"Every Child is an Artist....". (Getting Kids Crafty Part 1)

"Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up."
-  Pablo Picasso

source: unknown

As much as I want to believe the words of Picasso, if this recent article in the Guardian Newspaper: 'End of the creation story? Design and craft subjects decline in schools', is anything to go by, forget about being a creative adult, even our children will struggle to be artists and will grow up ignorant of the creative arts. This makes me sad.

So sad, that I've decided to climb upon my soap-box and have a little (well, not so little as it spans 2 blog posts!!) rant on the topic......

Whilst I obviously appreciate the need for education to focus on academic subjects in order to get strong foundations in place, our children still need a diversity of learning throughout their time at school. There must be a balance if we are to allow children to discover their interests and talents - in whatever field they may lie. I for one know that my time at school would have been far less enjoyable  had I not had the chance to take courses in textiles and design technology...I mean, 'Come On!' Who didn't get a buzz from the achievement of making a knife rack in woodwork?!!. For me these were the lessons that offset my boredom in learning about the Periodic Table or Chaucer and his Canterbury Tales. I could put up with the subjects that didn't interest me because round the corner there was something that would. That made school ok. 

Photo Source: Drew Kelly. NY Times

Quite apart from providing a more fulfilling education, according to research carried out by The Craft Council, studying creative subjects teach transferable skills that all children can take into their adult life.

"Learning craft skills has a range of educational benefits: it fosters creative thinking, innovative learning, visual awareness, skills which aid cognitive development, as well as haptic skills (the sense of touch).


Craft skills also provide children with a firmer grasp of the 3D world, which in turn develops problem solving skills. These are important to all manner of professions, including manufacturing, medicine and software design.

Practical learning, including craft, can have positive impacts on behaviour and on the extent to which pupils engage in school. Evidence shows that pupils who are positively engaged in learning are less likely to have behaviour problems."

Along with changes to the focus of the curriculum, it would appear that funding cuts are largely to blame for the decline in craft subjects in schools and higher education. Resources are scarce and the teacher training, space and equipment required to run such courses is expensive. Instead investment is concentrated in those areas (such as elaborate I.T suites)  that are deemed to produce more economic wealth in the future , but as Rachel Williams in the Guardian states far better than I could:

Source: http://www.vam.ac.uk/page/h/handmade-in-britain/

"The decline (..in education) sits strangely with the growing popularity of crafts, both in the luxury goods market and at grassroots level.....It's a sector that makes a contribution to the economy and has the potential to be a much greater export business as well. There's a dissonance between the way craft is perceived by the public and amongst adults, and the way we're investing in supporting schools to keep that happening.

.....there are countries that have absolutely recognised why the UK is so good at creative arts and they're looking to replicate it themselves. The number of art and design colleges China has opened over the last 10 years has been phenomenal. When production has been so decimated in this country, to put design at risk is just fatal."


Of course, we do live in a far more digital world now - children, boys especially, are often drawn to building imaginary worlds on an iPad using 'Minecraft' instead of using Lego. They race cars on a games console rather than setting up a Scaletrix track and playing with actual cars. I'm not saying the advance in digital disciplines is disastrous and I'm certainly not against progressive change, just that it shouldn't be at the sacrifice of the 3D , physical world. Without a digital context, we are in danger of making crafts 'uncool'. It is however possible for the two to compliment each other, using technology in the design process whilst still actually 'making' using our hands and tools.

Source: Minecraft

The Craft Council are working hard to re-introduce crafts into schools with initiatives and partnerships such as Craft Club  and 'Firing-Up' (encouraging and helping teachers to re-fire dormant kilns in schools and allowing kids to make things from clay) but these are all too often extra-curricular, outside the school day and rely on parent or carer volunteers or teachers putting in extra hours.  

Unless there is a sudden u-turn on government policy and an injection of cash into arts education funding, it appears that it will become our responsibility to ensure our children lead creative lives.

To be continued.........x


(If you liked this article, please see my blog post 'Sticks and Stones' which continues on from this one) xx

Grey. The perfect colour chameleon.

At the risk of sounding like I'm trying to write an article for 'Country Homes & Interiors' magazine, I've decided that now I've had some time to reflect on my latest major creative project - The House - that I should really include a post about it, and what I've been trying to achieve.

For me, despite my love of being out and about, travelling and holidays, there really is 'No Place Like Home' (as Dorothy so rightly told us in 'The Wizard of Oz'), and whilst we felt settled in our house (surrounded by our furniture, photos and 'things') from the moment we moved in, it is not until I've made my mark on a place by decorating it that I can really relax and feel that I've created 'our' home.

There was nothing particularly terrible about the way the house was decorated when we moved in. There was no swirly carpet or dodgy wood-chip wallpaper. There was  however a great deal of what I labelled  'nicotine yellow'. Nothing wrong with yellow at all, but this particular shade just felt a bit grubby and dingy, - like stained off-white walls in a working mens club! So, I set about obliterating that nicotine yellow with light, refreshing, calm, airy, wonderful grey. Lots and lots of wonderful grey.

I used to hate grey. It always made me think of dodgy grey-marl sweaty sports t-shirts and I would never have imagined a decade ago that I would be living surrounded by so much grey.  However, grey now tops the list as the most popular neutral in home decor and I too, have jumped on the bandwagon. ..not because it's a 'fashionable' colour (well, perhaps just a little bit!) but because it's rise in popularity has led to the creation and availability of a huge variety of shades which I've discovered are the perfect backdrop to our home. There have been articles about the rising popularity of grey being linked with more austere times. I'm not convinced. More interesting than white, more modern than beige, I just think that everyone got a bit bored.  Grey co-ordinates well with other materials and other colours. It is the perfect colour chameleon.

Many shades of grey are what's known as 'cusp colours'.  "They're WHAT?" I hear you cry! Well, let me tell you: Our brains store colours under definite groupings. However many grey shades are on the cusp of 2 or more of these groupings, so our brains are unable to store them as an exact memory - you have to keep looking at them to know what colour they are and once you walk away, it is very hard to precisely visualise it again. This is why I love them. They look different in different light and their complexity and depth means that even though 'everyone else is doing it', it is possible to pick one that feels unique and will work well in any home, whether modern or classic.   

For the greys in our new home, I turned to my trusted paint supplier, Little Greene - an Independent British Paint Manufacturer. 

I first came across Little Greene when I was researching products for painting kitchen cabinets in our old house. I uncovered the website Tradition Painter which features advice from painters and decorators about hand painting furniture and kitchen cabinets. One of their decorators, Andy Crichton wrote an interesting piece about 'designer paints'. The outcome of which was a recommendation for Little Greene 'Traditional Oil Based Eggshell'. I bought some. I was converted.

One of the great things I like about these paints is the very matt, chalky finish. The oil-based eggshell has a very (very) low sheen which means that the imperfections in old woodwork trim (dents in the skirting boards, layers of old paint - chipped off but impossible to sand back) are not quite so glaringly obvious. Of course, I could have spent hours and hours sanding out these imperfections, or replaced old woodwork with new but, aside from the fact that life is too short for all that faff, I quite like these marks of character in an old house. They hint at it's history. They tell it's story. 

So, now I've revealed my obsession with grey paint, here's a little bit about the rooms  that I've decorated with grey. (Get me and the little montage mood boards I've put together - not very professional but I tried!).

For our bedroom. I wanted to create a light, fresh, calm, relaxing space, so used Little Greene's 'French Grey Pale' and 'French Grey' which have undertones of lilac-blue.  It's now one of my favourite rooms (and not just because sleep is one of my favourite hobbies!!) 

The hall, stairs and landing are painted in 'Pearl Colour', with woodwork in 'Pearl Colour Pale'. Pearl Colour was created in association with English Heritage as a traditional Georgian shade, so perfect for our Georgian farmhouse. It took me nearly 6 weeks to complete the project, but whilst I got very bored of the painting, I never once tired of the shade, which changes from cool grey to grey-blue to grey-green as the light moves around the house during the day . I love it!

Oh, and I did have time to dust off the sewing machine whilst working on this project. Old doors = Draughts. So, I made a coordinating draught-excluder for our big old front door, with a handy handle to hang it on the hallway coat hooks when not in use.

For our family room I wanted to create a cosy space for use in the colder months of the year. The room has a toasty log burner and chunky dark stained ceiling beam. I wasn't too keen on the exposed brick work surrounding the fireplace, but decided to embrace it  and go for a rustic, warm scheme combining the shades of our solid stripped pine furniture, with chunky knit throws, faux fur cushions and checked fabric. Again, I found time for some sewing and made the window seat cushion in a lovely 100% wool from British fabric manufacturer, Alfred Moon, in their grape Balmoral check. With hints of mauve and lilac, French Grey emulsion paint on the walls again provided the perfect neutral background.

So there we have it. My slightly pretentious post about interior design! I still have 3 more rooms to go, which will undoubtedly feature some grey shades here and there, but with the majority completed, I do feel that I've done it. I've created our home.

What the Blog's it all about?

Coming back to my blog after a few months away from it, I've been reminded, despite my initial self-consciousness in starting it, how much I actually now enjoy it. I've been tweaking the layout and updating the content....learning how to add things, editing my photographs..and in doing so I've realised that the whole blogging 'thing' is a creative process in itself.

If you are a blogger yourself, this post will be a little irrelevant, because you're probably hooked already, but I thought I'd write a little about why I've (proudly) become something of a 'blog addict'.

Before I got involved in blogging, I, perhaps rather cynically, thought it a somewhat self-indulgent outlet for people who have too much time on their hands. Essentially nothing more than an elongated Facebook Status Update?! 

But, NO! How wrong and quick to judge I was. Delve inside the world of blogs and bloggers and you can discover a treasure trove of information, inspiration, and fascinating opinion.  

Parenting, lifestyle, beauty, sport, DIY, culture, cars, gardening, technology, travel, health, trainspotting (YES! trainspotting) You name it, there will be loads of blogs on the topic. Some are better than others. Many are very very funny (except perhaps the trainspotting ones...I doubt they're very funny...sorry Trainspotters!) Only today a friend shared a blog post on Facebook from Hurrah For Gin ...LOVE the name... which had me 'laughing out loud'...(can't bring myself to use the acronym 'LOL').

The word 'Blog' comes from the term 'Web Log', basically a term for an online journal or diary. But many people in the blogging community generously share tutorials and advice on how to make and do things too. I often find myself turning to other blogs for advice on how to add something to my own. Pam at DIY Design Fanatic, for example came to the rescue when I found this post about how to add social media buttons, and when I try my hand at new skills, my first port of call is now always a blog. (Saving money on books and magazines until I know it's something that I'd like to take further).

The wonderful 'Bloglovin' is a site where you can follow all your favorite blogs (yes, this blog is on it too!!) in one place and find new, interesting pages to look at.

You choose the blogs you want to follow and then receive a personalised feed of posts from those pages. It will also suggest blogs of interest based on those you're already following.

Obviously it favors the popular 'big players' with relative newcomers like me only getting a look in if you actually know the name to search for, but nonetheless we all have to start somewhere.

So, if you're new to the whole concept of blogging, or have always dismissed it as I once did...then why not say to yourself  "Hey, you know what? I'm going to throw aside my preconceived opinions and ideas and try something new today"...Get yourself over to 'Bloglovin, browse some topics that tickle your fancy (yes, that is 'fancy'...had to be careful of typos there otherwise I might be getting myself a whole different kind of readership!!) and you might just find someone who has something interesting to say...Oh, and be sure to follow me, Binkle & Bungo too!

E xx

P.S Don't forget you can leave (nice or constructive) comments below. Just click on 'comments', scroll down to name/URL and off you go..and if you have a website or blog yourself, please feel free to add it for me to look at and share x

Creative Hibernation

Rather like the bear in the John Lewis Christmas ad, I've been in something of a hibernation for most of the winter. 

Whilst it would have been SO lovely to have actually spent the last few months sleeping soundly (my favourite hobby!) in a warm, snug cave away from all this relentless  wind and rain. I haven't.....

Instead this is what my life has been all about:

Colour Cards, Flat Matt Emulsion, Intelligent Eggshell and lots and lots of Polyfilla!  As I mentioned before, we moved from our cottage to a big old Georgian farmhouse back in the summer which, whilst in pretty good structural shape, was in need of a bit of TLC decor-wise. Now, I LOVE interior design and could bore the socks off anyone about the merits of Little Greene Paint over Farrow & Ball  and whether Elephant's Breath is a nicer shade than Skimming Stone BUT when it comes down to the practicality of putting that paint on the wall, I struggle. I REALLY struggle. Unfortunately when you buy a house that is rather too big for your family of 3 + Labrador, there isn't much money left in the kitty to get the professionals in. Therefore, life has gone pretty much on hold whilst I've sanded, primed, rollered and painted 5 rooms, 2 bathrooms and a hall, stairs and landing including all 44, yes 44 (!) bannister spindles. There have been melt downs, spilt paint and many a bad temper but finally after approximately 200 hours of redecoration, the end is in sight.  Don't get me wrong, there is still more to be done, but the offensive rooms are finished and the rest can wait.

So I'm back. This blog will undergo a little 'redecoration' of it's own over the next couple of weeks and then onwards and upwards with creative tinkerings and dabbling with crafty stuff.

Until then x

<a href="http://www.bloglovin.com/blog/11811871/?claim=9dvt5c3g6yx">Follow my blog with Bloglovin</a>

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.....!