Wordless Wednesday - A peek at my Wednesday 20.3.13

I Have a Confession to Make...

...I am not a natural housewife!

I've been a stay at home mum for seven and a half years and in that time you would have thought that I would have perfected the cleaning and ironing, but no I haven't. I cook, I sew, look after my kids but when it comes to the household chores there are so many things I would rather do instead. Instagram anyone?

Anyway...

When Jacob was a baby I remember reading an editors letter in a magazine that said something along the lines of "there is more to life than cleaning, who cares if there is Wheatabix on the floor, the kids will grow so fast enjoy them now and the cleaning can wait". This stuck with me and I use it as an excuse whenever I feel bad about not having done the ironing.

Most of the time I only have a good tidy up when family and friends are popping by. There are varying levels of cleaning depending on who is coming over. A visit from my Mum usually involves me shouting "quick! hoover up", a number of times she's been left on the doorstep because we've not heard the bell over the vacuum cleaner. There are other friends, one in particular, that I stopped giving the cleaning excuses to. She takes us as she finds us and we do the same to her.

I keep wondering if my natural tidying instinct will kick in when my kids are older and I have time on my hands. I think deep down I know it won't, I'll just find something more interesting to do instead.

I might not like cleaning but I do wish my house was more organised with a home for everything. So that is my Spring Clean mission. To fill my cupboards with labeled organised jars like Martha Stewart (I never thought I'd say this but I love Martha and spend hours searching through her site for holiday decoration inspiration and cake recipes) and to make a home for everything so that the cleaning becomes less of a big deal when I feel like doing it.

I want to record my to-do list so that I can't avoid it or pretend that it doesn't exist. Feel free to ask me about my progress and give me an incentive to get through it! So here it is,

My Spring Cleaning Mission

• Organise kitchen cupboards
• Buy and label food storage jars
• Bathroom and washing bins
• Kids toys
• Cleaning cupboard
• Kids craft stuff

Are you spring cleaning? Do you find the housework a pleasure or a chore?

Craft in Progress

We've had a crafty start to the week...

It began with a trip to Fiveways Arts and Crafts yesterday morning to buy fabric paints and cartridge paper for today's craft plans. The rest of the afternoon was spent helping my friend Selena tissue paper a willow UFO for this year's Children's Parade.

Last night I sat under a blanket by the radiator drinking tea, peeping at the snow outside, watching Being Human on the iPlayer and starting an Easter wreath. Chris makes the Christmas wreath and I have been so inspired by all of the spring wreaths on Pinterest that I decided to make an Easter one.

It's a craft in progress!

My vision of a peaceful Tuesday afternoon linocut printing was disrupted by the kids being off school on a snow day. Rather than shelving my plans till next week I let them join in. 

As they are both obsessed with how far away Easter is we started making some decorations. They both drew Easter designs on Lino that I cut it out for them. This is Jacob's egg:

Ruby chose yellow ink and had a great time making about 6 sheets of prints. She picked up the process really quickly and had her own counting system for the length of time she spent rolling the Lino. We decided that counting to 100 each time was probably too long, especially as it was me doing the counting.

I was amazed by how much Jacob enjoyed it. He can be a reluctant crafter sometimes. Begrudgingly starting something to find he gets really into it after a while. The printing held his attention for a whole afternoon and he now has some lovely prints and posters that he is planning to decorate the house with.

I printed some more owls, this time in different colours. I love the yellow on the white paper background. I'm not sure about it on the fabric though. I think the fabric paints I have used were not the right consistency for what I needed. I'll read a bit more of this book before I have another go.

Some of the blue prints will be on their way to you soon Sara Brown!

The last project that I have on the go is making a little case for my Lino tools. It's cut and ready to go, I just need half an hour at my sewing machine...

 What projects have you got on the go?

Making our House a Home

We are one week in to our bathroom makeover and there sadly isn't much progress to show you. This is because we chose to go into town last weekend and buy me some quad skates (big smile) and attend Craftaganza. 

This weekend we must get on with it and I am envisaging that after roller skating (I am hooked) on Sunday I will be spending the rest of Mothers Day tiling.

Some progress shots for you...

Uh oh, when the tiles came off so did the plaster. The job suddenly got a bit bigger!

Look at the original lino checkerboard tiles Chris found under the vinyl!

The Wickes trolley!

I've been busy drooling over penny floors on Pinterest. I'm saving up! For what I think is going to be a labour of love!