• felt Christmas decorations
    book review - Cath Kidston - Christmas - competition - crafts - handmade - sewing

    Make your own Christmas decorations!

    November 5, 2012 - By 

    Over the past few evenings I’ve been busy making 12 festive decorations from Cath Kidston’s latest book – Make Your Own Christmas Decorations. Featuring 12 projects the book includes the patterns as well as the felt, thread, pompoms and cord so all you’ll need is a basic sewing kit and some toy stuffing! There are patterns for a Christmas Robin, Father Christmas, Striped Stocking, Gift-Wrapped Present, Christmas Tree, Frosty Snowman, Winter Reindeer, Holly & Berries, Christmas pudding, Snowy Cottage, Festive Stanley and Christmas Angel. Make your own Christmas decorations! Each project is well laid out and includes a large colour…

  • book review - Orla Kiely

    Orla Kiely board books

    November 2, 2012 - By 

    Last month two new books were published by the Irish fashion designer, Orla Kiely, in her range of cloth bound board books. Just like numbers and colours, creatures and shapes are two beautiful books for babies and toddlers. Shapes focuses on some of the most common geometric shapes and then places them alongside a common object or animal featuring that shape. I love the hexagon and honeycomb page, but there are also a rectangle and house, an oval and a ladybird as well as a star and starfish. Creatures shows her strong geometric-style graphics and patterns to illustrate a variety of animals, from monkeys…

  • book review - Christmas

    Sparkly stocking fillers

    October 19, 2012 - By 

    This year is going incredibly quickly and over the last few weeks I’ve been busy buying gifts for the toddlers’ stocking. He was recently sent three books which would make the perfect stocking fillers (if we hadn’t already read them!). We always read a couple of books before bed and these are the perfect length for a seasonal bedtime story or two. Thomas & Friends: Snowy Tracks The island of Sodor is covered in a thick blanket of snow and the engines have been told to be careful and not to go over any big hills. Of course Gordon doesn’t…

  • book review

    Justin’s Annual 2013

    October 12, 2012 - By 

    The toddler, being Justin Fletcher’s number 1 fan, was sent a copy of Justin’s Annual 2013 to review. The annual includes 61 pages of all your your child’s favourite characters from Justin’s live shows, including Engelbert the dog and Jollywobbles the car. The album is crammed with puzzles, games, activities, stories, jokes and over 50 stickers. I loved receiving an annual at Christmas and I’m really hoping to continue the tradition with my children. We’ve really enjoyed reading this Annual which is perfect for dipping in and out. The activities are suitable for a range of ages but the toddler…

  • being green - book review

    Mission:Explore Food

    October 3, 2012 - By 

    Did you know that this week is Children’s Book Week? We never need a reason to read books but it’s a great week to share with you a lovely new book we were sent to review – Mission:Explore Food, the latest in the series of Mission:Explore books. This book is unlike any other book we’ve read before. Unlike most cookbooks for kids (that only cover cooking and eating food), Mission:Explore Food includes chapters on growing, harvesting, waste and soil. Each chapter is full with quirky, creative and critical challenges that help children to learn and think differently about their relationships…

  • book review

    Books for autumn days

    October 1, 2012 - By 

    Do you love reading with your children? It’s one of our favourite activities and we love nothing better than snuggling up on the sofa and sharing our favourite books. The children have been sent some wonderful new books which are perfect for reading on these autumnal days. Did you know that everyone’s favourite children’s TV presenter has brought out a new activity book which is set to become a must-have stocking filler for pre-schoolers. The hilarious Justin’s Funny Faces sticker activity book includes 15 pages of full-length faces which you customise using the four pages of full colour, reusable stickers.…

  • book review - crafts - handmade - sewing

    Some crafty inspiration and pretty pictures

    September 12, 2012 - By 

    I’ve recently bought three lovely new craft books and have ear-marked a couple of projects to get me through the autumn and winter. You may know I love English Paper Piecing and have been carrying around a little hexagon project for a while. One it’s finished I’m going to start on my own version of the Union Jack Quilt which is one of the projects in Tacha Breucher’s hexa go-go. I thought I might make a cot-sized version for Little Sis’ first birthday in November. Her brother received a dinosaur blanket for his first birthday so I would love to…

  • book review

    Dear Zoo turns 30!

    September 6, 2012 - By 

    Last week we were invited to a lovely party to celebrate the family classic Dear Zoo turning 30 in 2012! In case you’ve never read it, it begins ‘I wrote to the zoo to send me a pet. So they sent me an…’ A series of unsuitable animals are sent by the zoo which are all sent back. Finally after thinking very hard, they send the perfect pet! Big Brother and Little Sis put on their cleanest clothes to attend the party and had a lovely time. They listened to an amazing story teller, were given a dog made from…

  • book review

    Geri Livingston’s Bugbears

    August 31, 2012 - By 

    The toddler was sent copies of Geri Livingston’s Bugbears books to read. If you haven’t heard of them before the Bugbears live in a small world but have BIG adventures! The Bugbears have recently been re-launched and we received four paperback books to read – Happy Little Homes, Learn to Fly, Get their Wings and First Paw Prints. The Bugbears (Dotty, Buzz, Ozzy and Lulu) are huggable bears who always want to give a helping hand. The adventure stories are full of positive messages. The characters are colourful and the books are a generous size to hold and read together.…