Harry Potter Party Part One

Miss M recently turned 8 and is currently Harry Potter mad (bordering on obsessive but then that’s her character and another conversation!)  so we threw her a Harry Potter themed party.  I put loads of time and energy into this party and it was so fantastic that I have to share it with you.  We had actually had to rearrange the party due to illness so it was month late.   Be warned, this might take a while….

The first thing you need for any party is the invitation.  This sets the tone of the party as well as giving the necessary information and this invite most defiantly set the tone.  It was constructed like a letter from Hogwarts itself!

November 2010

Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore (Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf Warlock,,

Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. Of Wizards)

Dear Miss
We are pleased to announce that you have been accepted into Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry for pre-Christmas lessons. Classes will be held on Saturday 18th December 2010 from 3pm to 5.30pm and will be hosted by Hogwarts’ newly appointed Headgirl, Miss M. There will be a final examination at the end of the day.
Please take the Hogwarts Express train to Hogwarts Academy currently disguised as the Muggle home at home address. There you will find the magical door visible only to Hogwarts students’ friends and families. The password is flibbertigibbet. The surrounding area is well-protected by Memory Charms, so it will be safe to practice magic, however please come dressed in Muggle attire so as not to attract suspicion from passing Muggles.
You will be sorted into your House upon arrival and receive your House school robes and wands. Parents are reminded that first years are not allowed their own broomsticks.
We are looking forward to your arrival at Hogwarts. Please respond by owl to email address or Muggle telephone system with a yes or no response.
Sincerely

Minerva McGonagall
Deputy Headmistress, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

I picked up the text from a number of places and all the resources are at the bottom of the second post.  If I stole your ideas in what I’ve done, I thank you from the bottom of my heart!

The invites were printed on thick parchment paper and the envelopes had the Hogwarts crest on them instead of a stamp.  There was great excitement in school when she handed them out and lots of squealing!    We actually asked all the kids to come in their school uniform which was a bit weird for a party on a Saturday but it added to the whole Hogwarts experience. 

When the kids arrived the first thing we made them do was to try Bertie Botts Every Flavour Beans, or rather Jelly Belly Bean Boozled Beans. 

In case you can’t read the text, there are identical beans in the box, one good, one bad!  The bad ones are Centipede, Toothpaste, Canned Dog Food (I managed to avoid that one!), Vomit (I didn’t manage to avoid! Blurgh!) Mouldy Cheese, Rotten Egg, Baby Wipes & Booger!  There were 7 girls at this party and they were so brave trying these flavours, and let me tell you, they were disgusting!  There was loads of screaming, squealing and disgusted faces, it was great!  To be kind I offered them some Smarties in between to take the taste away, one girl in particular seemed to get all the bad one and no good ones!!

Can you tell the difference?

Next stage was to sort the into houses.  Matt had made a Sorting Hat by covering a Halloween witches hat with brown paper. 

The Hat had a hidden pocket into which we hid a phone which was set on loudspeaker, I lowered the hat onto their head while Matt was upstairs in the bedroom and read out a little poem to sort the kids into either Ravenclaw or Gryffindor.  The kids loved it, they couldn’t work out how that happened and Miss M still doesn’t know!  Once they knew which house they were in they were given their robes with the House badge on.  These were large black adult t-shirts which had been cut down the middle and I’d put on the house badge using iron-on transfer paper which you might remember I had little frenzy of activity recently!

Next on the list was wands.  For this we went to our local Chinese supermarket and found long wooden chopsticks which Matt then painted and decorated. 

Each wand was unique and had a label stating what wood it was made from (Holly, Elder, Willow etc) and its core (Phoenix Feather, Peacock Feather, Unicorn Tail etc). 

In the wizarding world there is a concept that the wand choses the wizard so we covered them with a fancy sheet and the kids had to move their hand over the label and select the one which ‘called’ to them.  I wish we’d managed to come up with some better interactive kind of way of doing this like flashing lights or sounds but it worked ok in the end. 

Here they all are with their robes and wands, doesn’t their school uniform make it perfect?

Scary!

More in the next post……………..

I shall be linking up with all these lovely link parties this week

Slummy to Yummy?

I’ve been writing this blog for a year now and in that time I’ve made some clothes that I’m quite proud of and have worn a fair bit but when I look at the clothes in my wardrobe and drawers I’m thoroughly uninspired.  I’ve never had what I would consider a ‘style’ I’m usually found in jeans and t-shirt and now I’m in my late 30s I feel its all wrong.  Don’t get me wrong I’m not wanting to reach for the polyester slacks from M&S just yet but I’m fed up of looking like a Slummy Mummy and I want to be more Yummy Mummy!   Where I really want to be is to have a capsule wardrobe based on some really great drafted patterns that I know SUIT me and FIT me so that I can go fabric shopping, see a fabric, think that will look great made into such and such dress, know how much fabric to buy and know that I have a reliable pattern at home waiting to turn this fabric loveliness into  my next favourite garment. 

So how do I go about doing this?  I guess the biggest consideration is the right style for me, I’m most defiantly pear-shaped with large thighs, saddlebags and a wobbly tummy (alright I’m working on it but it takes a while, geez!) and ok boobs.  The rules for me seem to be

• Fitted top half
• Empire waistline
• Princess Line cut
• A-line skirts
• Flared Skirts
• Wrap Dresses and Tops
• Jackets and tops should end at the hipline
• Avoid pleats and front zips on tummy
• No gathering on the waist
• No bias cut dresses or skirts
• Frilled hem on skirts (Yuk!)
• Slash-neck/Sweetheart/v-necks/boat neck/cowl necklines to widen the shoulder to balance hips
• Puffed/Gathered/Ruched/Fluted/Flared sleeves to draw the eye upwards
• Dark colours at the bottom, light colours at the top (exact opposite of what I’m wearing today, no wonder I don’t feel like I look good!)
• Nothing above the knee
• Dark wide legged trousers
• Bootleg trousers/jeans with minimal decoration on the butt
• Longer length trousers
• Wear Heels as much as possible (probably my biggest problem, I not a big shoe fan and heels defiantly not.  I’m usually found in flat shoes and when I do buy nice clothes I find I haven’t got the shoes to go with it!  Something major to work on….)

Sources (BBC, Shape Your Style, Women's Republic, Suite 101, Life tips, You Look Fab

 

Well I guess I need a list (love lists, I’m so Type A!) of what patterns I need and then work on drafting those patterns.  I got loads of sewing books for Christmas so really I have no excuse but my own procrastination!  I’ve also been browsing the Boden catalogue, which is always a source of inspiration to me, in fact it was looking at the lovely fabrics and the prices in there that made me start to sew clothes anyway. 

• Shirt pattern (can be easily adapted for seasons and styles, fitted, loose, long sleeved, short sleeved etc.)
• Tunic pattern? (not sure about this one, often think I will look pregnant in most tunics on the high street atm)
• Dress pattern
  • Wrap Dress (Everyone says for my pear shaped body types this is the best shape, I’m not convinced myself as they always seem to be made of clingy jersey which drapes on my wobbly bits in the wrong way)
  • Cotton summer dress (have one in my wardrobe I can copy and use Rivera Dress as inspiration!!)
• Skirt Pattern (already have an reliable a-line skirt pattern, what else do I need?  Circle? )

So what's my plan? Well I think I should start with shirts.  I think I can smarten up my appearance quickly and easily by making some shirts that I can wear with my existing jeans & flat shoes.  A few months ago I started using Cal Patch’s Design-It-Yourself Clothes to draft a shirt pattern but when it came to making it up the armholes were very wrong.  It all got put aside and no more progress was made on it.  So I shall get it out again and see if I can get to the bottom of the problem, I might scrap it and start again! 

Favourite Shirt – Boden

So what about you?  Are you happy with your style and your wardrobe, what changes would you like to make, what clothes would you like to see in your wardrobe?

Don’t you just love the postman?!

I got an email the other day to say that Crafty Ribbons were having a sale selling bags of ribbons for £1 where they are normally £5. Well it would have been rude not to take a look…..  So today there was a knock at the door and there was my postman with a bag of goodies! 

Bauble

Country Christmas

Christmas Tree (all to go away for next Christmas)

Rainbow

Pink (cos I have 2 girls…..)

 

Purple (Miss M’s current favourite colour)

Valentines (well duh!)

Don't they all look beautiful, I have no real plans for them but I just want them in my stash.  They still have some more available, check it out most of the bags are 8 metres of ribbon!

Menu Planning

I've been using a menu plan for a couple of years now, it started one January when I had 2 freezers full of food but no idea what to have for dinner, so I went through the freezers and wrote a list of all the food and allocated it to days to eat so there was a variety of food each week rather than the same thing over and over.  I found that I had enough food to feed us all for 30+ days!  I just had to buy fresh fruit, veg and dairy stuff.  Thats why I love menu planning, I find I spend much less money and we eat much better food.  I'm not very decisive when it comes to chosing what to eat, left to my own devices I would eat spag bol or chicken & rice every night so having the planning part done aleady makes life much easier.  I'l also a little too Type A not to plan things!!

My menu planing has evolved over the last few years but what I've always done is a monthly plan.  I know that freaks some people out to know what they are going to eat at the end of the month but I find it works well for me and allows me to buy stuff in when it might be reduced and stick it in the freezer knowing that I'll use it next week.  At the moment I have themed days dependant on the families activities

• Monday - Leftovers from Sunday Dinner
• Tuesday - Veggie Day (to reduce meat intake and reduce spending)
• Wednesday - Mince Day*
• Thursday - Slow Cooker/Casserole Day (busy day after school and need something on the table when we walk in the door)
• Friday - Something seperate for kids and Parents, usually we all eat the same meal but on Friday I like to cook sponething special just for the grown ups
• Saturday - Family Treat meal
• Sunday - Roast Dinner, gotta be done!

* I cook mince in the slow cooker with onions, grated carrots, soya mince, herbs, red lentils, stock, and any veggies that are knocking about.  I cook this up until the lentils are softened and then freeze into portions to cook for our family.  We are 2 adults and 2 kids so I usually cater for 3 adults.  This Mince Base is then used on Wednesday to make Spag Bol, Chilli, Cottage Pie, Curried Mince, Meatloaf.  It makes  the mince go further, is cheaper and healthier than just basic mince and can be made up big batches to be more efficient.  

I use a spreadsheet in One Note to record all the plans so then I can just look straight there to see what we are having that day, you can print it out or display on one of the many menus you see around blogland but I prefer to leave it on the computer.

From Little Birdie Secrets

Usually what I do first is a stocktake of the freezers to see what I currently have, often leftovers from batch cooking or casseroles, I put them into the spreadsheet on the appropriate days.  I also check the calender to include any commitments we already have, parties, visits out of town, meals out etc.    I've come up with a collection of recipes which fall into these categories (some are in more than one category) and then I can pick and chose a casserole to put into Thursdays column, mince meal in Wedneday, Veggie meal in Tuesday etc etc.  I collect recipes from all over the place but mainly on the web.  I make sure that I keep the links otherwise I can never find them again!  For this I use One Note again, I find it a great organisational tool, the ability to write notes, add links, spreadsheets to perferct for the way I work.  I like to collect information, present idea, recipes, holiday ideas and then review them later and One Note enables me to do this well.  

Tuesday - Veggie Day

·         JP Cheese & Beans

·         Lentil Burgers

·         Lentilese & Pasta

·         Potato & Green Lentil curry

·         Chickpea Curry

·         Red Lentil Curry

·         Pasta with Pesto

·         Pasta with garlic & Parmesan

·         Veggie Lasagne

·         Savoury Vegetable Crumble

·         Pasta Primavera

·         Roasted Root Vegetables

·         Macaroni Cheese

·         Pasties

·         Lentil & Cheese Pasta

·         Cowboy & Bean Pot

·         Potato & Bean Bake

·         Spicy Lentil Layer

·         Vegetable Crumble

You'll note that a lot of them come from MoneySavingExpert forum, thats another great tip of mine!  A brilliant group of posters on there with all sorts of information, money saving tips, deals, offers, recipes.  Seriously even if you don't want to check out yet another forum sign up for the weekly email as it will save you money!

Monday Leftovers	Tuesday Veggie	Wednesday Mince	Thursday Slow Cooker	Friday Matt & Louise	Saturday Treat	Sunday Roast
03 Turkey Curry	04 JP Cheese &  Beans	05 Pasta & Meatballs	06 Savoury Crumble	07 Spaghetti Carbonara	08 Turkey Fajitas	09 Roast Gammon Dinner
10 Gammon & Pasta in tomato sauce	11 Lentil Burgers Potatoes & Veg	12 Mince & Sweet Potato  Pie	13 Turkey Casserole	14 Lentilese & Pasta	15 M&C Party M&L?	16 Roast Beef Dinner
17 Cottage Pie	18	19 Spag Bol	20 Sausage Casserole	21	22	23 Roast Lamb Dinner
24 Sheppard's Pie	25 Veggie Lasagne	26 Tomato Meatloaf	27	28	29	30

So this is my January Menu plan, as you can see there are still some things left blank later in the month just to add a bit of flexibility.  If I batch cook a casserole I can immediately allocate that to a day, if OH suddenly puts in a request then I can move things around quite happily.

SO do you menu plan?  Do you do it weekly,monthly, I did hear about a woman who planned a whole year!  Are you a pick it up from the shop on the way home kinda girl?

Book Report - Philipa Gregory - The Virgin's Lover

Well I said I wanted to read more in 2011 and I thought I would use by blog as a way to make myself commit to that desire.  I'm planning on listing the books I want to read and then post a book report when I've read it.  I think it will be interesting to look back on the books I've read and see where they come from (recommendations,  presents, impulse buys etc) and which I've enjoyed.  I would love your feedback on books you loved and comments on my thoughts on the books I've read.

Last night I finished Philipa Gregory - The Virgin's Lover, I know that's cheating as 90% of the book was read in 2010 but I wasn't recording my reading then and it's my blog and I make the rules! 

I've read other Philipa Gregory books previously (The Constant Princess, The Other Boleyn Girl, The Boleyn Inheritance,  Earthly Joys, Virgin Earth) and I've always enjoyed the history intertwined with fictional plot turns.  Of course there is the basic outline of the historical fact and I know there has been much criticism of this style of historical fiction but I enjoy it.  I've found it an easily accessible entry into history and made me think about and appreciate British history in much greater detail than before.  The Tudor period is one of great upheaval, revolution, renew, scandal and politics.  We feel today that modern actions have massive repercussions (WW1 & 2, emancipation, sexual revolution, female equality, class wars, computer age, Gulf War, 9/11, Boxing Day Tsunami) but I think we forget all that has gone before, we forget the actions of Kings and Queens when they had political and religious power, sometimes the same thing and the consequences of these actions.  The breakaway from Rome by Henry VIII has changed the course of British history in an unprecedented way.  

The Virgin's Lover covers the early part of Elizabeth I reign.  Queen for 44 years her reign is now seen as a period of stability with the most famous Elizabethan undoubtedly Shakespeare but many other Elizabethan figures including Sir Francis Drake.  During the period of this book she had two great concerns and obsessions, Scotland and Sir Robert Dudley.  Due to the religious politics the French are threatening to invade Scotland on the pretence of defending Mary Queen of Scots but this would be a staging post to then invade England.  Having lost Calais back to the French in the previous monarchy Elizabeth was in great fear of the French and of losing the Kingdom she had waited and fought for so long to be the monarch of.  Coupled with that the fact of being a woman in a position of power at a time when women has no rights of their own and no power over their own lives.  This has been the aspect of Philipa Gregory books I've enjoyed the most, the study of how powerless the women were, even high-born women.  The powerful families of the day (Bolyen, Howards, Seymours, Dudleys) would use their women as political pawns to marry, seduce, entrap and breed with power makers to further the families positions.  Women had no say over who they were to marry, sleep with, befriend.  They had no possession, no means of support other than their families and therefore are slaves to their families desires.  Even Queen Elizabeth, supposedly chosen by God but still questioned by the men around her was expected to marry well to form an alliance to strengthen the English Crown and Country.  We know now that this didn't happen, she never married and portrayed herself in later life as the Virgin Queen,  although this book cast major doubt on that status!  

The Dudley family was a major political power family during Tudor times and due to the flip-flopping of religious power in England during years proceeding Elizabeths reign the family although close to the Tudors had fallen in favour.  Robert Dudleys father and grandfather has been executed for treason and he himself had spent time in the Tower of London condemned to death until a reprieve.  At this time Elizabeth was also incarcerated in the Tower and even if they did not meet at this time (having already grown up together) I'm sure this experience would have bonded them in a way no other would understand.  The Dudley family was power mad and although Robert had already married Amy Robsart he preceded to woo the Queen.  He was a renowned womaniser and was well practised in seduction and Ms Gregory would have them succumbing to their desires, Elizabeth to have a man to support her in the undoubtedly difficult role of monarch at a time of great risk and upheaval, and Robert by the temptation of being so close to the throne, in fact he came to see himself and King and making moves to usurp the Queen herself.  The slight problem on a living wife seems not to have stopped either of them much.  You would have thought the experience of Elizabeths mother, Anne Boleyn, would have steadied Elizabeth's hand in matter of the heart but she waded in and fell in love with Robert.  

The story winds its way to conclusion with political twists and turns and illuminating Elizabeth to be not a powerful decisive monarch as I previously would have defined her but more a indecisive, self-protecting individual, more of Blackadders spolit brat Elizabeth than Judi Denchs regal Shakespeare in Love Elizabeth! 

Coincidentally the film Elizabeth was on TV over Christmas which I have recorded but not watched yet.  It will interesting to see another version of Elizabeth and how that portrayal will differ from my previous image of her and this new version of her.

So that was my experience of this book, I thoroughly enjoyed it and look forward to reading another of hers The White Queen although the order I've read her books in sometimes can be confusing as they have not been chronological correct!  

Have you read it?  Have you read any Philipa Gregory, what do you think of dramatisations of historical facts, do you think we should just look at the cold facts or do you think its valid to apply dramatic licence to flesh out the facts into a story?

Blogiversary

So I've been writing this blog for a year now, can't believe its been that long.  The intention of this was to document all the things I wanted to make and, well, to actually make them!  So how well have I done?  The list on the right has certainly changed in the last year.  A couple of things are still on there from last Christmas but most things have been completed.  New things arrived through the year and completed, other things have remained. 

So out of the the things left over what will I remove, what will I add?

• Make Banners for the girls  (staying, planning on redecorating Miss M bedroom this year so I think I'll see if she likes this idea)
• Make Gingerbread House for Christmas! (Have actually got the felt for this but ran out of time before Christmas)
• Learn to crochet (remove, I did have a little try one time this last year, but I've come to the conclusion I'm not a yarny person, fabric all the way for me!)
• Draft clothes for the girls (definitely staying, in fact this is my big intention in 2011 to really learn how to draft and construct clothes both for me and the girls.  I had a little go at this a while ago but I need to redo the measurements with the knowledge I gained from my first attempt)
• Try out my new Ruffler Foot!!!! (staying, I had an unsuccessful attempt which is why I haven't removed this yet.  Had a few teething problems which I will definitely resolve in 2011)
• Peasant top (staying)
• Ra-Ra Skirt (staying, had one of these when I was a kid and the girls would love one)
• Split skirt (remove, only so many projects I can do!)
• Make One Hour Sundress (remove, ditto)
• Make Ruffle top or even Dress (probably stay, although I don't think it will be high on list of priorities!)

things to add....

• Make a Christmas Tree Skirt
• Make loads of cushions for Miss M bedroom
• Make a quilt (maybe for Miss M)
• Make a Rag Doll each for the girls
• Make clothes for Barbie
• Make some clothes for a Build-a-Bear Bear (anyone got a pattern or tutorial?)
• Make some clothes for me using some of the resources I got at Christmas 
• Read more books (I know this isn't a crafty thing but I'm setting out my stall for 2011 so I'm going to commit myself here.  I think I'll use Richard & Judy as a starting point and see where those books take me. )

What have I enjoyed making this year?

• Advent Calender

• Purple skirt for me

• Superhero cape

• Skort

• Dresses

• Frilly top (which I happen to be wearing today!!)

• Pencil Roll

All in all I've had a great crafty year and I'm glad I've committed it all to this blog.  I'm glad I've got ideas for next year and all the wonderful blogs I follow will give me more ideas along with all the books I got at Christmas time.  I'm glad that there are wonderful people out there who read this blog and occasionally give me feedback on what I'm doing and hopefully next year I can give you more opportunities to tell me what I did well!

Didn't I do well!

So how was is for you?  Here it was manic, lovely but manic.  We had ALL our family staying here!  So normally there are 4 of us in this house yet on Christmas Night there were 9 of us and 1 in hotel (he's the cleverest of all of us!) so it got very busy.  Because of the snow and bad weather they all turned up 1 or 2 days earlier than originally planned so that's a lot of cups of tea, lots of meals, and lots of people! Add to that my DH  has not been feeling well due to a cold which I now seem to have caught and you see how busy its been.  Now we are down to 2 extra people staying here so that's much easier!  Today being Boxing Day there has been football all day so I had a lovely hour and half on my own catching up with Eastenders (Gotta be done!) which was the longest time I've had on my own in over a week!  We had the same amount of family staying last Christmas and right now I'm think that next Christmas I NEED a quiet Christmas with just us to worry about rather than EVERYONE else.  We lost my mother 5 years ago and her absence is felt strongly at these significant times of the year and I had a little moment last night when I came to bed and realised how I'd been running around like a fool trying to make everyone elses Christmas perfect and since my mother died there was no-one trying to make my Christmas perfect IYKWIM.  You know how us mothers are sometimes we need some mothering ourselves and without a mother to do it sometime we forget.  Anyway.......

For my Xmas pressies I had made a list of craft books I wanted and look what I found under the tree ......

.... plus some that got stuck in Scotland due to the snow that should get forwarded on to me in a few weeks!  Can't believe I've got so many craft books now!  Its nearly all the books on my list (my brother is particularly generous!) not sure where I'm going to put them all!  What about you, did you get some lovely crafty books.  I'm thinking that I might make some of the Christmassy things now rather than leave it til next December and rush it.  I already know I'm going to make a Tree Skirt so maybe I can get some Christmas Fabric in some sales and get a bargain! I'm also going to make the Gingerbread House that I've been threatening to make since last Christmas, I actually have the thick felt I need but I ran out of time.   I think we need lots and lots of red Nordic felt decorations so that shall be on my list and most of the Tilda books!    I shall be updating my list of what I've achieved and what I want to do in the next few days as amazingly its my blogiversary!  Time to take stock and assess what I want to do!