Recently I was invited to host an AmiGami craft party for my children and some of their friends. AmiGami is a brand new crafting toy aimed at children aged 6+. Children can use a selection of printed papers and stickers to customise their own AmiGami creature, with a multitude of different ways that they can use the materials to let their imagination run free.
We were sent a selection of craft kits so that each child could create two animals - a Cat and a Chameleon. Each kit comes with a plastic animal base, some tools, instructions, pins which allow you to stick the paper pieces to the base, and a pack of stickers and paper pieces. There are lots of bits and pieces included with each kit, many more than you actually need, so there are hundreds of different ways that you can complete the kit.
Although the pieces are vaguely themed to the kits (for example there is a curly tail for the Chameleon and fish for the Cat) they are all interchangeable, so if you have several different sets you can mix and match. The kits are also reusable, as you can easily remove the pins and redesign your animal, and they contain everything that you need, with no glue required.
All the individual pieces first need to be pressed out from their sheets. It's easy and doesn't take long, but because we had quite a lot to do my children and I prepared it all in advance to save time on the day. The shapes and pegs got mixed up between the two different animals, but that didn't matter, it just meant that the children had more options for making their creatures. I had a go at making a Cat in advance which was a good move, as I was able to give the children a quick intro and explain what to do before leaving them to see how they got on.
The kits are aimed at children aged 6+, but several of the guests at our party were younger. This wasn't a problem though, we found that the 6 year olds could easily be left alone to complete the craft, and even though the younger ones did need a little bit of help they still really enjoyed it and became engrossed in what they were doing. Fortunately I had also invited some crafty Mums that were happy to help them out!
To make the AmiGami animal you press pegs into the holes on the base and add the patterned cut out shapes to create the embellishments. You can use the special tool to wrap long strips of paper up into spirals, add the cut out shapes to make wings and tails, and there are plenty of sweet little stickers which you can use to decorate too. The stickers can be reused up to three times, so children don't need to worry if they make a mistake when placing them.
Here are some of the children concentrating hard on their creations:
And here are all our finished creatures on display, they look fantastic! I loved seeing how the children used the pieces to make the craft individual to them. It was a really fun way to spend an afternoon and a great idea for play date. The craft kits retail at around £10 per animal so it's a rather expensive everyday play idea, but for a special occasion like a family gathering or birthday party they would be an ideal way to entertain a group of young children, and adults enjoy getting involved too! A kit would also make a great gift for a crafty child.
I was sent enough craft materials to host an AmiGami party for my children and a group of their friends.
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.
I actually don't have that many unfinished craft projects, as I'm quite good about finishing things off. But there are a few projects lying around that I've started that niggle at me, as well as projects that I have all the materials for but am yet to start.
Recently I listed out all these projects on a page in my Smash book, firstly so that I can keep track of them and secondly for inspiration in case I find myself with some free time and looking for something crafty to do.
On our recent holiday I finished off a project which I'd been struggling with for some time, in fact it nearly ended up in the bin on a couple of occasions. It was a birdhouse kit that I bought once in Hobbycraft, I actually blogged about it once before. It was very cheap, but it turned out to be a bit of a rubbish kit. It didn't contain any of the embroidery silks, so I had to use my own for it. The pattern was impossible to read, and I did most of the design following the photograph that accompanied it. It's supposed to be a large coaster kit, but when I came to frame it the cork backing was too big and showed through the transparent sides, which made it look really messy. I managed to work something out though and I'm pretty pleased with the finished piece, it is quite pretty, and I'm glad that I stuck with it.
Now I'm concentrating on another kit that I bought in the sales - a knit your own hot water bottle cover which came from The Works. I bought it mainly because it came with a mini hot water bottle, and as Mia has been eyeing up Harry's hot water bottle for some time I thought it would be nice to make for her. It's supposed to be red and green with a festive crochet snowflake, but I've changed it to red and purple and I'm intending to decorate it with a felt heart (crochet and I don't get along).
I'm not very good at knitting, and I'm pretty terrible at following a pattern. Possibly it's just me, but the pattern included doesn't seem to make a great deal of sense so I've been fudging it a bit. I've knitted one complete side and have just started on the second side. It's quite easy to do, just the increasing and decreasing that I've made up a bit, hopefully it will be finished by next winter!
Colouring books for adults are very popular at the moment. I blogged recently about my first foray into the world of adult colouring, and recently I was asked to try out some colouring books from a new Dutch series which will be available in the UK from next month.
Both books are quite similar, and contain a good mix of different designs. There are geometrical and repeating patterns alongside more fluid designs. Some pages have a natural theme, some are more abstract. There are also some lovely pages inspired by different architecture, with designs that range from very simple to beautifully complex. Each book has so many pages that it's really easy to flip through and find something that inspires you and matches your mood.
Some of the designs are really simple, like a repeating heart pattern, great for when you're after something simple to keep you busy and not requiring too much concentration. Other pages are based around easily recognisable images, like some fish and other sea creatures which make up a lovely underwater scene.
All the designs encourage you to think about the colour scheme that you want to use, and whether you want to stick to a limited palette or go wild with different colours. My only problem was deciding where to start! The first design that I chose was a simple one, and reminded me of gemstones and feathers.
I've been using felt tip pens to colour with and they are colouring smoothly, the pages of the book are nice and thick. The designs have bold lines which makes them easy to colour neatly. The pages aren't designed to be removed from the book once completed (although you could if you wanted to without any trouble) but I can't wait to flip through the book once I've finished a few pages and see it come to life!
I received two titles in the series for the purpose of this review. The pages in this post are all from The One and Only Colouring Book for Grown Up Children. Post contains Amazon affiliate links.
Update - we loved our holiday to Center Parcs, Erperheide so much that we have returned twice more! You can read my more recent posts about that trip here:
Before Harry started school we had several happy family holidays at Center Parcs in Elveden and Longleat. We took advantage of term time reductions, and enjoyed a reasonably priced short break. But when we came to investigate the school holiday prices we found that the prices for a holiday at one of the UK parks were far too high. But to our surprise, we found that the prices for a break at one of the Center Parcs resorts on the continent were a good deal cheaper, and also seemed to offer a lot more for your money. So we took a chance, stretched our wings, and booked ourselves a week at Center Parcs Erperheide in Belgium, and we are so glad that we did.
Because we visited over the Easter bank holidays, the break was extended to an 8 night trip. We travelled to France through the Channel Tunnel (a cost that we were able to cover with our Tesco Clubcard vouchers) and then from Calais the park was about two and a half hours drive away through France and Belgium. In terms of petrol, it didn't cost us that much more than a trip to Elveden.
We paid a small amount extra to stay in a VIP cottage. It wasn't huge, but it had a few extras that made our stay a little easier. For example, all bedlinen and towels were included, as well as a kitchen and toiletries package, free WiFi and a big bag of fresh rolls which were delivered daily to the cottage. The two bedroom villa also had a sauna, and a small kitchen with a dishwasher (although no oven, just a hob and microwave). There was a lovely, private outdoor area with barbecue and sun loungers, although it was a bit cold for that when we visited!
Despite visiting during the Easter holidays, we found that the park was much quieter than we've experienced in the UK parks. And what really set Center Parcs Erperheide apart from the UK parks was the huge amount that there was for the children to do, all included in the price of our holiday.
Aqua Mundo is the swimming area, comparable to those that we've found in other Center Parcs resorts, possibly slightly larger. It has the usual central pool with an hourly wave machine, which is connected to a series of small, warmer pools linked together by shallow rocky waterfalls. There is a baby pool with small slides, and a toddler pool with slightly larger slides. There are longer water slides and an outdoor rapids slide, a large outdoor pool and a lazy river. There was also a pretty cool themed outdoor area where you could dive under the water to see fish in tanks swimming alongside you.
Then there was Baluba, where we spent a great deal of time, and it was awesome. It is a huge building, filled mainly with a large soft play slide area and an enclosed foam ball play area.
There is another soft play area on the other side, and around the edges are a bouncy castle, trampolines, enormous Lego play area filled with different sized bricks and an indoor race track with little cars that you can drive around for €1.
In Baluba was a cafe for drinks and food, and then a small stage where mainly free kids activities took place most days, like the disco, crafts and storytelling. Twice a week there was also a late night show called Straordinario. It was on quite late for our little ones so we only lasted for the first half (the entire show finished around 10pm) but it was quite entertaining, if a little surreal.
The children's daytime entertainment was hosted by a character called Orry and his three friends, and they were often seen driving about in their Orry Mobiel car, it was a really good way to tie all the children's fun together.
There was plenty to do outdoors too. The children loved the Children's Farm, which was full of baby lambs and goats, as well as rabbits, guinea pigs and ponies. There were plenty of ducks to feed, and lots of outdoor playgrounds, some in the centre and some spread around the park.
As well as all the free activities, we found that the extra activities were very reasonably priced. We've never paid for any extras on our UK breaks as they can be so expensive. But at Erperheide our booking included four 'Toppings' vouchers which you can use towards various extra activities on your stay. We used one voucher to secure a particular villa number, two vouchers to pay for an hour of bowling for the family and one voucher for the children to play mini golf.
There were lots of little craft activities that the children could do, and you paid for them as you did them without needing to book in advance. We paid €2.50 each for the children to decorate a light up stick for the kids disco which they loved. We also treated the children to an Easter Egg hunt for €5 each which they really loved and they came back with more than €5 worth of chocolate each!
The only other activity that we paid for was the Kid Safari. For €12 Harry was able to drive Mia around in a little jeep for half an hour, it took him a while to work it out but it was pretty fun!
Just down the road in Peer is a large Lidl which is easy to spot. Although we took most of our food with us, it was useful for the extras as well as for stocking up on some local favourites like big bags of Belgian waffles! There's a string of other supermarkets and fresh fruit and veg shops in Peer too, and the shop on site at Center Parcs itself is very good and reasonably priced.
We mainly self-catered in our cottage. Erperheide doesn't have the wide range of chain restaurants that we've found in UK parks and the restaurant selection was mainly based around all you can eat buffet style dining, which doesn't really suit us as our children are fussy and don't eat a lot. We did eat a couple of times in the Grand Cafe which offered a range of reasonably priced food and drinks in a pleasant setting along with a couple of play areas for the children.
Belgium has three official languages - Dutch, French and German - and all the important information was given in these three languages as well as English. The Orry kids show was in Dutch and the story time was in Dutch and German, but this didn't seem to bother the children. I do speak German and can understand some Dutch so I was able to translate, but I don't think you'd find it a problem if you couldn't, and all the staff and entertainers knew English.
We had such a brilliant time and would absolutely recommend a holiday in Center Parcs Erperheide, whether you are a Center Parcs regular or not. If you have any questions please do feel free to ask in the comments, I'm very happy to help!
If you are interested in a holiday to Center Parcs, Erperheide, you may like to read my other posts:
We paid €680 (approx. £490) for an 8 night stay in a VIP Cottage at Center Parcs Erperheide. The full price for the Channel Tunnel was £146 return, which we paid for at a third of the price using our Tesco Clubcard vouchers. As a comparison, a similar villa for the four of us at Center Parcs Elveden that week would have cost us over £2000, without the many extras that we feel Erperheide offers.
This month, as a member of the Bostik Bloggers crafting team I received a gorgeous box of crafty bits, with a theme of Ocean. There were some really lovely bits this month, and I couldn't wait to get started with some under the sea crafts!
This is what we made:
Cardboard box aquarium
Materials:
Cardboard box
Paint - green, blue and sand coloured
Sponge
Glue (we used Bostik blu stick)
Blue glitter
Fish stickers
Shells
Small under the sea themed toys
Cotton and needle
Instructions:
Cut the top and side flaps off the cardboard box. Make sure that all the inside flaps are either removed or stuck down securely - we used double sided tape but I actually ended up having to sew it closed with a few stitches as the cardboard warped when it was painted. Mark out lines down the sides for the sandy section of the box, then paint blue and sand coloured.
When the paint has dried, use a sponge and the green paint to make seaweed.
When this layer of paint is dry, cover the inside of the box with glue and sprinkle on blue glitter. To stick the glitter we used the Bostik blu stick. We get through glue sticks at an astonishing rate, but this one was particularly good because when you first apply it the glue shows blue, then it dries clear, so you can see where you've put it. Great for crafting with little ones that tend to apply liberally, as they can see where they have already put the glue.
Then you can use fish stickers to decorate the inside of the box. I also hung a couple of the large foam fish stickers from the top of the box with a length of cotton so that they can dangle inside. We finished off our under the sea scene with some shells glued to the bottom of the box, some treasure and a diver figure.
Under the sea viewer
Materials:
Shallow lid from a shoebox
Craft knife and cutting board
Blue cellophane
Tape
Small fish stickers
Instructions:
Use the craft knife to cut a window out of the box lid. It doesn't matter if the sides are a bit wavy, that adds to the underwater effect! Stick a sheet of cellophane across the window and secure at the sides with tape. Stick some fish stickers over the window.
Explore the house looking through the underwater viewer, making the fish swim across the furniture! The children played for ages with this, with all sorts of under the sea role play!
The box of craft materials was provided to me free of charge by Bostik as part of the Tots100/Bostik Craft Bloggers Club.
For Christmas a couple of years back my brother bought me a pack of Mini Hama Beads - a big bag of the mini beads in a huge range of different colours. If you are interested in trying mini Hama beads, this bag is a real bargain (although you'll need to get some boards too of course). There are some very subtle colour differences between the shades though, and I spent far more time than I'd like to admit sorting the beads out by colour into the little compartments in pill boxes.
I wanted to make some kind of picture that I could put on display, and it needed to use a wide range of different colours. I pin all sorts of Hama bead inspiration to my Hama bead ideas for me board, and one design that I found and particularly liked was some Hama bead Matroyshka (Russian Dolls) which I found among these mini Hama bead designs.
I took the basic Russian Doll design and added some extra patterning and background to make it into a square image
Crafting with mini Hama beads is a very delicate process. You need to use tweezers to drop the beads into position, and you learn to perfect a sort of flipping action to get the beads upright before you pick them up. I also can't count the number of times that I've given the board a slight knock and all the beads have fallen off.
I repeated the design four times in different colour schemes to produce my tiled picture. The design almost fills the square board, and each square uses 756 beads, so the entire picture used over 3000 mini beads. Luckily my brother topped up my supplies again at Christmas last year!
You do need to be very careful when ironing the mini beads, with a very quick iron on a low heat setting as they are so delicate. Now I just need to get them framed and on display!
and 
.
- a big bag of the mini beads in a huge range of different colours. If you are interested in trying mini Hama beads, this bag is a real bargain (although you'll need to get some boards too of course). There are some very subtle colour differences between the shades though, and I spent far more time than I'd like to admit sorting the beads out by colour into the little compartments in pill boxes.
