Fab gifts for kids that won't break the bank.

With two little people in the house we are often invited to children's birthday parties.  I struggle to come up with inventive gifts which won't cost a fortune so leave it until the last minute and then have to do the dreaded Tesco dash.  That is until now.  I have just discovered the most amazing looking online shop The Kid Who.  It is full to bursting with the coolest products -

 1: Lollipop Origami notelets £9.50

2: Honeycomb parade £9.50

3: Instant Iron On's £10.50

4: Lets Make Some Great Art Notebook Set £9.50

5: Iron Me On £10

6: Character Parade 3d Puzzle £8.50

1: Sukie Button Factory £13.00

2: Poster in a box £9.50

3: Magic Stickers £15.00

4: Tea Towel / Cushion Craft £12.00

5: Dress Up Costume Leone Lion £14.00

6: The Onion's Great Escape £14.50

Go on check them out you won't be dissapointed.  Amelie's little friend is going to be six in a couple of weeks and I think she would just love the 3D puzzles. 

Interior Love Affair # 2

This weeks Interior Love Affair was inspired by soft furnishings for the girls nearly completed playhouse . As a child I remember playing in the garden with an old bread basket filled with pillows and cushions.  I loved the cosy feel of hunkering down in our little dens with blankets and duvets we had grabbed from indoors and used as matting.

1: White Cloud Cushion Cissy Wears £45 

2: Cat Cushion This Modern Life £28

3: Toadstool L.E. D Lamp This Modern Life£3.95

4: Cloud Wall Light This Modern Life £64

5: Cloud Play Mat This Modern Life £42

6: Sunday Sundae Pillowcase Design Life Kids $35

7: Noodoll Plush Toy £16.50 

8: Cuddly Cloud Cushion Donna Wilson £62.50

Budding Artists.

When Amelie was about one I thought it would be a good idea to get her to paint a canvas to hang on the wall.  She just loved painting and drawing - in fact she still does.  I find little pictures and now stories and notes all over the house.  Sometimes they are just so cute.  There is nothing better than tidying her room or going through her school bag and finding a little note which says I love my mummy.  Here is a note I recently found.

Since then I have made it an annual event.  I buy the girls a couple of canvases each, this time I picked a pack of four up for £5 in the range.  We get out all of my paints and I let them go crazy.

I don't care if they make a mess and just paint the whole thing brown.  I just love the fact that once they are hung on the wall you can see their artistic abilities develop.  I do however wish I had put an apron on Harriet before getting the paint out as she pretty much ruined her top.

This year Amelie painted a house and a picture of Dover Castle.  Harriet had a great time mixing the paint on her canvas, creating a nice purple / brown shade.

I still think Amelie's first painting back in 2010 is my favourite.  Once the girls have finished their paintings we wait for them to dry and then hang them on their bedroom walls.  Harriet is still a bit small to understand what is going on but Amelie will often talk about her paintings and gets really excited when I suggest we should do another one.  I think that this is a great way to encourage their creativity without any preconceived ideas about what the end result should look like.

DIY Height Chart.

When Amelie was born my mum brought her a height chart which we dutifully measured her against on a regular basis.  Then one day Amelie and her cousin decided it would be a good idea to colour all over the walls including the height chart with felt tip pens and biro.  In my madness with them I made Amelie scrub the walls clean unfortunately in doing so she rubbed off all of her early year heights, not only this but it's not going to be long before she has outgrown her current height chart.  It had never occurred to me to make my own until I was reading Brooklyn Limestone and saw the beautiful wooden growth and milestone chart they had made, then a couple of days later I was flicking through the cox and cox catalouge and I saw a wooden ruler height chart.  It was then I decided I would make one for the girls.

Michael took a look through his "spare" wood collection and found me a piece of MDF which he cut to size for me.  As always Amelie was keen to be included so she helped me give it a coat of Yellow Annie Sloan Chalk paint.  We didn't specifically choose this paint we were just using up what we had left over from some chairs we painted not so long ago.

Once painted I used permanent black pens to write the numbers and mark the height increments.  The red indelible pen didn't really work so I had to carefully paint over the letters and numbers with some acrylic paint I had.  When I wasn't looking one afternoon Harriet scribbled all over it with blue pencil - luckily I managed to rub it off.  Finally I gave it a coat of lacquer.  I was a bit disappointed as the lacquer made some of the pen bleed but nothing too serious.  In hindsight I probably would have been better giving the board a coat of lacquer prior to writing on the numbers.  The pens would have worked more smoothly and the red wouldn't have been absorbed by the paint.

To give it the finishing touches Michael hung it on the wall for me and we marked off all of our heights against it.

Cool Playhouses

I was just thinking how much my girls love playing both in their partially built new playhouse and their old cardboard one I picked up in an early learning sale.  I remember building dens in our house as a child with big sheets or playing in the garden with the wigwam made from an old parachute either that or the fun we have had with an old cardboard box.

Here are some my favourite indoor playhouse finds.

Top: I just adore this gorgeous DIY cardboard cabin by Maiko Nagao.  I love the cute detailing in white.

Left:  Learn how to make this cute collapsible playhouse over at A Beautiful Mess.  

Right: Or if your little one is one who enjoys little journeys then how about this airstream inspired cardboard playhouse. Check out The Merry Thought for a full tutorial.

How about this amazing plywood playhouse I found over at a Handmade Charlotte.  This reminds me of those little boxes you place in a hamster cage.

I love how clever yet simple this Built by Kids playhouse is.  I love the fact that when the kids have finished playing with it or when its time to tidy up you can literally just fold it up and store it away.  This would be perfect if you are short on space.

You can see all the other cool playhouses I found if you head over to our pinterest board.

Follow ADomesticLoveAffair's board Playhouses on Pinterest.