New Beginnings

I feel like recently I have been constantly apologising for how busy I am an how spars my blog is, now days. But this term has been one of the most exhausting (moving builds, HMI inspections and trying to get a grips with the new national assessments are only the icing on the cake).

My mam came down for a long weekend and we had a great time watching rugby, cooking and making a 1920s kimono for my friend hen night.

The finished kimono (aka my new dressing gown)

Well as I mentioned back in the summer holidays, my former flatmate lof (3 years) eft Orkney for the bright lights of Glasgow and I finally found a new flatmate, this was not a fun process and very stressful due to the lack of suitable applicants but she was like a ray of light and enjoys a lot of the crafty things that I do and we knew each other from work. While it has been a lovely 9 months or so she now also applying for jobs on the mainland and I had some big decisions to make. Stay and go through the stress of finding or not finding someone to move in or move on to a more affordable flat that I can live in on my own.

View from Murray's new flat

Tea at Cups in Glasgow

Had a great meal with old friends then we had a sing along to Evita at the playhouse in Edinburgh

In the last term I have managed 2 visits south to see Murray and currently planning the next to trips (one Edinburgh, one glasgow)

Well after very little search I found a HOUSE that I couldn't say no to:

Private parking

Coal burning fire

Conservatory

VERY affordable ... SOLD!!!!!

Well rented but it will do me right while I save for a mortgage deposit (ugh grown up funs).

Slowly tweeking things here and there to make it a home, lots of colour being used to counter act the red feature walls

Anyhoo, the house is very much a blank canvas it has some less endearing features left behind by previous tenants but I am really looking forward to making it mine and more importantly homely.

Practically Perfect Children in Need

I LOVE dressing up, even more so when I get to make the costume.

My earliest fancy dress memory is me as a witch and my sister as a scarecrow for Hallowe'en. Since then I'm been a bat, a mermaid (I was obsessed with Ariel), a skeleton, Pocahontas, a clown and many many more.

At the school our theme is From the Movies and I knew what I was gonna be straight away, as I hadn't gotten to dress up this Hallowe'en I decided to use it for CIN.

First time making a circle skirt and I'm shocked

 that I managed it as easily as I did

 

I was really lucky to get to see Mary Poppins on Broadway last October and after seeing the Pinterest photo I knew it was a must.

This is Day 2, skirt is finished bar the hem and the shirt has the ruffles

pinned to it to see what it would look like

I started off by making the skirt, I used a tutorial from A Pair & A Spare's blog but made it a little longer to work (although I do plan to take it up so that I can wear it after). I also used youtube to help me make sure I was doing the zip correctly.

The finished skirt, a little too big but I will wear it again

 

Then I started on the blouse, I was shocked how hard it was to find a white blouse in the charity shops, but eventually I got one in the Red Cross which was 'off' white but fit and the neck line wasn't too low. I had planned to pin the ruffles to the front until I spoke to the lady in the fabric grotto who said she had previously made a Mary Poppin costume and used the shirt backwards so I tried this and it does look more like Mary P.

The finished shirt, kinda want to do this to other shirts

 

The next step was to to accessorise ... what would Mary Poppins be without her umbrella, hat and carpet bag?

 

I had the offer of a carpet bag but sadly they couldn't find it and I had no time to make one too so I settled for a woven bag I had gotten from Accessorize, years ago.

 

Ran out of time to make cherries but it still looks cute

 

I was most concerned about sourcing the umbrella but after hunting high and low in the Blue Door Charity shop, the assistant pointed at the only umbrellas they had and this multi-coloured one wasna too shabby.

Sadly my umbrella does not talk

 

The parrot handle was easier than imagined I first started with head shape, I used papier-mache to do this then glues the green feathers on. The beak was completed at the 11th hour, after forgetting black card, but I am brally proud of the outcome.

 

The school did really well this year for Children in Need and raised approximately £3,125. What did you do for Children in  Need this year?

Jeans for Genes UK

 

As well as other activities we have planned at work I thought I would raise a little extra for the charity doing what I love the most ... Cooking & Crafting!!!

When playing on Pinterest I discovered this photo and thought I might bake something similar and sell it in the staff room.

 

I made a simple sponge and icing and used coloured icing and rolled it out to make the pockets, very simple but hopefully effective.

October holidays start on Friday and so I am trying to use up food in the cupboards and fridge before I go north. I bought a huge bag of carrots from my local shop when I only needed one and they are still good so I wanted to use the rest up. I don't like carrot cake (I know I'm weird) so I typed in carrot relish and carrot jam into Pinterest and a recipe for Carrot Cake Jam caught my eye. Even though I don't like the actual cake, I tried the jam and it was nice, I really liked the walnuts in it.

I will decorate the jars with denim and hopefully get some generous donations for this Jeans for Genes UK.

 

Here is a picture of the decorated jars