That old adage of the apple not falling far from the tree.

Some 10 days ago, very randomly, the 13-year old Dinoboy casually asked if I would take him to buy some spray paint cans. Now I instantly thought "Oh, he wants to have a go at graffiti art." So I prodded some more and asked a ton of questions. After several monosyllabic replies to my inquiries, he eventually said that he didn't want them for graffiti art and that he just wanted to have a go at spray paint art. Also, he intended using his saved up pocket money to purchase said cans. I have to admit, I was initially a little skeptical.

 Off we went on Saturday to scope out a couple of specialist spray paint shops in the city. He went in asking for a very specific brand of paint. He had obviously spent some time researching this online. When the chap in the shop asked "So you've used those paints before?" and got a "No" from Dinoboy, I got a raised eyebrow look from the chap who then proceeded to try to steer Dinoboy towards more 'beginner' paints. Dinoboy was having none of that - he knew what he wanted and his mind would not be changed.

 We left the shop sans cans since they didn't have any of the ones he wanted in stock. So we traipsed on over to Hobbycraft where he bought 4 pretty pricey Plasti-kote cans and some foam-board to start with. I had decided I wasn't going to interfere - it was his project and he obviously knew where he was going with this. We got home and he went out into the back yard to set up his new stuff. I left him to it and went off to do some chores.

When I came back some hour and a bit later, he proudly showed me this.

I was stunned to say the least and he was so proud of what he had achieved - so was I! It was the first time he'd ever picked up a spray paint can. Pretty awesome first painting, right?! Once he started, there was no stopping him. Here he was the next day making more art. 

This is his piece from Sunday afternoon. His second ever painting. He'd gathered a whole bunch of supplies, raided the recycle tub for pot lids and took possession of my old painting palette knives and sponges.

So far he's done 4 paintings - the third one was a bit of a dud because he hadn't accounted for a slightly faulty cap. It is very encouraging to see him pursue this creative outlet. I have so far steered clear of experimenting with his cans - I want this to be something he 'owns'. This is his art. 

Here is the last one he did just the other day after he got home from school. He did his homework first, then headed outside with his box of supplies to paint. He was still outside when I got home from work. I believe he is only going to get better and better with practice. I am hugely proud of his initiative and his obvious talent. 

I hope this interest continues. He was talking the other day of possibly selling some of his work to pay for more cans of paint. His sister has already bought a foam board with her pocket money and has asked him to paint something for her.

I hope your week has been going well. The weekend is almost upon us, friends. What are you up to this weekend? I will be at work instead of being at market this Saturday as we have an open day happening. Until next time, happy crafting!

Holiday memories redux 1

You may recall that a couple of months ago, the kids and I took off to the Far East to visit my family in Malaysia. The trip was a lot of fun but the flights were not so fun for poor Dinoboy who suffered from earache, airsickness and at one point, a nosebleed too. Missy Moo was fine but insisted on spending some time holding a sickbag up to her face in sympathy. Whilst we were there, my brothers had made arrangements for a family weekend to Singapore and another weekend trip to the seaside. The kids very much enjoyed spending time with their cousins and meeting aunts, uncles, grand-aunts, grand-uncles etc. They also got to wear all those nice clothes I made for them! I don't think I got around to sharing the tank top Dinoboy is wearing. He loves this top as much as he loved the elephant one.



Whilst in Singapore, we visited the Gardens by the Bay which is an amazing park newly opened earlier on in the year. In the photo above, you can see the two conservatories and the 'supertrees' in the background behind the kids. Here's another shot of the awesome supertrees. These are tree-like structures which dominate the park's landscape. There's also an amazing elevated walkway between the structures. 



Inside one of the the cooled conservatories, we walked through permanent displays of plants from all over the world. The kids ran about ooh-ing and ahh-ing over unusual plants and incredible flowers.



In the other conservatory, the kids and I were amazed by a 100-foot waterfall and wonderful displays of plant species found normally in tropical mountain regions. We took an elevator right up to the top of the dome where the waterfall began it's vertical drop down and walked along a circular suspended walkway all the way back down.



Dinoboy, with his great love of all things animal related, had always wanted to visit Singapore Zoo. The kids spent a delightful day madly dashing about the zoo taking in all the sights. (Note the mummy-made clothing!)



My poor kids being all pale in comparison to their cousins, got very pink in the heat. Look at how pink little Missy Moo got. It was a right job getting her to keep a sunhat on her head.



The kids had a blast in Singapore. And they didn't mind when I told them to go pose for silly pictures like this one.



Missy Moo never did need any encouragement to strike a funny pose for photos. She's such a clown.



The weekend after we got back from Singapore, the whole family visited a local seaside resort called Port Dickson. The kids played on the beach and enjoyed their cousins' company in the hotel pool. Here's Missy Moo trying to bury her feet in the sand.


 

The three weeks flew by so quickly.  Dinoboy and Missy Moo want me to share some other photos of a very special place for them. I'll do it in my next holiday memories post.

I'm baaackkk!!!

Hello Friends. I’ve been away from blogosphere for some time. Sorry!

We had a lovely time in Malaysia with the family and then we got home and things went crazy with work for many weeks. The kids went back to school and my work was still crazy busy. It’s now starting to calm down and I can breathe again. Although I’ve not been blogging, I have not been idle. I have soooo much to share with you! I think I will start with this –



Missy Moo’s hair is starting to get long. Keeping it off her face at mealtimes and just generally making sure it’s tidy for school are important issues for us (well, for me and Missy Moo. The men in our family do not crowd their brain space with such clutter). So since Missy Moo likes pretty things, I found some nice inspiration off the web and now we go to school like this –



(please excuse slight mess above bow .... this was done quickly sans a comb!) She is pleased.



Since then, I have made 2 more bow barrette clips for her for school (in school sanctioned colours) and 2 pink ones for home. Every time we go to the craft store, she asks for more ribbon to make more bow barrettes! I’ve taken photos so there’ll be a tutorial up shortly on how to make one of these bow barrettes.

Wishing you all a very Happy Friday. It’s good to be back.

Last minute stuff and a whole lot of panic

I kept meaning to share the other stuff I made for the kids with you but one thing or another got in the way and in 2 hours time I am heading off with kids in tow to the airport to get on a plane heading towards South East Asia. We're going to Malaysia to visit my family. I have not been back in 7 years!! Very excited!

Here is the last of the jersey dresses for Missy Moo. as usual, she is thrilled with it.



Typical of my kid, she demands to wear it to school on the next non-uniform day and when she gets home from school that day, tells me that there is a hole in the back of her dress!!



It's a small hole but still a hole. No idea how she did it - probably caught it on something in the playground. So I sewed a small patch to it and it's fine now.

The boy has a new top too but I can't find the photos! I'll have to show you it when I get back from malaysia. I will have very limited internet access whilst I am there so I apologise if I don't reply to your comments. I have to go finish packing now and get the kids out of bed.

See you in a few weeks, friends. x

A brief interruption to our normal programming

There was a bit of excitement this morning. Quite unusually, all four of us were up at 6.00 am and out of the house some 25 minutes later. "Why?" I hear you ask. Well, it started a couple of weeks ago with this map.



It was about this thing.



Oh yes. The Olympic torch was making its way to our capital city and on the 44th day of its 70-day journey, it would be passing pretty close to the street we live on. The kids were delighted and immediately insisted they had to be there to watch. Then last week, the local council chaps hung a whole bunch of these up.



The kids were beside themselves with excitement. They even went to bed early last night. The weather was lovely this morning. We live just 5 minutes stroll from the main road along which the torch would be carried. Mr CraftyAdy and I had agreed upon a good spot from which we'd stand to watch the torch go by. The roads were quiet and there were some people about ... not many but there were some. I cleverly employ the use of arrows in the picture below to show you where these 'some people' are just in case you think that no-one would be as crazy as us to go stand beside the road at 6.30 in the morning.



We waited for about 25 minutes. Missy Moo was getting bored and lamenting about the wait. When told that she ought to be a bit patient, she declared "Patience takes too long!" Despite Dinoboy's efforts to entertain her, the moaning continued.



Soon more people turned up, including this chap in his pyjamas and dressing gown.



Then the first convoy arrived. These were mostly open-top buses advertising the sponsors (eg the banks, Coca Cola)



Here is Wenlock, the Olympics mascot for the London 2012 Olympics, hanging out of a car. Apparently Wenlock is based on a short story by children's author Michael Morpurgo that tells how it and it's partner, Mandeville, were fashioned from droplets of the steel used to build the Olympic stadium.



The first convoy passed us by with some fanfare and we had to wait another 5 minutes before the torch finally turned up.



We got a pretty good view and up to now I have no idea who this chap was! But he did a good job, smiling and waving as he jogged along to the next point where the next torch bearer was waiting.



We waited 25 minutes and watched the torch go by in about 30 seconds. Then it was home for breakfast and a warming cup of tea. The kids enjoyed the experience and no doubt it will be a major talking point in the playground at school tomorrow morning.

We will shortly return to topics related to sewing for small people.

Forest friends tee-dress

Here is the second tee-dress I made for Missy Moo. This has superseded the purple space kids dress in popularity and is to date her most favourite item of clothing.



Her joy knoweth no bounds when she is in this dress.



When asked how much she loved the dress, this was her answer.



The sewing of clothing for small people is continuing. I will be back to share more results in a few days.

Have a great weekend.

Space kids tee-dress finished

This started out as a jersey vest top for Missy Moo but her royal Moo-ness wanted it to be a dress instead. I only got a half metre cut of this fabric and with careful cutting, I managed to squeeze out a skirt to sew to the top bit. She was very pleased with the dress.



I got the fabulous fabric from Kitschy Coo's shop and it was one of three jersey fabrics I bought from her.

Missy Moo wore this dress all weekend. Here she is throwing a few shapes around on the patio to illustrate how much she loves this dress.



There's a vest top for Dinoboy coming soon, another tee-dress for Missy Moo and a vest top for my niece too. It's all about sewing for the kids this week.

Easter bunny ears headband

I've had the past week off work to spend with the kids. I had annual leave to use up and since the kids were off school for Easter, it seemed a great opportunity to spend some time with them. Despite Easter itself being over, Missy Moo is still very much in an Easter mood.

I saw this tutorial that Amy put up over on her blog and wanted to make some Easter bunny ears for Missy Moo. A quick rummage around the stash bag yielded some white felt, a scrap of Easter themed fabric and a bit of elastic. It was a pretty quick and easy make (thanks Amy!) and the girl was very pleased with the outcome.



I used a bit of elastic at the back, instead of ribbon. Missy Moo wouldn't have been able to tie the ribbon. With the elastic, she can put it on and pull it off as she pleased.



Yep, she is very pleased with her Easter bunny ears. We're off to my godson's birthday party this afternoon and she's decided she will be wearing her bunny ears.



Here's a gratuitous action shot.



I hope you are enjoying your weekend, friends.

Pardon the unintentional rudeness

It's just Missy Moo telling us that this is the second time this Easter bonnet is making an appearance. She is not giving you the Longbowman Salute. Honest!

The bonnet first made its debut appearance here.

Yep. It is that time of the year again when infant schools and kindies send letters home with the kids to request - nay, demand - that the kids be sent to school on a particular day with an Easter bonnet. If I'm lucky, the letter will arrive just before the weekend, thereby giving me sufficient time to rush out to purchase the necessary supplies to make a suitably festive bonnet. If I am not lucky, it'll arrive on a Monday or Tuesday and will tell me that the bonnet must be presented during Friday's assembly. Panic will then ensue (since I work fulltime and can't get to the craft shop). Is not having a bonnet going to be an issue?



Yep - I thought as much.

This year's letter arrived on the Monday of the week it was needed. Luckily, I had saved last year's kindie bonnet and kept it in the wardrobe. I told Missy Moo that since this was her first year at school and no-one had seen her lovely bonnet before, she could wear it to school for this year's Easter bonnet parade. Fortunately, she agreed that it was a fabulous idea and my panic attack was nicely averted. Whew!

Do you think I'm going to be able to get away with reusing it again next year?

Forrest Gump's Mamma was right.

Forrest Gump said, "My momma always said, "Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get."

I think this could apply to lots of things in life - not just life in general. Take for example, digital cameras. I happened to download the images from my camera this weekend and was rather amused to find this image.



I wondered what it was and the next image along provided the answer.



Guess who's been playing around with my camera?!

I hope you are all having a lovely weekend. The weather here in the UK for the most part has been pretty awesome this weekend. Washing out drying on lines everywhere, folks in summer wear, the sound of a gazillion lawn-movers industriously going about their business and the smell of many barbeque fires being lit. The first day of British Summer time and it's a stonkingly marvelous day.

When the big boys come out to play

When little boys go play at pretend warriors, you sort of get something like this ...



Wooden sword, mum's wide elastic belt, roughly thrown together bits and bobs. It's a blast. But when the big boys (and girls) come out to play, you get this ...



And the big boys and girls get to go to neat markets where they can buy stuff like this ...



And authentic weapons like these ...



And these ...



Or if firepower is more your thing, these ...



A new Three Muskateers movie comes out this summer and I can imagine kids running around in gardens pretending to be D'Artagnan or Porthos or Aramis or Arthos, play fighting with sticks pulled off trees and teatowels as capes (that would be me and my brother and cousins when we were little!!) and battling the Cardinal's forces. Imagine how much cooler it'd be if there were these to play with ...



Big boys get proper shields too. None of that rubbish bin lids nonsense.



Last week, I visited a Re-Enactors market and was fascinated by the amazing stuff you get at events like this. I only went to see a man about some leather pieces. There was so much there. Not just the weaponary but the lifestyle stuff like clothing, drinkware, shoes etc.



How lovely are these glazed urns and jugs?



And I loved these buckets.



Apparently these shoes were so in-trend way back when. Christian Louboutins these are not.



There was even furniture (and tradesmen that dressed the part!)



And no two bob plastic drums for this lot either.



Next time I'll take my kids. They'll get a real kick out of seeing things like this.