Craft-A-Day: 365 Simple Handmade Projects Book (Blogoversary Giveaway #4)

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Having set myself the rather ambitious task of doing an advent activity a day with The Boy, I then needed to find a good selection of activities to do with him that wouldn't require copious amounts of glitter and images of Father Christmas (or I'd go mad!).

Luckily, I was sent a copy of this book by Sarah Goldschadt:

Inside 'Craft-A-Day' is a craft activity for every day of the year, but it's very cleverly split into weeks featuring crafts surrounding one image or theme. And at the beginning of each week, a template is provided for that theme so it becomes even easier to do simple and effective craft with your children.

Next week's craft theme is 'Gingerbread Men':

It's a brilliant idea to enable parents to do crafts with their children, and I'm really looking forward to dipping into it with The Boy and choosing some great activities to complete.

This book normally retails at £16.99, but I have four copies to give away to readers. To be in with a chance simply complete the Rafflecopter form below!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

I was sent a copy of this book for the purpose of this review. My opinion is honest and unbiased.

Getting Piggy With It! #PigsByKids

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Remember the Natwest Piggies from when we were children?

When a child's bank account was first opened they were given Woody (the baby and incidentally I still have him in the attic!) and for every £25 in the account the children would receive another member of the family. They were designed to encourage children to save, and were much sought after.

Natwest are relaunching the Piggies to encourage children to start saving from a young age. The #PigsByKids competition enables children (13 and younger) to have the chance to make history by designing the new NatWest pig. Entering is simple and requires registering, choosing a pig, designing a pig and creating a story, and then submitting a picture of him or her through the site.

Natwest kindly sent us some craft materials to have a go at making our own piggy bank.

pigsbykids

We started doing one together but my son is a little… independent and decided to make his own instead! What do you think? (And yes I know the saving hole is on the side!)

I think he'd be a great new pig on the shelves of children all over the nation, don't you?

PLEASE NOTE:

  • The competition is open to children up to 13 years old;
  • The winning design wil become the new Natwest pig;
  • Closing date for entries if 12pm on 11th November 2012;
  • Terms & Conditions apply (see website for details)

This is an advertising promotion for Natwest.

We were sent a box of craft goodies to help us make our own piggy bank and advertise the competition.

Pirate Craft Under A Yellow Moon Sky

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It's fairly obvious to anyone who reads this blog regularly that I like doing craft activities with The Boy. And obviously Yellow Moon got that impression as well because they've sent us a box of art and craft supplies to get busy with over the Summer holidays. We've been chocka-block embracing our inner pirates in a wealth of shiver-me-timbers activities and had great fun in the process.

pirate crafts

The Boy and I have made a number of things with these resources, and I have posted about them separately, but there were a few smaller activities that I wanted to share and show the resources we used to make them.

Pirate Collage

pirate craft

Foam stickers (£2.99 for 120) and coloured card (£2.99 for 50).

Pirate Finger Puppets

pirate craft

We coloured in these nifty pre-cut finger puppets (£2.99 for 24) with metallic pens and coloured felt pens.

We were sent other items which we used to make a pirate island, a treasure hunt and a spyglass. It's provided us with a Summer of fun and games, exploring history and adventure. It's also given me huge idea for The Boy's birthday party next Summer!

We were provided with these items for the purpose of this post. Our ideas and opinions are honest and our own.

How To Have A Pirate Treasure Hunt

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That Peppa Pig has got a lot to answer for you know! Thanks to her and her friends on Pirate Island, we've had to hold a treasure hunt, although I have managed to stop short of making a metal detector to find treasure in the garden. (Maybe we could pretend there's treasure in the defunct vegetable patch which might convince Mr. TBaM to dig it over?)

If you want to have a treasure hunt, you'll need:

pirate craft

a map, a telescope and a treasure chest…

pirate craft

We used these pirate masks which are pre-cut, pre-strung and adhesive.

pirate craft

We used tea bags onto a picture of our garden I'd drawn and The Boy had coloured in. Torn edges make it look more authentic.

pirate craft

And of course, no treasure hunt is complete without a treasure chest and a spyglass to help find the secret stash.

pirate craft

And the reward? The best chocolate coins that mummy can find in August!

I was provided with the linked items by Yellow Moon to see what I could do with them. The ideas and activities are my own.

How To Make A Pirate Spyglass

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We've been sent a few pirate items to review lately and it's prompted me to have a week of pirate activities. No pirate captain can be taken seriously without a looking glass. It's also the easiest thing in the world to make!

What you'll need to make a pirate spyglass:

  • a kitchen towel roll
  • black paint
  • gold paint
  • gold foil
  • metallic decorating pens *
  • paintbrushes
  • glue

pirate party craft

  1. Paint the tube black and leave to dry.
  2. Paint three gold rings around the tube, an inch from each end and one in the middle. This will help it look like it's one of those sliding ones. Use the metallic pens* to dot gold and silver patches over the other sections for some extra 'pirate bling'.
  3. Once dry, glue around the very tip of each end and cover with gold foil. Leave enough to foil to bend over and glue on the inside of the tube; we don't want scratched faces or eyes!

If you want to see another brilliant pirate spyglass, nip over and check out this 'How To' from the marvellous pirate mummy, Multiple Mummy.

I was sent the item marked * by Yellow Moon to see what I could do with it.

I'm going to be sharing a few pirate activies this week. If you've got anything pirate that you'd like to share, please add it to the linky below to create a great reference for me and others.