ChrisTea And Cakes

Missy's Fourth Birthday

2013-11-19T21:25:00.001+00:00

Forgive me for not blogging much of late, I've been preoccupied with Missy's fourth birthday. Insanely we decided that as we'd done a party at home for Buster's fourth birthday that it would be a sinch to do it all over again for Missy forgetting that we're almost a decade older, our house has less room now that we have a fourth member of the family and we have more friends with children than we did back then.

That said she had a brilliant weekend and that more than makes up for the exhaustion, grey hairs and bruises.

I'll try and sum up the highlights as briefly as I can as I know stories involving other people's kids are quite often yawnsome

Missy loves the film The Wizard of Oz so we decided on that as the theme for the party so I made some suitably Oz invitations involving lots of green and red glitter and sent them out.

One of Missy's favourite activities at present is dressing up. She has a cupboard in her bedroom dedicated to this hobby so I thought it only right and proper that she dress as Dorothy Gale for the occasion and during the clothing sale at my local supermarket I snapped up a blue gingham school summer dress for the princely sum of £2.50 and butchered it to make the dress. I added some blue ric rac braiding to a white t-shirt she already had and a pretty red tutu that she'd kindly inherited from Mrs D's little one (thanks again Mrs D), so I only really had to purchase some ruby slippers which I got super cheap off the t'interweb.

I initially wanted baskets as party bags but this proved problematic as the only baskets I could find were either too small or too big so I settled for some blue gingham print party boxes

which I personalised with a photoshopped image of Missy as Dorothy

I then set about a spot of baking

Making a Wizard of Oz inspired cake for the party

and a traditional princess cake for the family get together we were having the following day

I constructed a few themed props to decorate the house

Ironically our bell is actually out of order

Squashed witch

Melted witch.

I borrowed a load of pretty bunting balls that my sister had bought to decorate the marquee at her wedding, very Munchkin Land-esque

and made a tin man for a game of pin the heart on the tin man, here's Missy all dressed up taking her turn.

Missy had a great time and even received a couple of themed gifts, this scanimation book of the movie from Nanny

and this cute little bag with a ruby slippers print from the lovely Mrs Z

Happy Fourth Birthday Missy! xx

Preserving and Conserving

2013-11-05T17:13:00.000+00:00

It's that time of year again, the days are getting shorter, so what better way to spend the long evenings in than preserving.

I've made my annual Bramble Jelly stockpile from the blackberries that we picked last month and some more Green Tomato Chutney, although I added some chilli for a bit of a kick this year. I also made some Damson Jelly and some Fig Conserve from the three kilos of figs my mum gave me from her tree!

I love the colour combination of figs

Here they are all ready for boiling up

The finished jars

My sister gave me a big bag of apples from her tree (as well as the munchkins, chard and corn cobs) so I made some apple sauce, pork for dinner this Sunday I reckon, followed by some cheese and chutney

Munchkin Soup

2013-11-04T09:47:00.001+00:00

My sister is having her kitchen gutted but sadly had no kitchen at all just as all her lovely munchkins were ripening so a visit to her allotment proved rather fruitful for me as she gave me a load of the little blighters

The butternut squashes that we planted in our little veg patch in the garden were ready at the same time so I made a load of soup from the lot of them

Our local walled garden had some corkers, this one wouldn't have been out of place in Cinderella

I love the colour of the finished soup, doesn't come across so well on my phone but then again neither does the taste so you'll have to just take my word for it.

Do you think Missy will be devastated if I chop this baby up now Halloween is over and make another batch?

Perhaps I'll serve it in this?

Cute As A Button

2013-10-24T20:37:00.000+01:00

As I mentioned in my last post Buster had his room revamped this summer, as a consequence we had a battered old Ikea chest of drawers going begging so I decided to give it a little makeover and use it for some much needed clothing storage in Missy's room

It really was looking a little orange so I gave it a coat of cream paint

and exchanged the rather masculine space rocket handles for some pretty pink Sass and Belle button ones

Cute as a button!

Buster's Bedroom Makeover

2013-10-17T09:57:00.000+01:00

For the last year we've been promising Buster that during the summer hols we'd give his bedroom a makeover more befitting of a high school student. His room was last decorated when he was four (he's eleven now) with a space theme.

This time round we went for a more grown-up video game theme. Buster chose the colour of the walls, a deep purple and, having spent two days with him decluttering (why do kid's keep hold of so much crap?), I set to work whilst he and his sister were helpfully out of the way for a week with my parents.

In preparation I chiseled about a million glow in the dark stars off his ceiling and repainted it, repainted all the gloss work and stripped, filled and painted the walls. Then it was on to the fun stuff.

He had an old blue locker and the desk and chair I revamped for him a couple of years ago that were staying

I sold his high sleeper on eBay and purchased a black metal bed frame and mattress.

Sadly I couldn't find any suitable themed bed linen that we liked so just bought a couple of sets of plain coloured stuff so we could mix and match and found a Pac Man throw to go over it on the internet

Next have started doing a collection of fab metal locker style furniture that went well with the existing blue locker we had so I purchased a chest of drawers to house some of his clothes and his new TV, games console and Pac Man ghost lamp

We decided to keep Buster's metal effect flooring but he wanted to soften the look and make the room a bit more cosy, so when I spotted this great Space Invaders rug on a shopping trip I knew that it would be the perfect addition to the room

On his bedside table there's a Tetris lamp

You can really move the pieces around and it still lights up

Here's a close-up of the aforementioned Pac Man ghost lamp, it's remote controlled and colour-changing!

I bought an old printers tray at a vintage sale last year and Buster really liked it, so I gifted it to him for his room so he can display his (many) Lego mini figures, switching them about when he gets bored of the current grouping or when they release a new series

I'd seen this idea on Pinterest, a mother had a jar in her laundry room of all the items she'd found in her son's pockets when she'd checked them before putting the items in the washing machine and presented it to him on his wedding day. Whilst sorting out all the hoarded rubbish before the makeover I put aside all the little trinkets he'd stashed, badges, whistles, mini novelty toys and figurines, bouncy balls and such like and placed them all in this massive storage jar I had knocking about for display on his shelves

I painted the chimney breast with blackboard paint and added a Pac Man mirror decal to the top and wrote him a welcome home message

And finally I went into the loft and located his well used Radio Flyer that my sister had lugged across America for him as a toddler when she'd been backpacking. I know it's not really part of the theme but I do so love it and it was a shame to have it shut away not being appreciated.

All in all the week's worth of hard labour was worth it as he has a great new pad to hang out in, in fact I might kick him out of there and move in myself.

Stranded At The Drive-In

2013-10-13T16:53:00.000+01:00

With the nights drawing in I'm reminded of the time, not so long ago, when the days were long and weather more conducive to outdoor activities. On one such day Mr Right and I travelled to deepest, darkest Essex. We had booked tickets for the Luna Outdoor Cinema screening of Grease held in the grounds of Audley End House in Saffron Walden.

It was dusk as we arrived and we made our way towards the designated area.

where we found ourselves a little patch of grass with a good view of the screen, set up our folding chairs and settled in for the showing. Initially it was a little too light and the organisers delayed the movie for about 15 minutes but finally they decided to get going...

...and the view gradually improved as the sun went down...

Tell me more...

...until darkness finally fell

Greased Lightning, go, Greased Lightning!

There was a terrific atmosphere with groups enjoying picnics (ourselves included)

Beauty school drop-out...

There was also a bar and some stalls selling hot food

Tell me about it, stud

Everyone was joining in with the songs and some people had even dressed the part, there were lots of Pink Ladies!

But before we knew it, it was over

This is definitely something we'll do again, I'm interested in the screening of Jaws held in a lido where you watch the movie from a dingy in the pool!

Bags Of Lavender

2013-10-07T14:58:00.000+01:00

As the weather now has brought that real autumnal nip to the air I've put away the garden furniture and in doing so was transported back to beginning of the school hols when Buster was away with his new high school on a transition trip to Chessington and we decided to take Missy off to a local lavender farm (Hitchin Lavender) to try and get some arty shots of her. There are loads of photographs around the house of Buster as a toddler, even some beautiful professional ones by Venture that were gifted to us by my parents but not so many of the little one.

When we arrived this is the view that met us, a field of amethyst gorgeousness, a real sight to behold.

We paid our entrance fee and were given some scissors and plastic bags and made our way to the field.

It was a lovely day and we had fun cutting two big bags of lavender and even managed to get some photos of the girl (sadly none shown here as I'm too lazy to upload them from my camera so you'll just have to make do with the few shots I took on my phone). There was a lovely atmosphere there that day with people merrily chopping away at the lavender whilst a wedding party's band played out from a marquee at the bottom of the field.

Here's Missy harvesting some of her own

This is the massive bouquet of lavender we came away with, it filled a huge terracotta pot which sat on my garden table all summer long attracting bees and smelling amazing, perhaps now that summer's over and it's all dried I can use it to make some lavender bags.

This Week's Junk Shop Jewels

2013-10-07T10:04:00.002+01:00

I've not so much as been into a charity shop to make a purchase over the summer, although I have been making a lot of donations this year, what with clearing out my loft and making over Buster's bedroom I've dropped off at least four car-loads so far.

I did make a couple of purchases just before the kids broke up so I'll present these in the hope that I'll get my chazza shop mojo back soon.

Missy loves Peter Pan and when I spotted this beaded Tinkerbell purse for £5 I snapped it up. I've bought a box frame and am going to display it rather than let Missy loose with it as she's still a bit too small to appreciate its gorgeousness or we'll be slipping all over the place on errant beads before you can say Neverland!

Still on the look-out for beautiful vintage sheets and found this double sized cracker for £3

It's been a while but linking up with Liz and her #MagpieMonday over at Me And My Shadow

Buster's Prom

2013-10-05T16:01:00.001+01:00

Buster has now gone into Year 7 and in our area that means moving on to high school and, as a consequence, saying farewell to the little primary school at the end of our road that's been our home for the last seven years (sob).

It really is tiny (one class per year group) and it's housed in a gorgeous old school building constructed in 1915 which feels more like a house than a school and that's really what it's been, a little family. Being such a small school means that the kids are quite a close knit group and a few of the mums (myself included) wanted to give them a wonderful send-off so we volunteered to chip in decorating the hall and making and baking stuff for the Hollywood themed prom.

I made and baked quite a few bits so I'll share what I did with you now.

I decided to bake some cupcakes (standard) and what better way to encapsulate the theme than mini tubs of popcorn. I printed out some cupcake wrappers and cut them out to fit round the paper cases, in which I baked some vanilla cupcakes, which I then topped with a dollop of buttercream icing and decorated with some white mini marshmallows that I painted with food colouring to make them look like popped popcorn kernels.

Here they are all stacked up and ready for the hungry masses.

I got to thinking about Hollywood and Oscar night and the goody bags that the celebs get given during that uber glamorous event, I'm afraid my budget for thirty kids wouldn't run to holidays, designer handbags and ipads but I think they appreciated the themed items

that I put into the popcorn bags I found on an internet party supply site.

Here are all thirty of them finished and ready for the off

There's a current trend at weddings and parties for photo booths so I made a load of props

and had a friend cut me out some speech bubbles from wood (thanks Mr M!) which I painted with blackboard paint so the kids could pose and take pics of each other during the festivities.

Finally I put together a photo board of all the class photos over the seven years so the kids could have a laugh at how much they've changed and reminisce about the classmates and staff who've come and gone, although by all accounts this went down equally well with the parents

Buster and his friends had a great night walking up the red carpet, surrounded by stars with a picture of each child in a walk of fame style

They enjoyed a glass of fizz

a meal

and danced the night away in their gorgeous outfits. Buster had decided he wanted to go all out and wore a tuxedo complete with bow tie and cufflinks (clapperboards natch). He said that his catchphrase for the night was "I'm looking luxe in my tux", here he is getting papped by Missy with her camera.

Busy Doing Nothing

2013-10-01T21:52:00.002+01:00

Hello, it's me, is there anybody still there?

The school summer holidays seriously hampered my creativity, thrifting and, consequently, my blogging but I'm tentatively dipping my toe back in the water now that Buster has settled in at high school(!) and Missy is in the process of settling into her new nursery.

July was an emotional month, Buster had his Year 6 leavers' assembly, many tears were shed, and prom (more on that in another post) and the summer hols commenced. And what a glorious summer we had. We even managed a couple of trips away, one as a family and one just me and the Mr to celebrate our 20th anniversary together.

I spent a week whilst the kids were away with their grandparents reorganising and redecorating Buster's bedroom, transforming it from a little boy's room into a teen's room (again, I'm sure I'll touch on that in the coming weeks).

I've been baking (natch) and preserving my little socks off so I'm sure there'll be a bit of that chucked in for good measure during my catch-up posts too.

I also turned another year older, Mr Right bought me a ukulele and I've been trying to master some chords and notes and, despite not being able to read music, it's pleasingly easier than I thought.

Ooh What A Lovely Pair Of Drawers

2013-06-28T10:32:00.000+01:00

No, not my bloomers!

Remember this set of card index drawers I got at a car boot for two quid recently?

Well I did try and sand the horrible orange varnish off but it was a losing battle so I admitted defeat and painted them a rather lovely shade of an aptly named Crown paint called Crochet (I would have called it Putty, but it probably wouldn't sell being named that so I guess that's why I'm a blogger and not a marketeer)

The Urge To Sew

2013-06-10T10:23:00.000+01:00

One afternoon a couple of weeks ago the urge to sew took me, so sew I did.

Remember this pretty vintage sheet I purchased for £3 in a charity shop a while back?

Well some of it now looks like this

Not bad for an afternoon's work with a 3 year old that kept fiddling with the tensions on my machine. Amazingly I even got to wear it as the sun decided to shine the next day!

This Week's Junk Shop Jewels

2013-06-10T10:10:00.001+01:00

The tat fairy has done her thing again and I'm now the proud owner of more vintage goodies, here are this week's scores from a craft and vintage fair that I attended with the lovely Mrs D

First up this stack of 6 octagonal glass cake plates, the stallholder originally wanted £8 for them but as she was giving up the life of a vintage trader for a stability of a full-time job she wanted shot so I got them for £2

Next this teeny weeny individual glass jelly mould, it's more than I would normally pay for a jelly mould at £7 but I fell in love with it and as the plates were such a bargain it was justified

Lastly this week a glass that wouldn't be out of place in a rat pack cocktail cabinet of the 1950s, it should have been a fiver but I nabbed it for £2, it shows the ratios of ingredients for loads of classic cocktails but I think I'm probably going to use it to house novelty straws and cocktail swizzle sticks

Linking up with Liz and her #MagpieMonday over at Me And My Shadow

How's It Hanging Granny?

2013-05-23T14:16:00.001+01:00

I bought a couple of vintage coat hangers for 20p each during one of my recent charity shop rummages

I snapped up the bottom hanger because of it's beautiful curves, the top one, however, I already had crafty plans afoot for. I've seen loads of Pinterest pins of crochet covered hangers of late and wanted to have a bash myself

I gave the hook a dab of turquoise paint that I had knocking around from the tea trolley project and hey presto!

This Week's Junk Shop Jewels

2013-05-20T10:42:00.002+01:00

Both kids have come down with the sniffles over the weekend so we thought we'd drag them round a church sale and a car boot to give them some fresh air because we're thoughtful like that. Here's what we snagged.

First up this vintage Pyrex style turquoise mixing bowl £1

I'm currently following Liz (Me And My Shadow) on the road to almost certain paralysis and blindness by making my own wine. I've purchased a starter kit that came with all the stuff you need to get going but we spotted this book for 50p to give us some more information, let's hope our eyesight lasts long enough to read it!

A pair of wooden knitting needles and four crochet hooks

and this pretty spoon 50p all in

And finally this week a couple of scarf hangers. Since Easter I've gradually been declutting my home resulting in four car loads to the reuse centre and one to the tip, but for some reason I was putting off the last area to be sorted which was my side of our dressing room. I don't know why I was so reluctant to do it but I finally tackled it last week and I'm so glad I did as I was able to offload 8 black bags of stuff that was either worn out, ill-fitting or was just a general pain in the arse and therefore never worn (dry clean only stuff, stuff that required ironing - I don't do ironing).

Anyway, ever since I've been trying to get hold of a scarf hanger and a couple of shopping trips had sadly been fruitless but lo and behold, just when you need something a tat rummage seems to always come up trumps and that it did, two perfect for the job at the car boot, £1 for the pair.

Linking up with Liz and her #MagpieMonday over at (a lovely new look) Me And My Shadow

Shell We Have Some Tea?

2013-05-17T11:08:00.000+01:00

A school friend posted a picture of a knitted snail tea cosy on my Facebook and asked if I could make one for his other half. I informed him that I couldn't knit but that if he was serious I could have a bash at crocheting one, here's what I came up with

and the back

It's a tad 'Gary' from Spongebob Squarepants but that's no bad thing and his recipient seemed pleased enough, so job's a good'un.

This Week's Junk Shop Jewels

2013-05-13T10:16:00.001+01:00

First up this week is a massive cream 1950s musical jewellery box, it's the perfect size for Missy's huge and ever growing collection of dressing-up trinkets and baubles, seriously she's the Imelda Marcos of plastic, sparkly shite (£1.99)

Another lovely vintage sheet, a beautiful pink floral double for £3

cream and white cotton single sheets next £1.49 each for stitchery shenanigans, cue boring photo of the year...

And last but not least a Russian doll tapestry cushion (brand new with the tag still on) £2.98

Linking up with Liz and her #MagpieMonday over at Me And My Shadow

Dolled Up Trolley

2013-05-07T13:47:00.001+01:00

Last summer I purchased this rather drab looking tea trolley for a fiver at a local charity shop and ever since I've been itching to get my crafty mitts on it and give it a revamp.

I've spent idle moments during the winter scouring Etsy, Folksy and the like for the perfect kind of vintage wallpaper to complete my upcycle and just after Christmas I came up trumps with a suitably groovy print in a pleasing colour combo and was finally able to give her her makeover, and here she is!

Anyone for tea and cakes?

This Week's Junk Shop Jewels

2013-05-06T10:13:00.001+01:00

It's a beautiful bank holiday Monday here in the UK and, unusually, the sun is shining so I'm going to make this a quick one as I want to make the most of the wonderful weather with my little family whilst it hangs around.

Car boot season is well and truly underway here and we went to our first of the year yesterday, here's what I came away with

Firstly this ceramic lamb planter, I think it's made by a company called Rubens that made all sorts of kitsch ceramic planters as was the fashion during the 1950s, this was £1 but I've seen them on Etsy and eBay for about a tenner

Next up an old wooden puzzle, I'm going to make fridge magnets out of some of the foody shapes so for 50p it was a bargain

I saw this little beauty lurking under a stall, it's a set of old office index card drawers made by Crusader but I think it would be great for some of my crafty oddments but I think I'm going to have to give it a makeover first as it's been used in a garage or something and is covered in a thick orange varnish. When the stallholder told me he only wanted £2 for them I couldn't get my money out fast enough

A lovely double Witney wool blanket with pink stripes next and only 50p, probably one of the worst things you could purchase and have to carry round with you on the hottest day of the year so far but when they're selling for upwards of £30 a bargain's a bargain

And finally three packs of various vintage style fairy stickers 50p per pack

Making A Beeline For An A Line

2013-05-03T13:38:00.002+01:00

As I'm sure you are well aware by now I love a bit of groovy 70s floral bed linen (my sister certainly is as she gifted me these beauties last time she popped over)

and have been making a few bits and bobs from my stash, cushion covers and just a few dresses for Missy, well it was high time I made something for me, so this week that's exactly what I did.

I decided to keep it simple and I thought a skirt would be well within my very limited dressmaking capabilities. I'd made a hideous skirt in textiles at school, it was a pencil skirt as was the fashion at the time, hey I'd seen the commercials for Fashion Wheel, how hard could it be to be a couture designer?! I opted to constructed it from a really tasteful turquoise cotton with a super sexy elasticated waist so I had previous.

A line skirts tend to suit me the best so, after cutting out some fabric using a skirt I already owned as a template and getting it wrong, I genned up on how to take measurements and transpose them into a paper pattern properly. I also researched how to insert an invisible zip and how to line a skirt then set to work cutting out my pieces and sewing them together as per the numerous You Tube vids instructed.

And here's what came out of the arse end of this little adventure

Yes the zip is slightly wonky (give me a break, it's only my third zip ever!), the back top seam is slightly higher than the front and it's a little bit roomy (I wasn't convinced my measurements would be generous enough) but I've counteracted all that by adding a cunning crocheted trim to the hem as a distraction, does it work?

I know it's a verging on the "Von Trapp" but I made Missy a matching pinafore dress using the two pieces of fabric I'd initially cut as I didn't want them to go to waste but don't worry I promise we'll only wear them at the same time when I'm teaching her to sing whilst on a cycle ride through the streets of Salzberg, "Doe, a deer, a female deer..."

Zippity Do Dah!

2013-05-02T13:53:00.000+01:00

Found this blog post lurking in my draft folder so I thought I'd set it free...

I got this funky double duvet cover for £2 and used it to give my lounge a quick revamp

I have two massive cream cushions in my lounge which are really comfy but they were looking a little grubby as the kids constantly use them for making dens, nests and for generally wiping their filthy hands and faces on at every given opportunity and, despite my best efforts, they just wouldn't come up as clean looking as I'd like so they had to go.

I butchered the old covers for their massive zips and dragged out my sewing machine again (this is becoming a bit of a habit!). After a bit of a Google Images search I identified which of my many sewing machine feet was the zipper foot and set to work on sewing in my first zip!

Here I am in action

and here is one of the finished cushions next to one of it's normal sized cousins

Dare I say that this sewing lark is actually becoming quite fun!

This Week's Junk Shop Jewels

2013-04-29T10:37:00.001+01:00

Hey! You know the drill, junk and lots of it.

First up a Midwinter Spanish Garden oval platter (£2)

Groovy 1970s coffee cup (50p)

More vintage linens, a double sheet, a pillowcase and what I presume to be a bolster cushion cover (£6 the lot)

Linking up with Liz and her #MagpieMonday over at Me And My Shadow

BUTTON Mushroom or ToadSTOOL?

2013-04-26T11:01:00.000+01:00

This weeny footstool has sat in my bathroom for about a decade, it really is tiny, visiting children often try to sit on it and my own kids have even tried to use it as a step stool for cleaning their teeth but to no avail.

I bought it in a charity shop with a view to doing something with it and after all these years I finally did

I made it into a toadstool.

I covered the seat with foam and a few layers of wadding, stretched over a remnant of red cotton I had in my stash and staple-gunned it to the underside. I glued a length of red ribbon around to cover the unsightly staples and then turned my attention to the decoration. I have so many vintage buttons just sitting doing now't in my button box that I thought I'd showcase some of the white ones as the spots atop the toadstool. Cute as a button!

Cakey, Cakey - Buster's 11th Birthday Cake

2013-04-23T20:13:00.003+01:00

Buster turned 11(shocking, surely I'm too young?!) last month and he requested an Adventure Time themed cake and here it is...

If you've never crossed paths with Finn and Jake then you're missing a treat, here's a snippet that never fails to give Buster and I a fit of the giggles

This Week's Junk Shop Jewels

2013-04-22T10:20:00.003+01:00

I've spent the two weeks of the Easter hols decluttering my house. I finally faced up to the 13 years of crap we'd amassed since moving here that we kept shoving into the loft with a view to dealing with it another day. Well that day came and after four car loads to the reuse centre and two trips to the local recycling centre I feel as though a (considerable) weight has been lifted from my (and my house's) shoulders.

I didn't stop there, after the two days it took me to empty the crap from the loft I spent a further three days sorting out the kitchen, under the stairs, the study area, the master bedroom and Missy's room.

So what am I writing about now that I have a new sleek, streamlined, organised home? Yes, you guessed it, more junk to fill all the new-found space!

Starting off with an Easter feel with this cute little pink ceramic bunny

but he's not just any bunny, he does have a practical purpose, he houses cotton wool balls on my dressing table, how charming that he dispenses these through his arse (£6)

I very rarely buy clothes at charity shops, not because I have an aversion more because I already have way too many (the dressing room is next on my decluttering hit list, I promise)

but I spotted this dress from afar and was delighted at the little robin print that presented itself upon closer inspection (£6.99)

Finally this week two wooden vintage coat hangers. I loved the shape of the bottom one and the top one is ideal for me to have a go at making a crochet cover for (20p each)

Linking up with Liz and her #MagpieMonday over at Me And My Shadow