Face Painting

Jack decided this weekend should be dedicated to Australia and New Zealand, so he has played rugby (Aussie Rules), cricket, worn an Australian hat (minus the corks - sorry i don't know what the hats are called), played his digeridoo and has been finding out lots of different facts about both countries. So to finish off this day of Aussie/NZ worship we decided to have Maori and Aboriginal face painting.
Tompom looks more cute than scary!!

Jack even had me paint eyeballs on his eyelids - very strange looking they were too!!

And Rachel found this very artistic looking face on the internet!!!

Next week it's the turn of Argentina and Brazil - really will need to get my thinking cap on for those!!!
Do any of your offspring come up with these weird and wonderful ideas or is it just my darling ones!!!

P.S really sorry but don't have much to show again this week for crafty sunday - i have made a few things but they are for swaps so can't show them yet!!

Thank You

I just wanted to say a big thank you to everyone that left a comment about my learning to crochet and yes lots of you are so right, I do think it is something I will need to practice before attempting a big project. So it's going to be little and often with the hook and yarn for me....before I jump in at the deep end to make one of these..

This lovely blanket was made by Red Gingham and if, like me, you find that a busy life, husbands, kids, dreams and desires mixed with blogging sometimes makes for a hectic life then pop over and have a quick read. I think it sums us all up at sometime or another - the general juggling of life and how to handle all your balls at once!!! and with all the pangs of guilt that comes from being a wife and mother!!!

hope you all have a great day

P.S Justine - yes I have found attic 24's blog but i wasn't sure how to follow it as it is a typepad one - any advice as to how i do this would be greatly received!!!! and then I can sit back and swoon over her lovely creations!!!

Father's Day

I hope all you Dad's out there had a lovely Father's Day today...ours was a little strange as Jack was away this weekend on an adventure trip with the school down to Bradwell. I think he was exhausted from all the sailing, crabbing, bike riding and games so much so that he was in bed and fast asleep by half past five!!! So I think our Father's day giving will continue over to tomorrow. I don't know about you but I find it harder and harder to think of gifts for Father's Day but I knew that I wanted something from all three children and found just what I was looking for over at Emroyjewels. Emma at Emroyjewels was fantastic as I only gave her about six days to custom make and send this to me in time and even asked her to add some extra writing on the back too. It says Father's Day 2010. She kept me posted every step of the way and it arrived in plenty of time. So thank you Emma.

We also enjoyed these lovely cupcakes made by Amanda over at Bassetts Farm Bakes, they were delicious we will definitely be back for more!!! I know that everyone is wrapped up in football fever but we much prefer the oval ball in this house and Amanda kindly obliged with rugby themed cupcakes. They were even hand delivered too!!! Thanks Amanda.

The kids made these super posters and cards for their Dad cutting out photos of their faces and sticking them onto the bodies of others. Rachel was Dot Cotton from Eastenders!!, Jack was Gareth Edwards - a fantastic Welsh rugby player from the 1970's!!! and Tompom made a football (i did think about trimming the sides to make it more oval shaped!!! but decided to leave it as it was) themed card at mother and toddler group last week. We even had one of Paul,who bears an uncanny resemblance to Phil Mitchell from Eastenders, as Phil Mitchell. I would post a picture but I think Paul might have something to say about that!!!!

I can crochet!!!!

I seem to have been AWOL again this week, I always seem to be busy but not necessarily in a crafty way!!! Tompom has dropped his daytime nap so that means daytime crafting has dropped to zilch although i have managed to do a small amount of crafting on my swaps in the evening. Bex and El over at Stuffed Nonsense are being ever so patient as I am terribly behind with my A Little Bit Greener swap. I'm also on the PTA committee at school and its coming up for the summer fayre so I've been busy selling advertising spaces for our flyers!
It hasn't been all work and no play though as on Wednesday though I had a fab day learning how to crochet. I attended a beginners crochet course at Franklins, met some lovely people and brushed up on my skills. I had only ever been able to do chain stitch as a child and lately have been coveting all your blogs on granny squares and flowers, so when I saw this one day course I thought I would grab the chance to learn some new stitches. The picture below is not what I made (I wish) but what we should be able to make once we have acquired our new skills.

Sandy our teacher for the day took us through the basics of holding the yarn correctly, and initially I couldn't decide whether to crochet left or right handed, but finally settled on holding the yarn with my leading left and the crochet hook with my right hand. We then practised our chain stitches before progressing onto double and treble chain stitch.

Above is one of the lovely ladies that I met on the course and hopefully we will all be back in July for the next course to learn more stitches and catch up on what we have been crocheting..

Here's just a couple of shots at my first attempts, I really used the day for practising my new skills and perfecting the tension in my stitches as I found that the first row was the most difficult to get right. I chose a lovely shade of green for my wool but can't decide whether to make a bag or a scarf, think I need a bit more practise first as I my work keeps decreasing at the end so I think I'm not crocheting the last stitch...

I did find a beautiful crochet book as some inspiration for the future and it's on my Christmas wish list, although I may just have to borrow it from the library first , just for research - obviously!!!!

new version of jelly on the plate.....

here's my version of jelly on the plate in honour of Tompom throwing some of my dinner, which he wanted to eat by himself with his own spoon, all over my living room carpet!!!


chilli on the floor
chilli on the floor
OMG! OMG!
chilli on the floor

get on the stairs
get on the stairs
OMG! OMG!
get on the stairs

Quickly get the Vanish
Quickly get the Vanish
OMG! OMG!
Quickly get the Vanish

Do you think anyone will notice
Do you think anyone will notice
OMG! OMG!
Do you think anyone will notice

If you would like to add a verse then feel free......

A mother's pride

My beautiful, hardworking, generous and wonderfully stubborn daughter has won an award at school. She has been chosen from over 200 pupils in her year for the Jack Petchey award. Both Paul and I are immensely proud of her. Her only dilemma is which school department(s) she should give the £200 funding donation to....

Crafty Sunday

Builders + Half Term = Nothing to show for crafty sunday

I promise to try much harder!!!!!

They're Back!!!

The builders that is....sorry for the lack of posting and commenting but the computer is well and truly wrapped up in plastic sheeting during the day whilst the builders are here demolishing my kitchen, but as soon as they go i unwrap it and get my daily fix checking to see what everyone has been up too.


I've noticed that there has been a few posts about losing loved ones and my thoughts and prayers are with you all.

I also wanted to say thank you those of you that managed to get to the end of my last post and even leave a comment.
Normal blogging services should hopefully resume soon, well at least once the builders have gone and the kids are back in school.......