A reusable game

I have a love hate relationship with Pinterest, well maybe hate it too strong a word but I don't love it as much as some.  My boards are minimalist, I think Marie Kondo would approve have you read her book?  I picked up a copy at my local library, I didn't realise what it was until I got it home and started reading it.  I had to laugh at some of what she wrote (a lot of it is very wise advice) about only keeping the things that bring you joy,  I know that if I asked Alice that about some of the items in her room she would give me a now thats a stupid question look.  I note she had a baby last year, perhaps she will change her tune a little on that one, in relation to children and their possessions, in the years to come.  But back to Pinterest, it is now so popular that often when I am searching online the top of the search is dominated by it, but clicking on the link takes you to an entire board rather than exactly what I am looking for.  Of course those boards will always be popular ones, but I don't really want to wade through all the pins* to find the relevant one, the links are so often dead so are of no help to me.  Please tell me I am not the only one frustrated by this?

I get how it works and see its use but it doesn't work for me, I prefer to bookmark, it makes you keep things minimal otherwise you cannot find anything when you need it or I just use the little grey cells, as Poirot would say.  A long time ago I read a blog post about a game that I thought was such a good idea that I stored in my memory as something to make one day.  I needed the right child to gift it to, and this year I do.  This one was made for a birthday in March and another will be made for June.  Cameron has requested one too.

It is an amazingly simple idea, based on a very old game much loved by children the world over.  A small bag with some ribbon sewn on the front, a few pieces of marked wood, the play is endless and portable, you will never run out of space on the paper or lead in the pencil.  I made this entirely from materials I already had, the bag is made from an old work t-shirt of my husbands which had hardly been worn but a change of business name rendered it no longer suitable, lined with a piece of cotton that I buy in sales when I see it (plain cotton which is always useful to have in a fabric stash).  I love ribbon, it is one of the few things that I buy just because I like it, it rarely stays in my drawers for long I always find a use for it, or Alice takes it to use for 'something' as she so charmingly puts it.  This one was a perfect match for the fabric.  The counters were made from the end of a length of dowl that my husband had in the garage, cut into thin slices, sanded, marked and coated in a little wax.

Sometimes the simple things are the best.

Joining Nicole

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*One board I clicked through to recently had over 750 pins!