A strange turn of events

It's been a hectic few days, my f-i-l has been, and remains, seriously ill in hospital. Along with that i have a heavily pregnant s-i-l after worrying about those two there has been very little time to do anything else. -


However the children are oblivious and therefor christmas preparations have to continue for there sake and so here is our latest little creation


Left: A normal card line but the cards are attached with value tesco pegs that have been decorated using ordinary felt tips. The children thoroughly enjoyed doing this and it required very little tidying after. Total cost 36p for 48 pegs.

Left: A pattern and instructions for the felt heart shown a few days ago along with a description of blanket stitch which is a very useful little stitch to know when embellishing cheap blankets and such.










Left: The handmade sweets and truffles that went down so well on saturday. The truffles were very cheap and easy to make as were the sweets.




See below for a recipe.




Chocolate truffles- Makes about 30
250ml Dble Cream
275g Dark Chocolate, broken to pieces
4tsp rum
Icing sugar or cocoa to coat.

1. Slowly bring cream to boil.
2. Then pour over chocolate and stir until chocolate melted.
3. Add the rum and then put in fridge for 2 hrs or until firm.
4. Roll into balls.
5. Once in balls roll in icing sugar or cocoa or coat in chocolate.

Well another weekend over and another week closer to christmas. Unfortunately we've had some bad news and so as usual things are all up in the air again. I just hope things pan out well.

However the weekend was beautifully christmassy. We had relatives over on the saturday for my Mother in laws birthday. It went very well. The food was a big hit and the family actually got on well with each other, no arguing ,awkward silences or dirty looks just a nice time. The food went down very well. The truffles turned out amazingly. And i will definately make them again. As for the chocolates i wish i could always have them in.

Left :Here's a picture of my sons robot he's only 4 and managed to do this completely by himself. My husband and i sat there in amazement as he pieced together this master piece. After he was si proud of it he asked if i could show it to the whole world So posting it on the internet was all i could do.

Truffles and Birthday Cards

The weekend is fast approaching and so i must press on with preparations for my mother in laws birthday. The pressie has been bought since april when there was a special offer n malt whisky. Heres a list of what needs to be done:

1. Birthday Cards- 1 from each child, 1 from us for grandma and twin sister= 6


2. A birthday banner for the window


3. A birthday cake


4. Sweet sweets- truffles, chocolates


5. a quick tidy round

So a considerable mount to do in 2 days, the birthday cake is likely to ba a trifle or cheesecake since she cant eat wheat. The birthday cards should be made tomorrow along with the banner and lastly i'm hoping to get the snacks made tonight and kept in the fridge til saturday, that way if they aren't to nice i can make a fresh lot in time.

We tasted the honey vodka last night, it was amazing. We cant believe we paid 20 quid for a bottle of honey vodka previously. Well never again it's homemade forever now.

Left: Here's the other christmas decoration that i mentioned previously, i think it looks very effective.

A few more ups and a few more downs.

Well the great christmas make continues. I've had a pretty busy couple of days with preparing for christmas, dentist appointments and the like. But i intend to relax a little after this week and the good thing is we're already half way through it.

So heres the latest home made decorations.

Left: A little felt heart outlined with blanket stitch with a little pocket in the front for a sweet or treat. Very easy to make and also very cheap, about 10p.

We've also made some lovely sm wreaths for the tree out of old car seat beads threaded onto a wire, bended into a circle and then hung with red wool.

Along with this we're trying 5 more flavoured vodkas out -

honey-2tbsp of runny honey to 20cl of vodka

Mars Bar- 4 snack size mars bars to about 15cl of vodka

Milky Way- 4 snack size milky way bars to about 15cl of vodka

Strawberry and cream- 15 chewy strawberry and cream penny sweets to 15cl of vodka

Christmas Vodka- 3 tbsp sultanas, 2 tsp mixed spice, 1 tsp cinnamon and 1 tsp of mollasses to 20 cl of vodka

They were made last night and hopefully they'll all taste good. After a good few shakes today the honey is ready but the others aren't quite there yet. Any recommendations for good vodka flavours are appreciated.

Well the decorations went up this weekend. To make christmas feel a bit more personal i try to make as much as i can. Heres a few of the decorations we've made this year.

Left: A handmade advent calender, made from 4 green felt xmas trees and 24 red felt rectangles and sewn together using red wool with blanket stitch. Each red square is sewn round 3 sides to form a pocket and i've embroidered a number for each day of advent and the kiddies will recieve a little gift in each one.

Left: They may be traditional and a bit tacky but they are so much fun to make and they are cheap. These were made from the left over wrapping paper which was cut into strips about 1in x 6in and then stapled together so they formed the chain. In effect these were free except the staples which cost 20p for 200 because the paper would have just gone into the recycling because there wasnt really enough neat paper there to wrap anything.

Left: This simple decoration can be used year after year and is relatively cheap to make. I used 2 contrasting colous of organza fabric and cut it into 12in x 48incm strips. i then took one end of each colour and fastened it with an elastic band togther, threading a fabric or wooden flower through the middle. You can make this as long as you want just adding more organza and a flower and fastening with an elastic band and then suspending from the ceiling with drawing pins. The price varies on the fabric and flowers but an 8ft length cost me 90p.

Welcome to my world.

I have 3 amazing, trying, difficult, clever, enchanting, soulful, entertaining and wonderful children all under 5. There escapades give my husband and i endless cause to laugh, cry, worry and smile.

My husband of 4 years is 30. He is my heart and soul and i'm blessed to have him in my world (most of the time).
I am 23 and sometimes i feel like i'm going on 40 and sometimes i feel like i'm going on 9.

I want our children to grow up to be confident happy individuals that have a good grasp on the world around them. I dont believe in smacking and try not to shout but try to discipline them calmly and sensibly in a style Jo Frost would be proud of . However it doesnt always go as planned.

We try to spend as little money as we can but live as full a life as possible.

We are ethically and environmentally minded which in our case means we try not to waste anything and think about everything we spend our money on.

So thats enough background info.

Since we're putting up the christmas decorations tomorrow alot has needed to get done today.
I'm trying to do christmas as environmentally friendly as possible. I had lots of half rolls of wrapping paper so i'm turning them into paper chains. That way they can just be recycled after and i'm not just throwing the old wrapping paper away. Also paper chains can be extortionate so it's cheaper too.

I've also made the advent calenders for the children. They cost about 4 pound each to make but we get to choose what goes in them everyday ,so they're not eating junk chocolate they mainly get stickers, and we get to re use them every year.

I've got family coming over next weekend so i need to try and arrange what nibbles i intend to make. I'm think i'm going with mince pies, posh home made chocs, dipped chocolate fruit and maybe truffles. To drink i'm making toffee vodka and i've managed to pick up lots of wine on the tesco special offers 12 bottles of drinkable plonk for 17 pound delivered.

left: homemade toffee vodka- add 300g of caramel toffee to a sterilised wine bottle then pour over cheap own brand vodka until filled. Make airtight by cork or screw. Shake as often as you can over the next 48 hrs. Voila an amazing drink much like dooleys but better.