A vintage maths make.

As most of us know, when it comes to learning, children respond better to things that are interesting to look at. Whether it's fun, pretty or just different, i think it's good to try and capture a kids attention for learning any way you can.

My girls often use different tools to help them with their maths. They are getting on well with the tag board i made them, but another one they use is the multiplication grid. So i made them one which is probably a little nicer to look at than the ones at school.

I made this in this style because I've always been fascinated by the detail and delicacy of items made hundreds of years ago. I could imagine this being found in the loft of a Victorian house where the kids were educated at home, one of those dusty finds that would have been used by the children of those days.

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I know my daughters will love this, and hopefully it will be more of a pleasure to use than the normal plain ones.

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I used some new lace i bought the other day, and also used some metallic lace trim for the outside of the piece. Alas the writing is not my own this time, i cheated and printed it from the computer. :)

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I hope you like it as much as i think the girls will.

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Thanks for taking a peek. :)

Made a tag calender this evening.

Hi all :)

Tonight i wanted to make something quick and easy, main reason being because my eldest wanted to see me make something before she went to sleep tonight lol. She started the night in my bed as she wanted to chat about a few worries she was having about high school....in a years time! :)

As my bedroom doubles as a craft room, she was able to chat away whilst i made this quick calender tag.
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Real simple to make, i just die-cut a tag and covered it with the "wings" paper from the Prima "Angelique Collection", then blended some distress inks around the edge. Then i backed the distress inked mini calender with lace and stuck it on the tag.
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A few white dots around the edge, one of the small paper flowers that i seem to be using loads of these days and some fibres to finish it off with, and hey presto.....one calender tag.



Thankfully it was to my eldest satisfaction, so she's fast asleep now. All that is left to do is to carry her back into her own bed, they don't get any lighter as they grow up do they!?

Hope you like the tag, I'm going to do another one for my little one, it's such an easy project to do. They can even help do this themselves.

Thanks for looking. :)

Altered chipboard box.

Hi everyone :)

I haven't made Maddy anything for a little while, and one of my more secret resolutions was to do more of this, so here's a little altered chipboard box i made for her to put odds and ends in.

Very simply done, but the best bit about this was that i got to try out my new Tim Holtz Distress Crackle Paints that i bought today. They are amazing! It's the uneven crackle effect i really like, and when you brush over it with colour, the crackles stand out even more.

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Here i just coated the box in Tattered Rose Distress Crackle Paint, and when dry i lightly brushed over it with Tea Dye distress ink. A few embellishments and of course some lace to dainty it up a bit, and there you have a nice looking little box for a lovely gift.



Aren't these crackles just great?.........Cheers for that Mr Holtz! :) You can buy the paints here at Jennie's shop.

It's the first box I've altered apart from a tea caddy i did a while back, so i was pretty chuffed with the result. Hopefully Maddy will be too....fingers crossed! :)

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Lastly, i have to give a shout out to a new craft shop i discovered in a nearby town today. Close to Southampton, theres a place called Swaythling, and there you can find a craft shop that's only been open a few months called "Craftin Delights".

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Run by a lovely and helpful lady called Jeanette (hope i spelt that right), who makes a gorgeous cuppa btw, her shop is full of crafty goodies. I was made very welcome by Jeanette and her friend and fellow crafter Nicky, i had a lovely time there. Jeanette also runs workshops there too, so next time you are down this neck of the woods, it's well worth popping in.

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Always nice to find a new place to get stash, and only right to pass it on to. :)

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Bye for now.....

Back with a tag.

Hi all :)

Sorry for being absent recently, have had a few things on. he the longer i was gone from here, the less crafty i felt. Not good.

So tonight i sat down and forced myself to do a real basic tag....



Nothing too fancy, background paper from the DCWV "Once Upon A Time" collection, some blending with Distress Inks, some ferns from my new Fern Family punch, and stamped willow branches.....not forgetting a fairy in the forest, courtesy of Maddy who gave me a set of lovely fairy stamps (Cheers Maddy xx). A bit of ribbon around the edge and that was enough for me to feel crafty again.

I made this because it has been in my head constantly lately. My youngest watched the video about the Cottingley Fairies the other day, it's her fave. She now wants us to go into the forest and find our very own "beck" (like a stream) where fairies live. :)

Thank you once again for all of you who have visited recently, and a big thank you to those who have commented. It's nice to come back to such nice and funny comments when you're up to your ears in it! :)