Review: Gel-a-Peel Accessory Kits - Pearly Pastels and Glow In The Dark

This weekend my 9 year old twin girls have been having some crafting fun with a couple of Gel-a-Peel accessory kits. Gel-a-Peel isn't something we have used before and nor heard of to be honest but as soon as I showed the girls the packages they knew it would be something they would enjoy.

One of my twins is far more crafty than the other and she was really looking forward to the act of making the silicon jewellery. The other one is a real fashionista and the part she was really looking forward to was wearing the jewellery and making sure of the cute shapes and charms.

Each accessory kit of Gel-a-Peel has an RRP of £14.99 and for this price you get 3 different coloured tubes of gel, 5 different shaped tips for applying your gel, 16 different design templates, a clear application board, cleaning and spreading tools and one set of hardware to make some hanging pierced earrings. We received the Pearly Pastel and Glow In The Dark its but there is also Neon and Sparkle accessory kits.

There are many more different kits too, large deluxe ones with beads included or a full design station which retails for around £29.99. You can also buy small starter sets for £4.99 with just one tube of gel and all the bits you need to get started. This is probably a good idea for a new user to see if they enjoy this craft. I was really pleased to see that you can buy replacement tubes of gel for just £2.99 each.

Using our Gel-a-Peel for the fist time
The instructions that come with the kit are very good and easy to use. First up you have to remove the protective cap on the tube and add the tip that you wish to use. You can choose the template design you want and place the clear application board over it. It is best to use masking tape to keep both in one place on the table so the design comes out perfect.

The gel tubes are very easy to use and the gel flows well, not too much and you don't need excess effort, which is very good for kids. You do need to make sure that you use a good amount of gel to give a thick and even coverage or it can break and be too fragile once dry. Once you finish with one colour you can move onto the next and get your design completed.

As well as making bracelets, cuffs, bookmarks, necklets and rings using the templates you can also use the gel tray, which has gems, flowers, letters, number, emojis etc on them. With these you just apply the gel into the cavity, use the little grey tool to make sure there are no air bubbles and the mould is full of the gel and then use the pink squeegee to go over the top and flatten the back. These small charms can then either be attached to a piece of Gel-a-Peel jewellery by using a bit of the gel as the glue or stuck onto anything else you fancy using a hot glue gun. In our house they have gone onto jewellery boxes, roller boots, pencil cases and buttons!

Once you have finished your design session, you do need to take the application caps off the tubes and clear out any excess gel left in them. I used the grey tool provided to do that and it wasn't difficult. I was also pleased that not much gel was lost doing this. Pop the protective cap back in and the lid and the gels will stay fresh for the next session.

The design templates tell you how long you need to leave the item to dry before you can use it. Simple designs with just one line of Gel-a-Peel are around an hour and the more complex bracelets and cuffs with multiple lines and layers of Gel-a-Peel can be around 5 hours. We left ours overnight.

You then carefully need to peel them off the clear application sheet once dry and you can then enjoy and wear them.  One of Miss E's bracelets broke as she took it off the sheet as she had left the gel a little thin in one place. This is easily fixed by putting some new gel over where it has snapped and waiting for it to dry.

What did we think?
Thanks a lot Gel-a-Peel, my girls had a lot of fun and they were both talking about getting more for their birthday. At nearly 10 years old they found this easy to do without me having to be involved. I think the older the child the easier they will find it and the more time and care they will take. Younger ones could do it, with supervision but it is recommend for 8+  years.

Why not have a watch of this video where you can see the Gel-a-Peel being used and see for yourself just how simple it is.



Disclosure: We received two Gel-a-Peel sets free of charge for the purpose of this review. I have not been instructed what to write and I remain honest. 

Review: Magic Dip Design Art Centre

Miss E was super pleased to receive the Magic Dip Design Art Centre from character. It retails for £29.99 and is available from most good toy stores and online at places like Amazon. The best price I found it for was at John Lewis where it is currently £24.99.

We've made a video with Miss E using the design art centre and talking about how she enjoys it and if she finds it easy, have a watch -



Here are the pros and cons that we found -

Pro's -

• It was easy enough for a 9 year old to set up and use alone (whilst under my beady eye)
• The marbled items look fabulous if you use a light hand to dip them
• You get unique items every time
• You can dip and marble most anything you fancy - candles, ceramic, silicon, plastics, wood, paper, card, glass and textiles
• It dries quickly and the spay sets the paint
• Once you have dipped your item, you can clear the water really easily to mix fresh paints and dip something else
• Any messes are easily cleared up with simple nail polish remover
• it is great fun and keeps the kids happy

Points to think about -

• Don't forget to protect your work area (we use an old oil cloth on the table) and use an apron (we forgot!)
• Make sure the water is room temp, it makes the world of difference
• You have to be quick, once the paint is on the water it is starting to set already
• Dip paper or card based products quickly as too much time in the water and they start to soak it up
• Only one glove supplied and ours was ruined after one session
• The paint contains irritants, is toxic to aquatic life and is highly flammable, so it needed to be used carefully and under supervision. We found our dining room was quite smelly after a while and I had to open the window and finish our session.

In all we think the Magic Dip Design Art Centre is great and would make a super Christmas present for a young boy or girl who likes to craft. Due to the ingredients of the paints the child needs to be 8+ years and work under supervision in a well ventilated room.

You can also buy a starter kit with 4 paints, glossy spray, glitter, gems and a few things to dip for just £10, as well as replacement paints, which are £5 for 5 colours and I think that is reasonable.

Disclosure: We received this set free of charge for the purpose of this review. I have not been instructed what to write and I remain honest.

Review: Make-A-Bar Chocolate Factory Creative Kits

The kids were sent through some newly launched Make-a-bar chocolate factory creative kits so they could make Daddy a nice surprise for Fathers Day and they had loads of fun.

The kits retail for £3.99 each and that makes you one bar of chocolate and I have to report that I was super surprised - the chocolate tastes great (100% Belgium chocolate that is preservative and additive free). Normally with kits like this it is low quality products but not so with this, I'd be happy to be given one of these bars and would be really happy to eat it.

You can also buy twin packs at £7.99 or packs of four at the value price of £11.99.

Miss E and I were the first to make some bars and this is how we did -

The bars are very easy to make, Miss E is 7 and after the first bar I was able to allow her to do the second one alone whilst I cooked dinner. Here is how we made our bars -

• Firstly you fill a bowl with tap hot water (not too hot for your fingers)
• Put the three bags of chocolate in the water to melt (milk, dark and white - all labelled)
• Decide which design you want to make. Either use one of the eight supplied with your set, draw your own or create your own online and download it for free. Place the design under the plastic tray (we used blu-tac to keep it in place).
• After about 3-5 minutes the chocolate will have melted, feel the bags to test before cutting open. Massage any lumps in the bag in the warm water. Try to make sure the chocolate is really well melted as you can then get a thinner line/ more precise picture.
• Cut a tiny bit off the corner of the dark chocolate and use this to create the pattern outline in your plastic tray.
• Do the same with the white chocolate and fill in your design.
• Then do the same with the bigger milk chocolate pouch and you need to ensure it goes right across the plastic tray. It can be a bit tricky to get the milk chocolate right across, just a little more in the bag would have been perfect.
• Tap the tray to eliminate bubbles and ensure equal coverage and place in the fridge for about 30 minutes to set.
• Then either enjoy the chocolate or wrap in some cellophane like we did and give it as a gift.

We found it wasn't that easy to get precise lines with the little chocolate bags. I think our tap water was not quite hot enough as the chocolate never really got fully liquid but as you can see in the pictures it didn't matter as the rough and ready look is pretty cool anyway.

We have had toys like the chocolate coin maker before and whilst the kids have loved them they have been a complete faff - expensive, rubbish tasting chocolate, hard to clean and really difficult to use. These are the complete opposite, cheap, easy to use, no cleaning and easy for kids to use alone. -brilliant, we loved them and would definitely use them as gifts again in the future.

They would also make a great activity for a children's party, all the kids can make their own and allow them to set during the party and then they can take them home as their party gift.

Check out http://makeabar.co.uk/ to find out more and place an order. They can also be followed on @magichocuk and Facebook.

Disclosure: We received 4 kits for the purpose of this review. I have not been instructed what to write and I remain honest.

Review: Art Attack from Disney

You know what it is like during the long summer holidays, you need to lots of fill up those endless days, so when I was asked if I wanted to review some Art Attack goodies I of course jumped at the chance. I had assumed these would be the craft kits that I have seen in the shops before with craft bits to make up a specific item but I was mistaken, it seems that Disney are now doing some Art Attack goodies of their own.

We were sent a nice selection of items which all said they were suitable from age 3 upwards. The girls got to work with the starter kit quickly and painting was the first thing they wanted to do. As well as the three colours that came with the kit we added some colours from our paints and they had fun. Above is Miss M’s creation, which I am really quite proud of as she is my energetic one and never sits down to paint, colour or such, she would normally much rather be jumping around on the trampoline.

For painting you get three different heads that screw onto a plastic handle to paint with and I loved the look of these, such fun to mess about with a mini-mop head I thought but in truth it just took loads of paint and did not create that much on the page. I think these might be much better for younger kids with less dexterity that my 6 year olds. 

The starter kit retails for £15 normally and contains all you see here –

I see all the Disney Art Attack products are on special at HobbyCraft at the moment though and the starter kit is just £5.00, that's a great price!

We also received some pens and pencils and these are good quality but again I think are aimed at the younger kids. The pencils are really chunky, bigger than an average pencil and thus you need a bigger sharpener for them.

The one thing that the girls really adored was the paper embosser. I can honestly say this has been used every day we have been at home since it was opener. You cut a strip of paper to size, feed it in and it gets embossed with stars and they think this is fabulous, we have had embossed pictures, postcards, bookmarks, leaflets – you name it!

Disclosure: We were sent these craft supplies free of charge for the purpose of this review. I have not been instructed what to write and I remain honest.

Review: Imaginabox

Recently my girls received a parcel each from Imaginabox and they were super excited to open them. It is a nice touch that the parcel comes addressed to the child. The plastic bag is durable and would last being left out in the rain and then the inside is colourful and the boxes sturdy to protect your crafts.

Imaginabox is a monthly crafting kit aimed at children aged 4 - 8 years. Each kit contains everything you need to make four good craft projects and it comes with a really easy to follow instruction booklet that explains how the crafts should be done. Miss M is just 6 and she could mostly read the instructions herself. The kits are aimed at parent and child time though and it is nice to get involved and help your child make something.

I think these kits are perfect if you are not crafty yourself but your child is pestering you to get involved in some projects or if you just know it would be a good idea to help them develop skills in this area. Each kit has been designed to be fun and educational and the projects sit nicely alongside the foundation and KS1 teaching curriculum. Imaginabox say that they have designed the kits to help develop communication and socialisation skills, motor skills, numeracy, problem solving and imagination.

When your child opens the box they are greeted with a number of pastel bags all clearly numbered and each one represents a different craft and then in your first kit you receive a starter bag with scissors, spreader, glue and paintbrush. With each kit of you will receive the tools you need to do those tasks and you will receive different tools or paints with each kit so you can build up your craft box. The only things it is assumed you will have are pens and pencils.

Miss E is my crafty twin and she obviously loved this but I was super surprised at Miss M who normally only has a moments concentration as she enjoyed the Imaginabox too, I think this was because it was very prescriptive and she liked to follow the instructions and have something at the end she could play with rather than just a picture or ornament. We left the box on the table for quite a few days and the girls kept coming back to it for 1/2 or so at a time.

If you wish to buy a taster box the price is £19.95 including P&P or you can sign up for a monthly subscription an the price reduces to £16.95 per month ongoing and I was pleased to see there is no minimum term or tie-in clauses.  You can also save by paying for 6 or 12 months upfront, check out the pricing options here - http://imaginabox.co.uk/about/.

The box we received is a holiday themes box and you can see the crafts the girls made here, their favourite was creating a suitcase and holiday money, tickets, passport etc for their teddies. This has given them a lot of fun.

I like the fact that on the website there are lots of free extras that you can download and use. This month there is i-spy bingo for the car, making a holiday journal, holiday postcards and lots more. It is worth taking a peek at these great free printables.

Disclosure: We were sent two imaginabox for the purposes of this review. I have not been instructed what to write and I remain honest.