• crafts - Mollie Makes crafts - sewing

    Mollie Makes Custard Cream Keyring Kit

    Every month I challenge myself to make the Mollie Makes magazine cover gift. I’ve subscribed since it first came out and have had a drawer full of unopened kits – but no more! I’ve been making more time for grown up crafting and I love to make the kits and hopefully try something new. Mollie Makes Custard Cream Keyring Kit Issue 82 contained the Mollie Makes Custard Cream Keyring Kit designed by Nikki McWilliams. The little kit contained 15cm square if printed cotton fabric, soft toy stuffing, a needle, thread and keyring. I love Nikki McWilliams and even went on one of her…

  • crafts - STEM activity

    How to make a potato clock {A-Z Play at Home}

    Something a little different from us today. For the past few weeks we’ve been taking part in the weekly A-Z Play at Home blog hop. Each week we are inspired by a different letter of the alphabet – today is the letter N. It took us a while to think of anything starting with this letter but eventually we decided upon Nails! We used nails and potatoes to show the amazing power of potatoes! Read on to find out how we did it. To make a potato clock you will need: 2 large potatoes 2 large galvanised nails 2 lengths…

  • Aquabeaders - crafts - playing - toy review

    Aquabeads 3D Cruz Ramirez Set from Disney Cars3

    If you’re looking for a craft activity to keep the children busy over the summer holidays then look no further than Aquabeads. My children love Aquabeads, and I love Aquabeads because it’s something they can do all on their own. My 7 year old loves the Disney franchise Cars. We went to see the latest film, Cars3 as an end of term treat, and he has a huge collection of die cast and Lego vehicles from the films. He loves to craft so I was really excited to show him the latest Aquabeads set which ties in with Car 3…

  • book review - crafts - Paper craft

    Paper Monsters by Oscar Sabini

    I’m embarrassed to admit I can’t remember the last time, if there was one, that we made a collage. Although we craft with tissue paper and all sorts of materials, there are still some crafts we need to try. Today we popped our collage cherry, thanks to Paper Monsters by Oscar Sabini! Paper Monsters by Oscar Sabini Paper Monsters enables young children to make seven collage pictures of monsters in cleverly designed paper pockets in the book. Children can complete all the pictures to make a monster procession who appear to be hurrying to the last page. There they will…

  • crafts

    Tuff spot mud kitchen play

    The weather has been a real mixed bag this week. There have been some moments when it felt like summer, but mostly it has felt really autumnal. On one lovely and sunny afternoon I set up the tuff spot with an invitation to play – a tuff spot mud kitchen. We have a much-loved homemade mud kitchen. It is well used but I thought that setting up a mud kitchen in the tuff spot would inspire my children to do things differently. Whilst they were out at camp I set up the tuff spot, filling it with baking trays, colanders,…

  • crafts - sewing

    Five minute felt superhero masks

    My 5 year old loves playing super heroes. A few weeks ago her friends came over and it was funny watching them all dress up in whatever we had – which mainly consisted of a Captain America shield and helmet, Iron Man hands and lots of Star Wars lightsabers…. I really wanted to have a go at making simple felt superhero masks so whipped some up using different coloured felt. I used the template from the Duck Tape masks I made a while ago. Five minute felt superhero masks I used paper mask template sheets of coloured felt elastic basic…

  • crafts - holidays - Summer

    How to make a Summer Smash Book for kids

    My children got brilliant school reports this year. I am so proud of them and all the hard work they do at school. With the 6 week school holidays I do worry a little about them losing some of the skills they have learned. I’m not a pushy mum (honest!) but I’ve introduced a few things to make sure their learning doesn’t slide over the holidays. For the last few years we’ve taken part in the Summer Reading Challenge run through our local library. This is as simple as reading 6 books during the school holidays for which they are…

  • crafts - Lego

    5 ways to use Lego tape

    Ages ago an advert for Lego tape kept appearing in my Facebook feed. I am so easy to market too as after a few days I got so fed up of seeing the advert that I bought some tape! Since it arrived it has been sitting and looking at me as I had no idea what to do with it. Today I thought we should finally use it. The children kept picking it up but they didn’t really know what to do with it either. It’s expensive enough that I don’t want them to just peel the backing paper off…

  • crafts - Friends of Sylvanian Families

    DIY miniature wagon for Sylvanian Families

    Our Sylvanian Families collection has pretty much been out and covering the floor for the last few weeks.It’s one of their favourite toys and I thought it might be fun to add to their collection with some homemade additions. Last week we made the cutest little miniature wagon for our Sylvanian Families which was upcycled from an old sweetie tin. I thought I would share it as a tutorial in case anyone else wants to make one. Miniature wagon supplies Small sweetie tin Balsa wood Dowel Acrylic paint Hair pin How to make a miniature wagon for Sylvanian Families I…