Spotty Birthday

My Daughter turns 8 this week and today was her little party. She was very specific with what she wanted and it was all very sophisticated & grown up. A friend of mine has a Pampering business & came round to pamper her & 4 friends. It was all very nice, so pink, so girly & so glittery. At times I was a little sad as I feel the days of a class full running round like nutters, doing pass the parcel & insisting on themed paper plates may be behind us.

She wanted the cakes to be pink, blue, spotty, girly & have hearts galore!

We had great fun making made lolly butterfly's for the party bags, an idea I got from Pinterest

She wanted 8 cup cakes rather than a big cake (that one will be on her actual birthday) so her friends could each take one home.

The pampering went down very well & she has gone to bed very glittery, very curly & very happy!

Bring On The Kids (part 1)

For those oldies who follow my blog you'll be familiar with the projects I get asked to do at my children's school. Call it a good thing (because I love it) or a bad thing (because I give my time for free) I guess the requests will keep coming when I am mum with a creative business! The school is very small, we only have 65 ish pupils at the moment, so I love to help where I can. The best thing about getting to do what I do is their smiley faces and their enthusiasm. As we only have 3 classes it's also possible that every child can get involved and I don't think I've ever had a moaning one!

My first project back in 2009 was murals for the toilets

http://www.muddypuddlecrafts.blogspot.com/2009/10/master-pieces-are-finished.html

Then we painted the hall wall. The theme was the schools architecture and the memories of the pupils that were leaving for high school in 2010

http://www.muddypuddlecrafts.blogspot.com/2010/05/crafty-sunday_21.html

Then last year I painted a bench for a local competition

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.199849020051087.43672.115187628517227&type=3

This year its 6 OWL MURALS for the new changing rooms!

I am doing them over 6 afternoons (2 with each class) and ultimately 6 boards will be produced, 3 for each changing rooms. First to finish have been the big ones. The top class has 24 puplis mixed across years 4,5 & 6. Look what they produced, I'm very proud.....

On 2 3'x3' mdf boards I drew a rough outline of a Snowy Owl, a Barn Owl and a Tawny Owl. Other than helping them to mix colours I really did leave them to it!

The less artistic ones researched facts and wrote them on the boards, which look really good

Tomorrow & Tuesday I've got 20 year 2's & 3's, wish me luck!

One Week at A Time!

Having flown round like a headless chicken during November & December I decided to start the year in a little more organised & structured way. With orders, Christmas shopping, school plays, concerts, hubby's 40th birthday & loosing our poorly dog Libby there were times before Christmas when I didn't know which way to turn.

I decided that had to change (at least for a while) in 2012. One really important aspect of Muddy Puddle is that it fits in around my children & family life. Knowing that half term & my daughters 8th birthday will be here before I even get used to writing 2012 I made a plan......

Week I - 9th - design, suss & make Valentines stock

Week 2 - 16th - design, suss & make a start on Mothers Day stock

Week 3 - 23rd - TAX RETURN from start to finish, with no excuses (boo) THEN start work on Owl Murals that I am doing during 6 afternoons over the next 3 weeks at my kids school

Well I've impressed myself (so far so good)...............taaaaa daaaaa!!!!

3 new designs added this year

3 card designs made, put in the shop & listed on the website!

Mothers Day Design 1

Mothers Day Design 2

Mothers Day Design 3

So onto this week....boring paperwork looms, booooooo, wish me luck :(

Oooh Knitwear!

I'm not really a jumper kind of girl but today I am converted!

I much prefer the whole layering look and dress for comfort. Having items you can put on & take off is such an easy way to dress. Take today for example I'm wearing a vest, a top & a dress with leggins. Add to that a scarf which has been on & off all day and the cardi I threw in the car earlier but never wore & I'm sorted.

Now jumpers on the other hand are just jumpers, you cant throw much on top of them and what do you wear underneath in case they have to come off? But tonight I have flicked through my new NEXT Directory and they have a whole range that are right up my street. I want them all...hearts, stripes, spots, simple pattern I'm in heaven!

http://www.next.co.uk/

Goodbye Christmas

With the tree taken down yesterday, the decorations boxed up safely for another year, homes found for new gifts & the kids back to school I guess thats it.

I LOVE Christmas but when its all done & dusted I always feel a little lost. I think its got something to do with the need to find a purpose....I thrive on planning, excitement, organising, arranging and December was certainly full of that. But other than having a major spring clean and doing the dreaded tax return I have nothing as such to do. So for now until I find my 2012 feet I'll keep pottering & slide showing my Christmas & London Photo Albums!

Happy New Year Guys x