A couple of weeks ago I was at the V&A and found a great template for making envelopes. I’ve collected a few vintage annuals and magazines and thought this would be a lovely way to give them a new lease of life. The template couldn’t be easier to use. I found some pages from an old Rupert the Bear annual, drew around the template and cut out the shapes. I followed the instructions on the template and folded the paper into an envelope. You need to be quite precise with your folding otherwise you’re left with a small gap. However,…
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This time of year (distinctly Autumnal!) makes me think of the Knitting and Stitching Show at Ally Pally. I’ve been every year since 2007 and I started blogging about my purchases from the Show. As there are just so many lovely to things to buy I have to be strict with myself so I blog my purchases and what I make to justify my purchases. In 2010 I bought a Clothkits doll cushion, Advent calendar printed panel, gingerbread man cross stitch and Union flag quilt pattern. I made everything except the Union flag quilt as I couldn’t find the jelly…
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I love joining in with Wild Olive’s seasonal stitching clubs. I like to share my progress too but it seems that I often forget! Last summer I took part in Wild Olive’s Summer Stitching Club. You get sent a pattern each week and it builds into a cute little doll quilt or cushion cover using English Paper Piecing and hexagons – my two favourite things. This was the first I took part in and to be honest I found it hard to set aside the time but had a big push and made the bulk of it over one weekend.…
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I can’t help but start thinking about Autumn. The weather has coolled down, the nights are darker quicker and we seem to have our shoes and jumpers on more than the previous week. I’m really hoping we can go to an event for Apple Day this year. We’ve been playing around with apple crafts and today I’m sharing with you our simple cork print apple wreath. Corks are great for crafting with, they’re a lovely size for small hands to grip, and small enough that you can make a really defined shape. Materials you will need to make a cork…
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As regular readers will know we are fortunate to be Playmobil Playologists. This means we get to share news with you about the latest Playmobil toys and events and also receive lovely Playmobil toys to review and play with. We were recently sent the new Official Playmobil Annual 2015 to review. I’ve mentioned before that 2014 marks the 40th anniversary of Playmobil, a firm family favourite which is amongst the top 5 brands in the European toy industry, and distributed in more than 80 countries worldwide. To coincide with this, Buster books have published The Official Playmobil Annual 2015, featuring…
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My children have been totally spoilt over the Summer holidays. They were sent some of the new toys from the Mega Bloks Spongebob Squarepants range to review. We used to have some of the Mega Bloks First Builders range which were great for developing fine motor skills but I wasn’t aware that Mega Bloks made so many other toys. My children received a Mega Bloks Spongebob Squarepants Micro Action Figures, Mega Bloks Spongebob Squarepants Boat Racer and the Mega Bloks Spongebob Squarepants Invisible Boatmobile Rescue. The toys were all visually appealing and my children love the adventures of Spongebob Squarepants…
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The Summer holidays are flying by and I’m quite enjoying writing about our adventures. Over the last week we have been on holiday and had a few busy days in London. Here’s what we’ve been up to: We visited a beautiful National Trust property called Stoke-sub-Hamdon Priory situated between Yeovil and Ilminster. Despite being National Trust members we rarely visit any properties so it was lovely to make a brief visit and explore the site. We also re-visited Nunney Castle as Little Sis demanded to go to a castle. Whilst we were away we spent lots of time outdoors. We…
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My son starts Reception in a couple of weeks. We’ve been keeping busy to prevent the dreaded Summer holiday brain-loss and have been working our way through basic phonics and puzzles. We started a holiday journal too where we add a photograph for eachday and he writes a little about what we’ve done. I’m feeling super organised as we’ve bought most of his uniform. This year he needs a PE kit so I thought I would make a shoe bag for him to keep his plimsolls in. I wanted it to be as easy as possible so today I’m sharing…
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Now we’re back from our week away we’ve been having lots of fun playing with our toys at home. Both children said they missed their toys whilst we were away (and it felt like we had taken most of them with us!). The Lego Duplo Batcave Adventure has been the latest addition to our collection. It’s a great set and my 4 year old has been enjoying building it, it fits perfectly on our Lego table. He’s more than capable of following the instructions and this is one of the things I love about Lego Duplo. The instructions are clear…