whilst we're at it...

one of these would be smashing too 

i can dream...

teenager showed me this fantabulous bedspread which is for sale on the H&M website...i would like one for mothers day please

what happens when you leave your camera lying around...

teenager nostrils

puffy paint!

add these (salt, sr flour, water and food colour)

you get these

you paint on these (cardboard squares)

you zap in the microwave and get puffy paint

(as seen at The Crafty Crow)

we love rainbows

when you can't afford to buy anything from the next directory, cut it up, sort into shades of colour, cut the colours into squares and do a mosaic rainbow on some cardboard (both sides), staple co-ordinating ribbons to the bottom, a loop to the top and hang in a place where it will bring you moochos joy everytime you see it

weaving

sticks from the forest bound together to make a frame...wool wound round to make a loom...rags weaved through....et voila!

popcorn

whilst we were popping the corn for her box, lottie became fascinated with the fact this little yellow pod turns into this big fluff...the penny dropped "mummy, that's why its called popcorn, the corn has popped!" which of course led to a small statement by boring mummy "Corn is able to pop because its kernels have a hard moisture-sealed hull and a dense starchy filling. This allows pressure to build inside the kernel until an explosive "pop" results"

a gift for herself

lottie wrapped all her bathbombs and decided to package them exactly like a certain smelly shop whose website recently got hacked...so corn got popped, surrounded the packages in a cardboard box and got taped up and posted to herself...fabulous!

blast from the past

this fabric used to hang in one of my childhood bedrooms (too many years ago to even count) and it was in a charity shop for only 50 pennies! don't know yet what i shall make with it but happy memories aplenty

(ps: why have those of us who have always loved anything old and from another time, now considered followers of the vintage craze?)

cheep cheap

i saw something like these in a store in tunbridge wells for a hearty amount of money but thought to myself "pah! i'm not buying those when i can fashion some myself out of scrapbook paper, cardboard, buttons and rather sticky glue"

so i did and here they are

they shall hang on my twig tree (and maybe they'll make nests?)

boo and jaycee re-enacting being squished together in the womb....they love each other...ahhhhh

bath bombs

if you add all of the above...

you get these!

2 parts bicarb to one part citric acid, essential oil of your choice (lottie always chooses toasted marshmallow), olive oil and food colour; mix until looks like breadcrumbs then press into silicone moulds and leave to harden (lottie added star-shaped sprinkles to the top for decoration)

smelly wonderfulness!

someone is very proud of herself

lottie attends a home-school group at a trampoline centre and after practice at home and lots of hard work and great tuition by her coach, lottie got her badge 6 (she only got her badge 5 three weeks ago so is progressing quickly)....yipeeeee!

another spring day

it seems like an eternity since we last mowed the lawn but that is exactly what we did...i did the big patch and lottie did the smaller patch...she lasted five minutes before admitting it was ruddy hard work and she didn't want to do it anymore...i discovered that my shears have disappeared so i was trimming the edges with kitchen scissors and despite the fact it made the job twice as long, it was worth it because our front garden is neat as a pin AND lottie made me a smashing cup of tea once i'd finished...

life is good

on a sunny spring day there is so much you can do

we played ball, we lost the ball, we went for a walk to look for the ball, we didn't find the ball...we washed stones, we painted stones, we chalked the path, we bounced on the trampoline, we pushed egon around the car park in the old pram wheels, we pushed boo around the car park in the old pram wheels, i pushed lottie, she pushed me, we made banana & cinnamon cupcakes with green butter icing, lottie made spagbol (one inch pieces of onion yum), ellie and lottie pushed egon to the park in the old pram wheels (much to the amusement of the village), we drank tea, we ate cake, we had baths, we read books, i listened to radio 4 whilst finishing sewing, we flomped into bed with big smiles on our faces....

i love spring

spring is here la la la!

this blossom tree is at the back of our house in the car park...there is a real hum coming from it as the bees are dancing through the petals doing their thang and if nature got any more beautiful i think i might explode

i do believe she was a mermaid in a previous life

lottie is obsessed with puffy bath paint...any opportunity to have a bath...which leads me to believe that she is really a water baby or could it be because the stuff looks like poo when you squeeze it out of the icing bag? probably the latter

my teenage dreamer

ellie took egon for a walk last night and came home with two amazing items

item number one: she had made herself a faerie headband with twisted twigs and wild flowers

item number two: she and lottie had dragged the frame for a composter all the way home!! a house in the village had them outside with a sign "free composters" so lottie (being the brave one) knocked on the door, asked if they could have one, and then they brought home their 'killing' to me...they were very proud of themselves because i have been meaning to get a composter and they had got one free!!

i love my girls

simple things

lottie had some birthday money left...what put an enormous smile on her face was not a toy/clothes/sweets/dvd but a mini bath creamer and a rhino gift bag from the posh shop in the high street where rich ladies go and buy pointless but beautiful nick nacks...

bless her

weekend...yay!

we had a lovely day...got on the bus out of the village and went to the cinema...usually i leave the sprouts at the cinema and utilise the time to grab some 'just me' time but today i watched 'tangled' with them...enforced rest and entertainment is good for the soul...i really should sit and watch a film occasionally...when we emerged from the darkness, spring greeted us in all it's sunny glory! a bite to eat, £2 each in the pound shop and the bus home...lottie went for a walk on the forest with the neighbour and ellie had a lesson in patchwork...when we were done, what should i see out of my window? my lovely lottie, all red faced and walked out, clutching some daffodils for me! made my day...

red nose day

lottie's list says: make decorations, make biscuits, make cakes, make pizzas, watch comic relief

lottie making paperchains

lottie making a collection box

icing biscuits with red chocolate

ellie's were pink

decorating her red cupcakes with red icing, red gummy bears and red edible glitter

ditto!

lottie's red nose monster face pizza

our red nose tea party!

biscuits anyone?

grandma's birthday presents

ellie covered food cans with beautiful flock wallpaper and covered a matchbox to make a set...she put mulberry tealights inside

lottie made soap...glycerine, lavender essential oil and lavender buds

tissue paper lanterns - they can also be used as a jaunty hat!

organic fruit and veg box

once a fortnight we get an organic box delivered and lottie always has to discover the contents...today we had mandarins, plums, bananas, potatoes, mushrooms, onions, carrots and artichokes! we need to google how to cook artichokes as we have never had them before....exciting

tissue paper lanterns

ellie's lantern

lottie's lantern

all lit up and they look beautiful

(as usual we saw these at The Crafty Crow)