Rocks and Slippers...

Almost the instant I clicked ‘Publish’ on my last blog post, where I celebrated the end of sickness in our household and began to look to the year ahead, I came down with another cold. This one was swift and mean, leaving me no choice but to spend yet another weekend curled up in my bed, drifting between sleep and silent contemplation as I listened to my precious family downstairs doing weekend-y things and longing I was there with them.

And so, I have been purposefully trying to stick to my NYR to ‘Do Less. Be More’. It means I haven’t really had much to blog about, as I haven’t really achieved much (that you can see that is). It’s a little more challenging than I had predicted as I actually have to stop myself doing things! Usually the moment I am child-free I set about getting things together for one project or another, or I cram in all of the things I just can’t do with a little person under my feet, like build the shelves in my garage. But this past week I haven’t, and it’s been wonderfully refreshing. At first I felt a huge pressure to make something (pressure from myself that is, as I really don’t know where else it would come from) but now that pressure is less so. I have actually discovered that I am in some way liberated by this and creativity has become slightly more organic. Is that what I mean? I think it is…?

Anyway, I wanted to stop by the say ‘Hello!’ and to show you what I have been doing between all the moments of not very much.

On a whim I purchased some pain pens to doodle on some of the beach treasures I bought back from last year’s holiday. Annoyingly I picked up a silver pen instead of a white one, but that’s because I had a very tired toddler with me at the time and I simply wasn’t paying enough attention!

They’re not the very best, but I enjoyed myself and would definitely do more of this! As each pebble is like a miniature work of art there really is no pressure to keep going until you have a masterpiece because they’re over pretty quickly anyway! (Although I could have happily carried on all day, I ran out of pebbles)

I also, again on a whim, bought a pattern to make some crochet slippers. This is something I have though about making for a long time, but I never got round to it. My week of slowing down meant that when the thought came into my head this time I was actually able to say ‘YES! Lets make!’ I made them in an evening whilst watching a film and stopping only for cheesecake; it might be quicker without the break for dessert but hey :) (It was Millionare Shortbread Cheesecake you understand.)

So that’s where I am, where are you? When was the last time you slowed down to just Be-ing? Maybe give it a go and see what happens; it can only be good!

Thanks for stopping by,

See you soon

Hayley

x

Looking Forward

Hello! My goodness I have been a bad blogger this year; but my excuse is a good one, because whilst I have been very poor at blogging, I’ve been trying to be good at Mothering. It still feels like I’m catching up on everything after Christmas, do you feel the same? I have been doing laundry for LITERALLY a week; the pile is just not going down quick enough!

Anyway, after a long season of illness in our house I got my first snot-free kiss from Little A today and this feels like a reason to celebrate! It feels like it’s beginning to come to an end which means there’s more time to be getting on with the business of 2015.

Have you made any Resolutions this year? I am aware that for a lot of people asking them this is like swearing at them, and I always wondered why? But I realised its because it’s viewed as having to give something up and you see them saying to themselves; ‘why, oh why, would I want to give something up? Because it’s always going to have to be something I like (such as nice food, or lounging on the sofa). No thanks!’ … I’m not into that either! Instead, a new year is full of opportunity for me, and to make sure I get something out of it I always make LOADS of resolutions and they’re mostly to do with trying something new or getting something done :) Do you mind if I share some with you?

(The reason I have so many, by the way, is because I would so easily be overwhelmed by just one. It would become too big in my mind and I’d begin to imagine it impossible to achieve, and then just give up, which is the opposite of what I’m going for!)

So, here goes...

This is my overall aim for this year. I am a crazy person really when it comes to all of the things I want to achieve, I have so many ideas and things inside my head that I rarely have time to even write them down. I need to learn to say ‘NO’ (to myself) and focus more on Being than doing. Hopefully this will benefit my family too!

This may sound like a contradiction to the above but my new skill for this year is to learn Calligraphy. I have already started and it’s not the walk in the park I thought it would be! I’ll show you some as soon as I have anything worth showing!

I want to finish my blanket. Whenever I see other people’s blankets that they’ve just finished I get this hot feeling of envy (in a nice way) and a longing for my blanket to be the same. Its an enormous job because its very fine cotton on a 3.5mm hook which means it needs my full attention, and good light, which isn’t available most evening which is when I would usually hook! I am setting myself the task of only one stripe a week in the hope that I wont get overwhelmed and just put it in a cupboard. It really is beautiful, it deserves to be a whole, real blanket.

New to the list this year are blog-related resolutions! Last year my resolution was to start a blog (thanks, yes, well done me) but this year my hope is to write a crochet pattern and publish it to you people on my blog. I already know what it will be, and I haven’t been able to find a good pattern for one so hopefully I can write one! EEK!

Very personally, I have decided that this is the year that I will EAT WHATEVER I WANT!! My passion for good food has been severely dampened this year by having to provide (and eat) some very boring food for my children. Little A is the fussiest eater; it makes me want to pull my teeth out! Even if it means cooking twice a day, I WILL enjoy my mealtimes!!

Oh, dare I share this? I really want to be more organised this year. I know it’s a good thing, but it’s getting there that’s hard! If you have any tips, please share!

Lastly, I am on a mission to make my life more colourful (not in the Eastenders-drama-filled kind of way). I Love colour, but I only recently realised that my home does not reflect this, probably because most of the things we own are dictated by practicality rather than our personality. This will change this year, beginning with some crochet cushion covers :)

So, there you are, I cannot take them back now they’re ‘out there’. Wish me luck!

It’s not too late to make some if you haven’t already, or if yours aren’t going too well, that’s OK- just keep going :)

Thanks for stopping by, I aim to be a much better blogger for the rest of the year and I look forward to it with you!

Hayley

xx

Let's Get Making for 2015!

I’m a little late to the party but…Happy New Year! I hope you had a wonderful Christmas and feeling ready for 2015. Despite a lovely holiday break we are STILL fighting off the germs here; poor Little A has Broncilitis which meant a lovely stay in the children’s ward but he’s been amazing and is getting better by the minute. The rest of us are really getting into the pyjama lifestyle we’ve fallen into! As much as I love my snugly pyjamas and slipper socks I’m determined to make 2015 the year that we DON’T get colds!! Anyway…To kick-start January here’s my first make of the year:

I don’t think I’m the only one who loves to admire the beautiful wrapping paper surrounding their gift before they dive in and open it, but I may be alone in saving that paper and squirreling it away for another day. I hope I’m not. It’s that hope that makes me want to share a nifty way of using those precious scraps; make them into gift wrap envelopes!

Get your papers and smooth them out as best you can. Leaving them between the pages of a big book is a good idea. (I may or may not have used the iron on mine. Sorry). Then using an old envelope as a guide, trace around and cut out your envelope.

Fold in the sides first, then the bottom and top. Glue where appropriate (See HERE for more detail).

Can you believe how beautiful the sunshine is here? I have been struggling to take any good photos in the poor winter light but this was thoroughly enjoyable, I really enjoyed just slowly and methodically cutting, folding and sticking in the sunlight.

 You may be thinking ‘What the heck am I gonna use Christmassy envelopes for AFTER Christmas?’ This is exactly what I thought and so I have another little make to go alongside them; Thank you notes!

For my thank you notes I bought some lovely parchment-like paper and, using a glue pen, simply wrote THANKYOU in the top third of the page. This is a great place to experiment with different lettering styles! Once the glue is clear then you can add your glitter and you’re ready to write them out.

If you’re very clever you may be able to remember who gave you what paper and you would probably greatly impress them by returning a piece of their gift wrap in envelope form. But no worry if you cant; you’re gifted in other ways ;)

Easy. Peasy. If you’ve already given your thank you notes (well done you) then why not use your envelopes to house next year’s Christmas cards?

So there we are, that’s the only craft I have managed to get done over Christmas but it was nice to take it slow. I’m looking forward to the year ahead and all of the possibilities in store! (And using a few of my Christmas presents!-more to come on that!) Have you been making anything over Christmas? What are you looking forward to in 2015?

Thanks for stopping by and Thank you also for joining me in my blogging journey so far, I have so much enjoyed sharing it with you and I hope you enjoy what I have planned for the year ahead! Happy New Year,

See you soon!

Hayley

xx