Little Henry Children's Toy Vacuum Cleaner

Little d loves to tidy, it's her new 'thing'. Although when I'm trying to vacuum with Henry it can get quite difficult when you your child is clingy on to the thing trying to 'help'. So when I discovered Little Henry, I was over the moon! This miniature version even has suction, and comes with a dust pan and brush (which is also proving popular) so she can help out mummy even more! 

This toy is lovely and compact, everything can be put inside the vacuum for ease of storage, something I think is great when you already have a gazillion toys!! 

It is a really well thought out toy, and does resemble the real thing,  which is fantastic as I can tell she feels really grown up. Whats more this is only £19.99. I think this would make a fantastic gift for Christmas, I know I would of loved it growing up. 

This little guy came from Argos who have a hole range of fantastic toys for all age groups, an whats more many of the toys are currently half price.

Mummy B xoxox

*This product was reviewed in association with Argos, all thoughts and opinions are my own

All Wrapped Up

Welcome to the first of my Christmas gift guides, something I love to read among the blogging world and thought this year I wold give it a go!

For The Great British Bake Off fan…

With the Great British Bake off ended I think many people are feeling very inspired to bake (I know I am) and so what better gift than this vintage themed Tala Bakeware?! I particularly like the biscuit barrel, perfect. Priced at £6.99.

For the sentimental friend

A wonderful gift, a token friendship bracelet. Something that is simple but quite unique. Priced at £20.00

For the gaming geek…

A perfect gift for a gaming geek? A TV to play them on!! (Or if you are like me whose TV is slowly dying... please Santa!) In particular an LED TV would be best as they have a high refresh rate making them more suitable for gamers.

For The Jetsetters

Perfect for holding traveler passes. Beautiful design and reasonably priced at £12.95.

For the motorbike fanatic

Uneasy Rider follows journalist from the Observer, Mike Carter,on his journey on a motorbike all over Europe. This is a favourite of my hubby to be's and is available for £6.47.

For the ghoulish Goth…

To truly spoil a person who can appreciate Gothic cultre, why not a trip to Whitby, staying at Whitby holiday cottage.This is a popular destination for those interested in Gothic culture, due to its link to the Dracula story.  The trip could include seeing Whitby Abbey, a visit to the Dracula experience and guided ghost walk of the town.  

For the Crafty Kids

This gift would be simply perfect to occupy the children whilst you are busy cooking the Christmas dinner, in fact it could be an activity that the whole family could enjoy. This colouring in Christmas tree is priced at £10.

For your outdoor offspring…

A perfect gift now its getting colder, kitting the kiddies out with beautiful snow boots. A vital gift for kids to really enjoy a good snow day!

For the foodie

Any foodie would be thrilled with this gift, these french macarons by L'orchidee Boutique Patisserie are gorgeous. Priced at £34 for 20. Yummy!

For the beauty geek

For the beauty junkies, this BareMinerals set offers the opportunity to explore mineral based makeup, and whats more currently its only £25! 

So there we have it, keep your eyes peeled for more gift guides coming soon. I feeling very festive at the moment, its the most wonderful time of the year....

Mummy B xoxox


*This is a sponsored post

Next Blogger Network Workshop

On Monday I had a wonderful opportunity to attend Next's Blogger Network's workshop at The Hoxton hotel in London. As I said in my previous post I have not been feeling too well, my silly cold has still not gone, that and the 'storm' was not going to stop me! All of the trains near to me had been cancelled. But luckily enough we decided to do down to London in the car and park up at Snaresbrook tube station and then tube it in. Jamie and Darcie went off and they did their thing whilst I soaked up all the wonderful tips given by the guest speakers.

Jumper and Necklace from Next.

So when I eventually arrived I was pleased to see that I was the first person there, I had made sure that I had plenty of time in case of delays due to the 'storm' (I say storm like 'storm' because as the country is so good at sensationalising everything, the 'storm' was not nearly as bad as predicted, I mean my hair was still curly upon arrival!). When I arrived I was warmly meet by Gemma who looks after the Next Blogger Network, who showed me where to put my coat and made me feel comfortable - exactly what I needed when this was my first event. Then I had the pleasure of chatting Ellie, also behind Next Bloggers Network who again made me feel completely at ease and made me a lovely cup of tea! 

My gorgeous shoes from Next

The venue, The Hoxton, was absolutely beautiful. The kitchen (we had the apartment) was to die for, would be my ideal kitchen any day! It had a quirky but comfortable feel about it and completely fit with the day and suited Next as a brand perfectly. 

Seating area

The garden room

After some introductions and some yummy food, it was time to get down to business, the first of the three workshops. In this first workshop we looked at website design and SEO, this was so interesting and has definitely given me some food for thought about getting the most out of google etc. The talk was lead by Diego Puglisi from Greenlight Digital and Faye Kent, discussing everything from coding and blog layout, SEO keywords and how to improve your Google ranking all things that I have quite limited knowledge about and so this particular workshop I believe I got the most from. 

Schedule for the day, I was in group 1

The second workshop was covering advertising, lead by Abi Marvel and Fashion Foie Grais discussing everything from what makes a successful blog, how to approach brands right through to making a living through your blog. Abi Marvel blew my socks off, can't believe how much she has achieved at the tender age of 21, so driven and determined. This workshop I found very intriguing, my blog has never been about making money, as I have said over and over again I find blogging somewhat therapeutic and I wonder if I began to try and monetise it, would that go away? Who knows, but making a living through something you love seems pretty good to me.

The third and final workshop looked at film and photography, lead by Lily Pebbles and Anna from Vivianna Does Makeup (two personal favourite bloggers and YouTubers) who discussed everything from which cameras and editing software they used through to how they managed a blog and YouTube Chanel. Also on the panel was StyleSlicker, someone who I wasn't familiar with but her work is outstanding, she takes beautiful beautiful photos and is someone who I am now following! 

Lily Pebbles & Anna from Vivianna Does Makeup

Along with meeting the fabulous speakers, I met some wonderful like minded bloggers. Particular special mention to Ash of Redvelvet Ramblings who kept me company during the day, go and check out her beautiful blog!! 

Gorgeous girl!

Finally check out the goodies from the day!

Comfy slipper socks, candle, notebook, pen, photo frame and lots of information. 

Thank you to all the people behind the Next Blogger Network who put on such a fantastic event, especially Gemma and Ellie who made me feel completely at ease all day. Look forward to more in the future :)

Mummy B xoxox

Feeling Sorry For Myself

I have three more days until it's half term (I work in a school if you didn't know) and I have come down with an awful cold. Pressures are high at the moment work wise, what with a visit from the powers that be looming... So I'm plodding along even though I'm feeling pretty poop. 

Despite being rather swamped work wise we have had tried to keep the work/home balance going well, last night me and Jamie went to the theatre to see 12 Angry Men, with Michael Shaw and Robert Vaughn. This amazing production was beautifully done and so very powerful just like the one room black and white film from the 50's. Tonight we also decided to have a family meal out to TGI Fridays, not the healthiest but it did the trick. One thing that has taken a hit is my lovely blog. I have not done as many posts as I would like to have done recently, the last few weeks have very much drained me. Whoever thinks being a teacher is an easy career choice needs to spend one day in a classroom....!  

Anyway, I am hoping I can beat this cold in time for my break, I have lots and lots of exciting things planned for example the Next Blogger event in London a week today, Halloween, fireworks at Alexandra Palace and catching up with my huge lists of posts which are pilling up!!

So I'm dosing up on Lemsip, putting my feet up when I can and feeling a little bit sorry for myself... I'm pathetic, I know! 

This post is just ramberling's I know, but I just want to fill you in on the lack of posts!

Mummy B xoxox

Sunday Haul'in

A spur of the moment shopping trip ensued today. Which despite feeling cheekily pleased with my purchases I need to keep reminding myself that there are other things my money needs to be put towards (you know that wedding I occasionally blog about ;) ).

Anyway, the reason behind the the trip is down to me and Jamie deciding to go to London at the beginning of November to go to the the Alexandra Palace fireworks. Seeing as though I haven't bought Darcie a full winter coat, I thought I better had for this event! The coat I did manage to find was from Debenhams by Rocha Little Rocha, priced at £39.

I was instantly drawn to this coat, more because I wanted it!!! But considering I'm not Darcie size, I decided to let her look stylish in this unbelievably soft and fluffy coat - look at that lining!!! Another thing that made my day with this purchase was that when I got to the till they had an event on, 25% off coats!! Yippee, £29 this little beauty ended up coasting!

Also, whilst in Debenhams, Jamie spotted this gorgeous owl hat for £8. Not bad for a good quality hat.

Then while I was at the till, I spotted some socks, 5 for £6.

Then we took to trip to Lush, I wanted to browse their Christmas range, but naughty me ended up getting a few bath bombs. Lord of Misrule (a favourite of mine), Big Blue and Ickle Baby Bot.

Ickle Baby Bot, Darcie had the pleasures of this evening. She loved it!

Next something that Darcie is in need of, PJs! I picked up some very comfy and warm ones from Primark for £4, bargain!

Lastly, I very very very naughtily picked up the Naked Basics Palette. I have the original Naked Palette but I have hit pan on a couple of the shadows, so I wanted to give this a whirl! Priced at £20.

Hope you have all had a great weekend, I have one more week at work till I'm off for a week! Hurrah!

Mummy B xoxox

Wedding Update - Designing our wedding rings

Me and Jamie have always wanted to do something a little bit special for our wedding rings, I mean they are something that you are going to wear for the rest of your life! But we never really knew quite what we wanted. Our search started quite a while ago, originally I wanted one that matched my engagement ring very closely, but when I tried them on i felt they were too 'blingy' and not really me. Jamie found one he liked almost immediately, brushed palladium (same family as platinum) 5mm hammered effect ring. The more I looked at it the more I wanted one similar.

I searched high and low for one in one of the high street jewellers, but was sorely disappointed with what I could find... Nothing! Then I decided to take my search online. I found so many I liked on Etsy, which were handmade and simply beautiful. I was very nearly tempted, but with shipping costs and the fact I wouldn't have a person I could deal with, we decided to have one last look in local jewellers in Norwich.

We stumbled across a family run jewellers called Aurum. Set in an old merchant’s house and nestled in the Norwich Lanes, Aurum is one of the UK's leading contemporary jewellers. Drawing on the family’s 35 years experience and keen eye for design, Aurum Jewellers showcases some of the best British and International designers placing great emphasis on quality and individuality. Many pieces are also designed in house by the owners, making them very much unique to Norfolk.

The whole process of 'designing' our rings was simple and stress free. And surprisingly not that expensive for a bespoke piece. We opted matching metal, white gold, and we managed to get the hammered design that we loved. By band will be a 2.5mm width and Jamie's 5mm, his will be a brushed finished and mine polished (he said this suited us perfectly hahaha!). So we managed to get exactly what we wanted.

I can't wait to see how they turn out, I feel very satisfied that this part of the day is sorted. That list is quickly getting things ticked off!!

One thing that did make me laugh today though... I got a phone call today telling me I had won £350 off another local jewellers in Norwich from the wedding fair that I went to a couple of weekends ago. Typical!

Mummy B xoxox

Organic Babies - Review

Today has been fairly miserable, the weather is turning colder and it has done nothing but rain! So on weekends like this its nice to have a warm bath early, get your pjs on and have a duvet evening. That's exactly what we have done this weekend!

This isn't really anything out of the ordinary but I was recently sent a couple of products to review and they have worked there way into Darcie's bath time routine.

Organic Babies from the Green People, are products which are not tested of animals and never contain any nasty ingrediants. They also donate 10% of their net profit to charity. All of the Organic children products are suitable for those who are prone to eczema, psoriasis and other skin allergies. Darcie sometimes suffers with eczema and dry skin so I have wanted to try these for a while.

I was kindly sent the Organics Babies Baby Wash & Shampoo and the Mum & Baby Rescue Balm.

So first up, the baby wash & shampoo which is available in lavender and scent free for the price of £7.25. I was scent the scent free version, my thoughts? A tiny bit goes a long way. You only need a drop under running water and you get lots of lovely bubbles (Darcie's favorite part of bath time) and works really well as a shampoo, lathers nicely! Its price is on the high side, but I think it is going to last a long time and I love how gentle it is as a shampoo, Darcie gets eczema on her head and neck and it didn't irritate those areas like some other popular brands.

Next was the Mum & Baby Rescue Balm priced at £9.95. This award winning product is a skin rescue balm suitable to use on eczema outbreaks and very dry skin. It is also fantastic for mums, it naturally helps sooth sore nipples and helps to soften the perineum for birth. Now I haven't tried it on myself as I stopped breast feeding a very long time ago, but has worked really well on Darcie. I can see why this product is popular. I would re-purchase this, especially when the time comes for baby number two!

Hope you have all had a fantastic weekend, we  have! We designed our wedding rings this weekend!! Can not wait to see the results and share with you our experience.

Mummy B xoxox

*I was sent this product for the purpose of this review, all opinions are my own.

Paper Themes Save The Date Cards - Review

So today I have something really lovely to share with you, my stunning save the date cards! I have wanted to share this with you for just over a month but there has been a couple of little glitches along the way (more that later).

Firstly I was contacted a little while ago about a company called Paper Themes, who produce beautiful bespoke wedding stationary. The Paper Themes brand has been in the wedding market for over 100 years, designing and providing wedding stationary across the UK.

When I went on to their website I was blown away with the choices available, all of which could be customised too. I decided to go for the Vintage Postcard priced at £1.00 each. There were options to personalise too and the website was nice and easy to use, which is great because you do not want to be stressing over the wedding this early on!

When I received the first batch (here comes the glitches) I received them a little later than expected, they had some problems with their paper supplier (which was completely out of their hands) and so got them a little later then first planned. They were really good though at keeping me updated. However, when I got them I noticed there was a little error, the personalised stamp hadn't been done and so didn't match up to the rest of the design. Other than that I thought the quality was outstanding.

When I contacted them asking if there was anything they could do, they did not hesitate to re-do them for me. Unfortunately because I hadn't gone through their system (do to being sent these for a purpose of a review) my order got lost and I didn't receive them until two weeks later. They were very apologetic  and I know that this most certainly wasn't the norm for them!

When receiving the corrected ones I couldn't help but smile, these are simply gorgeous and are perfect for our theme. They were sent in a beautiful box, with high quality envelopes.

The Stamp had been corrected, and I'm so pleased! Little details like this make it worth splashing out a  tiny bit!

Overall I am so incredibly pleased with these, and I'm looking forward to our guests receiving them (job for the weekend I think!). Despite the little bumps on the way to getting these, I would not hesitate in recommending them to brides-to-be. In fact I have my eyes on some of their invitations too!

Make sure you take a look around their amazing collection of save the date cards.

Mummy B xoxox

*I was sent the invitations for the purpose of this review, all thoughts and opinions are my own.

Maybelline Color Show 'Sugar Crystal' & Peach Pie' Review

Over the weekend I stumbled upon these two beauties, Maybellines Color Show in the colour's 'Sugar Crystal' & 'Peach Pie'' priced at a very reasonable £2.99 each. 

First up is Peach Pie, its a very beautiful and natural colour, on its own I don't think it would look as nice. But when you team it with Sugar Crystal it looks amazing!! The consistency of these are good, a couple of coats of each were required, but they are not very opaque but I don't think that they need to be.

Teamed together, these two make the most beautiful glitter nude combination. Its very elegant and would be a perfect wedding combination.

Every time I look down at my hand and my eyes catch my nails. So very pretty!

Mummy B xoxox

Conker Picking 2013

So it's that time of year again, Conker picking season is here!! Last year I took Darcie to the same spot, you can see that post here, where she enjoyed feeling the textures of the Conkers from the comfort if her pushchair. 

Well this year, being a whole year older, it was her turn to do the picking! This is something she really enjoyed doing, she loves to pick things up and put them in containers, so this was right up her street! 

I was so annoyed I forgot my camera, so I had to snap away with my phone. But anyho the main thing was we had lots of fun!! Not to mention we got lots of Conkers to fill our glass jars at home for autumnal decorations.

Hope your all enjoying the weekend.

Mummy B xoxox

Wedding Update - Finding a Florist

This evening I'm on a mission to get something else ticked off my list. I have been in contact with some local florists to see if they would be able to re-create my vision I have for our day. And to see if the ones I am interested in are available! 

Our theme for the day, is country vintage and the Barn where we are getting married completely encompasses this. One particular florist I like has already done many events there and I feel this is something important when choosing a florist. They will know the layout and feel of the venue and also know how best to style what is there. 

The flowers I am learning towards is roses and baby's breath. These flowers I think are the perfect combination, simple, yet stunningly beautiful.

I have never been a fan of the covers and sashes for chairs for the ceremony or reception. I think than can be made to look really pretty but they are really not for me. However I do want to decorate the aisle chairs and this picture is completely what I am thinking of doing. 

For table decorations this is my idea of perfection. I love this effortless thrown together look, perhaps with an added watering can filler with roses and baby's breath would finish it off.

Another decoration I have fallen in love with is these baby's breath pom poms, I think these will look stunning in the barn during the ceremony and also in the marquee during the dinner. So pretty.

Not forgetting hair, I am really not sure how I would want my hair, I don't think I want a veil and I know I don't want a tiara or head piece, but I think I need something. This may work, but I'm unsure. They do look beautiful! What do you think my beautiful bridesmaids, fancy something like this?

Talking of bridesmaids, I think a boqaute like this is gorgeous and would be perfect for the bridesmaids.

And lastly these pinholes are elegant and simple, completely in keeping with our theme. 

I'm really excited to have more discussions with forists and see if any of my visions can become a reality and hopefully it won't cost the earth. 

What's your favourite wedding flower combination???

Mummy B xoxox