Get a Bead on This..!

Not a great deal to tell you today, but look!  Look! Look at what I made!!  I went to an informal jewellery workshop this morning and in less than 2 hours, turned out this little beauty; the ideal bracelet for so many of my favourite outfits.  I find myself wearing a lot of green lately, so this will happily not be one of those items that is just perfect with one outfit but, unfortunately, only the one, i.e. it doesn't really go with anything else.  Such items are rarely good buys, and just make me feel (a) cross with myself for not wearing them more often and (b) bitter that I *wasted* money when I could have had something more versatile.  Not this baby,  I suspect that this will barely be off my arm for a looooooong time...

Cath  xx

Get Inventing!

"With tuppence for paper and strings...you can have your own set of wings", or so the song goes.  With a few more varied bits and pieces and some sticky tape or glue, however, the world is a child's oyster.  My boys' favourite pastime is junk modelling, constructing all sorts of fantastic machines, robots and spaceships out of everything and anything that we save for them; everything from loo roll tubes to chocolate box trays, from bottle-tops to lolly sticks. 

Incidentally, don't throw away those irritating bits of plastic that are used to wire toys, almost irretrievably, into their packaging.  They are fab for junk modelling and have made robot legs, lorry grilles, oven racks, you name it!

I want to encourage the creative spirit, but I'm not too keen on the mess all over the house, so today we turned their playshed into their very own 'invention club'.  With boxes, tubes and cartons galore, all sorts of bits-and-bobs and a ready supply of sticky tape, glue sticks and marker pens, they have their own little mad haven of creation...

Cath xx

'Boys of Summer' skirt

A skirt I had a brainstorm for a while ago. I ran this up the other night, after watching Snakes on a Plane - with one ear on Bill Bailey's Tinselworm - because I always find a good comedy performance makes me speed through my sewing. It's a very simple skirt - gathered with an elastic waistband (using some fabby no-roll elastic which doesn't roll over on itself during the course of the day).

The print on the green cotton is of a white paisley pattern and I think it looks great with its trimming of bright pink ric rac braid. I adore the pairing of pink and green all year round (and claim this combo as my 'favourite colour'), but somehow it screams summer to me and so far, it's true, the skirt has heralded better weather than has been forecast. I like to name the skirts I make and, as I have had Don Henley's 'The Boys of Summer' whirling round in my head for a couple of days, this, coupled with the pleasant weather of recent days led to the, I think exceedingly appropriate naming of this one. It now hangs in the wardrobe beside my 'Red Shoes' skirt while I wait for inspiration to strike once more.

Making Sunday Funday

Wet Sunday afternoons really are awfully tedious, particularly at this time of year. So something fun is very necessary - and this book is just the ticket. With the boys ensconced in Muppet Treasure Island, I took a much-needed creative moment to myself.

Aranzi Aronzo Cute Stuff is a real tonic for a grey day and, as my little tissue case (pictured, in pink leopard-spot felt) has proved to be so covetable, today I made a rather more boyish one for my eldest son to pop in his schoolbag. I made his with some camouflage print felt from good old Hobbycraft - thankfully their sheets of craft felt are sufficient for two of these cases as I then had to make one for the jealous little bro! As a tissue is never far from the hand if you have small children (or if you are one), it's nice to bring a little kitschy fun to the day-to-day...

The tissue cases are in a a simple envelope style and, while I eschewed the funny face appliqués in the book, I can never resist a bit of pretty, so some simple iron-on appliqués which have been hanging around in my sewing box for a while were the perfect way to make clear to whom which case belonged. With the robot and the fire engine, the y have the boyish designs they love - but there's a teeny bit of sparkle to keep Mum happy too.