Post christmas blues...

Well, that was over quick wasn't it? all that preparation, shopping, wrapping, running out of paper, sellotape-time...one thing we certainly won't be running out of until about Easter, is biscuits, for some reason we managed to rather over-estimate the quantity of packets of happy faces & hob nobs!!!!
I have been feeling rotten now for about 5 days, I feel fluey, achy & very tired, I thought I would sit & blog while I am waiting for the Medised to kick in...(yes I know it's for the children, but it happens to work wonders on me!)
We went to the panto today, Cinderella, it was fantastic, the two girls loved it, think the story was a bit girly for my seven year old boy,.....too much kissing in it!!
We have got a lot going on next year in the way of shows & stuff, Oliver in February, a generous gift from my auntie, I am taking my eldest to see Girls Aloud in May half term and in July, Take That at Wembley....as you will see I have added the countdown to my blog !!!!!!!

Ready for Christmas ...

I think I'm done now, house cleaned, presents wrapped, mince pies made & half eaten, school over (yay!) we've even opened the tin of quality street!...just the matter of the hoovering, which has to be done everyday, changing beds, tidying up toys & going up the town to get a few things extra...not much really...my crafting stuff is away in the shed on it's christmas holidays, ready for the burst of inspiration I usually get around end of January....it's so exciting here, my littlest is counting the sleeps, so cute & the advent calender is filling up with open windows, I have been so busy cutting greenery from the garden & making wreaths & centrepieces, I can't find any mistletoe though...will maybe go for another walk later on to search for some, I haven't had any time for the pc, only to quickly check on emails, my blog, etsy & deviantart are sooo taking a backseat at the moment, I promise I will catch up on it all after christmas!

Todays happy thought: And in the end it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years.

Decking the halls according to Happy house.....

I know most of you have had your decorations up & sparkling for a while now but we at home don't put ours up until sunday, not because we are humbugs, we love christmas here, in fact, we would probably buy a house based on how good it would look with snow on the ground & a huge christmas tree twinkling in the window, but ten years ago when our little christmas Rose arrived two weeks early, it was a week before we were no longer too shellshocked to acknowledge it was christmas, & we needed to put up the tree !

So it was then decided that this was to be our tradition, decking was to wait for a week after our eldests birthday, this is also the best time to do it as, I like to clean everywhere from top to bottom, inside & out etc....to make the house clean & fresh before we decorate (Ihave to ask myself why I am sitting here telling you all this when I obviously have so much to do then....)
Usually by this time of the month, I have finished all my craft orders by now & the craft stuff is put away until January, except for the wreath, centrepiece equipment....so by the time the tree is up, everywhere is ready, cards sent, presents wrapped, ( er...ok, nearly) & as long as everyone just doesn't move, it will stay like that until christmas...aaaah !

Ok back to the real world, I have presents to wrap ,cards to write, teachers presents to make, and... er...think about, ironing, curtains to wash & dry...& thats just today!

maybe next year!

Todays happy thought: Christmas comes but once a year, so celebrate & give a cheer!

Just when you thought it was safe to ...er...eat cake!

It was my daughters 10th birthday on Sunday, she likes Jaws, a lot, so Saturday night, I get out my pencil to make her a card! could I find a picture of a shark anywhere in the house???? no, despite having several books on them, ...so I had to seriously use my imagination & got the toy Great white shark from the bath & sat there with it in my left hand to keep it at the right angle I wanted to draw it!!
Earlier in the day I discovered that there was nowhere local to get sugarpaste from, I had decided to use this rather than marzipan, to get the shark colour right for the cake! I had a little bit of black & white that my sister-in-law had given me earlier in the week to use up, but it wasn't quite enough, so again I had to improvise....I mixed up a little icing sugar with warm water & made a kind of "sugarclay" I added this to what I already had & got a lovely deep grey, perfect!
I then despatched my son to get me a victim (I have to say, 10 yrs ago, I thought I would be forever making pink, fluffy stuff for birthdays!) he came back with a german soldier from Indiana Jones lego, ...with no hair, I asked if there was anything more suitable, that might pass for a swimmer, surfer or just someone who wouldn't look out of place on a boat or beach?....I was told no, I did insist on him finding some hair though, so he came back with obi-wan-kenobis hair????!!!! anyway, it didn't really matter as his legs were going to be eaten & his body pushed deep into theblood soaked water...mmmm lovely!!!!
I was quite pleased with the result as it was a very improvised cake, & she loved it!!

Todays happy thought;To have a friend, you have to be one.

Wrapping

Today I'm busy wrapping Christmas presents for family & party bags for Roses friends on Saturday, we are having a Cookalicious party! (see my other blog)I'm also finishing off a few Etsy orders, so while the clay is cooking I thought I would settle down for a few minutes & post!

I have been making christmas decorations of my recipe boards this week, I love them, see them on Etsy, all inspired by baking, crafting & art, also I was commissioned to create a Jaws themed card, which reminds me, I need to make a Jaws themed cake for sunday.....
Todays happy thought: New shoes cures the blues

Ouch!

Sorry I disappeared off the face of the blog for a few days, you're not going to believe it, but while walking from one room to another, I managed to break my little toe, it's hazardous you know this stay at home mum lark, there's no health & safety officers here you know, risk assessing my day before I go ahead , dodging hazards, such as...erm,...the whopping big settee thats right where it always is! ...ok so I wasn't looking where I was going, I was trying to talk to the litle one, see if the laptop was doing what it was meant to (still hasn't three days later by the way) & put ironing away...I must get the hang of multi-tasking, sometimes it gets the better of me!
Anyway, the fireplaces are done, I'm quite pleased with them, they look much better in real life though, I took masses of pics, all in different places, but not really happy with any of them, I am doing a show tomorrow at school, I will take some more there see if they are any better.Today I am going to be working on my Etsy orders, & also working out some special offers for December, I love christmas, especially Christmas claying!!!!
Back soon, providing I have no more domestic injuries, I have bedroom tidying to do soon, and you never know what hazards are luking in there, maybe us mums do need a health & safety asssessment after all!!

Sam x

Todays happy thought: Only dull women have immaculate houses!

The witch in me.....

I was well & truly inspired to create by all the spooky goings onconjuring up thoughts of enchantments & hocus pocus....I thought of a student Merlin (which we all love to watch together) trying out spells, making notes of collecting ingredients from the woods & spreading this all out on the table to practice!

I made up the spells in the large leather spell book, if you have very good eyes, you can just about read them, if not, you can use a magnifying glass, I haven't tried them as I am actually not a witch, although witchcraft has always fascinated me (in a good way, I don't have dark, evil tendencies or anything!) I just love all the ideas of potions & magic & the idea of making anything possible,....for the same reasons Idon't ever want to stop believing in fairies!!!!!

I suppose now I will have to make an entire apprentices workshop! like I don't have anything else to do!!

Todays happy thought: Spread your wings and let the fairy in you fly!

Creepy crawlies

We made some lovely little mini beast discoveries in the garden recently, a rather unusual caterpillar & a spider like nothing on earth.....has anyone seen these before, I haven't had time to research what they are yet, I don't want to waste valuable Etsy time looking up bugs! mind you, I suppose I should know what we're dealing with here!
It's been a nice day here in Bocking, you wouldn't think that Christmas is fast approaching, negotiations are already underway amongst the little Humphreys as to who gets which Christmas eve job, the glass of milk, the mince pie & the carrot for the reindeer, good job we only have three children!
This gave me an idea for a mini fireplace with all the trimmings, if I can capture the anticipation of Christmas eve as it is here in happy house, I will be a happy bunny!

Todays happy thought: It doesn't matter how many children you have... because one will take up 100% of your time so more can't possibly take up more than 100% of your time.

photos

Right, so I now realise that all my photos for my whole blog have to be re-uploaded as I have moved from my ftp to blogspots server-although I don't really understand why this didn't happen immediately????? I'm not cut out for this techonolgy lark, I prefer getting stuck into making stuff with my hands-so please bear with me, it will take me a while to update the old posts.

here's some more spooky pictures taken in the dark depths of the garden, while the children were ghost hunting, I didn't fancy it much, the thought of bumping into a rodent, fox, badger or muntjac in the dark, scares me more than any ghost I'll tell you, & it's much more likely!

Todays happy thought:Life without friends is like the sky without sun

Well I think I got there, it was a disconnection fault somewhere on the line, hopefully all sorted, ...just a quick post before school picking up time, here's our lane on Halloween, creepy eh! & below, the one & only pumpkin that grew on our patch....


Todays happy thought: (from Ruby) Having my mummy with me (aaaah cute)

Still in telephone limbo....

I'm still here, creating many more creations as I can't use computer! hopefully will have it fixed on wed!

not in mood for happy thoughts though!...oh heres one,,,

todays happy thought: All you need is a friend who has chocolate!

more pc problems....

Well, more of a phone problem, line just stopped working & our provider(!) may charge the equivelant of a small mortgage to fix it if it turns out to be our problem !!!! so wil have to do without it...popping round to mums every now & then to update everything & check emails & it's delaying my adding new stuff to Etsy as well, .....technology, I've had enough of it!

Etsy shop

My Etsy shop is doing well, pay a visit, I always give away freebies with my sales, & I will be adding loads of stuff this week, my busy baking tables are on there in plenty of time for christmas!

Todays happy thought I never met a chocolate I didn't like

Waheeeeey!

Yay...the problem is solved, fingers crossed, there was a problem with the server, so hopefully now all is well, I can get back to posting pics & updating my website!

As you can see, I finished the spell book commission, I am now working on a commissioned piece for Etsy, I also have Halloween in mind, we are having a childrens party here on Friday, to play & cook some halloweeny, scary stuff, my eldest also wants to go ghost hunting somewhere, so I have to find somewhere suitably spooky for her, but not somewhere that I am going to be scared witless!!! (bearing in mind I get spooked walking back from town when it gets a little bit dark at 5 o clock!)



We will play duck appple, not something they have played before, we have always done the apple tied on string one, less water, less mess, but I thought we could play this in the garden...as you can see, the dolls house is playing too!

Todays happy thought:A babys smile makes life worthwhile

Thoughts of christmas.....

Well, I have got quite a few pics to post of some creations I have created, but once again, I can't view my blog or website....again, any other website but my own, annoying, as I am trying to update the website, I so need a new pc, ours is archaic. So as my children have been writing their christmas lists this week, I thought I would write my wishlist, bearing in mind that this is written as a fantasy list as absolutely none of it is a necessity!

A brand spanking new top of the range pc
One of those craft working tables with a big light & magnifier attached
A room to put the above in
Anything lushy!
A big telescope to look at the stars with, even better, the planets!
A really brilliant holiday for the children
Free unlimited access to a swimming pool
Loads of polymer clay
More polymer clay

Thats it for now, but I'm sure I will think of more in time!

Ok have thought of some more...the new Take That cd, special edition
The decorating fairy to do the house up.

Sam x

Todays happy thought:A real friend is one who walks in when everyone else walks out!

Cleaning time again!

Right now, I have so many jobs to do, I need to find somewhere to store all the christmas goodies, clear out Happy shed as I am storing so much in there I need to re-create a workspace! I need to redesign my website as my work has changed so much in the last year, it doesn't seem relevant now.....aaaaagh so much I want it done now!.....(big breath) I also need to bring in the bramleys before they are no use to anyone, peel, cook & freeze them.....& make some goodies for Etsy (another big breath) I also need to make endless lists of presents & find some time to make or get those presents.....& have a bit of a pre-christmas clearout....but thats all!

back soon-work to do!

Sam x

Todays happy thought: (may have used it before but seems appropriate) Cleaning the house while the children are growing's like shovelling snow while it is still snowing!

Hooraaaaay!

In the words of Victor Meldrew-I don't believe it! it's just started working again,everyone was baffled by this, but I can see my blog & website again.....I'm never logging out of this again in case I lose it.....very annoying that I have to go out for my flu jab now!!

Have got loads of new stuff to post, will try to do it by tomorrow, got a craft show tonight, still busy making my busy tables, & I have to go & see my niece before she goes home!

Sam x

pc trouble (again!)

Right then, not sure where to start with this, but I cannot, no matter how I try, view my own website or blog from my house!!!! I can go to my mums, friends, neighbours etc & look at it, but not here on the pc or laptop!!! there is no issue with the site & my internet provider is baffled.......Aaaaagh as if I haven't got enough to do! any ideas anyone?????

By the way, I can look at any other site anywhere, but not this one!!!

Todays Happy (??) thought: Sorry, not inspired right now, will get back to you!!!!

Quickie!

Just a quick note today as I have a headache & need to lay down, preferably in a darkened room!

Todays pic is of , my hand (interesting, I know) with a miniature blackberry, to give you some idea of why I might be getting a lot of headaches lately...If I had a christmas list, I could ask father christmas for one of those workstations with a big magnifier on.....mmmmm christmas list, wouldn't that be nice-might make one anyway, just for fun!

Todays happy thought: The best way to cheer yourself up is to try to cheer somebody else up.

Claying not cleaning!

Well, I have been very busy, I should have been getting on with the housework, but I needed to get some clay work done, I started on the comissioned work I have been asked to do, lots of spell books!

but I need to take a break to get the house in order, well as in order as my house is ever in!

I did get some baking done though, apple & blackberry crumble, with the fruit from the garden, it was delicious!....so of course I had to recreate in in 12th scale & yes thats how messy things get, I'm no tidy cook, although it looks a better mess on a cute little table than it does in our little old kitchen on the worktop!! I also made a little kitchen table with christmas baking on, the idea behind these little tables, are that they might make a nice present for the cook (or recipe taster) in the family, with their favourite recipes created in miniature.


Cleaning tomorrow, then more fun!

Todays happy thought-Don't be so busy making a living, that you forget to make a life!

I'm here again!

I know I don't do this often enough, but I have been so busy, what with term starting again, I've hada few orders to start & I have a cold, so don't feel great! I think my youngest daughter has been playing on the "pooter" too much as well, as today, walking home she asked me to use the arrow keys to move her forward & the space bar to make her jump...& I had to do it to get her to go any further!!!

I was really pleased with my latest creation, I kept waving it under Mr H's nose while he was watching stargate, I was so excited...& what was the purpose of this interruption...12th scale pickled onions of course!!!

I'm bursting with inspiration at the moment, I want to make...miniature harvest baskets, busy tables, christmas fireplaces, christmas tables...& loads more, got to get rid of this cold thought it is really holding me back, I just want to sleep, might just grit my teeth today & get through the cleaning, so I can have a couple of claying days to get my orders finished then get on wwith the fun stuff! (by then thought the cleaning will want doing all over again!)

Todays happy thought; cleaning the house while the children are growing, is like shovelling snow while it is still snowing

The Pampered Chef

The week before last I hosted a Pampered chef party at home, I stressed about it ( I used to do party plan, & it's a nightmare trying to get people to come) I worried that if everyone invited did come, they wouldn't all fit in the living room, I worried that the children wouldn't be able to sleep, as we are used to a quiet home of an evening, basically I worried about everything!

but it was great, enough people came, everyone fitted & seemed to enjoy it!

A week later, I attended a meeting with my friend, who has become a consultant for Pampered chef after my party, as I was interested in becoming one myself, in the (distant) future. I found that they are all a lovely bunch of people who all love their job & have a fun at the same time!

I thought that our little friends in the dolls house should join in the fun too!



Sam x

Todays happy thought: Housework never killed anyone, but why take the risk?

Busy kitchen miniatures

I have been baking again, both real & for the dolls house, I recreated all the ingredients from my cookies & victoria sponge recipes, & this is what I created! I loved it, I put it on Etsy & have sold 2 already! http://mamasclay.etsy.com I'm going to try out more recipes, Christmas ones especially!

Sam x

Todays happy thought: It's nice to be important, but it's more important to be nice!

Etsy

Oh yes,I realise that you can't find me on Etsy unless I tell you how to......


Etsy shop

Early start

Over the last week, I have been busy with home, children & clay stuff & because it's school hols, I haven't been setting the alarm every day, you know, trying to get every last drop of sleep I can, but still being woken up no later that 6.45 each day!but one day I woke up at 5.30, & didn't feel the need to go back to sleep, so I got up...it was so lovely at that time of day, really quiet (I know, theres good reason for that, sane people are still in bed)I managed to get, what would usually be a couple of hours of stuff done had I tried to do it later in the day! If only I could always feel that wide awake-I suppose that staying up late either claying or working on Ebay doesn help....perhaps it's time to change some habits!

Todays happy thought: As you travel on your journey through life, make sure you take time to stop & smell the Roses!

Etsy &Tropical wings!

Last week we went to a place called Tropical wings, to see some butterflies, the children, especially the youngest was very excited, so off we went...nearly got lost, as I only vaguely remembered the way to South Woodham Ferrers from the visit to the farm there 2 yrs ago.
So we get there, go into the butterfly house, which is hot! lots of lovely butterflies all around, my two youngest walk around holding their noses (there was a funny humidity related smell) & looking for the exit!

that was worth it then!

Also, (complete change of subject)I have opened an Etsy shop, Etsy is where you can only buy or sell handmade items, it's quite different to what I'm used to, as everything has to be listed in US dollars, postage included! but have a look, I've only managed to get 3 items on there at the moment, but I will get more on by the rest of the week!

More miniatures soon!!

Todays happy thought:-A friendly smile makes life worthwhile!

A whole year!

Hello...this is my blog anniversary post, I have now been blogging for a whole year!! I was hoping to show you some photos of the meteor shower the other night, but I couldn't catch any, actually, we didn't see that many as it was a bit cloudy. I woke my eldest daughter up as requested, my son would not wake up despite insisting he wanted to!
I can tell you that my littlest daughter found a snake egg in the garden the other day, with a little hole in for the escape route made by the baby snake with it's "egg tooth" I have to own up that despite telling the children not to touch it in case it breaks, as soon as I had took the photo, it blew out of my hand & broke in half on the ground...whoops!I haven't seen a live snake in our garden, yet, so I was most put out when my daughters friend arrives yesterday morning,& within 5 minutes, she has seen one down by the swings!!!!! in the words of a 10 year old.."It's so not fair!"


I must also tell you about my cake disaster!

I have made this lemon loaf before, so it's not as if I didn't know what I was doing, but as you can see, it didn't exactly turn out as it says in the book-funny thing was it burned all on the outside but was really tasty in the middle!!! I think it may have had something to do with not lining the tin, but I never do if I can just grease it!-perhaps I should next time though!


Todays happy thought:-Love, honour & negotiate!

We got the much needed rain for our garden, not sure whether it's too late to rescue our rather measly potato crop, but it's got to help! I know we've been saying for weeks that we need some rain for the garden, but I didn't mean when I was a mile from home, wearing a denim dress (very heavy when wet!)sandals & no raincoat!I was slipping all over the place & trying to push the buggy up the hill!!!
Anyway at least I got some long overdue jobs done, repaired some clothes, de-cluttered magazines & papers & spent most of yesterday on ebay listing some outgrown bits & pieces...not easy as it's hard to guess postage for larger items now & I don't really want to be trudging up the town to weigh them, then bring them back!!!!!
I really feel like making some more miniatures soon, have got loads of ideas buzzing round, mostly garden inspired, have got some wedding stationery to make first though for my friend Hayley....hard to get wedding inspired on such a dreary day though, going swimming later, maybe that will clear my head!!!!!

Todays happy thought: I always seem to have too much week left at the end of my money!

Wheres July!

Hello, I can't believe that it's August tomorrow, where's the summer going! We had a lovely few hours at Hatfield forest yesterday, I forgot the camera though, so no photos! I think we'll be going back though!

then I came back & did some speed ironing, this is not to be confused with manic ironing which I often do...manic ironing involves getting out the ironing board & the iron & ironing as quick as possible until the pile of unironed washing is transformed into a big pile of lovely flat, crease free ironed stuff!!

Speed ironing, is just cheating really, sorting through it, deciding what you can get away with just folding & putting away & not ironing...so perhaps I should just call it, not ironing....so I did some not ironing yesterday! (do you think the sun has got to me a bit??)


Anyway, I made some miniature balloons for a caketopper I'm just finishing, & I was taking some photos of them & I thought they just looked like little lost fairy balloons stuck in the tree!!

Todays happy thought: Evertime I say the excercise word, I have to wash my mouth out with chocolate!

Bocking

I thought I would show you a couple of pictures of where I live, a little village called Bocking. Nothing much happens, but thats how we like it! We went for a walk the other day as I wanted to take some photos across the fields, as I thought it looked so lovely....

So there it is, might be bit boring here if you don't like the quiet life, but it's better than looking at traffic & buildings anyday!

Anyway, I had a headache this afternoon, which I now think is down to lack of drink (not withdrawal from alchahol , have I spelt that correctly? doesn't look right ...you understand, I mean not drinking enough water!)we went swimming & I thought I would swim 20 lengths to shake off the headache, get home & felt soooooooo sick! serves me right for thinking I could ignore it!!
best go, early (ish) night, caketopper to make tomorrow!!!!!

Todays happy thought:-A good teacher teaches from the heart, not from a book