Duck Tape World Cup - a delightful array of patriotic crafts

I was delighted when Duck Tape recently contacted me to be one of 8 bloggers to take part in the Duck Tape World Cup. The idea is that each blogger gets given a group in the World Cup.  Duck Tape then sends the bloggers some coloured tape and we then have to create anything related to the country's flags.  Each blogger is then in a sweepstake and whichever team wins the World Cup, the blogger with that team wins a batch of product and some additional craft goodies.  Exciting!

So the goodies arrived and I was allotted Team G which meant my countries were: 

• USA
• Ghana
• Portugal
• Germany

This is what I decided to make:

GERMANY: Bunting

I started off with something relatively easy.  All you need for this project is:

• black, red and yellow Duck tape
• craft knife and craft mat
• paper

I folded an A4 piece of paper in to quarters and then cut them.  I then drew lines so that I could see where I needed to stick my Duck tape.

This was a really simple project to do.

Once I had finished sticking the Duck Tape on I attached them to some wool and strung them up.  It looked great!

Ghana - Ghana flag 

This project requires:

• red, yellow, green duct tape
• craft knife and craft mat
• paper
• photo frame

Following the same principle as above, I just drew my lines on the paper and then stuck on the Duck tape.  I then free handed a black star and stuck on.  Voila! 

USA - Rose bouquet

On to something a little bit more complicated this time, but I was amazed by how brilliant the results were.  I've made some Youtube tutorials if you want to have a look at how to do this yourself.  

 Portugal - Shaker

 This is another simple project which the children actually helped me with.  We covered the bottle in red and green Duck Tape and then the children drew the emblem and stuck it on  When this was done we then filled it with rice.  Simple!!

Now all that's left for me to do is to hope one of my teams wins in the World Cup.  This project has certainly made the World Cup a lot more fun than it usually is for me.  

Thanks Duck Tape! 

For more information on Duck Tape please visit http://duckbrand.co.uk/

GALT Mini Masterpiece – The Starry Night by Vincent van Gogh

How I used to love Galt as a child...  My favourite thing about going to the local garden centre was being able to pick up crafty toys from the Galt range.  Now I have my own children, they are even more appealing as it provides us with some important creative time together.

This month Galt's challenge was to recreate Vincent Van Gogh's Masterpiece 'The Starry Night' using any craft materials that you wish.

This is the template we were provided with:

 This actually provided us with an interesting opportunity to read up on who Vincent Van Gogh was.  I think I actually appreciated this more than my five year old if I'm honest, but I was interested to learn that this picture was of the view from his asylum.

Here's what we did with the picture:

Step 1: Print out 2 templates.  Paint on the first one and us the second one for reference.

Step 2: Paint the top half blue and the bottom half black.  Using the picture for reference draw in detail with a cotton bud.  This makes things much more interesting for children.

 Step 3: Accent and embellish the piece through the use of gold and blue glitter glue and gold beads and charms.  

 Simple but produces brilliant results.

 My son loved this activity so much he even went on to do a second one:

For more information on this interesting challenge please visit :  http://blog.galttoys.com/2014/05/08/mini-masterpiece-the-starry-night-by-vincent-van-gogh/

Review: Magno-Z from Brainstorm

We were recently picked to be a Hair-ee Spring Magno-Z ambassador.  This is an exciting opportunity which allowed us to get hold of the toys and test them out before they are even out in the shops.  

Here's the video review of what we thought of them:

But I'll sum up what we loved about them for any of you who simply wish to read about them.

Magnetic properties:

These toys are educational without children even realising it.  It's a great way for children to understand the basic principles of magnetics ie the way that they repel against each other if you have opposite sides facing each other.  It's also a great way for them to find out about the materials that magnets work with.

 Play potential:

Children will love the way in which Magno-Z connect.  Magno-Z characters can compete with any circus performers with the crazy positions and stunts they are able to pull.  The springiness of the arms and legs allows for backflips and lots of other fun.

 Collectable

Children love things that they can collect and the fact that the back of the pack gives you a bit of information on each personality allows children to develop this personality through imaginative play.

If you would like to compare how our review lives up to the advert you can watch this here:

Magno-Z will soon be available from Smyths Toys, Amazon,

The Entertainer,Toymaster and all good Toy Stores.

You can also visit - www.Brainstormltd/MagnoZ for more Information