting my camera on the floorand just hitting the button, and supervising 6 children at the same time, I am rather pleased with how they came out.

LSNED Day 25

2011-09-29T07:14:00.001+01:00

Today's lesson was to think about something we are greatful for. I have always known how to knit and sew, I don't remember ever being taught but I know that obviously I did have to learn sometime! My Grandad was a tailor; he had the biggest hands, and he taught me to sew with a machine when I was about 7 using an old hand machine. Mum taught me to hand sew and my Nana taught me to knit with Mum helping me when I got stuck and Nana wasn't there. I have recently re-discovered sewing and am just so thankful that I know what to do when lots of my friends are just learning. I also learnt how to increase in a purl stitch today! It is something I just never knew and today Mum told me "you purl into the BACK first, then the front". So simple and now learnt I won't forget it.

LSNED Day 24

2011-09-28T07:38:00.001+01:00

Once again I can't remember the prompt for today but I went to Ally Pally to the papercraft and scrapbooking show. Well I learned a new technique or two so that was what had to go in! Simple!

LSNED Day 23

2011-09-27T07:11:00.001+01:00

Todays lesson was that lesson you never learn! I am getting better at delegating. My hubby is very good at doing housey things for me and shares in running the children hither and thither but this is still a list of the main jobs that I had to do this week. Added to this are making lunches, going to work and cooking and tidying every day! At last I have delegated the making of packed lunches to the children! As you can see any form of housework is completely absent....

LSNED Day 22

2011-09-26T07:22:00.001+01:00

The 22nd was Jasper and Eliza's 13th birthday so once again I went off track to document it. Well we cheated a bit as they didn't want their cakes until the day after their birthday because we were just too busy on the day. All in all Eliza's cake was a complete flop; despite me testing it, it was still raw in the middle! So we scraped out all the uncooked bit and ate the rest! Luckily Jaspers was ok! I think that is my first total failure cake.

Ally Pally.

2011-09-25T09:15:00.003+01:00

I went to Ally Pally yesterday. I have never been before so wasn't really sure what to expect. As you can see I bought a few bits but I was focused and restrained in my shopping. I was pleased to get the album and paper ready to do Shimelle's Journal Your Christmas class for the 4th year. I also got some lovely wooden shapes (that are going to be shared with friends) a brick stamp, some metal birds, a few charms, some Pinflair bookbinding glue which I have been trying to get for aaaages and some more UTEE. My splurge was the Dylusions stamps. With 3 girls I will use this loads.

I went with a group of friends and we have just made a joint order of Smash bits and pieces from the States. We ordered on Saturday and they arrived on Thursday so I was also able to collect my little pile of Smash goodies! Again we decided to share the mini post-its and pages from the pads. I am starting to "smash" stuff in but I don't know yet whether I will show or keep it to myself! Smash is something I never had really thought about but unknown to me a friend bought me one for my birthday at the same time as a completely separate group of friends were ordering theirs! And although poor Helly is still waiting for hers to arrive they have been the topic of much conversation. Whether they will be re-branded so they can be sold in the UK again I don't know but I think this little lot will keep me going for a while!

And finally at the end of a very long post, this was the fabbiest thing we saw yesterday! It was done with shaving foam and cosmic shimmers! Guess what's on my shopping list for next week...

LSNED Day 21

2011-09-24T07:18:00.001+01:00

Todays prompt was about regrets. Do I have any regrets? Well yes maybe I should have married a rich man; or maybe I should have had less children; or maybe I should have chosen to be trained as a teacher so I wouldn't be "just" a teaching assisstant now. But actually if I HAD done any of those things I may now be wealthy but would I be still happily married after 21 years? Think of the madcap, hectic fun we have as a family of 6 that I would have missed out on and all the stress, worry, paperwork and work at home I would have had as a teacher. So on balance I am happy with my lot....and little texts from my class teacher make me realise just how valued I am.

LSNED Day 20

2011-09-23T07:32:00.001+01:00

Yes I missed a few days but I have been busy! I had Guides on Tuesday night, wednesday I was baking birthday cakes and last night it was my twins birthday. Ok excuses over her is Day 20 which was all about thinking about what you leanrt about you. I have lots of roles and for once I thought I would include pictures of me. Quite pleased with this page which took all of 10 mins!

LSNED Day 19

2011-09-20T17:27:00.002+01:00

Once again I can't remember what we were meant to be thinking about today but I am afraid I had a big, tough ol' lesson rather on my mind today! Today is the day I took my oldest baby to live in Bournemouth. It's between 4-5 hours drive away (depending on traffic) and she has never lived away before. Day to day I am ok about it.....it's when I think about the big things; her place not being laid at the table; not knowing wht she has done in her day; the fact we will never again be that tight little family unit coming together each day at breakfast and tea; that's when I wobble.
Still I hope that it is everything she hopes it is and wish her all the best luck in the world. xx

LSNED Day 18

2011-09-19T20:50:00.001+01:00

Today we were thinking about random phrases. Those ones where you had to be there. Today we had a final meal for Jess before she went off toUni and we had Granny and Grandad over too. We used these paper napkins I had for my birthday. Eliza announced that she had cleared the hair out of the plug-hole! Spontaneously everyone applauded and this continued every time she opened her mouth to speak! She couldn't stop laughing and had to leave the room. So then we applauded every time she tried to re-enter the room! At the time it was really funny and we all laughed until our faces hurt......but like I said.......you had to be there!

LSNED Day 17

2011-09-18T20:47:00.001+01:00

Yup, I did a Christmas LO!!! Katy will be sooo angry! Her birthday is Dec 12th so we aren't allowed to do anything Christmas until a week after her birthday, which is fair enough I think. Jess is off to Uni tomorrow and today's prompt was about dates to look forward to. So I think the next big date will be when she come home again. It will be so odd without her here day in, day out. Despite this and my writing, it is still a big fat 12 weeks away. Hopefully she will be back in between or I might just turn up and surprise her one day!

Art Journal Weeks 36 and 37

2011-09-17T21:55:00.003+01:00

I bet you thought I had abandoned this art journal didn't you? Well I haven't and am still managing to squeeze it in alongside LSNED. Week 36 was about Risk. "Are you a risk-taker? What is the greatest risk you have/haven't taken? Use a technique that you rarely use". I chose to swipe alcohol inks on glossy card for my background leaving me with a slightly unmanageable surface to work with! I was completely uninspired by it so I just wrote lots instead.

Week 37 was about laughing. "When did you last laugh and what at? What makes you laugh? Do your friends think that you are funny? Use a smiley on your page"

So a page about laughing had to be pink with some stickers; stickers make me smile, and some very accidentally inappropriate ones made me REALLY laugh this week!

LSNED Day 16

2011-09-17T12:53:00.001+01:00

Todays lesson was about learning from watching other people. Hmm, a slight slant on this as this really is a lesson I NEVER have learned AND one I think that my girls need to learn from me too! I have left my straighteners on twice now, all day, in an empty (apart from the dogs) house and come home to a melted window sill. I religiously check, even returning home to check and phoning my Mum to go and check, that my straighteners are turned off AND unplugged. I know how easily houses burn down from careless hair straightener usage and I nag my girls ad infinitum about it. Yet once again they got left on......Katy owned up that it was her and luckily Hubby found them and turned them off after about 2 hours but we have yet another scorch mark to add to the collection on my windowsill. Now I am just going to be EVEN more paranoid about them!

LSNED Day 15

2011-09-16T16:52:00.001+01:00

Once again I can't quite remember what todays lesson was relating to but a few days ago I ordered some washi tape. I had never heard of it but a friend showed me a website....slippery slope! When I got in from work there was a parcel on top of a pile of letters. Excitedly I opened it and was all happy and delighted. Then I opened the other post to find a horrible one from the bank which resulted in phone calls and much angryness. Well that made me grumpy for the evening until I started to do my page and I remembered my little treat I had bought. So I re-thought my page so I could use some of the tape and felt much better afterwards! Maybe my lesson should have been "open the letters before the lovely exciting looking parcels!"

LSNED Day 14

2011-09-15T20:55:00.001+01:00

This lesson was about revisiting those lessons that you NEVER seem to learn from! I am a shocker for a blue sky; I always assume a blue sky = a warm day! Maybe I am just eternally optimistic that we will be dealt a weather surprise. This particular day we DID have the blue skies AND sunshine but it was still rather nippy...

LSNED Day 13

2011-09-14T18:20:00.001+01:00

I am just about keeping up. Day 13 was about the difference between weekdays and weekends. Well if you look in my diary there IS no difference!

LSNED Day 12

2011-09-13T17:02:00.002+01:00

Still keeping up? Today's lesson was meant to be about learning from your mistakes. Well thankfully nothing terrible happened (apart from the above so I guess you could say I should have learnt to keep a better track on the dogs worming regime) so once again I went with this lesson. I really believed that at my ripe old age of 43 there really wasn't anything I could possibly still REALLY need my Mum for. Guess I was wrong!!

LSNED Day 11

2011-09-12T17:01:00.001+01:00

Don't know why this is a bit blurred, might be because I was in a rush! But I had spent the day shopping for Jess for Uni and this was the rather sizeable heap of stuff we got! Hmmm pricey business this. Another off target page but I felt it needed documenting.

LSNED Day 10

2011-09-11T21:00:00.001+01:00

Erm can't remember the prompt today but I spent a day crafting with friends. Well we crafted a bit but actually we spent the large majority of the day supporting each other with a host of little "life challenges" that we all seem to be having at the moment. I used to feel bad about wanting to be away from my family but now I enjoy my "me" time a great deal and couldn't live without my like-minded friends. Needless to say we aren't always sensible are we girls?

LSNED Day 9

2011-09-10T19:09:00.001+01:00

Today our prompt was about gratitude; little things that we should maybe appreciate a bit more than we actually do. When I got home from work Ken had done ALL the washing, ALL the ironing and stacked it on the stairs ready to go away. As the weather forecast for the weekend is wet I am extremely grateful!

LSNED Day 8

2011-09-09T17:41:00.001+01:00

Not sure what the prompt was for today but I was sooooooo enraged by a comment I over heard at the cinema I HAD to use it. Think of it as therapy, to get it off my chest! Those books are just two shelves of children's books; we have at least 6 more of just childrens books before we get started on the adult ones....

LSNED Day 7

2011-09-08T21:09:00.001+01:00

Day 7 and we were encouraged to learn from observing those around us. (I think that was the one but I may have them muddled!) I had to go with this lesson as it was such a funny conversation and probably a lesson to us all about listening carefully and perhaps also speaking clearly! The brad box was todays embellie!

LSNED Day 6

2011-09-07T07:25:00.001+01:00

We had a Circus Skills group into school today to teach the children new skills. With the usual arrogance of adulthood I thought it would be easy! But it wasn't! I was useless! Needless to say the children were fab at it!

LSNED Day 5

2011-09-06T17:36:00.001+01:00

Hmmm not very inspired with this one! Had the lesson, couldn't design the page! I didn't take a photo so I found it tough to do. Oh well, I used up a fair few lilac and purple scraps and I'm movin' on to tomorrow!

LSNED Day 4

2011-09-05T07:28:00.001+01:00

Day 4 and we were supposed to be thinking about whether our lesson today needed to be a general comment or very specific. I spent most of the day baking cupcakes to take to school (for the staff) and also dictating recipes to Jess as she typed them up for her Uni Cookbook! I learnt that when I cook I tend to treat it as an art rather than an exact science. I add a "bit" rather than a tablespoon; I cook until it looks right, rather than for 20 mins. This is fine when I cook but less helpful when I am trying to impart my cooking knowledge! I felt this phrase just about summed it up!

LSNED Day 3

2011-09-04T13:25:00.001+01:00

I'm still keeping up, even though it was my birthday yesterday! Our prompt was to think about what you have learnt from your feet! Sound a bit random you may think but actually my feet tell me a lot. My page is about how I have put off exercise for years saying I was too busy to go to the gym, didn't have time to go swimming. In July I started running and miracle of miracles, I still am! I run every other day for about half an hour and although I haven't lost any weight I do feel better. I can't say that I actually enjoy it but my i-pod does make it easier. For my birthday my husband bought me a groovy little pedometer which calculates allsorts including how far you have run and how many calories you have burnt. I haven't set it up yet but I know that it will help me to keep at it once I realise how far I now can run! But fundamentally, the bottom line, all you really need is decent trainers!

LSNED Day 2

2011-09-03T20:54:00.001+01:00

Lesson 2 was "a lesson learnt from inside or around your home". Well I went back to work, but I did decide what I had learnt. I had to take the photo today though and it is of the beautiful blue sky through some late roses in my garden. I once again did my "pick the first 2 scraps that go" technique but today I added the dimension of grabbing one of my boxes of extra bits (flowers, but some butterflies had snuck in there somehow) too.

LSNED Day 1

2011-09-02T17:52:00.001+01:00

First day completed! This year I have decided to think of the words, choose a page and then some co-ordinating scraps from my "bits" box and then stick 'em down. Boom, no messin'! Maybe I will get it finished this year. I might add "stuff" later when I have more time. Today I learnt that I should check just which magazine (of several I read) has the pattern in I want rather than spending an hour and a half huffing and puffing and internet searching to try and find it!

Learn Something New Every Day

2011-09-01T21:28:00.001+01:00

Do you remember this Shimelle class? I have done it for the last two years but I didn't finish last year. I thought that I might try again to keep up with the daily prompts and see if I still learn anything! So in preparation I today made the pages for this year's book.

I gathered an assortment of old exercise book pages, some lined and a few squared, and stitched them to the front and back of different coloured cardstock.

I think I shall just pick a page colour that suits my mood each day and then use the lines and squares to journal on. Let's see how we go this time!

Some more coasters

2011-08-31T09:31:00.002+01:00

Do you remember the citrus coasters I made http://chickenlickenscreations.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2011-07-01T19%3A04%3A00%2B01%3A00&max-results=7 ? Well Purl Bee have got a pattern for these scrumptious apple coasters now! Nice and autumnal I thought....

Art Journal Week 34

2011-08-30T22:21:00.001+01:00

Still keeping up with this! This week was "Dreams; do you have them? Do you dream in colour? Can you remember them? Do have recurring dreams? Include some clouds on your page." I DO dream, quite a lot but I only ever remember the horrible ones! There are 3 main ones I remember; one when I was a teenager I was walking through London and it was deserted. There had been some sort of incident and there were no people about just lots of smoke and black sacks. The second one I have quite often and my teeth crumble whilst I am lying in bed and as I try to spit the bits out they just keep on crumbling; the third one I am walking into my shower and a man steps out and attacks me......I wonder what a dream analyst would make of that little lot?

60's bag No 2!

2011-08-29T09:02:00.001+01:00

After practising on my bag I then made one for Jess with several improvements from mine! I found some better magnets; ones you fix in through the fabric (rather than sew on one I used) and I also managed to get the pictures the correct way round on BOTH sides of the handle rather than upside down on the back of mine!

Quilt part two.

2011-08-28T12:39:00.001+01:00

So the next part was to lay out my squares in alternate darks and lights in a pleasing manner then stitch the rows together. Here I have done the top two rows already.

As I was cutting up all my squares I found I was chopping up hens and wheelbarrows with gay abandon! Then after the shuffling process and as I began to re-stitch them I discovered that this hen had joined itself up again, despite being on two completely different fabrics! Well, this square just had to be the central one didn't it?

And finally after a second day of stitching, I finished the top, complete with sashing. I had to concentrate hard to cut the border fabrics the correct way so the pattern all went round the right way!

And I was rather impressed with my beautifully lined up corners on my sashing, if I do say so myself! Not bad for a beginner!

Now I have to back and bind it. I bought some binding fabric but I don't like the colour so a re-think is needed...

Our Patchwork Day.

2011-08-27T09:20:00.002+01:00

Ok so now I shall tell you all about our fab day with Janet from Sleeping Bear. http://www.sleepingbearcrafts.com/ We were doing a stack and shuffle quilt from a layer cake which involved cutting it up and then moving all the bits about. We had to concentrate.....

...Burn whizzing up some squares. Concentrating was hard with all the lovely fabric around us! It was a bit like working in a sweetie shop!

Proof that I actually do have a face (and I sew!)
These are Burn's squares, with two more strips to go,

and this is me sewing on the third strip.

By the end of the day I had a pile of squares ready to lay out "in a pleasing manner" (Burn's fave phrase!) which I shall be doing today.

Please join me tomorrow for the next thrilling instalment!

Patchwork Class

2011-08-26T09:10:00.001+01:00

Today I am going for a Patchwork class here. http://www.sleepingbearcrafts.com/... It is making a quilt using a layer cake; Here's mine...

I'll show you how I get on tomorrow!

1960's style bag

2011-08-25T23:12:00.001+01:00

Ta-dah! Here it is! In this months issue of "Making" magazine there was a pattern for this 60's inspired bag. I loved it and on Tuesday I went to a fabric shop and saw the fabric so I HAD to have it! I was too tired to start it that evening but yesterday off I went and just about managed to finish it by bedtime! Not only that but I even used it today too. Here is a close up of the yummy buttons, from my nicely colour sorted jars; see I told you I would use them more once I had sorted them all out!

I reckon this one might even be from the 60's. Now I have to make one for Jess.

More pegs!

2011-08-25T09:48:00.001+01:00

You may not have realised, but I have been trying very hard to blog every day in August, as I am off work. I have done well so far but yesterday I just didn't get round to it. The reason is that I bought some rather divine fabric to make a bag with and last night I had a good old stretch without interruptions so I just got on with it! And it got too late by the time I finished it. So I have decided to cheat a bit and I will blog twice today. Another quick peg bag for my first post.

Roses.

2011-08-23T18:44:00.001+01:00

In case you hadn't noticed I am trying to blog every day in August whilst I am off work! Been a bit tired last night and out all day today so I haven't created anything. So instead I thought I would show you some roses from my garden and some of them have grown through my fence from next door! They are sitting on my dining room table and it looks like I cut them just in time because it has poured with rain here all day today.

Quilt Number Three.

2011-08-22T08:12:00.002+01:00

So this is the second stage in of a quilt for my bed. After I realised how straightforward Jelly Rolls are to use I bought a Moda one called Freebird. Some while ago I assembled all the strips and cut them into squares but I had only managed to sew two rows back together again and it has been languishing in a bag to be "got on with". Yesterday I cleared my decks, got rid of most of the children, and got sewing!

This was the two strips I had already re-assembled. It is a sort of picket rail design with alternating light and dark strips, the orange and the brown; not sure if I am completely happy with my choice of orange but hey, too late now!

And finally, after a break for lunch (and then a couple of hours socialising with the neighbours on the green,) I got to this stage, all the strips done and the first border sewn on. Now I need to buy more brown for the outer border and backing etc.. It seems a whole lot less orange now that it's complete!

Another Peg Bag.

2011-08-21T08:43:00.001+01:00

When Mum saw my peg bag she decided that after 50 years without one she deserved one too! So after a rummage through my fat quarters I found some colours she would like and here we are. The yellow button is from a huge tin of vintage buttons given to my daughter. They are so quick and easy to make I feel lots more coming on!

Anyone for a biscuit?

2011-08-20T07:58:00.001+01:00

Today I thought I would show you what two of my children have been up to over the summer holidays. I picked up a copy of the "Mollie Makes" magazine that has been out for several months now and in it was a pattern for these rather scrumptious felt biscuits! Jess decided to make the Jammie Dodger whilst Eliza (who is only 12) made the iced gems from the patterns provided. Then one of Jess's friends asked for a custard cream and a Party Ring so Jess made them using the pictures in the magazine to help. If you would like to se other things this designer has made then have a look just here. Jess is now working on a Bourbon....!

Art Journal Weel 33

2011-08-19T09:15:00.001+01:00

This week's Journal Prompt was "Spirit; are you spiritual? Include a quote and stamp a symbol that has a meaning for you". Clearly I don't consider myself to be spiritual so this week was done with my tongue firmly in cheek! In fact I was chatting about this very fact with my friend Burnice (who, I found out yesterday after knowing her for about 5 years, was born in Australia!) and she sort of "dared me" to go with it! So emerged this multi layered affair.

Under the first flap is this G&T printed on acetate as an overlay to my first quote.

The final layer is another acetate overlay, this time of a brandy glass and another quote from that well known poem! Again, as I have no symbols that are inportant to me I used a circley stamp for the BG. So the conclusion to all this is that I have no spirituality at all then! Well none that is strong enough to write about!

A Girl's Day Out

2011-08-18T12:53:00.003+01:00

Managed to get rid of the boys today; Hubby in bed after night shift and Jasper gone to Grandads so I took the girls to Brighton. There is a bead shop there called The Big Bead Boutique and I know they do classes for adults so I rang to see if they could do something for me and my girls together. The lovely lady who runs it, her name is Jo, said yes so off we went.

It took us absolutely ages to decide what beads to use, and then just what to do with them! Then we had tuition to show us what to do. Here I am stringing my choice.

And Eliza with her choice, well under way.

Jess getting to grips with all sorts of fiddleyness. More news about Jess in a moment...

And finally Katy, who seems to think she is not creative, tackling some tricky wire-bending.

So here is my finished necklace! Not a very good pic but it is really sparkly.

So if you want a great craft experience in Brighton I would thoroughly recommend going there as Jo is lovely, and we even had a cup of tea in vintage cups and saucers!

Now my news about Jess; today is A-Level results day and I am very proud to announce that Jess

got B for English Lit, B for Textiles and C for Drama, meaning that she will be studying Costume with Performance Design at Bournemouth Arts University.

Ok for some reason I can't add a hyperlink to The Big Bead Boutique so please use the link on my sidebar to visit.

All white?

2011-08-17T10:02:00.001+01:00

Helly, this entry is JUST for you!

Here is my latest project underway. I spent 3 hours cutting this little lot out! I saw this on the Purl Bee blog ages ago and have wanted to make one for about the same time. Next time I go to Gillys we are decorating some MDF wreath shapes that we bought a while ago. So I decided to use mine as the base for this wreath.

How fab are these middles!

And some more middles too! I have ordered some neon threads too.

...and a bit more.

2011-08-16T08:11:00.001+01:00

When Jasper and Eliza were in Year Six, after SATS, they worked on a project to build an electric kit car. The finale of all this is a Grand Prix in which they compete against other schools. I can't remember now where they finished, no doubt they will tell me, but they did get a trophy of some sort!

Tricky one to scrapbook this because of all the colours in the pics. The school production was "Joseph". Eliza was a narrator and had a lot of solo singing and Jasper was Potiphar. Jess made the Dreamcoat and I made Jaspers outfit!

As part of our A-Z year (which we didn't finish, we only got to O I think) we went in K week to fly a kite. Previously we had been to a kite show in Seaford and bought a cheap kite, shaped like a seagull so we were trying to get this flying. All attempts were pretty unsuccessful. However, Ken dug an old PeterPowell Stunt Kite out of the garage (yes you DO remember those from the 70's!) and that flew really well! In the end, we just got some lovely photos!

Some Scrapbooking

2011-08-15T08:41:00.001+01:00

As I have said, I have been very creative these holidays, but lot of what I have been making I can't show just yet! So I thought you might like to see some scrapbooking. Some of these LOs were done month or two ago but have been waiting to be finished off with either a title or a bit of journalling. About two evenings ago I sat down and decided to do just that as I creep on through the photos from 2010 still.

This first one is of the Batucada at Heathfield Carnival and also the primary school where I work. I helped to run a Carnival Club where the children made this withy sun, a shark and some fish to hold.

This is my lot on Pevensey Beach last summer. Funny that, I don't remember last summer being nice enough for the beach...

Inside my CJ.

2011-08-14T08:44:00.002+01:00

My great idea for my page was to create a rock pool. I could see exactly how I wanted it to look but was rather less sure how to achieve it!

I started by using Distress Inks to colour my page and made some "rocks" from paper clay. When it dries it is super lightweight so once painted in "rocky" colours I fixed them on to make the general shape. Next I filled it with Glossy Accents...about half a bottle it took! I added all sorts of everthing seasidey that I had found in my stash. There are beads, glitter, teeny shells and some nasty plastic shapes that I covered with gesso to make them less nasty looking! Then I realised that I hadn't actually used my stamp! So I popped it into the pool too. Finally I had to lay it somewhere flat, weighted at the edges, to try and prevent it curling.

The opposite page I coloured to match, stamped and then ran through the printer (holding my breath all the time, cos I am always positive that it is going to print in the wrong place!) to get the quote in.

And to finish, a close up shot of the pool and its bits. Oh and I just remembered, I put sand design paper in the bottom of the pool! (Sorry about the shadow).

The latest CJ

2011-08-13T10:45:00.002+01:00

Some weeks ago I started a CJ with a group of friends I have met through scrapbooking. Four of the girls have not done a CJ before so we decided just to start with something small, no real rules, just to see if they enjoyed the process. I have done 4 of the 5 entries that I need to do and I won't show them yet (as I know you lot will be sneaking a peek!) but I thought I could safely show my book. Today I will just show the cover and rules bits and then tomorrow I will show you my entry. So here is the front cover; I decided to use the shell stamp to send round with it. This is painted and embossed with a pearly powder.

Nice close up of the pearlyness!

Inside are my intro page and rules. Nice bit of bubble wrap printing on the left;

My rules page was done with a salt technique and my rules are that they must use the stamp and also include a quote if they like.

So off it went. Will show you more tomorrow.

Altered Tuna Tin

2011-08-12T09:55:00.001+01:00

Do you remember that I recently did a swap with an altered sardine tin? Well after that we decided to alter a tuna tin! I am very late with this because I was waiting for inspiration and then once I'd had it I was waiting for clock parts! We have a clock repair shop nearby and my daughter wanted some bits for a textiles project. They said they would save her a few broken bits and pieces so when she collected them she let me have a rummage and take some cogs and hands. This is a poor photo but I put them on a spindle (so there are three layers including the hand) and then added the vintage lady between them. The flower I made after seeing it in this months CraftStamper magazine. The outside is covered with metal from a beer can that I heated in the gas flame (to turn it brown) and then embossed with the cuttlebug cogs and gears. Finally I used another cog as a base and posted her off to my swap partner!

A night at Arlington

2011-08-11T11:28:00.002+01:00

I don't know about you, but we collect Tesco vouchers through the year and then spend them on days out in the summer hols, especially if we don't go away. This year we decided to go to Thorpe Park so we ordered tickets, got day all sorted, hubby had rest day......and they didn't arrive in time. So, as we haven't done anything as a family yet these hols we went to the Banger Racing at Arlington last night. Well it's not all Bangers; there were 9 race in total, 2 heats and a final for each of three class of car. First were the Superstox. This was meant to be non contact but there was still a bit of pushing and shoving!

Then came the 2.0 Hot Rods. These were the most exciting to watch, driving really fast and sooo close together...

Not a great example for stopping distance! I don't know how they managed it but they didn't seem to touch despite only being millimetres apart.

And lastly came the Bangers. These ones look quite intact but behind the blue car is a red one in clouds of smoke! This wasn't a Demolition Derby but a serious race but being contact there was lots of spinning, banging, crashing and barging just feet from where we sat! A fab but noisy and dusty night and well worth a visit.

Not the best photos but I only had my little camera as Katy was using the big one to get pics for her course work.

Patchwork panel

2011-08-10T08:35:00.002+01:00

Just bear with me whilst I explain what is going on with this patchwork panel! One Monday a month or two ago, whilst I was in Burnice's cabin with Linda, I was flipping through a book when I saw a friendship quilt. A group of friends had each made a panel and then joined them all together. We decided that we would do something similiar for a Christmas present for each other. So we formed our take on it; each of us would buy 2 fat quarters and give one to each of the other two people. They would then use this fabric somewhere in a 12x12 panel to give back to the buyer as a Christmas gift. Then we would each make our own panel which gave us three panels towards our quilt. But what to do for the fourth one? Last month we decided that we should do a panel to represent Burnice's cabin where we all meet once a month. Linda had some magazines with her so we drew out a pattern from one, adapted it, and are all using the same one for our final panel. So after that lengthy explanation here is my version!

I thought this strip of ribbon was particularly suitable as it sums up our "craft" sessions! I learnt a new skill; pattern piecing I think it's called and it gives these really neat crisp lines. I have also been busy making Burn's panel (but obviously can't show you yet) and started Linda's too.

Maybe I will show you mine.....