Motivated Mum – Page 3

Hello Autumn

Despite the warm weather we are currently having, the mornings are a bit colder and mistier. The heating gets put on occasionally for an hour to just take the chill off. It is getting darker much earlier. It’s that wonderful time of year. It’s autumn!

I love the colours (might be because I’m a redhead and we coordinate!). The temperature is more suited to me. Autumn and I just go together.

My baby brother moved to New England with his wife a few years ago and one of my dreams is to do New England in the Fall. To be surrounded by all that autumnal colour would be amazing.

Follow my board on Pinterest for Autumn loveliness.

Follow Louise Craftyguider’s board Autumn/Fall on Pinterest.

My Autumn Garden

Last Spring, eldest Craftyguidelet planted lots of annual seeds for her Brownie Gardener badge. She cared for them, watered them, thinned them out, transplanted them, weeded and produced a fabulous display throughout the summer. This weekend, to finish her badge, it was time to pull all the spent flowers up to prepare the beds for winter.

She attacked the task with enthusiasm (once I’d dragged her away from a game involving every single toy she owns by the look of the playroom). After clearing a section of her allocated bed, she found this beauty hidden away.It made me think about all the other plants in my garden that were still flowering their socks off. This Fuschia is called Baby Blue Eyes. I bought some for eldest Craftyguidelet’s grandparents when she was born as she had the biggest blue eyes.The Craftyguidelets grew sunflowers from school as well as some 8ft tall monsters.This is my favourite plant in the garden at the moment. I first came across Stipa tenuissima when I studied at gardening college (an RHS evening course equivalent to a gardening A level). It is so touchy feely. I’ve got 2 clumps in my garden near the paths so I can run my fingers through it when I walk past.This Brunnera shows that you don’t need flowers to create an impact.And this Heuchera combines flowers and beautiful leaves.So go out and appreciate all that Autumn has to offer.

Dear August…

Oh August. Our relationship started so well. You gave me time to start blogging again, I started creating, I got things done.
My nephew came to stay and then later on there was the celebration of his Christening.
Husband’s birthday came and went, and the Craftyguidelets’ vision of a sailing themed birthday cake was realised.
The Craftyguidelets and I found 38 Books About Town book benches in 3 different areas of London, did some sightseeing, fell in love with the impressionists in the National Gallery, and completed the summer reading challenge at the library. Oh August, you kept us busy.

But towards the end it went wrong. A trying extended-family holiday culminated in little Craftyguidelet breaking her arm and spending 2 nights in hospital. How could you let that happen August? My little girl looked so tiny on that big bed as they wheeled her away for surgery under general anaesthetic.
You brought me flowers – hydrangeas to remind me of our lovely holiday in Cornwall and roses from husband for our wedding anniversary.
But it’s too late August. The pain of the hospital stay and seeing my poor little girl’s deformed arm, and now the huge cast that she has to carry around is too much.

It’s over August. I’ve decided to give September a go. The Craftyguidelets will be back at school and my volunteering with Guiding, the WI and school starts up again. I’ll need to be busy preparing Craftyguider for Christmas, as well as starting my own preparations. I’m also joining the Trefoil Guild and hoping to start my Voyage Award.

So long, and perhaps I’ll see you around some time in the future.

Craftyguider x

Summer School

Summer Reading Challenge 2014

This year, the Craftyguidelets have been given homework to do during the school holidays. School work for a 5yr old and her 7yr old sister in the holidays? Shouldn’t they be enjoying themselves?

It’s not boring study though. Their new teachers have given them a blank A4 book to fill in with whatever they want. There is a sheet glued in the front giving ideas, but it could be anything they want to do.

The Craftyguidelets like ticking things off so we are using some of the suggestions, and we have already worked on a diary for our holiday in Cornwall. I have started a new smashbook, and they are using this idea to illustrate their diary with photos, entry tickets, leaflets and owl feathers, as well as drawings.

Also on the list are ideas based on their topics when they go back. 5yr old Craftyguidelet has the Great Fire of London, which will mean a trip to the Monument and St Pauls, stopping off at the Museum of London to see their War, Plague and Fire gallery. While we are there, we’ll visit the London Before London gallery for 7yr old Craftyguidelet’s Stone Age, Bronze Age and Iron Age topic. For me, we’ll have collected lots of Show and Tell material for next term to avoid the last minute scramble at 8.29am for something topic related.

From: Books About Town

Another activity we’ll be trying is the Books About Town trails. Each trail has around 15 book benches to find, and there are 4 trails to choose from. I’ll be searching for the Dr Seuss bench on the Riverside Trail.

Eldest will be learning about Claude Monet next term. This will give me the opportunity to share my favourite painting with her – La Gare St Lazare – at the National Gallery. I used to go to the Impressionist gallery a lot when I was younger and am looking forward to rediscovering it.

There are also suggestions for nature walks, creative writing and art projects, to go with our plans for the library’s Summer Reading Challenge, loom bands, gardening, lego, Minion Rush, Brownie badge work, Rainbows summer treasure box, music, drama workshops, play dates, fancy dress catwalk shows, baking, playing and craft days.

Less than a month to go until the holidays end. Best get a move on!

Breaking up is quite easy actually!

photo (3)

July, you are history. You were good, but I guess it was never meant to last. Our 31 days together had it’s ups and downs, but I’ve moved on. I’m with August now and we’ve got plans.

As I type this, I am waiting for the imminent arrival of baby nephew for a sleepover. July, you never met him. It seems a bit premature in my relationship with August to make introductions to my extended family so soon, but the timings of things just happen like that.

August and I also have plans for husband’s birthday to share together. The Craftyguidelets have big designs for a birthday cake that will put Master Baker and Confectioner Grandad to shame if it comes off. What they plan to do with a pack of icing and a gluten free cake recipe will have them on Bake Off before you know it.

Ah, the Craftyguidelets will miss you July. The month in which they left their old classes at the end of term. And we’ll always have the week in Cornwall that we shared. We won’t forget you as we get the photos printed off to put in their school topic books. And Brownie Craftyguidelet will put together the evidence for her Friend to Animals badge and Gardener badge that she worked so hard for with your glorious sunshine to inspire her.

August has also promised me more time for crafting. I need to get the shop sales up so I can meet my fundraising target for the year. I also want to create for me and you just didn’t allow me enough spare time for that. I’m also going to spend more time with the Craftyguidelets. Lots of day trips are planned to keep them busy, and loom band sessions for when I need to be busy!

So July, we will always remember you, and perhaps a break of 12 months or so will strengthen our relationship to give it another go.

Craftyguider x

Best laid plans…

You know those days you’ve been looking forward to for ages? Not the big event days like birthdays or holidays. Just the ones where your diary is clear, you’ve nothing much that you have to do, and lots that you want to do.

Today was my day.

The house was reasonably presentable, the kids would be at school, lunch was defrosting in the fridge and the ‘to do’ list was ready.

However, the rain came down and the floods came up (if anyone can name that tune I’d be grateful!), the roads and schools were closed, the kids stayed home and my lovely restful day doing ‘me’ stuff was put on hold.

See you same time next week my ‘day off’.

February’s Mission

Aside from my back going twang and the rest of the family going down with the lurgy, January was a very positive month for me. I got lots done, I started decluttering, I’ve been crafting, I’ve gained new skills and things are going well.

I need to carry on this positivity and keep the momentum going. I still have more sorting out to do, particularly my email, and there are always crafty WIPs to finish. I want to set myself another couple of goals for February.
Firstly I want to get my Etsy shop relaunched. I set it up in February last year, listed one item and then abandoned it. Obviously it’s more advantageous for me to attract business through my Craftyguider site as I don’t have to pay fees to list there, but I hope that Etsy will help me reach more people. Hopefully by the end of the month I’ll have a selection of products listed.
Secondly I want to get fitter and start losing weight again. I’m supposed to be following a Slimming World plan but my weight fluctuates up and down because I’m not strict enough. I want to shed the last bit of weight I need to shift, and also get a bit more exercise, in particular, starting pilates to strengthen my back so it won’t go twang again!
And finally, I am going to finish my mending, and sewing badges onto the Craftyguidelets’ badge blankets. I might even get a couple onto mine, but I am 7 years behind so I don’t anticipate on completing this one!

What do you hope to achieve in February?

January Review

And just like that, it’s the 31st January! One month of 2014 has passed and the next 11 months are stretched out ahead, full of promise. On the whole it’s been a good January for me. I’ve felt a lot better (apart from putting my back out in the last few days), I’ve made decisions on what I want to do with the business and my blogging, and I’m in a positive frame of mind.
January started really well for me. A couple of days after my birthday, I won a retweet from Theo Paphitis, and my twitter feed exploded with new followers and good wishes.
I managed to get my craft on and make cards, get some scrapbook layouts made, finish some decoupage and get some sewing done. It’s the most creative I’ve been for a long time.
I’ve also started crochet lessons which is something I’ve wanted to do for a couple of years now. My doubles and trebles lesson was a bit more successful than my tea gloves lesson. Perhaps it’s because I don’t drink tea, I just don’t have the tea gloves gene in me.
Probably my greatest achievement is to get more organised. My magazine mountain is now a foothill, and several WIPs have been completed. I’ve got a long way to go still, but with each mini breakthrough, I feel more weight coming off my shoulders.

How was your January?

Handmade Update

I’ve had a very productive few days. I have organised, crafted, planned Brownie badges with eldest Craftyguidelet (Craft badge is first!) and decluttered. However this morning I managed to throw my back out. I was emptying the waste paper basket of all things!
As we are having some work done on the house, I couldn’t go back to bed so I have been stuck at the kitchen table with my ibuprofen and heat pad. I did manage to get my decoupage papers and mod podge out and I’ve managed to complete my “bake” sign for my kitchen. I used the Hobbycraft Deco Mache papers which are really pretty, and chose the colours to go with my handmade place mats which use Cath Kidston spotty fabric.

What I really needed to do today was photograph and list my new handmade cards.
On Sunday I had a play with some Anna Griffin papers. Look at the wonderful vintage images of flowers I was working with. I’ve got a huge pile of cards to list for all sorts of occasions so keep an eye on the website.

This is one of my favourites. I love the blue tones on this birthday card.
I also used some of my craft themed supplies. This one uses a Sizzix die for the mannequin and some swirl dies that I bought a long time ago and have never used.
I have also been doing my crochet homework. Regular readers would’ve read about my lesson with Jean-Mary at Betty Makes where she managed to tame my disobedient crochet hands into yarn holding, treble making, crochet wannabees.
Still a bit wobbly, but look! It’s crochet! I haven’t counted my stitches or rows, but I think the technique is coming.
I’ve even tried the edging. It’s loops! The pattern became a bit of a foreign language after this so it’s not got much further. Jean-Mary says I need to treble in my loops. Hmmm. Might get a translation and a few pointers tonight if my back will let me go to my lesson.

I’ve also managed to keep up my decluttering in January. I’m still on track with my challenge to recycle a magazine a day. The pile is going down. I won’t have finished a WIP a week though unless I get a sudden surge of creativity in the next few days, but I am getting more organised.
My loose crafting papers were in a box that was too heavy to get down from the shelf every time I made a card. I managed to clear a space in a filing cabinet by turfing out some obsolete Guiding paperwork, and put the papers into files by colour. I might actually use them now! I’ve also sorted through my 12″x12″ scrapbooking papers and managed to do 3 scrapbook layouts. No pics as I generally use photos of the Craftyguidelets in my scrapbooking, but it’s been really nice to have a look through images of them as babies (yes, I’m that far behind!).

It’s been a really productive January, so hopefully my back will clear up quickly and I can carry on. I’ve got plans for February too to keep 2014 as a positive year for change.

Linking with Handmade Harbour’s Handmade Monday.

So far so good

It seems to me that 2014 is moving quite slowly. We are only at the beginning of the second week of January, but New Year seems so long ago.

A week ago, I set myself the task of completing some of the kits I have stashed in my craft space and recycling some of my craft magazines; one craft kit a week and one magazine a day.

On 2nd January, during a #creativesunite session on twitter, I picked up a couple of Christmas Cross Stitcher magazine cross stitch kits from my stash and made some progress. The robin is more than half finished now, and the houses kit has all the cross stitch finished ready for sewing together.

I have succeeded in finishing a kit for this week though. This one is from Homemaker magazine.

I was quite pleased with the tree, although some of the detail was lost on the star because of the layers of paper. In the magazine, the glitter appeared opaque, but as you can see from this photo, it is very transparent.

I think I am up to date with my magazine recycling. Since Monday, things have been crazy, but today I managed to get a bit of planning in place.

How is your 2014 panning out?