Wednesday 22 August 2012

Clothing rescue

I have this nice top


That I managed to put a hole in - oops!


Thankfully the hole wasn't in too awkward a place so I decided that I could probably patch it.  I remembered that Jo had posted about embellishing her cardi here.  I mentioned this to her over tea (at playgroup naturally) and she offered the use of her Cath Kidston "Make" book - note to self: must now return book.

Having had a browse through I decided that one patch might look a bit odd but there was a t-shirt in the book embellished with stars.  So I purchased these items


Some white felt, fusible web and some grey embroidery thread.

I then traced some of the stars onto the fusible web


And then cut them out, pinned them to the felt and cut the felt stars out


I cut out one large star (to cover the hole), two medium stars and four small stars - I do like things to be even, random is definitely not my forte!  I then pinned them onto my top to make sure I got the layout right


Ironed them in place (about 10 seconds with a steam iron), having placed a tea towel on the top of the stars to make sure the felt didn't distort with the heat.  To make sure they stayed in place (although the fusible web did a great job) I then blanket stitched round each star


If you're not sure how to do a blanket stitch then it's worth searching Youtube, as there's bound to be a video showing you how to do it - I learnt how to ladder stitch the same way.

So here's the finished article


One top rescued from the rubbish bin :)

Fruit Kebabs

I am always trying to get Max to eat more fruit and veg, Penelope on the other hand can't get enough of the stuff - to the extent that she will happily eat the peel along with the orange....

It isn't an easy task persuading Max that fruit is nice so when Penelope made some fruit kebabs at nursery I decided to try it at home.  I assembled these ingredients


You can use any fruit you like, but obviously fruits like banana and apple will need eating quickly before they go brown. I also used some mini marshmallows as an added enticement for Max.

Melt the chocolate in the microwave - do it in small short bursts and stir in between otherwise you risk burning the chocolate and making it unusable. Then put the fruit etc on the wooden sticks


Then drizzle with the melted chocolate.  Children will need to be supervised as the chocolate and bowl will be hot.


Put in the fridge to set the chocolate and you're all done.

You will note that Max doesn't appear in these photos as he wasn't feeling well when we did this but he did at least eat the results - that's a success in my book!!

Try it - it's fun and healthy- if you ignore the chocolate part :)

Tuesday 14 August 2012

Olympic/Lego Fever

I don't know about you but the Olympics have been a fixture in our lives for the last two weeks.  Even if we've not been watching it, it's been on in the background.  Max has witnessed me shouting at the rowers, swimmers, cyclists and athletes.  He was very disappointed when we only won silver in one of the rowing events and I had to spend some time telling him about "taking part" and "trying your best" and the fact that silver meant you were the second best in the whole world!!  Somehow though I don't think he was quite convinced.

Of course for Max no event would be complete without some Lego and we have been collecting the Team GB Lego minifigures.  After some loitering in two well known supermarkets feeling all the packets for giveaway parts ("Ooo Max that's a tennis racket, we need the tennis player"), we completed the set.  To be honest I think I was more excited about completing the set than Max was....

Here are the little fellas (and the girls) in all their glory



I'm hoping that in 20 years time a full set will be worth something (!) and this got me to thinking about how we could keep them safe from the children display them and I remembered this from Pinterest so I got to work and got this frame from Ikea



And assembled these items and some superglue



As I didn't actually read the blog post before commencing on my project (as opposed to now when I am writing this post - oops!), I opted to take the glass out (although this is possibly a safer option for the kids) and painted the backing board white, although you could paint it whatever colour you wanted to fit in with your theme.




I then reassembled the frame (minus the glass) and then glued 9 pieces of 2x2 Lego blocks to the backing board.  Obviously the Lego bricks had to be red, white and blue to keep in with the Team GB theme.



The minifigures were then placed on each of the bricks and look like this



The obvious advantage is that the minifigures can still be taken off the bricks and still played with, although if Max loses any bits there will be trouble!!

Having reviewed several posts I am wondering whether this blog should be more aptly entitled "Musings from a Lego Mum"......

Friday 10 August 2012

I DON'T believe it

How, just HOW, is it possible that my boy has already done a whole year at school??? AND that we're already three weeks into the summer holidays???

Here he is on the last day of reception


Although the tie was his own addition....

Of course the end of his first school year meant the pressure of getting some presents for his teachers.  Thankfully the mum of one his friends, L, suggested that we all chip into a big present.  So we duly chipped in but I also wanted to give his teachers something a bit more personal from Max.  Inspired by this post from my friend's blog, we made some noteblocks


As there are two reception classes and the teachers work across the two classes, I wanted to do something not just for Max's teacher and teaching assistant but also the teachers and teaching assistants in the other class.  So inspired by something I saw somewhere on Pinterest, I made some cookies using this recipe and then put them in bags with a tag



Well done Max for such a great first year - we're so proud of you!