Kids crafts – A box of allsorts

Easter weekend

This years Easter weekend was truly blissful and already seems like an age ago. The sun shone the whole weekend and all was very good in my world. Friday was spent cleaning the barbecue, and planting and tidying in the garden but I didn’t mind it one bit. On Saturday I had a very proud Mummy moment as little Miss took part in her first ever race with me (1.2km) and was super proud of her medal. Rich also took part in the 5km race and of course I was proud of him too! In the afternoon we made the most of the weather and had friends round for a barbecue. Sunday started with the obligatory Easter egg hunt. Little Miss was so excited that the Easter bunny had left clues around the house for her. I just love her excitement and enthusiasm, just this morning she said to me ‘Mummy, I just cant stop thinking about the Easter bunny still. Bless her heart. Sunday afternoon was another barbecue but this time with my stepson and stepdaughter. It was lovely to have us all together as its not something that happens very often. I don’t have many photos to show of the weekend as they all have people in and I don’t like to put other peoples faces on my blog without their permission. I do however have lots of photos to show in the next few days of this weeks finished projects…I’m so excited to share them.

Anyway, back to Easter weekend. Monday brought yet more beautiful weather, so after I went out for an early run we set off to bad Wunnenberg, which is about 30 minutes drive away from us. There are a lot of walks around the area, one of them being a 1km ish barefoot trail. I really didn’t know how Little Miss would react to it but I have to say, she amazed me. Its not easy in parts as some of the stones are very prickly and the water was cold enough to make our feet ache. LM did the whole thing without complaining and even went around again with me later. The playground there is fabulous and she spent a good 2 hours playing on the apparatus, paddling in the stream and digging in the sand. Rich and I took turns to watch her whilst the other relaxed in the sunshine. The day was topped off with tea out on the way home, sat in the sunshine. Just perfect!

Even though it was a busy weekend, there was plenty of time for crafting for both LM and I. LM made this chick from a kit, I did me me giggle very childishly!

Her explanation was that the circles are there to hold the wings on, she’s wearing a crown (albeit in a rather strange place) and the egg is on her head because she’s thinking of when her Mummy laid an egg. I just love how little children think!

Together, we also decorated this beautiful jewellery box (one of the many kits left from her birthday last year).

I also finished my zenbroidery mandala but so many hours of work went into it, I feel it deserves its own post so, watch this space…

Karen x x

A few quick(ish) makes

As always I’ve got a couple of long term crafty projects on the go (my zenbroidery mandala and ripple blanket both of which are taking shape but still need a lot of work to reach completion), so I really fancied doing a few quick (ish) makes to get that feeling of actually having completed something.

Whilst out shopping I found some beautiful glittery wool and decided instantly that it had to be made into a mermaid blanket for little Miss. After a bit of internet searching I found this super, easy video tutorial. I found written patterns really hard to follow unless accompanied by lots of pictures of the process, so this was just perfect as I could pause and replay whenever I needed to. It took me just over a week of picking up, putting down and a little tweaking of the pattern as I went along and here it is…

I am so, so happy with how it turned out and so is little Miss, who put it straight into use now the weather has got a bit cooler…

After deciding that my crochet cotton needed a new home where I could easily see all the colours (it was still being stored in one of the bags it came in and I had to tip it all out each time I wanted to find a specific colour), I remembered the t-shirt yarn I was gifted for Christmas a couple of years ago and the Supersize crochet book which was one of last years Christmas presents. So I set about making a basket. Now, the reason this post is called quick (ish) makes is because of this basket! I set about making the basket, following the pattern perfectly, the rows were whizzing off the hook but then I realised id made it a tad too big, it was very floppy and it was going to be a very shallow basket given the amount of tshirt yarn I had. so, I undid it all thinking, not a problem, it was easy to do, it will be done in no time. HA! Could I get it right the second (3rd, 4th, 5th,or 6th) time around?! No I bloody could not! In the end after much swearing, throwing it on the floor in temper (I’m not proud to admit this) and lamenting that I was crap at following patterns, I decided that it didn’t matter if it didn’t look exactly like the picture, I plugged on and this is the result…

It actually turned out ok even though it didn’t look exactly like the picture. The stitches are somehow much denser and it doesn’t have that basket weave look but it does the job and I’m proud of my first attempt at a basket and my first attempt with t-shirt yarn. Always a glutton for punishment and with some tshirt yarn left, I decided to make another. This time though I opted for a simpler pattern which I found online. I cant link to it though as I totally forgot to save it. This basket did fly off the hook and was done in a matter of hours…

Its a little less sturdy than the first basket but I’m happy with it. Together, they double up well as a display feature in my living room as well as making my crochet cotton easily accessible.

Last weekend, whilst Little Miss was busy creating shapes with her iron beads I just couldn’t resist getting in on the act and making yet another mandala.

It is yet to be ironed but once finished it will join the other 4 mandalas see here in the craft room. At the moment they are stacked in a pile but I’m considering how to display them. I’m thinking of maybe stringing tem together with ribbon and hanging them up as bunting. I’ll probably make a few more first though and then decide but I will be sure to post pictures when I do.

Karen x x

‘Hama’ time

As you may have noticed from my Easter makes post, we have been going iron bead (the ones we are using are not all from Hama but ‘iron on bead’ time wouldn’t have sounded half as catchy!) crazy in this house recently. It all started with little miss getting some for Christmas and spending hours painstakingly making different shapes, first with random colours and then following a pattern. She then moved on to making princesses from a kit that we bought. She absolutely amazed me with the time she spent and the perseverance she showed to complete them, we really only had to help her with the more detailed bits. She did such a super job of them that I decided they must be framed:

Not bad for a 4 year old!

When we bought the princess kit, I found a kit for making iron on bead mandalas and just had to have it. Little miss thought they were for her but I soon put her straight on that one! These were for me!

I know iron beads are largely for children but so was colouring once upon a time and I just loved making the mandalas, I found it so relaxing and therapeutic and could easily make them in whilst helping little miss with her princesses.

The kit came with 3 patterns but I only followed one of the patterns exactly and then adapted the others slightly. There were so many beads left that I’m planning on making another, completely my own design this time.

I’m not quite sure what I’m going to do with them yet but they will almost certainly be displayed in my craft room somehow. I tried framing them in box frames like the princesses but they just didn’t look quite right, the frames just didn’t make the most of their roundness if that makes sense. Once I’ve made some more I may try attaching them together somehow maybe with ribbon. If you have any ideas of how I could display them to show them off at their best, please do let me know.

Karen x

Our little artist in the making

At the weekend we bought a wooden box for Little Miss to decorate to house her hair clips and bobbles. Out came the acrylic paints and after painting the box, she decided to start painting the cardboard that we were using to protect the table. I let her roll with it and this is the masterpiece she created. This is definitely being framed!

Normally when we get the paints out its her children’s washable paints we use and inevitably we end up with the ‘muddy’ look unless I limit the selection of colours she can use. This time I just let her go for it and I’m so surprised and pleased by the results. It turns out that as the acrylic paints are so fast drying, you don’t get the same muddying of colours and I just love the effect. Its given me lots more ideas to try out, I might even have a go at some freestyle acrylic painting myself.

NB Please note that Little Miss is old enough to know not to put paint near her mouth but I wouldn’t recommend using acrylic paint with younger children who are not yet past that stage as I believe they can be harmful if ingested.

Thank you 2017, welcome 2018

HAPPY NEW YEAR

I know its a couple of days late but hey ho, its the thought that counts!

New year is a time where we like to look forward to the year ahead and what we hope it will bring, along with our goals to achieve. Whilst I do like to do this, I think its important first of all to look back at the last year and to give thanks for all the good times it brought.

2017 was, on the whole a good year for our family. Of course there were some difficult times, especially the loss of a dear relative just before Christmas. However, lots of good times were also had and what better way to celebrate than with pictures:

January brought with it a fair bit of crocheting, mostly in the form of hats:

February marked the first of our holidays, with a trip to Holland and the start of the granny stripe/ mojo blanket :

March was all about the flowers and lots of crafting with little miss:

April marked the second break of the year, a few days away in Oberhausen and not forgetting my first half marathon of the year:

May was the month in which I was introduced to a lovely little ceramic studio and the start of my addiction to ceramic painting. There was also a visit to England, including running the Liverpool half marathon:

In June I ran my third half marathon of the year, took part in a charity 5km run and had a few nice family local days out:

July was the only month in which I didn’t post anything here but it was a busy month with 2 trips back to the UK for weddings and a visit by my lovely Mum and Dad and 2 of our nephews and nieces.

What a relaxing month August was with a 2 week holiday in the caravan at the Norfolk broads:

In September I ran the Berlin marathon for the second time, raising over £500 and also finished making the squares for the eclectic mix granny squares blanket:

October finally marked the completion of the eclectic mix large granny squares blanket and some heart bunting :

November was all about organising my craft room and completing the granny stripe/ mojo blanket:

December was a busy month. Crafting wise it was all about making Christmas cards. It was also the month our little girl turned 4, we went on Santa’s steam train, visited Christmas markets, had snow, had a visit from dear friends, had some more snow and topped the year off with a fabulous Christmas with family back in England:

Looking ahead to 2018

I tend not to make too many ‘resolutions’ as I think we have a tendency to start the year off setting unrealistic expectations for ourselves and setting ourselves up for failure within the first couple of weeks of the new year. With this in mind I have just set myself a few goals which I hope to achieve this year:

Build up my blog readership (I’m not certain that anyone has actually been reading my blog for the last year and a half. If you read it regularly, please do let me know, so I can stop singing “All by myself…” Bridget Jones’ style as I’m typing )
Assign more time to crafting (my Fridays off are going to be dedicated to crafting and building up new crafty skills)
To make items to sell at a craft stall (I’ve been meaning to do this for years and have just never got round to it but I’m determined that this will be the year!)
To start machine sewing again (the poor sewing machine hasn’t seen the light of day in the last 2 years!)
To build on my photography skills and find my way around my new Camera (a Christmas present from my lovely other half).

As well as the above, there may be a bit of running squeezed in with possibly a few half marathons (I’ve got to keep feeding my medal addiction!) but absolutely no full marathons this year!

Have you set yourself any goals you’d be happy to share? I’d love to hear them.

Here’s to a fantastic 2018 and most of all… happy crafting.

Karen x

Painting in a bag!

Last week Little Miss was off kindergarten poorly for a day. She was too poorly to go to kindergarten but still needed occupying (as did I after 2 mind numbing hours of CBeebies!) and was desperate to paint. I had seen this activity posted on Facebook last week and had to try it out. It was fairly quick, so much fun (for both of us), so little mess and produced some lovely art work away from the usual muddy coloured painting when all the colours get mixed together! here’s how we did it…

Step 1: squirt blobs of paint onto a canvas

step 2: pop the canvas into a clear sandwich bag or cover with clingfilm

step 3: ‘paint’ with your fingers until the colours spread around the canvas

step 4: when you’re done ‘painting,’ peel off the plastic

step 5: take a blank piece of paper and press the plastic onto the paper to make a print with the excess paint

And hey presto, two colourful pieces of art work…

Karen x

Decorating Eggs

I love the Easter tradition here in Germany of hanging little plastic eggs in the home and on trees outside, it provides a much needed injection of colour after a dreary winter. For several years I have taken part in the tradition at home and have also decorated these little eggs at school with the children. It pleases me no end that Little Miss is now of the age where, not only does she want to help me hang the eggs up but she takes great pleasure in painting them too.

We had so much fun painting eggs on Saturday that she requested we do it all over again on Sunday.

To start with we were drying the eggs on cut up toilet roll tubes but then I discovered that they stick as they dry and leave a little line around the eggs as you peel them off, so my lovely hubby came up with this fab idea…

What crafty things have you been up to recently?

Karen x