My Sunday Photo ~ Ready Made Art

Porthleven Beach, Cornwall.

Creating Sand Art with KidsBeeHappy

Last month Maddi who sells fab Sand Art kits from KidsBeeHappy on her Facebook page sent Little A a sand art kit. We have used these before and had such a lot of fun we both jumped at the chance to have another go. When he opened the packet he was so pleased to see a fun snake to colour in with the different colours of sand; needless to say, when we did eventually get around to doing this craft he didn't waste any time!

He let his sister Midge and I help him too, we all had fun choosing which part of the snake would be what colour. They even came up with the idea of pouring the sand out together and mixing it up using the small yellow tool that came with the pack. This resulted in some lovely colours blending together, they were rather pleased with themselves!

I'd highly recommend this craft. It's simple, easy and as long as you have a spot to tap off the excess sand it isn't really a messy activity plus anyone can do it! Fun for all ages! I've been told to buy some in the very near future, I think we'll be choosing one each!

Sand Art packs priced from £4.00 including VAT

Michael O Mara Colouring Books { Review}

Recently I've got into adult colouring books. I tried those really over the top patterned ones and then those colouring for mindfulness books but I got so bored with so much detail to fill in. After a few weeks I bought a Harry Potter colouring book online and I've enjoyed colouring a page here and there. I think it's because it's harry potter and I'm a big fan. I did see on Twitter @OMaraBooks was looking for someone to review their animal themed colouring books, they looked so unique and fun I snapped up the chance.

You can enjoy Doodle a Poodle or Colour a Cat plus plenty more from their site MomBooks (Michael O Mara Books) all very affordable. My favourite is Doodle a Poodle because I like dogs and I love to doodle, especially if I'm waiting for tax credits to pick up the phone...

Colour a cat was a lot of fun to try too. Who knew there were so many cat varieties? I didn't, must live under a rock perhaps? I guess you could even say I got a bit of an education while I doodled? Below are some of the pages I had a go out. Loving my pug in particular.

I love the artwork in these books and can't wait to find some more time to just be by myself and relax with colouring and doodling. Do check out the website for more amazing books if you're into colouring.

Cupcake Mumma

Hogwarts in the Snow & The Hogwarts Express

A few weeks ago I took Midge with me to make the long journey to London with my mum. We stayed at The Jury Inn in Watford, a good place to stay as it's near the studios and near the town for dinner and shopping if you're there earlier. We met up with my sister and her boyfriend and went for dinner, then after a nice warm bath each we settled down for the night.

We all woke early for breakfast which although at £10 seems pricey it's all you can eat and I knew we wouldn't be eating at all during the day because the tour is as long as you like (long!) and cafe prices there are unsurprisingly high. Fully fuelled we headed to the Warnerbros Studio Tour. You can check in bags and coats, have something to eat and drink, use the loos, order Starbucks coffee and also dive straight into the shop (warning! this is definitely not budget friendly! Cheapest item is a postcard at 95p..I'm not sure I want to know the highest!) we did look around the shop however but didn't purchase anything at this point. We did marvel at the beautifully huge Christmas tree in the center of the waiting area and I measured my hands up to the 3 main stars prints, the one pictured is Daniel Radcliff's hand print.

We started queueing for our 12.30 tour, got our tickets checked and Midge got a passport to fill in, a great activity for the children (big and small!) the queue looks massive (because it is) but you get filed into a fairly large space so the line goes down very quick indeed. Make sure you don't miss the cupboard under the stairs and the 'flying' car!

I won't detail the next part, I know many have but it was the most magical part for me and I'd hate to tell you what happens before you enter the Great Hall. From this point on though it's spoilers all the way...

Midge with Aunty Issy

Beautiful wreath

Once inside the hall we were greeted with a huge feast which would've been in the films. The hall was decorated with trees, wreaths and looked amazing. The next section is full of props from the make up and dressing department, the portraits, Hogwarts gates, the Gryffindor common room, manikins dressed up in the actual clothes used in the films, dark arts props and so much more.

A huge spread

Chocolate table from the Yule Ball

The Philospher's Stone

Prison number from Azkaban

Fleur's hat and shoes 

Lord Voldemort and Harry's clothes at the start of the film on left// On right, the clothes by the end of filming

Gryffindor common room all festive

The newest installment is The Hogwarts Express. You can explore the carriages from the films (keep your eyes peeled on the carriage windows!) there is a shop specifically for the express with keyrings, mugs, jumpers and much more available here. There are luggage bags and of course, you can get a photo of yourself on platform 9 and 3/4:

Luna's trolly

Harry and Ron's first meeting

Me!

From there we saw more new props and then went on to outside. The Night Bus, Private Drive and Potters Cottage are all out here. There is also the bridge to Hogwarts and the famous East Anglia for you to snap a photo of or you can climb in for a selfie! Next you can see the special effects/mechanical props and more. There's plenty of amazing masks, animals and creatures to look at here. If you didn't appreciate the work that went into the amazing films before you certainly will over the last few sections.

Buckbeak is an amazing piece of art

The miniature dragons from the Goblet of Fire

Going into Diagon Ally is great fun! Look out for Gringots, Weaslys Joke Shop, Quiditch Supplies and more! As it was Hogwarts in the snow we got to see how they made the footprints on the snow (and earlier the different types of fake snow) that appear when Harry uses his cloak. Next stop is where you can view more truly amazing work. All the drawings and artwork and plans from the filming.

Once through the art and design you'll see many built up designs of the most well known houses such as Luna Lovegood's house, the Durmstrang ship and the Beauxbattons carriage plus much more. Brace yourself for around the corner though, the best bit is yet to come. No photo of Hogwarts castle could take away from the experience you will have at the Harry Potter studios; it's a piece of art in my opinion and can really only be seen in the flesh, so to speak. Below you can see the photos I took but believe me, they don't do it justice!

One you have dragged yourself away you can look for the names of all the cast, crew and actors/actresses on the thousands of wand boxes before heading into the shop where I bought a bunch of postcards and a chocolate wand for Little A. Midge had £10 pocket money which got her a chocolate frog and a couple of postcards.

It was such an amazing trip and I can't recommend it enough. Ticket entry is reasonably priced, the real cost is getting to and staying in London but Late Rooms was my handy tool for the latter! Now I've done the tour twice I feel happy, I don't need to go again (but if a friend needs accompanying I'm not going say no ha!)

Cupcake Mumma

Get Creative with Sand Art!*

Just before Christmas we were sent some sand art to review by those lovely people at 

Kids Be Happy

As soon as I opened the packet I had flash backs to my childhood. I'm certain I played with something similar when I was a little girl! The children were really excited by the look of the packet and were eager to start getting creative!

What's in the packet?

2 art cards to decorate with sand

1 small, yellow stick to help you peel back the yellow paper which covers the very sticky cardboard.

A selection of sand colours (10 in all)

Instructions on how to use your sand art

2 plastic sleeves to cover your finished artwork

Hooks to hang your finished artwork

Some Tips

• Make sure you place paper underneath the art boards to make clearing up the sand easier. Even better would be a tuff spot (something I'll be investing in this year!) or just having a dustpan and brush near by!
• Keep an eye on that little yellow stick, it disappeared pretty quickly and I used my finger nails to peel off the yellow paper (which was actually easier and quicker for me personally!)

I barely got a chance to prepare our table after I had showed the children the activity they would be doing shortly so there was sand everywhere by the end of our creative session! I moved pretty quickly to peel the the yellow paper off of the board (so would recommend doing this before handing over to your little ones if they are impatient like my two!)

Both children thoroughly enjoyed the sand art. A being younger was very heavy handed with his sand, whereas his sister was obviously a lot more careful and full of concentration.

All our sand was used and not a bit was wasted because Little A impressed me by using the top of the sand tube to collect the (now mixed) sand and pour it over his art work.

Midge has requested sand art for her upcoming birthday and I'm sure Little A would love some more for his birthday too. These sand art packs are great fun for both your child and you! The packs start from as little as £5. You can follow Kids Bee Happy on twitter or Facebook.

Cupcake Mumma

*We were sent one sand art packet for the purpose of this review.

Natures Decorations

I recently mentioned about going to my local Church for their Christmas fare. As Midge and Little Man were getting a bit tired and impatient waiting for Father Christmas, I decided a little walk around the grounds would be nice. 

Of course I was right. On our way around we picked up leaves, some which still had a faint bit of colour to them and even some pine cones. I bagged everything up and took our finds home. When we got in, I placed the pine cones onto the heaters around the home so they could open up. You'll see how much the open if you check on them which is quite cool!

Next, I decided we should turn our pine cones into some lovely decorations for our Christmas tree. All you will need are a few, basic things:

* A few pine cones

* Some glue and brushes

* Lots of glitter in lovely, different colours

* Ribbon or thread for hanging your pretty decoration

Pop all your bits and pieces on a table on top of some newspaper so your glitter doesn't go completely everywhere (unless you want to be like my house and have a VERY sparkly lounge!) Simply cover your pine cones (not too thickly though) in glue and sprinkle the glitter over. We used our fingers to pinch glitter and sprinkle it on, we mixed glitter to get some wonderful colours and also rolled our pine cones through the glitter. So many ways and so much fun!

Finally, tie some ribbon or thread around the top of your pine cone and hang onto your lovely tree. Stand back, and smile!

I've written this post as part of SnafflesMummy's 2012 Homemade Christmas Countdown. Do pop on over and catch up on the blogger's who have made some wonderful contributions so far.

CupcakeMumma

Autumn Gold

I love Autumn, it's my favourite season by far so when I checked in with The CSI Project this week and saw our crafting challenge was 'Gold,' I thought I should make something I could wear over this lovely season. I had a look around and found this lovely necklace so thought i'd have a go at making something similar.

I bought some 24 gauge gold wire from Ebay, an old gold necklace for £1 from my local charity store as I didn't have any gold chain, and finally I raided my draws for some beads that would match the wire. In the end I opted for some small purple ones after being unsuccessful finding my larger purple bead stash!

This was a fiddly project for someone who hasn't made anything like this before so it does require patience! It's also not a project I could photo step by step, maybe next time! For now, here is my Autumn Gold Nest Necklace:

First of all I threaded the 4 beads onto the wire then started wrapping the wire around until I was happy with the size of my 'nest' and the beads felt secure. I made a loop before cutting the wire to allow me to place a jump ring for attaching to the chain.

After taking apart the old necklace from the charity store I was left with a very long piece of chain- ideal! I cut the length I needed using my pliers and reattached jump rings as well as a new clasp. Now my necklace is all ready for stepping out into the Autumn wind (and rain!)

What do you think?

CupcakeMumma