Easter crafts using Hama beads

I've shared lots of Easter themed Hama bead crafts on this blog, and so I thought that I'd round them all up together in one place, enjoy!

For Easter and spring crafting I love this box of 10,000 Beads in a Bucket - Pastel Mix (affiliate link). The price of the box can vary widely so it's worth keeping an eye on it and stocking up when it's cheaper. You get a huge number of beads and the pastel colours are really pretty, making a nice change from the usual solid colours.

Many of these crafts use the Hama bead egg pegboard (affiliate link). This is a really versatile pegboard which can be used to make Easter eggs in a variety of sizes. The projects below show how it can be used in different ways.

My first Hama bead Easter craft was these Paper plate and Hama bead Easter decorations. We painted paper plates in pastel colours and used them to make frames for the Hama eggs, which are suspended in the frame to make a hanging Easter decoration.

I also love using mini Hama beads for crafting, great for making more intricate projects. These Mini Hama bead Easter egg cake toppers make lovely decorations for cakes like these traditional chocolate Easter nests.

The pastel beads can be used to make some really colourful Hama bead Easter Egg coasters which look great under drinks for an Easter party or celebration. You could make coasters without the egg design so that they have a more general spring or summer theme.

I used the outer three rows of the pegboard to make these Easter egg sun catcher frames. You could also use the frames to hold a photograph of the child to make a nice Easter gift or as the front of an Easter card.

Finally I used the Easter egg Hama pegboard to make these 3D Hama bead layered Easter eggs. They are made in three different sized pieces and glued together to make Easter egg shapes that pop out, great as Easter decorations or to decorate a gift box.

I hope that this has inspired you for some Easter crafting in the run up to Easter!

You can find all my Hama bead projects on my Hama beads page.

Crafting while you are away on holiday

On our holidays as a couple before children I had no time to sit still. We would get up early, spend the day out and about packing in as much as we could, have a late dinner and then retire to bed exhausted. Since then our holidays have changed, and we now tend more towards the Center Parcs or package holiday style break - still keeping busy but with plenty of time to chill out in our cottage or hotel room. The children need to be in bed at a reasonable time in order to enjoy the next day, so we tend to eat dinner early and then have a few hours in the evening to ourselves to relax once they are asleep.

So holidays have become the perfect time for catching up on a few crafty projects, and I always try to pack a few things to take along and keep me occupied. I thought I'd share some of the most successful crafts that you can take away on holiday with you.

The main consideration when deciding what to take is that it needs to be portable and not too large. Taking along my Sky Blanket last yea rfor example was out of the question, firstly because it quickly became to large to carry about easily, and secondly because I also needed to take along lots of different colours of yarn.

You also need to think about a project that can be transported safely, for example perhaps not pots of paint or glue, or anything that could be easily damaged.

If you are planning on crafting during your journey then you need a project that is safe, for example no long knitting needles that might spike you or someone else. If you are flying then obviously scissors and other tools with a blade will need to be placed in checked baggage, but it seems to be down to airport security whether or not you can take things like knitting needles or crochet hooks in your hand baggage on a plane. If you do pack them in hand luggage it's probably worth taking ones that you are prepared to lose if they are confiscated, and perhaps check with the airport directly before you travel.

It's also important to pack spares, for example needles or hooks, as it would be very annoying to lose one a couple of days in and not be able to continue the project! Make sure that you have enough extras, for example embroidery threads and balls of yarn.

It's also worth thinking about a project that is easy to pick up and put down in case you only have short periods of time to work on something, especially if you are travelling with demanding family members!

* Here are some ideal projects that you can pack and work on while you are away, I'd love to hear if you have any more ideas!

Crochet - although it's not practical to work on a large project like a blanket, you can work on a blanket if it is made up of, for example, granny squares as they are very portable and quick to work on. Make sure that you remember to pack a needle for sewing in all the ends!

Knitting - again a smaller project would work best, and it's best to stick to one that uses only one or two different colours of yarn so you don't need to pack loads of balls.

Cross stitch - I took my cross stitch sampler to work on during the evenings of our first cruise, cross stitch is very portable because it can all pack down very small and it doesn't take too much space when you are working on it. I look out for little mini cross stitch kits that I can take around with me.

A holiday scrapbook - all you need to bring with you is a blank journal, scissors, pen and a glue stick, then collect leaflets, postcards, tickets etc. while you are away. If you work on it as you go then you have a ready made souvenir when you get home!

Drawing - just take a sketch book, pencils and an eraser with you and you can enjoy drawing some of the sights that you see

Writing or journalling - again, you just need a blank journal and some pens, and you can write about all sorts of things! Perhaps a diary of the things that you've done and the things that you've seen (there are some ideas for travel writing in my list of Travel Blog Post Ideas). If you need a few prompts then you can buy some lovely journals which contain both general and themed pages to spark your imagination and get the creative juices flowing.

Blogging - If you have internet access, share your adventures in a travel blog that you can write while you are away

Photography - Being in a different environment and seeing different things is a great way to inspire you to take photographs of the things that you have seen. Then when you get home you can use them to create photo collages or books.

* Inspiring your creativity while you are away

Being in a new environment and away from the stresses of work and home means that you can relax and think about the things that you enjoy and make plans for when you get back.

If you have internet access and a phone or laptop you can spend time browsing Pinterest or blogs to gather ideas for new projects. I take a notebook and make lists of things that I want to do when I get home, crafts that I want to try, blog posts that I want to write and so on.

You might find that you are inspired by things that you spot while you are away - mosaics on the street, pottery and other handmade goods, tapestries or embroidery in a museum - that spark an interest that you want to have a go at when you get home. Remember to take lots of photographs when you see something that inspires you, like these tiles that I spotted and loved in Tenerife!

I hope I've inspired you to continue your creativity on your travels! When you get back, I've also shared some crafts that you can do to remember your travel and holidays.

Join our creative community on Instagram - Crafting is my Therapy

The Crafting is my Therapy linky may now no longer be hosted on the blog, but we have plenty of activity over on Instagram, with lots of lovely crafters and makers sharing their finished makes and works in progress.

We are sharing our photos under a different hashtag each month, and for April we are using #craftingismytherapy_april. You are welcome to use the hashtag for any photos that have a crafty feel to them - whether it's craft supplies that you have gathered for a project, images of you crafting away, crafty things that you have spotted while out and about, and of course all your gorgeous finished projects.

Each month my co-host Nicola from Me, You and Magoo and I will choose a selection of our favourites to share from the pictures that have been tagged.

We'd love to see you come over and join us!

You can find me on Instagram at jenniferjain and Nicola at meyouandmagoo. 

April - Lately I've been...

I thought that it was time for a little catch up post! Here's what I've been up to lately:

Thinking about - After setting myself a goal of walking 10,000 steps per day I spend a lot of time thinking about how I'm going to fit them in! I've also upped my target to 11,000 steps which has been quite easy, as if I make the effort I easily meet it.

I've been spending a lot of time lately going through our old digital photographs. There are so many! They were grouped roughly by year but are a complete mess of duplicates, the same photo from many many different angles, and lots of out takes. Our ten year wedding anniversary is approaching and I have finally sorted through all the digital photographs from our wedding. We had about ten different folders from photos that other people had given us, as well as official photographs, so I've put them all in together, picked out the best ones, and sorted them by time of day so they are all in order, it's very satisfying. So I've been remembering our full on wedding weekend (we had two wedding ceremonies as well as several events in the days before and after) and I'm enjoying reliving it.

This photo below of me at the chocolate fountains is one of my favourites that I had forgotten about, even though it's hardly the most flattering - I can't believe that in all the weddings we've been to over the last few years (or rather decades...) ours has been the only one with a chocolate fountain, and I was so busy that I didn't nearly do it justice!

Crafting - My crafting has slowed a bit lately, now that the pressure of daily crochet on my Sky Blanket has gone. I'm making a daily video though as well as plenty of other videos (you can see them on my YouTube channel) which I find to be a fun creative outlet. My current work in progress is some pink crochet bunting, and I've also been doing quite a lot of Hama bead crafting with some Easter craft ideas, like these Hama bead Easter Egg Coasters.

Watching - We've watched quite a few films this month, one of my favourites was La La Land, the story wasn't the greatest but I enjoyed the singing and dancing. I also finally got round to watching Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them which we all liked very much. We don't have a series to binge watch at the moment as we are waiting for some of our favourites to come back on, in particular Better Call Saul and Game of Thrones.

Eating - I've had a few meals out lately and probably a bit too much pizza, but I'm trying to think about balancing what I'm eating and keeping an eye on the calories that are going in, with the result that I've lost a little bit of weight over the last few weeks. I'm hoping to be able to fit into my shorts when we go away later in April, the ones that I couldn't fit in to for our January holiday! I'm sure that I'll still have some space for Easter eggs though if anyone buys me one, I always have my eye on a giant Lindt egg but I'll have to buy it for myself if I want it!

Travelling to - Over February half term we enjoyed a lovely holiday at Center Parcs De Vossemeren, our third holiday to a Center Parcs in Belgium and another successful trip. You can see a little video of some of the things that we got up to below!

Our next trip away is to Fuerteventura in the Canary Islands where we are hoping to enjoy some warm weather and sunshine, we are very much looking forward to it!

Reading - I'm working my way slowly through the Kindle books that I bought in the January sales. I recently enjoyed The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey, a book about a childless couple living in Alaska in the 1920s and inspired by a Russian fairy tale about a couple that build a child from snow that comes to life. It was a really sweet story and I really enjoyed reading about the couple's life in Alaska. I also read the screenplay for Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them after finally watching the film.

Planning - I'm really hoping to do more with the garden this year. I've never been much of a gardener, and fortunately our garden is quite simple with not too many shrubs or flowerbeds. It does look a bit sad though, and although it's not too overgrown it definitely needs a tidy up. I'm tidying up the edges, weeding our gravel borders, and planning to plant out some bedding plants to make it look a bit prettier.

I've made a good start by borrowing a pressure washer from my parents and having a go with the paving slabs at the front and back - I always thought that they were grey and it turns out that they are actually yellow, the difference is amazing! I am so proud of my progress that I can see a separate blog post looming where I share all my before and after photos like the one below!

I'm also busy planning blog content, I like being organised well in advance so that I can concentrate on other things at the time! After Easter, all the big celebrations that I theme crafty content for are over for a few months so I need to come up with some new ideas.

Looking forward to - Summer! I'm very much looking forward to some warmth and the lighter evenings. I love going for a run along the beach in the evening and it's just not pleasant at this time of year. Also next month we are going to see Harry Potter and the Cursed Child at the theatre which should be fab. I was going to go with Ram, but now we are thinking that Harry would probably enjoy it more as he's just finished the books and is currently reading the script - I just hope that he's got the stamina for two plays in one day!

What have you been up to lately?

Easter bunting using free Twinkl printable resources

Regular readers will know that I'm a huge fan of Twinkl resources, especially when it comes to themed resources for different special occasions throughout the year. This week we've been making some simple Easter bunting using a free printable resource - Easter Card Templates (free download). This resource contains a variety of different Easter and Spring themed pictures to colour, which can be used in all sorts of Easter crafting.

To make our bunting, once Mia had coloured in the pictures I cut them out and glued them to circles of pastel coloured cardboard. I punched a hole in the top of each one and strung them together with some purple yarn. I used a small piece of tape to make sure that all the pictures were facing the right way, and hung them up above our fireplace for a cheery, colourful decoration.

Mia loves colouring and the bunting was so easy to make! It would be a great activity for a classroom or group of children, and you could also use the colouring pictures to make Easter cards, collage pictures, or other types of decoration.

Twinkl have many many more resources for Easter which are fantastic either as standalone crafts and activities or basic worksheets that can be used for your own crafting. Some are available to subscribers only but the Twinkl website also has a large selection of printables which are free to download, you just need to register. Below are a couple more fantastic Easter resources which would be great for keeping the children entertained in the run up to Easter.

Easter Colouring Posters (free download) - large colouring sheets great for very little ones that could be mounted on coloured card and used as decorations, or printed at a smaller size to be coloured and used for Easter cards.

Easter Egg Page Borders (free download) - brightly coloured Easter Eggs decorate the borders of these pages which are great as a frame for your child's drawing or writing.

I am a huge fan of Twinkl, and have been given a Twinkl Platinum Plus membership in exchange for sharing information about Twinkl resources on my blog.

A windy walk along the beach

As the weather slowly starts to become warmer and Spring is on the way, I thought I'd write a post about my walk along the beach last week, as a follow up to the same beach walk in February. It was a lovely bright and sunny day with plenty of blue sky and a stiff breeze. I walk along the sea front at Goring beach in Worthing, and then along Goring Gap.

I've walked along the beach when the wind has been up before, but it was really blowing today and as usual the kite surfers were out in force. They are very brave, it looks freezing out there!

I used to have a colleague who once said that one of the things he loved about the beach was that every time you were there you saw something different. He was quite right and there's always something interesting to spot - today it was this kite surfer on the beach being filmed by his camera team, I wonder what they were up to!

Although this part of the coast is known for its pebbly beaches, as you walk west from Worthing the tide doesn't need to be that far out to expose some sand, and it was looking particularly yellow and inviting today in the sunshine. I must bring the children back out this way in the summer with buckets and spades!

I love the contrast between the pebbles, the sea and the sky. These little wispy bushes are very pretty too, I've no idea what they are but they are along the top of the beach all the way into Worthing.

In places the path meanders through some little tunnels of twisted branches, and a welcome shelter from the wind.

I'm always hunting for treasures on the beach, and today I spotted part of a dead crab which must have been huge when it was alive. I'm a bit squeamish about bits of crab on the beach so I didn't touch it, but I couldn't resist bringing home this beautiful bit of driftwood, I'm not sure what for yet but I want to make some kind of beach display in the house somewhere and it will make a nice centerpiece.

I feel so lucky to have this beautiful coastline right on my doorstep!

Review - Babe The Sheep Pig at the Connaught Theatre, Worthing

Last week, we were invited to the Connaught Theatre in Worthing to watch Babe - The Sheep Pig, the latest stop on a UK tour which continues until October 2017. The show follows the rise of Babe the piglet as he becomes a world famous sheep-pig, and is based on the beloved best selling book by Dick King-Smith.

Babe is a piglet won at a fair and brought back to the farm by Farmer Hogget. He is destined for the dinner table, until one night he saves the sheep on the farm from sheep rustlers. As a reward his life is spared and he becomes a part of the family. He is raised by Fly the sheep dog, who tells him that sheep are just stupid animals.  However after befriending a motherly ewe called Maa he learns that sheep aren't as stupid as he had thought, and he finds out that by being polite to the sheep and asking them nicely he can get them to do what he wants. When Farmer Hogget sees what he can do he trains him, and enters him into the Sheepdog Trials.

The tale is told on stage with a range of costumes, puppets, dancing and original live music. The set is simple, but used cleverly to represent all the different locations in the story, and the costumes are well designed so that the actors can portray a range of different characters. It was a little intense at times with flashing lights and dramatic sound effects, and there are some sad and scary parts in the story, but it didn't cause any problems with the children.

We all really enjoyed the show. The children found the sheep in particular hilarious, especially when they were moving around on the stage before the show started and responding to the 'baas' that were coming back at them from the audience! They were captivated by the action on stage as it unfolded, and were really drawn into the story.

We received press tickets to the show in exchange for a review.