the bright side

The dishwasher is broken but the flowers are beginning to bloom. A small consolation for the fact that I am spending a large proportion of my day washing dishes.

bag lady

I’m addicted to making little bags. I’m finding excuses for making them in all sorts of places. Suddenly, I need a little bag to hold nappies and wipes when we’re on the go. Or the children need little bags for their library books. Maybe hubby needs a bag for his sandwiches... er... maybe not. I blame it on the seven days of specialness swap. After making seven bags for my swap partner I can whizz up one of these in no time. 

When I heard that Ali had left herself out of the swap and did not receive any gifts I wanted to send her something. I had seen this really cute Liberty address book in my friend’s craft shop. I thought it would be perfect. Out came the fabric stash and my trusted printing cotton. Et voila! A personalised gift bag. Now... what else can I bag?

trains, planes and automobiles

My baby boy turned two today. He’s a boy, through and through. Train, planes and automobiles.

Lack of imagination had me thinking I’d never have a boy. When I found out I was having a girl first time round, I assumed if I had a second baby it would probably be a girl too. When I fell pregnant again, something felt different. I knew it was a boy. I was excited and scared. Everything would be different. A world of nylon football shirts and smelly trainers stretched out before me.

Yet this day two years ago I lay in a hospital bed battered and bruised from a c-section holding my brand new baby boy and I was fine. I was more than fine, I was ecstatic. I did not let go of him the whole time I was there. Breaking the rules, sleeping with him beside me in the bed. With my first child, I read all the books. I followed the ‘rules’. Other people’s knowledge chipped away at my instinct. This time I followed my instincts.

The past two years have been an amazing journey. Ups and downs. But never once has my boy given me anything but joy. Slowly but surely he’s becoming more independent. He’s started moving away from me. Less time for cuddles. He’s got a job to do. He’s a boy. And he’s a brilliant boy and I love him so intensely I shock myself.

i am a bad person

Okay... I have an admission. It’s day six of seven days of specialness and I have opened all of my presents. It’s always been the same. Instant gratification is the only thing for me. It’s Monica’s fault. If it hadn’t all been so lovely, I might have made it to day seven. 

And another admission. There was a lot of chocolate with all of the handmade gifts. It’s all gone. There is no evidence of it ever having existed. I have realised if I’m presented with chocolate I will eat it IMMEDIATELY. It doesn’t matter what time of day it is or what I am doing (even if it’s cooking a meal that I am about to eat) I will eat it. 

It has been a great swap even if it has highlighted these character flaws. I have been so lucky to have Monica as my swap partner. Her handmade gifts are lovely, lovely, lovely. She made me feel very special indeed. I’ve loved visiting the blogs of all the other participants of the swap too. I’ve also loved having a good ol’ nosy around the flickr group and seeing how people have approached the project in different ways. The whole thing has given me a warm fuzzy feeling.

P.S. Dear blogspot bloggers, I'm finding it very difficult to leave comments on your blogs if there is no Name/URL option. If you've visited me and left a comment and I haven't responded this is probably the reason why. 

my gifts

Monica has now received her seven days of specialness package from me so posting these photos will not spoil her surprise.

Ali's idea for the swap was inspired by the advent calendars that were appearing on craft blogs before Christmas. I took these advent calendars as my starting point when I started thinking about my seven gifts. Although I wanted a sense of uniformity, I thought it would be nice if each of the seven days had a different theme. I decided on create, cleanse, indulge, pamper, organise, relax and think.

The idea for the little bags came from Weekend Sewing by Heather Ross; a beautiful book that I use a lot. I made the labels with laser jet printer cotton. I've used these cotton sheets for many projects in the past and they're great for personalising gifts. I really enjoyed making these little bags and collecting the gifts to go inside them. It's definitely an approach I will use again when organising gifts for friends and family.

This swap has been a great experience and I've learnt some interesting things about myself and my attitude to my own creativity throughout the process. I don't want to spoil Monica's surprise so I'll have to hold off on telling you these 'lessons' until the weekend. 

Now, I'm off to bed. I can't wait until the morning to open my next pressie!