Playhouse & Parties

This weekend was our little man's FIRST birthday party. As a first time mum I was finding the prospect of having a kids party a bit daunting. Luckily most of the babies, being around 1 year old, don't expect too much and the other kids were pretty forgiving too!

The star attraction was the little one's new Elms Valley Cabin Playhouse. I have become slightly obsessed with it over the last month or so, lovingly and painstakingly painting it, finding pictures for it and getting my Dad to build a base and floor for it (with carpet)

The kids of all ages LOVED it. The babies were excited by the surroundings, the one year olds enjoyed crawling in and out, playing with the toys, opening and closing the curtains, peeking out of the windows and checking out the posters and pictures inside, the 3 - 7 year olds had great fun with role play and using it as their little den to hide from the grown ups!

The house is recommended for children from 3 - 10 years but it has been (and will be) enjoyed by ages 6 months - 70 years! It was a breeze to put together and looks great. I'm glad we opted for a wooden Wendy house as the quality feel and look of it is definitely worth the small price increase compared to plastic ones. I know that our pickle will have years of fun playing in there with us and his little mates!

As a teacher I know the value of role play and the development of children's imagination and this playhouse will be invaluable is helping our little man to develop in this way. I think that spending time outside is also so important for children and living in England anything that can encourage children to play outside when the weather isn't too great must be a good thing, there is so much fun to be had in the garden once you get out there!

The party was a success, Jacob had the best time crawling around the garden getting lots of attention and playing with his friends and his new toys and I really enjoyed throwing the party. We kept it quite small with mostly family and children but it gave me another outlet for my creative side; I loved decorating the garden with bunting and balloons and making the little one a special birthday cake. It was so nice to see all our friends and family together and everyone had a fab time.

  

This post was sponsored by Garden Games who provided me with a discount on our Wendy house and who can provide you will all sorts of outdoor games and accessories for fun in the garden! All opinions I have expressed are my own and entirely truthful.

Surprised by tears (Dear baby J)

Dear Baby J,

I won't be able to call you 'baby' for much longer so I'm going to make the most of it. Now when mum's say "they are always your baby" I know what it means. 

You are 1 today. It's going too fast, I feel happy, sad, crazy and so proud all at once. 

Because we're not doing anything 'special' today (just our normal Wednesday fun - every day I have with you is special) I wasn't expecting all the feelings that have hit me.

The tears have taken me by surprise. When your daddy cuddles me and we look at you today I well up with feelings I didn't know I had and I didn't expect, maybe I hid them from myself. 

They are tears of joy and wonder and happiness. You are the most gorgeous and special person. My love for you grows every day. You are always happy, giggling and smiling and you have brought such love and wonder into our lives. We are so lucky to have you. 

I wish you the most fun and happy birthday, my baby boy. 

All my love 

Mummy 

X

Feeling crafty....

Well since my room for improvement challenge I've been feeling increasingly crafty... I've always been like that but I think having a little one has given me the perfect outlet for my arty side. I can make silly childish bits and bobs and no one will think I'm odd! 

I've had some really nice feedback from my pervious post which included my dinosaur paintings. I got talking to the owner of the fab shop Milestones in Whitstable and I will be featuring as her 'artist of the month' in August! 

I was also mentioned by Actually Mummy who writes for BritMums 'Newbie Tuesday', I was so chuffed i think it spurred me on a bit! 

Recently I've made (or customised) a play house (interior decorating included!), a toy chest, lots of various art work for the little one's room and I'm currently up-cycling a vintage chair. Tonight I have made our little man's friend a small toy as a christening present!

It's by no means perfect but I think the little fella will like it! What do you think? Have changes in your life ever made you get crafty? 

Room(s) for improvement

Moneysupermarket.com gave me this...

So that I could make this...

... into this...

.. and hopefully win a £500 B&Q voucher!!

With my £50 I've also personalised a toy chest for our front room transforming a plain wooden box into a toy chest / padded seat! It's functional and hides all the little man's toys so we can have a stylish and grown up area again when he is in bed! 

For the toy chest...

£20 for nice pine flat pack toy chest from Homebase (on a 2 for £40 offer).

£1 for grey felt to make the deer detail.

Foam and wood for seat scavenged from my dad's garage and fabric salvaged from one of my sisters old projects.

For the little man's room...

£27 for blackout dinosaur curtains from Dunelm Mill ( on a 20% off offer).

Old curtain rail taken down from when we moved in (2 years ago!) = £0

£4 for 3 blank canvasses from The Range which were then designed and painted by me! 

So what do you think? I know it adds up to £52 but a £2 overspend isn't too bad! I think what I've done makes a huge difference to both rooms. I'm really pleased with all my efforts and was so happy to get this opportunity! 

Thanks to moneysupermarket.com and my dad for all his help :) 

(This post is my entry into moneysupermarket.com's room for improvement competition) 

Sneaky preview...

Well last Sunday I posted about what comes first after a hard day painting the little man's play house and this Sunday I've spent time making curtains for it. I am becoming a little obsessed with making this thing the best I can! 

I thought I'd give you a little sneak preview of today's efforts. I can't wait to see Jacob playing in there.

I'm trying to keep costs down so used fabric from a local haberdashery, mums sewing machine and net wire to fix them up. Quite simple really just like cushion covers.

Hope you like them (I love the hummingbird design), there's still a bit more to do but I'll be sharing Jacob's reaction to his new play area after his birthday in 3 weeks!! We will be having a little party so I think the other children will enjoy playing in there too. 

Are you doing anything creative this bank holiday weekend? 

Kitsch Attraction

I went hunting round charity shops today to find some pictures and fabric for the little man's play house. 

I found myself with this porcelain hippo money box in my hand. I tried at least two times to put it back on the shelf but I couldn't do it! 

Maybe subconsciously I think it's just like me and the pickle or something!? Anyway it's on my shelf now and for some reason I love it! 

What comes first?

Well, the little man of course, but after that I've been finding it hard to know what to prioritise if I find myself with a bit of free time. 

This doesn't happen often, once Jacob is in bed I usually do any housework which is desperate then flake out with his dad before going to bed shamefully early. A family member commented yesterday "that's not much of a life", unfortunately I kind of agree. I'm still feeling ridiculously tired and like I'm losing myself a bit. So yesterday the paternal grandparents took the little man off my hands for the day. But then I was faced with the dilemma of whether to chill and pamper myself OR try to catch up with things I have to do. 

We've bought Jacob a wooden playhouse for his birthday and I wanted to paint it, build it and make it a bit unique so my dad and me set about creating that and I'm not joking it took ALL DAY. 

What I realised though was that getting something creative done gave me so much pleasure and I got so excited about it that I had a great day, one big job done and fun for mummy too! 

Can't wait to show you the results of my work once it's all completely finished!