A VERY Scary Pumpkin Indeed

Half term week went out with a bang this term, finishing as it did with Halloween and a fireworks display. I have managed to finish a Christmas gift during the week but cannot show it yet so just a brief post from me. I have little more to show than this......

The scariest pumpkin around! And Cruella de Ville without the gorgeous bag that someone made for her last week.

My kids also carved pumpkins for the party:

I forget every year just how much mess is made by the carving!

I managed to squeeze a batch of cakes in, to use up the pink icing I had if for no other reason (do we really need a reason to make cakes?). So as not to scare my sons too much - they don't really go for anything pink - I covered the icing in chocolate strands.

That seemed to do the trick - this lot lasted about 5 minutes.

Next week I hope to bring you photos of a couple of crafty projects that I've been working on that all seem to be being completed at the same time. For now, I'll be linking up with everyone over at Handmade Monday to see what has been crafted this week.

Love Natalie

My First Tutorial!

Thank you for all the lovely comments last week about my gift tags. I realise that many of you have paper crafting skills that far exceed my own but Gertie asked how I had made them so here is a mini tutorial:

This is a selection of free papers that came with Craftseller magazine early this year. Each page is double sided and you get one side with greetings. I chose which greetings I wanted to use and carefully cut them out, and then chose which paper I was going to use.

I bought some plain parcel labels from Amazon and my Mum kindly gave me this sticky stuff dispenser that she uses in her card making. As you can just about see in this picture, I ran the glue around the edges of the label.

You then place the label sticky side down onto the paper that you want to use. As I said, these pages are double sided so although this pattern is lovely, I'm actually using the other side. You then carefully cut around the label.

I then put the glue along the edges of the greeting that I wanted to use.

Voila! Couldn't be simpler really although I was surprised when Mum showed me just how easy this was.

You could obviously embellish the labels further with crystals, buttons, ribbons - whatever your stash allows. And I have a stamp that I will use on the back that says "To.......... From..........". I just need to finish making the presents now, then I can wrap and label them!

In other crafty news, for Think Pink week at work, we've been wearing Pink shirts and eating pink cakes so I made a contribution.....

I intended to make some cakes with pink butter icing but I was a little heavy handed with the food colouring!

The boys didn't care though.

I also made a quick bag for a friend to go with her Halloween costume - she's going as Cruella De Ville!

It's just a quick and easy drawstring bag for her to keep her camera in. I can't wait to see her fully dressed - I managed to get myself invited to the party too and will look gorgeous in a pumpkin outfit!

It being Sunday, I'll be linking up with the other crafters at Handmade Monday (
http://handmadeharbour.blogspot.co.uk/). Lets all gather around the Internet to think lovely, crafty thoughts while the storm is in full swing!

Love Natalie

A Papercrafting Success!

A couple of weeks ago, Mum showed me how to make lovely gift tags with simple paper layering techniques, and during the week I had a go at it myself - with great results! I know that they are not at all complicated but it's a first for me and I intend to try and make a few more fancy ones. I used the free papers that you get with various magazines - I have always kept them, knowing that they would come in handy one day. So here are the results.

A couple of Christmas ones....

 And a few birthday ones....

And not a week can pass without some cake making - this week, I tried a Nigella recipe that I've not come across before. They were Banana Butterscotch Muffins ( the recipe can be found here http://www.nigella.com/recipes/view/banana-and-butterscotch-muffins-84), though I substituted the butterscotch for chocolate chips (because I had some). They were delicious, and a great way to use up bananas that are past there best.

It's such a shame that the weather has taken a turn for the worse but there is a plus side - you don't have to feel guilty about staying in and crafting if its cold and rainy outside!

Join me over at Handmade Monday to catch up on all the crafting that's been going on this week.

Love Natalie

No rest for the wicked!

Would you all like to remind me that I was the person longing to get the kids back to school so that some normality (whatever that is) and structure could resume. Oh how I long for the holiday days, where no-one has a club/friend for tea/sleepover/late kick off footie match! I'm as prepared as the next person for the growing up of my sons but........ my brain is about to explode trying to co-ordinate who is where, when, and how. Add into the mix the odd birthday and the chance for me to do anything I might like to before I fall asleep in front of a TV programme that I REALLY wanted to watch is slim. Hence not a lot of crafting to report on.

Like all good multi-taskers, I have managed to squeeze a little bit in. I have made 2 Quilters Trugs, one for a friend's Gran's 99th birthday and 1 for BFF.

I have also been working on the shawl I've been asked to make for the aforementioned Gran, and I have started work on the ***** that I'm making for ****** for Christmas. I have a couple of other gifts to make too, and I have also bought some parcel labels which I intend to turn into fabulous gift tags having had a quick paper crafting lesson from my Mum. I hope to find the time anyway!

Finally, I'd like to share a photo of the cake number 2 son wanted for his birthday.

Buttercream and Tangfastics - what more could a 10 year old ask for?

I hope you've been having a rather less chaotic week than me. Join me over at Handmade Monday for a quiet catch up on all things crafty.

Love Natalie

With Christmas nearly here (alright, so 84 sleeps to be exact!) I now have many Christmas present WIP's, which means that I won't be able to show much of what I'm working on for a while for fear of ruining anyones surprise! I can show you a cushion that I made for a birthday present for a friends daughter:

It is similar to one I made at the beginning of the year for another young lady, but the use of different fabrics for the flowers and ears means they are both unique.

I've been doing quite a lot of baking this weekend but everything was scoffed before I could take photos - flapjack, chocolate covered cupcakes made by Number 2 son, and the most moist Lemon Drizzle cake you could ever come across thanks to the recipe from Jo at Pickle-Lily (it's here if you want it http://lifewithpickle-lily.blogspot.co.uk/2013/08/lemon-drizzle-cake.html).

A brief post from me this week, but I'll be joining up with everyone at Handmade Monday to get inspiration for next week. I'd like to sign off by thanking you all for such lovely comments about the Teacup and Saucer last week. It really was such a cute thing to make.

Have a great week,
Love Natalie

Anyone for a cuppa?

I think we all need one - it seems like the chaos will end when the kids go back to school but Oh! how we forget that getting back into the swing of school runs, homework and after school clubs is exhausting!

BFF moved at the weekend, to add to the general excitement around these parts, and so a house warming gift was called for. She has been lucky enough to have been gifted a few beautiful tea sets this year and so I thought that a cute tea cup and saucer would be just the right gift. It would be silly for me to buy something if I could make it myself....

I used the pattern in Sew Magazine issue 51 and made it with fabrics that I know she loves (I've made some coasters in these fabrics for her before). Obviously not designed for actual tea but it is a wonderful little vessel for "stuff" (BFF transferred spare change into it as soon as she unwrapped it). In this photo you can just see the top of a paperweight peeking out because it wouldn't sit straight to be photographed. I actually used a couple of little stitches to hold the cup onto the saucer because it wouldn't sit still but as soon as something is in it, it would be fine. The handle could do with some improvement I must admit, but it is one of the most gorgeous things I've ever made!

What have you ever made that you've been particularly pleased with?

Can you believe it's time for Handmade Monday again? See you there!

http://handmadeharbour.blogspot.co.uk/

Love Natalie

I seem to have lots of work in progress since the children have gone back to school but I haven't organised myself enough to put them into blog posts. I have started and finished this one project though. The daughter of a work colleague is shortly off to University and to make sure that she doesn't starve to death whilst she is away, she wanted some simple recipes to take with her. I actually think her Mum is a more than capable cook but she asked me if I had some recipes that I could share. Some things are always a pleasure, never a chore!

I realised that I could go one better than just sharing some recipes. Some time ago, Simply Homemade Magazine came with a booklet giveaway and though I thought it unlikely that I would use it, I tucked the kit away safely because - well, you never know do you? And good job I did. So after writing out a few tried and tested, quick and easy recipes, I set to work on putting the booklet together. Regular readers will know that I'm not really a papercrafter - that's my Mums job - but I'm always up for a challenge. And I'm very pleased with the result.

It's simply pieces of paper and card held together with the rings, so not at all complicated, but I did some paper layering on the front and back. I forgot to take a picture of the back but sent this not very good phone photo of it to my Mum

There are plenty of spare pages for Holly to add her own (and her Mum's!) recipes, and she can add additional pages when she is ready. I was slightly concerned that an 18 year old might think this a little old fashioned but it turns out she loves it. Now she won't starve, and hopefully she'll do fantastically well in her studies (I have a slight soft spot for her subject as like me, she is going to be studying Law).

Has anybody else been getting themselves or others ready for University? I'm a long way off having to think about that with mine!

Love Natalie