Here’s why I’m not a blogger - it’s 12 December and I’m only just posting this! Anyway, in case anyone is even more last minute than me, I thought I’d do a how to for our Instadvent calendar, which is super easy and quick. Hey, there’s even a printable PDF which you or your kids could decorate to make your own. Just pretend its three weeks ago alright?

I wanted to make an advent calendar for Elodie. She’s a bit young for treats, and I wasn’t really enamoured with any of the paper calendars I’ve seen for sale. She loves lift-the-flap books, and she especially loves looking at pictures of herself, so I put together this quick calendar using my Instagram pics of her growing up through her first year. I made copies for her grandparents too, which they love. I think this would be a lovely thing to make as an annual family tradition, looking back on all the fun times through the year.

How to…

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I think I’m going to resurrect this not-quite-a-blog. I’ve neither the consistency nor the motivation required to be a proper blogger, but I do have thoughts and projects from time to time which I’d like to record. I find especially when I’m learning new skills, it’s really helpful to be able to write about it, and to look back on what I’ve done.

So, there’ll be a bit of sewing, knitting and crafting, plenty of baking, some recipes, and some bits and bobs about being a mum to a one year old. If that sounds like your cup of tea, do pop back.

New hobby!

Find me here: www.ravelry.com/people/joellybaby

Windmill gif
Animated with Loopcam for iPhone.

Finished dress! Read my review for Pattern Review.

Happy Halloween!

This is my incredibly beautiful friend Vanessa on her Yorkshire themed hen do, part of a mega fun week of celebrations.

I’m happily working through my wedding photos and uploading them bit by bit. Click the photo for the whole hen do set.

I’m about to embark on making up a dress from a paper pattern for the first time. Ulp! Its this Simplicity pattern, a modern reissue of a sixties dress. I’ll post pictures, if it turns out wearable…

I had a lot of fun making a birthday cake for my brother this weekend. He’s really into nature and horticulture, so a gardening themed cake was a must, but I wanted to avoid anything too twee or girly. Here’s the result. Pretty cute huh? Even if I do say so myself.

I remembered seeing Ree Drummond’s adorable flower pot ice cream desserts on her fantastic Pioneer Woman blog and thought I could adapt it pretty well for a full size cake.

I thought I’d show how I made it - read on for the method. It really requires next to no skill except in shopping.

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These are so adorable!

This is my mum’s photo blog, with so many beautiful pictures of my hometown Saltaire in Yorkshire. She is so talented!

Look at this pic of the Yorkshire moors. It makes me homesick!

Here’s a spot of what I get up to at work over on the Philip Lawrence Awards Network. It’s a national awards scheme for young people who are doing positive work in their communities.

The video was made for our YouTube channel by our brilliant youth fellowship, all former award winners, at a residential weekend we had in London a few weeks back. Great fun! It’s part of a campaign they came up with to challenge negative stereotypes of young people. They are all so fed up with being tarred with the same brush and seen as trouble, when those responsible for that image are a tiny minority of young people.

One for #bestbitsofthejob tag!