Real Life

What miserable weather! Rain rain go away! Nothing for it but to pull your wellies on and puddle suit and take a dinosaur for a walk!

Here are our top five rainy day activities and not a colouring book in sight!

1. Grab your waterproofs and hunt for the biggest puddle in your neighhbourhood and jump in it!

2. Try to find a secret shelter from the rain! Is there a tunnel, underpass or spot under the trees near you? Who knows what you’ll find! P.S. I find cafes make rather good shelters (and rather good cakes come to think of it!)

3. Make mud pies, yum!

4. Grab a brolly and sing in the rain – incy wincy spider or rain rain go away should do it

5. Go on a wiggly worm hunt!

Blog life

I’m running a small giveaway on Facebook to try to drum up more page likes, will let you know how it goes next week!

I have some lovely review posts and a blog competition coming up soon which I’m really excited about.

Inspiration

I have returned to crochet, I can only dream of making something as good as this crochet tweed iPad case by Gemma Garner, it’s so blooming perfect I could cry, but seeing it inspired me to pick up my hook again!

And if this isn’t the gosh darned nicest big girl’s room I have ever seen don’t know what is! I am thinking of a bedroom re-do for Joss so this is my inspiration!

- See more at: http://mumsdays.com/#sthash.I1YtfFDQ.dpuf

I was delighted to review a canvas from The Canvas Prints as this was to be the first canvas we’ve ever owned! We have a lot of art on the walls at home but I really like mixing up textures so a canvas was a way of adding a different scale and texture to our current displays.

I sent this photo of Joss holding Daddy’s hand to The Canvas Prints, it’s a fave of mine and was taken after a special family meal.

Less than a week later an exciting parcel arrived!

The Canvas Prints Review

I had been fretting a bit about being new to canvas as I really had no idea whether or not the canvas stretching process would distort the image, or how appropriate for canvas the photo I had chosen was. I looked at the FAQs on the website and felt reassured, the image was the right pixel size and was good quality.

The canvas was beautifully wrapped for the post and if sending as a gift I’d have no worries about postal damage as the bubble wrap and box were a great fit.

The canvas is sturdy, the print detail is exactly what I hoped for, it looks really nice on the wall and the corner wrapping is really crisp and smooth and the final seal well executed. I was pleasantly surprised to see a hook for hanging as I know other brands don’t do this!

I chose a picture wrap where the photo is continuously wrapped around the frame, I think it looks great on the wall like this, but they also do colour wraps where you choose the edging too.

The range and options available gave me food for thought, I like the idea of these split canvases and displays too

Our introduction to canvas is a big hit and I would definately consider buying more!

Disclaimer: I received a free canvas to review, all views are my own.

We just celebrated three years of marriage and I had a good old reminisce about it by poring over our photos.

I haven’t really blogged about our day but used to love looking at 100 Layer Cake and Rock n Roll Bride so it seems appropriate to copy (ahem, take inspiration from their style spreads)!

Here’s our lemon and lime theme wedding!

The flowers

I obsessed about craspedia flowers in the year run up to the big day, they’re my fave flower in my fave colour and so once I found a florist that could source them I planned the whole day around them and devoted a page of my wedding planner for craspedia inspiration!

My bouquet had temarisou, craspedia and white chrysanthemums with lime centres

The decoration

I made our invites and a few other touches like the postbox and the wishing tree and then ran out of time so we didn’t have the giant pompoms or bunting I wanted but otherwise it felt like there were lots of personal touches!

We had vibrant floating candle centre pieces and bright yellow sashes on the chairs

The insert invites appealed to my stationery obsession!

The cake

Handmade by my lovely and super talented cousin I wanted something delicate and lacy, the brooch and ribbon now adorn our wedding photo album. It was a rich and yummy fruit cake, one of my fave memories was taking a break from honeymoon packing to look at our cards and eat more cake the following day!

The dress

The first I tried on and I just knew it was the one, I tried just five dresses and this one, Meryl by Romantica was everything I hoped for, light silk, beaded lace detailing, swags and with a Grecian drape to it; I loved how lightweight it was for a summer wedding

The car

A lovely vintage ride!

The bride

I had my makeup done by my fave artist from my local MAC counter in rich plum tones and hair by Helen Church who did these fab sculpted curls. The tiara detail matched the loops of silk on my dress and I wore my favourite Chanel perfume. My garter was made from vintage silk and pearls and is now stored in a Laduree box from our honeymoon it was my old and new and my Mam sewed a tiny blue stitch into my dress lining for something blue, I borrowed a little button from a friend that was stitched onto my bouquet handle.

The groom

He wore a hire suit, no top and tails, it would have been too formal, he had a craspedia button hole and I gave him some new cufflinks too

The big day

We married at the church I was Christened in and Joss was later Christened in too, I was so very nervous that I had to catch myself and really focus on the service! Walking out hand in hand with my new husband felt like a dream and I couldn’t stop grinning; after a few photos we headed to Saltwell Towers for afternoon tea followed by a wedding breakfast, the sun shone and it was a magical day.

We partied into the night and got some lovely night shots too!

The story wouldn’t be complete without our wedding album, keeping to theme I had one photo enlarged and we chose a vintage frame from Re in our wedding colour to display our favourite photo.

And finally…

Joss came along and my dress was chopped into a gown fit for an eight month old princess, nerve wracking to see it chopped up but totally the right thing to do, this heirloom gown will stay in the family for generations to come!

Blogging these pics was a small thing that made me smile a lot!

Inspired by a recent trip to a garden centre I decided to have a bash at making willow plant supports saving myself five to ten quid a pop and using some of the willow I gathered on a recent walk with Joss. I think they look really rustic and I wanted to recreate this look in our own space.

We followed this tutorial and I have to say it was an enjoyable hours work while little miss played with her sandpit and water table.

This one is holding my lavender plant that took a bit of a battering with the recent heavy rain.

If I make more I’ll soak the withies (the long bendy flimsy willow branches) for a bit longer to make them more malleable, but hey, handmade never looks perfect, it’s knowing you made them for free and enjoyed the process that counts!

 

Real Life

If you have a toddler that literally runs headlong into life from 7am to 8pm you have to be prepared to run off A LOT of energy! Entertaining a two year old is easy in many respects, just get them out in all weathers, but challenging too, especially as they haven’t developed their listening skills and are adept at running off, hair-raising stuff!

Our local park and farm are godsends, she’s learned to monkey her way up ropes lately tackling some pretty challenging climbs in a way that’s so fearless I’m really impressed!

An average day now looks like this, makes me wish we had a PJ day occasionally but generally we like the routine!

7am – up and breakfast, bit of Sarah and Duck on Cbeebies

7:30am – we shower together

8am – we get ready to hit the park

8:10 – climbing frame and swings for half an hour then walk home

9am – play with toys at home

10am – snack whilst I wash up

11am – quiet time with books or head out to see friends/go to a group

12pm – lunch

12:30 – walk up to local shops home via Farm

1pm – Joss naps I work/blog/craft/study

3pm – I prep dinner whilst she plays

3:30 – park/library/go crazy running around

4pm – quiet play or reading whilst I cook, sometimes she ‘helps’

5pm/6pm – family meal, Cbeebies for 30 minutes, chat/listen to music

7pm – last trip to the climbing frame!

8pm – supper, night time nappy and bed

Crazy stuff seeing it written out but it makes for a tantrum-free, happy, healthy tot and by that extension a happy mama!

Blog Life

I really enjoyed crowd-sourcing this post with some fellow bloggers, it’s about visiting art galleries with kids and features the Daniel Buren exhibition at Baltic

Inspiration

This week I was really inspired by the parents I’ve been speaking to about the postnatal depression support group I’m getting off the ground, and also in some chats with fellow bloggers including Mums Day’s Hannah.

Life is really busy but in a good way!

I’m currently seeking inspiration for my next tattoo, this quote caught my eye so I drew up this little poster, haters gonna hate!

- See more at: http://mumsdays.com/#sthash.naNa9opw.dpuf

This post is partly about a brilliant new exhibition, but also asks about Art Galleries as family spaces.

Daniel Buren at Baltic

‘Catch as catch can: works in situ’ by Daniel Buren is currently in installation at the Baltic in Gateshead, OK so we should have waited for the sunniest of sunny days to really see the light captured in this work but I was too excited after seeing the gallery front facade with its 20 diamonds on my way to work most days, even on a slightly dull Sunday it was like being in a kaleidoscope with mirrors and tinted windows there’s something sunny and joyful about standing on Level 4 bathed in coloured light.

As a self confessed numbers geek I really enjoyed reading more about Buren’s work, his 8.7cm wide signature stripe features in many of his works and pops up at Baltic in the form of a border around the mirrors on Level 4, in an interview with The Journal he said“that was the dimension of the first linen I used when I did printing. I had some left and kept it for other things but it has a rhythm to it, one white stripe and then a coloured one, and it has become a visual tool.”

Daniel Buren – The Function of The Studio?

Two things on my mind today, potty training Joss, and thinking about how new parents are introduced to eco alternatives.

Potty training is something we’re taking really slowly and it’s definitely easier now the nicer weather is here; we had a lovely day with the paddling pool out yesterday and she pootled in and out to use the potty and announced loudly all her movements, followed by “clever girl” and clapping herself!

I’d guess we’re not going to be using our cloth nappies for too much longer so what I’m about to share is lovely, but we won’t be indulging in more nappies anytime soon!

So, Happy First Birthday George! In honour of Prince George turning one Totsbots have released a super-duper new unlimited easyfit V4 print, Birthday! I don’t have one but I have seen one today, and it’s a beauty, here’s a sneak peek!

When I wrote this post about eco-parenting I guess it was aimed at folks who are already interested in the green and ethical route. It got me thinking about the information parents get in the early days and I suppose for most parents the Bounty Pack will have been one of their first experiences of marketing aimed at new parents. Given out at my first antenatal appointment I gratefully accepted my pack as a way to carry my hospital notes, by the time I got the forms for my last pack I didn’t collect it. The cynic in me finds the idea of this marketing route really interesting, especially as most mums I’ve spoken to have stories to tell about receiving theirs and a survey by Mumsnet last year of more than 1,000 mothers who gave birth since May 2012 found that over half – 56 per cent – thought that the Bounty rep invaded their privacy.

My own story is that I heard I wouldn’t be taking my baby home on the fourth day from the Bounty rep who said, “oh we’ll see you tomorrow as you’re staying another day or two” – it just felt like this person on the hospital wards had access to more information than I’d have liked.

Aside from my experiences, the contents of the Bounty Pack are highly commercial and in some ways a bit scary. As an anxious new parent all the antibacterial sprays, washes and stain removers fed my fears about cleanliness and most of the contents were highly chemical, stuff we just didn’t and don’t use.

This week I’ve reviewed a Mama Pack and I think it’s a brilliant alternative. A much nicer, less wasteful sample pack this is the pack I’d have liked to receive when Joss was born. I’ve seen some of the variations of these packs, priced at £1 (sometimes free with larger orders) and available from many cloth nappy or eco retailers they are a good introduction to eco and ethical alternatives and one I’d like to see rolled out locally including good quality local information for new parents.

The Mama Pack is a breath of fresh air in this respect, packed with goodies that get you thinking about green issues.

Water Wipes are a good crossover for parents who might be unsure about making the move to washable wipes but who want to avoid chemical nasties. They are a cotton wipe which contains 99.9% water and 0.1% grapefruit seed extract; I use these for long days out and they’re great for sensitive skin too.

Palmers is a brand I didn’t know as much about but I do like cocoa butter and they are a member of the World Cocoa Foundation so care about the origins and sustainability of their raw materials, I try to avoid parabens so it’s good to know this is paraben-free and is a nice treat alongside the Pregnacare cream for Mums and there’s a treat in here for new Dads too which is sweet!

Gin Gin sweeties were a godsend to me during pregnancy, both for morning sickness easing properties as the ginger kick is lovely, and later to pep me up when I was tired! A lovely addition to Mama Pack!

Caffeine free Tea Pigs are a real treat for mums, great if avoiding tea and coffee during pregnancy a good cuppa and feet up is definately a treat! I got green tea and berries which were really refreshing, good for those long night feeds, these are a really great quality tea and I was impressed to see them in here!

Pregnacare is a welcome addition too alongside Wellkid, it’s important to take care of yourself during pregnancy and as a busy working parent during pregnancy I found supplements gave me peace of mind. I’d also welcome more information on taking care of yourself in Mama Pack, great to see some health info in the form of this meningitis card but friends were asking whether there’s information on mental wellbeing in here for example, and that could be a great addition too

You can get yourself or a friend a Mama Pack (contents may vary) from Grow Up Green who kindly provided me with this Mama Pack sample – thanks Aggie! – (and you can also get yourself the lovely Totsbots Birthday print from Grow Up Green too!)