Game Schooling Mama: August 2014

Friday, 29 August 2014

The Selfie Stick - My Review

the selfie selfy stick monopod bluetooth remote shutter button review

Just a quick post to show you a purchase I made recently, a "Selfie Stick".

Got this little beauty off eBay for £9.99 and I am super duper happy with it. It can hold your phone or any camera with the usual screw in feature that would mount it onto tripods and the wireless bluetooth button can make your phone take snaps whether you have an iPhone or Android.

I have a Sony Xperia Z1 Compact and the button works on my phones in built camera without having to use the 360 camera app from the app store.

I cannot wait to try this little baby out on holiday in France in a few weeks, I think it will help us get some awesome panoranic shots with us in it without having to find someone in the middle of no where to take a photo for us or set a timer on our camera and keep running backwards and forwards into shots!

Thursday, 28 August 2014

Twinings Camomile & Spiced Apple Tea Bags - My teatox / detox

twinings camomile spiced apple tea bags detox teatox

I am trying to have a bit of a mini detox and part of that is trying new flavoured teas in a bid to be healthier (at least in my mind I am). So I went to the local supermarket and picked up these Twinings camomile and spiced apple flavour tea bags.

I must say, I dont mind the flavour compared to some I have tried, it is quite sweet and scrummy.

I have quite a sweet tooth when it comes to tea and coffee and I think that is what I struggle with with these flavoured teas, they are not sweet enough for me. A colleague of mine has suggested that I try adding a tiny bit of honey and slowly decrease the amount until I am more used to them which I think I will have to give a try. I have some honey at home. Note to self: bring honey to work tomorrow!

Have you tried any of these teas? If so, what is your favourite?

Crochet V Stitch Travel Blanket - Update

v stitch vstitch crochet blanket update crocheting cat photo bomb

crochet v stitch vstitch vintage travel blanket WIP update v stitch vstitch crochet blanket update crocheting cat photo bomb

Hey little sparkles

Quick post just to show you guys an update of my crochet v stitch vintage travel blanket I have been working on. Fantastically it works up really quick and is soooo much faster than a traditional granny square blanket.

I am really enjoying this project and I hope you are too.

Sorry about my cat photo bombing the first pic LOL.

Wednesday, 27 August 2014

Cecelia Ahern - How to Fall in Love Book Review

So, I have just finished reading this book, that is unheard of for me unless I am on holiday and having nothing else to do love the relaxation of reading. The problem was, I could not put this book down.

This book just moved me and I had this hunger to sneak in a page any moment I could get. It is just BEAUTIFUL.

I have always been a fan of Cecelia Ahern, I read PS I Love You before it was made into a movie and have read several of her other books including Where Rainbows End and A Place Called Here.

I am hugely excited to see that she has a new book coming out in the Autumn, suffice to say I will be pre-ordering it. I have a need inside to read all her books in the hopes that they will all make me feel the way this one has, romantic, hopeful, warm and fuzzy inside!

Don't get me wrong, there are very sad, deep issues dealt with in this book, suicide, betrayal, adultery, divorce, but Cecelia Ahern manages to lift your spirits with just the right amount of humour. I believe the characters are written in such a way that are really relatable to a lot of readers.

All I can say is immense, epic, beautiful, romantic, and words really cannot stress enough how much my lady readers should read this gorgeous book.

Do it, I really honestly do not think you will be disappointed.

Argh, so gutted it is over, need more of Christine and Adam in my life...(not felt this way about a book in a very long time).

Little Havens Yarnbomb Guiness World Record - Counting The Crochet Items

little havens hospice yarnbomb yarn bomb guiness world record crochet counting

The Magic Faraway Tree Characters

Mr Saucepan

Lots of Mushrooms for Shroom Land

Morris Dancing Mice <3 I was in love with these!

Lots of bunting

Fruit n Veg

Hey guys

Here is my next instalment on the Little Havens Hospice World Record Yarnbomb!

I was lucky enough to be invited to help the girls setup the yarnbomb and assist in the counting process.

The current world record was 4061 individual items that made up a yarnbomb which was the target we were aiming to meet. I am thrilled to announce that this record was completely smashed, 13,388 items!! WOW!

I don't think anyone was really prepared for that and laying it all out on the field to be counted took some time, over 2 hours actually! To make it as easy as possible for the judges we laid items out in rows of 10. It took over four hours for the judges to count and the announcement was made!

These photos are only a small section of what was there, it really was astounding.

Come back next time to see the yarnbomb setup in the Little Havens Hospice Garden. It truly is a wonderland and shouldn't be missed!

Tuesday, 26 August 2014

My Filofax Decorated Pages: Week 35

filofax personal finsbury week 35 decoration washi tape stickers studio l2e stamp sets list it plan it blog post planning planner

Hola!

I havent done one of these for a few weeks so thought I would show you my week 35 decoration in my Filofax Finsbury.

This week is very busy for me, it is the final week (hopefully) we are renovating our new living room before moving our furniture into it this weekend. ARGH! 3 years without a living room has been...interesting but safe to say this weekend cannot come any quicker!

When I have time, I am still loving using my Studio L2E Plan It and List It stamp sets, I think they make the pages very fun!

I am being super duper organised this week, and have a blog post per day planned for the rest of the working week as I have soooo much to tell you guys about and show you.

Little Havens Hospice Yarn Bomb with The Craft Club - My Crochet Donations

crochet yarn bomb yarnbomb mystical woodland world record breaker little havens hospice charity garden

Hey guys

You may remember in a previous post a few weeks ago I told you about The Craft Club and the world record crochet yarnbomb that they were attempting to break.

Well, here is a photo of some of the crochet items that I made them for that yarnbomb.

The theme was mystical woodland items that would fit with the childrens book series The Faraway Tree by Enid Blyton.

I made around 200+ items, lots of leaves, flowers, fruit and I also yarn bombed one of the bridges in the Little Havens Hospice garden (more details to follow later this week).

For now, I shall leave you with part of my haul, I did add a bit more to this but didnt take another photo unfortunately.

I hope you like all the bright pretty colours as much as I do!

Thursday, 14 August 2014

Crochet V Stitch Travel Blanket - My latest crochet WIP

v stitch crochet travel blanket double crochet together method hook yarn wool bright vintage

Hey guys

Today's post is to show you the first installment of my latest crochet project, I have decided to make my very own vintage v stitch travel blanket!

I first saw these on Instagram on a few fabulous crochet pages and instantly fell in love. Crochet blankets can often have a lot of holes but I lve that this type of v stitch crochet blanket is a lot tighter.

Also, I think that they just look amazing!

A fellow Instagramer kindly shared the pattern that she followed for her blanket (there are tonnes of variations on the internet, different ways to crochet a v stitch) and I was away.

I genuinely havent looked back since and am totally obsessed with crocheting a bit more of this blanket every spare minute I get.

I will keep you up to date with my progress as and when I have made some (shouldnt take too long) as I want it to be a full length travel blanket for when I go on holiday travels etc so it will need a lot of rows and I am determined to keep up with a different colour on every row as I love the effect it gives.

Have you made a v stitch crochet blanket? I would love to see yours!

Tuesday, 12 August 2014

My Purple Crochet WIP Basket With Handles Four Strand Crocheting with 8mm Hook

crochet basket with handles purple four strands yarn 8mm hook

crochet basket with handles purple four strands yarn 8mm hook stitch marker

Hey sparkles

I wanted to show you my WIP basket I made last week. It was surprisingly quick and easy to make using a free pattern I found on Pinterest.

I decided to give mine extra rigidity by crocheting in a thin washing line cable which I must say has worked a treat!

I worked with 4 different colour strands of yarn and an 8mm crochet hook, and most of the basket was done using the half double crochet stitch. Four strands was a bit fiddly at first but I soon got the hang of it and was wizzing through.

We are currently plastering and decorating our new living room and the colour theme is purple, so this is going to be perfect for sitting by the fireplace with my WIP and crocheting away a cosy sunday afternoon.

Have you made a crochet basket before? I would love to see your photos!