DIY Lightbox

As the nights draw in, this is a fun activity to do in the dark! I've been meaning to make Eden a lightbox for a while now, I just couldn't figure out how I'd do it. Lightboxes can be really expensive to buy, and I've seen them for sale at £80-£100. The lightbox I've made for Eden cost just £3.50 - bargain fun! Today we experimented with various objects I found in Eden's bedroom, but I've got lots of plans for explorative play with it, particularly over these forthcoming dark winter months where more time is spent indoors.

Setting up the lightbox: plastic shoebox and battery-powered LED light

Testing out various objects

"I wonder if I glow too?"

Plastic milk bottle tops

Check out more play ideas here:

Autumn Screech

When my husband was growing up, he and his siblings were often taken for a Sunday afternoon walk to the local woods. The walk was referred to by his family as a 'screech' - a chance for fresh air, to let off steam, for some family time and a good-old run around.

Last Sunday we took Eden for an autumn day 'screech' around Cannock Chase. Having relocated back to the Midlands 6 months ago, we're keen to explore the local countryside. Cannock Chase reminded us a lot of the New Forest, which is near to where we moved from, minus the ponies.

We ran through the leaves, climbed trees, collected pine cones and had a great family time together! Autumn's a lovely time of year to have fun exploring the great outdoors. 

Advent Calendar Bunting

I'm not very talented when it comes to 'crafty' things - I just don't have the patience for perfection. The pragmatist in me just likes to get on with it and give it a go, and hope for the best when it comes to the results. I really do like attempting to make things for Eden though, and I hope in years to come when she's older she can look back at all the things I 'made with love' for, despite them being far from perfect.

My latest make for Eden is an advent calendar in the form of bunting. I did a google search typing in 'DIY Advent Calendar' to get ideas, and I based my bunting on a similiar idea from Pickles. 

I'm really chuffed with the results! The fabric cones aren't too difficult to make for a complete novice like me. I picked up my sewing machine a month ago from a car boot sale for £4 - it's very basic and only just coped with some of the thinner materials that I used. Thankfully, because the cones are all lined inside, all of the stitching and hems are on the inside too so it's a very forgiving pattern for mistakes!  I didn't fancy attempting to stitch numbers onto each cone, so instead hung some number beads off the bottom of each one.

Here's some photos of the finished bunting - shame it's another 2 months before we'll be using it. I plan to put a chocolate coin and a Christmas activity/preparation for the day inside each cone.

Picture Post: Sponge Shape Painting

Bubble Fun!

Flowers

Just wanted to post some piccys up of the flowers in our front garden border. Regular readers will know since buying our house 3 months ago we've had a lot of work to do on it - both inside and out. I'm proud we've got to the stage where we can enjoy the end result of our hardwork.

Silent Sunday

Silent Sunday

Adder

We went for lunch and a walk in the New Forest today with our friends Paul and Katty Woolcock and spotted this adder in the middle of the footpath! Never seen an adder in the wild before!