tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13229596638768954712024-03-22T05:16:45.360+00:00Knitty MummyCraft, Parenting and LifeAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12117249594444297964noreply@blogger.comBlogger198125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1322959663876895471.post-29493472234296322012014-04-30T16:07:00.000+01:002014-04-30T16:07:21.539+01:00Shortlisted<div style="text-align: justify;">
Dear Readers,</div>
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I need to ask you to do a little something for me. I've reached the final 16 in the Craft category at the BiBs (Brilliance in Blogging) Awards. To get through to the final I need your help. Can you click on the BiB logo below as it will take you to the voting page, where you can place your mark for Knitty Mummy? Please? I'll bake you a cake!*<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.britmums.com/2014/04/congratulations-bibs-shortlist-bloggers/" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Brilliance in Blogging"><img alt="BRILLIANCE IN BLOGGING 2014" src="http://www.britmums.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/BiBbadge2014.jpg" height="200" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
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I'm so chuffed to have reached the last 16, maybe it was because of some of these things I have made? They are certainly my favourites. I'm hoping these pictures will convince you to take the time to vote. I'll love you forever!**</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8ZDPcKzkEKRjshZoahymoKEk9CtpxnOph5OwbuPgmi3K_qGXaNd9OQcYwxjbnnVx7e9aSp7XKIPNpvVon__pknBTscZ2sb8iESvExVoIZ6syQ-_1nEf0fHHC8LboCsT-qNp1PfpJ4kUQ/s1600/BiBs+Craft+shortlist.jpg.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8ZDPcKzkEKRjshZoahymoKEk9CtpxnOph5OwbuPgmi3K_qGXaNd9OQcYwxjbnnVx7e9aSp7XKIPNpvVon__pknBTscZ2sb8iESvExVoIZ6syQ-_1nEf0fHHC8LboCsT-qNp1PfpJ4kUQ/s1600/BiBs+Craft+shortlist.jpg.jpg" height="640" width="588" /></a></div>
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*not actually true<br />
**we've never met, so not true eitherAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12117249594444297964noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1322959663876895471.post-47926601016865666692014-04-23T20:14:00.002+01:002014-04-23T20:14:50.706+01:00Go Wild Nature Kits<div style="text-align: justify;">
Its lovely to get the kids outside enjoying nature, and what better way to encourage them than an explorer kit packed with things to help them do things such as search for bugs or start a campfire. This is where <a href="http://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/gowild" target="_blank">Go Wild</a> come in - and they need your help.</div>
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The whole scheme needs funding and the money needed is being sourced through crowdfunding. You do get a reward for pledging your money - if you pledge £25 you'll get your very own kit, if you pledge £35 you'll get a signed copy of a brand new book on Urban Peregrines by Ed Drewitt. A book I know will be utterly brilliant as Ed is terribly knowledgeable (we were at university together).</div>
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This video explains it all much better than I can....</div>
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<script src="http://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/gowild/video_widget.js/" type="text/javascript"></script>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12117249594444297964noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1322959663876895471.post-51506500282044399572014-04-22T21:47:00.000+01:002014-04-22T21:47:25.176+01:00Zumba Cake<div style="text-align: justify;">
My zumba instructor recently held a charity zumbathon in aid of <a href="http://www.parkinsons.org.uk/?gclid=CNmc0cqWu70CFZShtAod1jYARw" target="_blank">Parkinson's UK</a>. After two hours of non-stop zumba we all deserved a cake sale afterwards (after all what else are we exercising for? I'm not giving up cake).</div>
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Jo had kindly given up her time to help us with the <a href="http://knittymummy.blogspot.co.uk/2014/02/zumba-in-public-or-taking-part-in-team.html" target="_blank">Team Honk Relay</a>, leading our zumba flashmob on the terrace of the Avon Gorge Hotel, under the view of the Clifton Suspension Bridge. So what better way to raise money for two very worthy charities than take part in the <a href="http://www.mummymishaps.co.uk/2014/04/swimming-pool-cake-team-honk-bake-off.html" target="_blank">Great Blogger's Bake Off</a> for Sports Relief with a zumba themed cake. The cake was raffled for Parkinson's UK and I've donated to Team Honk to enter it in the Bake Off.<br />
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It was so simple to decorate - I cut out the logo in paper and used it as a stencil when adding these <a href="http://www.craftcompany.co.uk/index.php/catalog/product/view/id/13402/?gclid=COH_3oKWu70CFZShtAod1jYARw" target="_blank">Neon sugar sprinkles</a> (very zumba-ish colours) to a cake covered in buttercream.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2SoCfG7z-K4Ut02E1o_VnWf9JbhWqfncxVoFa3vEfoRkSd-EGC_gUet_4MTze5jarhJbgd1ejtdFtaB14bJHdfWtugUnCuAJZDO-ZU-lFN6eB0me1l3bplTRLgem9hH2X9GAMo4RmVo0/s1600/zumba+cake.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2SoCfG7z-K4Ut02E1o_VnWf9JbhWqfncxVoFa3vEfoRkSd-EGC_gUet_4MTze5jarhJbgd1ejtdFtaB14bJHdfWtugUnCuAJZDO-ZU-lFN6eB0me1l3bplTRLgem9hH2X9GAMo4RmVo0/s1600/zumba+cake.JPG" height="628" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://www.mummymishaps.co.uk/" title="Mummy Mishaps"><img alt="Mummy Mishaps" src="http://www.mummymishaps.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/teamhonkbakeoffbadge.png" style="border: none;" /></a></div>
<!-- start LinkyTools script --><script src="http://www.linkytools.com/thumbnail_linky_include.aspx?id=225571" type="text/javascript"></script><!-- end LinkyTools script -->Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12117249594444297964noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1322959663876895471.post-29241085087624729542014-04-19T14:38:00.000+01:002014-04-19T14:38:00.038+01:00Making a Children's Artbook<div style="text-align: justify;">
My daughter is a prolific artist. We are presented with handfuls of paper at the end of each day, usually covered in pictures of cats; cat pirates, cats having tea parties, cats in hospital, once we even got a cat in prison! I adore these pictures but I just don't have the space to file these piles of paper away, so I decided to make a photo book of them. That way I can enjoy her drawings and store them away neatly.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0_b0AQ8n2kZKbFWXkjPY7KoOuQj__DPXc5wXrihIJ4orM93MWY9Q51thwbvWu4O7jSpCyRmVMx2D5GhXKPOjzf-Dv5pyuu6P1AaTesabaYzEegRzcTBG7k2i9uU1zT1kCtqsZvtQaWls/s1600/snapfish+art+book.jpg.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0_b0AQ8n2kZKbFWXkjPY7KoOuQj__DPXc5wXrihIJ4orM93MWY9Q51thwbvWu4O7jSpCyRmVMx2D5GhXKPOjzf-Dv5pyuu6P1AaTesabaYzEegRzcTBG7k2i9uU1zT1kCtqsZvtQaWls/s1600/snapfish+art+book.jpg.jpg" height="640" width="640" /></a></div>
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It was really easy to do, if you want to make one too follow these steps:</div>
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<b><u>Scanning</u></b><br />
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I started off by scanning all the pictures into my computer, labelling them carefully with the date, so that once I had collected enough I'd know which order to put them in. Make sure you scan them as .jpg not .jp2 (as my scanner automatically did) or you'll spend a lot of time converting them.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5l6vwKhPgE5EMUA7h11WHZ3Qz8iHPzTtx0JWtAV2iP3fkGFDRJKxBpR9quC3lX0u5AcIA3PQE9DWu-WxdeFL-eWk9f0QVsot94CORV_HeGPL1jm_U1b0EHDyAXWVS_Qg7x5gBf49daxg/s1600/IMG_7623.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5l6vwKhPgE5EMUA7h11WHZ3Qz8iHPzTtx0JWtAV2iP3fkGFDRJKxBpR9quC3lX0u5AcIA3PQE9DWu-WxdeFL-eWk9f0QVsot94CORV_HeGPL1jm_U1b0EHDyAXWVS_Qg7x5gBf49daxg/s1600/IMG_7623.JPG" height="425" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">cats on the Olympic podium (and a bit of Mondrian)</td></tr>
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<b><u>Remove the 'paper'</u></b><br />
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Scanning the pictures can leave the white background a bit dull and grey as you can see the paper they were drawn on and sometimes whatever was on the other side of the paper shows through. To get rid of these you will need to open each picture in some photo editing software. It doesn't have to be an expensive one, whatever you use to manage your digital photos will probably do this. I used iPhoto.<br />
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First slide the brightness settings up, until the background appears white and any blotching from the back of the paper disappears. This will lighten the drawing itself, to bring it back slide up the contrast settings.</div>
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Even if the background isn't white, it really helps to slide up the contrast a bit anyway, it just gives it a boost.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJsuBxd9hqPisSLQgC_h7hZP5w_5Mr7dXUZEY0jNt38_6BurUTgXVcBlvOMayuG5DAE1plF34h-ZoEcj2ruBtNC144a9Y26TXTv8VLR_ckPaxHyat09-CLEKr7li-LLO4bmP9Nthi4ycM/s1600/IMG_7622.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJsuBxd9hqPisSLQgC_h7hZP5w_5Mr7dXUZEY0jNt38_6BurUTgXVcBlvOMayuG5DAE1plF34h-ZoEcj2ruBtNC144a9Y26TXTv8VLR_ckPaxHyat09-CLEKr7li-LLO4bmP9Nthi4ycM/s1600/IMG_7622.JPG" height="425" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">bottom left - a cat meets an elephant</td></tr>
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<b><u>Upload to <a href="http://www3.snapfish.co.uk/snapfishuk/photo-gifts/store" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Snapfish</a></u></b></div>
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I've tried this on a couple of sites, and I had a few problems uploading pictures on the other sites, so I would recommend <a href="http://www3.snapfish.co.uk/snapfishuk/photo-gifts/store" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Snapfish</a>. The problem is that the sites are set up for photographs which have lots of detail and therefore a large file size. Scanned line drawings are not big, even if they are good quality and many were rejected for being poor quality on other sites. Snapfish seemed to deal with them just fine.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjon9D5QF1_mSXs7Zwpsu4K2X7oOhL24FK9HXwVMesdlB3JeAtPLkQDupVFNKTzjBE3yZChEIMlL71de8Ei8O3fbUkzSrLduTLU86qmxkcq5k_B0S0DrSVgJKAnfh75_1yzeKb3-LEV8ds/s1600/IMG_7624.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjon9D5QF1_mSXs7Zwpsu4K2X7oOhL24FK9HXwVMesdlB3JeAtPLkQDupVFNKTzjBE3yZChEIMlL71de8Ei8O3fbUkzSrLduTLU86qmxkcq5k_B0S0DrSVgJKAnfh75_1yzeKb3-LEV8ds/s1600/IMG_7624.JPG" height="425" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I included some photos of my daughter painting (in this case her face!)</td></tr>
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<b><u>Follow the simple instructions to create your book</u></b><br />
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Its pretty intuitive how to make your book on the site, and there is an instruction video you can watch. As you will be loading in pictures that aren't a standard photograph size I would remove all "page layout" boxes then drag each picture directly onto the page. That way you won't have to resize all the boxes to get the whole picture in. There are guidelines to help line up the pictures, but because they aren't going to be a standard size sometimes they just won't line up nicely. If this happens I found it helped to put the pictures in at an angle, there is a control at the top of each picture to tilt them. I found it really useful to be able to label some pictures - especially the earlier ones when its not so obvious what they are supposed to be.<br />
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Most of the pictures you can see here started out life as A4 pages and they look great shrunk down to fit several on a page. Don't fall into the trap of thinking that you need to make the pictures as close to the original size to work - you'll end up spending a fortune and have a very thick book - which kinds of defeats the point of doing this!</div>
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Our book covers 3 years of selected artworks and came in at a very reasonable £34.86 (I selected an 8x8 book at £24.99, then added more pages to bring it up to 40 pages). </div>
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<i>Disclaimer: I received this book for free for the purposes of this post. The opinions are my own.</i></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12117249594444297964noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1322959663876895471.post-54233340613691099482014-04-16T22:47:00.000+01:002014-04-16T22:47:00.061+01:00Inevitably I was going to have to write this post at some time<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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With a child at school and another at preschool it wasn't going to be long before we had an infestation and the K would fall of my blog header. That's right, today I am....<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdXkUYNXf3NHiedshqVBqhvS656ajviAtX3P1I7DOjsTZLr1bNTwzUL_AwnLAE7zfr2rzdplDMRphW3LB-d0besGbMibG3-NXZv0QCNhG3BLxheKv-GciXclJeIptmhCDHD4tN-MLozwk/s1600/NittyMummy.jpg.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdXkUYNXf3NHiedshqVBqhvS656ajviAtX3P1I7DOjsTZLr1bNTwzUL_AwnLAE7zfr2rzdplDMRphW3LB-d0besGbMibG3-NXZv0QCNhG3BLxheKv-GciXclJeIptmhCDHD4tN-MLozwk/s1600/NittyMummy.jpg.jpg" height="204" width="640" /></a><br />
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The "whatever life throws at me" bit is head lice. Fortunately we've caught it early as we try to remember to check the kids hair once a week. I really don't want to catch them - my hair is so coarse and thick that it just doesn't fit through a nit comb. I caught them when I was pregnant with my son and they went mental on the pregancy hormones. Where my daughter had a few adult nits, I had hundreds! I do not want to go through that again (nits or pregnancy!). I'm so glad for the existence of products like <a href="http://lyclear.co.uk/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Lyclear</a> - ones that suffocate the lice rather than using insecticides. I can treat the kids without worry.</div>
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<img _cke_saved_src="http://lyclear.co.uk/sites/default/files/Lyclear-Head-Lice-Facts-infographic.jpg" src="http://lyclear.co.uk/sites/default/files/Lyclear-Head-Lice-Facts-infographic.jpg" width="540" /> </div>
Headlice Infographic - An infographic by the team at <a _cke_saved_href="http://lyclear.co.uk" href="http://lyclear.co.uk/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Lyclear</a><br />
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<i>Disclaimer: I recieved some Lyclear products to test for the purposes of this post.</i>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12117249594444297964noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1322959663876895471.post-66709510805181006492014-04-12T13:44:00.000+01:002014-04-12T13:44:00.294+01:00Easter Bonnet ParadeEvery year at school there is an Easter bonnet parade. Last year my daughter's bonnet was covered in tissue flowers with a small pompom chick in a nest (<a href="http://knittymummy.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/easter-bonnet-making.html" target="_blank">you can see it here</a>). This year we supersized the chick....<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxBzo97XBMJZXUNhCHg8Jg43JlkZBuFUHyK34H9CdWtwvEb46QUKMiGHSaCdj3qCZ3q2ZilxKADg0sNsGPPEigJZ1PB9TzNdltbZRw6zDIoBCsxo6uzUrpj9ACDjiMKr0NcAugwgzh2Qg/s1600/easter+bonnet.jpg.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxBzo97XBMJZXUNhCHg8Jg43JlkZBuFUHyK34H9CdWtwvEb46QUKMiGHSaCdj3qCZ3q2ZilxKADg0sNsGPPEigJZ1PB9TzNdltbZRw6zDIoBCsxo6uzUrpj9ACDjiMKr0NcAugwgzh2Qg/s1600/easter+bonnet.jpg.jpg" height="640" width="426" /></a></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12117249594444297964noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1322959663876895471.post-13196290075626065432014-04-09T20:08:00.001+01:002014-04-09T20:08:31.448+01:00My not-so-smart phone<div style="text-align: justify;">
It feels a bit odd to be complaining about my phone's intelligence, after all only a few short years ago I was playing snake on my Nokia 3210 and a few years before that I didn't even own a mobile. But my current phone is not smart. If it was at smart phone school it would certainly be taken out of class for some extra lessons.</div>
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At the moment it is very close to being thrown through a window, which would leave me with the problem of how to phone the window repair man.</div>
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The problem is that, although I have tonnes of storage space available, every time I try to put on a new app or update an old one I get the same error message:</div>
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INSUFFICIENT STORAGE AVAILABLE</div>
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I've spent hours online searching for a cure, it seems a common problem, but although people have suggested all sorts of things not one has worked. Its been in for fixing twice, both times it has been returned with an older OS leaving me not only with a phone I can't update, but the most ridiculous predictive text system. It shows the word I have typed, but decides it knows better and gives me a different one. You know all those funny autocorrect screen grabs, that is my texting life. It usually takes 3 texts to get my message across to someone</div>
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Text 1 - complete nonsense</div>
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Text 2 - clarify the nonsense</div>
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Text 3 - clarify a spelling mistake that totally changes the meaning of the previous two texts.</div>
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So I'm writing this post in the hope of <a href="http://store.virginmedia.com/s5competition.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">winning a new Samsung Galaxy S5</a>, if only to stop a passer by from receiving serious injuries from a flying phone.</div>
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<i>Disclaimer: I wrote this post for the competition, but my phone is genuinely rubbish!</i></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12117249594444297964noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1322959663876895471.post-45976067926396167002014-04-08T09:00:00.000+01:002014-04-08T09:00:02.631+01:00Soot Sprite Cushion<div style="text-align: justify;">
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When sitting down with the kids to watch our favourite film "<a href="https://www.blogger.com/%3Ca%20href=%22http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B000CBEWYM/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1634&creative=19450&creativeASIN=B000CBEWYM&linkCode=as2&tag=knitmumm-21%22%3EMy%20Neighbour%20Totoro%20[DVD]%3C/a%3E%3Cimg%20src=%22http://ir-uk.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=knitmumm-21&l=as2&o=2&a=B000CBEWYM%22%20width=%221%22%20height=%221%22%20border=%220%22%20alt=%22%22%20style=%22border:none%20!important;%20margin:0px%20!important;%22%20/%3E" target="_blank">My Neighbour Totoro</a>" I suddenly realised that the black fake fur sitting in the corner of the room waiting to be tidied up from a costume making session would make brilliant soot sprites (if you haven't seen the film this won't make much sense, so go and watch it now, I'll wait...are you back? Excellent, lets continue). I thought I hadn't tidied up the fur because I was being lazy - turns out I was just waiting for inspiration (at least that's my story and I'm sticking to it).</div>
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So whilst the kids were happily entertained with the film I whipped out the sewing machine, ready to present them each with a soot sprite cushion as the credits rolled. They really are that quick to make - from inspiration to completion (x2) in under 86 minutes (I checked the DVD box).<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgltSeKZ1u8TYj4dtJUBXV7t_6H3wEoSYDwgDFIXYMhOwdclyHNm1lJlnwXbmeKvIk0gjPuKill7Hr95e_GJwP_ScQLzMDo2ZOoPCI8ykrHT1emUNMkjJVuEFD2ngk4Gfxhs29viujCruU/s1600/sootsprite.jpg.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgltSeKZ1u8TYj4dtJUBXV7t_6H3wEoSYDwgDFIXYMhOwdclyHNm1lJlnwXbmeKvIk0gjPuKill7Hr95e_GJwP_ScQLzMDo2ZOoPCI8ykrHT1emUNMkjJVuEFD2ngk4Gfxhs29viujCruU/s1600/sootsprite.jpg.jpg" height="476" width="640" /></a></div>
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To make your own you will need:</div>
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2 circles of black fur (I drew round a dinner plate)</div>
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2 circles of white felt (I drew round a glass)</div>
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2 circles of black felt (I drew round the lid of a chunky felt tip)</div>
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Toy stuffing</div>
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I used satin stitch on my sewing machine to join the black dots onto the white circles and then the white circles onto the fur, but as the eyes are made of felt they won't fray, so if your machine doesn't do satin stitch a zig zag would do. In fact it could even be done by hand with a simple back stitch. I made sure that the eyes were placed with the grain of the fur running downwards.</div>
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Once the eyes are in place, put the fur circles right sides together (making sure the grain runs in the same direction) and sew most of the way round, leaving a hole to turn it the right way round. Finally stuff and slip stitch the hole closed.</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12117249594444297964noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1322959663876895471.post-44750912309470203572014-04-04T09:00:00.000+01:002014-04-04T09:00:01.880+01:00My summer wardrobe wish list with Joules<div style="text-align: justify;">
I've promised myself that this is the year I stop slouching about in jeans; ever since having kids its really been the only practical option. But my kids are now six and four, so I spend a lot less time shuffling around on the floor than I did. Its time to let my legs see the sun again. My challenge this summer is to spend at least 2 days a week in a dress - and we all know what that means - SHOPPING!!!</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhs3OsNCYvsBQtBZTkZWvodONSsNVrmbLXBCZ02WFvuDq1PbHrFFPg0Jv_I_dV_JAizgWnxSgZg8hO7Oy7vhYvZCV_RhQYZUyCKGr1fY74HA8jiKJ5sZqu9HH8T2zC_Y3NGNvL1DDjwlL4/s1600/creme+posy+dress.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: justify;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhs3OsNCYvsBQtBZTkZWvodONSsNVrmbLXBCZ02WFvuDq1PbHrFFPg0Jv_I_dV_JAizgWnxSgZg8hO7Oy7vhYvZCV_RhQYZUyCKGr1fY74HA8jiKJ5sZqu9HH8T2zC_Y3NGNvL1DDjwlL4/s1600/creme+posy+dress.png" height="400" width="312" /></a></div>
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I popped online to the look at the <a href="http://www.joules.com/Womens-Clothing/Dresses-Tunics" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">tunic dress designs at Joules</a> for a little pre-shop preparation and totally fell in love with the print on <a href="http://www.joules.com/Women/Dresses/Lorelliprint/Womens-Linen-Dress/Creme-Posy-%28pip-Floral%29?id=Q_LORELLIPRINT|CRMPOSY" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">this dress</a>. OK, white is never going to be practical whilst hanging around the kids, but maybe I could persuade my husband to take me out for a romantic evening.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgchyOH1syDUqzrD5JigUp0_6Kr3gqy9t1U7YOpEbIaY4wT4BJ10yS91enY0QSrouitpobrsQZQSSZUqEknPcjdQBK1-EPX7jx5oyUP40u5P5X8qemFCkZrtNqKPdV-fT2Wjw9YJq3Wbco/s1600/freya+floral+cornfield.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgchyOH1syDUqzrD5JigUp0_6Kr3gqy9t1U7YOpEbIaY4wT4BJ10yS91enY0QSrouitpobrsQZQSSZUqEknPcjdQBK1-EPX7jx5oyUP40u5P5X8qemFCkZrtNqKPdV-fT2Wjw9YJq3Wbco/s1600/freya+floral+cornfield.png" height="320" width="248" /></a><br />
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<span style="text-align: justify;">When I first spotted this <a href="http://www.joules.com/Women/Dresses/Julie/Womens-Shift-Dress/Freya-Floral-Cornfield?id=Q_JULIE|GOLDBLM" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">mustard dress</a> I thought it would be perfect to wear for a wedding, but as none of my friends are getting married this year, I'm just going to have to rock it for the school run! I think it would look lovely with a nice pair of wedges and would up the sophistication levels when I'm laden down with book bags, lunch boxes and junk models.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRMK5QV3n73lDWAF3mciBPohdSv80wkgC5ON1MmQBYzjTkLKwlDn-23htR0s1PcbNhe3mxz7L2_UuV3I4ww7VaT49iGkAkOtZyapB5qUJVmzPaJsrhSro-MIIn8B-PRi5zy_ILEaUyXGo/s1600/french+navy+bouquet.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRMK5QV3n73lDWAF3mciBPohdSv80wkgC5ON1MmQBYzjTkLKwlDn-23htR0s1PcbNhe3mxz7L2_UuV3I4ww7VaT49iGkAkOtZyapB5qUJVmzPaJsrhSro-MIIn8B-PRi5zy_ILEaUyXGo/s1600/french+navy+bouquet.png" height="400" width="308" /></a><br />
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I love the pockets hidden into the drapery on this <a href="http://www.joules.com/Women/Tunics/Alexi/Womens-Jersey-Tunic/French-Navy-Bouquet?id=Q_ALEXI|NAVBOUQ" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">dress</a>. I would wear it just as the model is, with a pair of jeans, Oh, hang on, does that defeat the object of my challenge? I could get it anyway - there are still 5 days of the week that I can wear jeans in my new rules.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLSZzbWygdJUZniw5L5c8EZgb-GDdp63DaXWgAwt6mXXZI80qXsDkJw6X9fANhJA3tutODdP4-yfbvJSvhhXqtQD2pZy5igBbcgEAxYKFByknRxmH8iVx5v9buRAR2qU5yhOyaH3VVFDw/s1600/dipdye+dress.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLSZzbWygdJUZniw5L5c8EZgb-GDdp63DaXWgAwt6mXXZI80qXsDkJw6X9fANhJA3tutODdP4-yfbvJSvhhXqtQD2pZy5igBbcgEAxYKFByknRxmH8iVx5v9buRAR2qU5yhOyaH3VVFDw/s1600/dipdye+dress.png" height="320" width="248" /></a><br />
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This <a href="http://www.joules.com/Women/Dresses/Swainey/Womens-Dip-Die-Dress/Blue-Ombre?id=Q_SWAINEY|BLUOMBR" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">dress</a> caught my eye because it just screams summer, it reminds me of a perfect summer sky, or the bluest of seas. Every day wearing this day would be like a day at the beach.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHNn8_s4L_IPtkMm1t_JwfoMCDt6fAJtCMaQDzzJFAWNobuavENTmUWisRDOu8XED6A1DlOxhGfWv-yRnuZMKGhz4WglQT2wpB07oCOPvCSvz5pHpTpb_gwUyC5AzyEBLoSdIz1tjq0tI/s1600/taupe+posy.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHNn8_s4L_IPtkMm1t_JwfoMCDt6fAJtCMaQDzzJFAWNobuavENTmUWisRDOu8XED6A1DlOxhGfWv-yRnuZMKGhz4WglQT2wpB07oCOPvCSvz5pHpTpb_gwUyC5AzyEBLoSdIz1tjq0tI/s1600/taupe+posy.png" height="400" width="303" /> </a></div>
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<a href="http://www.joules.com/Women/Tunics/Calista/Womens-3-4-Sleeve-Tunic/Taupe-Posy?id=Q_CALISTA|TAUPOSY" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">This print is stunning</a>, and the empire line gathering is really flattering. I could wear this all year round - just throw on jeans and a cardigan to take it into winter.</div>
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I'm off to the shops now....oh, and if the summer is a wash out you'll find me in my <a href="http://www.joules.com/Womens-Clothing/Wellies-Wellibobs" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Joules wellies</a>!</div>
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<i style="text-align: center;">Disclaimer: This is a sponsored post</i>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12117249594444297964noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1322959663876895471.post-14085320698350313432014-03-31T21:02:00.001+01:002014-03-31T21:02:48.669+01:00I'm in Reloved Magazine<div style="text-align: center;">
This time last year I had a hole in my wellies. </div>
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This month those wellies feature in <a href="http://www.magazine.co.uk/magazines/reloved-magazine?infinity=gaw~ANTHM%2BSPART%2BAnthem%20Publishing~ANTHM%2BREA1%2BBRAND%2BReloved~33893204324~reloved%20magazine~e&gclid=CPqen9aUu70CFefMtAodCHIABA" target="_blank">Reloved</a> magazine, upcycled as <a href="http://knittymummy.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/upcycling-wellies-into-easter-baskets.html" target="_blank">Easter baskets</a> for the kids.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">by the way - its an excellent read!</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">ohh, graphics based on my wellies!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJ5IZVG-qFEcbQNKgl5h4TtWFbkDhpWWm5Tr5so0RMB3EqLo8megzRYmZpCj1aHL2rWZ9cy8l60DhWKKmX5g633l2Berw1mhZxWfL_lYtvmhpf4TobG7fn_eMrnpx5he9UdssJ_TMYb3A/s1600/Reloved+3.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJ5IZVG-qFEcbQNKgl5h4TtWFbkDhpWWm5Tr5so0RMB3EqLo8megzRYmZpCj1aHL2rWZ9cy8l60DhWKKmX5g633l2Berw1mhZxWfL_lYtvmhpf4TobG7fn_eMrnpx5he9UdssJ_TMYb3A/s1600/Reloved+3.JPG" height="426" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Thats right, get me, I got 3 whole pages!!</td></tr>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12117249594444297964noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1322959663876895471.post-24557769239679975612014-03-23T21:04:00.002+00:002014-03-26T12:35:13.945+00:00Easter Sheep Craft<div style="text-align: justify;">
I do love an Easter craft, something to fill the rainy days in spring until the next time we can get outside. Cadbury's asked us to have a go at one of the crafts they have come up with using the box from their "Egg'n'Spoon" easter eggs. These boxes are perfect for crafting animals - with 4 'legs' rather than the 6 you get in a regular egg box. Here's what we did:</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9s3kPyLCJSGj-T9zugQg-yDbP-nTGCzj7HDg6ShbN-uNBBOweAtlQYC2hvcAQycas5T8Tp3kk-z8PJIqC-IS1m293lY7x5uaqAndu8sEEiN6nv62KDDGRDE-hce2Sk5idkbOKq7bUezc/s1600/eggboxes.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9s3kPyLCJSGj-T9zugQg-yDbP-nTGCzj7HDg6ShbN-uNBBOweAtlQYC2hvcAQycas5T8Tp3kk-z8PJIqC-IS1m293lY7x5uaqAndu8sEEiN6nv62KDDGRDE-hce2Sk5idkbOKq7bUezc/s1600/eggboxes.JPG" height="213" width="320" /></a>1) Eat the chocolate eggs (this is a very important step and I don't advise skipping it!)</div>
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2) Cut the middle prong of the egg holding bit of the box out using a sharp knife. This will become the head</div>
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3) Bend the spoons, they will naturally break at just the right point on the handle. The bowls of the spoons will make the ears</div>
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4) Tape scrunched up newspaper to the top of the box, to give the sheep a rounded back, and inside the head to form the back of the head.</div>
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5) Insert the spoons into the newspaper at the back of the head and tape in place (don't worry about the tape showing, it will all be covered in the end).</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVlB43M7Di2zFW_x5L0yOoPsrK4IiFRd_-atWMwHnHUIXQcjaIQeTciCd5xhxlg0lbWbfKBtRf8UP-MKXs6AmvH0d3_xOFE3YcLyZqOqgmTmASOBrUHoeHQG47pv1Q_TKLY7Q4vvFwVtw/s1600/eggboxsheep1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVlB43M7Di2zFW_x5L0yOoPsrK4IiFRd_-atWMwHnHUIXQcjaIQeTciCd5xhxlg0lbWbfKBtRf8UP-MKXs6AmvH0d3_xOFE3YcLyZqOqgmTmASOBrUHoeHQG47pv1Q_TKLY7Q4vvFwVtw/s1600/eggboxsheep1.JPG" height="425" width="640" /></a></div>
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6) In order to prime the tape ready for glueing the wool on give it a quick coat of white acrylic paint</div>
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7) Using small pieces of tissue paper and watered down PVA cover the face and ears (and feet if you want). I used patterned decopage papers to give mine a tartan look, my daughter just used plain black tissue as she wanted hers to look like Shaun the Sheep.</div>
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8) Glue the head to the body. This is a bit tricky, so if you have one you could use a hot glue gun, if not superglue works.</div>
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9) Cover the body and around the base of the ears with small sections of cotton wool balls.</div>
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10) Finally give your sheep a personality by adding eyes; we used stickers, but you could use googly eyes.<br />
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If you've got another box of Egg'n'Spoons you can head over to <a href="http://cookiesandcwtches.com/making-easter-basket-cadburys-egg-n-spoon/" target="_blank">Cookies and Cwtches</a> for more Easter inspiration.</div>
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<i>Disclaimer: I was sent Cadbury's Egg'n'Spoons and the instructions to make these sheep for the purposes of this post.</i></div>
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12117249594444297964noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1322959663876895471.post-40876946743850992722014-03-19T21:26:00.003+00:002014-03-19T21:27:31.692+00:00Triops - my daughter's first pet<div style="text-align: justify;">
Daughter REALLY wants a cat. Daddy is not keen. Mummy comes up with a plan of buying a book about keeping chickens to scare Daddy into allowing a cat if he could veto chickens. Plan fails. Mummy suggests downscaling pet plans to a rabbit or a guinea pig. Daddy is still not keen. Daughter is now desperate for a pet of any kind. Mummy has a new plan....</div>
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I decided to introduce a pet so small and unobtrusive that Daddy couldn't object (even if he came home from work one day and discovered it living with us). Even a hamster or gerbil was too ambitious for this plan, so we settled on a tank of Triops. After all how could be argue against a pet that lives in a tank about the size of an A5 piece of paper, doesn't need cleaning out and lives for 3 to 6 weeks!<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_I3Fm2eaCSXobtr1mnZKgZQJO-A2aKbQvfLfFA5CZQWUZenVAk4t4hKXr9Qcj0z8dnDKQKIyANMwjpjTH_5p9Zdu9whaI1WmBX-WEaN_iwJztFUFrL_gMNhiunWhwKxE7TZoD86CWnog/s1600/triops.jpg.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_I3Fm2eaCSXobtr1mnZKgZQJO-A2aKbQvfLfFA5CZQWUZenVAk4t4hKXr9Qcj0z8dnDKQKIyANMwjpjTH_5p9Zdu9whaI1WmBX-WEaN_iwJztFUFrL_gMNhiunWhwKxE7TZoD86CWnog/s1600/triops.jpg.jpg" height="640" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Not the best pictures - but they are tiny and move very quickly, this was the best I could do.</td></tr>
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Even Daddy is quite taken with this little crustaceans. I think its their very odd habit of swimming very quickly in spirals; its very endearing. My daughter claims to be able to tell them apart and has given them names. I'm not entirely convinced she gets it right<strike> at all </strike>every time.</div>
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<a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00CP6A836/ref=as_li_ss_il?ie=UTF8&camp=1634&creative=19450&creativeASIN=B00CP6A836&linkCode=as2&tag=knitmumm-21" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://ws-eu.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&ASIN=B00CP6A836&Format=_SL160_&ID=AsinImage&MarketPlace=GB&ServiceVersion=20070822&WS=1&tag=knitmumm-21" /></a><br />
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We bought this <a href="https://www.blogger.com/%3Ca%20href=%22http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00CP6A836/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1634&creative=19450&creativeASIN=B00CP6A836&linkCode=as2&tag=knitmumm-21%22%3EMy%20Living%20World%20Triop%20World%20Learning%20Game%3C/a%3E%3Cimg%20src=%22http://ir-uk.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=knitmumm-21&l=as2&o=2&a=B00CP6A836%22%20width=%221%22%20height=%221%22%20border=%220%22%20alt=%22%22%20style=%22border:none%20!important;%20margin:0px%20!important;%22%20/%3E" target="_blank">Triops kit</a>, which comes with a small tank, triops eggs, sand and food. All you need to do is add rainwater and keep it over 21*C. This is easy in the summer, but we bought the kit in February, so I also ended up buying a spider mat to provide a little warmth.</div>
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<img alt="" border="0" src="http://ir-uk.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=knitmumm-21&l=as2&o=2&a=B00CP6A836" height="1" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" />
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The Triops hatched within 24 hours of adding them to the tank, they were tiny at this stage, barely visible, but we could see we had 5 triops and one surprise pet - a daphnia. The daphnia didn't last long. I think it was eaten by the rapidly growing triops. We could see the difference in their size just in the hours my daughter was at school each day. </div>
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One of the triops was the runt of the litter (can it be a litter if its just a bunch of eggs?) and didn't grow as quickly as the others, he died after about a week. The remaining four kept growing for three weeks, when they seemed to slow down and loose interest in swimming in spirals. I wasn't surprised that two had died by that evening.</div>
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The remaining two perked up after that and we got another 5 days out of one of them, the other is still going. The great thing about triops as a pet is that in their short lives they will have laid the eggs for the next generation. So all we need to do is let the substrate dry out, add more rainwater and hey presto! New pets! We'll keep them going whilst its warm enough not to use the heat mat, then leave the eggs dry over winter until next year, when it can all start again.</div>
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12117249594444297964noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1322959663876895471.post-91566223236474622422014-03-16T22:12:00.000+00:002014-03-17T08:21:31.312+00:00Love From... Magazine Review & Competition<div style="text-align: justify;">
I used to be a big fan of children's magazines - I used to get the CBeebies one for my daughter each month. They are a great educational tool, helping kids with pen control and learning to read, but they are also great 'prizes' for completing a reward chart or keeping them amused on long train journeys. Kids magazines are a win for them and a win for me!</div>
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I say I used to be a big fan because there seems to be a gap in the market between preschool and being able to read competently. What we have tried my daughter has objected to on the grounds of it being too girly.</div>
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For this reason I was keen to try <a href="https://www.facebook.com/LoveFromMagazine" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Love From...</a> magazine; could it be aimed at the right age and not be too girly? </div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwcrM0cRGA6Y7LklaMVrQVsCyXvaYu6W__PnIrdNiKN2aI4_pcXm5pg47ek0weOt_4MkbTs3msjWCI4yjMEgJOPaC1jNo8vaiVoOLf-d1sXq-VzVBaZZxnAHeQzvSzc36fnkKzk6Llb0I/s1600/love+from+4.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwcrM0cRGA6Y7LklaMVrQVsCyXvaYu6W__PnIrdNiKN2aI4_pcXm5pg47ek0weOt_4MkbTs3msjWCI4yjMEgJOPaC1jNo8vaiVoOLf-d1sXq-VzVBaZZxnAHeQzvSzc36fnkKzk6Llb0I/s1600/love+from+4.JPG" height="426" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Magazine, craft supplement, stickers, glitter craft, rings, notebook, mini clipboard, rubber and sharpener</td></tr>
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The answer seems to be yes. Although I was a bit worried when it first arrived. The selling point of Love From... magazine is that the characters featured changes each month (hence the "..."), and this month is the turn of the Rainbow Fairies. We've not read any Rainbow Fairy books because they seem so girly. What I have learned is never judge a book by its cover, because my daughter was more than happy with the level of girly-ness. </div>
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The day it arrived we headed out to our local Italian for lunch, taking the magazine and some colouring pencils with us. We didn't hear a peep out of my daughter until the food arrived. She was totally engrossed. </div>
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Back at home we turned our attention to the craft activities (the magazine comes with an additional craft magazine). The one my daughter wanted to try most were the pompom pets, so I let her loose on my wool drawer and she quickly made these:</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgs-ZMqNVmq51vF7ocLnMF7t3KXW6Z1ctb-9zgbDj-gSDi714jUqsw7Y4Ivf3jhJ-OyfqTFLoYyQFTRwVtff9UGJux1Y8TAb0rxIYuhi8hm2BIj4qM-FZVkXKbPMZOHaXzV0-fwuUbQV9U/s1600/pompompets.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgs-ZMqNVmq51vF7ocLnMF7t3KXW6Z1ctb-9zgbDj-gSDi714jUqsw7Y4Ivf3jhJ-OyfqTFLoYyQFTRwVtff9UGJux1Y8TAb0rxIYuhi8hm2BIj4qM-FZVkXKbPMZOHaXzV0-fwuUbQV9U/s1600/pompompets.JPG" height="195" width="400" /></a></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1rDsVOVrfdPhIpEu9HIF_n-ZpbjfYplNfmtSPWc88WHODPR7GZqxol5Wagrx54TDzcXclo4tx7wxRc2Dyi8ET-9NDI9v9UaKVrA7UzF9cdp2QzeTSvFuNgGLRbVs4EfsL9FrpeIT_7-E/s1600/Lovefrom3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1rDsVOVrfdPhIpEu9HIF_n-ZpbjfYplNfmtSPWc88WHODPR7GZqxol5Wagrx54TDzcXclo4tx7wxRc2Dyi8ET-9NDI9v9UaKVrA7UzF9cdp2QzeTSvFuNgGLRbVs4EfsL9FrpeIT_7-E/s1600/Lovefrom3.jpg" height="320" width="225" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Last months issue....</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWi5Wv8dSAA_EjAXXPvLY9ls3kiiEMRBt1t1QBdfWLUKsOHSSOq85hGGlYljoDcphhEAcUqiUtpkeOAmyBEmG780qF1S4zeVKcqQFjFR5nb6hVoYRxGPW6gb4NIqUxxzTOeKMGFLMerJo/s1600/Love+From+issue+5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWi5Wv8dSAA_EjAXXPvLY9ls3kiiEMRBt1t1QBdfWLUKsOHSSOq85hGGlYljoDcphhEAcUqiUtpkeOAmyBEmG780qF1S4zeVKcqQFjFR5nb6hVoYRxGPW6gb4NIqUxxzTOeKMGFLMerJo/s1600/Love+From+issue+5.jpg" height="320" width="225" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">...and next month's</td></tr>
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We've thoroughly enjoyed this month's issue and will be buying next month's (featuring Tatty Teddy), but you, lucky reader, can be in with the chance of winning a 6 month subscription to Love From... just by entering the competition below.</div>
<a class="rafl" href="http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/899fc06/" id="rc-899fc06" rel="nofollow">a Rafflecopter giveaway</a>
<script src="//d12vno17mo87cx.cloudfront.net/embed/rafl/cptr.js"></script><br />
<br />
<i>Disclaimer: I was sent a free copy of Love from.. for the purposes of this review. The prize is being supplied directly from the publisher.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>Terms and Conditions:</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>The winner will be drawn at random after the competition closes at midnight on Sunday 23rd March. The winner's email address will be passed onto the publisher so they can contact the winner with regards to delivering the prize.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>UK entrants only.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>The prize comes directly from the publisher, not from Knitty Mummy. </i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>No correspondance will be entered into.</i>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12117249594444297964noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1322959663876895471.post-62623782766558060362014-03-10T22:24:00.001+00:002014-03-10T22:24:20.572+00:00Superhero bedroom - comic strip tissue box cover<div style="text-align: justify;">
Regular readers will know I recently decorated my son's room with a superhero theme (read more <a href="http://knittymummy.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/superhero-bedroom.html" target="_blank">here</a>, <a href="http://knittymummy.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/upcycling-old-curtains-with-cricut-iron.html" target="_blank">here</a>, <a href="http://knittymummy.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/making-my-own-lampshade.html" target="_blank">here </a>and <a href="http://knittymummy.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/pinaddicts-challenge-diy-r2d2-pedal-bin.html" target="_blank">here</a>). In his room is also a metal tissue box cover, which looked lovely when I bought it; all shiny and sleek. Unfortunately, kids with snotty fingers and shiny metal do not mix and it didn't stay looking nice for long. It needed a makeover....</div>
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I visited the local comic and games shop and bought a vintage Thor comic for 50p. I didn't want a new one with shiny pages, I wanted these muted colours. I cut out the best pictures from the comic strip, leaving some of the white edge around each one (this is important to keep it looking like a comic strip), then stuck them all over the tissue box using watered down PVA.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZki4L10ALZaz-BJWk1CsFXlkqB8WjH_935e81T79xWCoQGa4XofHeiFzyKkgPK3myLogfD2NhQhnPYDYBxKL5Bwu1zcrjU0PD5r2Uz3MIwOXLVcaYlN95TbLxHgRTsqxHb8WvVnSCPlk/s1600/Decopage+tissue+box.jpg.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZki4L10ALZaz-BJWk1CsFXlkqB8WjH_935e81T79xWCoQGa4XofHeiFzyKkgPK3myLogfD2NhQhnPYDYBxKL5Bwu1zcrjU0PD5r2Uz3MIwOXLVcaYlN95TbLxHgRTsqxHb8WvVnSCPlk/s1600/Decopage+tissue+box.jpg.jpg" height="640" width="500" /></a></div>
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After it had dried I gave it another coat of water and PVA, then, once that had dried, some clear varnish . Perfect - a themed tissue box cover that is no longer marred by sticky finger marks.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12117249594444297964noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1322959663876895471.post-55394940279245333292014-03-06T06:00:00.000+00:002014-03-06T06:00:01.088+00:00Under the weather Wendy - A colour in story book<div style="text-align: justify;">
It's World Book Day today (well it is if you are reading this on 6th March), so your kids have probably been dressed up as their favourite character at school, you'll have your voucher for a free book, and if you are like me, you'll be thinking ahead to which of your favourite childhood books you can start to <strike>force upon</strike> introduce your child to.</div>
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We've recently been introduced to <a href="http://www.eggnogg.co.uk/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Eggnog's</a> range of colouring products - which now include downloadable story books. My daughter loved colouring her book - and reading it. Just because its a colouring book doesn't mean they've skimped on the writing. This could easily have been published as a regular story book - only without the added fun of making it your own.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgo94YL_hyrJ9qGg7dxhyphenhyphenXgNSB5xgJhJgQVxOwJbm4SOsshP-T5DZPsIgGN9tgjylQvQljezsiVqAX9YOHBffsOwZeR1pvN4tVkAnrBNwUnAixFhO_13BQ4BGSRXDRzqKrKUhsR-fdgAfU/s1600/under+the+weather+wendy+2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgo94YL_hyrJ9qGg7dxhyphenhyphenXgNSB5xgJhJgQVxOwJbm4SOsshP-T5DZPsIgGN9tgjylQvQljezsiVqAX9YOHBffsOwZeR1pvN4tVkAnrBNwUnAixFhO_13BQ4BGSRXDRzqKrKUhsR-fdgAfU/s1600/under+the+weather+wendy+2.JPG" height="425" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A work in progress</td></tr>
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For today only (6th March 2014) you can download your own copy of <a href="http://www.eggnogg.co.uk/world-book-day/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Under the weather Wendy for free here</a>. After today it will cost 99p (still a bargain).<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2ejfL9L3PdsZrHsuWeRzr9coVnMEvhpeXFGvwu2adgijbdbPyo8AjOMwe-hZ-SWsnJWyI20E4V6zPCl-YyzsukhkluEI0i_5Chu1BEl0Vfi-ZsobLO9Op3UquqjURIuSW6TwQS2ehURc/s1600/under+the+weather+wendy+1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2ejfL9L3PdsZrHsuWeRzr9coVnMEvhpeXFGvwu2adgijbdbPyo8AjOMwe-hZ-SWsnJWyI20E4V6zPCl-YyzsukhkluEI0i_5Chu1BEl0Vfi-ZsobLO9Op3UquqjURIuSW6TwQS2ehURc/s1600/under+the+weather+wendy+1.JPG" height="536" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">One of the finished Masterpieces</td></tr>
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<i>Disclaimer: I was sent a copy of this book for the purposes of this post.</i></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12117249594444297964noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1322959663876895471.post-85730458317791735752014-02-23T11:31:00.000+00:002014-02-23T11:31:13.181+00:00Bird costumes - Blackbird and Kingfisher<div style="text-align: justify;">
My daughter's school have a lot of dress-up days. Fortunately they don't seem to change from year to year, so I've been expecting a letter about 'bird day' for the Year One's for a while now. I've had plenty of time to research and pin things to my "<a href="http://www.pinterest.com/knittymummyuk/costumes/" target="_blank">Costume</a>s" Pinterest board.</div>
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I really wanted to make a peacock tutu I'd seen on Pinterest, but my daughter was most insistent that she was a blackbird because she already had a blackbird mask. A little life lesson here, if your child insists that they want a particular costume to go with an existing mask; check you still have the mask! The day before 'bird day' I went to get the mask out of her dressing up drawer, but couldn't find it - at which point she said "Oh, it had a tear in it so I threw it away". Luckily I am the kind of person who has black and yellow felt and elastic lying around, so I was able to make a replacement in a hurry.</div>
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I was being a bit moany that I was only getting to make a boring blackbird, so my friend came to my rescue and allowed me to make her daughter's kingfisher costume too (she's so unselfish like that).</div>
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For both costumes I used an adults size 6 vest top as a base - it made a perfect dress for a 6 year old. I embellished the black one with several layers of fringing across the front and the orange one with ruffles made from a really pretty sheer fabric covered in sequins. As the fabric is a knit it won't fray, so I didn't need to hem anything. I always think speed is important when making costumes.</div>
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For the kingfisher wings I cut strips of scallops in blue and turquoise, which I then sewed onto a quarter circle of green cotton. I did this very roughly, just pleating where it needed it to in order to get around the curve. To neaten it all up I sewed another layer of cotton onto the wing to cover the raw edges. I had intended to sandwich a wrist strap of elastic in between these layers - but I forgot and had to hand sew them on later. To join the two wings and create a tie round the neck I sandwiched the neckline between some bias binding, leaving long edges on either side.</div>
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I love the glitter effect on this fabric as it matches the iridescence of the kingfisher's feathers. I was so lucky to be able to get this in orange, blue and turquoise, so the whole kingfisher could be made from the same fabric.</div>
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The blackbird wings were constructed in a slightly different way. Rather than making strips of 'feathers', I made 3 wing pieces in slightly different sizes. I then sandwiched these together with the smallest inside. When I flipped them round I had crisp edges and 3 layers of feathers. Again I used a knit fabric, this time velour, so it wouldn't fray. Because one side is velvety and the other shiny I put the middlesized one the other way up to the other 2 to give some contrast to the design.</div>
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Next year I think its "Great Fire of London Day"...so I'd better get pinning inspiration.</div>
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12117249594444297964noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1322959663876895471.post-49363227788790370922014-02-17T20:57:00.002+00:002014-02-17T20:57:17.864+00:00Galt Toys<div style="text-align: justify;">
Galt is one of those toy brands that I was aware of, they've been around forever, but I didn't know much about them. I knew that they made the <a href="http://www.galttoys.com/index.cfm/bat_playnest/1145/element/8428" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">playnest </a>my kids had as babies, but if pressed I couldn't have named another thing they made. That is until last week when they asked me to select some items off their website to review - and I found it really hard because it was just a long list of "we've got that, got that, and that". I hadn't realised that Galt made half the toys in our house!<br />
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In the end we chose three items to review (although I could review most of their stock having owned it already). </div>
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<b><a href="http://www.galttoys.com/index.cfm/jawbones-100pc-box-set/1002/productid/4200012" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">JawBones</a></b></div>
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My son is obsessed with construction toys. He will make a spaceship out of anything that can be clipped together (he's made X-wing fighters out of clothes pegs before), so these leapt out at me when making our choice. I was slightly worried he would have trouble clipping the pieces together because it is recommended for ages 6+ (and he's only 4) but I needn't have worried; he can quite happily assemble them on his own. He constructions are rather freeform (and you have to take his word for it that they are what he says they are) so I think that the 6+ recommendation is more about following the instruction booklet rather than ability to fit the parts together.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEim6Wzu_AqE82Dc5bhydrCjIF1bE7Pxla9VofgraC_UbgCAVV6XUDzYpLRNd_Nqmm9tv5Qdqvk5TUlwFhFxL-rQARlEgi88f9q_LsNcGcBz3L9mqT_IlWw3fTNAdj68W9tRq6aX4Ngc1q4/s1600/IMG_7390.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEim6Wzu_AqE82Dc5bhydrCjIF1bE7Pxla9VofgraC_UbgCAVV6XUDzYpLRNd_Nqmm9tv5Qdqvk5TUlwFhFxL-rQARlEgi88f9q_LsNcGcBz3L9mqT_IlWw3fTNAdj68W9tRq6aX4Ngc1q4/s1600/IMG_7390.JPG" height="266" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Its a rocket...no really it is</td></tr>
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The big difference between JawBones and any other construction toy we've come across is the articulation of the joints, so anything you make can be far less rigid (both in its movement and the child's imagination). I like how some of the joints are smooth and some have a ratchet movement, clicking the parts round the ratchet joints is oddly satisfying.</div>
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I'm very pleased we chose JawBones as it kept my son happily amused whilst my daughter and I went on to review her choices....</div>
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<b><a href="http://www.galttoys.com/index.cfm/bouncy-eyeballs/1002/productid/1105272/refpage/1163/refelement/8578/tab/8578" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Horrible Science: Bouncy Eyeballs</a></b></div>
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My daughter has been eyeing up (pun intended) 'Horrible Science' kits recently and nearly bought one with her Christmas money. This particular one is recommended for ages 8+, but my daughter, who is 6, was able make these eyeballs with a little help from me. As all I had to do was read her the instructions and make sure she didn't eat the crystals used to make the eyeballs I imagine an 8 year old would be able to do it alone.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwaVGxKmpm0DDRaYUle5wd1Me4sAVc9diW5eeDEtZpuo0eDz5g2V7TLVK5cw3sVPzm53B1kX6QIQDnnTaWmrT502Hx2N49YQ20iPrtpKMZTuYyeq0M05wLCnaJ_Sk3ILWiGUDeVCxw71w/s1600/IMG_7387.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwaVGxKmpm0DDRaYUle5wd1Me4sAVc9diW5eeDEtZpuo0eDz5g2V7TLVK5cw3sVPzm53B1kX6QIQDnnTaWmrT502Hx2N49YQ20iPrtpKMZTuYyeq0M05wLCnaJ_Sk3ILWiGUDeVCxw71w/s1600/IMG_7387.JPG" height="249" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our ingredients and the moulds ready to go</td></tr>
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My daughter was so proud of making these eyeballs that she took them into school the very next day for show and tell. She's never been that enthusiastic about show and tell - until that morning. The kit gives you one big eyeball and 3 little glow-in-the-dark ones.</div>
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These would make a brilliant present, and price-wise I think they've been aimed perfectly at the birthday party market. If you are giving to a child who would like the science bit, but not the horrible eyeball bit there are also <a href="http://www.galttoys.com/index.cfm/bouncy-balls/1002/productid/1003325" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">rainbow bouncy balls </a>that are made in the same way.</div>
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<b><a href="http://www.galttoys.com/index.cfm/sock-rabbit-kit/1002/productid/1003952" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Sock Rabbit Kit</a></b></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBJKVBediQnOHLI2BT_WmkjfzNuGwSHN_JRJHrGFNWEDBPU3v36PmlqJZouwEvO8DohkpvjNPLxKre_Y4ikZBtfMUUFkb80VEnLU1iNHJdw6HRIWGEVhlTPMnCldXzhxoGM6KUxe7U88I/s1600/IMG_7530.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBJKVBediQnOHLI2BT_WmkjfzNuGwSHN_JRJHrGFNWEDBPU3v36PmlqJZouwEvO8DohkpvjNPLxKre_Y4ikZBtfMUUFkb80VEnLU1iNHJdw6HRIWGEVhlTPMnCldXzhxoGM6KUxe7U88I/s1600/IMG_7530.JPG" height="400" width="247" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">We've named him Sochi </td></tr>
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This is the one my daughter was really excited about. It's just dawned on her that she can have some fun making something with Mummy AND get a new cuddly toy out of it. I am slightly dreading the day she asks for sewing machine lessons as we'll all need to be rescued from the pile of fake fur that will invade our house.</div>
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This is a great starter kit for learning to sew because most of it is already shaped. All my daughter needed to do was stuff it, attach the eyes, embroider the mouth and whiskers, then sew on the arms and head. It didn't take too long, so she didn't loose patience. Sometimes with these kits they give you the bare minimum in terms of thread and stuffing, but this kit was nice and generous. The only problem we had was that the instructions said 'using the box as a guide attach the eyes" Looking at the box it seemed that the eyes were on the flat side of the sock, not the heel side - but once we'd stuffed the head we realised we'd put the eyes on the wrong side. It was too late as there were now holes where the eyes were so they couldn't be corrected. Having said that my daughter doesn't seem to mind.<br />
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All three products have been a great success, but knowing Galt's catalogue of other products this probably shouldn't have come as a surprise.</div>
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<i>Disclaimer: I was sent these toys for the purposes of this review</i><br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12117249594444297964noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1322959663876895471.post-78207534250914926702014-02-11T22:32:00.000+00:002014-02-11T22:32:47.714+00:00Zumba in public (or taking part in the Team Honk Relay)<div style="text-align: justify;">
The last 3 days have seen the Team Honk Relay baton arrive in Bristol. On Sunday <a href="http://www.mummyalarm.co.uk/" target="_blank">Mummy Alarm</a>, <a href="http://instinctivemum.com/" target="_blank">Instinctive Mum</a> and <a href="http://www.tealadymumbles.co.uk/" target="_blank">Tealady Mumbles</a> braved hail, rain, wind and a 13 mile walk to bring it from Chipping Sodbury to Bristol. On Tuesday it was cycled from Portishead to Gloucester by a team of cycling foxes (no I'm not drunk, that actually happened). But this post is all about Monday and the day's story is best told in pictures....</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5IRCfM-VyYE42ie5RmzdXjcB_IzndDG84c9TOT1ElZe4QD2iWsjNCu4boUFDnCBLtRhHJ6RmKHaHNAdQsqN7kG9YG25uo-uQlB7a9ByxpzLqd5T2lLyoldjwgiTXcnS7ot1wWiued5wg/s1600/IMG_7394.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5IRCfM-VyYE42ie5RmzdXjcB_IzndDG84c9TOT1ElZe4QD2iWsjNCu4boUFDnCBLtRhHJ6RmKHaHNAdQsqN7kG9YG25uo-uQlB7a9ByxpzLqd5T2lLyoldjwgiTXcnS7ot1wWiued5wg/s1600/IMG_7394.JPG" height="426" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://helloitsgemma.com/" target="_blank">HelloItsGemma</a>, <a href="http://jbmumofone.com/author/jbmumofone/" target="_blank">JBMumofOne</a> and me ready to start off on a ferry ride across the harbour</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfygK0C9o-AbjMn4TL-9PqgUmlOqsxNl5v6W5vC_KGqESkiQ1RBaLwrwTq1av7qamkhGjDCNp0oygxqwbdtfngBGFc1nlJjIdLLU0PdYtPwA8qovzPPGFNF0PsOJMAL528ZdBH5JCCOn0/s1600/IMG_7412.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfygK0C9o-AbjMn4TL-9PqgUmlOqsxNl5v6W5vC_KGqESkiQ1RBaLwrwTq1av7qamkhGjDCNp0oygxqwbdtfngBGFc1nlJjIdLLU0PdYtPwA8qovzPPGFNF0PsOJMAL528ZdBH5JCCOn0/s1600/IMG_7412.JPG" height="426" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Zumba on the terrace of <a href="http://www.theavongorge.com/white-lion-bar/our-bar" target="_blank">White Lion bar</a> with a view of the Clifton Suspension Bridge</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuDBsvMZeqSMKoQo8KbiYIEkVPaLUtuSwu7wPRHYfCd_CqlDwrM9es9sOcAqvAK9JIWQJPB0P3qW-irG8HG6kHs4iFL1MDZ1OaQ4YWEXrnZ_0sieR3UqdolOdbLaKhT24VLreI8eT2rcY/s1600/Zumba+on+the+terrace1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuDBsvMZeqSMKoQo8KbiYIEkVPaLUtuSwu7wPRHYfCd_CqlDwrM9es9sOcAqvAK9JIWQJPB0P3qW-irG8HG6kHs4iFL1MDZ1OaQ4YWEXrnZ_0sieR3UqdolOdbLaKhT24VLreI8eT2rcY/s1600/Zumba+on+the+terrace1.JPG" height="426" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The lovely Zumba Flashmob ladies led by Jo from<a href="http://www.bristolzumba.co.uk/" target="_blank"> Bristol Zumba</a></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ella from <a href="http://www.purplemum.com/" target="_blank">Purple Mum </a>juggles across the bridge (but looks like she's going for a casual stroll)</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnzzZRx3uPfOl2J9MAZONHSzdv8ufykdEJB3xiZRbamUpH00CjFQO6iWPhA3OPliYA2VUdMPl5rWHlDM6hc94-OnalELOB4Yp6yqdqjaysMl6f_hH2HgRopV1Kky7CkJi5yG9xT3UGTpQ/s1600/IMG_7477.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnzzZRx3uPfOl2J9MAZONHSzdv8ufykdEJB3xiZRbamUpH00CjFQO6iWPhA3OPliYA2VUdMPl5rWHlDM6hc94-OnalELOB4Yp6yqdqjaysMl6f_hH2HgRopV1Kky7CkJi5yG9xT3UGTpQ/s1600/IMG_7477.JPG" height="426" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ella hands over to Viv from<a href="http://www.76sunflowers.co.uk/" target="_blank"> 76 Sunflowers</a></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEik2jYcZ2ayNtSNaoLXdoBlYoDdTToT-AkWtVkguqI3Q0Cowt6GhSeWWwbIuWEKgBBFUWO5RggyepFflfIT2CUBkJeFTBhqTT4N_jVQ6T0S0HJsWvq-EwxSSHOcO-49w_RenP71NMp20xE/s1600/IMG_7483.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEik2jYcZ2ayNtSNaoLXdoBlYoDdTToT-AkWtVkguqI3Q0Cowt6GhSeWWwbIuWEKgBBFUWO5RggyepFflfIT2CUBkJeFTBhqTT4N_jVQ6T0S0HJsWvq-EwxSSHOcO-49w_RenP71NMp20xE/s1600/IMG_7483.JPG" height="426" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">We wave the baton off as Viv and friends run it to Portishead</td></tr>
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We're not doing this for the fun of it (although it was a very fun day) we're doing this for Sport Relief. If you would like to donate you can do so <a href="http://my.sportrelief.com/sponsor/bristolteamhonk" target="_blank">here.</a></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12117249594444297964noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1322959663876895471.post-89823542524558618402014-02-08T17:37:00.001+00:002014-02-08T17:37:13.850+00:00The one where I end up on the radio <div style="text-align: justify;">
This morning I woke at 4am with a terrible feeling of nausea. There were two reasons behind this:</div>
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1) I hate being late and am always terrified that my alarm won't go off, especially if its set to an unusual time. So even though I didn't have to be up until a bit before 7am I was awake at 4am to check the time.</div>
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2) I hate public speaking - and today I was being interviewed on live radio.</div>
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I was nauseous as I made my way to the BBC in Bristol. As I passed through security, even the smiliest security guard in history couldn't remove those butterflies in my stomach (not sure how much coffee he must have partaken that morning, but it must have been <strike>all of it </strike>a lot).</div>
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I'd arrived early, partly because as I might have mentioned I don't like being late, but also because I'd forgotten how quickly I can walk when I don't have kids in tow. This meant I had some time to get used to my surroundings, which calmed me a little, but also to stew over what I was about to do, which did the opposite.</div>
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Finally I was invited to join <a href="https://twitter.com/AliRVowles" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Ali Vowles</a> in the studio. It was nice to see a familiar face, even if it was only familiar from the local news rather than real life (she reads the news - she's not some hardened criminal that they keep reporting on).</div>
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When it all got started the butterflies did go, I was too busy thinking about what I had to say - although not busy enough it seems because when I listened back to it on the iPlayer I discovered I'd called her listeners her "readers". Can you tell I'm used to communicating by writing things down!</div>
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I even got to chat on air with <a href="https://twitter.com/drphilhammond" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Dr Phil Hammond</a>, who joked that Pinterest was an inflammation below the knee. I used to make him his tea whilst he was doing voice overs back in my TV runner days, but that was a long time ago and not a particularly memorable interaction, so we didn't greet each other as old friends. Here I am looking all relaxed after it was over...and no, Ali is not sitting on my knee, no matter how this photo may look.</div>
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You can listen to me <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p01pvwp3" target="_blank">chatting here</a> (although this won't be on the iPlayer for long so listen now or miss it forever) I start 2 hours and 49 minutes in.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12117249594444297964noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1322959663876895471.post-58191580257247604602014-02-02T10:55:00.000+00:002014-02-02T10:55:06.165+00:00Team Honk for Sports Relief - the Bristol Leg<div style="text-align: justify;">
This year hundreds of bloggers from all over the country are coming together to join in a baton relay across the country from Land's End to John O'Groats (via Norwich, London and Cardiff, its certainly <a href="http://teamhonk.org/2014-blogger-relay/team-honk-2014-relay-route-and-masterplan/" target="_blank">not going the quick way</a>!). I will be joining in on the Bristol leg of the baton's journey.<br />
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Three of my fellow Bristol bloggers, Carolin from <a href="http://www.mummyalarm.co.uk/" target="_blank">Mummy Alarm,</a> Jen from <a href="http://instinctivemum.com/" target="_blank">Instinctive Mum</a> and Emily from <a href="http://www.tealadymumbles.co.uk/" target="_blank">Tealady Mumbles</a> are collecting it from Chipping Sodbury on Sunday 9th February before it's handed over for a journey across the centre of Bristol and on to Portishead on Monday 10th.</div>
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We'd love some support on the day, so if you are around on 9th or 10th do come out and give us a cheer - or indeed join in.</div>
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On the 10th our day starts at the ferry stop at Cascade Steps (by the Watershed) at 10.15 when we will board a ferry to tour the harbour before leaving the water at the Pump House in Hotwells at 1040. Many thanks to <a href="http://www.bristolferry.com/" target="_blank">Bristol Ferry Boats</a> for getting involved with this great endevour.</div>
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From there we will be walking into Clifton arriving at the <a href="http://www.theavongorge.com/" target="_blank">Avon Gorge Hotel </a>who will very kindly be hosting a Zumba flashmob on their terrace (at approximatly 11am). We'll have some great shots of everyone dancing with the Clifton Suspension Bridge in the background. The zumba will be led by Jo from <a href="http://bristolzumba.co.uk/" target="_blank">Bristol Zumba</a>, again we are so grateful for all the support we are being given.</div>
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From the terrace we will be moving onto the Suspension Bridge itself, with Ella from <a href="http://www.purplemum.com/" target="_blank">Purple Mum </a>reviving her circus skills as we cross the Avon. Viv from <a href="http://www.76sunflowers.co.uk/" target="_blank">76 Sunflowers</a> and Jenny from <a href="http://jbmumofone.com/author/jbmumofone/" target="_blank">JBMumofOne</a> have been in training for the next leg as they will run the baton to Gordano services, very impressive as Jenny has only recently had baby number two.</div>
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At Gordano they will be met by a paralympian on horseback who will take it into Portishead, before it begins its journey on towards the Gloucester team the following day. For more details of the event after the Gordano handover head over to Jane at <a href="http://practicallyperfectmums.co.uk/2014/sport-relief-team-honk-portishead/" target="_blank">Practically Perfect Mums.</a></div>
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If you want to join in (especially for the Zumba) we'd love to see you, but if you can't you can <a href="http://my.sportrelief.com/sponsor/bristolteamhonk" target="_blank">donate here</a> or text HONK to 70005 to donate £5.</div>
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<a href="http://teamhonk.org/" target="_blank" title="Team Honk 2014 blogger Relay"><img alt="Team Honk 2014 blogger Relay" src="http://teamhonk.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/badgehonk.png" style="border: none;" /></a><br />
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You can follow sports relief and Team Honk ia social media:</div>
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Twitter: </div>
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@sportsrelief & #SR14<br />
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<em style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><b>The first ever Sainsbury’s Sport Relief Games take place from Friday 21st to Sunday 23rd March 2014. The public can join the fun and games by running, swimming or cycling their way to raising cash at over a thousand venues around the country, including the landmark events at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.</b></span></em></div>
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<em style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><b>As one of the biggest fundraising events, Sport Relief brings the entire nation together to get active raise cash and change lives. The money raised by the public is spent by Comic Relief to help transform the lives of some of the poorest and most disadvantaged people both at home in the UK and across the world.</b></span></em></div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #111111; font-family: 'Droid Sans', 'Lucida Grande', Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;">Comic Relief is a UK charity, which aims to create a just world, free from poverty. The money raised by Comic Relief, through its fundraising campaigns Red Nose Day and Sport Relief as well as other initiatives, is spent at home in the UK and across the world to help people, families and whole communities stand on their own two feet.</span><br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12117249594444297964noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1322959663876895471.post-58056806024971161832014-01-22T13:02:00.003+00:002014-01-22T13:02:52.426+00:00My Gromit Unleashed<div style="text-align: justify;">
Last summer Bristol was host to an amazing art trail of 80 5ft tall Gromits hidden around the city (one had escaped and made it to London). There was an amazing public response with over 1 million people visiting the trail and the auction of the Gromits at the end raising and astonishing <a href="http://www.gromitunleashed.org.uk/auction/" target="_blank">£2.3million</a> for the Children's hospital.</div>
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We managed to see 77 of the Gromits. We missed those at Cheddar, Hawkesbury Upton and Westonbirt Arboretum due to not having a car. I looked into public transport but as it was several hours each way we gave up. We did get to see the one at Paddington Station when we took the kids to the Natural History Museum.</div>
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Before the trail started there was a competition to design them and I teamed up with a friend to come up with two applications. With competition like Axel Scheffler and Quentin Blake its hardly a surprise that neither of our designs got a look in, but I do have a fondness for the designs and wanted to see how my one would look if it had been chosen. Fortunately the organisers of the <a href="http://www.gromitunleashed.org.uk/" target="_blank">Gromit Unleashed</a> trail have released "Paint your own" mini Gromits. So may I introduce my mosaic covered "Grout-mit" (see what I did there).<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIqMJZmS74edB0NxL6N2emmj9FV7Ad9YR-04lee_DfoJDAruAoX4P8AGEinb42wZtfhtL5kJ6eDNmbwLvZKg8L7jh7dWGwK0Gc5-Rfg18oXmA0G2I8stVt9ryzpZBkd2bszwkkK188CgI/s1600/groutmit2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIqMJZmS74edB0NxL6N2emmj9FV7Ad9YR-04lee_DfoJDAruAoX4P8AGEinb42wZtfhtL5kJ6eDNmbwLvZKg8L7jh7dWGwK0Gc5-Rfg18oXmA0G2I8stVt9ryzpZBkd2bszwkkK188CgI/s1600/groutmit2.JPG" height="576" width="640" /></a></div>
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You can see my original application design below. I wanted to keep Gromit's ears, tail, nose and collar in their original colours and I was very careful to make sure he had an asymmetrical bottom design!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-RyTvbwe0MXArxtQ6-ReLU7kGL_AkXgyJoPqU92LH1uM_UHCKEcU1JLS2EaPgJfwZwU9rIOAxjNbvTLacS8lknbWGhn67qBmlTI8eKPoLmt0b7myhMm79t7FdWCbpMHd1RhLIPFYJvpQ/s1600/IMG_7376.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-RyTvbwe0MXArxtQ6-ReLU7kGL_AkXgyJoPqU92LH1uM_UHCKEcU1JLS2EaPgJfwZwU9rIOAxjNbvTLacS8lknbWGhn67qBmlTI8eKPoLmt0b7myhMm79t7FdWCbpMHd1RhLIPFYJvpQ/s1600/IMG_7376.JPG" height="426" width="640" /></a></div>
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12117249594444297964noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1322959663876895471.post-85167595202969609492013-12-19T21:16:00.001+00:002013-12-19T21:16:18.911+00:00Pinterest Challenge - Needle Felted Mouse<div style="text-align: justify;">
Usually I set my own Pinterest Challenges, but not this month. Knowing I'd dabbled in needle felting I was sent a <a href="http://www.pinterest.com/pin/40321359137243119/" target="_blank">link to a picture on Pinterest</a> by a mum at my daughter's school asking was I able to make something like <a href="https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/feltingdreams?ref=exp_listing" target="_blank">this</a>? When she told me if she owned this mouse she wouldn't have it on display but secretly* carry it around in her pocket so she could sneak a look at him to make her smile I realised I had no choice but to try my best!</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiG6kWELRYOch1ouM2ePWl9mHQ6oTZbeQInFW3J4U5mt1oXzVKrAX3X8qGK5vxvv-Urx2VApYGDwlaXlKLYIvLBOROV_5TyQIK89P1FUwHm1XdebAuVyRpf92zvGHEmnU2Z_FlUKHxun48/s1600/needlefelt+mouse.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiG6kWELRYOch1ouM2ePWl9mHQ6oTZbeQInFW3J4U5mt1oXzVKrAX3X8qGK5vxvv-Urx2VApYGDwlaXlKLYIvLBOROV_5TyQIK89P1FUwHm1XdebAuVyRpf92zvGHEmnU2Z_FlUKHxun48/s640/needlefelt+mouse.jpg" width="425" /></a></div>
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*your secret is safe with me, I won't tell anyone.<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12117249594444297964noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1322959663876895471.post-52694322651309943982013-12-16T21:46:00.000+00:002013-12-17T17:17:23.619+00:00Build-a-Bear Workshop at Christmas<div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
We last visited <a href="http://www.buildabear.co.uk/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Build-a-Bear Workshop</a> a couple of years ago when the kids were given a gift voucher. Then aged three and one I think they were a little too young and didn't really get the concept, but on our return visit today, now they are older, they loved the entire process.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGrWxLRwUuA1c2XUxKHNwkBDZekXbUDQjRVIV3NwzvACHIdGSWOnFRcBK6bNDAHBC5h2VY3jEaEyxadupAv2lD4mNQBxThJ828GBTn6kDtP_ycdlJX7HHnFXmBNvv94Ye_3hn_skIjvEE/s1600/heart.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="620" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGrWxLRwUuA1c2XUxKHNwkBDZekXbUDQjRVIV3NwzvACHIdGSWOnFRcBK6bNDAHBC5h2VY3jEaEyxadupAv2lD4mNQBxThJ828GBTn6kDtP_ycdlJX7HHnFXmBNvv94Ye_3hn_skIjvEE/s640/heart.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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For the un-initiated this is a shop where you create your own teddy by stuffing a skin (but you probably could have guessed that from the shop's name). The staff make it a truely magical experience for the kids. After choosing their skin they pick a heart from the tub to go amongst the stuffing and the staff encouraged the kids to imbue the hearts with certain qualities by performing different acts - my daughter rubbed the heart on her nose to make her bear nosey and ran on the spot to make him fast. Finally they made wishes on the hearts.</div>
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My daughter chose a polar bear and my son a Santa. The polar bear was quickly christened "Snowy" but Santa has remained Santa. I suppose "Snowy the bear" works well as a name - but my son could hardly call his "Brian Santa". I don't think Santa is his surname!</div>
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The children needed to choose whether they wanted a sound effect and a scent for the bear. So Snowy sings Rudolf the red nosed reindeer and smells of strawberry, Santa wasn't given a smell, but did get a very appropriate "Ho! Ho! Ho!" sound effect.</div>
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The stuffing machine is brilliant fun. The staff hold the bear (or Santa) over a pipe and the kids operate the foot pedal to make the fluff come out. My daughter thought it was a bit loud, but nothing that sticking her fingers in her ears couldn't cure.</div>
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The staff were all amazing, even the ones that weren't serving us were asking the kids questions about their bears or helping by making a treasure hunt out of the bear's birth certificates.</div>
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Once the toys were stuffed they headed over to have a bath. The shower heads blew air onto the bears and the kids gave them a good brush. Then it was off to the clothing area. Santa was given a suitable suit, boots and rollerskates. After all with the rising price in sleigh fuel he needs a more economical delivery method. Oh, and apparently he also needs a light sabre!</div>
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Snowy needed a smart red puffer jacket to keep him warm in the Arctic, some Union Jack shoes, roller skates and a lead to help him skate along. As Snowy is only a beginner skater we also ended up with tiny crutches and plaster cast in case of an accident!</div>
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The final part of the process is 'officially' naming the bear. The staff sat with the kids and helped them put the information into the computer themselves.</div>
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The kids had such a wonderful time at Build-a-Bear Workshop; the process makes each bear extra special. Both went home happy and tired, ready to fall into bed with their new friends.</div>
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<i>Disclaimer: We were given two toys and the clothes and accessories in return for this post. </i></div>
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12117249594444297964noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1322959663876895471.post-18115609277860458532013-12-11T12:37:00.000+00:002013-12-17T21:00:28.122+00:00What I Wore (and Made) Wednesday - Sequin and Satin Dress<div style="text-align: justify;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdE9totvWof1YXh4l1EkbJyYGlDLgW3ZPORoLN_5Or7y-NYyNf0PJhSLp0MsNh0YZMr9gYJPzvKsZCET9KiYxeBM_5DfwuwF7Bq9o59WoppQP9XaX53WUEeAysPAuHLtB6UJivUpCNbeg/s1600/evening+dress.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdE9totvWof1YXh4l1EkbJyYGlDLgW3ZPORoLN_5Or7y-NYyNf0PJhSLp0MsNh0YZMr9gYJPzvKsZCET9KiYxeBM_5DfwuwF7Bq9o59WoppQP9XaX53WUEeAysPAuHLtB6UJivUpCNbeg/s640/evening+dress.JPG" width="220" /></a>I was addicted to the<a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0165nj8" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"> Great British Sewing Bee</a>, sitting in awe of their talents (and speed) each week. In the final one of the contestants, Lauren, made a dress that, for me, was the dress of the series. She didn't go on to win, but it's her dress that I remember.</div>
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When I won a copy of the pattern for that very dress on the same day as being invited to my friend's 40th with the instructions "dress to impress" I knew it was fate.</div>
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The original pattern suggests doing the whole thing in one fabric, but Lauren adapted hers by making the skirt in a sequin fabric, which I copied. Lauren made hers full length and in gold, I decided it would be more wearable if I made it in navy blue and knee length. One of the variations of the pattern is for a shorter skirt, but it looses the split. I went for a mix of the two - although being 5'11 I remembered to lengthen the skirt, but forgot to lower the split, so I had to sit down VERY carefully!</div>
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I love the overall effect, I think it looks like an Argentine Tango dress off Strictly Come Dancing.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyRUfb_Mdbr2Y1CKUMUI4CbUXg4JiObniCB4nmZbv2VkUBiDjrAvRpwRDZ_snujhdK9Df3a9cbYrMakE67OQ7-tBJysH-qq-asZOiPnNx-fccM6mtlfVnYHvWmWfhCHY7Q5pGaCyrimnk/s1600/evening+dress+2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyRUfb_Mdbr2Y1CKUMUI4CbUXg4JiObniCB4nmZbv2VkUBiDjrAvRpwRDZ_snujhdK9Df3a9cbYrMakE67OQ7-tBJysH-qq-asZOiPnNx-fccM6mtlfVnYHvWmWfhCHY7Q5pGaCyrimnk/s320/evening+dress+2.JPG" width="142" /></a>As its one shouldered and the back straps didn't fall in the right place for a bra I ended up getting a <a href="http://www.johnlewis.com/lingerie-solutions-body-sculpting-backless-strapless-bra-clear/p307302" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">silicon stick-on bra</a>. It was comfortable and did as good a job as any other strapless bra I've had, but it's pink, see-through and wrinkly; my husband said it made my chest turn into a Dr Who monster! </div>
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I also discovered that none of my "party" shoes fit any more (one of the side effects of having kids is that your feet get bigger) so I had to go shopping (shame) and came out with these lovely heels from Next.</div>
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So I've made the same dress as someone from the Great British Sewing Bee - which makes me feel great about my sewing skills, but totally in awe of Lauren who managed to make it in 8 hours!</div>
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The pattern is Simplicity 1874 and the <a href="http://www.trurofabrics.com//polyester-duchesse-satin-fabric-navy.html" target="_blank">duchesse satin</a> and <a href="http://www.trurofabrics.com//matte-sequinned-tulle-fabric-navy.html" target="_blank">sequin fabric</a> came from Truro fabrics.<br />
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A bit of an update - since writing this post I received this tweet from none other than Lauren herself!!<br />
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<a href="https://twitter.com/knittymummy">@knittymummy</a> beautiful!!!!!<br />
— lauren guthrie (@GuthrieGhani) <a href="https://twitter.com/GuthrieGhani/statuses/413012650025840641">December 17, 2013</a></blockquote>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12117249594444297964noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1322959663876895471.post-65522659818413781162013-12-07T10:52:00.000+00:002013-12-07T10:52:14.659+00:00Superhero Bedroom<div style="text-align: justify;">
In the summer I realised my son's bedroom was looking a little tired and the lack of storage was doing my head in; it was time for a lick of paint and some new furniture. I wasn't sure how to decorate it until my son spotted some superhero style fabric on an impromptu shopping trip and insisted I make something with it. This fabric (now a<a href="http://knittymummy.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/making-my-own-lampshade.html" target="_blank"> lampshade</a>) was the inspiration for the whole room.<br />
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I painted the mural myself, but I used lots of cheats to make it work, so you don't have to be incredibly artistic to achieve it. The buildings were shaped with masking tape, and the trick to getting a crisp edge is to paint the colour the background is over the tape first, then paint the colour you want the main picture to be. That way any bleed under the tape is of the colour that the background is. (So for this I painted the masking tape blue before painting the grey, then painted the tape round the windows grey before painting the yellow).</div>
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To get the characters I used a projector borrowed from my husband's office to project colouring book images (there are loads online) onto the wall where I simply traced round them. This was hard for superman as we didn't have anything high enough to rest the projector steadily on. I had to draw very quickly whilst my husband stood as still as he could holding the projector! Once I'd "coloured in" these drawings with acrylic paint I simply drew the details on with a sharpie marker.<br />
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To make the bat signal I drew around a casserole dish on the wall, then the same on a piece of paper. I then folded this paper, cut it to 1cm smaller all round and cut out half a bat shape, unfolded and drew this in place inside the bigger oval.<br />
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My husband has been reliving his childhood and made some airfix aeroplanes which I hung from the ceiling with clear thread, which really adds to the skyline effect.</div>
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Finally he needed some furniture and a duvet. The furniture is from Ikea - a <a href="http://www.ikea.com/gb/en/catalog/products/80253809/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Kura</a> bed, <a href="http://www.ikea.com/gb/en/catalog/categories/series/19027/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Trofast</a> storage and a <a href="http://www.ikea.com/gb/en/catalog/products/50218030/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Brimnes</a> wardrobe which I have plans to customise. Grandad got him a superman duvet cover from Next and we found a Marvel comics one in Wilkinsons. You can read about how I made the <a href="http://knittymummy.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/upcycling-old-curtains-with-cricut-iron.html" target="_blank">curtains</a> here and <a href="http://knittymummy.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/making-my-own-lampshade.html" target="_blank">lampshade</a> here.</div>
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