• Halloween crafts

    Fingerprint painted pumpkin for kids

    October 20, 2021 - By 

    We have crafted a lot this October. Halloween is so much fun and there is something lovely about sitting around the table after school to craft together. Our most recent craft was decorating a papier mache pumpkin. As much as we love to carve a real pumpkin, our fingerprint painted pumpkin for kids is a lot less messy! Fingerprint painted pumpkin for kids We already had the papier mache pumpkin, I think it came from Hobbycraft. We gave it a quick coat of white paint to provide a plain background for the fingerprints. Then we found orange paint, as well…

  • fingerprint pumpkin craft
    Monday Happy List

    Monday Happy Things {Week 366}

    October 18, 2021 - By 

    Starting the week by writing the Monday Happy List  is something I’ve been doing for a while. It’s a chance for me to sit down and reflect on the things that made me happy in the previous week, as well as to record some of our family adventures. It’s a post I always love to write. Monday Happy Things {Week 366} We made a delicious chocolate, spice and honey cake, recipe from Waitrose. It was slightly unusual in that the cake was spiced with ground cinnamon and all spice. The ganache included soured cream and honey. It made for a slightly unusual…

  • 12 Ways You Can Avoid The Winter Blues This Year
    Family Life

    12 Ways You Can Avoid The Winter Blues This Year

    October 15, 2021 - By 

    With winter fast approaching, a lot of people are anticipating the onset of the winter blues. For many people, this is the mild impatience felt while waiting for the sunshine and warm weather to allow the return to sun, sea, and sand. For others, it can be a real drain on their mental health. This is largely considered down to a lack of sunlight causing Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD). 12 Ways You Can Avoid The Winter Blues This Year Regardless of which category you fit into, it is essential to take care of yourself over the winter months and find…

  • Personalised pumpkin decoration for kids
    Cricut Maker - Halloween crafts

    Personalised pumpkin decoration for kids {Cricut made}

    October 14, 2021 - By 

    I love adding a few new personalised decorations each year. I wanted to use my Cricut to personalise some wooden blanks I bought from Hobbycraft. A lick of paint and some black vinyl was all that was needed to make these cute personalised pumpkin decoration for kids. Equipment used: Wooden blank pumpkin shapes from Hobbycraft Paint Cricut Maker Cricut StandardGrip mat Cricut Black Vinyl Cricut Transfer Tape Easy personalised pumpkin decoration for kids The wooden blanks had a design on one side so I flipped them over, lightly marked a pencil line three quarters of the way up and painted…

  • Dowding park, uxbridge
    Monday Happy List

    Monday Happy Things {Week 365}

    October 11, 2021 - By 

    Starting the week by writing the Monday Happy List  is something I’ve been doing for a while. It’s a chance for me to sit down and reflect on the things that made me happy in the previous week, as well as to record some of our family adventures. It’s a post I always love to write. Monday Happy Things {Week 365} I got a new job and my contract came through so I was able to hand my notice in at work. I’m sure the next four weeks will go really quickly and I’m really excited to try something new. I bought…

  • Shadowghast by Thomas Taylor
    What I'm reading

    Shadowghast by Thomas Taylor

    October 10, 2021 - By 

    I’m not sure how we first discovered Eerie on Sea but my son and I devoured the first two books in the series, Malamander and Gargantis. We love the world of Eerie on Sea so much it even inspired some World Book Day crafting earlier this year when we made our own Eerie Book Dispensary book nook! We have been looking forward to the third book, Shadowghast, for ages and were so excited to be sent a copy by NetGalley to review and share. We have been reading it whenever we can! Shadowghast by Thomas Taylor Nobody visits Eerie-on-Sea in…

  • Halloween Q-Tip painting templates
    Crafts for kids - Halloween crafts

    Free Halloween Q-Tip painting templates

    October 9, 2021 - By 

    Yesterday we stocked up on Halloween sweets for any Trick or Treaters who come calling this month. My children love celebrating Halloween and I think it’s a really fun time of year. Today I wanted to share our free Halloween Q-Tip painting templates. Painting with Q-tips (also known as cotton swabs or buds here in the UK) and watercolour paint is a classic process art project for kids This art activity is perfect for toddlers, preschoolers, and children. As well as being a fun Halloween activity, this is also a great way to introduce children to the concept of Pointillism. The first pioneer…

  • Picking pumpkins at the Pop Up Farm
    Family Life

    Picking pumpkins at the Pop Up Farm

    October 7, 2021 - By 

    As soon as October comes I am ready to go pumpkin picking. This year our street is having a pumpkin carving competition and I wanted to make sure we had the best pumpkins. There was only one place to go to get them so we went pumpkin picking at the Pop Up Farm. Picking pumpkins at the Pop Up Farm The Pop Up Farm is just outside London and a great trip for the family. It only seems like a few weeks ago we went to pick sunflowers but we were happy to go back to buy some pumpkins. We…

  • ow to encourage kids to love reading
    Family Life

    AD/How to encourage kids to love reading

    October 5, 2021 - By 

    Disclosure – post in collaboration with Very As an avid book reader I knew I always wanted my kids to love reading too. My husband is not a reader and although he loves watching films, he’s just never been the kind of person to lose himself in a book. Reading has always been a passion, I loved my trips to our local library with my Dad, and looked forward to my birthday or Christmas when I always received more books to devour. Reading is powerful. Not only does it stretch your vocabulary it also helps stretch your imagination. Fact or…