Giveaway: Tickets for Sewing for Pleasure, Fashion Embroidery & Stitch and Hobbycrafts shows at the NEC Birmingham; March 19th - 22nd 2015

As you will all know by now, my pursuit of craftiness is taking me to the ICHF craft shows this March at the NEC in Birmingham. With three shows in one; Fashion, Embroidery and Stitch, Sewing for Pleasure and Hobbycrafts there will be no shortage of inspiration, workshops to try new things and products galore to stock up my crafty stash. I can't wait.

Homemade Individual Jelly Pots with Heinz Baby Pots

How many of you Mummies out there re-use the Heinz fruit/custard medley pots? We are a big fan. Rather than throw out (or recycle) the pots, we wash them out and use them for SO many things; they hold just the right amount of homemade pasta sauce for the boys, a handful of raisins for a day out, hummus for the lunch box and most recently, individual portions of my infamous chocolate cheesecake! More about that in another post. I also use them for paperclips and other stationery items, crafty bits and more; but I don't get them mixed up with the food ones!

Meet the Maker: Alison of Ali Crafts Designs

The ICHF craft shows are fast approaching and I can't keep off their site, checking out exhibitors and thinking about what goodies I will find that weekend (19th - 22nd March at the NEC in Birmingham in case you were wondering). I am most excited about being inspired by some of the lovely crafty people who will be there on hand running workshops, offering up craft supplies and just being downright, well, inspiring! 

I thought I'd give you a little taster of some of the talent and I asked some of them to dish the dirt with their own Meet the Maker interview. Today we will be meeting one of the nearly 300 exhibitors and one of their lovely handmade items! 

The Power of the Pom Pom

When I was a little girl, I used to spend hours at my Nanny's house pushing small balls of yarn through and around two doughnut shaped pieces of card to make pom poms. I see now it's a great way to keep children occupied! I had several wooly pom poms in odd colour yarns, none of which I knew what to do with. I just wanted to make the next one!

Pom Poms on the catwalk 2014 - Picture from Vogue

In the last few years, the pom pom, both paper and yarn, has returned to fashions and to all things craft  and my fingers are itching! I once purchased a gadget that was going to make pom pom making quick and easy. I had a demo from one of my crafty friends but mine broke as soon as I tried it, so I gave up.

BUT...

No Grey Clouds; Just 'Crafty' Silver Linings

What a rubbish week! However, I am not going to use this post to p-word and moan about sickness, hospitals and my boys not being with me; that is all that needs to be said of the negative stuff. Instead, I am going to use this week's catch up to highlight some silver linings from the last few days.

First up, the biggest of the silver linings, the kindness shown by my neighbours in a sticky spot I found myself in last weekend. Without them, the start of the week would have been a lot different and for their kindness and willingness to help me, I am so thankful.

On another thankful note, a member of staff from Tesco also saved the day by getting my shopping to me against all odds. I am not sure how Littlest B would have coped without his daily 100 pints of milk. I am not sure how Baby B would have coped with chocolate chip brioche rolls either so thanks Matt from Tesco!

With a little bit of time on my hands, but not able to physically do much, I have taken it upon myself to indulge in a couple of beauty treats. This Hydrating Face Mask from Superdrug was one. I am ashamed to say I had to use a number of times before there was actually any 'residue' to blot off as per the instructions but it certainly helped with my miserable looking skin. I also made use of some No7 Nourishing Nail and Cuticle Care and a bit of fragrant hand cream by L'Occitane which I reviewed here.

A Week of Puke and Puffy Paints (and other crafts)

I would say 'we're all crafted out' this week, but that would be a total fabrication. See, I can't escape it!

This week we have had sickness bugs, colds, more sickness bugs, teething and more colds. Alongside Hubby B being away, it has been a long old week. Or has it? I remembered how much messy play I used to do with Baby B and with us all being home a few days, we made the most of the energetic moments and I got totally involved with just the boys and ignored everyday chores (that would still be there, waiting…sadly). The boys were immediately calmer and seem satisfied with the one on one attention so much so that they were happy for independent play afterwards. Baby B was also SUPER excited and proud of his puffy paint picture. Littlest B didn't much enjoy the taste of the play dough but seemed strangely happy with the taste of the shaving foam we used for the puffy paints. That boy eats all sorts!

I also made the most of evenings for crafting rather than staring at my phone! Of course The Great British Sewing Bee started this week (#GBSB) and I also got blogging about my pursuit of craftiness at an ICHF event in March.

Here are a few snapshots of our crafty week:

Oaty Banana Muffins

Today, we whipped up yummy oaty banana muffins with some bananas that were otherwise going in the bin.

Here is the recipe we used inspired by Baby B's favourite breakfast; porridge with bananas and honey!

• 230g of plain flour
• 50g of porridge oats
• 1 tablespoon of baking powder
• 1 tsp of ground cinnamon
• 115g of caster sugar
• Pinch of salt
• 1 tsp of vanilla essence
• 6 tablespoons of oil
• 250 ml of milk
• 2 medium eggs
• 3 tablespoons of clear honey
• 2 large mashed up bananas

Mrs Crafty B in Pursuit of Craftiness with ICHF Events

In 2012, I attended Cake International and it offered no shortage of inspiration. In my search for the perfect venue for a crafty catch up with the group of ladies I 'left' in Cambridge, I discovered that ICHF Events have three events running over one weekend at the NEC Birmingham this March. I thought this would be the perfect place for a reunion and to gather a bit of inspiration in my mission to re-discover my crafty side this year! I'm not short of excuses to craft as I am Making Home and I cannot

Sew it Begins

The 1st of February is upon us! How many of you spent January enthusiastically getting to grips with new hobbies, classes and new lifestyle choices? How many of you are still as enthusiastic going into the second month of 2015?

In my attempt to get back to crafty, I spent this week thinking more about