It's Spring and the birthday wreath has finally gone from my front door, for a short while at least. But I am in mourning for it. So I made a festive replacement, as it didn't feel appropriate to be putting up The Easter Bunny Wreath just yet. Last week, when I was in Paperchase, I saw these dear napkins with felt hen confetti sitting next to it. So whilst the Dimpled Assassin, who was under the weather, tried to sleep off her bug, LBG and I … [Read more...]
How to make a sand-trapping boot tray
I've seen several boot trays on the web, particularly in the run up to winter: some places get an awful lot of snow. It makes sense that you would need a practical place to leave snow-boots to drip dry, like the boot tray made by Clean and Scentsible: the couple of times that we have had snow here there has been a trail of soggy footprints through the hallway. It's fair to say that we don't ordinarily have a major issue with snowy footprints in … [Read more...]
Dr Oetker Shimmer Spray and a very easy way to decorate a Birthday Cake
In the run up to Christmas I took part in what may have been my first twitter party (I can't remember), hosted by Maison Cupcake in conjunction with Dr Oetker, and was delighted to receive by post within days, a parcel of treats to use in my baking. Having spent my late teens in Germany, I am more familiar with the pronunciation of Oetker than most, and used the infamous Backin powder almost every day. Some of the treats I received were … [Read more...]
Perfect Picnik Alternative
Everyone who is a fan of Picnik will know that its days are numbered: from 19th April it will disappear, assimilated into the great Google black hole. This is the 'Biggest Disaster Ever' for me asd I came fairly late to the Picnik party in the first place. I've been wishing and hoping that the ideal alternative picture editing site will present itself, and it did. There are whispers around the interweb that Pic Monkey is the new Picnik. It … [Read more...]
How to make a Crocus Card for Mother’s Day
I have never really had an issue buying Mother's Day Gifts, fortunately. My mother is very easy to please! In actual fact it's because I struck upon a brilliant wheeze, round about the time I met DH for the very first time, although this is purely coincidental. Every year on Mother's Day, I send her a children's book, so that over the years she has a growing collection of books that she can read with her grandchildren whenever they come to visit. … [Read more...]
Top tips for Potty training
I sit here, as the temperature plummets, with the fire on in the sitting room. The floor is littered with the toys that Dimples, naked from the waist down, has cast aside. So far today she has had two changes of clothes. But I'm fairly relaxed about it, and this has nothing to do with the fact that I have been through this once before, or that I am far more slovenly than I would have you believe. Neither is it anything to do with following a … [Read more...]
Dealing with Toddler Tantrums: a guest post by Joanne Mallon
Joanne Mallon is a freelance journalist and life and career coach, and I've been following her blog Joanne the Coach for a while because she's written a book called Toddlers: An Instruction Manual. The book, available through Amazon and as a Kindle download features advice from over 60 bloggers, and is helping to raise money for the family support charity Home-Start. She very kindly agreed to write a blog post on dealing with tantrums whilst I am … [Read more...]
