Spring crafts from Baker Ross

It seems to have been a cold winter this year, and I'm sure that I'm not the only one longing for a bit of warmth! We've been cheering ourselves up with our latest box of crafting goodies from Baker Ross, all with a Spring theme.

We started with some Creative Colouring Flower Wreaths. Mia loves colouring and she's very neat, so these detailed designs kept her busy. She took a lot of care making sure that she had chosen bright colours and matched them to the intricate design.

Then we made some Happy Face Flower Suncatcher Decorations, plastic suncatchers with thick black lines that can be coloured using Brilliant Glass Paint Pens. The paint flows smoothly from the pens and leaves a lovely bold colour.

They look great hanging up in the window! There are eight in the pack, or you can also buy a larger pack of 32, and I think that they'd be a fantastic craft for a birthday party or similar, where the children could take home their finished craft.

Mia and I also had a lot of fun with these Peacock Crinkle Decoration Kits. They are very simple to make by folding up the tissue paper and sticking together, with lots of little bits and pieces to decorate them with. They are glittery and shiny, and make a really cheerful decoration.

The Bug PomPom Decoration Kits are very sweet. There are three in the pack - a butterfly, a bee and a ladybird - and Mia was immediately drawn to the butterfly as it's bright pink. She needed a bit of help with making the pom pom, but once I'd made it she loved decorating him with all the self-adhesive stickers.

Tthese Mother's Day Handprint Poem Decoration Kits make a lovely gift. The child makes the plant using a cut out of their handprint, which is a lovely keepsake, and it makes a lovely personalised decoration for the noticeboard or desk.

We really enjoyed putting together this Easter Bunny Train Kit. I must admit that it was a little fiddly to assemble so I did that part and then let Mia loose with the plentiful selection of stickers to decorate it. The train also comes with a large bunny sticker to sit in the back.

The train would make a lovely Easter decoration, and you could fill it with chocolate eggs or other small gifts, perhaps as a table centerpiece.

I received these products as a member of the Baker Ross Bloggers Network.

Crafting for Christmas 2016 with Baker Ross

I love crafting with the children at Christmas, both making decorations for the home and as a way to calm down when the excitement gets a little bit too much! Baker Ross have some fantastic craft kits this Christmas, which are great do do with your own children, to keep on standby for play dates, or if you are looking for an activity to keep a larger group of children happy.

The children each have a Christmas tree in their own room and they love to fill it with decorations that they have made themselves. These Christmas Elf Mix and Match Decoration Kits are really easy to put together and are a lovely bright and cheerful addition to the tree. All the pieces are self-adhesive, so there is no glue needed and no mess.

We also each sewed a reindeer ornament from this Rudolph Reindeer Decoration Sewing Kits. The sewing is very simple, and then the decoration is stuffed and personalised with self-adhesive stickers and googly eyes. They are very sweet and cheerful!

To decorate our front window, the children coloured in some of these Christmas Bauble Colour-in Window Decorations. You just need felt pens to colour in these see through designs, and if you use nice bright colours they look lovely with the light shining through.

Christmas is a time for giving, and friends and family love to receive handcrafted gifts from the children. I really like these Christmas Pals Cross Stitch Cards, the children have worked really hard on them and they are a lovely keepsake.

A Gingerbread House Photo Frame is also a lovely gift when completed with a photo of the child or perhaps a drawing. The self-adhesive foam shapes are easy to stick together with no mess, and can be customised however the child likes. They can be hung on the tree, or you could also attach a magnet to the back to display on the fridge.

I received these products as a member of the Baker Ross Bloggers Network.

Autumn and Halloween crafts from Baker Ross 2016

The seasons have definitely changed, there's a chill in the air, and we are well into Autumn now. To keep us busy, I have received another fab box of crafts from Baker Ross with a great selection of Autumn and Halloween crafts to do with the children. As always there are some lovely ideas and the kits are brilliantly priced, making them ideal for both crafting with your own children and for play dates and parties. Here's what we've been working on:

Autumn crafts

We started with these lovely Autumn Cross Stitch Bookmark Kits. I must admit I wasn't sure that the children were quite old enough, and so I was delighted when Harry (7) picked it up immediately and Mia (5) wasn't far behind! I do love cross stitch, and these little kits are the perfect introduction to the craft. The bookmarks have large holes in a simple grid design and because the areas to be stitched are quite small the children didn't get bored, in fact having finished one they were clamouring to do another one! The designs are really sweet and come with plenty of thread. I think at just 69p each they represent fantastic value for money! To colour in the bookmarks we used these Fab Fibre Tip Pens, at a great price for felt pens in a lovely range of colours.

Next up was these Owl Jewel Decoration Kits. This is a really simple craft, and very easy for even the youngest crafters as all the pieces are self-adhesive so you don't need to worry about any glue mess. They are so sweet and look lovely hanging up in our kitchen window!

Then we moved onto the Leaf Sand Art Decorations. I'm always a bit wary of any craft involving sand, but having tried out several of the Baker Ross sand art crafts I've been converted! These sand art kits use a self adhesive printed design, and you peel away a different part of the image at a time to sprinkle on the sand and press it down to cover all the adhesive. The sand sticks firmly and remains in the area that you've chosen for it, producing a really bright and colourful finished product.

Halloween crafts

Perhaps not strictly Halloween, but these sweet little Day of the Dead Colour-in Mini Gift Bags are perfect for little treats, or carrying about your treasures. These would be great as party favours that children could colour in at the party and then fill with sweets to take home.

This Halloween Dotty Art is a brilliant activity for after school, or whenever children need a bit of quiet time with minimal intervention. There are coloured stickers in three different sizes and eight different designs with circles that need to be filled with the stickers. This kept my children busy for ages, and because there are several sheets of stickers in each colour there were plenty to go around and they weren't fighting over them.

I also love the Haunted House Photo Frame Magnet Kits. Again, all the pieces are self-adhesive, so you don't need any glue, and there is very little mess. They'd be ideal for the fridge or radiator, and although my children made Happy Halloween signs to go inside they'd also be great with a photograph of the child as a Halloween gift.

Finally we made some Halloween Pom Pom Decoration Kits. The children didn't really have the patience for pom pom making last time we tried, but this time they both got on really well with it and were very pleased with the result. The pom pom decorations are very sweet and they will look fab hanging from our Halloween tree. I found that it was quicker to make the pom poms if I doubled up the yarn, and so it didn't take too long to finish them.

I received these products as a member of the Baker Ross Bloggers Network.

Baker Ross crafts for summer

Summer is on the way, and Baker Ross have some lovely items in their summer crafting range. We were sent a few bits and pieces to try out, and like usual we've been having lots of fun.

We started with some Seaside Sand Art Pictures. This craft has the potential to get quite messy, but the older the child the more you are able to keep it under control. The pictures are printed onto sticky paper, and you can remove individual sections of the design one at a time. So you remove one area, sprinkle on the sand, press it about a bit and then tap off the excess sand to reveal a nice, sharply defined, sandy area. As long as you've covered an area thoroughly, sand of a different colour won't stick to it when you move on to the next area. And once stuck, the sand doesn't come off, so it doesn't create more mess once you've finished.

We used Glitter sand 30g bags which come in lovely bright, vibrant colours with plenty of glitter. The sand does come in little bags which can be a bit fiddly, Baker Ross also sell coloured sand in shaker pots which we tried last year, and these were easier and less messy to use. There was plenty of sand in the packs and definitely enough to complete all the pictures, even with a bit of wastage.

We all completed a picture, and Harry absolutely loved it and went on to do a couple more by himself, he was surprisingly tidy and I think that the finished work looks amazing.

Next, with the summer holidays coming up, the children wanted to make some keepsake gifts for their friends. First they made some Dinosaur Wooden Photo Frames.  The wooden frames were decorated with felt tip pens and then they chose pictures to go inside that I printed out for them. Harry wanted a picture of him with one of his friends and Mia typically chose princesses!

Then Mia made some Sealife Spiral Notebook Kits which will make lovely gifts for some more of her friends. There are four different sea creatures in the set and you just need to stick the foam pieces in the right place to decorate them, or you can adapt the designs to make them more individual. They are really sweet!

Finally they each made some bracelets for their friends. The Unicorn Charm Bracelet Kits make up into really pretty bracelets and were easy for Mia to make. They are so simple because you just need to thread the beads onto some elastic and then it stretches to fit their wrist, so you don't need to worry too much about the sizing.

The Paracord Bracelet Kits were a little more complicated to work out and I'm not sure that I've got it entirely correct. They look nice and are a lovely gift idea but I'm going to be putting the kits aside until the children are a bit older!

Another lovely selection of summer crafts!

I received these products as a member of the Baker Ross Bloggers Network.

Father's Day craft gift ideas from Baker Ross

This year in the UK Father's Day will be celebrated on June 19th. It's lovely to give Dad something homemade for Father's Day, especially if it's something that he can use or put proudly on display. We received a selection of crafts from Baker Ross which would be lovely gifts for children to make for their Dads.

Firstly I love these Elephant Ceramic Coin Banks. They are really easy for young children to paint, and older children can come up with more intricate decorations. To paint them we used HobbyLine Brights Porcelain Paint Pots which are fantastic paints that we've used for quite a few projects. They cover nicely and come in some lovely bright colours. This coin bank is a practical gift that would look great on display.

Next we used the same paints to decorate some Wooden Beach Hut Key Holder Kits. Again the paints covered well and dried to a lovely shiny finish. Mia painted the beach huts herself and I think that she did a brilliant job!

Then we decorated some Wooden Keyrings. The keyrings come in lots of different styles, and I think that they are a great price. Mia chose her favourites to paint and then finished off with some felt pens, Ram is always mislaying his car keys so hopefully these lovely keyrings will help him to keep track of them!

Finally Baker Ross sell some Self Portrait Blanks which I'm planning to work on with the children nearer the time. They are cut out shapes that the children can use to make their own portraits and I think they'd be fab for a group of children to work on together - you could ask them to make a portrait of their Dad for a great display!

Once again we had a lot of fun with these Baker Ross crafting kits!

I received these products as a member of the Baker Ross Bloggers Network.

Some animal themed crafts from Baker Ross

As a member of the Baker Ross Bloggers Network I'm lucky enough to receive regular deliveries of their fabulous arts and crafting kits. The latest box had so many lovely things in that I've divided it into two posts, and this first post is all about some animal themed crafting.

Zoo themed stuffed toy storage box

Mia loves her stuffed animals. She has quite a collection, and she loves all of them. She has a huge pile in bed with her at night, they follow her around the house, and although she does have a few particular favourites she seems to play with them all equally. I never really had any proper storage for them, I just shoved them on a bookshelf in her bedroom when I found them lying about, so I thought that it was time to come up with a way to store them properly, yet still make it easy for her to access them.

So she helped me to make a zoo themed storage box which fits nicely on her shelf and means that her soft toys are a little more contained and easy for her to put away. You just need a large cardboard box,  and we used the one that our Baker Ross order was delivered in. I cut off the top flaps and cut away some of the box on one side so that you can easily see and access what's inside. I reinforced the box with some packing tape to make sure that it was sturdy, then Mia and I ripped up lots of different coloured Safari Tissue Paper and used slightly diluted white glue (approx. one part water to two parts glue) to stick it down over the sides and inside the box. Be warned, you need a lot of glue!

To finish we used some zoo themed letter stickers that we had in the house to make a sign for 'Mia's Animal Zoo' (her choice of words!). Then when she wasn't looking I surprised her by hiding some gorgeous Jungle Animal Plush Toys inside. She was thrilled, they really are lovely little stuffed toys.

Unicorn Sewing Kits

Both children really enjoyed making up the Unicorn Cushion Sewing Kits. The shape of the unicorn head is simple to sew around, and because it's not too big it wasn't too daunting for them. They enjoyed decorating their head with the self-adhesive stickers, although I ended up doing the manes as it was a bit fiddly for them and they got bored! They were really pleased with their finished stuffed unicorns, they are a gorgeous finished craft product!

Elephant Coin Banks

Last month we had a lot of fun painting ceramic bird planters, so I was pleased to see some Elephant Ceramic Coin Banks and some more of the lovely Brights Porcelain Paint Pots. The paint covers the ceramic beautifully, drying to a lovely shiny finish, and the colours are so vivid, it looks fantastic. The paint dries really quickly too so you can do a first coat and then add detail on top in the same painting session.

Farm Animal Pom Poms

I loved these cheerful Farm Animal Pom Pom Decoration Kits. The pom poms are very easy to make around the foam shapes, and because they are quite small it doesn't take too long for children to make them. We made a lovely sheep and duck, with the pig saved for another day.

Modelling Clay Animals

Finally we tried out the Rainbow Clay Multi Bars modelling clay. I asked the children to go along with the theme and make animals, and they eagerly got started. The clay was lovely and soft to work with, and didn't make their hands smell which is a bonus. It was a bit difficult to separate the colours initially but it didn't bother the children (and of course it always ends up mixed together in the end anyway!) Here's Mia working away busily (yes, her hair always looks like that by the end of the day!)

The clay comes in lovely bright colours and I think it's a bargain for the price! They made some lovely little models and it looks as though it will store well ready for play another time.

I received these products as a member of the Baker Ross Bloggers Network.

Easter and Spring crafting with Baker Ross

I love it when we receive a new box of craft supplies from Baker Ross! This month we've received some lovely craft materials to make some Easter and Spring crafts.

We started with some Bird Ceramic Flowerpots. There were four in the pack so the children decorated two each using some HobbyLine Brights Porcelain Paints. The paints are gorgeous colours, really bright and cheerful and in a colour palette which work really well together. They covered the birds beautifully and dried to a lovely glossy finish. I was really impressed with how nicely the children decorated their birds! They are so colourful and would look lovely as little decorations or used to store some of their bits and bobs.

The Mini Birdhouse Gift Box Decorations are little pop out houses which can be decorated and glued together easily to make small hanging decorations. Filled with sweets they make a lovely gift box, or you could string a whole line of them together to make some really sweet bunting or garlands. I think they'd also make good Christmas decorations! We found it easier to decorate the houses before they were popped out, and because they are so small they aren't too daunting for little ones to think about decorating. The children used felt pens and a few small stickers. We filled them with sweets, then I stuck them together with glue stick as they were a bit fiddly. They are so pretty!

The Arrow Wooden Plaques are lovely sturdy hanging arrows which could be decorated for all sorts of purposes. We used ours to make some signs to give the Easter Bunny a helping hand. I began by giving all the arrows a coat of white emulsion so that the children had a plain background to work on, then they decorated them using felt pens.

Finally we used these Tissue Paper Flower Kits to make some tissue paper flowers to brighten up the windowsill in my office. The tissue paper is pre-cut and folded, so you just need to wrap it around with a pipe cleaner and then fluff out the petals. They were a little fiddly at first, but we soon got the hang of them, and we made them a little shorter than suggested so that they fit nicely inside one of my mugs.

I received a box of crafting supplies from Baker Ross as part of their Bloggers Network.

Mother's Day 2016 crafts with Baker Ross

Mother's Day is a great opportunity for children to get creative and make their Mum a card or a gift, and Baker Ross has a huge selection of craft kits which children can use to make Mum something special. We were sent a few of them to try out, and here's how we got on.

Self Portrait pictures

We used some Self Portrait Blanks as the basis for the children to make a picture of themselves, which was a fun activity for a play date. I'm not sure why Mia saw herself with a purple face! These would also be great for a classroom where each child could make their own face and have them all displayed together on the wall. Then you could write a message to Mum on the back.

Wooden key holders

I've always found key holders to be a really practical way to keep keys stored safely, and I love how these Flower Wooden Key Holders can be personalised to make a lovely, useful gift. As there were three we made one each, mine for the kitchen and the children made one each for their bedrooms to use for hanging up some of their smaller treasures.

We started by painting the wooden key holders, using a mixture of acrylic and poster paints. The poster paint needed a second coat to avoid it looking streaky. Then when they were dry we decorated them with felt tip pens.

I think that we all did a brilliant job, it was nice to have a go at doing some of the crafts myself for a change!

Melted bead tray

I'm quite an expert when it comes to fuse beads, so I was interested to see how the Baker Ross Flower Fuse Bead Kits worked out. Unfortunately I'm afraid that we didn't have a lot of success with them when used in the proper way with a pegboard, being made of cheaper plastic they were quite slippery and fiddly to use, and not as good as the branded beads. Possibly I'm a bit too fussy, as I've seen pictures of other people using them without any trouble.

However we were still able to put the beads themselves to good use in a simple but effective craft project - making a fuse bead tray. It's very easy to do, all you need is an oven proof container the same size as the tray or bowl that you want to make. Give it a light coating with some oil then place the beads inside so that they form a single layer across the bottom of the container and as far up the sides as you like. Make sure that there are no gaps between the beads. If you want you can place them all facing the same way, or perhaps try to create different patterns or groups of colours.

Then place into the oven at around 180C for about five minutes, keeping a close eye on it while it's in there. The beads will start to melt and the holes in them will get larger. Take it out and leave it to cool before removing the beads. They should pop out easily, and when they have cooled completely you will be left with a sturdy bowl. Any loose beads can be secured with a quick dab of white glue. My new tray will take pride of place on my desk!

I received these products as a member of the Baker Ross Bloggers Network.

Valentine's Day crafting with Baker Ross

This month I was lucky enough to receive another fantastic box of crafting materials from Baker Ross! So many that I'm going to be splitting them across two posts, and to start with I'm sharing some fab crafts for children with a Valentine's Day theme. 

Heart Lanterns

We started off making some simple but pretty heart lanterns using the Heart Lantern Kits. There are four different coloured lanterns, as well as plenty of tissue paper squares in the different colours, so the children had a choice of which colours they'd like to use. The tissue paper pieces are the same sizes as the sides of the box so it was really easy for the children to stick them where they needed to go, and Harry enjoyed cutting out his tissue paper pieces to cover different parts of the design. Then when they'd finished I folded them up to make the lanterns and we strung them up across the banisters. They'd make great gift boxes for Valentine's Day treats too!

Craft foam and wool heart hanging decorations

To make these heart hanging decorations I cut out my heart shapes from pink coloured foam sheets, making a larger and a smaller heart for each decoration. I used a hole punch to make holes around the edge of each heart, then gave the children a needle and coloured wool, not really giving them any instructions as to how they could sew the wool through the holes. 

Harry kept his simple, sewing around the edge of the larger heart and criss crossing the smaller heart with wool. Mia chose to decorate her hearts with some Pink and Silver Stick on Jewels for a pack of 480) and her felt pens. We glued the smaller hearts to the centre of the larger hearts, and used ric rac and ribbon to create a hanging loop for the top.

Valentines Day hanging picture decorations

The other week I shared these Valentine's Heart Collage Pictures using two Baker Ross Card Picture Panels. The cardboard backgrounds are really sturdy and would be great for all sorts of artwork whether it's painting, drawing or collage. 

Blank wooden hearts

Our final craft is going to be some painted wooden hearts. We have a pack of plain Heart Wooden Decorations and I'm planning to paint them with a plain background colour and then let the children decorate them with more paints of stickers. I've seen some gorgeous examples on Pinterest that include a quote, so I think I'm going to be making some for myself too, look out for them in a future post!

I received these products as a member of the Baker Ross Bloggers Network.

Autumn and Halloween crafts from Baker Ross

I love being a member of the Baker Ross bloggers network! In my latest box I received some lovely autumnal crafts, as well as some fantastic Halloween crafting products.

I have very fond memories of making pom poms when I was little, and the Hedgehog Pom Pom Decoration Kits were perfect for sharing the fun with my little ones. You make the pom pom around the foam shape itself, along with a couple of cardboard rings, and because they are quite small you can make the pom pom up pretty quickly. They come with ribbons for hanging, but mine wanted to keep them as they were so that they could play with them.

Of course in Autumn we also have Halloween, and Baker Ross have a huge range of Halloween crafts - great if you are hosting a Halloween party or if you want the children to help decorate the house for Halloween.

We started with these Skull Keyring and Bag Dangler Sewing Kits. Harry managed the sewing of his easily, and Mia coped pretty well with a bit of help. I really love them, they are so bright and colourful and although we followed the suggested instructions you could really be as creative as you want, and with three in the pack you can mix and match the decorations to make some really unique creations. They make lovely decorations, or you can hang them from a bag or keys.

We also had a lot of fun with these Halloween Mosaic Wand Kits which were perfect for the children to get on with by themselves. They just need to match the coloured foam stickers to the background, and because the stickers are sparkly they look really good. They were both very proud of their finished creations, and I'm planning on sticking them into a couple of my indoor plant pots for some Halloween spookiness!

Next we made some Spider Weaving Placemat Kits. A large spider is made from foam and the coloured ribbons are woven through. Mia didn't get on very well with this as she's not quite worked out weaving yet, but Harry enjoyed it. He did get a bit fed up before he'd finished the weaving though, and decided to just stick the remaining ribbons on to the spider's feet to finish him off! This would look pretty cool stuck on the front door I think.

Our final Halloween craft was some Bat Handprint Decoration Kits. The children drew around their hands on to a foam sheet and cut them out to make wings for the bat, then the bat was decorated using ready cut foam shapes. The children were both very taken with that craft, and when they had made their bats they went on to make them clothes out of black paper. 

Then they decided between themselves to make a bat cave for them from cushions and blankets, which Harry decorated with a Lego bat and Mia filled with 'treasure' made from Duplo. Playing these bats occupied them for most of the afternoon, so overall a brilliant craft in my book!

I received these products as a member of the Baker Ross Bloggers Network.

Educational arts and crafts for the summer from Baker Ross

The summer holidays are fast approaching, and along with them several weeks that need to be filled with fun activities for the children. I do love spending time at home with the children, but I know that I need to be organised and plan activities in advance, and it's always good to have something on hand for those "I'm bored!" moments. I received a lovely box of crafty bits from Baker Ross to help keep the children entertained, and we had a lot of fun crafting.

I really love the pack of Weather Foam Stickers and I can think of loads of ways to use them. There are pleny of different designs in a variety of sizes, representing all types of weather. I helped Mia to make a weather dial which is similar to one that Harry has in his classroom at school. She loves running over to it every morning to set it to the correct weather for the day, and changing it throughout the day as necessary.

One of the things that I love about the Baker Ross craft kits is that they are brilliant for play dates. It's great to have a simple, reasonably non messy activity on hand when friends are visiting, and we had a lot of fun decorating these Music Shaker Kits. They are a simple cardboard tube filled with beads that you can decorate with paint, pens, stickers and so on, with a fun finished product.

We also had a lot of fun with some Solar System Scratch Art decorations. We've received similar kits in the past and with 12 in a pack they are great for entertaining a larger group of children. Each design comes with a stick to scratch off the black layer and reveal the colours underneath. They are fab for all ages, younger children are happy to scratch away until most of the black is gone, older children can scratch out more complex designs.

Also in the box were some Fruit and Vegetable Card Shapes which Mia in particular loved. There are ten different designs in the pack, all simple fruits and vegetables that she could identify straight away. I realised that as well as having fun decorating them we could turn them into a display poster for her room, with the names to help her as she begins to learn to read.

We started by painting the shapes with poster paints. The fruit shaped card does have a slightly shiny surface so the paint didn't cover that well, and with hindsight acrylic paint would have been better. It didn't matter though as I was intending to decorate them on top of the paint. We used all sorts of different collage materials - pom poms, sequins, pipe cleaners, feathers, fabric petals and so on, and we were really pleased with our finished poster, it's so bright and cheerful!

Finally we received some great painting supplies which are going to be a big help as we do a lot of painting in this house! A nice big Super Value Spash Mat which I am saving until our current one has fallen apart and some brilliant Painting Water Pots. These are great because you can fill them with paint or water and if they are tipped over the liquid doesn't spill out.

I was also impressed with the Paint Pot Tray which could also be used to hold glue or small decorations like sequins or pom poms. The individual pots fit nicely into a larger tray to keep them together, or you could share them out amongst a group. Previously I've just used old margarine tub lids for holding paint, which is fine for when they are little but as they get older and take more pride in their painting they want the colours to be kept separate. Here Mia is busy painting her shoebox which she needs to decorate and fill with personal bits and pieces ready for when she starts school in September, eek!

I received these products as a member of the Baker Ross Bloggers Network.

Father's Day crafts with Baker Ross

This year Father's Day is on the 21st June. I must admit that I've been all over the place lately and not had much time to stop and think, so it was quite a relief when I received a lovely box of Father's Day crafts from Baker Ross which I could do with the children to make some suitable gifts and keepsakes.

First up was these gorgeous Father's Day Handprint Poem Decoration Kits. They are quite similar to the handprint decorations that the children made for Mother's Day and I love that they are simple to make and even though it's a kit the children can really interpret it themselves using their creativity. Both children were very keen to make the decorations without any help, and as you can see even Mia at just 4 did a really good job with her red handprint! They are so bright and colourful, I'm hoping that Ram will take them into work to brighten up his office.

Next we made some super simple Father's Day Wooden Keyring Kits. They are very quick to make, although the children did need a little help threading the string through the beads. Ram needs a new keyring for his car keys, he might end up with both keyrings on it though as he won't want to have to choose a favourite!

I love these DAD Wooden Decorations which come with little pegs that you can slot into the back to stand them up. They were so simple to decorate and I think that the look great. I painted them with acrylic paints first, then gave the children a variety of stickers and crafty embellishments from our stash to decorate them with. I've always found the Baker Ross wooden shapes very easy to paint, they take the colour well and dry quickly so you can get on with your project.

Also in the Father's Day craft range are these T-Shirt Craft Boxes. We've not had chance to decorate these yet, but I'm thinking that they would look great decorated as football shirts. Ram was lucky enough to go to a Barcelona game while we were on holiday, so I might paint one up for him as a little Barcelona shirt!

Finally, you need a Father's Day card, and I think that the children did a fab job with some Father's Day Face Cards. Again, similar cards are available for Mother's Day, and I think that they are lovely. There are four different designs in the pack along with envelopes, it would be fun to get the children to do one each year and see how their pictures evolve over time!

As always, I think that the Baker Ross craft kits represent excellent value for money. Because the kits each contain several of the same craft, it would be a great idea to get together with friends and put in an order together, I usually have plenty of extras from my boxes to share out among my crafty friends!

I received these products as a member of the Baker Ross Bloggers Network.

Summer crafts from Baker Ross

Summer is nearly here, and Baker Ross have a huge range of craft products to keep children busy! As a member of the Baker Ross Bloggers Network I receive a regular bundle of craft kits and supplies. Here's how we've got on with some of the latest items from the new summer craft range.

The Kaleidoscope Scratch Art Hanging Decorations are a simple idea, but I was very impressed with them. We were visiting friends and so I took a pack around for all the children to do together. The kits were perfect to take along as they contain everything that you need, and don't create any mess. The younger children loved how easy it was to scratch out a design on the black to reveal the colours underneath, and Harry in particular spent ages on his creations, as well as being fascinated by the process. Baker Ross offer a huge range of different Scratch Art sets in all different shapes and designs and they really are brilliant and much easier than trying to replicate the idea yourself, which we have tried and failed to do!

Next we used Fluorescent Coloured Sand to fill up some Animal Sand Art Bottles. This was something that the children had never seen before and they were fascinated. The set of bottles comes with a little funnel which you place into the lid of the bottle and then pour in the different colours of sand in turn. Harry was able to do this by himself, and Mia was content to let me know which colour she wanted to use and to watch while I poured it in. It didn't make nearly as much mess as I was anticipating, and both the children loved it. The finished bottles look really pretty on the windowsill. The coloured sand went a very long way too, even after filling these bottles and the sand picture art craft below we still have plenty left.

Next we decorated some Gnome Suncatcher Stakes. To decorate them we used Glitter Porcelain and Glass Pens which we received in a previous box from Baker Ross and have used for several subsequent crafts, they are still working well, and I remembered to put newspaper down on the table this time! Colouring in the stakes kept the two of them quiet for a long time as they concentrated on their individual designs.

Back to the coloured sand, and we made some Sand and Glitter Art Picture Sheets. This is definitely a summer craft, because it is best done in the garden!

The top layer is pre-cut and you peel it back to reveal a sticky surface underneath. You simply remove the paper from the area that you want to colour, then sprinkle the sand over the sticky paper, rubbing it down with your fingers so that it is stuck securely. There is actually very little wastage of coloured sand (although enough that I was glad we'd done it outdoors!).

Harry was able to get on with this entirely by himself. At first I wasn't sure about letting Mia loose with the bottles of sand and I sprinkled it on for her, but she actually surprised me with her control over it, and she loved choosing her colours. The both really enjoyed making their pictures and were so proud of them, the colour of the sand is really vibrant and it stuck brilliantly. We'll be using these gorgeous pictures to decorate our summerhouse with!

Finally, they each decorated a Ceramic Castle Coin Bank. We don't have any porcelain pens or paint, so we just used poster paint as a base layer and then decorated with acrylic paints and sparkly poster paint which worked really well.

As always, we've had a lot of fun with our Baker Ross craft products. I think that they are amazingly good value, and you can find craft kits themed around almost any theme imaginable, as well as very reasonably priced basic crafting supplies.

I received these products as a member of the Baker Ross Bloggers Network.

Space pictures with wooden space cutouts

We are members of the Baker Ross Bloggers Network, and every few months we are lucky enough to receive a big box of seasonal crafting materials. This time we received lots of summer crafts, and we are still busy working our way through them, so I'll be sharing some of our creations in a post next week. But also in the box this time was a bag of wooden space shapes, and we had such fun decorating them that I thought they deserved their own post.

Sometimes I'm at a bit of a loss when presented with blank shapes to decorate as I don't really know where to start. Until now the children have needed quite a lot of guidance and help from me. But I showed Harry some examples from the website, and explained to him how he might like to use a pencil to mark out his design in advance before we painted. Then I treated him to some of my acrylic paints to decorate them with, and he loved the opportunity to use some 'grown up' art materials.

He came up with some lovely designs, and while he was doing it I painted a star and moon shape yellow for Mia to decorate when she was back from nursery. I helped her to use glitter and sequins to decorate the shapes, thinking that would be enough for her, but of course she wanted a go with the paints too, and decorated a couple of her own shapes.

Here is Harry's picture:

And here is Mia's picture:

The wooden shapes are glued to a piece of black card which has been mounted on a piece of thicker cardboard and then painted with silver glitter paint. I really like them, they are so lovely and I was so impressed with how well the children worked with just a little bit of help and input from me. They are definitely going to be displayed proudly!

We received the wooden shapes in our Baker Ross crafting box.

Easter crafting with Baker Ross

I blogged recently about some lovely Mother's Day crafts made using items from Baker Ross, and with this post I'm going to share some Easter crafts.

We started with these Easter Egg House Kits. I must admit that they were pretty fiddly to put together and needed reinforcing with glue and tape. If you are making these with young children I'd strongly recommend assembling the house first at your leisure and then passing on to the child to decorate! The children loved sticking the stickers on to personalise their houses, and the finished creations are really bright and cheerful. I can see them coming out again at Easter for years to come!

The we made some Chick and Bunny Pop-up Puppet Kits. All the pieces are included, and the chick or rabbit puppet is made by pushing a stick up through a decorated paper cup. This was a great craft to make when we had friends over for a play date. Because all the pieces are self-adhesive it's not messy, and it made a satisfying finished product that the children had a lot of fun playing with afterwards.

Finally we decorated some 3D Wooden Bunnies. They are a simple plain bunny shape, with slot in pieces so that they can stand up. First we painted the wooden shapes with poster paints, then when they were dry I put out a selection of different bits and pieces for decorating - ric rac, ribbon, googly eyes, egg shaped sequins, pom poms and so on.

Harry wanted to use some white acrylic paint to add some extra features, unfortunately Mia got a bit carried away with her white paint and hers ended up as albino bunnies! The finished bunnies stand up really nicely, and they look lovely on the mantelpiece as Easter decorations.

I think that these craft kits are such good value. They'd be great if you were entertaining a group of children, perhaps for a party, especially as many of the kits are available to purchase in larger quantities and they often come with everything that you need to do the craft. The smaller packs are also fantastic to keep on hand for play dates if you need to quieten things down a little, and it's something nice for the guests to take home. Many people like to avoid giving too much chocolate or sweets for Easter, and craft kits like this would make fantastic alternative gifts.

I received these products as a member of the Baker Ross Bloggers Network.

Pom pom frame craft for Mother's Day with Baker Ross

I think that most Mums would love to receive a hand crafted gift from their children. Baker Ross sells a whole range of crafting kits and materials that allow children to make some lovely gifts and keepsakes for their Mum, and we tried out a few of their craft kits. My favourite was these pom pom frames.

I used some Pastel Pom Poms to make some sweet little frames to display some suitable Mother's Day type quotations. I've always found pom poms quite difficult to craft with, as I can never get them to stick very well. I've discovered that you need to use plenty of PVA (white) glue and allow them plenty of time to dry, and this time they stayed beautifully stuck.

I searched online for some suitable quotations to use. There are lots out there but I quite liked the list that I found here - 100 Inspiring Quotes about Moms - from which I chose my favourite two and printed them out. Then I made a frame using strong cardboard. You don't need to be too neat, as the edges will be covered by the pom poms anyway. Then, with plenty of PVA glue at the ready, Mia and I made a frame each.

I mounted the printed quotes onto thin cardboard for strength and taped them firmly onto the back of the frames. They will look lovely and cheerful on my desk! They would also make a lovely gift if you used them to frame a photograph of the children, or perhaps to frame a picture which they have drawn.

I received these products as a member of the Baker Ross Bloggers Network.