I've seen these easy fire-breathing dragons around, particularly because it is the Chinese Year of the Dragon, and I thought they'd be perfect for making at playgroup tomorrow to acknowledge St David's Day. And they really are simple. Let me show you how to make a Welsh Dragon: … [Read more...]
Slow Cooker Pulled Pork
I am new to slow cooking. In fact my mantra of late has been fast cooking: the kind of cooking that can be whipped up in twenty minutes from when I come downstairs having left The Girls screaming put The Girls to bed to when DH walks through the door. My life involves short-cuts and cheats (hence the -esque in the blog title, in case you were wondering). Now what better cheat could there be than to take a bunch of prepared ingredients, … [Read more...]
Snowflakes from cupcake cases
I like making things from cupcake cases almost as much as I like making things from corks. Just before Christmas I saw a really lovely snowflake wreath on Pinterest. It sat around in the back of my mind for a while until one afternoon when The Girls were unexpectedly occupied and I was twiddling a cupcake case in my hand, when the idea came back to me. So, you know how to make paper snowflakes, right? I had to think about it for a minute, … [Read more...]
Mistletoe reinvented: Kiss-letoe!
Before Christmas Mum in the Madhouse made some beautiful Mistletoe from felt, which I loved, and pinned. Looking through my pins the other day, I noticed LBG also looking. "What's the Mamma?" She asked. "Mistletoe" I told her "Miss-a-toe" repeated Dimples I then had to explain what it is and why we use it. "Kissy-toe" quoth Dimples. Which is how I found myself this afternoon cutting heart shapes from a bright pink … [Read more...]
How to make a family calendar
Last year we made a wonderful calendar after seeing Nurture Store's family calendar. It was a very simple way of showing the important dates in our lives in a sequence that LBG could understand. A year on and it's that time again. Only I made a few adjustments to the original. It all came about when I was tidying away the paper plate phonics chart we have been using to help LBG with her reading skills. It occurred to me that I could use the … [Read more...]
Seeking Pinspiration?
Crikey- this time next week it'll all be over! Can you believe it? I thank the good Lord for coming up with Pinterest, and the interweb in general. Aside from providing my beloved husband (the internet, not Pinterest) it provides hours and hours of distraction and ideas to keep the Girls occupied. We've been busy with our Advent Activity Calendar, as inspired by Activity Mom this month, and it has been wonderful, so thanks to Activity Mom. … [Read more...]
T for Thanksgiving Turkey
Although Thanksgiving is not a British holiday, we have American family. To help LBG and her Dimpled sister keep an association with them, we made some turkeys this week. It was clear autumn day and The Girls and I picked up some leaves from the garden, which put me in a mind of a turkey craft I had seen around the internet somewhere. I drew around each girl's foot onto the inner side of a carton of some kind, then cut them out. This would … [Read more...]
