Acrylic Pouring with CriSam

There's a lovely new local business I recently had the joy of experiencing - CriSam Acrylic Pouring.  Founded by Chris and Sam (hence the name), these ladies have a real passion for teaching this fun way of creating art as well as making some awesome pieces themselves.

I took part in a taster session as part of the Uckfield WI craft group of which Chris is a member, her and Sam offered it to us at a great price as we were their guinea pigs prior to them starting to offer courses.  I think it's a great idea and they're both excellent at teaching, you can really feel their passion!

My perfect bouquet - rainbow flowers!

Although I do always love the flowers Nik picks out for me, this year, I really wanted to create my own rainbow bouquet!  I love flowers, learning names of the ones I love and arranging them.  I sometimes think in another life I would have loved being a florist!  Maybe one day, maybe when I retire I could get a job in a pretty little flower shop.  Anyway, for now, I make do with being creative with my own flowers and this year I went to both of Uckfield's lovely florists, The Flower Shop and Miss Bloomsbury.  It helps that they're just a few doors apart on the High Street so I was able to pick and choose my stems from each to create my perfect colourful arrangement which looks beautiful on our new bar cart in the dining room!

My Rainbow Christmas Tree!

My love for all things rainbow has really gotten out of control if you ask my husband!  You know what though, rainbows just make me so happy!  The bright colours really do cheer me up, I'm so drawn to them, so yes, it has become a bit of an obsession but I don't care and I think he gets it really.  He does love our tree (despite his concerns it might look a bit "shopping centre"), he loves how it turned out almost as much as I do!  And the twins?  Their response was "Wow" when they saw it after a weekend in London with Daddy seeing their cousin while I stayed home to work and prep the house for Christmas!  :D

Before I found some more yellow ones on eBay!

My rainbow wardrobe!

So yeh, I love rainbows, I love rainbow clothes.  They make me feel happy and lift my mood on even the dullest of days.  Here are my latest favourite buys!
(May contain affiliate links, if I can be bothered searching for them!  Haha.)

Of course, Christmas wouldn't be complete without a Little Bird spree and I was delighted when they made an adult version of their Christmas jumper again, with a rainbow tree no less!  It's maternity but you can't tell, I love it and the twins have their matching ones too of course!

Christmas Jumper - Little Bird at Mothercare

All things RAINBOW!

I started writing a new blog post about all my new rainbow clothes and then remembered this one which I started months ago (apparently before my office moved in from the garage!)  I'll carry on writing my new post with all of my own rainbow clothes but for now, here are some of the kids clothes I bought before their birthday.

If you follow my blog there's no way you will have missed my shift from loving everything green to everything rainbow!  I mean, I still love olive green but I love the whole light spectrum together more nowadays!  I wish I could somehow work rainbows into my grown up bedroom - maybe one day - for now I'm settling with rainbow bits in my "office" (desk in garage) and the twins rooms of course!

However, I am finding it's getting easier to get rainbow into our wardrobes, it seems to be a bit of a trend at the moment!  Here are a few of my latest rainbow finds for the twins' wardrobe (K's is still harder, Little Bird stuff is always a winner), I'll share some of mine and my office bits soon too.

https://www.next.co.uk/style/st249928#592495

Rainbow birthday pinata fun!

We had one more surprise at the end of the party, the pinata.  I had to buy the rainbow pinata by Sunnylife (one of my favourite brands for rainbow stuff) from Paperchase (another favourite shop for bright colours and rainbows)!  I hung it from our banister on landing above the stairs so it could swing and still be secure and not damage anything.

Party planning for the twin's 4th birthday - Rainbow Tea Party with balloons!

We had planned to take the twins away for their birthday this year, we were thinking Disneyland Paris and thought we'd go early to see it all done up for Halloween!  We were just going to have a small party on their birthday when we came back.  We've never been before but I can't wait to take the twins.  My only visit to Disney was as a 14 year old in Florida which was amazing so I can't wait to take K&P!  We booked that week off but after the stress and then relief of Nik's exams which are now finally over, Nik suggested we ask his parents to babysit for a few days and we just go away on our own this time (not to Disney, we'll wait for the kids to come to that one).  We're just going for 4 nights as I have my first exhibition at the end of that week to prepare for which is exciting too!

So, the twins's 4th birthday party plans...

We've decided this year we wanted needed to organise a much smaller do than last year.  I was exhausted after all the Halloween efforts for their 3rd birthday and this year has been intense already with various hurdles and knackering month after month so we're having a small tea party at home.  I decided the best way to invite guests would be to ask the twins who they want to come.  It's their perfect guest list as they obviously just listed all the friends they see often and consider their best friends so we are inviting 6 friends who will hopefully be able to make it, perfect to fit round the table without too much chaos as we already have 8 chairs.

Even though it will be small, I'm still excited to plan it and will of course be having a rainbow theme!  Rainbow fits so well for twins who are like chalk and cheese with very different favourite things, they do both love bright colours and it's gender neutral which makes me happy anyway.  They do both love balloons too so for this year's entertainment we have hired a balloon twister who does a whole show with balloon magic tricks and models and makes it all fun so I'm pretty sure they will LOVE that!

I've already got paper plates and matching napkins, etc. from Sainsbury's with a gorgeous rainbow balloon design which is perfect!  I also have the bunting and wrapping paper (I even framed a gift bag I love it so much)!

I can't remember if I already bought the above invitations but these ones below were on sale in Paperchase so I got a pack of six, I love the pop-up design.

As for food ideas, again, plenty of inspiration on Pinterest and I'm aiming for simple but tasty and pretty!  I love the healthier ideas of veggie pizzas and coloured popcorn but of course some sweet treats too like rainbow cupcakes and jelly but I'll use a mould and do one big one rather than use more disposable plastic.

I will definitely be doing rainbow fruits again too like I did for their Naming Ceremony in 2015 although probably not a full on rainbow cake again - I prefer to aim for taste and that cake wasn't the best to eat despite looking awesome!

Capture from Anna's lovely video of the Naming Day.

And for a bit more fun, I've bought a rainbow pinata and I like the idea of a homemade DIY to give as party favours like this dyed pasta jewellery making idea or a rainbow wand maybe.  I also bought these pretty crackers from Paperchase which come with stickers inside which I know the kids will love, why should crackers just be for Christmas?  ;)

I can't wait, I think they're going to love it!

Oast Farm Jaunt

We went for a little jaunt down to our local cafe recently.  It's a lovely little walk along part of the Wealdway for us to get there and the kids always love hunting for sticks and apples as we go.  Currently enjoying beating the nettles back so we can get past without being stung.

Brighton Pride Parade!

I still have loads more photos to go through from the parade, it felt never ending in the blazing heat but was so much fun, I was so impressed with all of the energy from the participants!  The colours and people and general atmosphere were all amazing and I will definitely be back next year!  I'll update this post with more photos soon but for now, I have 101 jobs and I'm knackered so I'm off to bed ready to carry on in the morning!  ;)

Holiday Fashion Finds, my love for maxis is back!

It's a while since I wore my once trademark maxi dress/skirt.  They're just not practical for running around with two kids whom I may potentially have to carry (stairs and maxis require extra hands so you don't trip) or crawling around on the floor.  Plus I just haven't felt like making much of an effort on how I looked since the start of this year (when my PND got bad and eventually diagnosed).  However, I'm feeling more like me again and that called for less of the black vest and jeans outfits and injecting some colour and "me" back into my wardrobe.

Nik may be a little distressed at the many parcels which have been arriving lately but I'm calming down now I have a new colourful selection of clothes that fit me properly since I have been a bit too relaxed on the old healthy front.  I decided there was no point waiting and waiting for the time I feel good enough to do something about fitting back into my old clothes and actually started to make myself feel better in what I can currently wear instead!  So, retail therapy, obvs.  After all, since working like a dog for a couple of months, I had some bonus cash as a result (not sure it was worth the stress but I may as well enjoy it now)!

I've found a few great bargains among some more expensive options (I finally see what the fuss is all about when it comes to Boden!) and will share a few of my finds below.

First of all, I have finally invested in a couple of jumpsuits.  A trend I have hitherto avoided due to never finding one that worked with my shape/height - no one wants a supposedly comfy outfit cutting into the crotch when they sit down, nor being tight over my wider hips and showing off curves in a less than flattering way.  It just wasn't the trend for me, even though I often admired it on others, although I always wondered if it was too much of a faff when toileting anyway!  Luckily I've finally found not one but two jumpsuits I really love and actually suit me!  One is from George at Asda (£25 - now sold out) and the other from Apricot (£29).  They both have wide legs and cinch in at the waist (but without making my larger post-baby belly more pronounced, damn you diastasis recti!) and the Apricot one has wrap over trousers which makes it even more flattering and nice and cool as the waft open as you walk.  (Sometimes a little too much I discovered as my entire thigh up to my pants started to be revealed recently!!  I have invested in some legging shorts with lace hem to wear underneath now!)

Cable & Cotton rainbow lights in the kids' bedroom

You may remember my excitement at getting these rainbow lights for the kids for Christmas.  They're now up and we love them!  They were pretty popular on Instagram so I thought I'd share a bit more info here as I had a few people asking about them.  

You can now buy a ready made rainbow set on the cotton & cable website (after they saw how popular my set was!) but it has a more pastel tone so if you're after one more intensely coloured like mine, see the list below.

Little Bird by Jools Christmas jumper twinning at Ashdown Forest

We went to Ashdown Forest this morning for a walk in the lovely sunshine and to take a few photos for a project with Coastal Kids Magazine's Christmas issue.  Here are a few of my favourite photos and look out for my Christmas Jumper round ups soon!  (Kiddie and grown up versions!)

Bright prints for the twins' bedroom gallery wall

This post contains affiliate links.  

You may remember the gallery wall I made above the twins' cots in their nursery.  I filled lots of white frames with various brightly coloured prints as well as a few of my maternity photos.

Photo by Laura Aziz {baby, picture this}

Outside The Box Clothes - review & GIVEAWAY by Bex

To celebrate my first column for Uckfield News today and with the launch of OTB Clothes' unisex shorts, I'm delighted to be running a giveaway with Outside The Box Clothes!  Priya was wearing her dress at the Uckfield Festival Big Day and we went back to Luxford park for a photo shoot to show off the clothes against the slightly roughened bright colours of the play equipment so you may have noticed it in my column today and now you have a chance to win one for your child!

Polaroid balloons - party ideas by Bex

A really fun and effective way to decorate a room for a party is with lots of balloons.  I saw an idea on Pinterest using a few gold balloons hovering above a dessert table for a bridal shower and each balloon had a photo hanging from it.  I decided to adapt this for my twins' first birthday party but wanted to actually fill the whole dining room.  I have never been accused of being minimalistic!

Since I designed the twins' nursery with a rainbow theme, we've sort of continued that colour scheme into both their naming ceremony and now 1st birthday.  I bought 100 Belbal balloons in ten different bright colours from Click4Balloons (10 for £1.40) and hired a canister of helium which I picked up locally.

I was offered balloon valves (99p for 100) by the website and I'm so glad I bought them as they saved hours of time fiddling with and tying balloons.  You simply pull each balloon opening over the valve and then push that onto the helium nozzle, which fits perfectly, until the balloon is filled and that's it - it self seals.  They also came with the ribbons already tied on so that saved me even more time!

I ordered 96 Polargram polaroids of the twins (together and separate) taken over their first year.  I cut the ribbons to the length I wanted and taped the photos on before inserting the valves and inflating the balloons on the morning of the party.

I had planned to write a wee note on the bottom of each one, for example "Arriving home - 6 days old" or "Bathtime at 25 weeks", but I ran out of time!

Photo by Take Aim Photography

I hope you'll agree, they look really effective!

Photo by Take Aim Photography

Photo by Take Aim Photography 

Photo by Take Aim Photography

Photo by Take Aim Photography

My son is obsessed with balloons and when his great uncle brought him down in his party outfit and he saw them for the first time, he actually gasped in delight!  I wish I could have gotten a picture of his expression as he pointed at the ceiling of balloons.

Photo by Take Aim Photography

I also have a few ideas for what I can do with the photos now that the party's over so watch this space!

Pin it do it - Pom pom wreath by Bex

I really wanted to make something out of pom poms for the babies' birthday and found a few pom pom wreaths I liked on Pinterest.  Obviously I wanted to make mine in rainbow colours so bought a few brightly coloured wools and got to work with my new pom pom making gadgets (Pompom Maker Kit)!

Mummy - can touch these?!?

These gadgets are so easy to use and SO quick!  I made lots of different sizes and colours (can you guess how many?) and stuck them all on to the 35cm Half Rounded Polystyrene Wreath with hot glue.  I've been using my hot glue gun a lot lately - it's fab!  (I have the Dremel 930 Glue Gun Hobby 7mm - Dual Temp.)

Before sticking any on though, I decided to wrap the wreath with the blue wool and I'm so glad I did.  Although it took about and hour and a half, while watching The Big Bang Theory, it meant I didn't have to worry about any white areas showing through.

I was really pleased with the final result.  I stuck on a number one I cut out of a shoe box and wrapped with the same fabric I used to add 1s to their white tops.

I plan to change this for a 2 next year!  ;)  By which time I'm also hoping to have our new blue front door!

I love it so much and enjoyed making it so I plan to make a white one for Christmas (like snowballs) using various types of white wool and stick on some snowflake decorations I have.  That one will definitely look better on the dark blue door.  I might not get it finished for this year anyway!