• baking - gardening - sewing

    Monday happy things

    I don’t normally publish so many posts in one day but I have to mark the passing of another 7 days with my weekly Monday happy things post. My daughter started her new pre-school and is really enjoying herself. This is her first full week and I’m hoping she won’t be too tired to enjoy it. I was amazed how tired and grumpy she was after her first 4 afternoons! My mum has been staying with us and we’ve been crafting together which is one of my favourite things to do. As much as I love to sew on my…

  • baking - gingerbread - Halloween crafts

    Halloween gingerbread ghosts

    We’ve had a steady stream of visitors recently so thought we should give our baking a seasonal twist. We love gingerbread so made our favourite gingerbread biscuit recipe and used a great Halloween cutter to make Halloween gingerbread ghosts. Ingredients for Halloween gingerbread ghosts: 350g Plain flour 1tsp Bicarbonate of soda 2 tsp Ground ginger 100g Butter 175g Light muscovado sugar 4 tbsp Golden Syrup 1 large egg How to make Halloween gingerbread ghosts: Place the flour, bicarbonate of soda and ginger in a bowl. Rub in the butter with your fingertips until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs, then stir…

  • competition - playing - toy review

    Win a Doc McStuffins Pet Vet Bag

    I have a fantastic competition to share today. A couple of months ago we reviewed the Doc McStuffins Pet Vet Bag Playset from Flair. My 3 year old loves to play Doc with her own toys and now she can fix her toy animals too! The Pet Vet Bag Playset contains everything your child needs to give their toy animals a check up, just like Doc does in the new episodes of Doc McStuffins coming soon to Disney Junior. The Pet Vet Bag Playset contains a Vet Bag, a brush, a comb, scissors, otoscope, magnifying glass, tongue depressor, stickers and…

  • Halloween crafts - Handmade gifts - Kids crafts - Nature crafts

    Homemade Halloween treat bag

    We’re lucky to live in a really family-friendly neighbourhood and the last couple of years the children have dressed up to go trick or treating. We know all our neighbours and they always have a few sweets for them when the children visit. I wanted to make some special treat bags with them and thought it would be fun to print out own using apples. Equipment needed to make a homemade Halloween treat bag: Craft paper box with twine handle from The Works Apple Orange acrylic paint and brush How to make a homemade Halloween treat bag: Apples make the…

  • crafts - Halloween crafts - tutorial

    Halloween luminaries

    I love celebrating the seasons and we’ve been having fun with our Halloween crafts this year. Since my 3 year old has recently started pre-school I’ve had some rare time to myself and made some sweet Halloween luminaries. This is a quick craft and make great decorations. Equipment needed to make Halloween luminaries: Bonne Maman jars (washed and dried with labels removed) Mod Podge Halloween decoupage paper Paint brush Scissors LED tealights How to make Halloween luminaries: Tear or cut the decoupage paper into small pieces. Apply the Mod Podge to small areas of the glass jar and cover with…

  • parenting

    Preparing for the Tooth Fairy

    My children are 3 and 5 and obsessed with loosing their teeth. I’m not sure why they are worrying about their tooth, I think an episode of Peppa Pig may be the cause! They’ve always been good about cleaning their teeth twice a day and regularly ask for new tooth brushes and paste. I’m not sure if they just like to try new things or are attracted by the displays at the supermarket though. I’m a little obsessive about them cleaning their teeth after eating sweets and I don’t think it’s a bad thing to teach them about looking after…

  • Duck Tape crafts - Halloween crafts - Kids crafts - tutorial

    Duck Tape Halloween decoration

    A few week ago I found a colourful new Duck Tape to add to our collection in Hobbycraft – Pumpkin Glow in the Dark Duck Tape! I love Autumnal colours and my children are desperate to start decorating for Halloween so I thought we would make a simple Duck Tape Halloween decoration using our special glow in the Duck Tape. Equipment to make a Duck Tape Halloween decoration: Pumpkin Glow in the Dark Duck Tape Sheet of A3 card or paper Scissors/Swann Morton scalpel How to make a Duck Tape Halloween decoration Cover one side of an A3 sheet of…

  • holidays

    7 fun things to see and do in Antwerp

    At the beginning of the school holidays my husband and I spent a few days in Antwerp. I love Belgium and this was one city we hadn’t visited before. We’re still eating the delicious biscuits we brought back with us so I thought I would share some of our favourite sites in the city. 7 fun things to see and do in Antwerp On our first day in Antwerp we checked into our hotel, the Hilton Antwerp Old Town hotel on Groenplaats, Antwerp’s most famous town square. After stopping for a beer in one of the many bars on the…

  • book review - competition - Roald Dahl crafts

    Win Roald Dahl’s The Twits with a hairy beard cover

    We’re having so much fun working our way through Roald Dahl’s books we actually have 2 on the go at the moment. We love September as the 13th September is Roald Dahl Day and we made our brilliant Mr Twit gingerbeard biscuit. The festivities continue throughout September culminating in Dahlicious Dress Up Day for Roald Dahl’s Marvellous Children’s Charity with a very special LIVE webcast all about Roald Dahl, streamed into schools across the world. If you know any teachers then tell them to register their school for free at www.puffinvirtuallylive.co.uk A brilliant new hardback edition of Roald Dahl’s The…