Camp Bestival : The Best UK Holiday

Summer is nearly upon us and with it brings festival season. We have made Camp Bestival our UK summer break for the last three years and this year will be no different.

Perfect for children of all ages (we have even been with a new born baby) it really is the highlight of the summer. Camp Bestival 2016 brings Outer Space adventures with Fatboy Slim, Tears for Fears, Jess Glynne, Mr Tumble, The Chuckle Brothers, The Clangers (apply for a place at their meet-and-greet here.), the World's biggest bouncy castle and a whole galaxy of astronomical amusements.

If you are considering joining us, take a look at this fab video from Bambino Goodies and our photo gallery from last year.

Visit www.campbestival.net for ticket information. See you in Outer Space!

Disclosure

I am an official Camp Bestival Ambassador and am provided with a family ticket to attend. All views are my own and in no way influenced by the organiser. Camp Bestival is simply THE BEST.

Camp Bestival 2016 Count Down

For the last few years Camp Bestival has quite simply been the highlight of our summer. This year will be no different as we are already counting down the days till we rock up to Lulworth Cove with a car full of camping gear ready for a long weekend of fun and giggles with our friends.

As a family festival Camp Bestival 2016 has something for everyone. Music, comedy, sport, dancing, performing insects, go-carts, crafting, a dedicated teen area (The Den), fab bars and the best pizza we've ever tasted.

This years line up includes Fatboy Slim, Jess Glynne, Brand New Heavies, Arrested Development, Squeeze, Tears For Fears and The Cuban Brothers. 

There are a range of ticket options available including a fab 10 week payment plan to take the strain out of buying them in one go. You can find all the ticket info here.

Here's the official film from last years fun to wet your appetite.....

Read my review of Camp Bestival 2015.

Disclosure

I am an official Camp Bestival Ambassador and am provided with a family ticket to attend. All views are my own and in no way influenced by the organiser.

Corners Of My New Home

At the end of November we packed up our home of the last twelve years and moved to a smaller house. We just don't need as much space as we used to now that we aren't bursting at the seams with toys and baby gear.

It was an epic move with an even bigger downsizing exercise running alongside and as we were only going around the corner, we thought we could handle the move ourselves. Big mistake, huge!

I don't think that I have ever been as stressed as I was during that week and when I finally closed the door on the place where our children have grown-up, it was with relief at having achieved something huge rather than the sadness I was expecting.

Our new place is a stark contrast to our previous home. We have gone from a light, bright, roomy, 15 year old, Georgian Style to the oldest house in the village that was built over 450 years ago.

None of furniture fitted the size or the style of the new place so our unpacking and placement (of all of my kitsch loveliness) is still ongoing.

I've never really been a lover of beams but I have fallen totally in love with this house with it's thick, wonky walls and uneven floors. My favourite space is the beautiful galleried landing where I've made my office space.

We think that this part of the house was added about 40 years ago when the old tin roof (with a thatch underneath) was removed. The light floods through the duel aspect windows and the cats love to sit on the high beam above my desk.

With a new house comes the opportunity to accessorise and we went to town on bits for Biba's Biba themed bedroom. My favourite bits are the glassware from the bathroom collection.

And these oversized Biba cushions for her bed.

The Biba books are mine but she promises to care for them so I relented. The pots on top of the books are original Biba pots that are ideally sized for tea-light candles and the yellow stool I lovingly painted at a Home Barn paint day.

There will be more Corners Of My New Home coming soon...

Disclosure : I was sent the Biba glassware to review all other items featured in this post have been lovingly collected by my own fair hands.

Win A limited Edition Print

I've been attempting to spend a little less time online over the last few months and as a result I've developed a new love of drawing.

After much badgering by some of my friends I've finally got it together and launched a little Etsy store selling my prints.

In celebration of getting this off the ground I'm giving you the chance to win a print of your choice. All you need to do to enter is pop over to my Etsy store and leave a comment telling me which one you would like to win. 

There are three prints up for grabs. Please enter using the Refflecopter widget below and don't forget to comment or your additional entries will not be valid. You can find my store at www.etsy.com/uk/shop/Geekisnewchic

a Rafflecopter giveaway

CozyGlo Nightlights Need Your Help

I love the idea of crowdsourced funding and I've dipped my toe into a few tech projects like this ZX Spectrum remake but until this week I'd not come across a pitch in the nursery industry. 

It's so refreshing to see such humble, dynamic, enthusiasm in bringing a product into the industry that I've worked in for the last sixteen years, that I'm throwing this out there in the hope that you, my readers will feel inspired enough to get behind them too.

Enter CozyGlo, the cute, multi-purpose nightlight that's set to rock the block. It will be available in the three cool designs below, Pappa Penguin, Beatrice the Rescue Dog and Colonel Comfort. 

Featuring a thermometer, stopwatch, clock, countdown light timer, dimmer and light alarm. Each character can be battery powered or plugged into the mains.

But CozyGlo need your help to bring this fab product to market. They need £7000 for each mould in order to put the lights into production and if they exceed their crowdfunding target, the money raised will go towards their first bulk order.

Over on their Born crowdfunding page they are offering a range of gifts and incentives to get involved at this early stage and you can even bag yourself one of the first run of nightlight's at a fraction of the retail price, just for giving them a helping hand to make their product dream a reality.

And you know what they say.... a good deed goes a long way. Karma and all that...

Here's how you can help..

Visit CozyGlo's crowdfunding page on Born and pledge. 

Follow CozyGlo on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Stop by their website and share this post with all your friends that might be interested in this awesome new product.

Hamma Bead Gift Tags

We are pushing the boat out this Christmas and making Hamma Bead gift tags for all of the pressies. Everyone has a theme, Panda's for Betty, Cat's for Biba, Star Wars for Ethan and Harry Potter for Kelli...

What do you think?

Our Hamma Beads are from Craft Merrily

Smiggle Store Birmingham

I love stationery, my girls love stationery so we really couldn't turn down the invitation to the opening of the new Smiggle store in Birmingham's Bullring.

If you don't know about Smiggle it's high time that you do. The girls have been talking about it for the last couple of months, since one opened in Leicester Highcross. 

Packed to the rafters with awesome, Smiggle is a stationery lovers dream. Kitsch, cute, eastern styling in a plethora of popping colourways to excite and invite.

A very big thank you to Smiggle for planting firm smiles on all of our faces. Check out what we bought along with our fab goodie bag contents below.

If you love stationery get your Smiggle on asap, you will find a store full of perfect bits for Christmas and beyond. 

You can follow Smiggle on Twitter, Instagram and on Facebook or check them out at www.smiggle.co.uk

Sunday 28th September - Silent Sunday

For Silent Sunday

Raising For Grayson : Snowdon

Last summer when I was enjoying a week at the awesome Coombe Mill a group of friends / bloggers formed a plan in support a family that many in the parent blogger community have grown to know and love. This plan was to become Raising For Grayson.

Here's why...

Our friend Kara is truly a superwoman, she won't have that said around her but her amazing son Grayson rolls with his own level of super hero powers and he had to get his fight from somewhere - right?

For young Grayson, ever day is a battle, his disability is so rare and complex that it's known as SWAN (syndrome without any name). The plight of Kara's family made us want to move mountains to support them and last month that's exactly what Kirsty and Clara did.

Climbing Snowdon For Grayson

Don't let their fresh complexion and broad smiles fool you, what My Two Mums were about to undertake was going to push them and challenge them, more than they ever imagined.

Kirsty tells the story of the climb much better than I could even attempt to but what I will say is that they raised over £1000 to buy some much needed equipment for Grayson as well as showing the world what amazing stuff they are made of.

Kirsty and Clara - you rock.

You can donate to Raising for Grayson here.

Let's Talk About Sex

As a blogger, I get sent a lot of press releases. Very few lead to a blog post, but as I have two girls teetering on the edge of becoming teenagers, this one from Lil-Lets struck a bit of a chord with me. 

Here's why...

Following a recent survey of 2000 British parents, Lil-Lets have found that more than 60% of parents find it difficult to talk about sensitive subjects like puberty and sex with their children. I am quite shocked by this, especially in this 'in your face social media world'.

I guess that I'm not the norm (don't say anything), when it comes to my parenting style, but I truly believe that it's your job as a parent to ensure that stigma and embarrassment don't even enter the building when you are talking about these essential topics with your children. 

After all, if they don't learn from your positive, relaxed example, there's always the playground and social media waiting to teach and tease.

Get over it people..... because if you don't take the positive high road of talking to your kids about puberty and sex - who knows what they will learn (or from whom).

There are some additional resources at the end of this post, if you have an issue talking sex, check them out.

Let's Talk Puberty

Lil-Let's Parent Zone

Back To School : The Gallery

I feel really emotional about the kids going back to school this year. We've had such an amazing summer that was over way too soon. Time seems to be whizzing by so fast that I can't seem to keep up.

My children are growing so quickly and after 20 years, this will be the last year I have a child at primary school. It certainly is the end of an era.

The first day back was a shock to the system for everyone and for the first time ever I missed the opportunity to take a photo before they left for school. It made me miserable all day and when I tried to gather them together when they got home, I only managed to bribe two out of three into the rain. This made me sad.

But here they are, Sonny at the start of year 9 and my baby, shiny, happy, Betty ready to take on year 6. Cute or what?!

For The Gallery.

Sunday 24th August 2014 : Silent Sunday

Silent Sunday

How To Make A Pizza Wrap

It isn't every day that you find a new tasty snack that every member of the household tucks into with passion and delight but last week Biba made a miraculous discovery when she invented the Pizza Wrap!

You Need

• Wraps, we like Mission Deli Wraps but ate them all before the camera made it out and had to settle for these Co-op Mini Wraps
• A tin of tomatoes
• Pizza cheese
• Any additional toppings you fancy
• A sprinkle of salt and pepper

To Make

1. Spread some tomatoes on your wrap
2. Sprinkle some cheese on top
3. Add your extra toppings
4. Sprinkle a spot of seasoning
5. Pop in the oven on a baking tray until the cheese has melted

That's it. You now have one yummy, super quick snack, but beware, they are addictively moreish!

Silent Sunday 17th August 2014

For Silent Sunday

How To Make A Lightweight Rag Quilt

I don't ever profess to be handy in the crafting department but I've been blown away by the feedback I've had since posting a picture of the rough and ready lightweight rag quilt that I made for Biba at the weekend.

Here's how I made it!

I already had a backing sheet that I wanted to use, so that became my basic size guide.

I roughly cut up my fabric pieces so that they were random depths and then simply stitched them together leaving the hem on the top side (so that the fabric will fray over time).

When I'd sewn together enough strips to cover my backing sheet, I put the good sides together and stitched almost all the way around to create the quilt. Leaving just enough space to allow me to turn it to the right side out.

When I'd turned it, I closed up the hole and that's it. One lightweight rag quilt.

I was planning on using a layer of quilt wadding but I didn't have any in and madam wasn't giving in with her moaning!

From start to finished quilt in less than 2 hours.

Festival Essentials

With just over four weeks until the big Camp Bestival weekend, it's finally time to start planning. You might think that's a little excessive but the key to a happy, awesome, fun-filled festival avec children, is all in the planning.

Think less is more. If you can't carry it - leave it at home!

The Ultimate Family Festival Packing List

Camping

Tent - If your tent is new, give it a dry run at home to make sure you know how to put it up! My beautiful new addition to the family is the SoulPad 5000-ease. I am quite literally in love with it it. At 5m, it's huge and we certainly won't grow out of it. I can't recommend SouldPad enough, their customer service is excellent.

Air mattress - And a pump if you don't fancy the old fashioned DIY inflate.

Sleeping bag - A regular sleeping bag is all you need but since coming across the awesome MuscuBag (below), I really need one in my life! I haven't shown my girls because I know they will really, really need them in their lives. I'm actually not sure how I managed to make it to this point on my life without one!

Head torch and spare batteries - Two hands are better than one when you are attempting to navigate a dark campsite in the middle of the night.

Spare tent pegs and mallet

Cooking

Portable stove and gas - For alfresco dining
Mess tins - For the authentic camping vibe
Pan, cutlery, kitchen roll
Small skewers - For making my legendary Saussypops!
A cool box - Not an essential but handy if you have one.
Food
Snacks

Clothing

We are at the mercy of the good old British weather, so planning for sun, rain, sleet and snow is advisable. If it's scorchio, simply leave your woolies and waders in the car and retrieve them if needed.

Sensible shoes are also a must. You will be covering a lot more ground than you think and there's nothing worse than sore feet by the end of day one.

Lightweight waterproof jacket - Screw it up and stick it in your bag.
Warm jumper - For the cool evenings.
Jeans
Shorts
Vest / T-shirt - I'm all about the layering.
Flower headband - My signature festival piece!
Underwear
Socks
Sensible shoes - Dr Martens are perfecto!

Essential Extras

Toilet roll - Better to be safe than sorry!
Hand sanitiser - An absolute essential.
Wet wipes - As much as you like to think that you'll be standing in line for a shower, it never happens. Take it out of the equation and be baby fresh instead.
Toothbrush / toothpaste
Bin bags - Perfect for throwing everything in at home time.
Picnic rug - One with a plastic backing to keep you dry on dewy grass
Glow sticks
Phone
Solar powered charger - The only sensible way to keep your phone juiced.
Nurofen
Pack of Loom Bands - to make gifts for all your new friends!
A roomy lightweight bag - For carrying the above around in all day!
Money
Your festival passes! 

To Leave In The Car

A full change of clothes - I'm not one to tempt fate but it's better to be prepared should the heavens open.
Wellies - As above
A couple of spare blankets - They are great in the evening if the temperature cakes a dip.

And that's it. Camp Bestival here we come!

Camp Bestival is at Lulworth Castle, Dorset from July 31st to August 3rd. Ticket and line up info at www.campbestival.net

Breathe - The Gallery

For this week's The Gallery, my beautiful Betty's first breath.

Breathe - The Gallery

Post Natal Depression

You don't need to suffer with Post Natal Depression.

Silent Sunday 20th April 2014

For Silent Sunday

PS... this is a real tiger cub!

Silent Sunday : March 16 2014

For Silent Sunday