The Daphne Tree

Isn't it scary the things they can suddenly do? Daphne does cooking now, not just eating. And she can draw people, WITH LEGS. She has her own tastes, knows what she likes and doesn't like (read "says NO a lot") She likes sitting down with the paper or a good book. DON'T interrupt. She has her own sense of style. And is looking into career options. Namely a doctor (as seen above), a ballerina or a dog-trainer.

 Hope everyone had a merry Christmas! I have eaten far too much, drunk far too much, and am really happeeeeee! And here are some of the things I made in the run up to the festive period. It has been a very busy time for selling t-shirts and making stockings, and I have loved it! Now how do I get this much business all year...?

My little girl is nuts about most animals, but at the moment she is quite keen on pandas. It's bound to change by tomorrow. But she had an old black jumper which just seemed to be just waiting for a funeral, so it made me sad, and I had to turn it into something else... Here it is before.... Funeral anyone? OK, so I cut up the front to make it into a cardigan... I love this part - snip! Then stitched on some white lace (sticking with the black and white theme see...) and attached a big black button and popper on the back. Can I just say I did this in about 10 minutes so it's not my finest work! You've got to make sure the stitching catches all of the fiddly jumper edge so that it doesn't fray. OK, so that was the front. And I decided because it was a v-neck, the panda would have to go on the back as there was more space. Sooooo, then I cut some panda face shapes out of t-shirt material and stuck them on the back with bonda/wunda webby stuff. You COU...

Sometimes the bloke and I are a terrible team, we fight, we're both very stubborn and we can be very, VERY different. He was the kid who did his homework on a Friday night so he could enjoy the weekend; I was the kid ringing someone up on Sunday evening because I couldn't remember what it was. However, sometimes between us we actually get things sorted out! We managed to plan a pretty awesome wedding, and we are bringing up a kid. Obviously I'm no expert, but I have to write about something, and my experience, Psychologies magazine subscription and listening ears tell me that teamwork involves: 1) Honesty. Being true to your own wants/ needs and not pretending to be something you're not. I'm thinking of the woman who insists she doesn't want children (until she's 5 years into her marriage and bored with her husband) and the bloke who is "ready to settle down and doesn't want to party anymore" (and then runs out on his wife because he...

They look ok in this pic huh? The humble fairy cake recipe, if you don't know it, WHY?? 100g butter 100g sugar 100g flour 2 eggs. Seriously. Even I can remember that. And once you do remember it, the world is your oyster. Make sure you always have those ingredients in the house and you can whip some up in ten minutes. And kids ADORE it. So easy peasy. This pic shows when we fancied doughnuts one day, so we put jam in between spoonfuls of the mixture and then sprinkled sugar on top. YUM. Other things you can stick on in there.... peanut butter chocolate spread both raisins (bit healthy innit?) cherries/ blueberries etc any kind of jam hot chocolate when you have no proper cocoa coffee nuts smarties/ buttons lemon/ orange peel (marmalade cakes rock!) juice milk This is not rocket science. But I had to start the old blog somehow. EAT.

There was a time when I was a bit funny about setting foot inside a pound shop. But I am SOOOOO over it! It's like retail therapy without the guilt! And if you are into crafts, or ANYTHING, you will find something. I've heard the gardening stuff is fab, but that's not my shizzle. MY shizzle is things like these cute chickens above, or felt dusters which you can sew into finger puppets, or a set of 10 toy cars which keeps Daph entertained for hours! These are my tips for pound shop newbies: Use your brain, would that bubble bath be less than a pound normally in the supermarket? I have been caught out on this one when my bargain-hunting-devil voice sees the £1 sign and snatches it. If there are things you need which don't necessarily need to be branded or amazing quality, get them here! I'm talking washing up sponges, dusters, sandwich bags, flowerpots, kids rainy day activities, party plates etc, pens, paper.... oh there is too much. Parents will be all...

Hi! I'm Nic and this is supposed to be a blog about crafting, but I tend to waffle on so I will probably sometimes wander into cooking, or parenthood (not in a "oh I'm so happy" kind of way, more "oh crap, there's poo in my hair again" kind of way) and I'm hoping to share ideas and get ideas in return, so will be inviting guest bloggers for posts (get in touch!) and will show you some of the stuff I get up to. My daughter is Daphne, and we like trees, if you're wondering about the name. Let's go!