Meeting Father Christmas

Yesterday we went to Lapland UK, a very exciting place where you can travel down secret elven paths and magically arrive in Lapland. Working in the rocking horse factory, decorating gingerbread with Mother Christmas, ice skating, storytelling, visiting the reindeer and, of course, an audience with the great man himself. (The best Father Christmas I've ever met!)

Herbert and The Girl Wonder has a fantastic time, as did Mum, Dad and Nanny. Fake snow, enchanted forests, Saamis and elves... everything you could wish for. We even got a good Santa picture, which I always thought was impossible!

We may have to visit again next year...

I've been blogged!

Thank you very much to Kerry of Pennydog Accessories (http://pennydogaccessories.etsy.com) for featuring me on her blog. You can read all about it here http://pennydog.wordpress.com/2008/11/26/spotlight-on-old-bag-crafts/ .

Party in the snow

Yesterday we were invited to a birthday party at the local farm park. It snowed and for a few short hours, the children had an absolute ball. By the time we left in the afternoon, the snow was melting and there was no trace at all by this morning. I think it was one of the best birthday parties - for children and adults alike! - and it was so nice that it snowed on the one day when all the little friends were together somewhere that they could make the most of it.

Box Street

Thanks to a small (okay, large!) online shopping spree, I got two very big boxes delivered to my door. I've stashed the presents they contained, but perhaps I should just send them back? The boxes seem to be all my children need. They have been boats, sofas (yes really), cars and houses. The cardboard tubes are masts, obviously.

Winter trees

I love the way the trees look in winter, especially at dusk. I don't like to be cold, but I do love snuggling up under a blanket on the sofa to keep warm, cradling a big mug of hot chocolate. And with the chance of snow at the weekend... must mean winter is really here.

Pregnant hair

Nineteen weeks pregnant now, the bump is rounding out nicely and baby somersaults when supplied with chocolate. My hair, however, what can I say? I am having a bad hair week. According to my husband this has happened twice before (I have two children) at approximately the same gestational point... he firmly believes that, when pregnant, I experience a period of hair insanity. During this period, I spend untold £££££s on hair magazines, drool in hairdressers' windows and moan about my own cursed locks. He wants me to promise not to cut it. He says I will regret it, probably immediately afterwards. He's probably right but oh, the temptation.

Perhaps I should just splurge on some hair stuff? Sorry, gotta go now. Folksy and Etsy are calling me!

Saturday sewing

Monday to Friday, my sewing is party bags, gift bags and more party bags. If I sew at the weekend, I like to do something different... I experiment, play, fiddle around. Today's playing was very successful and I proudly present the first of my new line in fabric coasters (queue drumroll). Available on Folksy.com, the fabulous home of UK designers and crafters.

Tag - I'm it!

A week or two ago, I was tagged - twice! - in the blogtag game. Every blogger I know of has already been tagged now, so I am ducking out of tagging anyone else, but I will still carry out my obligation to reveal 7 random things about myself...

1. I am older than my husband but look younger.
2. I am addicted to cooking programmes, cookery books and kitchen stuff.
3. I have flown on Concorde (for free!).
4. My first car was a Morris Minor (and I loved it so much)
5. I hate following recipes, patterns and other instructions.
6. I can't whistle.
7. I had a poem published when I was 16.

My two taggers were cloudhoppingdesigns.blogspot.com and bigbluebed.blogspot.com.

Party time

This week I've been making party bags like they were going out of fashion. I didn't work at all in September, so this month has been catch up. I completed all my orders and finally got on to the party bags (which I sell mostly on eBay). Something for everyone, I hope. Now I need to get started on Christmas!

Herbert Buggles aka Mr Bump

My poor little Herbert! He fell off the back of a ride on toddler toy, straight on to the garden path - ouch! I had no idea that head wounds bleed so much (even little ones like his 1cm cut), but both he and I looked like we'd spent the day in a slaughter house by the time he'd been cleaned up and glued back together. A parental rite of passage, I'm told, but I could have done without it. Herbert, however, is very proud of his bumped head and tells everyone he can about it. The most important part of the story is how the hospital has a fire engine (toy) and a machine that gives you Maltesers.

It's been how long?????

I can't believe it's been just about 2 months since I last blogged! I do have some good excuses, though... extreme morning sickness (resulting in a couple of days in hospital) and just as I was getting back to normal, my computer broke down. However, I am back now (with crossed fingers touching wood).

Watch this space for the story of Herbert Buggles' latest adventure. His new nickname is Mr Bump...

Where did the holidays go? Back in July, six weeks seemed like a long time. Here we are, over halfway through August and the days have just rushed by. Well they have for me, at least. My small boy has taken to asking his sister if she's going back to school now, so I think time ticks more slowly for him!

We decided to divide and conquer for the last two days. Mr Old Bag had a couple of interviews in the London area, so he took The Girl Wonder down to his parents in Watford overnight and my little man and me stayed home. We've missed the other half of our family, but we've had a lovely snuggly cuddly couple of days. He is such a cuddly boy - he especially enjoyed snuggling up under the blankets in my bed after he woke up this morning, so much so that he dropped off again and we both got another half hour.

Now we need to plan a reverse operation, girly time for me and The Girl and boy fun for the other two. (And possibly even some Mr and Mrs time, if we can rope in an obliging grandparent...)

My new bag

Sewing for myself

I had some spotted and striped fabrics tucked away, ready to become 'my bag' at some undetermined future date. Then I stumbled on a gorgeous heavyweight fabric I had stashed and my new handbag is all cut up, ready to sew. I am going to the Festival of Quilts at the NEC on Saturday so I am planning to have it ready to fill with a big pile of spends for all the lovely fabric that will be on sale.

Black and white

I finally gave in to my urge to make some black and white gift bags. I splurged at the fabric shop (thank you very much to the lovely people at Top Stitch Fabrics in Wisbech*) and spent a lovely afternoon playing with all the lovely black and white prints. I also got a really cute little stamp to make the smart gift tags.

* What a small world it is - the owner of the shop is married to a man who is in the same class as my mum in primary school (60 miles away from where he lives now).

A proper school girl now

It doesn't seem possible. My little girl has finished her first year at school. When she goes back in September she will be in Year 1 - proper school, no longer reception class. She still loves school as much as she did the first day and is very excited about getting a new teacher. Me? I am proud of my independent, enthusiastic, smart little 'big' girl and I grab the cuddles when I can :D

Beach bums

That's what we've been for the last five days. The Girl Wonder finished school for the summer last Tuesday and on Wednesday we headed for the beach. How lucky were we with the weather? We spent the whole time on the beach (Wells, Norfolk) and had the best time splashing, digging, running, paddling, giggling, eating sand-sandwiches... the perfect escape.

Presenting...

... Herbert Buggles and The Girl Wonder, for one day only, in the incredible, the marvellous, the fantastic... SHOW! They practised (upstairs, theoretically in secret, but we could most definitely hear them), they discussed, they practised some more. Then they instructed us that it was time and we obediently sat on the sofa to watch THE SHOW. Herbert stuck mostly with his tambo-drum, but The Girl Wonder went through most of the instruments in the basket. They both played with enormous enthusiasm. A good time was had by all!

Rainbow

My little girl is just finishing up her reception year at school and today the class teddy bear, Weatherby, invited the whole class to a party. The invitation included a cuddly friend each, too. They were instructed to bring party clothes in a bag and The Girl Wonder was up at 5.30 this morning getting ready! She chose her favourite party dress of all time, a dress I made for her to her specification... the rainbow dress. It's made from a pile of fat quarters, some apricot net and chiffon and a string of silk flowers. It's a little short now (made last year), but she so loves it that I think I might have to convert into a tunic to wear over her jeans. By the way, I should tell you that she wore the dress with the blue and green monster socks, exactly as seen in the photo!

Little jar of home

I took this photograph today for my Day2Day post. This is my little jar of home. I lived in San Francisco for a few years and, although it was a marvellous adventure, there were things I missed. No, I don't mean Marmite and decent teabags, my mum snuck them over in her suitcase several times a year, along with Sudocrem, vast quantities of Cadbury's and Oxo (yes, really, Oxo!). I missed people and I missed places. For my birthday, my niece and nephew (who were about 6 and 8 at the time) walked along my favourite beach in Norfolk, a place I where I have spent a lot of time, collecting pebbles. They put them in the jar and sent them over with my mum. I cried then and the memory of it still makes me cry now.

My little jar of home lives on my kitchen windowsill and I see it often during my day. Now, having lived with it in San Francisco, it also reminds of the beach there. For a small jar, it holds a lot of memories.

New fabric

It may be sad, but the arrival of new fabric always has me in raptures! Today I received a package (bought only yesterday!) from The Happy Crafter (http://thehappycrafter.etsy.com/) containing some absolutely gorgeous pieces of fabric and I was so excited that I have already made this neat little business card holder. I am watching her shop in anticipation of her next listing.

I also made this little wedding bag today and, because of the focus on quality of photos that being part of the Day2Day challenge has given me, I worked really hard on the listing pictures and I am just a teeny bit proud of this one. Thank you Abi (http://abibansaldesign.etsy.com/) for giving us Day2Day.

Noooooooooooooooooo

I have run out of Marmite.

Anatomy of a mummy

So this morning I was sitting on the edge of the bed getting dressed, as you do. My little boy, aged two and a half, came in for a cuddle. Then he touched my belly button and asked me where my penis was. I told him mummy's don't have penises. Then he placed a little hand on each of my bra-clad breasts, pulled his t-shirt up and asked "Why I not have boobs?" I think I might be raising a boob man!

A busy day

I spent most of Saturday making party bags (gorgeous girly ones in pretty florals). I made some of my mini gift bags too and then I packed some orders ready for Monday's post. I think that's one of my favourite bits - I like wrapping in tissue paper, adding thank you notes and little doodads. Even if what you buy isn't for you, it's still nice to get prettily presented parcels in the post.


Bee won my gift bag giveaway (see comments under the giveaway post) and I packed her prize up ready to post too. Hope she likes it!

My first week of day2days

I joined the Day2Day - Take 5 Ordinary Beauty group on Flickr this week (find it here http://www.flickr.com/groups/799185@N21/pool/) and it's been an interesting experience. I have found myself working much harder at photos for my listings and I am paying more attention to light, shadow and arrangement. I'm looking forward to next week and I'm hoping that I will improve my photography through this experience.

Little things I make

I have just listed these little gift bags on Folksy. They are one of my favourite things to make. I enjoy mixing and matching the fabrics and gift tags and it's fun to imagine what gifts will be given in them. They are the perfect size for soaps, jewellery, posh chocolates....

A little competition for you - leave a comment with a link to the perfect item to give in one of these little bags (from Etsy or Folksy). The person who picks the item I like most wins a set of three bags! Yes, you can suggest your own items. I will pick one on Friday evening (9 July). Have fun, Vicky x

Folksy

New shop, new shop! Folksy is a new site for UK sellers of handmade things and I have signed up, along with lots of other UK sellers. It's in test phase at the moment, but it looks great and the admin behind it seem to be on the ball. Fingers crossed for a great site, great sales and happy customers. Check out my new shop at http://folksy.com/shops/oldbagcrafts.

Day2Day 1/5 Her Hand

The day2day theme may be ordinary beauty but I find my daughter's hand extra-ordinarily beautiful and endlessly fascinating.

It's Monday morning

So good morning, here we are in another week. What are you up to this week? I'm home today with the smalls. The Girl Wonder would usually be at school, but she has a tummy ache and a bit of a rash (probably heat). She had a temperature yesterday so we decided she should stay home today. I have to be Mrs Mummy and play home school because she absolutely loves going to school and is not impressed with a day off! Herbert Buggles is a bit quiet too and, unusually for him, has only eaten half a breakfast instead of his usual three. We had a busy weekend with the carnival, so I think a quiet day at home will do us all good.

Changing the subject entirely, I can't decide if Christmas in July on Etsy is worth the work or not. I managed to get these teenytiny bags made and listed. I'll have to see what else I can do - at least I'll be more prepared for Christmas itself!

Have a good week! oldbag x

Carnival

Yesterday was the village carnival and we had the best day! We joined in on the Under Fives float (which won best in junior section and best overall!) with Herbert Buggles as Tigger and The Girl Wonder as a Disney princess. The carnival theme was adverts and our float was the Disneyland Paris advert. For a small village, we have a mighty fine carnival, one of the largest in Cambridgeshire. Lots of fabulous floats from the village groups and associations. The entertainment was good too, with a marching band, majorettes and a group of modern morris dancers (I think that's what they were!) who looked incredible and had me rolling on the floor when they explained that a particular dance was called The Last Hot Dog Stand in Yaxley! Their costumes have me desperate to make something in black and white.

Don't work in property

Looks like hubby is being made redundant, not a good week in the Old Bag household. He is a chartered surveyor and it is not a good industry to be in right now. So, much counting of blessings (as well as pennies!) and an awful lot of hugging - strange how I want my children as close to me as possible.

I am touting my wares around as many places as I can think of, both online and B&M. Feel free to comment with advice about marketing/outlets etc, I'll take any help offered.

And now I'm going to make a cake with too much cream and an excess of icing to cheer us all up.

Busy day

Children, laundry, washing dishes (broken dishwasher!), making grocery bags, school run twice... no time to blog!

The smell of fresh baked bread

is filling my house! Before Etsy, I used to bake bread when we needed it but these days I don't get the time. So Sunday is baking day - today I made 6 loaves of bread (3 wholemeal, 1 rye, 1 buckwheat and 1 white) and added a cake since the oven was on anyway. The kitchen smells delicious and this evening I can stuff the freezer with bread for the week.

I read somewhere that baking bread is an exact science, that everything needs to be weighed and measured and temperature controlled and blahblahblah. I am an inexact cook. I hardly ever follow recipes and cook by instinct and I rebel against such strict instructions! I measure with American cups, much quicker and more relaxed, and even then it's very roughly gauged. And I get great results. I use my old Kenwood Chef with a dough hook (it's older than me, being a wedding present to my parents), whatever tin I have to hand and all kinds of flours and I thoroughly enjoy myself. And the children love watching the yeast bubble up. And it tastes soooooo good!

Weekend garden feature!

How proud we are of our little bit of veggie garden! We're still getting the garden itself round but we started a few things in pots and grow bags. The Girl Wonder is very proud of her beans and the courgettes are growing fast.

Saturday sales

I woke up to two sales this morning, a very good way to start Saturday! What I'm really pleased about is selling party bags, or favor bags I should say, as they're off to Virginia, on Etsy. I would love to sell on Etsy and feel like I'm getting there now. Happy Saturday! Time for me to tickle the children :D