Art of Living - Summer Festivals

Yes, its that time of year when we start to think about the summer festivals. We grew up with countless as did many of our generation. Festivals from the annual trip to Glastonbury to some very early Stonehenge festivals and all that was in between. With so many childhood memories of the elaborate and creative events that took place rain or shine, we look foward to this time of year every summer. The Festival season is about to begin!
These days there are festivals I could only have dreamt of as a child and with so much to offer children there are many you can enjoy as a family together.
So if you've not got any tickets booked yet take a look at our pick of the best family friendly festivals where children can join in the wild rumpous, the enormous creativity and enjoy all the amazing fun that's on offer.

The Spellbound Forest

19th & 20th May 2012 Delamere Forest Cheshire 

Strictly speaking this is not a festival but we couldn't write this list without this intriguing theatrical event. The Spellbound Forest promises to be an enchanting experience and one to begin this years summer events.

"Wild Rumpus & the Forestry Commission invite you and your family to step into The Spellbound Forest. Twisting paths through the forest tell the twisting tales of English Fairy Tales through theatrical performance, music, visual art and dance. From the youngest to the oldest member of your family, lose yourself in the enchanted world of fairy tales, where men

can become birds, tears become rivers, and children whirl at the elven ball. The Spellbound Forest won’t just tell tales though, we will create our own new English Fairytale, dance our own new dance, and sculpt a marvellous creation to live in the forest long after the magic has faded.

You know the stories of Cinderella and Little Red Riding Hood, but let us introduce you to the English Fairy Tales that are waiting in the Spellbound Forest for you to wake them up." 

This is certainly going to be a magical event where we will begin to believe in fairy tales again.

Be sure to take a look at the News Section where you'll find some travel activity packs (great for the train ride) and a wonderful 'how to' for an origami bird which you can bring with you to hang in the trees of the spellbound forest adding to 'the glorious flock of birds on the Earl Mar's daughters pathway.

Find out more and book tickets

Lollibop
17th, 18th & 19th August 2012 Regents Park London

Lollibop is a great family festival based in Regents Park. Perfect for the camping shy there's a host of free activities, performances and bands to entertain the under 10's. Now going into its 3rd year in which last year saw Rastamouse!  Its a big party for little people with a programme that will ensure everyone has a great time.

This year alongside many of the characters from cbeebies and channel 5's milkshake show doing a whole lot of dancing and bubble blowing, you'll find The Gruffalo, science museum workshops and Shrek the musical. 

Find out more and get tickets

Camp Bestival
26th 27th 28th 29th July 2012 Lulworth Castle Dorset

Camp Bestival is perhaps the most talked about, the best loved and most fondly remembered of all the festivals each year. Every year it receives rave reviews from the press (Catherine Nelson at the Guardian wrote a great review last year,) In a beautiful setting with Lulworth Castle providing the backdrop, an unmissable line up of amazing talent and more mind-blowing activities than a child could dream of the only people enjoying the banished bedtimes and the giant dressing up boxes are the parents!

This is the best it gets and each year it gets better!

Find more information and book tickets - you're a fool not too.

We'll see you there!

Wychwood music festival
8th - 10th June Cheltenham 

Nominated best children's festival 6 years in a row Wychwood Festival has to be doing a whole lot of something right. With more than 100 activities for children from an All Age Circus Workshop presented by Solo Circus , music workshops and a family theatre this is a boutique festival with an impressive line up. Waterstones is sponsoring the Children's Literature festival, an integral part of the festival, and you can visit the Roald Dahl Museum tent and perhaps get a chance to experience some of the variety of author events programmed.
With big music names like The Saw Doctors, Duke Special, the Cuban brothers, James and Nina and the Neurons there's a lot to get excited about. So why not try out a yurt or a tepee for a few days of summer fun with the family at the Wychwood Music Festival.

See more information and get tickets

Wilderness Festival


10th - 12th August Cornbury Park Oxfordshire

A festival with its own lakeside spa? Oh how all the years gone by I'd wished for this! 

The Wilderness Festival is a relatively new festival that seems to have taken the magic of all those gone by and put it together in a breathtaking location adding their unique sprinkle of  wonder and charm . Defined by its passions it brings together a true celebration of the arts from spectacular theatre and Opera, more children's activities than any child or parent could wish for, and debates and talk. There's a strong emphasis on art and crafts too. But the Wilderness festival is also a celebration of the outdoors, with its picturesque location of wild meadows, lakes, and trees you'll discover horse riding, foraging, boating and fly-fishing, wild swimming and even hot tubs!

If to celebrate artistic excellence also extends to dining then the Wilderness Festival has captured this completely. You'll discover 300 seat long banqueting tables and fine dining tents from favourite restaurateurs.
You can sit with family and foreigner and enjoy evenings of gastronomic delights under the stars.

There is so much on offer, so many ways in which this festival will capture your heart and have you believing in the magical wisdom of the generations before us that promoted love, peace and harmony only this is the counterpart to the hedonistic past, a romantic, indulgent discovery that keeps its feet firmly on the meadow ground. The genius behind this all Tim Harvey, Jim Whewell and Jo Vidler have given us the dream festival and boy I can't wait!

If these pictures can't do it justice take a look at the video below. It'll have you instantly clicking through to book tickets! The only problem is that with such a packed programme of activities and experiences you'll be wishing it could last forever.

Find out more and get tickets

I'll see you by the lake sipping champagne!

Just So Festival
17th - 19th August Rode Hall Parkland Cheshire

Just so festival says 'take your family on a journey of the imagination' and this is precisely what the festival does. A festival created for families and children it is the boutique sister of a bygone Glastonbury. With magic discover in the beautiful wondrous woodlands and landscape there's music, workshops and performances.
You'll discover ballet and modern jive, belly dancing and a retro disco in the Jitterbug area, Games, stories, juggling and trapeze in the Lazy Days, you can step inside NowHereNow, a place of illusion where nothing is quite as it seems, A zone for the Wild Things is where you can join the rumpous,  and a peekaboo area for the very young, and, if it isn;t in Nowherenow, and it isn'y away with fairies. If, in Facat, it is no where else, then it must be Elsehwere!

When legs get weary at the end of the day you can grab a little wooden cart to travel little sleepy heads under the and through the evening's magic. There are yurts to keep you cozy under the starlit sky and delicous dining too!

With this weekend long festival you can expect a mix of magic that will see you wanting to return year after year and long after the children have grown up.

find out more and get tickets

There we have it. Something for everyone, every age.
There'll be magic and games, theatre and literature, music and mayhem, family and friends, new things discovered and wonderful memories made.
The Festival Summer of 2012

Read our 'Home away from home' blog for some great pieces for outdoor living and a few tips on setting up camp.

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This is part of 'The Art of Living' collection. We also have other stories and features including our 'Monday Makery', 'I Spy' and our weekly 'Wedesday Woo'.

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Wednesday Woo - Forever Wishing Rainbows

fashion, decor and play 

brights and pastels

quirky and beautiful

for all the colours you are

for the generations to come

explore the rainbow with us

Sisters guild. com 

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This is part of our Wednesday Woo collection. We also have other stories and features including our 'Monday Makery', 'I Spy' and 'The art of living'.
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I Spy - Songs of Sesame Street

Stevie Wonder scats with  Grover

Sunny Day 

Sweepin' the clouds away 

On my way to where the air is sweet 

Can you tell me how to get, 

How to get to Sesame Street 

Come and play 

Everything's A-OK 

Friendly neighbors there 

That's where we meet 

                                                           - Sesame Street's theme tune                 

If when you sing the numbers 1 to 12 you sing it with a certain style of jazz/funk putting an emphasis on the number 4, if you still think C is for cookie and you recall your first understanding of being grouchy now brings to mind a certain little green grubby monster that pops out of rubbish bins, if you remember the gentle existentialism of a certain very tall, wise, bright yellow bird then you may know the way to Sesame Street.
So many of us grew up with the people and puppets, songs and comedy of Sesame Street. So many of those songs sang on the steps of Sesame Street have stayed with me. From counting with the Count to singing the A-Z the American way and of course the Ladybug Picnic song these songs were part of our childhood, part of the feeling that the world was there for our enjoyment, that there existed a neighborhood full of song where we would play.

I've been showing the girls some old episodes, Partly to show the girls that we did have tv in the 'olden times' and partly just for a bit of nostalgia,  and we found some clips that have become the background songs to our days.

You must all remember this one - one, two, three FOUR five....... reflecting the musical influence of funk and Jazz in the 1970's and sung by the Pointer Sisters its a song now on repeat playback in my head, dug up from my collection of childhood ditties.

I wasn't sure what they'd think about it - wether it would still appeal now, and to my own children; children having been spoiled with such great recent animation and programmes of their own generation. It was great to see that actually, the magic was still there, they were captivated and I was thrown back to being 4 years old all over again, singing on the happy street and learning my numbers and my ABC's.

Though still going strong after 40 years things have changed on the street that we loved but there's still some magic in its music, old and new.

These are a few of our favourite songs. Songs we've listened to so many times they've become our morning birdsong, our school run theme tune, bringing a little happy along the way:

After singing this one repeatedly with Oona I can't help but sing this version all the time!

The girls loved the original of this song so much and now they've found this one they love it even more!

I think all children should learn this song. Can you imagine the school assembly starting with this each morning - certainly beats 'we are climbing jesus' ladder'!

These are songs that bridge the gap between nursery rhyme and lady Gaga and Katy Perry (though even Katy Perry has appeared with Elmo). They're innocent, fun, educational and now with the likes of Will.i.am and Feist singing they're pretty cool too (if cool is still the word to use). Then again thats the magic of shows like Sesame Street, their influence still keeps going. With famous faces from Robert de Niro to Ben Stiller, Stevie wonder to Michael Jackson they've all been part of the series as it grows along with the generations from 1969 to right now and all on those steps on Sesame Street.

Garfunkal and his guitar - singing on those Sesame Street steps 

Can you tell me how to get, how to get to Sesame Street?

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Sisters Guild Boutique

This is part of our new 'I Spy' blog features where we bring you a view of something we've fallen in love with. We also have our Monday Makery with ideas for things to make, bake and create.

Our other popular blogposts include 'The story behind our collections', 'Tell us its Tuesday' , An A-Z of Sisters Guild, a collection of images that depict the words we feel celebrate all that is Sisters Guild. The Art of Living posts bring you all the things and places we are passionate about and the things we discover in our lives as mamas, and our 'Once upon a week' gives you a glimpse into life behind the scenes at Sisters Guild. 
If you would like to contribute to our blog by guest blogging a makery or a place or event of interest please do contact us we'd love to share your voice too.

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Monday Makery - A little Slice of Rainbow

This cake is by no means an original Idea on my behalf. I've seen dozens of these on pinterest and though the idea is quite simple the effect is brilliant. This weather has got us baking more than usual and this weekend the girls wanted to make their favourite rainbow.
I am hopeless at decorating cakes and a messy butter-cream topping is the best I can do so this cake has been my 'go-to' cake when it comes to birthdays and school bake sales for a while now. The squeals of surprise and joy at all the colours forgives its not so pretty exterior. Whilst its enormous height with its seven layers of colours and more butter-cream filling lends itself to a fanciful mad hatters tea party both children and grown ups love it.
Use your own go to recipe for the vanilla sponge or if you'd rather cheat - there are definitely times when I have - buy ready made mixes and just add your colours as you go.

I use Nigella's Victoria sponge recipe as this is my go to basic cake recipe but if you have your own  favourite use that.

Here's what you'll need:

• 675g unsalted butter 
• 675 caster sugar
• 3 tsp vanilla extract
• 12 large eggs 
• 600g self raising flour
• 75g cornflour
• 3tsp baking powder
• 9-12 tbsp milk
• natural food colourings: blue, yellow, red, which you can then mix to get the blue, orange, green, indigo and violet; I'm sure the children can help to mix the right colours together.

For the topping:

• 240g unsalted butter 
• 750g icing sugar
• 3 tsp milk
• a few drops vanilla extract

When making the butter cream icing I've never before actually weighed the ingredients - for me its a case of adding a large lump of butter at room temperature, a whole lot of icing sugar and then a few teaspoons of milk at a time til I get the consistency and taste I like. So the above ingedients are a rough estimate and you may need to make a whole lot more too....its a very big cake! 

Here's how:

1. Turn on your oven to 180 oC/ gas mark 4.
2. Cream the butter and sugar together until smooth and all the ingredients are mixed to a good consistency.
3. Add the vanilla and the eggs one at a time adding a few spoonfuls of flour in-between each egg.
4. Fold in the remaining flour and baking powder and mix well.
5. Divide the mixture into 7 bowls and add a few drops of food colouring into each bowl to make your coloured layers.
6. Scrape each coloured mixture into its own cake tin - round ones work best.
7. Pop into the oven for 20-25 minutes or until the edges start to come away from the edge and the sponges have a good bouncy spring to the touch..
8. Once the cakes are done leave to cool in the tins for 10 minutes before turning them out onto a wire rack to cool completely. 
9. While waiting for the cakes to cool you can get started on the butter-cream topping.
10. Put your butter into the food mixer adding a little icing sugar as you go, add a few teaspoons of milk and a few drops of vanilla extract. To prevent your icing sugar from powdering your kitchen place a damp tea towel over the mixer.
11. You may want to put the frosting into the fridge for a little while to harden a little. Then start to ice the cake starting with the violet layer at the bottom, all the way up to red at the top.
12. Once you've layered the sponges cover the top and sides in more butter-cream frosting.
13. Serve. Cut. Squeal. Eat!

Oona, is that slice for me?

errr.....ummmmm....

uuuummmmm well........

 Thankfully, there's enough to go round!

Happy Making

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This is part of our weekly Monday Makery where we bring you a recipe to bake or a craft to create. Visit our Monday Makery when you're in need of inspiration for something to do on a rainy day or to use as interception of the words 'I'm bored', or just because being creative with your children is something you all love to do.

Our other popular blogposts include 'The story behind our collections', 'Tell us its Tuesday' , An A-Z of Sisters Guild, The Art of Living posts bring you all the things we are passionate about and the things we discover in our lives as mamas, and our 'Once upon a week' gives you a glimpse into life behind the scenes at Sisters Guild. 

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A beautiful beginning

For beautiful heirloom pieces for baby boy's visit Sisters Guild

Baby dressing room - boys

baby trousseau 

imagine & play

decor - little peoples room

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Once Upon a Week - Mama Olympics

Vintage 1968 Olympic Poster

Motherhood is like a pentathlon, parental Olympics that require stamina, endurance, strength and a will to be the very best or rather do the very best we can. But, not for a medal or the glory of achievement. No, save that for the one day a year we are celebrated. We do it out of that overwhelming feeling of love.

Being a mother is learning about strengths you didn't know you had, and dealing with fears you didn't know existed - Linda Wooten

As this week has gone by in its usual fluster of juggling the impossible to come through unscathed the other side, and as I see the accomplishments of the mothers around me I started to think about how incredible and all too often with appreciation unsaid motherhood is. With all the things a mother does in any given day, I wonder if there was an event to celebrate mama Olympics what it might look like. Because if there were a mother Olympics we'd be there donning our breastpads and clippy bras, our school run pumps, buggies in tow racing against the clock to cook a batch of bolognaise, finishing the 3rd washing machine load and ironing the 2nd, walking barefoot across a Lego strewn carpet without so much of an ouch spoken, and diving into pools of tears and tantrums as we soak up the squabbles of our darling little children. All the time serene and calm in the everyday marathon of motherhood. 

Perhaps Mama Olympics would include:

300 m race -  You're late for school already and no-one is anywhere near prepared to go. You have marmite in your hair, your youngest (potty training) has just had an accident and there's a puddle across the floor and new clothes need to be found. The older one has suddenly remembered she needs to take in a set of photographs / a toy from the 80's for a school display, Its raining and you can't for the life of you remember where you left the umbrella, You have to get to school with all the children happy in the quickest possible time! Go! 

Synchronized Swimming - Cooking 2 dinners simultaneously as neither child wants the same thing but you must serve both dinners at the same time.

The tidy time trial -   A test of stamina and skill as you race to see if you can tidy away the Lego, building blocks and other gummage before the child manages to tip them all out again! Extra points are rewarded for finding all the pieces that found their way under the sofa.

Rhythmic Gymnastics - the bedtime routine has come.... you must guide your child away from their play gracefully as so not to cause any upset, steer them to the bathroom where their teeth are brushed, faces washed and last wee's are done. Pyjamas are put on, bedtime story read and then finally the dance of sleep as you wrestle to stay awake as your child challenges you to see who'll fall asleep first.

Weightlifting - being able to carry the heavy load of chores / bills to pay / calls to be made / food shopping to be done / shoulder carrying of child for the 2 mile walk home after having fallen and hurt knee.

Field Athletics - You must not get frustrated or snappy as you carry your child's bicycle across the park and the all the way home (despite the fact you insisted on not bringing the it as you always end up carrying it most of the way) whilst pushing the buggy laden with toys and carrying baby on hip. Using every angle of your body to steer everyone homebound, Extra points for being able to get the kids singing to keep them going regardless of how crushed by the weight of the bike your body is or how far the home horizon seems to be.

Long Jump - A leap over the coffee table / laundry basket / food shopping to quickly catch your child about to fall from their chair / step / scooter.

Netball - Taking the laundry basket of socks newly washed and dry, find each matching pair, roll them up into balls and toss them into everyone's appropriate drawers. Bonus points are earned for finding EVERY matching pair - this may be a near impossible task due to the sacrificial sock that is taken by the washing machine for each cycle.

Archery - being able to shoot the right target when being told 'she did it first'.

Trampolining - bouncing off the walls may be how you're feeling but to the outside world you're elegantly gliding from one spot to another in effortless leaps of great accomplishment. 

Sailing - being able to steer through the rough waves and around the day and enjoying those few minutes of calm that appear now and again. 

Hi Jump - being able to glam up in moments (shaving legs over the edge of the bath, doing make up whilst drying hair, finding the perfect dress and packing plasters for those heels you'll be wearing for god knows you're so not used their killer effect) for a last minute event and be all at once the belle of the ball, full of zest and conversation (no child talk) and not let show that even though you didn't bring the children neither did you leave them at home. 

Our medals are the stretchmarks, the bags under our eyes, the babies dribble on our shoulder and the Lego bruises on our knees, the un-brushed hair and the suitcase of memories we fill and carry every day. Though our medals may not shine brightly from silken ribbons we wear them with great pride and all you'll ever see are our smiles.

Mother love is the fuel that enables a normal human being to do the impossible. - Marion C. Garretty, 

'A little spoonful of Chicken Soup for the Mother's Soul'

Tell us more 'events' for the Mama Olympics - we'd love to hear more motherhood sports

Oh and if you have a photo you'd like to add for a caption send it too!

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This is part of our 'once upon a week' collection. We also have other stories and features including our 'Monday Makery', 'I Spy' , 'The Art of Living', and our weekly 'Wedesday Woo'.
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The Art of Living - Pirates, Princess Playgrounds & a Puppet Barge

Pirates! In an adventure with scientists

Aha me maties! I have ye a great story to tell. Taken from the first book in the Pirates! series by Gideon Defoe this animation brought to us by the same genius that gave us Chicken Run and Walllace & Gromit is a plank-walking funny adventure on the high seas. With his rag-tag crew at his side the Captain (Hugh Grant) has but one dream; to win the much coveted Pirate Of The Year Award. He must beat his rivals Black Bellamy (Jeremy Piven) Peg Leg Hastings (Lenny Henry ) and Cutlass Liz (Salma Hayek) in his quest which see's our hapless heroes travel from the shores of exotic Blood Island to the foggy cobbled streets of Victoria London. 

Hugh Grant plays perfectly to the under-qualified and yet unaware bumbling Pirate Captain with his self deprecating voice of self-doubt, the script is brilliantly funny and the detail astounding. A production apparently five years in the making is a great cinematic adventure for the family.

Will the pirate hating Queen Victoria and her swashbuckling skills be able to stop the Captain, will the young love-lorn Charles Darwin with his man-panzee be able put aside his feelings and his own personal agenda?

Check your local cinema for timings and 

look out for special early morning family ticket offers with Odeon cinema - children's tickets are £1 and the parents are free! 

The Town Mouse and The Country Mouse

The 55 seat theatre that is the Puppet Theatre Barge is one of London's most charming and atmospheric venues albeit a little known secret.

Located in little Venice it is a beautiful place to take a day out.

Now performing one of the best loved classics from Aesops Fables with tale of The Town Mouse and The Country Mouse.

This weekend is the perfect time to visit too with the 2012 Canalway cavalcade (see below) there's even more to see.

Book Tickets 

Finding Neverland at the Princess Diana Memorial playground

If you're looking for a more adventurous playground than the run of the mill swings, slides and roundabouts  then adventure along to Princess Diana's playground in Kensington Gardens.

With a pirate ship to set sail across the stormy seas and a Tepee settlement you might even stumble across Captain Hook and Peter Pan!

The Neverland on the pages may be second star to the right and straight on til morning but this one is just off Bayswater Road and you take the no 49 bus!

The park is closed for maintenance - gotta keep it ship shape - from 14th to 18th of May

Plan your visit

image by Luke Hayes

Christian Louboutin - A Retrospective 

If you you're looking to take an educational and inspiring trip to the Design Museum this weekend you're in for treat. You can swoon your way to the Christian Louboutin's lust hungry red soled retrospective exhibition. When it comes to sparkly, feathered, sequinned, fantasy and fairytale footwear from studded pumps to glossy stilettos the french footwear designer Christian Louboutin brings the theatricality and beauty of it all.

With work inspired by his love and fascintaion with cabaret and showgirls there is certainly a air of this in the Hologram room, which you may wan to skip past if you're with children!

The exhibition takes a look at his 20 years of design and inspiration and you'll be 'taken on a magical journey of style, glamour, power feminity and elegance' exploring the sources of inspiration and the origin of his iconic red sole.

So, whilst the husband takes the children to the design and make workshop you can wonder around and fall in love with one of the most if not the most lusted after shoes of our time. Though this exhibition comes with a personal caution: perhaps not to wear your vertiginously high heels, skip past the hologram room if with your children, and be careful this may have you wanting your very own collection of Louboutin's.

1st May - 9th July

More information and Booking

Free Event

If its been on your mind to take the kids to Little Venice to see the beautiful floating house canal boats then this is the perfect time to do it. There'll be bands, boat trips, stalls, children's games and refreshments 'for all the landlubbers to enjoy' as this historic event see's the boats stopping off on their way to Queens Jubilee Pageant on the Thames in June.

This is a true English affair with more 130 boats moored along this stretch of the canal and when the sun goes down the atmosphere becomes even more magical with the illuminated boats decked out to the nines for the after-dark pageant. 

Canalway cavalcade 2012

5th -7th  May

 Discover more information

The Snail and the Whale

Tall Stories presents the latest in their collaborations with Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler in the production of the wonderful childrens story The Snail and the Whale.

For everyone aged 4 yrs and upwards

Sunday 6th May

Showing at Jacksons Lane

See more information

If on your weekend you like nothing more than getting your craft on visit our 

Monday Makery 

for a little inspiration.

Or get inspired with the paints and challenge the children to make their own Olympic posters:

Take a coffee cup and some black, blue, yellow, red and green paint and, of course, a large sheet of paper. 

Use the rim of the coffee cup to paint 5 different coloured circles then use your imagination as best you can to base your design upon the Olympic ring shapes.

Maybe the circles can become flowers, eyes of aliens, planets, watches, famous places of interest or landmarks. You can hold an award ceremony with prizes going to the most original piece.
For more great Olympic crafts Visit:
 redtedart.com

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This is part of 'The Art of Living' collection. We also have other stories and features including our 'Monday Makery', 'I Spy' and our weekly 'Wedesday Woo'.

If you'd like to receive our weekly newsletter to receive offers and news and find out the about our new collections sign up below.

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Wednesday Woo - The Squeaky Bunch

Rise and shine we're ready to play. Its time to start another day!

With the biggest online collection of Maileg there are mother mice, brother mice, daddy mice, sisters mice, ballerina mice, cowboy mice, clown mice, Red Indian mice and perhaps even a you mouse!

Tuck them up in a soft bed in their little matchbox , make them a home in their milk carton house,  introduce them into your world but watch out some of them can be pretty cheeky..... you'll need to be careful near the biscuits!

These little childhood companions are busy little adventurous creatures, scurrying around in their pretty clothes they live a wonderful life and make fantastic friends.

They love to travel too and delight in sleeping under the stars in their very own Tepee.

View the full collection of Maileg mice here

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This is part of our Wednesday Woo collection. We also have other stories and features including our 'Monday Makery', 'I Spy' and 'The art of living'.
If you'd like to receive our weekly newsletter to receive offers and news and find out the about our new collections sign up below.


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I Spy - Capturing Childhood

picture courtesy of Capturing Childhood.co.uk

Life has its moments. Happy, sad, joyous, beautiful and funny. When life is full of children these moments are multiplied and you'll want to capture them all. To keep, to remember, to reflect upon and to treasure for always.

I try to capture as many of these moments as I can of my family, be it a day at the seaside or an afternoon playing at home, one of the girls fallen asleep in a tub of Lego half way through their building, as many honest moments as I can. Each moment that passes is a window of our lives together. A window i'd like to look back through every once in a while. 

My skills as a photographer are 'point, click and hope for the best'. Though sometimes this can result in a wonderful image I am all too often frustrated that I can't capture the moments as beautifully, skillfully and confidently as i'd like.

This is why at 1.50pm on Saturday 28th April I was sitting at my computer ready to pounce on a opportunity to learn more. I signed up for a 6 week photography e-course . With places limited nothing was going to keep me from embarking on the journey.

Capturing Chidhood is a new adventure set forth by two very talented women, both mothers of three, both bloggers, both inspired to take pictures of their everyday lives and passionate to help us take another look at our children though the lens of the camera.

Having already fallen in love with their inspiring and honest blogs (both blogs are in my top ten daily fixes) I know these will be two great teachers (and perhaps an opportunity to ask if I could be adopted into their families).

Kat Goldin '...lives by the motto that life is too short to match socks and will often be be stepping over piles of laundry or leaning over a tower of dirty dishes to get that perfect shot. Her children don't recognise her without her Canon 7d DSLR in front of her face and balls of yarn in her pockets.' Kat Goldin blogs at Slugs on the Refrigerator with work featured by Ideal Homes, Etsy's Spring 2012 Lookbook, Parenting Magazine, Inside Crochet and is currently working on her first book with Kyle Books. If this lady can find time to teach me I can find time to learn!

Kat Molesworth ...'...a professional childcare provider who spends her days encouraging and recording the development of the children she cares for.' ...'If you asked Kat why she is taking so many pictures she would tell you they are her messages to the future.' Kat Molesworth, a finalist in the Mad Blog Awards 2011 for photography and again up for the Award this year, blogs at Housewife Confidential . This Kat or should I say @thatkat also works as features and travel editor at Bambino Goodies, and her photography has been featured in the product photography for Kitschy Coo, as well as Bambino Goodies and Anorak Magazine. Yep she's quite a gal!

Collect the Moments is the first of the e-courses on offer at Capturing Childhood : 'It is not about having a fancy camera or expensive editing equipment. It is about using the tools you have at hand to take the best pictures possible of your children. And more than that, it is about inspiring you to think differently about capturing childhood'.

The course includes: Weekly blog posts on a password protected blog, weekly assignments to help you dig deeper into that weeks topic, Discussions and (optional) photo- sharing through a private Flickr group and an eBook to take away when the course is finished for future reference.

These e-courses are a genius idea, especially for those with busy lifestyles who can't commit to an evening course each week. You can follow at your own pace and you'll never be late for a lesson!

Whatever the reason, whatever your skill, whatever time you have the courses will inspire you to 'take a different look at your approach to recording family life through pictures and film.'

If we are the sum total of all the events in our lives, from our first tastes and first steps, the summer play in the garden running under the hosepipe, our first day at school, the mismatch outfits we scramble together (still not much better at this) and the friends that surround us as we grow up. If each day the events, big or small, the everyday occurrence and the remarkable, shape us into who we become and the people who touch us leave their print in our memories in this way then not only are we part creators of our children but we are theirs and the photographs we have of these moments shared are the stories that we will never forget. They are the biographies of our life. Be sure you capture it as best you can.

I am so excited and ready to switch off the automatic to learn to focus once again and capture each moment.

So, grab your cameras, jump on board, tell your friends, your family and capture the moments too.

Capturing Childhood.co.uk

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Sisters Guild Boutique

This is part of our new 'I Spy' blog features where we bring you a view of something we've fallen in love with. We also have our Monday Makery with ideas for things to make, bake and create.

Our other popular blogposts include 'The story behind our collections', 'Tell us its Tuesday' , An A-Z of Sisters Guild, a collection of images that depict the words we feel celebrate all that is Sisters Guild. The Art of Living posts bring you all the things and places we are passionate about and the things we discover in our lives as mamas, and our 'Once upon a week' gives you a glimpse into life behind the scenes at Sisters Guild. 
If you would like to contribute to our blog by guest blogging a makery or a place or event of interest please do contact us we'd love to share your voice too.

www.sistersguild.co.uk

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Bring Me Sunshine!

1. Voile dress £40.00 Little Duckling, 2. Punk T £25.00 Dandy Star,  3. Bobo Choses Salopettes - yellow bananas £32.50,  4. ilovegorgeous Aunt Debbie Dress - yellow £55.  5. ilovegorgeous mini mallow skirt £51, 6. Little Duckling yellow jersey dress £36.00, 7. Bobo Choses canvas bag £35. 8.Mini nuage bracelet by Hop Hop Hop £35. 9.  Little Duckling jersey leggings £22.50,  10. Bobo Choses bici shorts £24. 

If your daughters go bananas for brights, like to add a little punk twist to a feminine skirt or prefer the elegant chiffon or cotton voile dresses, there's a host of ways to wear this summers brights. 

Team with pretty sandals or funky boots:

11. Converse yellow high tops - prices vary. 12. Avalon yellow shoes by See Kai Run available at happylittlesoles.co.uk

Though the sun may not be shining from the sky, the pavements, parks and playgrounds are sure to be a little sunnier.

A bright and colourful collection of clothing and accessories from Sisters Guild for girls who like to walk on the sunny side of the street.

Go to Sisters Guild Boutique