CLEO COBB - Blog

The Very Late Christmas Present

Getting back into our routine after our trip to Oz has taken quite a while. I have only just adjusted myself to the realities of the weekly food shop and housework. Carving out time for creativity has been a real struggle and seemed beyond me!

But slowly I'm kick-starting the organisational skills it takes to create, make and blog and I am pleased to say that the boyfriend and I have finally finished the girls Christmas present! I don't feel too bad about them getting it in March. They got SO much stuff over Christmas from us, relatives and of course Father Christmas, a bit of time between gifts will not have done them any harm.

Toy Kitchen

Last summer I found a pair of toy kitchen units by the bins of a nursery. They were a bit battered and with some bits missing, but they looked like they could be rescued with a bit of love and attention. I was with the girls at the time and had no way of taking them with me, so I persuaded Malc to pick them up the next day. He made sure that it was OK with the nursery to take them as that is what you are meant to do. I don't really understand that bit. If someone's left something outside of their property next to the rubbish, I think it safe to assume that the previous owners don't care who takes it, they just want it gone. But as we are disgustingly proper and HAVE to do the right thing, we asked anyway.

The units had been hiding in our attic until the end of last October. I thought this would give us plenty of time to get them shipshape for Christmas...it did not

The first thing I did was give them a good clean with some sugar soap. I had never used it before, but Malc suggested this might clean them well enough so that they would not have to be completely repainted. It did get rid of a lot the muck, but after a good think, I decided that I'd like to completely re-paint them. It would mean losing some of the lovely markings on the knobs and surfaces that I would not be able to replicate, but we would be able to paint them exactly how we wanted to and make them a bit different.

We made a list of all the things that needed to be mended or replaced. It went like this:

A new shelf in both
Replace bottom panel in both
A new door on one unit
Replace Perspex on both doors
Find replacement washing up bowl
Repaint
Stencil/paint/stickers for graphics etc

Now to be honest Malc has done a lot of this. All the cutting of new wood for the panels, shelves and door, replacing the Perspex and the majority of the painting has been up to him. Big up Malc!

My work has been mostly nagging him to do these things and sulking when he didn't. I did finish off the last leg of the painting, source the Perspex, make stencils for the new marking and applying these.

I tried to think of different ways round replacing the markings. I considered cutting vinyl shapes out for the hob graphics and using ready-made vinyl lettering. I thought about painting everything on freehand, but couldn't face the tension so I decided to make some stencils. I knew I wasn't going to get a super sharp result using gloss paint, but I decided that the blurry lines and smudges would be part of the character.

I copied the graphics from a photograph taken before we painted, painstakingly cut them out and tried not to lose the pieces. I used spray mount to attach them, hoping they wouldn't bond too much and I would be able to pull back the stencil easily. From the little I read about successful stenciling, I learnt that thin coats are best and I did my best to be stingy with the paint. Inevitably I loaded the sponge too much because I was impatient. The result was good but not great. I have had to do quite a bit of re touching with a teeny tiny brush. There was a fair bit of smudging. If I had really taken my time and been supper light with the paint, I am sure the lines would have been much cleaner. Oh well, you stencil and learn.

I came to a complete standstill trying to replace the washing up bowl. The units themselves are discontinued toys, so trying to get spare parts from the manufacture was pointless. I thought perhaps a baking tray, plastic box or piece of Tupperware would fit the whole left in the top of the unit, but nah. After quite a while of feeling stumped, it occurred to me to make a fabric one! I bought some silver material which was too thin, but was all I could find and I backed it on to some calico with Bondaweb (love that Bondaweb). I made a simple pattern in two pieces. Piece One was a long strip/band to create the sides and Piece Two was a curved rectangle for the bottom. I made some cuts at the top of the side panel in the corners so it could be folded back and be staple gunned to the underside of the top of the unit.

And that's about it. The door we have replaced is not perfect and maybe after I've done a woodwork course I'll do it again. Apart from that, I think they look great and I'm pretty sure the girls are going to L.O.V.E them.

I better get started on renovating the dolls house for next years Christmas present now!

Operation Too Much On My Plate

As well as getting our family of four ready for a month long trip to Australia, I have decided to start three different projects before we go. Two are to be completed before we leave and the third needs to be off to a good start. I have already had two rows with my boyfriend due to these extra projects, but I'm carrying on despite all the obvious warning signs. I can get a bit tunnel visioned about these things. Once I've decided on a goal, then that’s it. We are all set for ruin.

Christmas cards

The motivation behind making my own Christmas cards is twofold.
1. We can save some money by making our own.
But the truth is, by the time I've laid out for card, glue, and envelops, we haven't really saved anything. This year, I keep picturing the three for two offer I saw in Paperchase a couple of weeks ago.
2. Making our own cards is a fun, creative activity for us to do.
I imagine the joy on Flo's face as we collect autumn leaves from the park, her wonder as we choose pretty ribbon from the haberdashery and the delighted squeals as we sprinkle glitter over the cards. The realty is I ALWAYS shout at some point during a making activity and more time is spent cleaning up the mess than making.

Like I say, I've carried on regardless. Here’s how it went down.

I taped down some fabulous purple A1 card. We used child friendly PVA to stick down the lovely autumn leaves we had been collecting from the park. Although the leaves looked cool, they had definitely lost some of their awesomeness as they had dried. The major obstacle was they were too bloody curly and would not stick. So I left Florence to go crazy with a silver pen while I ironed the leaves flat. Ironing leaves stinks by the way.

I have actually missed out a couple of stages of the leaf gluing in my photos, as it was pretty much a shambles. I was still too depressed until stage three of sticking to take any photos. Eventually we got there with some industrial strength PVA. Florence's ridiculous stones collection actually came in handy to weigh down the stubborn sides.

After the 16 layers of glue had dried, I drew out as many circles as I could fit onto the A1 sheet with a compass (I just estimated what sort of size I wanted) and then cut them out.

Next was the part I knew Florence was really going to enjoy: Glitter and sequins!
I lay the circles on the table in batches and armed Florence with a smallish bowl of mixed glitter. While I drizzled the glue across the circles, Florence attacked them with the glitter. Sometimes we did them one at a time. I would hold one of the circles over the bowl while Flo used her pinchy fingers to sprinkle. We used any spots of visible glue left to stick on the sequin shapes.

On another evening, after the kids had gone to bed, I cut some slightly bigger circles from illuminous yellow card (Flo choose the colours) and began sticking the purple ones to the yellow ones. This was to a) flatten the shapes and give them more strength and b) enable us to write the message on the back, as the yellow card is white on the reverse. I had to stack the cards under various weighty objects to get them to dry nice and flat.

I hole punched each one with just one hole and used some navy ribbon (again Flo's choice) to thread through and tie into a short loop.

By luck (cos I really should have planned it) I found some small square brown envelops in a stationary shop that fit the cards perfectly and that’s it. All that's left to do is write and post them, which is totally not my job. That is men's work.

Next year I'm sticking the kids in reindeer outfits, taking a photo and getting cards done online.

I've finished it! Woo yeah!

At last I have finished Dolly's wall hanging and it's only two and a half months late!

It does look pretty great and I am very pleased with the result. I think the actual panels are wonderful. I have scanned them and plan to develop the images into stuff for the shop. There are elements about the construction of the wall hanging I would change and that are not perfect, but it is as good as I could make it. I have put a lot of time and love into it and it is beautiful.

I have to concentrate hard on being proud of the things I make. My immediate response is to pick holes in it, point out it's flaws and worry about the bits that didn't turn out right. It is pretty difficult to get past all this worry before I even start making something. I am always hindered by the doubt that an idea will not turn out the way I see it in my head and this leads to a lot of procrastination. As long as my idea stays in my head it can remain perfect and wonderful. Trying to make things can be quite a struggle at times.

I'm glad I've completed Dolly's presents as there is a lot to do at the moment. We are going on a big family holiday to Australlia at the beginning of December for a whole month. As we will be there for Christmas, there is a shit load of things that I need to do before we go AND a shit load of things I need to do in order to get us semi prepared for a trip to the other side of the world. I won't bore you with my color coded, cross referenced To Do lists, but I will share with you some of the creative projects I going to attempt before we go.

The major one is a Christmas present for the girls. I rescued a wooden toy oven and sink from outside a nursery that were waiting for the rubbish man. They both need some love, a repaint and a few bits and bobs need replacing. Obviously I won't be able to take them to Oz, but they need to be ready for a belated Christmas day when we get back to London.

I would like to take a project with me to work on while I'm there and I think that will be a quilt for Florence. I'm not going to take all the bits to make the whole thing, but I'm going to prepare some hexagons that I can hand piece when my fingers get restless.

Christmas Cards. This weekend, we bought the card for the girls and I to use for a massive collage. Florence chose the colours: purple and illuminous yellow. We've got loads of stuff we've been collecting from the park to stick on. I can then cut out shapes from the collage to make into hanging Christmas cards.

That's not too much is it? I should probably prioritise things like getting our visas sorted, but I'll probably find myself illustrating the labels for my 'Holiday Folder' instead.

Can I have an extra day in the week please?

It has been three weeks since I last blogged!

I had been managing to write a blog about every ten days. I was aiming for one a week, but had been pretty pleased with what I was managing to do. I suppose this must be part of the blog learning curve. How to keep up a blog. I have read a few bits about blogging, its joys and challenges. One idea I read was to have some blogs in stock for when there isn't time to write. I completely and utterly haven’t managed to do that. I do carry a notebook around with me to write down paragraphs and thoughts for blogs, but it’s been gathering dust lately.

Life had taken over a bit. Every activity beyond looking after the kids seems to be a full time job. I'm trying to eBay off some of the unwanted stuff from our house. Baby equipment, clothes I shouldn't have ever bought, stuff of the boyf's that he doesn't know about (joke...sort of) And that takes up mountains of time. For not a great return, eBay is hard work!

I have wanted to blog about Dolly's finished wall hanging...except its not bloody finished! It is taking forever. Everything is cut and placed, but I still have to finish the hand embroidery. I am determined to FINISH this project before I put any energy into another. I know if I start blogging about the next idea I'll just have another unfinished project to worry about.

Here are some pictures of the work so far. My hand stitching is getting a lot better I think, but I have developed a bit of RSI and some strainy eyes! Next on the craft shopping list is one of those magnifying craft lights (craft nerd!) There is about two more weeks of work on it I think. By then, it will hopefully be all stitched, backed and ready to go on the wall.

Despite having too much on my plate, I've always got time for a bit of procrastination in the form of surfing the net. I've spied some things I'm keeping in mind to make in my next lifetime or for when they invent invisible days (extra ones in the week when you can get everything done)

I'd really like to make one of these poufs. I love the tutorials on http://www.designsponge.com They are so clear and have really comprehensive photographic examples. It makes me feel I could follow the instructions (not my strength).

Actually my vision is to make lots of these. Always over ambitious. I'd probably use lots of different patterns and put it in the kid’s room. We've got a little reading area between the girl’s cots that needs to be made a bit more comfy.

If I had a garden or even a balcony I would make these. They would be so pretty outside.
Thanks http://www.charlottehupfieldceramics.com for another reason to NEVER throw anything away.

I really like this example of up-cycled jewelry from http://www.etsy.com/listing/49103428/pretty-in-pink-bracelet I think it's the style of pieces used that appeals to me. The wristband is quite masculine and the main pendent is a bit bad taste retro. I also love it because of the potential to reuse loved things even after they have broken. I do think if I tried to make this, it may just look a bit shit. Some crafts are not for me.

These are truly pointless, but they look really nice all in a bowl at http://blog.creativekismet.com/2011/01/06/little-guiding-stars/ I would like to make them bigger though, maybe about the size of a golf ball. I'll go here when I make them http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4Woj9oP3AI&feature=related

I could go on. I have found some links and ideas of things I HAVE to make. When I eventually finish the bloody wall hanging, I can share them!

Work in Progress

A couple of weeks ago, I was taking a break from being mummy to work on an animation workshop for young people. Along side the animation project, other workshops were also being run. I found one of them really inspiring. Giles Leaman is part of a scarp project called The Source. They collect recyclable materials and packaging from companies that would otherwise throw them away, as well as collecting ordinary domestic recycling. They run workshops with schools and young people groups to make stuff with the scrap they collect.

Giles ran two different workshops. One was to make a musical instrument and the other was to make an animal. I was really impressed by these workshops. Seeing the commercial waste and material that would otherwise be thrown away, probably not even recycled, being used for imaginative and creative projects was really exciting.

These projects started me thinking about making stuff at home with the kids. Arts and crafts are a bit limited because Dolly is only one and can't really make much. At best ,she can eat crayons and suck on the paintbrushes. We can do a bit of hand and foot printing, but that is a seriously high maintenance operation. And Flo is only two and a half, so the things we make have to be activities I can help Flo with AND keep Dolly entertained.

I had three ideas in mind and I did have visions of Florence helping with all the stages, but she got bored of our first papier-mache session after 5 minutes and so I realised I would have to do some preparation first.

Project 1. Elephants
This is what Giles started his animal workshop with and I think it's brilliant. The elephants are cut from milk bottles and he uses all these great coloured tapes that have been donated to the scrap project to cover and decorate them.

I don't have the tape, but we get through a ridiculous amount of milk in our house and I love the idea of putting some of those bottles to use. I have collected seven bottles and cut the bottom off to revel the elephant shape. I am now in the process of papier-macheing them. I started using tissue paper and a PVA/water solution, but the tissue paper wasn't really doing a very good job, so I moved on to toilet paper...that was no good either and I have now changed to newspaper.

I had thought I would cover each in a different paper so they would all be a slightly different style, but now I think I will have to cover them all in newspaper. I will paint some of them white so they are a blank canvas and leave some of them as newsprint...I quite like the look of newsprint.

I think this will have to be a long-term project. Once I finish papier-macheing and painting an elephant, it can then be whipped out for a rainy afternoon activity. I will probably be selective about what I give Florence to decorate each elephant so that they all are different styles. Although I do know that if I gave her glitter every time this would be fine with Florence.

Project 2. Shakers
Inspired by Giles' musical instrument workshop, I thought about making some shakers with the girls. Making the shaker is a bit both girls can do. Florence got a washing up bottle to put some lentils in and Dolly got an ice cream tub to put uncooked pasta in. Instant shakers! I did think Florence might be up for the papier-mache bit of this and to be fair she did start as you can see by the little hands in the picture, but she got bored. Once the shakers are covered I will paint them white as a blank canvas for the girls to go nuts on with the drawing, painting and sticking.

Project 3. Stones
Every time we go to the park, Florence wants to collect stones. As we live opposite a park, we have a lot of stones. I've painted some of them white and as I write this Florence and her daddy are felt tipping away on them. I have tried to suggest a theme of insects and bugs as inspiration for their drawings, but Florence has absolutely no interest in listening to me or my brilliant ideas. Her ideas are probably more brilliant.

I did find myself papier-macheing rubbish at 11pm on a Saturday night and wondering what an earth I was doing, but it did not stop me doing it. I'm not sure if it'll be worth it, but seeing has the weather has decided summer is over and autumn has begun, at least we'll have three tons of papier-mached toot to paint on those rainy afternoons.

Arrrr! Here be how I made t' lass' pirate costumes.

Last week my brother accused me on Twitter, of being a competitive mum. He was referring to the totally awesome pirate costumes I made for my girls to go to a Pirates and Princesses morning at playgroup.

I have to admit I did put effort into the costumes. When I imagined being a mum, making stuff for fancy dress is one of the top ten things I was looking forward to. I might not be able to teach them a second language from birth or provide them with an exclusively organic diet or even just get them to listen to anything I say, but fancy dress, I can do.

We didn't go all out as it was just a fun day at playgroup, but I did make some ppprrretty cool garms which I happy to share here.

I bought a long sleeved t'shirt and some denim shorts for Florence from Hennes. I got them in a bigger size than she normal wears as hopefully the whole thing can last a while in the dressing up box.

The first thing I did was roll up and tack the bottom of the shorts because I reckon pirates definitely wore they're denim shorts in this sort of east London hipster fashion.

Secondly, I cut the sleeves off the t'shirt, I rolled back the sleeves and hand embroidered them into place using red thread. I thought the cross stitch would look a bit rough and piratey. I sketched out a skull and cross bones and then traced the drawing onto a sheet of Bondaweb, which I ironed on to some very pink shiny material I had. I cut this out, ironed it on to the t'shirt and machine stitched. Bam! A pirate top!

I did look for a kid’s pirate's hat in the shops, but couldn't find one, not even on the mothership, that is John Lewis. So I was left to make one. I looked for a pattern on the net and found one straight away at I ♥ design. I was sold on a) How easy it looked to make and b) On the look of kid's costume in the pictures. It was exactly what I was going for, casual Pirate rather than full on buccaneer.

I did not understand how the pattern worked so I made a miniature one for a teddy first. It is a really great pattern because it is incredibly simple to make and gives an excellent pirate hat shape

I made Florence’s one out of black leather from an old skirt (fashion crime from the past). I did have to stitch it together where the zip had been, but I think the pink zigzag stitching adds to the camp pirate vibe. I scaled down my skull and cross bones drawing, traced it onto Bondaweb again, ironed that on to a piece of grey suede and then ironed that on to the hat before I stitched the pieces together.

I put a pink bandana around the waistband of the shorts and with a pair of yellow wellie boots. Bish. Bash. Bosh. Pirate Girl!

Now I have to confess, I was just going to sling Dolly in a readymade princess dress that we have at home, but at 11 o'clock the night before, I got a massive wave of second child guilt and so got cracking on a little something for Dolly Wobbles.

I used the same scaled down skull and cross bones drawing I had for the pirate hat, I Bondawebbed the image to a piece of tasteful gold lame and ironed that on to a stripy vest I had already customised. To complete the baby pirate look, I dressed her denim trousers, suade moccasin slippers, a pirate cardigan and a Liberty print neckerchief, all models own.

And so they looked pretty wicked and gained a few admiring glances at the playgroup (I think I heard someone gasp in awe...joke) I will give the playgroup circuit a little breather as the boyf is on child caring duty while I go and earn the cheese for this week. It'll be up to him to turn our little girls into...Aliens!

Everything is like, a total process yeah?

There are new discoveries along the journey of creativity and motherhood. It is becoming clear to me that my expectations must meet my capabilities and that my dreams and ambitions are attainable, but I am not in a position to force them along.

When I gave myself the goal to open the online shop and to make the handmade cards, it sparked an idea in me that I was starting a business and that it needed to be super successful NOW! The reality of what it takes to make that happen and what, as a full time mum I am capable of, has altered my focus slightly . My head is teaming with things to make, fix, paint and build. I could work my bollocks off and go zoom zoom zoom, but I am a mummy of two very young small children and that is my priority.

So at a gentle, but progressive pace, I'm going to make the things that I've been thinking about and work on the projects that I've been meaning to finish. I am not going to rush it all. Every idea I've had does not need to be in the online shop by October. I'm going develop my ideas and projects in a professional and methodical way, so when the time is right I can produce them for the shop. I'm going to photograph them and tell you all about them. I'm going to nurture this site and the projects in a way that can fit in with looking after Florence and Dolly. Publicising and promoting it all will have to wait. Hopefully when I am ready to give it more time, I will have laid a strong foundation to build a business on.

The joy of doing this blog Is that it gives me the motivation to get stuck into those long lost and much promised projects. Because I want to update the blog on a regular basis, I need to have made stuff in order to write about it. It provides a double whammy of satisfaction. A) I am completing and realizing the ideas that have been in my head and B) I get to share it all with other people.

Life is busy and sometimes stressful. With two small kiddos, there is a lot to do. Starting the blog was meant as a break from that and to stop me going loopy from too much mummydom. The last thing I need is for it to be an obligation or another chore on my ever increasing/never reducing to-do list. So to keep it from being a burden, I'm chilling the fuck out about it.

The first project I am working on under the new chillaxed attitude is a wall hanging. It illustrates numbers one to ten and is a present for my baby girl's first birthday. It was supposed to be for her big sister, but I've missed both her first and second birthday (don't worry, I'll make it up to her.) I started this sometime last year and it's taken me at least eight months to do one, two and three, but amazingly with a deadline looming and a new determination, I've managed to get four, five, six and seven done in a week! each square is 18 cm by 18 cm, appliqued and embroidered. It is mismatched, clashing and a bit garish...I love it.

I think I may have set myself up here.

In the last week, five people have had birthdays and since most friends are aware I have begun selling handmade cards, I felt five handmade cards needed to be made. I also felt they should be a bit different from the ones i put in the shop so they would know I made the cards especially for them.

I drew and cut the stencils for three new designs. I think the two cake designs work well, especially the slice of cake, but the hot dog one (yes, it IS a hot dog) perhaps needs a bit more work. I'm not sure what I was thinking. It was for a friend who lives in New York so I thought it was fitting, but she's a vegetarian. Some you win, some you get it a bit wrong.

In other gift news, my friend Lucy has just moved into a big grown up house in Leytonstone and I made this Home applique picture as a house warming gift. Ahhh, I'm very thoughtful aren't I?.. except I took it straight back. I ran out of time have it framed. I am full of good intentions and marvelous present ideas for my friends and family, but I always seem to run into trouble pulling it off. It did mean I was able to scan it in and show it to you though.

All the elements are pieced on to a lovely worn length of linen someone gave me a few years ago and I have hand embroidered some of them using different contrasting threads. The fabrics used for the lettering and hearts are from EVERYWHERE. There are Liberty prints, vintage scarves and don't tell Lucy, but a bit of my old pajama bottoms is in there too (not the crotch though).

So what now?

Straight after opening the online shop, it was time to get packed for a family break in Lyme Regis (no flags this time). While I was away I had a ponder over what I had learnt so far and what I could make for the shop next?

I think the biggest lesson I have learned from producing the cards is that I need to develop my ideas so that they are both manageable to produce and can be sold at an attractive price. I perhaps already knew this, but I had to actually experience the process myself in order to really LEARN it.

I’m really pleased with the finished cards, but I went totally round the houses in deciding what the final collection of cards was going to look like. Even without all the hoo-ha, the cards are very labour intensive. Obviously the beauty of handmade things is that they are unique and have had time and energy spent on them, but in order to be able to make some sort of profit and also not tear my hair out making things, I need to stream line my ideas.

I have two objectives in regard to the shop. The first is to simply to make the things that are in my head and enjoy the process of doing that. The second is to see if I can raise an income from that. I suppose the great quest is to find a marriage of those two things. I think I have come up with an idea that is a happy compromise of creativity and profitability, but I'm keeping exactly what to myself for now. Secrets, secrets, secrets.

The shop is open!

It is a small start, but it is a massive leap for me. I have been dreaming about selling the things I make for a while. At times the gulf between thinking about it and doing it has seemed insurmountable . I do not know whether this shop will be a success or if people will like the cards and the things to come, but I feel like I have taken a major step moving my idea from the imaginary into reality. I hope that this can be a beginning I can add to and grow.

I can't quite believe it has taken me until I have two kids under three to make it happen. I don't think I have ever had more on my plate. But perhaps the necessity to have something else in my life is at its greatest. I love my kids and being their mummy, but being a full time parent can be intense (and by 'intense' i mean rubbish) Having this to focus on and shake up my brain has been a real buzz and provided much needed balance. Now excuse me while I go and puke on myself from all this positivity and self congratulation.

Oooo err not long now.

Phew, I'm knackered! I have been furiously getting the birthday cards ready for Shop Opening Day! Just three days until the online shop goes live. The cards are good to go and I spent all yesterday working on the images for the shop page.

I have been checking out how other sellers present their greeting cards online. I had a good look at Not On The High Street and Folksy. They are both market places selling very cool, good quality gifts and handmade things from independent sellers. I thought of them as I really like the look of their sites and the way the products are presented.

As you can imagine, greeting card display seems to be fairly standard. Mainly images of cards either standing up or flat on a surface with neutral backgrounds. Now you'd think with all this research I've done, I would stick to what has gone before, but I have tried something a bit different with the presentation of my cards. You will have to wait till Thursday to see what they look like.

I have been really blown away by the resources for what I'm trying to do, both here with this blog and with getting an online shop up and running. There is a lot to learn and I am doing most of it as I go. There is not time for lots of planning and extensive research into each stage. I am having to quickly find what I need to know and go go go. No dilly dallying for me, which is good because I am fabulous at procrastinating time away.

I have found some great info from fellow tweeters. Today I came across a blog entry from What The Craft, discussing how one should go about pricing handmade work which I have found really useful. My Personal Trainer Friend Laura (MPTFL) told me about an event she went to a couple of weeks ago called CyberMummy which although sounds a bit freaky, looks like quite amazing. MPTFL also passed on the link for British Mummy Blogger, which I have just joined. To be honest I haven't had a chance to get my head round it, but it looks super duper helpful. I will update here when I get the story on it.

So much more to do, bugger all time. I better get cracking.

Battling The Demon of Doubt

The making and creating has been a bit quiet this week as I try and get to grips Facebooking and Tweeting. Social networking is a great tool for what I’m trying to do with this blog. I can instantly comment on my progress as I search for the balance between being a mummy and the need to create. While I look for some part of the Cleo before babies, I can document my journey in an online sketchbook.

Twitter is an especially fantastic platform on which I can share my ideas of all the things visual and emotional on this adventure... except er...I don’t really know what I’m doing. Now I could play it really cool and just slink into Twitter, pretending I’m a pro and have been communicating in irreverent one liners my whole life (actually I have, but sometimes I just don’t feel like it ok?). The truth is, when I do tweet/FB something, I’m filled with an overwhelming doubt that it isn’t interesting, funny or clever and that actually I’m a complete moron.

Well moron or not and despite my chronic paranoia, I’m going to keep on doing it. There are plenty of morons out there. I think the Internet can handle one more.

This time next year Rodney...

After a chit chat with Bruv, I am setting myself a goal. To open the shop page of this site and be ready to sell stuff on the 7th of July 2011.

I’m starting small with some handmade birthday cards. The design comes from a card I made about a zillion years ago. I still love it and keep going back to the idea. I am scaling it down and changing the orientation of the card. What makes the cards a bit special is that they are made from fabrics I have begged, borrowed and stolen over the years and in some case I have barely more than a scrap.

On the advice of Bruv, I have joined the Twitterati. He says it is where I need to be if I want to hang out with the cool kids. Which I completely do. I’ll be using it to tweet how I’m getting on with the cards and progressing with the shop page. I feel a bit (a lot) foolish cos so far it's just Bruv, Dad and my buddy following, but you've got to give these things a go ain't ya?
Bruv also reckons you need to be tweeting 3-4 times a day at the least, if you expect people to follow you. I’m not sure I can manage that. I think someone might get on to Social Services to find out if my kids have seen the outside world recently and just how many times they’ve had fish fingers this week?

T’shirt-tastic

Here is Dolly Wobbles in some of the T’shirts I’ve been altering. I’ve been chopping off the sleeves, rolling and securing with freehand embroidery stitches. See blog ‘Eerrrumph...that is the sound of me trying to get on with it.'

Some work better than others, but I think it’s a pretty cool way to get some wear out of Florence’s winter hand-me-downs. There would have been some more t’shirts included except Dolly got her teeny tiny mitts on the camera. I had taken about 2 billion photos before I noticed the smudge on lens. I have included smudged pictures and others from sesh on me Flickr whatsit.

Flag making & loaf throwing

We at home, decided to make some mini flags for an upcoming trip to Lyme Regis. If you’re going build sand castles, you need flags. So we set to work. Production was successful as you can see. We had some wonderful accessories for our seaside trip, but the idyllic creative/domestic harmony was short lived. I returned from putting scissors and glue away to catch Florence launching a wooden toy loaf at Dolly's head. Dolly sobbed, Naughty Bench for Flo and I felt my John Lewis advert lifestyle slip further away.

Blog Crush

I have very serious blog envy. My very clever & lovely friend Lizzy Hobbs suggested I take a look at her pal's blog for some inspiration & guidance, but after looking at Makey Vicky's blog, I feel sick with inferiority!

Frustration to the MAX!

Oh my lord! Another day trying to decipher Mr Site. I can’t help feeling a bit stupid. This package is supposed to be for the layman. Either those babies of mine have stolen my brain or maybe it is not as easy as advertised.
I've spent over 3 hours just trying to get some text to align top left! So frustrating when there are so many thing I want to do with my child-free time. I think learning html from scratch may have been quicker.

Eerrrumph...that is the sound of me trying to get on with it.

The starting point of this site is meant to be this blog, but I'm finding it difficult to get going. To be honest it only occurred to me to post something 2 weeks after putting up this page. I think I feel a bit inhibited to do it. Seems incredibly egocentric to publish what goes on in my little world, but the rest of the world seems quite comfortable with doing it so will have to force self to put it out there.   

Anyway. Part of this blog’s objective is to document anything creative I do, to a) organise ideas & b) build positive documentation of the things I make. On most days I will have made something, but it's easy for evidence and realisation of this to be lost in all the other things I do being Florence and Dolly's mummy. So today I post...

I've been recycling Florence's old long sleeve vests into short sleeve vest for Dolly for the warmer weather. I'm cutting off the sleeve, turning up a couple of times, and then using decorative embroidery stitches to hold in place. I was given a couple of photocopied sheets in a patchwork and quilting course about 5 years ago and they have been photocopied and used many times since. It's quite funny what comes in most useful if you compare it to the stupid money I've spent on books on all sort of subjects.