Moving On

So, I am still trying to work my way through the unfinished projects,  I finally gathered my courage, took out the new sewing machine (bought about 4 months ago, used twice), and sewed up my very 1st pair of trousers for Oscar. The fabric I had was only a small piece, which I bought on Ebay thinking it was larger (my mistake), so I knew I would only get 3/4 trousers out of it, but I really wanted to try. They turned out not too bad, just a little bit wonky but perfectly wearable. I couldnt believe it.

Sorry about the photo quality, there is a funny light in here this morning. Anyway, I was motivated to move on to the cushion covers I promised my Mum (she bought the fabric for me ages ago). I cut out the sizes using an old cushion cover as a template, tacked the edges, took out the machine, and then discovered I had no orange thread, (the fabric is orange obviously). I was a bit annoyed with myself, but thats how it goes I guess. So I popped myself into bed with my knitting instead, (still the weekend jumper, know this week as the long weekend jumper haha).

On a totally different subject, I wanted to share a little find of mine, have you heard of Zoya? I was looking through my favorite blogs last week and noticed a lovely shade of blue nail polish on someones toes. I actually had my toenails painted blue, but the shade was a bit brighter than I had wanted. I then started to ponder on the 'healthy' option of nail polish (I know, too much free time leads to silly thoughts). There is no such thing as 'organic' nail polish, since nail polish is a chemical compound cocktail, but there are healthier options available (primarily formaldehyde free). Enter Zoya, I found this one to be the nicest and I was really pleased how it went on, plus the range of colours is fantastic. You can take a look HERE, but I bought mine on Ebay for £7.99 incl p&p.

Its something to think about isn't it. I cant afford to throw out my entire makeup bag, but I may start looking at organic or healthier options once things need replacing. I can see this being a long term project.

Valerie

xxx

 

Goth Baby

Oscar used to have a really big interest in witches. We watched with much amusement and wondered how long it would last. It lasted 6 months (a long time in the life of a 2 year old). It was swiftly replaced with all things 'spooky', ghosts, monsters, skeletons and skulls. We think the whole thing is hilarious.

Last week we were shopping for Aimee's birthday when Oscar spotted a big black T-shirt with a skull on it, and asked us to buy it. It was a mens T-shirt and far to big for him obviously, so we went to a few childrens shops looking for skull T-shirts. We found some orange and blue T-shirts with skulls in his size, but he said 'put that one back Mummy, Oscar like the black one'. You cant argue with that, so we bought a plain black organic cotton T-shirt.

Add an old bib, some fabric pens, and some stitching and what do you get?

Oh yes, and o you know what every trendy Goth Babies favorite movie is?

Coraline of course. The Coraline doll is hand stitched, her body is a pillow case, her hair is wool, her hair clasp is a card decoration, and her skirt, coat and boots are felt.I may try and swipe her back to do stripy legs.

As you can see, I am getting through the unfinished craft work.

 

Meet Annie Rose

I am now going into overdrive (my mind anyway), about moving. Moving and packing and cleaning, and sorting to be precise. Not only that but we have put off potty training twice already, but is this really a good time? The first week Oscar had the bad cold (we all had it), and the second week Duncan was on holiday, so I figured we would be out and about more (although the weather put the dampers on it a lot). Anyway, my plan for today was to finish off a couple of projects. The first one being Annie Rose.

Oscar is a big Alfie and Annie Rose fan (the Shirley Hughes book series), hence the name. I bought the pattern from Etsy and she is made with pure wool, including the stuffing. I think she is pretty cute, and I can see a little Alfie on the horizon (after the move).

I also did a little T-Shirt for myself based on this design HERE

Mine was done with Dylon dye pens left over from Oscar's birthday T-Shirt for his Daddy (no pics as yet). The pens are great and a lot less messy than paints.

And finally, its my daughter Aimee's 20th birthday today, so a birthday cake baked by Mum was required.

Happy Birthday Aimee, your's is the last one in this house. Scary and exciting.

Edit:

While I was in the bedroom putting this post up, my little guy came toddling upstairs to see me. He has gotten pretty good at the stairs lately, but he was wearing his chunky outside boots and he hadnt had a nap so was a little wobbly on his feet. Before I knew what was happening there was an almighty clatter and my poor little boy fell down a full flight of stairs. It seems a nasty bruise is developing on his cheek, but luckily thats the worst of it. Annie Rose had her share of tears and cuddles earlier than we thought.

 

Three Went To Neverland

We are still house-hunting as I have mentioned before, so today we set off nice and early for an adventure into the (relative) countryside. Neither Duncan or myself drive (although Duncan has the 1st part of his test booked for next month), so we went by bus.

Oscar was very excitable at the bus station, hence the harness, but he soon settled back on the bus for the 1 hour journey.

Of course mama took this oportunity to do another weekend jumper.

When we got there, we were totally enchanted by the house. It has 5 bedrooms over 3 floors, but it isnt  a 'grand' townhouse type place, its a charming old cottage type place with an attic conversion, curly staircase and outbuildings. We could'nt take any photos's of the house right now, but I did snap some pictures around the village.

Old Fashioned Phones Boxes

And a statue of Peter Pan

And in case you think thats odd, I had better explain that we were in the birthplace of JM Barrie, Author of Peter Pan.

Its a lovely little place with all the normal array of shops, including a wool shop which has a knit and natter' on Wednesday afternoons ( fab for mama). There is also a few little pubs, and a craft centre, and the usual bank, post office, library and school. Can you tell I am excited?

We had a phone call later this afternoon to say that if the paperwork is good, the place is ours!!!!

It looks like 4 will go to neverland and possibly not come back.

{this moment}

{this moment}

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. Soule Mama

Corners Of My Home

If I happen to have any spare time (that isnt taken up with knitting, sketching, or housework), I am back-reading the lovely Soule Mama's blog. I had no idea it had been going for so long, so its going to take me a while to read it all. In amongst all of the other loveliness are two features I really like, one being {this moment}, see tomorrows post for that, and 'Corners Of My Home'. You can find Soule Mama's Corners posts HERE, and for today here is a picture of a corner of my home. We live modestly and I try and buy 2nd hand when possible, but this is one of my favorite corners in the lounge.

 

About Us

Welcome

Hello and welcome to 'Mama's Little Beats'  I'm Val Beattie, Mummy to three living children Christopher (age 22), Aimee (age 20) and Oscar age 3). On Friday 27th April 2012, I delivered a tiny baby girl at 11 weeks of pregnancy. We named her Ellie Rose. Ellie because we like it and Rose after my grandma Rose. She was never in our arms but will be forever in our heart.

I am happily married to Duncan and together with our 2 cats, we live on the East coast of Scotland.
Both Duncan and I are art school graduates and we are always striving to keep the creativity alive in our home. I hope you enjoy the blog, thanks for stopping by.
Val
xxx

Saturday, May 21, 2011

A Saturday Treat

My husband is quite a thoughtful soul, and allows me a lie-in every Saturday. Now I dont know about you, but that doesn't mean sleepy time to me, not when there are blogs to read, emails to check, and this

And this

And this

Have a lovely weekend everyone.
xxx

Friday, May 20, 2011

Belated

I didnt post here last weekend because I was quite busy, but I wanted to say belatedly that it was my darling husbands birthday on Saturday and he turned 35. We had a relaxed day with tea and birthday cake in the afternoon

 

In the evening I cooked him his favorite carnivorous dinner and we opened a nice bottle of wine. Belated birthday wishes darling, you mean the world to us.

A bit fuzzy but one of my favorite photo's of them

Thursday, May 19, 2011

Just Lovely

When you live on a housing estate (hopefully not for much longer!!!) in a working class Scottish town, its easy to despair of books filled with rosy cheeked grubby children wading in puddles and playing with pine cones. I have a security camera on a pillar 50 feet from my house. The pharmacy at the end of my street dispenses methadone to a waiting que at 10am every day so we have to avoid it. There is glass in the park, shopping trolleys occasionally half way down the hill, and comings and goings at all times of the day and night from some of the more dubious residents of our street. You can see why I want to move? But this book didn't depress me, it was quite uplifting on a cloudy afternoon when I had a migraine hanging over me.  For a little while I forgot where I was and saw the wonder all around me through the eyes of a child. I will also be following SouleMama's blog from now on.
Thanks SouleMama, you got through where many others have failed.
SouleMama

Monday, May 09, 2011

Sensational Sunday

I decided yesterday that I couldn't stand another day stuck at home, for me or the little guy. When I realised we hadn't set foot out of the door since last Monday, due to this rotten cold, I made up my mind to head out.
There is a science center where we live, that neither myself or my husband had been to called SENSATION. Although its billing says its for all of the family, no one seemed quite sure if it was suitable for under 3's, but since they were running baby sensory sessions we figured we would give it a go. And a good thing we did too, because the littlie LOVED it. So much so, he was crying when we dragged him out 2 hours later.

Needless to say, he was asleep when we got there.

But some juice and a snack soon sorted him out

Then the fun began

Needless To Say, Many Of The Photos Are Blurry, Because He Never Stopped Moving

But Remarkably, He Made A Friend With The Same Name As Him

Sunday, May 08, 2011

Finally Feeling A little Better

Lets just say I am not a very good patient. Have I ever mentioned I trained as an ENR (Enrolled Nurse) straight from school? Well I did, as a mere 17 1/2 year old, and did you know that Doctors, Nurses and other Medics are normally bad patients? I think my husband can testify to that.
After a few false starts (the littlie refusing to go to sleep and squirming around our bed until late-o'clock at night), I did manage to pick up a couple of good books. The first book was The Everyday Family Wholefood Cookbook,

a strange bedtime read you may think, but I love cookbooks ( feel free to shout out your favorites, I collect them avidly). If you are a skilled veteran in the kitchen its probably a bit basic for you, but I loved it. Its written in association with La Leche League GB and has healthy recipes to suit everyone. For weight-watchers like me, the added bonus is, each recipe has the nutritional information listed too (calories, fat, sodium etc). I paid 1p for it plus postage, you cant argue with that can you.
The 2nd book, I have just started, but its a proper cup of tea, cozy cardi, in bed type of read, called The Help.

Its blurb says its 'the other side of Gone With The Wind' The black maids, trusted with the white children but not the silverware. The book is set in 1960's Mississippi and is funny and shocking at the same time. The only thing I would say is, its written in the characters accents, which I don't mind, but my husband hates, so if you hate it too, be warned.
I may even fit in some reading today because its shaping up to be a grey wet Sunday out there. I hope its better weather elsewhere. Have a nice Sunday, and let me leave you with a picture of my little ray of sunshine.

Friday, May 06, 2011

S'not Good

On Monday I had a scratchy throat, on Tuesday morning I had a light spring cold, but my Tuesday night I had a full on blocked up, pounding head, watery eyed, prickly skin, fevered cold. I spent Wednesday and Thursday with a blanket round my shoulders feeling very sorry for myself. Today doesn't seem to be shaping up much better and last night I developed a cough which is agony. On the plus side I had a reasonable nights sleep possibly due to no naps during the day when I desperately needed one and a good few doses of cough mixture. When you are a stay at home mum with no one to help out, you just dont get sick days, life goes on as usual whether you are ill or not.

Chocolate bunnies need eaten

Cuddles with mum, teddy and cookie monster are needed

Train tracks have to be built

Glitter paintings have to be done

And bread still has to be baked, via the bread-maker ;)

 

Have a good weekend everyone, and don't worry too much, Daddy will be taking over the reins come evening and I am going to bed with a good book., a bottle of cough mixture and a giant box of kleenex.

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Tuesday, May 03, 2011

Loving

We are currently loving

Home Made Bread

 

The Gruffalo

Laundry

Building Towers

The Sunrise Shade We Painted The Lounge

BBC 3 - Bringing Up Britain Season

Info Here 

To Name But A Few..........................

Monday, May 02, 2011

Bank Holiday Random Photos