Grandmas Come To Stay

Meet Grandma. You might have seen a few of these around already. She is from John Crane and we are taking part in their challenge:

She arrived on Friday afternoon and seems to have settled in well already. She has met the rest of the family and has made herself at home in the dolls house:

On Saturday she took a little trip to Dartmouth. This involved a ferry trip which she was really excited by. She had to be held up by Poppy so she could see everything and didn't want to miss out on anything. She loved all the pretty coloured houses and seeing the swans but didn't like the smell of fish:

She took in the sights and loved the boats, views and the smell of the  flowers. Grandma loves spring time:

Then she went to the park where she joined in with everything. She says the girls make her feel young at heart and had great fun. She almost gave me a heart attack watching her swing really high on the swings and sliding down the slide. She even climbed the climbing frame:

By the afternoon though she was exhausted and had to have a lie down:

I think she is going to like it here and we look forward to sharing lots more photos with you. Look out for her, she might appear in some of my project 366 photos.

For more information about the challenge then check out John Crane on Twitter, Facebook or  their Blog.

Karen x

John Crane and Sevi - An Exciting New Partnership

Anyone who knows this family and blog will know that we love good quality, wooden toys. Favourites of ours are John Crane so I was thrilled to hear about them introducing Sevi and keen to look closer.

I was really impressed with the range I discovered and like how they produce not only toys but objects that express warmth, wonder and friendliness of a child's world. I can really see how they match the quality and values of John Crane.


All these toys are bright and colourful looking, instantly appealing. Some of my favourites include these gorgeous pull along toys, perfect for youngsters just learning to walk:

Every little one deserves a toy kitchen and this one is adorable. Hours of fun would be had with this and it would not be outgrown quickly either:

Ooohh breakfast in bed anyone? I love role play and could watch my eldest play for hours with toys like this. Her little imagination would be let lose:

I love this novel way of getting little ones to brush their teeth too, so cute:

Not forgetting Christmas decorations too. This adorable little snowman would fit in perfectly with our Christmas tree colour scheme:

For more gorgeous looking toys and to keep up to date with this exciting new partnership then simply follow John Crane on facebook and twitter.


Karen x


You can also check out the Blog Match linky for more Sevi posts 

Musical Instruments Bring The Family Together

I am a great lover of old fashioned wooden toys and if there is a choice between wooden or plastic I would always go for the wooden ones. I was therefore thrilled to be approached by Wooden Toy Shop to do a toy review.


Bamboozled by the huge array of beautiful wooden toys, I decided to show my eldest daughter the website and let her chose something herself to review. She immediately selected the John Crane Tidlo Musical Instruments. Not a huge fan of noisy toys, in the past I have always refrained from buying this type of toy.  However, we do go to a music group every week which both girls absolutely love so I decided to give in and said "of course, great choice."

This 14 piece Wooden Musical Set costs £28.79 and includes:

• 1x Tambourine
• 2x Castanets
• 2x Maracas
• 2x Paddles
• 2x Rhythm sticks
• 1x Scraper
• 2x Bells
• 1x Triangle

When they arrived I was thrilled to discover that they come in fantastic box which has a magnetic lid and a shoulder strap. This is a great selling point and should be perhaps included in the description. It is perfect for keeping them nice and tidy. After all you wouldn't want toys like this to be thrown in the bottom of a toy box! They are gorgeous, traditional wooden instruments and are very well made. They were also very well wrapped too so arrived in perfect condition.

They are aimed at children 3+.  While Poppy fits the age bracket, Rosie is officially too young. However, having been using instruments like these since she could hold them in the music group, she knew exactly what to do and couldn't wait to get them out. I think you can tell in these photos:

This has been a fantastic toy for us to trial and the whole family have had fun doing it. Check out this short video clip to see how much this box of gorgeous wooden instruments has brought the family together:

If you are holding back on buying musical instruments because you think they are too noisy, don't.  These are perfect and bring hours of fun to the whole family. We love everything about them. I am so pleased I gave in to my little girls and would definitely recommend them to others. They get a massive 10/10 from us. 


Karen x