DIY Cricut Acrylic Wipeable Board

I made this really simple but useful board for the kitchen recently and it has been so handy as a spot to dump the thoughts and tasks I need to remember but keep forgetting. I know myself when you are starting out the whole idea of Cricut can seem dauting so I have put together this step by step Cricut tutorial that should hopefully guide you through some terms and functions. I love creating video content but sometimes it’s nice to read a tutorial so that you can go between it and Design Space and figure things out at your own speed.

I got the blank, clear acrylic A4 sheet from Crafty Cuts Ireland. I used my Cricut Explore 3 and Smart Vinyl to create the design.

Continue reading

Branding with Limelight Media, Cork

A few months back I got a notion that I wanted to streamline my presence, or my brand, online. I was in the middle of running my small business and I had my social media and the whole lot of it just felt a bit jumbled up. I had seen a few friends online, Cliona and Niamh, get the most beautiful branding done for their websites and social media so I touched base with Limelight Media in Cork to see what might work for me.

Continue reading

Tips for an organized evening

It feels like in the blink of eye we went from willing the days to pass by at the start of the year and now we are right back to hectic schedules and I just think it’s the most fantastic thing. I help out with Camogie and coach athletics in our village and honestly to see the energy and excitement from children, coaches and parents alike it would do you good. The girls are busy too back to their various activities and for the first time in so long I feel like I need to get back to being really organised. I spent the first week when everything started back again totally flustered trying to remember all the different times for pickups and drop offs and then trying to get dinner and homework slotted in around it all it was a bit manic. I am back on track though this week so here are a few tips that might help you take the hassle out of trying to juggle dinners with everything else you have going on.

Continue reading

Summer Water Safety – tips and advice

I think possibly one of my biggest worries this summer is the water, in truth I worry about a lot of things but that’s probably a discussion for another day! My two oldest girls went back to swimming lessons in the last couple of weeks and we as a family were able to get back into the pool, all six of us, by appointment, recently too. And that is fantastic considering we had not been in a pool in almost 16 months. My main concern is that my girls are confident in the water but they lack the actual skill to back it up. It is a shame but given how many months of lessons they have missed out on and the practise outside of that that we would normally do, it is only natural they have probably gone backwards rather than forwards with their swimming.

The Summer Garden

We haven’t really made any plans for the summer, we will try and get home to my parents Sligo for a while but specific plans seem like such a fickle thing this year. I am nervous of organising any great escapes and telling the children because it feels like I have made various plans over the last year or so and they have changed for one reason or another (ok one reason – Covid!).

Continue reading

Useful resources online to keep children entertained

I think for many people we look at our printers and see them as a piece of equipment now preoccupied with tasks associated with home schooling and working from home. Even though the girls have their books home from school there is still a lot of extra resources and work that has to be printed out each week – between their list of homework to be done, worksheets to go with this book or that subject it’s a lot. On top of that I have a preschooler who is heading to school this September so she is eager to sit down with her big sisters and feel part of the world of learning and that’s brilliant. Continue reading

Getting back to exercise after having a baby

Exercise is a wonderful thing to fit into your day, it can be something as simple as a leisurely walk in the evening or as challenging as a good long run. I love it purely to unwind after a day spent meeting the demands of four small children. I find it’s a great way to process my thoughts and give me some much needed headspace which in turn leads to a better night’s sleep. Regardless of the type of exercise you go back to after having a baby there are a few things you should check before you whip out the runners and stretchy pants. After my fourth baby I went back running a few months after she was born but my whole body was weak. I ended up damaging my knee in just one run which took a frustratingly long time to sort out. Continue reading

10 survival tips for stay at home parents

I was watching one of my favourite influencers Sinead from The Beautiful Truth recently and she was talking about the repetitiveness that sometimes comes with staying at home and minding kids. And she is so right, kids, unlike some adults, are creatures of habit so routine suits them well. And we as parents, once a routine is working, are loath to change any aspect of it until it needs to be changed. However, in doing so it is sometimes easy to get stuck in a rut where everyday begins to feel like groundhog day. I have always found this to be particularly 

Continue reading

Tips for families who are looking to budget and save money

First things first I will admit I am not the one who controls the purse string in this household, my husband is and he is good at it so I trust him to make the decisions (after running it by me obviously, both parents should be involved in financial decisions in each household even if you don’t earn any or much money!) for us. And secondly, it goes without saying that we are not financial advisors so if you have money to invest etc then go to the right people for the right advice. The purpose of this post is to maybe get you thinking about simple ways to save money that perhaps you know already or perhaps you don’t. Continue reading