I can’t believe we’ve been in our present home for a good couple of years now. I think the start of a New Year has made us finally sit down and talk about home improvements. This year we will be concentrating on the downstairs and I can’t wait to choose some colour schemes and get painting. I’m sure I can’t be the only person who found selling and buying property more stressful than getting married or having babies! Unfortunately it’s always going to be expensive and time consuming. As well as buying property there are all the associated fees including…
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January tends to be a quiet month for us. After the crazy, busy months of November and December it’s good to keep our weekends free to enjoy each others’ company and our own home. It was noticeably colder today, which is why it seemed like a really good time to experiment in the kitchen. Many moons ago when I was at University, I was a member of the Tunnocks’ Caramel Wafer Appreciation Society. Every week we would gather in the pub, I can’t quite remember what we did, but I made some great friends and went on a trip to…
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Every month I challenge myself to make the Mollie Makes magazine cover gift. I’ve subscribed since it first came out and have a drawer full of unopened kits – but no more. I’ve been making more time for crafting and I love to try something new with each of the cover gifts. Issue 62 of Mollie Makes came with a cool Mollie Makes Paper Gems Kit designed by Minieco. It contained a scary looking wooden template and 10 pretty papers. Tonight I sat down and attempted to make a paper gem. I read through the instructions and decided to cut out…
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It feels like it’s been a while since I shared a good book I’ve enjoyed reading. Just before Christmas I was looking for something new to read. It was a difficult time as I knew I would be receiving a few books for Christmas but I really wanted something to read. I was in my local Waterstones buying a few last minute Christmas presents and decided to purchase a copy of The Girl On The Train by Paula Hawkins. I’m probably the last person in the world to read it. I don’t have a commute, or much time to read,…
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We’re lucky to live in a beautiful part of Greater London surrounded by woods and forests. A short drive away is the outstanding Wendover Woods which is looked after by the Forestry Commission. Not that we need an incentive to visit the woods, but we do enjoy the partnership between the Forestry Commission, the wonderful books by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler, to create the fun family activity trails. There have been a couple of trails based on books and so far we’ve visited the Gruffalo Activity Trail, The Gruffalo’s Child Activity Trail and the Superworm Activity Trail. Stick Man trail at Wendover Woods A few…
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Happy New Year everyone and welcome to my weekly Monday Happy Things post where I record the five things which have made me happy in the past week. I’ve really enjoyed the Christmas holidays. I’ve had plenty of time to indulge my hobbies, written some long overdue blog posts and loved not receiving too many emails. One of my favourite Christmas presents was The Year in Stitches Calendar Kit from The Draper’s Daughter. I enjoyed stitching the first month and will look forward to making each one every month. On the way back from spending Christmas at my mum’s…
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Regular readers will know I enjoy crafting with Duck Tape. It’s a really versatile material to craft with and late last year I discovered Duck Glitter crafting tape, which is Duck Tape with a glitter effect which doesn’t come off. There are a variety of colours and perfect for winter crafts! I decided to make some decorations and my Duck glitter crafting tape balls were born! This is a simple craft project and I used Duck Glitter crafting tape, polystyrene balls and scissors. I decided to cover each ball in one colour and cut the Duck Glitter tape into small pieces,…
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A couple of weeks ago we made it to Longleat Safari Park Festival of Light in Wiltshire. My mum was celebrating her birthday with a large family party and we all (10 adults and 3 children) headed over to Longleat to enjoy the show. None of us had never been before so we were excited to visit. Festival of Light at Longleat During the winter months Longleat is transformed to a winter wonderland with the addition of hundreds of Chinese Lanterns, a Singing Christmas Tree, Ice Skating, and the Santa Express. We entered Longleat Safari Park as dusk was falling…
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I’ve been toying with the idea of using a Planner to get organised in 2016. I’m a bit of a list keeper and find writing lists and crossing things off really helpful. The only problem is where to keep them. Add to my lists the family calendar in the kitchen with the children’s activities and playdates, the calendar on my iPhone with my PTA and choir commitments and then scribbled ideas for blog posts and that is a lot of things to remember. The Life Planner I invested in the Life Planner from Lollipop which I first heard about when…