• Crafts for adults - Painted rocks

    Mary Poppins inspired painted rock

    Next month sees the release of Mary Poppins Returns, based on the book series by P. L. Travers and a sequel to 1964’s Mary Poppins. I grew up reading the books and loved watching this film so am really excited to see it. The first film was set in 1910 and Mary Poppins Returns is set in 1935 London, 25 years after the events of the original film. In the new film, Poppins, the former nanny of Jane and Michael Banks, returns after a family tragedy. I’m really hoping we will get the chance to see the new film during the Christmas holidays.…

  • Christmas - Crafts for kids - gingerbread - Handmade gifts - Painted rocks

    Gingerbread house painted rocks

    We love making and hiding painted rocks around the town where we live. It’s something we’ve done for a while and really enjoy. We didn’t find any painted rocks on our most recent rock hunting trip so we knew it was time to decorate some for others to find. With Christmas coming up we thought we would try decorating some seasonal gingerbread house painted rocks. Equipment to decorate your own painted rocks Bag of smooth pebbles or rocks (we like these – Amazon affiliate link) 8 pack of Uni Posca paint pens with Ultra fine 1mm nib (we like these…

  • Craft book review - Crafts for kids - Painted rocks

    Pebble Pets: 50 Animal Rock Art Projects by Denise Scicluna

    You all know how much my children and I love creating painted rocks. We’ve hidden quite a few over the summer holidays so were keen to make some new ones. We were kindly sent a copy of Pebble Pets to review, this features over 50 adorable animal rock art designs for the ultimate stress-free family menagerie! Pebble Pets: 50 Animal Rock Art Projects by Denise Scicluna Pebble Pets is authored by Denise Scicluna, who also wrote Rock Art. Pebble Pets is a great guide to creating cute and characterful animal rock art projects in a variety of styles. We love decorating rocks…

  • Crafts for kids - Painted rocks - Roald Dahl crafts

    James and the Giant Peach story stones

    We love making story stones and decorating rocks. We have built up quite a stash so have been taking a few out with us every day and hiding them around the neighbourhood. It’s been so lovely to see friends finding them and posting them on our local painted rocks Facebook page. It definitely encourages us to make more. We recently told you about the theme for the 2018 Roald Dahl Day celebrations – James and the Giant Peach. A few years ago my son and I worked our way through all of Roald Dahl’s stories. When I mentioned James and…

  • Crafts for kids - Painted rocks - Summer

    Summer activities for kids – painted rocks

    We’re huge fans of painting and hiding rocks. Over the Bank Holiday weekend we hid a lot of painted rocks. Both my children have been decorating a lot so recently I varnished everything so we could take them out with us whilst we were away. I think that painted rocks make a great low-cost activity that will keep any child busy over the holidays. What equipment do you need to decorate painted rocks? Making and decorating painted rocks is relatively low-cost but you will need to invest in a few thing. We buy bags of smooth rocks from the garden centre.…

  • Crafts for kids - Painted rocks - Star Wars crafts

    Han Solo painted rock

    Are you looking forward to the release of Solo: A Star Wars Story next month? Our family all love Star Wars so I can’t wait to go and watch the film with the whole family. We love to craft around the Star Wars films. You can search for some of our Star Wars crafts here. Today we’ve combined our love of Star Wars with our enjoyment of painting and hiding rocks in our local area, and made a Star Wars/Han Solo painted rock to hide at the weekend. For our Star Wars themed painted rocks I used white cobblestones, a…

  • Crafts for kids - Painted rocks - St George's Day crafts

    St George’s Day painted rock

    This weekend we will be taking part in the annual St George’s Day Parade as both my children are members of Beaver Scouts. Did you know that St George was the Patron Saint of Scouting? I thought it would be fun to make a special St George’s Day painted rock to hide somewhere near where the parade is taking place. St George’s Day painted rock Uniball kindly sent us a supply of Posca pens just in time for the Easter holidays. We took them away with us and the children enjoyed painting some rocks whilst we were away. My 8…

  • crafts - garden crafts - Nature crafts - Painted rocks - upcycling

    How to make a simple cable reel blackboard

    A few weeks ago I shared a recent upcycle of a wooden cable reel. We turned it into a fairy house for the children to play with. We actually picked up two cable reels so today I’m going to show you what we did with the other. Cable reels are great and there are so many ways to upcycle them. My children love to use chalk to draw on the patio and walls so I made them a cable reel blackboard – perfect for mark making outside. We used: Rustoleum Chalkboard Paint (Old School Green) Wooden cable reel Smooth pebbles…