October 9th 2015 - syringe

I had thought about a syringe to go with my nurses outfit.  I also thought about making them full of jelly, but that might scare the kids at the party.  So I was going to buy a pen version except the only ones I could find were from china and wouldnt be here in time.  This left me thinking...... and it came to me, I have 3 children who have calpol and such in the cupboard = syringe!

I started hunting and found more medicine spoons than the local chemist has, lots of the syringes that come with ibuprofen but not a single clear syringe.  There had to be one somewhere in my house, so I kept looking.  I found one in the draw with the pasta and rice, I can only assume it has fallen out of the cutlery drawer and in there.  Well it was going to get a make over.


Take one syringe :

  and some extreme repair glue*:








Remove the syringe plunger, fill the nozel end with the glue, making sure it is fully covered so that you get no leaks later on. Allow to dry.

Next mix some fake blood, pva glue and a drop of alcohol hand gel and combine well by shaking, you should have a nice bright red mixture, you may need to add a drop or 2 of red food colouring if it looks pinky because of the pva glue.  Pour this mix into the syringe so its between 1/2-3/4 full.  Wipe the inside of the top of the syringe with a tissue so that it is dry.

(YOU NEED ABOUT 5 HANDS NOW!)  keeping the syringe the right way up so nothing spills out, you need to coat the rubber end of the plungers part with the extreme repair glue, make sure it is all covered as you don't want any leaks.  Carefully push the plunger into the syringe so that the rubber end is just into the main body of the syringe.  IF you push too hard you may dislodge the glue at the other end.  Place more extreme repair glue around the whole end of the syringe so it is fully sealed.  You may need to do a 2nd coat once dry to be sure there are no gaps.

You should now have something that looks like this:

I have added a keyring loop through the side of syringe and an ID fob clip so it can be attached to my outfit.  Great prop at no cost as already had the stuff.

*extreme repair glue is brilliant as it is a flexible rubber type glue that it fully waterproof - it is used to repair tents and hiking shoes. can be bought in wilkinsons.

October 8th 2015 - My own Wheels!

The benefits people agreed to do us a loan so that we could get me a mobility scooter.  Today we went over to the place that we hire 1 from in august as we had spoken the man a few weeks ago and he said once we had the money he would have a scooter or find me a suitable one as soon as he could.

The one we have bought is not the one I borrowed in august but one a simialr size, the difference is this 1 is a 2014 model and not a 2015 model, but this did mean the cost was much less.

It is blue and a gogo elite traveller model.  I'm hoping that I dont have to use it very much but at least I now have one if we want to go out as a family for a day etc.  It fits in the boot and we will be able to pack around it - yes it may mean we have to buy some smaller hold-alls rather than big suitcases but  we can work round it. 

At present it is sat in the middle of my kitchen whilst we work out where it is going to be kept.

October 7th 2015 - Pass the pumpkin game

October 7th 2015 - Pass the pumpkin game

Last Halloween I came up with the idea of the pass the pumpkin game based on the traditional pass the pass the parcel.  However, instead of keeping going with unwrapping to get the prize each player it landed on took a sweet from the pumpkin, once everyone had had 2 sweets (we only had small numbers playing) the next time the music stopped that person took home the pumpkin and all the rest of the sweets in it.

In the sale after halloween last year I picked up a plastic pumpkin (trick or treat bag) that we could use for this years party.  Today I have sat and filled it up with sweets of various types - body parts, lollipops and sherbet straws.  It is now ready to take with us to my friends house.

The kids loved playing it last year as they all got sweets.  And it also made up for the fact that they didn't all go trick or treating before the party.

I have also done this as a train.

October 6th 215 - Blood splatter nails

October 6th 2015 - Blood splater nails

To go along with my nurses outfit for halloween I wanted to have blood splatter nails as I think they will look good.  I looked on ebay and the false ones are all really long and as I don't do nails and girly very often they will drive me mad.  I then looked at the sticker options and again say look better on long nails (mine are fairly short).

This left me the option of nail varnish.  I looked at various tutorials and they all said about using a straw and blowing it - well I tried that option and managed to get it on paper not my nails!  So I tried to just tap the brush over my nails without touching them - it worked but its not easy to do on yourself.

However my hubby had a go for me and it's worked out ok.  So on Halloween (or the day before) the hubby will become my own nail technichian once I have done the base and white coats.  I think I my use 2 different reds so it gives a look of some fresh and some not.

Here is the result of the trial run today:

October 5th 2015 - tshirt 2 pillow

October 5th 2015 - tshirt 2 pillow

Last year myself and a friend in USA did a christmas gift swap based on Elves.  It was great.  We decided that we would do it again for this year.   Just after christmas last year I picked up a baby tshirt that said "I Elves they have magical powers".  My friend doesn't have a baby so this may seem like a strange thing to buy for her.  However, I had plans for the tshirt.  And that plan was to turn the tshirt into a pillow.

I started off  by cutting the long sleeves to just below the arm holes (as you don't need long sleeeves or extra pieces of material as they will just get in the way.)  I then stitched up the arm holes and along the base of the tshirt:

 I then started to stuff the tshirt via the head hole and pushed it down into the tshirt.  The stuffing is from a quilt I bought for this type of craft.  Its cheaper to buy new quilts and rip the stuffing out of than it is to buy bags of toy stuffing which is exactly the same thing!  Once it was fully stuffed I stitched up the head hole.

And have a finished pillow.

I forgot to take pics as I was working hence why its all a stuffed pillow.  I think it's nice and i'm sure my friend will as she is Elf mad!

October 4th 2015 - toilet roll mummy

October 4th 2015 - toilet roll mummy

Lil man was wanting to do some crafts today, so as its near Halloween we decided that we would do Halloween crafts.

We have made some toilet roll mummies from a bandage and googly eyes.  It has kept little man amused for while.

October 3rd 2015 - pot o gold

October 3rd 2015 - Pot o gold

Today I have finally finished the leprechauns house for the fairy garden and started to varnish it.  Tomorrow I will varnish the bottom and then it is ready to go outside.  Lil man asked if I could make him a pot of gold to go with it.  This pin gave me the idea. 

Instead of using a bottle I used a small plastic medicine tub:

I took off the lid and cut the tub abit shorter with a sharp knife.  From here I coated the inside in a grey nail varnish and left to dry.  I then coated the outside in a dark blue and silver nail varnish and left to dry.

 I filled the inside of the tub 3/4 of the way up with clear silicone and then started to place gold pirate coins into it, I also put more silicone around the coins so it should be waterproof.  I did place a few more coins than are in the photo.

It is now sitting drying ready to go outside tomorrow with the house and leprechauns.