Mothering Sunday

Christmas preparation is underway!

This year it has worked out that we will be celebrating Christmas as the four of us, rather than the large groups of extended family which we are used to. DD and I have started planning - unsurprisingly there will be quite a simple homemade feel to our festivities. I was planning to make a lot of the presents myself; but time has run away with me. Maybe next year??

These are our achievements so far! The very flat parcels at the back are actually Christmas cards. We have made all our Christmas cards for the past three years and the design is getting progressively simpler. Our first design involved punching, stamping, glitter glue...never again! These were very easy to produce as DD had us organised into a production line and kept us in order.

The square pieces of card are going to be bunting. They are made from a pack of cards that have been hanging around for years. For some reason I keep forgetting to use them, so this year we are going to hang them up.

The cracker at the bottom is my first attempt at a homemade cracker! I got my idea from "Homemaker" magazine. (DH bought me a subscription for my birthday. No more guilt as I surreptitiously slip one into my shopping trolley.) However, the basic idea is very clearly explained in this blog here. Not a toilet roll in sight! My cracker is a lot simpler than Torie Jayne's; no pattern punches for me, thank you very much. I will probably stick some patterned paper around the middle of the finished articles. Now I just need to decide on the contents! I am thinking chocolate at the moment...

The red and gold theme of the different decorations is entirely coincidental. I am not that coordinated as a rule. Christmas is about the birth of a baby, family and love and NOT a beautifully decorated house!

When the kids are quiet...

After church on Sunday the children disappeared upstairs into DD's room. All was quiet and calm. I would like to claim that this is the usual post-service atmosphere, but I would be lying! Every so often a child would appear, surreptitiously rummage in the craft box and disappear again. In view of my upcoming birthday I managed to contain my curiosity; instead I enjoyed the unaccustomed peace. Eventually all was revealed: 

This plastic cup had an upgrade.

Birthday cards from DD (left) and DS (right)!

I wonder what they will do next Sunday?!

 

DH's birthday it is!

Today is DH's birthday. I don't know about anyone else, but I really struggle with making birthday cards for the men in my life. I'm sure there are some lovely papers out there that appeal to science-mad, football-hating engineers, but I have yet to find them. This year DH's card was a little different:

I am not experienced with origami. I struggle to make a paper aeroplane, so Yoda was a bit of a challenge! I entered a strange world of mountain, squash and rabbit-ear folds and emerged, triumphant if bemused, an hour later. I didn't use proper origami paper, (the cloak is the inside of a wrapping paper roll), but he does stand up, if a little drunkenly. The pattern for him is here. 

DH had some time owing so we took the day off while the children were at school. It felt like we were playing truant! We went to the cinema , courtesy of T*sco vouchers, to see the latest Star Trek prequel, "Into the Darkness". Can you guess whose choice that was? I did enjoy it; the effects were brilliant and the storyline clever. However, I found the amount of violence in it hard to take, and it really spoilt it for me. Maybe I am getting old!

Of course, no birthday is complete without cake. DH is a fan of Black Forest gateau so I had a go at a chocolate and cherry gateau style cake. Of course it was nothing like a real Schwarzwalder Kirschtorte, it lacked alcohol for a start, but it went down well.

I succumbed to temptation...

I love craft magazines. As a teenager I would read "Prima" from cover to cover, while other girls my age were giggling away at "Just 17" or eyeing up the stars in "Smash Hits". As an adult I usually avoid that aisle in the supermarket, telling myself that I can get all the inspiration I need online, and there is no need to pay out for a glossy magazine, no matter how beautiful it looks, or how useful the free gifts.

However, this weekend I overrode my conscience. I bought "Homemaker", a new-ish magazine which seems a little lighter on advertising than most magazines, and a little heavier on interesting articles and useful projects.

When I do buy a magazine, I like to make sure that I get my money's worth out of it. So as soon as I got it home I started on a birthday card for a good friend.

I belong to the "less is more" school of card-making; I don't tend to go in for too many ribbons or embellishments. The templates for these sweet little birds came free with the magazine and were supposed to be used to make a mobile. They are available to download here.

While I was in a creative mood, I decided to start an applique project. This is my first attempt at applique, but I found a useful tutorial here. No prizes for guessing what this is going to be!

The pin cushion is the one I have had since starting needlework at school back in the days when it was called "needlework" and not "textiles". I think I might possibly need to start yet another project to replace it!

Festive preparations

Christmas may actually happen in this house....

The puddings have been made and the poinsettia bought. A friend and I made the puddings together, amid much laughter and tea-drinking. The small ones will be for presents.

After reading the blogs of some wonderfully organised people, who appear to be all ready bar stuffing the turkey, I placed quite a few internet orders last week. Unfortunately they all arrived today, I was out, my husband works from home in the loft...let's just say he is a little fitter now.

DD has also been busy making cards and decorations. I'm just happy to see some sun for the sun-catchers! She has made a whole tribe of snowmen. Somehow snowmen and sun doesn't seem like a sensible combination!

Preparing for Christmas, or not...

Christmas is coming a lot faster than I would like this year. My normal approach to the festive season is to make numerous lists and organise everything well in advance. By this time of year the pudding has been made, various packages have been secreted around the house and I am well into making my Christmas cards. This year, apart from making stockings, my approach has been to ignore it and hope it will go away! 

Yesterday DD went off with a friend to a "Christmas Card and Decoration" workshop, put on by a local lady who works for one of the papercraft companies. The results were very impressive. 

This was my favourite!

This is hanging on the banana tree for the time being!

DD did, of course, have access to lots of papercraft tools. We couldn't begin to reproduce these at home, but I have been jolted into action. Plans are under way for rather simpler creations, and some might actually get made. As for the pudding, it's not Stir Up Sunday yet!

Cross stitch wedding card

Some friends of mine are getting married on Saturday. I am so excited; I haven't been to a wedding in ages! I found the May/June issue of Cross Stitch Card Shop magazine when I visited my local craft shop a while ago.

As you can see, my copy is getting very dog-eared! It has some lovely quirky designs for wedding cards:

I found the cross stitch itself pretty straightforward. It took slightly longer than the recommended time, but I think I am a pretty slow stitcher. However, the outlining was a bit different. Don't look too hard at the groom's tie; he hasn't got it on straight at all!

I couldn't get the recommended aperture cards and had to make do with slightly smaller ones. I fiddled around with double-sided sticky tape and added a bit of bling to come up with a finished product:

I very much enjoyed making it. There are a few other designs in the magazine that I am itching to have a go at, but I have a backlog of Guide badges to sew on to a camp blanket first!