Monday 14 September 2015

BIG CLOTHING SALE!!

Hey guys!

As our house move is imminent, I need to get rid of stuff.. Boo! I'm trying not to cry.  I have to be realistic though, I can't keep everything.  So, at present, my eBay account is full to bursting with goodies.  Everything from 6 months to 6 years and some ladies stuff to boot.  It's worth checking out to grab some bargains!  All fantastic brands, Molo, Katvig, Polarn.  Independents too!

Head over here!

Katvig, Smafolk, Molo, Little Bird, The Mini Classy, Bobo Choses, Brights and Stripes, Zara, H&M

Friday 11 September 2015

Funky Kid Friday - changes afoot!

I have exciting news my lovelies!  It has been more than apparent that I have been struggling with hosting FKF in recent times.. because I suck at blogging/being a blogger/life has been getting in the way.  The super lovely Hannah who writes over at Make, Do and Push contacted me and asked if I'd be interested in having a co-host and I bit her text finger off!

Sooooo... as from now, Hannah and I will host Funky Kid Friday TOGETHER! Yay!  I for one am very excited about this.  I'm happy to have some "new blood" involved, as it were, I'm happy because I like Hannah and her blog.  I love her style, ethos.  There are a lot of similarities between us (love of non gender specific kids clothes, home birth, hypno birthing) so I think we'll do a great job.  It'll take a bit of pressure off me which is just as well because IT LOOKS LIKE WE'LL BE MOVING HOUSE IN UNDER TWO WEEKS OH HELL!!!!

I'm hosting this week, Hannah will host next week and so on.  Other than having two hosts, it'll be the same as ever.  Link up your new, and old, if you wish, kids fashion posts.  Please do visit others who join in.  Comment here, comment there, comment everywhere!  Spread the word.  Tweet us so we can RT your links.  Link back to whoever is hosting that week in your post (please do do this, it's a big part of it) and then get excited, because it might be your post that gets picked as our favorite from that week!

That very neatly brings me on to my top pick from last week.  I adored all 4 from last week but the item of clothing I most loved was Addison's Gardner & The Gang dress.  A brand who I've known about for a while now and do like, but for some reason have never bought.  Addy looking so cool has made me think I really need to rectify that!  If you want to read again, pop over here to Kara's lovely blog.

Now.  On to this week.  The linky is below.  As I'm a bit snowed (clothed) under this week (I've got to sort out a pile of clothing that needs to be sold that is now taller than me!) I'm just going to link a post of mine from earlier in the week below.  Please link up your own, and.. you know the drill!

Next week we'll be over to Make Do & Push to link up!

Happy Friday!

X

Wednesday 9 September 2015

Seasons change; practical AW15 fashions for kids

September.  One of my favorite months.  Of course, it is the month that sees the return to school and the end of the summer but I often find that weather in September is lovely.  Days are often quite warm and sunny but there is the added benefit of slightly snugglier nights in and dewy morning mists with autumnal fragrances in the air.  Autumn, that season of mists and mellow fruitfulness.



Leaving June and July far behind, it's the time of year where layers are extremely useful.  It's not quite time to bring out the winter coat, it's not cold enough.  But the winds can bite and the rains come down all year round!!  I find with my boys it works well if they wear a fleece and then we carry a fold up mac or thin raincoat which can be used on top.

A brand I think do this very well are Joules.  Their fleeces are warm and very soft.  Soft being key with my boys and many children I think!  No one likes scratchy clothing!  The Joules clothing range includes a variety of coats and jackets ranging from thinner fold up rain macs.  These are great for popping over thick jumpers or fleeces but also easy to carry around.  I like to keep pack up macs in our car for emergencies!  I also keep one for myself in our buggy shopping bag.  You never know!  It's true that you can pick up cheaper rain macs but I can vouch for the quality in these, something you appreciate when the rains start to fall and the wind blows.  The elastic is tight enough and the zips are tough.  I've been caught out before in cheap macs and ended up wet and freezing!

Joules Hunter Kids Autumn 2015


I don't just think about coats in Autumn,  I take a good look our wellies, check they still fit and, most importantly, check they are watertight!  Another thing I've learnt to check from experience.  Puddles aren't quite so much fun when you can actually feel them!  Over the years we've had various brands of wellies but my favorites have to be Hunter and Joules (again!).  We all currently have Hunter but Ethan just grew out of his Joules mustache print wellies (can't wait for Felix to fit them!) and I just had to replace my pheasant print ones are a few years hard use!  I rate both brands for wellies, they are hard wearing, warm and have chunky soles with good grip.  Very useful when chasing a two year old around a muddy wood!



What are your essentials for Autumn?  Anything you can't do without?  I'd love to know!

Tuesday 8 September 2015

Decor inspiration for kids rooms

I've mentioned a few times that we are moving house.  Ever since we accepted an offer on our house and had our offer accepted on another house, I have been thinking about decorating.  I am slightly scared of the work that will need doing when we move (bathrooms, kitchen, carpets etc) but I am very excited about having a blank canvas again!

The rooms I am most excited about are the boys rooms.  Decorating children's rooms is so much fun.  One of the reasons I love Instagram so much is that there's just so much wonderful kids decor inspiration on there.  I think my boys already have pretty cool rooms but I'm looking forward to starting afresh in the new place.

I'm thinking white walls, feature posters/walls, cool shelves..  My boys already have the makings of super cool rooms but I think with the right carpets and walls they could really come alive.  Ethan likes the idea of a Minecraft theme so we're thinking maybe a Minecraft mural on one of the walls.  He's asked if his bedding could be made to look like a Minecraft bed (easy enough, a red duvet cover and a white pillow case!).  I love the idea of getting Ethan a high sleeper at some point.  I adore the way high sleepers allow you even more floor space to play with.  Plus you get the thrill of sleeping up high.. And, to be entirely honest, it's one of those things I always wanted as kid but never got.  Like a slide from a bed.  Wow, I would love something like that.. Nothing like vicariously living through your child!



For Felix, I want to go very Monochrome.  I am in the process of making a car play mat for him.  I fell in love with a car mat/rug that H&M were selling, it was black and white, but it went out of stock far too quickly.  So I thought, why not make my own?  I've bought a large piece of black faux leather/PVC type material and a white fabric pen.  I'm going to cut it to size and then draw on roads and a town!  I hope that it'll look good and make a nice focal point for his new room.  I'll have to feature that on the blog when it's done.

Humpty Dumpty room decoration, homify, kids bedrooms, monochrome
Designer: Humpy Dumpty Room Decoration via homify
I think the biggest issue I'm going to have is knowing when to stop.  Probably never.  What with Instagram, Pinterest and all the other websites dedicated to decor inspiration I'm going to need a bottomless purse!  Talking of cool inspirational websites, I stumbled across homify.  I think they have images of just about everything decor-wise you could imagine on there!  Slides from beds?  Check! Colour schemes? Check.  It's endless.

Image Source: homify.  Designer: Raumdeuter
I'm not sure if I ever will live out the fantasy of a slide from a bed but it is such an epic idea.  What I love about all these cool rooms is how they inspire creativity and imagination.  I can't imagine a child wanting to leave rooms like these either, which is great for parents;  nice and easy to have a cheeky cake, coffee and book break that way!

I love the colours used by designer Desjeux Delaye in this room.  It still has a monochrome feel.  I love the softness of the grey and the colour pop of the blue.  Good sturdy looking ladder as well!

Designer: Desjeux Delaye via homify
For now, I will have to be happy with taking screenshots from websites, pinning on Pinstagram and loving photos on Insta.. in the hopes that one day soon folks will be doing the same with the images I share of my boys news rooms!  Not long now, I hope...

Where do you like to get decoration inspiration from?  Or are you a source of inspiration yourself?!

Saturday 5 September 2015

Save Syria's Children

It Could Have Been Me #SaveSyriasChildren


I don't think I need to tell you what this blog post is about.  I don't think I need to mention that photo.  This week the refugee crisis in Syria has become pretty much all anyone is talking about.  Of course, it has been happening for years.  All summer long we have heard about drownings and deaths due to people fleeing their homes in an attempt to seek safety.  It took one distressing photograph to bring this to a head though.

I am a mother.  Seeing the photograph of that darling little boy washed up on a beach broke my heart.  It is stuck in my head on replay.  Every time I close my eyes I see him.  My thoughts when I saw that photo were "What if?"  What if that were my child?  Ever since becoming a parent I've been plagued by the thought that I might loose my children.  That they might go to sleep one night and never wake again.  That a car will run them over.  That they will get cancer.  Those things could happen, of course they could, and I pray they don't.. but.. but, due to where I live, in a comfortable home, with a regular income and with little threat to my safety, I can be pretty sure my child isn't going to die at sea after a desperate attempt to reach a safe place.

So much happens in this world of ours that I feel helpless to change.  So often we are caught up in the minutiae of our daily lives.  Getting the kids to school, getting food on the table, trying to keep up with hobbies, friends, family, our fitness.  Something about this photograph has made almost all of us stop and think for a moment though.  It's like that saying, "There but for the grace of God go I".  If we had been born elsewhere, we might not be worrying about whether we will be 1 minute late for school but if we will even make it down our street alive.

This week I have been struck by the desire to do SOMETHING to help in this crisis.  I am not in a position to take a refugee in to my home.  I don't have a heap of spare money.  What I do have, though, is a small social media presence.  I am part of a wonderful community of bloggers and together we are hoping to make a difference.  There are various ways we can help in this crisis, there's an Amazon wish list that has been set up to help refugees in Calais.  There are various charities offering to collect up care packages (spare clothing, toys, toiletries, food) and charities like Save The Children are accepting donations to help the refugees.

As for us, we are trying to raise awareness and encourage donations by sharing photographs of our children.  It's a small and simple thing to do but we hope one that will attract attention and draw donations in.  Because we need people to know about this.  We need them to be educated and we need to help in any way we can.  We are human,  The refugees are human.  They are in need and we CAN help.

#SaveSyriasChildren

Save The Children - Donation terms & conditions

Make a web donation.

Save The Children - Syria Appeal

Friday 4 September 2015

Funky Kid Friday - AW15

It's Friday, so it must be Funky Kid!  Here we are for our weekly fashion fix..

I have to be honest, over the last few weeks I've been debating whether to keep FKF running or whether to throw in the Bobo Choses towel.. I know that I've not done it justice for a while.  I am rubbish at actually commenting on your lovely posts and I feel terrible about that.  I know that I need to make more effort.  Otherwise what is the point in you guys linking up?  I know this is a small linky but it's never going to get any bigger if I can't even make the effort with a few peeps joining in.  I think I find it tricky because at the moment the only time I can really do blog stuff is when Felix is at nursery.  Which is for 5 hours a week.  In those 5 hours I have to try to fit in the house work and other chores as well.  Felix continues to be a very full on child who requires constant interaction and supervision.  He doesn't really nap any more, is often not asleep until 8:30/9pm and wakes at 5:30am.  There is very little time for anything!  Everything in my life has slipped.  Exercise?  Forget it!  Anything I want to do comes at the cost of me getting enough sleep.  As we are in the process of moving house I am trying to sell as many of our bits and bobs that we no longer need..  I also have various craft projects on the go.  Most nights I get to bed a bit after 1am and I'm often up with Felix by 5:30am.  So I am chronically tired.  Leading to a need for a coffee, treat and wine every day!!!  I know much of this isn't unusual for a parent of young children, but it's my reason for being a bit crappy with blogging.

All that said, I don't want to give up on FKF yet.  I'm going to try to schedule some reminders on my phone to get me to visit the blogs who've linked up.  I try not to do too much social media stuff when Felix is awake because it always seems a little neglectful to me.  I'm also going to give a little back.  I've decided to add an extra feature to FKF - my pick of my fave outfit from the previous week!  This will give you guys a little shout out :-)

OK, enough blah.  On to the fashion.  In the last few weeks we've seen super cool brands like Mini Rodini, Bobo Choses, Indikidua, Beau Loves and Pop Up Shop launching their AW15 ranges.  As these are quite high end brands, I can't afford to get everything in the collections - that would bankrupt us!! But I do try to get one or two items from most of the ranges.  So far I've bought a few Bobo items and one from Mini Rodini.

This season BoBo have an outdoorsy feel with their "The Unknown Mountain Journey".  I love all the new prints, in particular the moon print.  I'm a sucker for anything with a moon on.   I've got a moon print raglan tee for Felix, a moon print denim bag and a gorgeous snuggly warm infinity scarf - which I'll probably wear myself!

Mini Rodini are all about animals in their prints with a bit of a jungle feel this time.  I am completely in love with the peacock print so that was a must for me.  I got a sweater for Ethan to wear.  It's stunning.

Bobo Choses Mini Rodini AW15 Peacock, Moon, Mountain


As always with these brands, the quality is fantastic.  Which you would expect, for the price.  Whenever the boys are wearing their new items or I use the moon bag, I have a big smile on my face.  I love how cheering they are!

Have you bought anything from the new ranges?  Please do link up your kids fashion posts below.  Next week I'll be featuring my first fave outfit!

Happy Friday! X