Make a snow-less snowball fight kit

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I made a snowball kit and it’s a blast! I love making gifts for Aidan. I love that it’s something only he has and that I can put extra love into it without breaking the bank. He has a thing for hand made presents, he gets super excited “You made that just for me” so I’m going to exploit that while I can (before he wants the latest consoles and things)

snowball
Last year I made him STOCKING FILLERS which were really quick and easy and lasted him most of the year.

He has a thing for the movie Frozen (That craze just isn’t dying out hey) but all the frozen toys are either ridiculously girly or ridiculously pricey and although I don’t limit him when it comes to WHAT HE PLAYS WITH  I thought why not go out of the box and make him something “frozen related” instead. So I came up with this snow ball fight kit.

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How to create a reading space (WIN with Kidsbookclub)

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Some of my fondest memories are cuddling up with a good book.
I live in a small town and as a kid – either because I was pretty naïve or because things were safer back then – my best friend at the time and I would walk to the library and spend hours just BEING THERE.
They knew us by name and would keep our favourite books and suggest others, I loved it.

But things are different now, everything is much more hustle and bustle and most parents are not going to let their kids walk over to the library by themselves and they don’t have the time to watch them as they wander through the isles.

Libraries are still one of my favourite places in the world BUT I’m a realist and know that having a reading space inside the home is a little more practical. Aidan is a big reader (I mean he is a big memoriser and repeater of books, but it’s a good start) He doesn’t have the best reading area yet (a giant pillow and a vegetable rack is like so not on people) so I’m looking into creating a great reading area for him…

What I think a reading area needs:

– Good lighting (I used to read by flashlight under the covers but would like him to have something better, hehe)
– Comfortable seating (I can get lost in books for hours -when I used to have an attention span that is- and think a comfy seat is very important)
– Book marks (I hate losing my place in books and don’t appreciate folding corners over in books, so a container of bookmarks in my reading area would be awesome, I mean Aidan’s reading area)
– Storage space (I have a vegetable rack right now, it works okay but you can’t see what you have too well, so a book case would be preferable)
– A theme (because, Hi I’m Eleanor and I love themed things)

Below is what I’m leaning towards click on pic to go to site

Reading Nook...cute with the framed books!Love the fact it's in the living room! I would love to put an adult reading area near the kids reading area!:

 

WIN WIN WIN!!!

You will need books to fill your reading space so why not sign up to Kid’sBookClub.   I’m really chuffed with the whole concept. You get two books and two magazines every month which is awesome. The books are specially picked for your child’s age group and you can add an additional kid at R99 and a third at R89.
Free delivery and a bunch of free activity sheets online make this a bargain! KidsBookClub even donates R1 to the Bokamoso Educational trust for every month you sign up for, which is a great cause.

My mom watches Aidan for me after school so our subscription has become an
awesome gift for the both of them, he gets books, she gets magazines, I get rest 🙂

You can win with Kid’sBookClub just in time for Christmas 🙂 A months subscription for the readers in your life!!!

The weekend that was

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I had a pretty packed weekend! Working and fitting in events are what makes this time of the year both amazing and down right exhausting!!!

First I went to the first Curls in the City event. OMW it was so amazing to have breakfast with people who just totally get the whole curly girl struggle!!!! Everyone connected so easily and then and there signed up for the next event. I will do a run down on what I learnt for this weeks Curly Quest post. That will be on Thursday because that is usually my wash day so it feels right 🙂  Please look out for that. I said a few words at the event (hahahahaha a few, probably a lot, I babble when I’m nervous and get nervous easily)

I then met up with bloggers Luchae and Ruth for some coffee and cake. We chatted about our goals and fears and what we want from our blogs and other external ventures in 2016. We also did a favourite things exchange.  I LOVE THESE: Everyone brings their favourite thing of under R30 to share with the group so you go home with everyone’s favourite things!!! How awesome is that 🙂



Stole this pic from Ruth, My favourite thing is the beaded bracelet(which I made) and lip icing from Oh so heavenly
and our resident nail guru Luchae gave us this awesome nail polish 🙂
awesome cup and handmade magnets from Ruth
I’m holding her to her promise of teaching me how to work with Resin 🙂

It was my good friend Lyndal’s birthday so we went by hoping to score some cake because I was totally #carbsFTW this weekend and now hate myself 🙂 It was so weird to see how big all our kids have got. Honestly can’t believe how time flies

I gave myself a little break from work yesterday, I put on yoga pants and CHILLED the whole day.
This came after Aidan asked me if all mommies work so much and I had to stop myself from crying. The Oh!Boy Christmas rush combined with general “end of yearness” has kept me so busy I would be sewing while I’m watching him in the bath. So I decided to give both of us some “me time” and just chilled eating frozen grapes out of my fancy new cup and listening to him tell me stories.
The evening we did letters to Father Christmas we also set up a large pass the parcel for a Christmas party at our church. I explained to him that the sick children needed extra love this Christmas and it really warmed my heart to see him be excited to make up the pack for them even grabbing items from his snack drawer and giving some of his playdough (his all time favourite toy) to the “sick babas”

how to eat frozen grapes



Pants for what



We played a matching game because he loves “playing games”  



Pass the Parcel fun


A video posted by Eleanor Douglas-Meyers (@justellabella) on

Foodie Fri-Dae (Smoothies yum yum)

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I’m a big smoothie lover!!! and our foodie Friday contributor is one too. Today Davene shares two awesome smoothie recipes (they look so good I almost forget that I really can’t stand papaya, almost. I’d substitute with another melon but the kiwi and banana NOM NOM NOM)
Her recipes to date are:

Kiwi & Banana Smoothie


Ingredients (serves 4)
6 Kiwis
5 Strawberries
2 bananas
½ cup of plain yogurt
Add into a blender, blend it up until smooth.  Pour into 4 glasses and enjoy.



Paw Paw  (Papaya) and Pomegranate Smoothie


Ingredients
1 large paw paw (papaya)
4 oranges squeezed into juice
6 large strawberries +2 for garnish (optional)
1 tub of pomegranate seeds or the seeds from 2 pomegranates
1 banana
Add into a blender and blend it until smooth.  
Pour into 4 glasses and garnished with a sliced strawberry pieces.  Enjoy.
Be sure to ‘check her out on her BLOG where she most recently chats about her “weight loss secret”

How do you use this diffuser thing?

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I decided it’s time we dust off those diffuser attachments that came with the hairdryer…

You guys know I love big hair and am passionate about people embracing their kinky coils…well I’ve decided to dedicate a segment of my blog to just that, NATURAL CURLS of all variations. There are some great recourses out there but I don’t think enough of them are local (Every time I watch a YouTube video I am stumped as to where to get the products) so I’m going to try to be a little bit of a resource by chatting to other curlies, doing product reviews and sharing tips from myself and people who actually know what they are talking about (hehehe).

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Super easy Christmas crafts

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I love Crafting 🙂 seriously just yesterday some of my Christmas crafts were featured on All4Women and Beauty&TheBaby Blog . SHAMELESS SELF PROMOTION ALERT!

I’ve been very tight on time though VERY TIGHT www.ohboykids.co.za is doing well this holiday season (So thankful) but it means I am having to work overtime making things for other people which leaves very little time for crafting for fun.

So in comes these quick crafts, because making things might be an addiction:

GIFT TAGS

These are super cute and easy and as you can see it works on a variety of gift packages
– My two year old designed these so you can certainly go way more glam
(He got all, NO MOMMY NO IT’S FINISHED when I tried to add to it)

 

All you need are little plain cards, pegs and glitter glue
I used this really awesome rainbow glitter glue from Bostik  It is soooo much easier and cleaner than loose glitter and the chubby size is ideal for little hands. Bostik sent us some supplies so you will be seeing their products in quite a few mommy and me crafts I’m sure
All you need to do is cover a peg in glitter glue and then decorate a card with either the same or coordinating glitter glue. Leave to dry and TAH DAH!!!
 I’m trying to  teach Aidan about giving to others and this makes him feel part of the experience, seeing as he can’t pay for/or make the gifts himself yet. So similar tags will be used on the gifts we are delivering to church for the charity drive this week.

 

PERSONALISED BAUBLES

Aidan received a personalized ornament as a gift last year.
When we put up the tree last night it really bothered him that Rob and I didn’t have our names on so I pulled out my craft box and came up with this. Not bad for an after thought, lol

You need letter stickers (I’m all out of As now, hmmm) and baubles
All you do is peel and stick 🙂 for extra security paint over with clear nail polish 🙂
 

*Happy Crafting 🙂