• YEAR OF THE SHEEP craft for kids
    Chinese New Year crafts - Kids crafts - tutorial

    Year of the Sheep sun catcher decoration

    January 20, 2015 - By 

    My 3 year old loves to make sun catchers as much as I do. This afternoon she said she wanted to make another sun catcher so I whipped out a ready make kit I had bought from Yellow Moon (my sons’ school receives a small amount of money on any purchases I make). I love ready make craft kits and I adapted this one slightly to make it easier for her. Materials for a Year of the Sheep sun catcher decoration: Year of the Sheep stained glass kit Scissors Contact paper How to make a Year of the Sheep sun…

  • days out - sewing

    Monday happy things

    January 19, 2015 - By 

    Yesterday I spotted my first snowdrops of the year whilst we were out visiting the Watts Gallery in Sussex. I love snowdrops and it always makes me happy to see them poking out of the frozen ground. I seemed to have reached some social milestones this week. Yep, I’m celebrating 5 years on Foursquare and a whopping 8 years on Twitter. I reached over 100000 followers on Pinterest too. I’m not sure how I feel about this, in fact I’m trying not to think about it too much! It may seem from reading my blog that all I’m doing at…

  • book review - mindfulness - parenting - What I'm reading

    What I’m reading: Mindful discipline

    January 18, 2015 - By 

    Today I wanted to share two new parenting titles from Scribe with you. They aim to help parents solve two of the most commented on, despaired over and debated about parenting dilemmas: sleep and discipline using Mindful discipline The Happy Sleeper by sleep experts Julie Wright and Heather Turgeon offers an alternative sleep training method to ‘cry it out’ or ‘attachment parenting’. Using an approach rooted in making children feel safe, secure and happy in their bedtime routines, The Happy Sleeper offers practical advice for parents wanting to create good sleeping habits, or undo poor ones. The fantastic thing about…

  • Sheep sun catcher for Chinese New Year
    Chinese New Year crafts - Kids crafts - tutorial

    Sheep sun catcher for Chinese New Year

    January 17, 2015 - By 

    I have to admit that we don’t celebrate Chinese New Year but that doesn’t stop us having fun with crafting around the theme. We’ve already made a Chinese lantern sun catcher but did you know that 2015 is the Year of the Sheep? We thought we’d make a sheep sun catcher. Our windows are full but there’s always room for one more, right? Materials needed to make a sheep sun catcher: Black paper Contact paper White tissue paper Scissors How to make a sheep sun catcher: I drew a sheep on a piece of paper and used this as a…

  • Kids crafts - playing - tutorial

    No sew bean bags

    January 16, 2015 - By 

    As much as my children love their toys I’ve found we can often have just as much fun with toys which cost pennies. This week my 4 year old has spent hours on his cardboard box city and today I wanted to share our no sew bean bags with you. Materials needed to make no sew bean bags: Duck or duct tape Craft seal-able bags Lentils Scissors How to make no sew bean bags: I bought a bag of lentils from my local health shop and divided it into three craft bags. I did this just in case my no…

  • competition - playing

    Win a Peppa Pig Hide and Seek game

    January 15, 2015 - By 

    Everyone knows how important play is. My 3 and 4 year old love to play games and this year Father Christmas brought them a few good ones, ones they can play on their own, with each other or together as a family. One of their favourites is the Peppa Pig Hide and Seek Game.   The Peppa Pig Interactive Hide and Seek Game is great for even the youngest of Peppa fans. This fantastic interactive game for 1 – 4 players of varying ages – means that every fan of Peppa Pig can enjoy it. The game includes a ‘talking’…

  • Valentine calm down jar
    Kids crafts - tutorial - Valentines Day crafts

    Valentine calm down jar

    January 14, 2015 - By 

    My 3 year old has a tendency to stamp her foot and shout “I’m not happy” when she’s not getting her own way. Sometimes both my children need to take a step back. My Pinterest boards are full of calm down jars and I thought they looked fun to make and worth a try. This is kid-friendly, a great activity for re-using old glass jars and the other art supplies for kids are easily available. Materials needed to make a Valentine calm down jar: Red glitter glue Empty jar with the label removed Warm water Selection of heart shaped buttons…

  • Chinese lantern sun catcher
    Chinese New Year crafts - Kids crafts - tutorial

    Chinese lantern sun catcher

    January 13, 2015 - By 

    My children love to make sun catchers. They are so quick and easy to set up and they are my go to craft if one of them asks to make something and I don’t want to think about it too much. With Chinese New Year around the corner I set up a sweet Chinese lantern sun catcher activity for my 3 year old daughter yesterday. Material needed to make a Chinese lantern sun catcher: Paper Scissors Cellophane squares Contact paper How to make a Chinese lantern sun catcher: First draw your Chinese lantern. I drew mine with a black Sharpie…

  • Orla Kiely

    Monday happy things

    January 12, 2015 - By 

    The weather has been a little wet and wild lately which means I’m thankful I write this weekly post to remind myself of the good things that have happened. I bought the latest copy of Pretty Patches. Although I resolved to buy less magazines in 2015 and stop my expensive subscriptions I saw a few projects I would like to try in this issue. I’ve added a new limited edition Orla Kiely print jute shopper from Tesco to my collection. Now, I definitely didn’t need another shopping bag but I really like this print. The bags are strong, I have…