Today we’ve been reading The Underwater Fancy-Dress Parade by Davina Bell and illustrated by Allison Colpoys. The book is a touching and realistic portrayal of a child dealing with the common dilemma of shyness, beautifully illustrated by an award-winning designer. The day before the underwater fancy-dress parade, Alfie got that feeling … Sometimes it’s hard to be brave. Sometimes you get that feeling. Sometimes you’re just not ready … Until, one day, you are. From a dynamic new picture book partnership comes the story of Alfie and a big octopus wearing a tiny hat and the things you can only…
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This year marks a special anniversary for one of the world’s most famous children’s characters. Miffy, the little white bunny, will be 60 years old. Miffy was “born” on 21 June 1955 – the date Dutch artist Dick Bruna first drew the character to entertain his young son whilst on a rainy seaside holiday in Holland. Dick Bruna’s Miffy stories have been refreshed for a modern British audience, with newly translated texts by award winning British poet, Tony Mitton. We were sent a special 60th anniversary edition of Miffy’s Birthday book to review. Miffy puts on her best dress because…
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I have a lovely book giveaway to share with you today, a brand new picture book called The Giant of Jum by by Elli Woollard and Benji Davies, published by Macmillan Children’s Books. A hungry giant meets a boy called Jack . . . “Fee!” he said, and “Fi!” he said, and “Fo!” he said and “Fum!” Look out children, the Giant of Jum is grumpy and hungry and he’s off in search of a tasty snack. And the tastiest of all is a boy known as Jack! But Jack and his friends don’t see a scary giant, they see…
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A few weeks ago I treated myself to a copy of Jane Foster’s latest book – Creative Craft with Kids. I’m a big fan of Jane Foster’s style (she loves Miffy as much as I do!) and I really enjoyed her first book. Creative Craft With Kids is the second book from Jane Foster and includes fun projects for parents to make with and for children to encourage creativity and experimentation. There are 15 creative projects to make with children which include felt-faced toys, customized T-shirts and a patchwork quilt. Some of the projects require some simple sewing skills, but…
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I’m so late with my weekly Monday happy things post. With half term in sunny Devon and my husband’s 40th birthday today we’ve been really busy, but in a good way. – I finished The Miniaturist (which I loved) and have just started reading The Secrets Sisters Keep! by Sinead Moriarty which is looking promising. – I came home to my sweet new acrylic prints which I had ordered from Truprint as a Mother’s Day gift to myself. I chose two of my favourite photographs of the children and turned them into acrylic prints which, at 6×4″, fit perfectly on my…
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I’m delighted to be taking part in a blog tour today for Torie Jayne’s Stylish Home Sewing book. I’ve been a fan of Torie Jayne’s blog for a long time so I knew her book would be full of beautiful and stylish items to make. This book does not disappoint. It contains over 35 projects to make your home beautiful. The projects are fresh, are co-ordinated in Torie’s trademark pastel colours, and definitely reflect her style which shines through on her blog. As you would expect from a book published by CICO Books, the projects are really well laid out…
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It’s half term and I’m enjoying lovely family time therefore I am keeping my Monday Happy Things post short and sweet. – The view from our window is rather spectacular as we are lucky enough to be spending some time by the seaside. – We watched The Theory of Everything, the film based on the memoir Travelling to Infinity: My Life with Stephen by Jane Wilde Hawking, Stephen Hawking’s first wife. We’ve watched a lot of films recently and this is one of my favourites. Physics, Cambridge, Eddie Redmayne – what’s not to love. – I’ve been Charity Shop shopping…
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I’m so happy The Great British Sewing Bee is back on. I really enjoyed the first episode last night and I’m awe of the contestants sewing skills. Some dress making skills are definitely on my wish list this year! I love to sew so was really excited to hear about the new Mollie Makes bookazine – The Big Comic Relief Crafternoon. This is a collaboration with Comic Relief (obvs!) and the bookazine features over 50 marvellous makes for Red Nose Day (13th March 2015). I rushed out to buy a copy last week (Sainsbury’s Pinner if anyone is local to…
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I was so very lucky to win a copy of The Artful Year :: Celebrating the Seasons & Holidays with Crafts & Recipes by Jean Van’t Hul recently. I’ve read her blog for ages and was so excited to hear about her book. It is loosely based on her Artful Year seasonal crafts eBooks but expanded with some new activities and a fifth section on arts and crafts for the whole year, or those that can be adapted to the season or holiday at hand. There are 175 crafts and activities with clear, step-by-step directions. There’s also a long appendix of…