Readers of my blog will know how much I love making stuff - anything and everything. I adore handmade. Regular readers will also know that I had a baby a year ago, and finding the time as a mum of two, to make things for my home, my family, or even myself has been much more challenging than I thought! But although my 'To Do' list of future projects is ever growing, a girl can still look (and buy) can't she?!
There is such a wealth of talent around these days and some really wonderful events that showcase new designers and makers. I am really excited about the upcoming MADE LONDON Design and Craft Fair starting next month on the 22nd October and open until Sunday 25th. There will be a whole range of products on show from furniture makers, glass blowers, textile designers, woodworkers etc. I've only been shown a small preview of some of the goodies on offer but just look at these:
MADE LONDON is being held in a particularly stunning building too, so not only are there 4 floors of makers to explore, but the Grade 1 listed church built by John Soane is an attraction itself too.
I can't wait to be inspired, impressed and hopefully make a purchase or two! Tickets are available now...
Last week we were invited to spend a few hours having some 'good old-fashioned' fun, courtesy of Elastoplast. They had recreated a village fete feel, complete with games such as the coconut shy, hook-a-duck and hoopla but amazingly, all this took place on the roof garden of John Lewis! We were sipping freshly squeezed juices 5 storeys above London's busy Oxford Street and you couldn't even hear the traffic. It was bliss!
The children all had a great time - the games (and lunch) kept them occupied and interested for a couple of hours (no screens needed!) before we took a joy ride all the way back down to earth on the escalators in the centre of the store.
Elastoplast is the UK's number one plaster brand, and as well as producing all sorts of different plasters (waterproof, silver healing, blister plasters, spray on, as well as the kids' favourite characters) they have just launched these really cool vintage-style tins to keep them in! I've added ours to my handbag already because you never know when you may need a plaster. In fact...I sometimes give Wiss one even if he doesn't actually need a plaster. I think the placebo effect works wonders here! I'm not the only parent who does this? (I hope?!)
If I sneak these ones in, very quietly, maybe no one will notice and just think that they have been here all along....? Well, it's worth a try! July's family portrait was taken on Studland beach, Dorset. And despite Wiss's face, we all were enjoying a glorious week of camping, yes even my husband enjoyed himself under canvas! It was so good to spend time together as a family, and be able to just relax and let the kids play. Wiss found a new level of confidence and made friends with so many children on the campsite and beaches, while little Miss practiced her downhill crawling every morning and she can get some real speed going now! So much so, that she's had blisters on her hands from so much crawling. Us grown-ups also hit a new milestone this holiday - we finally became members of The National Trust! I don't know why we took so long - there are so many amazing places run by the National Trust to visit, and they put on some fantastic special events throughout the year too. Studland Beach is stunning but it also offered den building for kids, and open air cinema screenings. We can't wait to explore some more!
The seaside is my happy place, and I'm glad to report that it seems to have been passed down in the genes to Wiss and little Miss too. Such fond memories in this photo already!
See you in a couple of weeks for August's Me & Mine, and I'll do my best to get it up on time :) You can check out all the other family shots taken by other bloggers by clicking here:
Finally! I know that this is the latest my Me & Mine post has been (and they've been bordering on tardy each month!) but things were not going my way. I wanted a more formal shot this month as we'd had lots of selfies, but trying to pin everyone down to sit for their photo proved very hard. That's what's so great about this project though because it's always tricky so you don't get the picture. Then the time slips by and you realise it's been a whole year since you last had a family photo - probably at Christmas time! I wanted us to be outside as this month has been glorious, but on the day it was raining. My idea for the portrait was 'stripes' - we all have a lot of striped clothes in our family so I thought a black and white shot of us in our stripes would be striking. Except Wiss didn't want to wear stripes. He wore checks. Of course! But then he did make a concession and put on stripy socks, so how could I complain?! The formality of it didn't sit well with him either so he refused to smile nicely, so we ended up all being silly. You have to do what you have to do...
As always, don't forget to pop to Dear Beautiful over to see all the other great family photos from other bloggers, or facebookers. And why not join in? There's still 6 months left for you to get some great memories captured.
Another has flown by and we are already in June!! Summer is here....? Well, to be honest we have had some glorious weather this month but this weekend has been very wet and chilly. Brrrr! This month's portrait is another selfie-style photo but I love how it's captured our family. Can you guess who has been asserting himself to be the centre of attention?! This picture was taken at the British Museum - we went for the day at Wiss's request as he's been learning about it at school. This month we had the general election (what a shame, that's all I can say), I eased myself back into work gently with a day's teaching and a This is Wiss stall at a local market. We had (another) half term! Ferne's front teeth are slowly coming and the right one has broken through the gum. Wiss is steaming ahead with his reading and is enjoying looking at menus, road signs, newspapers...anything he can see! It's amazing to see how quickly this skill develops and I'm so proud of him.
The Me & Mine project is a great big linky so don't forget to check out the other bloggers' great family photos this month. Click on the logo to be taken there...
You may have already seen the adverts on telly at the moment about the Brave Bones Club encouraging kids to get outside to have adventures? It doesn't really matter what you do, adventures can be found in your garden as well as by the sea, in the countryside, or even a trip to the shops if you take the time to look around you.
We are in the middle of half-term here in the UK, and so far it's been great! We are enjoying some very sunny weather at the moment so it's been easy to spend time outdoors. Bank Holiday Monday was spent in our garden - I've been tidying up the flower beds and getting experimental with colour, while Wiss has been making the most of his new 'mud kitchen'.
We had a very short half term bucket list - go to the park, eat candy floss, spot a kingfisher, visit Papa at work, get outside on our bikes. We have yet to find any candy floss unfortunately but today we went on a Kingfisher Hunt!
We live in South East London, on a busy road, near a retail park and a wonderful green park too. Behind the retail park there is a Green Chain walk which runs alongside a little river. We have often visited part of the river but never walked right the way along, so when we were told there are Kingfishers living there we wanted to explore. I love these birds but have never seen one in real life, and Wiss adores all animals. So, armed with some essential supplies (all adventurers need Battenberg!) we set off.
I just could not believe how beautiful this area is, especially given it's in a busy part of the city and right on our doorstep.
Wiss was in his element, taking notes in his notebook, and he even made a little video of himself talking about the surroundings! He didn't say he was bored once, was happy making up his games and would have stayed out longer if he could. In summary we saw: mallard ducks and ducklings, moorhens, coots, grey wagtails, blackbirds, magpies, crows, pigeons and a heron. We got rampaged by 6 wet dogs who had been swimming in the river and the picnic blanket took the brunt of it! We saw schools of tiny fish, and 3 whoppers. Wiss spent about half an hour perched on a rock in the river catching catkins floating past and got very muddy knees. He had many 'au natural' tree wees (very exciting for a 5 year old) but kingfishers....? Zero :) But I don't think that was the point anymore!
The Brave Bones Club has been created by Cheestrings and Yollies in partnership with the explorer Steve Backshall, to encourage people to have safe but brave adventures. To find out more, visit the website or watch this short video:
If you know an adventurer aged 6-10 years old then why not enter one (or both) of these competitions to win an amazing 4 day adventure with Steve Backshall? They close on 29 May so there is still time! Brave Bones Competition or Win a 4 Day Adventure
I'd love to hear about any adventures you and your little ones go on, especially if they are city-based. Leave me a comment below or find me on Twitter @thisiswiss. Enjoy the rest of half term, and then there's only 6 weeks left until the summer holidays for more fun...! This is a sponsored post, and we have been sent an adventure kit to help us with future explorations.
Forgive me for this quick post - it's not strictly about making stuff, although it is about making food and preparing meals for all the family to enjoy. It's also the most amount of making I get to do at the moment so I may as well enjoy it! Ferne is nearly 9 months old now so we've been weaning for almost 3 months. I'm a big fan of Baby Led Weaning and it worked well for us with Wiss, so that's what I planned to do again this time. However, Ferne has led us and made it clear that sometimes all she wants is to be spoon fed! So I'm taking my cues from her and we've been mixing it up with a bit of both at each meal time.
Even though we've been there and done it before, at the beginning I was a bit stuck with what to offer her that would be nutritious and exciting for her but also appealing to the rest of the family. I stumbled upon this beautiful website My Lovely Little Lunchbox and suddenly my cooking mojo was back again! Have a look at Kayla's recipes and I'm sure you will find something to tempt both you and your little ones. The ricotta dumplings are particularly good.
I'm a lot more relaxed about it all second time around but I am still keen to provide as varied a diet as possible. Our typical western diet is very heavy on wheat and cheese so I am trying to limit these and am making sure we eat a range of grains - rye bread, barley, polenta, quinoa etc. As with all good diets, variety is the key (although Ferne could probably eat avocados all day long!) I've been struggling though because a lot of the finger food ideas for BLW involve muffins, or things on toast but it seems little Miss is not keen on bread-type food (for the moment at least). She likes saucy food that can be sucked and slurped. To be fair, she has only got 2 bottom teeth so chewing is a bit tricky. So I've had to rethink some of my stand-by recipes, but this week seemed to be particularly successful for us all so I thought I'd share our meal plan: This week we have enjoyed for lunch: Spinach Scrambled Eggs and Wholemeal Toast Braised Lettuce and Peas with Cous Cous Spinach and Goats Cheese Pancakes Courgette Polpette with creme fraiche dip and for dinner: Jacket Potato with Cheese and Mushrooms Spaghetti Bolognaise Barley & Vegetable Soup Fish Cakes with Parsley Sauce and Brocolli Tomato Mac 'n' Cheese Breakfast is usually some kind of baby cereal, porridge or Bircher Museli with chopped fruit to keep her busy while I sort everyone else's out. Puddings are often fruit again - Ferne is practising her pincer movements so loves halved blueberries and quartered strawberries and grapes - and yoghurt. We are coveting the Collective Dairy's amazing flavours and their Straight Up yoghurt is brilliant for little ones as it's only ingredients are milk and pectin.
I hope this has given you some inspiration for your meals, but I'm always grateful for more ideas. Please share any winning recipes from your family's repertoire with me... Thanks for reading and I'll be back again with some real actual crafting soon! Bye for now :)
