Shhh, come closer

Keep it to yourself, but I've finished Chloe's birthday present with a whole two weeks to spare.

I know I'm supposed to be a big girl now, all grown up and what not, but I really just want to sit down and play with it myself:)



And before anybody points it out, I get that there probably shouldn't be an ice cream cone in a picnic basket, it would melt! But I don't care.



I'm particularly chuffed with the 'basket' which doubles as a mini picnic blanket too.



I was even very clever (forethought and everything) when I was making it and used organza ribbon for the corner ties instead of the matching fabric ties I'd originally planned when I thought about it.

I mean, we all know that the navy and other big burly knot tying blokes are secretly trained by five year olds so I figured that ribbon with just enough texture to stay in a bow, but slippery enough for me to be able to work out the knots Chloe will no doubt tie in them was the perfect choice.



The only question now is do I wrap it up and stash it out of the way until her birthday, or do I hide it as is in case I think of anything else to add to it?

So this is what my blog looks like!!

We're hopefully now in the gentle slide down to Christmas and almost two weeks of blissful relaxation and cake eating.

We're all still here, including Chloe

Note to self, Leanne your phone is so old you might as well still be calling an operator and asking to be patched through. Stop using it to take photos!!!

I wrapped a few of Chloe's presents this morning and popped them under the tree. Obviously that's just asking for a whole world of pain but it had to be done eventually. A presentless tree is a sad looking sight indeed.

Chloe decided a few months ago that she doesn't like Play Doh any more. She packed it all into it's carry case, handed it to me and told me to give it away. Being the clever mummy that I am, I put it out in the garage instead. Usually when she decides that she doesn't like something, she's asking for it again in a week or so. I put the stuff out there almost three months ago now.

Anyway, I dug it out again last night and made a bunch of these little fellas. Hopefully the Play Doh will see a bit more action for a while.

They remind of me that Stretch Armstrong thingy from years ago. You can stretch them and squeeze them and pull them out of shape and they spring right back again, a bit like little stress balls only for a stress free four year old.



I've seen a ton of tutorials for these all over the place, but basically you just use Play Doh to stuff balloons and then draw little faces on them and top them with a pom pom for hair. You could use googly eyes too, if you happen to have them lying around.

Here they are all packed up inside the bag I got her from Nicsknots.



We have some good news too, but that'll have to wait until tomorrow.

I made a To Do List

What on earth was I thinking?

I needed to get all of my thoughts together on the things that I need to accomplish before the end of the year, a lot of them need to be done much sooner than that.

Its a frightening prospect all written down like that!

1. The Tax Return - I've made a start and because its my first and I was only self employed for less than 3 months of the year it will be my easiest one (next year's will be a different story altogether). It needs to be submitted by the middle of November but because I start work on the 2nd I want it out of the way before then, I'm hoping to sit down and get it knocked out on Monday & Tuesday of next week.
   
   
2. The Workstation Makeover - Robert went to ikea today and bought me a new desk (a change from his original plan to build one for me). It was only £17 and will be perfect for what I need PC wise. I need to spend this weekend sorting the PC out.
   
   
3. The Great Stash Sort - I have a new unit (which I think was originally a wardrobe. I've cleaned it, sanded it, painted it, made new doors, and now just need to put all of my (1/4ish) stash into it. By hook or by crook that will happen tomorrow. Its taller but narrower than my current set up and I've painted it white so it shouldn't look too dominant in the room and will free up some floor space.
   
   
4. I want to put together a submission for the UK Handmade Christmas Magazine and that's another thing I'll have to knock out in the next few days, over the weekend maybe.
   
   
5. Submissions which have already been accepted for the Shop Handmade UK launch of their Sample Boxes. I'll put the finishing touches to those tonight.
   
   
6. More Christmas Stock - I can't even think about that at the minute, I'll come back to it.
   
   
7. GO Handmade - My own little UK magazine, now open to submissions from sellers on Misi and Coriandr as well as Folksy. I've made a great start on the next issue and it needs to be ready in ten days. I can do it, but of course, just as I did last time I've forgotten to set aside a new recipe which means that at some stage I need to go to the kitchen, bang my forehead against the Welsh Dresser and hope something falls out!
   
   
8. The GO Handmade Christmas Gift Guide - Wee buns son, bring it on! This should roll out no later than two weeks after the Winter edition of GO Handmade.
   
   
9. I'm volunteering for Chloe's first school trip on Tuesday next week to the fruit shop (yes the same fruit shop she goes to every week with me, shhh) so I have to keep that in mind although it will take an hour at the most giving me two hours to work before collecting her.
   
   
10. I now have, wait for it...... 18 custom orders to finish before Christmas. I had a fair few more. but they're done and dusted and the rest are on their way so this should be ok.
    
    
11. I need to knock up a costume for the PTA Halloween party and fireworks display for Chloe on 22 October (I believe, need to check the form on that date again).
    
    
12. Gifts - I'll need two teacher's gifts and a bunch of little gifts for any of Chloe's new friends in class before Christmas. Plus we'll need to sit down at some stage closer to the end of term and make cards for school.
    
    
13. I still need to take up a pair of jeans for my mum, dammit how did I manage to forget those trousers again!
    
    
14. Christmas Stock - ................ nope still not ready!
    
    
15. I should have written a piece for Mamapedia by now, they think I rock, I have the badge to prove it and so far I've given them jack in return. I should really bump this one up the list somewhat.
    
    
16. I want to knit another two cardigans so see Chloe over the Winter. I already have one knitted and it just needs to be made up. Its in a bag for crying out loud, I've no excuse for that one at all. At this stage in the year I'll just knit the next two in the round and steek them, there's nothing else for it. I can knock the two of them out in a week, although whether I do or not will just be down to pure laziness on my part.
    
    
17. I need to knit a coat or something for the cat to stop her from licking herself bald and freezing to death seeing as she still insists on being outside at night.
    
    
18. I have to stop there, I've more but the longer I spend typing this never ending list the less time I have to actually do these things.

If I've promised something and I've left it off the list, please let me know. Its likely that I haven't forgot though.

Clarification

Alright, here's the thing. Yesterday I posted that I have already completed, wrapped and labelled all of my Christmas presents for people outside the house.

I may have given the impression that I've been toiling away and now have a huge box filled with dozens of beautifully handmade gifts and I'm thinking now that I should have elaborated on that a little more.

Last year, as much as I said at the time that I was cutting back and having some common sense by the time the New Year rolled around the total amount of presents I had made, bought and gifted ended up being as much as any other year. And if you had visited my home after Christmas you would have been forgiven for confusing my kitchen with the stock room at Marks and Spencer. There were at least ten tins of biscuits and likely more than that but I've blocked them from memory, countless boxes of sweets and chocolates were stashed everywhere. We tried giving the stuff away but everyone else seemed to be in the same boat. It was completely ridiculous and we were still trying to get through the stuff at Easter, in fact there's still a tub of Marksies mint collection chocolates in there that will need to be thrown out.

I swore to myself after last year that this Christmas we would be much more sensible. I told everyone that I would rather they hung on to their money rather than buying sweets and biscuits to give to us and I've reminded the of that since then. It sounds harsh but something along the lines of "don't buy for me because I'm not buying for you", it really does seem to be the only way to get the message across. Plus money's just going to be a lot tighter for everyone this year and I'd hate the thought of someone feeling obliged to buy me present.

So at this particular moment in time I have my whittled down list. So far I have prepared gifts for my mum which are a bag which I showed you the pattern for earlier in the year (although it wound up being teal and I changed the cable design for something more traditional (read more repetitive and quicker to knit) with two short handles instead of the long strap) and another shopping bag (one of the old fashioned mesh market bags with the round plastic handles).

I've made another beanie hat for my brother. He loves the look of knit hats but likes it when I make them for him because I line the hat with t-shirt cotton so its soft against his wee head and I've also made him a phone cosy for his blackberry (its only new so there's no chance of him upgrading as xmas). My dad is getting a phone cosy in his football team's colours (Man City) and a waterproof drawstring bag to go inside his backpack when he's on the motorbike to keep all his bits and pieces dry.

Beyond that I've made simple messenger bags for two aunts, Ann and Eleanor, who have been very good to me and my mum over the years (she wouldn't have been able to go back to work and probably would have lost our home when my dad left had it not been for them) and lastly I've knitted a gorgeous poncho for Ann's youngest daughter (my cousin and Chloe's best friend). She has beautiful red hair and it can be difficult to find clothes for girls that don't have pink in them somewhere so I've went with a nice safe cream with a green flower corsage pinned to the front. I also made her two hair bobbles and a fabric covered hair band from a tutorial I saw on Craft magazine a while back for the same pink reasons.

And that's really about it for dedicated presents. It isn't much really when you think about it and they're all quite simple and quick to make but they are made with love and made specifically for the person they'll be given to.

So that's it really, four bags each taking no more than two hours each, well five if you count the drawstring one, but that took all of half an hour, a couple of phone cosies which took about an hour all in, ok the poncho took a few hours but the hair accessories were whipped up in a few minutes and a hat which took no time.

I've finished the macrame scarf now for Eleanor, one colour in bright red and I made a second one for the shop and I've started a bracelet (which I'll make a few of) and I'll use the beads I received in a destash swap just placing them along the core strands and using the working strands to secure them.

I have to say though, when I look back over the things I've made and realised that it's taken, what, maybe 15 hours all in, 20 if you count the time thinking about what to make for each person I'm kind of disappointed in myself for not managing to be more organised in previous years. There just hasn't been any good excuse for not having things done (Last year was a mad rush to get finished).

Plus it works out well for me having, ok not everything, but a good lot done. I have my public liability insurance in place now, I'm registered as a small business (you have to within three months or they'll come looking for you, kidding the people at the Inland Revenue are lovely) and I'm just about to do my first tax return and now I'm thinking that maybe I should consider doing one of the larger craft fairs at Christmas. I was thinking about looking into St George's Market which is big in the run up to Christmas. The extra money at that time of the year certainly wouldn't hurt either.

Which means of course that now I have to make stock because that dear friends is one of the many, many things that I don't have organised.

And on top of all that I'll soon be adding another string to my bow, one that I'm really looking forward to but more on that soon enough. It'll be worth the wait, don't worry.