Boxes

After being admonished for my messy flat this week, I have tried to be a little more organised.

I will admit, being a mother does not always come naturally to me, especially when my buttons are pushed and I have to juggle a million proverbial balls in the air, but what does come naturally to me is a double-sided-sticky-tape-Blue Peter-ethos.

So here is some I made earlier:

1. Take some empty boxes (I used Pampers nappy boxes; any will do to house your junk)

2. Find jolly wrapping paper, wallpaper offcuts, old maps or similar

3. Locate double sided sticky tape. The decorating stuff from DIY shops is a million times cheaper than the fancy-pants type from art and stationary shops.

4. Cover box is sticky tape

5. Stick on jolly paper

6. Fill with junk that is currently on the carpet

7. Make nosey old bats who look through your window both amazed, and jealous

Inspired: Room for a Wriggles

This weekend, I've been having a super clear and sort out of the flat. Until now, I have shacked up with Wriggles in her bedroom. When we first moved, she was only just 5 months corrected and had just had a major infection, so I slept in the same room to adhere to SIDS advice and for my peace of mind. As she was frequently ill, I stayed and by the time we emerged into the healthier period we are in now, with the worst behind us, I have stayed out of convenience. One of the most annoying things about being a singleton is that you need to wait for kindly friends to pop over to give a hand with moving heavy furniture or DIY jobs!

But. Moving time is here. We both now have our own bedrooms and to celebrate, I would like to jazz the neutral walls up a touch (neutral is an understatement. They are generic cheap-as-chips magnolia with sandpapery cheap sludge colour carpet, as can be found in most inexpensively kitted out places by landlords trying to cut corners!) and give our rooms some personality. I love the Inspired linky that Dear Beautiful Boy has been running, so joining in, here are some of the items that I am coveting and drawing inspiration from to give Wriggles a room fit for a queen.

I love this bold tree print; it is a fabric from Swedish favourites Ikea. Not only is it affordable at £4.99 a metre but it is thicker than many cottons, so I have been thinking about attempting to whizz up some curtains. Note; "attempting" is key here. In theory, I know how to run up curtains having watched Kirsty Allsopp's 'Handmade Home' programme and internet tutorials, how I would actually fare is another matter. Oh and that time thing to. But I would like to!

The room has a short but very wide window so any curtain will be quite a feature. I do not want a super girly room brimming  over with fairies and pink, so would like to keep with more green and blue palette.

And while I'm looking at birds, I have utterly fallen in love with this owl in a teacup print by illustrator Heather Scott. Heather sells on Etsy and Folksy under Sparklehen. Her prints are vibrant and whimsical and I already have several bought over time. The teacup reminds me slightly of Alice in Wonderland, and the colours are perfect. Who wouldn't want to share a tea party with a stray owl?! Loons. And it's not strictly a room accessory but I'm sure Wriggles could make room for this crochet owl in her cot!

 Being in a rented flat, it is too much faff to start painting and wallpapering, so these new-fangled wall stickers sound a good plan of transforming a wall and adding some colour. Keeping with an emerging woodland vibe, I saw these designs on Not On The Highstreet which caught my eye.

Whilst I was also browsing there, I saw this rabbit lamp by Little Ella James. Wriggles is not scared of the dark and has rarely slept in anything lighter than pitch black, so for the moment I doubt a nightlight would be needed, but it is so sweet. Maybe I could "borrow" it for the time being! I saw these fabric Love Birds which look adorable perched on a branch (surely attaching a branch to a wall must be easy?)

 

So all I need to do now is win the lottery and channel my inner Laurence Llewelyn Bowen. Easy! Hop over to Lucy's blog and see what anyone else has been looking at this week.

Finding the Perfect Gift

My best friend from university has recently found out she is pregnant and I am delighted for her. Her little bean is due in June 2012 and in the mean time I am trying to find the perfect present. She is cautiously waiting until 24 weeks (viability; Wriggles' premature experience has made her walk on eggshells) before shouting it out to the world who hasn't already guessed, but they are keeping the gender strictly under wraps.

I think this is really quite a nice idea; so many newborn or indeed any baby items are so gender stereotyped that it seems like a special challenge to find a really lovely present for a newborn. No pink! No blue! And we all know that lovely as white is, beautiful and pure, it is the least practical colour for a newborn. I imagine that family members will overdose on teddy bears (it seems to be some divine law) and given that as a shattered new parent you can only muster up so much polite excitement about novelty sloganned bibs, I really want to find a longer-term keepsake. Also, I remember selfishly thinking when Wriggles was born that it would be quite nice to dress my own daughter some days!

I have narrowed it down to a few things and I may well try and "road test" them first as I personally am quite enamoured with them!

• "My Life Journal" by Suck Uk. Essentially a 100 year diary, this is a beautifully bound scrapbook that is split up into year with each year separated by seasons with pockets for photos, keepsakes and special pictures and awards. There is a world map so you can mark everywhere you lived and went on holiday, a body map to chart bumps, bruises, war-wounds and tattoos and many other things to mark off. It sounds a lovely idea to fill up and take over from your parents as you grow older.

• I am a little obsessed with Folksy and saw this amazingly cute Memory Make Stegosaurus , by Molly Moo and Jessica Too. It is simple: you sent them some sentimental fabric, and they craft a cuddly dinosaur from it! Who doesn't like a dinosaur? This may need some consultation with the expectant parents (I imagine nabbing my friend's favourite jumper will not endear me to her..) but there are so many possibilities of making a really personal present.

• Then lastly is this photo book by Sassy, which I must confess has already lured me into clicking "buy"! (Why Amazon, why? Internet shopping just does not feel like real shopping. Dangerous) The 'Look Book' is a photo album for babies, made out of sturdy boards with bright colours and some texture, it has 7 pockets to put your own pictures in. Apparently the handle also doubles up as a teething ring; genius! Well at least it looks genius-we shall soon see!