Lest We Forget

They went with songs to the battle, they were young.

Straight of limb, true of eyes, steady and aglow.

They were stauch to the end against odds uncounted,

They fell with their faces to the foe.

They shall not grow old, as we that are left grow old;

Age shall not wreay them, nor the years condemn.

At the going down of the sun and in the morning,

We will remember them.

And time ticks on

Today is my beautiful baby boys FIRST birthday, I truly feel that I've lost months somewhere along the line because that went way too fast.

And along with the happiness of this event is the guilt which seems to go hand in hand with motherhood, the thoughts of not wanting to go back to work, to be away from him & Maisie his sister, the "what ifs" and the "never good enoughs.", The "am I giving you enough?" but then I'm reminded of our bedtime reads and to calm the beasts you simply have to say"shh, be still" and stare it in the eye, and control is restored.

So at the beginning of your second year Lucas my promise to you is to just enjoy the times of being still, and enjoying what we have because that really is the best anybody can do.

I Love You, my sweet boy.

Fallen Apples & Crispy Leaves

"Smoke hangs like haze over harvested fields,
The gold of stubble, the brown of turned earth
And you walk under the red light of fall
The scent of fallen apples, the dust of threshed grain
The sharp, gentle chill of fall.
Here as we move into the shadows of autumn
The night that brings the morning of spring
Come to us, Lord of Harvest
Teach us to be thankful for the gifts you bring us ..."
- Autumn Equinox Ritual.

Hanging on to The Last of Summer.

Hi these are 2 little necklaces I've made & listed in both my MISI & FOLKSY shops so lets see which sells first. They close with sleek, super strong magnetic clasps with are great if you have trouble with doing the catches or children that pull your necklaces.

Food, Family & Frugality.

Lately I've been distracted, not by beautiful beads for a change, but by food & family life, I find myself thinking more about my growing children, our health as a family, standards of living, money(or lack of it, maternity leave takes a lot out of your budget), our impact on the environment & the example we, as parents are setting for our children.

These are some unpalatable facts for you, that stick in my mind.
* The average household throws away between £15,000-£24,000 in a lifetime about £610 per household each year, more if you have 4plus people in your home, but it's still the same if you're a single household due to supermarkets not taking into account single person portions.
* Food waste is increasing at a rate of 15% every decade.
* Of the 6.7tonnes of food thrown away every year in the UK 4.1 million tonnes is unopened & untouched. Of this, 340,000tonnes is still 'in date'.
This is largely due to a lack of meal planning, but also or over supply, 1.2 million tonnes of waste is just the leftovers on our plates.
* Around 20% of our climate change emissions are related to the production, processing, transportation and storage of food, but we are throwing away a third of all the food we buy.
* When disposed of in landfill, food waste releases Methane ,a relatively damaging greenhouse gas, and Leachate, a toxin capable of considerable groundwater pollution.

These leave me with an uneasy feeling that although the recession we've being trudging through has been horrible for some, it may be an eyeopener for other households about their consumption, & help them make better choices for their family's that would have otherwise never have occurred to them.

So my first decision was to make a bigger effort to plan out our meals, & therefore our weekly shop should be easier to budget & cut out wastage. I'd had these beautiful meal planner sheets designed by Futuregirl (and free to download) hanging around my kitchen for a while, but was stuck at the thought of organising meals to include a 3year old & 10 month, it didn't seem that easy to make food suitable for all, or to plan meals giving usable leftovers.

Then I was given the Complete Family Meal Planner by Annabel Karmel, now I'm not a bad meal mum but do get stuck in a rut for exciting food to feed my children that maybe Hubby & I would also enjoy. This book is full of ideas, and whats more they are quick, simple, healthy and inexpensive to make. Using this book & some old favorites such as The New English Kitchen(great for leftover planning) I now have my first plan of action. I'll be adding family/home hints and tips all week, feel free to add your own I'll be interested in reading them, and any recipes will be gratefully received I may even review them here.

I don't believe it

I can't believe I forgot to publish this post, my post mummy brain must be in meltdown, here goes.

I was featured in a magazine, Make Jewellery Issue 5, in an article about hair accessories, it kinda makes me feel validated but more sales would do that quicker, ha.

They featured my new silk flowered hairband which is on sale in either of my shops,


and these 3 pretty hair pinsand because I'd love to see more of my pretty stuff out there I'm giving this set away through the magazine, click here, to enter.

Good Luck, hope someone nice wins, it would be great if it was someone in blogland.
Snowflake.x.

Sling Your Baby.

When I was pregnant with Maisie I looked into the millions of prams & carriers on the market, overwhelmed with the choice I discussed the matter with various pregnant/mummy friends, one of which Naomi, had lived in Barcelona up 6 flights of stairs where a pram was not practical.
She shared with me the joys of baby wearing; at the time having no money she went for a huge wrap of fabric bought from a market, tied round her with her baby cuddled up in the middle.
On hearing her tales of how secure he felt, being able to have constant eye to eye contact & where she lived keeping her boy up from car exhaust fumes, I had to investigate more.

I ended up buying or trying every type of sling there was. From a friends mass produced bulky clicky strapped sling which dug into my shoulders & was never comfy; then a ring sling bought at a baby show, although great when small, Maisie did not seem to settle in it when older enough to move around; the wrap style one I bought was also great when she was little but when older to was hard to grasp a 1year old while trailing 4 metres of fabric behind you. I also found that my husband didn't feel comfortable with these products either, most had to be readjusted every time we changed over who was wearing it.
Then I discovered Mei Tei style slings from here, which I found easy to tie on, suitable for mummies & daddies in style & comfort and great for interacting with your child, it turned out to be my most used baby product.


Now the reason I discuss this is when I first went out in my sling I was pretty much the only person using a none commercial looking one, I felt quite alone & a bit of a hippy, yet very happy to hold a banner up for babywearing in our town.
Now with more people discovering the ease of use in these products, alternatives to fighting prams out of cars just to nip into town & the joy of being face to face with your child, the babywearing parents are out in full force.
There's lots more information sites available, and one the newest most comprehensive of these is
Get Your Hands Back a resource site for baby wearing & parents, full of information & reviews it could help you choose the right sling for your lifestyle.
I also got the honour through the site to be asked to review a sling so here goes:

The SlingEasy Sling.
The sling came with easy to read comprehensive instructions and pictures making wearing the sling for the first time a simple process, however I feel using it for the first time with a very active 8month old made it a more difficult task.
The sling was comfortable to wear spreading out across my back & the large shoulder padding making carrying my weighty boy easy, it was quick to put him in & after trying him in different positions found one both comfortable for him & me, however having an active boy meant that I did feel I had to keep a hand on him at all times as he could lean quite far back, which made his position on my hip a little sore after a while.
Their site shows the various colours & designs the sling can come in which would make it a great unisex product, & talks you through the process of choosing the right size for you, which could make a huge difference to your comfort, & the pricing makes this a good value for money sling.
I think that this sling would be ideal for babies to nestle in , perfect for breastfeeding while out & about as it had enough fabric for good coverage, and for quick trips out with older children, I think if the child had been in this sling from younger months they would be more settled in it on longer journeys and in different positions.
I would rate this sling 7/10.


Above is picture son Lucas(8months) & Lovely Husband trying the SlingEasy.

Thanks for reading
Snowflake.x.