Lace Shell Edged Shawl Crochet Project – Complete

Crafts / 9 years ago / RelentlesslyPurple

I’ve been working on a Lace Shell Edged Shawl since my birthday after some good friends spoilt me with crochet supplies! I received a handy box full of purple sparkly wool, hooks, a magazine & beginners crochet guide. I was over the moon and still am!

A box of treats!

Crochet goodies

 

Anyone that knows me will know I absolutely love crochet! I taught myself slowly over the last few year after finding knitting difficult with 2 children running around. Crochet is much easier to pick up & put down when I have spare time. My confidence has grown loads and I’ve made some lovely items that I’m quite proud of. I’ve crocheted several items now including bags, a flower heart wreath, dolls clothes, blankets for Eva and Izzy, scarves and more! I really enjoy crochet, it helps with my anxiety & depression too so this was the perfect birthday present!

I love seeing the girls with their blankets I made for them šŸ˜

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Lace Shell Edged Shawl

With plenty of purple wool, I sat and looked through the magazines to find myself a nice project. I found a pattern for a gorgeous lace edged shawl so I instantly got to work on a purple one for myself! The crochet beginners guide has a lovely pattern which I decided to adapt slightly using a different sized hook. I won’t deny I only changed the pattern so I could use my lovely new 3mm purple hook instead of a 5mm one!

Lace shell edged Shawl

Using the Crochet Beginners guide I finally got the hang of a magic ring which will be useful in so many projects. I’ve also recently taught myself how to do a standing crochet stitch, great for hiding any mistakes haha!

My lace shell edged shawl grew quite quickly considering the hook size difference. The shawl took longer than planned but I’m still pleased I managed it in a month! We’ve had a busy few weeks, a surprise trip to Southend pier, Izzy being poorly and Eva going back to school . Somehow I have still managed to sneak in a few rows here and there.

Finally finished!

The design itself is quite simple but it has a lace shell edging which is nice and a little different to the shell edging on Izzy’s crochet blanket I recently made her. I madea few mistakes so had to frog several rows throughout but I eventually got there!

My shawl is finally finished! Still need to wash and block it but YAY!

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One of the magazines came with a shawl pin to use too. Now I’ve learnt more stitches and tricks my ‘to make’ list is growing quickly! With 5 more balls of purple to use I’m on the hunt for another little project haha!

What do you think of the shawl? What would you make if you had plenty of wool to use?

 

Weekend Box – Snazaroo Face Paints

Crafts / 9 years ago / RelentlesslyPurple

Weekend Box have teamed up with Snazaroo and created a fantastic face paints box. Eva loves Weekend Boxes, you may remember she reviewed some boxes last year and had her photo featured on Facebook too! We love subscription boxes that keep us entertained over the weekend. Weekend Boxes are suitable for 4-9 years. This fabulous mini box is just Ā£2.99!

Weekend Snazaroo Box

Of course Eva was extremely excited to discover a Weekend Box addressed to her this week and couldn’t wait to see what was inside and start having some creative fun!

Inside The Weekend Box

Weekend Box

Eva still loves the characters on the box and how it is packaged, she loves that she can open the box and read about the animals before finally discovering what’s actually inside the box. She remember the cute woodland characters from last year and loves Hattie the Hedgehog.

Weekend Box Snazaroo

Snazaroo Face Paints!

As you can see Eva was really excited to discover her Weekend Box had Snazaroo face paints inside! Snazaroo face paints are suitable from 3 years.Ā They are so easy to use, just add water, even Izzy joined in and had a go. Snazaroo face paints are made in the UK, they are skin friendly, fragrance and paraben free and are formulated from premium cosmetic ingredients to be gentle on skin. We all have sensitive skin, cheap face paints causes rashes but we have no problems at all with Snazaroo face paints.

With 2 fun Snazaroo face painting kits to use Eva couldn’t wait to start using them. Eva loved the Birthday party face paint stamp kit. She especially loved the cupcake and face stamps so we started with those.

Cupcake Face Paint

We tried out the mini face paint kit next and decided to follow the directions on the box to see if it was as simple as it looks. We need a little more practice but Eva loved the end result! The 3 step guide was so easy to follow and Snazaroo have more guides online.


The Snazaroo Weekend Box is so much fun and something we can use again. You can invite some friends round & paint all their faces as there is plenty of paint in those kits! This is definitely something we would recommend as it kept us busy for quite some time. Of course we then had 2 clowns running around causing havoc in the flat haha!

Because Snazaroo face paints are water based they are so easy to clean off. Using wet wipes we had clean faces again in minutes! We love the mini kit so much! There are five vibrant themes available ā€“ Summer, Carnival, Halloween, Christmas and Easter. The colourful summer packs include a fun Festive Mask (made up of bright pink, white and royal blue) and a Jester (featuring grass green, white and purple).

Snazaroo paint a smile

Do you love the look of the Snazaroo Weekend Box too?

*I received this product in exchange for an honest review.

 

Celebrating International Literacy Day 2017 With Viking Direct

Awareness Campaigns / 9 years ago / RelentlesslyPurple

I am celebrating International Literacy Day 2017 with Viking Direct. To help me create a post for international literacy day Viking Direct provided me with a box full of supplies!

International literacy day with viking direct

Unesco

In 1946 International literacy day was founded byĀ Unesco.Ā They have continued to spread awareness and make great efforts to help people around the world access literacy for 51 years. There are still 750 million adults and 264 million out-of school children lacking basic literacy skills. This desperately needs to be changed. Everyone deserves to be taught literacy.

UNESCO has been at the forefront of global literacy efforts since 1946, advancing the vision of a literate world for all. It views acquiring and improving literacy skills throughout life as an intrinsic part of the right to education. The ā€œmultiplier effectā€ of literacy empowers people, enables them to participate fully in society and contributes to improve livelihoods.

Ā Speech Bubble Bookmarks

International Literacy Day 2017

I support international literacy day because everyone deserves to be literate. Literacy gives us access to endless amounts of information, skills and outlets. It is more than just education, literacy is a basic human right. Being literate gives us the ability to absorb and interpret information. Literacy isn’t just the ability to read, write and count, it helps us solve problems. Being literate fires up our imaginations and allows us to express ourselves creatively.

Nib brooch

Ā 

Literacy at home

Knowing the importance of literacy the Mr and I have always tried to encourage the girls to learn anyway we can.

Dr. Seuss quote

As book lovers, we love using our local library to borrow books, a chance to socialise with other children whilst encouraging a love of literature. Using the item’s sent by Viking I have designed a new book bag to take with us to the library.

Lewis Carroll Quote

Izzy loves Dr. Seuss and Eva is a big fan of Alice in wonderland and is often running around shouting quotes from the book! Being literate opens us to a world of adventure, creativity, and knowledge and I feel these quotes were fitting.

How literacy benefits me

Growing up with access to literacy have given me the opportunity to blog which has been a fantastic outlet for me. Blogging has shown me other’s are going through exactly the same as me. Reading posts written by others shows me they feel the same and face similar challenges. I know I’m not alone.

International Literacy Day 2017

Without literacy I would severely struggle to connect with anyone. Everyone deserves a chance to express themselves and connect with like-minded people. We are in a digital age which makes literacy a key skill that everyone deserves access to.

Literary tea

*Viking Direct supplied me with a box of supplies to help me create this post. All views are my own.

 

Facts! One For Every Day Of The Year!

Book Reviews / 9 years ago / RelentlesslyPurple
Facts! One for every day of the year

We received* a fab book of Facts! One for every day of the year, written by Tracey Turner and illustrated by Fatti Burke and published by Bloomsbury Children’s publishing. Available to buy from Amazon at Ā£12.99 this book would make a great addition to any child’s bookshelf.

Facts! One for every day of the year

Facts! One for every day of the year

The Book comes with postcards, one for each month with a fun fact and illustration. From animal facts to how to say ‘Happy Christmas’ in 20 different languages! We love postcards and have started collecting them when we visit somewhere new so Eva loved adding these fun postcards to her collection.

Postcard Facts!

Postcards

Facts! One for every day of the year is a fantastic book for children is a beautifully illustrated fact book for children aged 4-8 years. This book would be a fantastic educational Birthday or Christmas gift to be treasured and read daily. Children enjoy learning fun facts and this book is absolutely bursting with them! Everyone can learn something with this book.

Introduction

Introduction

It’s amazing reading through the facts, they are so interesting and accompanied by such fun, colourful illustrations that will draw in any child! Eva (7) loved flicking through and finding facts for certain days such as our birthdays. Interestingly Izzy shares her birthday with Alexander Fleming who discovered Penicillin, which both girls & I are allergic to.

6th August - On this date

We’ve had lots of fun checking the daily facts and Eva has learnt plenty of interesting facts to go back to school and share with her friends & teachers. I can see this book being pulled out daily to read and show to visitors too. Children are knowledge hungry at this age and I love to feed that hunger with books like this.

 

Facts

This book contains amusing animal facts, amazing space stats, scientific discoveries, fantastic achievements, and so much more! There really is something for everyone is this fantastic book for children. I would definitely recommend this to anyone looking for an interesting and educational gift.

*This is a sponsored #Ad

Cocktail Nights At Lanes – Benfleet

Alcohol / 9 years ago / RelentlesslyPurple

Love cocktails? Cocktail nights at Lanes in Benfleet, Essex is the perfect place to go for a chilled out atmosphere and delicious drinks to relax with.Ā Lanes is a fine dining restaurant and bar located 4 minutes from Benfleet train station.

Lanes Cocktail Bar

Opening times

Tue: 12:00 – 22:30

Wed: 12:00 – 22:30

Thur: 12:00 – 22:30

Fri: 12:00 – 23:30

Sat: 12:00 – 23:30

Sun: 12:00 – 18:00

Cocktail Nights

Cocktail nights are being introduced at Lanes this week and will continue every Thursday night from 10pm to midnight. Lanes are offering a range of cocktails for Ā£7.50 each or 2 for Ā£12! BARGAIN! (Who’s coming with me?) For those that prefer Mocktails those are available for just Ā£3.50 each too!

Cocktail nights at lanes

Cocktails Available

Grey Goose Cosmo

Classic Margarita

Palm Breeze

Long Island Ice Tea

Elderflower and Cucumber Collins

Mudslide

Elderflower Bellini

With a fantastic selection of cocktails and a delicious fine dining menu, Lanes is definitely worth a visit. Just look at that roast.. if the drinks don’t tempt you the food most definitely will!

Lanes Fine Dining Restaurant

Food serving times

Tue: 12:00 – 15:00 / 18:00 – 21:30

Wed: 12:00 – 15:00 / 18:00 – 21:30

Thur: 12:00 – 15:00 / 18:00 – 21:30

Fri: 12:00 – 15:00 / 18:00 – 22:00

Sat: 12:00 – 22:00

Sun: 12:00 – 16:00

Lanes is a family friendly restaurant with disabled facilities, a function room, smoking area with free Wi-Fi. Along with a selection of cocktails and food Lanes also offer real ales, a unique selection of wines and speciality coffee.

Lanes Coffee

What are you waiting for!? Whether you are looking for a night out drinking cocktails, a family meal with a gorgeous glass of wine or a coffee to warm up with as the colder months draw closer, Lanes has you covered. With a relaxed modern atmosphere you are sure to enjoy your visit.

Do you love cocktail nights? Which cocktail is your favourite?

Nibbles: The Dinosaur Guide

Book Reviews / 9 years ago / RelentlesslyPurple

Nibbles: The Dinosaur Guide by Emma Yarlett is another fabulous book published by Little Tiger. A fantastic book for children aged 3-6 years. Nibbles: The Dinosaur Guide is a gorgeous hardback for Ā£12.99. We received a copy from Little Tiger to review and I knew from the second I opened it we would thoroughly enjoy it! Who doesn’t love Monsters and Dinosaurs?? (We’re still a little unsure about the Dino Doo-Doo Nibbles though!)

Nibbles: The Dinosaur Guide

Nibbles: The Dinosaur Guide

Nibbles the book monster managed to escape from his first book back in 2016 and now he’s back munching his way through The Dinosaur Guide! Fantastically written and illustrated by award winning author and illustrator Emma Yarlett this excellent book is full of excitement.

Nibbles: The Dinosaur Guide

Nibbles, a wild book monster finds his way into The Dinosaur Guide! A book munching, mischief making monster, Nibbles needs to be returned to his cage. The Dinosaur Guide is full of fantastic information about different species of dangerous dinosaurs.

Somehow Nibbles keeps escaping whilst causing havoc, munching his way through dangerous dinosaurs throughout the book. He just about manages to nibble his way away from the terrible Triceratops, Diplodocuses and Velociraptors! Nibbles then faces the most dangerous of all, the terrifying Tyrannosaurus Rex!!

This book is hilarious and so much fun to read! We loved the nibbles on the corners of the pages and holes through the pages. The book is full of fun flaps to lift too. This is such an interactive story which kept Izzy’s attention throughout. Nibbles destroys chunks of the pages but there are still plenty of dinosaur facts to learn too!

I would definitely recommend this book, it is such a cheeky, funny, colourful picture book. It is bound to capture the attention of any child. Even older children will enjoy it, Eva(7) loved it as there are several amusing jokes throughout the story.

 

 

My Sunday Photo – End Of The Summer Holiday

My Sunday Photos / 9 years ago / RelentlesslyPurple

This My Sunday Photo post is the last one of the summer holidays! Eva goes back to school on Wednesday and it got me looking back through our summer photo’s. These are a few of my favourites of Eva.

Daredevil

Summer Holidays

Eva’s confidence has really grown and she’s been much more daring this summer. Climbing is something she loves to do but after a few falls she lost her confidence slightly but over the summer her confidence has returned. She’s braved running on the ring above, hanging upside down below and climbing on the play equipment again over the summer holidays.

Eva hanging around

 

I love watching Eva run around the park, climbing on everything!

My little climber

Having both girls at home for almost 7 weeks has been stressful at times. However I’ve also managed to capture some lovely moments between them. I love these 2 below, the girls decided to walk along together nicely whilst we were out shopping one day, how cute do they look!?

Sisters

Sisters

Sisterly love

Every year I’ve caught the girls snuggled up together over the summer and taken a photo. I love the look on Izzy’s face in this picture. Izzy is rough with Eva at times but this shows she really does look up to her big sister! I love catching moments like these, it balances out all the fighting!

Now Eva is preparing for the start of year 3 in just 3 days time! She has a lovely teacher she is excited to be having, has been chosen as the glue monitor and is looking forward to going back. I’ve enjoyed having more time with her but I know she loves and misses the routine of school.

We’ve had a lovely summer, I’m quite sad it’s almost over as it’s been our best yet! What have you been up to?

 

Photalife

Dreamworks Trolls Truck Tour Lakeside

Days Out and Events / 9 years ago / RelentlesslyPurple

We were told the DreamWorks Trolls Truck Tour would be at Tesco Lakeside on Wednesday, so we decided to go take a look. It sounded like a fantastic crafty day, something we always enjoy joining in with.Ā The weather was a bit miserable but we decided to head out anyway. We arrived and was invited in by a member of staff.

Trolls Truck Tour Lakeside

Trolls Truck Tour Lakeside

Cupcake Decorating StationĀ 

Cupcake decorating station

The girls were encouraged to decorate cupcakes as we entered. The cupcake decorating station was really cool I have to admit. The girls spend some time smothering their brightly iced cupcakes in all sorts of sugary decorations.Ā 

Cake decorating

Colouring Table

Over at the Craft table there wasn’t much going on but the girls were offered colouring pages which they sat with for a while. Eva had hoped for some fun Poppy based crafts so I’ve promised her we will come up with some our self at home. I think that may be because she enjoyed the crafts at The Little Tiger Party, where there was a craft planned for each book. Izzy got bored quite quickly and I had to stop her escaping out the doors.

Colouring

TV/Music Corner

I loved the colourful beanbags set out for the children to watch Trolls videos but neither of my girls spent much time over there. Izzy did play around with the cool Troll Pillows but didn’t sit and watch anything. I love the purple beanbag!

TV corner

Soft Corner

Another corner was full of soft play squares and cuddly Troll toys. Izzy had fun rearranging them until I stopped her from spreading them everywhere. There was a great range of Trolls products dotted around the whole truck.

Soft Corner

Salon Corner

The highlight of the experience was definitely the Salon area. The lovely ladies were really welcoming and chatty. Whilst Izzy refused to have a tattoo or her hair sprayed, Eva chose a poppy tattoo. A friend and her daughter had joined us too and her daughter’s hair was amazingly pink & sparkly afterwards!

Poppy Tattoo

Overview

We did enjoy our time at the Truck Trolls Tour. The Truck itself was absolutely amazing and laid out really well. Eva and I had hoped for more troll based arts & crafts and characters to pose for photo’s with.Ā  Had we been out shopping and stopped by I would have been quite pleased to find such a fun free event. I took the girls to buy crafts afterwards as they had hoped for more. The truck is fantastic fun for Trolls fans if you have 20 minutes to spare.

Did the Trolls Truck Tour stop near you? What did you think?

PJ Masks MagazineĀ – Powerful Fun For Little Heroes

Product Reviews / 9 years ago / RelentlesslyPurple

Izzy loves PJ Masks. Catboy is her favourite as she loves cats herself. She was delighted when I showed her a copy of the new PJ Masks magazine we were sent! PJ Masks is a new monthly magazine for pre-school children available from most supermarkets & newsagents. Each issue comes packed with free gifts, stickers and fun activities.

PJ Masks Magazine

Powerful fun for little heroes

Once we had played with the toys on the front cover (always the first thing to be done!) we sat down at the table to have a look through the magazine. Magazines like this are fantastic for encouraging pre-schoolers to improve on a wide range of skills by sticking, colouring, gluing, counting and more! The PJ Masks magazine is jam packed full of activities to keep any PJ Masks fan busy.

PJ Masks car craft

Crafts

The first page has a fun Cat-Car craft to cut out and make. We love being able to make fun crafts like this and with easy to follow instructions like these they are fun for any pre-schooler. Crafts like this are fantastic for fine motor skills as well as being lots of fun.

PJ masks

Sticking

Izzy loves stickers as most pre-schoolers do so this sticker page instantly drew her in! We love sticker pages, they are a great way to improve fine-motor skills in pre-schoolers. The stickers in this PJ mask magazine were really easy for Izzy to peel off herself. Placing all the characters starting with her favourite, Catboy, she quickly finished off her PJ Masks scene.

PJ Masks Sitckers

Colouring

There are several colouring pages throughout the PJ Masks magazine. Colouring favourite characters is always exciting for pre-schoolers and improves their fine motor skills and knowledge of colours. As you can see, Izzy got distracted by the story before she could finish colouring cat boy.

Catboy Colouring Page

Stories

Magazines are great at encourage reading from a young age, especially when their favourite characters are involved. The PJ Masks Story was a great easy to read story which of course involved sticking a sticker. Whilst I read the story to her, Izzy knowing all the characters was able to ‘read’ the bottom half of this page to me which she really enjoyed!

PJ Masks Story

Puzzles

After reading the a PJ Masks story we moved on to Puzzle time. Izzy really enjoys activities like this they are both fun and simple, allowing her to work on her pencil control as she circles, ticks and matches items up.

Games

The PJ Masks magazine has a fantastic 3D game. With easy to cut out pieces your little one can help PJ Masks catch up with Romeo! Complete with a cut-out HQ, Arch. Bridge and Cat-car as well as characters and a number spinner to help play the game. This game is great for pre-schoolers learning to count from 1 to 20!

Games

 

Posters

No magazine is complete without a poster to pull out and put on the wall. PJ Mask fans will absolutely love this pull out of the team!

It's time to be a hero

 

Surprise Visit To Southend Pier

Uncategorized / 9 years ago / RelentlesslyPurple

The Mr planned a surprise trip to Southend Pier last week which I had absolutely no clue about until we got to Southend. The Mr took us up to the viewing platform and pointed out the pier letting us know that’s where we were going!

Southend Pier

I’ve visited Southend a fair few times over the years, I took the girls last summer for a day on the beach and fun in the arcades. I’ve wanted to go on the Pier since I was a child. As it was my first time I was as excited as the girls. I caught some lovely shots for #MySundayPhoto too!

Southend Pier Railway

Sir John Bejeman

Southend Pier has it’s own railway so you can either walk the length of the pier or take the train, the Mr had also planned for us to take the train. We love trains and the girls are still so impressed you can take a train to the end of the pier.

Enjoying Southend Pier Railway

Although a little nervous to begin with Eva really enjoyed the train journey and looking out all around us, it’s definitely different looking back at land whilst being on a train! Izzy was a little unsure too but still enjoyed it. She loved watching out the doors whilst holding her daddy’s hand.

Looking out the train

The railway is 1.25 miles long, the Pier itself is 1.34 miles although there is a sign at 1.33 miles marking the end of the pier which of course the girls had to get a picture next to!

End of the Pier

End of Southend Pier

RNLI

At the end of the pier there are a few huts selling treats and drinks. One hut has a load of old posters from over the years. There is also a small lifeboat museum at the end of the pier which the girls enjoyed looking around.

Southend Pier lifeboats

Eva stood and read about the uniform & equipment the lifeguards need to wear. It was quite informative for such a tiny little place. It was interesting looking at the lifeboats and reading the information leaflets about them.

RNLI kit

The RNLI do an absolutely amazing job, their lifeboat crews and lifeguards saved 558 lives in 2016! They can only do this with support, whilst this isn’t a sponsored or affiliated post in anyway, if you would like to donate to their page to help support them then please do, you can find their page here.

Treats on the Pier

Before heading back to the Pier Railway to go back to land we stopped for a drink. The Mr had a beer on the Pier whilst the girls had ice cream! He had a pint of Wallasea Wench, brewed in Great Wakering in Essex.

The Mr is enjoying a #beeronthepier

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We headed back to the Railway but missed our train by a minute or so. We stopped at one of the small huts for a stick of rock each. A seaside tradition! I picked up this yummy cream egg flavoured one!

Cream Egg rock from Southend Pier

Heading back to land

The Southend Pier railway really is beautiful, I could watch the trains for hours! I managed to get a few lovely shots of the railway. I’m no professional but I do love taking photo’s like one below, as the train was pulling in to take us back to land.

Approaching train

Arcades

We headed to the arcades afterwards. After all you can’t go to the seaside without spending Ā£1/2 on the 2p machines! Both girls managed to win themselves prizes to take home, Emoji key rings for Eva & Paw patrol erasers for Izzy made a lovely end to the day.

Arcades

It was a fantastic surprise day out and we all loved our visit to the world’s longest pier. The railway was absolutely brilliant too and I can’t wait to go back again!

Have you ever visited Southend and the Pier before? Did you know it is the longest pier in the world?