Handmade Christmas Cards

Each year I make my own Christmas cards. It is something I really enjoy creating and know that my family and friends love to receive them. I guess quite a few people thought that once our little man was born, I would not have time to make Christmas cards for everyone. Although I don’t have hours to spend crafting, I still get my little craft fix as much as I can! Craft if definitely my therapy, as I have spoken about before (post here) and my time out from our busy lives. This is how I go about making my Christmas Cards.

Once I’ve written out the Christmas Card list, I create a little Christmas card making station by using a tray or box I have and I fill it with all the bits and pieces I need to create cards. It usually it goes a little like this:

glitter, stamps, ink, scrapbook paper, stickers, washi tape, ribbon, twine, buttons and anything else that takes my eye.

I  try to keep things simple and only create one or two designs. Then I make one of each card as an example. Normally after I’ve done that I have run out of time and come back to it later. It’s always a work in progress and gets done over a week or two. This is where the box comes in handy. When I have a spare hour in the evening, I am able to pick up where I left off.

This year I decided to take advantage of our little man and use his artwork on our Christmas cards.He was given some lovely children’s watercolour paints for his birthday by a friend, so I found a few pieces of cardboard and set him to work painting. This year I went for one simple design – a background of Christmas paper, a cutout of his painting and added some Christmas stamps on top. Most of the stamps are from the 1950/60s and were my Dad’s and Aunty and Uncles when they were kids, which makes them extra special to me and I love using them.

Oh and the last thing is get someone else to write on them! I make the cards, Pappa Duck writes on them (he does have lovely handwriting so it only seems fitting)

Colour Therapy

1. Take one box of freshly sharpened pencils in the colours of the rainbow.

Choose one of the following two options:

2a. Take a crisp white blank page and draw and colour what the heart desires.

Or

2b. Open a colouring in book and choose a picture (always the option I like!). Who says colouring in books are only for children?

3. Find a space where you will not be disturbed, grab a nice pot of tea, some calming music or silence (I prefer the later personally), and colour.

4. Forget about the world for half an hour or so. Focus on nothing but colours – calming blues, vibrant oranges, stormy purples.

This is my version of meditation. When my mind wanders from the task at hand, I gently coax it back by focusing on colouring in between the lines, what colour I will choose next or the colour I am currently using. No rules here, just what my heart desires.

I am always in a happier place and much calmer after spending some time with my pencils. Release your inner child, what have you got to lose?

Love

Duck Egg Blue Mamma

Forgotten Pleasures – The simple things

I know it sounds silly but in the last few weeks I have begun to remember things I loved doing before I became a mum. Simple things that made me happy. I cannot believe it has taken me until our little duckling turned 3 before I really started thinking about myself again. I’ve set myself a challenge this month – to seek out those forgotten simple pleasures and start enjoying them again. Somewhere in the midst of  the daily grind  – work, washing, groceries, meals, bills, cleaning, and all those ‘mum’ things, I have forgotten to look after myself as much as I would like to.

I’ve remembered how much I love reading and made time to read, run a hot bath and had a long soak, painted my fingernail pretty colours and had impromptu picnic lunches in our front yard in the sun. I’m enjoying life’s simple pleasures and I’m feeling better already.

Duck Egg Blue Mamma xx

5 mintues in the sun

Done the dash with the little duckling to daycare. Got all the way there and realised that we had left his Epipen at home. So we turned around went home and then back to kindy. Our little duckling requested listening to the same song on repeat for the whole trip (I know he gets this from me! At least his choice in music today was pretty good!) Today’s ‘Toddler free day’ will be quickly consumed with cleaning, rearranging, decluttering, grocery shopping, washing and some last minute sewing. I know that I won’t be able to get through everything I need to do today. So I took 5 minutes to myself. To sit in the sun, in silence, and eat a good breakfast. Now I am ready to attack the day. 

Duck Egg Blue Mamma xx

Love Banner

Weeks are seeming to disappear before they have started. It feels like there is no time for play, or for craft as we are busy thinking of our future and trying to make the best decisions for our little family. At 28, I am feeling that the decisions we make now will really affect how we live for the next couple of years. Making big decisions when it was the two of us didn’t seem as daunting but now that we have a little man to look after, it seems harder. I know it is because I want to be able to provide him with the best environment I can. It is tough being a Mum some weeks!


I think that things will be quiet on the ‘Friends for Felix’ front for the next couple of weeks. Am not feeling overly inspired to sew, which is fine, it happens every now and then. When lots is going on in our home, craft is the first thing to be put in the cupboard and have a rest for a little while.

I took a few hours to myself on my toddler-free Friday to play with some paper and stamps, to switch off from the world a little. I felt the need to pretty up my home, and after rearranging and cleaning our dining room/office space I thought it needed a little craftiness to finish it off. 

 A copy of ‘Romeo & Juliet’ picked up at an op shop for 50c, some scissors and a box of vintage stamps (that were my Dad’s when he was a kid) and created some bunting and a framed picture.

 Hanging, it tells our little love story, of how the two of us turned into the three of us.

 

 

Bunting hanging above the window

Artwork hanging on the wall.The quality of pictures for this post are not the greatest as our little duckling had been taking photos with our point and shoot camera and left it on the floor then I stepped on it and broke it 😦 

So photos now taken from my phone!

Duck Egg Blue Mamma xx

Returning to the sewing machine

April is over and time to get things back in order here at ‘Friends for Felix’ HQ. We had a mammoth April with two Hen’s nights, a Bucks night, two Weddings, two Second Birthdays  – one being our little Duckling’s  (which I will blog about soon) Easter and the passing of my Nan. In one month. It is exhausting just thinking about it.

I must admit I am glad to see the beginning of May. This week is a time to reorganise ourselves, clear the clutter, spend time as a family. I’ve been thinking a lot about my craft lately and everytime I don’t get a chance to create, it makes me more driven to one day turn it into my business and be able to make money from my craft. I want my dreams to turn into reality. Yes hard to do with a little duckling, and having to work a ‘day job’ part time but somewhere and somehow I am going to fit it all in!

So after much sketching over the last week, I pulled out the sewing machine and worked in silence. I love silence, it really gives me time to think and wind down. I am working with felt and fabric on the sewing machine at the moment which is fairly new to me as I usually hand sew with felt. My machine skills as very basic and today we worked well together. I Think my nan was guiding me (it was her machine). I love setting up the machine on our dining room table. Our table was made by Pappa Duck’s Great Grandfather. I think of the family meals eaten upon it, the cakes decorated at it, the clothes mended and sewn on it. Am sure they were all helping me this afternoon! I am enjoying creating some new works. In a couple of weeks some of my stock will be in an online Market night at ‘Sew’ you say Handmade Markets Facebook page. Should be fun!


Anyway here is a little phone case that I whipped up one morning for my new Samsung Galaxy SII. Considering we are up some mornings at 4.30am, I find that by 8am we’ve had breakfast, watched some Thomas the Tank Engine, done some washing and a spot of sewing!

Night!


Duck Egg Blue Mamma xx