Imagination Workshop!

Our girls absolutely LOVE to do crafts. I understand that's probably true of most kids. I know I like to do crafts! I'm not always the best at doing crafts with the kids, though. I'm afraid of the mess that will be created. I don't want to have to clean it up and I'm always afraid that something will get ruined. Plus, it's tough to let go and let the kids do things the way that they want to. Although, with 3 kids, it's A LOT easier to let go since I don't have the time or energy to police every little thing that they do. I was feeling a little negligent with the kids since the only crafty materials they have are some colored pencils, sheets of plain white paper, and some Color Wonder books. 

 I looked up craft stores in Edinburgh hoping to find a British version of Michaels. I ran across the Imagination Workshop not too far from our house. It's this wonderful craft store that allows you to purchase an item to decorate. Then you sit at their paper-lined table and decorate your item with paint, jewels, confetti, buttons, glitter, etc. It sounded like a wonderful outing for the girls! 

On Monday, we headed over there when the shop opened up. We were early enough that we were the only ones there. The girls walked around and finally settled on painting a paper mache dog (for Dani, of course!), a paper mache penguin (for Katie, again of course!), and a 3 tiered flower picture frame (for Claire and Mommy). They had a lot of fun painting their items! Claire mostly enjoyed dipping the paint brush in the paint and mixing it all up. She also liked painting the table. 

The only problem we had was that we had to leave the items at the store for a few days so that they could dry and be varnished. Every day after that we were asked when we were going to retrieve their penguin and dog! Finally, today, Cole was able to take the girls back to the shop to pick up their toys. They were VERY happy to have their beloved dog and penguin back! We had a lot of fun that day. It was a wee bit expensive. So, I've ordered some crafting items from a UK store: Baker Ross. I believe it's the equivalent of Oriental Trading. 
And, if you're interested, you can check out the shop on-line at www.TheImaginationWorkshop.co.uk.