• Crafts for kids

    5 Evergreen Craft Ideas For Kids of Different Ages

    January 9, 2025 - By 

    Crafts are important for a child’s development and serve many purposes beyond simple creative expression. Crafts can help children develop their fine motor skills, build confidence, show cause and effect, and provide opportunities for exploring different senses. As a parent or guardian, there are too many ideas to explore with your kids, but there are a few that stand out and have withstood the test of time. A Photo Collage These days, it is very easy to create a pic collage using software or different online tools. However, someone must still take the photos that go into the collage, which…

  • cosy cabin hoop kit from love embroidery magaazine
    Crafts for adults

    Cosy Cabin Hoop Kit {first make of 2025!]

    January 8, 2025 - By 

    My first make of 2025 is a sweet little hoop, a cover gift with Love Embroidery magazine. Designed my Matilda Smith I have a feeling this has been sitting around for a while now, I started but didn’t finish. Cosy Cabin Hoop Kit The hoop kit contained the plastic hoop, pre-printed fabric featuring a winter scene, and threads. This was a nice, easy project with only 4 types of stitches. I’m not sure why I started but didn’t finish this hoop. Looking back it was probably all those small stitches on the cabin which took forever! When I picked it…

  • Five Happy Things

    Five Happy Things {Week 1/2025}

    January 5, 2025 - By 

    Starting the week by writing the Happy List is something I’ve been doing for the last few years. It’s my chance to sit down and reflect on the things that made me happy in the previous week, as well as to record some of the adventures we have as a family. Five Happy Things {Week 1/2025} It was so lovely having time off between Christmas and New Year. The weather was not great but we enjoyed spending time with the children. We took them climbing at HarroWall which was fun. It’s dog friendly which meant the pup could come too! We…

  • Penguin Parade Sculpture Trail at Fleet Street Quarter London
    London - Sculpture trails

    Penguin Parade Sculpture Trail at Fleet Street Quarter London

    January 4, 2025 - By 

    Over the weekend we finally made it into London to visit the Penguin Parade Sculpture Trail at Fleet Street Quarter. The sculptures have been situated around Fleet Street Quarter for the last 8 weeks, so we managed to catch them on the last few days! Penguin Parade Sculpture Trail at Fleet Street Quarter London Fleet Street Quarter is a lovely corner of London that we don’t visit very often. It was lovely and quiet and easy to walk between the 12 sculptures, each lovely penguin painted by a different artist. The free art trail supports the work of the WWF,…

  • Andover Catfe
    Monday Happy List

    Five Happy Things {Week 532}

    December 30, 2024 - By 

    Starting the week by writing the Happy List is something I’ve been doing for the last few years. It’s my chance to sit down and reflect on the things that made me happy in the previous week, as well as to record some of the adventures we have as a family. Hope you all had an amazing time over Christmas. Five Happy Things {Week 532} My year in books, I read 34 books out of my target of 35 books which I’m really pleased with. I’m so close to reaching my target this year! I’ve read some really good books and…

  • Pretty Fabrics & Trims Advent Box
    Crafts for adults

    What I made in December 2024

    December 27, 2024 - By 

    December flew by for me packed with preparation for Christmas. This year instead of a beauty or chocolate advent calendar I signed up for the Pretty Fabrics & Trims Advent Box. The box contained one large embroidery project, a sweet countdown to Christmas, as well as a smaller project for each Sunday of Advent. I loved the idea of something to make for myself and really enjoyed opening the box. However, I haven’t started the embroidery panel. It was just too big with a motif to stitch every day and I didn’t want to start and not finish it before Christmas…

  • Origami bells craft for kids
    Crafts for kids - New Year crafts

    Origami bells craft for kids

    December 24, 2024 - By 

    This is such a busy time of year with New Year following close on Christmas Day. It’s. easy to overlook the New Year but we couldn’t resist looking through all our New Year crafts and added a sweet origami bells craft for kids to make. Origami is always fun and these origami bells will add a touch of colour to your celebrations. List of supplies Coloured craft papers (we used red, green and yellow) Pencil Craft glue A pair of scissors Origami bells craft for kids Select red, green and yellow coloured craft papers for the origami bell craft. Prepare…

  • Pretty Fabrics and Trims Advent Box
    Monday Happy List

    Five Happy Things {Week 531}

    December 22, 2024 - By 

    Starting the week by writing the Happy List is something I’ve been doing for the last few years. It’s my chance to sit down and reflect on the things that made me happy in the previous week, as well as to record some of the adventures we have as a family. Five Happy Things {Week 531} I know that I am making my Pretty Fabrics and Trims Advent Box in the wrong order but I don’t care. The main project was too much for me so I’ve been stitching the smaller projects, including this English Paper Pieced tree decoration. It’s really fiddly…

  • Lets Hit Each Other with Fake Swords by Exploding Kittens
    Family Life

    Lets Hit Each Other with Fake Swords by Exploding Kittens

    December 20, 2024 - By 

    We were recently gifted Lets Hit Each Other with Fake Swords by Exploding Kittens. We have a huge collection of Exploding Kittens games as a) the rules are simple to learn and b) the games are quick and easy to play. As our kids get older they like games which we can play after dinner and we all enjoy their card games. Today we wanted to share Lets Hit Each Other with Fake Swords which is a card game, with fake swords. Lets Hit Each Other with Fake Swords There is an instruction booklet in the game box but also…