Keep Smiling

Yesterday was a weird day.

I started off taking lil man to school and then I went into Hanley to finish off Christmas shopping. I had great success and managed to finish off all of Rikki's presents.

Then I popped home, had a quick dinner and got ready to go to my friends interment. 

Which was.... well not great. I couldn't find the plot so I ended up being a bit late but I was there for some of the really nice parts. I got to put something in with him, and have one last can of coke with him. That was a really nice touch he always drank coke so someone brought a crate of coke with them so we could all have one last drink together. 

Emotional but lovely. Then I popped to the local pub with everyone to share stories and catch up.

Then I drove home, had a quick tea and was off out again!!

This time I went out with some of the mums from school. Four of us went to the local church for a craft evening. We each paid £3 and I think there was about 7? crafts to do. We didn't get around to doing all of them but we did make.....

Hanging sheep. These were made with curtain rings and wool with lil felt faces!

A snow globe. Mine didn't turn out great as the deer is facing the side rather than front but I still think its pretty cute. I do have some worries about it leaking though!

Glow in the dark hanging decoration. This is just a little glass jar filled with glow in the dark hammer beads. Then we put hooks in the top and put some stickers on. 

Snowman Clothes peg, the lady said these were for on the side of plant pots! Its a white dolly peg with a bead and felt hat, a ribbon scarf and the end of a cocktail stick nose. The nose isn't my work though my friend Sarah coloured it in for me whilst I ate my mince pie!

Pine cone Christmas tree. A pine cone spray painted green and then we stuck on some coloured pompoms and glittered it up.

This was by far my favourite make of the evening! These scrabble tiles [from ebay] are stuck onto a strip of card using double sided tape. then we put some metal hooks in and looped through some ribbon. 

I did my name and lil mans but sadly didn't have time to do Rikki's. Which makes me think I may have to invest in some scrabble tiles of my own so I can make more. 

After the crafts we popped to out local pub and met up with some of the other mums for a night of chatting and drinking! I had a really fun night but boy am I tired today! I stayed out past 12! I have no idea how I used to stay up until 3 in the morning! 

All in all it was a pretty mixed day, on the one hand I had a great time with the mums from school but on the one hand I had to say goodbye to a good friend and that was really hard. 

You see Plumby was a rare example of a genuinely wonderful human being. He was kind and selfless. He was funny, he always had time for people and he was caring towards those people he loved. I don't think in the 20ish years I knew him I ever heard him say a bad word against anyone. 

And most importantly he always had a HUGE smile on his face. 

I'm going to miss him a lot.

Much Love

Frankie 

x

  

£1 Make Your Own Dream Catcher from The Works - Review

Whenever I see cheap craft kits I'm immediately sceptical. I mean how on earth do you make a craft kit for £1? I get that companies buy the bits in bulk to save money but that is some serious bulk!

Anyways this craft kit was from "the works" which is pretty much one of the best shops in the world! Not only do they sell books, but they have stationary, art supplies, craft stuff and countless other things I didn't know I needed until I walked in!

So £1 for a dream catcher seemed like a bargain.

Everything came contained within the kit, the hoop is made of metal so its pretty solid and there were a good amount of feathers in fact I didn't use them all! The only thing in the kit I didn't like was the bull head pendant that was meant to go on the middle strand. The bull just looked a bit mean so I swapped it for a mother of pearl effect pendant from my stash!

Here's the finished product, the only real issue I had was that there wasn't enough suede ribbon to completely cover the metal hoop without having gaps so I had to underline mine with some gold ribbon from my stash.

Th feathers were pretty fiddly to attach but I think if you dipped the ends in pva glue they would be easier to work with. Even the weaving was pretty easy, there are not a lot of instructions but I think its enough for a 10 year old and up to get on with. The weaving was actually very therapeutic but I was a bit gutted that my bead placement wasn't great!   

So yeah one finished dream catcher all for the princely sum of £1! I'd definitely recommend these as a summer holiday craft project if you have bored teenagers/tweenagers in the house! [anything to stop them whinging eh?] 

In other news:

Lil man got star of the week at football! #proudmummy

And I had a cracking record score in our local charity shop! Number one they actually had some decent records in like "Fleetwood Mac!" Instead of just the 300 copies of the sound of music and kamal! But as I was giving them a clean when I got them home a 45 fell out of one of the album sleeves! Well initially I was furious because OMG IT MIGHT HAVE SCRATCHED THE EAGLES AND HOW WILL I LISTEN TO TEQUILA SUNRISE! [my dad always taught me that you store records separately in their appropriate sleeves and that you put them away properly after each use!] Anyways I put it on the side to give it a quick clean , cleans the b side without really paying attention flipped it over and well lo and behold its only a copy of the bohemian rhapsody single by queen! I did a complete double take and ran squealing to my record player to see how it played.

Beautifully. it plays beautifully. Like its spent its whole life in some sort of record spa! 

Much Love 

Frankie 

xxx

Easter Bonnet

I'll start off by saying my son had no input into this hat whatsoever. To put it bluntly he could not have been less bothered about the Easter bonnet parade his school was holding or making his hat. Instead he said "okay mummy, you do this, me and daddy go golf?". 

And as much as I'd love to say I sat him down told him it was his bonnet and he had to help me. I didn't, mainly because I knew I'd have 100% more fun if I did it alone rather than trying to get a sulky child to assist me.

Basically I've finally learnt that my son is not crafty.

But I had a CRACKING time! First of all I scoured pinterest for ideas. Then I ran the ideas past Lil man and his daddy to see which ones we liked. Then I went to home and bargains and spent a small fortune on supplies [I'm not going to say how much because quite frankly its embarrassing]

Anyhow the basic concept was a bunny rabbit diving into a pot to get a carrot!

Luckily I managed to find a stuffed rabbit with its own stuffed carrot so that saved one job!

The hat was a simple straw one, the grass was part of a multi pack and the ladybirds had little sticker pads underneath. The small rabbit and the chick we already had in the house from previous Easters. I have a sneaking suspicion that the chick may have been from my sister on Lil mans first Easter. They are both sewn onto the base of the hat!

 The eggs were those plastic eggs that have sweets and a disappointing toy in, my initial thought was that I might let Lil man eat the sweets but after he abandoned me for golf I ate then as a reward for making the dammed thing. I decorated both of those eggs with sharpie pens to make them look a bit more Easter, and luckily for me they had holes in the base so I could sew them to the hat.

The rabbit is secured into the pot using thread and a LOT of sellotape. In fact this whole concoction is held together with sellotape, glue , thread and prayers. I then stuffed the rest of the flower pot with bin liners to look like "soil".

This all sits in a big old flower pot! which is sewn to the base of the hat and made me use six different swear words!  

The grass is a mixture of card and felt and covered the join of the hat to the flower pot. The flowers are buttons [from his godmothers Nana] attached to pipe cleaners. they boing around quite nicely.

I know it looks like a lot but the whole thing maybe took me an hour and a half? I brought a lot of stuff pre-made.

  There are a few things I'd do differently next time though.

- smaller flower pot and bunny rabbit. In hindsight these might be a bit big for the head of a five year old.

- make it less top heavy. I personally can balance it perfectly on my head but I spent my childhood balancing books on my head to give me good posture. Lil man however struggled and had to hold it with his hands!

The one thing that did work really well was having a straw hat because it meant I could sew things onto it!

So yes we went to the Easter bonnet parade. It was lovely, long but lovely and there was lots of singing and dancing and some really cool bonnets! But the this part was that Lil man came second with his hat! Yes second! Which means he won and Easter egg [All the Easter egg prizes were donated by our local Tesco which is pretty cool!] And naturally he was chuffed to bits, and it made every time I stabbed my finger with the needle worth it! Plus when he stood up he got a big cheer from all of his friends, which was really lovely to see! 

The only issue is what on earth am I going to do next year?

Much Love

Frankie

xxx

Leather Key Ring - Tandy Leather

Okay so I know its not sewing or knitting but I just had to show you! I made this at the CHSI stitches show that I went to in February. Basically they had a stall completely dedicated to leather craft byt Tandy Leather and the first time I went to it I had a good peruse but the man was busy talking to someone else *insert sad face* Anyway the next time I walked past he mentioned he'd seen me hovering around and offered to let me give it a go!

Guys I made a key ring!!!! 

Well me and the man made it together, he held the stamper thing and I held the hammer! It was his idea to put the owl on after reading my blog name on my press pass. It was a lot easier than I thought it would be. You basically get a piece of leather [this was already a key ring shape] then he sprayed it and then we used a metal stamp to hammer an indentation onto it. The whole thing couldn't have taken longer than five minutes. And that's including me making him promise not to sue me if I accidentally hit his hand with the hammer. Then the man put the rivet and the hoop on!

It was really nice to try something new and the guys were so lovely. They even showed me some more leather techniques and let me have a good look at all the examples they had brought with them! They were some of the nicest people I met that day and they definitely got me thinking about leather crafting! Might have to put a starter set on my Christmas List! [FYI if you do want to start leather crafting they have a whole load of support videos on their you tube channel! its a great resource for those wanting to learn!]

Anyway now I'm going to go and pop this back onto my keys where it takes pride of place next to the Mcdonalds Furby Lil man gave me! 

Much Love

Frankie

x

Disclaimer - Whilst I did make this for free I did not say I would review it or my experience and I am in no way affiliated with them. I just thought you guys might be interested!

Salt Dough Bowl

I made a double batch of salt dough when I made my pattern weight buttons with the intention of making a bowl, what can I say I had like 5 'Great British pottery throw down' episodes on Tivo and was feeling inspired! It was sort of like when I watched all the episodes of 'The Good Life' and Mr Knitwit caught me trying to buy some chickens on on-line and looking a coops.

Anyway they made the most beautiful bowls and jugs and well all sorts!

Mine on the other hand is actually kind of hideous!

I wanted something very fluid and organic looking but it just looks like Lil Knitwit made it by himself!

I put a candle in it because that was what I intended to use it as.

I mean I'm pleased I tried something new and it was fun drilling the small holes after I had put the bowl in the oven [apart from the salty dust it created] but I dunno I just don't think pottery is my forte.

I dunno maybe I just need proper lessons or a pottery wheel? YES! A pottery wheel would definitely help!!!

And now I need to decided what to do with it? Maybe the bin? Maybe I could put plants in it?

I dunno!

Much Love

Frankie

xxx

Hobbycraft Felted Penguins

For my birthday I was lucky enough to get some Hobbycraft gift cards, and one of the things I brought was a penguin felting kit. Mr Knitwit like penguins he wouldn't say it himself but he thinks they are very sweet and adorable.

Anyway as soon as I received them I started them, and worked solidly on them for about two days and then Christmas happened and I chucked them to the back of the to do pile thinking they'll be pretty quick to do ill get them finished next week.

That was in October!

Anyway I finished them yesterday! Just in time to put them out as Christmas decorations!

The thing i like best is that there is a mummy penguin, a daddy penguin and a lil penguin just like US!

I enjoyed doing them I just didn't really get it, its no where near as therapeutic as knitting and sewing. Also they are kinda hairy? I'm not sure if that's because I've done it wrong or because they are meant to be.  

I had to add my own beaks, they do come in the kit but I had an incident with the hoover and Ahem....... Lost them........

All in All I'm pleased that I gave felting a whirl, it was certainly something new and I didn't hate it, it just wouldn't be my first choice in future. At £3.00 the hobbycraft kit is really reasonably priced and the instructions are fairly clear. I might try again with another kit but I'm pretty sure ill never be making master pieces like some of the creations I see in pinterest.

In other news Lil Knitwit has been under the weather and I'm hoping it'll pass before Christmas, but bi have a feeling he'll just pass it onto Mr Knitwit and they'll both end up in bed. GOD PLEASE NO!

All the Christmas wrapping has been done which is a huge weight off my mind, and I've started to categorise the presents. Yes I categorise the presents, Otherwise I'd never get all of them out! seriously plus I don't want to mix up the presents coming into the house [we have a small child so we have a lot coming in] with the ones going out!

Much Love

Frankie

xxx  

P.s what do I do with all of the felting wool I have left over?

Salt Dough Button, Pattern Weights

Kids like crafts, they really like making things. But their is only so much stuff I can fit in my house or I can give to relatives. So when I wanted to do a craft this week I thought why don't I get him to make something I can actually use!

Button shaped pattern weights!!!

As it goes he was having to much fun squishing and rolling the dough I made a few more than he did!

But I'm really pleased with how they turned out, especially seen as the recipe is so easy, 1 cup flour, 1 cup salt, 1/2 cup water. I think they went in the oven for two hours at about 180'c to firm up, [but don't hold me to that]

In fact its that easy little knitwit measured it himself!!!

These are the ones I made, luckily I had a small cutter to take care of the buttonholes!

These are the ones lil knitwit got round to making after having fun with the dough. I painted them with his poster paints because after all that fun he wasn't interested in painting them and just wanted to play cars.

All in all I'm really pleased with them, and so is Mr Knitwit because it means we can have the coasters back on the table and not in my sewing box!

The only thing I might do is back them with some felt [probably using my glue gun] so they don't snag finer fabrics. I've seen so many cool versions of pattern weights but I like mine too especially seen as it was a mummy and lil knitwit project. 

I also think its a great craft for dads who like to make things with their children for mothers day/birthdays! and they are so easy anyone can do it! Although lil knitwit would like me to warn you not to lick your hands whilst using it! He learnt that the hard way!

Much Love 

Frankie

xxx

3 Easter crafts for toddlers!

I love Easter! I love rabbits! I love chicks! I love egg hunts! And I REALLY love chocolate! 

Needless to say I usually make a pretty big deal if the whole Easter thing! For starters we buy lil Knitwit quite a few eggs , I know I'm spoiling him to to be quite frank I don't care! He isn't spoiled everyday so on special occasions we like to go all out! 

We also get our craft on! Here's the three Easter crafts we got stuck into this week! 

Easter bunny cards! 

Quite simply white card folded in half, ripped pink wrapping paper, spare ribbon, fabric scrap bunny silhouettes (I cut these not lil Knitwit) and cotton wool bunny tails! And then lots of sticking! 

Prep time : 10 mins? 

Make time : lil Knitwit is a super speedy gluer, and we made four! So about 30 mins? 

Verdict : excellent grandparents loved them! 

Paper mâché Easter eggs! 

These were a little harder to do, first if all I crammed a small stuffed toy into a balloon. 

 Then I blew it up

Then we did paper mâché, waited for it to dry and popped the balloon. 

Then on Easter Sunday we ripped them open and the toys were born! 

Prep time : about half and hour ? It took me 10 mins to find paint brushes! 

Make time : about two hours? I carried on after little Knitwit had gone to bed.

Verdict : I think I'll save this till he's a bit bigger, and also make sure we have pva glue in the house so were not just using paint, ripping them open was a bit if an anti climax too so I'll probably add sweets inside aswell next time. 

Easter nests!

Barely worth blogging about! Stupidly easy to make! Taste scrummy! And kids love making them! 

Melt chocolate, add cereal, spoon into cases, add eggs (according to lil knitwits the ratio is one big one, two lil ones, me eat one) 

Anyway I was spose to blog this yesterday but was struck down by a migraine! Hope you all had a lovely Easter  

Much love

Frankie

Knitting magazines and some good news!

 

Luckily for me Mr Knitwit nan has been having a clear-out again! and this time she found some old knitting magazines!

 

 

this was the first magazine and these are the two patterns I found most interesting!

 

this appears to be a slipper pattern that ISNT written in the round! 

And this jacket just looks stupidly cosy and cuddly!

The second magazine contained this gorgeous pattern for a lil girls cardigan with embroidery! So if one of my friends could impregnate themselves with a lil girl that would be awesome!!!!

 

Now I just have to get round to knitting them all!

In other good news the lovely folks at Minerva crafts have featured my navy megan dress on their blog!!  

https://www.minervacrafts.com/blog/projects/navy-bengaline-megan-dress

I feel rather proud of myself to be honest! 

 

Much Love

 

Frankie

 

xxx