Look in my letterbox #1

I recently discovered the linky Look In My Letterbox over on Alice Megan's blog and I've found myself slightly addicted to it!  Let's face it, we know this translates to I'm being nosey and have rather enjoyed stalking everyone's virtual doormats!  So I thought I would join in.

I may have picked the wrong week to start this or I buy too much crap!  The end of the month is subscription week for me so I'll start with the two geeky boxes that turned up and those were from Marvel's Collector Corp and Infinity Crates.

The picture says it all - very pleased with Secret Wars theme thanks to Marvel's Collector Corps

Pretty cool delivery from Infinity Crates as I don't have Charlie, just the boys :-)

Next up is the last (except for the Twinkies) item that will be going in my son's party bags (that I'm rather proud of as I made them..... watch out for Wednesday's post).

Monster stickers - for my little monster

With summer nearly over, with the exception of the crazy heatwave, we'll get at the end of October, I've started to look into Christmas presents.  I have an Amazon tool that shows up items that are currently half price or less and when I see something for the family I purchase it... That's my story and I'm sticking with it.

Bought for £12 on Amazon now back up to £26.50

Bought it for £11 on Amazon.  Currently, on offer at £29.66

Also, this week I upcycled an old Barbie shelf that I purchased from the car boot for £1!!  I get my paper from Scrapping the Magic and just needed a few more sheets to finish this project..... and may have bought a few other pieces of paper.... just because!

Finally (er phew!) I have finished this post with my Just because purchase, and I'm sure any of my geeky / Star Wars friends will agree my final purchase of the week - is cool!

Star Wars Key Covers - Amazon

Other than my phone, which I thought maybe a bit too much for my first post!  That's what was delivered to me this week.  If you like the idea of having a look-see / nosey at what others are receiving do follow the linky image below to take you to the list of others and feel free to let me know if you're going to join in too - help feed my addiction :-)

Until next week.....

*Amazon links are associated ones

Our visit to Middle Farm in Lewes

A couple of weeks ago we found ourselves with a free weekend!  We didn't have parties, play dates or events to go to so out the blue we decided to visit Middle Farm located near Lewes.  Middle Farm is a lovely working farm in East Sussex which is open all year round for the family to go visit the animals, eat the cheese and drink the cider.... (well the last one obviously is for us).

Armed with our wellies we set off to see the animals.  As this is a working farm there are various activities the children can get involved in during the day so be sure to check out the times of the activities such as milking, feeding the pigs and meeting the sheep and rabbits.  The times are also on their website, if we'd had known this, we could have planned our day a bit better to ensure we covered everything.

Couple of lovely rabbits at Middle Farm

Taking the sheep for a walk... like you do

When we got to the farm, after the initial amusement of all the chickens just wondering around Max was very keen to go in the play area!  We did try and get him to visit the animals first but found he was more interested in the animals after he'd had a good play in the park area!

So that's what we did.

Hanging around Middle Farm

Loving the swing section of Middle Farm

Asking to go higher

Playing on the tractor at Middle Farm

The play areas are very impressive.  One section has the swings and a sea-saw (less said about that the better!) and the larger section has another sea-saw and a large climbing area with ropes, monkey bars and a slide.  Around both are seating areas and this is where we sat and had our lunch - with more chickens visiting us whilst Max popped in and out of the park - it worked out really well.

Chickens visiting us whilst we're having our lunch

After some lunch Max sat and held a rabbit which he took in his stride, I was wondering if he'd then ask for a rabbit or guinea pig as he has done in the past, but that phase must be over as he didn't ask for a rabbit, in fact he now wants a blue cat called Naboo!

Petting time at Middle Farm

We met the sheep out for a walk, visited the horses and the donkey and then we found.... the hay barn!

THIS is such a great idea!  Basically a barn full of hay bales and soft flooring (from said bales) makes a great soft play area with the added thrill of climbing and jumping from a good few feet up.   It took him a while but once Max found his confidence on the top bales there was no stopping him - I may have ended up watching through my fingers at one  point!
 
After a visit out on the fields to see the pigs, sheep and llama it was time to say goodbye and as we were washing our hands Max asked if he we could come back soon - this is always a good sign as he doesn't ask this everywhere we visit.

Visiting the pigs outside

Pulling sheep faces

For us Middle Farm is a great day out for all the family.  The open farm tickets are £4 per person, so if you go with your pack lunch and wellies you're sure to have a lovely day AND if you stop by the shop on the way out be sure to pick up their award winning cider.

 

How I almost failed at creating a Lego Pac Man Ghost

Pac Man Ghost

I received a Pixel Bricks Pac-Man ghost in one of my subscription boxes a while ago and I thought it would be great to use the instructions from the box to create a Lego-size ghost.....

Win a box load of geeky goodies

** COMPETITION NOW CLOSED **

Win a box load of geeky goodies with RachaelJess.com

Those who follow my blog or my Instagram will know I have a BIG weakness for subscription boxes - mainly the geeky ones, so it's no surprise that I've started to accumulate pieces occasionally that don't really float my boat, so I've decided to save them up and when I have enough bits run a little giveaway - and this, believe it or not, this is my 2nd geek box giveaway!

The POP! in this box was bought by my lovely partner who feeds my passion and picked up Thor when he was on special offer in Tesco - for this very purpose!

The T-Shirt is Game of Thrones - and no, I do not watch this.  I know this is a bit of a shocker for some, but I've tried it 3 times now and it's just not grabbing me,  I want it to, but alas it's just not meant to be - but wahey for you guys - guess where all the G.O.T. bits go....

I made the Batman badge!

The trolls were originally for my son's party bags but he pulled the hair out of one of them, so now they are all escaping out my house in various forms!  Finally, there are a couple of other little bits to make up the box.

AND.... I thought I'd make it international!!

So what do you think?  Interested in winning my little geeky bundle?  All I need you to do is complete at least one of the actions from the Rafflecopter below and a winner will be picked from the Rafflecopter entries in a few weeks time.

Good Luck 

My rather fabulous Guardians of the Galaxy upcycled stool

Making Guardians of the Galaxy furniture

Possibly my favourite piece to date!!  Those who follow my Instagram will have already seen the progress of this project taking shape over the last few months and now it's complete I can share it on my blog - which I've been dying to do (and not just because it means I've finally finished it ;-) ).

Amara Interior Blog Awards - 2015

I am extremely made up to have been nominated in the Best DIY & Craft blog section of the Amara Interior Blog awards!!

5 new uses for old cassette tape cases

Making a new phone holder out of an old cassette tape case

I have had the most fun recently with my latest project.  A friend of mine was getting rid of her old cassette tape cases and whilst I no longer have any tapes, I do have 5 new uses for the cases.

The cases are an ideal size to turn into phone holders.  The fronts bend right back which make the perfect stand.  All you need to do is find an image from a magazine, comic, wallpaper... whatever takes your fancy really and trace around the box and stick it to the plastic.  

We went for Spiderman and Hulk comics.

Cassette tape cases make ideal phone holders

My craft room is possibly the messiest room in the house and what made it worse was the overflow of ribbon that seemed to be seeping out the drawer a couple more inches every time I walked past.

Bonus, the cases fit perfectly in my hobbycraft drawers :-)

Taming the wild ribbon drawer

Turning the case into a business card holder works as both a holder and to pack away in your bag for when out at events.  Covering the case with your logo wallpaper will give it that extra wow factor if asked for a business card.  A conversation starter and at the very least will get you remembered.

Tape cases are the perfect size and thickness to store business cards

I subscribe to a couple of craft magazines and each month there is often a free gift on the cover, and what better way to use the paper patterns than on the old cases and re-use them as gift boxes!  These are an ideal size for putting a gift card in, money, thank you notes, the options are endless.

Decorate the cases and turn them into gift boxes

I've kept my favourite to last, as we've all been having a go with this one.  The tape cases make ideal Lego mini-figure display boxes!  Armed with our comic books and mini-figures we have quite a few new displays now in the house, the perfect craft project for a rainy day...

Mini display units for Lego mini figures

Ideal for just showing off your Lego Spider-man collection

Can you guess who the favourite superhero is in our house is?

They pack away nicely too.

That's about all the uses I can think of for now, can you add them to my list at all?