A blogging challenge gone wrong, but it’s alright

When Innocent asked if we’d like to take part in their latest campaign we said YES! Kieran especially is a huge fan of the Innocent products and thoroughly enjoyed making a spooky veg fiend in the Halloween campaign.

True to the time of year, this time around Kieran has received a fab gardening set with mini rake, fork and watering can and a selction of fab seeds which can be found in the multipacks.
The challenge was to drink the drinks, fill the empty cartons with soil, plant a seed in each and watch them grow.
Simple enough one would think, but not in our house.
Our plan was to collect up all the cartons then plant everything all at once. We wanted to have a seed race and see what came up first and which grew the fastest. We were going to keep a chart.

Then disaster struck! Daddy, forget that we had an important challenge to run recycled all the cartons.
Nooooo!
This set us back a bit but it was ok! We bought some small pots, filled them with soil, planted and popped them outside.

And then, after the mild weather we’ve had….. the frost came. I can’t blame Daddy for this one because I should have known better but am a terrible gardener. It’s been some time now and it appears that the growing race is a non-starter. Ooops!

Not to be beaten we have used some more of the vouchers we received with the gardening kit and have been supping our way through more delicious smoothies, collecting more seeds and will soon be read to replant again, indoors, away from recycling-mad Daddy’s and seed killing frost.

This might sound like  bit of a disaster but it has actually been fantastic fun! We’ve looked up the seeds online so that Kieran could see what we should be able to see when shoots start to appear and we’ve had great fun on the Innocent Kids website with all the fantastic games and features (I have developed something of an obsession with the Whack a Fruit game).

For us, so far, this challenge has been about spending time together learning about growing things, health and drinking gorgeous smoothies. Has it all gone to plan? No! However Innocent are a pretty savvy lot and they know that as long as the kids are having fun it’s all good – and we’ve been having a blast!

If you are on twitter make sure you follow the #innocentseeds hashtag to read about those with better organised greed fingers and also to find some fantastic competitions. You can collect your own seeds in every pack too so happy growing! Find out more and say hi to the garden gang on the Innocent kids website.

Fire cracker 4

No, this isn’t the name of the new must-see film due to hit the big screen, it is the name of the must-see (and much talked about) spring feature colour from Dulux.

Fire cracker 4 - Spring colour from Dulux

Some of you will know that I am a bit of an interior design tart. I constantly update my home with touches of colour and new accessories and spend many hours glued to the home and living channels on Sky. I love home interiors. I adore seeing how a little bit of colour can completely turn a room.
As well as browsing the TV renovation show I have been known to hit the estate agent websites for inspiration. So many interiors that I can admire or look at and try and work out what it needs to bring it to life. I’m pretty convinced that in another life I will be a very famous interior designer.

Someone representing Dulux emailed me recently about their newest feature colour, Fire Cracker 4. Often I gloss over these emails but the colour jumped out at me. Fire Cracker 4 is bright, vibrant and very exciting! Would I use it in my house? Possibly, I’m hesitating only because my home is a very traditional home built in 1880 which needs a lot of light colours for people to appreciate the size of the rooms.  I would love to see it on the estate agent websites or on DIY SOS though because I’m sure that there is a way I could incorporate it into my home!


Such a gorgeous colour which could be used for a feature wall, inside glass front cupboards, for whole rooms or half rooms if painting up to a picture rail. This is a colour that an complete transform a room. If I used it I would couple it with bold textiles and smooth lines. Funky and modern is a good way to describe this colour yet in the right room it could also turn from invigorating to calming and restful as it is a warm and very versatile colour.

Would you use Fire Cracker 4? Could you see yourself with such a bold colour in your home? Feed my interior design love and tell me what you think of this season’s key colour and if you do like it, where you would use it.

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