It’s that time of the week for my Monday happy list: – I was given 48 hours notice to dress my 3 year old as a Superhero for nursery and I managed to make her a Supergirl costume thanks to some clever upcycling of the ladybird costume I made last year. Phew. – We baked a yummy Victoria Sponge with rainbow sprinkles. Amazingly there is still some left. – I read ‘The French for Christmas‘ by Fional Valpy, my latest book from the Bahlsen Book Club and published by Bookouture. The French for Christmas is part of a series of…
-
-
My children adore any book by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler. They were so excited when we got our hands on their latest collaboration – The Scarecrow’s Wedding. This is a great story for any time of year but especially around Valentine’s Day. The Scarecrows’ Wedding is a fantastic love story. Two scarecrows, Betty O’Barley and Harry O’Hay, are planning the perfect wedding. But wicked scarecrow, Reginald Rake, has other ideas and almost ruins their special day. Harry must become a hero before he and Betty can have the wedding of their dreams. We love this story and we came…
-
Today I wanted to share two new parenting titles from Scribe with you. They aim to help parents solve two of the most commented on, despaired over and debated about parenting dilemmas: sleep and discipline using Mindful discipline The Happy Sleeper by sleep experts Julie Wright and Heather Turgeon offers an alternative sleep training method to ‘cry it out’ or ‘attachment parenting’. Using an approach rooted in making children feel safe, secure and happy in their bedtime routines, The Happy Sleeper offers practical advice for parents wanting to create good sleeping habits, or undo poor ones. The fantastic thing about…
-
I’m not a huge fan of parenting manuals. You can probably tell from the books I share here that I love my craft books and the odd piece of fiction. At the end of last year HarperCollins asked if I wanted to take part in in their 31 days of inspiration and ‘live a book’ in January. This month they are bringing 31 of their inspiring books together covering areas such as; professional development, parenting tips, health, exercise and general well-being. Some of the ideas in these books involve a complete overhaul, whilst others require small changes to effect positive…
-
Indigo is one of the colours of the rainbow, as easily recognised as it is fashionable. From its origins as a naturally produced dye, most common in India, to its ubiquitous appearance in blue jeans today, indigo has travelled far and wide. Just before Christmas I was sent a copy of a new book called Indigo. Inside the author, Nicola Gouldsmith, shows you how to use indigo to dye fabric in different ways, including dip-dyeing, tie-dyeing and printing and stencilling, as well as basic plain dyeing. She then shows you how to use the results of your dyeing to make…
-
My children take a real pleasure from books and I love that they are excited by our Book Advent. A Book Advent is a Christmas themed book-a-day during December, much better for you than chocolate! This year we’ve had a whopping 29 books, so nearly 1 for every day of December. We’ve taken out some from last year and passed them to our local charity shop. We’ve also picked up a few more along the way. This year we have stored our Advent books in a Children’s Cardboard Bedside Table Kit from The Cardboard Man. It comes as flatpack but…
-
Is it too early to be feeling a tiny bit fed up about Christmas? I’m beginning to feel the strain of two excited children, a very cluttered house, presents to wrap and quite a few meals to plan and cook too. So I thought I would take a break from reality and instead look forward to 2015 with a little look back at this year. For me this has been the year of books as I’ve really got back into reading. Some of my favourites have been The Teashop on the Corner by Milly Johnson and A Single Breath by…
-
I’ve gone all minimalist for November. This month my daughter turns 3 and we’re having a Frozen-themed birthday party to go with her Frozen-themed presents. It’s probably no surprise that some of the colours have crept into our living room and on my mantle. We have ice blue candles standing proud in my great-grandfather’s brass candlesticks. I’ve recycled our Halloween munchkins but spray painted them white to give a fresh new look. The bus blind has been moved to a different room and been replaced by my lovely Orla Kiely stem print vase, a favourite house-shaped tea light holder and…
-
The story of The Gingerbread Man is a perfect book for reading at this time of year. It’s a classic fairy tale about a Gingerbread Man’s escape from various pursuers and his eventual demise between the jaws of a fox. The Gingerbread Man There are variations in the characters but our favourite features an old couple, a chicken, a dog, a cow, a horse and a fox. The story is great for it’s rhythm and repetition with the lines Run, run as fast as you can! You can’t catch me, I’m the Gingerbread Man! We love crafting around books, they…