Project fun!

This is a project I undertook for my brother, sister and sister-in-law's christmas presents!!!

All you need:
An old school board/notice board/bit of wood
A staple gun
A glue gun
Wadding
Material
Ribbon
Buttons

First of all, glue gun the wadding to cover the board so that it fits perfectly; cut any edges off! After you've done that, pull your material tightly over the wadding, and staple it to the back of the board with the staple gun. It's really important that it's tight, or else your wadding won't have the desired effect.

After you've finished the basic board, you need to staple/glue (or both to be extra secure) your ribbon in a criss-cross pattern across it... this is so that you can slip postcards and notes underneath so that they are held in place. It's then time for the fun bit - the decorating! I attached buttons and mini-pegs to mine, and a letter for my sister (her name is Kristin) to add detail and a bit of fun to the board.

Voila! You have lovely beautiful notice boards that cost about £5 to make (trust me - you'd spend a lot more buying one!!) and they're great because they're so personal and have the homemade touch!!

Would love to hear any success stories!

Signing off, Claire x

New Song - Amazed by Grace

Yesterday a few of us from church met up for our tri-yearly song writing session. A great time with loads of ideas and a few new songs! Noticing a gap in the market for songs that talk about Church Fellowship and so we wrote one based on Hebrews 10 as a result. Lyrically we're there, just working on the verse melody now, so watch this space!

This is the song I've been working on most recently - it's called Amazed by Grace. We recorded it a couple of months back so you can have a listen (if the thing'll let me upload it!). It focuses on the grace of God in provided his Son Jesus who completely takes away all of my sin and leaves me utterly amazed!


Lyrics below...


My fears and my failings
My doubts and my sin
My pride and self-pity
All hidden within
And yet, Lord, you've called me
To glorious grace
To be in your presence
To look on your face

And I'm amazed by your Gospel
Amazed at your grace
And I'm amazed by your mercy
And your glorious face
And I'm amazed by your beauty
Amazed at your call
And I'm amazed that you should look at me... at all
Amazed by grace

In Jesus I'm rescued
Brought out from the depths
His blood spent on my part
His body lay dead
Yet death could not keep him
He arose from the grave
To live as Redeemer
His people to save

And I'm amazed by your Gospel
Amazed by your grace
And I'm amazed by your mercy
And your glorious face
And I'm amazed by your beauty
Amazed at your call
And I'm amazed that you should look at me... at all
Amazed by grace

How can we learn
To marvel every day
That our Lord Jesus - Saviour
Has opened up the way

And I'm amazed by your Gospel
Amazed by your grace
And I'm amazed by your mercy
And your glorious face
And I'm amazed by your beauty
Amazed at your call
And I'm amazed that you should look at me... at all
Amazed by grace

Signing off for today,
Claire

Always losing hair clips?

I am ALWAYS losing hair clips - I seem to be endlessly buying new ones and then they go missing again. I thought I had tackled the problem when I got married two years ago and was provided with about 50 free clips in one hair do... but I'm down to my last 2!!! Where have the other 48 gone????
Bizarre...

Anyway, I was doing a little surfing and saw this really cute idea on Keeping it Simple (http://craftskeepmesane.blogspot.com/), so I decided to have a go...



You need...
* A bit of wood
* Wadding
* A glue gun (my favourite toy!)
* Nice material
* Ribbons galore

First off, cut some wadding to the size of the piece of wood you're going to use. My bit of wood was a bit of panelling I nicked from the kitchen wall (we're about to get our kitchen redone and it's currently covered in ugly varnished pine panelling which I'm eager to get rid of!).

Secondly, glue the wadding onto the wood and cover with some material of your choice (I got this stuff in a fabric shop in Norway and I figured it'd match our bedroom). You can either hot glue or staple gun the material to the wood (I recommend staple-gunning - it'll make it a bit more secure)


Then the fun begins! Cut yourself some strips of cute ribbon (I went with cream because I wanted it to be classic rather than funky in this case - but you could go wacky with colour!!) and glue 'em on - you need some good crafting glue (I use UHU alleskleber - prittstick won't do the trick!) glue on the back of the panel and then wait for it to dry...

And then, tada! Attach your hair clips and you shouldn't lose them ever again (that's the plan anyway!!!) It's a really cute project that genuinely only took me about 45 minutes to complete... Your turn?

A full larder...

My trip to the antique shops on Saturday paid off... not only do I now have a beautiful antique mirror for the bedroom, but we have purchased a beautiful old larder cupboard at a bargainous price. I have just spend the whole morning filling it up with food because I am so ridiculously over-excited about it!

Note the well-placed crutches in the background (Dave's still recovering!!) and the ever-present mountain of packing boxes I am slowly wading my way through.

This morning, however, I spent my time cleaning out my lovely larder and then attempting to fill it. We had originally eye-balled a bigger one (that wasn't nearly so pretty) at IKEA, but my struggle to fill this one proves that actually that wasn't such a bad thing!

Might attach a spice rack to the inside door but yet to decide exactly how to best utilise all the lovely space! (picture vegetable baskets, old glass jars... ok slow down Claire!)

How sad am I? I'm seriously in danger of being properly obsessed with a cupboard - but it just looks so very cute!

Thankful in every circumstance!

Good evening all! It's 10:30pm and I am SHATTERED! I am, however, extremely grateful to be looking forward to a week of half term- no school!!! Bliss...

Our half term has set off to a rather unexpected start, however. On Saturday afternoon I headed into town with my friend Steph for some much needed antique shopping; one hour, £20 and an antique mirror later we were heading back home, and then I received the phone call...

"Claire, I'm injured". Isn't that just the dreaded sentence for any WAG out there!!!?? Your mind spins to blood, and bones, and long hours in A and E... well. I arrived home to find Dave in the armchair with his foot up and the remainder of my frozen peas laid across a tennis-ball lump sticking out of his ankle. Ouch!!!

Well, there were 3 hours spent in A and E, but not by me. It is testimony to my husband's faith that despite everything, he can only see positive in this. How do you make 3 hours in A and E positive; according to my husband you have blissful peace and quiet to read a book you've been intending to read for ages and you see your week of school hols on crutches as "a great opportunity for enforced rest."

So, we're learning to thank God even in frustrating events that initially look set to destroy our holiday plans, but in fact are opportunities to see his goodness and blessing in every circumstance!

A new project...

We've moved into out new place and I am THRILLED to have such a project ahead of me! At the moment we are living in Grannyville - crazy patterned carpets, cork tiles, flowery roller blinds and artex... some people's nightmare. For me? A massively exciting and inspiring project!!! Woohoo - I'm soooo excited just thinking about it...

Here's a little insight into what we're working with... This was our bedroom 2 weeks ago - dingy and grey and totally unrelaxing. We decided as soon as we moved in that we wanted to make one room our haven in the midst of the chaos. This was the chosen room! Thanks to family and friends (you know who you are!) the room was transformed in three days and is now a wonderfully relaxing place - the calm in the storm! It's wonderful to have one room looking beautiful and colourful and calm.

A sneak preview (still unfinished!)...

So... let the creative juices get flowing. One room down, only 5 to go! The next room to hit is the kitchen/ lounge/ diner and I imagine this one will take a little longer to tackle, but we're up for the ride to make this home our own... I intend to turn Grannyville into a cosy haven of relaxation...

so watch this space!

Loving hearts!

Well... I know, it's OVER a year since my last post... how shocking is that? Inspired by a recent discovery of craft blogs, I'm determined to use this blog as a way to share ideas for creative fun!!!

Recently, I've been exploring little hearts! This one was made one evening with my wonderfully creative friend Catrin in an evening of girly chat and craftiness while the boys watched an action movie. Catrin had the idea, and after a little internet research, we came up with the idea of make little deco-hearts to adorn our homes. Catrin did a "Home Sweet Home" heart, and this was my creation. Dead easy to make, a super-speedy project, and a lovely result... don't you think?

I then made some for my parents-in-law just before they returned to Norway in the summer as a little reminder of us back here in England.

Instructions for making to follow... watch this space!

Claire