Hosting a Craft Party with Baker Ross

We received a brilliant delivery from Baker Ross this week and so we organised a crafting party for Freddy and his cousins to try their hand at some fabulously arty activities.  I love Baker Ross's craft kits. They are excellent quality products that create great end results that the kids can be proud of.

I covered the dining room table in an old plastic tablecloth and laid out the craft sets along with some extra paints, glue, paint brushes and scissors. The kids tried their hand at decorating their own rainbow fish, making mermaid bookmarks, painting garden gnomes, making scratch art monster fridge magnets and decorating little Superhero themed gift bags that we filled with chocolate coins for them to take home along with all the other things they made.

Crafting is great for children. Not only does it fire their creativity, it also helps develop their concentration, their dexterity, their hand eye co-ordination and their ability to follow instructions. The children have lots of fun as they involve themselves in some constructive activities, which teach them lots of new skills.

We received the following sets:

Ceramic Gnomes
£4.96 for 4

Decorate with acrylic paints or ceramic paint pens and personalise with a name. These gnomes are suitable for inside and outdoors and look really cute with their pointed hats and big boots.

The children really went freestyle on their colourful designs and enjoyed getting messy with paint. Freddy used googly eyes on his gnome, and later when it was dry, he wrote his name on the plaque with a Sharpie Marker.

Polystyrene Fish
£2.49 for 6

Decorate your own colourful fish with Deco Pens, sequins and glitter. This activity goes perfectly with a reading of the story of the Rainbow Fish. Children will love to re-enact the story of the Rainbow Fish with their own multi-coloured fish.

Their is some lovely detail on the fish with its scales, fins, tail, mouth and eyes. The polystyrene is very solid with a close weave so it didn't have that cringey feeling that you get with the polystyrene used for packaging. The fish could be suspended on strings to make a lovely mobile or underwater diorama.

Mermaid Weaving Bookmarks
£3.49 for 4

Foam shapes, self-adhesive foam decorations, coloured ribbon and googly eyes are included in each individual kit, to create a colourful mermaid with a woven tail. This is a lovely activity and the finished bookmarks look really pretty.

I really appreciated the fact that the things needed for each mermaid came in its own individual, sealed bag.  This means you don't need to sort through lots of stuff beforehand. You get spare eyes in each pack too, so you don't need to panic if you lose one! Weaving with ribbons is a bit fiddly, but with a little help, everyone did a great job.

Tropical Fish Cushion Sewing Kit
£2.99 for 2

With pre-punched felt pieces, self-adhesive felt shapes, yarn, plastic needle and stuffing, children can create their very own Blue Tang and Clown Fish (aka Dory and Nemo!)  It's a great introduction to sewing for children aged 5+.

Monster Scratch Art Fridge Magnets
£2.99 for 10

This is a fantastic activity comprising of 2 each of five designs of scratch art monster shapes along with scratch tools and adhesive magnets. As the top surface is scratched away it reveals rainbow colours, creating some cool designs. Once the design is completed, the magnet can be stuck on the back.

This was a lovely activity that gave some great results. Everybody enjoyed scraping away the top surface to reveal the colours underneath.  It was very easy and very satisfying to do, using the tools provided.

Super Hero Foam Stickers
£2.99 for 120

With 30 assorted designs including girl and boy superheroes, city skylines and 'Wham' and 'Pow' emblems, these self adhesive foam stickers are great fun.  We used them to decorate gift bags, but they are perfect for all kinds of activities.

It was lovely to see both male and female superheroes in the designs. It kept everyone happy!  The foam stickers really are great value and would be really useful for hosting a Superhero birthday party, for decorating party bags, invites, decorations etc.

Coloured Sequins
£2.99 per jar

These colourful sequins can be stuck or pinned to add colour and sparkle to lots of different crafts, such as collages or card making. We used them on our Rainbow Fish, sticking them with a dab of Baker Ross PVA glue.

You get a lot of multi-colured sequins in this 90g jar, each colour bagged up individually. It's a great value product for keeping in the craft box.

Hosting a craft party is a great alternative to a traditional birthday party. Children are kept entertained and engaged as they take part in the set activities and get to take home all the goodies that they create. The Baker Ross products are ideal for this. They are super value and the quality and designs are excellent. There are so many different themes available you could easily base a party around a single theme such as animals, flowers, sports or under the sea, or just pick a selection of products from the range.

I like that they are so well thought out, without being overly ambitious or too complicated. The sets give the children an activity that they can add their own creative spin to, whilst still being structured enough to give a good, consistent end result.

Freddy loved doing all the different crafts and was very proud of the things he had made!

www.bakerross.co.uk

Valentine's Day Crafts from Baker Ross

Baker Ross sent us some great crafting goodies for creating some lovely Valentine's Day or Mother's Day gifts. 

The children really enjoyed decorating heart shaped ceramic trinket boxes using some lovely, pastel coloured porcelain paints.  The heart shaped boxes are £3.49 for a box of four, which is excellent value.  They are 8cm in size and come with a fitted lid.  They can be decorated to create very personal gifts for loved ones.

The Hobbyline Brights Porcelain Paint Pots come in six bright pastel colours: orange, rose, ice green, opal blue, reseda and white.  They cost £10.99.  The paint goes on really nicely and can be baked to heat fix the design. They are the perfect medium to decorate the ceramic trinket boxes.

The kids enjoyed coming up with different designs for each of the ceramic heart trinket boxes that they decorated. Freddy wanted to make one for his big sister Ella with her name on!  Other designs involved stippling, geometric designs and dots.

The paint dries with a nice sheen, giving a great end result.  I loved Freddy's pot with a pink snowflake on top.  It is such a good way to bring out a child's creativity.

Painting the heart shaped trinket boxes was a really lovely craft activity with good end results.  They are a really great idea for making presents for mums, grandparents and other loved ones.  It would also be a lovely activity to do at a birthday party.

We also received a Spring Card Activity Set, which sells for £6.99. Each pack includes patterned and coloured card, corrugated card, pre-punched card baskets, textured and tinted paper, ribbon, decorative crystals, split pins and stickers.  There are 88 items in the pack, making it really good value. There are also instructions for projects.  

It is a kit that will let children have some springtime crafting fun, making cards, decorations, models, displays and other crafts, such as this cute birdhouse.  

There is so much potential for creativity and the colours and designs of the card and paper are really subtle, seasonal and nice. It is a really versatile kit encouraging children to try card and paper crafting.  

You can find all these crafting products plus hundreds more on the Baker Ross website at www.bakerross.co.uk.  They have craft sets, accessories and products for all seasons and special events.  I love their stuff and so do my crafty kids!

We're Zack & Quack Party Hosts

This Friday, join me for a Zack & Quack Twitter Party from 3.45pm to 5.45pm.

The party is timed to coincide with the Nick Jr UK premiere of their brand new show Zack & Quack at 4.30pm.  We'll be sitting down to enjoy the show and Tweeting about what we think.

Zack and his friend Quack love to make things out of bits and pieces in their pop up paper world, so the theme for this party is arts and crafts.

As well as washing the show, we'll be getting crafty and making models using boxes, glue, glitter, paper plates and pompoms.  It might get messy!

Throughout the party, you can join the party hosts, @NickJrUK and @UKMumsTV on Twitter and if you join in the fun using the hashtag #zackandquack you could win some great prizes.

Twitter parties can be lots of fun so I hope you will join us to celebrate the premiere of Nick Jr's new show Zack & Quack!

Easter Crafts with Hobbycraft #cbias

Although the current weather is more Christmas than Easter, the season of chocolate eggs, Easter chicks and bunnies is nevertheless fast approaching.  We have been taking part in an exciting 'shoppertunity' with Social Fabric to create some homemade Easter themed crafts using products purchased from Hobbycraft.  We have a brand new Hobbycraft store that has just opened in a retail park near to where we live, so I was really keen to pay it a visit and check out all the products on offer.  I love browsing through all the different aisles: the bakeware; the children's craft sets; the jewellery making; the papercrafts and of course the seasonal aisles!

To find out what we got up to on the very snowy day that we visited Hobbycraft to buy the items we needed to get crafty, take a look at my Hobbycraft Shopping Experience G+ Album.

I felt really inspired after reading this poem, which is printed on the wall behind the tills, and ready to help the kids make some Easter craft gifts!  I love doing craft activities with my family but I am no expert when it comes to doing complicated projects. So the crafts that we chose to do are all simple and perfect for children to carry out with some adult supervision.   The range of Easter themed stickers, ribbons and decorations makes it easy to add a seasonal twist to any craft project.  We loved all the cute designs featuring cartoon bunnies, fluffy chicks and colourful eggs.  I bought loads of stuff that will keep us going throughout the Easter holidays, and if the weather doesn't improve we will appreciate the joys of a nice indoor activity such as arts and crafts.

How to Make Decorative Easter Sweetie Jars

1 Kilner Jar (£2.79)

Decorative Paper (£2.00)

Easter Ribbon (£1.00)

Easter Foam Stickers (£1.00/£1.50)

Edging Scissors (£2.00)

Sweets to fill the jar

Cut out a circle of decorative paper using the edging scissors to fit the top of the jar.

Stick on with glue.

Using decorative Easter stickers decorate the lid.

Fill the jar with sweets and shut lid.

Add stickers to body of jar.

Tie a length of ribbon around the top of the jar and add a label.

It makes a great Easter present and an alternative to a chocolate egg.

Kizzy did a great job and enjoyed creating a bespoke jar to give to a friend this Easter.

We are going to expand on this idea to make jars containing the dry mix to make Easter cookies and decorating them for gifts for the grandparents.  It's such a nice idea for a present and would work for any season or occasion.

How to Make Hand Painted Egg Cups

White Ceramic Egg Cups (69p each)

Rainbow Markers for ceramics (£3.99)

This is such a simple and lovely craft idea whatever the age of your children.

The Rainbow Markers are quick drying and smudge proof.

Simply draw your design onto the egg cup and leave to dry.

For a great Easter gift, pop in a small chocolate egg.

All three children enjoyed this activity together.  Designs can be as simple or elaborate as the ability of the child allows, so anyone at any age can enjoy decorating their own ceramic egg cup.  

Ella, Kezia and Freddy had real fun.  I love how hard Freddy was concentrating on his 'modern art' design.  (I hear scribbling is all the rage in the art scene this year!!)

Craft Kits for Kids

Hobbycraft sell a range of great value kids' activity packs from just £1.00.

We bought a kit to make an Easter Chick in a nest, which included everything needed to make it including double sided tape and a felt pen (£1.00).

With a bit of help, Freddy made a chick that he was very proud of!  It is such a great value kit and something that would make a lovely gift to give to crafty kids this Easter.  It would also be a lovely going home present  for children if you have an Easter party.

So if you want to 'hop' along to your local Hobbycraft to stock up on some 'egg-citing' Easter arts and crafts bits (I love a good pun!) you can find your nearest store, discover some ideas for projects and look at the extensive range of products on the website at  www.hobbycraft.co.uk.

I am a member of the Collective Bias™ Social Fabric® Community. This content has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias® #CBias #SocialFabric.