Nanny’s Special Little Suitcase And The Rifling Of Her Drawers!

When Iris and Bertie come over to Nanny’s for the day or a sleepover the one thing they both fight for is Nanny’s Little Suitcase ………

It’s just full of bits and pieces found over the years and just bunged together, with crafting, i.e mini printers trays in mind, well, that was until Iris found it ………

…… and now it’s always asked for first, everything has to be taken out, carefully looked at and talked about and then laid out, for little games/stories to be created. 

In amongst all the  bits is a tiny blue flowered tray and cup, the only things remaining from a set I remember sitting on a shelf at my Grans when I was a little girl, so they’ve got to be at least 60 years old.  Perhaps it shouldn’t be in the case …….. but what’s the use of a treasure if it’s just left to lie in a drawer. If I can remember it from my own childhood, perhaps it will be remembered and even owned by either Iris or Bertie when they grown up  ……. it also ensures that my dear sweet Grandma still lives on in some small way.

Another must activity when Iris and Bertie are around is rifling through the drawers in the lounge, particularly by Bertie, and if you can’t get away with such blatant rifling when you’re not quite two, when can you?

I am not precious about much, if something is that special it’s removed before the little darlings arrive, but I do try to put a couple of things in there for them to “find”.  It’s all about making memories, you just don’t know what they will remember in the years to come …….. but I hope I have laid just a few.

Little Mermaid and Frozen Drawers for Disney Countdown Calendar

Three more drawers for Iris and Bertie’s Disneyland Countdown Calendar today featuring The Little Mermaid and some of the characters from Frozen . 

I managed to stretch the pack of Dress It Up Little Mermaid buttons to two drawers with the four buttons it contained, sadly the same can not be said for the Frozen pack!

I’ve decided to forget my usual crafty mantra of “less is more” and have gone totally over the top with flat back pearls and gems and flat back gem stars to fill in the gaps, this is not project for subtlety.

I dare say that when I go back to the drawers when I start to put the whole thing together I will find a few spaces to fill ………and I think these three in particular definitely need a sprinkling of some extra fine translucent glitter.

Easter Bunny Brooches

These are the Easter Bunny brooches I made with using the wooden embellishments I found in Lidl the other day (packs for 99p or 2 for £1.50).

There’s not an awful lot to them, as they even came complete with their fluffy tails.  Each bunny is 6cm tall by about 3cm at their widest.

All I did was glue on a brooch pin to each bunny using E6000 glue, which is the best glue I know for this sort of thing, it sticks and there’s no coming off!  I tend to be a bit heavy handed with glue, so there was a little mopping up to do round the pin afterwards, opppppps

I then made up some small cards to attach the finished brooches to, simply adding a bit of doodling and a Happy Easter.

Such a quick and easy idea, especially when time is tight, and Iris has something a little bit different to give her nursery staff at the end of term rather than the usual Easter egg.

Happy Days!!!

Heads Up To Lidl For Wooden Easter Craft Embellishments & Lily Bobtail’s Pocket

I have been really restrained so far this year in not buying any new craft bits and pieces, but after almost two months my resolve was temporarily tested due to the arrival of Lidl’s Easter bits and pieces.

It was the wooden rabbits that first caught my eye (12 per packet, one size) and then the birds (18 per packet, two sizes) costing 99p per pack or 2 for £1.50, well I went with the offer naturally and spent a grand total of £6!

I instantly thought that the rabbits would be perfect to make Easter pin brooches for Iris’s nursery staff, and I am sure ideas will follow for the birds and ladybirds as they are so versatile for year round projects as well as Easter, but for tomorrow at least I will show you what I did with the rabbits.

This week I also finally put the pocket on Iris’s Lily Bobtail dress ………. aghhhhh …….  which only went to confirm just how much I hate sewing. I cut out a square in pink fabric, carefully tacked round it and then moved onto my little sewing machine to finish off the edges neatly, agggghhhh, what should have taken me no more than 2 to 3 minutes must have taken me the best part of an hour, I really don’t want to talk about it ……….

…….. except that the said sewing machine shall from henceforth only be used for the decorative edging of cards etc. and definitely without thread of any kind!

After a couple of days I was recovered enough to then hand sew the pocket to the dress, no close ups here …… for my sake, please just imagine delicate little stitches, as if done by a fairy seamstress and that’ll be about right, not!!!!

But in the end all my angst doesn’t really matter, all Iris wanted was a “just in case pocket” that could the stand the strain of having a notebook, pen, string, and a magnifying glass shoved in and out of it ………. so Nanny’s dun gud!!!!!!!

Better Late Than Never ……….Two Guest Christmas Cards

I have had these cards on my desk since Christmas meaning to post them, but never quite finding the time ……..

The monkey card was made by Krafty Karen for The Boyz. I think it may be from a kit, with a decoupaged face, hat and scarf and lots of added translucent glitter.  

I also think I may already have  my 2018 Monkey Christmas Cards sorted, The Works were selling packs of eight, very good quality, festive photo frame cards for £1 in their sale, I ermed and ahhed at first, but in the end relented ……. all I need to do is get a suitably posed picture set up and printed and then slip into said frames, adding  a few flat backed gems and glitter ……..well, that’s the theory anyway.

This second card came from Minety Moose - Heather  and is a card I am definitely going to half inch!!!  Using a felt reindeer and alphabet stamps ……. I have some similar wooden reindeer somewhere and an as yet unused alphabet stamp set …… so there’s nothing really stopping me.

Because of my recent lack of mojo I have joined  Make One Christmas Card Every Week Throughout 2018 on Facebook, it’s working, I am looking and getting ideas, if not making anything yet!

Sticky Beaking My New “Added To” Bedroom

Well it’s done, having flu meant that I had to delay the final bit of electrical work by a week, but I am now feeling pretty chuffed ……..

……. this final bit of work in my bedroom looks even better than I had hoped, all  that time spent poring over Pinterest for ideas has paid off.

It’s all very white (except for calico walls and blind) after I treated myself to a supersize The White Company vintage style bedspread and decided to change from as bright as I could find bed linen to plain broderie anglaise.  I am not sure how long it will be before I start itching for colour, but at the moment I am finding the lack of visual stimulation very peaceful and restful.

Finding a bedside lamp was a little tricky as I only had slightly under 40cms to work with, and most lamps were either too tall or too small to look in proportion to the space it was to sit in, but Next came up trumps in the end, and by paying for it as a Next Pay first time customer I got £10 off a £45 lamp!  I went for this design because, as you know, I do like a chandelier and so needed something that sort of went with the one I already had in the room.

I think there is a little wiggle room for the rearrangement or change in frou frou that is on the shelves ……. but that leaves me with the ongoing pleasure of a charity shop, carboot find.  I am hoping to do a bit of thrift shop/flea market shopping in New York, so you never know what treasures I might find to bring home.

I thought this might be, perhaps, the last work to the fabric of the flat  I would have done, but I am not saying never, as I have a seed of an idea to add two sets of bedside drawers to the unit I had built in the guest room last year ……. but, it’s strictly at the “think” stage …….  for now!

Washi Candle Card

This card measures 5.5ins x 5.5ins and is made using a hand cut, white linen effect blank.  The original idea came from Pinterest.

There’s not an awful lot to this card, I’ve just used assorted patterned washi tape to make the body of the candles ……

…… and then added the flame with a yellow Promaker pen and a black fine liner pen.

The silver foiled, die cut sentiment came from Craftwork Cards and brings the card together.

When I went back to the card after a day or two, I added Glossy Accents to the flames just to add a bit of extra texture and dimension.

Disneyland Countdown Drawers

Well, I have finally made a start ….. the first three drawers for Iris and Bertie’s Disneyland Countdown Calendar have been completed, only another twenty two to go!

The number of buttons in the Dress It Up button packs vary, so I was really chuffed to get two drawers done with the Finding Nemo pack, other packs I know I won’t be quite so lucky, which is why this isn’t going to be a cheap project!

I decided to cover the sides of the drawers with washi tape I already had and stickers from a Carpe Diem Say Cheese sticker tablet I bought for the project. I have to admit that I was a bit disappointed when the tablet arrived, too many stickers that didn’t seem that relevant to what I was doing, but I am still determined to find a place to use them.

I think I can also spread the packs of Mickey and Minnie Mouse buttons out, getting away with using a few singly, and then filling the gaps with stars, flat backed gems and the larger Say Cheese stickers in the the background.  I am also hoping to visit a Michaels while I am in New York (????) and fingers crossed I can find a few more Disney bits and pieces that I can add.

I reckon each drawer front is taking me about half an hour in the first instance but then I invariably go back to it to add an extra layer of Glossy Accents, a couple more gems or just a few little dots here and there.