Here comes Summer!

It's here!  Finally!
It's been such a busy school year that, any spare minute has been given to planning, assessment and reports (60 hours overtime for reports this year).  But each holiday comes with a promise to myself to get a couple of my projects completed and I generally get at least one or two done.  I find myself getting quite tense when I am away from my craft cupboard for too long.  It's like an itch in your hands that leaves you flexing fingers and biting nails- I accept that this may just be me though...
This means that for a couple of hours each week, I will be able to catch up on blog posts not completed, projects half started and catching up on other people's great blogs.  I will also be a bit prolific in my July/ August posts- Yay!  I evn have a ray of sun for when school starts back up as my baby will be going to playgroup on Thursdays and Fridays for a couple of hours.  This was sheer heaven when her big sister started as I used this time to whiz to work, get my planning done and finally got my evenings and weekends back for family and fun (crochetcrochetcrochetcrochetcrochetcrochet).
I was going to list my projects but that may not be as interesting for you as for me!  I will, however, share this little tradition with you.  It started when Katie was really small.  We wanted to squeeze in lots of fun for the times in the holiday between the family going away time.  As some years needed to be home holidays, I found that we needed set ideas so that the day didn't get frittered away with long mornings and slow starts.
We started drawing pictures, taking turns choosing things we wanted to do together and added a tick box in the corner to tick when each one was done.  This was a God-send the year I was pregnant with Hannah as the summer holidays hit when I was 7/8 months pregnant.  I was huge- seriously.  I had just developed gestational diabetes and was fighting back weight.  So this booklet set up several weekly trips where I could sit and watch Katie have fun.
Now Hannah is old enough, she joins in with ideas and colouring (bless).  It's a working document as we keep adding to it!

My first painting in years....

Drawing was my first foray into the creative world and, although I'm not much cop, it's something that I go back to whenever I get the head space to do it.  I always feel that, to paint well, I need time and space and most definitely peace.  It's not a "Zen" thing, more that I get so involved that I don't really notice anyone else!  So, after years of occupied baby thoughts, I managed to squirrel away some time to paint. 
It takes a bit of doing in my rush-around life, I can tell you!   I have to try to get a week ahead on work, cleaning, laundry and all those daily jobs to free up a couple of nap-times to the task.  But, the push of my Mother's 70th birthday, gave me the push I needed.
  I knew I wouldn't get the time to sit outside and paint from nature *sigh* so I chose a favourite image from my Honeymoon.  We travelled up to Scotland, stopping off at Lake Windermere on the way.  Now, my husband is the photographer in the family (and pretty good he is too), but this is one I took and I just loved the light and thought it would be a step up from other paintings I have done.
I am finally at the age where I can paint and not freeze up, worrying that any more may spoil what I've already done.  This has always been my problem (and there are only so many times you can say that the half finished look is what you were going for...) but I soldiered on and am sooooo chuffed with how it came out.  So, without further ado, here it is!

 Here you have day 1 and day 2 final colour detail painting and the paintings done by my girls (of course they had to get in on the action)  I framed their work as well for their rooms and lovely they look too.  

Oh, by the way, she loves it!

Baby Box number 2 (and other cute stuff)

Another beautiful baby has joined our family and it's a boy!! I must admit that I thought it would be another little girl but that's ok- I'll forgive him as he is so sweet. I hope he likes his goodie bag. Now I can keep working on the last baby due for a while (I hope). I'm trying to save those items for another "don't look at this post" so my final pregnant lady can keep up with my other blog posts whilst still having some surprises in her bag...

These next projects are a catchup from a blog post that seems to have gone missing. It's this darn laptop! The keys have recently developed a glitch, missing every other letter. This makes blogging a real pain in the neck as I have to seriously correct and retype every word (typing each word slowly also does nothing for the flow.)

I've also had issues with my iphone and some of my photos are lost : (. My lovely lunch basket that I made during the summer holiday for a little girls birthday has gone. Such a shame as I was sooo impressed that I managed to whip it all up in a week. There was a yummy cooked breakfast with bacon, sausages, mushrooms eggs and toast, loads of fruit and veg, chicken drumstick, some cookies and cakes and even a cheeky red toadstool ( how very dare I!) Here are the pictures I've managed to find:

These all came from my "Tasty Crochet" book again. It's a great book and makes up some beautiful food with little effort. Great for last minute birthday presents and stocking up my daughters tea party set.

Baby Box number 1

Baby Box number 1 is out! OK, it ended up in a gift bag because I couldn't find a nice box in Bexleyheath the other week. Although someone else had put together a basket of goodies using a cotton-lined wicker storage basket which looked great which I think I will do next time.

I'm really happy with what I made. I did add a lovely broach from Past Times for Mummy and a bought toy for the baby, just in case it was all a bit too crafty for the new Mummy. I whipped up a quick card using bits and bobs from my stash and found some cute pieces from a previous baby card which was a nice quick solution for a change! Well, that's one box down. Time to work on the next baby due in August I think...

Just like Mother makes...

I felt I had to include this little tradition started by my Mum. Making gift tags out of Christmas cards always seemed a bit too thrifty for me but, as I get older, there is something very satisfying about reusing these beautiful cards and saving a few bob too. I especially love reusing the handmade cards made by my sister for those extra special gifts.

Like Mum, I use gold thread but I decided not to use my pinking shears as I can't bear to blunt those expensive blades. I picked up a set of eight different edged scissors from Hobbycraft and they did an ok job. Not great at cutting a clean edge, but fun and labelled with patterns for easy use.

By the way, is "OK" a shortening of two words (acronym)? I have no idea!