Rollercoaster Mum: July 2014

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Tuesday 29 July 2014

The Alphabet Photography Project - L is for...

I haven't had a great deal of time at the moment so for this week's #alphabetphoto I am going for the easy option - L is for...

Love

Ahhhh - no I'm not the soppy type, but I did have a great photo that I could use for this from when Rollercoaster Dad and I went to the Larmer Tree Festival (that's another L isn't it) the other week.

L is for Love, heart, Lostwood, Larmer Tree Festival


For some slightly more inspiring posts do head on over to PODcast and see the rest of the Alphabet Photography Project for L.

Sunday 27 July 2014

Silent Sunday #MySundayPhoto

rainbow bubbles, #mysundayphoto




Saturday 26 July 2014

The Year 2014 in Photos - Week 30

Yay - I made it this week! I think my posts may be a bit sporadic over the summer holidays so you'll have to bear with me. (Making up for it with this one being a bit photo heavy I'm afraid!) Last weekend Rollercoaster Dad and I headed off to the Larmer Tree Festival for a day and had the most fabulous time. We couldn't take the girls as they were still at school (didn't break up 'til Wednesday - sob!) They stayed at Grandma's and had fun making a festival wagon, whilst we joined them later in the weekend and all visited a kids fun day on the local park there.

The week itself has been mainly about cramming in as much work as possible before they break up along with a bikes and picnics at school and enjoying that scorching hot weather. The big news this week though is that we have finally got our allotments in the village after nearly four years of trying - although they don't yet look quite like the model I featured in a post about it a couple of years ago!

Beans on Toast, Garden Stage, Larmer Tree Festival
The awesome Beans on Toast on the fabulous Garden Stage at a sunny, sunny Larmer Tree Festival

Larmer Tree Festival, Flag Circle
The Flag Circle at the wonderful Larmer Tree Festival
chalk stream, freshwater trout
On the way home from Larmer Tree we stopped for a coffee in a lovely little town with a chalk stream running through it and we couldn't believe the size of the trout just hanging in the water - there were loads of them.



homemade Festival Wagon
Meanwhile the Misses were making their own festival wagon - they called her Rosie. She was very well used too! 

bright green Rose Chafer Beetle
We found this gorgeous beetle in Grandma's hydrangeas, I think he is a Rose Chafer Beetle
rainbow bubbles
Loved the giant bubbles they were creating at the kids fun day.

cat face-paint
Little Miss got her face painted too - a pretty little pink cat! 
allotment celebrations
At last we have our allotments - this has been a loooooong time coming. We have campaigned for nearly 4 years and this week we had our first night 'up the lottie''. There is a LOT of work to do before we get to grow anything but it still called for a celebratory beer! 
Tomatoes, sweetcorn, plums, Grow Your Own
Meanwhile our little garden is producing a few crops - we have signs of the first tomatoes, some sweetcorn and plums that are nearly ripe and I harvested redcurrants, blackcurrants and blueberries this week.

water fun in the garden
This week has mainly been about being scorching hot - proper summer weather so the water slide has been well used in the garden.
Linking up as always with our fabulous host - the Boy and Me:

TheBoyandMe's 365 Linky

Wednesday 23 July 2014

The Alphabet Photography Project - K is for ....

I was pretty sure what I wanted to use as an #alphabetphoto for K, I just had to dig out a good photo - so apologies if you have seen this one before but K is definitely for.....

Kite

Bigger Miss got a kite from Santa a couple of years ago and we have had great fun flying it. Such a simple toy really but one which is so much fun and gives such a sense of achievement and satisfaction. I got Little Miss a kite recently too but we haven't had a chance to try it out yet, so here are some pictures of Bigger Miss from last year.

Traditional toys, flying a kite


lets go fly a kite

Flying a kite, Butser Hill


Linking up with the lovely Charly who hosts the Alphabet Photography Project over at PODcast.

Sunday 20 July 2014

Silent Sunday #MySundayPhoto

Peacock Butterfly



Saturday 19 July 2014

The Year 2014 in Photos - Week 28 and Week 29

With end of school year approaching it has been busier than ever and what with all the luvverly sunshine I have been a bit slack on the old blog front so it's two weeks in one again I'm afraid. Currently trying to finish this whilst thunder roars, lightning flashes and rain hammers on the roof - lets hope the sun shines again in the morning.

teacher's gifts, decoupage
Doing some craft - decoupaging the teacher's presents

team talk, mini Olympics
Bigger Miss was a last minute entry into a local school's tournament of Mini Olympics - she even came second ina a race and she absolutely loved the whole thing - it really put her on top of the world. 

new jeans, mini Boden
I was a bit naughty and couldn't resist these gorgeous coloured jeans for the girls in the Boden sale - they were such a bargain and here they are showing them off. Little Miss's top is also Boden. Loving the outfits! 
fledgling Starlings
Spotted these fledgling starlings on the 'phone wires on the school run.



Hydrangea flower
Hydrangeas really are rather lovely.
summer cornfield
OK so this is heavily pimped but it's still a cool view to pass on the school run! 

chilling
Little Miss looking all growed up! 

school clarinet
My beautiful Bigger Miss at her clarinet concert

icing as art
For the last Art Club at school Bigger Miss did icing as art! 
 
Frensham Little Pond, National Trust
And lastly this one - it was such a gorgeous afternoon that as soon as I had collected then from school we changed, grabbed a picnic and headed off to this beautiful spot for a picnic, a paddle and a stroll.

Linking up as always with the far more organised people doing their 365 over at the Boy and Me:

TheBoyandMe's 365 Linky

Friday 18 July 2014

Teachers Presents - Decoupage Magazine Files and Notebooks

Teacher's presents - decoupage files and notebooks
I'm hoping the teachers will like our efforts! 
OK so I realise that this is a little late but if you don't break up 'til next week (like us) and you are fresh out of ideas this is still possible! If you are anything like me I feel there is a certain obligation in Primary School to do some sort of teacher's present, especially at the end of the year, not so much from the teachers but from the kids. They don't want to be the only ones not giving anything. The problem is how to give something they might actually want or use without spending a fortune or going down the predictable wine or choccies route. And of course something which doesn't take forever to do.

Last year we did yarn wrapped pen pots and I was wondering how I might top that when I saw a post on Red Ted Art about decoupage notebooks. The ideas flowed - what could we decoupage? Inspiration came from a trip to Ikea where they had decorated plain wooden magazine files which I thought would be perfect. I wasn't entirely sure how to decoupage or whether we needed fancy glue but after a bit of googling I reckoned we didn't and it looked easy enough for the kids to do to. 

Project Decoupage - Teacher's presents

You will need:
Ikea Knuff plywood magazine files (£6.75 for two)
Big pot of PVA glue (we used Wilko's - £1.50 for 500mls)
Squares of decoupage or origami paper (or just cut up old magazines) - we used a pack of Tiger stores Origami paper (£1.00)
Paintbrush
Pot for glue
Optional -
Clear, quick drying varnish
Washi tape (we used some from Wilko's which was £2 for a couple of rolls)

Decoupage craft, teacher's presents

It really is very easy. Make sure that you have covered the work surface with some sort of cloth (not paper as it might stick!) as it does get very sticky!

Prepare the paper squares or shapes that you want to use. We practised first with pictures and patterns cut from magazines but for the teacher's ones we used squares of origami paper.

Take your magazine file (or whatever it is you are decorating) and paint some glue on it, choose a piece of paper, stick it on and cover with glue. Keep doing this, making sure to overlap the paper as you go and try not to wrinkle the paper, putting it on as smoothly as possible. Keep going until you have covered the whole file. You may need to fold it slightly around corners or cut it a little to go over the curves. Once it is all covered you need to leave it to dry - we left ours overnight (balanced on a jam jar!)

If you want to add any finishing touches then you can washi tape the edges to make them smoother and paint with clear varnish to make them a bit more durable (and cover up a few imperfections!) You could even paint the inside of the files (we didn't bother with this - just too messy and fiddly).

We also decorated a couple of Wilko craft notebooks (£1.75 each) for the teaching assistants. Then the girls wrote a the teacher's names along with a little note for each teacher and I tied them on with some pretty ribbon.

That's it - teacher's present's done - pretty and useful whilst also being quick, easy and cheap (about £4 for the files and £2.50 for the notebooks.) Bigger Miss really enjoyed doing it as well, although Little Miss did get a little bored and I had to help her finish hers.

making teacher's presents, decoupage
The girls busy decoupaging (before Little Miss got bored!)

Thursday 17 July 2014

The Alphabet Photography Project - J is for...

Now, what could the #alphabetphoto for J be for in our house I wonder? Jelly, jigsaws, juice - oh no it just has to be J for...

Jam

Jam is second only to honey as the food of choice for Little Miss and if she approves of this particular batch of Mummy's homemade jam then it probably tops it. She is partial to Strawberry but has recently discovered a love for Gooseberry Jam made with our crop of gooseberries from the garden.  I don't profess to be a master jam-maker but it generally turns out OK and I it certainly gives you a certain sense of satisfaction to produce jars of sticky, delicious goodness from a pile of fruit, especially if it was home-grown too.

Strawberry Jam - homemade

Linking up with the lovely PODcast and her Alphabet Photography Project.

Sunday 13 July 2014

Silent Sunday #MySundayPhoto


#MySundayphoto, yellow orange flower


Wednesday 9 July 2014

The Alphabet Photography Project - I is for ..

I have had an idea what to do for the #alphabetphoto for I for a while so I shall just get on with it this week. I is for...

Iris

I took a picture of this gorgeous Iris in Grandma's garden back when we stayed with her at half term and it hasn't made it on to the blog yet so it seemed like a perfect opportunity to show it off!

gorgeous purple Iris flower

Linking up with the lovely PODcast who takes amazing flower pictures and is lovely enough to host the Alphabet Photography Project.

Monday 7 July 2014

The Year 2014 in Photos - Week 27

What did we do last week? I don't think I can actually remember except that it was sunny and, as always, busy and I have ended up with a lot of photos - sorry!

Garden picnic
Last weekend Rollercoaster Dad and I were busy trying to get stuff done on the scaffolding (so we can get it down and watch normal telly again) so the girls were pretty much left to their own devices. We did task them to prepare a picnic on the garden for lunch though and we even got paper bunting! 

unknown yellow orange flowers in garden
Not sure what this flower is but it's very colourful and  I love that it furls up for the night.

Gooseberry harvest
We picked all the gooseberries off the two bushes now - we almost have enough to make jam! 

Verbena Buenos Aires
My Verbena Buenos Aires is sooo tall. This one is taller than me! 

relaxing
Little Miss has apparently started massage every day in class so she was showing Bigger Miss what it was all about - not sure this was the most relaxing spot though! 

picnic in the garden
Being that it was sunny there were more garden picnics after school.

Scoliopteryx libatrix, Herald Moth
I disturbed this little chap when I was picking the raspberries - he is a Herald Moth - rather beautiful I thought.

thoughtful by the hammock
And on a hot day this is my favourite place to be - swinging in the hammock with a book. Little Miss came to see me and looked very thoughtful! 

child's riddle about The Queen
Little Miss has been doing riddles at school and on the 'meet the teacher' day I spotted this on the wall and took a picture of it. Can you guess who she is talking about? ;)

cat out hunting
We are not huge fans of cats here at the moment as they keep pooping in our veg bed (yuk!) but I saw this rather handsome cat on the way home from the school run.

cornfields and clouds
Another capture from the school run - would have been better with blue skies but I am waiting for the corn to ripen and the sky to be blue to get that perfect shot.
For lots more summery fun head on over to the Boy and Me:

TheBoyandMe's 365 Linky
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