Bubbles and Bath Fizz recipe!

"Blowing bubbles"

I'm a bit like my Granny in the sense that if any word or phrase repeats the lyrics of a song, I'll be singing that song immediately..and usually on a loop for the rest of the day.....which works if it's a cracking tune....

"I'm forever blowing bubbles"..however is not so much of the cracking...so a quick topic change is required!

It's been dark and rainy most days here, and what with a fully recovered kiddo, there's been a flurry of activity. We made bath fizzes the other day which we make on a regular basis as a form of bath bribery for my youngest! I thought I'd share in case you fancy a go...I'm thinking christmas pressies!

You need

1 cup of citric acid (from your local health food shop)

2 cups of bicarbonate of soda (baking soda for those in the US of A)

a few drops of essential oil (if you want a bit of a smell...we use lavender for the relaxing effect)

a few drops of food colouring (if you want them to be coloured)

glitter/flower petals if you fancy a bit of pizzazz!

water (approx 2 tsps)

So you mix your citric acid and bicarb together.

Add your food colouring and essential oil and glitter (all optional).

You next add little drops of water gradually..it fizzes as you add it so requires quick stirring...hence the absence of photo documentation!

You keep adding little bits of water until your mixture is able to hold its shape when pressed together... too much water causes the mixture to fizz and expand...so go canny!

We used a love heart ice tray but have used play dough shapes, chocolate trays in the past....get creative with the shape you fancy! You simply press the mixture into the mould then tap it out.

Tissue paper or greaseproof paper is a good surface to pop the bath fizz onto...then you leave them to dry out till hard.

et voila sweet sparkly bath fizzes..perfect for that bribery bath :)

erm...and this is what happens if you accidentally buy baking powder instead..... oops!

Come join my sewing corner! ...freebie Elephant pattern!

You know, I've always had this dream of setting up a "Sewing Corner", a chance for women to get together and do what they do best - share stories, support, love and a whole lot of laughter... all while stitching away!

You see, while I love getting messy with the paints, seeing colours splash across surfaces...its the sewing that gets me the most. Part of it's the satisfaction of putting idle hands to good use, but more than that it stills my mind, keeps me present and at the end I can directly feel and touch what I create, the texture, the lines.....oooohh I think I may even be salivating as I type :)

Anyhoos, I'll get to the point! I've gone and opened a little etsy shop selling pdf patterns that can be printed and sewn up, for anyone who wants to give it a try. I've got a lifetimes worth, and a drawer full of them waiting to be shared :)

But I also want to make it a regular thing to share freebie patterns that you can print off yourself and again have a bash at.....my own little sewing corner here in bloggy land!

So todays freebie pattern is "trunk to tail".....and incase you're new to the whole sewing shabang here is a wee tutorial.......

After clicking on the elephant picture above, copy to a new word document and print off the desired size. (if this sounds way too complicated leave me your email address and I'll mail you the pdf) I use the good old fashined window "lightbox" technique as seen below, and draw on the lines with a water-soluble pen...but you could simply use a pencil, pen, whatever you have to hand.

Now I've got the outline all drawn, I've got some black embroidery thread, you could use thin wool, or sewing thread if its what you have lying about (all of which I use too!) I'm using stem stitch to basically fill in the outline with black thread. Stem stitch is described below.

When it comes to the bits I want filled with colour I use satin stitch which is detailed below.

I'm still sewing away on my piece...I've got this far...

I'm going to make it into a box pouch ....guess I'll save that for the next sewing corner session! :)

Today I'm linking this to the gorgeous Em at Mimi and Tilly's who has a Favourite thing on a Friday. Hope you are all having a fandoobly day..I'm away to hang with my gorgeous sis and her little girl yay!xx

More notebooks!

Yep I'm afraid..more notebooks..I'm kind of in mass production (a whole 5 items created!!) so I have some things to sell for the upcoming event.The idea was to use up the mass of scrap paper I have accumulated from my fabric journals and make some dinky journals that I could price cheaply......however things always take so much longer than anticipated and then the cheapness becomes more a feeling of ripping myself off! Ah well ....we'll see how well they sell on the day and then prices may rise or fall :)

The recipe to mini journals:

one stash of cut-offs and left overs

an old kiddies board book torn up and cut for covers

A bit of decoration with acrylic paints and sharpie pens

Add a bit of recycled strong material for the spine which is glued to the covers. Then bind the pages using embroidery thread and pamphlet stitch:

Et voila.... mini journals......

I read somewhere that writing just 3 things at the end of each day that have made you smile/that you enjoyed enhances your mood and general wellbeing HUGELY... I like to think these little rinky dinks are the perfect home for those 3 magical things :)

Oh and of course its Friday today...time for partying with lots of lovely painty people over here....come join me :)x

Joy Journal GIVE-AWAY!! and TUTORIAL!!

Oooh, my heart is beating a bit fast here and I've got butterflies in my stomach! ...which I take as a VERY good sign and that i've done the right thing!!...I've just hit the "publish" button for my very first tutorial!! A junk to JOY tutorial...on how to make your very own journal out of paper and card that most of us have in our recycled boxes! (or in a big pile in the corner...if you're not very organised like me!!) I hope it gives a small bit of inspiration to look at the bits and bobs we have around our home in a different light.I also hope it encourages you to note down all the things that fill you with joy, the dreams that are waiting to be fulfilled, the small things that fill you with gratitude....

To celebrate I'm having another JOY Journal Giveaway too....I did say I would make this giveaway a regular event and it remains my intention.....

(To find out more about my intention behind the JOY journal check out here.)

If you would like to join the joy (and making one seems like way too much effort!!) just leave a comment below and I will randomly pick the winner on 25th January (which is "Burn's night"...so we'll toast the famous poet with a little JOY!)

Near or far, follower or not... all are welcome!

This time the journal pages are based on a pink/orange/brown theme, with lots of pink feather that have moulted from my youngest's feather boa!! (a xmas present..which has left a trail of feathers ever since opening..thanks Granny Alexis!! )

There are tags, clear pockets, a spinning wheel, an envelope pocket, to name a few.

A "feely"- fest for sure!

Additional NOTE:

I'm adding on another day to the giveaway, so the winner will be picked on Wed 26th January ....work commitments getting in the way of blogging..alas! :)

good luck!x

Purple Beastie star book

This week's colour challenge is lavender purple, which is another gorgeeeooouus colour but one where the inspiration was hard to find. Yes, i can surely smell the heady scent of lavender but how do you paint that?! I DID overdose once on lavender essential oil because of my love of its aroma...fresh and uplifting for sure! :) Being unaware of its blood pressure lowering abilities and with an already low blood pressure...well you can work out the rest :)

As with the colour challenge so far I've been given the opportunity and excuse to try out new things that I have never quite gotten round to and this week is no exception...I've gone for yet ANOTHER book but a star one this time...wish I'd come up with the design as its so simple but effective.

As for the "beasties" theme....I can't actually tell you where that came from! Lets call it Divine intervention :) Turned out a bit more cutsie than I had planned...but can't win them all hey?!

There's some photos below showing the process if you're interested, this was by far the fiddliest thing I've done in a while..but I must have enjoyed it as no sweary words passed my lips!

The star book is all in the layers of paper folded at different lengths to give you that 3 D effect.

The length of paper with the largest sized folds forms your back canvas so remains "whole", the medium and smallest sized folds sit on top...so its trying to work out which bits to cut out and which bits to leave....i found this the tricky fiddly bit!

Now painted purple with black pen added....lovely wooden floor clash!! :)

Now sewing where the three layers of paper meet at the folded points,(using pamphlet stitch) this keeps it all together.

I've glued on some heavy cardboard on either end to form the front and back covers for when the book is closed. The cardboard can be covered with whatever suits, I've just used bits cut from a magazine featuring a bit of leaves and pink/purple petals.

Here we have it, done and dusted...the jobs a good 'un! :)