October 21st 2015 - Back to the Future Day

The time has come, October 21st 2015 - Back to the Future Day!

I loved watching the films when I was a kid and still think they are great today.  There are many things from the film which have since been invented, whether the film gave the idea or not we dont no.  I  for 1 do not plan to try out the hoover boards!

Below is a pic from the film and my lil man in a chain link top and silver hat.  He hasn't seen the films but thought he looked the man from film.  Good job I have obliging kids.

October 20th 2015 - Harvest Festival

Today was the schools Harvest Festival.  It was held at the local church.  And for the first time of these events the whole of the school was there, usually they do it in 2 sessions and half the school at each and many parents had to go to both.

We saw our 2 sons as they came in to the church, but couldn't see where they were sat.  All the kids sang really well, loud and clear. 

The school asked for each child to take in a packet or tin of food and these were being donated to the local Salvation Army to issue out.  With over 200 children in the school that is a lot of donations.

However, with today being the Harvest Festival it does mean there are now only 3days until the end of term.

October 19th 2015 - purse

I have a small purse that is pocket size and great.  But I wanted another couple and was struggling to find them online at a sensible price.

So I took out the material box and some old clothes that were going to charity shops with zips in and set about making a new purse.

I have never stitched in zips to  things before, so the first of the purses I cheated and used the material that was already around the zip in the trousers and cut and stitched to the size I was after.  I over stitched the end of the zip and then coated it in superglue so that it should hold. (green in pic).

For the 2nd purse I half cheated as had a pocket that had been cut from an old pair of jeans, it still had the outer part of the jeans as well as the denim lining so all I had to do was attach the zip.  It took 2 attempts to get it in right but it worked.

Now you may be wondering why I would want multiple purses if I already have a good/nice one. Well as i'm off to London in a couple of weeks I don't want to keep all my money in 1 purse together incase it gets stolen.  At least if I have a couple of purses I can split my money and where they are on my person = less likely to loose all of it.

October 18th 2015 - Go henry

My son is off to Buckingham Palace in a couple of weeks and needs to take 2 pieces of id with him or he wont be allowed in.  Well this was looking to be a big problem for us as, 1 piece of id will be his St John Ambulance id badge but as for number 2 we had no idea.  His birth cert is not in his changed name by deed poll, i'm not sure if deed poll would be accepted, he has no passport and isn't old enough for a driving licence, he doesnt work and therefore has no payslips or national insurance card, his phone is on my contract so not in his name and he doesn't have a bank acocunt.  As you can see we were fast running out of options.

Anyway me and my friend were talking and she said that she had just got her 13yr old son a pre-pay credit card type thing from a company called Osper.  I took a look at it and didn't like that you were tied in for 1year.  Seems a long time that I have to pay money onto a card for my son to spend on most probably sweets!  I started looking around and found another company that does similar called go henry.  This company does not tie you in for a year and you can cancel at anytime and they will send card within 7days.  We have paid the extra to get him a personalised card that says "go Jarred" not go henry, my theory was it will be more easy to locate if it gets stolen at school etc. (he is the only Jarred).

We did look at a bank account but they are going to take longer than the 2weeks we have until London so I needed a quick fix.  Plus if my son gets silly with the above card I cancel it.

If anyone is interested in a go henry card and a free £5 when you activate it please click on the link below, it is classed as a friend referral.  https://www.gohenry.co.uk/secure/?utm_campaign=refer_a_friend&utm_source=inviteLinkWA#ref_lnk_1445176129203962735_Ya

October 17th 2015 - paper book folding

I have spent today again trying to come up with easy crafts that are suitable for both boys and girls for my St John Cadets to do that are not the "normal" cut and stick kiddie crafts.

I have a pile of books upstairs that are going to the charity shop, so I decided to try and make a paper book folding christmas tree.  Looks easy enough so I had a go.

The insctructions I found were in German so I had to hunt for some in English asn translation didn't make sense.

Anyway, take a book and remove the cover and take out about 60pages leaving the glue on the spine, the more pages you use the thicker the finished tree will be but it will take longer to do:

From here you need to start folding pages like you would to make a paper airplane!  Make sure you have the spine to the left when you start as its easier.  Take the top right corner and fold down to the spine and crease so its a sharp fold (I use and old store card):

Then you need to take the section and fold onto itself so that you get a thin point at the top and airplane shape, again crease so its a sharp fold:

You will notice that the bottom of the folded page sticks out below the bottom of the book, this also need folding.  If you bend it down over the rest of the book you will get a fold mark, using this tuck the bottom bit upwards so that it is hidden under the 2nd fold:

Keep folding the rest of the pages in the above way (it is time consuming but worth it):

Then once you have folded all the pages you will need to staple the 1st and last pages together to make it as a cone shape and it will look like this:

It is now upto you if you decorate it or leave it plain.  I am going to add a glitter paint to the folded part of each page that makes the tree and add some sparkly stars and a pom pom to the top.

please make sure if doing with children that the books are suitable incase they decide to read any of the pages!  I had planned to use the books that I have upstairs for charity shop but as I made this 1 I realised they are NOT suitable and will still be going to charity shop, so I will be going to buy some more suitable ones (maybe from the kids/teens section).

October 16th 2015 - Christmas Candy Sleighs

I know it is only October and we haven't got as far as Halloween BUT I needed to sort out some craft activities for St John Ambulance including 1 week where they are in uniform which means no paint, glitter or glue or anything that would make a mess.   Yea not the easiest of tasks in the world!

Then I remembered the Christmas Candy Sleighs I made for the boys teachers 2 Christmas's ago - they were very easy to make and used double sided tape.

These were the ones I made for the teachers.  They look pretty good and the teachers liked them.

Que me going shopping for sweets and chocolate to make them.  £19.81 later I have everything I need to make a new demo version and enough sweets for 19 children to make sleighs - that work out at £1 per child - when you put it that way you cant really complain especially as 4 bar kit kats are 79p each in my local shop.  The sweets were from b&m, home bargains and poundland, all in multi-packs.

Take 1 huge pile of sweets:

And  split them to what you need - 1 kit kat, 2 twix bars, 2 maoam blocks, 1 orange segment, 1 choc santa and 2 candy canes:

And you are almost ready to make the sleighs.  You also need 2 pieces of christmas ribbon and either double sided tape or sticky glue dots.

Step 1. Take out your kit kat and 2 twix bars.  Place the Kit kat right way up on the table.  Take 1 of the twix bars and a glue dot to each end on the back, then push down onto the back of your kit kat.  Do the same for 2nd twix and stick infront of the 1st one. You can add a sticky dot between the 2 twix bars to keep them together.

 

Step 2. Place kit kat on the table.  Take 1 of your 2 maoam bars, add a glue dot to each end of it on the back and stick on top of the twix bars.  Do this for the 2nd maoam as well.  You can add a glue dot between the 2 so they stay together. 

 

Step 3.  Place your kit kat on the table.  Take your orange segment and put a glue dot on each end on the base.  Stick this at the back on top of the maoam blocks. 

 

Step 4.  Take your Santa and place a glue dot on the base and 1 on the back about half way up.  Place Santa infront of the bars on the kit kat. 

Step 5.  Take 1 of the candy canes, put a glue dot on the top near the straight end, a glue dot in the middle and a glue dot near the curve.  Stick this to one side of the base of the kit kat.  Do the same for the other candy cane.  The curves need to be at the front near Santa. 

Step 6.  Take 1 piece of the Christmas ribbon.  Place a glue dot in the middle of the kit kat on the base and place the middle of the ribbon on it.  Take the ends up and over the sweet “parcels” and fix with a glue dot on the top.

 

Step 7. Take the other piece of the Christmas ribbon, tie both ends of the ribbon together in a knot.  Place a glue dot just infront of Santa and fix the knotted it to it (leave the knot to flap about like reins).  Take the rest of the ribbon under the front of the sleigh, stick to the glue dot from 1st ribbon if possible and bring up the back of the sweet “parcels” and fix on the glue dot on the top.

 

You now have a sleigh with reins. 

Some websites say to make these with hot glue or super glue - i dont reccommend this as the glue melts the plastic wrappers of the sweets and ends up touching the sweets making them un-eatable.  Therefore it is safer (especially if being done with children) to use double sided tape of sticky glue dots.

October 15the 2015 - SALE

SALE the word all women love and all  men hate as it costs them money!

This sale that I am referring to is in my local b&m store, they have some halloween bits reduced already, not sure if they are last years stock or what but I don't really care either!  I picked up a set of red had print lights (will be used when I do my bathroom as a blood scene) they were reduced to £1.  I picked up a fairly large purple glitter plumpkin again reduced to £1 (my friend is having this she just needs a tealight for it.)  And a mini purple pumpkin that was 10p (again going to friend).

I am also keeping an eye out for cheap witches hats for next year, so again I will be hunting the sales for them.