Into Lockdown Number 3 We Go .........

Ahhhhhh .......... the best laid plans of mice and men eh?  All I can say is here we go "a' flipping gen", although, along with an awful lot of other people I sort of thought that something like this was going to happen, but thank goodness for all our "support bubbles" this time around.  

Fortunately Monday was a Teacher Training Day so Iris and Bertie weren't actually in school, thank heavens for small mercies with no chance of any bugs being passed on after a very "safe" Christmas break spent away from people other than those in their "Christmas bubble. So after Boris's announcement we quickly worked out our childcare plan. During the first and second lockdown Tom wasn't working and was able to take care of all the home schooling, but now he's back in the lab.  Laura, bless her, has studied all the rules on the Gov UK site and, in principle, what we have come up with should work.  Iris and Bertie will come to me on a Wednesday as they will undoubtedly be champing at the bit for a change of scene in familiar surroundings as lockdown drags on. I will  then go home with them at the end of the day until Friday evening, to save on any unnecessary to-ing and fro-ing ......... My My Little Pony case is packed, along with my chaii latte, coffee and a monkey or two.

I will return to the Towers for a long weekend to help catch my breath, especially as Tom says home schooling is pretty grueling. There will also be other things that I will need to get done like the odd e-mail, getting bills paid and attempting to get an online shopping order now and again.

I am bracing myself for a few tears, tantrums and a long hard slog, but this is an infinitely better situation than last time, when I didn't see/smell/cuddle those two rogues for twelve long weeks, apart from watching Bertie's birthday party through the kitchen window right at the very beginning and that broke my heart.

Soooooo, I am aiming to post on a Monday only, for a little while, because I am just not sure what or when I will be crafting or if I'll even be in the mood ...... Fiddle Fart might just turn, temporarily, into an account of home schooling exploits, but I'll be dammed if this virus stops me from doing  something that keeps me sane and in the case of  "those flipping monkeys" always looking for the funny, bright side of life ............. so it's upwards and onwards, to infinity and beyond ........

................................... see you next Monday!

School Run Biscuits – Jane Asher Edible Ink Marker Pens

I said before Christmas how impressed I was with  the Jane Asher edible ink marker pens I found in Home Bargains for just £1.69, just check out the prices they are selling them for elsewhere!

Soooooooo impressed, it would have been rude not to buy another pack for me, already thinking of Valentines Day and Easter, plus another pack for my lovely neighbour Kata across the hall who is known for her baking.

The school run is pretty slow and monotonous at the best of time, but especially so in the last couple of weeks before the school broke up…….

……… so these very basic designs on plain, oblong biscuits helped lift our flagging spirits when we would stop off at around the half way mark to sit on an old tree stump for a cup of hot chocolate.

I have to admit, the colour ran when dunked, occassionally giving Iris and Bertie mouths worthy of a Halloween Trick or Treat disguise, blue mouths are never that good a look ……..

……. but memories, I hope, were made, with plenty of other themes/ideas to follow.

Aghhhhhh, Undecking The Halls ............. A New Years Plan

This is a fill-in/bitty post while I try and get a New Year rhythm back to my crafting and posting. At the moment I am not really feeling it, so my apologies if it takes a while to bed in again, at the moment I am hoping to simply post on a Monday and Tuesday, perhaps a Wednesday  ......... we shall see.

Fiddle Fart of Yore

For the first time in years I didn't post any pictures of my festive shelves or sills, I'll be honest I cut back a bit, sadly remembering that I lost two of my vintage Empoli genie bottles in the "putting everything back" process this time last year, which I really kicked myself for.  However, despite this cull on festive tut, as I started to put everything away yesterday, (a job I hate with vengeance), I found that things just wouldn't fit back in my very limited cupboard space like they used to ............

Fiddle Fart of Yore

......... and I confess that in the end it all started to get on my nerves, I didn't look upon much of it fondly as I put everything away, I just realised that I had far too much stuff, most of it tat, simply because it was Christmasy and it had to go! So, for next year, to misquote George Michael, badly " ..... to save me from tears" I'm going to give the vast majority of it back from whence it came, i.e charity shops, although there might be a few bits that I will pass on to Marc and Rick for the cottage garden, like the lanterns and a few of the old "vintage" ceramic bits might go on eBay, but as nothing has any sentimental value I just feel overwhelming the urge to get rid.

Unfortunately, I will have to live with the boxes for a bit longer because said shops are either closed or not taking much new stuff in at the moment but hopefully by around Easter the cull will begin in earnest. 

The whole thing has always been part of my wanting to "make memories" for Iris and Bertie, but perhaps even for them it was all too much, I need to go back to my crafting mantra that "less really is more", rather than totally bombard and befuddle them and any other visitor with all that is Christmas. In the bedrooms the bedding is de rigueur, but there will be a strict limit of ten decorations per room on the shelves, with a curtain of lights at the window.

Then in lounge/kitchen/diner again just a few choice decorations in among my usual tranklements on one shelf only, with my two beloved bejewelled trees (Dunelm 2013) sitting on the drawers either side of my sofa. My twig tree has suited my Christmas's so far at The Towers, but I think perhaps I will replace it next year with a very small live tree that I can plant somewhere on the bank at the back afterwards, perhaps even bringing it in the following year to use again?  However, I plan to keep it for another year at least, as Halloween just wouldn't be Halloween without it.

It all sounds very pared down, but I am no spring chicken, I love Christmas, but on January 3rd 2022  I would just like to put away all that remains after this cutback in an hour at the most, without all the fuss .......... well, that's my New Years plan anyway and if it doesn't work, just think of all the fun I can have replenishing all the bits and pieces I gave away or sold!

Happy Days ........................... I hope!

New Year 2021 …….

Well, I think it has to be a tentative "Hello" to 2021 …… only because of what 2020 bought with it ......

....... however, not wishing to jinx anything, naturally I felt I had to toast the New Year in with a chilly Long Island Iced Tea, my cocktail of choice ...... well, it would have been rude not to!

No resolutions this year, just the hope that we can all continue to stay safe while patiently waiting the call/text to arrange our appointments to finally receive the Covid-19 vaccine, I tell you, my sleeve is already well and truly rolled up in anticipation.

In the meantime, I simply plan to keep my nose well and truly down, having, as far as I can, a no spend January, doing the school run three afternoons a week, while trying to clean and tidy The Towers after the ravages of Christmas and New Year plus several sleepovers, because at the moment everywhere looks like a bomb has hit it.  I need a really, really good chuck out, but I am delaying that for a week or so just to make sure that the charity shops are taking in new stuff. 

After eleven odd years Fiddle Fart is a very hard habit to kick, but as I haven't crafted for the past four weeks or so and have no scheduled posts in the pipeline there might only be one or two "fill in/bitty" posts a week for a while until I get back into the swing of things. I have a few ideas ...... and as it's going to be a no spend month I did manage to sneak in an order for a few things from The Works before 2020 was over ......... 

HAPPY NEW YEAR

Goodbye and Good Riddance 2020 ........

Fingers crossed all the wonderful vaccines they've been talking about really work and all the adventures we put on hold in 2020 can finally begin ...................

2020 …….. What A Rubbish Year ……

2020 is, I have to be honest, with no holidays, weekends with Marc and Rick or special occasions to mark the passing of the weeks/months/seasons, it’s all a bit of a blur.

In some ways it feels like only yesterday that I was here looking forward to a packed year of wonderful adventures, but then on the other hand some days/weeks/months seemed endless with not a lot seemed to happen,  even Eurovision was cancelled! 

2020 and this retched, retched virus robbed me of 3 months with this pair, we stuck to the rules as a family without falter, despite aching hearts, in order to protect them, as well as family, friends and strangers, like many millions of other families all over the world.

They are days that none of us can ever get back. 

Watching Bertie’s fourth birthday tea through the kitchen window, when only a couple of days before we’d been walking home hand in hand from nursery, talking non-stop and then after an hour or so doing the same again to collect Iris from school ……. sharing cuddles and snuggles and so many hugs and kisses, oblivious of what was about to happen.

Thank goodness they took it all in their stride and we did it! We are among the very lucky ones, we didn’t lose anyone, no one got sick, jobs were safe and in the summer we were able to form a bubble so, no matter what happened, especially towards the end of the year, we could be safely together again and continue making memories, lets just hope that the Covid vaccination program will soon be winging  its way quickly to a surgery near all of us soon.....

……… and that we and everyone we hold dear will continue to stay safe and our lives gradually return to normal, though I doubt they’ll ever be quite the same again, so that adventures can begin with more wonderful memories to be made.

Wishing You All A Very Happy Christmas

Most Excellent Charity Shop Find - Wooden Alphabet Tray

Who couldn't resist this little beauty for just 50p, all be it without any G’s and only one C?

To be honest it was the tray that I was really interested in, worth 50p every time, being made entirely from wood and very well put together. My initial feeling is to give it a good clean and sanding and then turn it, as it’s the season, into a festive printers tray, putting different papers in the back of each square and then filling them with some of the larger embellishments I have ………. or do I decorate it, without a theme, for either Iris or Bertie for their bedrooms.

The letters I am not sure about ……. Christmas/birthday words, initials on gift tags?  All suggestions very gratefully received …….

XXXXX  I am now going to take a week or so off to enjoy a really peaceful and restful Christmas, it's been quite a year, of which I have said very little, perhaps a cocktail or two will loosen my keyboard ...........  I should be back on 1st January 2021 to start all the fiddle farting all over again ......... Happy Christmas XXXXX

Nanny, Iris and Bertie Discover Sizzix Shrink Plastic

My apologies for a certain little monkey who got in on one of the shots!

To be honest, I can’t remember what prompted me to order a pack of 10 A4 sheets of white frosted Sizzix Shrink Plastic (Amazon £7.99) but Iris and Bertie have loved  and run with it.

It was Bertie who was the most enamoured, as he is continually fascinated by different materials, tools and how they work together.

…… And, in turn, I am absolutely fascinated by Bertie’s little pudgy hands, I could just eat them …… knowing that one day they’ll all of a sudden change, grow bigger, more masculine, perhaps even hairy and work worn, but I am sure they will be mechanically creative hands knowing the boy and his enquiring mind, because everything he makes has to have a purpose.

Iris is the dreamer, with an imagination that is a million miles away, her head always buried in a book and then fired by the adventures within them in all her games and creativity.

After being shrunk with the help of a heat gun these first attempts weren’t as flat as had been hoped.  Iris and Bertie had wanted to turn these mini, experimental masterpieces into brooches for mummy and aunties, but the strong glue I used to attach the brooch backs melted through the white frosting affect of the shrunken plastic resulting in clear patches and the fastening showing through.

…….. however, two layers of paper glued on the back of a new design quickly solved that problem. 

A couple of days later reaped much better results, with Bertie deciding that a hole to hold a thread  by which to hang his designs from might work better ……….

….….. especially when Nanny also found a little wooden tree to hang all their new and future creations from.

What a team ….. happy times to wash the school day away before tea, making beautiful tranklements and childhood memories ……. and  it don’t get any better than that.

Snowman Card Revisited ……

I posted this 5.5ins by 5.5ins card (below) a few weeks ago saying that I wasn’t really sure about it ……

….. well, I have played around with it and come up with a very apologetic, unimaginative, typical formulaic fiddle fart answer …….

……. in other words, I simply trimmed it down quite a bit, mat and layered it on red and silver and then faux stitched it to an inch of its life! 

Yes, I like it better, but, not that I am making any New Years Resolutions, in 2021 I need to step out of the comfort zone that I seemed to have been stuck in for the past five years or so and start moving away from my boring square cards, with a mat and layered sticker/embellishment plonked in the middle.  I guess, with not making orders with all the bizarre, weird and wonderful requests I used to get I have just got very, very stale and incredibly lazy as far as cards are concerned, slapped wrist …… and must do an awful lot better!

Charity Shop Shopping – Andy Titcomb 2000 Frog Prince Teapot

This has got to be my most favourite charity shop find of 2020 ……..

I love a frog prince so when I saw this ceramic teapot, measuring approximately 4.5ins tall and 7ins in length  in Oxfam in Evesham, just before our second lockdown for just £2.99 it had to be mine!  It’s beautiful.

I didn’t notice, until I got home that it was signed on the bottom, but I just had a feeling that it was a bit more “expensive and quality” than my usual standard of tat!

Well,  it would have  been rude not to Google Mr Titcomb http://www.andytitcomb.com/. and it seems my frog prince is not only quite collectable and worth perhaps a bit more than £2.99 I paid.

Harold, as I have christened him is definitely a keeper!  Goodness only knows when I’ll be able to enjoy a good old charity shop mooch again, it’s my greatest guilty pleasure ……. you just never ever know what you’re going to find!

Mums Monkey Christmas Cards of 2020.

I start thinking about my Mums Monkey Christmas cards pretty early on in the year, well the theme part at least, after 11 years it’s getting harder and harder to think of something new, so you can imagine how chuffed I was when this idea popped into my head all the way back in February!

I left the all important photoshoot until September when I got The Boyz to pose in front of their extensive cocktail cabinet in dressed in their finest festive garb.

I then used Publisher to add the sentiment along the top using Fontdinerdotcom Sparkly font………..  https://www.dafont.com/fontdinerdotcom-sparkly.font

….. before sending the finished picture to Free Prints where I paid just £1.49 for P & P  for more than enough 6ins x 4ins prints to make all the cards I needed.

The 7ins x 5ins, rose gold, glitter card blanks came from The Works and I think there were 8 in a pack for £1.50.

As per usual I went overboard on the mat and layering, using white, then red and finally gold mirror card.

The fur on The Boyz hats was also given its customary liberal sprinkling of white, iridescent, ultra fine glitter, simples!

I think these were the quickest Monkey cards I have made in a long  while, mainly due to the perfect size of the photos, where in previous years I have used 7ins x 5ins prints and have then had to cut my own blanks and find envelopes to match. I also think they are my favourite in a long while too. Now…… to think of next years theme ……. aghhhhhhhh, it’s never ending!