Lulu Carter

crafternoon

I was on God daughter duty after lunch today which is always such a treat and, now that naps are a thing of the past, we were able to do something in the time before picking up the boys.

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The boys were beside themselves when they saw her in the playground.Besotted.

 

Have a gorgeous weekend!!

We are skateboarding/house hunting/football registering/bicycle testing and picnicing.Thats Saturday.Sunday I think we will be lying on a beach somewhere utterly exhausted.

In the midst of all that I will be on here ordering some much desired fabric and casting on something new as tonight I am binding off a sweet little cardigan that I will show you when I've blocked it.Happiness is.

art

Its everywhere we turn and here today I have had a taste.

Some of the creations from my students and I am so proud of them!! Its very interesting the way children inspire each other and each class ended with a definite theme.Trying to keep each child on their own course is a challenge as they eat up the ideas around them!!

My other little piece of inspired creativity today is the infamous desert that took centre stage in the final of Junior Masterchef the other night.I must admit to not being a loyal fan of any of these shows (unlike my friend who can rattle off each contestants dna and finest moment without hesitation),but I was thoroughly taken with the genuine joy,appreciation and talent of the final group and sobbed with the rest of the country the other night as the last two (aged twelve and thirteen) battled it out.Luckily for us,the desert chef,or shall we say artist,is local and today,while in the area ,it occurred to us to see if "Pear Perfection" was as breathtaking in reality as it was on the screen.If you want one RUN because the sales person told us they are for this week only.

We only bought one as we suspected correctly that a taste is all you need.The boys salivated like paparazzi as I sliced it ever so carefully to inspect the inside as they had done on the show.No mean feat let me tell you.I think halves is all it can bear-quarters were a challenge!

Choux pastry,marzipan,chocolate,praline,jelly and custard.Visually impressive. Taste not so sure- but admittedly ours had been in the fridge for some time before we broke in to it so I'd say we made the job alot harder.In terms of design though this man has it nailed.We actually treated ourselves to another treat while in there today called " Berry Berrylicious" .Extraordinary but I have no idea how anyone could eat a whole one.I say that as the owner of a notoriously sweet tooth courtesy of my grandmother.

Of course if you are thinking of these creations as a meal you are missing the point.

There was sponge,coulis,white chocolate,toffee,mousse and a dusting of something on the sides which I cannot give a name too.It was shaped like a snail (or perhaps half a wheel) and devastatingly gorgeous.

Pencil in hand,dreaming up the shapes and colours then adding the flavours and textures to best give flight to his fancy.Its how I would begin.Perhaps he creates them through play in the kitchen-I don't know.I find the finished product fascinating.Art.

 

firsts

Yesterday we experienced our first school fete.Not that we had never been to one before but this was the first time we were at one our ( as in the one we are attending) school was hosting.One of the positives about changing schools I guess.

All the children were soooo excited.The entertainment organised and the participation from families was wonderful to see and it made me realise what a lovely community we are now a part of.So many people contributed to the success of the day behind the scenes and then, on the day, running stalls and entertainment ensuring happy faces everywhere.

I volunteered to help out with the tea cosy competition and stall and so have been spending thursday lunchtimes with a great group of women all teaching how to hook to a group of willing children.Some waned towards the end but we also had enthusiastic converts.Nanda(the gorgeous organiser) opened the competition up on raverly.There were indeed some inspired takes on how to keep your tea warm!

Henry took to hooking with gusto.As much as I have tried to encourage regular knitting from my boys, it seems that crochet is faster for them to grasp.I must say,that recent experience during my classes has shown me that boys pick it up faster than the girls.Perhaps its the lego brain!

Here is Margaret minding the adults table. 

 Mister Henry Hooker won best boys tea cosy!!

Lovely Nanda holding the microphone.

 

A little chuffed he very happily took home a great kit from these fabulous ladies.

And here is his "Owl" sporting two lovely vintage buttons for eyes he pinched from my stash.I am very proud to say that all I helped with was the plain knitted base.The triple crochet head and the rest is all by Henry.Fab job my sweet!!

 

Mine was a little underdone but I was more interested in my kitchen table I guess so simply put some hexes to work.Astounding how popular mine was in the peoples choice-it seems alot of people love an orange/pink combo.

 

And the tea cosy queen herself came for a visit. I managed to get in a photo with Loani and Alison.

Alison made the sweetest Owl and the Pussycat cosy.She was the winner of the adults competition.

   

Oliver was able to experience his first public performance.When were told that the littlies would be performing at the fete I must say my first thought was of cats shrieking it out on a wall somewhere.

My little fiddler xx

 My second was to buy some rather enormous earmuffs.

The kids were so CUTE! They played "Mary had a little lamb' and received such applause they played it again.Afterwards ,as I tried to kiss Oliver "well done",all I got was teeth.He was grinning from ear to ear totally pumped and proud.

Henry also played in Junior Band and then the big kids played- they never cease to amaze me.There is some wonderful musical talent in this school including the parent band who entertained the crowd.Clearly professionals. 

Both the boys got into the finals in the photography competition and Oliver was amazed by the man who turned a pigeon into a rabbit " he really did mummy he really did"!!

All in all a super day.

xxxx

classmate treats

Its the last day of school tomorrow and Henry will be handing these out (complete with candy cane of course!) to his classmates.

I tried to find the tutorial on the Martha site for you but it doesn't seem to be there so..

Buy a pack of 1" polystyrene balls.

Pair them up and squish one in each pair between your hands until it is compressed and smaller.

Glue the small one on top of the other.

Pour some glitter snow ( I used the Martha brand)into a small glass.

Stick a pin in one end but so that you can hold it.

Paste the other end in decoupage glue and then dip in the glass sloshing it a round until all coated.

Pull out pin and repeat with other end

Lay them on a dish to dry.

Put a dab of glue and carefully stick on two black seed beads.

Snip a carrot nose from some felt and glue along the end then attach to face.

Tie some cute ribbon around neck as scarf.

Push a chopstick into the snowman's bottom and wiggle around just a little so you can fit a pencil in the hole.

Blob some craft glue into the hole then insert your pencil.

Ta da!!

Very cute and the best thing is that afterwards you will find everything around you covered in sparkles!!

I don't have the antidote to that yet : )

xxxx
 
 

angels in the kitchen

A very happy arrival today from this lovely lady saw some afterschool crafting happen.

I tied a couple of branches together and we made some paper decorations inspired by Rie Elise Larsson's paper craft projects.

I made scrap angels with the children in craft club the last week and had intended to make some with the boys.They are perfect on our christmas mobile with todays craft.I had been saving a little scrap bag of linen,tulle and leftover lace for just this

Henrys angel.My favourite out of the three.

Mine.

Olivers angel.

There are some rather large decorations now hanging in the loungeroom too.It seems that once you begin stapling and beading it is a little hard to stop....

I hope your prep is going to plan.

xxxx
 
 
 
 
 
 

begun in earnest

#image from Martha Stewart 

The Christmas crafting that is.Inspired by an old issue of Marie Claire Idees,Oliver and I bought wool in gelato colours today and then I showed the boys how to make pompoms.Anticipating my getting very fast at the wrapping,snipping,tying part,we should have a very pretty garland to show soon.

The other thing that got underway was the making of teensy sparkly snowmen to top nice new sharp pencils.Gorgeous little gifts for classmates.Oliver saw the felt candy cane mice so I think some of those will be on the agenda in the next couple of days too.Thank heavens for old issues of Martha Kids and Holiday special issues.I knew there was foresight and reason behind my magazine addictions.....

Now if Spotlight would kindly stock the range of Marthas christmas craft products all would be right with the world ; )

xxxx