An affordable Christmas

This year we had possibly one of our most handmade Christmases in a long time. I’ve never been averse to making do, buying second hand, making our own and so on, but this year I was determined to start early and not feel the stress of last minute panic buying (or making for that matter). I am also working hard to get out of debt in the aftermath of redundancy and was therefore determined not to spend more than we had.

I’m pleased to say, this Christmas was a success! Almost all of the presents that we gave (with the exception of a few specific requests) were either handmade, upcycled, secondhand or vastly reduced in price. We even managed to incorporate handcrafting activities into the gifts themselves, for instance,  my sister is a fan of the Great British Sewing Bee, and I managed to find the book that accompanied the series, via The Book People (new, but much cheaper than the RRP). I look forward to seeing some of her creations during 2015!

Our teenager has been hankering after an X box 360 for a few years now,  and while there is a big part of me that is resistant to bringing games consoles into the house, I think as long as the gaming is balanced with other activities, it’s not entirely unhealthy. We relented but not to the tune of £300+ as this just isn’t doable (or sensible as far as I’m concerned). We were able to acquire a secondhand console with several games and all the gubbins for £60 – an absolute bargain and worth every penny for the happy face when he opened it on Christmas morning!

Happy boy!

Among my favourite gifts this year was this upcycled mirror, made for my Goddaughter and her little sister.

Upcycled mirror

  I was very grateful to the kindness of strangers in order to produce this item; en route to work one morning, I happened upon the mirror propped up against the front of a Victorian semi-detached house, with a note saying  ‘free to take’ attached.

As previously reported,  I also made lots of lovely soy container candles using some of the vintage glass pieces that are so beautiful in their own right that they need no interference and make really affective centrepieces.

I wonder whether I can keep this up for 2015 – I may have to expand my repertoire a bit so that I keep everyone guessing. Happy New Year everyone!

A river named Trevor

Well, that’s what you get when you attempt to play a game with a child born post 2000, reliant on the general knowledge of a child born in the 1960s or 70s. News flash of the day; my kids’ have appalling general knowledge. In fairness, Harriet is only seven (Trevor was one of her witticisms) though perhaps what was more telling was the fact that neither she nor Jacob could name a household chore beginning with any of the letters that the wheel landed on, after multiple spins. Hmm.

So, the premise of the game ‘Tell Me’ – the grand quiz game’ (found at a charity shop, as reported here) is pretty straight forward. The preamble to the instructions calls it ‘a jolly party game – for young and old alike. Instructive, humorous and altogether enjoyable’. Any number of persons may take part. A ‘leader’ is chosen to operate the spinning wheel and take the role of ‘Impartial Questioner’ (sounded terrifying). Each round is conducted by the Inquisitor selecting a card, reading the question out to the players (like q. name a river, name a fairy tale) and then spinning the wheel to see what letter the answer must begin with (a. Trevor, Edwina Currie). You get the idea.

Actually,  this game, in spite of all the difficulty, was a roaring success. The kids LOVED it. The fact they couldn’t answer half the questions (what child under the age of 47 can name an opera beginning with the letter ‘e’ anyway?) didn’t stop them from laughing their socks off at every silly response they came up with.  No tantrums, no petty squabbles, not even any complaint when the question master effectively cheated by allowing Trevor to pass as correct, just because it was the more entertaining of the possible responses.

We award this game 5 stars. Certainly it was instructive, humorous and altogether enjoyable.

Waddington’s Memory Game: the game that should come with a health warning..

Sunday night and time for another vintage game. What could be more delightful than sitting crossed legged on the floor in the mellow light from our seasonal decorations,  playing the fabulous 1960s edition of the Memory Game?  For the love of all that is festive,  do not try this with a crotchety 7-year-old. We learnt this lesson the hard way.

It all began so well. Harriet got dressed specially for the occasion in her Santa’s Little Helper costume,  and looked thoroughly angelic in an impish kind of way.  Jacob was a little late to the party,  preferring to ‘hang out with his mates’, but joined us one round in, and this didn’t seem to matter too much as we didn’t have any matches by this point.  For anyone who hasn’t come across this game before,  the idea is that you lay out the 50 or so pairs of tiles, face down in a random order and proceed to take it in turns to turn over 2 at a time,  attempting to match the pairs up. Unfortunately, the imp within our midst is rather a sore loser and happened not to be on form on this occasion.

With each round,  and every narrowly missed pairing,  Harriet’s ire became more apparent, and more audible. By the time we had paired around two thirds of the available tiles (which, incidentally are rather charming,  archetypically 1960s in their designs) she was screaming blue murder, accusing all within earshot of cheating, producing floods of tears and making the sort of sounds that you’d expect to hear from a BBC-scripted teenager.  Unfortunately,  the actual teenager in the room was not doing a good job of stifling his sniggers as he took every advantage to claim those pairs that Harriet had marginally missed in the turn prior to his. The realisation of what was coming each time she miscalculated only served to exacerbate her rage further. By the end of the game, I found myself exhausted from the effort of trying (and failing) to keep the peace, Harriet was a sobbing heap, and Jacob sat in the midst of it all, smiling serenely over the spoils of victory, having defeated his opponents decisively. Final score: Jacob 19, Mummy 15, Harriet 8.

Verdict: “It’s not fair,  I hate this game, I hate you,  I’m rubbish at this game, I’m never going to win….. urrrrrrggggg…raaaahhhhh”.

Thankyou Harriet, I think that’s a 1* rating then.

Crafted for You – exhibiting now!

Well – we officially have our upcycled vintage glassware on display at Worcester City Museum & Art Gallery!  This time, it’s not just a handful of items in the craft case, but a space in one of the main galleries.  It’s been such an enjoyable year getting to this point, and I’ve been developing my ideas rapidly, trying new things and exploring new ways of displaying material.  The Crafted for You exhibition which runs until early January, feels like a fantastic end to what has been a very busy year. I’m excited to be sharing the space with gorgeous ceramics, silver work, scrap metal sculptures, felt work and textiles.  Well worth a visit (alongside the World War One: In the Words of Worcestershire People exhibition, also on now at Worcester City Museum) and one way of getting ahead with your Christmas shopping, as all items are for sale, and all unique!

A view towards the Decadia Designs glassware display, with Alison Dupernex‘s beautiful, wearable art in the foreground.

On the countdown to Christmas.. already!

Upcycled wine glass tealight holders

Christmas comes early in the life of a crafter.  We still have a whole 55 days to go as I write, but if I’m honest, I’ve been preparing for a number of weeks already.  It’s the busiest time of year for my upcycled glassware, partly because I give away plenty of them myself to friends and family, but also because, they are so bright and festive-looking that they lend themselves well to Christmas fairs, candlelit house parties and the like.  As a result, I have to build up rather a large amount of handcrafted items in readiness; I’m literally burning the candle at both ends!

The good news is, that following on from a successful Craft case exhibition at Worcester Museum and Art Gallery over the summer, I was invited to exhibit again as part of the annual Christmas craft showcase – Crafted For You – running from the 8th November, to early 2015. This is rather exciting as we will be upstairs in one of the main galleries alongside all sorts of other fabulous craft displays!

Arthur, the feline silhouette

Three large boxes of glassware have been loaded into the car, ready for delivery, and I’m really pleased with the variety that I’m able to display.  2014 has been a year of trying new ideas and honing techniques, and I hope this will be evident in the range of quirky pieces that are being exhibited.  I’ve included a few here, to give you a flavour, but would be so pleased if lots of people called in to the Art Gallery for a mooch!  It’s always worth combining with a trip to the Balcony Cafe while you’re there, and of course, having a browse of the fantastic museum displays, which include archaeology, geology, natural and social history.  If you’ve got young children it caters for them too, with an activity space where they can get stuck in with the Duplo or be inspired to do a bit of drawing.

Please do get in touch and let me know what you think!