T-shirt design kit fun

As you will know if you read my blog, I am unable to go out very much with my little girl because of my condition (I have M.E for those who don't know), so we often do crafty stuff in the house. I am always looking for new ideas for fun things to do. My previous post here is about some of the stuff we have done before. Messy play is the best!

It has just come to the end of half term & school holidays are always times when you need to try to keep the little darlings occupied! My daughter will happily sit for ages drawing at the moment but she really likes anything creative & will spend ages doing it. So when we were lucky enough to be sent a T-Shirt design kit from www.buytshirtsonline.co.uk she (I!) couldn't wait to get started. They have a twitter page here & a Facebook page here too.

The kit looked like this when it arrived..

We were sent a Disney princess themed box, which after my post last week about princesses here was perfect!  There were two T-shirts in the box, one in age 5-6 which is the current size my daughter fits into & also one for me that I told her she could decorate for me!

We got everything out & she chose where she wanted to put the transfer. I got the iron ready & although the instructions said it would take 60-90 seconds to stick, it probably took around 5 minutes! Once it was on it looked really good & she got to work on decorating.

The fabric pens were quite thick so we got a paint tray & squeezed some of each colour out onto it then also mixed some up to make different colours. She used the ends of the pens to draw with & it kept her occupied for ages.

She decided to draw various things relating to the princesses on the transfer so she did Pascal from Tangled for Rapunzel, Flounder from The Little Princess for Ariel, one of the birds from Cinderella, the magic lamp from Aladdin for Jasmine, Belle's rose, Snow White's apple, some crowns & a wand! I was really impressed with how well she did & she really enjoyed it.

For mine I told her to do whatever she wanted so it was lovely when I saw she'd written "I love you mummy" in blue, my favourite colour! She drew some hearts, kisses, a magic flower (apparently) & a rainbow too.

After the initial panic that the transfer wasn't going to stick, it was a really fun thing to do & it kept her busy for ages. I would definitely recommend the kits & I shall be keeping my lovely new T-shirt in my Mummy's memory box :-)


Ali
MEMummy A
xx

My love of vintage

I have mentioned previously that I love vintage stuff! There is something really special about seeing a unique piece of vintage loveliness. Something that likely has a story behind it. An actual piece of the past.

If I sometimes want to get out of the house but don't feel particularly up to doing much then I will pop to a charity shop. With my silly legs & general lack of ability to walk very far at all (thanks M.E!) I find they are more manageable than the average shop. Charity shops are quite fashionable these days in terms of coolness & are the first choice place for people who love vintage! It is brilliant when you find something that you love in amongst the other rubbish & you feel that you have unearthed a little piece of history.

I have recently found a few lovely things. This set caught my eye but I didn't get it at first as I wasn't sure where it could go but I kept thinking about it once I was back home so had to get it! The whole thing was only £3.99 & it is now on a shelf with some of my sparkly bows in (surprise surprise!).



I went to my first vintage fair a few weeks ago which wasn't ideal with the wheelchair as it was pretty packed & quite a tight squeeze to get around. However, I loved seeing all the stuff & managed to get a few bits. This top had my name all over it! Obviously not literally (!) but I love blue & I love sparkle. So really, it was meant to be!

I found a few more tops & also found this glass cake stand which I have used for storing some of my ever increasing stash of hair accessories. I had been wanting something similar for a while so for the grand sum of £4.00 it was all mine! I have a thing for glass if you hadn't noticed...

I have a bag that belonged to my grandma which I absolutely love & people always comment on it if they see it. It's not only lovely but makes it feel that bit more special because it was hers. I also have some leather gloves that she gave me & I just love how they are classically beautiful but always remind me of her.

I wish I had realised when I was younger how much I would like vintage as I would have had loads of amazing stuff now. Things like floral vases & teacup sets, which I am always drawn to. So if anyone has any knocking about feel free to pass them on!

One of my favourite places locally is a little gem called Sunshine Bakery. It is a little place with about 5 tables & they do the most amazing food. Their cupcakes are the best ever. But what I like most about it is the interior. It is so quirky & is full of vintage mismatched cups, saucers & other trinkets. I just love it!

It has recently been refurbished & when I went in I sat down at the only spare table (it is always busy) & I didn't realise until after a while that I had sat under a light on the wall which said Sparkle. It was as if it had been waiting for me!! 

Would love to hear if you share the same love of vintage as me & about any lovely things you have. Vintage rules!

Ali
ME Mummy A
xx

Princesses (of the Disney kind)

My little girl was never very girly when she was tiny & was quite a tomboy until suddenly one day she seemed to turn into a stereotypical girl who loved all things Princess.  I had no idea who any of the Disney Princesses were when she was a baby but that all soon changed!

I have just been in her bedroom & there seems to be a theme!!!

I have to say that the old Disney films are absolute classics & I enjoy watching them as much as she does. They never (despite their age) get old.  The more modern Disney stuff is brilliant too & I love snuggling up with her watching Tangled or everyone's favourite film of the moment Frozen!  I love the adult humour in the more recent stuff & I bet I can't find anyone who doesn't like Disney in some way or form.

With the love of Disney comes the want or need for all things related to it. It's a retailer's dream. I am talking about children but I know a fair few grown ups who have a penchant for it too! Whether it be toys, games, books, nightwear, jewellery, cutlery (you get the idea), even stuff like toothbrushes or hair combs, they sell it & we buy it!

I touched on this sort of thing in another blog post when I talked about TV characters & Peppa Pig. Link to post here! I admit when I go into the Disney store I feel like, well.. a kid in a toy shop! It is ridiculous really how children become so obsessed with certain characters but who doesn't secretly want to be a Princess? Dressing up as one is something most little girls enjoy doing. In our house we have a choice of different outfits & I may have wished before that I could squeeze into them! I dressed as one for our Team Princess M.E fundraiser last year & loved it. So I can't really blame my daughter for being slightly Princess obsessed can I?

Ali
ME Mummy A
xx

Happy 1st blogiversary to me!

I can't quite believe it's been a year since I started this blog! My reason for starting it was to try to raise awarenesses of M.E whilst giving an honest account of what it is like being a mummy with the condition.  I feel that I have not only achieved that but have also realised how much I enjoy writing. Having an outlet for your thoughts is actually very therapeutic & a really good way of getting things off your chest.

I have had a lot of positive feedback from my posts & people I know have said how much they have learnt from it too. When I hear stuff like that it makes me feel pretty chuffed & proud of myself.  Having M.E is horrendous but if through talking about it I have opened peoples' eyes to it then I have accomplished what I set out to achieve.

I have to date had almost 15,000 views on the blog which, to say I am not a well known blogger or anything, makes me proud.  I appreciate every person who has taken the time to read my posts & want to thank everyone who has commented too as it means a lot. I will carry on blogging as I really enjoy it despite sometimes writing about stuff that (allegedly!) makes people cry!

One of my proudest moments in the last year was when I took part in our charity fundraiser on M.E Awareness Day.  The links to my posts about it are here & here.

It was exhausting but amazing how much money we raised & was a lot of fun too. We are doing similar this year so I will most definitely be blogging about it & will be talking about the upcoming plans shortly!

Something else I am proud of which I blogged about was blinging my wheelchair! Mobility aids are pretty tough to come to terms with but you may as well make them look good :) Link to post here.

I also really enjoyed reading the notes from our memory jar with my little girl, which I had been writing throughout the year. Link to post here.

Of course I can't do a round up of the year without mentioning (again!!) when I met Keith Lemon! It was one of the most memorable days of my life, one I will have etched in my memory forever no doubt!! Link to when it happened here.

So again, thank you for the support & I look forward to sharing lots more of my thoughts, stories & pictures with you in the future. If anyone has any things they would like me to talk about then feel free to leave a comment or message me.

On that note I think it would be rude not to go & eat some cake... it's not every day your blog turns 1! :-)


Ali
ME Mummy A
xx