Wednesday 3 September 2014

Dungaree dress

Since I was a child I have loved dungarees! The ultimate dungaree for me as an adult is the dungaree dress. Mostly because I don't want to take off my clothes to go toilet! But do you know it's difficult to find the ultimate dungaree dress. They are mostly too short! When they are right I am on a budget and cannot afford the three figures they come in. So I had a thought. You remember my denim skirt? 


Could I do this with a denim dungarees? The answer is yes! 


This is a most satisfying moment. My dungaree or pinafore dress. Love it. Not to be complacent I thought better make it in another shade! 


I am still wearing my summer dresses but cannot wait to upload pictures of me in my wonderful creations. Happy day. 

Making a skirt

I have grand ideas in my head that I am the best dressmaker! In truth I struggle in my relationship with my sewing machine and the ideas stay in my head. But I have recently discovered a love of Pinterest. The idea of learning through pictures. I love it. 

I do realise that I am a little behind and everyone else is using YouTube or some other video watching app but I am using Pinterest in a really weird way to make skirts. Particularly my passion is denim. 

As a child my mum told me that denim is for work men not for young ladies. So as an adult my pursuit of wearing awesome denim is quite something. I have discovered you can make your own denim skirts! I love denim skirts. 

You take a pair of denim shorts. 


You add a skirt you love but that is ill fitting. This particular one I try to wear once a year and fail because each wearing makes me feel like a beached whale. 


You make a few cuts and spend some time sewing them together and voila you have a fun and flirty denim skirt. My favourite kind. Considering I have spent some money on these skirts in past I am well please with the outcome. 


I wore the skirt with a sweater and was so pleased when someone said they loved my skirt! Happy days. I love it and that's all that counts. Plus it's in the purple range! 

Kids and the great day off


So you have a day off with the kids. Options. 
Clean and tidy. 
Go out. 
Stay in and entertain. 

In our case it rained on our day off. Not just a light drizzle but absolutely poured down. Normally weather won't stop us but after a super active few weeks a day inside seemed like a good idea. What happened. 

Free play. 
Is there anything better than watching your children's imagination run wild and fill your home with fanciful stories of triumph. 

Chocolate play. 
We finally did it, we created chocolate. 

We made box loads of beatiful chocolate shapes. Really easy to do with a mix of dark and milk chocolate is what we used and some fancy moulds. Yummy stuff. 

Cake baking. 
In my home this is always a highlight. I have to say I used many shortcuts this time but nevertheless the children loved the experience of making their own cakes. 


Weaving 
This was the surprise activity. I thought there might be love with this one and there was but it turns out they wanted to make baskets! At least they liked their woven animals and surprisingly they were simple to make. 


Yes we did all this in one day as well as jumping around, watching a movie and of course eating a meal. To be honest it was a great day. It's days like this that make it all worthwhile. Days when all the skills and creativity are being pushed and it works. Not every craft day is so successfully packed with so much. However this worked. 

Can each of these activities be turned into bible lessons? You bet! The baking was the most obvious because the children took them to church and shared them in them at pot luck punch. 

Te chocolate is being shared with daddy and there is some discussion about what bible story can go with making things. 

As to the weaving well the basket that Moses was in. The animals themselves tell a story. Fish play a central role in story telling in the bible.  

Whatever you decide to do enjoy the process. Don't be precise they are children and most of all try and laugh because either way you are building a memory to last them a life time. 

Celebration is Important

In the bible one of things that make me happy is celebration. Whenever something happens to a Israel and they overcome then there is a do this in remember statement. This turns into a yearly celebration. I think that the idea of celebration as a discipline is so important. 

If you have the opportunity take a friend out to celebrate their birthday and indulge in your passion. A treat a moment to thank God for another moment of character growth. 


This was our moment. Celebrating a God blessed friendship! Thank you awesome God for awesome friend.