• Old Sarum exploring Wiltshire}
    days out - parenting - Wiltshire

    Old Sarum {exploring Wiltshire}

    November 3, 2017 - By 

    We’ve been National Trust members on and off for years now. Writing that makes me feel really old! I love history and so it made sense to join an organisation looking after historic buildings and landscapes which also offered great days out for the family. Whilst staying in Wiltshire last week we realised that quite a lot of the local historic properties were managed by English Heritage so joined up. To make use of our membership we decided to stop off on our way to the Isle of Wight and visit Old Sarum. We knew they were hosting some special…

  • Minecraft in a jar
    Christmas - crafts - Handmade gifts

    Kid made gifts in a jar {Minecraft in a jar}

    November 3, 2017 - By 

    My children take a jar filled with toys or sweets into school every Christmas for their Christmas Fair contribution. The whole school does this and in return the kids get to wear their own clothes to school. The filled jars are then sold at the Fair and raise money for school. It’s a great way to raise funds for school and my children have always enjoyed filling and decorating their jars. Our “Jolly Jars” are traditionally filled with sweets (usually leftover from Halloween!) but a filled jar also makes a great handmade gift at Christmas. It’s something that’s really easy…

  • pile of Christmas gifts
    Christmas - homestyle

    Finding great Christmas gifts for £5

    November 2, 2017 - By 

    I’m sure I can’t be the only person who starts their Christmas planning early. This time of year is busy with family birthdays and school events and the only way I can through it is with lots of lists and being organised. BritMums recently got in touch to see if I would like to take the Sportsdirect.com £5 Christmas Challenge #sdfiverchallenge. Sportsdirect.com is not just football boots and inexpensive trainers. It features fashion brands, leisurewear and more! Because of its buying power, Sportsdirect.com is able to get products you’d expect to pay a lot more for elsewhere. Their range of…

  • review of the Playmobil Royal Ice Skating Trip Advent Calendar
    Christmas - parenting - toy review

    Playmobil Royal Ice Skating Trip Advent Calendar

    November 2, 2017 - By 

    I love Christmas and have been excitedly working on filling up our Advent Crate which is delivered by our little Elf on the 1st December. Every one in our house gets an Advent Calendar and I love looking round for the latest must-have calendars. We’ve been Playmobil Playologists for a while now and were lucky to receive one of the new Playmobil Advent Calendars to review. Playmobil is a top manufacturer within preschool toys and make the best Advent calendars! In 2013 we reviewed the Playmobil Pirates Treasure Cove advent calendar, in 2014 we reviewed the Playmobil Santa’s Workshop Advent Calendar in 2015 we reviewed…

  • Creating a keepsake of Christmas memories
    parenting

    Creating a keepsake of Christmas memories with Snapfish

    November 1, 2017 - By 

    Now that Halloween is over for another year it’s time to turn our attention to Christmas. If you’re a regular reader of my blog you’ll know that I’m pretty big on celebrating the seasons and family traditions. Snapfish recently got in touch and asked me if I would like to create a photo book with them, celebrating all our little Christmas memories and traditions (read to the end for a very generous discount from Snapfish). I’ve made a few photo books before. There was one for my mum’s recent special birthday, and I also made one for my daughter’s first…

  • boy holding plate of Limited edition BEAR Claws
    Halloween crafts - Happy By Nature - parenting

    Limited edition BEAR Claws for our Trick or Treaters!

    October 31, 2017 - By 

    My children have been (almost) climbing the walls with excitement for most of October. They just adore Halloween and have been dressing up, pleading with me to get the Halloween decorations out of the loft, and helping me bake spooky treats all month. Halloween can, and should be, a really fun festival for children. They love decorating the front of our house to make sure that Trick or Treaters know they can call on us. To get them in the mood for Halloween, they were sent their very own trick-or-treat boxes from BEAR. I left them out for the children…

  • Sylvanian Families Halloween decoration
    crafts - Friends of Sylvanian Families - Halloween crafts

    Sylvanian Families Halloween wreath decoration

    October 30, 2017 - By 

    Today we were walking to school and my children berated me for our lack of Halloween decorations! I was pretty loathe to give up my day decorating, especially as I thought the Halloween decorations I picked up a few weeks ago in poundworld were brilliant. Clearly I needed to up my game to impress the 5 and 7 year old. A few weeks ago I bought a laser cut MDF spider web online. I thought I would use it to make my own Halloween wreath. I gave it two coats of white paint which took ages – if I try this…

  • vintage Kasak Collier Campbell for Liberty
    days out - homestyle - mindfulness - Monday Happy List

    Monday mindfulness {5 happy things}

    October 30, 2017 - By 

    Half term just flew by for me. It was lovely to go away for the whole week and we caught up with all my family which was brilliant. I had been super organised and pre-written all my blog posts which meant I hardly spent any time on my laptop all week. I even found time to do some sewing in the evening! Our week was packed with adventures in the fresh air which was just what we all needed. Whilst we were staying with my mum we made the Christmas cakes and puddings. Forget Stir Up Sunday (this year it…

  • Hot Wheels Track Builder Stunt Bridge Kit review
    parenting - toy review

    Hot Wheels Track Builder Stunt Bridge Kit review

    October 29, 2017 - By 

    It’s been a while since we reviewed any Hot Wheels sets but today we have a brilliant one to share with you. Both my children have always loved toy cars. They are always close to hand in the living room and I love the different ways my children play with them. We have a few Hot Wheels tracks. They come up with all sorts of genius tracks to make play really fun and spark imagination. Today we’re going to tell you about the Hot Wheels Track Builder Stunt Bridge Kit from Mattel. Hot Wheels Track Builder Stunt Bridge Kit The Hot…