Aquarelle Painting set from Ravensburger

Ravensburger have a range of painting sets which make it easy for anyone to have a go at watercolour painting. This set is suitable for ages 8-13 but I guess even older if you are a complete beginner. I love anything to do with art and craft so would have happily given this a go had my daughter not wanted to but there is no chance of that, she loves being creative.

Whats in the box?

3 watercolour paper canvasses with unique paint resistant outlines

5 Liquid watercolour paints in easy squeeze bottles so you can mix a wide variety of colours

1 double sided paintbrush with 2 brush sizes

1 water pipette

1 colour mixing palette

detailed instructions

Its a work in progress...

 

 

Big M really enjoyed this and she like the water resistant outlines as it made it easier, although looking at it now, the colours have bled a bit, but she may have used too much water as I think she might have been in a hurry to get it finished before dinner. All good learning though as it will mean the next one will be even better.

Big M did ask to use a bigger brush so maybe the size of the double ended brush could be a bit more varied, as I have lots of brushes it wasn't a problem. I think the colour palette is great as it has lots of sections so you can get plenty of different shades if you have a lot of the same colour to paint.

Overall I think this is a great little painting set, you can find it on Amazon for £9.60

Aquarelle Painting Set

The Aquarelle collection has three sizes to choose from; Mini, Midi and Maxi.

Mini Aquarelle is the perfect starter pack which includes one canvas and three base colours to mix a whole rainbow of colours to paint with. Two new designs are available, including Butterfly and Parrot, and the pretty Kitten is also still available. The Midi range includes three canvasses complete with five base colours and a double-sided paintbrush. Two new designs have been added to the existing Dolphins, including Horses and Fairies. Completing the range is the new Maxi Beach Paradise, which includes three different tropical scenes to paint. The Maxi range design is perfect for those who enjoy a challenge and detail, and it also includes World Cities, which depicts scenes from New York, London and Paris.

We were sent this product free of charge, all thoughts and opinions are my own.

 

My Latest sewing project

I have seen around that people are making washable kitchen roll and as we seem to use mountains of the stuff I thought I would have a go at making some myself. All in the name of trying to recycle, mend and make do I think they call it. Well I have plenty of old baby towels which I can't seem to get rid of so I got unpicking the binding and the folded corners of and cut the towel up into equal sized pieces. I then chose a fabric which I had enough of and which I thought would look good and cut out equal sized pieces, roughly the same size as a piece of kitchen roll funnily enough :P Then I got stitching on my cheap as chips sewing machine and bobs your uncle. Only thing is now I have made them I am looking at them and thinking I don't want to get them messy, ha ha. I think they could have other uses too like face wipes for the kids or place mats ok they are smaller than the average place mat but they are big enough for the base of a plate. I managed to make 8 from one little baby towel. If I had a snap machine then I could have put snaps on to make them attach together and actually go on the kitchen roll holder but as I haven't got one and I haven't decided what their use will be I won't :-) Anyway here is the final product....

 

 

Just in time from Ravensburger - Review and Giveaway

Ravensburger have a range of new board games, we are reviewing Just in Time.

 

Each player has to find a place for his tiles on his play boards faster than the others. But leaving spaces at the right spots, that’s the art of the game! Because you only get a lot of points when the open spaces display the highest numbers and no tile protrudes! Its suitable for age 8 and above.

 

Whats in the box:

52 x Tiles, 13 of each in player colours
40 x play boards
27 x challenge cards
1 x scoring track
1 x hourglass timer 

 

You each have your own set of coloured shapes and a marker to go on the playing board. One player then chooses one of the animal cards which could mean you have to use 3, 4 or 5 of your playing pieces.

 

 

Once that has been decided, one of the number cards is chosen that corresponds with the number on the animal card, this will tell you which of your playing pieces you need to use.

Then you set the timer and try to fit your pieces onto the playing board without going over the edge or covering up the numbers, once you have done it you call out your numbers and then you can add them up and move that number of places on the score board. Each number can only be called out once. The aim is to fit all your pieces in before anyone else so you can get as many points as possible. Here is our game in play...

 

 

 

This game has fantastic educational qualities, it was more challenging for my 9 year old but she soon got the hang of it and you can play variations of the game to make it easier or more difficult, we decided to double our time to make it a little easier. We really enjoyed this game and its the kids keep asking to play it again so definitely a winner for us.

Just in Time is available to buy from amazon for £27.04
 

 

I have teamed up with Ravensburger to give away a copy of the game t one of my readers, all you have to do is complete the Rafflecopter form below.

 



 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Pepper Pig Holiday App review

G has been sent a code free of charge to test out this new Peppa Pig Holiday App. You can find it in the App Store for £2.99 and is compatible with iPad, iPad Mini, iPhone and iPod Touch.

Activities include:

At the Airport – Peppa and her family are checking in at the airport, can you help load the correct number of bags on the conveyor belt? Make sure you place the right item in each bag as it passes through the X-Ray machine!

Let’s Go to the Beach – Peppa and George are getting ready for the beach, can you help them pick swimming costumes and beach toys? Don’t forget to apply the sun cream!

Ice Cream – Let’s make Peppa and her family some ice cream! Get creative and make your own yummy ice cream too!

Swimming Race – Peppa and her family are ready to race in the swimming pool! Who will win the race? Enjoy this game in both single and multiplayer mode.

Let’s Make Pizza – The family visit the Village Cafe. Let’s help them make a pizza from scratch! Don’t forget to roll the dough and prepare the toppings before you place it in the oven!

Video content – Click play on the menu screen to watch the Sky High song in full screen mode.

Postcards Sticker Book - Collect virtual stickers throughout game-play and arrange them on a selection of four colourful postcard backgrounds.

G seems to love the ice cream making and the pizza making, can you tell he loves his food? As well as fun, this game has its educational qualities and helps to teach number and colour recognition, creativity, memory matching and concentration. He sat for ages playing this when I showed him and considering he is only 2, I think he did really well. He needed a little help with slicing the food to go on the pizza but managed the rest himself.

This is a great game for any Peppa fans out there and is well worth the money.

 

Revive Hand and body lotion from Hotel Chocolat - review

I never even knew that Hotel Chocolat made beauty products as well as their amazing chocolate. I have been given the chance to try some and I am always up for trying out new hand creams as I seem to wash my hands a lot as a busy mum of 4 and I don't always have the time to moisturise so they get dry and sore sometimes, especially in the cold weather.

The Revive Hand and Body Lotion comes in a good size handy pump action bottle which has made it so much easier for me to remember to apply it after each hand wash as I don't have the time to think about taking the top on and off, so that made me happy before even trying it.

It's made with Organic West Indian cocoa butter, babussu & mango seed oil and I must says smells divine.

It is silky smooth on application and since I have been using it, my hands are so much smoother and a lot less dry and its so nice, that I have been remembering to apply it after each hand wash. You might think well if its next to where I wash my hands that would be easy but no, its not anywhere near the hand washing area, I have to keep it on the kitchen window ledge away from toddler hands!

Although its priced a little higher than I would normally spend on hand cream at £18, its well worth the money as its quite a big bottle and it really works on my usually dry, sore and sometimes cracked skin on my hands that are also prone to eczema. I have to say I absolutely love it, it's not greasy and soaks into the skin quickly. I would recommend this product as I think it's fab.



I received this product for the purpose of this review, all thoughts and opinions are my own.

Maternicare giveaway

A little while ago I reviewed some Maternicare cream for stretch marks, you can see what I thought here.

 

This is what Maternicare have to say...

 

Developed by pregnancy skincare experts, MaterniCare is a unique blend of rich plant oils and essential vitamins to nourish protect and care for your skin as your bump grows and then support your body as it recovers. Its gentle, hypoallergenic formula is packed full of pro-vitamin B5 a powerful natural skin healer and protector � as well as almond, avocado and grape seed oils, vitamin E and soothing calendula.

 

Whether it's your first or your third child it's essential to take care of your skin during pregnancy as it has to stretch an extra two square feet on average and then return back to normal in just a few short months. MaterniCare fights against the appearance of stretch marks and so much more. Its nourishing protecting formula is particularly popular with mums to be for its light fragrance, cooling feeling on application, easy to absorb and non-oily properties and the fact that it leaves even very dry itchy skin feeling soft and smooth.

 

Stretch marks are very common, affecting over three quarters of women during pregnancy. They are caused by collagen tearing below the skin and as we get older our skin loses its elasticity and makes stretch marks more likely. Massaging MaterniCare into your breasts, tummy, thighs, hips and bottom twice a day will help keep your skin strong, smooth and supple throughout.

 

MaterniCare is £14.99 for 200ml and is available from Boots and all good pharmacies. For a full list of stockists visit www.maternicare.com/stockists. For more information on you and your skin during all the stages of pregnancy and the benefits of MaterniCare visit www.maternicare.com.



 

To celebrate the news that Maternicare is now available to buy in Boots I have 3 bottles to give away so why not try your luck at winning a bottle for yourself, just complete the rafflecopter form below.

 

 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

QuinnyCasters - Quinny Moodd free hotspots in London

For our next Quinny challenge we had to visit some free hotspots in our city. We chose to go and see the dinosaurs. This would be the first time I have ever taken both little ones right into the city without a double pushchair, scared, yes! I took the sling so I could swap them around and it seemed to work really well.



We arrived at our destination, being a bank holiday weekend we had to stand in line for over half an hour just to get in and then another long queue for the dinosaurs, G was excited to see the dinosaurs and he seemed to cope ok with the queue, the Quinny coped with it ok and we didn't get squashed in anywhere at all.

After seeing the dinosaurs we went for a stroll in the fresh air and I swapped the kids over so G could have a sleep, little M chatted the whole way, we walked all the way to Hyde park and sat out in the sun for a bit before heading back home. We saw the beautiful looking sky on the train but couldn't seem to capture exactly how it looked.

 

We had a great day out despite there being hoards of people, we really love to go to our favourite hotspots on a weekday when its not so busy but our other favourites include the science museum as there is an amazing play area for little ones and we also love Diana's memorial park at Kensington Gardens, there is loads of sand to play in and a huge pirate ship, I just wasn't brave enough this time around to go on my own without another adult as I was worried I would lose G as he has a habit of just running off! can't wait to take him there again though :)

Where are your favourite free places to go?