crafts

Kids Love Getting Creative with Klutz Jr. Craft Kits-Giveaway

January 31, 2017 by Kathryn 122 Comments

When I was in my early twenties, I decided I wanted to learn to knit. I found a Klutz craft book, a series I’d loved as a teen, with step-by-step instructions, a set of knitting needles and even a yarn needle for sewing. A few weeks later, I’d made a scarf, a purse and even a little knitted rabbit toy! I’ve always thought Klutz books are a great choice for bringing out creativity for kids, teens and even adults in all kinds of ways and recently, the collection of craft books expanded to include a brand-new line for younger children four and up.

Klutz Jr. books and craft kits are perfect for smaller children that want to unleash their inner creativity and contain everything needed to create fun and unique crafts. So far, the Klutz Jr. collection consists of four fun-filled kits: My Sparkly Tiaras, My Clay Critters, My Egg Carton Animals and My Hand Art. I received a set of the four new titles to review for myself and with my boys home last Friday for a teacher’s development day, the timing was perfect to sit down and get creative with them!

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Surprise Your Favourite Little Designer with the Crayola Creations Jewel Maker

November 8, 2016 by Kathryn 30 Comments

I’m a big fan of toys that encourage creativity and creation, which is why I’ve always loved the newest innovations from Crayola. This year, the company has quite a few great products that are perfect for holiday gift giving and I was lucky enough to receive some of them to review! Crayola’s hottest new product this year is one that girls everywhere would love finding under the tree: the Crayola Creations Jewel Maker!

I decided to test out the kit by making a few fun jewelry pieces for my three nieces. The kit contains four different colours of gel jewel solution, catalyst solution, glitter, mixing containers, charms, gem molds, clasps, beads, icon-fetti, clasp bracelets, a work mat and a storage base. I loved how many different choices there were for creating something fun, special and personalized. The icon-fetti even included popular emoji icons that could be added to charms! [Read more…]

Decorate for Halloween with Two Easy DIY Crafts and Earn Double RBC Reward Points at Home Depot

October 14, 2016 by Kathryn 15 Comments

Halloween has always been one of my favourite holidays. I love the costumes, the decorations and the fun spooky spirit of the season. So I also love creating DIY décor for the yard to get everyone into the Halloween spirit! This year, we don’t have a whole lot of space to decorate since the front yard of our townhouse is fairly small. So with my RBC Rewards Credit Card in hand, I headed to The Home Depot Canada to stock up on supplies for a few easy decorations for small spaces…giant garbage bag spiders and glowing chicken wire ghosts!

With two times reward points for RBC Rewards Credit Card holders in Saskatchewan and Alberta on all purchases from The Home Depot Canada until the end of October, the timing was perfect for grabbing my supplies. I bought PVC pipe, elbow connecters, black spray paint, glow-in-the-dark spray paint and both one and two-inch chicken fencing. Then I added a cute plastic jack-o-lantern that plugged into the wall as a fun finishing touch! With my supplies in hand, it was time to get creative. [Read more…]

Let Kids Get Creative When You Say #YesToTheMess with Help From Swiffer #PGMom

April 14, 2016 by Kathryn 102 Comments

If there’s one universal truth I’ve discovered as a mother of boys, it’s that life with boys is messy! From dirt on the floor to pee on the toilet seat, I’ve pretty much resigned myself to dealing with random messes for the rest of my life. But while some messes are just flat-out gross, others are a lot more tolerable. Cleaning up the spilled chocolate from a kitchen baking session or scraps of paper and foam from a marathon crafting spree is worth the effort considering how much fun my boys have making those messes!

Luckily, cleaning up after my boys has become a lot easier since I discovered Swiffer products! From the handy Swiffer Sweeper for floors to the Swiffer 360 Duster for tables, shelves and more, I can say yes to the mess with Swiffer in my corner. Letting my boys make a mess has led to some pretty amazing creations, including large, colourful paintings and delicious kitchen creations. And since I, like 70% of other Canadian parents, believe that making a mess encourages creativity, I appreciate anything that helps me clean up those messes quickly and thoroughly! [Read more…]

Learn a Fun New Skill with Traditional Japanese Origami by Nick Robinson

August 25, 2015 by Kathryn 2 Comments

As a child, I spent a lot of my summer vacation reading. And while, for the most part, I chose fiction books when I headed to the library to stock up on new titles, I also occasionally enjoyed reading through craft books. It was such a book that gave me my first introduction to Origami, the Japanese art of paper folding.

It’s been years since I’ve tried my hand at any Origami creations with the exception of my personal favourite from childhood, a crow with a moving beak. But I still remember how relaxing I found folding sheets of paper into different shapes. That’s why I couldn’t resist the chance to review Traditional Japanese Origami by Nick Robinson. [Read more…]

Easy DIY Kitchen Cupboard Organization with @HPCanada #SpringCleaning

April 28, 2015 by Kathryn 23 Comments

The sun is shining, the snow is gone and warm breezes are blowing…there’s not much doubt about it; spring is finally here! And while I wish that meant nothing more than outdoor fun and games, it also means it’s time to get my house organized! This year, HP Canada helped me tackle the goal of home organization with a new HP Stream 11 laptop and printer supplies for my HP Envy 5530 printer so that I could organize my home in style!

Because I love to cook, my kitchen tends to get quite disorganized throughout the year, so I decided to get my shelves organized by moving some of my most-used foods from their ineffective plastic packages to matched mason jars and then attaching stylish labels printed on my HP Envy printer! I grabbed bags of oat bran, cornmeal, granola, brown rice and more and got to work!

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Give Your Kids the Gift of Creativity with Kiwi Crate Subscription Boxes

December 4, 2014 by Kathryn 56 Comments

With so many gift options consisting of tech devices, video games or battery-operated toys, it can be hard to really encourage creativity and imagination in kids when choosing Christmas presents. But those gifts that let kids build, use their hands and learn are often the most popular ones and that’s why Kiwi Crate has made it a mission to let kids experience that joy of creation in a very unique way.

This subscription box service offers a choice of four different craft kits. Koala Crate kits are for kids between 3-4 years of age. Kiwi Crate kits are for kids between 4-8. Tinker Crate kits are science-based kits for kids between 9-14. And Doodle Crate kits are craft kits for kits between 9-16. I recently received a Kiwi Crate and a Tinker Crate for my boys to review and I couldn’t wait to check them out. [Read more…]

Teach Kids to Build with Video Projects from Lowe’s Canada and Mag Ruffman-Giveaway

March 20, 2014 by Kathryn 173 Comments

Last year I shared some of the fun and useful videos created by Mag Ruffman and Lowe’s Canada that let children create their own fun building projects. My boys had a great time using duct tape, PVC pipe and metal bolts to make their own PVC Camp Stools and both of them still have those chairs today! While the project needed a small amount of adult participation as far as cutting the pipes and drilling the holes, most of it was done by my kids and it gave them a great introduction to using tools and building on their own.

Now Mag is back again with a new series of Lowe’s kids DIY videos, this time aimed at tweens! From a Swinging Treehouse Lounger to a fancy Cat Condo, these projects will let older children get their hands dirty and use simple building supplies and techniques to create cool projects they can actually use! [Read more…]