Mila and Pheebs craft subscription box for children

So as you probably already know if you read my blog, I love a subscription box!!

Imagine my delight when I discovered Mila and Pheebs* who do monthly themed craft boxes for children. Their boxes are full of stationery, activities and fun things to do. They are delivered directly through the letterbox so no worrying if you're not in when the post comes! Subscriptions are available for 3, 6 & 12 months, or on a rolling monthly basis. Or alternatively you can buy a one off box for £9.99 including UK postage. They are perfect for any craft loving child and also work well as a gift.

I was very lucky to be chosen as brand rep for Mila and Pheebs and they kindly sent my little Miss the August box, which was Somewhere over the Rainbow themed.  I was pretty excited to receive it, especially when I saw a sneak peek of rainbows and unicorns on their social media.  I had visions of having to fight her for it!!  As you will also know if you read my posts, due to my chronic illness we do a lot of craft stuff together so the box is perfect for us.

When it arrived she wasn't actually in so I left it on her bed, which just happens to have rainbow and unicorn bedding on.  Totally meant to be!

When she got home and saw it, I'm not sure who was more giddy.. she was delighted at having a parcel addressed to her and I was bursting with anticipation about what was inside!  It definitely did not disappoint.  The first thing I saw was lots of colour and sparkle. Hurrah!

It was packed full of things which all had rainbows or unicorns on.  My daughter has inherited my love for such stuff, so it went down very well.

She wanted to start doing stuff immediately!! Despite it being almost bedtime, she took everything out and was very impressed.  She agreed to do the wordsearch and said she would play with the rest in the morning!

The contents of the box were:

Colouring-in sheets

Rainbow felt-by numbers kit

Neon rainbow crayon

Wordsearch

Rainbow crayon pencil
Unicorn pencil

Rainbow mosaic kit

Unicorn notepad

Rainbow paperclip

Collectible Iwako Unicorn Eraser

Heart rainbow stickers

Cloud embossed greeting card

The stuff has really kept her (us!) occupied.  She took one of the colouring sheets and the rainbow pencil out when we went for my friend's birthday afternoon tea and it kept her busy.

The following day she did the rainbow mosaic which had a magnet to attach to it, so it's now proudly displayed on the fridge.

We did the felt by numbers kit together yesterday.  I did the cutting and she did the sticking. I think she did a fab job of it!

Once she had finished she asked if we could cut it out and then proceeded to find another magnet so she could put it on the fridge alongside the other one!

She has really enjoyed everything in the box and has used it all.  You can never have enough pencils or notepads so they went down very well.  She loves the little unicorn eraser too, as she already has one in a different colour so has been loving playing with them!

I absolutely recommend Mila and Pheebs.  I think their boxes are a brilliant idea for children.
Previous box themes have included Woodland, Sweet Treat and Beside the Seaside.  For more information about subscribing follow this link.  Monthly boxes cost £9.99 (including UK postage), 3 monthly work out at £9.66 per box and 6 monthly £8.83.

Feel free to ask me any questions regarding them and let me know if you decide to get a box!


Ali 
xx

Making sensory bottles! (glitter is involved!)

Everyone who knows me knows I love glitter, so when I  saw a video of how to make sensory bottles and there was glitter involved I was straight on it!!

My little girl has acquired my love of the stuff so I'm not sure who was more excited about it.

They are really simple and take hardly any time. All you need is a plastic bottle, glitter glue, warm water and glitter. Whichever colours you fancy!

She opted for pink, red and silver so the first part was squeezing out the glitter glue into the bottle. I don't think there's any right or wrong way of doing it, give it a good squeeze and make sure there's a decent dollop there!

Next you add warm water

Then the best part...the glitter!!

Make sure the lid is on securely; we added some sellotape to give it some extra protection. The same thing I do with bottles of suncream when taking them on holiday! Then give it a good shake...

That's basically it! It's so pretty and the effect when the glitter is settling is really relaxing. I can see why they are good for kids (but I like it and I'm far from being a child!).

You can add stuff like foil confetti, buttons, sequins, even small toys. Anything you fancy really. I've seen Lego ones online which would be quite fun. We made another one the following day with loom bands in and it worked well. It was literally just loom bands and water but such a nice effect when you shake it!

I can see it getting addictive!!

Let me know if you give it a go :-)


Ali 
xx

More Autumn craft stuff!

Following on from my previous post here I thought I would show you a few more craft bits we've been doing.

First of all the leaves we pressed are well & truly flat now! We've not decided what to do with them yet so feel free to give me some ideas...

I mentioned in my other post that my daughter had asked if we could decorate conkers again like last year. So we did!

Paint, glitter & plastic gloves were involved as it was a bit messy but fun. Glitter is my favourite thing so in my opinion you can never have enough...

The end result was very effective. However I've put them on a glass cake stand & keep thinking they are Quality Street when I catch a glimpse of them, so I'm a bit disappointed each time when I realise they are just sparkly conkers & I can't eat them!!

My niece came round last weekend & they wanted to make some leaf pictures. They went to collect some leaves & got to work. I Googled for ideas & gave them some different options but they both went for hedgehogs!

They drew the outline with a face each & just stuck leaves on for the body. 

They finished by cutting out & made them into puppets, then proceeded to do a show for us which was very cute! I made a wolf for them but I won't show you as it's not up to the same standard as the hedgehogs!!!

I am really liking Autumn & despite me being poorly, these sort of things are easily do-able with kids & I really enjoy it. Remember if you have any ideas for the pressed leaves let me know in the comments :)


Ali 
xx

Autumn crafts

As you will know if you read my blog, I spend a lot of time doing craft stuff with my daughter.

Autumn is a good time of year to do fun stuff with all the pretty leaves & things around. Last year we decorated conkers with glitter which I blogged about here & she has asked if we can do it again. Of course anything that involves glitter is a yes from me! We have done a few different things recently so I thought I would share with you.

I saw something on an Instagram account I follow & knew I wanted to do it. Leaf pressing! As we don't have a flower press, we did it the old fashioned way. A few sheets of kitchen roll & a couple of heavy books!!

Little Miss went out on the street to collect some leaves & I was impressed with her haul. Such gorgeous colours.

We laid them out & made sure there was enough space for them all then sandwiched them between the kitchen roll.

We then closed the books & put a bag of marbles on top for extra weight! We need to leave them for 2 weeks to make sure they have dried out so I will update once they have been properly pressed!

Another thing we love doing is making bunting. It's so easy but a lot of fun & you can use pretty much anything. We used my Graze box packaging. If you're not familiar with them, they are a snack box subscription & I get the boxes every fortnight. They are really good for me as I am not very good at remembering to eat sometimes so they are ideal for a quick snack to get my blood sugar up! With M.E where your energy is almost non existent, combine that with not eating & it is not a good combination!

Anyway, the latest box had a really nice leaf print on in Autumn colours so rather than throw it away I suggested making bunting. We drew some leaf shapes & cut them out.

We cut some out of orange paper too so we had more & coloured them in using red, brown, green & orange.

Then we simply sellotaped them onto some string & hey presto... homemade bunting!

It looks so effective & it's now hung in the conservatory against a blank wall so it really stands out.

Would love to know if you try either of them or if you have been doing other Autumn crafts. Let me know in the comments :)

Thanks for reading,


Ali 
xx

Crafting with rose petals!

Who doesn't love fresh flowers? (me me me!)
They are even better when they have come straight from the garden. My neighbour has brought me roses round from hers the last 2 weeks. They have been so pretty & have smelt amazing (see my previous post about making rose petal perfume!)

They have lasted a good week & only just started wilting the last day or so. When we came downstairs this morning there was a mountain of petals so I suggested using them for something crafty rather than throwing them away. Which is exactly what we did!

We decided to make some pictures with them. I went for a flower & my little girl decided to turn them into hot air balloons. She cut up some paper straws to use as the baskets.

Then we cut some shapes out & did collages. I am rather pleased with my heart!!

Little Miss chose triangles & really enjoyed sticking the petals on them. It kept her busy for ages.

Once they were finished she took the biggest one round to the neighbour who gave me the roses. Little gestures do really make people's day sometimes & she was really happy with her picture which has gone on her fridge!

As I've mentioned many times before, we do a lot of stuff in the house with how I am with my illness. Children are as happy being in spending time with you than they are being out (not that we always realise this but they are & we shouldn't feel bad for it!). You don't need fancy things to keep children occupied.  We will use pretty much anything to do crafts with. Look around your house, keep hold of empty boxes & cartons, get out the trusty Pritt stick & scissors and hey presto. The world is your oyster! 

Source Pinterest 

Happy crafting :-) 

Ali 

xx