Slugs and Snails and Puppydog Tails

That's what little boys are made of......apparently!

The Mother of girls said to me recently at a (rather noisy) birthday party: "Wow...really not used to boys. They're just so....loud...and...physical!!"

Well, yes - they are and I wouldn't have it any other way. There is no doubt about it, no matter how hard parents may try to avoid gender stereotyping, by the time children start school, boys and girls are VERY VERY different.  I have a son, 2 nephews and lots of friends with boys. Our house is often full of them. Running around when they could just walk, and shouting when they could just talk...and whilst life surrounded by boys is sometimes exhausting and noisy, the energy and enthusiasm that boys have is amazing. I wish I could bottle it and put it in my cup of tea on a Monday morning!

....and all of my recent work has been for lads, so I thought I'd dedicate a post to the little terrors! I've said it before but designing and making accessories for girls is pretty easy, with so much choice of colours, fabrics and styles...with boys it takes a little more thought in order to avoid the latest playground phase, not make something too 'baby-ish' and create something with a bit of longevity.

So, I worked on a new 'sleep-over' wash bag design for boys using water resistant hard-wearing fabrics, with nice big chunky zips (perfect for little fingers to use and a bit more 'boyish'!), a waterproof lining and personalised with initials to avoid any mix ups. The royal blue and lime green fabrics are bright and fun but more grown up than paler shades.

Apologies about the photos..the light here has been terrible for the past few days as it's hardly stopped raining, but wanted to get them photographed before I gave them to their recipients.

I've also made some more bunting for a (nearly) 7 year old lad to hang in his bedroom. Again, didn't want anything too young, so this is bigger and bolder than the new baby/toddler bunting I do and I went with stripes, stars and plains in his requested blue shades to avoid any 'themes' that may quickly be grown out of.

...and finally, the ever popular drawstring bag for little ones. This time for a Daniel, but again using my favourite Monaluna Space fabric (with cheeky little robot!)  in neutral shades.

The last few weeks really has been all about the boys...so...

To all the wonderful, energetic, funny, physical and loud little boys that I know....thank you for being what you are and inspiring me to create new things for you!

(These aren't boys I know obviously, this is a screen shot from the brilliant film, Stand By Me, but thought it typified some of that physicality and fun....!)

"So, what do you do?"

This post is not really about my latest creative, erhm..creations but is sort of related to it. I've been dwelling on this of late and feel compelled/brave enough to put my thoughts into a post. Each September when T returns to school, as he becomes more independent, more grown up, I start to become a little more introspective about 'Me': my self-identity and how I spend my time.

This niggling little query at the back of my mind was thrust forcibly to the front of it whist completing an information form for T's  Beaver Scout group last week. As I scan over the questions in front of me, I think, "yep, easy, this will take a couple of minutes to complete":

Name? fine,

Address? fine

Emergency Contact Details? fine

..and then, there it is:

'Occupation?.......'

Now quite why the Beaver Scouts need to know what my occupation is, I do not know, but it did send me into something of a panic.  Ever since T arrived into our world and I stopped having what you might call a 'proper job', I've been stumped by that section when form-filling and broken into a cold sweat in any social situation when someone asks me ......

"What do you do?"

Now, of course, these simple four words are just an ice-breaker, a normal question asked by normal people who are taking an interest in the person stood in front of them.  For me though it  feels like I'm suddenly under some sort of FBI interrogation and feel the need to justify my place in the world, my identity, my existence, my day to day life. I'm not talking here about the whole, 'Non-working Mum thing' and 'what they do all day' The only people that will ever understand and 'get' this, is other women in the same situation so I'm not even going to go there. No, I'm talking about a label, a definition, a basic, succinct reply. Six years on from having my son, I still don't have a satisfactory response:

Housewife?  Way too 1940s

Stay-At-Home-Mum? Sounds like I never leave the house and is more appropriate for those with babies, toddlers or pre-schoolers. (and by the way, who came up with this phrase? It and it's  shortened form: SAHM are both horrendous and so inaccurate)

Home-maker? Oh, pleeease

Domestic Engineer? I don't think so!

...and all of these labels just feel a little bit derogatory. They all just sound like I am on this planet to serve my Husband, my Child and make my home look nice. Which, whilst is a large part of what I do do on a day to day basis, it certainly isn't how I would wish to define myself (not that there is anything wrong in doing so, it just doesn't feel right for me)

So, I try to ignore the whole Mother/Wife bit and concentrate on the creative tinkerings side of things instead  but here, again, I find myself struggling to describe that element of 'What I do'.

Is it a hobby?

Is it a business?

Am I a Designer?

Am I a Crafter?

A Blogger?

So, I turn, as I always do when I want an answer to a question these days: (No, not a therapist, or a matriarchal Grandmother or a 'magic-8 ball'), but  to our friend 'google'....and after a bit of research, I find the answer:

I am a self-employed designer/maker of gifts and accessories.

It's not brilliant, it's not particularly catchy, it probably doesn't feature on too many on-line drop-down lists, but I like it.

I don't consider myself to be the sort of person who suffers with an Identity Crisis but as soon as I am asked to define myself; to pigeon hole exactly what I do...then I am....and that it turn leads so some (perhaps negative) overly self-indulgent analysis of my role in the world, my contribution, and whether I am content with it all. However, whilst I'm sure I will continue to do that from time to time, at least on this occasion the analysis and soul-searching (and google!) has provided me with a satisfactory, one line answer to that damn question!

It's been waaaay too long!

Ok, it would seem that keeping up with regular blogging lasted less than a year....but I do have a sort of valid excuse: We moved house in July and I had an awful lot to do clearing out 'stuff' from our old house, selling things, doing the conveyancing on behalf of solicitors who, it would seem, get paid a great deal of money to do absolutely nothing unless you constantly phone and email them (!!),  packing and then the mahooosive task of unpacking and cleaning the new house (WHY O WHY do people think it acceptable to move out of a home without properly cleaning it? I know I am slightly, ok quite a lot, OCD about cleanliness but this place was something else...) Anyway, I digress....We are now happily settled in our new home, T has returned to school after a fabulous 6 weeks off for the summer and whilst I have had time to make a few bits and pieces, I've only had time to update my Facebook page, rather than indulge in a whole blog post. 

So, here I am back with a quick update. (It has to be quick because I need to do the school run in about 20 minutes and abandoning my son in favour of blogging wouldn't go down well at the school gates!)  I've added some pics in below of some of the latest creations. Apologies to those who look at my FB page because most of these have already featured on there!

The early summer and spring time saw a bit of a baby boom amongst friends or friends of friends and I seemed to be making endless strings of personalised bunting for new babies. Really loved doing it though and the positive feedback from the recipients was well worth cutting out all those flags and letters!  I also started using some fabulous cotton fabric sheets that you can use in the home printer....these worked really well for printing on birth dates to the bunting to add that extra bit of personalisation.

I also had a request in the summer for some Back-to-School pencil cases. I've mentioned before how clothing and accessories for boys are really tricky unless you go down the branding/licensing route...and the pre-teen market is particularly hard to please.  I sat down with 10 year old Ben and had a chat about the sort of thing he might want...and ta-dah, came up with this design.  The fact that he described it as 'AWESOME' when I presented it too him, was heart-warming and made me want to jump for joy.  He is a lovely boy and might just have been trying to spare my feelings but he did seem to genuinely like it!

Of course, his younger sister, also needed her own pencil case too.  Found this lovely print by Michael Miller with lots of pretty colours for a 7 year old girl.

Since moving in to the new house, I've become slightly obsessed with creating mood-boards on Pinterest as inspiration for our new home decor.  Some of the rooms in the house are just great the way they are, but quite a few (6 to be precise) are in need of attention. Given that our budget is limited and that I am more than capable of a bit of DIY, I will be undertaking the redecoration myself. Although not quite the same as 'making' things, it is still a creative process and therefore I thought it would be an idea to record on here the transformations as they occur....as long as I remember to take the 'before', 'in progress' and 'after' photos of course!  I appreciate this isn't particularly interesting for anyone else and I'm not about to offer my skills as a Painter & Decorator, but it will serve as a nice record for me and give me a sense of satisfaction when I look back at the posts. 

First up, T's Room: Being the selfless mother that I am (??!!), I put any plans to decorate our bedroom on hold in favour of making our son's room look far more fabulous than it was. The huge smile, big hug, kiss and 'Thank You Mummy...I LOVE it! made the hard work all worth while.  I'll do a proper 'interiors' post once each room is finished (this one really does need a new carpet to finish it off and some new bedding, but that's on order and won't arrive until late October) Therefore, in the meantime, here's a few pics of how a 6 year old boys room is looking after about 10 days of sanding and painting!

I found this brilliant wall decal online through amazon..available from lots of sellers. It was a bit of a bugger to apply and I definitely lost a couple of Caribbean islands in the process but really pleased with the end result.

One of the door stops I'd made earlier in the year, fit in perfectly with the World Flags theme and contrasts brilliantly with the green feature walls.

Can't take the credit for the flag bunting...that was supplied by the Cotton Bunting Company. Great quality and vibrant colours.

I wanted to put up some inspirational wall art above T's bed. Love the sentiment on this piece from Lana's Prints via her eBay shop and thank you to her for printing it on the blue background especially for me.

So there we have it...I've broken the silence...back in the blogging game....and only just in time for that school run.....!

Finally on Folksy....

I have, at last, pulled by finger out & set up my online storefront, hosted by the fabulous Folksy site

www.folksy.com/shops/BinkleandBungo

Folksy showcase 'Modern British Craft', giving little hobby crafters like me the opportunity to promote and sell product online. However, I do have my reservations as to how successful it will be given the amount of sellers that have product on there, so I'm going to trial it, push my page a bit and see if it generates any sales.

Time will tell...

Ceramics and I...Time to go our separate ways?

It's been a fair old while since I've posted anything on here, which only goes to show how useless a 'blogger' I am.  In order for a steady traffic stream and to increase my audience, I should really be posting something at least weekly, if not daily! However, I am under no illusion as to how interesting this is for other people (amusingly, the post that still gets the most views is the one in which I mention my 'Dukes of Hazzard' cushion....those poor people searching google for something interesting about Bo & Luke Duke and all they get is some woman banging on about children's textiles!!).  I really would rather be making things or spending time with family & friends as opposed to sitting at a laptop/playing with my iPad  in order to regularly 'blog'. I am therefore being kind to myself and (trying) not to get annoyed that it's another thing on my 'to do' list that often isn't achieved. 

That said, thought I'd just add in some of the work I've been doing this term at college in my ceramics workshop.  I have (I think) decided it's the 'end of the line'  as far as ceramics go...for now anyway. I've signed up for the Summer Term but will probably not be returning in September. I've absolutely loved pretty much every minute of it and really do feel I've learnt a new skill, but without investing an awful lot more money and time in it, I feel I've reached as far as I can go for the time being.  I could, of course, start working on new forms of 'ceramic art' such as sculpture, but I really prefer more functional pottery and wouldn't know what to do with a bunch of pottery heads or such like (besides, it would just make me think of that dire 1980s Lionel Richie video 'Hello'). One day I will return to it I am sure and my dream of owning my own potter's wheel might come true eventually. For now though, I am so very very pleased that I decided to take the plunge and spend the money on the course. I wake up every Friday with terrific excitement to be going into college and sometimes can't sleep on a Thursday night for all the ideas buzzing round my head....but more than that I am grateful to it for reminding me how much I love to create things and giving me that little push to start doing so again (Gush, Gush, Gush!)

So, anyway, here are a few pictures.  More and more bowls being produced...each one a little less wonky than the last and I've been having a good old experiment with glazing, combining different colours and enjoying what happens to them when they mix in the kiln.  

Whilst I once thought it was impossible to have too many 'general purpose bowls' (rather like cushions!), I am beginning to think that perhaps it is...I would have to make a serious amount of tapas to fill them all now, so decided that perhaps jugs are the way forward...chunky, rustic ones - perfect for displaying freshly picked flowers from the garden.

There we have it. Just 10 more weeks and my love-affair with the potter's wheel will be over..(probably....just whilst writing this I am wondering whether I might change my mind come the summer!) I hope to decide on a new area of  crafting to have a go at later this year.  Not sure what yet, but there are so many to choose from, I would certainly like to learn something new.  Maybe I'll start work on a fabulous quilt, or knitting, or crochet, or or or....

Come ON spring...

                                   

This winter seems to be dragging on forever. Motivation and energy have been seriously lacking. The first couple of months of a  new year always feel like a bit of a false start to me.  Christmas is over, the decorations packed away and you're ready for the new year, a new start, new ideas...yay! Then you realise it's still rather cold and dull and dreary and dark, but there is no festive season with it's cheery celebrations to enjoy and chase away the gloom.... Suddenly spring feels like a long way off and the temptation to hibernate  with mugs of hot tea and wedges of chocolate cake takes hold. That said, the first snowdrops are appearing in the garden, and the days are slowly getting longer...so there is hope on the horizon & spring flowers (nearly) in bloom.

Once again this year I have succumbed to moaning and shuffling my way through January, not really getting much done, but I'm determined not to waste February as well. Therefore, in an attempt to focus the mind, I thought a new post featuring some of my latest handcrafted 'makes' might be a good place to start:

First up a gift for a good friend. Another of my zipped pouches, but in a fabric chosen specifically for the Birthday Girl. 

The feature fabric is by textile designer Kate Spain for Moda & as soon as I saw it and it's  peacock feathers-inspired lovliness, I knew it was perfect!

The young daughters of 2 sets of close family friends also celebrated birthdays just recently. It does get difficult to buy gifts when you know they are going to get loads of presents...and we've only just had Christmas. So I decided to make them both name-banner flags to hang in their bedroom/across the end of the bed/along a shelf/on the door/over a window.......

As with many of my gifts for children, I wanted to use fabrics that would last the girls for some years to come and not feel too 'baby-ish'. Hopefully, these flags will do the job!

A new little product I wanted to get going on this year was doorstops. A friend of mine had requested one in the same style as one I already have propping open our kitchen door. It wasn't something I had made, so the challenge was on to make one the same....a bit of tinkering later...and da dah! I didn't just make one however,....I made LOTS:

These make a great gift for yourself or someone else, with fabrics chosen to co-ordinate with the rest of a room. Fab for a child's bedrooms too...to prop that door open at night-time and keep the scary dark at bay!!

So there we have it...proof that I have done SOMETHING in the first few weeks of this year! Next up are another couple of orders for toy bags and then I'm planning on utilising some of my ever-expanding stock of designer fabrics to create some products to (hopefully) sell on my 'yet-to-be-set-up-but-always-on-my-to-do-list' Folksy site.  That's the plan anyway...let's hope for no more snow, or I'll be back moaning about the weather with that hot cup of tea and chocolate cake, achieving very little, other than an greatly increased waistline!

New Year....New Ideas....

Love this banner...not my own work I'm afraid..but that of Two Chikkadees....

So, 2013 is here already. T has been back at school for a week, I made it back to the gym (only once but hey, it's a start) and I've completed my first couple of orders of the new year.  We had cupcakes to celebrate this afternoon.....

Not the most beautiful of cakes but they tasted good!  I am full of admiration for the talented individuals who can decorate cupcakes with style and finesse, producing the most amazing works of art. My problem (combined with the fact that I'm just not very good at it!), is impatience .  I am such a lover of CAKE in it's many forms, that I always hurry through the icing process to enable me to eat them as soon as humanly possible!

Last weekend I did a bit of fabric sourcing for a drawstring bag order.  There are so many gorgeous new Spring/Summer prints already appearing, that I'm really excited about using them for projects that I'm going to start working on in the coming weeks.  I have lots of ideas for some more textile home-wares....doorstops, table mats, coasters, floor cushions and beanbags. I  also want to develop some  protective fabric covers for mobiles, iPads/tablets and Kindles; and of course, I will be making more of the zipped pouches, coin purses, tote bags, cards and personalised children's gifts that I've really enjoyed making recently and have proven pretty popular. Over the coming months I also want to look into producing more 'stock' items from my ever-expanding fabric stash, with the aim of setting up an online shopfront via Folksy or Etsy. With this in mind, I feel I need to develop my 'house style' when it comes to photographing my work. Consequently the images that appear on my blog may change from time to time whilst I experiment with different options. Phew! Sounds like I might be busy...and perhaps need a few extra hours in the day....

Anyway, before this drags on too long, a little note about the orders I completed this week.  Firstly there was a bag which was made as a gift for a friend of a friend & their new baby boy, Monty.  These drawstring bags work really well as new baby gifts as they can initially be used as useful storage for nappies, muslins, accessories, clothing and then as the child grows up, they can become toy bags or kit bags for nursery/pre-school.  I found this really fun fabric from Birch Organics which I thought was perfect for a little boy and the neutral colours will work with most bedroom decors/tastes.

I used my favourite natural cotton/linen base fabric and then personalised the bag with Monty's name and a cute star that make a feature of the little robot. The bag was lined with a bright, bold orange cotton to match the flames coming from the rockets.

...and finally, I also made a little collection of 'spotty' coin purses this week. These were little 'thank you' gifts that a friend requested.

Until next time, thanks for looking....E x