Sticky Saturday: Shaving Foam and Paint Marbling

Sticky Saturday: messy play fun with kids

 

After a few months of fobbing the kids off with not-so-messy messy play, due to being very pregnant or having a brand new baby, I decided to give them something to make up for it.

Proper messy messy play.

Full of finger swirling, hand print smooshing and apron wearing fun.

 

Set up was easy, I did it one handed with baby Zander in a sling.

I simply sprayed shaving foam across all the tables, added dollops of paint (being very careful that everyone got a varying colour combination because I'm anal like that).

I invited the kids in a few at a time, (rather than all thirty-five!) and tried to 're-load' the tables in between

 

 

I left them to swirl and smush to their hearts content, then slapped on a piece of sugar paper and peel it away revealing beautiful marbled pictures.

(Warning: don't let the shaving foam and paint covered kids help with this bit else you'll have a piece of paper with paint on both sides and mildly bemused parents).

 

 

I love the multi-coloured patterns.

 

Wreck it Wednesday: Colour Outside the Lines

Wreck it Wednesday: a page from one of my journals.

I love this page but I'm a tiny bit gutted I failed in my mission to colour outside the lines...there's an accidental speck inside the lines...boooo.
 

 

About 'Wreck This Journal' by Keri Smith

(Description from Amazon)

It is book for those who've always wanted to draw outside the lines but were afraid to do it. For anyone who's ever wished to, but had trouble starting, keeping, or finishing a journal or sketchbook comes Wreck This Journal, an illustrated book featuring a subversive collection of suggestions, asking readers to muster up their best mistake - and mess-making abilities to fill the pages of the book (and destroy them).

Through a series of creatively and quirkily illustrated prompts, acclaimed artist Keri Smith encourages journalers to engage in "destructive" acts - poking holes through pages, adding photos and defacing them, painting with coffee, colouring outside the lines, and more - in order to experience the true creative process. With Keri Smith's unique sensibility, readers are introduced to a new way of art and journal making, discovering novel ways to escape the fear of the blank page and fully engage in the creative process.

 

Tempting Tuesday: Carrot and Courgette Rolls

Tempting Tuesday: trying not to kill my family with my experimental cooking.

I thought this week I'd do a healthy snack, especially as breastfeeding my little man beast is making me the hungriest person in the land and rather than living off cereal bars, I need to fill my fridge with some good stuff. 

Inspired by quite a different recipe for similarly shaped food with different contents (courgette round the outside, filled with cream cheese & Stilton), I went for this. 

Here goes...

 

 

One carrot, one courgette and a dollop of soft cheese. 

I grated the carrot and mixed in the cheese. I don't know how much I put in, just enough to make it stay put when I roll it up and then I added a bit more to make it creamier. 

Using a vegetable peeler, I sliced up the courgette, plunged it in hot water and a little salt for a minute, then put it into cold water.
 

 

I put a little dollop of carrot onto a slice of courgette and rolled it up like sushi. 

 

As I was worried about how soggy everything was (the courgette was still damp and carrots always tend to be quite wet when you grate them) I placed all my little rolls on some kitchen roll, packed them all up nicely (patted the contents down and topped up as required) and put them in the fridge for 30 minutes.
 

 

They are really yummy, in a very refreshing way, but I feel like they are a tad bland, like they need something else. I'm yet to work out what that is. Any ideas? They taste much better with a little salt and pepper. I also tried sweet chilli sauce (I think adding a little spice in the soft cheese might be good) and chunks of mature cheddar but I'm not sold in the idea of mixing cheddar with soft cheese. My most successful experiment was fresh mint. Maybe next time I'll chop up some leaves and mix them with the carrots.

 

Comment below if you can think of any way to make them less...boring. 

Monday Make: Baby Clothes Made Super Easy

Monday Make: This week's project

I really wanted to make Zander some super comfy jersey trousers and I have a rather marvelous fabric stash.

I could have spent hours making a pattern (I have all the books from uni) but there's no point when he'll grow out of them in a few weeks, so I just cut around a pair we already had, leaving a little extra on the seams to give me a little seam allowance. I also made them shorter and wider to account for my short, fat baby (all of my children have been blessed with my short legs).

A little bra elastic round the waist (also from my stash - it's so soft and gentle on little bellies) and we're done.

I also added an applique star on a plain boring t-shirt to make a matching outfit, which is super easy to do if you have some bondaweb or wonderweb. You just iron it on, cut your shape out, iron it onto the tee and stitch round the edges (it doesn't last the wash no matter how well stuck it feels after ironing).

Easy as pie.

Cutting around clothes we already own to make new ones is something I do all the time. If you know it fits, it'll work. Just don't forget your seam allowance.

 

 

 

Silent Sunday

Sticky Saturday: Jellyfish

Sticky Saturday: messy play fun with kids

 

This week we made paper bowl jellyfish.

We used curling ribbon, googly eyes and these marvelous mosaic stickers we had leftover from another craft.

Unfortunately, due to the fact that just as I opened the craft room, Zander decided he was hungry, I didn't get many photos until the end when everyone was pretty much done, but hey ho. That's life.

I managed to snap a few before they left the craft room, and brilliant they are too!

 

Wreck it Wednesday: Tear This Page Out and Wash it

Wreck it Wednesday: a page from one of my journals.

I love the way this page feels now it's been washed.

 

About 'Wreck This Journal' by Keri Smith

(Description from Amazon)

It is book for those who've always wanted to draw outside the lines but were afraid to do it. For anyone who's ever wished to, but had trouble starting, keeping, or finishing a journal or sketchbook comes Wreck This Journal, an illustrated book featuring a subversive collection of suggestions, asking readers to muster up their best mistake - and mess-making abilities to fill the pages of the book (and destroy them).

Through a series of creatively and quirkily illustrated prompts, acclaimed artist Keri Smith encourages journalers to engage in "destructive" acts - poking holes through pages, adding photos and defacing them, painting with coffee, colouring outside the lines, and more - in order to experience the true creative process. With Keri Smith's unique sensibility, readers are introduced to a new way of art and journal making, discovering novel ways to escape the fear of the blank page and fully engage in the creative process.

Tempting Tuesday: Chocolate Pear Betty

Tempting Tuesday: trying not to kill my family with my experimental cooking.


My sisters Apple Betty (Nigel slater recipe) is Mr Strawberry's favourite putting. 

My parents recently celebrated their silver anniversary and there were a few loaves of bread left over from the buffet so I yoinked one, originally to make a bread and butter pudding but after a rummage in the cupboard I found (just) enough ingredients to make this. And since Mr Strawberry is feeling a bit rough after his operation, a sexy pudding is just what the doctor ordered, I'm certain. 

I changed the recipe I found  online due to what I had in the cupboard.

Here's my amended version.

Includes the oldest tin of golden syrup ever, a tin of pears
rather than fresh, a loaf of stale bread, some random sliced
almonds & the last of my personal stash of dark chocolate. 

Ingredients:

tin of pear halves in juice

130g breadcrumbs

75g sugar

100g dark chocolate

75g butter

3 tbsp golden syrup

double cream or vanilla ice cream to serve

I whizzed up the bread slices in my super
whizzer (food processor). Looks like poo
when you take a photo mid whizz.

Make the bread crumbs and chop the chocolate.

Mix chocolate, sugar & breadcrumbs together. 

Some of the bread crusts wouldn't go smaller in the whizzer.
Probably shouldn't have included them but the crusts looked
too good to waste. 

Lay the pears in a buttered baking dish. 

Sprinkle over the topping mixture. 

Melt the butter & golden syrup together and then drizzle over the top.

Ready for the oven.

I sprinkled over some sliced almonds for fun (mostly because during my cupboard rummage I got over excited). 

Bake at 190°C for 35 minutes. 

The top should be delightfully gooey and chewy. The almonds give it a lovely crunch which went well with the chunks of crust.

Yummmmmm.

Now please excuse me while I go fetch myself a second serving...

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Monday Make: Zander's Name Plaque

Monday Make: This week's project

 

I have always wanted to create a nursery but never had an real need for one since the older boys shared our room for the first year of their lives and then they got a little boy's room rather than a baby nursery. But when I was about 36 weeks pregnant with baby number 3, I suddenly decided all this baby stuff wasn't going to fit in our room and I needed a nursery.

Being only 6 weeks old, he doesn't sleep in there yet, but it gives me the space to be more organized.

Today, it is one step closer to being completely finished with the addition of something that absolutely had to be made (I couldn't make it until he was born because we were keeping his name a secret).

And boy, did I have fun.

 

 

 I found an old piece of wood in the garden, gave it a quick layer of watered-down white paint.

Printed off the letters and taped the paper to the wood.

 

 

Hammered in a gazillion wood pins and tore the paper off.

(Just so you know, tweezers are fabulous for picking out those tiny bits of paper that get caught under the pins).

 

 

Then, I spent an age wrapping, unwrapping, re-wrapping wool, until I was happy with my technique.

It was fiddly, but totally worth it.

 

Then I made some cute, fluffy, little clouds and hung them, along with some shiny, silver stars from the wood (they're stapled in at the back).

I love it so much. I hope Zander does too.

 

 

 

Silent Sunday

Sticky Saturday: Scratch Art Monsters

Sticky Saturday: messy play fun with kids



Ed and his monster.

This week's messy play wasn't very messy, mostly due to the fact that I had three children to look after thanks to an inset day at the boys school, but it was still a lot of fun.

Baker Ross, an amazing website with tons of craft project stuff, sell these delightful scratch art monster fridge magnets. The sets come with everything you need and the kids never seem to tire of scratch art and the simple way it works. Even my older boys (messy play at our tots group is aimed at 0-4 years old) at the ripe old ages of eight and (almost) seven still love it.

Bean and his monster

Even the mums can't help themselves.

Wreck it Wednesday: Poke Holes in This Page

Wreck it Wednesday: a page from one of my journals.

I mostly hate this page and wish I'd done something different with it, but I guess that's part of the process. I have learnt that the 'wreck this journal' communitee are strong believers in not re-doing pages, no matter how much you hate them, because it's not about creating perfect works of art on every page.

 

About 'Wreck This Journal' by Keri Smith

(Description from Amazon)

It is book for those who've always wanted to draw outside the lines but were afraid to do it. For anyone who's ever wished to, but had trouble starting, keeping, or finishing a journal or sketchbook comes Wreck This Journal, an illustrated book featuring a subversive collection of suggestions, asking readers to muster up their best mistake - and mess-making abilities to fill the pages of the book (and destroy them).

Through a series of creatively and quirkily illustrated prompts, acclaimed artist Keri Smith encourages journalers to engage in "destructive" acts - poking holes through pages, adding photos and defacing them, painting with coffee, colouring outside the lines, and more - in order to experience the true creative process. With Keri Smith's unique sensibility, readers are introduced to a new way of art and journal making, discovering novel ways to escape the fear of the blank page and fully engage in the creative process.