30 days of creativity – day 12 – teacher’s survival kit

(I know, I know, it’s far too soon to be thinking about the end of the school year but my brain runs off without me and I just have to make these things!)

Take a bunch of seemingly arbitrary items – a glass jar, a little chocolate, cotton wool balls, a birthday candle, elastic band, marbles and a safety pin…

Add a handmade gift tag to explain the seemingly arbitrary items…

Put items in glass jar – and hey presto! A cute gift for your teacher at the end of term!

(Must remember about these in July!)

30 days of creativity – day 9 – zombie bag

(Yes, another zombie thing – I like zombies, ok?)

I bought the fabric on ebay before Christmas because I thought it was marvellous.

As usual I didn’t have a pattern or a plan. I just made it up as I went along. Usually that turns out ok.

Although I must admit lack of planning has resulted in a bag full of “handmade charm.” Or wonky bits. I prefer handmade charm.

Eclectic?

My husband and I have been pondering the question, “How many items of mis-matched furniture do you need before your style is eclectic?”

This follows a few happy shopping expeditions in a couple of local charity shops.

First, a bookshelf for the boy’s room, dark wood, not all fashionable. Standing next to their pine bunkbeds.

And some 70’s salt and pepper pots, just because we liked them.

And then some Nathan furniture – a dresser and a telephone seat – an outdated, defunct piece of furniture in the age of the cordless phone!

So, are we eclectic? Probably not yet. I think it’s more than having a bunch of things which don’t match. I think it’s about having a bunch of things which you love and you have chosen. And you don’t care that they don’t match.

It’s about having a home with personality, one where you love to live. We have antlers in our hallway…

(I don’t like those, but my husband does. I suppose an eclectic house can’t just be influenced by one personality!)

And there is also character and personality in the special handmade things.

This is my new mirror made by a friend. (You should really check out his website http://www.ammoniteoak.co.uk/ ) And there are also things I’ve made myself.

Like my patchwork quilt, and my canvasses.

And so, we have decided to be eclectic, to make a conscious effort to fill our home with things we love, regardless of whether they match. To look for interesting thing, old things, new things, handmade things and homemade things. Selecting what we think is the best. To stop wasting money on flat pack rubbish and things that are bland.

We want to have what we love, and love what we have.

(This still means I can shop at Ikea, right?)