Fairies in the Garden

Spring has sprung and the tulips are in bloom so we decided to keep the flower fairies happy by creating a little home for them. The idea of a little home quickly turned in to a princess style tower under Scarlett's direction. So here we have it: Fairy Towers. 

Fairy Towers

To make the fairy home and garden we collected a pot tray to contain the whole thing, a plastic tube for the tower (this was an old tennis ball tube), pink fish tank pebbles, a sheet of craft foam, a handful of coloured lollypop sticks from the craft supplies, some sparkly bits to decorate, 2 plastic party cups and a marker pen. 

We then set about the garden to get some plants for the fairies. I took some rockery plants, a small thyme plant and ivy. I planted the ivy into the two party cups, cutting a hole in the bottom for water to drain. 

I then cut the end off the tube to become the roof.

Ready to add to the tower

I also made a window for the second plant to grow out of. I dropped the cups into place pulling the ivy out of the windows. I then wrapped the tube in the foam sheet, in hindsight I would have drawn the bricks onto the foam BEFORE sticking it to the tube, not after, it was annoying!

Please ignore the tape, this was put on whilst waiting for the glue to dry so we could carry on making the tower, who knew 3 year old's were so impatient! 

After adding a door outline with a different colour felt we added the tube to a plant try filled with soil. 

We built up the soil around the base of the tower to add support and depth to the small garden. We planted the thyme next to the tower to look like a small tree and planted the other plants around the mini garden. I made a picket fence with the coloured lollipop sticks and used the pink pebbles to create a path. We made a swing (to match Scarlett's one, on her request) out of lollipop sticks. Scarlett decorated the roof with sequins and glitter glue whilst I added on details with the marker pen. We made a right mess but we had fun. 

Almost completed.

We then very carefully carried the fairy house into the rockery corner of the garden ready to find a new inhabitant. It's nicely sheltered there so hopefully wont be too destroyed by the elements. I just need to add a bit of moss around the plants to bring it to life. 

A quiet little nook. 

After picking the rest of the pink pebbles out of the lawn we scattered them along the fairy path to lead to the house, nicely tucked away waiting to be discovered by fairies and children alike. 

Fun Lunches -Commotion in the Ocean

Scarlett had such fun with her Robot lunches last month I thought I would continue the themed lunches every now and then. I used Scarlett's current favourite book Commotion in the Ocean (it's a great read for toddlers and a lovely colourful book) for inspiration.


In preparation for the lunches I bought some rice paper shapes, star fishes, octopuses and crabs. These only cost £1.09 delivered and I've got plenty to keep us going for a while.


I started by making some fun shaped mini bread rolls. They're supposed to be a crab, octopus, then two round rolls topped with the rice paper shapes which I put on before baking so they stuck on properly. The shaped rolls are he ones Scarlett enjoyed the most, she has a good imagination!

Sea creature rolls

For her first lunch she chose the crab roll. I cut out some seaweed shapes from green felt to accentuate the theme. I did her a veg snack box and cut out some carrots into fish shapes, Made some colourful fruit kebabs and some pretzels for whale tails.

Crab Lunch

The next one was the octopus. I then folded a strip of card and used it to hold some Indian snacks and a pot for home made ketchup. I then used cauliflower and cucumber for a coral look.

Octopus Lunch

And finally the star fish lunch. This one has more "fish" themed food as my shopping had been delivered by this point. I have some fish shaped baked crackers, in the jar (old plastic container from cake sprinkles) are ocean shaped fruit chews mixed with yoghurt covered strawberries. I then made Jellyfish fruit picks, made from a strawberry and a length of banana cut with a star cutter to give the ridge look (I covered the banana in lime juice to stop them from browning). Finally a sandcastle yoghurt pot.

Starfish Lunch

These aren't the most artistic lunches I've seen online, but they are fun and best of all Scarlett really enjoyed eating them.

Fancy Dress Clothes Rack..from a CD storage unit?

Scarlett loves her imaginary play which means her fancy dress collection is quite vast, taking over half of her wardrobe and numerous toy boxes. So as part of my on going plans to put both girls in the same bedroom and create a dressing room in the spare room I decided to have a go at making a dressing up clothes rack with built in bits and bobs storage.

The end result. 

I found an old CD shelving unit which we bought from Ikea about 8 years ago and set to work with a jig saw and screw driver to try and create something a bit more useful and pretty.

 The selves before. 

After taking apart one half of the selves I used the two longest lengths as my side pieces to the rack. I cut out a curved top to remove any sharp edges.

Tip: I cut both sides at the same time so both end pieces matched even if I went a bit wobbly with the jig saw.

The unit sides

I took apart the second half of the shelves and cut down two lengths to make the base sides and the backing card to the shelves became the bottom of the storage tray. I used these cut down pieces as a template to cut an old gardening hoe handle which is now the hanging pole. 

I screwed together the side pieces to the base sides.

I then screwed in the hanging pole and lastly tacked the backing card to the underside of the base to create the storage tray.

Lastly using over some left over paint from decorating the hallway and our bedroom I painted the unit. I kept the hanging rail free from paint as it would wear off after time anyway.

I did the last coat of paint this morning and it was finished. I've just ordered some wooden hangers which should make it look a bit more uniform and ordered.

Scarlett loves it as she can reach all her favourite dresses and change outfits as many times as she likes.

Mirror Revamp - Once Upon A Dream

After a good Friday spent repainting my hallway, stairway and landing I looked at my landing mirror this afternoon and realised it did not go with any of the new décor. So in true thrift style I spent about half an hour collecting bits of inspiration from around the house and decided to revamp the old mirror into something new.

This literally only took me a couple of hours using some left over wall paint, buttons, broken bits of jewellery and good old super glue.

I forgot to take a before shot but this gives you an idea on how it looked before.

The before shot (actually just the unpainted back)

Firstly I painted the frame in some left over wall paint. Then whilst that dried I got out my button box and old jewellery and started mapping out ideas.

Then after watching The Voice finals I put super glue to button and started sticking it all down

Tip: I used puppy training pads to protect the flooring. 

These are water proof and absorb any spillages.

I also found this pendant which I have attached to the bottom of the frame. I'm thinking I might use the holes from the chain to hang a little sign, if I find something that catches my eye. 

Lastly I spotted this "Once upon a dream" logo on the back of a birthday card I'd gotten from Anya. I thought it looked cute so I cut it out and stuck it in the top corner. 

And there we go it's done. The best bit is I remember all the bits of jewellery I used, and who gave them to me and when, All those bits that had too much sentiment to throw away, but now I get to see them all again and enjoy them in this new space. 

Looking much brighter than the old black frame. 

Love my new mirror frame...now I'm looking at the lamp shade and thinking how dull that looks. I might need to stock up on more super glue! 

Scarlett's Veg Box - 1 month

 All peas growing nicely up the fairy houses. Sprout trees are starting to sprout and the carrots are coming along too. We've added a second wigwam too which according to Scarlett is for the elves to live next door to the fairies.

Inspecting the vegetables

Only a little time to wait until we can start to enjoy our efforts.

An Eggcellent Alternative to Chocolate

An eggxpertly finished chocolate alternative gift for Easter.

So we're on a tight budget, which means I have to think a little out side of the egg box when it comes to getting multiple gifts for family members. We are visiting family over this Easter break, and I know they are getting gifts for the girls, so I thought it would be nice to reciprocate. Plus Scarlett is of the age now where she loves giving gifts too.

I needed to purchase at least 5 presents, with most decent eggs are at least £5 to £10 a go for something more than basic and that's just too much for me to spend.

Thinking alternatively I headed to my local garden centre which always have a few managers specials, which are usually less than perfect plants with a very, very good discount. I got lucky and found these.

Hyacinth

I picked these up for £1.12 for 3 plants, I then put them into pots I had saved back. These two pots were given to the kids in last weeks Robot party and contained the party favours. So they were free.

I then cut out some rabbit and egg shapes from some free wall paper samples I picked up from the local DIY shop.

Rabbits and Eggs

Using a strip to wrap around the plant pots I stuck the eggs and bunnies in a pretty pattern. Scarlett enjoyed doing this bit and I let her colour some in for a fun Easter craft.

Ready to wrap.

And we are done. Easter flowers in a pot, with home made decoration for £1.12 or total £5.60 (about the price of just one egg)

They last longer than chocolate and smell just as sweet. Easter on a budget!