Jelly Biscuits

LINK TO MY PINSPIRATION

OUR PINSPIRED CREATION


As part of our Summertime Fun list, I decided I would cook something with the Littlies each week.  I found some fun and different recipes on Pinterest, that I thought they would like.  This was the first one we tried.  I had to convert the American baking terms to something I could understand, but once I'd done this we were away.  The recipe said to use a mixer, but to keep the Littlies more involved we used a large mixing bowl and wooden spoons.  Little Prince enjoyed making the dough balls more than Princess Lollipop, who didn't like getting her hands sticky!  We managed to keep the hand washing to between batches of flavour/colour instead of between each dough ball, as Princess Lollipop tried to insist she needed!!

OUR VERDICT
We used four different flavours of jelly powder mix - blackcurrant, orange, raspberry and strawberry.  And probably due to differences between US Jello and UK Jelly our flavours were overwhelming, and our colours weren't anywhere near as strong.  Princess Lollipop tried blackcurrant and orange, and hated both, she refused to try any other flavours after that.  Little Prince said they were "fantastic" and "awesome" but only really enjoyed the orange flavour, which coincidently is one of his favourite jelly flavours.  Mr Messy said they were "alright" but that the flavour was a bit overpowering.  We probably squashed our dough balls a little too enthusiastically too, as our biscuits were noticeably thinner than our Pinspiration.

WHAT WE'D DO DIFFERENTLY NEXT TIME
The finished product wasn't a big hit really, so we probably won't be trying this recipe again.

Little Prince's Summer Fun Diary

LINK TO MY PINSPIRATION

MY PINSPIRED CREATION
So that Little Prince can practice his writing skills during the Summer Holidays, I decided to make him a "Summer Fun Diary."  However, to give him more direction than a daunting blank page, I printed out a question sheet for each day, with spaces for Little Prince to write his answers.  The questions asked him to write the date, stick in the "Summer Activity" card, say what was his favourite part of the day etc.

LITTLE PRINCE'S VERDICT
He isn't too impressed with having to write during the holidays, it feels too much like work, I think.  He has mostly co-operated with filling in his diary for the previous day after breakfast, although I'd prefer he took a little more care writing neatly and using sentences.

WHAT I'D DO DIFFERENTLY NEXT TIME
I don't think I'd change anything, using questions for each day, rather than facing a blank page has been a huge help to Little Prince.

Menu Board

LINK TO MY PINSPIRATION

MY OWN PINSPIRED CREATION

I need a way to organise what we are eating each night, so that we can get the shopping right (and cheaper, without all the "panic buys"!!). We have been using a scrappy bit of paper, with the menu at the top and the shopping list at the bottom, but its not pretty and we keep forgetting to sit down and work out what we will eat for the week. After seeing all the pretty and organised Menu Boards on Pinterest, I decided we needed one too :-) After trawling through loads of different styles, I decided that this one would suit our family's way of working best. Although I am making it with space for a shopping list, instead of having two menu card holders.

I bought a flat pine frame on sale in the Supermarket, I Mod Podged pretty scrapbook paper to the pegs. Then I filled the frame with co-ordinating scrapbooking paper, and added the wording to the frame and letters for each day of the week to the pegs. Then I had to start work on the menu cards, I made a document with two columns and on the left hand side column typed the name of the dish, and on the right hand side the ingredients I would need from the shop.  After cutting out all the different meals, I folded the paper in half, so that the meal was on the front and the ingredients on the back and laminated them all.   I made a pocket to hold all the menu cards, by trimming down a small, slim cardboard box and then covering it in scrapbook paper and decorating it a little, I glued the box and pegs into place and added a decorated bulldog clip top hold the shopping list.

I kept the original glass from the frame, and placed it behind the "Menu Board" so that if I want to use it in the future its there waiting.

MY VERDICT

I think it looks very pretty, and fingers crossed it will make us a bit more organised - I'll let you know if a few weeks :-)

WHAT I'D DO DIFFERENTLY NEXT
I'd get on with it quicker and not faff about waiting for ages!!!  And I'm going to have to make a minor modification by gluing the scrapbook paper with the Menu Card box and bulldog clip glued to it, to a backing piece of thicker card.  In use the paper isn't sturdy enough to prevent it from becoming damaged with repeated opening and closing of the bulldog clip.

Summer Activity List

LINK TO MY PINSPIRATION

MY OWN PINSPIRED CREATIONSadly I am finding School Holidays increasingly hard to deal with, even a short half term break reduces me to tears at least once :-(  Both Little Prince and Princess Lollipop are strong characters with their own quirks and needs, and dealing with them during school holidays, especially in horrible weather when we are stuck in the house, has always been very difficult.   That is not to say that I don't love spending time with them, and even the worst days are worth it, I just feel I need a "plan" for the next break!

The long Summer Holidays are looming on the horizon, and I need to bring a little more structure to our time.  I found lots of "Summer Bucket Lists" on Pinterest, and I loved the idea, but it wasn't quite right for our family.  Little Prince would probably pester to do all the activities he wants (expensive trips out most likely!) in the first week, and then get bored with the whole idea.  Then I saw a Pin that gave themes for each day of the week, and again I loved the idea but again it just wasn't quite right for our unpredictable English weather!  So I decided to make a combination of the "Bucket List" and "Themed Days" types of Pins.  I used a large (noticeboard size), piece of heavy white card and covered it in sunny yellow fabric (hint hint weather!!).

I finally used my Cricut (I was a bit intimidated by it at first!) to cut out the letters for the board title "Summertime" and I used shaped buttons to spell out "fun."  I also used different shaped and coloured buttons to decorate around the title.

I made six brightly coloured box pockets (by covering mini cereal boxes in bright coloured scrapbook paper) to hold the different themes of activities, and then made pretty labels for them.  The "Day Out" and "Day at Home" were further split into "Sunny" and "Rainy" so that one each could be picked and the weather won't be able to spoil our week.  I printed the activities and placed them in the right pockets.  Each weekend the Littlies can take turns to pick out one activity from each box pocket, and peg it to the "This Week's Activities" section of the board.

The "This Week's Activities" section has 7 pegs (covered in matching paper to the box pockets) where the week's activities are placed until we have completed them.  Once completed I will give them to Little Prince to use in his "Summer Fun Diary."  If we have only used the "Rainy Day" Activities then the "Sunny Day" activities will be returned to their correct box pocket to give us a chance to do them in a week with sunnier weather (fingers crossed!!).

The seventh peg will hold the three different zones for "Clean Team" so that each week we will work together to keep the house tidy and clean.  I will rotate the zones, so that we clean a different one each week, the zones are - Upstairs, Downstairs and Garden.  I will still expect everyone to put their own clean washing, dirty dishes and clutter away each day, the zones are just for a big tidy up and clean, as when we are all at home all day the house tends to descend into chaos in no time at all!!!



MY VERDICT
From the construction part of this Pinspired Creativity, I wouldn't be so nervous about writing the titles in my own handwriting!  I don't like my own writing and wanted to print the labels, but my printer ran out of ink,  I emailed the labels I'd designed to Mr Messy, but the formatting got all messed up on the journey through the ether and didn't make any sense when he printed them.  In the end I used my Cricut to cut label shapes, then glued a toning colour square (with rounded corners - so much nicer looking lol) with the words written on.  I took my tme and wrote neatly and it doesn't look as bad as I feared!!

I'll let you know how using the "Summertime Fun" board went, when the Summer Holidays finish in September!!

WHAT I'D DO DIFFERENTLY NEXT TIME
I wouldn't faff so much about printing the labels and just write them out - quicker and easier than keep trying different printing methods!!

Prettyfying a Plain Magnetic Noticeboard

LINK TO MY PINSPIRATION



MY OWN PINSPIRED CREATION
I bought a cheap, metal magnetic noticeboard for my Craft Room.  To make it prettier, I Mod Podged wrapping paper onto it.  Even using a brayer, I had a lot of trouble getting the paper flat, and it has a LOT of wrinkles, especially on one of the bottom corners :-(  I didn't want to rip it all off and try again, so I fumed over it for a few days!!  Then I fumed EVEN MORE when one of the cats knocked over my newly prettyfied Charity Shop vase!!  When I'd calmed down, and was working on finishing a different project, I decided to re-use the materials I had used on the now smashed vase, to disguise the wrinkles on the noticeboard.

Once my noticeboard was looking so pretty, I didn't want to spoil it with ugly, plain metal magnets.  So I found some big buttons (the magnets are large!!) and glued those onto the magnets - much prettier :-)

MY VERDICTI'm going to have to practice getting my Mod Podging smooth!!

WHAT I'D DO DIFFERENTLY NEXT TIME
I don't think I'd change much, as my "mistakes" made me add even more prettiness to my noticeboard and I like it a lot more than if it were just covered in the wrapping paper :-)

Under Bed Tent

LINK TO MY PINSPIRATION

MY OWN PINSPIRED CREATION
I made the Under Bed Tent for Little Prince's 9th Birthday

After seeing all the super creative "Card Table Houses" on Pinterest I decided I would give it a go. We don't have room for any more furniture, and Little Prince has a "Cabin Bed" so that's where I decided to make the tent. Bearing in mind Little Prince's special needs, I opted to use "stick and sew velcro" to attach the tent sides to the bed, rather than curtain wire. This way if he gets angry or clumsy the sides will just detach, rather than be damaged. And it can also be easily removed for washing. I bought some white rope lights, and cable clips to fasten them to the underside of the bed, as Little Prince hates the dark and would probably refuse to use the tent if he decided it was too dark.  The cable clips didn't work very well so I ended up using cable ties, to fasten the rope lights to the underside of the bed slats.  This solution works well and the lights are still secure some time later :-)

I made the tent walls from some heavy cream coloured cotton canvas I already had in my stash. I cut the pieces to cover only the front and foot of the bed, as the other two sides are next to the wall. I made two walls, leaving a space between them for the door. I sewed wide 3 inch seams on all the edges, to give them more stability, and 3 inch hems to give weight to the bottom of the pieces. Depending on how it goes I may add curtain hem weights to the bottom hem too, but so far it doesn't seem to need it. To avoid too much thickness at the top edge I used the fabric's own selvedge unhemmed.

I made a window in the door panel, with a piece of mesh from a laundry bag acting as the "glass" to stop Little Prince being tempted to climb through and hurt himself or rip his tent! I appliqued felt "Star Wars" shapes onto the outside for decoration. I made these by printing out pictures of the ships/characters/symbols from the internet to use as inspiration. Then I spent a whole afternoon freehand drawing the shapes much larger on lining paper (and using a large dinner plate for the curves and circles). I used these drawings as a pattern to cut out all the pieces I needed in felt, and then sewed them together, before sewing the completed decorations to the tent.

LITTLE PRINCE'S VERDICT:

"Its just some cloths on my bed"!! Note to self - remember how autism affects the imagination :-)  This was when he saw the bed as it is in the first picture, with no door window or Star Wars decorations.  When I finally added the Star Wars decorations he told me "You are the best sewing person I know" YES :-)  He has taken some cushions from the sofa bed in his room and put them inside the tent to make a little reading, calming down area for himself too.  I think he likes it :-)

WHAT I'D DO DIFFERENTLY NEXT TIME
I'd fully complete it before unveiling it to Little Prince, I ran out of time before his birthday (due to family issues and my own procrastination) and gave it to him partly finished, which contributed to his not so thrilled verdict.

A Scratchy Toy for Princess Lollipop

This idea wasn't Pinspired, it was born out of trying to ease Princess Lollipop out of co-sleeping in gentle baby-steps. She now consistently falls asleep in her own bed (at a reasonable 7pm-7.30pm), and stays there until about 3am-4am most nights. However, the next step will be for her to get herself to sleep, without needing me or Daddy to lay next to her bed, as she soothes herself to sleep by sticking her hand inside our sleeves and "scratching" our skin. I keep her nails very short, so it doesn't really hurt, unless she finds a tender spot!! While thinking of how to help her transition to this next step, I started to wonder how she could "scratch" without needing me or Daddy. I came up with the idea of a Scratchy Toy and thought that a Sausage Dog would be the perfect shape :-)  


I searched Pinterest for a pattern and didn't find one I liked, but after a search of the internet came up with the above (free) pattern and Pinned it to my Crafts board.

MY OWN CREATION

I downloaded the pattern to make the Scratchy Sausage Dog Toy, however, when I took it to my local photocopying place to get the pattern enlarged, they made a mistake and its not as big as it should be.  On reflection I decided to carry on and make the smaller size  Sausage Dog (and reduce the size of the seam allowance) as it will be much easier for 3 year old hands to carry around, and if Princess Lollipop does become attached to it, it won't take up too much space in a bag when we are out and about.  


I made the Sausage Dog from soft fleece fabric and cotton (instead of the wool and cotton suggested by the pattern). At the last minute I also decided to make a "spare" as we all know the heartache if a child loses their precious toy!!  Once I had cut the body and inner body pieces, I sewed french knots randomly all over the pieces, before finishing constructing the toy. I sewed buttons on for the eyes, making sure they were very firmly attached. 

PRINCESS LOLLIPOP'S VERDICT
She has been involved in every step of the Scratchy Toy construction, and was fascinated watching me sew, especially when  I used the sewing machine.  She has named her Scratchy, and will sometimes ask for her at bedtime and at others is adamant that she doesn't need her and will throw her out of her bed!  She is managing to get herself to sleep without scratching me, whether or not  she has Scratchy in bed with her or not.

MY VERDICT
I don't like how Scratchy has turned out at all.  Her ears mostly stick up and out (like a pair of aeroplane wings!) due to the difference in scale of the pieces to how they are supposed to be.  Also I can see all my mistakes and it seems to glare out at me where I've had to make last minute repairs.

WHAT I'D DO DIFFERENTLY NEXT TIME
I wouldn't try to cut out four pieces of fleece at the same time, it might be a lovely soft fabric but it isn't easy to cut through that many thicknesses!!  It was extremely fiddly to sew too, so I'd probably get the pattern enlarged to the correct size and not try to use such small seam allowances either.