• Apple Day craft - cork print apple wreath
    Apple Day crafts - Autumn - Kids crafts - tutorial

    Apple Day craft – cork print apple wreath

    August 15, 2014 - By 

    I can’t help but start thinking about Autumn. The weather has coolled down, the nights are darker quicker and we seem to have our shoes and jumpers on more than the previous week. I’m really hoping we can go to an event for Apple Day this year. We’ve been playing around with apple crafts and today I’m sharing with you our simple cork print apple wreath. Corks are great for crafting with, they’re a lovely size for small hands to grip, and small enough that you can make a really defined shape. Materials you will need to make a cork…

  • book review - competition - Playmobil Playologist

    Win a copy of The Official Playmobil Annual 2015

    August 15, 2014 - By 

    As regular readers will know we are fortunate to be Playmobil Playologists. This means we get to share news with you about the latest Playmobil toys and events and also receive lovely Playmobil toys to review and play with. We were recently sent the new Official Playmobil Annual 2015 to review. I’ve mentioned before that 2014 marks the 40th anniversary of Playmobil, a firm family favourite which is amongst the top 5 brands in the European toy industry, and distributed in more than 80 countries worldwide. To coincide with this, Buster books have published The Official Playmobil Annual 2015, featuring…

  • playing - toy review

    Mega Bloks Spongebob Squarepants review

    August 14, 2014 - By 

    My children have been totally spoilt over the Summer holidays. They were sent some of the new toys from the Mega Bloks Spongebob Squarepants range to review. We used to have some of the Mega Bloks First Builders range which were great for developing fine motor skills but I wasn’t aware that Mega Bloks made so many other toys. My children received a Mega Bloks Spongebob Squarepants Micro Action Figures, Mega Bloks Spongebob Squarepants Boat Racer and the Mega Bloks Spongebob Squarepants Invisible Boatmobile Rescue. The toys were all visually appealing and my children love the adventures of Spongebob Squarepants…

  • days out - holidays

    Our Summer holiday round up (Week 3)

    August 13, 2014 - By 

    The Summer holidays are flying by and I’m quite enjoying writing about our adventures. Over the last week we have been on holiday and had a few busy days in London. Here’s what we’ve been up to: We visited a beautiful National Trust property called Stoke-sub-Hamdon Priory situated between Yeovil and Ilminster. Despite being National Trust members we rarely visit any properties so it was lovely to make a brief visit and explore the site. We also re-visited Nunney Castle as Little Sis demanded to go to a castle. Whilst we were away we spent lots of time outdoors. We…

  • Back to school crafts - Bostik Family Craft Bloggers Network - crafts - handmade - tutorial

    Back to school no-sew shoe bag

    August 12, 2014 - By 

    My son starts Reception in a couple of weeks. We’ve been keeping busy to prevent the dreaded Summer holiday brain-loss and have been working our way through basic phonics and puzzles. We started a holiday journal too where we add a photograph for eachday and he writes a little about what we’ve done. I’m feeling super organised as we’ve bought most of his uniform. This year he needs a PE kit so I thought I would make a shoe bag for him to keep his plimsolls in. I wanted it to be as easy as possible so today I’m sharing…

  • Lego - playing - toy review

    Fun with the Lego Duplo Batcave Adventure

    August 11, 2014 - By 

    Now we’re back from our week away we’ve been having lots of fun playing with our toys at home. Both children said they missed their toys whilst we were away (and it felt like we had taken most of them with us!). The Lego Duplo Batcave Adventure has been the latest addition to our collection. It’s a great set and my 4 year old has been enjoying building it, it fits perfectly on our Lego table. He’s more than capable of following the instructions and this is one of the things I love about Lego Duplo. The instructions are clear…

  • Family History - family history - Tech!

    Who Do You Think You Are? Story

    August 10, 2014 - By 

    When I originally started my blog back in the dark ages, otherwise known as 2005, I wrote about all kinds of things from London life to researching my family history. It’s been one of my hobbies since I was at school and it’s grown substantially over the years, so much so that I started a family history blog for my research. I love how much easier it has become to research your family history. I used to spend my lunch hours at the old Family Records Centre or my weekends at the National Archives in Richmond. With large-scale digitisation projects…

  • book review - Kids crafts - tutorial - What I'm reading

    Here come the girls

    August 9, 2014 - By 

    I love to hand sew, I love to make things for my children and it’s the perfect hobby for giving my brain a rest from blogging. As soon as I saw Crafty Dolls by Jane Bull I thought of Little Sis. She loves her dolls and she loves it when I make things for her and I really hope she will be interested in making things like this soon. Crafty Dolls, the latest in Jane Bull’s successful craft series, shoes you how to create your own adorable doll collection at home. You can choose from more than 30 knitted and…

  • book review - competition

    Win a weekend in Amsterdam with Waterstones

    August 9, 2014 - By 

    Miffy, Dick Bruna’s classic children’s character and style icon, has had some of her classic story books republished this year, and there are even some brand new sticker books. Some, such as miffy at the zoo, miffy’s play date and miffy dress up have already been republished. Others, including miffy’s first day, draw with miffy and miffy outdoors, will be available on 14th August in Waterstones and all good bookshops. We were sent a copy of the miffy outdoors sticker scene book to tell you about. Little Sis adores sticker books and  I always pack a few when we go…