Imagination... What is it good for?

I did this picture recently for my little boy. It was a deeply personal piece of work for me as my son has been having a bit of a tough time at school. 

He's only 4, he turns 5 at the end of this month, and his first year at school has been one of many ups and downs. He struggled to settle at first, and managed to convince school that he couldn't cope with a full day... I resisted and he proved he could, with a little persuasion, make it through a whole day. 

From then we've battled with resistance at every turn, not wanting to do anything remotely connected with learning... He'd rather be sat in the corner making something amazing with masking tape and drinking straws. I must admit it's got me thinking a lot about creativity and how being creative is not something that is valued in our schooling system. 

If you're a square peg it seems the aim of school is to knock off your edges and make you fit that round hole. But what if you're a triangle or a diamond? It seems there's no place for you and you're labelled as having 'special needs' taken away from doing the things you love, and made to sit and do even more reading, writing and 'rithmetic. 

My son has the most amazing imagination I've ever come across. He inspires me every single day and being his mummy is my greatest privilege. So this little piece of artwork was my way of letting him know how valued his imagination is here, no matter what his teachers may think. 

A quick one... About a not so quick cake

The 

It's my son's 4th birthday party this weekend and in time honoured tradition we like to come up with a new theme each year. This year it's robots. 

The boy is just mad about them, so it made complete sense to theme the party around them! We had lots of ideas for games and treats that I will share with you later! But for now I thought I'd show you the cake. 

It's home made so not perfect, and I had an absolute nightmare with icing it as it was so hot the icing was too soft to handle! But I'm pretty chuffed with how it turned out!

Bare naked cakes waiting to be stacked and iced. 

I made way too much batter and had enough to make 3 heads! Real school girl error there!

The finished article! Robot cake tactic! 

Party planning means crafting...

It's my son's fourth birthday next week and we're planning a small party for him in the back garden. He wanted a robot theme this year so I've set to work on making it happen. 

So far all I've done is make the invitations and party bags. Doesn't sound like much, but it involved getting to grips with a new skill - stamp carving... 

I recently received my first Crafty Fox Box, a subscription craft service where you get sent an exciting box choc full of crafty bits every month. And June's box was all about stamping. It provided the tools and inspiration to help me create the invites!

I drew out a cute robot figure and set to carving it out. I probably should have picked an easier design for my first attempt, but I never was one to make things easy for myself! 

You have to transfer the design onto the soft rubber and then very carefully carve the excess bits away, leaving behind the bits you want to make an impression. It took a while and a fair bit of concentration; but we got there in the end!

Then I got out the ink pad and started stamping! I created some postcard style invites and party bags with the same little robot design on. 

I think they came out ok! Good enough for my boy to be pretty happy anyway! 

Now, next step - the cake... 

Sunny day apple cosies

It's a beautiful day today so I thought I'd make the most of it and sit out in the garden with my crochet hook and whip up some apple cosies for presents for my son's teachers. 

The boy was playing happily in the wigwam and Freyfrey was asleep so I cracked on. This really simple pattern (Mollie Makes issue 1) took no time at all to hook up so I managed to get two made up AND sew the buttons on. Bonus. 

What are you doing for presents for teachers? It can be a hard call! Didn't really want to spend any real money on them if I could help it - homemade is better anyway right!!?

Queen Anne's Lacey bits

After a totally disastrous morning washing the sofa covers I thought I'd cheer myself up with a bit of Pinterest browsing and it suddenly occurred to me that is forgotten to post the pics of my completed Queen Anne's Lace blanket. 

As I mentioned before, it was a real labour of love working out the pattern., but I think the results were definitely worth it! 

I also had a go at cushion designing with the leftover yarn. What do you think?

A little bit of magic...

How do fairies get into your house? We were wondering this the other day during a chat we were having about my son's invisible friend 'Bug' (he's very little and has wings like a fairy). They are too little to use our big doors. So it got me thinking... And then this happened - a fairy door magically appeared in my daughter's bedroom! 

I told a few friends about our new addition and, of course, they wanted to know how they could get one too... They are very cute after all! 

They are very simple to put together, but for those that are craftily challenged I am putting together some in kit form (or fully made up). If you're interested, contact me on twitter @arare5minutes and I will do my best to help you out. 

M x

Time for a little catch up

Well, things have been a little crazy here of late, with my dear little Freyfrey learning how to walk. Not much time for blogging or crafting! But now she's up on her feet I am hoping to get a bit more 'me time' and a lot more productive! Currently working on a Queen Anne's Lace blanket which has been like a maths master class in working out how to get it to work, but am pretty pleased with how it's coming together. Pics to follow soon...