Spot A Lot: Vehicles Storybook and Jigsaw - Parragon Book Buddies #Review

One of my highlights of attending BritMums Live 2015 was meeting the team of Parragon Books that were looking for "Book Buddies". It is no question that we love books in our home and truly can never have too many. I was very excited when I was accepted to be a "Book Buddies" and then just waited for our first book to arrive. 

On a rainy day the end of August,  we excited to receive package from Parragon Books. Little LadyBug (LL) and Bumblebee Boy (BB) were getting a little restless being trapped inside for the day but very excited to discover we had been sent the "Spot a Lot: Vehicles Storybook and Jigsaw".

We Met Elmer - Hemel Hempstead

We had fun when we went to "Story Time" at Hemel Hempstead Library.  The 1st Saturday each month at 11:00 am is "Story Time" at Hemel Hempstead Library. A very special guest came today .... Elmer.  Elmer is the colourful elephant in the much loved books by David McKee.

We listened to several adventures of Elmer and then Elmer arrived to lead the children around the library in an Elmer's parade.  The children got to create their own version of Elmer by using milk containers cut in half and decorating with colourful squares.  

The library also handed out World Book Day Tokens to the little children.  My children chose Elmer's Parade by David McKee and The Dinosaur That Pooped A Lot by Tom Fletcher and Dougie Poynter with their tokens at the local Waterstones.  

Additional dates for Elmer Visits at Hertfordshire Libraries:

Monday 9 March - Rickmansworth10.30-11.00am

Friday 20 March - London Colney 2.15-2.45pm
Monday 23 March - Tring 10.30-11.00am
Thursday 26 March - Berkhamstead 2.15-2.45pm
Friday 27 March - Croxley Green 2.15-2.45pm
Saturday 28 March - Watford Central 11.00-11.30am

Thank you Mums in the Know - Hemel Hempstead & Berkhamsted for telling us about this event.

The Cat in the Hat Bow

Happy World Book Day 2014.  I hope that I get to see some children dressed as their favourite book character today.  I was going to share how I exactly made my daughter's Dr. Seuss bow but honesty I pulled this bow together with lots of hot glue and a several moments of frustration.  "The Cat in the Hat" is currently one of my daughter's favourite book. 

 

I purchased the white 1 inch grosgrain ribbon with the "Cat In The Hat" characters but then decided use fabric glue to attach it to 1 1/2 inch red grosgrain.  The fabric glue allows the ribbon to still bend once dry.  I decided on approximately how wide I wanted the bow to be and what part of the print I wanted to see on the front of the bow.  I pinch the front and back ribbon together and used hot glue to join all the piece together.

 

I then decided on how long I wanted the bow tails to be and cute the ribbon. I sealed the ends with a tea candle to keep the ribbon from fraying. I used a 1 1/2 wide black ribbon to wrap around the bow.  Pinch the top of the bow tails and then glue them on the back side of the bow close to the centre ribbon. 

  

I glued a lined alligator clip to the back and glued the "Thing 2" on the front of  the bow. I was hoping to use a french barrette but the back was too stiff to mould the ribbon to the shape of the french barrette.  Another option is to glue a hair band on the back of the bow and wrap the centre ribbon across it for extra strength. 

I hope I gave you some ideas.  Keep Reading!

World Book Day 2014 Crafts

This Thursday, March 6th is World Book Day 2014.

Being a rather new parent and spent most of life in the US, this day of celebrating authors, illustrators, books and enjoyment of reading is a new experience for me. The last 6 months my little girl has really start enjoying books and loves looking at all the colourful illustrations.

Read the blog titled "Little Ladybug's Favourite Books" to learn about a couple of our favourite books.

My daughter will be with her amazing childminder on Thursday so I have been inspired to do some crafting in preparation for my 1st World Book Day.  

In celebration of World Book Day, children in UK and Ireland schools are encouraged to dress up as their favourite character from a book.  

My childminder has a daughter that is 6 years old and is dressing up as "Isla the Ice Star Fairy" from the Rainbow Magic Showtime Fairies book series by Daisy Meadows.  She has the costume but I offered to add some rainbow magic.  

With a little help from daughter (aka LadyBug Home's Product Tester and Model), I decided to create a purple headband with some rainbow glitter hearts.  I was worried about the resin glitter hearts not being securely glued to the ribbon headband but they look amazing.  I instantly wanted to make more headbands for myself and daughter.  A lady can never have enough rainbow sparkles  in their life.

Also, every fairy needs a rainbow glitter wand.

My daughter instantly wanted a fairy wand herself.  The story of my Ladybug Rainbow Fairy's wand will be posted on Wednesday, March 5th.

For my little girl, I decided to create a hairbow from one of her current favourite books "The Cat In The Hat" by Dr. Seuss.  I was inspired by "Sally" and her big red bow.  Below is a sneak peek of the ribbon that I used to create her bow.  I will showcase the making of the "The Cat in the Hat Bow" on Thursday, March 6th.

Keep Reading!  Feel free to send me details of your favourite children's book.  

First Mummies Club - Feb. 18th

On February 18th, I had a fun evening with the First Mummies Club in Hemel Hempstead.  Lisa organised a fun evening with guest speaker Helen Burridge presenting 'Kids Costumes-The Homespun Living Way'.  Helen is an extremely talented and inspirational mother whom runs the business Homespun Living in St. Albans.  

Helen gave has some very inspiration advice on how to make quick and easy costumes for the upcoming school fancy dress days, book day, and nativity plays that our little ones will be soon taking part in the next couple years in school.   My favorite advice was when making capes (superheros, butterfly, or princess) to not put elastic around the neck but to make arm loops instead on each side.  She had an amazing suggestion that you could use an old embroider tablecloth as butterfly wings.  Cut into a butterwing shape, hem and then add elastic arm and wrist loops. 

The activity for the evening was to create felt masks for our "little one".  Read Blog on February 19th, 2013 to find out what animal I chose to make for Emma.

 
Helen is about to go on maternity leave but she has several very interest courses starting in May - June 2014.  Booking workshops now.

Little Ladybug's Favourite Books

My Daughter and I have a traditional like many parents to read endless books before bed.  It is hard to limit my daughter to a handful of books to read before bed but a couple of our favourites are: "What the Ladybug Heard", "The Singing Mermaid" and "Sugarlump and the Unicorn" written by Julia Donaldson and Illustrated by Lydia Monks. 

While I was pregnant was my daughter, my sister gave me the book "What the Ladybird Heard".  During my pregnancy, I would often read this book to my unborn child and enjoyed the story of "the ladybug said never a word" until the night when she saw "two men in a big black van, with a map and a key and a cunning plan" to steal the fine price cow. The book is very easy to read and Emma has lots of fun finding the ladybird on each page.  Lydia Monks' illustrations are very clever how it uses photographic elements to add texture to the illustrations but our favourite part is the glitter.  Glitter elements are used on every page and just add a very special feeling to the book.  Emma loves to run her fingers over the glitter and follow the ladybird as she flies through the book. 

Once we have finished with "What the Ladybird Heard", we then read "The Singing Mermaid" where we meet "Mermaid" as she joins Sam Sly's circus.  There is more fun glitter elements and the rhyming words flows off the tongue.  Recently Emma has noticed that several characters from "What the Ladybird Heard" are also in the "The Singing Mermaid".  She keeps yelling "cat" every time she discovers the orange cat that keeps the mermaid company at the circus.  I look forward to taking this book the the beach during this summer and see if we can find the singing mermaid.


Another fun book by Julia Donaldson and Lydia Monks is "Sugerlump and Unicorn".  This book is equally easy to read and the illustrations are as charming and fun as the other books.  This is the story of Sugarlump that is rocking house until the day when he wishes that he could trot.  The magical unicorn appears and grants him his wish.  As Sugarlump continues to wish for a different life until he finally finds the life that makes him a happy horse.  The reason that I always chose to read this book last is because the surprises that you can discover within the illustrations.  Since this book is also illustrated by Lydia Monks there are several character from "What the Ladybird Heard" and "The Singing Mermaid" that can be found in this book.  I smile when Emma finds the Ladybird, farmer and prize fine cow.  You turn the page and there is Sam Sly and the Singing Mermaid. 

There are several other books written by Julia Donaldson and Illustrated by Lydia Monks that I look forward to sharing with Emma in the future.

** This is not a sponsored book(s) review.