Christmas Gift Giveaway - Day 25

My Christmas Gift Giveaway is back! 30 days, 30+ fantastic prizes.

A big thank you to my followers this year.

WIN a Children's Print from
Witty Doodle

When Witty Doodle popped up in my news feed on Twitter I decided to have a peek at their website and soon found myself scrolling through a nice variety of stickers, prints and canvases for children's bedrooms; I was very keen to see what they had available for the Mini Mes as we are decorating at the moment. The first thing I noticed was just how different their products are. They are bright and attractive with lots of beautiful patterns and geometric shapes. The Little Picaso range has been deisgned alongside Dr Amanda Gummer, a child psychologist, to develop and stimulate babies minds and when I saw the Fairytale Frog canvas I knew it would be perfect for Minxy's princess palace!

7 Great Fabric Paint Techniques

There are limitless opportunities to customise all sorts of items around your house using fabric paints. You can jazz up your curtains, create your own clothing designs, produce original table mats and a lot more besides. There are also a variety of different ways to apply the paint to produce great patterns or repeat your favourite motifs. Fabric paints are easy to get hold of with websites such as George Weil stocking a great variety of brands and accessories. Here are a few fun techniques to experiment with when using fabric paints. Get the kids involved for a fun alternative craft activity.

Smiggle - Where a Smile Meets a Giggle

I'm slightly obsessed with pretty stationery and I have quite a collection of notebooks, pens and pencils hidden away at home. Anything that makes writing letters and work related tasks that little bit more exciting is certainly a bonus in my eyes! Plus who doesn't want brightly coloured goodies in their pencil case or school bag?!

Smiggle, an Australian based company, sent the Mini Mes a lovely variety of fun and funky stationery supplies to unleash their creative potential. Although the products are primarily aimed at children I was thrilled to un-box such a wonderful collection of items (and possibly a little green with envy) knowing that the kids were keen for me to get artistic with them! I obviously jumped at the chance and they helped to unpack the beautiful supplies in lightening speed.

What we received

Bubble Hardtop Spot Pencil Case

12 Scented Twin Tip Markers

12 Double Sided Pencils

2 Whammy Sharpeners

Giant Twisted Eraser

2 Maze Pens

Animal Pencil

Treats Rainbow Pen

Book Lite

Scratch Book

Sketch Book

Stencil Book 

Minxy was keen to take everything to school that day to show her friends as she was that impressed by the unique and quirky pieces. I have to admit I was really pleased with the quality and I loved the fact that the attractiveness of the stationery was encouraging the children to draw and colour! 

After school we placed all of the items onto the table, grabbed some coloured paper and got stuck in...

We all had a great time being creative and talking about some of our favourite movies and games (can you guess what the kids drew?).

The pens with their own case was ideal for storage but being double sided, similar to the pencils, meant they didn't take up much space in the pencil case anyway, especially with its different internal sections.

I'm hoping the Mr treats me to some stationery of my own from Smiggle as they have some great value things that I love... especially the strawberry gift set below! Well, it is nearly my birthday after all.

 OPENING IN THE UK

The first of the Smiggle stores to open in the UK is at Westfield, Stratford on 20th February 2014 followed by launches in Reading, Brighton and Kingston.

You can find out more about their stores and products here:
www.smiggle.co.uk



*We received a collection of products from Smiggle for the purpose of this review. The opinions given are honest and our own*

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... Doodles

The Mini Mes had a successful start to the academic year with them both settling in to their new classes well and liking their new teachers - woohoo! 

At the end of last week Jamster returned home with some of the artwork he had created during the first two days at school. He told me that he was allowed to draw whatever he wanted. 

So he drew a Kangaroo... 

A dog covered in spikes... 

And his friend stood on the toilet peering over into another cubicle...

Apparently this didn't actually happen (thankfully) but his friend is in fact a spy and this was his secret mission! 

I love his imagination. 

How have your children settled in at school? 

I'm linking this with...

 

Watch, Bake, Create - Dinosaurs

This is an activity link up where you can share your recipes and crafts based around a particular theme. This week focuses on dinosaurs and we have made Fossil Cookies, D is for Dinosaur Window Art and watched Dinosaur DVD.

 

You can grab the badge and link up your own posts at the bottom.

 

Dinosaur Fossil Cookies

Using a basic cookie recipe we transformed ordinary biscuits into fossil food! With the Mini Mes dinosaur toys, we pushed their feet deep into the cookies, almost all the way through, to create prints within them.

 

 

Ingredients
225g butter       
110g caster sugar
275g plain flour

• Preheat the oven to 180 degrees.
• Combine the ingredients together to form a dough.
• Roll into small balls and flatten slightly (to around 1cm thickness maximum).
• Push the toys into the cookie rounds to create the prints.
• Cook for 12-15 minutes until golden.
• Scoff!

D is for Dinosaur Window Art

With a capital D for the body, this cellophane dinosaur craft not only helps to teach about the alphabet but is pretty to display in windows to allow different colours to shine through into your room.
 

 

Equipment

Card

Pens

Scissors

Glue

Cellophane

 

Method

Draw a large capital d onto the card and cut it out, removing the centre too.

Using the D as a template, cut out a piece of cellophane the same size.

Attach the cellophane to the D using the glue.

Draw feet, a tail and neck with head onto the card, cut out and attach to the D with glue.

Draw on facial features, toes etc.

Allow a few minutes to dry completely.

Display in your window.

Dinosaur DVD

 

 

 

This movie is a family favourite where a group of dinosaurs face several challenges and learn about the importance of friendship along the way.

 

Aladar the iguanodon, separated from his parents as an egg, is raised by lemurs within a jungle. After a meteor shower destroys his homeland his journey begins to find a safe place to live.

 

 

 

If you have any dinosaur themed posts you can link them up below.

You can grab the badge too if you wish.

 

 

Next week the theme will be Mermaids.

 

 

How the Mini Mes see me

I was tagged by the lovely Family Four Fun to join in with a great meme based on how our children view us. I love the Mini Mes doodles so this is one I was keen to join in with especially to see what they thought about me... eek!!

Jamster's picture...

I'd hoped the open arms were due to always being there for hugs but apparently it's because 'you are quite big mum' Cheers son!

I'd also hoped the bald patch was just a minor sketching error but 'you will be bald soon as you are getting old mum' .... again, thanks! I'm only 27.

Atleast I'm smiling in the picture.

Minxy's picture...

The hair here is about right as I have a side parting meaning one side is thicker at the front usually.
The big ears are unfortunately accurate too!
I was told that 'You're not grumpy mum you just have big lips from your lip gloss'. Again probably right! I did ask why I didn't have any clothes and Minxy said ' Your boobs are always hanging out anyway'. Perhaps I shouldn't have asked!

Anyone is welcome to join in and link up but I'd like to tag...

Amy at Three under 3
Katherine at Mummy Pink Wellies
Kelly at Us Two Friends
Andie at Little Bits of Waffle

If you write a post and add the link below I'll pop over for a peek!

Fun with chalk

The Mini Mes have been out in the garden after school the past two days. Chalk tub in hand, they head out the back door and spend the early evening doodling away on the walls and patio until dinner.

Their latest creations are actually quite good (well I think so).  They have used parts of the wall in their masterpieces as body parts...

A funky owl by Minxy

Spongebobs baby brother by Jamster

Move over Banksy ;)

Do your little ones like to draw? What tools are their favourite?

'

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!
If you would like to grab my new badge (fingers crossed it works) then you can do so on the right of the blog.

Project 366, 153/366 - A little treat

I received money and various vouchers for my birthday back in April and it only just hit me that I haven't actually used any as yet! I booked myself in for my usual acrylic nails and this time I went for a lovely shade of pink with some silver star gems on my thumbs and some nail art too.

What pampering and treats do you enjoy?

Family Tree Art

After purchasing a button tree recently (read here) I decided that it would be lovely to create our own family tree masterpiece aswell and to make it even more personal - with handprints as leaves. The kids really enjoyed doing it as it involved getting messy with paint and it was easy to do too.

All you need is a canvas and some paint!

The kids took it in turns to write the letters in 'family' and chose what colours they wanted their handprints to be done in.

It may not be perfect but it's special and unique to us as a family. We will be adding it to the wall soon.

Have you made any personal artwork as a family?

Ball Art

I knew the old chocolate tins from Christmas would come in handy at some point! Combined with some paint and balls the Mini Mes have made some lovely artwork in a matter of minutes.







What you will need

Large tin
Paint
Bouncy balls
Card
Scissors
Pen

How to do it

1) Draw around the tin and cut out the shape with scissors.
2) Place the cut-out inside the tin.
3) Dip a ball into the paint and drop the ball into the tin.
4) Roll it around to make some pretty designs and then move on to use other colours too - add glitter if you like.
5) Leave the artwork to dry.

You can keep the pictures as they are but you can also use them as backgrounds to add photos on, to make puzzles out of or to make some funky lettering for door signs.

I'm linking this up with: