Calm down, Boris!

The children have been absolutely loving Sam Lloyd and Melanie Watt's Books. Sam wrote Mr Pusskins which we had read recently, but they have fallen hard for her Boris creation in Calm Down, Boris. It is such a great interactive, funny story with a glove puppet feature so you are drawn into the book in a very vivid and powerful way - lots of room for improvisation whilst reading this at bedtimes! Tom has also really taken to Melanie Watt's 'Chester' books featuring a very rude and obnoxious cat who takes over the story with his big red pen on every page.

As for me, I love their work and am trying hard not to be jealous, especially when I read that Sam Lloyd loves yoga, camping, travelling the world and doing voluntary work for children. I think she may actually be leading MY dream life.

Ahem, can I have it back now, please Ms Lloyd?

Etsy Journal

I listed my Creative Journal on Etsy this morning and it is one of the pieces my heart feels very happy with. I read yet another article in the paper this morning about the pressure young girls are under in today's society to conform and succeed and I feel so passionately about them finding ways to believe in themselves and see their life as a brilliant, messy, bright, colourful, crazy journey instead of labelling themselves success or failure depending on how much they weigh or what their exam results are. This journal is hopefully the first of many creative books I hope to make through Blooming Kids addressing some of these issues on a positive, non-preachy way.

On a lighter note, I have been making little recycled paper stationary sets for children which I absolutely love. My youngest two especially, love to write little notes and scribbles at the moment and it is hard to get cool looking stationary with lines for them to write on so I have created Blooming Kids Stationary and it looks lovely! Tom's teacher is the first lucky recipient of a hand-written letter today and after a school year of struggling to get him to write more than his name, he has suddenly told me 'writing has popped out of him' and that he always dreamt he would be a famous writer!

UP up and away

Took the children to see UP this afternoon and found it to be one of the most emotional, beautiful little film suprises I have had. I hadn't read reviews and was preparing to snooze my way through a predictably boring kid's film but instead I struggled to hold back tears throughout and fell in love with every moment of it. A gorgeous message about treasuring the everyday moments, not holding onto bitterness and embracing life.

Bring it on!

Journals

Hello poor, neglected blog...been busy making up some Christmas designs (yikes...kids are already leaving Santa notes in the fireplace!) and I have been happily writing and designing a Creative Journal for older children which I hope to get listed on Etsy soon.
I also have plans to get more inspired with my old Bloggy so hopefully be back on here soon! x

tea time diversions

I am always looking at new ideas to keep the kids happy (and out of the kitchen!) during that time between coming home and eating dinner. If they get bored and start picking at food, getting tetchy, then meal times can be fraught. Tom has very little attention span after school, so this time of day can be the most stressful. Last week I drew them all giant ice-cream sundae glasses and asked them to draw their dream pudding while they waited for dinner. I was amazed how quiet it kept them and they loved it! So I have taken that idea and designed a paper placemat which you could print out from the above photo or copy and paste it onto your desktop for easier printing. You can then either laminate the design to make it a lasting tablemat that can be re-drawn on, or print them out on recycled paper and maybe even take them with you if you know you are going to a restaurant.

Enjoy x