Flood Update

Apparently, the UK has had the wettest Winter since records began in 1910 with 486.8mm of rain from 1 December 2013 to 19 February 2014. That may not seem like a lot to those countries who have monsoon but believe me, it's done enough damage to stay etched in people's memories for a long time to come. I hope those affected by floods get the insurance claims they need to get their lives back on track. However, for the farmers whose livelihoods have been changed forever, I really hope you get some compensation for your losses. It will not be enough but I hope it helps.

Christmas Paper Stars

Christmas paper stars

My daughter was shown how to make these at after school club. Here's a step by step guide. They're so easy and really effective.

 Take a square of paper, plain or printed. Fold in half diagonally twice to make a small triangle. From the single folded side cut 3 lines spaced evenly apart, ending about one inch from the 2 folded edges

 This is what it looks like unfolded once the cuts have been made.

 With some sellotape roll over and stick the inner pieces together.

 Turn over and repeat with the next pieces. They should look a bit like lanterns.

 And again. Make 5 more of these.

 When you have 6 of these, staple them all together in the middle.

 Should look something like this.

Then staple each piece together higher up to shape into a star. 

Enjoy. Make lots to hang from the ceiling in different bright Christmassy colours for an effective display.

Thanks to Vicky and the girls at after school club.

Christmas Snowhouse

Front view

Back view

This is a family tradition started by my parents when we were kids. Dad & mum always made a snowhouse or snowman that small gifts could be put inside, to put on the table after Christmas dinner. We decided to try and make one with my daughter the Christmas just gone. We made the main shape from a cardboard box and cut strips of card to stick to the outside to look like wooden planks. The roof is a separate piece of card covered with Christmas snow felt. We printed Christmas scenes from inside various homes found on the internet for the views inside the windows and framed with more strips of card. Battery lights and a silver sleigh with teddy reindeer and santa added finishing touches. Hope you like it. We had great fun making it.

Autumn Scrapbook 2

This is my scrapbook from a day in Bushy Park with my best friend. We went to school together but now she lives in Florida. We don't see each other anywhere near enough. So this day was extra special.

Autumn Scrapbook 1

My best friend from Florida was over for a couple of months helping to look after her sick dad, and we spent a lovely day collecting conkers from our childhood haunt Bushy Park. It was a great day of memories old and new for us, and new ones for my daughter. I made 2 scrapbooks, one for each of us to keep showing our special day. This is the one I sent her when she went home.

UK floods

I'm sure I'm not the only one who knows people who've been affected by the floods. I feel so sorry for them. My friend lives on the Thames by choice and yes she did know the risks. They built a house a couple of years ago and had to build on stilts. There were lots of regulations they had to follow. Now I know some people think hard luck they choose to live there but really? The rain we've had has been way more than expected and river levels have risen to levels that are unusual. No matter if they live there by choice they're still suffering and more needs to be done to prevent it getting so bad again. No we can't control nature but we can try to ensure things don't get so bad again.

Just a quick post to say I'm back and going to try to post craft stuff regularly. can't promise I will but I'm going to try.