• Papier-mâché death star
    crafts - Star Wars crafts

    Papier Mache Death Star

    May 4, 2016 - By 

    Since my son watched The Force Awakens in December everything has been about Star Wars. Up to that moment he had been a huge Minecraft fan but now it’s all forgotten and all he seems to do is eat, sleep and talk about Star Wars. However, we’ve had so much fun crafting around the theme of Star Wars. Luckily we’re all Star Wars fans, yes, even me! We wanted to make something special to celebrate May 4th. My 6 year old loved the idea of a Star Wars Day so we made our very own papier mache Death Star. This…

  • Frome Market
    days out - Lego

    Monday happy list – week 84

    May 2, 2016 - By 

    The May Bank Holiday weekend saw us enjoying a family weekend away. We managed to fit in some grown up time to see the new Captain America: Civil War film which was really good. You can’t beat a bit of escapism. We went antique-ing at Frome Market where I nearly picked up a gorgeous dolls house. My practical mind got the better of me and I resisted as I had nowhere to put it. Instead I stocked up on fabric for me, and craft kits for the children, in Millie Moon. We celebrated May Day by decorating our seasonal tree…

  • DIY flamingo drinking straws
    crafts - die cutting - Paper craft - Sizzix crafts

    DIY flamingo drinking straws

    April 29, 2016 - By 

    Have you noticed the trend for flamingo decor recently? Along with monstera leaves they seem to be everywhere. So I was pretty happy to discover Sizzix had sent me their latest Funky Flamingo Thinlits die to craft with. The Funky Flamingo die by Sophie Guilar features 3 dies which means you can use a variety of papers to give it some depth. I found some pretty pink patterned papers in my stash to cut 5 flamingo shapes. You can find my full tutorial over on the Sizzix blog. Sizzix Thinlits Die Set 3PK – Funky Flamingo (661246) You may be interested in…

  • Sea glass sun catcher jar
    Crafts for kids

    Sea glass sun catcher jar

    April 29, 2016 - By 

    I was totally spoilt growing up by the sea. We could go down to the beach whenever we liked and it remains my favourite place to be. A few weeks ago we enjoyed our annual holiday in Devon by the sea and we collected a *lot* of sea glass. It seems to have become our tradition to go searching for beach treasure. This year we brought a lot home with us to craft with! Which was kind of lucky because today we’re taking part in the fourth craft in the Project: Recycle and Create series. The material this month were jars.…

  • personalised Scrabble wall art
    crafts - upcycling - vintage

    Personalised Scrabble wall art

    April 28, 2016 - By 

    Now this is one of those projects which has been sitting around waiting to be finished for ages. I love crafting with Scrabble tiles. I pick up vintage Scrabble sets whenever I see them, the kids love making words with the letter tiles and I have hundreds of them around. So I thought it was about time I made something with them. Have you seen the cute vintage travel Scrabble sets? They come with a type of peg board so the letter tiles can be slotted into the board and not move around. Well we’ve had one out for ages.…

  • food waste caddy
    homestyle - interiors

    Intelligent Waste with Joseph Joseph

    April 27, 2016 - By 

    At the moment we’re saving up to re-do our kitchen and this is hopefully something we will be able to do next year. The kitchen is the heart of our home so it’s important it is functional and looks good too. We were recently offered the Stack range of recycling containers from Joseph Joseph to review. They are an ingenious way to neatly store away all your different types of recycling, letting you separate it into different compartments, while decluttering your kitchen space. Although we had a bin to house our recycling it was always overflowing onto the floor. So…

  • ELmer Day craft
    Baker Ross Blogger Network - crafts - Elmer Day - Kids crafts

    Painted elephants to celebrate Elmer Day

    April 26, 2016 - By 

    My children really enjoy the stories of Elmer the Elephant. Elmer the Patchwork Elephant is a children’s picture book series by British author David McKee. We’ve amassed quite a collection of Elmer books and were delighted to discover that the first Elmer Day will be held on May 28th 2016. In case you haven’t seen a picture of Elmer before, he is an elephant who has a colourful body, with yellow, orange, red, pink, purple, blue, green, black and white arranged as a patchwork pattern. He is a very cheerful elephant who loves practical jokes and always stands out from the…

  • english paper pieced diamonds
    days out - family - homestyle - mindfulness - National Trust - sewing

    Monday happy list – week 83

    April 25, 2016 - By 

    I’m not sure why but I haven’t felt in the mood for sewing recently. I have lots of things to make, such as my Shipping Forecast quilt and a fun Nana Company swap deadline looming. The only thing I have been stitching are pretty yellow English Paper Pieced diamonds from the last issue of Mollie Makes. Normally I love to make the cover gifts so something is definitely wrong with me if I’m still making it (the new issue landed on my doorstep today!). The yellow EPP diamonds will eventually make a Starburst Sampler which I’m going to hang on my…

  • magnolia plant
    gardening - homestyle

    6 Reasons Why Magnolia Shrubs Are The Perfect Summer Plant For Beginner Gardeners

    April 25, 2016 - By 

    If you are just beginning to find your green fingers this year and the warmer weather is encouraging you to get outside and really start to give gardening a go, then you are probably wondering what to plant. Well, where better to start than with the summery magnolia shrub? Plant them in spring and they will then flower right through the summer until the autumn. If you are already looking through these pretty plants on You Garden, but still not convinced whether to purchase them or not, then here are six reasons why magnolia shrubs are the perfect summer plant…