Look what we've grown!

2013 has been the first year my daughter has wanted to take an interest in gardening. It's something I'm really keen for her to get involved with. It's such a fun activity to share. She's loved watching the process of making paper pots and using them to plant seeds in back in Spring. Then in April we started to see the first signs of Spring and our seeds started to germinate.

Fast forward to Autumn and we're enjoying homegrown tomatoes, beetroot, rosemary, thyme, chives, mint and a lovely crop of apples from the tree we inherited from the previous owner.

She also helped me grow borage to attract the bees, bright orange nasturtiums and huge sunflowers. I tried to choose plants with large seeds, so that her little fingers could get to grips with them.

By growing our own vegetables, I think it helps my daughter to try new flavours because she's been involved with the growing process. She loves grated cooked beetroot mashed into potatoes with creme fraiche, lots of butter and some salt and pepper for seasoning...we call it 'purple mash' and it's amazing with sausages, fresh greens and lots of gravy!

I'm celebrating being outside with my child, enjoying the Autumn sun and linking up with Country Kids from Coombe Mill

Last taste of Summer...

I have been taking a bit of a blogging break recently...I've needed to rest & recuperate after a rubbish end to the Summer. At this point in time I don't feel able to write about what happened, but maybe one day I will...

For now, I'm focusing on getting my health back and spending lots & lots of time with my gorgeous girl.

We had once last taste of Summer in Cornwall about two weeks ago. The photos you see here are of Praa Sands, which has to be one of the loveliest beaches I've visited in Cornwall. We had such an amazing day there, I think we had the last of the Summer sunshine before rain, mist & dark evenings set in.

Days like this stay with you for a long time and these photos will keep me going through the cold months ahead!

Baking with children: Monkey Muffins

This Summer I've been volunteering at my local library, helping out with the Creepy House Summer Reading Challenge. One of the perks of helping out in the children's section of the library is I get to see loads & loads of lovely books for young readers. Ever on the look-out for things to occupy my daughter through the Summer holidays, I gravitated towards the non-fiction section and in particular the cookery books. I love an activity where you can eat the end results! I spotted The Baking Book by Jane Bull and thought we'd give it a whirl.

It's packed with yummy recipes and great illustrations. My three year old daughter just loved flicking through the book again and again looking at the bright photos and lovely food. We decided on making Monkey Bread, but we chose to make the muffin versions rather that the loaf. Apart from making chocolate rice crispie cakes, this was our first attempt at 'proper' baking...we put on aprons and everything! Thanks to 'I can cook' on Ceebies, my daughter is taking more interest in how food is prepared and likes to get stuck in. Once we'd sung a loud rendition of the 'wash your hands' song...altogether now "roll up your sleeves, give your hands a wash, with slippy dippy soap, splish slapsh splosh"...we started on the Monkey Muffins.
We measured flour and butter and made it into crumbly breadcrumbs

Then we added sugar and sultanas and gave it a good mix...

Then we cracked some eggs, which require lots and lots of concentration..

Now the fun bit, whisking the eggs...

After adding the eggs and some honey to the dry ingredients, we got to mush some bananas up..

Everything had a last big stir...

Then we got our muffin cases and spooned the sweet-smelling mixture out...


The muffins went in the oven for 15 minutes. Once they were cool enough we scoffed one each. They were delicious, a resounding success! They last for about a week in an airtight container...except ours were eaten before the week was up!

Decision Maker

I tend to think of myself as the type of person who finds decision making quite hard. I could just have easily taken a photo of me holding a sign saying ‘born worrier’. I remember one of my favourite teachers at school writing on my report “Nicola is too hard on herself”. This negative image of myself has got stuck in my psyche and to be honest, I don’t like it.

Since becoming a Mum, I've become responsible for this little person and I have to step up and try and be a positive role model for her. When I look back over my daughters short life, I’ve actually had to make lots of decisions, in fact I make decisions every single day:

…deciding to grab her hand in a dangerous situation

…deciding which activities we’re going to do each day to keep her happy and stimulated

…deciding when to discipline and set boundaries and deciding when to let things go

….deciding to work from home so that I could spend these precious early years with her despite the fact it leaves us a bit skint

…deciding on a pre-school and in not so distant future, the school she will attend

...deciding to start writing for the UK Handmade Magazine again to keep my grey matter ticking over!

...deciding recently to do voluntary work at my local library helping out with the Summer Reading Challenge because I think it's a great incentive to keep children reading during the Summer holidays, plus the children I have met have been amazing, creative and engaging

…deciding to put the Jo Frost book in a charity bag because her ‘advice’ was stressing me and my daughter out

…deciding last year to relocate from the city to a coastal town so that our daughter could grow up in a more rural location and be closer to her Grandmother and Great-Grandmother

…deciding to insist on a second opinion when our daughter’s hemangioma birthmark was infected and ulcerated which lead to us travelling Great Ormond Street Hospital for specialist treatment. Even though the consultant at our local hospital swore blind that her birthmark was not infected, we knew we were right, we knew we had to get more help. Quite frankly, getting in touch with the Birthmark Support Group to obtain further information was possibly the best decision I’ve made as a Mum. We discovered at Great Ormond Street that the infection was so bad she would almost certainly have contracted blood poisoning if we hadn’t insisted on different treatment.

So, when I think about, I am a good decision maker and I’m learning to trust myself and have confidence in myself. Amongst many other amazing things, motherhood has given me the confidence to believe in my decisions.

As Mums and maybe as women in general we can be too hard on ourselves, focus on the negative and think about what we’re getting ‘wrong’. I don’t profess to be a psychology expert, but falling into the habit of negative thought patterns must be very common. It’s a side of my personality that I really dislike and I’m making a big effort to push those thought patterns out of my mind. Just writing this blog post for Story of Mum has helped me to look at myself and my parenting in a more positive light.

When I first became a mum, a friend of mine recommended a book to me, it’s called ‘The Mummy Coach’ by Lorraine Thomas. I like to dip into it now and again, when I’m feeling stressed or overwhelmed. I love the positive style of the book. It’s not about being perfect and it’s not about moulding children into strict routines, it’s about becoming a happier mum and letting your children absorb that positivity.

As Lorraine Thomas writes:

“It is important that you appreciate your strengths. Your child learns from you. If you are constantly putting yourself down, they are more likely to feel negative about themselves. If you get into the habit of acknowledging the things that you do well, they are more likely to do the same for themselves”

Making a conscious effort to focus on what I’m getting right and to keep the negativity at bay is probably the best decision I’ll ever make.

Story of Mum: mums making an exhibition of ourselves

I’m so glad I discovered the ‘Story of Mum’ website via Twitter. Pippa has welcomed me into the #somum fold and I was really pleased to be asked to take part in this touring exhibition. As mothers, it's not often that we feel seen, heard and valued. Yet our everyday stories matter, and sharing them can inspire others. Please take a few moments to read Pippa’s piece on ‘Invisible Mothers’.

Since becoming a Mum I have come into contact with some amazing women. From my hard working community midwife who watched over me, my baby and countless other women in her 30 year career, my wonderful ante-natal friends who have been there for me in the early ‘shell shocked’ weeks of motherhood through to the present day, the Sister and female consultant at Great Ormond Street who believed in us when we said our daughter needed more help, my online ‘crafty’ friends who have supported my creative side and made me laugh my socks off. My daughter is also being bought up by a team of matriarchs in the form of my Mum, my Mother-in-law and my 93 year old Grandmother. She sadly doesn’t have any Granddads, so women play a vital role in her life and long may it continue!

Story of Mum: Mums making an exhibition of ourselves is a touring programme of exhibitions and events in galleries and online that aims to put mothers in the spotlight.

The exhibition celebrates motherhood, explores the impact of mothering on our identities, and encourages mums worldwide to share their stories in words, photos, collage and film.

Parallel to the real life events, a virtual exhibition is travelling round the world, stopping for mini exhibitions on blogs - like this one!

Find out more at www.storyofmum.com/exhibition

BritMums - Leading the Conversation

Celebrating creative upcycling and crafts at Children's Scrapstores

When I was a child I loved nothing better than making stuff out of bits and bobs destined for the bin. I cannot count the number of cardboard box, tin foil, loo roll monsters I made when I was little. A pile of cardboard, string, glue and poster paints fired up my imagination and made me think ‘what shall I create today?’

Across the UK there are a network of Scraptores UK that continue the tradition of helping children to use their imaginations and create something with their hands. Each scrapstore is a treasure trove of clean scrap waste materials donated by business to be reused by local children in whatever way their creative urge takes them. The range of materials in any of the scrapstore changes each day and could include card, paper, textiles, paint, cork, wool, cardboard tubes, netting, gauze and many other things.

Scrapstores promote ‘play without rules’ and understand the importance of creative play in a child’s development. Every child needs to have the chance to squish clay, get covered in paint and look at a pile of scrap and think ‘what could I make with that?’ Scrapstores offer affordable craft materials to a wide range of bodies working in education, training, arts and culture, environment and conservation and projects involving children and young people. By taking familiar objects we all recognise from everyday use and encouraging children to use them in new and unusual ways, Scrapstores foster creative expression. The organisation has already helped out over 80,000 community groups by providing access to an exciting variety of materials.

Whilst local branches operate as separate entities, ScrapstoresUK was set up in an attempt to coordinate the work that individual scrapstores do across the UK. ScrapstoresUK acts as a champion for the movement and raises public awareness, facilitates fundraising and attempts to make each scrapstore run in an effective and efficient way. They also offer a useful online directory of all the scrapstores, so if you feel inspired to find out more, their website will have all the information you need to track down your local store.

All Scrapstores have different means of accessing their scrap materials. In some you need to pay an individual membership fee, at others you simply pay for the scrap you take on the day. Membership is generally offered to groups who work in creative play, care, educational and therapeutic settings. A number of Scrapstores also have shops open to the public selling good quality art and craft materials from glue to paintbrushes to complement the scrap.

We paid a visit to my local scrapstore which is based in Bristol to find out more about the work they do. The Bristol Children's Scrapstore is one of the oldest in the UK and has been open for over thirty years. To access the main scrap warehouse you need to be a member, but the Bristol branch also operates a craft supplies store called Artrageous Store which is open to the general public. Artrageous is a thriving business where you can find a wide selection of goods including art supplies such as glue, paint and modelling clay, they also stock puppets, wooden toys and musical instruments. Every other weekend Artrageous throws open its doors and invites children to come along and try out the craft materials. These ‘Super Saturday Sample Sessions’ encourage children to gain hands-on experience of creating a finished crafty item from scratch. The friendly staff encourage kids to get their hands on raffia, felt, glitter, crayons and lots of gloopy glue. All the proceeds from Artrageous support the Children’s Scrapstore and help to maintain local community projects working with local children.

Alongside Artrageous is the adjoining Children’s Scrapstore warehouse. There are an abundance of crafty delights with large containers filled with netting, colourful gauzes, plastic tubes, surgical masks, piles of remote controls, reels of sparkling paper, mounds of foam shapes, towers of take-away cartons and even the odd shop mannequin. Each item was destined for landfill and through Scrapstores it can now find a new life in a creative project.

The Scrapstores movement is something to be cherished and supported. By encouraging creative play, children learn communication skills, creativity and problem solving, team work and collaboration and a willingness to experiment. As with all charity projects, Scrapstores needs resources to keep functioning. Whether you donate scrap, volunteer your time or become a member, there are many ways to keep your nearest branch operating. Now I’ve discovered my local scrapstore, it would take a gang of foil covered, paint daubed, googly eyed cardboard box monsters to keep me away!

all photos were taken by my niece Jessica Chappell, you can see her blog here www.kingofthesheep.blogspot.co.uk

Scraptores UK

Bristol Children's Scrapstore

Artrageous Store

If you're interested in finding more interesting children's craft projects, you may like to follow my "Kids Crafts: gluing, cutting, sticking, painting" board on Pinterest...

Follow Pouch : blogging + craft's board Kids Crafts: gluing, cutting, sticking, painting on Pinterest.

I'm linking up with these lovely blogs:

Trash 2 Treasure over on www.coombemill.com

Brilliant Blog Posts over on honestmum.com

Share With Me over on www.letstalkmommy.com

What I'm Writing over on writingbubble.co.uk

Breathing new life into old furniture

Since moving to a 1930s house, I'm determined to furnish it with quirky, one-off pieces rather than mass produced stuff. I've already blogged about my beautiful (bargain) dining table. Now I want to show you a cabinet and shelves I recently repurposed with help from my other half. I haven't done anything fancy or ground breaking with them...but it just shows how a simple lick of paint can breathe life back into something deemed a bit 'scruffy'.

In fact the small cabinet was considered so scruffy it was making its way to the municiple tip before my Mum and husband rescued it. My Mum approached the man who was just about to fling it into the 'wood' section and he happily handed it over. They bought it home for me and declared proudly that they had 'bought me a present'. Now, I know lots of people would be a bit annoyed about their presents coming from a waste-sorting centre, but my family know me better than that...

My husband sanded it down and chiselled off the yucky cork matting which was glued to the top. It was then painted in an ivory shade and once dry, we put it in our conservatory. It's the perfect place for me to put my cup of tea and my daughter has filled it with her books. It's a sturdy, little multi-functional piece of furniture and I love it.

A few weeks back my Mum gave me a set of shelves. They had been hanging in her garage for years and were looking a bit unloved, but I could see they still had potential! We repeated the same process with the shelves as the cabinet, sanded it down and a coat of ivory paint to spruce them up a bit. They now hang in our bathroom and keep all our toiletry gubbins tidy.

Even Mr Bump is amazed by the transformation!

**update**

Since writing this blog post I have watched the first episode of "Kirstie's Fill Your House For Free". I wanted to write a quick update. I've always been keen on getting my hands on furniture for free or at a bargain price. I've been using Freecycle for years and often scour Ebay and Gumtree for second hand items for our house. I had a quick look on Twitter after the first episode had aired and there was alot of cynicism and negativity. Many people were saying the items aren't truly 'free' if you have to use power tools, paint and the skills of top designers to alter them. But I think that misses the point. This is telly-land after all and lots of these shows are based on the 'big reveal' at the end. Even by employing designers, there was nothing on the show that the average Joe couldn't replicate. Well, maybe sawing an iron bath in half with an angle grinder isn't for everyone...but most of it was pretty do-able. Some basic DIY and a bit of elbow grease is all you need to start filling your home with quirky, one-off pieces. I think any show that encourages people to re-use rather than buy new is good in my books.

What I do hope this show encourages, is not just getting stuff off freecycle etc...I hope it encourages people to donate to freecyle, charity shops, local recycling projects. We need people to think twice about taking old furniture to the tip. What's not to like about clearing your clutter via freecycle? People come and get stuff you don't want direct from your house - you don't have to lug it into the boot & drive to the local waste centre. And many charity shops & furniture projects collect items from your house for free.

In fact, after watching Kirstie's program, I was inspired to write to my local MP. I've been to our local waste recycling centre with garden waste on a number of occasions and seen wonderful pieces of furniture being chucked into the wood section. On one occasion a perfectly usuable cabinet was thrown away & I approached a member of staff to ask if I could have it. I was told that staff are not allowed to pull things out of the containers because they will get sacked for 'theft'. I think it's awful that my local council does not seem to want to send less waste to landfill. It's actively discouraging the reuse of furniture and encouraging more waste. It's a case of trying to join up the people who want to get rid of stuff with the people who want to reuse the stuff.

I'm still awaiting a response from my MP, I'll keep you posted......

Personalised wedding cushion

I love hand sewing. I love the rhythm of sewing with needle and thread, I find it very relaxing. I've been using blanket stitch for quite a few years on my rabbits and owls. To be honest, I was getting a bit bored with blanket stitch and I wanted to learn new techniques.
I've always been a fan of embroidered handwriting, so I wanted to give it a whirl. I looked at various blog posts and different tutorials for creating stitched handwriting and then I made a start with a few samples. I have to say, I'm completely hooked.

I wanted to practise more by creating gifts for people I know. So I created this personalised cushion for friends of ours who got married last year. We were moving house at the time they got married, so things were too hectic for me to create a handmade gift. I always had an idea in my head for creating a unique gift for them, but we needed to be settled in our new home before I could complete it. So this cushion turned into an anniversary gift which I gave to my friend a few weeks ago. I'm really pleased with the way it turned out. I love the font and the vintage fabric used for the hearts is really pretty. I'm still hooked on hand sewing writing, I'm working on a cushion for my daughter and a few other ideas...so watch this space for more photos!