The “Lulu Burt Best of 2014 Awards”

Mummy says we’ve started a New Year called 2015 and it will be the year of the Sheep in the Chinese calendar.  That’s fab as both me and my BFF Euan LOVE our toy sheep (both called Baa Baa!).  I had an amazing time in 2014 so am hoping 2015 will be just as exciting.  Here are my favourite things from 2014, otherwise known as the “Lulu Burt Best of 2014 Awards”.

Best product I used in garden

I had lots of fun last Spring using the fabby kids gardening tools from Twigz.  I used them to grow veggies and flowers from seed and to look after the seedlings and plants as they got bigger. My favourite item was the watering can.

Twigz do a wonderful range of garden tools for children

Best things I grew (apart from taller that is!)

Regular readers will know that I LOVE a big bright sunflower.  I even gave them away in the party bags from my birthday party last year.  Two of my others faves to grow are tomatoes and potatoes. Imagine my excitement at discovering the TomTato plant.  It grows tomatoes above the ground and potatoes below, all at the same time, cool huh? The big crop of sweet tomatoes was really, really yummy but the crop of potatoes didn’t stretch very far when it came to feeding a growing girl. It still wins the prize for yummy sweet tomatoes and being really different.

Best books I reviewed

The book is PACKED full of lots
(well 101 to be precise) of awesome ideas

Best places I visited

Me officially opening MY park!

 

Best things I’ve made

Mummy tells me it is better to give a gift than to get one.  This year I had lots of fun making presents for Mummy on Mothers Day and Daddy on Father’s day. Since I’m just little I didn’t have many pennies to spend so made do with up-cycling things from our kitchen.

Pansies in cheese boxes makes a lovely gift

My decorated tin can planters

 

Best thing that happened in 2014

BIG DRUM ROLL PLEASE……. the overall, most wonderful and exciting thing that happened to me in 2014 was that I became a big sister. My very cute and cuddly (but not very good at playing hide and seek yet) little sister Tilda was born in November 2014.   I can’t wait until she is old enough to do some gardening with me!

Tilda and I – double cuteness!

Wow, I did have a very busy year.  What did you get up to in 2014?  I’d love to hear all about your adventures. Let’s have even more in 2015!

Lulu xx

Book Review: Findus, Food & Fun

In my latest blog, I am reviewing a new book from Hawthorn Press called “Findus, Food and Fun”. Read on to see what I think of it along with a crafty idea taken from the book…

Here I am reading my review copy of “Findus, Food and Fun”

Do you remember that I reviewed “Findus Plants Meatballs” back in May of this year? It got a lovely 4 star review from me. Well, the clever people at Hawthorn Press (hi Meredith!) have sent me their latest book in the Findus series, which is called “Findus, Food & Fun”, to review – can it go even better?

Each month features several projects, many of them seasonal and loads of them are outdoor projects and things to do in the garden so immediately I am interested! Even some of the indoor projects can be given a gardening twist as you will see below (although many are already garden and nature related). From nature activities to foraging, baking to crafting this book is perfect for kids like me. Here are some of my favourite things about this book:

• There are wonderful illustrations throughout the book making it bright and colourful.
• It features Findus the cat who I already love and who features in LOADS of books
• There are loads of projects to try each month
• It is packed full of fascinating facts on all sorts of subjects
• A lot of the projects just use up things you have lying around the house from old socks to beans, lollipop sticks to old bottles.

I have already tried out one of the projects which I have featured below but there are loads more I will be trying out including:

• Chocolate leaf garnish (pretty and yummy!)
• Rowanberry necklace
• Suet bell for birdies
• Magic tulips

I was so excited to get this book that I decided to make a project straight away. After a good read, I chose to make the “yarn pompoms” from page 56. I just gave them a Lulu-style twist to make them even more relevant to me and my blog…

Flower Pom Poms

You will need:

• A pom pom maker or some cardboard
• Wool (4 colours)
• Scissors

To make:

1. I used a special pom pom maker to make my poms poms. They are inexpensive and make life easier but if you don’t have one, you can make your own. Just cut two identical circles from cardboard with a hole on the inside.

2. Choose your first colour which will be the inside of your flower. I like a nice bright colour for this bit. My pom pom making kit works in two halves. If you are using a cardboard circle imagine a line down the middle and you will be doing the same on each half. Take your first colour and wrap it around the centre of each half several times.

3. Take your second colour (another nice bright colour) and do the same over the top and a little to the sides of the first colour.

4. Next is your leaf so choose a nice green and do some green to each side of your coloured flowers i.e. 4 bits of green.

5. Finally, take your base colour (I used cream) and cover the whole thing until it is all covered and there is no space for any more yarn.

6. Now ask an adult to help. If you are using a pom pom maker join the two halves together. Cut around the edge of your pom pom between each piece of cardboard or the two pieces of pom pom maker.

7. BEFORE you remove your cardboard or pom pom maker, make sure you take a piece of yarn and tie between the two halves really tightly and create a loop to hang your pom pom from.

8. Give your pom pom a little tidy with the scissors.

And there you have it, a beautiful flower pom pom. They are nice to hang up around the house, add as an accessory to a bag or a present or as a Christmas decoration. You could also make lots of them to make a fun Christmas wreath for indoors or sew them onto some fabric to make a wonderfully soft rug.

I highly recommend Findus, Food & Fun. Maybe you could ask Santa for it for Christmas?

Happy reading and making everyone.

Lulu xx