Pre-School...

D started Pre-School today (i think this is what Americans call Pre-Kindergarten?). We have both been looking forward to this moment for a long time, he is definitely ready for it and although he is still enjoying being home with me i do feel like Ive hit a bit of a parenting brick wall and need some time to recuperate from the last 3 years of being a full time stay at home mum. I only had one day when I felt a bit teary eyed about this new stage in our lives, worrying that his attachment to me would weaken and that he would prefer being with other people or in a different environment to being with me. I'm going from being his 'everything' to being his 'sometimes' and that's a little bit wounding. But im also excited about the new friendships he might form, the new things he will learn, and just by how much pleasure he is bound to get from his days (God willing). And for me, well I have a huge to-do list to fill up my days right up until Christmas, il share it with you next time.

Whilst at home after pre-school (today he did half a day) we noticed this Red Admiral fluttering about between our house and the fence and after a minute or so of to-ing and fro-ing it settled on the fence, so i grabbed my camera and popped outside. They are very common in the UK but still so special and beautiful if you stop to look.

Yesterday we picked Damsons from our trees and found abandoned carrots in the veg patch for a quick crunchy snack, and today we went blackberry and elderberry picking in our local park.

Im thinking we shall be making a blackberry, damson and elderberry pie, and after another trip to our trees and the park bushes i think there may be enough fruit for jam too.

Making a windmill...

D has always loved wind turbines and windmills as we see them pretty often around here. There's a windmill just down the road in the next village which is currently up for sale for £975,000! You can see photos of it here. We see it over the farmers fields and beyond the tree tops on our way to our friends house, the carboot sale, and when ever we go to Wistow. There's a wind turbine which we walk to at Brock's Hill just round the corner too, otherwise known by D as a windmill or Winter-bine. They fascinate me too and perhaps that why they appeal to D.

We made our own Windmill yesterday using a card template, a battery and a motor. We coloured it in together and D helped me to put all the pieces in the right places. It was a bit fiddly for a three year old but he was very helpful!

The battery and motor connect at the back and make the blades spin around using a small piece of dowelling and an elastic band.

It is a bit flimsy and i needed to use a thinner elastic band than the one supplied but it works ok with a few jolts here and there and a bit of messing about with the elastic and the dowel. D likes it, and i quite like it too actually, its a nice little first home project. 

D is starting pre-school tomorrow (exciting!) so I'm hoping this is the start of a new phase where we can start having projects on the go - we have lots of old ladybird craft books with fun things to make from old junk!

The windmill kit was supplied for the purpose of review by RS Components who are testing the kit to see if it could rolled out on a larger scale. 

The lithium battery, DC motor, and wire used in this project were supplied by RS Online, the world’s leading high service distributor of electronics and maintenance products.

If you are a blogger and would like to conduct this task with your child, please get in contact with RS Components Marketing and register your interest.

Pin holders...

Most of us Muslim women use pins to hold our scarves on our heads, but i am yet to meet any who know how to store their pins! We lose them on the floor, stick them in wall hangings, leave them sticking out of the sofa or slotted into our purses. So i thought id make some tiny wall hung pin holders for my friends this Eid.

To make your own all you need is felt, embroidery thread, a needle, some ribbon, and buttons. Cut your felt into rectangles approximately the same size as an iPhone.

Sew two different pieces of felt together, right sides out, leaving a gap at one short end. Take a piece of ribbon (one of those hanging ribbons which most tops / dresses have on their shoulders to keep them on the clothes hanger is what i used) and tie the ends together in a knot. Tuck the knotted end between your felt and continue to sew around the rest of the rectangle making sure to stitch the ribbon in as you go. Try to make sure that your knots at either end of your embroidery thread are concealed between the felt pieces so that they are not visible, as these pin holders are double sided.

Find two buttons and hold them both on either side of the ribbon and stitch them on together, at the same time. When starting, keep the end of your thread long so that when the buttons ate securely stitched on you can knot the other end of your thread with it like in he photo above.

After making a double knot snip the threads as close to the button as possible, nice and neat so that the pin holder can be hung from either side. I used a pink button on the blue felt and a blue button on the pink felt.

I added a faux (plastic) chandelier crystal to the bottom for decoration and extra weight but you could sew on a row of buttons or beads instead. 

I added a pretty pin so that my friends could figure out what the heck i had made for them!

You can give these out as gifts wrapped in book pages and washi tape, i used colourful pages from the books i made my Eid cards from.

Each one takes about 15 - 20 minutes to make! They could also be used to hang earrings, or minus the chandelier bit they would make lovely bookmarks. They are simple and inexpensive to make (as with all of my craft projects!) - the felt was bought on eBay years ago, the threads were picked up in charity shops, the buttons and chandelier crystals were bought at auction and the book pages came from a book i found in a charity shop. The washi tape is from Paperchase.

Get making!

Twit twoo...

Every year after the Eid which comes straight after Ramadhan we go to an event in Markfield which is on the outskirts of Leicestershire. Its a fun day for kids really but me and my hub used to volunteer there pre-D and now we go so that he can enjoy himself with the clown, bouncy castles, icecream, candy floss, pony rides, small creature handling, Eastern cuisine and party games. My favourite part this year was the falconry and me and D held a hawk and he was also the first to hold a 9 week old falcon which had never been held by anyone other than its handler before!  Here he is beckoning it over with a day old chick in his leather gloved hand (the beckoning also involved calling its name out, which rather funnily was 'Bottom'!)

I held the hawk and felt so in awe of it, it was so sturdy, observant, intelligent and very beautiful in a masculine sort of way. I felt a little medieval for a few moments and totally grounded.

There was an owl fascinating me with its moon round face and glassy eyes, never relaxing whilst it perched, flew or ate. Listening, sensing movement and vibration, so focused. Keeping its body so still even in flight with wings moving fast and wide.

I have one more Eid post coming up, i want to share with you the gifts i made for my friends, simple but very useful for us Muslim ladies!

Making Eid cards...

Do you make your own cards to give to friends and family? I absolutely love making them and there is so much inspiration out there on the Internet, in books and magazines. If you haven't tried making your own then i think you should! It doesn't have to cost a lot and you don't have to get lots of supplies. Here's how i made this years Eid cards...

SUPPLIES:

1. An unwanted book with illustrations or postcards / old cards.
2. Card and envelopes.
3. Glue & scissors.
4. Stickers.

METHOD:

1. Fold your sheets of card in half and make sure you have the right size envelopes. I used blank cards and envelopes from my crafting shelves but you can buy them cheaply from Wilkos / WHSmith etc.
2. Cut out images from the book / postcard / old cards to fit your card and try different layouts until you find the look your after.
3. Glue them down leaving space to spruce up your cards with stickers.
4. Add stickers and write out your greeting in your own handwriting for a personal touch.

I used really old postcards found in lots of old paperwork older than me!

I also used an old children's book and found all the images which were from the Islam influenced stories and cut them out to fit.

I bought the felt stickers on eBay last year and any others are from Paperchase.

The tags which i wrote 'Eid Mubarak' on were from a pound shop years ago. Eid Mubarak is a way of saying 'festival blessings' a bit like 'Merry Christmas'.

I used a vintage Christmas card for the last one (it was the three wise men but i cut two off to make it look more like a Muslim woman and her camel!)

And that's it, easy peasy cards with recycled papers.

Total Cost :: I didn't have to spend a penny for these as i used recycled images and craft stuff i already owned.

Time Taken :: I made 7 cards in about two hours.

Smelly pencils...

I was sent some scented pencils last week which i wrapped up for D to add to his little pile of Eid gifts. They smelt delicious as soon as i opened the packet and ive given them all a good sniff and they are yummy smelling.

They are called 'Fruit Shoot Smencils' and are based on the very popular drinks which most parents give to kids. We don't buy them but i have had an internal panic attack when friends have given them to D, eek! 'Moderation' becomes my choice inner chanting word! 

They are made from 100% recycled newspaper (yay!) and each pencil is inside a biodegradable plastic tube to keep the scent in. Ive had a scribble with them and the scent wafts up, and using the eraser is scrummy too! Its a shame they weren't coloured pencils, but they do come in colours too.

We needed some new plain pencils anyway so these were a much appreciated gift. If you would like some yourself then you can enter a Facebook Competition to win a pack - it ends at midnight on Friday 14th Sept so there is plenty of time but do it now before you forget. The competition question is: 'If you could create a new Smencil flavour inspired by a favourite food, drink or confectionery item then what would it be?' .... hmmm... i think id like honey flavour... yum!

These pencils were given to me for the purpose of review.

Eid-ul-Fitr 2012...

Yesterday was Eid which means the end of Ramadhan and the enjoyment of food (and cups of tea) again! We visited family in Coventry the same as we do every year and had delicious Pakistani food. It was a terribly hot day! I was slipping in and out of consciousness after eating - so hot, so full, so tired.

I bought most of the baubles in the January sales from John Lewis for 49p and the rest in charity shops. I tied them to some embroidery thread and hung them with fairy lights.

All the other decorations are about 30 years old and were my husbands grandmas.

In the morning before we went D came downstairs to find decorations and a few small wrapped gifts. Then he was out in the garden in his pj's by 6.45am playing in his new sandpit with his new diggers! He spent three whole hours out there, completely absorbed. 

We like to dress in our best clothes; I loved D's Eid outfit this year...

Shirt: Ralph Lauren bought for £5 in the sale and shorts: From Next but bought on eBay.

Even though the two Eids are our only days of celebration each year we still dont go nuts with extravagance and partying!  But we are encouraged to be more tolerant of things which we might not enjoy elsewhere in the year. A little bit of music and singing, gifts, special foods, more socialising, all in moderation (although we dont do the music / singing bit in our house). 

It is narrated that Aishah (wife of the Prophet Muhammad) said: " Abu Bakr (her Father and the ruler of Islamic affairs after the Prophet Muhammad's death) entered upon me and there were two young girls singing. Abu Bakr said "Wind instruments of the Shaitan (Satan) in the house of Allahs messenger?" It was the day of Eid. The Prophet Muhammad said "Oh Abu Bakr! Every people have their Eid and this is our Eid". In another narration it is said that the Prophet Muhammad said " Let them be oh Abu Bakr, for these are the days of Eid."
(Hadith No. 2061 (892), Book of Two Eid Prayers, Sahih Muslim, Vol. 2)

Eid is a day when fasting is not permitted, a small amount spent in charity is compulsary for those with the means to pay it (and the recommended amount is only about £3 per person), and there is a morning prayer which all are encouraged to attend.

I still feel excited at Christmas time but im getting there slowly with Eid, ive been Muslim for almost 8 years now and a Christmas lover for the other 20 years of my life. One day God willing Eid will win!

A parcel from the USA...

At the end of last week i received a wonderful parcel all the way from the USA! I had entered Jodi's 3rd blogiversary giveaway and was delighted to find that i had won! Jodi is an artist with an interesting life and has a blog full of bits of this and that. I like blogs like that .

Me and D opened up the box together to discover all the little gifts inside, it was very exciting.

He claimed the chalk board sticker as his own and it now adorns his wardrobe. I love the pointed tips of the old chalk which Jodi sent, ive never seen chalk shaped in that way before.

I absolutely love the card, very simple but vivid too, and the old style of illustration on the Rosebud Salve and the Black Currant tea tin. I am yet to taste the tea as there just never seems to be enough time in the evenings for it after breaking our fasts, but the teabags are made of silk and look too good to use! I am really looking forward to tasting it though, i might make it my Eid day treat!

I do love the way blogging brings strangers together and can bring friendships from anywhere in the world. Id like to say again to Jodi, thank you so much for everything, and to everyone else, have a look over on Jodi's blog 'Curious Acorn'...

Still trudging along...

For me, Ramadhan is not always a time of spiritual fulfilment or the overwhelming feeling to do good and escape the bad. It has me trudging rather than skipping along. I have all the good intentions to spend more time in worship, to read more Quran, to do better things and be less pessimistic about life in general, you know, just to be a go getter, a happy, skippy, grateful, human being with all the love of God in the world. But a few days in it all fails and I'm left lifeless, begrudging, ungrateful, tired, and definitely not skipping. This is my eighth Ramadhan and it is also the one with the longest fasts. We are just past the half way mark, I am getting weary, although thankfully God is making the actual abstinence from food / drink part of it not too hard for me at the moment, Alhamdulillah.

Ive just been trying to keep busy, some days i manage, others i am too exhausted. D is patient with me, for the most part he hasn't noticed me slowing down. As long as his day has an ice-lolly or ice-cream in it somewhere then he is generally pretty happy marshAllah! This dear boy of mine, has to have one once a day, every day, i make ice-lollies myself using just pure fruit juices so i know they are healthy, next up i need to start making ice-cream. In the meantime though, i cant recommend 'Kelly's of Cornwall' ice-cream enough!

Some of you will know about my love for Cornwall, and so i often buy proper Cornish ice-cream with clotted cream, it is just deliciously creamy. D likes one scoop in a cone and i like it in a bowl either by itself, with fruit, or melting over a warm dessert.

We had guests round the other evening and they both ate some and couldn't believe how delicious the clotted cream and honeycomb flavour is, we all marvelled over it for some time actually! It is so soft, as soon as its taken from the freezer its soft enough for easy scooping. Yum, i am craving some now... an hour to go until dinner time.

D has also been picking peas in the garden now that the strawberries and raspberries are over for now. We didn't raise many pea plants this year but the ones we've eaten so far are so fresh and sweet.

Also last week i finally got around to hanging this years calender!!! I know, i know, terrible. Its a William Morris one which i bought in Cornwall last year and i love every single pattern. I've loved the work of William Morris for a very long time but just never had the right house for a full wall of his beautiful wallpaper.

And finally, i just wanted to share this absolute bargain with you, i bought these pretty pink fairy lights for just 10p recently, i haven't found the right place for them yet (much to hubby's delight!) but i just love a string of fairy lights, I'm thinking il be using them outside somehow.

And now to go and prepeare dinner, its an easy one today - Jacket Potatoes with cheese, beans, coleslaw and salad, followed by key lime cheesecake, a new one for us!

The Kelly's of Cornwall Ice-cream was given to me for the purpose of review but we do genuinely buy this brand most often which is why i asked to review it.