The Gallery - Guilty Pleasures

When I saw that this weeks topic over at the gallery was guilty pleasures I knew immediately what I would write about.

With two gorgeous little girls it easily has to be shopping!!

Girls clothes are so pretty. I love everything girly and of course pink!! A little bit of purple is creeping into their winter wardrobes but most of it is pink: bright pink, light pink I don't mind. Spotty, stripy or plain it does not matter as long as it is pretty. You will not find any trousers in there or anything too grown up, most of it is traditional girls dresses, and pretty cardigans, funky tights and tutus.

The top shelf of Poppy's Wardrobe

Lots of dresses for Rosie too

They each have a denim skirt and dress but no jeans for these girls. There is plenty of time for that! I am really fussy with colours too and can not stand all the browns, oranges and dull colours that appear to be in the shops this season. No I want to keep my little girls looking like little girls, pretty, girly and young, after all they are only 3 years and 14 months old.

I live in the middle of nowhere on the coast in South Devon and while it is very pretty the main drawback is that there are no shops to indulge in my guilty pleasure, probably good for our bank balance! Instead I resort to the internet. I love it when the girls are asleep, I settle back with either a glass of wine or cup of coffee and browse my favourite sites, purchasing when I see something I love.

For more guilty pleasures head over to Sticky Fingers to check out the other entries.

Karen x

Daddy Takes Photos

I mentioned at the weekend that Husband had got his camera out again and started taking photos of us all. He is a novice photographer who had taught himself. He loves his camera and is very protective of it. He spends time cleaning it and money on special lenses and filters, yet mostly keeps it hidden away. This weekend however, his interest was resumed and I think there will be many more photos coming this way.

I wanted to share a few of my faves of the girls with me:

My little models

My cheeky 3 year old

With my little one 14 months

Rosie looks as though she is concentrating hard

Aaahh I love it

\Looks like a little model

A gorgeous little monkey

They grow up so quickly so I think we need to keep taking lots of photos to record these precious moments. looking forward to sharing many more with you.

Karen x

Pretty Hair With A Bit Of Flair Review & Giveaway

As you may already know I love everything girly especially hair bows and ribbons for my little girls. Therefore I was delighted to be approached by Kraft Work Boutique to trial and review some of their new hair accessories. I didn't really know what to expect but was thrilled to open up the package to find this:

There was a mix of colours, size and patterns to go with a variety of outfits. All of which are gorgeous.  In fact our bow holder is getting quite full now so the little tub they came in would be handy to keep some of the clips in too. 


Poppy's favourites are these clips.  She thinks they are fantastic:

She also loves this hair bow and couldn't wait to get it in and model it for me.  As soon as it was unwrapped it was in her hair:

Kraft Work Boutique is run by a mummy that loves to make. She sells beautiful hand make tutus, cheeky looking sock monkeys and gorgeous wooden plaques. as well as the hair accessories. All of the items can be personalised and are made as special as can be. They are available to purchase online through KiddieBase and through facebook. There will also be a website available shortly.  


Hair bows and bespoke bows can even be made to match outfits for special occasions.  The sets of clips in a kitty style are available at £4 per set and the big sis/lil sis are available at £3.50 per set. Larger bows are priced at £4 and mini bows at £3.  Quite reasonable I think!


We love them and will be visiting for more.  We give them a huge 9/10.


If you fancy some hair accessories for your little one then Kraft Work Boutique are giving one lucky person the chance to receive a bundle of goodies for themselves (worth a minimum of £20).

Its so easy to enter, all you have to do is:

• Follow me on GFC and leave me a comment saying why you would like to win
• Follow  Kraft Work Boutique on FB

For extra chances you can:

• Follow  Kraft Work Boutique on FB
• Like my FB Page
• Follow me on Twitter, or
• Tweet the following " I would like to win gorgeous hair accessories for my little one with @wouldliketobe and @kraftworkb http://bit.ly/mQFvhx" 

Please leave a separate comment for each.

The winner will be selected at random at 7pm on 21st August 2011.

In the meantime if you can't wait you should check them out for yourselves. Good luck.


Karen x

Cinderella Went To The Ball!

Last Night Husband and I enjoyed out second child free night since Rosie was born. We got really dressed up and headed off to a Summer ball. Here we are on our way out:

I felt really pretty in my new pink dress and Husband looked really smart in his DJ.

It was a gorgeous evening for it.  We were greeted by a band, enjoyed champagne, a delicious three course meal. fairground rides including dodgems, a bucking bronco, bouncy castle and coconut shy.  There was even an ice cream stand. Oh and not forgetting an amazing firework display too. It really was a fantastic evening.

Living across the river from the venue, husband had even arranged for a private boat to bring us home. It was  a prefect end to a magical evening. The water was so still and like a mirror. It was so quiet and the dim lights everywhere made it very romantic. I felt very special.

In bed at 2am, tired and a little tipsey, the evening ended....

....Then at 4am poor Rosie woke up screaming having half cut another tooth, not quite the lazy lie in we had planned but never mind.

This afternoon we are allowed another few hours off to see Harry Potter and I must say I am feeling totally spoilt.  I think my parents might need a rest after that though.  After us all being awake all night , with Rosie we are more than a little tired.  Thanks Mum and Dad, we really appreciate you.

Karen x

A delicious box of goodies- check this out!

I am so excited because this week I won a competition...yes me.  I never win anything so I am extra happy! Anyway the competition was over at Poppy Sparkles to win over £50s worth's of gorgeous girly goodies from Strawberry Annies, the home of tulle, net and ribbon. Well anybody that knows me and my blog will know that this is right up my street.  My little girls always wear tutus and hair bows so I was particularly excited about this one. 


So what did I win?
 it was: A gorgeous Frou Frou Tutu, custom made in my choice of colours.  I picked light pink, fuchsia and bright pink. ~ A Tutu Tiara to match the tutu ~ Bejewelled Rose Hair Clip ~ Boutique Hair Bow in Red Polka Dot ~ Medium Pinwheel Hair Bow in Pink Heart Ribbon ~ Toddler Hairbow With Double Ruffle Bow ~ Ribbon covered Headband choice of ribbon. 

Anyway, the goodies arrived yesterday and we were very excited. They came in cake boxes and looked good enough to eat!  Here are some photos I wanted to share with you:

The black flower on the frou frou is also a clip or hair bobble which means we can change it whenever we want to make it look really different. We can even swap it for a big pink bow if we want to! This was Poppy getting ready for and at Ballet this morning.  She received lots of compliments on her new tutu:

So there you go, proof that you can win competitions! Don't forget to check out both Poppy Sparkles and Strawberry Annies they are both favorites of mine now!

Karen x

Wow - a Wedding fit for a Prince and Princess!

I cannot help but get carried away with all the hype around the Royal Wedding.  What a spectacular day they appear to have had.  They also look very happy and in love and the day seems to have gone without a hitch.

Wow, can you imagine having a wedding day and album like this?

First of all marrying into the Royal family and becoming a Princess:

Having not one, but two beautiful dresses designed especially for you:

Having a car, a carriage and a sports car to travel in:

Having this many people waiting for you to kiss and this type of entertainment just for your pleasure:

Having not one, but two magnificent cakes:

It really does look like they have had an amazing day and around the country millions have enjoyed sharing it with them.  I really do wish them every success for a happy and long lasting marriage.

Karen x

Our family and the Royal Wedding

A huge congratulations to the happy couple today.  What a magical day.  She looked every bit the Princess she is in her beautiful dress and William and Harry both looked gorgeous in all their finery.

Poppy did make me giggle though when she said "here comes the yellow Queen Mummy"!

Can you imagine having all those eyes on you when you are getting married and the funds to have whatever you wanted?  I especially loved the open top horse and carriages once they were married.  I expect that was amazing to see live in London.

Due to having a poorly little girl we did not have much planned for today.  We decided to watch the Wedding at home and I dressed the girls up in Princess dresses.  Poppy had been too poorly to make bunting and cakes as planned, so instead I made them a little flag each using their fairy wands and some special Wedding napkins I had brought from Sainsburys! They happily waved them along with the crowds.

Poppy 2 1/2 years

 Poppy thought she looked beautiful in her wedding dress just like Kate's.

Rosie 10 months

Rosie had great fun playing in her little ball pit and waving her flag whilst we watched the Royal Wedding.

Then Daddy made us all a lovely barbecue.  Poppy is still not eating much but we all had a lovely day.

Hope you all had a lovely day too and wish the couple lots of happiness for a great future together.

Karen x

Fairy's and Friends

Today has been a lovely day.  First we did some dressing up:

Even Rosie wanted to join in so became a baby fairy:

Then we had some cuddles:

Then we had some friends come and play:  

This was lovely for all of us as my friend also has two girls.  Charlie, who is 3 and plays lovely with Poppy and Pippa, who is 16 months, so is fascinated by Rosie and makes her smile.  With the girls happy, I got to have a coffee and a catch up while they ran round in the garden in the fresh air...perfect.


Tonight we are off for a long weekend.  We are stopping at my parents on route to a family Wedding which I am really looking forward to.  We all have lovely outfits to wear and it will be great to see everyone.  I will be taking my laptop with me or I will have withdrawal symptoms, but if I don't get a chance to write anything it is because I am away.  Have a good weekend!! 


Karen x

Pretty hair and Princesses

Today was the day at two and a half, Poppy had her first hair cut.  How exciting.  I was slightly concerned about how she would behave and have been preparing her for a few weeks.  

I decided it would be nice if I had mine done at the same time  and feeling excited about the prospect of looking a little bit more like a yummy mummy, this morning I told her that they were going to make us both look like princesses.  I was a bit thrown when she turned to me and said "no Mummy, you are too old to be a princess".  I only felt slightly better when seeing my face she added "you will look like a queen"  Hee hee!

I had nothing to worry about.  She was as good as gold.  So I have saved a lock of hair and put it away in her keepsake box and feel as though that is another milestone over with!

I also have to mention that as I have blogged about before,  I am a little bit addicted to this blogging.  Well last night I could not sleep and as my Husband is away, I sat up in bed with my laptop blogging away to my hearts content.  This morning when my little girl came running into my bedroom she said "oh no Mummy, you are not supposed to take your laptop to bed, you need to leave it downstairs"!!  Hee hee.  That told me!


Karen x