Kids Crafts – Painting A BirdHouse

We love a delivery from Baker Ross! Our last delivery was one packed with fantastic products all of which the children really enjoyed getting creative with.

Crafting, is a great way to amuse the kids during the school half term. We have so far had no boredom set in, despite the rainy weather we have experienced here in london these past few days! Why? Because the children have been busy painting and decorating their very own birdhouse.

The suppliers (all provided from Baker Ross Ltd) were as follows…
Box of cardboard readymade Bird Houses, selection of 8 Grotto acrylic paints (designed specifically for children), PVA glue and some fantastic and EZ Stones (that I’ll explain a little more about later within this post).

The toddler age 3 and my daughter Alice Sara 10, Had a fabulous time painting their birdhouses.These cute little houses come ready-made and all that is required is your child’s colourful imagination and some child friendly grotto paint. Grotto acrylic paints are specifically designed to be used by children, they come in 8 colour shades, are supplied in their own carry case, and are all water based and 100% safe to use.

Alice Sara used the paints to decorate her birdhouse in a Multi coloured stripy fashion. She then used sponge stamps to decorate various areas of her birdhouse. Harley also went for a Multi coloured design and enjoyed mixing and swirling his paints all over his house… And mine!

The children gave their birdhouses an hours drying time before applying PVA glue to the roof and then covering the glue in crystal EZ stones. These colourful vibrant crushed natural stones add a Three-dimensional effect, giving it that something. a great alternative to glitter. textured, sparkling effects. 6 assorted colours, 150g per colour.

This is the very first time myself and the children have come across EZ stones but already we love them! They really help to make a craft project that little bit different. The natural stones have been finely crushed making them easy to work with. They are available in an array of fantastic colours and can be added to almost any surface whether its a painting on standard paper or a huge playhouse made of cardboard boxes and toilet roll tubes. I’ll be honest! These stones can leave a little mess around the table/floor but that’s easily sorted with a clean dust pan and brush (you can then sweep them back into their original containers and seal).

Now, back to the project at hand! Once the glue was completely dried and the stones firmly stuck in place, the kids painted a few layers of Mod Podge as to give it a seal and protect the kids lovely art work.

So… Here are the finished birdhouses!

I love these cute colourful birdhouses and think the kids did a fantastic job. I know that if I were a bird I’d definitely fancy popping in for a quick bite to eat! Wouldn’t you?

If you think your little ones would love to get creative in this way, then just pop over to the Baker Ross ltd online store where all of the listed materials can be easily found. The great news is that Baker Ross Ltd don’t charge the earth for these materials and whats more they can even be brought in bulk which saves you even more money (fantastic for schools and community groups ect).

Well, thanks for reading! We (myself and the children) hope this project has inspired you to get crafty.

Easter Crafts – Mini Easter Treats

With a few moulds, melted chocolate and lashings of hundreds and thousands… You can create your very own yummy Easter Treats.

You will need
Chocolate (I got Tesco own brand)
Hundreds and thousands (large tub from Iceland)

Tools
Small Easter Egg Mounds (Sainsburys)
Microwave
Mixing bowl
Spoons

Optional…
Tin foil or sweet wrappers
Ribbons

First melt your chocolate in the microwave (30 seconds to 1 minute is usually long enough).

Now take your egg moulds and sprinkle with a thin layer of hundreds and thousands covering the surfaces of the mould.

Now pour the melted chocolate into the moulds over the top of the hundreds and thousands.

Now add a thicker coat of hundreds and thousands over the top of the chocolate.

Pop in the fridge for a couple of hours (to speed things up you can put these in the freezer for a bit).

Once set gently remove treats from the moulds and use tin foil and ribbons to wrap if desired.

Simple but yummy

Oh… These started off being lollypops only the sticks won’t lay flat in the moulds so my advice would be… Don’t even go there with the lolly sticks!

Tutorial – Glow Stick Eggs For Magical Night Time Hunts

How about an Easter egg hunt with a difference this year? How about a hunt in the dark?

With some clear pearlescent plastic eggs and a tube of glue sticks, you can do just that.

Important: Please Note, because the glow sticks need to be broken down this needs to be preformed by an adult. The eggs should be probably sealed to stop any leakage before children are able to participate in the decorating or hunting of these eggs.

Here is what you’ll need…

Packet of Pearlescent Eggs
Tube of Small Thin Glow Sticks
Self Adhesive Foam Pieces
Self Adhesive Gems
Super Glue
Sticky Eyes
Black Permeant Marker
Feathers in Colours to Suit Eggs

Tools
Scissors
Protective gloves
Apron
Protective Eyewear

Step 1: You will need to open your plastic eggs (number dependent on how many your making) and seal the tiny holes at the top and bottom of the inner shell. I only had self adhesive sticky taps but these seemed to do the job well.

Step 2: I discovered how easily glow sticks are to break as I desperately tried to squash these down to size to allow them to fit within the shell of my eggs. Yes, it exploded and my entire bedroom and face were glowing a fluorescents pink. So instead I put on an Apron and some protective gloves. I also but on some protective eyewear… If you don’t have any then be sure to break these up behind some sort of barrier to protect eyes. I then very quickly cut the glow sticks into small pieces and placed in the plastic egg. The holes are sealed and therefore no leakage should occur.

Step 3: Use super glue around the the inner edge of the egg before closing it.

Step 4: Wipe off any excess glue and then leave to dry.

Step 5: leave for 30 minutes, then check your egg is probably sealed with no leakage or chance of it being prised open by little hands of any kind.

Step 6: Lastly, decorate as desired. For our pink eggs we added some sticky eyes and feathered pink hair. We also used a black marker pen for the detailing. For the green egg we simply used self adhesive gems. The green egg was much brighter than that of the pink. I’m gussing this is because it was my second attempt so I got more glow stick in the egg rather than my face.

The pictures are not all that brilliant, I do apologise. I didn’t have my camera, just my iPhone and these were somewhat hard to capture in the dark.

So there you have it… Glow stick eggs for a magical night time hunt. You don’t even need to decorate the eggs. Simply load them with glow sticks and then hide them. A really fun activity, however old you may be!

Disclaimer: I am not recommending the craft, I’m merely sharing it. It is up to yourselves to decided if this is a suitable activity for yourselves and your children to partake in.

Kids Easter Crafts – Egg Puppets

Me and the children have had a great deal of fun making fab little egg puppets.

You may be thinking ‘What is this crazy lady talking about, who makes puppets out of eggs?’

These are actually made from Polystyrene eggs so there won’t be any messy accidents involved (well, if you don’t include the gloppy mod podge and paint mixture, that is)!

The puppets are great to make with kids. There are endless possibilities when creating these. With the magic of their imagination these puppets can be created in a variety of designs! This is a real great alternative to traditional Easter crafts and one we’ve enjoyed immensely.

To make these you will need…

Polystyrene eggs, 1 per puppet Make as many as you desire. (PoundLand 12pk)
Pink acrylic paint
White acrylic paint
Black paint
Deco Art pens or markers (black & red)
Glitter
Mod podge
Sticky eyes (Baker Ross ltd)
White bow embellishment
Glue dot
Sticks (i’ve used some long white lolly sticks, which are ideal as they don’t have sharp points)

Any other items you want to jazz up your puppets (beads for earrings, bows as hair accessories etc)

I’m going to simply demonstrate how to create a rather basic egg puppet. You can jazz these up how you wish, change the colour of the hair and skin with different paints etc.

First I took one of my sticks and pieced the centre bottom of the egg (the flattest end).

Then I painted the egg in pink paint. I mixed around 4 parts white to 2 parts pink to create the desired shade for my puppets skin tone. The stick also makes the process much easier and less messy which is why I’d advise inserting your sticks into your eggs as a first step. Give egg two thin coats being careful to avoid drips.

Once dry (within 20 minutes) I was then ready to apply my puppets hair. For this I mixed some mod podge gloss, some dark blue course glitter and black paint. (I roughly used 3 parts glue to 6 parts paint) this is to ensure the mixture remained black and didn’t turn grey.

I them painted the mixture onto my egg to create the hair of my puppet. The added glue makes the mixture dry really glossy and the glitter not only gives it subtle hints of sparkle but a good course texture too.

I left to dry for a least an hour before using a red deco art paint pen to add my puppets mouth.

The nose was added with a black deco pen which I also used to outline the lips.

One of the final details was the eyes in which I used sticky eyes that I got from baker Ross (excellent as they have so many designs to add character to your puppets).

I left it for a while to ensure the paint was properly set before giving my entire egg puppet a coat of mod podge. Sometimes traces of paint end up on your brush once mod podge is applied, however this isn’t a problem so don’t worry about it.

Lastly, add a glue dot to the head where the hair parts and securing a white bow embellishment in place.

And that’s it! You can make allsorts of great egg puppets. These include people, animals, princesses and kings… Make plain old simple ones like that above or fancy ones like some of these below…

MR Duck:

Made with yellow paint, sponge, sticky eyes and feathers

MR Alien (Glow in the dark egg puppet)

Made simply using Green & black paint, glow in the dark paint, Yellow Deco pen, sticky eyes and a piece of fur.

Then all that’s left to do is have fun playing with your egg puppets. We have a great little puppet studio, the perfect place to put on a show.

Harley gets Mickey in on the action

And finally here’s a super quick round up off some other great Easter Crafts for kids I’ve found online…

Right at the top we have the ever fabulous Naturestore with her fab Easter Potato Printing

One of my all time favourite blogs for fun kids activity and crafts, ‘Mummy Mummy Mum‘ shows us how to make funky, dingy little hats for our eggs.

Over on the Blog ‘Me and My Shadow‘ you can find out how to create the most simplistic, yet super cute bunny cards.

Domestic Goddess demonstrates how to put together a cute fluffy bunny wreath…

While Mama Owl shares some great ideas from tissue paper eggs to the most delicious looking Easter cake.

My Love For Shopping Won Me A £500 Groupon Voucher

This Valentines day I discovered a great competition on the net while googling for Valentines competitions.

The competition was for bloggers and was being run by Groupon in partnership with Bloglovin. The brief… To write a post showcasing what you’d love to receive or give another for Valentines day.

The prizes being offered were almighty generous… 1st prize £500 Groupon Credit, 2nd prize… £250 Groupon Credit, 3rd prize… £100 Groupon Credit.

Given I was actually having a pretty rubbish valentines day with the love of my life snoring on the sofa by 7pm, meant that I had no problems kicking back and creating an elaborate list covering things I knew I was never gonna get! Well, not this year, not next year… Not ever! It wasn’t a bunch of flowers I wanted after all, but a whole day of pampering like a princess! Shopping for shoes and raving in Greece or some other place hot were just a handful on my list.

Well, I opted for a video and text entry and was delighted in discovering that I had bagged the first prize of £500 Groupon credit. Actually… the word “Delighted” Seems a bit of an understatement! This lady was made up with excitement and couldn’t wait to start shopping.

As I’ve got the Groupon iPhone App downloaded, its made it pretty easy to check out the daily deals! I really don’t know how I haven’t spent the lot already given they have had some awesome offers on during February. Well, I’ve spent just over £150 and have a new shiny cupcake maker, two tickets for the Hobbycraft show at excel this April, lash extensions, Banksy tees, a love film subscription, 2 tickets for hairstyling for myself and a friend at a top salon, and a potable dvd player and family film package on the way. Not bad for £150 wouldn’t you agree?

I’m really looking forward to the craft show at Excel. I’ll be heading there on the 6th April (my birthday) the day after I return from a Butlins holiday with the kids.

We received the Cupcake maker yesterday and my daughter is delighted at how “Pink” this is. I’ll be sure to showcase some finished cupcakes in the coming weeks.

So watch this space!

Oh… And if you haven’t yet experienced Groupon I’d suggest you hop to it!

My Lashes Of London Look Book

Ever heard off Lashes of London? Well… You have now! Sshh its a secret.

I’ve created a look book displaying all my favourite items. So… Here they are.

1 Beautiful sequinned bomber jacket £85

2: I absolutely love the Rizzo Polka dot jumpsuit that can now be grabbed for just under £15 following a sale reduction from its original price of £49.00!

3: I adore the Candy Cain Sequinned Skater Dress! I don’t think it would particularly suit my frame but it would look fantastic on my sister making a great birthday gift idea. Plus its currently reduced in the sale from £75 to £37.50.

These snake skin leggings are super cute. They would be perfect work with some flat ankle boots or even a pair of high-tops. The snake skin leggings would also see me through the summer making a fabulously comfy, yet trendy choice for all those pending festivals. Better still these are also on sale. Was £22.00 now just £6.50… Total bargain.

One of my most girly finds was that of the beautiful Trixie Mint PU Circle mini skirt. The colour is a stunning shade of mint green stunning and I’ve fallen for it… Pretty yet sophisticated… “Yep, that’s me alright” The skirt cost £35 pounds but would look great for any occasion.

Finally I had to share this ‘Neon City Chiffon Bandeau’ in this pretty orange shade its bound to be a show stopper. This would go down a tweet during a summers cocktail party… I love it.

However, what I do love more is that of the price! An amazing £23.70 instead of £79.00! Now that’s what I call a bargain.

Having not long discovered Lashes of London I’ve not had the privilege to shop at the online store. I now firmly have my eye on a few beautiful pieces and the store is safely bookmarked on the iPhone.

To check out the fabulous Lashes of London, visit the online store to have a browse. The sale section is full off great offers and deals allowing you to get the items you want at very little cost.

This is my competition entry into the Lashes of London wishlist competition.

I’ve Got A Love For Shopping

Ok, in all honesty Valentines day hasn’t been that dreamy! I’ve spent it washing, tidying and painting. Where’s my Valentine you ask? His snoring on the sofa! Looks like a date with Eastenders for me!

Well, at least I have my dreams and a Groupon competition I’ve discovered on the net has given me the perfect excuse to showcase them.

So… What was the challenge? All I had to do was pull together a blog post that describes my perfect Valentines day, with particular attention on the gifts I’d like to receive.

Now I know that this wish list of mine is likely to seem a tad far fetched, especially given its already gone 8pm and the one I call my valentine is snoring like Daddy pig from Peppa pig on the sofa! But hay… whats a girl without her hopes and dreams?

First check out the little trailer I created below then I’ll give a little more detail on just how well I’ve dreamt this all up!

So as you can see, being woken to a gift of stunning earrings & breakfast in bed would be much appreciated, as would the delivery of 12 beautiful red roses.

There would be no time to sit around. starring longingly into one another’s eyes! First I’d be whisked off up town to London for a no limits shopping spree. I’d be able to engage my love for shoe shopping without protesting form the ‘other half’!

We’d eat lunch at a smart little restaurant then I’d be taken to have a tattoo of any wild thing I wanted, before settling down and relaxing with a full body message.

Suddenly, just when I think my already blissful day has reached its climax, I discover we are not heading home but instead to the airport.

Totally speechless (and that’s a first for me) I discover my loved one, has packed my bags and arranged for them to be delivered to the airport. I then find myself boarding a plane that takes me to a magical place of peace and tranquillity.

The hotel is devine and the beach has wonderful fine white sand.

The king size bed is a wash with gifts including that of beautiful delicious belgium chocolates. Having filled my tummy, I slip into a little black number and as it approaches the early hours of the following day I find myself partying to the sounds of old Skool garage and a little drum&base just like I used too.

Filling a tad tired but extremely happy, myself and my valentine stroll along the peaceful beach as the sun begins to rise. Here I’m lavished in diamonds by way of a big fat diamond sparkler! For me? Oh, yes… it so is?

And then…..

I wake up!

Yer… Ok, Maybe next year!

This is my entry into the Groupon ‘A love for shopping competition’

Snowy Snaps From The Weekend

Almost all of us in the UK, have woken, at least once, in these past few weeks, to find a blanket of the white stuff right outside our window.

All week my instagram timeline has been filled with a string of images all showcasing beautiful snowy pictures of smiling children sledging, snowmen glistening, historic buildings transformed into snow palaces and much more besides.

So what’s a girl to do? Especially one who loves to indulge herself in a little instagram every now and then? “Daily… Me? No… Never!”.

So, yes… I have uploaded a few of my favourite snow snaps to my instagram and have therefore decided to spread the snowy joy this way by uploading some of my snaps here too!

The dog & The Snow Man

A Snowy Church Court

Beautiful Snow Covered Church

A Chilly Hand Shake

The Building Of Mrs Snow Woman

Under The Spot Light

Snow Meets Light

Giant Snow Balls

Snowy Church Top

The Snow Battle

Making Footprints

Friend Walks Dog

Applying The Finishing Touches

Communication

A Red Head Enjoys The Snow

A Snowy Tumble

So… There they are. Sadly my 12 year old who has a diagnosis of Aspergers Syndrome, didn’t come along to the Heath for some Winter fun. I think the prospect of being cold was enough to put him of… That and the fact he has a cold sore meaning his been hiding away from the world since it first made an appearance a few days ago.

Hope all you reading this have all had your own winter fun in the snow! My motto is… “Don’t moan about something you can’t change! Instead make it into some fun!” Yes… Its a pretty awesome motto, I know!

Autumn Collage Toddler Style

We love Baker Ross Ltd and can always be found raving on about their fantastic online store that stocks absolutely everything craft.

The toddler who will be 3 this December and not yet in nursery, is a massive fan of anything arty & crafty. This may have something to do with the extent of crafting activities we do in the home. I can honestly say that from the moment Harley opens his eyes in the mornings his requesting we get out the paints and glitter.

I do really love crafting with the toddler. its a great way to enjoy the time we have together before he does start school. Its also an excellent opportunity to get them involved in fun but educational activities. Harley is my youngest of three children and with no future plans to add to the numbers, I’m really hanging on to these Pre-school years, because as most parents will know… Before you know it they have started school and them early years quickly disappear.

A few days back Harley was in a true crafty mood… So much so, there was no stopping him from his creative activities, not even for a spot of lunch.

He had lots of crafty fun making this fabulous autumn collage.

For this activity, Harley used…

A large piece of coloured card ( PoundLand)
Section of giant glitter finger and stamping paints 500ml (Baker Ross Ltd)
Selection of coloured self adhesive foam (Baker Ross Ltd) that I cut into a selection of shapes
Some poster paints ( Sainsburys)

Tools required… Fingers, brushes… Plus lots of imagination.

There really was lots of messy fun when it came to this extra thick tactile glitter finger & stamping paint. These come in large 500ml pots and are available in various colours. They are one of the newest products in the Baker Ross range and at £3.99 per pot, a really great buy.

Harley used both his fingers and a number of different brushes to apply the paint to his collage. This paint drys super fast and due to its thickness it transfers from pot to paper really well. Its really tactile so a great paint for any little sensory seekers.

Harley also used some standard poster paint before finally enjoying some sticking fun. This was achieved with the foam shapes (that I had cut out for him). These were applied randomly around the collage, with Harley mixing paint and foam as went.

Lots of sticky, sensory fun.

Once dried Harley’s Masterpiece was hung on the wall for all to admire.

Silent Sunday