Today I had a lovely day all to myself at the Knitting & Stitching Show at Ally Pally. I’ve been for the last couple of years but this year, for the first time, I booked myself on a couple of the Learning Curves workshops. Boy, did that make the day go super fast! First thing in the morning I found myself making a hand painted tile pot stand. I went for a simple design, it just needs baking in the oven to seal it. After a short break it was off to learn how to recycle materials to make a…
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Every couple of weeks I receive a mystery parcel of craft supplies and the latest Bostik glue product. The idea is to make something fun with the children. Our latest box was full of amazing goodies in autumnal colours and we all enjoyed looking at the felt, wool, coloured paper and styrofoam balls and dreaming of what we could make. We thought we would make a styrofoam ball pet for Halloween and it was fun and easy to do. Equipment needed to make a stryofoam ball spider: styrofoam ball black tissue paper googly eyes pipe cleaners ric rac to hang How…
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Orion Children’s Books recently sent us a copy of Do You Speak English, Moon? by Francesca Simon and illustrated by Ben Cort. It’s a breathtakingly gorgeous bedtime picture book from the winning team who wrote Horrid Henry and illustrated Aliens Love Underpants. Inquisitive children across the world are fascinated by the moon. Does anyone live on the moon? How far away is it? And most importantly, can the moon speak? This beautiful new picture book asks just this question as a little boy trying to sleep looks up at the moon and wonders whether it can speak English. The book includes…
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My lucky daughter was the recipient of the new Fisher Price Gup Speeders Octopod Launcher toy. She loves watching the Octonauts on cBeebies so I knew she would enjoy this toy. The Octonauts follows a team of animated adventure heroes who dive into action whenever there is trouble under the sea. In a fleet of aquatic vehicles, they rescue amazing sea creatures, explore incredible new underwater worlds, and often save the day before returning safely to their home base, the Octopod. When missions call for turbo-speed and maximum mobility, just ready the Gup Speeders Octopod Launcher. Just place the Gup Speeders into…
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You all know that my 4 year old started Reception this September. He has settled in really well and adjusted to his new routine, he no longer flops on the sofa when he gets home but runs around like a mad thing until bedtime. He is very keen to share all his new knowledge with his sister and the poor thing gets bossed around by her brother, he even tells her off when she does things her own way, rather than his. One of the great benefits is that she wants to copy him. She tries to ‘write’ just like…
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We spent the weekend doing house stuff. We are hosting the family for Christmas and had a panic that we didn’t have enough seats for everyone so spent the weekend choosing a new one. This meant we started thinking about choosing a colour for the living room, buying a new rug and putting up some shelves so my collection of vintage yachts can finally go on display. We also promised my 4 year old that after he started school we would buy him a new bed. He’s been in his cot since he was 6 months old and it converted…
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Today I have a fun craft to share with you which combines my love of recycling and making handmade gifts. I’m getting a head start on my handmade Christmas gifts so if you’re my sister and you’re reading this please look away now! I really like making candles and thought I would use some vintage tins from my stash to make sweet tin candles with personalised photos. Equipment you will need to make a personalised tin candle: assortment of vintage tins soy candle wax candle dye candle wicks printer glossy premium photo paper How to make a personalised tin candle The first step is…
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Do you like Mondays? I’m coming to the conclusion that I love them. There’s something comforting to me about the start of our weekly routine and my favourite weekly post. I finished my ticker tape doll quilt and it’s now hanging up on our quilt gallery wall. It only took me an hour to finish the binding so I’m mentally kicking myself that I let it sit around unfinished for so long. Somehow I have over twenty three thousand followers on Pinterest! I’m not sure how that happened but I’m happy as I love Pinterest and Instagram too. I find…
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I’ve been having so much fun looking for festive decorations to make and you all know that gingerbread men are my absolute favourite. Today I’ve put together a list of 15 felt gingerbread people to make and sew, have fun checking them out! 15 felt gingerbread people to make and sew You can’t beat a gingerbread man, they’re great for re-telling the story of the gingerbread boy but make a great decoration too. There are lots of patterns out there . I love Wild Olive’s gingerbread man although I’ve often just drawn around a cookie cutter to make my felt…