Saturday 8 February 2014

It's February!!!

Oh my.

Well here we are. Finally. Wedding is in two weeks and I cannot even write down how much I still have to do because I am getting a teeny weeny bit stressed. Though apparently I'm hiding it well.

It has been a strange 3 months, me and the boys have been ill since November. Think them starting nursery has not helped but we're on the mend. I actually ended up in hospital (via ambulance no less!) but thankfully it wasn't as bad as they thought. Mortified that the paramedics came into my house since nothing had been tidied in 4 days due to me feeling ill. 4 days of no tidying with two children under the age of 4, may as we'll mean the house has never been tidied.

So, I hope my absence will be forgiven!

So I now have some photos of the kitchen we made for the boys!

I posted a picture before of telephone unit which I had bought with the hope of magically transforming it into a play kitchen for my lovely boys, and I did it!


Yey! I was literally finishing this at 0:30 on Christmas morning. If I was reading this I would be sensing a pattern that I tend to leave things a bit late.

Anyway I was super chuffed with how it turned out.



I painted the unit with a few colours I thought would look nice and bright, then I attached the back board, to give it a little something extra. I cut a hole in the top shelf and glued a baking tray in for the sink! I removed the drawer handle and glued the drawer in place. I managed to do this after the sink was put in by cutting the back off the drawer...


Which I then used to make a shelf. I used cork pot stands which I bought in packs of two, to make the cooker rings. I painted them black and painted one with a little gas ring! I made little dials for the hob rings from the tops off honey bottles. I opened the cap (it was one of the little flip top ones with the squeeze lids). I put a washer in the cap and then put a screw in, glued the inside of the cap and closed it, job done.

I added on a corner shelf to each side of the unit to give them a little worktop space which is housing their toaster and stand mixer which my crafty pal Danielle got the for their bday!


I'm planning on putting a little curtain over this part to hide all of the pretend food they have. I got 3 little baskets which we are using for utensils (pictures above in red), and one each for fruit and veg.


Then we have the oven. All I did was paint a little flame for this one.

And that was our oven! I have seen some on the internet which are flippin' incredible, but I have to say I do love mine. And so do the boys which is the most important thing. I have had several pretend cakes and cups of tea and they were all pretend delicious!

X

Saturday 4 January 2014

What a day!

I am exhausted.

Today was supposed to be wedding invitations day and somehow ended up being a 'let's go into town and buy things' day.we got up late (oops) and the boys were late for nursery (double oops), then we had to go get new blades for my craft knife (we'll come back to that), and I then persuaded Ben to drive into town. Okay so the day was all my doing. I slept through my alarm, I was in charge of the alarms ths morning as Ben had to sleep in the boys room last night. We're taking it in turns due to Frankie's unbelievable scratching just now. No idea why it's gotten so bad just now but he need 24 hour watching. So anyway, back to the alarm. I missed it. Technically I didn't, technically I woke up, turned it off and went back to sleep. Don't tell Ben.
I had a notion to go into town today as I knew what I wanted to get my bridesmaids for their little wedding token. Due to the fact I'm now panicking about our impending weddin (less than 2 months!!!!) and the fact I haven't even started my dress, I thought today was a good day to get started on everything else.
Still not sure if this was a good idea. However we got them. And they're great, if I do say so myself.
I also got my wedding wellies. Yes, it is a real thing. Ask any bride.
My thinking behind the wedding wellies, which is a real thing, is the fact that we are getting married in a little house. And the house is beautiful, and the surroundings are beautiful. So I presume we will be getting some pictures taked outside, and my lovely shoes, which I cannot wait to wear, are not outdoor in the mud or on a beach type of shoe. Enter the wedding wellie! I got EXACTLY what I wanted. And to be honest I was surprised as I thought I had just made them up.
Now they may not be to everyone's taste, I have to admit I never thought I would require such an item, however, once I've swapped those black laces for some colourful ribbon, those babies will be amazing. Also you'll be able to see my little pedicured toes!
See through glittery wellies. They have literally done everything possible in footwear.
 I also ordered our cake topper, I CANNOT WAIT for this to arrive. Expect A LOT of pictures. 
I also ordered all our earrings, my hair clasp thing (which is actually coming as a brooch) and my veil, which I was going to make myself however I'm trying to be realistic about my timeframe now. Kind of.

I also tried to make our invitations. What a disaster. Really.
I though screen printing would be super east. Cut out, layer, Paint line, pull line with big squeegee, hey presto, screen print. This is not the case. We're lucky there isn't a squeegee shaped hole in the front window. 
So tomorrow I'm going to try and take pictures. I'm rubbish at pictures but there's only one way to learn! So prepare to be completely underwhelmed.

Night night! X

Thursday 2 January 2014

Woop woop!!

Day 2 in the craft house...
Well well well, two days in a row, so far so good! Though due to fact this is more of a retrospective look at 2013 I must say I don't think this one counts towards my '2 posts per week' promise from yesterday. Sitting watching Doctor Who (season 6, episode 9) whilst playing Lego updating this craziness whilst considering taking down my Christmas tree as it's starting to annoy me. Full of holiday spirit.
Anyhoo, I posted a while ago about making a kitchen for my boys for Christmas, I honestly finished this on Christmas Eve, what a nightmare but now it's here! Not totally finished, feel like it needs a few more wee touches to improve it, however here it is...

I am pretty pleased with the way it turned out. Will take more pics of a bit more detail in the next few weeks so I can show it off a bit more!

There has also been a few additions to the extended family including a set of twin boys! Yey for babies!!! So I have embroidered the little family tree from Mollie makes issue *something*, sorry I have a terrible memory!

So happy with it, just need to add on everyone's names now!
Also it was the boys birthday, both within a week of each other so we had a little joint party in. The house and I made some decorations. They decided it was going to be a finding nemo party so I crocheted some jelly fish, a la Kirstie Allsopp, and I also made these

I was a massive Blue Peter fan when I was little so I used an old fave to make them, toilet roll tubes! I am def going to write up how to do these as they were SUPER easy, SUPER quick, and super cheap! All the makings of great party things for kids.

I swear this is not all I made over the last 12 months but this was what I thought was worth putting up for my new start. I did also attempt to crochet Ben a pair of socks for his bday. Made a full leg and heel then got his to try it on. Or attempt to try it on. Couldn't even get it over his foot. 6 weeks and about 25 hours of crochet and It was all for nothing! To say I was upset would not quite cover how bad I felt. Lesson learned for next time though!

Well, I will be back, fear not, and I hope you have a lovely day (especially if you live in Scotland where the 2nd of January is a holiday, Yey! X

Same old story...

I know I know, I can just imagine everyone's judge faces ( very similar to my own I must say).
Here she comes, new year again, promises to be made to be broken and then to be forgotten all together. Naughty me.
I know I said something similar last year about being crafty and writing it all down here, and to be fair I did manage the crafty part. The writing down? Not so much.
Soooo, here come the new promises.
1. I will continue to be crafty, with a little help from Danielle (hello!) and my mum (sorry dad). Both have been super helpful so far so I'm expecting great things. 
2. I will WRITE IT DOWN. This is my downfall, however I will strive to improve!
3. I will spend more time with my wonderful boys doing messy fun and silly things. Grown up stuff is always getting in the way, but not anymore!
4. I will make more of an effort with my man, less ponytails and big jumpers and more nice hair and shaved legs. 
5. GET MORE ORGANISED. This is a direct copy of previous years, however to achieve the rest above I must achieve this one. So really this is number 1. Although technically they are not in any sort of order at the mo.

I have a new toy with which to update, one of these new dangled tablet devises. I refuse to name it as it is not a company I normally associate with, which might explain why I have no idea how to work it!
Will return with pics in a bit. Hoping to update twice per week. That seems do-able doesn't it? 
We'll, we shall soon see...... X