The practical guide to surviving summer

Can you believe that we are already half way through the summer holidays? If your kids are anything like mine, three days in the kids were already bored, one week in, they could barely spend ten minutes in the same room as each other without one looking at the other funny, or someone ‘accidentally’ elbowing someone else in the head. Right? By now you are probably wishing you could run and hide every time some someone yells “Maaaaaaaaaaaammmmmyyyyyy….”!

So after surviving the 13 summer holidays since my kids started school I thought I would share some “practical” tips to help you keep your sanity during these seemingly never ending days! Okay, none of these ideas are profound. But when your brain has had small children singing nonstop rounds of ‘Let it Go’ or asking ‘wotcha doin?’ 17 times a minute for a week, you need simple and quick ideas!

5 (and a half) tips for coping with small children while you are sick

One of the hardest parts of looking after children is coping alone while you are unwell. Throw a couple of sick kids, or really energetic healthy ones, into the mix and life can really start to get on top of you!

But there are some simple things you can do to make life a little easier to bear and also let you try and recuperate.

Gluten and Dairy Free Welsh Cakes

Last year I shared my Welsh cakes recipe and I’ve had many compliments about them. If you have never heard of these tiny pieces of heaven, I strongly urge you to take a peek at the post to find out more about them and their history. Of course, I now have to alter most of my favourite recipes to make them safe for my gluten free, dairy free and soya free toddler. So after many alterations and plenty of taste testing, just in time for Saint David’s Day, here is my gluten, dairy and soya free Welsh Cakes recipe.

Top Tips for Staying Warm WITHOUT Putting the Heating On

Our heating has only been on once since about March, and that was only because I didn’t wash uniforms early enough and the school jumpers, which shrink just waving them in front of the tumble drier, were still wet one Sunday night. Yes it was lovely to wake up in a toasty warm house, but we were all groggy and too snuggly to even want to get out of bed, so counter-productive in my eyes!

Some friends, and family, are always bemused to hear that our heating is rarely on even in the middle of winter, unless we have a small baby in the house, and can’t understand how we haven’t all frozen to death yet. But with rising energy costs, doubled with the cutting of tax credits and benefits I know a lot of people will start to feel the pinch soon so I thought I would share some of my simple, yet effective tips to staying warm.READ MORE »

Carrier Bag Charges. Advice from a Veteran

Today, England’s shopper will say goodbye to free carrier bags and will now have to fork out 5p for every new single use carrier bag they use when they do their shop. There has been uproar up and down the country with people complaining about the cost, about the fact that they use their bags for other things, such as bin bags, picking up dogs mess and a variety of other uses. About the fact they can’t hoard carriers in every drawer or cupboard.

But the reality?

As always it’s the negative voices that usually shout loudest and of course, the majority of people know that this is the right thing to do, the way forward. If your not convinced or are unsure about the carrier bag levy, here are some facts and advice from me to you.

England is last of the home nations to bring in the 5p charge. Here in Wales, we have had the levy in place since 2011, Northern Ireland since 2013 and Scotland since last year. We have all managed to survive shopping with the charge in place, we have also gotten quite good at balancing things on top of each other after picking up more items than we were expecting!

Also England, I’d just like to point out that you will be having it easier than the rest of us. Your 5p charge will only apply to plastic bags whereas Wales and Scotland’s applies to all ‘single use’ carrier bags, including paper. Northern Ireland has it even stricter having to pay, a minimum of, 5p for bags made from plastic, paper, plant-based materials and even natural starch!

I have also found out this morning that England’s 5p charge will only affect large stores, like supermarkets, chain stores and those that have over 250 employees. In Scotland Northern Ireland and Wales ALL retailers, even your tiny local chippy or corner shop, have to charge.

Let me tell you…How to paint a camouflage wall

Painting a camouflage wall can seem quite intimidating but by following a few simple steps it can be done quite easily.

STEP 1

Choose your pattern

There’s a huge variety of camouflage around, from the blobby type you find mostly on clothing, to the digital camo of the US Army uniform and everything in between. You don’t want to try and copy the exact pattern, you just want to use the shapes as inspiration. I used one of Lee’s old work T-shirts:

As you can see there are four colours, I was painting this camouflage wall for a military themed boys room so I stuck to ‘Army’ colours but there’s no reason to stick to this. When thinking about buying paint it will be easier if you choose one paler colour which will be your base coat, which you will need more of. Then have at least three other, darker, colours. You will need around half the amount of each.

I recommend using a ‘one coat’ paint as this will mean you won’t

Step 2

Preparation

Fill in any cracks and sand down to make a smooth surface then wash down with sugar soap to make sure the area is clean and dust free. If you are painting fresh plaster you will need to add a mist coat first. (This is just a layer of white paint mixed with water)

Collect together everything you will need, these include:

Four tins of paint
Dust covers to protect flooring and furniture
Masking tape to create straight edges around woodwork and windows etc.
Roller and tray
1 1/2 inch brush
1/2 inch brush
fine paint brush
a pencil
damp cloth for wiping any splashes

Move all furniture away from the wall and protect any surfaces but avoid using the masking tape right until you need to.

Step 3

Paint your base layer

Mask off any edges then, using the roller, paint the base coat and use the 1.5 inch brush to do the cutting in. Remember this should be your palest colour. Unless you are using a ‘one coat’ paint you will need to follow the instructions on the tin as to how long to leave before your second coat.

Step 4

draw your pattern

Using your pencil draw out your shapes, you will find it easier if you mark what colour goes where with the initials of each, remembering not to write where the base colour is as you won’t be painting this again. These lines don’t have to be perfect as you won’t see them under the paint.

Step 5

Painting

Using your brushes start painting your colours one at a time. You will find it easier to keep all your brushes close at hand. The fine paint brush will be ideal for the smaller areas. Don’t add any finer details yet, just do the basic shapes.

If needed add a second coat when dry.

Step 6

Finer touches

If the pattern you have chosen has some finer details, like mine does, wait until the very end to add these.

And that’s it!

I hope this answers any questions you might have about how to paint a camouflage wall but if there is anything you need help with feel free to ask in the comment section 🙂

Happy Painting!

How to Make a Handprint Flower Bouquet for Mother’s Day

These Handprint flowers would make the perfect gift for Mother’s Day, birthdays or simply just to brighten up your day! The fact that they are so simple to make is just a bonus!

What you need:

Paint and brush
coloured Paper
drinking straws
sticky tape
scissors
pot/vase

Step one

Take a willing small child and help them to paint their hands and make handprints. You can take a few approaches to this using a paintbrush to paint the hand, dip the hand into a big blob of paint or squirt a little paint straight into the hand and get them to squish it around.

Once you have managed to get your child to cooperate for a few minutes and you have some nice handprints feel free to let them have some fun with the paint.

Step 2

When your handprints are dry, collect together the rest of your items:

Step 3

Cut out your handprints. To make them sturdy I don’t cut around each finger individually, I have some of these flowers that are over 12 years old and are still looking as good as new! But feel free to cut them out as you wish.

step 4

Use the sticky tape to stick a handprint to each drinking straw:

Step 6

Place your flowers into a pot or vase and enjoy!

I got this small vase in Ikea for something silly like £1. I love the fact that it looks like a milk bottle! It’s a little too tall for the drinking straws so I pushed some spotty plastic inside to give them something to sit on. You could just as easily use pebbles or tissue paper. I then added this little ribbon to pretty it up even more.

I hope you enjoy your handprint flowers for many years to come! You could even add to them each year as you child grows 🙂