A crafty day in London and a mini fabric pinboard

Last week I was lucky enough to be invited along for a day of crafting by DryNites. I had a fantastic day of crafting with some like-minded bloggers. 

Scroll down to see how to make the mini padded pinboard in the picture below!

The venue for the event was Tea and Crafting, a lovely spot in Camden Town, appropriately described as a craft sanctuary. The room was beautifully decorated, with plenty of space for working but cosy enough for chatting.

Leading us in our crafting was Tamara Melvin, Great British Sewing Bee finalist. Tamara has been working with DryNites to create some craft projects which bring a grown up touch to childrens' bedrooms as they go through the bedwetting stage of development.

We were also joined by child psychologist Emma Kenny to chat to about any potty training or wetting issues that we might be having with our children. She emphasises that it's important not to continue to treat young children as babies, and instead of putting them to bed in a nappy you could consider using a more age-appropriate product like DryNites Pyjama Pants.

We had the opportunity to make two lovely crafts for our child's room - a bedside lamp using some old toys and a padded pinboard. The lamp is a way to help your child feel comforted at night when they see their familiar toys beside them, as well as being practical for night time toilet visits. The pin board can be used to store your child's mementoes and mark their learning stages, to help them recognise that they are growing up. Both crafts can also be made with your child's help, so that they feel a sense of achievement and pride in the finished product.

Lamp Base and Shade

For the lamp base we used a simple lamp which you can buy easily. I found a few old toys - a couple of cars and some plastic dinosaurs. Everything was sanded and then painted with Annie Sloan chalk paint - a few coats covered the items beautifully.

While the paint was drying we decorated the shade. A piece of cardboard was cut to size, and then stars cut out with a craft knife. I chose some lovely spotty paper to put behind the stars before using a glue gun to stick it to the shade. Then I trimmed the edges with some blue ric rac. This was so easy to do, and I love the idea of your child helping to decorate the lamp shade, perhaps with stickers or their own drawings.

Padded Pin Board

For the pin board, you need a piece of stretched canvas, some wadding or foam and a piece of fabric. I used a spotty pillow case that I bought in Asda, you could use any old fabric that you have around or perhaps some old clothing or sheets from your child's room. The fabric is stapled tightly around the wadding and the canvas. This was the first time I had used a staple gun and it was brilliant, I think I might well be adding one to my Christmas list!

Then we took some pieces of elastic and stretched them across the board in diagonal stripes, held in place with a split pin and decorated with some paper flowers. The stretchy elastic means that you can tuck away larger objects too, like small toys and keepsakes.

I was really pleased with both things I made, and it was so lovely to have the opportunity to sit down with some like minded people and really concentrate on what I was doing without any small interruptions! Then we finished the day with some delicious cupcakes!

In my goody bag among other things there was a lovely gift for the children - a Worry Eater . This little soft toy has a zip across his front, with the idea being that children write down their worries and zip them away. I think it's a lovely idea, you could keep him beside the bed and help your child write down things that are worrying them before they go to sleep. It also means that you can find out things that worry your child that you might have no idea about. I found out that Harry is worried about tornadoes and tsunamis thanks to a book we've been looking at, perhaps I need to think more carefully about our choice of bedtime reading!

I also left with some DryNites products to try. Mia is still in nappies at night, and I find that she is often soggy in the mornings. That's because as children get older they need something a bit more substantial. DryNites Pyjama Pants are designed for older children, and should work much better for her until she becomes dry at night. I also received some DryNites Bed Mats which I have found to be brilliant, they are very absorbent and great for taking away with you if your child will be sleeping somewhere without a waterproof undersheet.

As well as the wonderful opportunity to spend the day crafting, I also received a goody bag and some DryNites products. Amazon link is affiliate.