Use this WH Smith promotional code to get 20% off your order when you buy from the Arts and Crafts section. The code works on items that are already discounted.

Click here to use your WH Smith promotional code

• Discount: 20%
• Applies to: arts and crafts
• Promotional code: WHSA&C20
• Expires: 5th May 2013

To use this promotional code, go to the Shopping Basket page and enter it in the Promotional Code box. It will be applied straight away to your order.

To test it out, I tried it on a pack of Magic Pens that had already been reduced from £2.59 to £1.99. The code took this down further to £1.59.

I expect you'll want to make a larger order though to get the best value out of this code. Delivery costs £3.99 but delivery to a store is free if you can get to one easily. Delivery is also free if you spend more than £15.

Thanks to Syzable at HUKD!

Toys R Us are selling this Sit 'n' Draw creative desk for half price - £17.49 instead of £34.99.

• Click HERE to take a look at the Sit 'n' Draw creative desk *

If your child is arty or loves to mess around making things then this is going to be awesome for them. This rather fabulous Sit 'n' Draw creative desk has rounded corners for safety and deep storage 'grooves' and pen pots to stash pens, pencils, paints, brushes and all the other arty farty crafty bits and pieces that kids accumulate.

It's going to save you having to cover the kitchen, or dining room, table in newspaper every time your child wants to get creative, and it will allow them to keep all their bits and pieces in one place - well, it will if you can convince them it's a good idea to put things away in their proper place each time (good luck with that!).

You're going to need to put it together when it arrives (home delivery will cost you an additional £4.95) but, according to all the reviews, it's nice and easy to assemble.

ALSO, if you have two little ones, if you buy one you can pick up another one for half of the half price - if you see what I mean! I'm not kidding, I just tried it: sitting in my basket are two Sit n Draw creative desks and the total comes to £26.23.

"But what if I don't need two?!" I hear you cry! Well, you can get that same half price deal on anything that comes under the 'Universe of Imagination' banner - you can't miss what they are, Toys R Us have listed them altogether.  Alternatively, you could just buy ONE Sit n Draw creative desk and nothing else.

Thanks to qwertycrazy at HUKD

Home Bargains are selling this 68-piece Mister Maker art set for £3.99, so if you have a budding Monet in your family who's a bit of a Mister Maker fan, then perhaps you should take a quick look at it.

• Click HERE to take a look at the Mister Maker Art Set*

I loved being given art sets as a child, there was just something 'extra' about having everything all grouped together, rather than having the odd paint disc here, the odd paint brush there, and a few crayons that were missing in action.

The 68 pieces that make up this Mister Maker art set include: a ruler, felt tip pens, coloured pencils, pastels, crayons, paints, a paint brush, a pencil sharpener and a rubber.  They all come neatly packed away in a carry case - if you're lucky, it will always stay neat and tidy too.

Normally everything's available for free in-store collection, but this doesn't appear to be (I have no idea why!) so you'll need to add a little bit extra on for home delivery, it could be anything from 99 pence to £2.99 depending on the size classification of your parcel.

Thanks to IWWOTN at HUKD 

It seems like we're making something for school every other week. School projects, half term homework, Easter models. We use a lot of things like acrylic paints so I'm always on the look out for bargains. Like this 18ml Acrylic Paint Set (12 pieces) at Home Bargains. This is £1.99.

• Click here to see the acrylic paint set at Home Bargains*

You can collect it from the store for free. Home delivery, however, is £2.99 so it'll only be worth buying that way if you're getting a number of other items.

I do get a similar set of 12 acrylic paints from the 99p Store sometimes, however it can be hit and miss as to whether they have any. Also, the quality of the paints can be a bit dry, and insoluble even after water is added.

Acrylic paints can be used with water for washes or used directly from the tube as a thicker bodied paint. These acrylic paints are ideal for art, craft and design projects in colleges and schools, in addition to being suitable for the amateur and professional artists.

Features:

• 18ml Acrylic Paint Set (12 Pieces)
• 12 x 18ml colours

Thanks to Jaysmilies22 at HUKD!

What is Mod Podge? That was my first question when a little pack of five small bottles arrived in my mailbox. This was the starter Mod Podge set. One each of the five types of Mod Podge in 59ml bottles.

The simple answer is that Mod Podge is glue, and a sealer, and a varnish, all in one. When I looked it up online I came across some criticism here in the UK, as essentially you can achieve the same result yourself with some watered down PVA glue, then apply a coat of acrylic varnish over the top.

I specify UK there because while Mod Podge is relatively new here it has been around in the US for 46 years. Since 1967. And it's logo and bottle designs are still 100% sixties! I love that.

Crafters use it for a wide range of applications. It is useful for collage work and scrap booking, but it seem the most popular use for Mod Podge is to tart up old containers, glass jars, plastic boxes, tins, and so forth. Like the kitchen containers shown above - they're from the website and were decorated using Mod Podge.

If you get yourself over to the Entertainer, you'll be able to pick up this 500-piece Bendaroos Mega Pack for £2.85 rather than £15.

• Click HERE to take a look at the Bendaroos *

Bendaroos are coloured string coated in wax that you can bend and shape into 2D or 3D models or shapes.  They stick to paper, glass, plastic, and each other, they also unstick so you can use them again to make new models.

Iv'e written about them a couple of times before and each time I say I rather fancy buying them for myself, but never quite round to it.  They're the sort of thing I'd love to mess around with when I'm sitting at my desk waiting in a phone queue, when I want to bang my head against the proverbial brick wall, or just want/need to do 'something else' for a few minutes - it would be like doodling in 3D.

In this Bendaroos Mega Pack you get 500 pieces in 12 different colours - half in rainbow colours and half in neon - along with a guide to give you some ideas for Bendaroos models if you get a bit stuck and need some inspiration.

If you live close to an Entertainer/Toy Shop store then you can arrange to collect your Bendaroos for free, otherwise home delivery will be an additional £2.99.

Happy Bendarooing!

If you've got a budding Picasso in your family, or you're partial to a bit of watercolour painting yourself, then you might be interested in this Artist's Watercolour set of 12 paints - it's £2.47, at the moment, rather than £7.99.

• Click HERE to take a look at the Artist Watercolour set *

I love watercolour paintings - to buy, just to look at, and to paint for myself.  I never got to grips with oil paintings and there are few of them that I really like, so it's very safe to say I'm a watercolour girl.

They're just so easy and forgiving to work with - perfect for little ones getting to grips with something a little more sophisticated than chunky crayons or magic paint books that just require water sploshed onto the page to reveal the colour.

There are 12 colours in this Artist Watercolour set and it's received some good reviews:

I was debating whether to buy this or the more expensive Reeves set I have bought in the past. I would not hesitate in making that choice again, this is a great little paint set which lasts for ages.

This is a great item for anyone looking for good quality water color paints, ideal for a student studying art who needs great and non expensive water colour paints

Thanks to Headingly_Lad at HUKD

Use this The Works promotional codes to get £5 off your order when you spend £20 or more. The Works is a chain of UK stores selling discount books, stationery, art and craft supplies. You can get some really nicely priced, good quality crafts on the site, so it is well worth checking out.

Click here to use your The Works promotional code*

• Discount: £5
• Minimum spend: £20
• Promotional code: MBK9
• Expires: 26th February 2013

To use this code, go to the Shopping Basket page and enter it in the Promotion Code box. Standard delivery is normally £2.99. The code only works on full priced items.

I tested this out on a craft set for children and an airfix model. Both were full priced items. Both codes worked just fine on this order. When I changed my basket to include two storage boxes that were on offer, the code no longer applied.

Thanks to Syzable at HUKD!

Heads up here folks. It is Mother's Day, or as it is more properly known, Mothering Sunday, on the 10th of March. I'll just pause a moment while you all put this in your diaries/set alerts on your phone's calendar app (whatever is appropriate for you).

Right, are you sorted now? OK let's get started. Here's the thing. You don't need to spend a lot of money for a mother's day gift for your children's mother (or grandmother) to get that wow factor. Home made is always best, and that doesn't mean it has to be difficult, or involve a lot of messy paint.

The internet, and our trusty PlayPennies parents, are here to save the day! Just read on to find out about some of the fabulous gifts you can give, which not only won't cost the earth but many of which can be done the last minute. Yes, that's right, at five to six on Mother's day morning instead of shushing the kids, slipping into the car, and getting a bunch of flowers from the nearest open service station, you could do one of these instead.

And it'll go over as well as a pair of diamond earrings. But, just for the record, the earrings are good too.

Argos are selling this Plasticine Fun Tub for £1.99 instead of its usual £4.99.

• Click HERE to take a look at the Plasticine Fun Tub *

You know, I don't remember ever playing with Plasticine at home as a child.  We were are a very arty family (still are), so there were lots of paints, brushes, pens and pencils, but I don't recall ever modelling with Plasticine other than at school.

Maybe that's why I really like it now!  If there's Plasticine to be played with then I'll be right in there getting my hands 'dirty' - Plasticine snails are a bit of specialty.

This Plasticine Fub Tub contains chunky sticks of Plasticine, along with 10 fun shaped cutters and a roller.  It's all packed in a sturdy tub that has a twist-off lid, and carry handle for modelling on the move; hurrah!

The Plasticine Fun Tub is out of stock for home delivery at the moment - so you'll be able to save yourself £3.95 in delivery charges, although it does mean you'll need to do a bit of searching around, if your local Argos doesn't have any for you.  Use www.icheckstock.co.uk to help you, it's much easier than searching via the actual product page on the Argos site.

Thanks to philmitchell at HUKD

The Book People are selling this Easter Things to Make and Do book for £2.99, its full recommended list price is £4.99.

• Click HERE to take a look at Easter Things to Make and Do *

I know we haven't got past Valentine's Day and half term yet, but Easter is early this year - it's at the end of March, last year it was very late and almost at the end of April.

Easter heralds the first two-week school holiday since the Christmas one (and doesn't Crimbo already seem like a lifetime ago!) and I know, from experience, that it pays to have some projects and activities lined up for young kids to do - the weather still isn't great, so turfing everyone out into the garden, to play, isn't likely to be an every day option.

This Easter Things to Make and Do book will not only occupy a few hours, but will also give you the chance to make some Easter gifts for the grandparents - they like that sort of thing...generally.

Each project in the book is explained with simple, illustrated step-by-step instructions, along with a colour photograph showing you how everything should look when it's finished.

There are pop-up chick cards to be made, delicious recipes to try, eggs to paint - I used to LOVE doing that! - and I'm pretty sure that you will have just as much fun doing some of these activities, as the kids will.  Easter Things to Make and Do also comes with a set of stickers that can be used to add the finishing touch to your projects too.

I can't find any free delivery codes, so you may just have to suck up the £2.80 single item delivery charge this time - sorry.

But, happy making things for Easter anyway!

Use this The Works promotional codes to get £5 off your order when you spend £20 or more. The Works is a chain of UK stores selling discount books, stationery, art and craft supplies. You can get some really nicely priced, good quality crafts on the site, so it is well worth checking out.

Click here to use your The Works promotional code*

• Discount: £5
• Minimum spend: £20
• Promotional code: TDC28
• Expires: 4th February 2013

To use this code, go to the Shopping Basket page and enter it in the Promotion Code box. Standard delivery is normally £2.99, while super saver delivery is just 99p. The code works on both full priced items and on those already reduced too.

I tested this out on a range of drawing and art supplies. The total came to £20.96. My basket included a mix of items from three different sections including books for grown ups, for children and craft materials. There was also a mix of full priced items, and those from the clearance section, and the code worked just fine.

Thanks to goonertillidie at HUKD!

Okay, QUICK!  This is a great little deal on packs of 12 Crayola Supertips washable pens - £1.49 instead of £3.22.

• Click HERE to take a look at the Crayola Supertips *

Kids and felt-tipped pens can be a deadly combination!  My daughter, Elise, isn't going to thank me for telling you this (should she read this post):  when she was six, she decided she was going to leave a trail of kisses around the house.  The thing is, she decided to do this with a black felt-tipped pen!

The kisses trail started on the cream lampshade in the lounge, went out of the lounge, along the hallway, up the stairs, along the first landing wall and down the break-away landing to the bathroom - I have a photograph of her trying to wash them off the aforementioned wall, whilst looking very sad and sorry for herself.

If she'd used a Crayola Supertip, then she might have had an easier time of removing all her kisses - their ink washes off skin and clothes easily and are suitable for young creatives aged four and older; HURRAH!

All of the usual Amazon delivery options are available to you - although paying for delivery will not make this such a good deal.

Thanks to khye_shayela at HUKD

One hot and sunny day last summer, someone posted an amazing photo on Facebook from Jolly Learning's page. A row of multi-coloured ice marbles arranged in the snow. Just a little something to cool us all down, but I was smitten with the idea. How cool would it be to make some?

It was a long wait. I think I may have been the only grown up in the entire UK who has been chanting 'please let it snow, please let it snow'. The 'marbles', which you can see pictured above, with the original photo that sparked it all below, are easy to do and lots of fun for the kids.

My son decided that his were ice eggs and they were going to hatch ice dragons. Read on to find out how you make them.

If you head over to The Entertainer/The Toy Shop then you'll be able to pick up some Bendaroos: either 500 for £5 or 1000 for £7.50.

• Click HERE to take a look at the amazing Bendaroos *

Now, Bendaroos come in 500-piece mega packs and usually cost £15 - the deal here is: buy one Bendaroos mega pack for £5 or, if you like, you can buy two for just £7.50; a proper arty-farty bargain!

Bendaroos, in case you haven't come across them before, are coloured string coated in wax that you can bend and shape into 2D or 3D models or shapes.  They stick to paper, glass, plastic, and each other, they also unstick so you can use them again to make new models.

You know what?  I'm going to buy 1000 Bendaroos for myself and the same for my youngest son, Edward - they're just the thing I can 'doodle' with at my desk when I'm wasting hours of my life in a phone queue, or when I just need to 'step away' from everything for 10 minutes and do something less boring instead!

Each Bendaroos mega pack contains 500 of the bendy little dudes in 12 different colours - half in rainbow colours and half in neon.  They also come with a handy guide to give you some ideas for models to bend your Bendaroos into, just in case you suffer a temporary loss of inspiration.

Thanks, a lot, to sarahmm at HUKD (that's not me, I promise!)

Debenhams are selling this 3 in 1 art board for £9.60 - its original price was £32!

• Click HERE to take a look at the 3 in 1 art board *

If you have a budding Picasso or Monet in your family then they might like to hone their artistic skills on this 3 in 1 art board.  It has a white board on one side (sorry, a 'dry wipe board'), a black board on the other (sorry, a 'chalk board' - political correctness gone MAD!).

It comes with six white chalks, six coloured chalks and a duster - you'll have to supply your own dry wipe pens.   It measures H35.4" x W17.7" x D23.6" and can be used either fully standing or on a table (you can take the legs off, you see!).

Reviews are good and is ideal if you want to save the planet by using less paper:

My daughter simply loved it. She wished to have a chalk board for so long and I got a great deal on this item & also took two more as a gift purpose

This was bought for our grandaughter who is having lots of fun with it. Hope it lasts a long time

Standard four working-day delivery is free, as is in-store collection from the Debenhams of your choice - so it's up to you which one you choose; either way there's nothing additional to pay, unless you want your 3 in 1 art board pronto!

Happy being arty-farty!

If you have a budding Monet or Rembrandt in your family, then this Chad Valley Super Art Set will be just the thing they'd love to unwrap on Christmas morning - it's currently selling for £9.99, rather than £12.99.

• Click HERE to take a look at the Chad Valley Super Art Set *

There's something utterly fabulous about having a whole host of arty things to choose from when the creative moment takes you - a few colouring pencils is great; lots of colouring pencils is just awesome!

I think it's because it means each masterpiece can be drawn and coloured using whatever medium took your fancy at that particular moment in time and sets like this Chad Valley Super Art Studio set also provides the perfect opportunity for your child (and you - let's not kid each other here, we both know you're to get stuck into it as well!) to experiment with different art things and find out what they can do with them.

The Chad Valley Super Art Set contains:

• Oil pastels
• Watercolour paints
• Fine line markers
• Mini markers
• Chalks
• Pencils
• Paper
• A pencil sharpener
• Paintbrushes; and
• Rubbers

I've checked stock at various Argos stores around the country and there are still a fair few up for grabs - use icheckstock.co.uk to search through stores near you - although some of you might have to travel a little more further afield than usual, or enlist the help of friends and/or rellies who have stock in their Argos store.

Thanks to logie31 at HUKD

If you're looking for some arty crafty stocking fillers that suit both boys and girls then take a look at these Woodcraft Creation kits - there's a TON of them (well, a fair few anyway) and most of them are between £2.99 and £4.99.

• Click HERE to take a look at the Woodcraft Creation kits *

Apparently, they're always this price - so not technically a deal - but the poster over at HUKD has this to say about them:

Time to post the wooden construction animal toys again! Kids got these in their stockings last year and i had 20 mins of quietness from them. Got to be worth £2.99. These really are good...I've ordered mine for this year!

I absolutely ADORE the owl - I think I want one of him, for ME - and I'm going to order the T-Rex one for Edward as he's going through a bit of a dinosaur phase at the moment, following a half-term trip to the Natural History Museum.

There's a rather cute squirrel. I'm quite taken with the angel fish too (hmmm, owl of angel fish..?  It's still the owl), there's a Formula One car, a jeep, a Chinese dragon (although he's more expensive at £9.99), a swan, a horse, a Stegosauraus, a drum kit - the list goes on and on!

There has to be a model here for almost everyone and would, I'm sure, make a nice little project to get lost in after Christmas lunch.

Thanks to OldSkinFlint at HUKD

I've used the children's hand prints for so many gifts over the years.  Four years ago we gave the grandparents and great-grandmothers framed pictures of Edward's right hand and left foot (it just looked more balanced that way) - Edward LOVED covering himself in paint and the resulting pressies went down a storm!

If you like the idea of hand print pressies, but would like a festive twist to it, then take a look at this hand print christmas tree apron idea that I came across on a rather fab' blog earlier this morning - I really love it, I must confess, and may make one with Edward, to give to his dad this year...and perhaps one for me too.

• Click HERE to take a look at the hand print Christmas tree apron

You don't need much: just a plain white chef's apron, some fabric paint in green and yellow, along with some red for painting on a few baubles and, of course, some hands!

The Book People are selling this Super-Cute Felting book for £3.99, its list price is £12.99.

• Click HERE to take a look at the Super-Cute Felting book *

You know, sometimes, even with young girls, it can be SO hard to find little Christmas things to buy them - my daughter was, and still is, a tricky little madam to buy for.  She never really wanted very much and now she doesn't want anything at all - just money stashed away for when she might want something, although I don't know what as she doesn't WANT ANYTHING!  ARRGGGHHH!

Anyway, when she was smaller (she's 17 now) it was marginally easier to pad Christmas out a little bit with books like this Super-Cute Felting book - it contains all sorts of little projects and things to make from felt.

The official blurb says you can make, and I quote: "Pretty broaches, necklaces and scarves to gifts and homeware including fruity pincushions, coasters and tea cosies."  Awesome - not only will it give them all sorts of things to make over the Christmas hols, but future pressies for grandparents will also be taken care of - show me a grandparent who doesn't love a gift handmade by their beloved granddaughter (or grandson, if they discover a penchant for felting...although I rather doubt it you can never ever tell!).

Single item delivery is usually £2.80 - I much preferred it when it was only £1.95 and I much prefer not having to pay for delivery at all! So just enter this code into the discount/promotions code box at checkout, and you won't have to: PANDP265.

Happy making things from felt!