Homeschooling - My New Journey

I am about to start a new chapter in my life - Homeschooling!  I already believe I am a part-time homeschooler as I already monitor my children's education and help them along the way with subjects they don't do at school or subjects they need a little extra with and of course great arty projects together! We will be starting once they have finished their current school term which isn't far away!

I bought some cupboards from the thrift store/ charity shop a few weeks back that I thought would be great to store all the homeschooling books. This is placed in the girls' bedroom.  The cupboards were made from different shades of wood but with a bit of sticky backed plastic the cupboards work really well together now!

I also used the same sticky backed plastic for other parts of their bedroom so that the cupboards blend in well with the rest of the room. It is hard to tell from the photo but the noticeboard hanging on the right also has the same sticky backed plastic placed onto the pinboard part.

The walls of their bedroom were all plain and I didn't want the cupboards to spoil the feel of the bedroom so we used some wall stickers on the wall to brighten the room up a little.

Sharing with you some other thrifty items I have bought recently which will hopefully be used for our homeschooling adventure:

 

This is a double sided board. Wipeboard and Blackboard! 

This is a laptop cushion holder.

 

I will hopefully be sharing some new craft adventures in connection with our Homeschooling.

Matching Aprons Mini Tutorial

 

Here is the tutorial I promised for the aprons that I made for my giveaway a couple of months back.

Here is the link to the original giveaway post: giveaway-winner-apron-surprise

 

Requirements:

• One long skirt
• Apron string (or you could use some other fabric and make your own apron ties)
• Buttons (optional to adjust neck string.)

 

Instructions: 

 

Step 1: I cut the skirt down the sides where the hem is, so that I have 2 pieces of skirt.

Step 2:  I trimmed the skirts to the size that I wanted. (I used an apron that I already had to get a good estimate of apron shape).

Step 3: I Hemmed all the sides to make them all neat and tidy.

Step 4: I cut and attached the apron strings to the neck of the apron. ( Again I copied the size of another apron.)

Step 5: I cut and attached the waist string to the apron. (I chose to attach all the way across the waist for decoration - you could just attach 2 pieces directly to the sides if you wish).

Step 6: I used zigzag stitch to keep the hems from fraying when I attached them to the apron. This is folded over so you don't see the edge.

Step 7: I added a couple of buttons to the neck string and sewed them through the folded neck string. This is because the neck string can fit differently on different people and this gives the option to make the neck string longer or shorter! I only did this for the adult one but you could do this for the child ones too!

Step 8: I folded the edge over and sewed a square and a sewed a cross through to secure the ends of the waist string to make them look neater.

Step 9: I repeated the same process for the other apron, I just adjusted the size to make it a smaller version to fit a child. You could keep the same dimensions to make another adult version!

  

This is such a great way to upcycle your old skirts!  Below is another link to a post where I made an apron from a dress: make-apron-from-dress-upcycling

You can even use shorter skirts and make a waist apron instead of a full length one! Below is a photo and a link to a waist apron I made a few years back:

 

http://www.karimascrafts.com/2011/05/waist-apron-tutorial.html

 

 

The Hearts of Light - Guest Post

Today’s Guest Post is from the lovely lady who runs the website www.theheartsoflight.com   

They have a website where you can purchase some of their products or read some of their blog posts. They also have a Facebook Page too.

 

I was lucky enough to receive a copy of their Ramadan Planner for my eldest daughter, I was so excited by this because a few of my friends had used this ladies products and spoke highly of them.  My daughter loves her planner and she can’t wait to start using it. Below is some information provided to me to talk about this wonderful website.  

The Hearts Of Light Guest Post

 

Our children grow up today and their role models in life are pop stars and movie stars. Or even cartoon figures. Their houses and toys and gadgets are filled with these cartoon figures. They learn from very early on to get their inspiration from cartoon heroes. Well I wish that we can change that. I wish to provide our children with the material that will connect them with their true role models in life. I wish to be able to provide this material to homes and schools.

I hope we can help each other in raising our children in the best way possible and share our experiences and advice.

I hope that we can collectively work on helping each other providing parents with the tools and materials they need to be able to achieve their goals.

 

The products that we have been able to put up so far are:
Ramadan planner for ages 12+, Islamic baby record books, Aqeeqa invitations and some greeting cards.
 

Ramadan Planner (12+)

 

Ramadan Planner (12+) An Inside Page

Islamic Baby Record Book (Other Designs Available)

Aqeeqa Invitations

 

 

Greetings Card (other designs available)

Contacts:
www.theheartsoflight.com
https://www.facebook.com/TheHeartsOfLight

Net Curtain design with Ribbon - Great Ideas

I added Matching Ribbon to the bottom of some Net Curtains. I have some peach coloured curtains in my bedroom and for privacy I also have a net curtain up at the window. I didn't want to buy anything to expensive but also felt the plain curtain was 'well too plain'.

I managed to find some ribbon which was very similar in colour to the curtains and bought 2 metres which was enough to cover the bottom edge.  The window now looks really nice with the matching net! A very simple and cheap solution to decorate the room!

There is no need for a tutorial on this as it is very straight forward. I simply ironed the ribbon to make a hem and placed the ribbon over the edge of the net curtain and straight stitched across with the sewing machine - very easy!

Yogurt Ice Lollies - Great Ideas!

Make your own delicious Yogurt Ice Lollies - The children and adults will love them!

I make my own using store bought yogurt and placing the yogurt inside empty ice-lolly moulds and leaving them in the freezer overnight. My children adore these, so whenever the yogurt is on offer I buy it to make these delicious treats.  Great for hot summer days!

Make your own Play-Doh Recipe

I have always wanted to make my own play-doh and decided to try it when we had a rainy day!

This is one of the easiest recipes that I found online - as you know I always like the easy option!

Ingredients:

2 cups of flour
1 cup of salt
1 tablespoon of Vegetable Oil
1/2 to 1 cup of water
Food coloring (I used 5 colors)

Method:

Mix the flour with the water
Then add the water and oil
Then knead this dough well
Break the dough into 5 balls and add a drop of coloring to each ball
Knead each ball well

That is how easy it is! The children loved this play-doh and helped make it themselves and had a few hours playing with this!  The play-doh can be stored in plastic bags inside the refrigerator for many weeks!

Yorkshire Pudding Recipe

I recently learnt how to make the perfect Yorkshire Puddings. My sister told me one of the most important things is never to open the door and disturb them whilst they are still cooking. Another trick is to make sure that the oil is very hot when you pour in the batter. Here is the recipe that I personally use: Here is the original link where I found the recipe: best-yorkshire-puddings

Ingredients for batter:
140g Plain Flour
4 eggs
200ml Milk
Salt and Pepper
Vegetable Oil for tray

Method:
Heat oven to 230c
Place small amount of oil into each space into the Yorkshire pudding tins. Place into the oven.
Place flour into a bowl and beat in the 4 eggs until smooth
Slowly add the milk whilst still beating until all the lumps have gone.
Add the salt and pepper
Remove the tin from the oven and immediately pour your batter into the Yorkshire pudding tin holes.
Place back into the oven for 20-25 minutes until they are puffed up.. Do not open the door and disturb the cooking.
Once cooked best eaten immediately!

I promised to share a blooper photo of my Yorkshire puddings - so the photo below shows how some of the Yorkshire puddings came out of the oven on one occasion - not the perfect photo opportunity!