The Eggsberts - Needle Felted Easter Creatures

These are the Eggsberts, they are very shy, very rare creatures only found in the top secret Easter Chocory where the Easter Bunny is head of operations. Eggsberts are the expert egg testers, they have all sorts of different ways to test the eggs, from jumping on the top of the eggs to test the strength to rolling them down hills to test the shape.

They are easily recognisable by their egg shaped uniforms and there colourful beards. They are much smaller than the bunnies and the chicks that work alongside them in the Chocory and like to sleep in the basket room.

If you would like an Eggsbert to help you test the eggs on Easter morning please let me know. I have managed to find three that would like to relocate but I could ask if anymore would like to have semi retirement xxx

Moby and Puddle was founded upon whimsy and fairytale, in the last year I have lost sight of why I started making my characters, I wanted to tell stories! It cannot be a coincidence that my sales have dropped in recent months despite the quality of my work improving. I stopped giving my creations stories, characters and personality. I have updated my business plan and the whimsy is coming back, the stories will be fresh and alive once more. I feel that Moby and Puddle has reached a new point and from here on will be get better and better. Thank you for sticking with me! Love Samantha xxx

Easy Lace Crown Tutorial

My daughters school decided to go all out for St Georges Day this year and Lilly Webbling wanted a lace crown (which wouldn't fit over her braided hair on the day but she still loves it and has worn it lots)

This is a very simple crown that only uses three materials, fabric stiffener ( I used Paverpol), super glue and any lace that you like the look of, you can use scraps but make sure that the length will fit around your head. You will also need a plastic container big enough to wrap the lace around, (I used a beach bucket) and a paint brush.

We used grey lace to compliment her Merida outfit.

Firstly add a thin layer of the fabric stiffener to the outside of the bucket and lay the lace directly ontop of the stiffener. This will help it to stay in place, overlap the ends by around 1cm.

Buckets are great because they ger bigger as they go up so you can make them bigger or smaller and could make more than one at a time on one bucket.

Next brush on the fabric stiffener, be generous with your application as the more you use the harder your crown will be.

Add more layers to make it harder.

As it dries the fabric will get darker. Once it is completely dry (Mine took around two hours in the sunshine) you can add another layer if you would like to make it even stiffer.

Then gently peel it away from bucket, it should retain its curved shape. It may leave some residue on the bucket which should peel off easily because the fabric stiffener does not stick to plastic.

It should peel away without any resistance.

Join the two ends with super glue. You can try and match the pattern if you would like to but we were having too much fun to think of that!

Any basic brand of superglue will do the job.

You may find that the edges are a bit uneven and there is fabric stiffener around the crown, that can easily be trimmed with a pair of household scissors. to neaten it up.

Rough edges can be trimmed.

You can leave your crown here if you would like to, however we decided to add some organza flowers to brighten it up and make it even prettier.

My Lilly Webbling loves her lacey crown.

The crown is great for children because it is not completely stiff so can handle being played with and still be put back in shape. It took no longer than 20 minutes without drying time and Lilly enjoyed helping. If I were to make it again I would do it slightly bigger to accomodate her plait but the rest of the process was incredibly simple.

I hope that this tutorial helps and if you do decide to create one I would love to see it xxx

Raffy Munny Doll (sort of review)

Lovely bright boxes, bigger than we expected too.

A few years ago I bought a DIY Vinylmation from Disneyland and have not had the courage to actually decorate it. Whilst browsing for similar products I came across Munny Dolls by a company called Kidrobot. I managed to get two Raffys on Ebay for a very reasonable price, cheap enough that I wouldn't be too heartbroken if I didn't like the outcome (unlike my Vinylmation).

Lilly Webbling (aged 6) and I decided to have a girly night, we listened to a bit of Zac Brown Band and decorated our Raffys.

They come in a lovely colourful box and the giraffe is very strong and durable. It will handle a lot of playtime. Inside the box you get your Raffy, which were much larger than I had expected and great for little hands to decorate. You also get a sticker with an outline so that you can design your Raffy before you put anything on the actual vinyl. A Hello My Name Is card with a holographic sticker showing its authenticity AND .... a blind bag with one mystery accessory.

The other contents of the box.

Lilly and I both got the same accessory, I am not sure if this is just the standard one for all Raffys or if we were just unlucky/lucky, we do love the ties that we got.

We decided to use our ties as testers ...

We got ties in our blind bags, great for practicing.

I used Inktense Blocks by Derwent for mine and Lilly used Sharpie markers because they were easier for her to handle.

Both mediums were easy to apply, I used a paintbrush and water for the Inktense.

The Sharpie pens stay a little tacky for a while after drawing your design so you can get a few finger prints in unwanted areas but it does go on in very vibrant colours. The Inktense was much softer almost like watercolours and did smudge a little even after around an hour of drying. However the next morning neither was tacky or smudging.

Has anyone seen my body?

 You can take the heads off to make it a little easier to decorate them separately, I found this particularly helpful when I was trying to paint the face onto the Raffy, it was just easier to get it at the angle I needed. This is also the only way to get the tie on :).

Do you think our ties look smart?

 Lilly designed her Raffy completely independently and I absolutely love her eyelashes! We did find with both the Sharpie and the Inktense that once the colour is on there, you cannot remove it completely! So be sure that you really do want that colour before you apply.

We have pretty backsides too.

We decorated all over our Raffys, just playing and having fun. I love how free Lilly was with her colours, children are not inhibited and it really shows in her Raffy how much she loves bold bright colour and just how much fun she had.

Rosie is cheeky.

This is a close up of Lilly's Raffy, she is now named Rosie.

Chhestring is shy.

And this is my Raffy who has been named Cheesestring (thanks to the suggestion of Harrison aged 3)


In my opinion for the money, these are fantastic creative toys. You don't need expensive materials to decorate them, you could use acrylic paints or any marker pens.They took us around two hours from start to finish then around twelve hours drying time just to be sure the inks had set. It was such a fun canvas to work on and I believe it would be quite difficult to end up with a Raffy that wasn't adorable.

They have been handled and played with by both of the Webblings who adore them. I would like to try one with a unicorn horn one day and perhaps one with wings but the possibilities are endless. I can see them being played with for a long time to come. xxx

Quick and Easy Mother's Day Candle Tutorial

I saw an image of these when I Googled Mother's Day ideas but could not find a tutorial in English so I do hope that this mini tutorial helps you create a personalised and unique gift for the special people in your life this Mother's Day. (I do not take credit for the genius idea)

This creation is even simpler than I had first hoped and a great last minute gift idea because all of the materials are both cheap and easy to locate. This project took roughly 45mins from start to finish but that will depend on how long your little ones want to take when drawing there masterpieces.

You Need : 

• Tissue paper (we chose a butterfly pattern but white works really well too) 
• White or light coloured pillar candle (available at Wilkinson from £1.00) 
• Greaseproof Paper
• Pens or pencils (we used basic felt tip pens) 
• Heat gun or hair dryer  

Firstly measure the tissue paper around the candle and cut out a rectangle which will fit comfortably on the front. Then write a message or draw a picture straight onto the tissue paper. It does not matter which side of the tissue paper you use, we tried both and they do not look any different once finished.

You then need to cut your greaseproof paper into a sheet big enough to wrap around your candle and comfortably hold. You do need to hold your greaseproof paper tight to avoid air bubbles and messy wax. You Place your tissue paper directly on your candle in the direction you want it to face, then put the greaseproof paper on the top (shiny side against your candle) and pull tightly.

Start to heat up your image, make sure you keep a firm hold of your greaseproof paper throughout. You then apply the heat with either a heat gun or a hair dryer, with a heat gun this takes literally seconds, with a hairdryer it would take a little longer but not more than a minute or two. As it heats you can begin to see the image through the greaseproof paper more brightly than before, it is hard to see in a photograph but quite obvious when you are watching it change colour at home. 

 Once you can see all of the colour through the paper you have covered the whole image. Gently remove the greaseproof paper (you should have no resistance at all) and your candle is complete!

The photograph below shows how uneven the texture is if you do not pull the greaseproof paper tight enough, this is because I tried to use the greaseproof paper twice. The paper had scrunched and did not lie flat on the candle so the wax bubbled.

We made two each for the Webblings Nanna and Grandma. Quick and simple. The candles are smooth and you cannot feel where the tissue paper meets the candle at all, it feels printed on. The whole place smells like vanilla now too which is an added bonus.

We decided that they needed wrapping, we used bags that are intended for cupcakes or sweeties but make a very pretty candle holder. They are often available from Poundland in the party section.

Two in each and the gifts are finished. I can't believe how simple this idea is and that we have never tried it before. In total they have cost me around £6.00 for the four candles so great for our tight budget too.

If you decide to try them please do let me know, I would love to see them!

Samantha Webb x