Pages

Welcome to my blog!


If you ask me what my very favourite thing is I would not hesitate to say my family. I came into motherhood quite late on, and was immediately overwhelmed with how amazing it is. Now I would like nothing more than to be a Domestic Goddess, and surround my family in love, good food, beautiful things and lots of happy memories. And like the majority of families these days, we need to do it on a budget!

I firmly believe we all have a little bit of the Domestic Goddess inside us, just waiting to break out. Whether that is knowing how to make a roast chicken feed a family of 4 for a week, being able to make, repair or recycle clothes, hunting down a bargain, or simply turning everyday, simple things into pretty or useful items, with a little bit of imagination we can all dip in to the Goddess inside and make our lives that little bit more interesting.



I hope you enjoy reading my blog as much as I enjoy sharing my (challenging) journey into Domestic Goddessness!



Sunday, April 29, 2012

A Baby Tag for a special new baby!

I am very excited about this post today. I wanted to show you this tag last week, but I also wanted it to arrive safe and sound with the lovely lady who had asked for it first. I was asked by Rach (who has a blog called This Woman's Work - go and have a visit!) to make something to celebrate the birth of her new baby. yet another miracle. So I thought and thought hard about it before coming up with the idea of a tag, which could be personalised too by Rach when the baby arrived (birthday, weight etc)

I made it using Artists mounting board to give it some strength, and covered it with scrapbook papers. The back is a plain yellow paper, and the front is a patchwork of the same yellow paper on the reverse, and some papers fromNitWits' Waddles and Whimsy collection, and finished with Mod Podge.



I used embellishments from the same collection, mounting them on artists' board again for some depth.



Added some brightly coloured star embellishments I discovered in a craft shop, and some buttons from my button box.



And a couple of tags so that it could be personalised.

(Sorry, it has come out sideways for some reason and I can't correct it but you get the idea!)

Finally I added some ribbon, paper thread and funky coloured fibres to the top of the tag to finish it off.
I was quite pleased with it on the whole, even though it wasn't perfect and I kept finding fault with it right up to posting it off,. And of course it turned out nothing like I had originally planned. But most importantly, my friend was pleased with it, and that's really all that matters!

I am thinking of making some more in the future and will see if there is any demand for them.

We have finally set a date for my littlest's christening. It will be in June and she will be 10 1/2 mths old. Flop was christened at 3 1/2 mths so there is no chance that the dress she wore will fit the Bud! Pity, really, as she wore my sister's dress and in a way it would have been nice to have Bud wear it too! Instead I had thought that I would make one - either knitted or crocheted. What a faff that has turned out to be! And that is even before I have purchased wool and cast on a single stitch. It would appear that babies should be christened before they are 6 mths old, or on the rare occasion I have found a pattern that goes up to 12 mths, it is ridiculously small (or else my daughter is a giant!) as going off the chest measurements she would be hard pushed to fit in the finished article now, at 9 mths old! After a lot of searching I was led to communication with a lady on eBay, who was very helpful and I have bought two patterns from her. Now whether they can be made in time remains to be seen! But I did manage to buy a lovely dress (an occasion dress, not a christening one) at the weekend, on standby just in case! It isn't the gorgeous silk creation from Marks and Spencers that I was coveting (for £50 for a one off dress that is likely to get covered in snot, vomit, food or all three and will be difficult to clean given it is made of silk, I will continue to covet from afar!)  but I am more than happy with the alternative.

I am off now to read through my new baking book...I have been treated to the Hairy Bikers Big Book of Baking. So looking forward to that!
Don't forget to see what's going on over on Wendy's blog for Handmade Monday

Til next time!

13 comments:

Wendy said...

Love the tag - the close-ups really show off the details, I think that'd be important if you're thinking of selling them online. Good luck wuth the Christening outfit! x

Fiddly Fingers said...

I can't wait to see the Christening gown you make and thank you for visiting my blog :)

Adaliza said...

Thank you for popping over and leaving a comment. Your tags are really pretty and will, I'm sure be really popular. It's difficult to fit everything in, especially with little ones - good luck with the special dress.

Anonymous said...

At least you had a girl - I have boys and found it really hard to know what to put them in for their Christenings. I love your idea and think they would be quite popular - they would be great gifts.

Mrs Pink said...

Enjoy the Hairy Bikers! It's a great book! I recommend the Schokogugelhupf - delicious. And the Beirocks are sensational.
The tag is beautiful and there must be a market for them.
Good luck with the dress too.

Donna Mosley said...

Gorgeous tag Helen, love the colours & details.

Donna x

Carolee Crafts said...

The tag is so pretty well done and good luck with the christening dress

Christmas Pie Crafts said...

Such a pretty tag, like the colours you have used. Look forward to seeing pics of your Hairy Biker's makes. Good luck with finding a christening gown. Hope you have a good week.

Free Spirit Designs said...

Your tag is lovely! your friend must be thrilled :)

isn't it alway the way with handmade gifts that you end up with something completely different to what you set out to create, but it usually ends up being the perfect thing somehow!

Good luck with making the christening dress - i hope you show us the finished article when its ready! x

Unknown said...

I love the subtlety of the colours in the tag. I love my Hair Bikers ccookbook... found a great desert recipe from them which has become a firm family favourite! :)

Little Harriet said...

I love the buttons on the tag ( I have a thing for buttons at the mo) and the colours work really well.
OOo you are clever making a Christening gown, I wouldn't know where to start. I'm looking forward to seeing how you get on with it.

LH
x

Rachel said...

The pictures of the tag just do not do it justice Helen. It is absolutely beautiful and I was so excited to receive it. You know the kind of excitement you have when the postman comes on your birthday when you are little. I definitely think that we, well you, have stumbled on something here.

Our little man was born at home and we got the midwives who attended to sign one of the little tags. I have grown very fond of my community midwife so I am going to get her to sign it too and then put his name, time and date of birth and weight on somewhere.

Thank you again lovely lady xxx

Helen said...

I'm so glad you liked it Rach.
Lots of congratulations and love to you and your lovely family on the safe arrival of the little man!
(great nmame btw!!)