Chalkboard pots

I don't know if you do this as well, but I often buy a small pot of spring bulbs to put on a window sill, then plant them out when they've finished flowering, to add colour to the garden or in my pots for next year. Then I promptly forget where I've planted them and add something else!

chalkboard pots

Last week I bought two terracotta plant pots to use at a craft club I go to, got home and then received an email telling me what size I needed, and realised I'd got them too big. So, I decided to use them to plant my latest batch of bulbs in. This time though, I had a cunning plan!
I used some chalkboard paint I already had and painted around the top rim section. My paint came from Wilkinsons, is quite old and rather thick, so one coat was fine for me.

so easy!

When it was dry, I used a waterproof pen to write on the chalkboard section what was in the pots, in my best teacher's handwriting. You could do this for any plants or seeds really, even add details if you need to, and, just repaint if you want to change the contents. The pen I used by the way is a Zig posterman waterproof that I got from a local art shop.
When they've finished flowering, I'll pop them in a corner out of the way, until next spring and know exactly what's in them!
At the moment it is poring with rain, again, and they are looking good! I'm looking forward to joining in with Handmade Monday again and seeing what all the other talented bloggers have been up to.


all planted out in that rare sunny moment

Little boxes, little boxes

... made of felt and fabric.
I have been making felt bags for a long time now, but I also wanted to make felt boxes. Pickle-Lily is the hand bag queen, but she also has lots of boxes. Her schema is definitely putting things in bags and boxes! So I set to work!

Already full!

My first one, was quite big, based on a 30cm square. I used iron on interfacing to stiffen the fabric, which made turning it out tricky, as it was so stiff. So I downsized my starting squares and am now very, very happy with the finished product.

pencil tub

In fact I got rather carried away with making them. as you can see! P has now asked me to make four with the letters l, o ,v and e on, and she has got a birthday coming up!

reversible felt and fabric boxes

There are lots of tutorials for these out in blogland, but if you would like it, I can do one on here. I'm joining in Handmade Monday this week, and hopefully there'll be no IT issues!!!!

I T was bad!

Little birdies

At the end of January I filled in my tax return on-line, and a few days later I received an email telling me there was a problem detailed in the attached file. And yes, dear reader I opened it :(
I immediately did the thing Mr P-L told me not to do when I spoke to him on the phone later. I shut the computer down - apparently it embeds the nasty bit in the boot system and makes it much more difficult to get rid off.
Luckily, Mr P-L is a computer whizz-kid and could get rid of the nasty bug, rebuild nearly everything and make the computer even better, stronger, faster and it didn't even cost six million dollars!!! I know, the last reference really dates me, for my younger reader, it is similar to a 'vintage' tv programme's opening credits 'The Six Million Dollar Man'.
But, it all took time. So, for several very long weeks, where the younger members of this household berated me and complained about having to change all their passwords, we were without a computer.
The point to my long tale is - if you get such an email - don't open it no matter how real it looks and don't turn the computer off.

blue tit

In the meanwhile, I have been up to all sorts of things, including feeding the birds in my garden. I have a bird feeding station outside my kitchen window and I love watching the birds. Last week, there was an enormous kerfuffle in the garden and son went to investigate. He told me a large pigeon had pinned down a small brown bird and the little bird was squealing. When he opened the back door, the little bird managed to fly away and the 'pigeon' gave him a glare before it too flew off. I asked him if the pigeon was brown with speckles and had orange eyes, which it had, and we then decided a sparrowhawk was more likely!!!

blackbird

All the visitors inspired me to make some little felt birds to remind me of my garden - so I have made a robin, a blackbird, a chaffinch and a blue tit. They will be in my Folksy shop when I have finished writing this blog post!

chaffinch

robin

Forest School Log - Ice Mobiles

Ice mobiles

The week started out  with a frost, so I decided this week's forest school would make use of it. So we made ice mobiles. These are very easy to make and like all the other forest school activities can be easily done at home.
The children donned their wellies and we squelched and sloshed about looking for 'interesting things'. They mostly chose natural objects, leaves, berries, fir cones and daisies! It shows how mild it is to find daisies in January!!!

arrange your findings

These were carefully arranged in ice-cream tubs, but you could also cut down milk containers and use the 'tub' that produces. A large loop of wool (or string) was also laid in the arrangement and then water carefully poured over, just enough to cover the contents. Making sure one end of the loop was well down in the water and the other half is draped out of the tub.
My plan had been to leave them out to freeze, but the weather became milder and the rain started - again. So I put them carefully in the freezer. When they were ready, a quick dip in some warm water to loosen them and then they were hung on a tree to bob in the wind. The children loved them and so did I!
I thought I would add this to Handmade Monday this week, as something different to make!! Why not see what everyone else is up to?

 



Penguin post

Happy Handmade Monday!
The good news is that the sea stayed behind the wall last week-end and we slept safely. The weather has made it very soggy and muddy around here, but life has continued it's weekly round of school, dancing, guides and very little crafting for me. I am busy trying to do my tax return ready for the end of the month and any helpful advice would be very much appreciated!

penguins

I have redesigned the penguin key rings with Valentines and Mothering Sunday in mind, and the jammy dodger key rings are one of Folksy's Valentine gifts which is boost! I've got lots of ideas simmering away, and I'm having to keep them firmly at the back of my mind for now!
One thing I am struggling on is a 21st Birthday gift for my nephew - he's not likely to drive and an alcoholic theme isn't really appropriate either so again, any suggestions would be very welcome!

Forest School Log - Mud!!!!!

As I have posted before I am lucky enough to teach Forest School four afternoons a week, and to be honest they are the best afternoons!
This week it has been very muddy in our little patch, and because it gets so much use it has just got muddier and muddier. The activity the children and I came up with was building our own walkway over the mud using the materials we could find. Mind you, it still didn't stop them playing 'Stuck in the mud' for real, skidding in the mud and 'accidently' falling over!
It was interesting to see how the different classes tackle the activity. One class made stepping stones using logs, whilst another laid them down next to each other. I also loved seeing the co-operation, kindness, encouragement and bravery that was happening.



Yummy hot chocolate!

We even ended up on Wednesday drinking hot chocolate in the rain - and guess what, I was told it tasted even better! (I thought it might have had something to do with the mini marshmallows myself!)

Getting crafty

I'm sitting here in a very wild and wet Somerset writing my blog, when I should be doing lesson plans, waiting for high tide this evening, and hoping the sea will stay below the sea wall!
I made Mr P-L a key ring for Christmas, based on the idea that I love him more than jammy dodgers. I did get a bit carried away and made lots, so those are now for sale in my Folksy shop.

I love you more than jammy dodgers!

 I was then left with all the little hearts I had cut out of the middle of my felt biscuits. So today, after forcing my children to write thank-you notes for their presents, I used the left over hearts to make some very simple thank-you cards of my own, to give to the children at school for their gifts they gave me.

I don't waste anything!

The lovely gingham printed paper comes from Mrprintables and I just glued the hearts onto the front. No where near as intricate as the ones you see on Wendy's Handmade Harbour, but I am pleased with them!

Simple thank-you cards

This week week I am planning to join in with Handmade Monday and catching up with everyone, so I will finish by wishing you all a very happy New Year.

Happy 2014