Remembering the reason for the season...

I am soo excited that its is three sleeps till Christmas Day! My three year old is completely overwhelmed by and caught up in the magic of Christmas, we have had Christmas parties, carol singing, umpteen chistmas movies including a trip to see the 4D rocket the reindeer movie and of course meeting the one and only Santa Claus and Mrs Claus! Aaron has told Santa what he would like for Christmas and he has been excitedly helping us pick out gifts for our family and friends.

I have loved watching him become more and more excited and in awe of this fabulous festive season. Of course we have been reading Aaron's Christmas Bible story book and he loves hearing the story of Baby Jesus and how the angels came to tell the shepherds about the newborn King! I love that at the heart of this time of year is our awesome God who came down from heaven, became man and took on all the sins of the world so that we would be free and forgiven. Now that truly is the most amazing and selfless gift of love and it is freely given to each and everyone of us, we just need to accept it and then see how God will transform our hearts and lives :)

Not only have we been getting ready for Christmas but we have also started making preparations for baby Edwards no.2 who is due in February! I finished work last week (yay!) and have started washing Aaron's baby clothes and getting my hospital bag ready. After Christmas we are going to put up the crib and get the bedding and washable nappies all prepared, I cannot wait! Looking at the tiny baby gros and scratch mitts that my three year old boisterous boy used to wear is mind blowing, where did those three years go? And when did he go from 7lbs 11oz to 3 1/2 stone?! Love being a momma and can't believe I am blessed to do it all over again. :)

Happy holidays everyone and remember that Jesus is the reason for the season!

Where has 2012 gone??

Where has this year gone?? 2012 has been a whirlwind of contract jobs and trying for a baby (yay!) and all of a sudden I have realised that it is November and I haven't put up a single post to show everyone my crafting successes over the year and also to announce that we are expecting our second son in February 2013!

Having recently completed a Mum Blogger E-course courtesy of Littlemummy.com I plan to be much more proactive with my blogging and look forward to chatting with you all lots more in the coming weeks (especially when my contract ends and I can enjoy an extended maternity leave!)

So here are just a few of my lovely little projects that I have completed this year:

I was given a lovely hamper of crafting gifts and vouchers when I left my part time job at Volvo and I bought some beautiful fat quarters with floral print from hobbycraft with the intention of making bunting for the garden.

On account of the dismal British Summertime that we experienced I thought I would bring the outdoors indoors and used the fat quarters to make two sided rectangular cushions for my leather sofa!

I was tasked with overseeing the decor for the ladies Blessed event at Renewal Christian Centre in the Summer.

'So Blessed So California' was the first event I have ever managed decor for and I made (amongst many other things!) some lovely curtains to dress our stage with. They were very simple and tied with blue organza but I loved spending an afternoon with just me and my vintage sewing machine putting them together!

I bought some lovely wool and am in the process of making a crochet stripy blanket for our new baby!

Aaron and the baby will share a room eventually so we have decorated their room with a nautical theme in red white and blue, and the blanket will be cot size with blue, grey, white and red stripes. I am really enjoying making it but am not following a set pattern as such, just repeating the double crochet stitch over and over!

More projects to follow but thats all for now!

Lots of love R xx

Crochet hooks and cookery books!

Sooo I popped into my local wool shop in Sheldon to ask if they knew of any good sewing machine stockists and got chatting to the owner who is a fantastic crochet expert... and before I knew it I was walking out with a crochet needle and a ball of wool.... several days (and attempts) later this is what we have so far!

I think I will probably continue as I am and make a scarf out of this for Aaron as he doesn't have one, but I would like to try some new colours too so may just stop my 'practice run' and start an actual design...

I really love crochet, it is actually very simple to do, as long as you don't do the stitches (chains) too tight in the first instance until you have got the hang of it! I followed the 'how to' bit in Kirstie's Homemade Home book, which was very useful, and have since borrowed a fabulous book called Amigurumi by By Lan-Anh Bui, Josephine Wan which contains lots of crochet designs to make at home including soft toys, bags and much more! Am truly inspired...thanks to Gina for lending it to me!

As if my new craft wasn't enough to keep me busy this week... I then decided to have a go at making my own pastry which resulted in a rather miraculous homemade pie and with the leftover dough I made some scrummy jam tarts with my little man the day after! All in a days work... :)


 
The pie received my dear husband's (DH) full approval although I think he was as genuinely surprised by my success as I was.... lets hope I haven't set myself up for a fall as  I dare say future crafty and cookery experiments may not be quite so successful!!

Looking forward to a crafty 2012!

Happy New Year!! I am soo excited about 2012, after a long struggle we have finally moved from our one bedroom maisonette into a lovely 3 bedroom semi detached family home - praise God! Now that we are settled in and Christmas is done and dusted I am so looking forward to making our new house a home and have been inspired by Kirstie Allsopp's Homemade Britain series to get creative!

My lovely hubby spoilt me rotten with lots of crafty goodies including sewing box filled with all the essentials, felting mat and tool, papier mache letters (R D and A, one for each of us!), decopatch paper to decorate them with, candle making and mosaic starter kits plus Kirstie's own homemade home and craft books, Cath Kidston Sew! and Homemade Vintage which are all great reads and very inspirational...

So here goes nothing! My very first craft project was to paint and decopatch my son's shoe box to transform it into a little storage box for my already growing collection of ribbons and odds and ends! It is a little rustic looking as the Emma Bridgwater union jack paper that I chose didn't lend itself to well to overlapping as the prints showed through each layer, but I am super pleased with the result! It was very easy and quite therapeutic to boot! Please note that Aaron got in on the artwork with some fingerprint thank you cards to send to family and friends for his christmas presents!