Nerd Block Junior

September Nerd Block Junior

I am loving the geek box subscriptions out there and as I wrote in my previous post I'm slowly going to work my way through them all!  So, of course, I ordered the Junior Nerd Block for Max.

I must say when we got the August box I wasn't entirely impressed with the contents and totally forgot in my excitement of opening it... I mean when Max opened it - I forgot to take any pictures what so ever!  So I promised myself I'd do a review for September and I'm undecided now whether to cancel it or not.

So, what's in the box?

Wonder Woman Scribblenaut

Brain Cell Plush

Pokemon Stickers

Yes this got opened before I could snap a shot

Sonic Racer

Trash Pack

So with all those goodies above - Max played with the TMNT papercraft that came in daddy's Nerd Block!!

From the Classic Nerd Block

AMARA Interior Blog Awards

I recently received an email from the organisers of the Amara Interior Blog Awards to let me know I'd been nominated for the best DIY blog!

Getting the Creative Bug?

Have you seen items on Pinterest and fancied having a go?  Watched Kirstie Allsopp on the TV and wondered if you could make that item too or just stared at a grotty old bit of furniture and thought about attempting to upcycle it?

I have.  I do.  I usually look at an item and wonder if I can get away with covering it in Spider-man!

Well good news, there is a subscription site online called Creativebug which hosts hundreds of tutorials for practically every craft category you can think of!  I must admit, I do respond better watching a video rather than a worded tutorial and this is just what Creative Bug offers.

Toucan Box #Craft Subscription Box

If you caught this blog post then you may have picked up on the fact that I have got all excited about the various subscription boxes out there - and especially the geek ones!

Max is due to get his second Nerd Block Jnr box this month but I'm not going to keep this subscription so I thought I'd try a couple of craft subscription boxes for him instead.  So I ordered the Toucan Box.

Once you create your account you get to choose which themes and topics your little one is most into. LOVE that idea!  You then have 3 types of boxes for each budget.

Super Box

- Petite is 1 theme and costs £4.93 every fortnight.

- Grande has 2 themes and a book every month and costs £12.90

- Super has 4 themes and a book every month and costs £19.90


You get to peek inside the boxes from the website if you want to see what you're getting and to be honest - I was rather impressed with our box.

Sea Theme

It was huge!

But my favourite of all was it comes equipped with what you need - I know that sounds a bit daft but it comes with little pots of paint, glue and paint brushes so once your box has arrived you really can get stuck right in.

I must admit I do like the idea of a petite box every fortnight - especially with autumn on its way (and nothing to do with the fact I'm impatient.....).

I waited for Max and we opened the box together and went through a bit of everything, mainly because of painting.  Several pieces of each project needed painting so we have spread this box out over the month and one day we painted everything, the next day we glued bits.  We've kept this to weekend play and so far we have completed a couple of the projects and still have a couple of projects to finish off.

Waiting for the paint to dry - Toucan August Craft Box

We store all our craft materials in our Toucan Box until they are completed and then place the final craft pieces on display.

I love that we have projects to do and each one comes with an instruction card which also shows how much adult help may be needed and most importantly - how messy!

I love that it gives me an idea of how much help I'll need from Max.....

Has anyone else had craft boxes?

#Marvel Upcycled Stool - Spider-man is slowly taking over the house!

I am rather pleased with how this stool turned out!  I'm having a bit of a 'mare with my spray paints at the moment - well my chalkboard paint to be precise and it's spitting and flicking at me at every opportunity, so I've sort of lost the will with these projects............ until today!

Shoreham Air show - 2014

RAFA AirShow 2014

Each year the Royal Air Force Association hosts an air show at Shoreham airport.

AirShow 2014

I haven't been to the show for many years, the last time I went I believe there was a few stalls - and lots of planes, so over the years as I don't live far from the airport I used to just watch the planes flying over either from the beach or from my back garden, until this year.

Oh WOW!

I so recommend a visit!  I know you can see the planes flying over but there is soo much more now on site!  There's a whole fair section going on, lots of stalls for various charities, food and drink stalls and market stalls.


There are planes you can get up close with and even in!  Music, buses, cars everything!

Air Show 2014

Shoreham air show 2014

Cheeky Monkey at the air show

Shoreham Air show 2014

We arrived at 8.30 when it opened and we stayed all day!  We visited the stalls and the fair section until around 10.30 then we found a spot nice and near the air strip and settled down for the day with our picnic.  We'd packed for all occasions (as the weather had been a bit pants over the past few days) and had ear protectors for Max.  We had the best day and I totally didn't appreciate before just how great it is to be in the airport rather then sitting on the green watching from afar.

Max loved it, he was taking snaps with my camera, had a few toys from the market stalls and even managed to have a little sleep .... whilst the Eurofigher Typhoon flew over!!

You can buy your tickets in advance from various shops, and an adult ticket costs just £18.  I know I say 'Just', but seriously you get a full day at Shoreham airport and Max got in free.  If you have a picnic with you, you can set yourself down for the day and potter.

I highly recommend this event - even if you just do it once.

How to make Party Bag Name Tags with Shrink Plastic

Making Personalised Party Bag Name Tags

With Max's birthday fast approaching, this year we decided to give him his first birthday party!

So obviously I can't let that day go by without a personalised touch, so I decided on creating personalised Party Bag Name Tags.  The theme - Dinosaurs.

I purchased the images from vector stock, mainly because I wanted something unique and clear for printing.  Once the images were downloaded I opened up my good old version of Photoshop and added the names to each child invited to the party.

As I fitted as many dinosaurs as I could on one sheet of Shrink Plastic I made the images lighter.  This is a must as the image shrinks to approximately 50% of the current size and becomes darker as it does so.  I use Shrinkies Inkjet paper - and as you can see it's not exactly cheap, hence fitting as much as possible on one sheet.

I left my print outs to dry overnight (how I have no idea, I'm soooooo impatient!).  Then cut around them the following day and (all but one....) then put a hole somewhere near the top for the ball chain to go through. This must be done before baking as the plastic is too hard to put a hole through afterwards - I did try and it wasn't having any of it!

Name Tags ready for baking

Once done I baked them for 2 minutes at Gas Mark 5 - I only tend to do a maximum of two at a time as I like to be able to get the whole set under my block to flatten - just in case when they curl they don't come back quite flat again.

Once solid and cold I then sprayed each dinosaur with lacquer and again left it overnight to dry through.  I placed them back on baking paper and not tissue (after the first two decided to keep a bit of tissue on them!)

Cut, Baked and Lacquered Dinosaur Tags

Once completed I added a ball chain through the top of the dinosaur and there we have the personalised party bag name tags which also double up as a key ring.

Shrink Plastic Dinosaur Tags

Dinosaur Party Bag

So what do you think?  I'm rather wishing I had one now.