Ho Ho Ho, Santa's Coming

If you're wanting to get the kids even more excited then log onto http://portablenorthpole.tv/home so Santa can send your child a personalised video message or on Christmas Eve log onto http://www.noradsanta.org to track Santa making his deliveries around the world.

Hope you all have a magical Christmas and look forward to seeing you in the New Year.

Snow Galore...

Over the last few weeks Crafty Creatures has been to quite a few Christmas craft parties, here are some pictures from Hannah's 5th birthday party and from Tom's 7th birthday party. As no snow was in sight we took along some pretend snow, which appears infront of your very eyes. Just like magic. I think the parents enjoyed it as much as the children!

Here are a selection of the crafts which were made.

Dolphins & Fairies

Yes, I know it may seem like a strange combination for crafts, however they worked well when we attended Ciara and Niamh's 8th birthday party. An array of crafts from dolphin magnets, sitting fairies to very glittery wands were made. When it's your party the theme of the crafts is down to you, what could be more personal?

Gateshead Carers

In early December Crafty Creatures was luck yo take part in Gateshead Crossroads Carers Christmas Community Event. Christmas crafts to cover a wide age range were available for all to make, from spiraling snowmen to angel tree decorations. People from the local community in Highfield attended, along with schools in the area and of course carers. I was particularly excited for Crafty Creatures to take part in this event as in the past I have worked with people who have mental ill health and am aware of the work carers of all ages play in helping to keep people well, so it was lovely to be able to give something back to them.

Here is are few photos taken on the day.

CHTISTMAS IS COMING

Quite scary, I know but there's apparently 36 days left until Christmas. Yikes! Coming up for Crafty Creatures are some Christmas events and parties. I've started to get the crafts prepared and have already got glitter all over the house and it's only November!

Along with the festive crafts we still have birthday parties, with some fairy and dolphin crafts to be made with Ciara and Niamh and on an adventure at Oliver's Diego party.

If you would like information about our Craft Parties or Events please give me Nicola a call on 07966 297426 or email me at nicola@crafty-creatures.com

LET'S PARTY...

I know it's been a while since I last posted anything so I thought I would show some pictures from parties I've been doing. Here's some photos from Eve's 3rd birthday back in October. The theme was Pirates and Dinosaurs. A strange combination I know but party crafts can be designed around whatever theme you want.

Halloween seems to be getting bigger every year with lots of costumes to choose from in the shops. It certainly was a busy time for us with lots of spooky crafts been made at Halloween parties, below are some photos of what was made.

BROWNIES & GUIDES CENTENARY

Last Saturday (5th September) literally thousands of Rainbows, Brownies, Guides and their leaders were celebrating 100 years of the movement. Celebrations in our region were been held at Segdefield Racecourse where a whopping 1650 children attended. Crafty Creatures was lucky to be asked to provide some of the entertainment for the day. We estimate we saw at least half of the children who attended the day. So it was a rather busy day!
Children of all ages made a variety of crafts. From a Brown Owl, Caterpillar on a leaf, Magnets of Brownie & Guide Sixer Animals and to a lovely, very tactile hedgehog. Please take a look below to see just a few of the crafts that were made on the day.

GATESHEAD TO BRAZIL

Bill Quay Farm in Gateshead went global over the summer and Crafty Creatures took children and their families on a journey to the Brazilian Rainforest. Toucans, jaguars, red eyed tree frogs and a paint-spattered rainforest picture and rainmakers were all made by over 100 children we saw over 3 days. Children took most of their art home, however some colourful collages and rainforest animals were left so a mural can be made for the farm to remind children of the fun and great art that was made.

From Australia to below the Sea...

Over the summer Crafty Creatures was lucky to work with children at the newly opened Sherburn Hill Sure Start Children's Centre.  Each week the crafts and theme were different. It's rewarding to see some children who were quite unsure about painting and handling the different materials and textures, initially, actually looking forward to participating in the crafts towards the end of the sessions.

Here's some images from the "Under the Sea" session where squid, crabs, jellyfish and lots of fishy pictures were made:

The last session of the summer took us to Australia, here's a selection of crafts made from the session. Enjoy!

GOING ON A QUEST?

Well Crafty Creatures has been over the summer with lots of children from Durham and Gateshead libraries. This year the Summer Reading Challenge with Libraries was Quest Seekers and a mountain of dragons, castles with wizards, witches, knights and princesses were made.

Just one of the children adding the finishing touches to their dragon hand puppet and below to their dancing dragon.

TIME FOR TEA...

So many crafts were made by the nursery and reception children at Morpeth All Saint's First School at their Mad Hatters Tea Party. It's lovely to see all the work looking so different when the same materials are available to all of the children. It's just great to see at a young age how a child's own creativity and individuality can shine through.

MINI BEASTS GALORE...

Last week I was very lucky to work with nursery and reception children from Glynwood Community Primary School in Gateshead to create mini beast artwork for their school fence. Luckily the sun was shining so we were able to work outside and see some real life mini beasts crawling around!

Before the project started we asked parents and children to collect stones, twigs and leaves which could be used for the art and I was absolutely blown away by how much was collected. It was lovely to see how eager the children were to take part in the project over the 2 days.

A centipede, spider, snails, ladybirds, a fly and butterflies were made. Here's a selection of photos which were taken.

OUT & ABOUT IN THE SUMMER

Over the next few months Crafty Creatures is going to be "out and about" at lots of venues across the North East. In July there will be sports crafts at Oak Leaf Sports Complex's Family Fun Day, lots of Alice in Wonderland crafts for Morpeth All saints First School's Mad Hatter's Tea Party and Summer crafts at the newly opened Sherburn Hill Sure Start Children's Centre.
In August Crafty Creatures will be at Low Fell, Brandon, Pelaw, Crawcrook, Gateshead Central, Coundon and Dunston Libraries to offer crafts based around the Libraries Summer Reading Challenge theme of Quest Seekers.
Wednesday mornings in August you will see us at the Sherburn Hill Sure Start Centre with different themed crafts each week, there will be bears, bugs & insects, sealife and Australian crafts.
Over the summer Bill Quay Farm is "Going Global" with crafts from around the world. In August Crafty Creatures will be providing Rainforest themed crafts where some animal hand puppets will be made.

Looking forward to seeing you over the summer. If you would like more information about booking Crafty Creatures for an event then please contact me Nicola on 07737286876 or email me at nicola@crafty-creatures.com

AHOY SHIPMATE!

Last week Crafty Creatures and some nursery school children from Windy Nook Primary School in Gateshead went on a Pirate and Seaside adventure. Crafts ranged from seaside collages, a picnic bag/suitcase to 'shiver me timbers' making a pirate's face and no pirate adventure could be complete without a pirate hat! Have a look at the photos to see just some of the great pirate crafts which were made.