Percy Jackson's costume for World Book Day

We don't go for elaborate creations for World Book Day, it's typically a t-shirt with our favourite book characters.
Two years ago, I made a Wimpy Kid costume for Eddie, using fabric pens on a plain white t-shirt. Last year Eddie's outfit was inspired by the wonderful series called The Raven Mysteries by Marcus Sedgwick. And again, I used fabric pens to draw Edgar the Raven.

Until a few days ago we were quite unsure what to choose as this year's theme. Luckily, on my weekly trip to one of the local charity shops I spotted an American edition of Percy Jackson & The Olympians The Ultimate Guide, with colourful illustrations, maps and cards. All children's books in that shop are sold at 10p per book.
We looked at Percy Jackson's image, and I thought: I could easily copy that outfit.

We found an orange t-shirt in M&Co (annoyingly, in a pack of 3, not on its own), and I ordered a pack of Tulip Slick 3-dimensional fabric paints online.
In the old days of my papercrafting blog I used a lot of Tulip paints. In fact, one of my cards even won me a major prize of a big stash of fabric paints, which lasted me a few years, and which I worked with extensively. Tulip 3-d paints come in a huge variety of colours, including glitter and metallic ones which look great on fabrics.

The illustration above was our basis for the outfit. I have copied an image of a running horse from a book Draw 50 horses (another bargain from the same charity shop) on a piece of paper and cut it out.
Using a plain pencil, I have drawn the outline of the horse, and added wings, to create an image of Pegasus.

Then using Tulip 3-d paints, I wrote the name of the camp and drew the winged horse.
Paints take up to 4 hours to dry, and after 72 hours you can even wash the fabric.

My son also asked me to draw a Poseidon's trident on the back.

Tomorrow my son will wear this Percy Jackson's t-shirt with jeans and trainers. He will take a sword and a pen with him too. If you know the books, you will understand the importance of the pen.

What costume will you child be wearing tomorrow?

NaturePaint giveaway (NOW CLOSED)

 You might have seen the recent  report released by the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists on 5th June titled Chemical Exposures During Pregnancy which advises pregnant women to "avoid paint fumes" in order to minimise risks to their unborn child. I know there was an indignant outcry among some media pundits that the state is infantilising women as it gives too much advice about what to do and what to avoid during the pregnancy. And while I am not an advocate of a nanny state, avoiding any hazardous materials makes a total sense to me.

Even when I was not pregnant, I had a fumes' poisoning years ago, when I stayed in the office when they were repainting the windows. It started with a headache and ended with sickness. Not a laughing matter.

And if there is an alternative to toxic paints, why not give it a try.

I have recently reviewed NaturePaint (read my post Eco-friendly with NaturePaint to see how we decorated the bedroom and painted the Elmer mural), and my little man's bedroom looks great.

NaturePaint is formulated as a patented dry powder and is made from only natural and non-toxic ingredients, giving off no harmful fumes at all.  It is the only paint produced in the UK certified to be completely free of harmful VOCs (volatile organic compounds) and is completely safe for pregnant women to use. 

Since many paint companies choose not to disclose what is in their product, it is difficult for consumers to understand the potential risks.  Unlike other paint companies, NaturePaint is happy to disclose all of its ingredients and consumers can check for themselves at NaturePaint site.

Using NaturePaint to decorate a home, including children's rooms, is the simple way to follow the sound advice from the Royal College.

Available in 63 colours for just £19.95 for the equivalent of 2.5 litres from www.naturepaint.com.  Also available from John Lewis, House of Fraser and B&Q.

NaturePaint have kindly offered a prize for one of my lucky blog readers - 2 kilos of paint in the colour of the winner's choice.

If you would like to win this prize, please fill in the Rafflecopter form.
T&Cs:
Only the first step is mandatory: all you need is answer the question by leaving a comment.

The question: which NaturePaint colour would you choose if you are a winner? Please have a look at the range at NaturePaint. You don't have to decide now, you can change you mind later.

All the other steps are optional, you don't have to do them all. All it takes to win is just one entry.
Only one entry per person is allowed (however, you can tweet daily and do a bonus click entry daily as well to increase your chances).
The giveaway is open to the UK residents only.
Once the Rafflcopter picks the winner, I will check if the winner has done what was requested. I will contact the winner, if they do not reply within a week, the prize will be allocated to another person.
The giveaway will close on 3 July 2013 at midnight (at the start of 3rd).
Good luck!

Thank you to all entrants!
The rafflecopter has picked the winner: see the name below.
Big well done, Jayne! Please let me know which colour you want to choose.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Eco-friendly with NaturePaint

The time has come to refresh Eddie's bedroom. It didn't look too bad, but I never had a chance to redecorate it when I was pregnant, as I was feeling quite unwell, and now I had no excuses not to give it a new look. By coincidence I saw that NaturePaint has been looking for bloggers to review their new range of paint. This was the necessary push for me, I have emailed them at once and they have kindly provided me with enough paint to decorate the room.

Elmer mural

What NaturePaint promises? "NaturePaint is the first paint brand in the world to be proudly labelled as Zero VOC, meaning their paint contains absolutely no toxins and doesn't produce those dreaded fumes that are bad for everyone's health.
Really family friendly as this means that after painting a room it is immediately safe for children to inhabit - so no having to put them to sleep elsewhere or cordoning off the painted room from them. It also has great environmental creds and disposing of left over paint has never been simpler - you can simply add any unused paint to a composter or throw away just as you would milk.
We only use artist-grade natural and non-toxic pigments and these include various earths, ochres, umbers, oxides, and rutile titan white. Wherever possible we buy pigments that are extracted using low environmental impact, non-polluting processes, even if that means we have to pay more money for them"


Sounds fantastic, doesn't it? I have contacted NaturePaint, saying that I would love to try their products as I planned to decorate Eddie's bedroom, and that ideally I would like to do a small size mural for him. My boys love Elmer the patchwork elephant, and I knew I would enjoy painting it on the wall.

I went online to NaturePaint to look at their full colour range. It was not an easy choice, as I wasn't sure whether to go for Basking, Cotton Dusk or By-the-wind-sailor, in the end I have chosen the Sunfish, a beautiful pastel blue shade.

You can see how the mixed paint is full of microscopic bubbles, and I followed the instructions precisely. It was also way too runny when I was painting the walls (in comparison to the other standard brands). The first coating was quite uneven, and I had to use both the roller and the brush to achieve the right effect. Thankfully, once dry, the bubbles disappeared and the coat of paint looked even. As per instructions, you need at least two coatings.

The pros:
- all the environmentally-friendly credentials
- the paint doesn't have an odour, and you can use the room on the same day it is painted (unlike some other paints that smell awfully toxic).
- The paint is supplied in powder form – allowing you to easily mix the amount you need and save any excess for future decoration.
- It comes in 63 colours, so a pretty good selection to choose from.
- provenance: I love the idea that all the paints are produced in Cornwall, using the local materials
The cons:
- as the paint comes in powder form you will need quite a big container to mix it in and the precise scales, as you need to follow the suggested ratio of paint to water. I did have the kitchen scales but I don't expect everyone to have them, so I think a plastic measure scoop to come with the paint would be a good idea. Also I didn't have a big enough container with the lid. I usually paint in stages, as I don't have a chance to complete the room in one go, so I needed a container that would keep the paint from drying for days. Hence I was mixing a small amount of paint every time.
- I found it too runny to my liking

The photo above (the jar) shows the actual shade of the paint, as the photos of the finished painted room are different, I tried to edit them to show the real colour, but didn't quite manage.

That's Eddie's soft toys corner, we have a low futon with a mattress on the floor, where he loves jumping and playing with his teddies and dogs. He doesn't sleep here (just thought I need to clarify, he has a bed at the opposite side of the room, where I was standing).

Eddie's delighted with his Elmer, he watched the progress with great interest, as it took me many days to finish it. I used the acrylics for the mural, as NaturePaint selection didn't have all the necessary primary bright colours for my project and I am more confident with the art materials. I should have first put the primer once the outline of Elmer was drawn, as the colours kept changing on the pale blue background. I had to repaint the pink twice, and mixing red and blue gave me a very dark purple which was almost black, so I had to do another trip to the art shop and buy a purple colour.  Then I realised my old black paint was too dry, so I had to buy a new one. Once the mural was finished, Eddie and I had fun adding the Elmer stickers which I bought a long time ago on amazon, they are wonderfully cheerful and bright, and easily removable once we get bored with them.

If you'd like to read more about the NaturePaint and see what you can do with it, please visit Mummy2Five blog and admire her fantastic Peter Pan mural. She's one talented lady, and I can imagine her son was ecstatic.

I'm adding my post to lovely Verily Victoria Vocalises' blog linky #PoCoLo