Book Review: Stomp!

Stomp!
Author: Ruth Paul
Scholastic, Softcover, New Zealand



Synopsis:
A dinosaur follow-the-leader story! Follow Ruth Paul's colourful dinosaurs as they HOP, STOMP and ROAR their way through the pages of this beautifully illustrated book. On the outward journey the largest dinosaur leads, until they can go no further ...then on the way back, it's baby dinosaur who gets to lead the way!

This book is delightfully simple.  Few words and gorgeous pictures.  The girls love it and it's especially suited to little ones like my >1 and 2 year old girls.  The words are easy to follow, the pictures clear and beautiful, and lots of things to name and point out - dinosaurs, other animals, actions, etc.  We Love it.

Happy reading
xx

C-r-o-c-h-e-t

Last year my lovely juvely friend Cat and I became Hookers...

Christmas Baubles - Pattern @ Greedy for Colour

Like true ladies of the night, we learned the basics on Friday nights during November 2011 from the very talented and funny Natalie.  Once we got into the rhythm we were hooked!

First Hat - Lesson 2

Since those first lessons full of innuendo, jokes, frustrations and the odd expletive, laughter and scrummy food, we have become more bold and daring in our projects!

Mastering the "Ripple"

I don't have nearly enough time for all my little projects but from Friday night we'll be having monthly crochet/craft nights which should go a little way to scratching some itches!

Cutie Cupcake - Pattern Here

You can read about our lesson evenings here, here and here.

Christmas stars - Lesson 4, just for fun.

Ohh the possibilities...

Stripy Dutch Christmas Bauble

Gifts, decorations, fun...

Granny Square Cushion Cover

I'm working on another new item...just for fun...

I highly recommend it as a hobby!
Go wild, go crochet!
xx

Sunshine ♥

Trouble Anyone?
3 Rays of Sunshine on a dreary day.
♥

Book Review: Mind Your Gramma!

Mind Your Gramma!
Author: Yvonne Morrison, Illustrated by Nikki Slade Robinson
Scholastic, Hardback, New Zealand


We recently gave this book to the girls' Granny. She is referred to as the "grammar police" from time to time by family and friends, so this seemed a rather brilliant book for her to share with the grandchildren!

Synopsis:
Gramma asks me about my day, and I say, Me and my friend played soccer. She says, My friend and I played soccer. I say, At your age? Kids and adults alike will laugh aloud at this series of hilarious misconstruals between a child and her grandmother as Gramma corrects the child's grammar!

We all absolutely love this book - it is hilarious.  Even the littlies at 2 and 4 enjoy it - or maybe they just enjoy the rest of us getting a kick out of it!?  A funny (or alarming) reminder of what's becoming of our language skills.

Gorgeous illustrations accompany this hilarious story.  We will be sharing it with many people and it's already a firm favourite.

Linking up with Remaliah hosting this months' Book Club with a fantastic review of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. 


Happy Reading
xx

Pink is for a birthday girl ...

My biggest baby Anya turned 4 last month.... sob sniff...  So we had a wee party for the big girl and invited some kindy and new friends to celebrate her special day - it's not every day you have a party that doesn't consist of only family friends!

She requested a pink cake (her favourite colour), she loves butterflies, dresses, flowers and fairies...
Pinterest was a great source of inspiration and ideas. 

The Invitations:

The cake:

Paper bunting, butterflies, balloons, cupcakes, food and pink:

Swings, bouncy castle, lanterns, windmills, chalk, ride-ons and climber...

Presents:

A great day for my lovely, sweet, kind and caring Angel.

xx

New Year Cracker Swap - What I Received

I've been pretty slacko on the blogging front lately but life keeps getting in the way...  Hopefully I can convert some of the living into half interesting posts!

In the meantime I've been ready to go on the New Year Cracker Swap for ages but just haven't gotten around to it!

So here's what I received from the lovely host and my swap partner Lisa:

Lovely wrapped packages.

Gorgeous cracker.

Awesome contents containing:

- 5 x ribbons, 

- 6 x fat quarters in lovely colours and patterns

- 3 x chocolately treats

- Stamp and paper

- 3 x colours of buttons

- zip 

- And an additional sewing pattern from Australian Designer Fiona Dalton for Rufus the Dog!

I will be making a few of these!

Thank you for hosting a wonderful swap and for your gorgeous cracker Lisa!

xx

Lisa's New Year Cracker

Late last year I signed up for Lovely Lisa's New Year's Cracker Swap.  Being a bit eager I got it all ready and sent by mid December and Lisa confirmed it arrived later that month.

Lisa's preferred colours are pink, yellow, blue and green, she likes to sew, loves Alice in Wonderland and does mixed media art... So here's what I sent.

The cracker:

My tubing was two craft container stacks screwed into each other filled with buttons, 5x ribbons, 4x packs of glass beads & embellishments, 4x iron on characters.  All wrapped up in the blue cherry blossom fabric.

Bits that didn't fit in the cracker were tied up in this bundle:

It included: Another metre of fabric, binding, pins, pin cushion, embellishments, tissues, 2x rolls of ribbon, a bookmark, a pink crocheted star and... an Alice In Wonderland Rabbit Brooch made by the talented Davina from Art Devine.

Also included was a gorgeous 30 sheet Scrapbook Paper set (Heidi's Garden - much to the delight of my little Heidi), and I really felt that I needed to include something handmade (other than the crochet star!) for this talented lady so I created the Blossom Man :)

I really hope you love all the goodies and they come in handy Lisa!

Happy New Year!

L xx