Musings, creativity and a question

 Even though I've taken a few days break from blogging, that certainly doesn't mean I've been idle.  I had a bit of a meltdown last weekend, a culmination of a number of things and as I'm somewhat recovered, I have a few things to share and a questions to ask.  It's going to be a  long post.

Miss G. has finished the school year (sigh of relief), and is now on holidays which in part means I get a break too.  No more school drop offs and pick ups for about 2 months.  BLISS.  One more year of school and then she has finished.  She can then contemplate uni and a more adult life without quite so much parental involvement needed.  I really wonder how parents with more than two children continue the momentum.

Back to blogging.  I've continued reading all the blogs I follow and especially related to this post by Terrie at Creative Haven.  I was confronted by my huge mess a couple of days ago when a cousin of my husband's was in town with her husband and they wanted to catch up.  An invite to dinner was given and that meant I had to confront the shambles and disorganisation of my house.  I had never met this cousin before and I'm afraid my pride would not let me welcome them into a grotty house.  This forced me to do many things I haven't done for so long like wash the windows covered in dog slobber, put things away where they belong, wiping down cupboard doors in the kitchen, folding up blankets from my nephews visit and putting them back in the linen cupboard.  And the list goes on.  It was actually very good for me to be forced to do these things as I now have a relatively tidy environment in which to live and it's very nice.  I love looking out clean windows. Fancy that!

My general clean up included by my side of the bedroom which was an eyesore of books, magazines, Christmas  shopping, shoes and .....wait for it........DUST BUNNIES.  There was also the bedside table which was covered in clutter, including pens, pencils, pens, pencils, pens, pencils, you get the idea.  Contrary to my messy living habits, I like to have things organised (figure that one out?), somewhere to put things.  So I had an idea for a no sew pen, pencil holder.  Here's what I did.
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Materials
small scrap of fabric
ribbon
pinking shears
double sided tape
jam jar
and the offending pens, pencils of course

Measure the size of the jar and cut enough fabric for an over lap when you wrap it around the jar.

Place two pieces of double sided tape on the right side of the fabric at one end.

Place the jar on the fabric with the double sided tape facing up and roll jar toward you, pressing the down on the overlap of fabric.

Add some ribbon and tie in a bow.

Place your pens and pencils in and there you have it, a pretty solution for a untidy problem.  Bedside table now looks gorgeous.

For all the people who like to decorate with neutral colours, using hession or burlap, calico, raffia, twine, or even a ribbon made from a strip of ticking that has been frayed would look nice.  Embellishments could be added too.  Oh, I've just had another thought.   How about making one of these with a Christmas theme to put your candy canes in if your aren't hanging them on the tree?  Might just have to make one of those too.

Someone else who benefitted from my bedroom clean up was Leanne, she can now be seen and admired again.  She is my teddy and I've had her since I was a baby, so she's 48 like me. 

 She use to be a soft blue.  A bit of rolling around in Western Australian dirt soon changed that as you can see.    When I was little, I attempted to improve her looks with blue eyeshadow above her left eye.  I used chalk.  :)  She is sitting on a very old stool which was made by my Grandfather.  I remember sitting on it when I was about 4 or 5 years old with my Granny next to me while we watched kid's t.v. 

I've made a few other things in the last couple of days.  A christmas tree decoration.

I made two different size bird templates, cut two large birds from blue hessian and two small birds from fabric scraps.  I wanted this to be a double sided ornament.  I hand sewed the pieces together using embroidery floss with the ribbon loop being sewn in between the hessian pieces as I went.  I added some rhinestones for a bit of bling.

I've also made this Christmas tree from a poly styrene cone.

I covered it with a curtain fabric sample and glued silver glittery ric rac on the sides.  To cover the bottom of the tree, I used three pieces of white and silver Christmas ribbon and joined them together by sewing gathers at intervals where the silver ric rac is positioned.  Apart from the gathered stitches used on the ribbon, I used a hot glue gun to hold everything down and together.  I love my very new hot glue gun.

Now for the question.  I'm sorry to go on about this, but I really am confused.  When my 100th post was up, I decided like most people seem to do in blog land, to have a give away to celebrate this small milestone.  I made four items which I hoped would have some appeal.  But as only two people have put their name forward (thank you ladies), I can only assume that this is not the type of fare people are interested in receiving.

There are many blogs out there who offer truly gorgeous things in give aways.   Some items are bought and  some are hand made, so I thought my hand made offerings would be acceptable.  So if you wouldn't mind, could you please enlighten me as to what constitutes a good give away.  You may not wish to comment publicly on this topic and I would be very happy to receive an email for you.  Please be honest, I will take no offense.   And please don't suddenly enter my giveaway because you feel sorry for me.  I'm not the kind of person that needs to be propped up that way.  That being said, if you missed my post and like my give away items, please enter. :)  Give away closes 5th December.

Have a gorgeous day/evening everyone,

Anne  xx