Project in Progress - re-creating retro Sindy, Barbie and Tressy Doll Clothes

Sindy (on the left) is mine from the early 1980's and Barbie (on the right) is from Toy Story 3 and belongs to Ruby. We have a difference in opinion over who is prettier, Ruby thinks Barbie and I think Sindy. We do agree on how lovely their new clothes are that came from Emmaus a couple of weeks ago. 

My friend and I sat on the floor and searched through a box of clothes selecting the ones I liked the best. In the end I cam home with some lovely retro Sindy and Barbie Outfits. Also in the box were some Tressy Doll Clothes. Tressy Dolls were made in the UK in the early 1960's and my Mum used to have one. 

When Ruby got home from school we tried all of the outfits on her dolls and they did a fashion show :) I felt rather envious of Sindy's shift dress and the grey Tressy dress. So armed with my new skills from my City and Guild's course at MIY Workshop and my Winifred Aldrich Pattern Cutting book I am going to re-create some of the outfits in my size. 

Now which one first?

The Sun is Finally Shining!!!!

My windows have been open all day, the kids have been outside playing and I have got three loads of washing dry on the line!

It's a little chilly but it feels like spring might be on it's way after all. Inspired by the weather I have been tackling a little bit of the cleaning I blogged about a couple of weeks ago. This is my Spring Clean Mission:

• Organise kitchen cupboards

• Buy and label food storage jars

• Bathroom and washing bins

• Kids toys

• Cleaning cupboard

• Kids craft stuff

Last week with the help of my Mum the kids rooms and toys had their spring clean. Today I have tackled the cleaning stuff cupboard. I am so chuffed with myself, I keep opening it to have a look!
So that's two down four to go!

Before Picture:
First, I emptied everything out on the floor. We have too many plastic bags! I need to remember to keep my shopping bags in the car so that I don't forget them when I go shopping.

After:
My tidy cupboard! and the Key Hanger I found at a charity shop. I love the font and numbers on this.

It's the little things that make me happy and a bag full of line dried washing is one of them. I am rather envious of the kids having clean air dried bedding to sleep in tonight. It's a bit of a random picture I know but I just wanted to share the awesomeness of the Big Blue Ikea bag. 

I have thought about making a laundry bag so many times but I can't come up with anything better than this bag. I have about three that I use for the washing and ironing. I end up buying a new one everytime I visit Ikea because I forget to put one in the car, I have even been once with one in the boot and forgot to take it into the shop! I really need to work on my memory skills! Where was I? Oh yeah! The Big Blue Bag - The best laundry bag ever!

Today's FatMumSlim April photo a day topic is something Blue to promote Autism Awareness. Here is my bit of blue. My Bitossi Owl. 

Wordless Wednesday - Spring Cleaning - kids rooms - tick!

p.s. Thank you for your help Mum! x 

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?

Making Our House a Home

We moved here...

19 months ago knowing that we had a lot of work to do! 

Last year we had a new roof, electrics and central heating. We also converted our, inaccessible by car, garage into a craft/record room! More on that another day.

Just before Christmas we turned this...

Our Room of Requirement looked like this for over a year

Ruby's Room before

Into a very pink bedroom for Ruby that I can't seem to find a photo of. Oops, I'll take one when she has tidied up the toy explosion that went off in there.

We now need to crack on with the rest of the house. Yay, decorating time!!

Today we are making a start on the bathroom that currently doesn't have a shower, just a 1980's style plastic tap shower that annoyingly shoots off whenever I wash my hair. The bath is reasonably new and the sink we think might be original so we are keeping both of those. The plan is a bigger cupboard, a shower and get rid of the yellow walls and oatmeal tiles. You don't even want to see a photo of the laminate effect vinyl flooring that has to go! 

I've been spending most of my time this week drooling over bathroom images on Pinterest and compiling this board.

I'll post progress pics on Facebook and Instagram.

Right, I'm off to Wickes. Wish me luck!

p.s. Happy Birthday Ellen Jones!

For Tomorrow!

The last couple of weeks have been a bit bonkers but tomorrow I finally have a quieter day. Which means that I've got time to make some stuff, yay! I'm going to start with the passport pouch ready for the weekend!

Ellen Jones, if you are reading this, do you like what I did with my Blur song reference? :)