Saturday 3rd

I love Pokemon I really do but I don't love trying to do Christmas shopping with a screen addicted Pokemon addict who is not listening to what I am trying to convey.  Joys of parenthood I guess.  We did manage to get out of TKMax without me having to do my Mum voice and with teenager intact. I am not a big lover of shopping anyway.  I can play Pokemon, not walk into people, shop and hold a conversation if needed.  Apparently I can multitask well. 

Last year we had an amazing Yankee candle advent calendar and I am kind of kicking myself I didn't think to get one this year as we loved it.  So todays advent mission was to go choose a Christmas scented candle for the house.  Having not bought any Yankee candles for months I was in my element in the shop. How on earth do you pick one? Good job the festive scents were 30% off.

Luke's been banging on about sprout stalks for weeks now.  I think he finds them funny because if you asked him if he wanted sprouts with his dinner he would say no thank you. Had to do some vegetable shopping on the way home for the evenings dinner and even got a smile and pose.

 Treated myself to some Christmas teas. 

Quite a selection I thought.  And a new big cup for drinking my tea in.  So far  have hardly had an coffee since we came home and I really do run on coffee almost exclusively.  May suffer for that later but we will soon find out.

We couldn't pin down our choices to one candle so we came home with 3.  They will keep us going all through the season no doubt.  Candy came lane was my favourite from last year so it got my vote. Snowflake cookie took a bit of choosing between that and Christmas cookie.  Macaron treats is a new scent but so far my favourite. can't get enough of it.

Just to round the day off I made some balsamic glazed beetroot and carrots from the Jamie Oliver Christmas book.  With sprouts !!!  All in all a very eventful if not busy day. Nice one though as my Dad and his lovely wife came to see us in the evening on their way home.  Always good to see them and catch up :o) 

Oh and I finished my coat, don't all faint in shock, all I needed to do was sew one some poppers to do the coat up and I did that today.  So I can now wrap up in style.  Hopefully will get some photos soon 

Take care 

Jules xx 

advent? blogmas? not sure what to call this

So our first box held the instructions to ask Mum for the first decoration of the season and put it together ready to display.  A 3D star with lights. 

I love Tiger the shop.  Full of lovely things and often fairly cheap to.  But this was a sturdy cardboard 3D star, which went together really easily actually.

Bit of fanning and and unflattening each spike of the star and adding the lights to the interior before using the toggle on the drawstring to keep it all in place.  Luke says it will look great on top of the tree when it goes up.  

And when finished.  Will look great in a lower light later in the season I bet.

I did also make up my quilt block. I used the log cabin method on this one but not really keeping it a true log cabin with light and dark sides. Does this make it a scrappy log cabin block? No idea but I like it.  Already have an idea on what to do with tomorrows block. 

Spent the day shopping with my daughter and got a few Christmas presents. So a pretty eventful but fun day. Tomorrow looks just as busy, with a both more sewing involved.  Unfortunately some of the things I am sewing are gifts so I cannot really share them just yet.

For now I am going to catch up with a few online obligations I have to do and get the bits ready for tomorrows advent box adventures.I think I get more excited over these things than any of the children ever did. 

Take care

Jules xx

June adventures

How can it be June already? Today has been a strange but good one. Went into town with a shopping list which was almost fulfilled. Last item was out of stock so was ordered in. Seems Luke won't stop growing, had to order him a new school blazer as his way to small now, and had to buy him some size 9 shoes! He's only 13.  Mind boggling how kids grow so fast. The shopping mall we were in got evacuated for a bit.  Still not sure why as of yet but we just carried on in a different area of town until the mall reopened. 

Came to a decision earlier to try and blog everyday this month. This blog isn't just for sewing, it's more of a lifestyle place I can share things I have been up to or things I have found interesting.  I am 'crafty' in many ways so I am going to challenge myself to do something crafty everyday to see if I can push myself a little maybe. 

Tonight my daughter sent me a picture on snap chat very similar to the one of me below. A while back I saw on Pinterest and I am pretty sure YouTube too, a face mask made of PVA/Elmers glue and  activated charcoal powder.  I bought the bits and promptly forgot about it.  I told my daughter Leanne who went and got her own glue and I gave her some of the charcoal powder. Tonight she sent me a picture and I thought I am going to give it a go to.

Leanne told me to put on a thick layer because hers was very bitty and hard to get off once it had dried.  So I used a big squirt of glue to 2 heaped spoonfuls of activated charcoal.  Which seemed really thick, so thick in fact it got applied with the back of a spoon. Sat down to a go on the xbox while it dried and about 30 minutes or so I started peeling big bits off.  Unfortunately mine was a bit thick in places and some peeled off leaving a very thin wet layer underneath on mainly my cheeks.  Let that dry another 5 minutes and I was left with a very bitty mess to try and peel off.  Gave up on that idea and used a make up removal wipe.  Wiped off beautifully.  

Mask worked wonders though,  I would definitely do it again, My pores are clearer and the skin is all smooth and soft right now. 

I was going to share with  you some of my June plans and patterns etc, but its after 11.30 pm and the light is not being very cooperative. So tomorrow I will take photos and share my challenges to myself with you all. Will give you a few clues though.  We have canvases, button hole elastic and a few patterns to play with. 

But for now I am going to get a good nights sleep and get ready for the arrival of my granddaughters coming over for a few hours playtime tomorrow morning.

so for now take care and stay crafty

Jules x 

Monday

Bit of a strange day today. This afternoon just didn't seem to happen and then it was gone. I never got much time to do much apart from send a strongly but politely worded complaint email to someone. 

This evening saw the return of the Great British Sewing Bee. I love the show and it was this show that encouraged me to dig out my machine and start sewing again. I was like a complete newbie all over again. The first episode that aired tonight has encouraged me to get on with my A line skirt. 

I saw this fabric last Tuesday in Winchester 

It kind of reminds me of Sargeant Pepper kind of artwork or yellow submarine cartoon style art. Very 70's type of print and I had to have it. After a few chats in a few groups online I think I am turning this into an A line skirt. 

I also picked up some very girly fairy princess fabric a while ago with my granddaughter in mind, and will finally get to use it to make her a new PE bag for when she changes school soon.

I will try to remember to update you on my knitting project soon and a new knitting project to. But for now I'm off to sleep. 

Take care and stay crafty. Jules