Gingerlillytea

Thursday, 24 April 2014

Birds nests

Last week, the girls and i made our own birds nests. We collected dry grass from the meadow and also gathered together fresh dry grass cuttings and the heads of bull rushes for the centre of the nests. Elle made hers all completely herself and i am so proud of how she created it. She added some gypsophilia (hers is the very first picture and my nest is the right nest in the second picture).

To create my nest, i gathered long bits of dried grass, making sure it was bendy. I bent it around to form a circle at the top and left the rest to wrap around the smaller circle and then i tucked the ends into the sides of the nest. We have also been making furniture out of twigs for our fairy house we are creating. I loved making these sweet little chairs and we are working on a table and bed right now. We are hoping to go into the bluebell woods in the next few weeks to set up the fairy house. We are also hoping to find some real birds nests on our adventures this spring and summer. We found the most amazing one last year but Elle wanted to put it back up into the tree for the birds to reuse. Have anyone else made birds nests before? I would love to hear of any other techniques as i just made mine up as i went along and hoped it held well!

Tuesday, 22 April 2014

Bodkin & co

One of the best things about the internet is the ability to find the most wonderful friends, no matter where they are in the world. Two years ago, i met the beautiful and talented, Maddy, on instagram. Since then we email all the time and send packages across the sea's to each other. She has been such a huge part of my life and i class her as one of my very best friends. I cannot wait for the day that we can finally meet.

In real life, i find it hard to find many people who understand who i am and what i like but with Maddy, i don't ever need to worry about being who i am and talking about fairies and unicorns. It is like we are connected at the soul and i believe that is the perfect friendship.

Dear Maddy has just followed her dream and opened her own little etsy shop, selling the sweetest and most enchanting treasure that she finds and makes. She is beyond talented and her shop is crammed full of wonderful things. I think everyone needs to have a peek into this little corner of the internet world!

Thursday, 17 April 2014

Friday, i'm in love

I am so happy to bring back my feature "Friday, i'm in love" where i share with you some favourite things/shops/brands that i have discovered recently.

I am completely in love with this alphabet wall poster for Mia's room. She is starting to recognise letters now and i would love to get her this to hang up on her wall.

I have wanted to get a new watch for the longest time and i have found the most beautiful ring watches on The watch hut. I love love love this one. Elle is starting to learn to tell the time and i love this one for her first starter watch. It's pink, of course, but also has big numbers on the face to make it easier for her to work out the time.

We are hoping to get Elle a desk soon for her learning corner and i have been looking around for art work to hang up. I recently found this one via pinterest and i know it would look perfect in Elle's room.

I love washi tape and recently came across some really beautiful encyclopedia ones i would love. I completely love this woodland animal one, these botanical ones and this beautiful bird one. They would be perfect to tape up the girls picked flowers.

We have been looking into redecorating our living room and i have picked out this botanical style wall paper. We are having it on one feature wall and i just cannot wait to get it up on the wall!

Now the summer is coming up, i would love to get the girls this rollergirl swimsuit! It's just different from the high street shop swimsuits and i know they will love it too!

I hope you all have a lovely Easter!!!

This post is in association with The watch hut.

Wednesday, 16 April 2014

Lately

This month has been a busy one! First off, Mia has completely toilet trained herself. She turned three two weeks ago and in the last week, has gone from nappies straight onto the toilet, completely bypassing the potty and pull up stage! I am so proud of her and everytime she goes to the toilet, she shouts " i did it!" at the top of her voice for everyone to clap her!

Elle is on her easter holidays and it has been lovely having her at home. We have been out every day on a new adventure and have been doing some easter crafts. I cannot wait to share with you the birds nests we made this week! We have a week and a half left and this week we have a picnic planned, making a teepee in the meadow and spending time with family for Easter. The lilac is blooming in the garden and i have a lilac crown planned this week also. I also want to go back to the rape seed meadow for a self portrait shoot or maybe something with Elle. I have to do some more planning but i am looking forward to it.

I have put Mia's preschool application in for her two start two full days from September in the little preschool attached to Elle's school. I have having days where i am thinking "wow, two whole days to myself to concentrate on my photography" and then i am also having days where i think "noooooooo, she is too tiny and needs to be at home with me!". I felt the same with Elle and she ended up loving preschool. I know Mia will love it and from next September, she will be at school five times a week so i best get used it to really!

I am so happy Easter is nearly here. I have the weekend planned with my family. I am sad as my husband is away working in Scotland over the Easter weekend, but we will have a family day together when he gets back and make is special. I then have a dear friend visiting next week to see the girls so that will be lovely too :)

We have spied bluebells, which are our favourites, so next week we shall be going to our special bluebell woods for a picnic!!! I am overally excited by this :)

We have started making parts of the twig fairy house we have wanted to make all year. I am excited to share little bits with you as we make.

Saturday, 12 April 2014

Let's have an adventure linkup VII

Our adventure this week was to go to the meadows and river to collect some little bits and pieces to make our very own birds nest. We collected dried grass from the marshlands and Elle collected a few flowers to decorate the nest with. I gathered some dry cut grass and some bull rush heads to put inside the nest. During the week, we dyed some eggs to sit inside the nest and then we will take it to the meadow to leave for nesting birds to use.

"let's have an adventure" is a bi-monthly link up posted on the 13th and 26th of each month. You can share old or new adventure posts with us. We would love to have you join us and help us create this wonderful community of fellow adventurer's!!!!

Today, we have the lovely Anna from In the Playroom co-hosting with us. She is sharing her own adventure on her blog so make sure you visit her!

An InLinkz Link-up

Thursday, 10 April 2014

Siblings {april}

April is here and the year is going so so quickly! Elle is on her two week Easter holidays and it is so wonderful to have her home. The girls are spending most of their time playing "frozen" and i can hear them arguing over who is Elsa and who is Anna. They act out all the scenes together and it is the sweetest thing.

A few weeks ago, i went for a drive in the countryside and discovered an amazing little road track through a huge rape seed oil meadow. They hadn't quite bloomed yet so this week, i decided to go and see if they had and as we drove through the village next to it, i could see it and my heart started racing! It was the most beautiful sight. We pulled up on the side of the road and i let the girls run into the field. Both girls picked a bunch each and they have now put them in jars in their rooms.

Mia is still not that into having her photograph taken. I remember Elle going through the same stage, so it was quite tricky to snap some of them together. She is far too busy exploring and skipping along where as Elle will just stay in one place, admiring the flowers and choosing which ones to pick for her bouquet.

"Siblings" is a monthly link up where myself and 9 other bloggers all share a photo of their children and then we each send you off to look at another blog. You can then go around in a circle, viewing all of the wonderful photographs and then why not link up yourself if you have two children or more! This month, i am sending you over to Kelle's blog. Her blog is full of the most wonderful photography and her two sweet little ones! A must read!