• Project Mc2 Ultimate Spy Bag review
    Family Life - Netflix Stream Team - STEM activity

    Project Mc2 Ultimate Spy Bag review

    February 9, 2018 - By 

    Project Mc2 ’s geek-chic heroines are back with a mission – to make sure girls (and boys) know that it’s cool to be smart and love all things S.T.E.A.M (that’s science, technology, engineering, art and maths). Project Mc2 is a team of super-smart and seriously cool girls who use their love of science and spy skills to undertake missions for top-secret organisation, NOV8TM (that’s “innovate”!). 2016 saw the launch of two new seasons of the Netflix original show, new products, and two exciting new characters – Devon D’Marco and Ember Evergreen. Last year the girls returned with a host of exciting new S.T.E.A.M focused products as seen…

  • Family photo Valentine decor using Photoshop Elements 2018
    Adobe Partner - Crafts for adults - Valentines Day crafts

    Family photo Valentine decor using Photoshop Elements 2018

    February 9, 2018 - By 

    I am so happy to start crafting for Valentine’s Day. Not that I don’t fully embrace Winter, but its been colder than usual here in London and I was starting to get a tiny bit bored of the lack of colour. So welcome Valentine’s Day, warm hugs (which always makes me think of Olaf!) and the colour red. Valentine’s Day is a great occasion for the whole family to celebrate. I treasure the Valentine’s Day cards my parents gave me as a child and carry on the tradition with my own children at this time of year. I think that…

  • Valentine’s clay handprint keepsake
    Crafts for kids - Handmade gifts - Handprint art - Valentines Day crafts

    Valentine’s clay handprint keepsake

    February 8, 2018 - By 

    A few weeks ago my daughter and I were shopping in Hobbycraft where we found a huge display of air drying clay alongside some inspiration of things to make. My daughter wanted to try making something at home so we bought a huge pack of white air drying clay and went home. How to make a Valentine’s clay handprint keepsake We cut the block of clay in half and rolled out one half until it was large enough to place both her hands on it. She pressed both her hands into the clay and I drew around them with a…

  • Family Life

    Don’t neglect your living room any longer – fall in love with it again instead!

    February 8, 2018 - By 

    Photo by Kari Shea on Unsplash For most of us, the idea of completely redesigning a room is one usually left for those make-over shows we see on the TV in between changing nappies, running errands and being just generally too busy. It’s common for living rooms to become old and tired. We spend most of our time in there – whether it’s during the day or on an evening. So arguably the living room gets a lot of traffic and is the busiest room of the house. We’d all love a new floor – check out discountflooringdepot.co.uk for a little inspiration, but…

  • Vintage foot stool makeover with Orla Kiely fabric
    Crafts for adults - Orla Kiely - Pinty Plus Ambassador - upcycling

    Vintage foot stool makeover

    February 7, 2018 - By 

    A few years ago I picked up a vintage foot stool at a car boot sale. I wanted to re-cover it with some lovely Orla Kiely fabric. I think the foot stool may have sat in the spare room for about 6 years until I recently found it again. You know that 2018 is the year of tackling those little projects I stashed away. So this is what it looked like before I upcycled it. There were two parts to it – the wooden base and top. The top was embroidered over a foam pad (although we didn’t know this…

  • Puff pastry Nutella heart
    baking - Crafts for adults - Valentines Day crafts

    Puff pastry Nutella heart

    February 6, 2018 - By 

    You know when you see something on Pinterest and you just have to make it? Well just before Christmas I came across a puff pastry Nutella Christmas tree and knew I wanted to try it. We made it for breakfast just before Christmas and it was a bit fiddly but worth the effort. It made for a really lovely breakfast. With Valentine’s Day coming up we thought we would try a special heart version, the method is exactly the same. Puff pastry Nutella heart There are loads of recipes and tutorials for making a puff pastry Nutella Christmas tree. They…

  • Making my own stamps
    Crafts for adults

    Handmade stamps and Valentine Day cards

    February 6, 2018 - By 

    One of the crafts products I recently came across during my big de-stash was packs of rubber carving blocks for making your own stamps. I’ve tried making my own with limited success so I’m not sure why I bought so many packs. I thought I’d give it another try with Valentine’s Day coming up. I had bought kits from Flying Tiger which contained rubber sheets, coloured ink pads and a cutting tool. The rubber sheets were quite big, definitely big enough to make at least four stamps from each one. I roughly drew my design onto the rubber. Then I…

  • The-Highway-Rat-DVD_cover
    competition - Family Life - film review

    Win 1 of 3 copies of The Highway Rat on DVD

    February 5, 2018 - By 

    From the UK’s best-selling author, Julia Donaldson, The Highway Rat arrives on DVD. This beautifully animated film, seen on BBC1 this Christmas is a swashbuckling adventure of bandits and biscuits which is now available to take home and own on DVD from today, courtesy of Entertainment One. From Magic Light Pictures, Oscar© nominated creators of the hugely successful The Gruffalo and Stick Man, The Highway Rat is a delightful story based on the richly imaginative book written by Julia Donaldson and illustrated by Axel Scheffler. The Highway Rat tells the tale of a ravenous rat who craves buns, biscuits and…

  • Family Life

    Monday mindfulness – 5 happy things

    February 5, 2018 - By 

    I love starting off each week by writing my Monday mindfulness – 5 happy things blog post. It’s a great chance to reflect on the things that made me happy in the previous week. Monday mindfulness – 5 happy things We started the week with my daughter gaining her first Beaver badge! She was awarded the Disability Awareness badge for learning about people with Disabilities. She’s settled in really well at Beavers so I’m hoping she’ll stick with it longer than she did Rainbows, especially as I’ve been sewing badges on her Beavers blanket for what seems like forever. My…