Five Things I’m Loving This Friday ~ Handmade Gifts Part 4

Onto teens and this week’s list was a bit more tricky. I don’t know about the teens in your extended families, but my nieces and nephews are all about the gadgets.

This pouch pattern and tutorial is designed for an iphone, but could easily be adapted for an ipod touch or similar sized phone/gadget. I love the way it’s been fussy cut to make use of the fabric design. Very sweet.

I thought this design, intended for an ipod, would be better suited to any boys on your list. The tutorial is five years old, so the measurements will need adapting for the slimmer versions of tech now available, but I liked the fastening on it.

Hair is another thing that is important to my nieces and they all seem to own straighteners of one sort or another. This clever case has a pocket on the outside to loop the cord into, if you’re packing them at the last minute and they’re still hot!

Maybe your older teens have recently passed their driving test and could do with a kit of useful things to go in the glove box. This looks so professional, at first I didn’t realise the case was handmade, but it is.

For teenage girls, I don’t think you can go far wrong with a great looking bag. This one is reversible, so you can choose some funky fabric and if they don’t like it, they can just turn it to the inside!

Not quite an even split between boys and girls, but then two doesn’t go into five!

If you’re new around here (and you’re very welcome) you might like some links to the earlier lists in my Handmade Gifts series.

Part 1 ~ Babies

Part 2 ~ Older Children

Part 3 ~ Pre Teens

I’ll be taking a break from Christmas gifts for the next couple of Fridays and turning my attention to Halloween instead. I hope you’ll join me for some spooky inspiration.

52 Weeks of {Happy} Mail

I recently took part in a Mail Art Exchange, set up by the lovely Ginger. I had to send overseas, so I was mindful of the cost of postage. Not that I’m stingy you understand, just budget conscious! Rather than sticking lots of things to the outside of my envelope and adding to the weight, I decorated it using masks, inks and stamps. I will share my photos of it, as soon as I know it has arrived safely.

I enjoyed myself so much, that I decorated a couple more. I had a plentiful supply of envelopes to recycle, having celebrated a birthday not too long ago. I then saw this project and thought it was a great idea and a logical extension of the Mail Art Exchange. Check out their Facebook page, or read about it here instead.

I’m going to commit to send a piece of handwritten mail every week for the next year. The event starts on October 9th, anyone care to join me?

A few people were interested in the tree stamps on my desk yesterday and with a bit of detective work (I bought them second hand) they turned out to be this set from Kanban.

Tomorrow I’ll be posting Part 4 of my Handmade Gift ideas. Please drop by if you need some inspiration, there are a lot of talented folk out there.

What’s On Your Workdesk Wednesday? #122

After an absence of almost a month due to a (still) missing camera lead, I’m back! Did you miss me? No, I thought not! My desk is brought to you today courtesy of my daughter’s card reader. Hooray!

Not a lot has been happening on it, in the last couple of weeks, to be honest. Both my children went down with nasty sore throats/colds and I have now succumbed myself. Don’t you just love all those back to school germs.

The pile on the left consists of left overs from various projects: tags, flowers, assorted embellishments and a reindeer for a Christmas chipboard swap I’m taking part in. Pretty much everything else was used to decorate some envelopes, but more about that tomorrow.

I’m keeping it short, so you can be on your way to the next desk. Find the list over at Julia’s place.

Soup’s Out For Summer

I was in full autumnal soup making mode last week and then the temperature rose...…and rose again. I wanted something a bit fresher and lighter to match the unexpected hot weather and I think this soup fits the bill.

Take 1 red onion, 2 sticks of celery and a red pepper, chop roughly and put in a food processor. Blitz until pureed.

Heat some olive oil in a large pan and add the blitzed veg. Fry gently for a few minutes, then stir in 2tbsp tomato puree.

Add 2 tins chopped tomatoes (I use one with added chilli) 200g red lentils, 1 litre of stock (whatever your preference) and 2tsp sugar.

Bring to the boil, then cover and simmer for about 30 minutes. Add 1 tin chickpeas (drained) and heat through for approx 5 minutes. Enjoy.

A to Z of Me

Two days down, twenty-nine to go. At the moment I haven’t got much of a plan for this month of Blogtoberfest, I’m just going to go with the flow. I’ve seen this A to Z list on a few blogs lately and it seemed like a pretty good place to start the week.

A. Age: 43
B. Bed size: King
C. Chore that you hate: Most of them. That’s why they’re called chores!
D. Dogs: Love them, but never had one as a pet.
E. Essential start to your day: A cup of Redbush tea and Google Reader.
F. Favourite colour: Purple
G. Gold or Silver: Silver
H. Height: 5’4”
I. Instruments you play: I used to play the violin and the recorder.
J. Job title: Stay at home Mum
K. Kids: Two lovelies
L. Live: Dorset, United Kingdom
M. Mother’s name: Jennifer
N. Nicknames: Fi
O. Overnight hospital stays: Two overnight stays to have my babies.
P. Pet peeves: Waste
Q. Quote from a movie: I got a question. Does Barry Manilow know you raid his wardrobe?
R. Right or left handed: Right handed
S. Siblings: One baby brother
T. Tattoos: Almost had one, but spent the money on a leather biker jacket instead.
U. Underwear: Mind your own business!
V. Vegetable you hate: Sprouts                                                                    
W. What makes you run late: Getting distracted.                                              
X. X-Rays you’ve had: Teeth
Y. Yummy food that you make: Chocolate muffins & Peanut butter cookies
Z. Zoo animal: Not keen on animals in cages.

Storytelling Sunday ~ The Paddling Pool

With temperatures in the high twenties for the last few days, it didn’t seem quite fitting to tell a story with an autumnal flavour this month. I got out an old photo album this morning, had a quick flick and pulled this Summer snap from its pages.

So what’s the story here?

I’m only two years old in this photo, so I can’t claim any memories of the day. My blurry left foot, caught just off the ground, coupled with that unbecoming frown, suggests that I may have been stamping it! I loved nothing more than to splash about in my paddIing pool all day long, during the summer months and I think I was probably being just a little bit impatient, because it was still empty. The part of the story the picture doesn’t tell, is that I had a six month old baby brother by now, who may well have been keeping my Mum busy. Although somebody obviously had time to take the photo, so perhaps that’s what I was grumpy about!

Not exactly a story, or a memory, but a little snippet of my very early childhood, brought to you as part of Sian’s Storytelling Sunday.

Blogtoberfest….or “Oh Mel, what have you gone and made me do!”

So I started this blog back in March, but I can’t seem to get into a groove with the posting. I knew I wanted to take part in Julia’s weekly hop around the crafty desks of the world. I do that most Wednesdays, although not the last few, since I managed to misplace my camera lead and asking people to imagine my desk gets a bit tired after the first two weeks!  I also thought it would be a good place to share some recipes, both my own ‘throw it all in’ efforts, as well as some favourites from proper cook books. Those posts didn’t seem to be particularly popular, so they’ve petered out. My favourite thing is Five Things I’m Loving This Friday, which started as a fairly random list and has evolved into something with much more of a theme each week.

The blogging community is a fascinating place, giving little peeks into the lives of lovely folks all around the world. I have found some very friendly and supportive people out there. It’s always thrilling to get a comment from someone new, but it is even lovelier to have blog friends that come back time and time again. In the same way it is always fun to discover new blogs, but equally so to have a collection of blogs to follow regularly. While visiting Mel earlier today, I saw her post about Blogtoberfest and decided to investigate. It may be just the thing to give me a push in the right direction. Watch this space.