A Crafty 2013 in Summary

Well, the festive season is almost over and most of us have returned to work and our daily routines. For us here in the B household, that is on Monday 6th so our family festivities will continue through till then with lots more snuggling on the sofa, watching telly, playing with new toys, scoffing our way through the copious amounts of chocolates and biscuits left over from Christmas and avoiding taking down the Christmas tree!

As I look at my blank 2014 calendar with a list of things to fill in just 4 days into the year, I have a feeling there will be lots of things to report on in the next 365 days and a lot more projects to put in my craft bag, but not before taking a quick look back over 2013. 

I started the year with intentions of exploring paper crafts with my new (Christmas 2012) Sizzix machine and taking a look at needle felting. Just before the new year, I found out that I was expecting a new addition to the family. Having suffered a miscarriage in 2012, I fell into a nervous 'don't do ANYTHING' trap not made easier by ridiculously horrible pregnancy sickness. The 9 months of sickness saw me not able to concentrate on much else other than childminding two days a week and looking after my first born. I couldn't even face crocheting! This was bad!! So crafting and blogging took a back seat and I once again found myself in a constant crafty daydream. This led to my new project, Crafty B's. 

Baby B number 2 arrived in September and amidst the arrival of a new baby, a 21st birthday, a 30th birthday, a craft fair and a Christmas crafting workshop, a little bit of crafting activity resumed but I was left with very little or no time for blogging or socially networking.

So here's a summary of 2013. January saw the start of 'Meet the Maker' where my readers could meet the person behind one handmade item which was the focus of the post. (Email mrscraftyb@gmail.com to take part in 2014). In February my blog was one year old :-D and this was followed by a bit of Easter crafting with decoupage eggs, cross stitching and hanging eggs that the children made. I also featured my crocheted chicks which serve as cosies for small chocolate eggs (I'm now taking commissions on these. Again, email mrscraftyb@gmail.com). Then there was a cupcake decorating party, a so far failed attempt at an online shop and crochet tutorials, the start of a crocheted ripple blanket (STILL unfinished), we met Mr Bumble, I took a few commissions on infinity scarfs and I hosted Summer Sharing. I made a wedding gift, cheated on a 60th Birthday cake, won business cards (thanks Deeper Insight), took over the organising of a craft fair, held a Crafty B's workshop and got creative with paper pom poms. There was a bit more undocumented crafting here and there and I had a baby (who sort of just appeared by the way) whilst my blog was taken over and then I took a nice break for Christmas and spent uninterrupted time with my best boys! 

I can safely say that 2013 was jam packed but I know that there is loads more to come in 2014. I will continue with childminding in April but only part-time because I will be starting to slowly but surely turn Crafty B's into something bigger and better. I cannot wait.

I guess my first job is to check out my unfinished craft projects! 

I hope you all had a fab Christmas, saw the New Year in with excitement and are ready for 2014!

Mrs Crafty B

Upcycled Denim Bag

Remember back when I started Crafting a Daydream, I told you about a denim bag I made out of one of my mums old skirts when I was younger? Well here's Sam to tell you about a much better version made by her daughter this summer. 

Cloud Dough Tutorial

Over to the lovely Laura for some good ol' fashioned messy play. LOVE it.

Being almost 1, an age where he’s starting to get into everything, my Little T needs things to take his mind off the fact that there are objects such as DVD players and Sky+ boxes in the house to ‘play’ with. One day last week whilst it was throwing down with rain last week (which sadly meant no trip to the park), I decided to pass an hour or so by making some cloud dough.

Summer Crafts

A busy summer has not stopped Rhia and her boy getting crafty! 

Hello lovely readers, as you are by now aware there has been a takeover here and we’re all talking summer. Thanks so much to the lovely Mrs Crafty B for having me once again.

Baby O’s First Wedding

With eight wedding invites over the last two years I am SO feeling this. Jo's tale of wedding adventures will have a lot of us nodding in empathy! 

Decorated Notebooks, Scrapbooks and Photo Albums

Here's Kelly with a tutorial for older children and adults alike. I am totally doing this. 

Do you remember covering your schoolbooks in wrapping paper or other decorative paper and protecting them with sticky backed plastic? Me too! Every work book for every subject had a different cover and I vividly remember that my French text book was covered in cartoon cows - not sure why but obviously at the time I thought it was cool!
Inspired by this schoolbook nostalgia, I have a simple but fun craft idea for you to create a special notebook, scrapbook or photo album that you can make with your children and that will look really special. Perhaps you can make a nice notebook for their new term at school or you could make a lovely photo album to collect all your photos of summer sun and fun. I can guarantee your friends and family will want one too and it's a great project to try at home.

Our Crafty Summer

Sam mentions her local Scrapstore in this post. Find yours. It really is, as she says, amazing. 

As a relatively new mum (I have the 3 year old Fred) and a summer stretching before us with downscaled nursery hours I knew I had to have a plan. Obviously we would be doing all the usual park/farm/beach visits, but that still leaves hours for doing things in an attempt to avoid having to pretend to be a dinosaur.

So we have spent this summer exploring all things crafty. We have made button bowls (brilliant), leaf prints, much cutting up of old cards - gluing and sticking, pirate ships from old boxes and a complete robot outfit (that really stretched my skills). We also discovered out local Scrapstore (amazing). But by far Fred’s favourite activity has involved pine cones.

Step 1 – spend a few hours in the park collecting as many pine cones as you can. Ticking the ‘outdoor play’ box 

Step 2 – bring them home and get the paints out

Step 3 – try to prevent small child from throwing them at the dogs, before attaching ribbons and storing for Christmas tree decorations.

Sam @ www.ourcraftythings.co.uk

Busby Vintage

First up on the September Takeover, we have Hannah. A post that is beautiful in so many ways.

Thank you Annie for inviting me to write a guest post today! It's been ages since I've written a guest post as have been ridiculously busy, but it's nice to be writing in a different corner of the internet for an hour or so. I hope you're enjoying your new bundle of love, or, if he hasn't arrived yet, you're not too frustrated... or if you're in labour, you're not in too much pain!

So hi! For those of you who don't know me I'm Hannah and I blog over at Make, Do and Push! I've decided to write about my daughter Busby today. She's a funny little monkey whom I love very much. I could write for hours and hours about her, and I do on my own blog, but today I've chosen the topic of her summer wardrobe, as she is far more stylish than me!

I wanted to share some photos from this summer, and talk you through her outfits (and hats).

I actually took this photo back in March, and don't have a more recent one of her in it as she sadly grew out of it by the time the sun finally appeared, but I thought you'd enjoy a 3 month old baby photo anyway. This is a little vintage outfit that I used to wear - I love the embroidered train!

September Takeover

For Baby B and I, it has been a long summer. Being very pregnant through the heat has not been easy (let alone the 9 months of sickness, anaemia and other pregnancy woes). Entertainment has come in the form of anything I don't have to sit down on the floor to do. The most has been made of time in the garden (exception to floor rule: sitting in the paddling pool) or hiding in the front room with a tower fan. Colouring books have been my saviour and Baby B's new addiction to puzzles has been brought to the table (quite literally).

Crafty time has been almost none existent and at the time of writing, Bumpleton's blanket is still not finished so I have lots of crafty plans for those winter evenings in front of the TV!

By now, I am hoping to be resting up in preparation for Bumpleton's arrival or maybe even lost in a whirlwind of new born baby antics. Either way, the time has come for me to hand over my bloggy space to some lovely bloggers who will entertain you with tales of their summers. There are tutorials, tales of adventures, crafts for young children and older children and a bit of baby fashion thrown in for good measure!

I hope to be back crafting and blogging as soon as possible but whilst I get to know my new arrival (and figure out where crafty time will fit ;-) ) it's over to the gatecrashers of my September Takeover.

Enjoy :-D

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