Brace yourself!

I went to the dentist the other day for my routine check up. I've always been super lucky with my teeth, they are strong and fairly white... that was until I had children!! They seem to have changed the strength, colour and SHAPE of my teeth! I now have crooked teeth...

 

This is something that I am not happy about. The dentist said it's either gum disease or old age... I think it's the first time in my life that I was hoping I had gum disease!!!! So it seems I'm getting old! The husband seems to think it's all part of 'growing up' and I should just leave it and appreciate I have teeth at all... I on the other hand cannot stand the thought of them being like this or GETTING WORSE!! So I have the option of having braces on the top and bottom... it's pricey and a long process, but i'm doing it!!! I booked myself in... and I am super excited to get the whole thing started. The way I look at it is: having braces will hopefully make me look like a teenager ;) .... I will have adult braces along with my adult acne GREAT! I'm just hoping the results will be worth it. I'll keep you posted!

Thanks for reading.... Did braces work for you? x

When BAD Craft happens to GOOD people

So I like to experiment on new craft projects all the time, much to the annoyance of my husband because I tend to start a project and half way through get bored or distracted by a new crafty thing to do.... also known in our house as 'half job John'. I love watching videos of painting techniques, crocheting etc.... This week, I stumbled across this video online about a mother who has given her daughters dolls a "tree change" and I was immediately hooked, not only because Edyth has loads of these dolls with their stupidly made up faces and bored half cut looking pout, but I really like the finished result and I like the message it would send to Edyth about image and beauty!

Original Tree Change Doll

Here is the You Tube video that I loved. Tree Change Dolls

So I got straight to it and followed Sonia's tutorial video.

My doll started out looking like this

 

So after the nail varnish remover and tea tree, my doll looked like this.

 

This was not going to plan... Sonia made it look so simple, whereas I was having a freaking nightmare trying to get the makeup off, and the worst part about it was Edyth keeps asking what has happened to her dolls face!! I tried everything...

I left her like this overnight in a solution of nail varnish remover... NOTHING CHANGED and it stank! So I gave up.... Half Job John strikes again and it's fair to say I ruined this dolls face.... I won't be trying this again soon. If any of you have had similar projects go wrong drop me a line, it may make me feel better! Or if anyone knows where I have gone wrong, please let me know! 

Thanks for reading. 

Arty Farty and feeling Inspired!

Trying to think of new creative things to entertain my girl is fun but sometimes hard work!!

Edyth loves painting so I thought we could take on a project for our living room wall. I had an IKEA canvas up for years, which I had bought from a charity shop to fill the gap and I think it is the most boring canvas EVER!!

So we decided to 'up-cycle' it rather than just give it back to charity. Firstly, we gave it a base coat of white paint.... this process is super messy!!! (so heaps of fun!!)

What I was left with was a blank quite 'drippy' mess... which made me think we could add drippy colour and make it look really nice. I did some searching on the web and came across an artist called Holton Rower . His YouTube video made me want to get our paint on! Watch Holton create a masterpiece! However, as I want this to look really nice (and didn't want to waste loads of paint if it was going to be a flop) we did a test run today on smaller canvases. It's fair to say the girls totally loved it and wanted to keep added more paint... advice is to know when to get them to stop. We used 'normal' kids paint mixed with a little water and we used pebbles we found on the beach for our paint to work its way around.

We went for the rainbow colour theme and tried to stick to it.... We just added blobs of paint on top of each other and let the paint run..... this was incredibly messy (which all adds to the fun). We then tilted the canvas to get full coverage and then to top it all off we went for a splatter effect. This is the finished product, which I must say I am chuffed with and I am really excited to get started on my big canvas!!!

My Mam and myself both think the girls art is up there with the best of them... it may take several weeks for the paint to dry (also not sure what effect it will be once dried) but even if it turns out rubbish when it's dry it was worth it for the fun we had!

Get down your nearest craft shop, pick up the paints and canvas' and have fun!!! Post some photos if you do try it!!

Thank you for taking time to read my blog, see you again soon! x

Decoupage

Decoupage.... decoupage, decoupage.... the word has lost all meaning in my house, as I have said it so often. I wonder if i'm saying it correctly half the time.... but nobody has corrected me as I ask them "do you want to come and see my DECOUPAGE" or "look at the before and after of my decoupage.... I have already used the word decoupage too often in this blog. For those of you who don't know what it is: decoupage. (don't know how correct wiki is but you get the idea!)

So I enjoy crafts and anything related.... I have not found one I am passionate about yet or any good at.... I enjoy crocheting (takes me forever, but i've managed it) I get frustrated when people are better at things than me and my mother in law took up crochet about a year ago and can whip up a unicorn doll and crown for Edyth in no time (that and everything else!!!!) whereas I have just about mastered a granny square, using the many tutorials on youtube. But my granny square will one day make a beautiful blanket that will keep my whole family warm!!

So back to my decoupage project. I was very kindly given a chest of draws a year or so back which was lovely and did the job in my room but I had a very strong urge to paint it. However (as my husband pointed out) my painting projects have gone very badly in the past and I didn't want to ruin the drawers. This is the drawers before:

We ordered some quality wrapping paper off amazon (used 4 sheets) and used some PVA glue and some water mixed together and got started....

Edyth loves a good project and got stuck right in. This whole project took one evening and one bottle of wine.

 I am super happy with the overall finished result and even Scott has said it looks good. (not what he was imagining). This has really added colour to the bedroom, I have the bug for it now, but I do think if I started doing this to all my furniture it may look a bit shite.... maybe i'll tone the next one down..... NAH!!

Thanks again for reading, I hope maybe somewhere deep deep down I have inspired you to start DECOUPAGING everything in sight... or maybe I have introduced you to the world of decoupage!! It's pretty, cheap, quick, fairly mess free and a fun way to update a piece of furniture! If you do decoupage (word is used to often I know) please post a comment and photo if possible!!

see you again x

Facebook detox

So I had a little moment of reality the other day... a sort of WAKE up call that I needed..... It's been really hard to admit but I think I'm finally ready.

Hello. My name is Martha and I am a Facebookaholic.

I think I speak for many of us, if like me you have a relaxing soak in the bath only to be stressed that you almost drop your phone in the bath whilst scrolling, or you are sitting sobbing into your cereal because you've opened a video of a solider coming back from service to a happy dog/child.... you get what I mean. It's taking over my life... my early nights used to mean bed early and sleep... not bed early and see what everyone is up too. My moment of clarity came when my sister text me this...

I am not proud of this... it was funny though! So for that reason, I am logging out today and going to playgroup to have real conversations and hot tea!

Thank you for reading.
xx

Does size really matter??

So with a title like that I've got your dirrrrty little attention.... may I remind you this a 'clean' blog (apart from baby sick/poop etc). So let me explain.... So these last few weeks I have finally been introduced to the great big world of ebay don't ask how it's taken me so long to discover it, I think it's paranoia on my part, that someone is going to hack me or not send me goods and bill me for millions. But I finally plucked up enough courage over christmas and ordered a few items for Edyth (mainly cheap character clothing that doesn't fit) and that went well.... So the time has come to update my shakers in my puppet show.... I decided a few maracas would do the trick and saw these for sale.....

They looked colourful, fun and were made out of plastic so thought they would be cheap and cheerful! Me being me I just clicked 'buy now' and felt chuffed with myself. I even bragged to Mamgu that she should get some for her show... and then they arrived.

After the initial laughter, I decided it's time to concentrate whilst on ebay... and never drink and shop! Edyth loves the little shakers though so it's not all bad. So in answer to my question: does size really matter?? the answer is YES!

Thanks again for reading. see you all again soon.

P.S I have reordered some more suitable ones now, just waiting on the month long expected delivery time! wish me luck! hopefully my love/hate relationship with Ebay will not continue!

DISNEYLAND PARIS!!

SO the time has come that my Princess is going to meet the other Princess' of the world in disneyland paris !!! We are soooo excited!!! This little holiday is a chance for my mother (Mamgu), Edyth, Edwyn and myself to really bond over 5 days of DISNEY. I may puke I'm so excited... I may also puke at the sight of DINSEY by the time we get there!

My Mam, who from now onwards in this blog will be called Mamgu (welsh for grandmother) which is what she has gone by for the last 10 years.. decided it was time for Edyth to shine and we booked DISNEY!! We are off in March and we are staying in the Disneyland hotel which was Mamgu's choice as it was like the princess castle that Edyth has dreamed about! Edyth is literally going to pee herself in excitement when she sees everything!!

So the countdown has began, and Edyth has decided to start packing her things to go. (it is still only January.... ) I thought I'd check to see what 'essentials' she has popped in her bag.... it's fair to say I'm going to have a tough time with this one.....

Here it is mam... the most important toy!

My purse.. of course!

 So after I looked I decided to smile and let her get on with it... Funny though she was adamant she was all packed and ready to go.... I asked her what about her knickers and bathers and stuff to wear... and she replied, you can sort the boring stuff mammy.... I love this little girl sooo much.. she cracks me up so much!




If any of you have been to DISNEYLAND PARIS and have any tips or must sees then please comment so we do not miss anything!!

Right I'm off to bed now, to wake up to another "not today baby, but soon" conversation. Thanks for reading, see you again soon hopefully.