At last Dave started demolishing the fireplace in the front room in a frenzy of activity. It takes a lot of space and although we do not want to remove the chimney totally, getting rid of the fireplace and having an extra little alcove to put stuff in will be brill. At some point the slabs will be coming out too. This is all in preparation for the electrics being done and the kitchen being moved. When that work all starts in March we are going to re-do all the flooring downstairs and so the fireplace had to come out before that.
I did some upcycling with the kids using tetrapaks to make wallets (see above).
There are loads of websites out there explaining how you make these wallets out of tetrapaks but I thought I would quickly explain here rather than directing you elsewhere.
Wash out any tetrapak juice carton, cut off the top and bottom sections and fold in the sides (as seen to the left.) Then fold the carton into three sections.
Two of the sections are going to be the main body of the wallet and the other section is going to be the flap that goes over the top. You need to cut off the front and side sections of the flap so that only the back of the tetrapak is left to fold over the wallet body (see to the right above.) You then fold the remaining two sections together and staple them together (as can be seen in the picture at the top on the left hand wallet.) The punch a hole in the flap and feed a rubber band through to use to close the wallet (see below.)
We finished the wallets above and then one of the kids decided to try and find other things that could be made into wallets of various different sizes. To the left you can see exactly the same technique used on a cereal box to make a small document folder with the finished product below.
Then my favourite which is using tea packets to make tea bag holders that you can take with you in your bag to you always have your favourite tea with you. I love these almost as much as the wallets. And all you need is a staple or two and a rubber band.
I have finished the Horse Boy book and really enjoyed it. Might add some quotes later. I am taking the Total Immersion book with me to Center Parcs next week hoping that I will get some time to practice the next set of techniques. I found finding my 'sweet spot' not too difficult so am now wondering whether I was doing it wrong.
There are loads of websites out there explaining how you make these wallets out of tetrapaks but I thought I would quickly explain here rather than directing you elsewhere. 
We finished the wallets above and then one of the kids decided to try and find other things that could be made into wallets of various different sizes. To the left you can see exactly the same technique used on a cereal box to make a small document folder with the finished product below. 
Then my favourite which is using tea packets to make tea bag holders that you can take with you in your bag to you always have your favourite tea with you. I love these almost as much as the wallets. And all you need is a staple or two and a rubber band.