So it's one week to Halloween and I have been making things for it, as you may have seen from yesterdays post where I show you the origami pumpkins I have made. I have also been making some other origami Halloween things and I will be showing them later in the week but you can spy a couple of them on my desk below.

I have been having great fun using the origami and Hollie has enjoyed seeing how a piece of paper can turn in to things. We've been having great fun with the pipe cleaners, googly eyes and coloured paper.

Right I'm off to make some more bats. See you soon.

Linked up at Stamping Ground for what's on your work desk Wednesday. 

I love to make things using origami, like flowers and stars and so when it came to Halloween, I really wanted to use some origami. I came across this tutorial to make pumpkins and thought I would give it a go. 

I thought the tutorial was easy to understand and I quite enjoyed making them.

I made some big ones and some small ones.

To make the pumpkins, I used to some 8 x 8 orange paper, black pipe cleaners and black pen.

For the small ones, I used 4 x 4 inch paper. I did think they would be too fiddly to make but they were fine and Hollie really the little ones. 

The pipe cleaner fits neatly in the top of the pumpkin and then I just bent it slightly. You don't need to use of the pipe cleaner for each one so one pipe cleaner can go along way!

The big pumpkins are made from 8 x 8 inch paper.We made some with happy faces...

and some with mean faces.

The best bit for Hollie was the point when you have to blow air into the pumpkin to inflate it and they come to life. 

These pumpkins were really easy to make, didn't take too long to make lots and we had the paper and the pipe cleaners in Hollies craft box so we didn't have to buy anything extra. Even better. 

However, I decided I wanted to make some other things, using origami, for Halloween and so that meant a trip to Hobbycraft. Won't say no to a trip to Hobbycraft!

 I have some more origami Halloween crafts to come later this week. See you then.

Linking up to Sew Much Ado , Clean and Scentsible, Somewhat Simple, The 36th Avenue, The Shabby Creek Cottage, Yesterday on Tuesday, Chic on a shoestring, Polkadot Pretties, Sew Can Do, Skip to my lou, A Bowlful of Lemons, Todays creative blog.

Hollie has been in school all day for 2 weeks now. I get asked if I miss not having her at home but to be honest, I don't. That might sound mean but we were beginning to get on each others nerves and some time apart I think will make both of us appreciate each other. 

This is a photo I took when she started all day.

Hollie loves going to school and makes friends very easily, which is great. She loves being able to wear her school uniform and take her lunch box to school.

As I have mentioned before, she loves to go outside and play and so when she found she would be able to do sports and activities, she liked that idea. 

This photo was taken when she started at the beginning of September. 

She is a true poser!

Anyway, I am loving being able to get more done around the house and organise and craft more. I can actually say that it has really helped clear my mind, being able to get things done.

However, I realised today that school finishes next Friday for half term for a week and so I'm sure that will make her a little confused as to why she can't go to school that week. I must find things to keep her entertained that week, maybe some Halloween crafts. 

Anyone got any ideas for activities or crafts, would love to hear them.

Hope you have a good week and are looking forward to the weekend.

Yesterday I showed you my desk and the things I had out to make a card and maybe use a sketch to do it.  Well I decided to use the Retrosketches sketch #33 and make a Christmas card using the stamp set and washi tape that was on my desk.

 

Stamps - Marion Emberson Sparkling Christmas | Red washi tape | Gems - Ebay | border punch - Martha Stewart Lacey Doily.

I have followed Julia's blog at Stamping Ground for a long time and loved to look at the what's on your work desk posts, but never joined in but today I was inspired to join in.

Here is my desk this morning as I was getting things out to make some cards, maybe using some sketch challenges from this week. 

I am the type of person that will tidy away everything when I have finished crafting as my daughter will be playing with it otherwise and can focus better when there is less stuff on my desk. 

I really love washi tape at the moment and am trying to sort out my stamp storage as I can't decide whether to store them all in binders or some most used in CD cases so it's easier to grab.

Also I have rearranged my craft space, as any of my family will tell you, I don't sit for very long and get bored (or inspired, which ever way you look at it) to change things around. I will show you some pics when I have finished arranging. 

Happy Wednesday.

I have really been struggling with making cards recently until I came across some cards that had used a lot of stitching on the cards. This seem to get my creative juices flowing a bit but I also decided to use the Skipping Stones Design sketch 148 to help me complete the card. 

When it came to creating the strips I struggled a bit with the measurements, trying to make it fit nicely. I still ended up making it smaller than it could have been but it looks fine. 

I recently won a prize in a give-away that Paper and Strings did and I got to chose some items and I chose this brown American Crafts ribbon among some other things. Really like it . 

This is the sketch.

Paper - Basic Grey Lemonade | Stamp - My Pink Stamper Fabulous phrases | Ribbon - American Crafts | Button - American Crafts | Pin - Ebay | Butterflies - Martha Stewart punches | Glitter - Stickles.