The Cardboard Box Book Review and Giveaway

You can't beat a cardboard box, doesn't matter how many expensive presents you buy, your kids will always gravitate towards the packaging that you intend to throw away. So what goes well with a cardboard box? The Cardboard Box book of course.

Make a plane, an oven, a car or even your own city inside this imaginative craft book where a cardboard box is not just a box.

The School of Art Book Review

Learn how to make great art with 40 simple lessons… The School of Art which is written by Teal Triggs an illustrated by Daniel Frost is a fun book where you are given the chance to make learn just how to make inspiring art of your own.

I've always liked art, I took it as a GCSE when at secondary school and my kids seem to be following suit, never without pencil and paper in front of them. I've lost count of the amount of boxes full of creations I have accumulated from them all over the years!

Easter Card Designs

Happy Good Friday. Who's off for the Easter weekend? Are you looking forward to lots of Easter egg hunts and plenty of chocolate eating?

Easter is yet another time where we like to give gifts to others and I find it is another excuse to make some wonderful homemade cards, so here are a couple of quick and easy ideas for making those last minute Easter cards with your kids.

We Heart Cheerios

It is no secret that we love Nestle cereal in this house, especially those cheery little o's. Did you know that Cheerios recently released a new low sugar oat version that has just 1.4g of sugar per serving, great news for all those families who are trying to follow a balanced and nutritional diet.

Anyway, to show the love, my girls and I were asked if we'd like to first try the cereal and then get creative. I've made cakes with cheerios before but never any art so I thought this could be a fun task.

I can firstly confirm that these O's are certainly just as tasty as normal cheerios, the pack that we were sent has already been devoured.

We were sent a pretty impressive crafting pack along with our Cheerios which contained all the materials we would need to get creative including ribbon, wire, pipe cleaners paper, scissors and glue.

My #PILOTMUM Portraits

I happened to stumble across a fab competition over on Mummy's Little Monkey yesterday, I liked it because it was one that the kids could get involved in.

The My #PILOTMUM competition involves a simple task, my children needed to draw a picture of me using whatever materials they liked, well was always going to be interesting.

Mine opted to draw me using colouring pencils.

First up is Gracie (5) picture. Apparently I look a bit like an old granny with purple hair and for some reason my head is an awful lot bigger than my body?

We're Going On A Treasure Hunt

I love the fact that my girls are so creative and that their imaginations are always working on over drive. This means that even when I can't think of things for us to do, they manage to come up with ideas all by themselves.

Last week my eldest two daughters, after watching another episode of Jake and The Never Land Pirates with their sister's, decided to make a treasure map and go on a treasure hunt around the house to find buried treasure.

You will need :

Getting Artistic In The Garden

You may have noticed that we had some lovely sunny weather last weekend and or course you have to make the most of the sunshine, even if it is just sitting in your own back garden.

We recently took a trip over to Canterbury and whilst in our local Tiger Store, we purchased a box of 15 large chalks for a tiny £2.

Our garden isn't very big but we thought these would be perfect for the girls to start getting artistic in the garden.

The box contained 5 different colours :

red, blue, yellow, green and white.

There was three of each colour so plenty there for the girls to share.



It was nice to have an activity that the girls could all do regardless of their age and it of course meant that I could sit back and soak up the sun rays whilst watching them, bonus!!!

Creating a Masterpiece With Galt Toys

Last week the lovely people at Galt Toys were looking for parent bloggers with children between the ages of 5 and 12 to take part in a fun art challenge.

The idea for the art challenge came from something that they did earlier in the year. Galt Toys asked the famous contemporary artist Ed Chapman to recreate Andy Warhol's Marilyn Monroe portrait using arts and crafts materials from Galt themselves and since then Galt Toys. Ed managed to show just would could be achieved using the right art supplies and of course a little bit of imagination. This ledd to Galt Toys launching their very own Mini Masterpiece series.

Using template from six famous works of art, Galt Toys decided that they want your children to print them out so that they can decorate them and create their very own mini masterpieces.

Last month Galt toys shared with you a fantastic Monet piece of art, this could then be downloaded and printed out, giving children the chance to redesign this famous artwork and make it their own and by sharing it with Galt Toys, they were in the running to win a fantastic arts and crafts bundle worth £50.

This month is the turn of Van Gogh's Starry Night. My children and I were lucky enough to be sent a Sponge Painting Box to help us with our creations.

Homemade Valentine's Flowers

Valentine's day is here, did you remember, are you in need of a last minute gift or perhaps your children want to make something special?? Take a look at my short tutorial on how to make some homemade Valentine's flowers.

You will need :

* Straws

* Paper

* Pencil

* Scissors

* Glue

* Double sided tape

* Ribbon

* Craft Feathers

Printing Pictures

One of the subjects I took at school was art, it is surprising how much I have forgotten since leaving school though. My kids are constantly reminding me of things that I did when I was younger. The other day Elise was on about printing pictures and at first I didn't quite understand what she meant, so of course she had to show me. A piece of polystyrene and a pencil later and it all became clear.

You will need :

* Pieces of polystyrene

* A pencil

* An assortment of paints

* A paint brush

* Plain paper

To make :

Take a piece of polystyrene and using a pencil draw out the picture you would like to create, then using that same pencil, you need to push into the polystyrene and follow what you have drawn, creating a type of stencil.

Time to Get Crafty

My children love making things, whether it is drawing, sticking, colouring, cutting, they are always creating new things for me to look at and keep in that massive box I have upstairs that is already full to the brim of their brilliant creations. The thing I can sometimes struggle with is keeping them stocked up on supplies to carry on using those little imaginations of theirs. This is where One Stop Craft Shop have come in handy.

I was given the opportunity to take a good look around their site and I was also sent a little package of goodies from the wide range of items that they stock.

One Stop Craft Shop stock everything from card making materials, baking, craft essentials like glues, glitters and paints, as well as lovely craft kits for those younger crafters. I really love that the site is extremely easy to navigate with drop down menus at the top and all categories listed in alphabetical order down the side of the homepage for you to browse.

Each category when clicked leads you to a page of sub categories which are all clearly labelled and with images above the writing I think it would be difficult to click on the wrong one.

Each item that you click on states the price and gives a full product description so you know exactly what you are buying. What I love is that it tells you whether the chosen item is in stock or not, no need to chase for out of stock items after ordering.

My girls and I were kindly sent some acrylic paints in various colours and some lovely shape cutters.

We decided to make use out of the acrylic paints first. One Stop Craft Shop stock all purpose acrylic paint from purpose in numerous amounts of colours, each bottle cost just £1.15. The girls decided that they would like to do some potato stamping, so I gave them the cardboard that is left over once a roll of wrapping paper runs out and I let them stamp away.

The girls had loads of fun and soon decided that the potatoes weren't the only thing they wanted to stamp with and proceeded to paint their hands to create finger prints and hand prints. Just take a look at Gracie below.

What was great about these paints was that they washed right off, not even soap was needed just good old water and this meant no pesky stains left on the clothes either, I will definitely be using these paints from now on. 

And I bet your wondering just what their finished creation looked like once finished :

I think you will agree that is lovely and vibrant, a real work of art. We even used the paints after to finish painting our homemade Christmas tree.

One Stop Craft have a great giveaway running throughout December too. If you place an order this month you will have a chance of winning a free gift, one winner will be chosen each day. I was more than impressed with their site and what they had to offer so why not take a look yourselves.

Keep up to date with all their news and goings on facebook and twitter.

We will be using the shape cutters to make some scrummy layered cookies soon so look out for that post!!

xxxx

Disclaimer : The paints and shape cutters were sent to me free of charge for reviewing purposes however all thoughts and opinions are my own.

Draw With Me - Toys

Last month I joined in with the lovely Draw With Me linky when the theme was Halloween. The idea behind the linky is very simple, your child has to draw a picture using the theme that has been set and if your lucky when the linky closes your child might get picked to win a lovely prize.

This month This Mummy Loves and her lovely daughter Maisie have picked the theme of toys and the prize that could be won is a Gruffalo paint and play set and lets be honest, who doesn't love the Gruffalo!!

My eldest daughter Elise was keen to join in again this month, here is her entry :

Elise said that she has drawn this picture as a toy menu poster, showing you which toys would be good to buy, especially to join in with th "Toy Party".

xxxx

Draw With Me - Halloween

For those of you that don't know, the lovely Sonia over at This Mummy Loves has been running a monthly linky called Draw With Me.

Each month Sonia and her daughter Maisie set a theme and your child has to draw a picture based on this theme. As an added incentive, at the end of the month a random winner is chosen to receive a fab 'creative' prize.

My girls are all little artists and love any excuse to draw some pictures. This months theme is very fitting, Halloween. My three eldest girls all wanted to join in so I am posting a picture for each of them.

FIrst up we have my 7 year old Elise's entry,

She has described this picture as a Halloween fashion show

Next we have mmy 5 year old Freya's entry

This is one scary vampire ready for a fight

Lastly we have my 3 year Gracie's entry,

She said she was drawing flying witches, Elise did help her draw a witches hat on one of them.

The girls have had so much fun coming up with different ideas, we had to narrow it down to these three, when infact they had drawn quite a few each. Can't wait to see next months theme!!

xxxx

Leafy Adventure Time With Barny

A couple of weeks ago I was sent a couple of packets Barny Bear Sponge cake snacks as part of Britmums Little Adventures Linky Challenge. We were sent one of each flavour, milk and chocolate. These cute little bears come individually wrapped and contain no artificial colours or preservatives, so are perfect as a snack or as part of your little ones lunch time meal.

Now Britmums did say on the letter that I should try them too and I always do as I'm told, I have to admit I could have quite happily eaten more than one, they were very yummy in my tummy!!

As it is Autumn and the leaves are falling from the trees, after eating our Barny snacks to get us energised, I decided to Gracie on a little leafy adventure. Wellie boots at the ready, we took off stomping through the big piles of leaves, listening to the crunching sounds as we went. 

We looked at all the different colours, shapes and sizes of all the leaves that we found. Gracie was even able to tell me the colours that she saw, there was a variety of red, yellow, orange and green.

Gracie decided that she would like to take some leaves home with her and I suggested that we could make some nice pictures with them, so the adventure carried on.

Once home, I got out crayons, paper and cellotape and together we made some lovely leafy art. We had a mixture of leaf collages and leaf rubbings in an assortment of colours, we ended up with leaves left over because we ran out of paper!!

And of course what better way to end the adventure than by sharing another scrummy Barny snack with her sister's. You can see from the first picture that Elise was surprised to find what was hidden in the centre, mmmm chocolate.

What kind of adventures do you and your little ones go on when you have the chance??

xxxx

*This post is an entry for Britmums 'Little Adventures Challenge' in partnership with Barny, the bear shaped snack providing a little discover in every bite. Find out more about Barny here*

Little Artists

Elise, Freya and Gracie are all very creative and one of the things they love doing is drawing pictures, the other day they were each creating images about films, it was nice seeing the different ways they interpreted that theme :

First up we have Elise's (7) picture,

She didn't pick out a specific movie, instead she focused on what where and how we watch these films.

Next up is Freya's (5) picture,

She chose to draw Ariel from her favourite film, The Little Mermaid.

And lastly we have Gracie's (3) picture,

She decided to make up her own movie called "Where's my mum?"

It is lovely to see how their imaginations work and how different each of their drawing styles are. Do your children like creating pictures, what are their favourite things to draw??

xxxx

Easter Crafts

Here we are, it is Good Friday and we are settling in for a day of arts & crafts.

I signed up for a secret Easter Bunny in one of groups on facebook, we were allowed to spend £5 and it was just buying for the children. My lovely Easter bunny was very thoughtful and sent lots of bits for us to make.

We were very lucky to receive :

*Easter Masks

* Easter Basket Making Kit

* Easter Finger Puppets

* A hat and apron for Easter baking

* Some little Easter eggs to give us the energy for all this creating!!

Gracie decided that the first thing we were going to do today was make the Easter finger puppets.

As with most craft kits there were a few bits missing and the sticky bits they gave us weren't quite sticky enough so we had to improvise a little.

We did manage to create four little finger puppets, two chicks, a bunny and a lamb.

Gracie informed me that this was one for her and each of her sisters, although I don't think Layla is quite old enough for finger puppets.

It was Freya's turn to pick the next activity. She decided on masks.

Again there were bits missing, naughty naughty, it meant that there were only two masks instead of three.

Elise very kindly let her little sisters make them.

Mummy came in handy, threading the string through the holes.


We now have Easter baskets left to make but the kids have taken a little break to eat a couple of easter eggs and refuel :)

What is everyone else up to this weekend? I hope snow isn't ruining peoples plans.

xxxx

Baby it's cold outside

So the end of half term is nearing but it's freezing outside so what to do with the kids.

We get crafty

Then we get comfy with a bowl of popcorn and have a movie afternoon.

And the best thing about it all is that the kids were happy and had fun and it didn't cost us a penny.!!

xxxx