New Addition to the Family! :)

Recently we had a new addition to our family - a lovely healthy little girl!!!

Sisters :)

Scone and sun day :)

We love scones that were freshly baked and served with fresh clotted cream and raspberry jam :)

So here's our favorite recipe :)

Ingredients:

400g self-raising flour

1 tbsp caster sugar

80g butter

250ml milk

and some flour for dusting

Preparation:

1. Oven on 220C. Line baking tray with baking paper and dust it with flour.

2. Sieve flour to the bowl, add sugar and butter and rub it together with your fingers, 

until it looks like bread crumbs.

3. Add milk and mix everything together until you've got a nice ball ow dough.

4. Roll it to about 2cm thick and cut scones with a round biscuit cutter

 (or scone cutter if you've got one).

5. Put them on the baking tray with 1-2cm gaps between them and brush them with some milk.

6. Bake in the oven for about 15 min or until golden :) 

Serve with raspberry jam and clotted cream or butter 

Mmmmm... Looking all rustic :)

Relaxing with daddy :)

Project: Backgammon Board from Floor Tile :)

WE love playing backgammon. Last summer while we were on holiday in Preila (Lithuania), we found a perfect outdoor backgammon board near the place where we were staying. Some artists during their summer camp made it out of old plywood board and some pebbles from the beech. Since then we were thinking of making something similar our selves. We had some tiles left from flooring our kitchen. So my husband got one out and I started painting :) 

Here's how it came out :)

Painting the tile

Painting finished. We sprayed it with few coats of plastic

First game :)

Amber dice

Black and pink pebbles 

Recycling Project: Coffee Filter Butterflies :)

A friend of mine had couple of boxes of old coffee filters that she wasn't using. So I thought maybe I can somehow incorporate them in our art projects. Here's one of  them that we did.

We used coffee filters, scissors, paint and wooden clothes pegs.

(click on image to enlarge)

I've cut the rough side of the filter first, then cut the other side open.

We then painted them 

We used old wooden pegs as bodies

With a peg on

Cut antennae out of another filter, pegged them and voila!

We are using them as a dining room decoration :D

Cardboard Box Fun :)

My little one's favorite song at the moment is 'Row row row your boat' :) So inspired by her I've 'constructed' a little boat for her out of a cardboard box :) All I used was a box, some tape and scissors!

All taped and ready :) Even soft cushion inside :D

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7otAJa3jui8

Daddy is joining in too!

Summer Rain :)

Who said that rain should go away and come another day? :) Let it rain!!! So much fun for little ones!

Nice warm shower after and you're sorted :) 

How to Keep Kids Busy on a Rainy Afternoon :)

What to do with kids on a gloomy rainy afternoon? What would you do? Maybe some beauty therapy? But we don't one little ones starting polishing their nails and slapping creams on :D So I came up with an idea. I collected few bottles of cheep nail varnish together, some paper and pens. We drew around our feet and hands, drew nails and then polished them! They loved it! And the best thing, the boys can try out the girly stuff without losing their pride :)

Home made Fruit Ice-cream :)

I saw a photo some time ago of lovely fruity ice-cream somewhere online. So when it got really hot (which doesn't happen very often in Wales) I thought I'll try and replicate it. It came out pretty good actually! The only thin I would change is probably putting cherries instead of strawberries for the red colour. Strawberries had way too much water in them and just didn't taste of anything.  The rest of fruit (banana, kiwi, blueberries) was great, because it had more body to it. I've packed the fruit into the molds and poured Pina Colada juice mix on top, which added a nice tropical twist to it :) 

Here's how it came out :)

Kid-friendly Chopsticks :)

We eat a variety of foods and often I'll cook some Chinese food. Of course the Chinese food should be only eaten with chopsticks :) And when our little one sees us using them, she wants to try as well. Only problem - her fingers are too small and trying to explain to a two year old which finger is suppose to do what is impossible :D So I made her a pair of chopsticks that are easy to use :) 

She loooved them !!!

I used a wooden peg, cheep chopsticks with flat sides and rubber band.

Testing new chopsticks on pasta :)

New Game with Floral Oasis :)

Here's little something to do on a rainy day with your toddler ;) My little one looooved it! We used a block of floral oasis foam to hammer some nails into :) Great for her motor skills too! Simple and so much fun :)

Queen's Diamond Jubilee Project :)

Even though the Diamond Jubilee celebration was nearly a month ago, I have only now got all the photos together for this post (shame on me). 

To celebrate this great occasion we made a glittering Queen's crown from anything and everything we could find :) We used some yellow cardboard for base, stuck loads of beads, glitter, stars on it. And even used some old stamps with her majesty's face on them :)

Finished crown

Her majesty :D 

And few shots from our street party <3

Recycling toilet paper tubes :)

When it is raining all day and you cannot go outside, you have no choice but try and find things that you can do inside :) I have got a lot of toilet paper tubes that we've collected and here's how we used some of them. With a help of spare laminate floor board, scissors and sellotape we made it into a marble run game. Except we didn't have any marbles so we used metal balls :D