That's the carpet stains, not the kids, in case you were planning on reporting me to the NSPCC. I love and adore my children. I love and adore my dog. I also love and adore the DH. But between us all- between the muddy shoes and the spilled beer and the potty training and the dog's protest poos- our carpets get awfully stained. Once upon a time we had a Bissell Carpet Cleaner, which did an awesome job until someone broke it because he couldn't … [Read more...]
How to transform a Nappy Caddy into a Hairdressing Caddy
The Girls are growing up so quickly. Too quickly, maybe. The vast array of paraphernalia that was once so crucial to our daily living is slowly leaving the house by the back door. There is no high chair, no cot, no teeny tiny car-seat. There are no stair-gates, no change mats and now, no nappies- during the day time at least. Which means that I am no longer in need of the nappy caddy that has been in my sitting room for the past four years. … [Read more...]
How to make a Russian Icon
LBG and I are really enjoying our trip around the World in the company of Glittering Muffins and others. This month we're off to Russia. And when we were looking at Artists and Art for the Kid's Art project a few days ago, we came across some Russian Icons, which LBG loved, and thought that we should get one. She likes sparkly things. Given that Icons are a little beyond our budget, we made one instead, using: black card leftover gold foil … [Read more...]
St George’s Shield for Girl Knights
LBG made a very interesting point recently whilst watching one of her favourite CBeebies programmes, Mike the Knight. "Girls can be knights too, can't they?" "Of course they can, darling" was my lightning-fast response. Which got me thinking about children's programmes in general and CBeebies more specifically, since that is the channel that we watch almost exclusively. There seems to be quite a strong leaning towards the more traditional … [Read more...]
Introducing Art to pre-schoolers: Damien Hirst
When Maggy at Red Ted Art recently mentioned her idea for a linky to encourage the introduction of Art-with-a-capital-A to children, I got a little bit excited. I don't remember Art Galleries or Museums so much when I was a child, which is more a reflection of my life overseas and my generation than a judgement on my upbringing. I remember going all the way from school in Yorkshire down to London for the day to see 'proper' Art as part of my GCSE … [Read more...]
An Essential Kitchen Tool
Floral Crown for Swedish Midsummer (or just because you want to)
With the rain falling, LBG and I resorted to DVD entertainment today. A few moments later, she declared that she absolutely needed to have a flower-crown like the princess on the television. By coincidence I had, the night before, been figuring out a craft that we could make to go alongside our Swedish Visiting Cake on the Swedish leg of Around the World in 12 Dishes. Though we came to the idea from different starting points, I'm delighted to … [Read more...]
