• Christmas - Crafts for adults - Paper craft

    Handmade Christmas cards with Stampin’ Up!

    A few weeks I received a lovely bundle of craft supplies from Stampin’ Up!. You may remember I was first introduced to them back in 2012 when I attended a lovely craft event to learn more about them and their products. Stampin’ Up! are leaders in decorative stamps, handmade greeting cards, and papercrafting. They make products which inspire people to discover and share their creativity. Handmade Christmas cards with Stampin’ Up! I received Stampin’ Up’s! Christmas Card Kit which included the Making Christmas Bright Photopolymer Stamp Set, Clear Block D, All Is Bright A4 Cardstock Pack, Whisper White Thick A4 Cardstock, Call Me…

  • Family Life

    Regaining Your Living Room: Bringing the Kid’s Playroom to Their Bedroom

    Photo by Hannah Rodrigo on Unsplash No toddler-parent in the world can confidently say that their house is mess free, especially when it comes to the downstairs living room. Pre-toddler, your room would be the ideal place for you to chill out in, whereas now you can’t sit on the sofa without a small piece of Lego digging into you. Bringing the Kid’s Playroom to Their Bedroom Wouldn’t it be great if you could ensure that your children play in their own bedroom, rather than taking over every room in the house? Here is some advice on how you can make sure that your child loves…

  • Blogger Board Game Club - Family Life

    Blogger Board Game Club review: SET card game

    We are counting down the days until the Christmas holidays begin. Both children had their Christmas plays today and are looking really tired. We have been making lots of time to relax and wind down after school, and have been enjoying games of SET. Blogger Board Game Club review: SET card game Have you heard of SET before? Set has won over 35 best game awards including Mensa select. It’s a perfect travel game and a party favourite! The object of the game is to identify sets of three cards. Each card is unique in its four features: shape, colour, number…

  • Crafts for adults - mindfulness

    Mindful Christmas crafting and Crafternoons

    {This is a guest post I am happily hosting to promote awareness of the mental health charity Mind and their Crafternoons, written by Jayanthi Ezekiel. The official ‘day’ for Crafternoon was 1st December, however, Mind are encouraging people to host their Crafternoon on a day that suits you and feel there are still opportunities for Christmas crafternoons to take place this month! I’m a huge advocate of the benefits of crafting so please read on.} Mindful Christmas crafting and Crafternoons For most of us, Christmas is hectic. Presents to wrap, cards to write, social events to shine at – phew! However,…

  • Family Life - Hasbro Toy Tribe

    Monopoly Fortnite Edition

    If you’re a parent of a tween like me, you must be aware of Fornite. The multi-player video game has taken over the world since its release last year and there’s no escaping it. It’s all I hear about from my son at home, and all I hear about at the school I work. Every child seems to know the Fortnite dances, regardless of whether they play Fortnite or not. Monopoly Fortnite Edition from Hasbro We were excited to be offered the new Monopoly Fortnite from Hasbro to review. We are huge fans of traditional Monopoly so were keen to…

  • Family Life - mindfulness - Monday Happy List

    Monday Mindfulness – 5 Happy Things

    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 love this time of year as there is so much going on. I enjoy my Christmas crafting too and had fun creating some Chocolate Christmas Tree Pretzels. You can find the full recipe here…

  • days out - Family Life - Hampshire - STEM activity

    Santa & the Elves Christmas Experience at Winchester Science Centre

    Today we were invited along to Winchester Science Centre and Planetarium for a special Christmas treat. Advertised as a Christmas experience like no other, we were promised a live science show inspired by the classic children’s tale, Jack and the Beanstalk; an elf-led activity; Christmas planetarium show and a chance to meet Santa. Santa & the Elves Christmas Experience at Winchester Science Centre The Santa and the Elves Christmas Experience unites the magic of Christmas with the excitement of science, promising a fun-filled family day out during the festive season. The experience comprises two main events, an hour-long Santa and science experience…

  • Family Life

    The Benefits of Foster Care Training and Support

    Photo by Brandon Wong on Unsplash When considering becoming a foster carer, it is imperative that you look at the different levels of support and training available. There is a huge variety in the amount of foster care training in the early days, ongoing professional development, and the support you will be offered throughout your role as a foster carer. We urge you to ask different local authorities and independent fostering agencies about their foster care training and support before you ‘sign-up’. Why is foster care training and support so important? We all want to do absolutely best by the children in the care system. However, children…

  • Family Life

    Personalised Christmas gifts for children {Magic Santa Letter review}

    Now we are firmly in December and *just* about juggling the daily excitement of opening Advent calendars, reading books from our Book Advent, listening to Christmas music, discovering where our Christmas elves are hiding and sleeping in our Christmassy bedding. Christmas can be pretty time consuming for us parents can’t it? However, I just love our Christmas traditions, especially when I see how happy the children are. Personalised Christmas gifts for children I’ve actually finished all our Christmas shopping so have been doing a few last minute things for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. I love adding a few extra…