Our Art Corner in the Kitchen

We have decorated the kitchen this week and I have also rearranged the art corner, with the introduction of the boys small table in to the kitchen are and the addition of some great storage from Ikea for the pens etc.

We have painted the kitchen Willow (a soft soothing green) after MadDad decided that the green I had chosen was too green!

The table is from Ikea and I painted the top with blue chalk board paint ages ago and the boys love to use chalk on it.  

It works really well, as it means the boys can come in to the kitchen and do art or puzzles etc whilst I cook dinner and it is also a great area for showing off their artwork.  It is my favourite place in the whole house.  The whole art corner upgrade was inspired by The Happy Home.

How do you display your children's artwork?

Childrens Craft Showcase - Volcano's

I dont know about your children, but my two are now obsessed with volannco's thanks to the icelandic one.

We caught them making thier own volancic ash cloud with dust and mud from the pavement and then water on Friday evening and decided that we would have a go a making our own active volcano.

Materials

Bicarbinate of soda

Vinigar

Bottles

Hot water

Food colouring

Funnel

Salt dough is optional, mine wanted their bottles to look like mountains!

Method

Fill the bottles 2 thirds full with hot water and add a drop of washing up liquid and food colouring (to make your lava authentic!).  Add two table spoons of bicard to the warm water solution.

We popped the vinigar in to a bottle so the boys could add it themselves

So if you and your children have been busy making any crafts at all, please come and link to this page.

Flower Swap

I decided to take part in Sew Scrumptious' flower swap, my first real swap and I was very excited to get Kelly at A place of my own. 

I love the idea of a swap, it gives you chance to stalk their blog for all the right reasons and put something nice together, that doesn't have to cost the earth, but has meaning and tend to be based on a theme.

I received my parcel from Kelly on Wednesday, but decided to leave it until the evening before opening, as I know my children, they would want to do it all for me and as much as I love them, well I like to have a little bit of the joy too!

Oh and look at what wonderful goodies she sent me

The most divine pin cushion with one of the flowers of Kelly's wedding dress, how honoured am I?

3 lovely lavender cushions which are going to be going in to my drawers!

The most stunning note cards, which Kelly has made herself, not only did she made them herself, but she took all the images too.

A wonderful tea cosy for my teapot.  Woohoo

Some sweetpeas and a fat quarter of delicious fabric

Finally some cute little magnets.

So I wanted to say a great big thank you to both Kelly and Louise.  It has been great fun

Learning to Set the Table

Manners, I like manners.  In fact I think that the boys can get away with most things, if they say please, thank you and have table manners.

We are teaching the boys to help around the house, well they have been since they could walk really and lately they have been trying to set the table, but their constant "I cant remember which side the fork goes on mummy" has been driving me crackers, especially as I am in the kitchen preparing the dinner.

So I put my thinking cap on and came up with these.......

My first attempt at free form sewing.  I used some fabric I already had in for the mats, lined with some towel and then cut up a plain tea towel and sewed it on, so the boys now know where everything goes.

 I shouldn't have to ever set the table again or tell them why anything goes.  

I am contemplating more of these and might even sell some to make some pocket money to enable me to buy more fabric.  What do you think?  Would you buy one?  If so how much would you be willing to pay?

Reindeer Food, Hearts and Friends

I am a lucky lady you know.  I have made some wonderful friends over the internet.  I am blessed to have them and wanted to say thank you for all their support during this year.

So, we make reindeer food as part of our annual christmas traditions, therefore, I made a little extra and have packaged it off to them and their little ones as a gesture of my feelings for them.

Reindeer food

I haven't re-invented the wheel here, we basically use oats and glitter or coloured sugar.

It is dead easy to colour sugar, pop it in a plastic bag, add food colour and shake!!  We use this as we live in a rural area, but have used glitter too.

Simply mix with oats and pop in a bag and add printable label.  I had wrote the labels last year, but Amy at The Idea Room has ones you can print here 

Now things might have been quiet on the craft and sewing front on the blog, but that is due to the fact I have been busy in real life.  I have been making red hearts.

And Mother of peal button heart decorations for the big people.

 

 

 

And lots and lots of personalised stockings and zip bags for some wonderful little people!

It feels brilliant to make things myself, they are made full of love and from things in my stash, so I have managed to do this and not break the bank.  So Merry Christmas Friends and thank you for being there for me this year.

Kirtie's HandMade Christmas - Rant Alert

Now I love Kirstie with the rest of the country, but I feel a little reality check is required here.

I was really looking forward to this and have waited until viewing all three episodes before letting rip.  I was hopiong to be able to watch it and get useful, practical, inexpensive, handmade ideas for Chritmas and maybe that was were I was going wrong.

Yes it was beautiful, the artisans were increadably talented, but cheap it wasn't!!  Gold leafing a pear, what a precious waste of good fruit, in addition to a frivolous, not make that mad way to spend £38 on a book of 24 carrot gold.  Dear lord that would buy most peoples turkey for the big day.

I was also starting to bubble when it came to the candle making.  There are much easier and less expensive ways for people to give candle making a go nowadays.  You only need use soy wax, take a look at my post on Tea Cup candles and  see whicks n whacks for suberb and value candle making kits.  Yes they looked stunning, but who has 3 weeks to let things set and then time to top them up and melt the tops to make them all even.

Oh and do not get me started on that poor bear - £75 for the mohair, MadDad nearly fell off his seat.  He has just received a wonderful bear from Abby at Mutterings from the Moor a very reasonable price he tells me, which he has put away for my birthday.

Then let me move on to the soap, it doesn't have to take 6 weeks or however long to set and involve all those ingredients.  Just take a look here at the wonderful Violet Posy's blog and how she and her daughter made soap for Christmas this year.  I wouldnt let my children near any sort of acid!!

Right I am going to step down off my high horse and go and take a look at all the Thrifty Christmas Ideas which were posted at Violet Posy's.  You know you could do a whole lot of more economical and excellent gifts if you do too!!

I guess my idea and Kirstie's idea of homemade differ somewhere along the way, plus please Channel 4 can I have some of these wonderful people to come and finnish off all the projects I start!

Pine cone door decoration

Mary I've packed the oil

And I've packed the grain,

The water is ready

Now listen again -

Here are the blankets and covers

And your mattress there,

So please, my sweet friend,

Keep warm and take care

Today I have a very easy Pine Cone decoration, which I totally pinched from Sweet Paul.

It is very easy for an older child to do on their own, MaxiMad and I did this together.  We also made one for my mum with red ribbon and golden sprayed cones, but forgot to take any photo's of it before we gave it to her yesterday.

I couldn't find my glue gun (my mother had it), so used Bostik All Purpose Glue to stick the end of the lengths of ribbon to pine cones. 

I am starting to really enter in to the advent spirit and we are all enjoying our time together with a task each day.  Tonight we are off to "Carols on the Green" in the pouring rain, but I have waterproofs out for the boys so at least they will remain dry.

Oh and the marble run has gone back to Father Christmas (grandma's house), where MaxiMad will get it on Boxing day as a thank you for checking it worked OK for Father Christmas!

Children Craft Showcase Advent Angels

Week one advent is for the ascension when the angel gabriel came and told Mary that she was to have Gods child.  So this week we made card angels.

Materials

Coloured card

Glue

Glitter

Wool

Scissors

Pens

Draw around a plate on a piece of coloured card and cut out.  Then cut the circle in to a semi circle.

Spread one half of the card with glue and sprinkle on slitter or decorations and leave to dry

make a pattern with glue a long the curved edge of your remaining semicircle and add glitter or other decorations and leave to dry

Draw a head (a smaller circle) on another piece of card (paler coloured) and cut up some wool for her hair.

Glue the hair on to the face and allow to dry.  Small children might find it easy to draw the face, then add the hair and then you cut the face out for them

Bend the dress around to make a cone shape and tape together and then glue or tape the face on too.

Fold the other semicircle and cut into a wings shape unfold and tape them on the back of the dress

Discussion The Annunciation:



A Child will be Born adapted from Luke 1:26-38 for young children 3

In the city of Nazareth, in Galilee, there lived a young woman named Mary. Mary was soon to marry a carpenter named Joseph.

One day Gabriel, an angel, visited Mary and said: "Greetings, most favored one, and do not be afraid. God has chosen you among all women. Very soon you will have a baby, you must call him Jesus"

This would be a very special baby. He would be great, and his kingdom would last forever and ever. He told her that the child would be called the Son of God.

Mary bowed before the angel Gabriel and told him she would be obedient to God and that she wanted to do as God wished. When she got up the angel had gone.

Music

This is the perfect song to play whilst making your angels, I so remember singing this in school and it is one on my most favorite christmas songs, so melancology, just wonderful and well Aled Jones, just perfect.

If you make any angels, please, please link back to me.  I love looking through them.

Autumn Days and the Grass is Jeweled

My wonderful Fly friend Wendy sent this craft all ready prepared for the minimads all I added was the colour changing felt tips which had been supplied by my mother in law earlier in the year.

Basically she printed out the tree and the leaves and we coloured them in with the colour change felt tips and then changed them to represent the autumnal colours that we see all around us at the moment. 

This became a discussion on photosynthesis and why some tree lose their leaves and others dont - quite in dept for my 35 year old head, let alone minimads 3 year old brain who thought up all these questions.

He really enjoyed the colouring, cutting, which I helped with and all the sticking (this boy loves glue).

A nice simple Autumn activity.