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Quiet Time

  • Posted on October 21, 2011 at 1:07 PM

It’s been quiet for me on the creative front. That doesn’t mean I haven’t been busy with Cassis Craft! At last, I have reorganised our front room into a very pleasant functional office for both myself and Greg. I have all my stock in there now instead of in various rooms and my in-law’s house. Greg has his desk in there too now.

The girls, however, had a fabulously creative time during the school holidays recently, being let loose on their craft box. They had some friends over one day too and the four girls had a great time creating all sorts of things. I don’t mind glue and glitter mess at all; with floorboards you can never quite get all the spilt glitter but at least the glue wipes off :)

The friends’ Mum commented that she couldn’t believe that they hadn’t asked to watch the TV in all the time they were crafting. This got me thinking. I couldn’t remember the last time the girls watched TV or a DVD, except for when we were all sick and we weren’t capable of moving or thinking! It’s just not something we do. Even Greg and I don’t watch it very often. I just don’t think there’s much on worth watching! As for children’s shows, well, are there any decent ones for 7 and 5 year olds? They used to watch Play School and some other ABC shows as preschoolers but now that it seems to be a 24 hour channel, it just seems like endless dribble!

Our girls enjoy craft, reading, puzzles, board games, Barbies, cars, Lego and always seem to be busy with each other making up games too. I sometimes wonder if I should suggest the TV or let them on the computer more often.

I love watching them during craft time and being involved. We love discovering what’s still in the box. We work together sometimes. We suggest ideas. We share. We argue! There can be tears. Ah, quiet time!

What do you do for quiet time? What do your kids do? Is there anything decent on TV?!?!

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Crocheted Baby Blanket

  • Posted on August 18, 2011 at 7:54 PM

Baby Blanket in Gift Box

In between the whole family having influenza and Sophie being rushed by ambulance to hospital with a convulsion due to her fever, while Greg was in Japan, a beautiful baby was born into our family.

My brother and his wife welcomed their first baby, Anna Grace, on the 1st August. Unfortunately due to our illnesses, we only got to meet her last weekend.

I wanted to give their baby something special and so after many attempts at different designs and not being happy with them, I finally settled on a simple granny square with scalloped border blanket. While I was trying to do something different, the granny square design is a classic and so pretty. They didn’t know what they were having so the main part I did in white and waited until the baby was born to add the pink border.

I have made (many, many years ago) crocheted blankets but not one this size or this special, not even for my own girls. I really enjoyed making it, watching it grow and imagined the baby in the pram with its soft blankie. I still have the one that my great-grandmother made for me and used it with both the girls. Hopefully baby Anna will love hers and keep it as a special reminder of her Aunty Belinda :)

Baby Blanket Open

Baby Blanket

Baby Blanket Corner

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Girls’ Christmas Craft

  • Posted on December 24, 2010 at 8:14 AM

We’ve been a little slack with getting our Christmas craft projects done this year :( We seem to have had so much else on but have now managed to get a bit done :)

One of our first projects was wrapping paper. We have a big roll of paper from Ikea that we then stamped. Must remember the Ikea paper is not sticky tape nor corner of present friendly!! But the result is a whole lot of presents under the tree wrapped in lovingly made paper.

Christmas Wrapping

We also had a day of quilling where the girls made (well, Amy did but Sophie was tired and lost interest) cards for their special friends. Unfortunately I forgot to take a photo of Amy’s finished work for her album but they turned out really well. She did the whole design herself.

I also class cooking as craft, particularly at Christmas when so much is needed! So we have also made 3 puddings and pudding cupcakes, shortbread, chocolate crackles, rocky road and white Christmas. None of my versions of the crackles, rocky road or white Christmas follow the traditional recipes and the additions tend to vary a bit but I think I have finally settled on what will become standard. The chocolate things and puddings will be eaten on Christmas Day (taste testing was, of course, done!) and the shortbread only lasted one afternoon!

But what I have really wanted to do involved lots of glitter and sequins! These were going to be the craft kits I was intending on selling. (Due to not very nice insurance companies, however, these won’t be going ahead. Hmm, I still have a couple of kilos of sequins and glitter! ) Our hallway is now glittered and not really sure how well the vacuum works on fine glitter! Hallway? Yes, it was the only space clear enough!

These are their beautiful, finished pieces. Not quite how I envisaged some of them but we had so much fun! I think I may have a glitter addiction…

Girls' Christmas Ornaments

Merry Christmas!

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Quiet days crafting

  • Posted on October 15, 2010 at 8:38 AM

Well, those school holidays went far too quickly and with everything that happened,  I feel like I need 2 weeks just to do what we had planned! Anyway, while the girls were sick, they did some quiet crafting.

The first thing we did was French knitting. I had to do a bit of googling to remind myself how to do it and set about teaching the girls. While Amy was doing reasonably well with the small tool, Sophie was struggling so I made her a homemade-cylinder-and-popstick version. It also doesn’t help with her that she goes between wanting to do it right-handed and then left-handed!

Sophie concentrating on French Knitting

Of course, seeing how quickly Sophie’s tube was being made and then tangling her yarn around the spokes of her tool, Amy decided she would like the homemade version too. I think they did quite a good job of their first times.

Amy, well, back at school and proud of her French Knitting

One of the other things they like doing is being let loose on the craft box. It is a big plastic tub on wheels full of all sorts of things. Sometimes they just create whatever they feel like, other times, I give them a theme and they produce something. The latest theme was “ice cream”. This is what they created. Amy has ice-creams in a row, a feathery bird in the sky and a dolly peg person laying in a hammock :)  Sophie got sidetracked with the pegs and made people with sunhats going to the beach.

Amy's Ice Cream Creation

Sophie's Peg People

The other fantastic creative toy they both love is Lego. For some reason we had to get the Duplo back down rather than them playing with the “big person Lego”. It was a great team effort from both of them (well, mainly Amy doing it) to use every piece in the box to create a house with stairs and table and chairs as well as a couple of trucks.

Lego Creations

So while they weren’t the best holidays, at least we got some quiet time together. :)

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Crocheted Pigtail Scrunchies

  • Posted on September 5, 2010 at 9:53 PM

Over at ArtEZan, not only do I have some unique, original design cards, but also some crocheted scrunchies and other hair accessories. These ones are made from a gorgeous blue and green Italian ribbon. They are a smaller size ideal for a little girl’s pigtails.

Blue and Green Italian Ribbon Pigtail Scrunchies

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The girls’ quilling

  • Posted on August 24, 2010 at 8:59 PM

Back in June I gave the girls – aged 6 and 4 – their first quilling lesson. They had been on at me for ages to do it but I finally got to do it. It was great! They used a slotted tool to make a fish following a pattern and I am really proud of their efforts.

Amy's Quilling Aged 6

Sophie's Quilling Aged 4

It was interesting to see how differently they worked. Sophie (4) worked a lot tighter than Amy (6), thus producing a smaller fish.

One of the things I would like to do is children’s craft classes, including quilling. Do you think your children would be interested in quilling and craft classes?

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