Messy Time

With the end of the summer holidays drawing near, keep little ones entertained with some fantastic messy play, using everyday ingredients. My son is really into Harry Potter so I told him we were making 'potions'.

Get into the groove and make a diy lava lamp with normal household materials. The supplies needed include:

• An empty plastic bottle
• Water
• Cooking oil
• Salt
• Food colouring

To start, fill your empty bottle 3/4 full with oil and top up with water, leaving a bit of space at the top. As water is denser than oil it should sink to the bottom. Then add a few drops of food colouring. Whist this settles, pour in a generous amount of salt and watch the amazing reaction. Once it's stopped, tip the bottle upside down and watch it start all over again. Why not recreate a Disco by turning out the lights and shining a torch onto your homemade lava lamp. Groovy man!

Fun for adults and kids alike, this oozing gooey slime will keep you entertained for hours. All you need is:

• A plastic cup, or mixing bowl
• Cornflour
• Water
• Food colouring (we used green, but any colour would work)

Simply mix 1 cup of corn flour with 1/2 a cup of water and a few drops of food colouring. The result will be an squidgy, gooey, stretchy slime that also solidifies in your hand.

Making a volcano is a fun experiment because your child can make an actual volcano, to surround and hide the water bottle, using earth, clay or papier mache. This experiment is quite messy, so either do it outside or remember to lay a waterproof covering over your kitchen table! Ingredients needed are:

• An empty water bottle
• Materials for volcano surround
• Red food colouring (to imply lava)
• Detergent (optional but produces a better lava)
• Water
• Vinegar
• Baking Powder

Sculpt your volcano around an empty water bottle. Then (using a funnel) fill the bottle most of the way up with warm water and add a few drops of red food colouring. Squeeze about 5 drops of detergent into your liquid mix and add 2 tablespoons of baking powder. When you're ready for the eruption, slowly pour the vinegar into the mix and watch the fun!

Toy House

Young children always seem to play with lots of small toys, as opposed to one big toy. My six year old in particular likes to play with army toys, and, as a result, has a growing number of little army men, tanks and helicopters.

In order to restore a bit of tidyness into his bedroom, I decided to make him a thrifty 'home' for these. The material I used were an old shoe box, a pair of scissors and some army tape - bought from an army surplus store (but also available on eBay).

I simply wrapped the box in the tape, to cover the pink writing. I also cut a whole into the side of the box for the men to climb in and out of. It took about five minutes to make, but looks really effective.

Easy Peasy Baking

I love to bake with my six year old son, but to keep his attention recipes need to be short and easy to follow. So I thought I'd share with you my three favourite bakes for people with little time and a sweet tooth!

Marshmallow Fudge
These take hardly any time to prepare and you can add your own extra flavours. Try replacing the milk with Baileys, mix in some cocoa powder, or add a dollop or two of peanut butter.

450g icing sugar
100g marshmallows
100g butter
2 tbsp milk
1/2 tsp vanilla essence

• Grease a baking tin or line with baking paper
• Cut marshmallows in half and put in a saucepan with butter, milk and vanilla.
• Gently heat until everything has melted.
• Sift icing sugar into the warm mix, stir well and then pour into baking tin.
• Leave to harden in the fridge.

Cookie Monster Bites
These are literally the simpliest cakes to make with the minimalist of effort. Kudos to my friend Kelly for the idea.

100g softened butter
200g icing sugar
Desiccated coconut
Blue food colouring
Chocolate buttons
Chocolate chip cookies

• Cream the butter and icing sugar to make butter icing.
• Add the coconut and food colouring and mix together well.
• Roll into golf ball sized balls, pressing in a dent or the mouth and leave to set in the fridge.
• Then decorate with chocolate buttons as eyes and chocolate chip cookies in the mouth.

Mini Truffles
225g choloclate
4tbsp double cream
1 tsp vanilla essence
Hundreds and thousands/ Cocoa powder

• Melt chocolate in a bowl over a saucepan of boiling water.
• Add cream and stir well.
• Leave to cool for 20minutes then add the vanilla essence.
• Put the mixture in the fridge for an hour and a half.
• When cool roll into small balls and decorate by either dipping into hundreds and thousands or dusting with cocoa powder

Handmade 2012: A Mouse House

Goodnight Mrs Mouse. Goodnight baby Mouse... Ok ok, so they're not mice. Clearly they are some kind of dog/ bear Sylvanian Family. Regardless, this a simple homemade present to melt the heart of any little girl.

To start with, you need a box. I used a small (about 4" x 4") gift box I found in my craft trunk. I then lined the box with some pretty wrapping paper.

For the duvet, I used two pieces of scrap material, sandwiched a small amount of wadding in the middle and sewed it shut. The same method was used for the pillow, in a co-ordinating fabric.

 All that is needed now is the mouse (or other animal) to live in the house. The result? A simple, thrifty gift.

Recent Thrifty Puchases

I spend most Sunday's browsing car boot sales, I check out the charity shops at least once a week and I try as much as possible to peruse flea markets and street markets.

As a result, our house is filling up nicely with quirky pieces, I'm finding many items to upcycle and gift to friends and family, and after summer I shall be launching into a new business venture concerning all things Thrifty. Watch this space....

Some of my recent purchases include:

Pretty plates - £2

Picnic hamper - £5

Old map - £1.50

Gorgeous lace doilies - £4 for 12

Adidas bag - £1

Selection of glassware - £1.80

Wooden cutlery tray - £1

 

Not So Silly String

String, wondrous string, has many a use and is a Thrift-Queen firm favourite... Attach bacon on the end for crabbing; Use it for tying up parcels; Take it out for a fly attached to a kite, Handy for holding back weeds and unruly plants, Play cats cradle and French skipping; Use it as a plumb line or to plant straight rows of vegetables; Or a ball of it makes a perfect cat toy.

Bring back string!

Handmade 2012: Dinosaur Tail

the finished dino tail - modelled by my six year old

Roooaaaarrr! Fancy a change from giving tacky plastic toys? A dinosaur tail makes the perfect handmade present for toddlers to race around the house wearing!

the materials

I got the idea to make this from my new favourite website tipjunkie.com - which is where you'll find all the instructions. It took about half an hour to make, and I drafted my mum in to help me (thanks mum). The fabric cost approximately £10, but that's because I chose really thick material so I didn't have to 'double up' as tipjunkie suggests.

You could easily modify the tail. Why not use an old fleece for the spikes to give it some texture, or make it for a girl and sew with pretty Cath Kidston fabrics.