Advent of the season

OK, so having kids who love chocolate calenders is normal, who doesn't love a treat every morning? but the average, hum drum, character calenders are starting to make me feel like all the excitement and joy is getting sucked dry. the kids only notice whats on the front for 2 seconds and then move on to the chocolates. so whats the alternatives? and is there really time to look at anything else now??
so firstly, to those reading this after Christmas 2014, well done! you are far more organized than i am. unless you are just like me, gathering ideas that may well be lost in the chaos. oops.
for all the rest of us looking at others preparation with envy, don't despair. There is still a few nights to save the day. so i have a small collection of fun calenders. Hopefully these will spark your creative imagination,  and without too much effort to make. plus a few for those who like other peoples handmade efforts ;)

starting with this match box garland  I just love the details!

 Just in case details give you a headache, or you are a guy (not a real man, because they love details) these frugal living tags are simple but certainly do the trick














If you happen to have 100 craft sticks lying around this advent puts them to good use!

 this DIY burlap and tags advent is a traditional choice


















 I love this little french advent with white packages and neon pink string. Perfection.

These free german printables are super cute and will win the heart of most!














Not to be confused as one of your five a day, this gingerbread advent is pretty awesome...nom! nom! nom!/

 Find the free prinables for 25 gifts christ gives to us. A great way to teach (with scriptures) and remember its not all chocolate

what would you put on your numbers? maybe someone you can call? a special treat stuck to the back? or even just a positive word? Its versatile and cute.

 This quick and simple grinch advent, just has to be done! Every child needs to feel the benefits of your heart growing three times bigger.

These Treats come in all shapes, sizes, and actions. and since it all started with a family, why not make family time the main focus every day?

So thats where all the socks went....simple easy and fun. I love it

 Be warned. Adorable viewing below.

 yes, foxes, clouds and mountains in one advent. I need this in my life right now.....








These three have won my heart. i don't know how or where but my home will make space for these. even if they are not used as advents. I think they are awesome enough to be used year round.

 But you don't have to be sucked in by the cuteness alone, and rather than focusing on treats

 how about getting up and doing something positive each day? You can even print these and use them with any of the advents shown.

   This might take the most effort but its worth focusing on the real reason for the treats and season.

 Cheers
Angie xx

guitar hero crochet scarf

over christmas i was given a whole stack of truly inspiring craft books. of these books world of geek craft has taken my interest, alot! 

i have alot of men in my life. brothers, sons, husband, bestfriend, etc. lots. men who are important and interesting and funny. well, to me anyway. and as a crafter i've found it challenging to turn my favourite things (crochet & sewing) into gifts that they would truly appreciate.  i am always on the lookout for new and exciting projects.

 so this brill book has opened up a whole world of cool (not only girly) craft that i hope the lovely men in my life will be proud of. 

my 1st forage is something i located whilst blog hopping.

 a guitar hero crocheted scarf. on craftster.

i was blown away.

i was quite desperate to make it but who for....? thankfully my older brother stepped forward to take the bullet. so here is my own homage to geek chic and guitar heros all over the place.

my Guitar hero 3 - muse knights of cydonia crocheted scarf

the scarf is around 300chain then hdc all the way down the side repeated until you have your desired width.  

then light and dark grey for the background details. i made sure i could fit 4 notes into each 'bar' but you can chose what fits you and the song best.

 

 after some seriously obscure searches i found a proper selection of notescores at scorehero . from this link simply select which difficulty level you want and then pick the track you love.  i tried to follow the score as faithfully as possible. i decided that each 'bar' could fit 4 notes and adapted the original score to suit.  each note is a magic circle with 7 sc then ss into 1st and cast off. i then sewed in the spare threads leaving me with just dots in red, blue, orange, green and yellow.

 having done what felt like a million of these i made chains to the various sizes needed. using a tapestry needle and the black wool i sewed each in place. chain 1st then dot over. 

And that left me with this...

its the closest thing to cool i'll ever get.

cheers angie xx

cupcake crochet blanket

Last year was pretty insane. the first half i was laid up with my broken cocyx. a brief holiday swanning round lancashire and yorkshire. then crafting like mad getting things like this amazing (if i do say so myself) cupcake crochet blanket finished for my friends' daughters birthday. i was so chuffed she comissioned me to make it. I didn't have time to share it last year but i thought you might like a peek now.

my friend aimie chose the colours she wanted. 

I always get excited about using beautiful wool!

I made each cupcake seperately from a pattern by twinkie chan found here 

then when i thought i'd made enough i laid them out,

to see how they looked.

 

then realised i definately needed more....

after what seemed like forever,

my labour of love was complete.

and here it is on the lucky ladies bed!!!

Its a one of a kind special throw just for Ingrid. 

happy birthday

cheers angie xxx

quilting inspiration

When i was a fresh newly wed in '96 i had dreams of making my very own patchwork quilt. we had very close friends who were real all american quilters and were ready to help, and later push, me to get my quilt done. it has served us well for the last 15years, it is indeed still a lovely quilt (photos will follow soon). but lately i have found myself yearning for something new and beautiful. something that i will not find toy cars in the corners of, thanks to a few frayed seams that the kids love 'posting' into.  That won't therefore nearly knock me out when i shake it out to make the bed! 

so i find myself searching for the perfect quilt, one that will still be loved in 15years. As i take this journey (its not over yet, i don't like to rush) i have found these snipets of inspiration...

    I realise this is not a quilt but jen talbot's  bird silohette  is certainly inspiring and definately the way forward!

made from cut out bird silouettes from various paper scources.

the beauty is in the detail.

 

 see kate sew 

has caught my eye with this fresh bird quilt too

  

.

also made up of a variety of fabric sillouettes.

i love the oranges...

 

this

pottery barn kids quilt 

may be a bit cutesy but i love the trees

 and check out the two birds in the corner.

it just needs the right colours...

 

 Anthropologie are of course leading the way with their   heir loom throw

i really want to be crocheting fun like this. 

 and their  oh to deam duvet  set

is almost worth begging the money out of my husband.

 this is one of my favourites i think...

 

of course i'm not sure it would look quite so lovely in my bedroom with all the washing waiting to be put away??

so moving on...

jenn bell's jellyfish adds something new to the whole mix.

this modern leaf cushion  made from upcycling t-shirts is also brill.

there i so much more out there i will have to keep looking till inspiration hits and sticks.

I can't keep changing my mind you know!!!

cheers angie xx

my drifting (wood) heart

hi all,

i have been hanging out by the sea all summer and even though we live 20minutes drive from the coast it just doesn't feel the same as when we're away. we've been at Lytham st Anns, lancashire (with best friends ben and emma) and around whitby, yorkshire (camping) . Plus a most amazing, and occassionally hair raising, drive through the yorkshire moors. I find all these places so fresh and inspiring that it forces creativity to happen. 

well that and a tight budget. 

      

so whilst enjoying the lovely north beach at St Anns we noticed loads of drift wood. Lying in the sun begging to be collected and made into something beautiful. plus we really needed a special gift for our special friends who let all SIX of us live with them for TWO weeks!! This included coping with my early rising kids (5am, i kid you not). there's nothing like bens dulcit tones telling the kids to 'SHUT UP' in the morning. especially while steve and i are hiding under the covers laughing. sorry ben. and well the small incident involving steve, oakley, a wooden meat tenderiser and bens face... um, yeah.... lets just say everyone is ok now and i am not still laughing so hard it hurts when i think of it... well not every time...

And because they love the beach and coast so very much, and we love them so very much, this is what we decided to make. steve helped with the drilling, he seemed to think i might hurt myself?? 

its amazing what you can do with a wire hanger, driftwood and a drill!

 it was so simple and yet works so well.

i have actually brought enough home to make a matching heart for our home. a little bit twee but i loved it so much i can't wait to get the drill out. I especially love that it can be so personal to where you are and have been. 

but always be careful what you take. we want our beaches to stay beautiful!

cheers 

angie xxx

teacher appreciation

 Teachers work hard! no question. they plan, they mark, they put up with kids being rude, active (mine), crazy (mine again), sad, slow, fast, you name it they deal with it. as primary school teachers they are expected to sing and dance too, not to mention teach drama! scary!!! so at the end of the year i think its only fair to give an appreciative token to these amazing educators.

But what to give to a teacher who will recieve gifts from possibly 30 other kids? its a mine field!  Last year my sons teacher expressed a great love of donughts. so come the last/few days of term he ended up with close to (if not over) 100 donughts! not all would feel this to be a bad thing but as a parent i felt a bit foolish!

i actually broke my coccyx at the very begining of this year, and it has taken this whole half of the year to recover and i'm still not there. so they have done loads extra.  as a result this year i wanted to focus on doing something useful and due to my husbands redundancy coming up fast, economical. previous years gift have included doughnuts (of course), notelets, mugs, sweets, chocolates, biscuits, bookmarks, bag charms etc...

for our teachers we have some special recycled keyrings. i'm always looking for new ways to recycle and i'm happy to see these work so well...

first i cut up some old leather boots (they were totally beyond repair) 

and some broken wellies (no one wants wellies that let water in)

then i drew & cut out the desired shapes allowing one side to be a little bigger for the actual ring.

adding the keyring cleaning the edges. perfect. 

I've gathered some other awsome ideas ou there in blogland, check these out...

its really american but i just love this DIY teachers survival kit found here

this teachers kit would is a bit easier to replicate

what could be cutter than these cookies here (look out for all sorts of ideas!)

lovely bookmarks here  and beautiful book covers here

gifts in a jar round up here thanks to club chicacircle

quilted notecards here

or quick note books with a difference here

for quick and easy treats that make you smile here

 for the 5 minute bread bag tutorial

  tutorial for covering pencils & jars with scrap paper here
i've actually seen this done with book pages. really great especially if you can find a favourite book. especially effective if the print runs the length of the pencil!

If the idea of making your own doesn't appeal then here are a few things i rather liked,

found here all thanks to not on the high street

 

i'm not a teacher but these happy apple brooches

feature pretty high on my own wish list!!

there are so many more options and i will be adding a couple more of my own shortly.
good luck!!

cheers angie xx