Labels

Saturday 11 March 2023

Etching Slate Using Armour Etch Tutorial

We have all seen beautifully etched slate in the stores or online, they often come with a huge price tag too. I am not surprised as it looks so beautiful. This tutorial is going to show you how to create beautiful etched slate which can be any design your heart desires. I have had so much fun personalising slate coasters for my children. They were a hit with them too so I am going to show you how without to create your own withou the huge price tag, well that is if you have a Cricut or any other vinyl cutting machine. 


List of Equipment

  • Cricut 
  • Vinyl
  • Transfer Tape
  • Slate
  • Armour Etch
  • Hair Dryer
  • Craft Paint Brush
First of all you need to find a design that you would like to etch onto slate. For this tutorial I decided to use my blog logo. You'll need to upload it to Design Space and ensure it is a cut file. I am limited on the size I can cut as I only have the Cricut Joy, it allows me to cut up to 10.5cm in width which is perfect for slate coasters but requires extra cuts if you are going to do a placemat slate.

Vinyl choice is very important, I have found a thicker vinyl works the best for your template. Slate is often ridged and it is important that you ensure the vinyl goes deep into all the crevices. I have used Cricut Smart Vinyl for each one. I had a few in a bundle I had bought when I purchased my Joy and I don't use it on my other crafts. I highly recommend using Teckwrap Matte Transfer tape to transfer your template as it is very low tack. The vinyl doesn't adhere to the slate that well initially, so a lower tack transfer tape will work the best for you.

Clean any loose slate pieces from your slate and transfer your template onto the slate and carefully remove your transfer tape. I always heat up the vinyl using a hair dryer and press into the crevices using my thumb. Take care to not burn yourself during this process as the slate will get very hot. This process ensures your etching cream does not penetrate underneath the vinyl. 

I like to apply two coats of etching cream, the instruction only say you need one. However, I have found the design stands out much more when I have applied two coats. For the first coat apply an even yet, generous amount in a dabbing motion rather than applying it like paint. Once it is all covered set a timer for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes wash off the etching cream using the brush you applied it with and dry. Reapply the etching cream and repeat the process. 

Remove your vinyl and wash your slate one last time. Allow it to dry and your design will magically appear before your eyes.


A Few Tips
Very thin lines do not etch well and are not visually pleasing.
If you are using text, always check for the inner dots of your letters and that important dot over an i, it is often those that go missing or wash off after the first wash.
Don't go for elaborate designs on your first try, unless you are a sucker for punishment.

Sunday 5 February 2023

A New Direction

 Hi to all readers, old and new. I have decided to take my blog into a new direction, hence the new fabulous name. Old readers will know I blogged about family life and reviewed numerous baby & toddler products and visited some wonderful attractions. Although we still obviously have children and do all of the usual family activities. My children are at an age now that I would like them to be control of their exposure on the internet.  

Therefore, going forward my blog will be mostly craft related, I spend a lot of my spare time crafting and creating new things. I have shared a few crafting posts over the years but they were not my main focus. I purchased a Cricut Joy with birthday money last year and oh my lord, I am obsessed. I do regret not saving a little more and purchasing a Cricut Maker 3 but, I still value my sweet little Joy and I have created some beautiful products with the help of her, I feel like I need to name her.

I have a wish list the length of my arm all thanks to purchasing my Cricut Joy. I also dread to think how much of my money has been spent already on crafting products in the short few months I have had her. Crafting is not a cheap hobby is it! My husband always says I never opt for cheap hobbies. I beg to differ, I like hiking which is free, although it does come at a pain cost afterwards. 

Moving forward I will be sharing tutorials on many crafting projects and I will of course continue to review my crafting products. I may even share what my youngest daughter creates as she is very creative and loves following tutorials too, she is currently obsessed with her Posca Pens, I too am pretty impressed with the quality of them. 

Coming up, I will show you how to etch onto slate, how to create cute milk bottles from recycling Starbucks bottles and I will share my thoughts on my Cricut Joy and one of my favourite vinyl suppliers. 

Thursday 29 December 2022

Where do you see yourself in five years?

 Hi to all readers, old and new. I can not believe I have been absent for over five whole years. I can not recall why I ceased writing, most likely I was snowed under with writing essays whilst raising a family. Either way I suddenly missed writing, creating and sharing. Which brings me here. I couldn't remember any of my login details, thankfully I kept my email address and voila I am back. 

I have lost my website name so I think I am going to have to put on my thinking cap and create one that fits my family now. I was originally mummy2five, then chasing the wild things. Both were taken as I failed to keep the upkeep of my glorious vanity urls. Both still apply to my life however, life always takes a different direction.

So what as changed since? A lot!
I finished college with top marks. I went on to study Wildlife Conservation and Ecology and graduated with first class honours. I had an amazing three years studying. I visited South Africa and cared for orphaned rhino. I spent 2 weeks in Cornwall and surrounding areas carrying out ecological surveys and gaining valuable experience. Most of all, I loved learning. Don't get me wrong I was Mrs stress head when it came to cramming in assignments and revising but it really was worth it. My plan was to take a year out and carry out a masters degree. Sadly covid hit and my plans had to change.
My health has decline slightly since and I have pain by the bucketload if I overdo it, thanks to hypermobility syndrome so, I thought I would try and keep my brain active and write my journey down again. It really has been lovely looking back on my old posts and seeing my children all baby faced and little darlings.

Nowadays, I enjoy hiking in my local area as we're surrounded by natural beauty. Side note* If my physiotherapist is reading yes I stop and take a break every mile! Sort of! I have discovered the world of Cricut and crafting, I am currently enjoying creating snowglobe tumblers and my house is becoming overrun with them much to my husbands annoyance. I still love photography and yes I am still animal mad. Our current animal count is 3 dogs, Luna Poppy and Georgie, 1 cat, who is known as Barnaby, 2 chinchillas, Duke and Pixie, a bearded dragon aka Norbert, a hellboy betta fish named Satan, 8 ember tetra, 2 Amano shrimp named Dot and Dash and two stowaway snails that hitched a ride on plants and I have no idea what they are.

A lot has changed with my children too, 3 out 5 are now adults and boy do I feel old! One has flown the nest. Another flew off to the army, gained all manor of licences and luckily for me flew back home again. I missed her loads when she was gone. My eldest son is on the verge of finishing his educational years. My two youngest are high schoolers and are excelling at their studies. I still struggle to believe I do not have any primary aged children, it felt strange not having a Christmas play to attend this year.

So that is the short version of the last five years. Moving forward I will most likely be writing about crafting , showing tutorials and yes of course I will probably throw in the odd review of things I discover and love. 

Next I have to think of a name for myself.
I hope you all have a lovely New Year and may 2023 be much kinder to us all.

Joanne

Saturday 21 October 2017

L.O.L Surprise Dolls

If like myself you are a mother to a child under 10, you would have heard familiar squeals and coos coming from your child's tablet. Both Little Lady and Little T love watching unboxing videos, that seems to be all they watch on Youtube. I am not going to lie, I have caught myself being drawn into the world of unboxing, it is addictive. Watching intensely, waiting to discover what surprise the unboxer has.
Well, Little Lady got the chance to enter to be a L.O.L child unboxer herself.  She was thrilled to receive a L.O.L Surprise and enter. If you don't know what a L.O.L doll is I am certain your child does. Little lady knew all about them and filmed the unboxing like a pro, even if she is a little rough handed. In each L.O.L Surprise your child receives a secret message sticker, a collectible sticker sheet, a water bottle charm, a pair of shoes, an outfit, an accessory and a L.O.L. Surprise doll with a water surprise. 

Watch the video to see Little lady unbox her L.O.L Surprise Doll.



Little Lady didn't think hers was a colour changer, but we saw that it only changed when placed in ice cold water and luckily her genie is a colour changer. Little Lady was surprised to discover that her genie has green stars on her fringe and stripes appear on her shorts when placed in ice cold water! 
                                                                                                                                                                   


Many toy retailers stock L.O.L Surprise Dolls. Little Lady has played with her L.O.L Surprise doll since unboxing it and has already added the L.O.L Big Surprise to her Christmas list. Now why not enter to be L.O.L's next unboxer yourself. The details are as follows:

To enter upload your video here: https://tinyurl.com/LOLUnboxerEntry

Tuesday 20 December 2016

Christmas Gift Guide For the Children


The festive season is in full swing, the shops are stocks with tinsel and gifts. The carols are playing and festive adverts are on every commercial break. If your children are like mine they have requested something from every commercial break they have seen. Here are few of our top buys this year that we have tried and tested.

LeapPad Platinum 3-9 years
 LeapPad has always been a popular choice with my children. We have had the LeapPad Ultra and I must say that the Platinum offers so much more. My youngest two have enjoyed the new feature of scanning the Imagicards using the LeapPads camera. It brings the learning to life and there are 30+ interactive cards included. As with all of the LeapPad tablets they are durable and offer child friendly internet content. Additional users can be added to the tablet which allows it to be shared among the family and each child can save their own game progress. Games from previous models can be used on the LeapPad Platinum which we find brilliant as we have built up quite a collection over the years.  The LeapPad Platinum has a RRP of £99.99

Additional Imagicards can be bought for the tablet. We have the mathematics set which feature the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. My youngest son loves maths but gets bored of plain homework quickly. Being able to learn fractions, multiplication and division in a fun way means it is not so much of a chore for him and he is spends more time learning. The Imgicard sets have a RRP of £19.99 and they are suitable for a variety of ages.

Baby Annebell Brother 3-7 years
We have had many Baby Annabell's over the years, my older girls always had one and they both loved the features back then. The love of Baby Annabell has not skipped my youngest daughter either.
I was pleased to discover Baby Annabell has a baby brother. My youngest was rather happy when we handed her a doll that could be given a boys name. Annabell's little brother comes dressed in a blue baby grow with matching hat. He also comes with accessories such as the bib, dummy, bottle, nappy and lamb pendant for your child. Baby brother is as interactive as his sister. He cries, drinks, babbles and gurgles all with realistic movement of his eyes and mouth. The features my daughter loves the most is he cries tears and can also wee on command. My daughter has fed this baby so much water to watch him cry so she can comfort him I am starting to feel sorry for him.
Baby brother has not been far from her side since we handed him to her so I am certain it will make a much loved gift for any child this year. 

Rhian has a love of animals including mythical creatures. This ride on unicorn from ZooHood has been used daily since we gave it to her. The shoulder straps are adjustable and the body features a velco opening which makes putting it on easier for children that can't easily step into it. The tips of the wings have a small elasticated loop which can be place over a finger which enables your child to pretend to fly. The unicorn has a pretty pink flower bridle and reins which controls the unicorns head. For £27.99 this unicorn has provided hours of imaginative play for my daughter.




DenTek Kids Toothbrush Cover
I couldn't do a guide without finding a stocking filler. DenTek have created a hygienic yet cute way for your child to store their toothbrush. There are five designs to choose from; A lion, cow, penguin, dog and panda.
The toothbrush cover has two suction cups that sticks to mirrors or tiles.
The belly of the cover opens when your child pulls on their toothbrush. The toothbrush can easily be placed back into the cover by flipping open the lions belly. My son loves his DenTek Toothbrush cover and my other children have all asked for one too.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from us all at Mummy2five



Friday 28 October 2016

Teen Girls Bedroom Makeover

When we first moved here five years ago everything was done quickly and on a tight budget. Not much thought was put into decorating and we chose what we thought the girls would like. So for the last five years they have lived with cream and pink stripes that apparently they hated. They also didn't really have any kind of organisation to their room. They are both typical teens that can create a huge mess looking for one item. I had grown sick of telling them to tidy their room and put things in proper places but that was the problem. They had no proper place to store all of their things. Make up everywhere, straightners left on the side, hair bobbles and bobby pins in every crevice. It was only going to get worse too since my eldest started her hairdressing course at college. So a change in their room was needed.

I knew in my head what I wanted, the girls did too. My only contribution that was used was a decent dressing table and shelving unit to sit at put on their make up and do their hair(60 times a day). I love the shabby chic look, the girls also share my taste so I trawled through the internet looking for furniture ideas. Then that is when I stumbled across a beautiful dressing table that was grey and white. It also came with a hefty price tag. My search continued and I found Annie Sloan chalk paint. This paint has had my creative brain working in overdrive and my husband wanting to hide and dreading the words "look at this".

I set about my search for a dressing table that needed some tlc. It was about 3 months later that I found a solid pine dressing table on a local selling site for £20, that same week I found a mirror and I dragged some old pine, plate shelves out of storage. Preparing them was easy, you don't need to sand with chalk paint. Painting them was a little trickier since the weather had turned. I protected paint with a water based varnish which finished them off nicely.

I gathered wallpaper ideas from the girls and went with one they both could agree on which was a duck egg owl print. I thought it would be too much of the same thing but it really does look beautiful on the wall. The girls loved it which was good as I was not about to change it.

grey bunk beds, cheap bunk bedsIt was at this point that my bedroom make over went slightly down hill or should I say costly. When I was moving their bunk beds to paint behind I noticed that they had a very bad wobble to them that didn't disappear when I tightened all of the bolts. So once again I took to the internet in search of bunk beds that wouldn't break the bank. I found a site called Mattress Man. They had beautiful grey bunk beds and were a bargain at £209 with free next day delivery. I ordered them and true to their delivery terms they arrived the next day. Unfortunately there was a small crack in one of the upper rails which made me regret buying cheaply momentarily. However, I can not fault their customer service. I emailed them and had a quick reply and a phone call. They also sent out a replacement part the next day. I dread buying online as I have dealt with so many companies that fob you off once they have your money but I can honestly say that is not the case with Mattress Man.
I think the beds finish off the room nicely and look nice with the decor.
Annie Sloan Paris grey Paint
The last few items to go in were the dressing table, mirror and shelves. All that is left to do is find them a nice duck egg rug, a dressing table stool or maybe I could paint a Tripp Trapp again and then new wardrobes.  I have two wardrobes from Mattress Man on my wish list for their room but those can wait till after Christmas just don't tell my husband.

Both of the girls love their room. They have already made great use of the dressing table and I hope that they actually keep it tidy. Otherwise I am shipping them out and moving in myself.

Thursday 13 October 2016

Paint Your Own Fairy Door

Being a Fairy Taler for The Irish Fairy Door Company brings us lots of little fairy treats which my children adore. I think one of my youngest daughters favourite has to be the Paint Your Own Fairy Door. I think it would make a fantastic present for any child this Christmas. It helps to bring the magic alive through imaginative play. 

Little lady set about painting her door as soon as she laid her eyes on it. She refused help and wanted to do it all by herself. Well that was until her purple smudged onto her pink and asked for "just a tiny bit of help and that is it, don't do anything extra mummy" were her words. For just £24.99 in this set you get the door, paints, paintbrush, felt tip pens, a selection of decorations, and as with every door the magic key in a bottle, three stepping stones, the Family / Fairy Lease Agreement, a notepad for your fairy and the Fairy Welcome Guide. Little lady decided she wanted this fairy door to be in her bedroom as the other fairies live in the garden. No sooner had it dried she was off up the stairs to find the perfect location in her bedroom. We had some Fairy Rainbow wall stickers left over so decorated her chosen area in her bedroom. She then named her fairy and wrote her a cute little note. 


Now our fairy is a genius. She replied on a few occasions telling her to be good and kind but has since decided that she can not come out to leave a note until her bedroom is tidy. This has got little lady tidying her room. Nothing has ever worked previously to get her to put her toys away and keep her room in a relatively clean state. The fairy magic has worked, see like I said our fairy is a genius.
I plan to utilise the door and its fairy magic on the countdown to Christmas. I am certain there will be plenty of fairy accessories on her Christmas list this year.