Party Girls

A lovely day here on Friday, just us and the spare wheel on our little family wagon, Anthony (affectionately known as Clant after Elizabeth struggled with Uncle Ant and merged the two together at around eighteen months old). We ate huge amounts of Turkey and opened presents and laughed at each other and generally had a lazy day together (my favourite sort). We ended the day with pyjamas on early, turkey sandwiches, cheese and crackers, glasses of port (grown ups only) and Dr Who on the telly. Fantastic!

Boxing Day we went over to Simon's Mum and Dad's for more turkey sandwiches and a few more presents. Simon takes the pictures when we go there and this is the only picture of me and Sebastian from the whole day;


See, I have clean clothes on and everything, very unflattering angle of Sebastian as you can only really see his bald spot but I wanted you to see his little knitted suit, I think he looks like a little baby convict!

Elizabeth is creating a rather wonderful rock chickie look of her own and has managed to find and put together two beautiful, stylish, flattering outfits for herself for over the party season. This is a brilliant bargain gown that we found when out looking for something else that she teamed with bright pink tights and her sequined boots with matching pink laces. The tiara is from her snow queen costume;


Here's my two beautiful girls;

I got some wonderful presents but these are the two that I have managed to photograph so far.

A wonderful clock from my Mum and Dad;

And some fabulously soft and snuggly hand warmers from Simon and the children. I had expressed an interest in trying to knit some for myself when I had time but this is even better;

The bright blueygreen isn't, think the flash made it go a bit mad as it's a deep moss shade in reality.

Anyhoo, am off now to tackle some of the washing mountain, honestly you have two days cooking turkey of rest and they will insist on still wearing clothes!!

Will be back with more presents soon.

Hope you have all had a wonderful time and that your tummies are not too upset and your heads are not banging too much?!

Daisie xxx

Happy Christmas!

How's that for an oiginal title?!

I tried to get on and do a quick post last night but Mr T'interweb was sooooooooooooo busy. I gave up and went to bed.

I just wanted to say that my bestest Christmas present had arrived all the way from the other end of the earth from Newquay and had been squeezed to within and inch of her life! I haven't seen my baby sister since May and this was the first time she got to meet our baby Sebastian, very exciting and teary too.

Bad picture but look, see, there we are mad sisters;


The children were all bathed and put in new pyjamas, Sebastian thoguht it all rather amusing;


We stayed up later than usual and had takeaway curry for tea (bit of a Christmas Eve tradition round here), very full bellies all round.

The presents are all in place;


And I was here last night to say I was off to bed before the madness of the morning arrived when 'He' has been but I am awake, have wrapped a big bird in bacon and seasoned well, bunged in oven, fire popped on, coffee made and it is only Simon and I that are awake, what are the chances??! It's rather nice sitting in the darkness together drinking hot coffee listening to our sleeping babies....... wonder when they'll wake (probably just as we drop back off for another quick snooze).

Happy Christmas one and all, please enjoy whatever you do today.

I'll see you on the other side!

Daisie xxxx

Making

The poorliness is slowly lifting, the girls are well enough to argue with each other! Coughs are hacking and noses are running but everything else is now settling down. I on the other hand am feeling worse.

We did some paper craft today and it links in to two posts I have read recently but I'll get to that in a mo.

Firstly I covered some reclaimed embroidery thread boxes to put my recycled wall covering note cards in;


They look really rather good and with two possible craft fairs coming up before Christmas are good to add to my 'stock'.

Amanda posted today about crafting with her children and I have to agree with her, it's not as enjoyable as one might think. I find it easier now they have there own craft 'stash' or I fill a box with select things from my stash that they may share, therefore they don't need to even be near anything I don't want them to touch. I am a bit of a control freak though and find it hard not to completely take over offer advice. I have to admit though that their artistic ability is improving with age.

Then Dottycookie mentioned the rumour in blogland that we edit out all the messy bits. Well, I may try (sometimes) but lets be honest if I edited out all the mess there would be nothing left. See;


This is one of Elizabeth's creations;

This is Francesca's, a kind of summery christmas birthday extravoganza;

Nathaniel went with a green theme;

I did try with some stiff wire and some red buttons to thread them together to make a heart shaped tree decoration but sadly it just didn't work. The wire was too stiff to get through by hand and when I got the wire working tools on it it just broke. So I either need some thinner for fingers or thicker for pliers. Any advice would be lovely.

Nathaniel was truly bemused by my struggling and gathered the disgarded bits and pieces and threaded them all together. It was lovely to watch him concentrate with the snot and dribble rolling down his chin;

It's not quite what I was aiming for but the look of 'this is how you do it' did cheer me up!

Daisie xxx

Recycle, Recycle, Recycle....

What a brilliant day I have had! The children and I pottered around this morning and then made our way to see my friend Alison. Thomas is a little older than Elizabeth and they are great friends, Hannah and Francesca are the same age and are both pink and princess mad! And with her lovely husband around to bring regular refreshment and entertain Nathaniel what more could a girl ask for?!

She gave me all her Christmas cards (she too has done the removal of decorations and a mega clean), I'm hoping for many more bundles from people. I cut the nice fronts whole to make the tags for next years presents and nick the embellishments for new cards, tags and Christmassy collages.

Here's what they looked like when Francesca and I had finished with our scissors;



There's even a musical disc in there too! Wonder which unfortunate person will get that next year?!

And while we were chatting Alison was sorting the washing and she went to fold a pair of her hubby's undies to find that the seat of them was see-through! Now the urge to laugh was huge and we both succumbed to hilarity (especially at this point as Phil was complaining about things in the kitchen cupboards, a thing a man should never do), I felt bad as I'm sure that some of the remnants in Simon's undie drawer are circa 1976! Anyhoo, the laughter brought the man in question in to see what was soooo funny. He went to put them in the bin and I demanded to know if they had a button on, and if so, could I have it? There was a small pearly blue button that is now mine :-)

This prompted Alison to go and get a bag of 'spare' buttons from her bedroom. You know the ones that come in small plastic bags on the inside seam of your posh new cardi/blouse/coat etc. You cut it free and put it 'somewhere safe' only to be unable to find it when said garment loses a button!!

Here they are;

Some of them are very bog standard dark simple buttons but some are very fancy indeed. There is a beautiful mother of pearl one that is just begging for a brooch to sit on. There are also some tiny bags of spare sequins (Alison is very posh!!) and beads too.

These and the little ribbons from the neck of new garments are my very favourite crafty find.

Recycle, recycle, recycle, that's what I say!! And thanks Alison!!

Daisie xxx

Boxing Day

Hello, hope you all had a wonderful day yesterday?!

We had lots of fun, opened some wonderful presents and ate lots of lovely food.

I need to state now that we will NOT be having a goose again next year. Don't get me wrong, it was very delicious and it helped me make the most amazing roast potatoes but it only just fed the six of us at lunch. None for sarnies or soup as we usually get from the trukey. Maybe I will pop into a supermarket when they reopen and buy a half price turkey so we can have 'leftovers'


We opened stockings bright and early and the looks on the children's faces make all the hard work and worry so worth it. Had eggs for breakfast and opened a few more prezzies.

We (well, Simon and the children) had half an hour in the garden while I set the table and dismembered the goose.

Bubbles, what a great idea, thanks Ant!!

We always have our friend Ant at Christmas (he is our spare, not really related relative) and this year he brought with him an uninvited guest;

And some funny hats;

We're off to the in-laws to do it all again later!!

Daisie xxxx

Christmas Eve

When else do you get new pyjamas and slippers and get to stay up late and eat take away curry and have sweetiees before bed?!!

Happy Christmas To You All!

The King

I just had to show you this pic of Nathaniel in his 'throne' I took yesterday;

Did you spot the new shoes?! He did cry and was very difficult and it took ages for me to make him walk in them but not nearly as bad as last time. He loves his new shoes now and likes to show you at every opportunity!

Off to deliver the last of the presnets later today. Then home to prep the veg etc for tomorrow (I will be too busy drowning in a sea of wrapping paper to peel potatoes and parsnips tomorrow), pyjamas on and as is the Davies Family tradition (of me and Simon's making) the nice chap at the indian cooks our tea on Christmas eve!

I love the full of curry, slightly drunk feeling when arranging presents and setting the table late at night ready for the big day.

Happy Christmas (or whatever else you will be celebrating)!!!

Daisie xxx

Finished!!!

Hurrah!!

I managed to finish hand sewing the letters and sequins onto these hotties and sew the main bodies together on the machine and deliver them;



Am really loving the one I made for Thomas, the brief was for a blue hottie with his name on that wasn't too 'babified' Think I managed to make it quite manly (or manly enough for an eight year old) with the deep grey fleece, mid blue band and denim letters, they should fray a little with time and give it a 'rugged' look! The brief for Hannah's was pink and sparkly and with Francecsa's guidance how could I fail!? The picture is not good because of the flash but there are lots of little seqjuin flower clusters all over the front. It has a blanket stitch finish to the fold on the back in yet another shade of pink!!

And I managed to knit this little yellow fellow for small friend in time for Christmas;




Making a shopping list and menu plan for next week, only plan on doing one food shop on Monday and then whatever we don't have we'll do without!

We have cake, what else is there?!!

Daisie xxx

Busy Bee

Thanks for all your lovely comments and emails regarding my lack of 'going out' clothes. I ended up doing a mega shop with good ol' Swirly and got lots of stuff for Christmas presents and a knee length denim skirt (bit of a variation on a theme but there you go) and my long sleeved, not too old black t-shirt got ironed, don't think it knew what had hit it!! But when hunting in my knicker drawer (like you do) I found some beautiful Liberty tights that I bought when very pregnant with Nathaniel for only a pound (they were originally £25)! I was going to do a picture but they don't look as impressive laying on the floor/bed but had trouble taking a pic of them on my legs. Will get someone to snap me next time I wear them as they really are rather special.

The evening went very well and it was one of the few social situations I have been in for a long time where I have been the youngest! I'm usually the old bag element! We ate good curry, drank wine and chatted the night away.

Last weekend the girls and I made pizza;







Sunday saw a last minute dash to Blackpool to try and finish the Christmas shopping. There were originally lots of us going but due to childcare issues and prior arrangements there ended up just the three of us (my sister Naomi and friend Claire) and because I drive a Multipla, we all sat in the front! It was a proper girly road trip!!

A brilliant shop, all the things on my list ticked off! But when we returned to the car it was to find a penalty notice for not displaying a valid ticket in the car park. F***ing blind traffic guy! It had fallen from the windscreen (the sticky bit was still attached) but could quite clearly be seen on the dash. Needless to say a snotty email has gone to Blackpool Council and I AM NOT PAYING!!!!!

Francesca has been unwell with her chest (surprise surprise) and has been poorly all weekend. We were all invited to my Mum and Dad's for a Christmas celebration on Sunday as they will be in their little house in the Vendee for Christmas. Everyone was there; my sisters, my brother and his family, some cousins and a spare auntie and uncle. We all got a little present too!! She was so poorly that she couldn't even eat sweets (must have been bad) by six so it was home to bed! Off to the doctors yesterday for some lovely penicillin! Hasn't made a difference yet and we're playing the yo-yo game with paracetamol and 'brufen! She's ok, she can play and talk and read books, she worse, she's crying and shaking, she's really bad, sweating, crying, coughing and struggling to breathe, how long til the next dose!? Anyone who has children knows the routine and my sympathies to anyone in the same boat this week, it stinks!

She has missed being an angel in the school play (I could cry) and in a bid to cheer her up yesterday I dragged the tree from the attic. We sorted out all the lovely dangles and said we'd wait for Elizabeth to come home from school before we put the decorations on. Sadly by the time that happened Francesca was very hot and shivery again and didn't want to hang any :-(

Elizabeth, being such a lovely sister, put some of the pinkest and sparkliest dangles to one side and said we should save them for Francesca to put on when she feels better. She also put the 'Francesca' angel on the top;

Hopefully I won't be gone so long this time just listing all the fair stock (or some of it at least) on folksy and will be back soon with some pics of the current WIPs, mostly presents but not for people who come and look here!!

Daisie xxx

Party Time

So here is a pic of my baby boy enjoying his first 'proper' Christmas party. He met Father Christmas and wasn't overly impressed but had the present anyway! He ate party food in the party hat he made last week and played games with his little friends.

I had to wrestle him out of his hat for his afternoon nap, he really rather likes it and I think it will be making a few more appearances over the next few weeks!

Daisie xxx

Me Thinks Christmas Must Be On The Way...?

Tonight I have been mostly writing the Christmas cards (while wondering why did we give our children such long names?!), drinking wine and making two dozen mince pies for the Christmas party at playgroup tomorrow!

Not long now, how many days left? Not enough, that's for sure!

Daisie xxx

All Packed Up

Well, with my design skills (don't laugh) and Simon's technological skills (no, really, don't laugh) we tweaked the brooch card design and printed lots off. After a while with the guillotine and some sticky stuff my brooches looked like this;




Impressive or what?! Sadly though I hadn't yet read the comment that Ruth left on my last post so the pic is a little hazy. But after reading her comment and packing my little bottles of Christmas Cheer and some little bottles of Love and wiping my lens I took a much clearer picture;



A big thanks to Simon for being patient with me and a big thank you to Ruth for her photographic expertise (again, don't laugh!).

Today I am off out with my friend Gil and am leaving all the children with their Daddy! I am so excited, can't wait! And I have had a long time to wait as the clocks went back yesterday (bloody daylight savings, what a nightmare) and although it seemed like half past seven to three small body clocks it was only in fact half past six! Argh! But it gives me lots of time to get ready.....

Daisie xxx

Felt Lovelies

A quick one this morning as I didn't get around to doing a post last night. I have many planned in my head. Last night was a toss up between a recipe for cheap and yummy chilli (we had it for tea last night) or a post I have about the free things I have in my life, inspired by Swirly as she is having a giveaway, all you have to do is tell her what your best ever freebie was! Easy peasy, as they say, pop on over and have a look.

Anyway, to get back to the point (I have a habit of wondering at the mo) I didn't post because I took a well earned sit down in front of the television and made these;

Christmas preparation is in full swing here at Daisie Towers!

Daisie xxx

Squeak Of Delight

I think I may have just made the cutest little Christmas gift.

Little bottles of Christmas cheer;



Tiny glass bottles that I have filled with sequins; stars, cherubs, reindeer, love hearts and beads. I sealed the top like old fashioned homemade jam with a cotton circle and very fine green ribbon.



Everyone will be getting one of these come the festive season! Also available in both my Folksy and Etsy shops (see side bar for buttons).

Daisie xxx