Here's an idea for Summer Holiday Fun or Home Educating Families...

Hire a local Village Hall / Community Centre - with an enclosed outside space is ideal. If the weather is really hot, consider putting up one of those dead simple and cheapo Marquees... to provide a bit of well needed shade. This advice is, of course, 'rich' as i was the only person today who managed to badly sunburn themselves.

And ask a few families to all chip in with the Hall cost and with the activities.

It might sound strange but you don't want 'too many' families as it can get a little bit manic and hectic. We do this every week and we have just 4 families with 8 children bewteen us. they are quite.... erm,,,,, LOUD! so we feel 8 children is enough (let alone the parents!)

I took a tray of pre-baked cakes for all the children to join and and decorate. Take some food colouring, a few packets of sweets and raisins, icing sugar, spoons - all that jazz - and that is snacking sorted.

If there is an adult who says they are not 'crafty' (is there such a thing?) then put them in charge of bringing all tea / coffee / drinks and milk to sustain the adults and children.

Then you set up several diffrent tables with the different activities on... The children can dip in and out of activities and bewteen playing as they want to. Each adult can bring something different to do. And that way, ideas and cost are spread pretty evenly.

Today, we decorated cakes.

And we did Marble Inking! We set up a long washing line to hang up our pictures. This was one of the major advantages to the gorgeous weather and crafting outside.

Somebody bought a big box of toys - somebody bought a big tub of Dressing-Up clothes - and I painted the Children's Faces as Dalmations and Pussy Cats....

Not that i'm telling you how to parent / play with your brood - heaven forbid! But this Weekly Play Club keeps our hard working group of Mums, a little bit saner. And it occured to me, if other parents booked a hall space in the Summer Hols, they could experience the fun we have? And it is surprising the skills and activities other parents have hidden.

Enjoy your kids.

Enjoy the Weather.

Enjoy life xxx

What we did today at... The Craft Cafe...

Every School Holiday, for the past, hmmmm, 4 and a half years? I have run what we called The Craft Cafe.
2 hours of creative mayhem for local children aged 3-13yrs. Todays theme was: ROBOTS!! There are various tables with different crafting activities, all set up and ready for when the families arrive... and one fantastic Crafter had already started his own ROBOT and decided to bring it along:

The children's joy, enthusiasm and talents! really astound me. Before i worked in 'craft' i worked with children. I loved it (love it still)

Parents, Grandparents, siblings, dads... they all pitch in with the children and the atmosphere is lovely.

Seeing the Dads get stuck in, really warms my soul... "Boys don't like Craft": what hogwash! The boys who attend are always hugely creative and enthusiastic - they often come and tell me their ideas for 'next time'

I average about 35 children per morning's session. Today's attendance hit an all time high with 50 children involved in crafting!! Plus a few extra babies who were passed from sticky handed to cake-y fingered adults.

I imagine that the parents are relieved to be able to 'walk away' from the mess at the end. The children seem happy that there are no real 'rules' for 2 solid hours and they can use as much of the crafty stuff as they want. As it's local, they get to see a few friends or meet some new faces too.

The activities were appropriate for ages 3 - 13yrs, with Robot puppets and badges. Design your own paper robot (and laminate him / her... Ooooh we all loved the laminating today)

And, the EVER popular "Junk Table" where anything goes!

You might imagine that a hall full of 50 children, plus adults, was rather chaotic? But children are not chaotic and hectic by nature - quite the opposite. Children are clever, observant, dilligent, curious and creative. It is just that THEY choose when to apply all these skills. Today was one of those occasions.

Of course, there is the 'Cafe' side to all this creativity. Today the Cafe was run by my Sister-in-Law to raise funds for the local Playgroup Association. mMMMmmmMM cakes....

I loved it!! ....I am also knackered.

I know not all the Crafters from today will read this but, if you do drop by, thankyou so much for coming, it was a great way to spend a VERY snowy half term Thursday xxx

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

Button BUGZ!

Let's hear it.... Ladies and Gentlemen... put your hands together for..... the Button Bugz!
IF you are coming to the OCTOBER half term CRAFT CAFE in Upper Boddington - then these might be on the Craft Menu. Mwah ha ha ha - (said in a sort of 'Hallowe'en' voice)
They are creepy, crawly, buttony and sprawly.

My LittleFish and i gave the recipe a trial and error run. They came out even better than i had imagined and they leave plenty of room for a childs own artistic interpretation! (we like them to take an idea and rrrrruuunnnn with it)

This is one side of those MINI selection cereal boxes - to give you an idea of the size of body you need. Don't make it much bigger or the legs might not hold up the body. Before you start, punch a few holes down each side. I made FOUR holes on each side of the body.

I told LittleFish to keep the holes FREE of stuffs when decorating. Obviously she didn't, so i had to rummage through the body's fluffs n' stuffs to find them again.

As demonstrated by my angel (below) stick lots of great stuff on the body, including many goggly eyes. Use whatever you have? pompoms, ribbon, tissue paper, eyes, pens.... always use good strong sticky glue.

I use this glue>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> for everything. Tis fantastic! water it down a bit and use it as a varnish too.

Cut 4 PIPE CLEANERS into 8 legs.... (who smokes a pipe nowadays?) and that is: EACH pipe cleaner in HALF for those who struggle with the maths :)

Thread a button on to the end of each bendy fluffy stick. They want to try and be the same length as each other - but the world won't stop turning if they differ in length muchly.

And... thread the un-buttony end through those holes i warned you about at the beginning.

They might not stand very well till the whole body is DRY - warn your child about this when they start to cry as the bug won't stand on it's own. This will get better - later.

COOLIO! me luffs the bugz. I'll let you have this idea and use it too if you like! i love crafting with kids. I could suggest you buy your buttons through me, but if this is not your first visit to the blog, you know that by now xxxx happy bugging people x

That's a good idea....
I'm not sure what they're actually doing. Something with paint / water / washing-up liquid. Blowing the bubbles and putting paper over the top to form bubbly pictures.
I think there is ONE rule only to this - BLOW do not suck!
(i love LittleFish's sideways glance here, checking out what daddy is doing)


yippee for bubble pictures!

not recommended for very small children - for obvious soap filled mouth reasons....

What's in your pocket?

Oooh, Hello Nibbles... are you coming out for a bit? ....Just thought you'd sniff about? see what's going on?

I wouldn't bother my little furry friend - it's raining outside........

.... again.

A SURPISE bag!! freebie giveaway...

I've got plans.....
I'm feeling fractious....
There are plans afoot....
Sometimes i need to rid myself of excess energies and excitements... SO my blog reading, craft loving friends: A GIVEAWAY! Yes, a surprise bag of goodies that will be an assortment of wonderful items in the brighest of rainbow colours and fun designs...

Tell your friends, tell your bloggy chums, i might even give away more than ONE! I know, what's come over me? The sun is out this morning and i am having a big tidy up so who knows what will happen?

Leave me a comment :) leave some sort of email contact or blog link and i will let you know x

Why do i look depressed in that last photo? I'm not - that's me looking at the Laptop screen waiting for you to say "helllloooo KirstyFish".... deadline? ummmm, maybe Friday? x x x

...because i found a spare 5 minutes in my day...

Herby Shallots pickled in Balsamic Vinegar...
Yes, i did have a few spare minutes to whip this jar of pickles up. It's no hassle my time-keeping friends. I was at home yesterday anyhow - putting 7 loads of washing through the washing machine >>>washing line > >>back upstairs 'routine' (long story involving sick child and many washed duvets and bed linens)
Let me BEGIN by clearly stating, i don't think this is the very 'best' use of a bottle of expensive Balsamic vinegar...! I am not made of money but i had 2 un-opened bottles from Christmas gift sets so this seemed like a fine use for 1 of those spare bottles... So... about 500g (when peeled) of the smallest shallots i could find
250ml Balsamic vinegar
2 large teaspoons brown sugar
A few sprigs of Thyme
(I am not a huge Thyme fan. I have a large bush of the stuff but don't use it a great deal as it isn't to my tastes but i think it will suit these pickles)
A few twigs of Rosemary (LOVE this stuff - i have so much to tell you about Rosemary...)

Bung it all in a large heavy based saucepan>>> this is my BIG pan 'for all culinary occasions' everything gets cooked in here and it wasn't expensive...

Simmer for about 30mins till the onions are tender but still with a crunch to them - not all soft and saggy.

...Cool them off.

Pour into a Kilner Jar (or whatever you're using) i always sterilize my jars. I put the rubber rings into boiling water. I wash the whole jar in hot soapy water. I then put them in the warm oven for about 20mins.

I have only made this one jar with these ingredients.

Now it is sealed and i'm going to put it in the back of my cupboard for a month or two before opening at some impromtu family food gathering (of which there are many in my family!)

I worry they'll be quite over powering having just used the Balsamic vinegar but i imagine the brown sugar will ofset that.

Next time i will add Coriander seeds and Black Peppercorns too....

Face Painting...

Face painting happend on Sunday - for one very good reason...
I have (yet another) bout of food poisoning (urrggghh) - "want to know how to drop a dress size or 2, in 7 painful days?....." So all child-inspired activities are, at present, on a 'stay at home' and 'stay seated' basis!!
Isn't she great?
She wanted to do her own face....

And this is the child that rarely EVER sits still!

The straight back...

The concentration...

Soooooo cute x

And THEN, that horrifying moment "Mummy, can i paint your face?"

mmmm yes / no / yes / no / yes / go on then...

Well, she was happy :)

I wish i had shown you the REST of our bodies - before i ran that huge bubble bath for us both!!

It would have been too revealing to share my friends x

Ugh, Face painting and Food poisoning.

I am literally off to bed now to continue dying a slow and smelly death.

Normal Service is resumed...

Sunshiny 'me' shot to show you this lovely denim dress / top / smock thingy - i love the frilly stand up collar. The grey cardigan is new - not colourful, i know but sometimes a little sobriety can be calming. Craft days with the SmallFish - an amazing painted collage mobile. The square item is an old threads box - with hanging tubes cut from an old toilet roll. I love this x

Then there is the birth of 'Arthur' which was very much like watching a caterpillar emerge from a cocoon ..... a toilet roll (staple craft supply) a piece of card and some 'deatils' (as SmallFish calls them) transform themselves before our very eyes...

The Pipe cleaners were my idea (i like to take a small bit of credit where i can. I can't have my daughter outshine me in all aspects of colourful crafting)

And look how 'Arthur' turned out? Stunning! and fluttering his way through the vegetable trays.

The cost was pence.

The fun was a-plenty.

The organisation was spontaneous.

The pride was IMMENSE.

Got a crafty child?.... have a go! tis so easy and fulfilling x