• embroidered handprint
    crafts - Father's Day - handmade - sewing - toddler

    Father’s Day preparations

    April 27, 2012 - By 

    Is it too early to be thinking about Fathers Day presents? I have all the important dates in my calendar but rarely have time to get crafty with the kids. This year Father’s Day will be different though – I keep telling myself so. I have plenty of ideas ‘pinned’ on Pinterest and I also have time if I start now. Father’s Day preparations I’m addicted to hand prints so made this last night, a simple embroidered hand print of the toddler. I was going to frame it in a vintage frame I found in a charity shop but the…

  • crafts - handmade - Kids crafts - toddler - tutorial

    How to paint with corks

    April 26, 2012 - By 

    I often blog about painting as the toddler absolutely loves getting messy. He knows where the craft cupboard is and will point and say ‘paint’ over and over again until I give in. We always start off by aiming to do a ‘proper’ piece of art with a theme, like handprints or painting with corks (his current favourite). It often descends into total chaos where he forgets about the piece of paper and just uses the tablecloth. We usually have plenty of corks lying around and I now have extended family giving me bags of them as they know how…

  • crafts - handmade

    What do I make?

    April 10, 2012 - By 

    In a desperate attempt to tidy the lounge I’ve been looking at my craft stash. Despite all my posts about parenting I spend a lot of time sewing which I never get a chance to blog about. For a long time my monthly indulgence has been Mollie Makes for the beautiful photography, inspiration and patterns. Who can forget my favourite ever pattern for felt biscuits? The paper copies do take up a lot of room but the cover gifts always tempt me to buy them, rather than the sensible digital copy which takes up no space. Looking through my collection…

  • crafts - Easter - handmade - Kids crafts - Spring - tutorial

    Finger print Easter bunny and chicks

    April 6, 2012 - By 

    You know how much we love getting messy with the paints so Easter seemed like a great opportunity to break out the paints for some more fun. I saw a great Easter card on Pinterest based on Ed Emberley’s fingerprint animals. I instantly bought a copy of one of his books (Ed Emberley’s Fingerprint Drawing Book) as I know we’ll have lots of fun with it. Big Brother is a bit young for it as the moment but I love it – lots of crafty inspiration for fingerprint animals, vehicles, seasons and holidays. The fingerprint Easter bunny and chicks were…

  • blogging - crafts - handmade

    Handmade thank you cards

    April 3, 2012 - By 

    I really enjoy making my own personalised cards and had been wondering what to make for the toddler’s thank you cards following his 2nd birthday. I wanted something different to our usual paint splattered hand print cards and decided on a cheeky head shot with a jolly party hat. I tried to use some of the techniques I learned last week at a great blogger event using Stampin’ Up products. I hadn’t heard of Stampin’ Up before but they are a crafting brand which makes stamps, paper, ribbon and all things crafty. I bravely took both Big Brother and Little…

  • crafts - Easter - handmade - sewing - Spring - tutorial

    Mini fabric bunnies

    March 31, 2012 - By 

    I’ve been talking to the toddler about Easter. The house is full of chocolate eggs already and we’re beginning to receive cards so I thought it would be fun to do some Easter crafts together. Our first project was to make simple fabric bunnies. I let the toddler pick the fabrics from my stash, cut out a simple bunny shape from the fabric and sewed the two sides together (with the fabric facing together) before turning the right way and stuffing. We’ve been having great fun hiding them around the house in preparation for our Easter egg hunt next weekend.…

  • blogging - Cath Kidston - crafts - handmade - Orla Kiely - vintage

    A grand day out

    March 21, 2012 - By 

    Today was my birthday! It’s very strange having a birthday when you have children – no lie in and no leisurely opening of presents for me! However, I enjoyed opening my gifts with the little people and their infectious smiles and giggles. My son may have even opened a present or two for me. A grand day out I had a lovely day. This morning we headed to Covent Garden for a lovely crafty blogging event to learn more about Stampin’ Up. I really enjoyed learning about paper craft and was able to make two beautiful cards whilst the children…

  • crafts - handmade

    Handmade Mother’s Day card

    March 15, 2012 - By 

    This year I decided to help my son make me a Mother’s Day card. Is that bad? It probably won’t be the first or last time. It was pretty simple, based on Big Brothers hand print. Can you tell we love painting with our hands! We’ve turned his lovely hand print into a flower – spring is in the air after all! If you’re looking for somewhere special to take your mum this Mother’s Day take a look at my contribution to the Guoman Hotel’s blog where I share my favourite place for tea and cake in north London. Hope…

  • Cath Kidston - crafts - handmade

    Homemade washi tape

    March 5, 2012 - By 

    I love washi tape. If you haven’t heard of it before it’s a style of paper that was first made in Japan. Now it’s used to describe pretty sticky tape. It has a multitude of uses from wrapping gifts, sealing envelopes and sticking up my favourite recipes on my kitchen cupboards! Until recently I’ve been using some really pretty washi tape which I picked up at Cath Kidston. However it was ridiculously expensive so I made my own.   You will need: double-sided sticky tape, scissors, fabric, an old cotton reel. Simply roll the tape along your fabric and cut…