I really enjoy making my own personalised cards and had been wondering what to make for the toddler’s thank you cards following his 2nd birthday. I wanted something different to our usual paint splattered hand print cards and decided on a cheeky head shot with a jolly party hat. I tried to use some of the techniques I learned last week at a great blogger event using Stampin’ Up products. I hadn’t heard of Stampin’ Up before but they are a crafting brand which makes stamps, paper, ribbon and all things crafty. I bravely took both Big Brother and Little…
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Directed by writer-director Rodrigo Garcia (Nine Lives) and executive produced by Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, ‘Mother and Child’ tells the moving story of how motherhood touches the lives of three very different women, and looks at the unbreakable bond between mother and child. When I sat down to watch the film I had no idea about the plot and it’s a real tear-jerker so I needed a box of tissues by the end of the film! It tells the story of Karen, played by Annette Bening, an unhappy spinster coping with the death of her mother and feelings of loss and…
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The sequel to “Happy Feet,” the Academy Award-winning animated smash hit, “Happy Feet Two” returns audiences to the magnificent landscape of Antarctica in superb 3D. Mumble, The Master of Tap, has a problem because his tiny son, Erik, is choreo-phobic. Reluctant to dance, Erik runs away and encounters The Mighty Sven—a penguin who can fly! Mumble has no hope of competing with this charismatic new role model. But things get worse when the world is shaken by powerful forces. Erik learns of his father’s “guts and grit” as Mumble brings together the penguin nations and all manner of fabulous creatures—from…
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Today we had a really special invitation to join Alvin and the Chipmunks aboard a fun-packed party cruise to celebrate the launch of the DVD and Triple Play Blu-ray release of Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked. Big Brother is a huge fan of Alvin and the Chipmunks and was thrilled to meet them. As we cruised along the Thames as well as spotting all our favourite London landmarks we also got a chance to meet Alvin and the Chipmunks, play lots of party games, go on a treasure hunt, and watch the new film whilst munching popcorn! We had loads…
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I’ve been talking to the toddler about Easter. The house is full of chocolate eggs already and we’re beginning to receive cards so I thought it would be fun to do some Easter crafts together. Our first project was to make simple fabric bunnies. I let the toddler pick the fabrics from my stash, cut out a simple bunny shape from the fabric and sewed the two sides together (with the fabric facing together) before turning the right way and stuffing. We’ve been having great fun hiding them around the house in preparation for our Easter egg hunt next weekend.…
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Not sure what to do with that lovingly created gingerbread house? Why not make it into a tasty gingerbread and butter pudding? My romantic Valentine-themed gingerbread house needed to make room for my Easter-themed gingerbread house but I didn’t want to throw it away. The gingerbread was quite thin so I thought it might make a delicious gingerbread and butter pudding. Here’s what I did. You need: a gingerbread house, deconstructed a couple of slices of bread, buttered 1/2 pint of skimmed milk 100ml double cream 2 eggs 1 spoonful of granulated sugar Method: deconstruct your gingerbread house, removing any…
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You may remember a couple of weeks ago I was invited to an event to learn more about chicken pox. I’m ashamed to say that I obviously didn’t learn anything as a week later Big Brother, you guessed it, caught chicken pox! In hindsight he must have caught it at nursery when he attended his Monday session. When he woke up on Thursday the skin around his mouth was covered in spots but I thought nothing of it and packed him off to nursery. I picked him up as usual but when we went to hop on the bus home…
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Last week I had one of those emails which I had to re-read several times because I couldn’t believe what it contained. It asked if the children would like to test some of the latest Fisher-Price toys. I may have written back in capitals saying OF COURSE! You see I have a love affair with Fisher-Price and they are top of my list of toys I look out for in a bid to recapture the essence of childhood. I just loved my Fisher Price radio and play desk <happy sigh>. Anyway, I digress. Little Sis received the Fisher-Price Tiger Stacker…
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The sun is shining so I thought I would make some daffodil inspired biscuits. Daffodil biscuits for spring I baked simple biscuits using a gingerbread kit from Morrisons. The kit contains a gingerbread mix with a cutter, a tube of white icing, a sachet of golden syrup and raisins, so all you need to provide is butter and 2tsp of water. The mix made a satisfying dough which came together really easily and smelled lovely. The golden syrup made it quite sticky so I used plenty of flour when rolling out the dough. Instead of using the enclosed cutter I…