Bike Lights in the Fruit Bowl

Flower pressing...with weeds

One of my favourite activities of the last few weeks has been flower pressing.   It started one sunny day when our patio garden had sprung back into life after the horrible cold winter.  It's a little unloved. Despite it's small size I'm still struggling to properly tame it and make it into an urban oasis.  Yet amongst the chaos flowers were popping up and cascading over the fence from next door.  Little M would have picked every single flower in sight if I'd let her - pressing the flowers seemed like a good diversion to continue the flower based activities without destroying the garden!

Everything we used was grabbed on the spur of the moment - some scrap paper torn into appropriate sizes, a pile of books...and the flowers - that's it.  I had a flower pressing kit when I was young but this rough and ready approach seemed to work just as well. We layered the flowers between pieces of paper - I think we had three layers.  Then we picked a few heavy books - one went on the bottom, then the flowers and then about five more on top.  I popped it on top of a high bookshelf where it would be out of reach and easily forgotten.  I actually expect little M to be pestering to see them every day but the spot I picked was well tucked away and she forgot about them completely I think.

Until one day when we needed something to lighten the mood!  Hey presto - instant sunshine!

 

 

I stepped outside and covered some coloured paper with spray glue - probably not very environmentally friendly but I've had it languishing in the draw for years and this seemed like a good chance to make use of it.  It worked a treat as the fragile flowers could be laid straight onto the paper.

 

The results were slightly chaotic - little M got rather excited by the whole process and stuck nearly all the flowers down in about two minutes! A great two minutes fun though!

I think we should hide flowers on top of the book case more often to whip out when we both need a little cheering up.  I don't think we'll ever quite repeat little M's amazement when she opened up the papers and found the pressed flowers but I'm sure we'll have fun with this many times.

 

Recycled Christmas gift tags

It's probably a heinous crime to mention next Christmas when we've barely recovered from the last one but I thought I should share a very simple family tradition that at least three generations of our family have honoured.  Making Christmas gift tags from your old Christmas cards.  

 We kept our decorations and cards up a little longer than usual this year as we had planned a late get together with family who we hadn't seen over the Christmas holidays.  Unfortunately little M went down with a nasty bug so we had to call the gathering off at the last minute. A real shame not to see people but did mean I got a very rare nap in the afternoon!  Little M, having perked up a bit was helping me take the cards down after an early tea. I remembered that I didn't make any gift tags last year and ended up just scrawling on this year's parcels with a marker pen. So little M helped me pick some cards that would be good for tags and I made some tags there and then - it took less than 5 minutes. It feels nice to be passing the tradition on!

The tags are so simple they barely warrant instructions!  

1. Pick cards you like. Check there is nothing printed or written on the back of the picture. Ones with a small design that can be cut around are ideal but you don't have to stick to these. 

2. Cut out your tags in whatever shape or size you want. 

3. Use a hole-punch to punch a hole in the corner for a ribbon or string to go through.

4. Put them somewhere you'll actually be able to find them next Christmas! (there's a chance I did some last year and just couldn't find them - we've had a chaotic year)

My Grandma always used pinking shears for a zig-zag effect on hers.  I did treat myself to some pinking shears before Christmas - a short cut to get some Christmas crafting done in the limited time I had free (I'd have had some very disappointed girls if their santa sacks hadn't been finished in time!).  I was told in no uncertain terms by the shopkeeper to keep them strictly for fabric.  So I've stuck to normal scissors for my tags!

Green and lovely christmas gifts

December's here, woolies are out and we started the festive season with a lovely day on Saturday.  Little M was impressed by her first ever advent calendar - a basic cardboard, picture-behind-a-door affair but beautifully designed and a novelty for her (from managed forests and printed with vegetable ink in case you were wondering...you weren't?). We also had great fun visiting Stratford's Discover Story Centre.  A friend who is always clued up about lovely things to do with little ones in London invited us along to their Christmas show for 3 to 6 year olds - The House Where Winter Lives by Punchdrunk Theatre Company.  Martin and little M had a brilliant time being whisked through an enchanting, interactive performance.  It was a it too adventurous for babies so little L and I went to Snow Baby storytime at the same venue.  Twinkly lights in a cosy white den and a story featuring every type of 'snow' you could imagine - rustling, feathery, shimmery, floaty, cold, soft - and of course the snow baby itself.  Great stimulation for tiny tots.  What better way to kick-off December? I'm definitely in the mood for Christmas now.

And for once I'm feeling like my Christmas shopping is reasonably under control.  I don't want to give too much away about presents, as family members read the blog from time to time, but I would like to share a few thoughts on things I enjoy giving and receiving that are greener, or a bit more right on than your average bottle of perfume.

1. Top of the list has to be time.  If your life is leisurely, your time will probably be the most welcome gift you could give to the busy bees you love.  Make your own vouchers for baby-sitting, DIY,  gardening, debugging the computer and so on, throw in box of choccies (or some jam) for good measure.  People know they can ask their family and friends for favours, but most of the time they don't, so give them the budge they need.  If you're a busy bee, perhaps you could do with some time outside your usual routine. Taking time to do something for a loved one might be more doable than you think. I've got my thinking cap on!

2. A close second...home-made jam, chutney, or other tasty treats.  Even hand-made by someone else if you'd rather.  Spread some Christmas cheer to someone who earns their money from selling hand-made, posh jam rather than to the giants of the internet and the High Street!  And the recipient can have happy thoughts on toast for weeks and weeks.  If you're making your own goodies, why not spread even more cheer and use some organic, local and Fairtrade ingredients.

3. How about a local food and drink hamper?  I came across the enticing looking Hackney Hamper recently. I guess traditionally, food hampers have been either a local, countryside thing or a very high end affair from well know purveyors of posh nosh in cities.  But actually there's loads of exciting foodie stuff going on in London right now.  Who wouldn't want some Dalston Cola, Jamaican Jerk Biltong Bites from Shoreditch Kitchen, and a few bottles of craft beer from one of London's many small brewerys?  What intriguing goodies can you get round your way? Any good jam?

4. Membership of something interesting or worthy is always good, and most sensible organisations are savvy to the gift market and throw in a good freebie.  We usually get joint membership of the London Cycle Campaign from my sister - great cycling book freebie last year.  Sustrans are a good alternative for bikey people outside London.   But the world is your oyster really - bats, bugs, badgers, and British Co-federation of Freemasonry apparently (it's a link to a newpaper story in case you're wondering)!!  National Trust is always good but unfortunately your membership doesn't get you any discount on their very fine jam.

5. And don't forget about sponsoring a child, a chicken, a goat, a well, a night in a homeless shelter or pretty much whatever charitable item you want these days. Add some homemade goodies, like jam, and I think even the miserliest relative would find it hard to moan. A few good ideas in this supplement last year's Guardian. It's not big, it's not new, but it is clever.

6. I love to give and receive carefully selected second hand vintage finds.  I started my Christmas shopping last weekend with an ebay flurry.  I've given people things from my local Charity shop before.   I'm always looking for an excuse to browse the amazing second hand shops near where we live, or check out some new ones further afield.  Use 'em or loose 'em folks.  Think it's tight to buy second hand?  Well get people bigger and better presents than you could afford when buying new - everyone's happy.  No jam here I'm afraid, unless you find some vintage jam jars to fill up!

7.  You can't go far wrong with stuff people need anyway.  Little M spent most of last Christmas day prancing around in her new winter coat - one of her favourite presents.  We could buy her one at some other point during the winter but it was nice to make it into part of the Christmas fun.  She's due for a new raincoat and a restocking of her stash of tights this year.  I think the trick to pulling this off for kids and grown ups alike is to use it as an excuse to by something a bit more special than people would buy themselves or you might buy for your kids.  Socks get a bad rep, but posh socks are alway good in my book.  Wiggly Wigglers apparently have a Christmas rush on their posh goat socks!

8. For kids, arts and craft materials are good.  Let stocks run a little low before Christmas (or use them up with lots of Christmas crafting!) and then package up some basics with one or two newer novelty items.  Making a fuss of arty stuff should hopefully stimulate a creative burst in January.  If you're feeling really nifty and thrifty you could transform old junk into ready made art materials, such as cutting out shapes from old wrapping paper or attractive pages from old magazines, ready for tots to have a gluing session.  Or create your own project kit including both new and recycled things.  Collect all the boxes, bottles, cardboard tubes etc. that kids would need for a specific project.  Unless you have loads of space to stash lots of junk I'm guessing it's a pretty rare occurance to have perfectly sized boxes and a tube from gravy granuals all handy at the right time for that steam train project!  How about jam jar snow globes?

9. You can't beat plant cuttings for their green credentials.  Been eyeing up someone's finest greenery?  Put your request in early and you could have a piece of it for your very own come Christmas day.  One of the loveliest presents I ever received was a small scented geranium grown from a cutting by a friend, a plant I had never actually smellt before - now one of my favourites.  I tried my very hardest to keep it alive but didn't manage more than a couple of years I'm sorry to say.  I treated myself to a new one this year and it always reminds me of the friend who introduced me to this lovely plant with her special gift. 

10. And if all else fails there is always M&S to fall back on.  You can't help but love a bit of Plan A (their sustainability programme).  I'm still waiting for the first M&S post Christmas refunds queue wedding - it's bound to happen one day that love will blossom for two dissappointed souls whose eyes meet over unwanted pyjama gifts. 

I'm sure there are some people out there that think my suggestions sound a bit stingy, or are saying I'd never get away with that with my 'xyz' year old. I'm not saying that we shouldn't ever buy new stuff, or the latest toy.  When can we induldge a bit if not at Christmas time.  What I'm saying is use a bit of imagination and Christmas can be special when we tread a bit more lightly.

Why not mix it up a bit?  You don't want to become known as the one that always-gives-us-tat-from-a-charity-shop or find yourself on the receiving end of less than enthusiastic 'jam...again' glances.  Of course your talent for finding vintage treasures or making tasty treats may be so legendary that people become disappointed if you revert to standard gift giving practice.  I'm proud to say I've already had a request for "more of the those chocolates you made please" - obviously I did something right last year!

I'm also proud that I've very nearly finished a homemade present each for our two little ones.  Little M will have her own name-in-the-sand picture, taken on the beach on holiday this summer framed in an old photo frame decorated with shells we collected together on the same beach.  Daddy already has a seaweed one and next year it will be little L's turn.  Little L will get the blanket I knitted for her when I was pregnant.  It's just starting to be cold enough for it, and I've only just about finished sewing some edging tape on it! Better late than never eh? Not particularly green but very lovely and very satisfying for me to finally finish something!

How are your Christmas preparations going?  What's your favourite gift to give or receive?

 

 

 

This month I'll mostly be...planning a greener and lovelier Christmas

Each month I attempt a different challenge with a green theme. This month I'm planning ahead (by my usual standards) for a greener Christmas.  I'll also be casting aside my humbug tendencies, avoiding temptation to 'just not bother much', and trying to find creative ways to make Christmas lovely too. 'Bah Humbug' doesn't really cut it with kids around!  Alright, I know we're only a few days from the end of the month, but I promise I've been plotting this for a little while, if not quite finding time to write about it! 

Last week Little M had her first taste of Christmas toy adverts.  I was flicking through channels to put a bit of CBeebies on for her while she was housebound with a stinking cold, when she spotted some Peppa Pig on a different channel.   In my sleep deprived state with weakened resolve and slight brain fog I thought 'why not, can't do any harm just this once'.  She has seen toy adverts once or twice on TV before, and asked me to turn them off, so I was feeling pretty relaxed (well, actually a little bit smug).  Well, we won't be doing that again!  Little M now officially likes adverts.  She said so.  She sat there through two or three advert breaks (back-to-back Peppa Pig!) commenting with her most serious voice "I need that"..."And that"..."And I need one of those".  She even wanted the toy dog that sh*ts just so you can play at cleaning it up (although I have to say she did temper her enthusiasm a little for this one, declaring "I could have one of those" - even at three she has the sense to know no one really wants this!).  

Ridiculous toys and middle-class snobbery aside, I still think of this incident as a truly depressing glimpse the world my little ones are growing up in.  It wasn't so much the toys that I found depressing (I'm not such a scrooge that I think toys are bad), rather the image of a very small child, transfixed by the TV, experiencing desires for things she barely understands.  Several days later those few minutes of TV are still affecting her.  She's been telling (a slightly bemused) Martin about the dodgy dog toy - it appears she was more interested than I'd originally thought - and chattering about how her dolly doesn't have a car.  

I am now more determined than usual not to get sucked into the commercial, consumption overload that seems represent a 'normal' Christmas.  My efforts to tread-lightly on the planet at Christmas vary from year to year.  It depends a lot on how busy I am and how last minute things get.   Shopping for presents is a classic example.  I always try to avoid a big trip into the West End, but often get sucked in when the big day starts creeping closer and my plans to make pressies for people or buy lovely, local treats haven't quite come to fruition.  So I'm planning (a little) ahead this year.  

A spot of green Christmas shopping (and making) is obviously on the agenda.  I'm also hoping to introduce a few new Christmas traditions.  Little M pretty much got the gist of Christmas last year.  This year she's three and even more aware of what's going on.   It seems like a good time to kick-off a few family traditions that I hope will stick with us, and make Christmas special for lots of reasons as the girls grow up.  Not just for the toys and chocolate.  We're not religious and so we celebrate Christmas as a tradition rather than a religious festival.  I think that makes it even more important to be a bit creative, and find joy in other things that make Christmas a lovely and meaninful time of year.  Hopefully, by getting in there early, we'll set the tone for future Christmases before the girls become completely engulfed by peer pressure for the latest craze! 

My first idea for a new family tradition is our 'Sharing is Caring at Christmas' box (suggestions for a catchier name welcome please!).  Little M is really lovely with her sister most of the time, and has turned a blind eye to the gradual handing over of some of her old baby toys.  But, like most kids, she has some pretty strong 'mine-mine-mine' tendencies. I'm all for kids treasuring their own things, and I couldn't imagine a Christmas without individual presents. But sharing is good too, and Christmas is a great time to remember that.  I'm going to give the girls presents to share each year.  And to make them feel a bit more exciting, rather than second best, they'll come in their own shiny  box.  It's not my finest crafting moment (above) but I think it will do the job for the next few years to make the shared presents feel special.  If I'm organised they'll get some hand-made bunting for their bedroom (which they'll be sharing soon - as soon as we can calm little L's sleeping habits down a bit), if I'm not, perhaps some bath toys. And perhaps a music CD.

My other idea is to get the kids involved in a bit of regifting.  I'm going to ask little M to choose some of her own toys to give to her sister and her two cousins.  I'm not going to force her to give away her favourite toy, just gently encourage her to think about what other people might like. We'll help little L do the same.  The girls will also help us choose presents for other people. I'm sure lots of people do this.  I'm plotting a bit of carefully orchestrated present choosing for a few key people.  And I hope to find the time to make things too - little M got involved in making lovely biscuits and sweets from this brilliant supplement on Nordic baking last year (definitely a tradition I could adopt!).  She loved handing them out to relatives.

These ideas are mostly gift related - I'd like to have some other Christmas traditions to share too.  My brain cogs are turning now and I suspect I'll have other ideas over the next few weeks.  They'll ideally be things to do in the run up to Christmas as we're mostly away with family for large parts of Christmas week.  I'd better get my skates on if I'm going to think of something interesting for advent that doesn't involve buying 24 gifts for each of the girls every year!  That's definitely not happening, no matter how green the gifts are.  

I know some people have probably finished their Christmas shopping.  I have only just started but I think I'm doing OK.  So far I've written out my list of who I buy presents for, and I'm not doing too bad in terms of inspiration (I'll be sharing some of my inspiration in another post soon, without spoiling the surprise for anyone hopefully). I've made a start on one or two home-made gifts - there's a fighting chance I'll get them finished in time.  I started my Christmas shopping at the weekend with a couple of bargain games for little M on ebay. I've got some fancy parcel tape  (one is even recycled, recyclable, and made in England) - we might even avoid buying wrapping paper at a motorway service station this year.  It's all feeling quite organised...for me.  

And next week, when hopefully little L will be feeling a bit better (she's the current owner of the stinking cold), I'll start trying to find a baby-sitter so that Martin and I can go to at least one Christmas party together!  

I just need to decide what to do about a tree.  We often procrastinate about this until it get's too close to Christmas to bother with one, especially as we usually spend a lot of the festive season with relatives.  That's not really on.  And won't get past little M this year.  We need to get a tree early enough to enjoy it, or think of some other lovely (eco-friendly) ways to make the flat feel properly Christmassy.  I feel some glitter fun coming on!  I love these tiny trees that will grow up with your family.  I'm pretty sure the combination of my dinstinctly un-green fingers and our tiny, shady yard would spell doom for one, so sadly I don't think it's for us.  

Have you checked out Extra Ethical Christmas yet?  They've got some great tips for an ethical Christmas and prizes from some of the UK's leading ethical brands to be won throughout December.  

I know it's a cliche, but I think the best bit about Christmas is seeing friends and family - particularly as ours are strewn far and wide.  What are your favourite Christmas traditions for making the season special?

 

How little M sees me

I have to confess, when I was tagged in a 'meme' titled How my child sees me by a friendly, fellow blogger,  I wasn't immediately thrilled.  Apart from slight confusion about what a meme is, my immediate reaction (as well as being flattered that Victoria had thought of me) was skeptical.  The idea is that you get one of your children to draw a picture of you and in the process, find out a little bit more about how they see you.  Little M is only just three and isn't a particular fan of drawing (she's more of a singing, dancing, pretending and...er...TV kind of girl) so, on the rare occasions when she can be persuaded to have a go, it's pretty hard to tell what she has drawn (she doesn't always know herself either) let alone glean meaningful insights into her view of the world. But we were couped up for most of the weekend as Martin had injured his foot so and thought we might as well give it a shot. 

We stalled a couple of times.  Little M didn't want to do drawing...so we did painting instead.  She wanted to paint in pink but the white paint had smellt of rotten eggs when we used it a few weeks ago (who knew paint could go off?!) and hadn't yet been replaced...so she chose green.  Three different shades of green to be precise.  Initially when we talked about what we were going to do, she was chattering about pink paint and flowers - I'm pretty sure she was just on pink auto-pilot rather than thinking about me.  But green is actually my favourite colour, hmm, maybe she was on task after all.

Always contrary and always involving everyone she decided she was going to paint the whole family in light green, whilst I was tasked painting with medium green - she let me have free reign over what.

The picture on the right below is little M's family portrait.  In that picture I'm the larger blob on the left, Martin's on the right and little L is in her pushchair at the bottom.  Doesn't look like much but actually, I was quite impressed with how controlled her individual brush strokes were, they just happened to be all on top of one another!  She worked through my different body parts:

...head {pretty good circle}

...legs {blobs on my chin}

...sides of my neck {half-way up my face}

...front of my neck {between the sides - couldn't argue with that}

...bint {pardon little M? it's here...points to temple!}  Until this point I had been pondering what I could do to encourage the development of spatial awareness and perspective in her creative endeavours.  Rewind!  BINT? Where did she learn that?! And THAT action?! I put on my best parent-poker-face and calmly suggested I wasn't sure that there was a body part called a bint and swiftly moved things on...

...to my picture. I'd painted a very, smiley face by this point without any particular features to distinguish it as a family member yet. I showed it to little M.  "MUMMY!" she cried with a huge grin on her face. I was pretty chuffed with this.  I'm definitely happy with being seen as smiley, particularly because, as I do the larger portion of childcare in our family, I also do the largest share of discipline.  Nice to know she thinks I'm generally a cheery sort despite this. Little M finished off my picture with some long green hair, some black "square eyes" (my glasses), lots of night sky and two large glittery shoulders (pictured above left).  She was very pleased with it and so was I.

So thanks, Victoria for the prod to spend some time being creative and bonding with little M.  And for inadvertently encouraging me to get around to putting up little M's art hanging clips (shown in the picture) which I'm ashamed to say has been put off for around a month.  I actually did whilst my cup of tea was brewing, it was that easy.  Painting in, procrastination out from now on I think! 

Now my turn to tag some other new(ish) bloggers apparently.  I'm tagging

Best of 2 sisters  Lovely blog, great idea to share it between two sisters.

Corner by corner  Creating a wonderful family home one corner at a time (completely with you on this Rachel - although feels more like inch by inch sometimes here!)

The cycling mummy  Fellow cycling mum from Newcastle, a place I use to live and have very fond memories of.

More night-time sky painting above.  The romantic little soul wants to sit on our front step and look at the night-time sky every evening when we get home from nursery at the moment.  Kids are good at spotting what's important in life!

Super broad bean painting

I'm lucky enough to have my own 'mini-plot' - a large raised-bed in the grounds of our local climbing centre where I can indulge in a spot of grow-your-own veg.   It's about the size of a large single bed, so not going to feed a family of four, but it's about right for a beginner with a busy life - like me.  I get to grow veg there for free in exchange for doing my bit to help out in communal planted areas (which I can also harvest from - yum) and keep the place tidy.  There's a pesticide free policy - great when inquisitive little hands start to roam.  They also have a composting system on site so I don't need to transport heavy bags there - great because I don't have a car and even a free hand to carry a small bag seems elusive at times.

My mini-plot has been a bit unloved of late.  A combination of motherhood and weather have meant that the spinach has been left alone to do its own thing.  And it did quite a lot!  Did you know spinach could grow to shoulder height? No, me either!  

I spent a lovely morning taming my plot on Sunday whilst Martin took little M to the park nearby.  I had the place to myself, little L was sleeping soundly in her pushchair, and the sun was shining - perfect.  I'd just lugged the last spinach plant up to the compost pile when little L woke up - impeccable timing.  I fed her sitting in the shade of a make-shift gazebo someone has put up and changed her nappy on an old dining table that is waiting there for someone to have an impromptu cook-up - babies are pretty portable when the weather's nice.  Martin and little M came to find me after a while and we bunged in a few plants before heading home for lunch.  

Martin was out for the afternoon at a very special gig (I wasn't jealous at all...honest).  So me and the girls had fun at home with broad beans and paint. After a spot of broad bean spelling, little M, completely out of the blue said she was going to do 'super broad bean painting'.  She looked a bit confused when I started to get green paint out...apparently we needed to put water all over some paper...then blue paint...then paint the broad beans pink and place them carefully onto the paper.  This last part was delegated to me with very precise instructions!  There are clearly arty techniques from many months of watching Mister Maker lodged into little M's brain, creating some sort of random-craft-generator.