two things.......x

Here at the cottage, we are gearing up for a music concert at the end of the week that big bumblebee is in. Before half term she had a whole "orchestra" day, and when she bounded out of the hall at the end of the day, she had very sore arms from holding up her violin......

Now I must admit to being a bit flaky with the practice over the holidays, but she's doing ever so well. I am a proud mummy, proud of her patience, proud of her enthusiasm, proud of her work ethic of ploughing on through it, ..." oooh this is hard Mummy, it's three fingers, I've only learnt how to do it with one"...today she saw her reward for all her hard work and efforts. Something clicked in to place. The girls got it down.

Thursday night we shall be watching her in the orchestra at the concert. I may cry. Ok I will cry. My goodness I love that girl.

In other news, and sorry for the lack of pictures on this post.... I have been painting ( what? Again you cry! Yes AGAIN ) an old wardrobe found on freecycle ( which I think deserves it's own post once finished )...

but it's a beast, the veneer is fighting me all the way......and there's also a little birthday project going on.

I can't say too much, someone might be listening, BUT It does involve beano pictures....and mod podge....... I have had to change the design slightly, the the boy in question - I hope will like it......

Reveal to follow .......

Have a fabby week, I wonder what project's you guys will be tackling?

xxx

I have a book you must buy........x

When the big bumblebee announced she wanted to make something. I knew exactly where she should look. Before half term I invested in a children's craft book, which is quite wonderful. GREEN CRAFTS FOR CHILDREN BY EMMA HARDY  is such a great buy. I can't recommend it enough for children 7yrs or over.........

She set her sights on a dog..............and off round the cottage she went, finding buttons, fabrics and an old long sock of mine which had a hole in ( darned for the dog )........

She filled her long sock ( or use one leg from a pair of thick tights ) with some old cut up clothes and fabrics we had.....

She added some gloves she had grown out of ( or so she said ) 

  

She's 8 and was quite capable of getting on and doing it all by herself, in a big girl kinda way. I'm so pleased my bumblebee's enjoy doing and making, what on earth would we do otherwise?????!

Mornings like this are soooo up my street. No rushing about for this or that. Nothing in particular planned. hair unbrushed, no make up on, just me and my girls doing stuff.

We plan on making many a make from the book, I particularly love the felt necklaces featured on the front cover...super easy and I think even little bumblebee will cope with that ( she's 5 )......

So right now? I have cakes cooling on the side, ready to be iced and taken to a friends for afternoon tea later. The dogs are snoring on the sofa, bumblebee's are playing marbles,  and I'm going to catch up with some blogs I think.

Where oh where did this half term go I ask you????? Back to business next week, but right now, I'm as happy as can be....pootling.

xxx

New post, new floor..................x

Or old floor, as it goes.

This morning I set myself a mission. To get rid of the horrible velcro-like ( cos everything sticks to it ) carpet. The carpet in question is , at first appearance unassuming. Reliable even. Practical absolutely. Plain and calm almost. But under this ordinary exterior lied a monster. This bloomin carpet has made me cross on many occasion. For the life of me, I can never EVER clean it properly. Everything gets stuck to it, like my hair in the Q's beard. I had quite honestly had enough of it snarling and smirking at me.

IT.HAD.TO.GO.....

And go it did, my goodness it gave a good fight...........but I am feeling victorious and smug. Because underneath ( albeit a little woodwormy ) was a jewel of a floor. Why cover up this beauty?

I admit I got a little carried away and started on the bedroom carpet. I gave up half way through. The Q will be enlisted on the weekend for the great carpet battle. And I can't show you the floor in the bedroom just yet, as I want a before and after ( though the boards are sound, they need a little colour to their pale selves )....

I'm sure you have better things to read about than a whole post about carpets. Sorry about that. But I got ever so excited...........

Hope all the mummies are enjoying their half terms, lets hope the second half of the week goes by at snail pace. I enjoy my morning lazy lay-in..............hehe.

xxxx

With love..............................

Are you feeling the love?

There's not an occasion that we don't celebrate in this house. We will be giving and receiving ( hopefully ) valentine cards, we shall settle down to a good home cooked meal....( though I've yet to decide what on the menu......chocolate HAS to be included doesn't it? Oysters, asparagus....er cliche? Or are we going for cliche? How about the Q's favourite meal? Will go with that )...the bumblebee's will have a little pre mummy and daddy dinner...dinner....

However, we won't be sending expensive gifts, or buying into crappy card shop crappity crappyness. I love my Q, I tell him every day. I don't NEED valentines day to show it, or to prove it.

But will enjoy a nice evening together, NOT in a crowded pub/restaurant...been there before, was sooooo cringy , and that's from the hopeless romantic that I am....I want snuggles and kisses, chocolate and wine, a D.V.D and my Q to kiss my forehead and wind my hair behind my ears....like he does.

That's all.

Happy valentine's to you all.............no snogging in the back row please.........

xx

Wax crayon fun tutorial.......

All my blog posts seem to be for the kids this week. With half term holidays coming up I have a quick little craft you can do with them.

Making your own shaped crayons are all over the net at the mo, pintrest, blogs, and I thought it was time for us to give it a go.

All you need are some wax crayons ( which any house with little peeps will have, try and gather up all the broken pieces)......as many colours as you like.

Ask the kiddies to take off the paper wrapping.

Then we used a child friendly knife ( which worked to a certain extent )....you will have to find a sharp knife to finish off ( adult only of course! )...and cut up the crayons into small chunks. The kids can snap some of the crayons themselves.

Then finding a cake tin, or like us, use some silicone moulds and fill with the shards of wax crayons. Even using all the fine flaky stuff......

My bumblebee's wanted multi coloured crayons, but you could experiment with different tones....pinks, reds, and then add something like a green to them.....

Oooh top tip, try not to use many/if at all browns or blacks if you want fun colours, as they tend to take over......and no-one wants a sludgy brown crayon!

Pop into an oven for about 15mins on gas 5/190 c................

Open a window when taking them out of the oven......let cool, then pop out of the mould/tin.........

A fab way of using all those wayward crayons.....

have fun!

A re-use/make and mend/ upcycle lilydoll story.........x

I tend to hang onto the bumblebee's clothes that hold memories for me. I can, for instance tell you, that the green fleece jumper was bought for a snip on a second hand clothes stall, and both bumblebee's adored it, wearing it throughout their time at pre-school and on long wintery walks along a blustery seafront. The red hearts cord dress, bought for big bumblebee at three - has seen them both through many a birthday party, and even has a tiny rip on the side from Seth as a puppy.

I have plans for the majority of their old clothes, but this morning, a poorly little bumblebee asked for new lilydoll dresses........I may have been up most of the night, but that is what a Mummy is for, and it was worth it, to see her little pale washed out face, glimmer with happiness once the dresses had been made.

So take a few old clothes.......

And a dash of trimmings.......

An hours work, and look........two lilydolls, ready for a playdate.

If you have any little ladies in your life ( or boys, don't think I'm sexist ).......a lilydoll is a powerful investment. I think made by the company Manhattan toys  ( they make the smaller groovy girl dolls, which we do have, but I find the outfits of the lilydolls far more unoffensive, a doll should never, in my opinion, dress in animal print.....or any adult for that matter....just sayin )

The hours of fun my girls have had with these little ladies, and like I did today, you can make many an outfit for them.

Big bumblebee is at an Orchestra day today, playing her violin all day. I hope lilydolls new dress will be a nice surprise at the end of her busy, busy noisy day!

Is it nap time????

xxxx

Valentine teacup tutorial.......x

I can't claim this idea totally as my own. I first saw something similar HERE at A Beautiful Mess and my thoughts immediately went to a teacup. Firstly, I get a little bit grumpy, when on a thrifting mission,  at a car boot, or charity shop I can't find any cute teacups and saucers. Only rubbishy crappy ones...booooooooo.

So, one day I picked up a few crappy teacups and saucers, and told them " one day I will make you beautiful, I promise"......

And yesterday was their day.

VALENTINE CUPS.

YOU NEED.......

crappy teacup and saucer.

mod podge.

brush.

red paint.

lots of red/pink glitter.

a romantic heart.

I used a little of my Annie Sloan red paint to cover the teacup ( my saucer was already red)....this paint is expensive, but as I had it and knew I would only need a little bit, I thought yup lets do it. I guess you could mix a bit of P.V.A or mod podge in with a red tester pot?

Wait for them to dry.

Now for the messy part.....yeahhhhhhhhh.

You will have to work in sections, as it is quite fiddly, and you want to get maximum glitter coverage.

You might want to squirt some of your mod podge into a jar to use ( it will be contaminated with glitter, you don't want all your podge messed up with glitter )

Brush on some mod podge then sprinkle your glitter on. As easy as that........

Keep going, you might find you need to let it dry a while, so you can handle the saucer/ cup to get in the tricky bits.

Once covered it NEEDS to dry out completely, don't get too over excited and start glazing before you are meant to, it will only end in tears. I have warned you.

Now, brush on a lovely layer of your podge.......and allow to dry clear in a sunny spot. You will find 2 coats should suffice.This makes sure you won't end up with rogue glitter.

These are seriously b.e.a.u.t.i.f.u.l.........

Look at them sparkle......

Fill with valentines treats, obvs you won't be able to drink from you teacup, that would be a crazy thought, but you will be able to add some glitzy romance to your valentine's day, without breaking the bank and succumbing to the lure of the card and chocolate companies.

I think I'm going to use mine ( after valentine's) to hold all my rings in....pwetty eh?

Oh and you know what else? SOMEONE really needs to have a Wizard Of Oz party and use these as a table decoration........

Happy glittering.....Link me up lovelies if you do decide to make one.........

Spread the luuuurve xxxxxxxx