Back to School Pencil Case ~ Bostik Challenge

Its almost end of August and its all about back to school. In my last post my little niece and crafting buddy Little M and I made a lovely back to school pencil pot. 

Little M is totally thrilled with her new stationery and loves her pencil pot but she wanted a pencil case to put her colour pencils and felt pens in. Kids demands are sometimes hard to fulfill when you don't always have the things at hand to give them. However I did not want to dissapoint Little M so we decided to make our own pencil case. 

I had some spare fabric in the Back to school Bostik box so we thought we would use them.We set about making the pencil case however luck was not on our hands, the glue we had was not fabric glue and would not stick the fabric. Quick thinking was required here so I suggested to Little M that we could convert a Zippa bag in to a pencil case. I have a lot of zippa bags in my stationary cupboard for storing nik naks.

Little M looked through the Bostik box and found some patterned card she liked, some gold stars and some funky foam letters. She spelt her name out with them"Maya" . The pencil case was easy to make and for five year old very pleasing and personal. You can see how we converted our Zippa bag into a pencil case in the video below.

To make the back to school pencil case  you will need:

1 A6 Zippa bag

1 sheet patterned card

Scissors, pencil and ruler

Bostik Glue

Gold stars and funky foam letters or decoration of choice.

To see how we made the pencil case please watch the video:

 This craft is suitable for young children although, adult supervision may be required for using scissors.

If you like this project check the link below for more art and craft projects, that you can do with your children this summer.
Kids Arts and Craft Videos 
Kids Arts and Crafts Projects

 Being part of the Bostik 2017 bloggers with Tots100 and Merrily Crafts, I was sent some craft items in a box to create this project.

Back to School Pencil Pot ~Bostik Challenge

We are nearly at the end of our summer holidays and all the shops have back to school items on sale. Uniforms, stationery and shoes. Shopping centres are packed with parents trying to get their kids kitted out for the beginning of the new term.

This weekend I had little M who came to visit, she was telling me all about her new school she starts in September and that she has a nice new uniform to wear. She was really excited and showed me her new pencils and pens that her mum has bought for her. The August Bostik Box is also back to school themed this month so Little M and I looked through it to see what we could make. She wanted a pencil tidy pot so with the items in the box we made one.

You will need:

Bostik Glue
Fabric of choice
Scissors
Cardboard pot

How to make pencil tidy pot:

1. Wrap the fabric around the circumference of the cardboard pot. Allow an extra 2 cm of fabric for over lap at the seams and mark it with apen
2. Measure the fabric so that it fits the height of the pot. Add an extra 1 cm to both the top and bottom edges as this will be folded later. Mark this with apen
3. Cut the fabric to the measured size, you should have a rectangle that looks like the picture below, showing you the fold lines.

3. Fold over and press down the extra 1 cm allowance at the top and bottom edges on the fold lines.
4. Spread the Bostik glue over the outside of the pot and wrap the fabric around the pot.

5.When you get to the extra 2cm of fabric allowed for overlap, fold it over on the fold line to neaten the edge and then stick it to the pot.
6. Leave to dry and the pencil pot is ready to use.

If you wish, you can add other embellishments to decorate the pot to your choice.

This craft is suitable  for young children although, adult supervision may be required for using scissors.
If you like this project check the link below for more art and craft projects, that you can do with your children this summer.

Kids Arts and Craft Videos
Kids Arts and Crafts Projects

Being part of the Bostik 2017 bloggers with Tots100 and Merrily Crafts, I was sent some craft items in a box to create this project.

Loss of a dear companion and a Emma Bridgewater Mini Retro Radio review.

My family spend a lot of time in our kitchen, it's like the central hub of our household. There is always someone in the kitchen either cooking or using the kitchen table for studying or catching with each other over a cup of tea. One thing that we all have in common is that we all love some sort of music in the background. Mr K loves the sports commentary, Miss K loves pop music blaring at the highest decibels, enough to deafen you for life. I myself love having classical music playing in the background whilst I am cooking or doing other chores. The radio is always on and you can easily tell who was in the kitchen last depending on what radio station is playing.

Recently my old faithful radio started to crackle and then would lose signal and finally the volume control totally malfunctioned. Sadly it died a slow steady death. I can't really fault it, I did have the same radio for almost 15 years!!! Replacing the love of my life was rather hard. It's strange how you get attached to certain material things in your life.The few days of silence in my kitchen was eerie and I hated it. I felt like I had lost a dear companion.

My search for a replacement needed to meet very specific criteria. I like my radio to sit on the window sill by my sink. It needed to be compact enough to fit on the sill but I did not want a radio that looked sleek and clinical. My preference was a retro style that is pleasing to the eye too, with a pretty design.

My search for the perfect radio landed me at the Emma Bridgewater range. There is a wonderful selection of retro design radios, all with their unique Emma Bridgewater floral designs. I particularly liked the Retro Mini Radio. It is just the right size and looks really pretty on my window sill. The VQ retro mini digital radio is wrapped in premium leatherette, it has a lovely carry handle and a cute little tag attached to it. There are 11 colours and 12 designs to choose from.

The radio I totally fell in love with was the Retro Mini DAB Emma Bridgewater Rose and Bee design. It matched my cream and duck blue kitchen perfectly and looked really pretty.

The radio has DAB/DAB+/FM radio tuner with 30 presets, bluetooth connectivity for smart devices, standard mains power, however it can be operated using 4AA batteries. The radio has a single ultra wide premium speaker and MyEQ Equaliser sound system. The radio is also perfect to be used anywhere else in the home and it's great as a bedside radio since it has VQ LifeStyle dual alarms and sleep timer. An additional feature is the 3.5mm Auz-in, .3.5mm headphone jack and USB charging.

For such a compact radio it has everything you require in a radio and more. It retails at £89.99, for all the designs and prices you can check the full range here.

The Retro Mini has settled in well and I am over the moon that my kitchen is full of sound again. In fact I love the design so much I am thinking to buy one for the bedroom.

Have you ever become sentimentally attached to a material object in your home? Do share your stories in the comments below.

** I was sent the radio for review purposes and all the opinions expressed in this post are my own.