Are you sitting comfortably?

It struck me last night that the other half and I seem to spend a large portion of our evenings these days reading a variety of bedtime stories (rather than, y'know, working on our respective crafts/hobbies). So, as I haven't taken pictures of any new crafty makes recently, I thought I'd share some of our children's favourite evening reads instead. These are the ones that we read over and over and over again to our two girls, and heaven help us when the Boy Child is old enough to choose his own stories to add to the mix.

I always loved being read to as a child and I believe that sharing books from an early age is putting them on the right path to being adult readers. It's a rare night when we don't manage to read them a story or six, and on those occasions we always leave them with a story CD and the books to look at as well.

In no particular order, then, here we go!  All credit for the images reproduced in this blog post goes to the authors/illustrators and copyright remains with them.

1. The Gruffalo by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler - and the sequels The Gruffalo's Child and Stick Man. The quick witted mouse who almost gets tripped up by his own story is a superb creation.  The original Gruffalo story is brilliant for reading aloud as you can have so much fun with the voices, and there is lots of detail in the illustrations to talk about too. The BBC film of the book is just as good, too, with some masterful voice casting. We also like looking out for the tiny gruffaloes that appear in the illustrations of other books by this pair.

2. We're Going On A Bear Hunt by Michael Rosen and Helen Oxenbury. The rhythm of this story with its repeated 'can't go over it/can't go under it/got to go through it' chorus makes it enormous fun - we've even been known to act it out in the garden. Helen Oxenbury's illustrations are lovely, but my kids' favourite picture is the lonely bear walking home across the sand after he's chased the family all the way home. They say he's sad because he only wanted to play!

3. The Tiger Who Came to Tea by Judith Kerr. Fabulous story about Sophie and her mum who open the door at teatime to find a large and hungry tiger who proceeds to eat everything in the house. Sophie has become Daisy's favourite name for all dolls, pets etc and both she and Tove love to join in the story.

4. More Judith Kerr - the Mog stories. All of them! From Mog the Forgetful Cat all the way through to Goodbye Mog (and I dare anyone not to cry at that one). Mog is an utterly delightful cat who often frustrates her owners and gets things wrong, but ultimately things work out.

5. I really want to eat a child by Sylviane Donnio. Sounds like an odd choice for a bedtime story but this book about a VERY fussy eater never fails to make me smile. I bought it on sale from The Book People and I'm so glad I did!

6. That Pesky Rat by Lauren Child. Don't get me wrong, I like Charlie and Lola as much as the next person but this story of a street rat who only wants someone to love him is my favourite book of hers. My best friend recommended it to me as her son loves it too, and we now have a copy in France for holidays and a copy here for every day. The good thing is that money from the sale of this book goes to a charity which helps street children. I also love Who wants to be a poodle? I don't by the same author, about a lap dog kicking back against the stereotype.

7. Hairy MacLary from Donaldson's Dairy by Lynley Dodd. A rollicking, frollicking tale (to use Dodd's own phrase) about a pack of dogs out on the prowl who get scared off by the wonderfully named Scarface Claw, the toughest tom in town. Excellent illustrations and a wonderful, playful grasp of language and rhythm. Told in a lively rhyme, this book and all its sequels are nightly favourites. We also have the Hairy MacLary collection on CD, read by David Tennant, whose voice is perfect for the stories.

8. The Dudgeon is Coming, also by Lynley Dodd. This is a Chinese Whispers story about how messages change in the telling, with fabulous characters like the Pineapple Pig and the Omnibus Owl. Beautifully illustrated, too - Tove absolutely adores this book.

9. Another of Tove's favourites is Sam Chaffey's Where's my mama? which is the story of a little chick who can't find his mum one morning. A pop-up book which really brings the story to life, there are days when its almost impossible to read this to Tove as she's so busy empathising with the chick! She even gives the pop-up chick a cuddle...perfect for toddlers and again with very detailed pictures. We love the mouse's  feet.



10. Mick Inkpen's children's books are always great - the Kipper stories, for example - but at the moment we love Wibbly Pig's Silly Big Bear. I always tear up at the end, too. It's about a big bear who can't do all the things we can do but who has some very special qualities anyway. We're also loving We are wearing out the naughty step by the same author, perfect for any parent at the end of their tether. This one also touches on the difficulties of single parents trying to have a life outside the home!

11. An all-time classic - Eric Carle's story of The Very Hungry Caterpillar. Daisy took her 'fat pallar' toy to bed with her for months when she was younger, and all children like to poke their fingers into the holes that the caterpillar has made in the food. Tove is now starting to join in with the words as well, and she loves the butterfly at the end. I like The Bad-tempered Ladybird too, but then I would...

12. Another old one! Maurice Sendak's Where the Wild Things Are. We all have a favourite wild thing in this story, and mine is the one with the stripy jumper. I've always loved this tale of a naughty boy who becomes King of all the Wild Things, but who eventually realises that even though his mum told him off she still loves him best of all. These days I don't need to see the book to tell the story, but then you don't get Sendak's wonderful pictures!

13. Another monster story! Not Now Bernard by David McKee, which is a gently humorous tale about what happens when parents don't listen to their children! Poor Bernard tries to tell his parents about the monster in the garden but they're too busy to listen....and they're too busy to listen to the monster too.

14. Jill Murphy (who also wrote the Worst Witch stories) created the Large Family and pretty much every parent will identify with them at some point! The current favourite is Five Minutes Peace, where Mrs Large tries to find somewhere in the house for a cup of tea and a read of the paper without being over-run with children. Daisy listened to it the first time and then said 'Mrs Large sounds like you!'. There are several others in the Large Family series - my niece loves elephants and  A Piece of Cake in particular.

15. And last but not least - one I haven't got round to buying for the children yet as its sadly out of print (but there are currently copies on Amazon). This was one of our family favourites when my sisters and I were young - David McPhail's The Bear's Toothache. The illustration that stays with me is of the bear sitting in the garden and the word 'OOOOOOOOOOoooooooOOOOOOOooooooOOO' floating through the window to wake up the little boy. Poor old bear!

We're always up for new bedtime stories so if anyone wants to recommend their favourites I'd love to hear about them - do leave a comment below or you can tweet at me by following http://www.twitter.com/LadybirdBeads.

The view from the stall!

Fox & Firkin Summer Fete, Lewisham High Street. 7 August, 12-6, more details below!

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Fabulous Hats in post below..

..are by Fair Heads Headwear and you can find them here. Thanks to Vintage Child for clearing that up!

Weekend Wonder

Right, children fed and happily redecorating themselves with felt-tip pens, so I can sit here and share some of the lovely stuff I saw at Wonder Hill Market at the Miller on Saturday. For once I managed to take a camera with me so I can show you stuff instead of just rambling.

It was the first time I'd been to the Miller and it took me ages to get there from London Bridge station (went the long way round via Borough High Street- took about 5 minutes to get back) but it was absolutely worth it, the venue is lovely. When I got there there was a chap stringing bunting around the place (hazardous for taller people but for 5 foot 3ers like me, no problem) and tables were scattered about the ground floor in varying states of undress. Kiki, one of the Wonder Hill team, was dashing about looking rather glam in a white frock and clutching a clipboard - later on she did a sterling job flyering just about everyone within a mile radius, resulting in a good footfall throughout the day. I was a bit worried that there would be too much competition for us in the area, what with the big Vintage Festival going on up at the South Bank, but the combination of flyering and glorious sunshine seemed to work. The market had a really relaxed atmosphere, fitting perfectly with the Sergeant Pepper-style vibe coming off the poster (see previous posts!). I like the idea that people can come in for a drink and buy something unique while they're there.

So, what did I covet? The stall next to mine was Design by Vickle, a fabulous collection of wonderfully tactile cushions, baby blankets and vintage Fuzzy Felt brooches. I particularly loved the Etch-a-Sketch cushion and the panda cushion, neither of which are in this picture! Clearly remembering the camera didn't automatically engage my brain...however, you can see more of Vickle's work in her Folksy shop here.

My mouth watered at the sight of these lovely goodies by Miss Pie. I'm still trying to eat healthily so didn't indulge, but the cake pops looked lush!

One reason for not indulging in gorgeous cakes like these are outfits like the one below - I'd love to have the figure to carry this Vintage Child ensemble off.

I'd also like to have the insouciance to wear fabulous hats at all times! I didn't manage to get the stallholder's name to reference these but hopefully someone reading this can tell me.

I also ran into the lovely Luna Hearts (aka Kirsty Pate, who is a colleague at the Museum of London) and her fantastical accessories. Lovely to see her - she is her own best advert and always has something amazing and handmade on!

I want one of these recycled maple rings by BHMakes, please!

And one (or two!) of these beautiful rings by Hart and Bloom Jewellery.

Finally - more for my when-I'm-thin wishlist - a beautiful Japanese style kimono top or one of their lovely obi belts, exquisitely embroidered by Christ'i. They look so pretty and flattering.

There were many other amazing sellers/makers there including Anikraft, Dora Ann, Tobyboo, Hairy Molly (moustaches on sticks - excellent disguise!), Miss Match-Socks, Sample Remix and FotoBellaFoto and hopefully they'll be there again on 27 August. If you're in the London/Kent/Essex area Wonder Hill market is really easy to get to via public transport (London Bridge and Borough are the closest stations but if you're not laden down with stock it's an easy walk from various others) and it's also close to the famous Borough food market. Check out their Facebook page for more details.

Rather foolishly I managed to forget all the important bits for the jewellery projects I was planning to work on across the day - seed beads and stretch magic - so didn't get anything done, but I can highly recommend the Satay Chicken Wrap from the rather tasty Miller menu, and if you're looking for a night out you could do worse than head to the pub as they have a regular comedy nights and more. 

Stall at Wonder Hill @ The Miller

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All set up at the Miller!

The usual colourful chaos, surrounded by lots of other gorgeous goods...the trick is to make more than I spend!

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Find me here on 30 July and 27 August!

Right, I'm off to find the camera so I can get some pics for a blog post next week....

See me here on 7 August!

What I did on my holidays

Well, I'm back after my holiday - anyone miss me? I went away with the excellent intention of having a go at mobile blogging using the Android app I'd installed before we left, but for some reason it only works if your blog is linked to a gmail account (which this isn't). I was thwarted also by there being NO wifi in West Wales, as far as I could tell - you get so used to going in and out of wifi zones in the high streets and shopping centres that being without it was quite a shock. Mobile reception was also patchy, so trying to upload photos would have been difficult anyway. I've found a new app  and will try it out some time. The lack of instant access to FB, Twitter etc was frustrating at times but was probably good for me...

Regular readers will know that our family week away was spent in Cardigan Bay, a beautiful rural/coastal area with gorgeous beaches and clean seas, in the company of both my sisters, one of my brothers-in-law and my very cute niece Catrin. It was a bit of a nostalgia week as Penbryn was the setting for many of our childhood holidays, and it's also the halfway point (ish) between Northern Ireland where my youngest sister lives and Essex/London where the rest of us are.

So, we drove down from Epping along the M4 in torrential rain, with thick black cloud as far as the eye could see - pretty standard for a Welsh holiday, but still a little dispiriting! - but as we crossed the Severn Bridge we started getting flashes of sun which made the seven-hour drive a little more bearable. The views as we drove through the Brecon Beacons were spectacular as you can see below, which was just as well as I'd insisted we took the slow route through Crickhowell, Brecon and Llandovery rather than the M4 up to Carmarthen.

The flat we'd rented turned out to be in the annexe of a church that we'd driven past many times on our way to the beach and although 9 people made it a bit of a squash (even if 4 of them were quite small) it was lovely to spend some time with my NI sister and her little family. Her daughter Catrin and my No. 2 Daughter Tove are so similar that they could be twins, and there's only 3 months difference in age. Tove is rather more boisterous as she has to compete with her elder sister, but by the end of the week Cat was standing up for herself nicely (much to her mother's horror, I think) and had learned two new words (no and miiiiiiine) which will serve her well.

It continued to rain for the first three days of the holiday but in true family fashion we didn't let that stop us, and we made it to various beaches on most days. New Quay (Cei Newydd) was spotty with rain and a bit breezy but the kids loved blowing bubbles and pottering about on the sand with their buckets and spades, while Arthur took pictures with Dylan's help and Conall stayed home watching the Gaelic Football finals.

Monday was a no-chance-of-it-brightening-up day with 'heavy and persistent' rain (according to the weatherman!) so we headed for Aberystwyth for lunch and The Magic of Life Butterfly House near the Rheidol Power Station visitor centre in the beautiful Cwm Rheidol. The kids were amazed by the enormous butterflies roaming the polytunnel (I was quite chuffed when a few landed on me too).

We also made it, all wrapped up, to Penbryn itself on the Tuesday. Daisy was all for the idea of caves until she saw them and changed her mind! They did have a wonderful time splashing about in the stream that cuts across the beach though.

Fortunately the sun came out after this and we had three good beach days at Llangrannog with its hair-raising approach roads and Penbryn again. I managed to swim on all three days and Conall and Arthur had a lovely time digging enormous holes for the kids to leap in and out of. Catrin and Tove particularly loved them, and the sheer size of the hole was the cause of much dad-envy from other children.

Arthur and I also snuck away for a couple of hours on our last evening for a walk on the beach at Tresaith and a quick drink at the Ship Inn with its amazing views over the Bay. In the bar there is a dolphin-spotting board - there is a family of bottle-nose dolphins which is well-established in Cardigan Bay (I saw one!) - and what looks like an excellent bar menu. We climbed over the rocks to the left of the beach to see the waterfall, and then wandered along the beach to watch the sunset.





I also managed to fit in a few runs (even one in the rain!). One route was through Sarnau village which is very small so that one wasn't much fun, and the other two took me down to the beach carpark at Penbryn and back. The run out on that one was all downhill (almost 3K!) which was hard on the legs (no pain, no gain. Or something like that) but the downside was the very steep climb back up. The upside was the scenery, as the road is so steep that the views across Cardigan Bay are amazing. It was on the way back up that I stopped for a look at the view and saw a dolphin, so it was all worth it.

The other notable wildlife spot was the Red Kites, which were very rare when I was studying in Aberystwyth in the 1990s but now seem common as far south as Penbryn which is a real success story for the Welsh Kite Trust and other organisations. Lots of buzzards, too, and millions of sheep.

We had a lovely time, but I did miss my washing machine (I'm on load number 8 now with at least another 4 to go) and Costa/Starbucks/Caffe Nero for my coffee hits! I do hope we go again next year.

In other news, while I was away Carolyn over at CeeGee Jewellery Design nominated me for The Versatile Blogger award, which was very kind of her....but now I need to think of 7 random things about me to share with you all! So I'm off to do just that. Look out for my Versatile Blogger post in a couple of days....



Race for Life - 13 July 2011

Well, despite a stinking cold (me), spotty rain and grey skies (everywhere else) the Epping Race for Life happened! I finished my 5K in 38 minutes and 34 seconds, and about 19 minutes of that was actual jogging. I rather enjoyed it, and I raised £120 for Cancer Research too. I'll have to aim for the 10K next year, and I still hope to do the Moonwalk with one or both of my sisters.

Just Daisy's party and her birthday to get out of the way and then it's a well-deserved week in West Wales, followed by Wonder Hill High Market at the Miller on July 30th. I've made the birthday cake, complete with Sylvanian Family meerkats and a giant sparkler, now all I'm waiting for is the kids to arrive....