So its here, the Christmas music is singing out, people are smiling and saying hello, its a happy time (for most) and the season of good will is up on us... All around me the plans and preparation of the season are in full flow...
With the recent snow, we have spent a lot of time at home due to the village school being closed and when we were not out enjoying all the delights the snow has to offer, well we spent some time warming up our frozen fingers and toes sitting around the kitchen table. We are on the count down now to Christmas, we have three advent calenders on the go ranging from bought-put it together yourself and of course a hand made one... The dark Christmas mornings are forming a pattern, we all snuggle down under the quilts in a sleepy haze, then we get up to open the advent calenders, breakfast is the time we discuss the day ahead before its full swing into action to start the day... Its a comfortable groove and I kinda like these dark cosy mornings...
So with all this special time together we have been creating a good old fashioned mess in the kitchen...from making our own decorations to baking some delicious yummy treats...
of course the time at the table would not be complete without the traditional jug of Hot Chocolate to really warm us up...
...sitting amongst the mess of activity...
Yes its been a time to be together, to enjoy each others company and just chill...before the craziness of Christmas takes over and we start to run all over the place with nativities, choir, music shows, parties and sharing our time with special people...
Sunday, 7 December 2008
Paper chains......
Thursday, 9 October 2008
A little bit of this and a little bit of that...
With all the outdoor play in the summer, settling down to some serious kids crafting time is not something that usually takes place, sure we paint in the garden and chalk up a storm on the patio, but to sit around the kitchen table and to spend time drawing, painting, cutting, sticking and generally making a mess, well this is for the dark evenings and rainy weekend afternoons...
So its just not something we have done together for a while. Along with play dates and after school activities for the first time ever I am having to plan in this time rather than it happen most nights as it did before the time when school seemed to take over our lives. Pre-children I paper crafted and made cards, I also sold them enough to make a steady 'side' income. I lost my groove a bit when the card invasion took place in the UK and suddenly it was more about the stuff you bought rather than the art. Do not get me wrong, I think it opened the door to a lot of people who wanted to do arty things but felt unable to and this can only be a good thing, right? 
Never the less I lost my groove, suddenly instead of glitter, ink and pretty rainbow coloured paper surrounding me I found myself fully submerged in baby delights...cloth nappies, beautifully illustrated hard board books, pretty gingham bedding and the softest velvety cuddlies. I remained in contact with some rather amazing designers and I swapped a few ATCs (I have a fine collection which outshines my children's Pokemon ones) I made a couple of altered books and even dipped my toes into the scrapbooking phenomenon. 
Tinkering is more of the word to describe my paper crafting life now... sewing and knitting has now taken over and instead of shelves full of beautiful wooden stamps and multi-coloured pots of embossing powder, its now piles of lush fabric and tactile baskets of yarn...
So when the craft table does get going in full flow I love it and I slip back into the comfortable mediums of colour. Last night after the school run, we pulled on our aprons and just went for it... we printed,painted, glued and glittered up in a frenzy of crafting....
Instead of the usual chatter there was silence as we each contemplated and then put into practice our ideas. Potato's and apples became our printing tools and as for the wee babe, well of course he painted his hands (all the way to his shoulders!) to make prints, what I did notice was the change in my little ones work. I remember at the beginning of the year when suddenly arms and legs appeared in his usual squiggles across the page and then features, enough to know he was drawing his Brother, or his Mommy and best off all himself with huge curly hair. Now we are getting so much more detail and even trying to write words to describe his pictures. As for Big Brother...he enjoyed the printing, but as usual his favourite is cartooning...with speech bubbles a plenty...
Not that we needed a reason to spend the time at the craft table together, there was however an intention and I am pleased to say a good outcome. I was inspired by the Living magazine and all things 'pumpkin'. As we do not really go in for Halloween I went with the Harvest theme for this time of year...
and if I may say so myself...we got some good results, we made our Harvest greeting cards...then again when your having this much fun...who cares?
