Elf On The Shelf – 12 Days Of Elvis and Elfie

Elf on the shelf can be great fun! Over 14 million elves have been adopted around the world. Any parent will tell you though that sometimes it can be difficult to come up with ideas. Design bundles have some fab bundles and kindly sent us a box of goodies to make things easier.

Elf On The Shelf Day 1

Elf on the shelf - Elfie is sat under the tree with Elvis his cousin in an Elf Isolation jar, on top of a baking kit.

Elfie has been visiting us for the last few years. He’s an absolute terror and had been told he is not to steal the girls toys this year! So instead he brought along his cousin Elvis. Thankfully he seems a much better behaved elf and arrived in Elf Isolation adhering to the guidelines. Together they arrived with a fun Ginger bread baking kit for the girls to make!

Day 2

Day 2 came around quickly and Elfie and Elvis wanted to dress up. He arrived with a dazzling gold wardrobe and clothing from previous years hung up inside. Naughty Elfie had hidden his poor cousin Elvis (still in Elf Isolation) underneath a discarded dressing gown!

Elfie is sat in front of a homemade golden coloured wardrope, strong across the doors is a festive clothes line with a christmas jumper and pyjamas hanging from it. In front of the wardrobe are pieces of fabric, scissors, glue and a needle along with a sign saying 'I can't find any clothes to wear.. lets make some Love Elfie!.

It seems Elfie wasn’t happy with his current wardrobe and insisted the girls made him some new ones. Thankfully he at least brought his own materials, although cheekily he raided my crochet tin for the scissors and needle.

Day 3

The elves brought some colouring sheets and pens for the girls to do some festive colouring on day 3. Elfie had been colouring in a candy cane when we woke up! The girls couldn’t wait to get colouring with the elves when they woke up. Who doesn’t love colouring!?

Day 4

Elfie and Elvis wanted to make Christmas cards on day 4. Elvis wrote his very own tiny christmas card to the girls which was sweet.

Elfie and Elvis are sat with some colouring pens and cards/envelopes.

He brought the girls some paper and card to make their own which they loved doing. Card making is always fun!

Day 5

On day 5 Elvis and Elfie wanted to make some decorations. They arrived with a bag including a clear fillable bauble, fake snow and some small ornaments to go inside. Naturally we discovered Elfie using his poor cousin Elvis to get inside the bag of goodies!

Elfie's legs are sticking out of a paper bag, his feet are using Elvis' Elf Isolation jar to climb up.

Thankfully nothing was damaged and we were able to make a lovely bauble. The girls loved this as the Mr has a t-shirt in with a camper van and Christmas tree on top!

Day 6

On day 6 the elves decided it was time for the girls to write to Santa. They brought them an example sheet which I copied and a fun snowman pen to write out their lists.

Elfie and Elvis are sat on top of a blank letter to santa with a pen

We were pleased to see Elfie was behaving a little bit better today! Having an elf on the shelf can be worrying, you never know what you might wake up to!

Day 7

On day 7 the elves thought the girls would enjoy making a fun window display from. They brought lots of fun stencils and paper.. Although messily scattered everywhere! We are hoping Elvis is able to tame Elfie a bit when he finally finishes Elf isolation next week! SVG images are great for activities like these.

Elfie and is sat amongst a mess of stencils and paper

Day 8

The elves decided as the girls love doing random acts of kindness that they might enjoy making someone a gift. Along with some card they had left some chocolates. The girls decided they should make a Christmas cracker and use the chocolates to fill it up. Unfortunately this day became quite eventful so we missed a photograph!

Day 9

Acts of kindness are so nice the elves decided to encourage the girls twice! On the 9th day the elves provided a fun list of acts of kindness to help the girls out. Elfie had even left Elvis a note saying he SMELLS lovely! This led to the girls going through their toys and producing a bag for the charity shop a few days later. The elves then rewarded them with some sweets for their kindness whilst sat on the bag of toys.

Elfie and Elvis are sat on top of a sheet of random acts of kindness ideas

Day 10

The elves must have been getting hungry thinking about Christmas being just 15 days away. They brought the girls some things to help set the table. They came with a fantastic glass milk bottle for Santa and card and a shiny pen to make placemats.

Elfie and Elvis are sat with black card to make placemats and a santas milk botttle

Day 11

With the big day quickly approaching, the elves thought it was time the girls wrapped some presents. They brought wrapping paper, a gift tag and a bag of popcorn for the girls to enjoy with a film.

Wrapping with the Elves - Elfie is sat in a popcorn pot with his legs up in the air and over his shoulders next to wrapping paper, washi tape, a christmas tag and popcorn.

The paper is perfect for my sister who loves pugs and has her own called Pugsley! So the girls wrapped for their aunt and uncle using the lovely paper. Once we were all done they enjoyed snuggling up with a film and sharing the popcorn.

Day 12

Although I am certain there was something else planned, such as a fun scavenger hunt for the 12th day, instead we discovered Elfie up to mischief.

Elfie pulling Elvis from his Elf isolation

Of course, being such a naughty elf that he is, he couldn’t wait 2 more days and had dragged poor Elvis out of Elf Isolation!! Lets hope 12 days was enough to keep us all safe!

We definitely enjoy Elf on the shelf as a tradition now and cant wait to see what else Elfie and Elvis will get up to next. I will definitely be using Design bundles in future and check out their free printable resources and new products.

What has your Elf on a Shelf been up to? Do you use any fun resources?

Easy World Book Day Crafts

We’ve made easy World Book Day crafts in collaboration with Viking. Our crafts involve using old books and craft supplies provided by Viking to help us out.

Easy World Book Day Crafts

We love books and usually wouldn’t dream of cutting them up but sometimes, some books are just beyond saving. We dug around our local charity shops to find a few books we could use that were falling apart, drawn on or just generally in a bad condition.

old books

Unfortunately we were quite limited as our charity shops had very few old books that we felt were worth taking apart but we did manage to change find a lovely old children’s nursery rhyme book which we used for inspiration (and it’s pages!).

1. Bookmarks

Book lovers can never have too many bookmarks, what better way to make them than by using old books? Viking provided us with a few loose pages from an old dictionary so we used these to create bookmarks.

We simply cut a strip of card to the size of a standard bookmark, folded the book page in half, cut it and stuck it to both sides of the card. We then used plastic book wrap to protect the paper from water damage.

Easy world book day crafts - Bookmark. Photo shows a bookmark with faded book pages on it with 'Bookmark' stamped on in black ink

Viking also provided us with an ink pad and letter stamps and Eva decided adding Bookmark would make it stand out more, so we gave it a go. You could try stamping quotes on too!

This craft took just a few minutes and turned a ‘useless’ loose book page into a lovely bookmark that can be used over and over.

2. Gift Tags

Using the same method as we used to create the bookmark, we also created gift tags. Again glueing book pages to both sides of a piece of card, punching a hole in one end and stamping on the recipients name. I love this and think they would look lovely on a gift wrapped in brown paper too!

. Gift tags made using old book pages with the names 'Eva' and 'Izzy' stamped on them in black ink and a black heart stamped in all four corners

3. Nursery Art Work

Izzy wanted to create a picture using a nursery rhyme from a very old children’s book. Twinkle Twinkle Little Star is one of Izzy’s favourites. She quickly got to work cutting out the title, image and words to the rhyme. Using dark blue card she stuck these down, used some star and planet stickers and created a moon using chalk.

Izzy's twinkle twinkle art

Viking included a lovely golden frame which was perfect for this piece Izzy created. I think it’s really cute and you could use any nursery rhyme and children’s book quotes.

World book day craft - framed picture on blue card with 'Twinkle, twinkle little star' title, image and words cut out and stuck on. These are surrounded by gold stars

While Izzy made her nursery rhyme piece, I decided to make a similar piece using Winnie The Pooh Stencils to cut out shapes from book pages to create another cute piece for a nursery. Cute art work for a nursery doesn’t have to cost a fortune when you have old books and some card lying around!

World book day craft - P is for Pooh made using book pages and coloured card. Pooh is sitting on the grass (green torn card lining the bottom) along with the letter P, clouds  heart and a bee cut from book pages stuck on a blue background.

We had a few other ideas which we will share another time when we come across the right books.

Have you ever used old books to make art before?

A Rainbow, Unicorn Birthday Gift Guide

A lot of young girls dream of rainbow, unicorn birthday theme, especially 8-year-olds like Eva! Luckily there are some amazing gifts around that fit this theme. I have the privilege of showing you some fab products we were sent for this gift guide. I’ve also added in a few items we’ve picked up that are awesome too, so if you’re stuck for a gift idea for someone like Eva then check these out!

Unicorn Birthday Gifts

Always Be A Unicorn Personalised Cushion From Funky Pigeon

Funky Pigeon has been a favourite since Eva’s first birthday, we ordered her first personalised birthday card from them. They have a wide range of gifts & cards for all occasions including this adorable, personalised ‘Always be a Unicorn’ cushion. It already looks fantastic on Eva’s bed and costs just £19.99. Funky Pigeon has a great selection of unicorn gifts to choose from but this is definitely a favourite for me!

Always Be A Unicorn Personalised Cushion from Funky Pigeon

 

 

Rainbow Jewellery

Halia Rose Necklace

As most girls do, Eva loves her colourful Jewellery and this Halia Rose Rainbow Necklace Is absolutely gorgeous! This fab necklace comes in white & grey for £12.99 These necklaces are safe, 100% Non-toxic, BPA free, washable & chewable makes a great sensory toy as well as a fashion item. These gorgeous necklaces are perfect for mums of teething babies too!

Unicorn Book

 

The unicorn in a tutu

The Unicorn In a Tutu is written and illustrated by J. Y. Quinn is a fun rhyming story for £5.25. This cute story is about a Unicorn in a Tutu who helps others & gains friends. Eva loves stories like this that she can read to Izzy full of positive messages. Full of colourful illustrations and available in paperback or Kindle.

Unicorn Cake

Bakerdays Unicorn Emoji Letterbox birthday cake

A birthday isn’t a birthday without cake! Bakerdays sent us this lovely letterbox personalised Unicorn emoji cake. These fab cakes are delicious, Eva’s cake is the chocolate chip which we’ve tried before and know it’s amazing! These personalised letterbox cakes are just £14.99 and come well packaged in a special tin so they don’t break when posted. Bakerdays have a range of Unicorn Cakes to check out.

Colourful Gifts

3x3 Rubiks Cube From John Lewis

The Rubiks cube is the words number one puzzle and makes a perfect gift! Great for fidgeters & kids who love puzzles, I picked this up from John Lewis for £9.49 as Eva has asked for one, several times now. I know she will love playing with it and it will definitely keep her busy!

 

Crafty Gifts

Frenh Knitting Doll From John Lewis

Eva loves to make things, watching me crochet has led to her learning to finger knit but she is struggling to learn much more right now. Luckily I found this fab French Knitter which she can use to make a range of items. You can create all kinds of fun things like bracelets, necklaces & 3D appliques. These are simple but fun projects she can learn to do to create her own little projects or work with me on something. French Knitters are fantastic for rope bag handles, a fun project we can do together. I bought this one from John Lewis but you can also find them in most craft shops/ online stores.

 

 

Fab Lab Bath Bombs Kit From John Lewis

 

Along the same theme of making things, I found this Fab Lab Bath Bombs Kit at John Lewis too. Eva loves bath bombs & whilst she loved the ones from Sudzz at the English Festival, she also wanted to try making her own. When I spotted this cool kit I knew she would love it & it would give us a fun activity to do together. This fun little kit is just £11.99

Inspiring Gifts

She believed she could, so she did' Enamel pin

Inspiring Eva to always try and do her best isn’t always easy but this cute enamel pin from Old English Co is perfect! I can see her proudly wearing it and remembering to try her best. To help with that Old English Co also have the same quote on a gold keyring, perfect to hang from her school bag.

She believed she could, so she did gold keyring from Old English Co

Not quite the typical toy loaded gift guide but definitely one for 8-year-olds who would love a rainbow, unicorn birthday!

 

Rustic By Marney – How creativity helps me manage my anxiety and depression

Rustic By Marney was set up by Melissa Marney who crafts the most beautiful pens! Like many of us Melissa suffers anxiety and depression but found crafting and letting her creativity flow very therapeutic. I’ll be sharing my thoughts and images of a gorgeous purple flower pen she made for me, on the blog tomorrow! Keep an eye out! Until then here is Melissa’s story in her own words.

Rustic By Marney – How creativity helps me manage my anxiety and depression

Looking back on my childhood I now realise that I’ve always suffered with anxiety and depression. At the time I didn’t know anything about mental health issues, and I just thought it was normal behaviour and everyone felt the same way, but I just struggled more with my emotions. I covered my emotions and symptoms well, and looking back had a number of coping strategies, which I wasn’t aware were helping me, to cope at the time.

Hobbies

My favourite hobby when I was younger was ballet. I used to attend two classes a week and looking back now it was a way to shut my mind off, detach myself from uncomfortable feelings and emotions and silence those scary, intrusive thoughts.

As the years went on and I grew older I stopped dancing and didn’t replace this with another hobby. Having nothing to focus my energy on, my negative thoughts became louder and more uncomfortable and my symptoms worsened. Dealing with day to day life – working, paying the bills, maintaining relationships etc. It all became so consuming, and I knew something wasn’t right at the time but tried my best to conceal it (and I did a fantastic job at it!). I didn’t want anyone to know how I was truly feeling or that I was struggling to cope. There were times where I just wanted to scream out for help, but always remained silent and carried on with life.

Shutting Down

It wasn’t until a year ago, Steve and I got married in Cyprus, (which was the best day of our lives, very cliché, I know!) things changed. I pretty much arranged the whole wedding myself and in the lead up to it was unaware of how much stress I was putting myself under. Having perfectionist tendencies I wanted everything to go well, and was deeply involved with the all or nothing thinking. I also wanted to ensure everyone was happy and was having a good time.

While I was busy thinking about everyone else and my ‘perfect’ day I neglected my own needs my health was suffering as a consequence. When Steve and I returned from our wedding I didn’t feel myself at all. I put it all down to the ‘come down’ from the high I had been on the past few weeks. Nevertheless, I powered on and tried to get back into the real world. Unfortunately my mind and body had other plans. Two weeks later I had a breakdown, I completely shut down physically and mentally, I became an empty shell, I was just existing and not living. I knew things weren’t right and something had to change.

Recovery

It took me a while to accept what was happening. It took approximately six months to dig myself out of that ‘hole’ and get myself back on the right track. I’m still in recovery now, but having the right support, and a change in my thinking and attitude has helped me to accept it’s now just a part of me, and adjust to living with anxiety and depression.

During my recovery I found a new love in crafting. Throughout the years I’ve always told myself I’m rubbish at arts and crafts, I can’t do it and I believed it! It wasn’t until I started crafting my own place cards, guest book pens and jars for my own wedding where I realised this was all total rubbish! Silencing that negative voice in my head was a great victory.

Crafting To Cope

I’ve always been ambitious and dreamt of owning my own little business, and finding a purpose in life. During my breakdown Steve had mentioned to me about crafting again, however at the time I didn’t have the energy. As I slowly started getting better I took his advice and I started making my flower pens again. Slowly in time my passion and creativity started coming back, I was starting to feel my bubbly, confident self again. Crafting has been my biggest inspiration and I truly believe it has helped me cope over the past few months. Crafting has refocused my attention and reignited my passion.

Now whenever I feel anxious or have a bad day, however hard it is I grab all my crafting gear, sit down and get stuck in. I’ve found crafting extremely therapeutic and a way to ‘shut off’ from the stressors in the world. Turning my hobby into a business has given me great comfort as I now believe in myself. Having a passion in crafting and weddings, and combining the two is the perfect combination and therapy for me! There’s also that extra bonus of helping other brides have the best day of their lives. When they do then my mission is accomplished!

I recently saw the quote below which sums up my whole experience and filled me with comfort:

 Rustic By Marney - How Creativity Helps Me Manage Anxiety & Depression

Rustic by Marney can be found over on Facebook & Twitter. Whilst she does focus on weddings her gorgeous pens will brighten up any desk. You can find out more about Rustic by Marney and see the gorgeous pen she sent me too!

Do you find crafting therapeutic too?

Burnished Chaos

Making Dreamcatchers

We’ve been making Dreamcatchers this week after Eva made one last week at forest school. Her’s broke as she decided to bring it home unfinished so we decided to make our own. We’ve been trying to find fun crafty activities for days at home including learning Origami which was great fun and making dreamcatchers sounded like a fun idea.

Dreamcatchers are simple to make & can be made using a range of materials. We had wire from previous crafts which we used for our hoop. We also used wool from my stash & some beads.

Making Dreamcatchers

1. We taped our hoop together using duct tape to make sure it was secure. 

2. Next we wound the wool around the hoop until it was covered, leaving a metre or 2 of wool for the next step.

3. Once the hoop was covered we began threading beads onto the wool. For each bead we added we crossed the wool across the hoop to create a pattern. 

4. After the hoop was complete we tied a piece of wool to the dreamcatcher to hang it on.

Whilst wrapping the hoop can take a bit of time & patience there are ways around that. Using a painted cross-stitch hoop would work just as well.

The pattern can be as simple as Eva’s or as hectic as the one Izzy & I made together. Feathers or ribbons can be attached to the bottom of the Dreamcatchers to pretty them up too.

Whilst winding the wool around the hoop takes a little bit of time this is a fantastic activity for kids around 5+.

Younger kids

Izzy obviously had a fair bit of help with her dreamcatcher but threaded the beads herself. To keep her occupied whilst I wound wool around her hoop she practised threading beads onto wool making a cute little keyring for herself. I thought I’d mention this as it can be a struggle with kids of different ages & abilities to find something the little ones can do to feel involved.

Simple, cute & Izzy felt super proud of herself!

Both girls love their dreamcatchers & have them hanging over their beds.

Have you made a dreamcatcher before? Do you have any tips or different materials that could be used?

Learning Origami With The Girls

I’ve been learning Origami with the girls after the Mr picked up an Origami tricks book for Eva. I remembered spotting Origami paper in the craft section & picked up 2 packs of 120 coloured square sheets of paper. The girls love sitting and making things and Origami seemed something fun but easy to clear up after. Win!

Fortune tellers were something everyone could make when I was at school & I remember spending hours making and playing with them. The book showed how to make Fortune Tellers amongst other things & I made one to show Eva. She was really interested in making a ship’s wheel. The Mr sat with her and helped her a little bit and she soon proudly presented her ships wheel.

Ship's wheel origami

Izzy wanted me to make a frog she found in the book so I gave it a go. Feeling pleased with my first attempt I made a second one as Izzy wanted her frog to have a sister. She spent a whole morning playing with the frogs, making them hop & flip everywhere.

Frog Origami

 

 

Origami Animals

After making the frogs I decided I wanted to learn more Origami tricks so had a look around for some tutorials. I ended up making a cat & a dog whilst Izzy & the Mr went shopping haha! The cat most definitely needs improving but the dog didn’t turn out too bad. Izzy was impressed at least when she returned to find them lined up on the arm of the sofa waiting for her!

Cat Origami

Dog Origami

 

 

There are so many Origami tutorials online from book animals, bookmarks, characters, flowers and more! We ended up making a ladybird and bookmarks too. In just one day we managed to make quite a few different things.

Origami Makes

I love how simple some of these are to make and can see us having fun learning new Origami makes for quite some time. Such a cheap and fun activity to do with the kids!

 

Have you learnt Origami before? What I your best make to date?

 

Purpling My World With Dylon Dyes – Part 1: Sack The Lego Supervisor

I’m not really sure if many of you know this but I have a teeny tiny obsession with the colour Purple.. I know, I know, I hide it well! The problem is not EVERYTHING  is in purple.. yet! So when I got my hands on some gorgeous Dylon Fabric Dyes in Intense Violet in exchange for an honest review I couldn’t wait to get started on purpling my world… I mean at look at them!

I LOVE the Intense Violet and just knew I had to dye the bedding we recently bought that I wasn’t keen on being white..

 Bedding before

Lego Supervisor - failingI was so eager to get going and purple thing’s that even under the watchful eye of the Lego Supervisor and Izzy I managed to make the ULTIMATE mistake. I DIDN’T quite read the instructions properly.. until the washing machine was on of course (I know, I know the Lego Supervisor is totally getting the sack for slacking!). So here’s a head’s up, when using Dylon dyes ALWAYS read the instructions fully to get the perfect result (One box covers a DOUBLE not king-size duvet cover!)

 

Of course having too much material in the machines & not enough dye doesn’t result in an even covering so instead I had this pretty awesome (but not for this project) tie-dye effect that I had to fix sharpish before my brother ran out to buy a King-size duvet and stole it from me!

Ooops

After admitting my mistake I was sent out another 2 boxes of the Intense Violet machine dye to see if I could put things right again. This time I made sure I had definitely read the instructions before pouring the dyes & 500g of salt into the washing machine drum under the Mr’s supervision this time.. He had to be better than Izzy and the Lego supervisor.. Right?

 

This time I was happy with the result! My camera seriously doesn’t do it justice it is AMAZING in person and I cant wait to see it on my bed and purple my boring bedroom some more!

Purpling my world
Hanging to dry.. Now doesn’t that look better!?

Dylon fabric dyes are definitely an amazing way to colour your world your way.. Providing you read the instructions 😉

I still have the French Lavender dyes to use next so keep an eye out for part 2! Fingers crossed this time it all goes right the first time as these dyes are absolutely amazing when you read the instructions properly 😉 haha!

In the meantime don’t forget to check out Dylon’s Instagram & Twitter page aswell as their website to see other colours available! 

Have you used Dylon dyes? What’s your favourite colour & best success? Let me know in the comments 😊

Also I just noticed that this is my 100th blog post!! And it’s a purple one!! Yay!! 

Our Weekend Box Fun

We were lucky enough to have the chance to review a brand new mini Weekend box this weekend. These mini weekend boxes contain 2 full themed activities and all the bits you need to complete them.

A weekend box is an awesome little box of crafts to do with your child over the weekend that arrives via 2nd class (Posted on a tuesday) which we recieved on friday morning. Each box is themed and we recieved the rainforest theme.

We love crafts and Eva was really impressed when I showed her what had arrived for her.

weekend box fun

Eva loved the colourful box and found it funny that it matched her special My little pony rainbox dress haha! I thought it looked really fun and loved how excited Eva was over it.

We couldn’t wait to open it up and see what was inside to keep us entertained over the weekend.

Eva really enjoyed reading about each of the character’s and seeing which characters were on the packets which she thought was really cool. We decided to spread everything out on the table and see what this weekend box was really about.

There were 2 activity packs as promised along with any card needed, some collectable cards and even some vouchers to hand out to our friends for a free box!

The 2 activities stated they were of medium difficulty and would take 40 minutes to complete. Awesome naptime activities for me and Eva to do across the weekend. One activity wasto make a parrot mask and the other to grow a rainforest!

Inside the box itself there is also a certificate for the child to colour in and write their name on and keep too!

download (3)

Eva couldn’t wait to get stuck in and decided to do the mask first. I helped her cut out the mask and attatch the beak using the glue supplied then Eva got busy following the instructions making ‘feathers’, ‘gems’ and then decorating it with the crayons.

Eva spent hours flapping around the flat wearing her mask so I know she really enjoyed it and having everythting we need to hand was really helpful.

Grow a rainforest was up next. I cut a bottle in half and Eva peeled the pellets that were supplies and we soaked them in water in the bottom half of the bottle.

 

We then had to make a hole in the bottle lid and thread the string through the lid then screwed it back on the bottle. We then had to transfer the soil into the lid half of the bottle, Eva sprinkled in the seeds and we popped the lid half into the bottom of the bottle which we had also filled with water making sure the string dipped into the water.

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We completed both tasks a little quicker than 40 minutes but it was really fun doing the activities. Eva really seemed to be enjoying herself and it was so nice to just pull out the box and get going with an activity. We have a ton of craft stuff but it can sometimes be difficult to find everything we need (mummy’s poor organizing!) so I can really see the appeal of these boxes!

When I asked Eva her opinion on the activities she said ‘It was all fun, I liked making the rainforest because it was messy and I liked making the parrot mask because it was fun making it colourful and drawing rainbow’s on it’.

Mini weekend boxes usually cost £4.95 however we recieved ours free in exchange for an honest review. If you’d like to try one yourself for free then use the promo code EMBER298 when you sign up at https://www.weekendboxclub.com Please Note Future boxes will be £4.95 for Mini Box and £7.50 for a Bumper box, but you can pause or cancel your boxes if you’re not completely satisfied at any time.

Turning down days into up days

This week hasn’t been too great If I’m honest. So I’ve been find ways of turning down days into up days. My pain levels have been high & I keep losing my balance. I’m trying my best to stay positive and just rest but sometimes it’s difficult as I explained here.

I guess there are always going to be bad day’s & I just need to fill those days doing something easy and simple to stop focusing on the pain. So I decided to do just that and busy myself with something & ended up finishing off knitting Izzy’s red scarf I started before Christmas & forgot to pick back up again.

turning down days into up days

I finished off the scarf quite quickly and decided to make a start on learning how to crochet using this Youtube video. The first thing I decided to try crocheting was a simple flower. At first it looked complicated & I thought Id never get the hang of it! Admittedly Izzy hopping on and off my lap didn’t help much at first but I managed to make my first crocheted flower.

I was quite impressed with how it turned out although a little annoyed I had obviously made 1 too many links on one of the petals so it was slightly larger than the others and a bit wonky.. But hey it was my first try 😀

After that I felt quite confident I could make another without a video & managed to produce this second crocheted flower.

image

I was much happier with this one and carried on making a few more..

Eva loved the flowers & asked me to make her a headband with a flower on. ( Just happened to be the wonkiest one!) So I gave it a go and this is how it turned out..

image

Eva loved it and tried it on straight away and wore it for the rest of the evening 😀

I’m quite pleased with how it turned out even if Eva did choose the wonkiest flower I’ve made (haha).  I have really enjoyed learning too, I’m going to make Izzy a headband next and I want to learn to crochet hearts next too.

Do you crochet? Do you find it a calming hobby too? If you have any patterns or tutorials to share send me a link & I will check them out 🙂

Crafty Bargain

I managed to escape alone the other day into town which gave me a chance to actually have a little look around and find a crafty bargain instead of just grabbing what I knew I needed and heading home.

One of the Local Shops Poundcity has sooo many things for sale but I rarely take a proper look around when I pop in to grab myself a ‘Lentless & the Mr a Redbull so I took a wander around to see if there were any bargains I could pick up.

I came across a pack of coloured plastic crochet hooks in various sizes which I instantly picked up and had to buy as I currently only own one metal crochet hook because I am a bit tight and dont really like buying things like this unless I specifically need them but at £1 I could say no plus I am at least attempting to learn crochet & to top it all.. Yup there’s a PURPLE one!!!

crafty bargain

I came home feeling great & joked with the Mr & his friend that I actually bought something for myself for a change and not the girls, something the Mr is always nagging me to do haha!

I have previously bought a pack of plastic knitting needles for £1 in this shop, they are quite thin but they do the job & as I love trying to teach friends & their children how to knit I dont mind giving them away & I find them a lot safer & gentler for children to use too & have bought several packs already.

As you can see.. I’m down a few pairs again already 😂

I love little bargains like this they really make my day! Have you picked up any Crafty bargains lately? Or any Bargains at all?