Photo Pearls Tiger by Goliath

When Jessica was shopping with Christmas money back in January, she spotted a craft kit in Homebargains that was right up her street. A Tiger made from 3600 picture beads at a brilliant price - it was a no-brainer; we had to have this one! In the kit we found beads, 4 square peg boards that nterlock, double-sided adhesive squares to fit the pegboards and very clear, large patterns to follow. The beads are just like Hama beads but you don't iron your finished piece; the adhesive sheets can be used to mount your tiger on card, board or something similar.

It was a really enjoyable make for us both and we love the end product but it was not without it's issues. Firstly, the kit comes with the beads mixed into just 2 bags and it was a significant struggle to seperate the colours (which are incredibly similar) and determine which shade matched each description from the instructions. Once we had completed this challenge it was plain sailing until we were close to the end when more than one shade actually ran out, leaving us with gaps at the bottom and a problem to solve. This image below shows the extent of the issue...

In the end we did the best we could to fill the spaces with spare beads from the kit along with our Hama and Hobbycraft picture beads. We managed this well enough that I don't think you'd know we'd had a problem but it was frustrating after so many hours working on the project together. For the pennies that they must cost to produce I really feel the manufacturers should ensure that there are a few spares of everything - there really shouldn't be any risk of people being unable to complete their picture.

So, I'm undecided whether to recommend these or not. We paid about £7 for it and I'd happily pay that again and do another one myself but I'd do it expecting to have problems. On the other hand, I couldn't give this as a gift knowing that it didn't quite work properly for us. If you do decide to give them a try I'd love to know if you have the same experience as us - perhaps we were just unlucky...