craftyguider – Page 15

Cake, cake and more cake

Warning: This blog post can seriously damage your diet.

I have recently joined Slimming World. Week one I lost 3.5 pounds! Go me!!! However I have synned. Big time.

Cake number one

My baby girl turned 4 on Friday (how did that happen?) and husband insisted she had a cake on her birthday. As she was going to have a cake on Sunday at her family party, I hadn’t planned on this. So a quick trip to Sainsburys to get a ready made gluten free sponge (so husband could participate in the cake eating), some icing and some decorations later and this cake was born. I wish I’d had a chance to make my own as it wasn’t great.

Cake numbers two, three, four and five and a bit

I am a member of the Cambridge Clandestine Cake Club. It’s a great excuse to bake something special, try other people’s baking, chat about cake with friends and did I mention eat cake? Lots of cake! On Saturday we had a not-so-clandestine meet-up in Waterstones Cambridge to showcase the club and the new Clandestine Cake Club book which is fantastic.

The cake in the pic is by Miss Sue Flay of the Secluded Tea Party fame and features in the book. It’s perfect to make kids hyper by all accounts.

My contribution was the Rhubarb and Custard cake from the book. The frosting was gorgeous but there was probably twice the amount I needed to ice my cake. It was the first cake I tried from the selection as it fell onto my hand while I was cutting it (honest guv).

I also had slices of banana and maple syrup cake, ginger and lemon cake, and grapefruit and mandarin cake. I also had to sample the Tuck Shop cake made by Miss Sue Flay and it was gorgeous.

The cakes were devoured by the Cambridge book buying public, and as fast as they arrived, they disappeared.

I took my cake hangover home and went straight to sleep when I got there (not completely due to the sugar rush for lunch).

Cake number six

On Sunday, as well as celebrating Mother’s Day, we went out bowling with the family for Baby Craftyguidelet’s birthday. This cake was the most impressive, but unfortunately I didn’t get a photo on my phone. I’ll have to wait until husband downloads one from his camera. This image shows the backdrop for a stage, on which stood Keira, the popstar in Barbie’s Princess and the Popstar (cruelly bypassed for an Oscar or BAFTA). There was lots of glitter, shimmer sugar, and black food colouring on top of a chocolate cake, and it was made by my professional cake decorator sister. Between her and my Master Baker and Confectioner dad, we are always spoilt for fabulous cakes on birthdays.

My diet starts again (well, apart from another slice today but that doesn’t count, does it?), and I promise to be a good girl tomorrow. Weigh in on Wednesday doesn’t look promising, but there are no birthdays or cake clubs in the near future so I might stand a chance.

Fairy Dresses

Two and a half years ago, the Craftyguider family was invited to my cousin’s little girl’s 4th birthday party. She’d chosen to have a fancy dress party, so being the ~~glutton for punishment~~ crafty mother that I am, I decided to make a Tinkerbell dress for my eldest who was the same age. To make things fair, I also bought a pattern and fabric to make a dress for my youngest afterwards.

Tinkerbell was delivered on time and my eldest loved it.

Next up was one of Tinkerbell’s friends, Silvermist.

I remember cutting out all the fabric for an age two girl so my youngest could grow into it. And that’s where it stopped. Last year I even put it on my list of things to achieve before the year was up, but even then it would’ve been too small. It was destined to stay in the WIP pile until I realised that my friend’s little girl was due to be two. It only took an afternoon to sew the bits together and Silvermist was born.

I added a pair of wings from Amazon (a last minute purchase as I forgot, and you can’t be a fairy without wings!) and the dress was delivered to the birthday girl today. I think she liked it, and now she can play fairies with her big sister.

Another WIP finished!

Here we go again

About a month ago, I got a tweet from a customer to say that I had a load of PCs on my website instead of bunting and cards. This rang a bell as being the template for the software, and on investigation by my computer bod husband, we discovered that all the data had been wiped by a hacker.

Fortunately my income doesn’t rely on the business, but as I don’t have a back up (just because husband runs websites for a living, I shouldn’t assume he’ll safeguard mine), it now means I need to relist the vast majority of the data and try and remember all the tweaks I’ve made over the last year and a bit. Once I’ve done my stock check I can reopen the site and get back to fundraising for the Guides.

So here is my pile of cards. It’s the biggest part of my website so I’d best get stuck in. Wish me luck!

Patchwork Quilt

The latest project in my completed WIP list started as a background to a bunting commission. The recipient was a boy (alien species for a Guide and Rainbow leader and mother of two girls!) and the theme was transport/trains.

Once again twitter came to the rescue with suggestions of fabric shops in Cambridge. After dragging my 3yr old round three of them in the rain, we came to the last and found Sew Creative had a layer cake (10″ squares of fabrics) of Riley Blake Designs ‘Scoot’ fabrics. This combination of fabrics seemed perfect for the brief but I couldn’t make bunting efficiently from a layer cake. It was then I decided to make a quilt as a Christmas present from the layer cake, and if the customer liked the fabrics, I could buy a fat quarter bundle from elsewhere to make the bunting.

With the fabrics approved, the bunting was delivered, and I hope Dylan liked it!

With my layer cake at the ready, I was determined to make my first proper (ish) quilt. I have made quilted patchwork cushions before, but nothing on this scale. However, I soon realised that my original intended recipient wasn’t suitable, so the project was parked. This was until two good friends sent an invitation to their baby’s baptism.

As it was only 24 squares, I thought it could be a play mat, quilt or sofa snuggler, so my 3 year old and I spent some time arranging the squares.

Having photographed the layout, this made it easier to make up as I knew which bit went where. I then quilted ‘in the ditch’ (along the lines between the squares) using batting and a royal blue backing fabric. I figured this would be practical if it was used as a play mat. After this I was in unknown territory as I’d never bound a quilt before. I found a ‘self binding’ tutorial and had enough fabric round the edge to fold over and sew.

It is wonky in places, it’s far from perfect, but I was pleased with it as my first attempt. When I have a bit more time, I might try something a bit more technical and time consuming, but for now, I’ve handmade a gift, gained a new skill, and completed another WIP.

Declutteration

I am a magazine freak. If my Tesco vouchers are expiring, I’ll get a magazine subscription with them. If someone mentions a new publication on twitter or IG, I’m planning a trip to my nearest big town to get a copy to try. I suppose I’m the same with craft books and craft supplies. They keep coming into the house and I manage to find a place for them.

This year I have started addressing the craft supplies issue. I have kept to my plan and stopped buying anything that isn’t necessary. It’s hard when I see beautiful fabrics or pretty papers, but I’m also enjoying working my way through my WIPs. At the moment I’m concentrating on a special gift so no pictures until after I hand it over.

I am now looking at my magazine mountain. Every night I am trying to look through a few more, rip out only the projects for me (nothing for the shop at the moment) and then recycle them. I decided that I wouldn’t really be looking through them again and again so out they go.

On dragging out another batch from the bookcase, I had a glance at the books there and started thinking. Do I really need some of these books? One had a dentist’s appointment card from 1988 in it. If I haven’t had the inclination to read it in the last 25 years, would I manage it in the next 25? Do I really need a copy of the books I read for O level English Lit and A level French? Do I need 3 books on Feng Shui when I live in a house with 2 little girls who like chaos and hate tidying up?

I’ve now got 2 carrier bags of books for the charity shop, some free downloads on my tablet, and space on my shelves to properly display my craft books and recipe books. And a floor full of magazines to sort through, but I’m getting them out faster than the postman can deliver them. Feeling declutteration in my living room and my head and that is good for me.

Needle Felting

The latest in my series of WIPs that I’ve conquered is needle felting.

A year ago I bought some wool roving and tools to start needle felting. The desire to try stabbing wool with needles to make felt was inspired by Kirstie Allsopp’s Handmade Britain programme. Like many of my crafts, it sat in it’s box ready to be started whenever ‘that’ moment came.

A year later, the box was still tucked away neatly in the cupboard when I received my latest Crafty Creatives box. For those not in the know, this is a themed box of craft goodies that arrives in the post every month. January’s theme is Woodland and there was a needle felting kit included.

This is my first attempt at making a leaf from the kit. You collect strands of the wool roving, lay it criss cross over itself on a pad and then stab it with a special barbed needle. After turning it over and stabbing the reverse, you can start shaping it and then adding features.

This is my slightly more successful second attempt which I was aiming to be an oak leaf.

I used my multi needle tool I’d originally bought as it has a safety collar. I didn’t trust myself with a barbed needle unprotected near my fingers! My next project will be to make some 3D models (I’ve seen a cute tutorial for an owl somewhere). Hopefully it won’t take me another year to get the box out of the cupboard again.

Mittens

I like knitting. I don’t love knitting, and it once took me 5 years to finish a jumper which I wore twice and then donated to a charity shop. I therefore prefer knitting little projects where I can see the progress, and more importantly, the end stays in sight!

One of my challenges to myself this year is to complete all my WIPs and use up my stash before buying new bits which I lovingly stroke and then put away for the ultimate project which will come around one day but never does. This will save me heaps of money, and more importantly free up lots of space in my craft room/family office.

My latest make is a pair of mittens. I’ve always wanted to make gloves but decided to start on a pair of mittens to ease me into the techniques. I chose the Cosy Mittens pattern from Louisa Harding’s Knits for Hats, Gloves and Scarves book. The pattern was quite easy to follow but did require a bit of knitting knowhow to interpret.

The pattern was supposed to fit a child aged 5-10, but they are too big for my 6 year old. They almost fit me!

Nevertheless, I have finished them, learned a new technique and ticked off another WIP. As for the progress on my craft spending challenge? I’ve bought some sellotape, tape runners and some promarker storage. Success so far!

Crafty Challenge 2013

I’ve read about everyone’s resolutions and #365 challenges on blogs and on twitter. Following on from my last blog post, I haven’t made any resolutions and I wasn’t going to enter into any more challenges.

However, taking stock of all my WIPs (work in progress) and work-not-yet-in-progress-but-I’ve-bought-the-stuff, the mountain of 12″x12″ papers, my 4 huge boxes of fabrics, my embellishments, card making kits, felt stash, magazine freebie kits etc etc etc, I have decided to try and finish my WIPs and not buy anything new until they are.

Now there will be exceptions to this. I currently need some more glue dots and adhesive and my cards aren’t going to get very far without them. Therefore, general sundries have to be permissable. Also, if I have a Craftyguider commission or need to make something specific for someone as a gift (3 babies in 2013 in the next few weeks that I know about!) I can buy something.

Today I finished my Christmas HO HO HO decopatch I bought in October.

I’d done the white and red HO’s but not the green one. All the HO’s have glitter mod podge on them and I’m really happy with it.

Don’t expect a make a day or even a week. I have quite a few large cross stitch kits to finish amongst the WIPs as well as some very quick ones. Hopefully I will save some money, make some room in the office, and do some crafting for me.

Too many pencils

At the beginning of this year I turned 41 and wrote myself a list of things to achieve in my 42nd year. It was a long list and a bit vague at times. I’ve had mixed success with it but I really don’t mind. Unless I devote my time in the next 4.5 days exclusively to my list, I’m not going to achieve much more so here are my results.

Knit a pair of socks – no, but I’ve bought the wool and got a pattern!
Learn crochet – I tried. I’ve also picked up another couple of hints at the Cam City WI and I’ve started taming my hands.
Organise craft area of office – more than once!
Improve my jewellery making – I’ve now got handbag charms on my website
Blog at least weekly – no
Start adding pictures to the blog – yes
Learn machine embroidery – Poppy Treffry books purchased
Scrapbook regularly – not even once
Bake bread regularly – yes
Bake with the craftyguidelets weekly – my healthy eating kick put paid to this
Send birthday cards and presents on time – missed a couple
Take part in a swap – several times
Tame the magazine mountain – it keeps coming back!
Knit a hat – see #1
Knit gloves – do mittens count?
Use up my lavender stash – I think it is breeding in the bag
Begin gardening again – I’ve done some
Finish soon to be 3 year old craftyguidelet’s birth sampler – no
Finish her Silvermist costume – no, she’s grown out of it before I’ve even started so it’s going to be a birthday present for a friend’s little girl.
Make an item of clothing for me – scarf and snood
Comment on people’s blogs more, as I love it when they comment on mine – yes
Keep food waste to a minimum – yes
Cook at least one ‘effort’ meal a week – yes
Keep up with my housework app – not exactly!
Weekly craft days with the craftyguidelets – got out of the habit
Exercise daily – I joined a gym and started going regularly until kids, illness and life got in the way.
Regularly get fresh flowers – yes
Start badge making – yes
Make more time for friends – I’m a bad friend
Try felting – see #1
Don’t use the exercise bike as a clothes horse – much improved
Decorate our bedroom and bathroom – done. Just needs accessorising.
Buy handmade/local and make more gifts – still heavily reliant on Amazon but getting better.
Listen to more music – yes
Sort my office admin area – yes
Finish the lacy scarf before it gets too warm to wear it – yes
Meet up with some tweeps – quite a few and they are just as lovely in real life as on twitter
Clear my sky+ backlog – yes
Make more desserts – see #10
Start Christmas preparations in July – no
Never put off until tomorrow something I can do today – still not conquered this one

What happened? It’s all to do with the title – Too many pencils. I was told this a little while ago when I went for my second attempt at CBT. You can hold a certain amount of pencils comfortably, but keep adding them, it becomes more difficult and you are more likely to drop them.

I am a Guide leader, I help at my daughter’s Rainbows so they don’t close, I help out at her school, I’ve founded a WI branch, I am a wife, mum of two and run craftyguider.com . That’s a lot of pencils before I start adding any more. And if anything out of the ordinary happens like illness, my whole pile of pencils topples out of my hands.

Craftyguider was started to fundraise for the Guides by selling off all my extra crafted cards and projects. However it has overtaken my personal crafting and I find myself looking for things to go on the website rather than doing projects for me. I am therefore changing my approach and worrying less about it as a business and more of an extension of my hobby.

I am also going to start saying no. Even though I enjoy being busy and I love volunteering, there are only a certain amount of hours in the day. I would like to help out more in school, and it would be easy to fit in and do, but that’s not going to help with my ‘me’ time.

So for 2013, there aren’t going to be any more lists of things to achieve. I am going to concentrate on my family and my health and happiness and everything else can just sit in the pencil case.

Couch to 5K

I’ve made the decision to get fit and lose weight. This is a decision I’ve made several times before but this will be so good for me for so many reasons. I owe it to myself and to a lot of other people to look after myself.

On twitter, several people have been mentioning the C25K app. This is an app that takes you from being inactive (the couch) to being able to run 5k. I’ve done the Race for Life twice which is 5K, but both times I ran a bit, power walked a lot and then ran home.

I downloaded the app, and yesterday I gave it a go. I live in a rural area which is quite fortunate as I am very self conscious when it comes to running. The unfortunate thing is that I live at the top of a hill so whichever way I go, there’s a lot of ‘up’ to do.

The app plays music from your phone as well as telling you when the 5 minute warm up walk is over, and when you need to run or walk. Over the weeks, the run length increases, and each session lasts about 20-30 minutes, so doing that 3 times a week, you get your recommended weekly exercise too.

I did ignore the voice a few times (I was going uphill and my lungs were bursting), and once during a running bit, the app paused so I ran further than I should’ve! My route ends near two pubs, a bakery and two places to buy sweets but I was a good girl (and the pubs were shut!).

I also used a second freebie app; the Nike running app. This plots the route you’ve taken, where you were going faster/slower, the time and distance, and how many calories you burn. As my route was longer than I needed for the C25K, it was nice to see how far I’d gone. It was 2.63 miles so only half a mile short of my 5k. You don’t need shoe tags, just your phone.

My next attempt is tomorrow (as long as my thighs stop hurting enough for me to move) and I have a new preparation list.

Ditch all the unsuitable music (Tinkerbell, Barry Manilow ballads etc)
Buy suitable clothing (M&S shop now done)
Put the phone in a pouch to avoid it pausing again
Pack a tissue
Prepare better to deal with the symptoms of giving birth twice, once to a 10lb baby, without doing any pelvic floor exercises (mums, you know where I’m coming from!)
Wear a bandage/plaster over my grazed knee after my a*** over t** fall last night!

I’ll look forward to a different type of running afterwards – running a nice hot bubble bath!