• Book gift guide for kids
    book review - Gift guide - parenting

    Book gift guide for kids (age 5-8)

    November 19, 2017 - By 

    We are a family of bookworms. We love reading, read every night with the children and enjoy discovering new authors. There seem to be so many exciting books out at the moment. I’ve been sourcing books for our Christmas Book Advent (more of that another day) and couldn’t resist sharing some new books for children aged 5-8. My youngest is starting to read to herself with a little help, whilst my 7 year old is a confident reader. I’m so excited to read some of these books with them over the coming weeks. Book gift guide for kids (age 5-8)…

  • parenting

    The Siblings Project {November 2017}

    November 18, 2017 - By 

    Yay for half term adventures! We had an amazing week away, thankfully, because since we’ve been home the weather has been cold and miserable and it’s been super hard to take nice photos. We stayed in three different places and did lots of exploring which made for some fun photos, here are my favourites from the past month. I really like Bristol and loved exploring it with the children. We visited the Christmas Steps and couldn’t resist getting the children to stand in the alcoves. From Bristol it was a quick car ride to visit my mum and her local…

  • Blue Coffee Box review and giveaway
    competition - homestyle - subscription box

    Blue Coffee Box review and giveaway

    November 18, 2017 - By 

    I was recently sent a new subscription box to try at home for coffee. My husband is a huge coffee fiend and can’t get through the day without grinding his beans and getting his stove top coffee pot out. I love the weekends when the house is filled with the smell of fresh coffee. Blue Coffee Box is a luxury coffee subscription box – a veritable tour of the world of high-quality coffee! Read on for your chance to win a Blue Coffee Box subscription box and a generous discount code for money off your first box! About Blue Coffee…

  • The Sanctuary, Avebury
    days out - parenting - Wiltshire

    The Sanctuary, Avebury {exploring Wiltshire}

    November 17, 2017 - By 

    Every time we travel down to visit my mum in Wiltshire we try and stop off around Avebury. It’s a beautiful part of Wiltshire with so much history to explore. We usually stop off for a picnic around Silbury Hill. It’s almost exactly half way in our journey and an amazing landmark for the children to look out for. You can see it for miles around and the children know it’s time to stop for lunch and we’re well into our journey. On our last visit we had our niece with us too. We parked up at The Seven Barrows…

  • Kawaii box reveal and giveaway
    competition - homestyle - subscription box

    Kawaii box reveal and giveaway

    November 16, 2017 - By 

    I’m so excited to share with you the contents of a Kawaii Box today. As you know, I *LOVE* subscription boxes. I think I could happily sit and open them all day. My kids love them too, so were happy to sit and help me open the latest Kawaii Box. What’s inside the latest Kawaii Box? The November 2017 Kawaii Box was called the Kawaii Thanksgiving Parade. Living in the UK we don’t celebrate Thanksgiving at all so I was interested to see what was inside the box. It’s been a while since we last reviewed a Kawaii Box. They…

  • Delicious Swedish Ginger Cake recipe
    baking - gingerbread - homestyle

    Swedish Ginger Cake recipe

    November 16, 2017 - By 

    I really love ginger in any form. When I spotted a recipe for Swedish Ginger Cakes in Christmas Prima Makes magazine I knew I would have to make them for myself. I adapted the recipe slightly as I couldn’t find black treacle. Ingredients to make Swedish Ginger Cake 100g butter 175g light brown muscovado sugar 2 balls of stem ginger, chopped 1 tbsp of the syrup from the stem ginger 200g plain flour 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda 1 1/2 tsp ground ginger 1 tsp mixed spice 2 medium eggs 150 ml soured cream How to make Swedish Ginger Cake Melt the…

  • Get outdoors with BEAR PAWS!
    crafts - Happy By Nature

    Get outdoors with BEAR PAWS!

    November 15, 2017 - By 

    This half term we were busy with some planned days out and plenty of days at home too. The children have been re-discovering some of their favourite toys and making the most of the garden, before it got too chilly. We made them special Half Term Reward charts, which were more a list of things to do, in case they ran out of ideas. Top of the list was spending time outdoors, as we all know that fresh air and activity helps children sleep better! I love working with BEAR Nibbles because, like me, they believe in getting little cubs…

  • Win The Son of Bigfoot DVD and more
    competition - parenting

    Win The Son of Bigfoot on DVD and more

    November 15, 2017 - By 

    From the creators of ROBINSON CRUSOE and THE HOUSE OF MAGIC, STUDIOCANAL is pleased to announce that THE SON OF BIGFOOT – the epic coming-of-age adventure for all the family that tells the legendary tale of Bigfoot – will be available on DVD and Digital Download from the 20th November 2017. To celebrate, today we’re giving away a copy of The Son of Bigfoot on DVD in a bundle along with The House of Magic, A Turtle’s Tale and Robinson Crusoe. The Son of Bigfoot Adam, a thirteen-year-old outsider, sets out on a daring quest to uncover the mystery behind…

  • DIY Sylvanian Families gingerbread house
    crafts - Friends of Sylvanian Families - upcycling

    Sylvanian Families gingerbread house

    November 14, 2017 - By 

    My daughter has a great collection of Sylvanian Families buildings. She can create her own little rural Sylvania with her tree house, log cabin and other buildings. I recently bought her the Baby Sleigh Ride Set, she just *loves* the babies. It’s a sweet little Christmas set but got me thinking. The only thing missing was our Sylvanian set up was a gingerbread house! So I made one. Sylvanian Families gingerbread house I bought a pretty shabby village Post Office Shop which came with a counter and accessories. The cardboard detail was ripped and bent which I thought made it…