3D Christmas Tree Craft

I remember doing this craft at school when I was little, my parents still bring it out each Christmas, so I thought it would be nice to create some 3D Trees with the Mini Mes too!

It's very simple to do and ideal for building hand eye coordination and fine motor skills for toddlers and pre-schoolers in particular. It's still a nice decorative piece for older kids (and grown ups) too.

Equipment

Coloured card

Scissors

Pencil

Glitter Pom Poms

Glue Dots

Firstly, you need to draw a Christmas tree onto a sheet of green card, making sure both sides are identical so that it will balance and stand up once complete.

Next, put another sheet of card behind it and cut the drawing out so there are two identical trees.

Cut a slit in one tree from the base to the centre and then cut a slit from the top to the centre on the other tree. This is so they slot together.

Decorate your trees with whatever you wish. 

We used glue dots to minimise mess and glittery pom poms for a festive look! We got these and some other Christmas craft materials from Yellow Moon.

Once you slot the two pieces together they should stand alone.

You can add a star on top too for a finishing touch.

What Christmas crafts have you been making?

Shoplet Stationery *Review and Giveaway*

I hadn't heard of Shoplet.co.uk until I was approached by them, but having had a look at the website and product range I wish I had sooner - they provide great value stationery for the whole family and small businesses at competitive prices. 

We were sent a few items to try...

Bic Kids Washable Water-Based Felt Tip Pens

With water-based colour you don't need to worry as much about clothing as apparently the ink comes straight out in the wash! Hands were cleaned easily too so mums and dad need not panic when the kids want to be creative. The set of 12 pens with transparent lids have medium sized tips suitable for both detailed doodles and larger pictures too. 

The tips seem strong too and weren't ruined when a little pressure was applied by Jamster drawing dogs and turtles!

Bic Kids Sharpenable Crayons

These crayons are not only great value at £2.54* for a set of 24, but they are sharpenable and a lot more robust than a standard crayon. We began doodling on some paper and soon discovered that the coloured crayons can be rubbed out just like a pencil - great for any errors. 

They come without paper wrappers and won't make your children's hands messy. A great buy for home or school pencil cases.

Silvine Exercise Books (10)

With the return of school little ones may need somewhere to practise times tables and spellings at home and instead of using bits of paper, which often get lost or binned, these exercise books are ideal.

The A4 sized books are similar to those used within schools and the lined pages keep work tidy and organised with ease. The space on the front allows you to fill in your child's details and with 10 in a set you can use a few yourself for any shopping lists or work you may need to write down too.

Derwent Academy Colouring Pencils

This set of 24 pencils comes in a tin for storage and with high quality pigments they are perfect for a budding artist and even parents to use for their own drawings. These are more suited to older children than toddlers and pre-schoolers but they are still strong enough to be used by someone heavier handed!

*** WIN ***

For your chance to win a set of each of the above items you can enter via the Rafflecopter entry form below.

The giveaway closes on 25th October 2013.

Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

**We received some stationery for the purpose of this review. The opinions given are honest and our own**

*Before VAT

The Funny Things Kids Say and Do... Crafts

I regularly get the craft boxes out for the Mini Mes to be creative, usually when the weather is miserable to keep them occupied, and we often attend free craft events over the summer at the local leisure centre and churches.

While away last week we went to Chatsworth House and as the rain poured down we made shelter in the barn where they too had some great craft activities to keep little ones busy, until the sun reappeared.

First of all the Mini Mes coloured and cut out some glasses which I think reminded them of the cute yellow Minions of Despicable Me that they are currently obsessed with!

They even had left handed scissors available there which was great for my little lefties.

Minxy then decided to pick up some small envelopes which contained the materials to make some whales, so her and Jamster (and the Mr!) got stuck in.

Her finished whale was really sweet....

Until she opened it up and showed me the heart, blood and guts she had added using the red tissue paper...

That combined with her facial expression made me giggle!
She is definitely creative.

What funny things has your little one made?

I'm linking this with...

...and I'm also entering it into the Cycle Addicts competition and nominating My Sidekick and Me plus Actually Mummy to enter too!

Reasons to be Happy

 

 

The Mini Mes have settled back into school well after a fun packed half term of trips to the cinema, crafts, baking, seeing friends, playing at the arcades, eating out and more. We have made the most of the nice weather too and used the scooters to and from school each day - it makes the journey a lot quicker also!

Although sports day was cancelled it has been rescheduled for next week which the Mini Mes are excited about. Minxy is very much into running at the moment so she is doing quite a few long distance races. Jamster is still in KS1 so his races include the egg and spoon and funny outfit run. Fingers crossed for some certificates and stickers.

I booked tickets to the TT for next year as a surprise for the Mr. I left him this note in his lunchbox last week when he went to work to see if he could work it out.

He wasn't able to work it out so I had to tell him but the flower delivery I received was proof that he was pleased!

 

What reasons do you have to be cheerful this week?

My Mother's Day that was... crafts, shopping and pizza

I'd hoped for a bit of a lay in but the excited Mini Mes first burst into my bedroom at 7.59 on Sunday with lovely homemade goodies and then again a few minutes later with gifts they had purchased with the help of the Mr. I really like the things they make for me, they are from the heart, and I like to pop them away in their memory boxes for them to see when they are older. It's nice to look back in years to come and see how their skills have developed and remember good times.

 

 

 

The Mini Mes had taken our Yellow Moon delivery to their rooms the day previous to make me some gifts secretly, I was told to stay downstairs, and as only glue was required I didn't object to having some peace and quiet! Minxy coloured in 1 of 4 lovely mum pop up card for me which came complete with envelope and made a pretty pink best mum rosette style badge which she said she had found easy to do without my help. Both she and Jamster had a go at some scratch art hearts and wrote little messages to me with the wooden sticks supplied. This is a simple craft and as magnets can be attached to the back they will be popped on the fridge soon with some photos inside the centre - A lovely personalised keepsake. Jamster had also made a teapot trinket box and decorated it with foam stickers. He said it is to store all of my pens in and wedding rings when I get married!
 

 

 

 

Next we had a lovely breakfast at Wetherspoons and met up with my sister, her boyfriend and my parents, as a surprise for my mum, for a little retail therapy... although she ended up treating me to new lingerie and some nice bits from Lush too! In the evening we headed to Pizza Hut for dinner where the Mr and I shared a Meat Feast and the Mini Mes had pizza and unlimited access to the ice cream factory.

Smiles all round.

 

Did you enjoy Mother's Day?

Busy Box crafts *Review*

If you are after some craft fun with the kids but don't fancy heading out in the cold and rain to search for pom poms, paper, paint and more, Busy Box is the ideal thing for you - it is delivered straight to your door!

Busy Box have a collection of themed boxes to choose from to suit a variety of tastes including festive boxes, like the Christmas Card Busy Box that we received, animal boxes, dinosaur boxes and nature ones too. Each Busy Box contains the bits and bobs to complete a number of projects based around the theme and they cost about £9.99 with a £2.50 postage fee too which is reasonable considering how much you get!

Our box contained everything we needed to make 15 cards; 2 cracker cards, 3 tree cut out cards and 10 different coloured folded A5 cards...

• 3 templates
• 4 sheets of metallic paper
• Glittery pipe cleaners
• Christmas sequins
• Glittery mosaic pieces
• Metallic ribbon
• Glitter glue pen 
• Tube of glitter 
• Foam stickers

The box states that it is not suitable for children under 3 but I feel this particular set would be ideal for toddlers as it really only involves some sticking and drawing which is simple enough with adult supervision. My two aged 6 and 8 still really enjoyed the activities and the brainstorm sheet provided some helpful ideas on how to be creative with the materials. 

Minxy was keen to use the stencils and Jamster particularly enjoyed using the sequins, pipe cleaners and glittery glue...

They managed to create some great cards which they delivered to family members and they even used some as thank you cards for the gifts that they received.

The product quality was very good and I was really impressed with the materials supplied. The box itself is ideal for storing completed crafts in and your own crafty bits and bobs that you may already have at home. With a child sized handle it is great to take when you visit family, travel or go on holidays and if you wish to send one as a gift you can have the boxes personalised too - a really nice idea.

I have my eye on the Nature Busy Box which I shall probably purchase for the February half term as it features snails, caterpillars, flying insects and windmills which look great fun and perfect for the beginning of spring!

If you wish to purchase a box you can head over to the Busy Box Facebook page for their buy one get one half price offer!

*We received a Busy Box for the purpose of this review. The opinions given are honest and our own
I apologise to Busy Box for being a complete numpty and only just sorting this review out for them!*

Potz Ceramic Studio - Family Fun

Situated within Billing Garden Village, Potz Ceramic Studio is the perfect place for some creative fun in a warm and friendly environment. A wet weekend afternoon we headed to the centre for a plate painting experience, despite our lack of artistic talent!

We were seated without delay and shown the large variety of pots, cups, money boxes and more that were available to decorate, settling on two different styles of plates between the four of us. 

The member of staff was always close by to offer assistance and he explained that we would need several coats of paint for the best finish, that there were a variety of paint pens and stamps that we could use too and that the different shades of paints were all on the brush pot so we could see how each would turn out. He also offered complimentary drinks.

We all set to work decorating our pieces with the large selection of brushes and 18 paints on our bench. The ceramic tiles were really handy and helped to prevent wasted paint with small indentations for the colours you require to go in. I decided to draw Spartan, our Border Collie, on mine and the Mini Mes did bats and flowers with the stamps while the Mr decided on a beach scene after attempting a motorbike unsuccessfully and painting over it!

We were in the studio for around 90 minutes and we had a lovely time comparing our masterpieces as we made them. It was quite a pleasant, relaxing experience. 

I was surprisingly pleased that mine actually looked like an animal as I don't really have any skill when it comes to drawing at all! We painted our names on the reverse of our creations and handed them in to be glazed and put in the kiln. We were given a receipt and told we would be able to collect our plates the following weekend which we did...

The final result was great, they were smooth and shiny and the colours had all brightened such a lot. We gave them a quick wash when we returned home and had lunch on them, they were easy to clean afterwards too and stacked nicely away with the rest of our dinner set.

The plates we created were £9 for each bisque and the studio time for each of us was £4.50. This is quite an expensive activity but considering we all had a plate to take home that we can use on a daily basis it doesn't seem as costly. We enjoyed our visit and would go again.

Apart from plate decorating you can have a party at Potz, have your child or pets hand, feet or paw prints done or even have a go at Decopatch.  There are a lot of options available with budgets to suit all.

*We received studio time and plates for the purpose of this review. The opinions given are honest and our own*

Perfume Laboratory *Review*

I'm forever finding my perfumes and body sprays in Minxy's room so I was more than pleased when she received the Interplay Perfume Laboratory from the Wild Science range to review!

The kit provided her with everything that she needed to make some lovely scents, sublime slime and crystal pourri. With a colour booklet of instructions included it made it very easy for her to complete by herself (under my watchful eye).

The kit is suitable for children over 8 years of age and contains:

5 empty vials

2 stirring sticks

4 storage pouches

4 base perfume samples

Mixing jar with lid

Sodium Polyacrylate Crystals,

Graduated syringe

Mini measuring cup

Dish

5ml liquid colouring

Cotton wool balls

Tweezers

'Sublime Slime' powder

Sticky labels

Spoon

Each item has it's own place within the box keeping it tidy and organised.

Making the perfume

Minxy used the tweezers which are chunky and easy to hold to select a perfume sample before inserting it into the syringe. She used the measuring cup to gather 20ml of warm water, 5ml of which she sucked into the syringe, and then gave it a shake to combine the two. She squirted the perfume she had created into a vial and added a label. I think her pen pal may be receiving one soon! 

It is very simple to do and with rose, mint, eucalyptus and Jasmine samples there is a nice variety of scents to make. You can then use the perfumes to make the slime and pourri which are also quick and easy to do.

There are details on how to patch test to check for allergies although all the ingredients are very low allergen.

The set supports UK Science curricula including scientific enquiry, investigation skills, grouping and classifying materials and changing materials so it's educational yet fun too. It is a great set for a budding scientist and nice to have your own little perfumery at home with very little time or effort required to get results. Minxy really enjoyed using it.

You can purchase your own set from Amazon.

*We received the Perfume Laboratory for the purpose of this review. The opinions given are honest and our own*

Creative fun over Christmas

The build up was immense yet it all seemed to be over so quickly. Christmas that is. 

Apart from the endless food and wonderful gifts we had a great time getting crafty and creative too over the festive period.

We made our own cards using fingerprints and potatoes...

We coloured in some cards in glitter gel pens to send to our family and friends to say thank you for the lovely presents they sent us...

We had Peppy Tum-Tums visit who helped us to make paper chains...

We met Santa and pretended that we had traveled all the way to the North Pole to visit him...

And we did lots of baking...

We were asked to share our creativity over Christmas As part of Carcraft’s Drive Happy initiative http://www.carcraft.co.uk

What creative fun did you have over the festive break?

Saturday Caption #SatCap

The Mini Mes have had great fun with 'Fun' this week, the new 4 in 1 invention from Lush and here are some of their creations... What are this bunch up to?

Apparently it's a skinny Santa, figgy pudding and a present with a snowman and Rudolph watching over!

Have you got a funny or witty caption for this photo? I would love to hear it!

Have a great weekend.

You can link up your own picture or view more over with the marvelous Mammasaurus.

Cravendale's Epic Straws

What else could make drinking more fun than some funky Cravendale Epic Straws to sip your milk up through? We were sent two packs of straws to create something wonderful and some vouchers for Cravendale too from BritMums.


Competitors are you ready...

Jamster "loving the loops" first attempt...

 He gave them a thumbs up!

Minxy's invention named 'Eye Surprise' made the drink go around her head in a pair of straw glasses. Truly Epic!

Jamster loved Minxy's so much he had a go on it too!...

You can find more information on Epic Straws at www.epicstraws.co.uk as of 

24th September 2012.

You can share your own pictures with the #EpicStraws hashtag.

Mini Mess - Concertina Caterpillars

We have been joining in with a lot of free, local events over the past few weeks one of which was Mini Beasts Crafts at our library. The Mini Mes got to make concertina caterpillars and they loved playing with them afterwards too! They are very simple to create and you only require glue and paper - nice and cheap!

How to make them

• Fold a piece of A4 paper in half length ways and then half again. 
• Cut out the 4 strips down the fold lines. 
• Stick two strips together by the ends to make a longer strip, attaching approx 2inches overlap to keep it secure, and repeat with the two other strips.
• Using glue, stick one long strip on top of the other at a right angle.
• Fold one strip across the other and continue until the strips are folded over completely to make your concertina caterpillar. 
• Glue the two end pieces together.
• You can add eyes or draw them on and decorate it how you wish!

Have you been crafty this week or enjoyed baking with kids? You can link up your posts here to share!

Mini Mess is a weekly Wednesday link up to share all your fun activites that may have involved mess - be it mud, water, sand, chalk, paint or food!


If you would like to grab the badge you can use the code  in the sidebar on the right (highlight, press ctrl and c then paste).

Mini Mess #1

The Mini Mes and I enjoy making and baking and we regularly share recipes and craft ideas. I've decided to make it a weekly linky where everyone can add their recent creations too, be it cakes or art related - anything that your little people have loved doing and has possibly created some mess in the process!

Molten Chocolate Cupcakes

Makes 16

Ingredients

4oz butter

4oz caster sugar

2 eggs

6oz self raising flour

2 tbsp cocoa powder

16 squares of chocolate

Method

Combine all of the ingredients in a bowl until smooth.

Add half of the mixture into cupcake cases, in a baking tray.

Make a small indentation in the centre of each cupcake with a spoon then add a square of chocolate to each indentation.

Add the other half of the mixture to cover them.

Bake for around 18 minutes until well risen.

Scoff!

If you have had fun baking or with crafts you can share your post below!
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