Tuesday 1 February 2011

Nesting & Family ....


Hi, I hope you are all having a great week this week.  Thanks for all your comments on my last blog post, if you make pretty things and want to be featured on my blog, or even do a giveaway here then feel free to message me :-)

It was rather a strange week here in the Sweetpea household as my Mum had to go and have a heart operation last Friday.  hhhmm things like that do put your brain into a funny place, you think positively but then every now and again a scary thought pops up :-(  The operation didn't quite go to plan as the surgeon said she has a 'unique' heart - I could have told him that before he even started! :-)  I am happy to say that she is home safe and sound though, phew.

How I missed her on Friday, we always meet up Friday afternoon for a catch up and wine time :-)  Luckily I had Little Lambs with Sweetpea on Friday morning and the lovely Bear's Footprints came along for the first time.  It was lovely to see her and we chatted about craft stuff and the lovely Kathryn showed us a quick crochet demo at the end.  Then Friday evening a friend came to pick her daughter up and drop my son off (we did a kid swap, always works really well swapping kids lol) at about 6.30pm.  She stayed and chatted about thrifting & crafts and I did a quick lesson on how to use some functions on her camera, before we knew it it was past 8pm :-)  Distraction technique certainly is lovely!


More distraction was needed on Saturday as we were hoping Mum would be home mid morning but she had to wait for an echo cardiogram (or however you spell it) which didn't happen until 8pm :-( .  Time ticked by slowly so the girls and I made a carrot cake.  So scrummy and another good distraction :-)  I finally got to see Mum on Monday (as I work Sunday until late) - it was so lovely seeing her in the flesh.

Nesting

Well I don't know about you but this near year has really made me want to have a clear out and tidy up of my house.  Mr Sweetpea was panicking I was expecting another baby due to my nesting ways :-)

Sideboards have been tidied, cupboards and been cleared out, things have been put up in the loft and lots of bags have found their way to charity shops :-)  Does the house look any less messy or cluttered - nope !

One thing I really wanted to sort out was the kiddies art stuff.  We used to store it all in a cheap chest of drawers but then the drawers started to crack under the weight of it all.  Well that piece of furniture got shipped off to a friend and then everything was put into bags.


It took months to get our bums into gear and get some shelves for it all.  I hated having it all in bags, it was so limiting on how often we could create things as starting a project meant rummaging in bags for ages :-(  I got these shelves from Argos (I did want to go to Ikea but couldn't face the trip really) and then I got some wallpaper samples (cheeky I know :-o), measured them up and popped them behind the shelves.  I really love the way they have turned out:



Now all their art stuff is in one place and in full view.  I must remind myself not to buy any more art stuff as the shelves are packed!  I used old coffee jars, food containers and thrifted jars for storage of beads etc.



Then after seeing Sew Liberated's little one tidying away his playdough I just had to create something similar for little Sweetpea.   I popped to homebase and found some great little wicker baskets on sale,they are perfect for storing items for activities and I have taught little Sweetpea that she can get her playdough or writing basket out and do it whenever she wants.  All she then has to do is tidy it away afterwards :-)  She loves them and especially loves folding up the mat after she has finished.


20 comments:

  1. Tidying up is the best thing to keep you distracted and hope your Mum's on the mend!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Just types a comment and it has disappeared! You may get 2! Love the shelves and the use of the wallpaper samples. Hope they stay as tidy as they are now - mine never do. Hope too that little Sweetpea continues to enjoy her crafting AND her tidying up!

    Jane

    ReplyDelete
  3. What a worrying time you've had about your mum's operation. I'm so glad she's home now and hope she will soon be fully recovered. Your tidying is amazing - well done for tackling it and get such good results. I'm quite inspired to sort out a few cupboards myself now! Helen x

    ReplyDelete
  4. Glad to know that all is well with your mum; these parents like to give us a fright, don't they!

    Love your springy banner!

    ReplyDelete
  5. You've created some great storage space and using the wallpaper samples was a fab idea.
    I always get Violet to help me tidy away after we've been playing/crafting. Touch wood, she doesn't seem to mind, though I'm not too sure how long her enthusiasm for this kind of task will last :0)
    Wishing your mum a speedy recovery. xx

    ReplyDelete
  6. oh you have been a busy little bee, im glad your mum is back home and relaxing. Ive been trying to look at crocheting but still not getting very far, but i must persist x

    ReplyDelete
  7. So happy your mum is home from hospital. I had to book a day off to tidy my house yesterday but Imanaged to blitz downstairs and just have the bedrooms to worry about :o? I find that it affects my mood if the house gets too untidy and cluttered and doing all I did yesterday was quite therapeutic!!!

    Also my son's friend is sleeping over on Friday night so I have a time limit to get everything sorted...not for one minute do I think a nine year old is going to have his white glove on checking for dust!!!

    ReplyDelete
  8. What a traumatic time, your poor mum. It's good to hear that she's at home and doing well. I love those shelves what a fab idea of using wallpaper samples to liven them up. I must admit when I 'tarted up' a chest of drawers for Emma last year, I helped myself to 3 generous wallpaper sample's (the width of a chest of drawers) and used them to line and liven up the bottom's of the drawers as I did not want to paint the inside. Lovely pics.....cake, yum x

    ReplyDelete
  9. Glad your mum is safe and well! You must have been worried sick!

    Lovs the clearout results!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Great idea for livening up plain shelves, I've got wallpaper samples (lots of them) ready for a project like that sometime, just need to find something to cover! haha... good you've got your sweetpea trained up at a young age, very sweet! :) glad your mums ok too, must have been such a worry for you all:( jenny x

    ReplyDelete
  11. Oh how lovely those shelves are! I've got loads of wallpaper samples, what can I do (quickly scanning the room)... hmmm I'll have a think. Big hugs to your mum (and you) xLOu xx

    p.s. how did the crochet get on?
    x

    ReplyDelete
  12. A worrying time for you re your mum - glad she's home; hope she's doing well. Yummy looking cake! Have a good week :)

    ReplyDelete
  13. Pleased your Mum is doing well! Love the shelves" THere is nothing like a tidy house to make you feel in control!

    ReplyDelete
  14. I hope you mum is Ok. The shelves are looking very impressive and that carrot cake looks delicious mmmm. A big hug coming you way xxx

    ReplyDelete
  15. Glad your mum's home and hope's she's doing ok. It's so worrying when parents go into hospital. The carrot cake looks lovely and I love that little sweetpea enjoys tidying up her stuff. I wonder how long that will last! :) x

    ReplyDelete
  16. Glad to hear your mum's home. Hope everything went well and she's fully recovered soon. The shelves look fab.

    ReplyDelete
  17. That carrot cake looks fabulous. My favourite. Hope your mum is feeling better.

    ReplyDelete
  18. That cake looks deeelish. Hope you're all over the trauma of your ma's op. More cake needed I think...Ax

    ReplyDelete
  19. All best wishes to you Mum - I do hope she's OK. I could do with a spot of that cake right now!

    ReplyDelete
  20. so pleased your mum is ok.
    I am all inspired to have a good sort out after seeing your shelves!
    BH x

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for spending the time leaving a comment, it really does make me smile :-)