Halloween with Gel-a-Peel #Geloween

This Halloween is a little bit more special to us as L celebrates it at the nursery for the 1st time. Last year we were lucky enough to spot cute spider outfit set with tutu skirt, alice band and a wand, but as it's quite a "dark" set I wanted to add a little bit more fun and colour to it by using Gel-a-Peel Neon Creation Kit (£14.99).

"Create your own jewelry with Gel-a-Peel! Use colored gel tubes and design templates to make necklaces, bracelets, earrings, rings, headbands and more!"

The set comes with 16 design templates, 3 neon gel tubes, 5 nozzles and accessory hardware.

It's hard to say who was more excited to try out Gel-a-Peel but save to say that L and had lots of fun experimenting (mainly me of course). 

First of all, few things to remember, do not leave your child with Gel-a-Peel without supervision (the kit is suitable for 8 years+), the gel tubes can be easily opened and end up on clothes, skin, carpet the list goes on. If the accident does happen I would suggest to leave it to dry and scrape the remains after, otherwise you may end up with very sticky, sponges, brushes etc. The gel itself has a very strong aroma if you are allergic I would recommend to wear a protective mask or not to use the product at all.

The application process is very simple, just place the template under the clear sheet supplied, choose designer nozzle for the silicone gel tube and get creative. 

Few things learned from the process:
- do not leave the set for young kids to play with
- do not make fine lines, go over your design few times to make sure each line is thick and is connected to the rest of the design
- it may take a lot of practice to make desings similar to the ones shown on templates, at first they may look blob alike and flimsy, but once you get used to the process and textures it will get easier and better, don't give up just yet!
- do not stretch the end result when pulling of the clear sheet or when in use as it may break
- if your end result is sticky it means that it needs more time to dry
- drying time varies from few minutes depending on the design and it's thickness, sometimes few hours of drying is needed
- clean the tip of the nozzle and your fingers with tissue, the rest of the gel can be easily cleared from the nozzle once it's dry
- if you are not good at creating accessories or do not like the end result, Gel-a-Peel can be perfect for creating window decorations!

It certainly was an interesting experience with lots of product wasted and a little bit left, which I will either keep for future parties or make few rings and decorations for L and I.

Disclaimer: I was sent the item mentioned above for the purpose of this review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Arts & Crafts: Halloween addition

Oh I'm so excited to show you our super easy Halloween themed crafts activity we did the other day- toilet roll's tube monsters! 

You would need:
-cardboard tubes left from toilet rolls
- acrylic on any other type of paints available
- small sheet of plain white paper
- glue stick
- scissors
-black marker or a pen

I have seen this ideas online (as always) but painted on cans, as I don't have a paint that will withstand the metal/aluminium plus I didn't want L to hurt herself on open tops so opted for a simpler option.

I have painted 3 tubes with finger paint and 1 tube with acrylic black paint, which dried relatively quick. Drew facial features and cut them out for Frankenstein, Pumpkin, Ghost and left Black tube aka cat to be finished with L.
Once L was ready to have some fun, I have asked her to apply glue on little cut outs, then I have applied little facial features on our monster and that was it!

                                     

With the cat thought it was a little bit more complicated. We have tried crayons, pencils, fingers paints and lastly acrylic paints to draw eyes, nose and whiskers. L was too excited about drawing whiskers so I had to save the day and fix our little kitty. 

I am very happy with the result, especially Frankenstein. Which one is your favourite?

Potty training progress

Oh it's been a while since my last post about potty training, seems like it has taken ages to train but I'm not in a rush.

I can't say that L is fully trained at the moment, since she started nursery we have a bit of delay with potty training as they didn't encourage it until I have mentioned that they should. For the past 3 weeks I have been packing spare clothes which weren't used, this buggered me a lot, but I know that it takes time.
We do have more or less consistent wee's and number 2's in the potty but I think we need to master wearing pants and going to potty without accidents.

They did few attempts with her but as nappy changing and potty training area is in a separate room L may not be simply aware of it or pay much attention to it. I do understand that when she is in a new environment it may take longer than usual, she is getting excited about kids, playing with new toys and not noticing that she needs a wee, but it does feel that we are doing 1 step forward at home and a step back when back at nursery. 

I'm not putting any pressure on L or nursery I just take it easy and observe and praise if things go the right way.