• Family Life - Local Review - London

    The Original Sweetshop Afternoon Tea at The Chesterfield Mayfair

    November 22, 2018 - By 

    A few weeks ago my husband treated us to a family Afternoon Tea to celebrate our 10th Wedding Anniversary. Whilst Afternoon Tea in London might not be most people’s way of celebrating, we thought it was the perfect treat for our little family. I had spent the morning at a botanical papercutting workshop, so after it had finished I headed over to Mayfair in London’s West End to meet up with the rest of the family. Afternoon tea in London It’s been a while since we’ve treated ourselves to Afternoon Tea in London. Over the last few years ago we’ve…

  • The Cactus by Sarah Haywood
    book review - Family Life

    The Cactus by Sarah Haywood

    November 21, 2018 - By 

    It’s been a while since I read and shared a good book with you. I love to read and have been reading more since we started Drop Everything and Read at school this year. It encourages me to read just as much as it does the students, and I look forward to swapping book recommendations in the Staff Room at break. I picked up a copy of The Cactus at my local library as I found the cover image so eye catching. I read the blurb on the back and knew I had to read it, so bought a copy.…

  • Peppermint Oreo Bark recipe
    baking - Christmas - Crafts for adults - Handmade gifts

    Peppermint Oreo Bark recipe

    November 21, 2018 - By 

    I always have a few easy handmade gift ideas up my sleeves at this time of year. Our diary is filling up with dates to catch up with friends and family in the run up to Christmas. I have to take something with us (as well as a bottle of mulled wine!) and our Peppermint Oreo Bark recipe always goes down a treat. It only requires 3 ingredients and is quick and simple to make. Ingredients: 24 oz. white chocolate chips 10 oreos, roughly chopped ½ cup peppermints, crushed How to make Peppermint Oreo Bark Line a baking sheet with parchment…

  • Mindful creativity with the Autumn Craftpod sub box
    Crafts for adults - Relationships - subscription box

    Mindful creativity with the Autumn Craftpod sub box

    November 20, 2018 - By 

    I’ve had loads of fun with the latest Craftpod subscription box. I wanted to share the projects as they are so lovely. Craftpod is a quarterly subscription box which usually includes a couple of seasonal craft projects, stationery and always a tea bag of some sorts. It’s my favourite crafty subscription box. Mindful creativity with the Autumn Craftpod sub box The Autumn Craftpod landed on my doorstep a few months ago. It contained a really fun paper project by Kate Kato of Kasasagi Designs, an Autumn treasure embroidery, seasonal postcard, English Breakfast teabag and roll of Japanese MT washi tape.…

  • Family Life - mindfulness - Monday Happy List

    Monday mindfulness – 5 happy things

    November 19, 2018 - By 

    Happy Monday everyone. Hope you had a great weekend. Each week I start off by writing my Monday mindfulness – 5 happy things blog post. It’s a great chance to reflect on the things that made me happy in the previous week, as well as to record some of our family adventures – it’s a post I always enjoy writing. Monday mindfulness – 5 happy things I’d like to think we had a quiet week after our adventure-packed weekend in Oxford last weekend. However, like most weeks, it’s been super busy at work and at home. Did you notice I have…

  • Disney's Ralph Breaks The Internet: Wreck-It Ralph 2 review
    Family Life - film review

    Disney’s Ralph Breaks The Internet: Wreck-It Ralph 2 review

    November 18, 2018 - By 

    This afternoon we were invited to go and see a preview of the highly anticipated sequel to Wreck-It Ralph that sees Ralph (John C. Reilly) and his racing driver best friend Vanellope (Sarah Silverman) leave the arcade world behind to explore the uncharted and thrilling world of the internet on a quest to save Vanellope’s racing game! We just loved Wreck-It Ralph. Can you believe it came out on 2012? In the first film arcade-game character Wreck-It Ralph is tired of always being the “bad guy” and losing to his “good guy” opponent, Fix-It Felix. Finally, after decades of seeing…

  • Carnival Games on Nintendo Switch
    Family Life - Tech!

    Carnival Games on Nintendo Switch

    November 17, 2018 - By 

    My 8 year old loves playing computer games. I limit his screen time but it’s his favourite thing, after playing with his Lego. We were kindly sent a copy of Carnival Games for the whole family to try. Carnival Games was released earlier this month priced at £34.99 and available for Nintendo Switch, Xbox One and PlayStation 4. Carnival Games on Nintendo Switch My children love to go to the Fair and play on the games and rides. Carnival Games brings the Carnival home and the whole family is invited. There are 20 total mini-games to play – hit home runs,…

  • Gingerbread house painted rocks tutorial
    Christmas - Crafts for kids - gingerbread - Handmade gifts - Painted rocks

    Gingerbread house painted rocks

    November 17, 2018 - By 

    We love making and hiding painted rocks around the town where we live. It’s something we’ve done for a while and really enjoy. We didn’t find any painted rocks on our most recent rock hunting trip so we knew it was time to decorate some for others to find. With Christmas coming up we thought we would try decorating some seasonal gingerbread house painted rocks. Equipment to decorate your own painted rocks Bag of smooth pebbles or rocks (we like these – Amazon affiliate link) 8 pack of Uni Posca paint pens with Ultra fine 1mm nib (we like these…

  • Barbican Conservatory inspired botanical paper cut
    Bostik Family Craft Bloggers Network - Crafts for adults - Paper craft - Paper cut art

    Barbican Conservatory inspired botanical paper cut

    November 16, 2018 - By 

    A few weeks ago now I had a morning to myself as I had booked on a papercutting workshop. I hadn’t cut anything in a while so I was hoping that the Barbican Conservatory inspired workshop would encourage me to start getting creative again. I love the Barbican, having worked next to it for nearly 10 years. It’s such an interesting part of London and I was very happy to be back for the workshop. I arrived and our small group was told more about the Barbican Conservatory inspired papercut we were going to work on. Barbican Conservatory inspired botanical…