• Fat Quarter Home Cover
    book review - competition - crafts - sewing

    Fat Quarter: Home and Fat Quarter: Quick Makes! {review and giveaway}

    June 8, 2017 - By 

    As a fabric addict I was pretty delighted when I heard about two new craft books from Juliet Bawden and Amanda Russell. Fat Quarter: Home and Fat Quarter: Quick Makes feature 25 projects to make from short lengths of fabrics. I can’t resist buying Fat Quarters when I see pretty fabrics, and my 7 year old seems to have caught my habit too. Yes, our fabric stash is bursting with FQs but I often can’t think of projects which would use them up. All that is about to change with the publication of these two titles. Fabric stashers need never feel guilty again…

  • Doodle Dogs by Tim Hopgood
    book review - competition

    Win a copy of Doodle Dogs by Tim Hopgood

    June 2, 2017 - By 

    Macmillan Children’s Books have a lovely new activity book for children from author/illustrator Tim Hopgood. Doodle Dogs features different breeds of dogs, allowing children to have fun doodling while teaching children to harness their creativity by learning artistic techniques from famous artists. World famous artist Paul Klee once said, ‘A line is a dot that went for a walk’, so get ready to do some creative dot walking! Fromt dots to dashes and squiggles to scribbles, this book is all about making marks, creating characters and having fun with art. Get ready to do some creative dot walking with Tim Hopgood and doodle Dog,…

  • Ginny Moon by Benjamin Ludwig
    book review

    Ginny Moon by Benjamin Ludwig

    June 1, 2017 - By 

    The latest book I have been enjoying is Ginny Moon by Benjamin Ludwig. Published by HQ today, 1st June 2017. I have no experience of Autism at all, other than reading A Boy Made of Blocks which I read earlier this year. I don’t think that matters because as soon as I read the blurb for Ginny Moon I wanted to read more. Ginny Moon by Benjamin Ludwig Ginny Moon‘s painfully honest narrator is Ginny, a girl with autism living in a world that just doesn’t add up. Five years ago the police forcibly removed her from the home of her abusive mother Gloria.…

  • Win a copy of The Power of the Pencil
    book review - competition

    Win a copy of The Power of the Pencil

    May 23, 2017 - By 

    I find that being creative is the perfect way for me to relax. I love all sorts of crafts from colouring books to papercutting, hand sewing to baking. Anything goes but it’s always nice to try new things and challenge myself. Creativity means different things to different people but it can be as simple as picking up a pencil. In case you don’t think you are creative or are in need of a little help then I have a lovely giveaway for you today. The Power of the Pencil: Draw, Sketch, Doodle & Play with a Pencil by Guy Field.…

  • All the Good Things by Clare Fisher
    book review

    All the Good Things by Clare Fisher

    May 20, 2017 - By 

    Today I’m taking part in the blog tour for All the Good Things by Clare Fisher which is published by Viking on the 1st June. I love being sent books to review as I find it challenges me to read books I wouldn’t necessarily choose. All the Good Things by Clare Fisher Twenty-one year old Beth is in prison. The thing she did is so bad she doesn’t deserve to ever feel good again. But her counsellor, Erika, won’t give up on her. She asks Beth to make a list of all the good things in her life. So Beth…

  • book review

    Take Courage: Anne Bronte and the Art of Life

    May 14, 2017 - By 

    As I saw parents waiting for their children to return for a residential trip last night it reminded me of my favourite school residential. I went to school on the Isle of Wight and when I was at Junior school we spent a week in Yorkshire. I can’t imagine taking a coach load of kids on such a journey before the age of iPhones and iPads but somehow we made the long journey. I’ve now spent hours trying to find photographs of this school trip – but failed. My favourite trip during our visit was to Haworth and the Bronte…

  • What the Ladybird Heard. Rosamund Hine (Farmer) photo credit Robert Workman.def
    book review

    What the Ladybird Heard on Holiday {book review}

    May 12, 2017 - By 

    If you have young children like me then you will probably have heard of What the Ladybird Heard. This is the first of three titles in the What the Ladybird Heard picture book series, followed by What the Ladybird Heard Next and the highly-anticipated What the Ladybird Heard on Holiday which is due to hit UK bookshops on 29th June 2017. The Julia Donaldson and Lydia Monks (author and illustrator) partnership began 14 years ago, when they first worked together on Princess Mirror-Belle. What the Ladybird Heard and What the Ladybird Heard Next have sold 1.5 million copies in all formats worldwide, with 20 foreign editions currently in-print. What the Ladybird Heard on…

  • Grumpy Frog by Ed Vere
    book review - competition

    Grumpy Frog by Ed Vere book giveaway

    May 7, 2017 - By 

    A brand new and hilarious picture book from the incredible New York Times best-selling author and illustrator Ed Vere. Grumpy Frog is not grumpy. He loves green, and he loves to hop, and he loves winning. But what happens when Grumpy Frog doesn’t win, or encounters – horror of horrors – a Pink Rabbit? Join Grumpy Frog as he learns about compromise and tolerance, friendship and the power of saying sorry. A hilarious book with a twist in the tail about getting – and getting rid of – the grumps. Grumpy Frog subtly teaches the importance of being kind to…

  • Star Wars books for 7 year old
    book review - parenting - Star Wars crafts

    Star Wars Reads 2017

    April 20, 2017 - By 

    Now in its sixth year, Star Wars Reads, a celebration of Star Wars and reading, has returned with a month-long campaign throughout April. Last year I wrote a post about my son. The only books he would read were Star Wars related, with a few Angry Birds and Minecraft books thrown into the mix. I really thought a year later I would not be writing this post but guess what? He’s still the same. Slightly bigger perhaps but still only reading Star Wars books on his own. Together we have managed to read a few Roald Dahl books, we’ve just finished reading Matilda. And…