the pesky bombolino

Happy Halloween!

Finished!

After a c****y few weeks, things have been looking up around here lately (I'm not including the scarlet rash and mysterious elephant-man-like swelling that's currently affecting my children's faces).

The lovely Betsy at Wonderland5 sent me this groovy book which satisfies my retro tastes with it's funky 70's style.

And if that wasn't enough to make my day, she also sent me this purse because she thought it would go nicely with my new boots. It does- I love it- thank you!

If you haven't already, hop over to Wonderland5 to see the beautiful quilt Betsy's making for her forthcoming baby girl and the wealth of other inspiration you can find there.

Eliza's staying with my parents for a couple of nights so Annie and I've enjoyed some grown-up girl time. We've hired bikes in Thetford forest and been swimming to a leisure pool in Great Yarmouth (which Eliza is too scared to go in because it has a wave machine).
We've also cracked on with this rag doll kit which Annie received for her birthday, way back in August (not least because it's called 'Rag Doll Annie'!) and we've been working on it bit by bit ever since.

It's a lovely kit, it includes everything you need, even pins, scissors and thread. And it's been made as easy as possible without sacrificing the quality of design. Annie at 7 is probably a little bit too young so she needs a lot of help, which frustrates her independent spirit. And her attention span is so short we'll be lucky to get it done before Christmas! But it's a lovely thing to do together and we're enjoying the process.

(PS have you guessed the children are on school holidays this week?!!)

Never one to be outdone in the crafting stakes, Annie made this dragon puppet from Eliza's new craft book.

It's constructed from a jam tart box, has egg carton spines and used copious amounts of tissue paper, card, paint and glue. It took a while but was easy to make- there wasn't anything involved that she couldn't manage by herself.

It moves beautifully; it's really swishy and flows through the air as if it's really flying.
And it scares the life out of Eliza; which I think is all Annie requires from a dragon puppet!

Eliza and I made a fairy castle together following instructions from 'My Princess Craft Book'.
She adapted the design slightly to include a moat (apparently every princess needs one to protect themselves from evil wizards!) and stairs (so the princess can get to her canopied bed!). My little artiste also raided our wallpaper weaving stash and laid a pale blue felt carpet. After adding a chandelier and some furniture ('no- I don't want a washing machine Mummy!'); the palace was complete!

(If fairy palaces are your thing you can see more photos here!).

(that sums my life up perfectly- except it doesn't have to be a monolith size task, just a little washing-up sized task will send me fleeing!)

Cartoon by Dave Walker. Find more cartoons you can freely re-use on your blog at We Blog Cartoons.

(Thanks to Kitty Thimble for the pointer!)

New booty from the button company.