Wednesday 26 October 2011

Must...stay...awake.....


Half way through half term holidays and I have actually mostly avoided the chaotic inside of the house with 5 boys so far! My lovely husband has well and truly taken over child entertaining duties for the week and I have to say, does a better job than me! So far he has been out of the house every day with them - and even managed to time today's trip to see Tin Tin to coincide with the first heavy rain (and sleet!) we've had in a long time - well done!

I have been working away in my studio in the meantime, perfecting my new range of jewelery, ready for the Christmas shows coming up.


I'm quite pleased with the way they are working out so far. It's my aim to create a whole range of things that look like they've come from the same designer - namely ME! I have a tendency to veer off in every direction when I get a bit of time in the studio - which can be great if I have all the time in the world.....but that doesn't occur much these days! So, stick to the plan Naomi! I hope you like them as much as I do. I have quite enjoyed adorning myself with each new creation today for my little self-portrait photo shoot! I will have to make one for myself too!


So, I'm back out here again in my little crowded studio, the boys are playing Tin tin adventures in the house with a tired Daddy. And as for me - I WILL stay awake long enough to make something lovely.....I WILL....I will.....zzzzzzzzzzzz

Not really. The buzz of being out here always wins through on the tiredness - which can be a bad thing when it's midnight!


Hope you have a lovely evening too.
xxxxxxx





Saturday 22 October 2011

Super Hero Saturday!



We LOVE dress up in this house (or at least I love to indulge the dressing up urges of my boys!). No, I don't get to do sugar plum fairies, princesses, or Snow White, but I do get to do Medieval Knights, Dinosaurs and today - a very cute little Superhero, off to his first party "on his own"!


There seems to be a ceaseless torrent of requests from school to do dress up - and now that I have 3 at school, it can be quite a time consuming event. However, if you could see the mountain of photos clogging up this hard drive of various boys transformed into pirates, wizards and Jedis, I think you'd be able to tell, I don't really mind!
The investment of time last year to make spotty capes for Children In Need day paid off today when it came to the Superhero party "Supa Noah" was attending. He is at a particularly edible age, when the whole world is new and exciting and small things mean a lot. It was lovely watching him work out how he was meant to act with the outfit on - racing round the garden making all the right noises for someone with superpowers!


Today has felt like one of those days when things go right.
Superhero safely delivered to the party.
Quick jaunt to the farmer's market in town which produced a bounty of Olives and ciabatta for lunch....
around the fire.


We are taking every opportunity for outside time at the moment, not knowing when the weather will change. The boys had a lesson in fire lighting.....


and we toasted brie sandwiches and ate our olives.



My lovely boys also brought me back some cyclamen, which Reuben and I planted up in my new flower border (we have reluctantly given up on the vegetables for now). I love cyclamen - as I explained to my bemused husband, for the tenuous, but significant reason that they featured on the tea set we used in our honeymoon B&B. I know! They just stuck in my memory! And now I have a little splash of colour in the garden to take me back too.




I have had the day in the studio - finishing of a growing "sisterhood" of dolls, which I am uploading to my Facebook page for purchase over the next week if you would like one. It's been crocheted flowers and smiles today! Now they are finished I am looking forward to creating a collection of jewelery.


I hope you have been enjoying this low Autumn sun today as much as I have - there is something quite special about this crisp, clear, but mellow light.

xxxxxxxxx

Oh, and by the way, the real Superhero of the day was definitely my lovely hubby - determined to give the boys a brilliant half term holiday, and succeeding with panache on the first day. Well done. Time for a lovely dinner to finish the day off. xxx

Wednesday 19 October 2011

One Step at a Time



Every day is a new beginning. Even when the night has been LONG and disturbed! After a broken night, the last thing I wanted to do this morning was the pile of housework that had accumulated whilst I hid in the studio over the last week or so. However, the washing will always be with us and it's never good when there is more weetabix on the floor than on the table, (there you go - I've let you into my awful secret - this home looks lived in!). So a morning of home making was well and truly required!

Now I'm sitting here in the peace of this hour, most of the children in bed - one on his way, and feeling most content. I know my home isn't going to feature in any magazine. I know I struggle sometimes to find an inch of clear space to take photos of the things I make. I know there are seven people living here - Oh, my goodness, do I know! However, I also know that every clean surface, every freshly washed bed, every dinner cooked, every drawer full of folded clothes, every school project completed.....


.....is hard won in this house - as I am sure it is in yours! These are small achievements in the grand scheme of things - but taken together, they ARE the grand scheme - not the cleanliness - that's a means to an end. I mean the LOVE that is poured out and into making this home and family work like what my husband's dad called a "well oiled machine" the other day!!!


It doesn't always work like that. A lot of the time we are tearing around the place trying to find the lost football sock, or the form for parent's evening, or trying to cook dinner with a screaming toddler clinging to both legs. That's why I think it's important - for me, and probably some of you, to learn to sit in the peace, with the hum of the washing machine in the back ground and the sound of sleeping children on the monitor and remember that on the whole, you're doing OK.


You're doing OK.


And because I didn't want to show you photos of the washing pile (although I'm sure it would have made you feel a whole lot better about yours) or the weetabix on the floor (the food equivalent of cement), I have included some pictures of the projects I am working on in my hard won studio time. Hopefully a little bit more interesting and colourful!

Tomorrow is another day!
xxxxxxxxxxx