Gift ideas for young Pokemon fans

I love putting together gift guides, and it helps to give me some inspiration for things when I'm doing my own shopping! So after the Pokemon Go craze of a few summers back that still continues in our house, here are some fab gifts for the young Pokemon fan in your life. None of these ideas are sponsored in any way, they are all things that I've found while hunting around for gift ideas myself. 

If you know someone that enjoys playing Pokemon Go, then they will definitely be speeding their way through their phone battery while they are out and about. A portable charger would be a great gift, and if you want to stick to the Pokemon theme then why not get them a Pokemon Pokeball Power Bank

To get children away from the electronic devices, how about trying a Pokemon themed card or board game that the whole family can join in with. My children love Monopoly and so they would love to play this Pokemon Monopoly, a fun twist on the popular classic.

There are plenty of Pokemon books and guides which children will love poring over to increase their knowledge of the Pokemon universe. A good start would be the The Official Pokémon Encyclopedia, and if they want to up their Pokemon Go game there is plenty of information in the Pokémon Go Unofficial Field Guide to study when they can't be outside playing.

And while you are out and about, I know that my children at least would love to have a Pokemon cap to wear to make sure that they look the part!

For our Advent calendars a few years ago we bought the children some mini Pokemon figures to go inside the wooden boxes. There are lots of companies selling these little toys on Amazon, so make sure that you check the reviews and where the product will be shipped from as some have quite a long delivery time. The quality also varies, and you will most likely get some duplicates. Be warned, they are cheap and they aren't official figures, so may not pass muster with true Pokemon fans. But our children loved them and at 2-3cm tall they are a nice size and would also be great for party bags or as prizes for party games.

I hope that you've found some fun inspiration for your little Pokemon hunters!

Snowglobe Christmas card tutorial

You need:

Craft foam sheet
Clear cellophane or plastic - printed with snowflakes if you have any!
Small star sequins
Bostik Fine and Wide Glu Pen
Wadding or cotton wool
Silver card or a card blank to mount it
Blu Tak Glitter Pens to decorate

Instructions:

Using the craft foam, cut out a snow globe shape. I drew around a bowl and a cup to create the shape of the globe, and made a stand at the bottom. Then cut out enough of the printed cellophane to cover the circle in the middle. Use the Bostik Fine and Wide Glu Pen to make a circle of glue around the edge and press the cellophane down firmly. Add a small sprinkle of tiny star sequins into the centre, then make another ring of glue and add a circle of clear cellophane. Wait until the glue has completely dried.

On the front of the snow globe, cut some wadding to size and glue into place to make snow at the bottom. Then mount the snow globe onto a card blank or some silver cardboard. For a bit of extra sparkle, squeeze some glitter from the Glitter Pen around the outer edge and spread it around evenly with a paintbrush.

This festive season I'm taking part in Vlogmas, and aiming to publish a video each day to my YouTube channel. Today's post marks Day 12 of Vlogmas, and I've created a video tutorial for this craft which you can see here!

The box of craft materials was provided to me free of charge by Bostik as part of the Tots100/Bostik Craft Bloggers Club.

Peter Pan at the Pavilion Theatre, Worthing

This week we were invited to the Pavilion Theatre in Worthing to watch this year's pantomime - The Pantomime Adventures of Peter Pan. The pantomime stars Richard McCourt (Dick from duo Dick and Dom) as hilarious pirate Smee, Patrick Monahan as evil Captain Hook, Amelia Lily as Tiger Lily and Lloyd Daniels as Peter Pan, and it's the classic tale of the boy who refused to grow up and his adventures in Neverland.

We all loved it! There are some great special effects in the show, I really enjoyed the flying sequence when Peter Pan and the children left London and flew through the clouds. Harry's favourite character was Dame Able Mable (yes, of course they managed to fit in a pantomime Dame!), especially the comedy baking scene, and Mia loved looking for Tinkerbell sparkling her way around the stage.

Harry was in stitches all the way through, and even though I'm sure some of the jokes must have gone over his head, he found the whole thing completely hilarious. Mia was dazzled by the singing and the dancing, and was stood reaching up trying to catch bubbles during the mermaid scene. All the classic pantomime elements were there, and it was a great family show.

Peter Pan is the best-selling pantomime that has ever been staged by Worthing Theatres, with a record breaking opening week. This year the pantomime has partnered with Chestnut Tree House to raise funds for the local children's hospice.

In the run up to Christmas I'm taking part in Vlogmas and publishing a daily video to my YouTube channel showing what we've been up to. You can see my short video about our trip to the pantomime here:

We received complimentary tickets to the press night of the pantomime. 

Christmas gift ideas for a Minecraft fan

Since Minecraft entered our house just over a year ago, it's fair to say that first Harry and now Mia are reasonably obsessed with it. They play in creative mode and build all sorts of things, sometimes in their own games and sometimes together, and I really love seeing the creative ideas that they come up with. With Christmas approaching I've been having a look around for a few Minecraft related gift ideas, and I hope that you find this post helpful if you share your home or life with a Minecraft fan.

Of course the children aren't allowed to play Minecraft all day, but I'm pretty sure that some days they spend a great deal of time thinking about it, and researching and planning what they want to build next. Harry gets a lot of inspiration from the Minecraft magazines that I buy him occasionally. His favourite is Mineworld Magazine, although he doesn't get it often as it's quite pricey, a subscription would be a great gift!

He also has quite a few books. For a quick easy read that he still returns to again and again he enjoys Stampy Cat: Stampy's Lovely Book, and he always enjoys reading the latest Minecraft annual which is available now - Minecraft Annual 2020 and very reasonably priced.

A thicker and very in depth reference book is the Minecraft: Blockopedia. It is stored in a sturdy presentation box and contains information about every single type of block that you can play with in Minecraft. It looks very complicated to me, but Harry loves it and his copy is very well thumbed. It's also quite educational - he knows all about different rocks and minerals which he has learned from this book!

If your child is just starting out playing Minecraft, Mojang do a range of official guides, and the Minecraft: Beginner's Handbook is a very good place to start. There are several more books in the series too which make great companions.

One thing that Harry is lacking and which will be featuring on his Christmas list this year is Minecraft apparel. There's a huge range available, and as he's a little short on nightwear I have my eye on a Minecraft dressing gown or a set of Stampy Pajamas. I've also seen some of his friends in one of these Eat Sleep Mine Repeat hoodies which come in a huge range of colours so you can find one in your child's favourite style.

When not playing Minecraft on the PC the children love role-playing Minecraft games. Harry has a few of these little Minecraft toys like this Minecraft Steve Action Figure, fun to play with and keep on display.

Crafty children will love the range of Minecraft paper crafting sets that are available. We have several of the kits, and I particularly love the look of the Minecraft Paper Craft Overworld Deluxe Pack which comes with over 90 pieces. Harry has had fun making stop animation videos with these sets.

Finally, if you are feeling crafty yourself you can easily make some little Minecraft themed gifts. In my blog post with some ideas for Minecraft party bags you can find out how to make Minecraft bookmarks and notebooks, or perhaps some Minecraft keyrings. Great for children to make and give to their school friends! And if you want to decorate your home this Christmas you might want to have a go at the Minecraft Hama bead Christmas baubles!

My Sky Blanket in November #SkyBlanket2016

My Sky Blanket is now complete! Here is a link to the completed Sky Blanket. 

Here is how my blanket progressed throughout the year - January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November and December.

If you have found this page because you would like to make your own Sky Blanket, you might like these posts:

Tips for completing a Sky Blanket

My Sky Blanket - What I would do differently next time

Welcome to November, and only one month of my Sky Blanket left to go! To begin with, here is how my blanket has progressed so far - January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September and October...

... and here it is in the usual spot on the sofa!

It is so large now that I'm working on it a few days at a time, generally catching up at the weekend. I noticed that it wasn't taking as long to crochet each row so I thought I should probably count my stitches, and was mildly alarmed to discover that I had lost nearly 40 stitches since I started - whoops! That's a lesson to me to keep an eye on these things much more regularly! So for the last couple of weeks I've been adding in a few stitches into each row and I'm back to the 200 that I started with now. I don't think that it's too obvious in the blanket as it has obviously happened gradually and the edges are quite wobbly anyway, hopefully I can stretch it out a bit when it's done.

I'm starting to make plans for when the year is finished now. The blanket is definitely going to need a border, and as it has turned out quite long and skinny I'm thinking about making a border which has quite wide sides to even it out a bit. I have quite a lot of yarn in a shade of blue that I didn't use in the blanket, so I will probably use that. It does mean that it's going to be a little while yet before the entire blanket is completed though (and it will be massive...)

I've also been adding in a few of the embellishments that I missed through the year. As we've all had our birthdays now I've added in all our birthday buttons. Harry and Mia chose their green and pink ones, I have a star, and Mia chose a large blue button for Ram.

I'm planning a few more embellishments too. I'm investigating adding some little crochet extras on, for example some Autumn leaves as the colours were so lovely this year, and perhaps a snowflake to represent cold at least if not snow. Maybe a star for Christmas. It would be nice to add a little more colour to the blanket.

There was a group of us taking part in the Sky Blanket project throughout 2016, and you can find us across social media, in particular Instagram, using the hashtag #skyblanket2016. The project was started by Bug, Bird & Bee, The Boy and Me and You Little Sew and Sew.

If you aren't sure if a Sky Blanket is the project for you, you might like this blog post with some more ideas for a year long craft project.

With many thanks to Make it Coats for supplying me with the yarn for this project.

Christmas crafts for children

This Christmas I've been invited to join in with the Wynsors #CraftWithWynsors Celebration. I'm going to share some ideas for crafts to do with the children during the holidays to prepare for the Christmas season, and bring some festive fun into the home.

To help I've been sent some craft materials, and some slippers for the children and hot chocolate to get comfy and enjoy being snuggled up in the warm at home this winter!

So here are three fun crafts that are easy to do with the children and will add a personal touch to your home this Christmas.

Light up glitter tree cones

You need - Glittery cardboard, a hole punch, buttons, glue, stapler, battery powered tea light candles

Instructions - First use a plate to cut a large circle template in the glittery card and cut the circle in half. Fold around each semi-circle to form a cone and staple together. Remove any excess card from the middle. Use a hole punch to make holes in the cone, then decorate with small buttons or any other embellishments. When dry, place a battery powered tea light candle inside.

These little glittery Christmas trees are great for decorating the mantlepiece or as a table centerpiece!

Yarn wrapped wreath

You need - A wire wreath base, lots of green yarn, battery powered fairy lights

Instructions - First, plan where your wreath is going to be displayed, to make sure that you have somewhere you can hide the battery pack and that you've left a long enough wire leading to it. Mine is propped up on the staircase, so the battery pack can be safely tucked out of the way.

First wrap your fairy lights around the wreath base making sure that they are evenly spread around. At this point it's a very good idea to make sure that your lights are in full working order, to avoid frustration later on!

Then use thick green yarn to wrap around the wreath base. Use several strands of yarn at once to make the process much quicker, especially if the children are helping out. As you go around, position the lights and wrap the yarn tightly but carefully.

When you start a new strand, make sure to tuck in any loose ends so that knots are hidden. You will probably want to go around a couple of times to make sure that all the wire is covered completely and the wreath looks even.

Then you can hang it up on display! Even if you have partially covered up the bulbs you will find that they still shine through the yarn and add some festive sparkle to wherever you have it on display!

Lollipop stick ornaments

You need - Coloured lollipop sticks (or you can paint them if you don't have any), glue, buttons, ribbon

Instructions - First glue the lollipop sticks into different shapes. I found it was best to do this in advance so that the glue was completely set, before letting the children loose.

Then use plenty of glue and stick on the buttons. You can either stick with a theme and use matching buttons, or go completely random for a more colourful effect.

Then add some colourful ribbon for hanging and add to the Christmas tree!

We had a lot of fun making these Christmas crafts, and I hope that I've inspired you to have a go at adding some personalised touches to your Christmas decorations!

I received slippers for the children and some craft supplies in exchange for this post.

Crafting is my Therapy December 2016

Welcome to December's Crafting is my Therapy linky, and thank you to everyone that has linked up! I'm afraid that December is going to be the last Crafting is my Therapy blog link up for now, as things have been getting very busy. But Nicola and I would really love to keep seeing what you have all been working on. So we have decided to launch an Instagram hashtag which will change each month so that we can all stay connected. For December it will be #craftingismytherapy_december, and we really hope that you'll use the hashtag to share anything crafty that you've been working on. Nicola and I will also be choosing our favourite images each month to share, and you can tag as many posts as you like! My Instagram account is here and you can find Nicola here.

With Christmas approaching rapidly, I have been very busy crafting this month! I think that it's my favourite time of year for crafting, and I've been making Christmas cards and decorations with the children as well as working on some crafts for myself.

My Sky Blanket really is coming on now, and I can't believe that it is coming to the end of the year. The blanket is getting so big that I've been working on it a few days at a time rather than having to keep getting it out and fold it away. I discovered that I'd managed to lose a few stitches as I was going along so I've been quickly adding a few back in with each row - a lesson for next time to keep a closer eye on my stitch count! It's not going to be finished at the end of December as it's definitely going to need a border, and I'm also thinking about making a wider border down the sides to make it a little more even in size. I have quite a lot of yarn in my stash in another shade of blue, so I'm going to see how that looks for the border and I'm hoping that the colours will match nicely.

I've also been working with White Stuff to produce some Christmas wreath crafts using their fabrics. I made a large wreath using strips of fabric, and some smaller wreaths for the Christmas tree.

You can find a link to my blog post here - Sew this is Knitmas with White Stuff - and below is one of the videos that I made demonstrating the crafts.

I've also been doing some Christmas crafting using Posca pens, which I have mentioned previously on Crafting is my Therapy. They really are fab pens, and I used them to decorate some wooden tree ornaments which worked really well. You can read about them here - Decorated wooden Christmas tree decorations.

I really enjoyed working on my White Stuff videos, ever since my Media Studies A-Level I've always liked the idea of having a go at video editing and over the last few months I've been having a lot of fun putting together little videos. It's definitely something that I want to keep going at, particularly the crafty demonstration ones. Below you can see a little video of the Posca pens in action, look out for more crafty videos over on my YouTube channel! I'm also planning on joining in with Vlogmas this year and posting a festive video each day of December leading up to Christmas, I'd love you to pop by and take a look.