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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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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I love to hand sew, I love to make things for my children and it’s the perfect hobby for giving my brain a rest from blogging. As soon as I saw Crafty Dolls by Jane Bull I thought of Little Sis. She loves her dolls and she loves it when I make things for her and I really hope she will be interested in making things like this soon. Crafty Dolls, the latest in Jane Bull’s successful craft series, shoes you how to create your own adorable doll collection at home. You can choose from more than 30 knitted and…
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We have a fresh water tropical tank which my husband gives a lot of attention to. We recently received a parcel of crafting goodies from Baker Ross to keep us going through the summer holidays and as soon as I saw a pack of Tropical Fish Foam stickers I knew what we could make – our own tank full of little fishes. Materials you will need to make a fish tank Cardboard box Baker Ross Tropical Fish Foam Stickers Blue paint Blue and green felt or craft foam Sticky dots How to make a cardboard box fish tank I cut…
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Like many other children mine are absolutely enchanted by the Disney film Frozen. I draw the line at watching the film more than once a day so I’ve been trying to think of activities which Little Sis might enjoy and keep her busy. Over the last few weeks we’ve made our own version of Arendelle from boxes and cardboard tubes covered in foil. She’s also been happy using the tuff spot for some small world play with her beloved Frozen figures – Anna, Elsa, Kristoff, Hans, (not our favourite!) Sven and Olaf. Her little Frozen figures have been coming every…
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We love Lego and I’ve been looking for some ways to use it a little differently. What could be better than Lego in soap? Surely that could only encourage my potty training 2 year old to wash her hands! Lego soap dispenser materials: soap dispenser lego liquid soap How to make a lego soap dispenser First of all I let my 4 year old go through our Lego stash. I asked him to fill a container with green pieces but he was easily sidetracked! Eventually we had plenty of pieces to look at. He chose enough to half fill the…
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As a mum of two pre-schoolers it’s fair to say we watch a lot of Peppa Pig. My children adore Peppa and Little Sis has all the Peppa Pig playsets, clothes, cutlery and story books she can get her hands on. Nick Jr. is one of their favourite channels and Little Sis gets quite upset when the adverts get in the way of watching her beloved episodes of Peppa! Luckily for her Nick Jr. is gearing up for a month of Peppa Pig celebrations. This July will mark 10 years since the nation’s favourite pig was first broadcast on Nick…
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I’m currently working with BritMums and British Lion Eggs on the Shortcut Eggsperts programme. Our latest challenge is all about creating egg dishes for summer outdoor dining. The weather has been amazing lately and we’ve been enjoying lots of picnics in the sunshine. My children love it when I surprise them with a fun bento lunch and I thought I would show how to make molded eggs for a bento picnic. How to make molded eggs for a bento picnic You will need egg molds (I bought animal ones from Amazon) and eggs First you need to hard boil your…
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Little Sis loves princesses and fairies. As the children are spending so much time out doors at the moment I thought we could make a magical door so the fairies could come and visit us. This is a great nature craft. I don’t know about you but we seem to pick up flat stones where ever we go. I love to re-use them rather than let them sit around in glass jars. We’ve already used some to make Gruffalo story stones and we have a few more crafty projects up our sleeves. Painted stone fairy door materials: smooth, flat stones…
