A Pinterest Christmas

Happy Christmas!

I didn't get as many crafty projects started or finished as I wanted but I did manage to do a few last minute quick Pinterest ideas.

I spent a lovely couple of kid free hours making peppermint bark and lino printing some wrapping paper, I found this very therapeutic, I need to get paint on my hands more often!

I added red fingerprints to make holly berries later.

I started a cotton reel wreath for my Mum, using florists wire and empty wooden spools from eBay that I filled using stash threads and my sewing machine to wind them on. I didn't mange to get a picture of the finished item before it got wrapped up!

I also got some bristle christmas trees from the garden centre and hot glue gunned them to some vintage cotton reels.

And then I enjoyed making book trees, you need an old book with covers removed and you fold each page twice, again I used a spool as the base!

This is my Mum's table decoration for this year, one day I'll be organised enough to do my own!

I feel that Christmas was a real rush this year, even though I finished work about a week before. I didn't manage to do my usual 'make something handmade' for the kids but I did do them a Christmas Eve box instead, filled with new PJ's, slippers, a book, hot chocolate & reindeer dust, so they didn't even notice!

Thank you Pinterest! 

Vintage Bazaar

The Vintage Bazaar is nearly here!

Devizes, Corn Exchange, Saturday 29th November.

These are my photos from last years Summer event, which I realised I never blogged.

We had a really good time, Devizes is a really nice old market town, with a variety of shops.

We also drove out of town after the fair to explore and found Caen Hill Locks where we enjoyed a picnic and marvelled at the 29 uphill locks. Watching the narrow boats work their way up the hill was an amazing feat.

I'm looking forward to the next one, hopefully it'll have a good Christmassy vibe and I can get some goodies.

I don't know if I'll manage any photos though as my compact camera is currently at Nikon's workshop! Thanks to the three year old dropping it, the lens no longer works! To be honest, it was only onto carpet and my old Canon compact survived similar with her older siblings, so I'm not that impressed with the build quality. The quote reckons it'll cost around £50, so I'll have my fingers crossed.

Knit & Sew & Finish

I've finally finished a couple of projects! 

First up is this pair of wrist warmers.Looking at my Ravelry notebook, it's taken me 12mths to finish them! The yarn is Rowan Pure Wool Aran, which was very thick, but with no ease, so working on DPN's I tried to be a bit looser than normal.

I'd quite like a cowl to match but I don't think I'd like this yarn next to my neck, it's not soft enough for me.

Next up on the finishing pile was this pair of cord trousers for the littlest. It's a free pattern from MADE

in a 2-3 size, which fit my just turned 3 year old perfectly but they probably won't last long, so I may have to have a go at up-sizing the pattern.

They fit really nicely and were really easy to put together, I especially like the flat front, as it makes them look much less homemade.  If I had a serger, the seams would be even neater!

I did slim down the legs at the bottom a bit, by about an inch so they'd look a bit more girl skinny!

Apologies for the rubbish pics!

Next up is a Prima tunic dress I've been trying to adjust for months.....shall I accept bets on how long that takes?!

Halloween crafting

This Halloween I got a hankering for some old fashioned crafting like we used to. The scissors, glue and paint seem to come out infrequently now, much less than when the big girls were small,which is my fault,so I thought we better get in the habit again, and thanks to Pinterest, there's so many good ideas to try!

Cut-out bats with googly eyes were a nice quick craft from Listotic.

Paper pumpkins, were found on a YouTube video by the middle child

Toilet roll bats were adapted from this tutorial for treat boxes.

I then hung some with thread from our porch and stuck others to the side of our house with double-sided tape.

Some bats became cats and as usual the knitty witches came out, which were made by my Mum a couple of years back.

A fairly basic pumpkin this year, my eldest drew the design.

I was pleased with our effort this year, it's not flashy and bloody but simple and family friendly!

Half-Term Fun at Westonbirt

I decided to take the kids to Westonbirt Arboretum this half-term, I have a membership but usually find that we don't use it enough, it's been so long since our last visit that there is now a new visitor centre!

It was well thought out and designed, with toilets, information point and even a coffee stand, which are all well placed after a longish drive!

As you followed the path to the woods, there was this lovely shepherds hut which today played host to the volunteers with the childrens trail, they were all very helpful and happy to explain, we got a map, with a trail quiz and pencils and even paper bags to put all our treasure in.

The trail took us down paths we'd never explored before and the kids liked finding all the quiz stops along the way, they happily participated in all the art in nature activities.

The trail was a good length, we took the buggy for the littlest, who's now three as she got tired along the way. The paths were muddy so we were glad of our hiking boots/wellies but the weather was lovely, so mild for this time of year.

 The autumn colour was out but it's not been a spectacular display apparently due to the weather we've had this year, but the red leaves are my favourite and I thought they were stunning.

I think that there might be more Autumnal colour in the Silk Wood where the Japanese Acer's are but sadly we didn't have time to go over there on this visit.

At the end of the trail at the education centre they were helping the children make clay mushrooms and leaf crowns using their treasure from their bags.

The older girls were sceptical about having a go but when they saw what was happening they joined right in and enjoyed it, the volunteers here were also really welcoming and helpful.

A lovely end to a lovely day.

Special thanks to my chief photographer for providing the images and letting me use them ;)