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...

Crafting with Daddy - Galt Foil Art

This is a rare but fabulous sight - Jessica roped her Daddy into doing some craft with her! I bought this kit to bulk up an order from Amazon earlier in the year and have kept it by me until this evening. This Galt Fab Foil Art kit is brilliant. So simple, so effective and so satisfying! With 8 pictures to create it will keep Jessica busy for quite a while too. You peel off sections of image to reveal a sticky surface that you cover and rub with foil. My little lady thinks it's absolutely amazing and I can understand why. Here's the first one she's completed...

Galt Beady Animals

This was a brillant buy for our summer crafting - Galt Beady Animals Kit - which I bought when it was half price on Amazon. The kit comes with three small ceramic animals, a spatula-type tool and six generous pots of beady modelling material. The modelling material is weird to touch but once you get used to it, it's fantastic to use. It claims to be mess-free but that really does depend on what you do with it! There's no chance of spillage and it is self-contained but I'd hate to see what happened if you managed to get a big lump of it in your hair or on your clothes! Anyway, you pick out small bits of the beady stuff and smooth it over the ceramic model. It's very pliable and really easy for little fingers to do. Once you're happy with your creature just let it air-dry for 24 hours and hey presto you have a unique and fabulous looking creation like Jessica's giraffe here...

I love Jessica's face on this one. She soon got used to it but the stuff really is a bit strange when you first start handling it...

This little giraffe hardly took any modelling material either so we're going to have tonnes left even when we've completed all three so we've bought a couple of other things to try it out on another time. Watch this space! Unfortunately the half price offer has finished on Amazon now but I think it's probably still worth a punt at full price if you fancy it.

Dinosaur Shrinkies

We really love Shrinkles but, my word, they can be expensive so imagine my delight when Jessica and I stumbled upon these dinosaur ones in Home Bargains for just 79p! They are not the Shrinkles branded product but they worked every bit as well and we'd definitely buy them again and again and again! We got just a single sheet to colour in but they included lots of pencils, clips, magnets, key chains etc and kept us busy for at least an hour. Aside from colouring them and enjoying watching them magically shrivel and shrink in the oven Jessica just loves playing with the characters that she's created afterwards. As I often say, what's not to love?!

For those of you who are unfamiliar with the idea, you get a thick plastic sheet with images printed on it. You colour in a textured side, cut out your shapes and bake them for a minute or so in the oven to shrink them. The shapes become about 7 times smaller and thicker and the colour intensifies too. They are just marvellous. Below is an image of the shapes on a baking sheet before and after going into the oven. I have not moved any of the dinosaurs so you can get a sense of how much they shrink. Pretty cool huh!