• Dolls quilts - handmade - Handmade gifts - Patchwork & Quilting - quilt - sewing - swap

    Mini quilt swap reveal

    Yesterday I received the most amazing mini quilt in the post. Late last year I signed up for a mini quilt swap and today I can write a mini quilt swap reveal post. I love sewing and patchwork and thought it would be a fun challenge to make something for someone else. The only requirement was that the quilt had to be a minimum of 15 inches on both sides, and maximum of 24 inches. We were paired up and sent links to inspiration boards to gather ideas. I chose a gorgeous patchwork heart which I loved making. There were…

  • Fairy garden crafts - Kids crafts - Recycled crafts - tutorial - upcycling

    Recycled milk bottle fairy garden

    You can tell my son has gone back to school after the Easter holidays as my daughter and I have been spending a lot of time crafting together. Yesterday afternoon we looked through our recycling to see what we could use to make a fairy garden. I’ve seen some amazing fairy garden ideas on Pinterest (check out my outdoor play board for some ideas) but let’s be honest, I don’t think many of them are made by or for children! Today we’ve made a really simple fairy garden, child-friendly, achievable and I’d love to know if it inspires you! Equipment…

  • book review

    The Underwater Fancy-Dress Parade book review

    Today we’ve been reading The Underwater Fancy-Dress Parade by Davina Bell and illustrated by Allison Colpoys. The book is a touching and realistic portrayal of a child dealing with the common dilemma of shyness, beautifully illustrated by an award-winning designer. The day before the underwater fancy-dress parade, Alfie got that feeling … Sometimes it’s hard to be brave. Sometimes you get that feeling. Sometimes you’re just not ready … Until, one day, you are. From a dynamic new picture book partnership comes the story of Alfie and a big octopus wearing a tiny hat and the things you can only…

  • book review - Miffy Mums

    60th anniversary edition of Miffy’s Birthday book

    This year marks a special anniversary for one of the world’s most famous children’s characters. Miffy, the little white bunny, will be 60 years old. Miffy was “born” on 21 June 1955 – the date Dutch artist Dick Bruna first drew the character to entertain his young son whilst on a rainy seaside holiday in Holland. Dick Bruna’s Miffy stories have been refreshed for a modern British audience, with newly translated texts by award winning British poet, Tony Mitton. We were sent a special 60th anniversary edition of Miffy’s Birthday book to review. Miffy puts on her best dress because…

  • Kids crafts - tutorial

    Recipe for Tinkerbell play dough

    My 3 year old loves Tinkerbell and we’re really excited about the release of Tinkerbell and the NeverBeast on DVD on Monday 20th. It’s a long time since we saw it at the cinema and we’re looking forward to taking part in a home viewing party to celebrate its release. Both my children love playing with play dough so I thought we should make some Tinkerbell inspired play dough. I used my never fail recipe with a little sprinkle of pixie dust. Tinkerbell play dough recipe: 150g plain flour 100g salt 2 tsp. cream of tartar 2 tbsp. vegetable oil…

  • Crafts for adults - Recycled crafts

    DIY Scrabble tile dishwasher magnet

    I have a fun little make to share with you today. I don’t know about you but my husband is forever putting dirty dishes in the dishwasher when in fact it’s clean and needs emptying. My children also love to help tidy up but needed a little visual help to understand if the dishwasher was clean or dirty. This is such an easy project. I love crafting with Scrabble letters so I have hundreds of tiles to play with but you should be able to pick up a vintage Scrabble set from your local charity shop for a few pounds.…

  • Crafts for kids - Kids crafts - Nature crafts

    Making mud cakes in our mud kitchen

    We seem to be experiencing a mini-heatwave in the UK today which meant we have spent most of the day outdoors. My 3 year old loves playing fairies so we thought we would add to our fairy garden. So far we’ve built a fairy house in the garden, made a painted stone fairy door for a fairy house and painted pebble animals to live in the fairy garden. Today we had some messy sensory fun, making proper mud cakes for the fairies, in our tuff spot mud kitchen. Setting up a tuff spot mud kitchen It was really easy to…

  • Cath Kidston - sewing - tutorial - upcycling

    How to upcycle a Cath Kidston skirt into a cushion

    A couple of week ago I treated myself to this gorgeous Cath Kidston skirt in my very favourite print – London buses. I adore this print but sadly the skirt didn’t look so great on. I wanted to keep the skirt so decided to re-fashion it into a cushion. I’m trying to have a London theme for our living room with my vintage London bus blind and vintage London bus collection. How to upcycle a Cath Kidston skirt into a cushion: First I removed the elasticated waist band and unpicked the hem to stretch out the amount of fabric. I…

  • days out - sewing - upcycling

    Monday happy things

    I can’t believe that two weeks of school holidays are over so quickly. The holidays kept us busy and we created some really fun memories. The weather has been amazing so we’ve spent a lot of time sorting out the garden. We’ve had a few trips to the local garden centre and put in some lovely plants and veg in our upcycled pallet planter. I enjoyed spending time with my mum over the Easter holidays. She always organises the best Easter egg hunt which the children love and she helped me upcycle a Cath Kidston skirt into a cushion. The…