• enjoying the garden in the summer
    gardening - Summer

    Saving money this Summer with My Favourite Voucher Codes

    June 14, 2016 - By 

    My 6 year old came home from school on Friday, proudly telling me how many days were left until the School holidays. I admit this filled me with dread as I haven’t really started thinking about the Summer holidays just yet. We will be spending much of the school holidays at home as my husband isn’t very well. This means I will be researching for days out close to home and looking for ways to keep my children occupied at home. One thing I’m really keen to achieve this summer is for my 4 year old to enjoy cycling more. She…

  • Jungle themed desk tidy
    Baker Ross Blogger Network - Bostik Family Craft Bloggers Network - crafts - Kids crafts - Recycled crafts - tutorial

    Jungle themed desk tidy

    June 14, 2016 - By 

    I’m always trying to get the children to keep their craft supplies tidy. So our latest craft has been raiding our recycling drawer to make a jungle-themed desk tidy. We used: Bostik White Glu and Glu Dots (from our latest Bostik Bloggers craft pack) Animal print paper sheets from Baker Ross Scissors Cardboard tubes and boxes from the recycling box How to make a jungle themed desk tidy We found a variety of cardboard tubes in our recycling box and covered them with different animal print papers – Giraffe, Zebra, Reptile, Leopard, Tiger and Snakeskin. The children enjoyed picking their…

  • Handmade gifts - mindfulness

    Receiving happy mail and random acts of kindness

    June 13, 2016 - By 

    Everyone loves to receive nice mail. My obsession with the mail started when I was much younger with penpals. I had tons of penpals and loved to swap postcards and stamps and find out more about people around the world. Over time this love of receiving mail has continued and I’ve taken part in a few sewing swaps, sending and receiving little handmade packages. I think that’s part of the reason I enjoy subscription boxes so much, happy mail makes a lovely change from those dreaded brown envelopes! Since my children have come along I don’t seem to have so much…

  • Cath Kidston - crafts - days out - mindfulness

    Monday Happy List – week 90

    June 13, 2016 - By 

    We started off our week with a visit to KidZania as the children had an Inset Day. They loved the experience which you can read a little more about in this post. They are still talking about it which is always the sign of a great day out. I have made so many things this last week that I really need a break. I know I love to be creative but I have had some insane deadlines lately. I’m always grateful if people want to work with me but I have to not take on so much. It feels like…

  • Five Guys uxbridge
    days out - eating - food review

    A lunch date at Five Guys

    June 12, 2016 - By 

    My husband introduced us to Five Guys a few years ago and it’s now our go to place for a tasty lunch. My husband has plans for Father’s Day which is next Sunday – we’re trying not to take this personally. So instead we went out for a family lunch today. We’ve been to Five Guys a few times now and all have our favourites. The children both love their hot dogs with fries whilst we always go for the Cheeseburgers. Five Guys is nice and simple. Order and pay at the counter and you’ll receive your receipt and order…

  • crafts - Father's Day - Gift guide - Kids crafts

    Father’s Day gift guide

    June 12, 2016 - By 

    I haven’t pulled together a gift guide since Christmas but they are quite fun posts to write. So, if you’re feeling a bit stuck with Father’s day looming next Sunday (19th June) then I hope you might find some inspiration here. Father’s Day gift guide We are a creative family so family celebrations always include a handmade element. This year the children made some lovely Father’s Day gifts, including decorated key rings from a Baker Ross craft kit and an air drying clay dish for loose change. I’m sure they’ll both be making Father’s Day cards at school but we…

  • 10 Euro 2016 football crafts for kids
    crafts - Kids crafts

    10 Euro 2016 football crafts for kids

    June 11, 2016 - By 

    According to Wikipedia (my main source of information apart from my 6 year old son), the 2016 UEFA European Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2016 or simply Euro 2016, is the 15th edition of the UEFA European Championship, the quadrennial international men’s football championship of Europe organised by UEFA. It runs from June 10 to July 10 2016 in France and 24 teams are taking part. My 6 year old loves his weekly football classes so I thought it would be fun to give him (and you) a round up of 10 Euro 2016 football crafts for kids. 10 Euro…

  • Cork stamped footballs craft for kids to celebrate Euro 2016
    crafts - die cutting - Kids crafts - tutorial

    Cork stamped football craft

    June 11, 2016 - By 

    Wine corks are an ideal material for stamping and we have plenty of them. So I made up this simple football related craft to keep my children busy this afternoon. England will be playing their first match this evening against Russia in Euro 2016 which we’re really looking forward to watching later. Cork stamped football craft We used: wine cork Swann Morton scalpel Black acrylic paint White card circles (cut using my Sizzix Big Shot Plus and the Sizzix Bigz Die Circles) I prepared the cork earlier, roughly marking a hexagon on one end of the cork, them cutting away the…

  • Then it was time to place the finished design on the ring body. The designs are really sweet and we enjoyed making them together.
    Aquabeaders - crafts - Kids crafts

    Aquabeads Dazzling Ring Set

    June 10, 2016 - By 

    I’ve always found making things to be the best hobby. Luckily my children think so too! As my 4 year old olny has afternoon sessions we usually spend the morning crafting. This week we have been trying out a new set from Aquabeads – the Dazzling Ring Set. This is a Refill set which means you need to already have a Layout tray and water Sprayer. The Dazzling Ring Set contains over 400 jewel and solid beads, 6 x ring bodies and 3 x template sheets. My 4 year old chose the template sheet she wanted to make, I slipped…