More Girly Shopping

I have made a few shopping trips over the last couple of weeks and found some lovely spring and summer items. I'll be sharing some of my favourites with you. I popped into Mothercare a little while ago and loved the Baby K by Myleene Klass collection, it was so stylish and cute but a little bit pricey. These are the items I picked up:

At mothercare i also found a lovely casual shirt dress from the Jools Oliver collection:

I loved the bright coloured stripes and the material was also lovely and soft. Just perfect for play days.

Finally from mothercare I found this flowy summer dress:

I can't wait for DD to wear it, possibly to the park.

I noticed Next had bought in some pretty spring summer items and couldn't wait to get some. I especially loved the jumpsuits I picked a subtle grey one that could be worn with lots of different accessories for different occasions. I also chose a cute cream floral dress for a party coming up, it's comfortable with a jersey top but a beautiful netted skirt joined. Check them out: 

I hope you enjoyed the post, have you found any nice outfits for your LO's.

A new hobby

Pinterset is such a bank of awesome ideas, and when I was surfing one day I came across some crochet projects that were just beautiful and I was suddenly inspired to learn. I really didn't know where to start, when researching I found that all that is needed is crochet hooks and some yarn so I went ahead and ordered these from ebay. I couldn't wait to start. 

YouTube is great for tutorials on anything you would like to learn, and there are many crochet tutorials out there from beginners to advanced. When I first watched one it went completely above my head and I didn't understand any of it. Then I came across a really easy to understand video by HappyBerry Crochet http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=dQeq7Hci_qU, she has a very calm voice and repeats steps that are then very easy to follow. I really wanted to make flowers for headbands and this video was perfect. It took a couple of practice runs and there was a lot of undoing but finally I got there and I can't wait to make more and perfect my crochet flower skills before I move on. The possibilities are endless. 

I'm having so much fun with my new hobby. Do you crochet, or have another hobby?

Little Girl Shopping

I have some exciting purchases to share, I've really enjoyed baby girl clothes shopping and just shopping for baby things in general. Who doesn't, right? 

When my DD was born she received lots of gifts that were clothes and all very beautiful but these items are really the first time I've gone proper clothes shopping for her. Here's what I got:

Next

From left to right:

Blue stripy I love daddy top, £4.50 or 2 for £8. I chose this one and the pink I love mummy top which both came to £8. I picked them purely because of the cute slogans and can't wait for her to wear them  with cute leggings or jeans.

Floral t-shirt dress set, £15.50. I really liked this for spring/summer as it was a different to just a dress. It has braces which can be removed and the skirt of the dress is more like very baggy shorts.

Mini clips, £5. Though she doesn't have much hair right now these will be quick and easy to create simple hairstyles when she does.

Bodysuits, £10. I bought these for cooler summer days to be worn under tshirts or dresses to keep her warm yet stylish.

H&M

To be honest not much in the H&M baby girl section caught my eye, it was all rather boring. I picked up this cute pink hat (£3.99) though for the spring days and a simple navy cardigan (4.99) as my little girl seems to have lots of navy in her wardrobe. 

Gap

Navy leggings, £6.95. I loved the cute bows on the hem of these leggings which can't be seen too well in the picture. 

Colour block dress, £14.95. The simplicity of this dress really made me like it. It was a nice soft material too and comes with bloomers. I can't wait for her to wear it.

Zara

Zara were having a end of season sale and I picked up these sale items.

Left to right:

Checked dress, sale price £9.99. I loved the style of this dress and it's uniqueness to other items in DD's wardrobe. I'd pair it with tights or leggings and a cardigan, perhaps navy or a dark brown.

Trousers, sale price £7.99. I'd mainly bought dresses on this shopping trip so decided to get these stylish trousers. I liked the zips and the neutral colour which will go well with most tops. 

Dress, £9.99. This was a nice surprise as it was marked £14.99 but reduced to £9.99 at the till. It has tiny navy flowers and also a belt.

Mamas and Papas

My last stores of the day was mamas and papas for some toy shopping where the two items were 10% off. 

Activity Spiral, £16.95. As my daughter is starting to notice the things around her I love that this spiral has a few different things she can play with when we're travelling. It has a rattle and chime and looks fun on the car seat.

Tummy time toy and rug, £25.95. Usually tummy time for my little one would be on the changing mat but this rug is lovely. To start its so soft and comfortable and has a few simple toys to catch the child's eye. It's good for helping children to lift their head and lift using their arms and other milestones in the first few months. It also rolls up when not in use so good for saving space. 

Have you purchased anything exciting for your little ones recently? 

Cute as a cupcake

Who loves cupcakes?! That's right, we all do. I love baking cupcakes but today was a little different, I made a different kind of cupcake. Take a look:

Using the same pack of scrapbook paper I've used in another project (Papermania vintage notes) and buttons I created a pretty piece. Read on if you'd like to have a go too.

You will need some scrapbook paper, a frame this one is from ikea, buttons of your choice and letter stickers and also washi tape of your choice (not pictures)

First I cut my background scrapbook paper to fit the frame and cut a cupcake case from floral paper. I stuck the case on and began to lay out the buttons, I decided to use larger ones at the bottom and smaller ones as I moved up. I pretty much just went with the flow.

I then removed the glass from the frame and placed this in. The case looked a little bare so I added a strip of washi tape and used some letter stickers to write 'cute as a'. I love it and it was so quick to do. Have a go using any colours to create a piece for any nursery, child's room or even your own bedroom. It would even look pretty as a notebook cover too! 

Scrapbook paper decor

I fell in love with this scrapbook paper when I saw it on amazon. It's the Papermania Vintage Notes 12x12 scrapbook paper. 

I loved that it had the perfect pastel shade paper that would go really well in DD's nursery. I'd seen this decor on Pinterest that I thought was so cute.

So I decided to change it a little to create my piece. I used a single bird instead of the two.  I decided to use a very neutral background paper so all the focus was on the bird. First I started by cutting out all the different parts and placing them on the paper as I wanted. 

I then stuck everything down using a glue stick and added details like the legs, tail and beak with a brown pen. For the eye I used a white circle that did hole punched from white paper and drew a closed eye on it very simply. 

I then placed it in a simple white frame ready to go onto the gallery for DD's room, I love it!

I'm thinking about painting the frame pink, what do you think?

Personalised Plate decor

I have a real love for all things personalised! I really wanted to create a wall gallery for my DD's nursery, something similar to this:

Photo credit: http://asmallsnippet.com/2013/08/nursery-reveal.html 

I am still in the process of creating the different pieces and a few days ago had a go at a personalised plate for the

gallery. I started with a detailed white plate from ikea

I created a template for the letter I wanted, I just used paper but it would have been better with card. 

I found a font I liked online and traced it on the paper then cut out the middle, paced this on the plate and painted..

I then removed the template. Again the finish would have been sharper had I used card, but I'm happy.

I then added some sticker that matched the theme of the room to the plate. 

Have fun personalising plates, or anything else for that matter. 

Wall Art Craft

I'm currently in the process of completing DD's nursery and have been having fun with some wall art. It started with a trip to bm bargains where I found these inexpensive hanging hearts.

They looked very boring so I decided to spice them up a little and create a cute wall art piece. I used glue to place white card with stickers (which I found at Toysrus) attached to each heart. 

White card with a sugar and spice sticker.

Two hearts placed over each other on white card

This was a piece of an old birthday card that I cut out and used. 

Another sticker placed on white card for the final heart. I also placed buttons around it to liven it up even more. 

I finally added some ribbon onto the string.

I was really happy with how this turned out, and it can be done with any piece that has hollow spaces and you can customise however you want creating a piece of art for any theme. 

I had fun making this and maybe it's inspired you.