October 23rd 2015 - Halloween day at school

As today is the last day of term the school allow the children to go dressed up in Halloween outfits and they have a day of fun as wel as some work.

This year my middle son (eldest of the 2 at the school) wanted to go as a Skeleton Pirate, and this is what we did for him:

This  was very easy to sort as all 3 boys have pirate outfits and we had  2 skeletons outfits so it was just a case of mix and match of what fitted him best.  He had to have a mask as he is allergic to face paints.  Apart from fact skeleton legs bit short he looks really good.

My youngest  son found a pair of monster feet in a charity shop and said that he was going to wear them and go as a monster for Halloween at school.  Meet the feet:

The only problem we faced now was he had no monster outfit.  "Not a problem you can make me one mummy" says son!  Hahaha!

Well I hunted ebay and found a cute fluffy dog onesie that was similar colours to the feet, and thought I could alter it (see post).  It altered really well and here is lil man dressed as a monster ready to go to school:

I think he looks really cool.  I'm not sure the school are going to be happy as the monster feet make monster noises as he walks!!! lol.

Hope they both have a good day.

October 22nd 2015 - fold bedding

Folding bedding has  to be 1 of the most annoying jobs around the house!  The sheets never fold properly, the duvet never stays folded, pillow cases dissapear or fall through airing cupboard shelves etc.

A friend said to me that she puts each bedding set inside its pillowcase, this stops the problem of the above and having to hunt for bits when you change beds (especially if you have kids and its 3am after they've been sick, your trying to do it quietly and in the dark).  This method means you can just grab a pack and off you go.  They also sit  neater on the shelves.

I have spent today doing this and re-folding all of my towels so they are in a neater pile as well.  It doesn't help that my airing cupboard is really small and only has 2 shelves.

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).