Posts by Mo in London
I met the Reverend Ian about 9 years ago after I’d read an article about how Madonna’s son Rocco was wearing these scratch-mits from a new baby-wear brand he’d set up called Nippaz with Attitude (NWA). I immediately fell in love with him (not like that! but he is seriously one of the nicest guys on the planet) and the brand.
The Rev is not your usual man of the church — he used to work in A&R (artist and repertoire) for an indie record label but had a background in graphic design. As all his mates started to have kids he found it difficult to find really cool ‘new-baby’ gifts and so started to design some t-shirts and bibs. It grew from there and since then Nippaz has gone from strength to strength. The designs are reminiscent of record covers but have a great sense of humour — very much from the child’s perspective but playing with references familiar to grown-ups. We’ve all heard from our parents and probably said to our kids “it will end in tears” but when that is on a kid’s t-shirt as “its gonna end in tears” it’s somehow funny — that the child knows it already themselves!
I’m not usually a fan of slogan-tees but NWA always raises a smile. Both my children have tickled me wearing their designs (as can be seen in the pics)! As a Dylan fan (my son’s middle name is Dylan!) “Time I need a changin’” was a must for us.
I always recommend Nippaz to my guy friends who are struggling over what to buy as a new baby or birthday present for their god-son, niece or friend’s child. But I don’t think Nippaz is just for boys — it’s for anyone with a youth spent watching bands or at festivals or even anyone who just enjoys a laugh.
-Mo.x
Mo in London
March 10th, 2010
Two years ago our Christmas got canceled on Christmas Eve — well the trip we had planned to Switzerland did anyway. It was our first Christmas with a child and you know how important they are! We were devastated. I think the only thing that saved us was Melrose & Morgan, our local deli in Primrose Hill (where we lived at the time). We turned up at 12pm to a packed store of everyone collecting their orders and they thankfully managed to make us up one of their ‘Christmas’s in a box’. It honestly saved the day.
But Melrose & Morgan is not just for Christmas, their fantastic home-cooked meals are perfect to take home, heat up and make you look like a domestic goddess. Sadly my better-half isn’t easily fooled – Melrose & Morgan’s food is just that bit too delicious for him to believe it was made by me whilst I had 2 children hanging off my arms.
Each day the kitchen prepares a different menu using seasonal, locally sourced ingredients. Additionally they have a range of staples including their home-made pies, freshly baked bread, mouth-wateringly delicious cheeses and sweet treats for every occasion. I keep one of their pies and some of their home-made ice cream in my freezer for those “its 6.45pm, there’s nothing to eat in the house and the kids are going crazy” evenings (of which we tend to have 4 a week).
I’m not big on branded merchandise but my one exception is Melrose & Morgan’s mugs, aprons and my favourite canvas shopping bags with their simple red font spelling evocative foodie words such as ‘picnic’, ‘cheese’ and ‘custard’ (I love that one in particular!).
Melrose and Morgan is at 42 Gloucester Avenue, London, NW1 8JD. Nearest tube Chalk Farm or Camden.
-Mo. x
Mo in London
March 8th, 2010
Yes, it’s true. I’ve been having a secret affair with a man called Roger. It started shortly after my son was born 3 years ago and my husband doesn’t know about it … yet. I got caught up with this guy when I bought a book called The Happy Lion for my son (A Babyccino favourite as Courtney wrote about here). He illustrated the book written by his wife Louise Fatio. We both (my son and I) immediately fell in love with the story and accompanying pictures and wanted to learn more about this French Lion. So we set about buying some more of the stories in the Happy Lion series. But we could only get ‘The Happy Lion Roars‘ direct from Amazon — all the others seemed out of print and only available through the Amazon Market Place. Over the last couple of years we have gradually bought them up when they have been for sale at a sensible price. We fell so much in love with this Lion that we grew to want more from his creators.
Ms. Fatio also wrote about a delightful penguin and his lady-love: Hector and Christina (but you have to keep your eyes peeled on e-bay or Amazon to find copies of them, which is definitely worth doing). But Mr. Duvoisin (Roger when you know him like I do) has a library to start collecting — he illustrated a number of books written by Alvin Tresselt including White Snow, Bright Snow and Hide and Seek Fog (which are still in print) and The Beaver Pond (which you can usually find a pretty cheap second-hand copy of). But I love the books he has both written and illustrated: The Petunia Goose stories, the Veronica Hippopotomus stories (and the stories where those two meet, as in Veronica on Petunia’s Farm — a hippo and a goose — brilliant!). His writing has an old-fashioned tone but I’m a sucker for his illustrations.
He is really worth looking out for in second-hand bookstores and you can often find a real bargain. At the time of going to press one of my favourite titles; ‘Mr and Mrs Button’s Wonderful Watchdogs’ was on Amazon for £0.01 (+ £2.75 postage) – a whole lot of story fun for under £3! I love that the books have been owned and loved by children from generations gone by –you can see their scribbles and the much-thumbed pages and imagine that children then and now are similar in many ways. I also like seeing the contrast of these old books in my children’s room next to all their new shiny toys and books. It’s nice to see that to them, at such a young age, there’s no difference.
My Duvoisin recommendations (other than the aforementioned) are The House of Four Seasons (a book about colours), The Crocodile in the Tree, Donkey Donkey and Petunia’s Christmas.
I set myself some rules when buying second-hand books on e-bay or Amazon (so as not to go too overboard). They are:
1. Have a limit of what you’re prepared to spend — mine is usually £10. If the title costs more, wait it out. My experience says that one week it could cost you over £50 and the next under £10 (I bought Petunia’s Christmas for a couple of pounds back in July last year but nearer Christmas it was reaching over £100!).
2. Decide what condition you are prepared to accept — often online marketplaces have condition categories (like new, very good, good, acceptable etc). I don’t mind scribbles and worn edges but want a good binding so that it doesn’t fall apart when a child reads it (that is usually classed as good or above — even though I always read the description of acceptable as one person’s good is another’s acceptable). If you want a like new standard for old books you are going to have to pay for it.
3. When you find an author or illustrator that you like then search for their other titles, they rarely disappoint.
Happy reading.
-Mo. x
Mo in London
March 4th, 2010
Whippet Grey began as a story-book, one full of enchanting objects … and that’s just the feeling you get when stepping onto the web pages of this online store. Whippet Grey is a family-run business selling various curiosities for the home, garden, you & the kids. With the departments sounding like chapter-headings; “Secret Garden” or “Curious Objects“, Whippet Grey is a lovely cyber-space to spend a coffee break.
I particularly like the “Children’s Den” split into 3 sub-chapters; Animal Kingdom, Budding Artist and Discovery Trail — there are some beautiful and different gifts for children of all ages. I love this shaggy black sheep rocker (if only there was justification for another rocker!) and have just ordered these ‘play-shapes‘ for my son’s 3rd birthday — we are very into any good rainy-day activities and these not only fit the bill but are beautiful to boot!
Oh and also their sale just started — temptation just got a bit more tempting!
- Mo. x
Mo in London
March 1st, 2010
Following on from Emilie’s recent post about places in Paris to find chic clothes at less-than-chic prices I thought I’d let you know about some of my favourite spots on a typical London High Street. Now most Mums in London will know of these national treasures but if you are visiting London they are worth checking out.
I’m a huge fan of Swedish kids clothes shop P.OP (Polarn O Pyret) which sells playful and colourful kids clothes and a small selection of maternity wear. Think lots of stripes and lots of colour. They have 4 shops in and around London (Brent Cross, Westfield, House of Fraser (Oxford Street) and Kingston) but a further 10 or so stores around the rest of the UK.
Next up: Zara Home (no, not Zara Kids): A very small selection but I love their quilts and blankets for kids and they always have a tiny rail with really sweet sleep-wear/snuggly-wear. I have had some great finds there.
I find so many good kids birthday presents from Paperchase particularly these children’s writing sets, which are so sweetly designed. They often do melamine plates and trays and sets of fun snackpots, which are perfect for kids’ dinner time and eating on the go.
Long before having children I had a bit of a Muji-addiction. I always find something there — it certainly indulges my stationery habit. It is also a great place to head for souvenirs as they do these sweet little bags of miniature wooden cities and London transport (black cabs, red buses) in a bag (but I’ve only seen these in-store not on-line). What some may not know about Muji though is that they are great for (what I like to call) ‘fat-tops’ — cleverly designed tops that fall over your bump during pregnancy or, as in my case, my post-baby chocolate-bump. Note there is usually more of a selection in store then online.
On this subject I do love Comptoir des Cotonniers – very flattering clothes! Quite a bit pricier then Gap but really very lovely (also have a tiny ‘girls’ collection from age 6 — I’m seriously wishing the years away so my daughter is old enough for it, cute! cute!) Feel a bit of a cheat with this one though as it’s originally a Parisian brand.
A great stop for well-designed toys and kid’s furnishings is Habitat. Their wooden London Bus is a long-running classic but I also love some of their newer toys like the Tito (pictured here). They also do fab bits and pieces for a kids room — we recently got a bright red wagon for storing toys in, which we love.
Last but not least, if you happen to be passing The White Company (or The Little White Company) then it’s always worth popping in. I particularly like their pyjamas but they also do cashmere baby cardies and classic toys and nursery decoration.
All that shopping might make you hungry and on a London High Street you are never far away from a Carluccio’s (Italian), Wagamama’s (Japanese) or Giraffe (International) — which are all well set-up for kids. If sushi is your thing, then I adore Itsu, but it’s not so buggy /high-chair friendly. For a sandwich-on-the-go … you can’t beat Pret-a-Manger (who now do cute kids bags).
Enjoy. Mo. x
Mo in London
February 24th, 2010
Anyone who knows me will find it somewhat hysterical that I would be writing about my favourite ‘beauty’ product. I’m one of those girls who considers mascara and lip-balm “dolling myself up”. I’m pretty useless in that whole arena and since having kids even worse.
The only ‘area’ that I did try and spend a bit of time on was my hair — not because I love it all styled but because (as if being born with ‘mousy’ coloured hair wasn’t enough) the World at large also decided I should have that kind of hair that is neither straight nor curly — so, even after spending hours with the dryer and the straightener, it only needs to smell rain to turn to frizz. Great!
After having a baby I realised life was seriously too short to waste time with a hair-dryer so I cut off all my hair and attempted to go for a Meg Ryan-esque quirky messy look. It helped a bit but I still had my frizz problem — until my very good friend Caroline introduced me to Kiehl’s Silk Groom. I get out of the shower, scrunch some into my hair and go. I haven’t used a hair dryer or straighteners for 3 years and it is solely down to this little bottle of goodness that calms my hair down on a daily basis. It would now be the one thing I’d save from a burning wash bag (yes – even before my tooth-brush!).
-Mo
Mo in London
February 20th, 2010
Weekends are always for adventures and when we stumbled from our cosy little burrow last summer into Battersea Park we hit upon treasure. The Park is situated just south of the river between the Albert and the Chelsea Bridge. We drove and parked up at one of the many car-parks around the park. We got all of our paraphernalia out of the car: buggy, 2 children, nappy-bag … (you know the drill) and hoped that the trip was worthwhile. We were aiming for the children’s zoo that we had heard about, but before even getting there we saw a boy driving around the park lanes in a cross between a bike and a go-kart. Then we saw 5 or 6 more children come flashing past in similar vehicles — there was no way that coincidence could have situated 6 recumbent bike owners on this one park path? It turns out Battersea Park is one of only two parks in London (Dulwich being the other) where London Recumbents hires bikes, trikes, tandems and various other bike-like contraptions (hiring starts at Easter and goes through until the end of Summer). It looks like so much fun, and in fact Time Out called it “the best family biking this side of Amsterdam” — it must be good, hey Esther?
We carried on our journey to the zoo which was a perfect-sized animal treat for pre-schoolers. Donkeys, Otters, Chickens, Pigs, Meerkats and Monkeys to name but a few — all really close up and the zoo is small enough to be a distracting hour or so without it being overwhelming.
During the Summer months the park also has a boating lake and a land-train that can be picked up from outside the Adventure Playground. A really fun family day out.
-Mo.x
Mo in London
February 15th, 2010
Seriously — so so so quick. Done in 15 minutes before dashing out of the house to kindergarten. The classic chocolate-crispy-cake but Valentined-up with mini marshmallows and the most adorable heart sprinkles from Etsy-shop Hey Yo-Yo (which I love for all things cake & kitsch). We dolloped our mixture into pretty pink paisley cases for our playdate in the afternoon, and then into mini-cases to fit inside this very pink heart tin from Paperchase (pictured) as a Valentine’s present for my son’s beau. Yes, my son is in love! His name is Elias and he has aptly fallen in in love with a girl called Grace — anyone who knows the store in Primrose Hill will appreciate his brand loyalty.
To make you need: 100g milk chocolate and 60g golden syrup (or 3 Mars bars work nicely), 75g unsalted butter, between 75 to 100g rice-crispies cereal, a handful or so of mini-marshmallows and some heart decorations. If you can’t get sprinkles then any heart sweets could work, or even love-hearts (I love their messages).
Melt the chocolate, syrup and butter over boiling water. When melted stir until smooth and remove from the heat. Add rice-crispies and stir, then add the marshmallows and stir again. Spoon into cases and decorate with hearts. Leave for a couple of hours to cool and set or put into the fridge to speed up the setting process. Yum!
-Mo. x
Mo in London
February 12th, 2010
I sat down to talk to my 3-year-old son about Valentine’s Day this weekend. I’m big on grabbing any opportunity for a celebration, and a day that celebrates love — I’m in! So I explained that Valentine’s Day is the day when you tell the people that you love that they are special to you and one way to do that is to send them a card. We then decided to create a list of people he loved — it was long! So we had a LOT of cards to make. Luckily I had a relatively easy idea up my sleeve that even a 3-year-old boy could get into for long enough to make quite a few.
The idea is to cut out hearts and butterflies from coloured paper (using the old trick of folding the paper in half first to get symmetrical shapes) and let the kids decorate in any which way they choose.
Crayons, glitter pens and stick-on-jewels were our embellishments of choice (but seriously anything works here). These will make the inside of the cards. For the outside of the card write up some typical valentine’s slogans, I used the alphabet stamps from Impress Stamps that Courtney wrote about and that I love! But this can be done on a printer or hand-written by your child if they are old enough.
Our slogans tied into the decoration inside — so “you set my heart all a flutter” has the butterfly inside and there were a few jewel and gem references.
Then stick the decorated heart or butterfly inside so the centre crease of the card matches up with that of the decoration. NB: Let the glue dry with the card open — if it is closed the decoration might move slightly and then the card might not open properly.
Easy-peasy!
-Mo. x
Mo in London
February 10th, 2010
As Courtney mentioned I’m a bit of a nut when it comes to children’s books, and Sparkle and Spin
is my latest aquistition. The book is about words and is SO SO SO beautifully illustrated. I really love it. Without even knowing it, it appears I have stumbled upon a pretty powerful author/illustrator team with Paul and Ann Rand.
Paul Rand is known as one of America’s greatest graphic designers having designed logos for IBM, UPS and ABC. He teamed up with his wife, Ann, in the 1950s and ’60s to produce some children’s books. Rather then stories, their books explain things like how words are used (as in Sparkle and Spin) or what ‘knowing’ is (in ‘I Know a Lot of Things‘, which I have on order) or being alone in ‘Little 1‘ (also on order!).
I’m just hoping that the final of the 4 books they collaborated on ‘Listen, Listen’ is put back into print soon (as it is out of my price range in the used-book stores!).
-Mo
Mo in London
February 3rd, 2010
I found this beautiful wooden stacking ring in a cute little interiors shop near my parents’ house in the Midlands (called Bagel & Griff in Market Harborough, for any readers up that way). Not only is it beautiful to look at, but totally natural, safe and soothing for babies to play with (and chew on). It is made by Little Sapling Toys and I just found out they have an Etsy shop.
I love their teething rings — my favourites being the little bird and the hedgehog — a perfect ‘new baby’ present!
Mo. x
Mo in London
February 1st, 2010
Here are two books that my son (aged 3) and I love: Who’s Hiding?
by Satoru Onishi and Spot It!: Find the Hidden Creatures
by Delphine Chedru.
Both books are about finding things in the pictures — ‘Who’s Hiding?’ is a bit like playing that memory game with a tray of objects, but in this book we have a line-up of animals and we have to find which one is hiding or crying or asleep. I was so surprised that my son could do it when we bought the book about a year ago as I found it quite difficult.
‘Spot It!’ is much harder but so beautiful you don’t mind staring hard at the pages to ’spot it’ — creatures hide within graphic patterns and we often have to stare for a few minutes before finding them. I love how we both start to panic when we can’t find them immediately (he obviously takes after me with his impatience)!
Both books are available from the Babyccino Bookshop (both US and UK).
-Mo. x
Mo in London
January 29th, 2010
I used to keep a picture in the front of my diary of an old-fashioned sweet shop. You know the kind: shelves stacked with glass jars brimming with brightly-coloured sweets. The Juliette Binoche in me always quite fancied being a ‘purveyor of splendid confectionery’. However these days there would be little point in me following this dream as Hope & Greenwood do it so perfectly.
They have stores in Dulwich & Covent Garden (which would be perfect if you happen to be taking a trip to Benjamin Pollocks as per my last post), but they are also sold in some pretty lovely other places: Liberty, Selfridges, Fortum & Mason (to name but a few) and of course you can buy them online from their site. I find the Miss Hope’s Jolly Mixture a very exciting treat and the Sugar free Gummy Bears a good one to ensure the children don’t bounce off the ceiling with too much sugar!
-Mo. x
Mo in London
January 25th, 2010
I grew up in a little farming village about 100 miles north of London and only made very rare trips to the ‘big smoke’ as a child. I remember one very special trip when my Godmother (literally one of the coolest people on the planet) brought me down for a WHOLE weekend in London for my 9th birthday. We saw a show and explored the city and I vividly remember stumbling across the most magical old-fashioned toyshop, which specialised in Toy Theatres.
Recently I had a reason to re-find that store, and the magic hasn’t left the place! Benjamin Pollocks is a delightfully old fashioned place (originally established in the 1880s) in the Covent Garden Piazza. I must warn you — it isn’t buggy friendly as you have to climb a narrow staircase to reach it and the shop is small and crammed to the rafters with toys, but worth the trip indeed.
The toy theatres are beautiful gifts for slightly older children (I think my kids may be more interested in ripping and chewing their cardboard constructions!) but they also have a good selection of other ‘oldy-worldy’ toys and games. I ended up getting Hopla for my 3-year-old and these darling counting flashcards for my daughter.
If Covent Garden is too much of a trip, they do also conveniently sell some of their wares through their website.
-Mo. x
Mo in London
January 22nd, 2010
These were a last minute improvisation the day before our fairy tea-party. Two days before the party I suddenly realised the Fairy Queen did not have a wand – OH NO! I had a quick look online but no one could guarantee delivery because we’ve had 2cm of snow here in South London (to be fair some places in the UK have had a lot more but still everything grinds to a halt).
So I used the ends of some blossom branches I had bought as decoration (I know, blossom in January???). I folded some coloured corrugated card in half (the corrugated part is important to give some elasticity to stretch round the stem), and then I drew a star on the back. I cut these out together so I had 2 identical stars and then stuck them around the twig using PVA glue — this bit was a bit tricky to get the stars lined up and to apply pressure for a few moments so they stuck in place. I was so pleased with the result that I ended up making a whole bunch so all the fairies could have one!
My kids are a bit too young to be able to do this kind of cutting and sticking, but it’s a really fun thing to make with older kids. And you can give the younger ones the task of finding wand-like twigs in the garden or park!
Mo. x
Mo in London
January 15th, 2010
I can’t believe my daughter has just turned one — time has flown. Now I know a one-year-old might not appreciate a proper birthday party, but I can’t resist one. And in the spirit of being ‘girly’ there was nothing for it but a fairy tea-party, to be more specific The Toadstool Tea (for those of you unfamiliar with fairy-lore, The Toadstool Tea is a secret party for all the fairies, elves and imps to celebrate the Fairy Queen’s birthday. It takes place under the thicket deep in the middle of the forest (according to Mo)).
Toadstools, it turns out, are not only a really great theme for a party but also rather fashionable. In my month or so of preparation I saw them everywhere (I couldn’t resist adding a cute Toadstool money box from Cath Kidston (stores only) and this adorable Shinzi Katoh print to her presents). Toadstools also make for a fun theme because they are easy to draw and craft. Here are some other toadstool ideas…
I made felt toadstools for the invitations (super easy) and Fimo toadstools for decoration (super, super easy and fun — haven’t Fimo’d for years!)
The fairies ate Toadstool Cupcakes (vanilla cupcakes with bright red vanilla icing from the very brilliant Primrose Bakery Cupcake Cookbook decorated with white chocolate drops) and each got a Toadstool cookie in their goody-bag, made using this recipe and this Toadstool cutter. I did also make Toadstools using quail’s eggs and half a tomato perched on top, dotted with mayo but Mums and Dads seemed to go for these rather than kids.
We had a lovely day and who wouldn’t with their house all a flutter with 1 – 3 year-old girls and boys all dressed up as fairies and elves?
-Mo. x
Mo in London
January 14th, 2010
Richmond Park is the largest royal park in London, covering 2,500 acres of land and has been a Royal Park since Edward I (1272 – 1307). There are around 650 deer that roam free and stand elegantly among the ferns, blending in to the landscape, which is why it is sometimes known as ‘The Deer Park’. We’re very lucky, as we live a stone’s throw away from the park and go almost daily. So I have some favourite places to mention…
We often park up at Pembroke Lodge* (a lovely canteen/tea-room which used to be the residence of our Prime Minister, Lord John Russell in 1847), and from there walk north to King Henry VIII’s mound, where on a clear day you can see 12 miles to St. Paul’s Cathedral! Or we head east across the road to the ponds. *Note: Pembroke Lodge tends to bring out freshly made (warm!) scones at around 3pm daily, served with cream and jam. There is nothing nicer than a sweet-treat after a bout of fresh air, I find.
On the other side of the park we love the Isabella Plantation which blooms with majestical (excuse the flamboyant language but if you’ve seen it you’ll understand) rhododendrons in May and is full of secret lakes and coves (perfect for treasure hunting and exploring). There is so much space and things to climb up and over that my son just can’t get enough of it.
Of course any big park is going to have a big playground and Richmond Park’s playground just so happens to be a hop, skip and jump from Petersham Nurseries, which as Courtney mentioned is a fantastic restaurant. You can drop in to the cafe for a slab of cake and a cuppa without booking, which makes for the perfect treat after a long spell on the swings (my love of cake may become a bit of a feature in my posts).
If visiting the Park for the first time then the Royal Parks website has some great tips for planning where to go and what to see and do.
Mo. x
Mo in London
January 11th, 2010
I think children’s television can be beautiful and inspiring — it’s just that sadly most of it isn’t. As with most children (I’m guessing /hoping), my 3-year-old loves ‘The Box’. I try to limit viewing but I have to admit it can sometimes come in handy to have him be still for half an hour whilst the younger one needs some attention. So if we must, then lets at least find something we both can love — and boy oh boy have we struck gold!
A bit of background …. my sister-in-law asked for some present ideas for my son, and so I suggested a German DVD so he didn’t just hear English stuff. She bought me Der Maulwurf und seine Abenteuer als Gaertner (The Mole and his Adventure as a Gardener). As she handed over the present she apologised profusely saying that when she bought it she had totally forgotten that there was actually no speaking in the short films and that the title was the only German in it. But, she was sure we would love it. And we do!
The Little Mole films are the work of Czech animator Zdenek Miler, who made 50 of these 5-minute films in the ’60s and ’70s. For my husband the films are nostalgic and remind him of growing up, and for me they are wonderful pieces of art — the illustration is imaginative and beautiful (with a subtle but fantastic nod to the psychedelic fashions of the time), and the Mole is by far my favourite cartoon character (his squeal and laugh are adorable). Miler decided not to include voices in the animations so they would be universally enjoyed (clever man!), so his daughter recorded the sounds of the Mole.
See for yourself on YouTube. And if you want to buy a DVD there are many to choose from available from Amazon.de (and they ship internationally).
-Mo. x
Mo in London
January 2nd, 2010
For my son’s first Christmas his Aunt (in Berlin) bought him a beautiful kinderzimmer (Kid’s Room) calendar, illustrated by Wolf Erlbruch — the gentleman who illustrated The Story of the Little Mole Who Knew it Was None of His Business
(which if you don’t know you should probably stop reading and take yourself to the nearest book-retailer or library to find a copy).
I secretly hoped this would become the annual present from his aunt, but as it wasn’t last year, I have decided to take matters into my own hands and buy him the 2010 calendar this year. It seems they only do it in German — but even if Deutsch is not one of your household languages the illustrations compensate by far.
The topic for 2010 is ‘big and small’ and the illustrations are divine — my favourites are the sausage dog and the fish, and the moose and the owl in the tree (how great is a world where a moose and an owl sit chatting in a tree!). I also love that this calendar comes in A2 size — so it really makes a statement on the wall.
You can buy it from Amazon (UK)
. Or, if you prefer to pay in euro, from Amazon.de.
-Mo
Mo in London
December 26th, 2009
Thankfully my 6-year-old niece and God-daughter, Helene, is into all things crafty. Therefore she is my outlet for all the exciting ‘make & do’ gifts I find and fall in love with, as my own children are a bit too young for most of them. As she is German (and my Deutsche is not too great) I really enjoy sitting down with her to draw, paint or make something. Last week she showed me how to make these colourful Christmas stars — she had made loads in different sizes and colours and they looked fantastic on the window in their kitchen.
They are really easy to make and actually look really stylish cluttered together on a window. To make them you need two (or more) sheets of coloured transparent paper, cut into the same sized squares. And here’s how to make them…
Firstly you need to create various folds on the squares — fold the sides to meet both horizontal and vertical then create diagonal folds by folding corner to corner. Then you need to fold each side into the centre fold. Eight folds in all — I have drawn out a guide to help you (excuse my handwriting!). Then you need to make four cuts one from the edge of each centre fold to the point when the other fold crosses it. Now at each corner fold the edge of the paper to meet the fold in the centre of the corner to create four points. (Are you following me or have I said the word ‘fold’ too many times?)
Repeat this with a second sheet of the same sized paper (this looks nice if in a contrasting color or the same colour) then dab a bit of glue, in the centre, on the back of the first paper and stick down the second one at an angle so you have an 8-point star. Remember to have both the smooth sides facing out together. You can obviously do this with more sheets of paper to create a 12-point or even 16-point star. Sellotape them to a window in a cluster.
Here is a (hopefully) helpful guide: How to make Helenes Christmas Stars
-Mo
Mo in London
December 22nd, 2009
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