Kids Crafts – What We Made For National Recycling Week

With it being national recycling week we were set a challenge, to make something for this little cutie…

… Using recycled materials.

The Canimals (currently showing on CiTV) are all about turning something ordinary into something extra-ordinary and we (meaning myself and the toddler) took this into account while doing a little brainstorming. Well, eventually the toddler decided on making a play zone for his canimal with an empty cardboard box.

Harley loves playing with his car mat and this is where the idea came from. The only materials required were that of the cardboard box that we opened out and some child friendly poster paints… Oh and our canimal of course!

Having painted on a bendy white road under the instructions of my three year old, he then got to work turning our canimal play zone into a brightly coloured adventure zone.

Given it was a warm evening the activity was done in the garden where Harley had loads of room to express his creative flair.

He had great fun painting on a river, grass bank and loads of pretty colourful flowers.

The whether was nice so his masterpiece took little time to dry. This was great news as it meant his cute little canimal could enjoy their purpose built play zone in no time at all.

#silentsunday

Bath Time Fun With Finding Nemo (Review)

In celebration of the pending release of Disney Pixar’s Finding Nemo due to hit cinemas this Easter (29th March 2013), the toddler got busy testing some of the finding Nemo bath time range from the leading children’s toiletries specialist, H&A.

With a delightful selection of products on offer bath time can be even more fun, as My toddler proves. We were sent a lovely selection of items that included Nemo themed bath and shower gel, a fun water squirting Nemo and a couple of magical Nemo face clothes.

The little one loves both baths and Disney animations so the combination of the two was bound to result in a happy 3 year old. The bubble bath which Harley insists he dispenses himself, produced lots of bubbles with only a small squirt added to running water. Not only did he now have a huge tub of bubbles to happily sit and play in but a gorgeously scented one at that.

As for the Nemo bath toy, well as expected Harley had great fun transporting it around the tub at speed. As soon as we heard about the range coming our way, I thought it would be a good idea to dig out the original DVD from my daughters growing collection in order for little brother Harley to discover where Nemo came from and the story behind him. Having engaged in some serious viewing time you can just imagine the excitement when the postman delivered his little package of Nemo bath time goodies. Nemo has since accompanied Harley for every bath and he absolutely loves the range.

The face clothes are that of the magical kind. Once they are placed in water they expand into a full face flannel. For a 3 year old this is a very magical experience and I can see myself having to buy some more so he can experience the magic all over again. Once these face cloths have expanded they reveal a vibrant & fun design featuring two of the films much loved Characters including Nemo himself.

The range is perfect for little ones and with an element of fun behind it, the range actively encourages good hygiene for 2-6 year olds.

What’s more the range is really reasonably priced
with prices ranging from £2.00 to £4.00

Finding Nemo Magic Facecloth
shaped Nemo and Squirt designs and priced at only £2.00

Finding Nemo Bath and Shower Gel
hypoallergenic and suitable for all ages. Priced at only £2.00

Finding Nemo Squashy Bath Squirter
£4.00

Products are available in all good supermarkets.

#silentsunday

From The Jumble To eBay – How To Buy To Sell

Firstly, I’m not one of those mad nutty spammers talking about how to make money online… But I do have some tips on how to make money via eBay and it all starts at your local jumble sales, bootfairs and the odd charity shop.

Its all about shopping to sell, not on the high street (well that is unless there is a great little charity shop there). Jumble sales are your best bet though, whether held at the local church hall or in the school playground, these babies house a treasure trove of bargains. Every jumble sale i’ve ever been to, I’ve never left with no less than a few black bags that are normally bursting at the seams. You can bet your life on it that I’ve also spent no more than a fiver. I recently filled a huge black bag for £3 and I’ve almost ebayed the lot. Items from this bag that instantly spring to mind that sold well on eBay are that of a Boden dress (women’s) £16, river island jeans £12, tweed girls coat from monsoon £22, Jane Norman jeans £10 and a pair of infant converse that sold for £18. Look at the statistics here… This is all from my £3 bag of jumble sale finds.

Of course you have to know what your looking for. I suggest you scan eBay to find whats selling well at the time. But there are always certain items and brands that never seem to let you down. Here’s some I suggest…

Children’s Clothing…
Next (I’ve found that girls items do particularly well as do boys coats and knits).
Mini Boden (kids jeans are a winner as are girls dresses)
Brand Tracksuits (Nike and Adidas, especially in baby and toddler sizes)
Monsoon dresses & coats
Ralph Lauren (especially baby and toddler sizes)
Converse ( mainly high tops and rare pairs).
John Rocha and other designers for Debenhams
Popular Character wear (whatever is big at the time, example… Peppa pig, bob the builder, Thomas the tank engine, mike the knight).

Women’s clothing…
Boden (again especially jeans)
Donna Karen
Zara
Jane Norman (I’ve done well with coats and jeans)
River island (jeans do well)
Coast (dresses)
Lipsy (dresses)
Onesies are currently selling well (even those from Primark)
Levi’s (vintage, cut offs)
Vintage & Retro items of clothing (examples… denim, retro printed tees, Sequinned tops)
Festive wear in the summer time (includes vintage finds, floor sweeping dresses, boohoo inspired fashion)

Men’s clothing…
Levi’s (Vintage Red label 501 are a winner)
Ralph Lauren (especially the tops with the big logo)
Vintage leather beats
Rare converse

Accessories…
Vintage leather bags
Oversized vintage weekend bags
Cath Kidston bags and purses
Vintage costume jewellery
Shoes (Dune and Office do great)
Ralph Lauren Green Holdall (the one I’m actually referring to was given away with aftershave from the fragrance store back in June. It can fetch between £70-£100 on eBay)

Ralph Lauren Bag given away free with fragrance.

Toys…

Vintage toys… Old matchbox car, Barbie, Sindy, Lego sets (rare) Play Mobile, Dr Who, He Man, Thunder Cats, My Little Pony, Care Bears, Lucky Trolls, Toy Dummies on necklace… 80’s toys (All boxed and unboxed)

Current Toys…
Whatever is Highly popular at the time of selling… Currently I’ve found these toys to bring in good money… First edition monster high dolls especially that of Holt Hyde. Others include… Gillington Gil Webber (Skull Shores) Torelei (first edition) Jinafire Long (hard to find new character) Jackson Jekyll and Deuce (Scaris). I have witnessed all make a good amount of money on eBay, Holt Hyde more so than any.

I’ve not personally sold any monster high dolls, my daughter is a huge fan and I just seem to be buying them hence the reason I know.

The differences when buying items to sell on eBay at Jumble Sales, Bootfairs and Charity Shops

Jumble Sales… Its in my opinion that Jumbles are the best places to find great selling items at very little spendage (yes, I’m aware that isn’t a real word). Vintage clothing and accessories are relatively easy to find at car boots and jumbles as are well known high street and even designer brands. Jumble sales normally sell items of clothing for around 20p-50p an item with a lot of the time that sum often being less. This is regardless of the brand name or condition. You will often find that sellers at the jumble sale will do you a great deal on filling a bag or two (example £1 a large bag of clothes). Most jumble sales are made up of donations, often given by those wishing to get rid of items quickly for lack of storage or those who have more money than sense (I only say this as I’ve picked up newly tagged expensive items that eBayers have snapped off me in a heartbeat). Its not just clothing that jumble sales are great for but toys, brick a brac and pretty bone china.

Bootfairs… These are also great places to visit and bargains can be easily obtained. However, sellers normally sell their own personal items rather than donations and therefore ask for more money as a result. I find that by visiting stalls on a cold wet day when sellers are just itching to get in the car and leave (round about packing up time) is the best time to grab bargains. Sealed makeup, good handbags and collectable toys have been some of my greatest finds.

Charity Shops… These can offer great little finds but are likely to offer the least selling profit of all. Charity shop workers are much more on the ball these days when it comes to brands and what people are looking for. However, this does tend to be seen more across the big store chains such as Cancer research or Mind. There are still some great little charity shops out there that are selling children’s clothes for a quid and adults £2 an item…. You just have to find them. Villages and slightly remote places have fabulous little charity shops. Those outside of the big town centres will always offer more for your pennies. My best charity shop buy recently, was infant converse (2 pairs) for my 3 year old. These looked almost new yet I paid only £1 for each pair. I plan to sell these on eBay once Harley has grown out of them and although they will likely sell for less, these will probably fetch more than a quid a pair.

So… Have you ever spotted anything for a bargain at any of these places and then gone on to sell them on eBay making a tidy profit as a result? If so I’d love to hear what! It might sound crazy but some people are actually making a good income this way.

Would you buy to sell?

#silentsunday

#silentsunday

Not Much Moshi For Your Money

Our second TRU Toyologist box was full of all sorts of surprises, one being the “My Moshi Home“.

I won’t lie, both little man nor Alice have an interest in Moshi Monsters. They both feel that at 12 and 9 they are both that bit to old for it. Nonetheless, my almost 3 year old is a big fan. He loves everything and anything Moshi so I knew there would at least be someone happy to play with it.

The idea behind this toy is to allow moshi fans the opportunity to recreate their online Moshi home!

The set contents are however a tad disappointing. The packaging makes you think your not only going to get the Moshi Home but some Moshlings to live in it. sadly this is not the case (you do however get one posable poppet figure). The set also comes complete with 20 different accessories featuring Telegroan, Pop-Up Bin, Friends Tree and Wheel of Fortune. You also get a secret code for a Limited Edition Moshling Online.

Many of the parts within the Moshi Home are interchangeable. This means children can change the set up of their Moshi home whenever they get bored. Items that can be changed are the window frames, doors and floors. Children are also provided with a number of stickers to customise their Moshi Home as they wish.

As mentioned Alice wasn’t really into it but made an effort to have a play and share her thoughts! She states its not really “her thing” but she is sure it would provide lots of fun for Moshi Monster fans. The toddler proves this to be the case when he refuses to play with anything else for the first week we received it.

The toddler plays with it really well. His not that interested in changing all the pieces, mainly because his quite young! He does however love pushing his Moshi monsters through the doors located on the Moshi house. Luckily Harley already owns a number of moshlings and was happy to add these to the play experience.

Setting up the toy wasn’t that difficult, however, it should be noted that there are images shown on the packaging that don’t tie in with the product. An example being… The box image shows the ceiling covered in a plastic yellow shell therefore allowing stickers to be displayed on it! However, the product itself doesn’t reflect this. I spent ages thinking I must be missing pieces but looking online at other decorated Moshi homes this doesn’t seem to be the case. There is no plastic ceiling covering making the box that bit more misleading.

I also found that the chimney would not slot into place accordingly and once I managed it, it kept dropping back off. The floors are also made of card which in my opinion doesn’t make them very durable.

The great thing about this toy is its easy storage. The house has a catch that locks it and its contents shut whenever it isn’t in play.

Moshi monster fans will love this little house (including the toddler) but it was my honest opinion that for £32.99 you really are not getting a lot of Moshi for your money.

The Moshi Monster My Moshi House is Available from Toys R us.

Creative Fun With Waggle Tagz

Waggle tagz was one of the items in our third and final toys r us.

Alice was most excited to discover this toy and couldn’t wait to give it a try.

The toy created by John Adams is a creative tag studio that has been designed to allow children to create their very own 3D motion and morphing image tagz. Tagz can be added to books, bags, lunch boxes, zips and more. It also comes with birthday tags allowing children to make them as gifts for their friends.

The contents of the set are as followed… Waggle tagz workstation, 15 printed cards and lenses (2 sizes ) 5 holders for small cards, 15 tagz, sticker sheet, and instructions.

Alice loves the Waggle Tagz and we honestly haven’t a bad word to say about it. Its fun and creative and Alice was able to use this without any adult help. The only slightly negative point was that she found it a little difficult to turn the handle on the laminator and found she had to put some force into it. However, once she had done it a few times it became much easier.

Waggle Tagz comes with some really funky stickers allowing children to customise each tag as they wish. The cards are really cute with images of cute bunnies and puppy dogs. Each card also has space on the back to add name and details or a message to a friend.

Alice loved how the tagz were converted into magical 3D motion tagz once laminated. The set kept her busy for a good hour or so.

Alice had almost created all the Tagz available and did panic. However, we ordered a refill pack online directly from John Adams with no problems whatsoever. The bonus and refill packs will make excellent stocking fillers and can be brought and delivered for under a fiver.

Alice gives this creative kit a huge thumbs up.

We would recommend this to friends and family as a Christmas present for creative girls. Please John Adams lets have one for the boys now!

Waggle Tagz is available from Toys R Us now and is currently priced at £16.99 on sale from £19.99 which we feel is great value.

Chocolate Lolly Making With The John Adams Kit

The John Adams Chocolate Lolly Maker was in our 3rd and final Toyologist box and the kids couldn’t have been more excited.

First I must state how the packaging and its contents are very “Pink” to my 12 year old sons dislike. However, we managed to get past this and he eventually agreed to at least eat a lolly.

Alice, however, was very please and in all honesty the toddler didn’t care what colour it was… It was chocolate and that’s all that mattered (a boy after my own heart).

Included in this kit you will find

4 fun chocolate lolly moulds (flower, heart, horse, rabbit) a number of lolly sticks, secret message stamps, melting pot/bottle, wrapping foil, ribbon, lolly wrapper and instruction sheet.

First you will need to fill the pot/bottle with warm water. Screw on the lid and then place the chocolate on top to melt. Once melted pour chocolate into moulds. Secure sticks in place and add secret message. Now place in the freezer for around 30 minutes.

Once the chocolate has Solidified pop out the moulds and use the lolly wrapper to wrap your lollies in foil. Lastly tie with pretty ribbon to complete.

The kit is this simple to use. I do like the idea of using warm water inside the water bottle as this allows children to make their lollies independently. However, this does seem to make the whole process a lot longer and I was tempted to just melt it over a pan of boiling water (though I didn’t)!

The lollies came out the moulds very easy and there was not one broken lolly in sight which I was most pleased with.

Note: The chocolate is not include. We used a big bar of dairy milk which made a good 8 lollies. The moulds are nice and deep making the lollies most enjoyable.

The John Adams Chocolate Lolly Maker is a great kit that the children really enjoyed using.

We give this creative kit a massive 5/5

You can buy the John Adams Chocolate Lolly Maker from Toys R Us