Hallowe'en Craft Cafe

 You still have the Weekend to get Hallowe'en Crafting.

I love Hallowe'en - LOVE IT! and i don't want to hear any rubbish about anti-christianity and devil worship.

It is nothing of the sort. It is a Pagan festival full of celebration, not of 'naughtiness' but of thankfulness.

The dressing of ghoulies and ghosties is to shoooo away all the naughty spirits and celebrate the end of SummerTime, the end of the Harvest and recognise the beginning of a harder Winter.

 And children love it. The opportunity to go out AT NIGHT! or to get dressed up or to play at being naughty and fiendish... you know most adults would love this licence to Play too...

So we have celebrated in true Craft Cafe style.

We did some Ghosties on the sewing table and i have always loved how hard children try at the sewing. They are so tenacious and patient. They *want* it finished so badly.

 Paper Bags make easy and cheap 'treat bags' to collect their illicit goodies in or just feel part of the whole process (even if they are not allowed to go out treating) I just photo copied a £2 pack of stickers and enlarged them, so they could cut and paste them.

 The JuNk TaBlE

Always been the top most popular table at our Craft Cafe's.

The opportunity to build and paint for hours on end in a space big enough to house BIG projects.

It is fascinating to see how big children's work can get if you give them big tools and plenty of space. Such a liberating way to create that families at home rarely ever get (unless you get creating in the garden...)

 My nephew made the most awesome Dracula Castle. It rocked!

thank the lord for Toilet Rolls... the possibilities are endless but they do lend themselves to the making of Castle Turrets and Canon Guns.... (gotta love the Boys)

Please notice his Peg People DRACULAs along the top there, mwahahahaha....

 Some children go completely renegade.... they find items in the Craft Boxes that i never knew i had and they just go off on their own mission. This is so satisfying to watch. My job? usually to help show the best glue or tape for a particular job. And Needle threading. I spend 2 hours re-threading needles.

 Parents usually hate the painted bits.

i know, i am sorry. But it is so much fun to slap paint around.

 We love the Dads who turn up *waves at MrH in his fit hat*

This holiday we had lots of Granparents, a few Dads, a couple of au-pairs and some very excitable Mums.

It makes for an eclectic mix. There were 40 children crafting, including mine and my extended brood.

 Yep, that is mine. The one with the gappy teeth just in time for School photos.

How she can contain her excitement is beyond me.

Up at 6am "Mum Mum is it Craft Cafe today? is it?Is it??"

In competition with my Nephew, she too made a huge castle with various rooms and a COFFIN! for her Bride and Groom Zombies, complete with hidden string that lifts the lid for you. *so proud* (?)

 A collection of seasonal Brooches i wore for the day...

SO it is with the heaviest of hearts that i declare this was my last Craft Cafe as we know it.

I have said a fond farewell to this sticky chaos and it breaks my heart somewhat.

It has been 5 years that i have been running these Craft Cafes.

Every Thursday in the School Holidays... and i have loved every single session.

I cannot describe how being with the children makes me feel when they are sooo very proud of what they make. It fills me with selfish joy and pride. i have loved them.

There are many reasons that make this a sensible choice.

It is just 'time' for a break. I need a break and maybe someone else would like a chance to run some workshops now? i don't know.

I am relieved at the break. These things take alot of time and effort to organise and they rely on volunteers who make my life easier and it is time i said a big THANKYOU to all those who stay and help clear up!!

You have been the BEST.

The last mini Craft Cafe will be on Sunday 13th November

11.30am - 2pm

Boddington Village Hall (upstairs)

and downstairs will be the Christmas Gift Fair with lots of stalls.

£4 per child and we will make some decorations and Christmas Cards.

a last fond farewell for me. But maybe i will find some new plans and projects?

who knows....

i love it, i love it, i love it... The Other Me....

 It was the 'Hallowe'en Half Term' Craft Cafe on Thursday.

This marks the start of our 6th year! How time flies... and what a gorgeous sight to meet the children who have grown so much over  the years.

 Some of 'my girls' are too grown up now and this sort of environment is too tame for them. One of these girls came along to help me with the pom-pom spider table this time *waves at Jo* and that is such a warming thing. Community, Craft, Childhood,Friendship...

 And, with the passing of time, older children make way for new little hands and faces. I love meeting the parents and carers who all 'amaze' at how much effort their children put in to their works. I enjoy the barrage of questions about how and why!? we put on these workshops.

The continual comments to me "you should be a teacher, Kirsty - you should you know"

 There is another 'me'... inside me (if you know what i mean) and she is fat with happiness and home baking. She has 4 children of her own and a few fostered children. We sit round the farmhouse table 'Home Educating' and make models from Junk and obsess over making bird feeding fat balls.

For many years i thought that is who i would be.

 So, selfishly, The Craft Cafe is my way of slipping into that 'Other Me' skin and playing at that life for a while.

I LOVED it when 4 year old Meg was shouting Kirsty... kirsty... K I R S T EEEY at the other end of the room because she wanted help making a bead necklace and did i have "any more Sea Beads"? Who knows what she meant by Sea Beads? 5 months previous that child wouldn't join it without sitting on her Mothers lap and now she is hollering for help from 10 meters away.

 And generally, i am a person who hates chaos. I am not good with noise. I find children very hard work and i like to craft alone in silence.

So why, oh why, do i find myself stood in the centre of this mess - telling children how great their painty created mess is, positively welling up with pride for them and 'loving' my own centralness to all this madness?

It is the Other Me.

I like her. I would want to be her friend if i met her outside the village shop. I would want to sit in her messy kitchen drinking tea and having a gentle gossip. And weirdly, i would love to go home to my own neat little house afterward and enjoy calm and silence.

Maybe, this is the secret to our long enjoyed success of the Craft Cafe?

Many parents are putting on this Other Me overcoat? We are all enjoying the feeling of facilitating 2 hours of creativity and fun - where we all live in messy kitchens and let our children be crazed with creatvity?

Just thinking out loud..... x

Pumpkin Head

I need to apologise to Dorothy!
Dear Dot, i am sorry that you asked me to make a Pumpkin Brooch and i said i couldn't as i really doubted that i would have the time... But the thought of it played on my mind continually.... and then i DID make one! and i love him:) i love my pumkin head and i am sorry i didn't make one for you too.

So, i made him specifically to wear for my CRAFT CAFE next week but, it seems i have been enjoying him a little too much prior! I wore him to our little Harvest Festival and i wore him in the art room and i wore him to the Post Office...

Sorry i did not make you a Pumkin Head too Dot. Forgive me?

P.S the CRAFT CAFE is in Boddington: Thursday 29th October 10am - 12pm. Don't be late x

Today was quite un-crafty

Forgive me my UN-craftiness? I can barely bring myself to produce a blog post today!
Tuesday is my one 'mega' craft day of the week and all i managed were a few photos and cut a few felt shapes. I have run around like a mad woman doing 'jobs'. By 4pm all i had eaten was a Jam doughnut and a box of Apple Juice.
Still, i thought you'd like to see what i did... ABOVE shot - me on quick sugar high from Jam Doughnut.

New crochet toys delivered for selling on the Christmas Craft stall. YES, i feel bad that these aren't handmade but they look so cute sat with all the handmade lovliness i thought you might like them?

Ooops, me kissing the crochet toys. I do silly things alot. And sometimes i forget and i do silly things in public. I am just glad my 4yr old sees it as 'funny mummy' now, because in 10 years time i have to explain: "Mummy can't help it darling, she is a little bit mad"

So, i did stop at 4pm for a sit down and some Fish Fingers. The Toddle-Fish wanted Mama loving and who was i to deny her that?

Scream... this is what she and Daddy had made when i came in from the Post Office. The whole house was dark and i couldn't think where they were .... then i saw a glowing face in the playroom and... mmwwaahhhaaaaaha - THE PUMPKIN! (now being fed chips for dinner)

Then .... it snowed!
Bizarre day!

Hope you guys were craftier than me today? X