Christmas 2013

A little late but after a hectic few weeks getting ready for Christmas i have been relaxing and having much needed PJ days while the kids have been enjoying the new toys that Santa left.

The day before Christmas eve was spent baking with the kids we made a tropical fruit cake this year, which to be honest was not one of my best cakes, as i had gotten the recipe off the internet and i followed it to the letter, which was probably ok for whoever wrote it but for me it was far to over cooked and dry, so i have tweaked the recipe for next year. We make two dozen of the best mince pies ever, this years added extra to the pastry was orange and lemon rind which was so light and tasty.

We made tones of ginger bread people and angels and bells and snowmen and...the list goes on, again i used a different recipe to normal but they turned out far better that in the past. We had some much fun that i forgot to take pictures and after the last week everything is all gone and has been thoroughly enjoyed.

Christmas Day we had my parents round for Dinner and i cooked a Smoked Salmon terrine for starter, Slow cooker lamb with a port and cranberry stuffing and a port glaze and for pudding my absolute favorite Irish Chocolate Cheese Cake and a Chocolate Bomb. Dinner a success and enjoyed by all, the only downside was that i had a cold and could not taste a thing!!! very disappointing.

Here are some pics from the day

Our gorgeous real tree.

Elfy Guy just before he left

Santas been and this picture dosn't show them all!

Irish Chocolate Cheese Cake

Chocolate Ice cream Bombe

Chilling out and starting my new Wasgij

I couldn't let the holidays pass without a few stiches so whilst i watched the christmas telly i made this swaddle cocoon and hat for the new baby.

Bye x

New year, new projects!!!

My head is usually crowed with a million and one things i would to make and do, but now that i have started to achieve a few of these things i have started to think i should be a little more orgaizied.
 Instead of having large quantity of various types of wool all getting tangled up together, i am going to catalogue what i have and ear mark it for different projects and then i can go out and buy more!!!
Yes this new year is definatley the time to start getting more efficient, with baby number 4 not far off, my time for crafting in going to diminish even further so what time i do have i want to spend crafting rather than untangling yarn and hunting to the bottom of pop up laundry baskets (my current storage unit of choice)full of wool.
I am lucky that i have a large desk built under my stairs which has acted as an office over the years that i have worked from home. however now all i need for my job is a small laptop and a phone and i don't have paper work as we are a paperless company, so the vast majority of the desk i use to store my every growing collection of crafting tools and bits and bobs and of course my trusty sewing machine.What i feel is a desk make overcoming on, like the gorgeous colorful work spaces i see on others blogs and in crafting magazines. I think i am going to have to give it some thought.

Also its time to make a start on new projects. Obviously with the new baby i have some baby projects to do such as a Star afgan and some more snuggle cocoons and this baby has to have an assortment of hats!!! I just made a mini sock monkey hat while i was at soft play with the kids.

After the Granny CAL that i finished earlier this year i have been itching to do another so i have joined up for BAM CAL 2014 (block a month crochet along) http://www.ravelry.com/groups/2014-crochet-block-a-month-cal here is the link if you are interested.

Also i found an amazing stripey blanket that was done as a crochet along last year and i have printed the pattern and will give that a go to.

So i have plenty to see me through the winter and also now that i am busy selling my makings, i want to add some new patterns.

Lots to do, i am itching to start as we speak

Snowflake Blanket Ta-dah!

I can't believe we are only 4 days away from Christmas! where has the time gone. Its been a whirl of Christmas party's (for the kids, not me i haven't been out once!), Christmas nativity plays and carol concerts. On top of all the present buying and wrapping. But i finally got to the end of it all and the kids finished school yesterday so for me that signals the start of Christmas. I sat last night with my lap top and a pen and paper writing out lists of all the ingredients i need to make lots of yummy food for Christmas, this is one of my favorite bits as before the kids came along i loved trying new recipes and spending time creating wonderful foodie things, but now i am lucky if i have time to bake a batch of fairy cakes with the kids, so Christmas  is the one of the few times i indulge in making the most of the time and baking and cooking to my hearts content. So armed with that list i will set off with the kids to shop for everything i need and want for the Christmas food shop.

I had planned this year to make lots of lovely homemade pressies but as i decided to start selling my makings, i was pleasantly surprised by how popular my hats were and the orders i have received have kept me very busy, so much so that i have only managed one present over the last few months.
This was my Snowflake blanket, that i decided to make for my parents. I saw the pattern for this square when i was doing the CAL on Knotyournanascrochet website. It was number 79 out of 99 and as soon as i saw it i felt that it would make a great Christmas blanket, but that was back in the summer so i stored ot away for another day. Then in November with the nights getting colder and darker and all my big projects finished the idea returned and i decided it would make a great pressie and that as it needed to be finished for Christmas i could do one sqaure a day and be finished in plenty of time.

I decided to use red and blue alternating with white for the center and edges, but then i remembered some green i had been given and also used that.

I spent lots of time snuggled up on the couch getting the squares done, but didn't manage to stick to one a day and ended up getting a bit behind, December started and i knew i need to get a move on. Finally all the squares were done and the last week i have been putting it all together and edging it.

So here it is, i love it and i know my parents will too!!!

Better get ready for the shopping now! Bye xxx

Decorations

My name is Emma and i am a Pintrest Addict!!!!!

I can't help it i love going on there and it gives me so many ideas.

A few years ago i bought these Candy jars from a garage sale for 50p each.

 They have been in the back of the cupboard ever since!

 I added some Candy canes, marshmallows and Snowman Chocolates and tied some ribbon around them and ta-dah! looks great in my newly decorated dining room.

 Next on the agenda, Paper chains and giant tissue pom poms!

I love these, i think i will be making them for all occasions from now on!

The kids had to decorate jars and fill them with sweets for a tombola at the School Christmas Fair, we had great fun with it.

And finally the tree is up a real tree, the lights are on and i am more excited than the kids!

I like my tree to be full of colorful lights and different decorations collected and made over the years.

Bye xxx

Advent calendars

After my manic nesting faze (and a bit in between!) i started on the exciting task of decorating the house for Christmas. Each year i seem to have more and more ideas about things i want to do. This year i started a few weeks ago gathering together supplies for the different projects.

My First project this year was to make Advent calenders for the kids. Last year i brought the kids Christmas Playmobile calendars, but for the price of them i was a bit disappointed with the tiny fiddly little bits and pieces that were in it. I also had one i had brought that hangs on the wall, but all you an fit into it is a small chocolate or sweet. So i came up with the idea to make my own this year. I decided that instead for just using sweets and chocolates i would like a small present for each day so i started weeks ago buying little bits every time i went shopping. Most items cost under 50p each, its amazing what you can find in all the bargain shops for little money. I had to make sure though that i got the same pr a good equivalent for each child other wise it would cause arguments, and i decided that Fred was to little for most of the things so this year he will just have a normal chocie one.

I managed to get 24 each in total, well lets face it they won't be interested on Christmas day! I managed to get the little Star Wars figures  and Moshi Monsters, and Lallaloopsie figures that are normally £1.99 each for 39-49 p each, i got some books for 49p each and packets of chocolate coins for 59-69p each, dip daps 19p and lots of little things ranging from 8p to 59p the most i spent was 99p on a mini hot water bottle for warming there hands.

Once i had everything i had to decide the best way to put them in a calender. If i did a wall hanging type one with slots they would be far to big and take up too much room so i decided to wrap each present and put them in a bag.

So i started the mammoth task of deciding which pressie for which day and wrapping them up. I tried to rope my husband in with this and he said he would after his tea. However it took him over an hour to eat! I could see him watching my progress, clearly trying to push things out so he didn't have to wrap, by the time he finished he only did two pressies. I can't complain though he usually helps with anything i need.

So Wrap and number each pressie with marker pen.

Till i was left with two large piles. I had brought two felt Santa Sacks for £1.49, so they were idea for storing the pressies in and also as they will be empty on Christmas eve they can put them out for Father Christmas.

Bye x

Elf on the Shelf

Last Year I discovered Elf on the Shelf. It was mentioned in a post on a Christmas forum. For those not in the know, its a little toy elf that arrives the beginning of December and fly's to the north pole every night to Santa to tell him if the children of the house have been good or bad. Each morning the Elf will arrive back in the house but will land in a different place or sometimes be doing something such as playing with toys plastering the house with toilet roll or snowball fighting with marsh mellows!  You just have to use your imagination. The only rule is that the children are not allowed to touch the Elf otherwise, it will lose its magic and won;t be able to fly hoe and report to Santa. If this happens then you need tp sprinkle it with Cinnamon.
It sounded fun so we purchased one that came with a book and also brought a DVD about him and his friends for the kids to watch. It was a hit they kids would run down the stairs each morning and look for Elfy Guy ( which is what they named him). Sometimes he would bring them presents, such as chocolate or Panto tickets or Magic Pjs but mainly he made them laugh when he was caught doing something funny or naughty. They wrote letters to him and Santa an told him what they wanted for Christmas so he could pass the message to Santa. He was well worth the £28 he cost.

This year i decided to send my sister and her children who live in Australia one. I went to buy one but the price had almost doubled and i couldn't justify spending £50! on it. So i decided to make my very own Elf.
I found a pattern on Ravelry http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/shelf-elf-2 and i used this however i was unhappy with they way it turned out so i used the pattern but modified the head and some other bits till i was happy with it.

I also brought another copy of the film to send to them for a bargain £3.60.
I am really pleased with how it has turned out and for a fraction of what i paid for mine, to be honest i wish i had thought of this before i got mine.
Its been posted now and my niece and nephew are awaiting there Elf.

As for Elfy Guy he turned up on the 1st December, he was hiding behind the Candy jars.

We will have to wait and see what he does next......

Bye x

Nesting!

The last two weeks have been so busy with quite a few things. Like my last three pregnancy's i often get the need to redecorate rooms in my manic nesting faze which is always round the same time about 28ish weeks. This time however it has considered with my usual pre Christmas clean. So in the last two weeks ( well 7 days out of the last two weeks I have repainted the hall and stairs and kitchen and bathroom and papered a wall, been through all cupboards and ridded myself of the years accumulated clutter and rug doctored everything i can. It feels amazing to be finally finished and ready to relax for Christmas.

On top of all this i have been so lucky to receive far more orders for my hats than i had expected so while days have been filled with nesting, evenings, some days and quite a few nights (blame pregnancy insomnia) crocheting orders. Its been lovely to see hats appearing at random when i am out shopping and i am really enjoying doing it, i have so many idea for other things i would like to make and requests from people so hopefully after Christmas i can make a start on those.

One of the requests i have had is for Furby Hats. Furbys seem to be most requested toy this Christmas, but i scoured the internet for patterns or ideas and only can=me up with one hat and that wasn't what was needed, so i set about making my own pattern my very first pattern! and i was so pleased with the result, i decided to put the pattern on my blog for free, so watch this space in the next week. But in the meantime here is the Furby Boom

And a Hello Kitty Hat, i have made quite a few of these over the last year but its only recently i have been photo graphing everything

It has turned really cold here over the last two weeks and i am starting to look out over the most picturesque frosty field

So i had to make so mittens for the kiddy winks

Now i have finished all the painting its time to start all the pintrest crafty things i have been spotting and storing in the back of my mind. I have started some and you should see the results over the coming weeks.
Here is a really simple one.

It started out as a plain clear glass vase that was very boring and had been in my cupboard for ever.
I mixed Green glitter paint and PVA glue together and painted it all over the outside really thickly. I left it over night and in the morning when it was dry, it looked like the glitter was in the glass and the glass was tinted green as the glue had dried clear. This is something i am going to be doing a lot of as i have lots of jars saved and they make really nice tea light holders.

Off do do more Christmas decorating.
Bye x