A border collie and a bicycle

Al turned 30 today and I made him a few homemade things to go with the money I was giving him towards a bicycle frame making course in the summer.

Here's a present from Watson - I found a black border collie model and painted him Watson colours with acrylic paints. I made his favourite toys - a ball and a milk carton - out of Fimo and found a suitable stick in the garden. The grass and bush are modelling greenery from 4D model shop.

Watson and all his favourite toys

I also made him a bicycle birthday card with pastels (it's been a while since I used them!);

Turns out bicycles are not that easy to draw with pastels!

A printer cover and some memories

Digital Giant

I've been promising Al I'll make him a printer cover for months now, but other more interesting projects always got in the way. Today, him and my brother spent all day in the garden putting up a fence. I couldn't help due to a recent mini operation so as well as keeping them in tea and biscuits I thought it was about time I got it made.

I bought some green fabric for him initially, but he asked for grey to match the logo of his business Digital Giant.  I quilted the top and four sides to make it slightly protective and then sewed them into shape and added a yellow binding around the bottom.

Taking a picture of it (currently on the printer at home) it looks pretty unexciting (the room isn't decorated yet either!) - and would have made for a rather dull blog entry.

In retrospect, I should have ironed the fabric!

However, next to the printer I rediscovered the box I made for Al for Christmas 2009, after our first six months together.

It contains a scene, made from balsa wood, modelling grass, acrylic paint, clay, fimo, a red bus (from ebay) and some model trees.

It captures all the things we did on our first dates and weeks and months together in London; whiskey mac in a thermos, conkers and walks on Hampstead Heath (with the fimo green parrot on the tree of course); the strange dinosaur models, the sphinx and the maze of Crystal Palace; the Rootmaster bus which used to be a restaurant parked near Brick Lane; the little tin soldier in his paper boat - a story we both love;  a Narnia lampost behind the wardrobe (we watched a lot of Narnia); Darwin and a photo from Wildlife Photographer of the Year - from when we went to the Natural History Museum; the Enormous Crocodile pretending to be a seesaw - whom we saw at the Quentin Blake/Roald Dahl exhibition at the V&A Museum of Childhood in Bethnal Green - and mugs of tea by the fire and the Christmas tree in his new house. It was really cool to find it again and look at it and remember everything. And it makes this blog entry a little more interesting too.

Homemade and recycled Christmas tree decorations

Christmas trees and their decorations are one of my favourite parts of the Christmas period. In my family home we added more decorations, often homemade, each year. Now, decorating the tree becomes a reminder of all the Christmases and years past. Each decoration is familiar and friendly, all too easily forgotten until you unwrap it from its newspaper or get it out of its box. And everything looks great on a Christmas tree, whether an intricate and delicate bauble, a fir cone covered in glitter or a santa claus made with cotton wool and red cardboard in playgroup.

I've been very aware of what I post about Christmas after writing this blog post on Christmas, making comparisons and mental health. However, I couldn't help but share my own collection of decorations as it starts to grow. My favourite are these Christmas mice. They are made from the inside of an eggbox (a six pack of eggs can make two mice), sprayed gold or silver and then decorated with glitter, beads and wire. A pipe cleaner tail attached to the back can help hold them on to the tree.

I also really like these butterflies. I made these with craft paper from Cowling and Wilcox from a tutorial in the Guardian family section last year. Cut a circle and a square and fold in half to make an oval and a triangle. Fold the paper like a fan into the central folds of each and then squash together at the centre. Wrap wire or thread around to hold them together. I added beads and ribbons too.

The wire can be used to hold them in the tree.

And of course, your spraypainted and glittery fircone. I made one last year while volunteering at Radio Lollipop for Great Ormond St hospital.In fact, you can spray any twigs, fircones or leaves silver or gold, add some glitter and attach them to the tree!

This holly decoration has lasted three years now - the silver spray must preserve it!

This owl is made from half a strip of cut and folded old book with mince pie cases for eyes.

And here is the tree in all it's homemade glory.