The latest project for the make something cool challenge is finished, it took me about 2 and 1/2 evenings - all done by hand- still haven't got the machine fixed!
After the success of the covered photo album I decided to make a covered notepad using the same sort of techniques for my friend, Mel's birthday. She loves making lists, so this will hopefully bring a little glamour to her list making!
Drum roll and fanfare please.... I finally did it.....yesterday I managed to run 5 miles!!!!!
I'm feeling really pleased with myself, as I'd been feeling a bit despondent that I didn't seem to be improving , but now I've proved to myself that I have. So much of it seems to be in the mind, yesterday before I went out I kept visualising myself at various points along the route, and once I'd done about 2 miles I decided I wasn't going home until I'd completed 5- even if it meant walking part of it. Now I guess I'll have to set a new target, I suppose adding a mile at a time until I get to 10 miles. I'm now seriously thinking that if I can keep this up maybe I should enter the Plymouth Half marathon next year....so watch this space.
Today's make something cool is Gertyl my latest sock creation. I know I've become a bit obsessed with making things from socks, just can't help myself there's so many possibilities! I'm giving her to my friend's little girl , Jasmine. Her baby brother has been in hospital a lot over the past few months and so has had most of the attention, and Jasmine is really feeling it at the moment which is understandable, so I thought I'd make her a little surprise to make her smile.
Thought I'd better do a quick 101 update. It's an interesting process, some things are getting done regulary others very infrequently or not at all! So here's a quick round up
1. still running 2 or 3 times a week, so hopefully sometime soon I'll get to that 5 mile goal.
2. Nail polish- well I've passed most of it onto the girls next door to play with- they were very excited. I've kept a bottle of pale pink for maisie incase she wants her nails painted for parties, and a bottle of clear because I found a book which listed lots of uses for it- more about that in another post.
3. The car is getting cleaned out more often than it used to so thats good.
4 Slowcooker is getting more use , though I'm sure it could be used even more frequently if I really got into the habit of using it.
5. Can't keep away from the internet for 1 day a week- how rubbish is that! My excuse is that i have to check emails everyday related to the business, and also use the internet a lot to promote Andy's website. The trouble is after doing the stuff that needs to be done, I could switch off but don't because I always get sucked into to looking at other stuff! Maybe I just don't want to give it up?
6. Haven't managed to scrapbook any photos yet- not sure why, i thought i would actually do this task- and I'm sure if I started I would enjoy it.
7. Sit-ups- well i do do a few each morning and usually when i get back from running- not sure its 30 every day but it's probably not too far off- not sure it's having a lot of impact, but i guess strengthening the stomach muscles will help to protect my back which is good.
8. natural toothpaste- I've tried one brand and thought it was ok. i was spurred on after buying a toothpaste from lidls that obviously had something in it that didn't agree with me- my lips puffed up like i'd had botox and were very dry and started peelin- not an attractive look! Andy wasn't convinced by the natural brand and was actually quite worried that it didn't have fluoride in it. I'll try another brand and maybe just using bicarb.The cost of natural toothpastes does put me off a bit,and I think i need to do a bit more research into what the various ingredients in "normal"toothpaste actually do then make up my mind whether its worth paying more.
9. kids unplugged activities- we've been trying out activities inspired by the site and others similar and they've been a big hit. Joe and Maisie definately argue less when tv is taken out of the equation. I'm not radical enough/ brave enough to take away the tv altogether, but less time infront of it seems to be a good thing, and now he's in the habit of watching less, Joe is actually taking himself off to play with his lego etc more often without being prompted.
10. Homemade cards- I've made every birthday, christmas, easter card( and any other special occasion) since the list started so I'm happy with that.
So there's a snap shot of where I'm at right now.If anyone else is doing a 101 list I'd love to hear how you're getting on.
Maisie made something cool today- this chalk drawing of a fox. Up until now she has only drawn people , the sort that have no body and the arms and legs come out of the head. So I was really impressed by this drawing which she did with no help at all. I think Joe must have even been impressed as he signed it for her - "like proper artists do!"
Thanks to Dot at Dabbled, I've found something new to play with- spell with flikr, you type whatever you like into the box marked "spell" then browse the different letters to your heart's content. So here's my name, and Maisie and Joe had a go too, great for a quick "make something cool everyday" activity for today. This could be fun to play around with then print out the words and applique them onto a project maybe?
Another handmade present finished. This time it's a bought photo album that I've made a fabric cover for from recycled bits of t-shirt and other bits and bobs. It's for the daughter of my friend Helen , whose 8th birthday it will be tomorrow- hope she likes it. When I find the online tutorial i used as a starting point I'll add in the details- I have so much stuff bookmarked it's getting difficult to find stuff!... Ah found the link at last here it is. The cover in the tutorial is made with a "plain "piece of fabric, whereas as mine is a kind of patchwork of pieces sewn onto the blue base and then assembled as in the tutorial.
Another activity from the "what can we do box", also fits in nicely with the make something cool in April challenge. We just used marshmallows and cocktail sticks , but i guess you could extend it by including other bits - raisins? straws? etc The kids want to keep the models which I was surprised by - I thought they'd be desperate to eat them- especially Joe!
We had a great time making the hut from newspaper, the instructions we followed are here. They were easy to follow, the trickiest bit was joining it all together whilst holding it up, I'm glad Andy was helping too as extra hands were definitely useful. We got the newspapers from our neighbour who was quite intrigued as to what we were going to do with them, then when Joe and Maisie finished playing with it, the whole thing could easily be put in the bin to be recycled. A fun, free, eco-friendly afternoon- gold stars all round!
Another dip into the "what can we do box", this time play dough models.
We made the dough using this recipe
1 cup plain flour
1 cup water
1/2 cup salt
1 tbsp cream of tartar
mix altogether in a pan over a medium heat until it forms a dough
remove and cool add 1 tbsp oil and knead well on a floured board then if you want to add food colouring and knead in. The mixture keeps really well in a tub with a lid, if I've got room i keep it in the fridge but it doesn't seem to be necessary.
Both Joe and Maisie love playing with the dough, Maisie love rolling it out and using cutters and plastic scissors on it, and Joe prefers to sculpt it. Today he made this cool ghost, when Maisie saw it she asked him to make a smaller one for her. We hollowed them out a bit and filled the gap with a ball of scrunched up tin foil, then we baked them in the oven for about 2 1/2 hours on 140 degrees. They turned out fine in the end but something a bit weird happened during the baking, some of the mixture ran out from underneath and oozed across the baking sheet like lava , it set but was easy to cut away from the models, whilst still warm and slightly pliable.
Today we delved into the "what can we do box"... and pulled out make your own bubble mixture and wands.
We made the mixture in old take-away containers, so that it would be easy to dip the wands into. We used water, lots of washing up liquid, and some cooking oil. I can't really give quantities it was a bit of trial and error really.The book where i found the instructions said 1tsp of oil, but didn't say how much water or washing up liquid. We put a bit of oil at a time ( it strengthens the bubbles, you can use glycerin to do the same thing) until we could see that a good film of bubble mixture was being left across a dipped wand. In total it was probably about 3-5 tsp.
We made the bubble wands from, wire and pipe cleaners twisted into shapes, toilet roll tubes, and the plastic ends that fit in postal tubes, with the middles cut out of them.
It was really good fun, Maisie loves pots of bubbles anyway and it appealed to Joe's love of science, he had lots of questions about whether eg a square shaped wand would make square bubbles, what size wand works best etc. Making the mixture in the tubs means we've been able to put lids on and keep it to use again another day, it was a grea,t free activity which amused them for quite a while and will be good to use in the garden again on a nice day.So thumbs up from all of us.
I came across this yesterday and thought I'd share it. The idea is basically to make something cool every day in April. It can be crafting, cookery, photography anything you like really.I don't know if I'll be joining it officially but i've become a fan on their facebook page as I'm interested to see the ideas people come up with, and I've got lots of cool activities planned for myself and the kids ( see yesterday's post- the what can we do box) so there will be lots of making going on as usual which i will share.
Talking of making- here's the latest 2 sock creations.
This is Gunther... he likes to keep his eye on things- we just don't know which eye! I'm quite attached to Gunther, he's supposed to be a present but I'm not sure if I will be able to part with him.
This one- as yet unnamed- was inspired by this tag monster, I'm not happy with it yet I think she needs arms and maybe something else, not sure what. Also i don't like the way the ribbons are laying, I sewed them from underneath to hide the stitching but it's not quite right- so back to the drawing board.(Sorry about the out of focus photo)
On Monday we decorated our "what can we do? box", inside written on post-it notes are lots of activities to do during the Easter holidays, so when we get time where we don't know what to do the children can put their hands in and pull out a suggestion.I've made sure we already have everything we need so an activity, once chosen can be done straight away, here's our list so far, if it goes well we'll keep the box and use it at weekends/ evenings and other school holidays as and when we want to.
Make a newspaper hut- find out how to do it here
play football at the park
draw on path outside with chalk
make things that fly out of paper- lots of ideas here
make an obstacle course
make a blow painting
magically slice a banana- find out how here
try making butter, then use it to make sandwiches
try doing batik
make squishy balloon heads
make a model out of cocktail sticks and marshmallows
make play dough
make something out of straws
make own bubble mixture and wands
make woolen bowl- instructions here
play blow football with straws and tissue paper ball
make soap crayons
play bash-a-bag
make parachutes for toys and test them
plant some seeds
bake gingerbread men, decorate and eat
time how long it takes to... eg run up and down the stairs
play keepy uppy with balloons
go to beach collect pebbles and make them into pet rocks
so that lot should keep us busy for a while...just let them dare say they're bored!
I found this idea on the web the other day, but forgot to bookmark the page and therefore can't credit the clever person who thought of it- sorry.
Maisie and I made this after school on Friday, we got a large box, flattened it and cut 2 rectangles out. Then in the middle of one made a cut starting at the top and going almost halfway down , then on the 2nd- halfway along the long edge again made a cut from the bottom to about halfway up- you can then slot the 2 pieces together so they stand up.
Once we knew they fitted we took them apart to do the decorating. Each side was covered with a piece of white paper - though you could paint/ colour them if you wanted- I decided to take the easy option. Then we got out an old catalogue and Maisie picked out things she wanted to put in each room of the house. She got me to do the cutting whilst she was in charge of gluing.
I did suggest that Joe might like to make one that had different back drops on each side for his lego models or pokemon figures- but at the time the draw of his nintendo was just too much to resist.
On Sunday we went to Buckland Abbey for a walk around the grounds. Joe loves being out in the country once we get there , but as soon as a walk is mentioned he goes into sulky teenager mode making our lives a misery whilst we are getting ready and during the journey to our destination. Not sure why he has to do it, it's like he's trapped in this cycle of behaviour or something, anyway I came up with what i thought was a cunning plan. When he asked in the morning- what are we doing to day?, i said we're going on a matchbox trail- unfortunately my plan wasn't as cunning as i thought- he's much too clever to be fooled that easily. He thought for a minute then looked at me and said Oh no you mean we're going on a walk. Oh well it was worth a try, and Maisie loved it.
Here's the stash she managed to fit in her box.
There was lots to see, but unfortunately the battery ran out on my camera so I only managed to get a couple of shots. Our national trust membership doesn't run out until July though so we'll fit in another visit before then.Joe loved the freedom of running across the fields so I'll have to try and remind him of that when we decide to go again.
I've just been looking through photos on the computer and realised i didn't share the "reading companions" i made for my mum and Andy's mum for mothers day. They were very well recieved and easy to make by following this great tutorial. I sewed mine by hand as I still haven't got my machine fixed! they took about 3 evenings to make the pair, and were made completely from offcuts passed on to me by chris- thank-you!, and i added a layer of wadding between the fabrics to make it padded- which i already had, so they didn't cost a penny just a little bit of time. The idea could easily be adapted for men by just changing the fabric.
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