As I feared, time is starting to run away from me somewhat and I'm already starting to wonder what it was we did a couple of days ago. After the excitement on Luton on Monday, Tuesday was intended as a bit of a quieter day at home, punctuated by a lunchtime birthday party for both children at the kind invitation of one of Little Miss C's school friends. The party was held in a Scout hut in a part of St Albans that I'm not at all familiar with (and hence I discovered a fantastic new playground next door too), and as we were still blessed with gorgeous hot weather here it was particularly ... read more
Summer 2014: Day 0 – School’s out for summer!
Well that's it. Final school run done. Book bag assigned to the cupboard. School uniform all in the laundry basket Cute teddy bear gift from her teacher (another example of just how much I love this school!) cuddled up in bed with her as she's drifted off to sleep. Little Miss C's first year at our local infant school and her time as a pre-schooler is finished. Whist in a way I did feel a bit sad dropping her off for the last time this morning to the pre-school class room I also shared the excitement that she felt for what is to come. A summer "playing with my toys" and "lots of sleep and ... read more
Arm knitting and organza flowers at the WI
There are many many reasons I love my local branch of the WI. I've met some lovely women and had a great laugh with them. But most of all I love that fact that one evening a month I get to leave the house and the responsibilities of being a mum behind for an evening and I go and do something for myself. Our particular WI branch is what many refer to as "one of those modern ones" in that it's about as far removed from the stereotypical Jam and Jerusalem image of the WI as you can get. With ages between 24 and 70-something (as far as I remember) they're a really refreshing bunch of women with ... read more
Hand in Hand: Crafting with Kids – Jenny Doh
Some days things just work out right. Little Miss C goes down for her nap without any problems and just as you're about to sit down with your feet up and a cuppa the postman appears with some perfectly timed reading material. That's exactly what happened when my review copy of Hand in Hand arrived. I'd been eying this up on amazon for a while and it was already on my wish list, so being asked to review it was an added bonus. As soon as I opened the book I just knew I was going to love it. The simple reason being that the first section is written by Amanda Blake Soule whose SouleMama blog ... read more
Creative Steps Magazine
You know that feeling you get when you find something that you just completely "get" straight away? When a smile spreads across your face and you just can't stop it? Where the more you discover the more you smile? Well that's exactly what happened when I discovered Creative Steps magazine. Aimed at anyone who has anything to do with children, Creative Steps is just packed full of inspiration, project ideas, reviews and useful tips. Whether you be a teacher, nursery assistant, Guide or Brownie leader, nanny, childminder, parent or grandparent then this is the magazine for you. Each edition (4 a ... read more
Yeo Valley Fish Tank
Full credit for this children's craft project has to go to Knitty Mummy who I met when we both went to Yeo Valley for the day. There was quite a bit of discussion whilst there about how to use all the empty yoghurt pots that we have and she went away determined to come up with some projects - and boy has she delivered the goods! What I used for making this is quite simple: one Yeo Valley Top Notch pot and lid, some blue card, yellow and green tissue paper, glue and some fish stickers. The method is relatively simple. I cut the blue card so that ... read more
Counting
It's several months since I gave you a sneak preview of the fabric numbers that I had started to make from Meg McElwee's book Growing Up Sew Liberated: Making Handmade Clothes and Projects for Your Creative Child. You may know Meg from her lovely blog, Sew Liberated, but if you don't make sure you head over there and see the wonderful things she makes for her two gorgeous boys, and also the fun activities that they all get up to. There's no real reason why these numbers have taken so long to finish as they're not at all difficult. The numbers ... read more
Hands and Feet
Little Miss C is now at that development stage where she's starting to understand that you can actually draw things, rather than just scribble on a page. As well as coming up with lots of requests for Mr C and I to draw specific animals for her she's also drawing "things" and telling us that they're elephants or cats complete with head, body and legs. One thing that she is loving at the moment is an idea that I found in a children's magazine recently - drawing round body parts. She spends ages asking me to help her draw round her hands and feet onto pieces of plain ... read more
A toilet roll tube and a bit of imagination
That's all you need to have a bit of fun. First thing this morning this was Little Miss C's trumpet. Yesterday two of them sellotaped together became a pair of binoculars. I'm fascinated to see what a toilet roll tube will become tomorrow! ... read more
Elephant finger puppet
We needed a little craft project to fill that slightly awkward gap between a long afternoon nap and teatime today and luckily Little Miss C knocking over a huge pile of my vintage Ladybird books presented me with an ideal project. This little guy is the elephant finger puppet taken from the Ladybird How to make Puppets book that I picked up in a charity shop months ago. I traced him straight from the book and then drew him in felt-tip on the inside of an old breakfast cereal box. Just the right thickness of card and also a perfect elephant grey colour. The hole for a nose is perfect ... read more