• Winter fairy garden play activity for kids
    Fairy garden crafts - parenting - playing - Winter

    Winter fairy garden play

    January 21, 2017 - By 

    We’ve had a run of beautiful but cold days recently. These are my favourite winter days and we’ve all wanted to be outside before coming back in to warm up with a hot chocolate! Over the weekend we spent a bit of time cleaning out our mud kitchen which was looking so sad and neglected. All the pots were full of muddy, frozen water and it needed a good clean up. The children helped clear out the old pinecones and acorns we had collected and sweep away the sand and dust. We left it looking so much cleaner, all ready…

  • Lion Guard Hyena Hideout Playset
    parenting - playing - toy review

    Lion Guard Hyena Hideout Playset

    January 20, 2017 - By 

    We already have some lovely Lion Guard toys. These include the Lion Guard Collectible Figure Set and Defend the Pride Lands play set. My daughter loves these toys and they are pretty much always out. Both children love to watch The Lion Guard so were so excited to receive the Lion Guard Hyena Hideout Playset. This is a new playset from Flair and promises hours of fun to be had, recreating Lion Guard scenes from the show! Lion Guard Hyena Hideout Playset The playset may be mini but the adventures are big at this creepy Hyena Hide Out! It comes…

  • washi tape Valentine heart bookmark
    crafts - Crafts for kids - Handmade gifts - Valentines Day crafts

    Washi tape Valentine heart bookmarks

    January 20, 2017 - By 

    We love crafting with washi tape. A few years ago I went crazy buying it and we still have so much of it. The good thing is that it is still sticky and perfect for crafting with. It’s especially fun for the children as they can just tear the tape with their fingers, no need for scissors! With Valentine’s Day coming up it is a great time to start on handmade Valentine’s Day cards and gifts. We always make them for the family and this year have made simple washi tape Valentine hearts bookmarks. We used: Heart-shaped cookie cutter Washi…

  • The Art of Stone Painting: 30 Designs to Spark Your Creativity
    book review - Craft book review - crafts - handmade - Painted rocks

    The Art of Stone Painting book review

    January 19, 2017 - By 

    We love crafting with stones. They are easy to get hold of, a very tactile material and pretty easy to re-use again and again. I was pretty excited when I heard about  a new book called The Art of Stone Painting. I’ve seen some lovely stone crafts on Pinterest and wanted to find out more about creating them myself. I kindly received a copy of The Art of Stone Painting: 30 Designs to Spark Your Creativity by F. Sehnaz Bac through NetGalley. This books aims to help you transform ordinary stones into colourful works of art with this easy-to-follow guide. The Art of Stone…

  • How to make a winter pomander
    Christmas - crafts - Handmade gifts - Winter

    How to make a winter pomander

    January 18, 2017 - By 

    I had forgotten how much I love January. We are still in deepest, darkest winter and we’ve had some beautiful blue skies recently. We’ve never made many Winter crafts but this year we are fully embracing it! So far we’ve made a really fun winter ice lamp, mistletoe and holly and berries sun catchers. Today we’re sharing how to make a winter pomander. We bought a large orange and used the ribbon and cloves which came in our recent hygge-in-a-box box. I also found a metal skewer which helped with the cloves. How to make a winter pomander A pomander…

  • A Boy Made of Blocks by Keith Stuart
    book review

    A Boy Made of Blocks book review

    January 18, 2017 - By 

    Today I’m taking part in a book blog tour for A Boy Made of Blocks by Keith Stuart which has recently been published in paperback. I heard about this book when it came out last year and was so excited to get my hands on a copy. A bit about A Boy Made of Blocks: MEET THIRTY SOMETHING DAD, ALEX… He loves his wife Jody, but has forgotten how to show it. He loves his son Sam, but doesn’t understand him. Something has to change. And he needs to start with himself. MEET EIGHT-YEAR-OLD SAM… To him the world is a…

  • Apple and Gingerbread crumble
    baking - gingerbread - homestyle

    My Apple and Gingerbread crumble recipe

    January 17, 2017 - By 

    I don’t often share my recipes with you but I recently made something which is definitely worth sharing. Winter is the perfect time for making tasty treats in the kitchen. Last Autumn I came away from my father in law with two huge bags of cooking apples. His garden is full of fruit trees but everything was falling and rotting on the ground. Sadly we could only fit two bags of fruit in our car (thanks to those pesky kids!) but we prepared the fruit and froze it to see us through the winter months. We’ve had quite a few…

  • Holly and berries winter sun catcher
    Christmas - crafts - Winter

    Holly and berries winter sun catcher

    January 17, 2017 - By 

    My 6 year old has been off school for the past few days with chicken pox. He’s been quite poorly and Minecraft has been the only thing to cheer him up. To scrape him away from it we re-used our cellophane sweet wrappers to make this fun holly and berries winter sun catcher. We used: white card, green and red cellophane pieces, contact paper, scissors Holly and berries winter sun catcher First I drew some holly leaves and berries on a sheet of card. Then I cut them out using my Swann-Morton scalpel. If I made this again I would only…

  • 2017 life goals
    Monday Happy List

    Monday Happy List – 2017 life goals

    January 16, 2017 - By 

    Last Monday I missed writing my weekly Monday Happy List post. I’ve written this post for over 2 years so it felt strange not writing it. However, I came down with a strange bug which kept me in bed all day and I couldn’t face opening my laptop. I’ve been meaning to write my goals for 2017 so spent the day thinking what to write from my sick bed. Today instead of my usual Monday Happy List post I’m going to share my goals for 2017. To be honest not much happened last week except for me being ill and…