Getting Crafty with Aqua Beads

Aqua Beads are super fun and creative on their own. But how about getting even more creative and then getting crafty when using Aqua Beads. 

We have been sent some brilliant sets from Aqua beads. A 1000 Star Bead Set, an animal theme refill and a 500 bead refill. These are perfect for hours of fun plus getting crafty.

The sets all come with super colourful beads, some circular and some star shaped. Plus they comes with template cards which show you what you can make. You will need to get the bigger set to use the refill sets as this one comes with a base to make your aqua beads on. It also comes with a pen that drops the beads into the base. It also comes with a little spray bottle to fill with water.

The bigger set also comes with a bead case that you can store all your beads in. 

So, what kind of crafts could you do? You could make keyrings? You could decorate cups, or you could follow my tutorial below and make some cool door signs to hang on the doors. 

But first, you need to make your aqua beads. There are lots of different designs to choose from and even more on the website. The kids chose a dragon, dog, unicorn and Llama.

You place the design card into the base and then place the aquabeads in the correct spot. The kids found the pen a little tricky to use and preferred to use tweezers. After all the beads are in the correct spot you then spray this with water and then leave for a hour. The water makes the beads all sticky and they stick together to make a lovely aqua bead shape.

After they are dried you should be able to carefully peal them away from the base. 

Then to make the door signs. They are super easy to do and look great when finished!

You will need some card, coloured if you wish. Some glue, and some scissors, plus a pencil to draw out the sign template. 

It is best to draw your door handle on the back so then when its cut out you can't see any pencil lines. There are a few different shapes you can do but we decided to go with this shape below. 

You then need to cut out the shape ready for your kids to get designing. They can pick there own message to go on the hanger, we used Girls only, Im in! and Keep Out. Then if they like they can add extra decorations. 

When they are ready and your aquabeads are ready, you then need to glue the aquabead shapes onto the door hangers. You need to use quite a lot of PVC glue and then its best to leave something heavy on top of it until it is dry. 

When they are dry they look great and the kids were super pleased to have made their own signs. We put on on their bedroom, one on the playroom and one on the bathroom door. 

So why not get yourself some aqua beads and either make some door hangers of your own or come up with another creative idea! 

Head to Aquabeads to see more of there wonderful sets. 

What would you make?

Win a Trendhim Mens Washbag to Celebrate Fathers Day

(ad- Gifted)

Happy Fathers Day to all the wonderful Dads out there!

We have partnered up with Trendhim to celebrate and have a wonderful competition for you. 

Trendhim is a Mens accessories brand based in Denmark and there website has so much to offer. 

You could buy sunglasses, bags, cuff links, wallets, mens jewellery, bow ties, tie clips, watches, belts and even braces. They supply all the accessories a man would want. 

Of coarse today is Fathers day, so its a little late to buy gifts for this special day, but you may want to consider for future gifts, you may have a man in your life that is about to celebrate a birthday. 

Check out the website at Trendhim to check out their extensive range. 

Now for the prize! 

Trendhim are offering one lucky winner a Mens Washbag worth £35 to celebrate Fathers Day. 

The bags are made from canvas and are of the highest quality. They also come in a range of colours - Navy Blue, Black, Grey and Khaki.
They are also water resistant meaning you don't have to worry about using it near a shower or sink. 

So why not enter on the Gleam app below and get your chance to win one! 

Good Luck! 


Win a Mens Washbag Worth £35

Blo Pens Rainbow and Colour Mazing Review & Giveaway

(ad - Gifted)

I had heard about Blo Pens for a while now, but never actually decided to give them a try. So when John Adams Toys asked me if I would like to review them I was super happy to give them a try. 

They also asked me to try out Colour Mazing at the same time, which we was more than happy to do. 

When the sets arrived the boxes were super inviting to want to get open and play with. They were really colourful and so looked really fun. We was sent the Rainbow set of the Blo Pens and the Garden Friends Set of the Colour Mazing. 

Blo Pens are recommended for age 4+ and Colour Mazing for 6+ but Lily is 5 and she did well and enjoyed the Colour Mazing Set. 

We asked the girls which they wanted to try first and they all decided to try Colour Mazing First. 

Inside the pack there are 6 different coloured pens. Green, Pink, Blue, Yellow, Red and Purple. These pens look super different and are like a tube of ink with a pen end on. It also comes with 3 sheets of push out things you can create. In total there are 6 different things to make. There are also some instructions to help you use the special pens. 

These really are so different and also quite magical. They are a complete new way of colouring in where you press the pen against the area you want to colour and gently squeeze the pen, the ink then spreads in that area but magically stops at the lines.

Some tips though to help do it neatly is to not squeeze too hard and also to put your pen in the middle of the area you want to colour. Too close to the line can make it cross over into the other areas. 

All girls really enjoyed this activity. Lily found it quite easy to do though didn't do it perfectly neat. That doesn't matter though because mostly she enjoyed doing it. In fact out of a lot of activities that I've ever set for the kids, this one they really took there time with and spent ages doing, A lot of activities end up half done, but not this one. 

You can also use 2 colours in one area and blend them together which makes a lovely pretty pattern. 

After they are all coloured in, you then pop them out to make lots of different things. Here is Lily with a butterfly that you can make. 

We then decided to try out the Blo Pens. In the rainbow pack it comes with 6 reusable stencils, 6 paper sheets and 6 mini blow pens. It also comes with a 3 in one blo pen sprayer which means you can blow 3 colours at once. The first thing you need to do it pop out all the pieces inside the stencil. There is a choice of sea horse, dragonfly, parrot, mermaid, peacock and unicorn. 

The pens are separate from the blower and come with a white lid on. You need to take the lid off and then place the pen into the blowers. Then line up your stencil on the paper and start to blow through the pen. You need to make sure the pen is pushed in properly otherwise it won't work. 

You do have to give a decent blow, and its great to remind the kids to take deep breathes and also breathe in between blowing (they do seem to forget they need to breathe haha)

But then a lovely colour with a airbrush effect comes out of the pen onto the paper. You also need to make sure you have pushed your stencil fully down onto the paper otherwise the ink spreads to under the stencil and the picture won't come out right.

When doing the 3 colours at once, you pop 3 of your choice into the 3 in 1 blower and blow to the area you want. This then create a rainbow effect onto your picture. 

After you have got colour in all the areas of the stencil, pull the stencil up and it will leave behind a lovely colourful picture. Lily Really enjoyed these and did 2 of them one after the other. 

After you are done with the Blo pens, the lids need to be returned back onto them and then store them in a cool dry place so then they don't dry up from heat or the sun. 

Other all the kids enjoyed both of these activities and spent a good amount of time doing them. Which is always a good thing when it comes to keeping the kids entertained. 

Even I as an adult enjoyed doing these. I love how creative the blow pens are and there's actually something therapeutic with the way the ink spreads on colour mazing. So you don't have to be a child to enjoy these activities. 

The Blo Pens Rainbow is £10.99 and the Colour Mazing Set is £16.99. 

See more at the John Adams Website. 

Now who would like the chance to win BOTH of these sets? 

Enter on the Gleam app below. 

Win A Blo Pens Set & Colour Mazing Set

Baby Born Soft Touch Brother Doll

(ad - gifted) 

Lily has lots of baby dolls but I was really impressed that the Baby Born Soft Touch doll was different to all her others. This doll is designed to be a little more like a toddler and he is so cute! 

Lily was really pleased with him and couldn't wait to get him open. 

He was nice and easy to get out of the box and came with a tippy cup and hair brush. He also came with 2 little bracelets, one for him and one that Lily could wear. 

The first noticeable difference is that he comes with hair. This makes him so adorable and Lily loved getting to brush his hair. 

The other differences between this and the baby dolls is that he can also stand and bend his knee's, meaning you can put him in different positions. All this definitely makes him like a little toddler rather than baby. He is also slight bigger than the other dolls standing at 43cm. 

His outfit he comes with is super cute, plus Lily has found it really easy to take off and put back on. His outfit is a white top with a dog on it with little blue jeans. He also comes with a hat and cute little trainers. 

When I heard that it was a soft touch doll I thought that it would be a full soft plush stomach but it wasn't, he is still solid but with soft feeling skin and he almost feels squeezable. I am struggling to find the words to describe this but he does feel different to normal hard baby dolls. 

This doll doesn't need batteries but he does cry real tears. You fill up his bottle and feed him water by squeezing it into his mouth. When he has drank a full bottle you should be able to make him cry. Depending on how hard you push onto his stomach depends on how much he cries. A slight push makes it more realistic as a harder push really squirts the water out his eyes making it not realistic at all. 

Lily has been playing with her doll loads and she decided to call it Archie. She loves to play mummy and its nice for her to have a doll which is meant to be a slightly older age than newborn. This creates a who new world of role play for her as she pretends to take her doll to the park and teacher her toddler to stand. She really loves everything about this doll.

So if you are looking for a doll with a difference then I would really recommend the Soft Touch Brother Doll. 

He is RRP £49.99 and can be bought from Smyths Toy Store. 

Head to the Baby born website to see more and to check out the sister dolls available. 

Would your little one love this doll?

Na! Na! Na! Surprise Review

(ad - gifted)

We have been gifted series 2 of Na! Na! Na! Surprise and they are the cutest little things I've ever seen. 

If you haven't heard of them before, they are cute little dolls that come as a surprise in a super surprise pack. We was sent 2 dolls and so i'm going to tell you all about them. 

The boxes they come in straight away make the dolls look special. They come in a pink shiny box which looks a little like a suitcase and the girls were so excited to get them opened. 

When you have removed the plastic packaging you are left with a shiny pink bag and a straw. The doll is inside, and to be able to get to the doll you need to pop in the straw and blow up the packaging. When you have blown into it and its inflated you pull a strip of cardboard at the top and then squeeze it and it will pop with a burst of confetti. Out of the 2 dolls, one of them popped before we even squeezed it and the second one didn't pop. I think the first we blew up too much and the second one not enough. The kids were both pleased with all the confetti that went everywhere though (us parents not so much though).

You then can open the packaging to reveal the doll. The doll comes in a cute pouch bag which comes on a keychain and you can use again and again. You also get some little surprise bags to open. In the surprise bags there are clothing and shoes for your dolls. 

The dolls already come the underwear on and when you have dressed the dolls they look adorable. I really like there cute little faces. They are made from a material but are still hard dolls. They also have movable arms and legs. The Na Na Na Surprise dolls are super fashionable and their outfits all relate to their little bags they come in. Which are animal themed. 

In series 2 there are 6 different dolls to collect.

We got Katherine Whiskers which is cat themed. She comes with beautiful pink hair, a black top with a cat on it and a pink tutu. She also wears a cat hat which matches the pouch bag. We also got Michael Manchester who is dog themed. He comes in a green track suit and a white t-shirt with a dog on it. He also has a dog themed hat. He is the only boy in the collection so we was really pleased to get him. They both also come with really stylish shoes. 

Lily and Jessica got one doll each, and not knowing what they was going to get, Jessica got the boy one and Lily the girl. They both decided they preferred each others and decided to do a swap. 

We accepted a challenge called the #NananaSurpriseStyleChallenge to find clothes in the kids wardrobes that matched their dolls. With Michael being a boy and his clothes looking super different to anything Lily owns, we could only find a T-shirt with some animals on as a theme. For Jessica, She has a beautiful dress that has a tutu bottom and that was the closest match to Katherine. It was actually a crazy co-incidence that they already happened to be wearing these outfits before opening their dolls. It was like it was meant to be! 

The girls have loved their dolls, especially Jessica (7) who has been carrying hers around with her lots and also taking her to bed. 

If your child loves Surprise dolls then these are really cute ones to start collecting. Perfect if your child has siblings into them too as if they get the same one twice, they can always swap. 

Na Na Na Surprise Dolls are £22.99 each and can be bought from your usual toy stores.

Head to the Na Na Na Surprise website to see more. 

Which of the Na Na Na Surprise dolls would you child like to get? 

Win an Epic Fathers Day Bundle

June has come around fast and it's already nearly Fathers day and I know a lot of you are bound to start thinking about what gifts to get your dad's. Fathers day is on the 21st of June and so you may want to get planning! Dads are super hard to buy for, my dad is the one who already has everything! 
So below I have teamed up with some amazing bloggers and companies with some great gift ideas. Plus there's a chance to win ALL of them and really treat your dad! Or you may be a dad yourself and want to suggest some of these gift ideas as a hint, or maybe even treat yourself. I'm super excited about this giveaway below, so why not have a good look at all the amazing prizes below and then enter on the gleam app for your chance to win! 

The Father’s Day Prize Bundle Giveaway

This Father’s Day some of the top UK bloggers have united to offer one lucky winner a fabulous bundle of goodies for Father’s Day worth over £200. What’s more we also have a Cheese and Snacks Cool Bag from Bunches for a runners up prize.

The Prize Bundle

One lucky winner will win a fabulous Father’s Day Prize Bundle which includes:

£50 Gift Voucher Ink&Drop to spend on art prints or canvas

Win £50 to spend on an amazing art print or canvas at Ink&Drop. Ink&Drop create high quality, beautiful art prints for your home or office. Styles ranging from street art, botanical art, customisable prints, to Scandinavian style minimal prints, they have something for every style of interior design.

Their posters are all designed in-house by their own designers and artists, with backgrounds in graphic design and fine art, so you can be sure the artwork on your walls will be as unique as the rest of your home.

Silk Tie from Fox and Chave

Your choice of silk tie from Fox and Chave up to the value of £35. There are so many wonderful designs available, inspired by the arts, history and nature. It's the perfect gift for any deserving dad and with such a wide selection available there is something for all tastes and occasions.

Fox and Chave also have other wonderful gifts for Fathers Day. Use the discount code FATHERSDAY2020 at checkout to get 3 for 2 on their mens collection.

Port Nautical Tea Light Lamp from Shore and More

This Nautical Tea Light Lamp from Shore and More is a great gift for any sea loving father. At 25cms high the Port Lamp has a stunning copper effect and the warm red colour gives off a wonderful glow when lit by a tea light.

Shore and More have a wide variety of gifts, perfect for Father's Day. From wooden model boats and nautical gifts, to Dragons and Fairies and 3D Puzzles.

Bamboo Cheese Board 10 piece set from Tru Bamboo 

This stunning cheeseboard from Tru Bamboo is made out of Moso bamboo and is the perfect centre piece for your table. Made from Eco-friendly bamboo with a completely removable drawer, which incorporates beautifully bamboo lacquered handled cheese knives and cheese fork. The set includes:

• 1 x Extra Large Cheese Board
• 4 x Specialist Cheese Knives and Fork
• 4 x Porcelain Markers
• 1 x Reusable Gold Pen

The perfect gift for any cheese loving Father!

Toy RC Speed Bumper Rage, The Essential One

Take your road rage to the (mini) streets with these RC Bumper Cars. Play head to head and battle it out with your dad. The set comes with two cars and two remotes for exciting 2-player action! Give your rival’s racer a bump and send him flying! The character ejects from the car with awesome sound effects. Your dad will love it!

Choice of Gift Set from Worry Less Design

Worry Less Design have the perfect selection of Gift Sets for any sports loving Dad or Grandad in your life. Choose from Gift Sets for bike, rugby, golf or cricket fans. The gift sets include a mug and secret message socks, the perfect gift for any impossible to buy for sports fans!

Bamboo Patterned Socks from the Sock Shop

This triple pack of men’s Gentle Grip Patterned Bamboo Socks from Sock Shop will help to put a little pep in your dad's step and style in his shoes. Of course, the main reason for wearing Gentle Grip is their kindness and comfort. The famous HoneyComb Tops hold without restriction or pressure hotspots, using the trademark weave to hold to the contours of your legs in an almost-custom fit, and then stay in place.

Bamboo is naturally hypoallergenic and antibacterial, so odour is also trampled down, and able to maintain its own steady temperature too.

Virtual Murder Mystery Game from www.crime-time.co.uk

Get the family together and host a virtual Murder Mystery Game for Father's Day. We have a voucher for you to choose any one of over twenty games over on www.crime-time.co.uk. Simply choose the murder mystery game of your choice and the number of players. Arrange a time and invite your family and friends and let the game commence!

Runners Up Prize: Cheese and Snacks Cool Bag

A cool bag filled with an assortment of cheeses, including a tasty cheddar with mustard and ale, a classic Wensleydale with cranberries and a cheddar with caramelised onion.

These are perfectly paired with biscuits and chutney, the perfect gift for a loved one.

Meet the bloggers

The UK bloggers teaming up to bring this fabulous giveaway are all listed below. Make sure you check out their blogs for amazing advice and inspiration, covering all kinds of topics including parenting tips and advice, family travel, slimming tips, humour, money saving ideas, competitions, self-love, healthy living, well-being, fashion, beauty and recipes.

Life Loving | We Made This Life  | 4 Freckled Faces | Five From The Swich | Life with Jupiter Hadley |  Too Tired To | Life in a Breakdown | Accidental Hipster Mum

The Willow Tree | Twins, Tantrums & Cold Coffee | Reality in Reverie | Boxnip | Miss L J Beauty | MTB LM | Prize Warriors

Mummy Matters |  Chilling with Lucas | Pack The PJs | Typical Mummy | A Rose Tinted World |   Otis and Us | Crazy Little Thing Called Love

My Balancing Act | Just Average Jen | Lily's Little Learners | Scandi Mummy | You Have to Laugh |  Soph Obsessed | The Neary Diaries

Home in the Pastures | Sophie's Nursery | Mummyandmex2 | Odd Hog | Spilling Life Tea | Two Plus Dogs | Mummy Vs Work

Savvy Squirrel | Hawkes at Home | My Three and Me | Best Brunch or Breakfast | Gin and Cocktail Bars | Best things to do in York | Nicola Says | Savvy in Somerset | My Savings Journal

Luke Sam Sowden | Wander & Luxe | Rhian Westbury | Savvy Dad | My Love of Home | Stressed Mum | The Thrifty Freckles

Charlotte Musha | Simple Happy Home | Yeah Lifestyle | Simply Cash Hacks | Create Joy Everyday | Cyprus Property Blog | Wotawoman Diary

Budgeting for Students | Paternal Damnation | Glitz & Glamour Makeup | What Simply Works | Autumn's Mummy

How to Enter

You can enter by completing as many widget entry options below as you like. All entries will be collected and one winner and one runner up will be randomly chosen. Good luck!
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Terms and Conditions

UK entries only
The giveaway will run from 12am 2nd June 2020 to 12am 17th of June 2020.
The winners will be notified by email from rowena@mybalancingact.co.uk
The winner and runners up will have 7 days to respond after which time we reserve the right to select an alternative winner.
This prize draw is in no way sponsored, endorsed or administered by, or associated with, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube or Pinterest.
Prize open to over 18s only.
If any prizes are out of stock than a suitable replacement will be found.
If the runners up prize is out of stock then a suitable replacement will be found.
Anyone who unfollows before the giveaway ends or doesn’t complete the required entry action will be disqualified.
The prize is non-transferable, non-refundable and cannot be exchanged for monetary value.
We will be using a parcel service, such as ParcelForce, to send some of the Fathers’s Day Prizes, and their standard compensation will apply in the event of loss or damage.
Some items may be sent directly by the supplier and we do not have responsibility if these go missing.
In the unlikely event one of the companies withdraws a prize we cannot offer an alternative.
Although we will do our best, we cannot guarantee the prizes will arrive before 21st June 2020.
The Ink & Drop Voucher is for art prints or canvas only, frames are excluded, up to the value of £50.
The Fox and Chave Tie is up to the value of £35.
The winner's name will be stated on some or all of our blogger's websites and announced on twitter and other social media channels. By entering this prize draw you give your permission for this.