Grand re-opening of my Etsy shop!

Today is the Grand Re-opening of my Etsy shop!!

I have one beautiful item for sale - A string of union flag bunting, but I will be adding new items to my shop daily so keep your eyes peeled and check back soon to see what I will be adding.

I first opened my shop way back in March 2010 selling a variety of handmade items and vintage ornaments.
I have a large collection of vintage music sheet, maps, books and comics so started making items out of this including bunting, confetti, badges and garlands,

I also got into selling really cute vintage ceramic ornaments like these beauties:

As I developed my products I found that fabric bunting was also popular and I enjoyed making it so I have decided to continue selling the bunting and focusing on this for now (though I really hope to start including vintage ornaments in my collection again because they are so fun.)

So I really hope you will visit back soon to see my new products.

Stay tuned!

7 Vegan Breakfasts

Come and visit me at Imperfectly Natural Mama where I post now, I am doing a series of blog posts about vegan breakfasts, here is the first:

Skin care for eczema

Writing about my skincare routine for eczema over at Imperfectly Natural Mama, please come along and visit. 

Margam Country Park

Don't forget I am now posting over at Imperfectly Natural Mama now.  For all up to day blog posts:

Beautiful Easter Weekend

Really been loving the weather these last few days, haven't you? I was in need of some serious light therapy and it is doing no harm at all.  We lapped up the sun on Monday after a very chilly Easter Saturday hunting Easter eggs at Clandon House in Surrey and nondescript Easter Sunday.

We spent the afternoon walking through the woods and lounging on the lawns of The Vyne, a National Trust property in Henley-Upon-Thames.  We are frequent visitors, but the light was especially beautiful this last Monday, it was so bright and made everything look really vivid, the green of all the new shoots coming up contrasting against a brilliant blue sky was stunning. 

These smelled absolutely amazing, it really pays to take the time to bend down and smell flowers.  Heavenly. 

A bit on impromptu breastfeeding, I don't often carry Biscuit on the front because I find it a bit of a strain on my back, but for the sake of some mobile breastfeeding I am willing to give it a go.

New blades of grass shooting through the layer of beech leaves,

It's really important to us that the boys get out into nature as much as possible, they learn so much and benefit from it is so many different ways. We love letting them get their hands (and knees and bums) dirty on a regular basis, and they seem to love it too. There was so much to explore in the woods, here they are examining a tree stump, Boris takes a particular interest in fungus. 

Hope you all had a gorgeous Easter weekend. 

Fun Things to do With Toddlers - Autumn Scented Play Dough

Playdough is always fun, adding colour livens it up and adding a scent adds a further sensory element. I decided to create an Autumn themed playdough invitation to play by adding some spices to the playdough and teaming them with some leaf shaped cutters and some pine cones, feathers, twigs and conkers to press into the dough.

I fragranced the dough with ground cinnamon, all spice, ginger and coco powder.  I just kneaded the spices into the dough. It smelt amazing (especially the chocolate)

I didn't need to add any colour to the chocolate scented one because the brown of the coco also added colour.

I bought some leaf shaped cutters from Amazon, I am hoping to get lots of use out of them by using them to make biscuits and with clay.

Fathers from Hobbycraft 9I bought these years ago when I was at uni, not sure how ethical they are or if I would buy them now)

Pine cones gathered from one of our many walks.

Boris stuck twigs into the playdough to begin with, he needed quite a bit of encouragement initially, I am not sure he knew what to do, maybe he was a little overwhelmed by all the different bits and didn't know where to begin. 

 To start with he used to cutters with the playdough balls, but I demonstrated rolling out the dough and using the cutters that way and he imitated me.

 I stuck some of the cut out shapes to the balls of remaining clay which Boris seemed to enjoy, he also stuck some of the cutout shapes on.  He then had a good time mashing it all up into a big doughy mess.

This is the playdough recipe I used:

• 2 cups plain flour (all purpose)
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1/2 cup salt
• 2 tablespoons cream of tartar
• Up to 1.5 cups boiling water (adding in increments until it feels just right)
• Poster paint for colour.
• Several teaspoons of spices till desired amount of fragrance is achieved, some scents require more spice than others.

I am hoping to do a few more Autumn themes activities as the season goes on.  Are you doing any seasonal activities?  Add a link in the comments. 

Reggio inspired tag toy

I made a Reggio inspired tag toy, check it out on my other blog Imperfectly Natural Mama.