Our Magnolia Tree

In our front garden we have a lovely huge Magnolia tree....it is about as tall as the roof on our 2 storey house. As it only flowers for a couple of weeks every year I try to get some nice pics of it every year.

Against a perfect blue spring sky it looks amazing.

And inside one of the flowers a wasp, or maybe its a honey bee, is having a rest.

The full glory of the tree, with the Diva running upto it and a liitle monkey A in it if you look closely....the mad boy is wearing his Christmas sweater still!

Junk modelling

Every holiday I try to save as many cardboard boxes as possible to cut up and make / paint etc. As you can see the Diva is making a wonderful house and having fun painting it with rose bushes on the sides.

As for the boys, they made a great marble run out of one of the long, narrow boxes from when we had our shower fitted! (just as well we have loads of space in the garage!) 

This is all free if only you save as much cardboard and junk as possible! They can have a whole afternoon of crafting away to their hearts content!

Clematis Vase

I found this rather nice square glass vase in the 99p shop the other day! It is amazing what you can find in that place. I decided that it was worth the 99p to give it a go at the garden center painted with clematis flowers. 

I took it to the shop before Easter but I am not in there for the holidays so I will have to see if it is still there when I go back next week! I priced it at £7.50 which for a handpainted glass vase is pretty good I think!

T-Light Candle Holders

Some more bits that went into the garden centre for the weekend. At £1.75 per candle holder these are an affordable gift. They are all done with my favourite daisy design.

I have tried to vary the colours a little so that there is a greater choice.  

My all time fav though is still the white petals with the yellow centre.

I even tried some spotty ones!

These are an excellent craft to get little ones to do as it only takes about 10 minutes for them to do each one!

Garden

Spring is well and truly sprung here in my garden....I know my Husband will yell at me that it is still mid winter! But the days are so nice at the minute, not too warm but just enough to get out with a coat on and do some gardening. In the bed that we have running down the side of the back garden there are plenty of Daffodils coming out! Another week and it will be totally glorious!

At the end of that bed, just before the Lilac tree there is a little Christmas Rose/ Hellebore. I rescued it from the other side of the garden when we had our extension a couple of years ago and put it in here. Apart from the obvious slug damage it seems to be doing well....I hope that it continues to grow well.

Even my veggie beds are starting to show a few shoots....I planted some onion and garlic out at the end of December and they are coming up now! Trouble is....I did not label and therefore have no idea which is which!!!!

And the lovely Viburnum that I also saved from the other side! This was such a huge plant that it seemed sad not to try and save it! It is not too healthy but I think I will give it a proper mulch and see what happens.

Twine wrapped bottles

In my 'upcycled' collection, I have been decorating various beer bottles with yarn and twine. A while ago I did some plain twine ones which although they looked good needed jazzing up a little. I found some sticky backed lace that I had sitting around and some little star wine glass charms, which I think I got for about 10p each from the dot com online shop a while ago.

I think these are a little better now maybe......what do you think? 

I have taken these to the garden center to see if there is any interest in them there!

Boredom Buster Jar

This is my take on a boredom buster jar.

Inside it there are 30 wooden sticks, both coloured and plain wood, and on each side they have an exciting job/game/thing to do.

Here are some of the ideas that I have used for my jars:

1- Clear up the toys

2- Give some toys a 'bath' in the basin (or the bath!)

3- Have a splash in the sprinklers

4- Bug hunt in the garden

5- Have a picnic/floor picnic (weather dependant)

6- Do your homework

7- Have a toys picnic

8- Watch a DVD

9- Go for a bike ride

10- Read a book

11- learn a poem by heart

12- Build a fort

13- Make your bed

14- Tidy your room...properly

15- find 5 things to give away

16- play a board game

17- design your own board game!

18- Play some party games- who needs an excuse??

19- Play balloon tennis

20- Make a treasure hunt

21- plan the meals for the next day/week

22- write a shopping list

23- Go to look at the animals in the pet shop

24- Go to visit the garden center

25- Make a minature garden

26-Hoover the stair

27- Bake some biscuits

28- Build a car out of lego and see if ir can go downstairs without breaking!

29- Make a toy zipwire

30- Go swimming

31- Do the washing up

32- Do some colouring

33- Take lots of photos around the home

34- Help with the laundry

35- Have a bath

36- Have a shower

37- Paint some stones

38- Cook some pasta for supper

39- Make some jelly

40- Play with foam (shaving foam)

41- Wash the car

42- Get the paddling pool out and have fun

43- Make some paper plate monster masks

44- Make a lovely cardboard/paper crown

45- Make things out of recycled junk

46- Have a race

47- Visit a neighbour

48- Go to the library

49- Make some cards

50- Design your own treasure map

51-Design a magical castle

52- Draw a robot and label it 

53- Make a robot out of junk/lego

54- Play in the tent

55- Bake a cake

56- Go to the park

57- Plant some seeds and keep a record

58- Write down 10 things you love about each person in your family

59- Write a list of 10 things you like to do

60- Do a jigsaw

61- Go for a walk

62- Ask friends to play at yours

63- Play with the toy cars

64- Pretend you are the king/princess for the day

65- clean the kitchen cupboard doors

66- clean your shoes

67- Make some pizza

68- paint on an old glass jar to make a pencil holder

69- Write a letter to someone and post it

70- Do some plant printing

71- Draw a picture of your house

72- Design your dream home!

73- Draw a map of the way to school

74- Play on your scooter

75- Write a story starting ' It was very dark in the wood...'

76- Have a tea party with your friends

77- Make some finger puppets

78- Draw a maze

79- Do some crosswords

80- Write a diary of the last week

81- Play dress up!!!

82- Put on a show with your friends and invite mums and dads!

83- Put the music on loud and DANCE!

84- Do painting with toothpicks!

85- Make playdough

86-Go on a scavenger hunt

87-play tag with glow sticks

88-Make some music- use anything!

89- Run around the block

90- Do a survey of front door colours in your road

91- Paint splodge monsters

92- Design your own alien

93- Make a scrapbook of your holiday

94-Go for a bus/train ride somewhere

95-Blow lots of bubbles

96-Make some paper chains

97-Play DIY bowling

98-Make fruit kabobs

99- Make your own movie

100-Make a family tree

well...thats a few to stop the kids moaning...I NEVER want to hear 'I'm bored!' again!!!