• Doodle Cat is Bored book cover
    book review - competition

    Win a copy of Doodle Cat is Bored

    June 8, 2017 - By 

    Doodle Cat is back and he is very bored. Until he finds a thing! But what is this thing and what does it do? Following on from their award-winning debut picture book I Am Doodle Cat, British writer Kat Patrick and Kiwi illustrator Lauren Marriott, have created another hilarious tale featuring the irreverent bright red cat who loves just about everything. Bursting with imagination and fun, Doodle Cat returns to remind us to be curious, creative and to explore every option. Doodle Cat is Bored is published today, June 8. Full of silliness and magic, it is a hardback book just purrrrfect for…

  • 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…

  • Schleich DC Comics Wonder Woman figure
    toy review

    Schleich DC Comics Wonder Woman figure

    June 7, 2017 - By 

    It’s no secret we love Schleich toys around here. We have a quite a collection of animals from the Wild Life, Farm World and Horse Club ranges which the children love to play with. We’ve also added a few other figures from the different Schleich ranges, including Peanuts, The Smurfs and Dinosaurs. So we were pretty excited to receive the new Wonder Woman figurine from Schleich which accompanies the new movie perfectly! Wonder Woman is from the DC Comics range of 14 Justice League figures including Catwoman, Hawkman and Aquaman. There are actually three different Wonder Woman figures and we…

  • Superhero bookmark for Fathers Day
    crafts - Father's Day - Handmade gifts

    Superhero bookmark for Fathers Day

    June 6, 2017 - By 

    Both the children were off school yesterday thanks to an Inset Day. We used our time to make a fun Father’s Day craft as my children love surprising their Dad with homemade gifts and cards. We used: Craft sticks Felt Cardboard Colouring pens Googly eyes Glue stick How to make a Superhero bookmark for Father’s Day This little bookmark was my daughter’s idea so we had to follow her instructions. The first step was the children going through our felt supplies and choosing their favourite colours. Then they cut a rough triangle from their chosen colour for their superheroes cape. They…

  • Win a men's shaving bundle from Cornerstone
    competition - subscription box

    Win a shaving gift set from Cornerstone {Father’s Day giveaway}

    June 5, 2017 - By 

    Regular readers know how much I love subscription boxes. They are a great way to try out new products and I’ve tried some fab ones, ranging from food to stationery to craft kits and more. My husband is finally getting in on the act as today we are reviewing Cornerstone, a men’s shaving subscription service. My husband is pretty furry, like most men, and doesn’t spend much time on his appearance. He does enjoy shaving though and has a collection of good quality products he has built up over the last few years. I couldn’t wait to see what he thought…

  • picture for June
    holidays - mindfulness - Monday Happy List

    Monday happy things {Week 140}

    June 5, 2017 - By 

    We’ve had a really lovely half term break. My lucky children have an Inset Day today whilst I’m back at work for a couple of hours. I’ve been super organised and got their school uniforms ready and PE kits packed for when they do go back on Tuesday 🙂 We were all looking forward to making some half term memories and we packed in quite a lot. We spent a few days with my mum in Wiltshire and pottered around enjoying the weather and relaxing. We took the children to Bratton Camp where they could run around but tried not…

  • EmbellishBox for papercutters {May box}
    crafts - Paper craft - Paper cut art - subscription box

    EmbellishBox for papercutters {May box}

    June 4, 2017 - By 

    I’ve neglected my hobbies in the last few months and hardly spent any time being creative. Unfinished projects have been piling up around me, only making me feel more guilty about not making time for them. I’ve still been receiving the magazines and subscription boxes though! The latest one to arrive on my doorstep was the May EmbellishBox. Each month has a different theme and this months was On Safari. As usual the box contained four #papercutting  templates: Safari Animals, Safari Party, Looking on Safari and a Safari House. I’ve nearly finished the Looking on Safari template. There were some…

  • How to build a bug hotel - the gingerbread house blog
    crafts - garden crafts - Toilet roll crafts - upcycling

    How to build a bug hotel {Part 2}

    June 3, 2017 - By 

    A few weeks ago I mentioned how we started work building our own bug hotel. The kids love learning about all the different animals they see in the garden so we thought a bug hotel would be fun. What we used to build a Bug Hotel bricks flower pot corrugated cardboard bamboo sticks cardboard tubes How to build a bug hotel A bug hotel can be as simple of complicated as you want. Our garden is quite small but we found a quiet corner we thought would be perfect. We roughly measured where we wanted the bug hotel to go. It…

  • West London Racing Centre
    days out - Hillingdon - Local Review - London - parenting

    West London Racing Centre {exploring the local area}

    June 3, 2017 - By 

    I’ve mentioned a few times that my husband and children have a collection of model cars they like to race (this is on top of the model cars and model planes!). When we moved to West London we began looking for somewhere to race the cars, other than the woods or local park. Someone recommended the West London Racing Centre. The West London Racing Centre is in the corner of Pole Hill Open Space, a park in the London Borough of Hillingdon. The WLRC is designed to provide an organised venue for racing 1:10th Scale Electric On-Road radio control model…