Wednesday 29 March 2017

How to Make Quality Party Bags for a Fraction of the Cost


Finished party bag with title overlaidFor an 11 year old's birthday party, the preparations can be tricky. A long way past the many cartoon characters and children's favourites that adorn the majority of party supplies, they still want to have fun and enjoy themselves. When I went shopping for party bags and supplies, I was disappointed at the high cost, limited range available to buy. In the end, I went my own way, with a design for home made party bags, which I think have a lot more appeal and work out around £1 each, although you could probably reduce this further, by shopping in advance and grabbing some bargains, instead of leaving it until the day before, like me! 
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Monday 27 March 2017

Gangsta Granny at The Bristol Hippodrome! Win a Family Ticket and Signed Programme!

Gangsta Granny
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Old Man Attacks, but was I in the Wrong?!


Tea cup, with title overlaidRecently, I went to an event at our local theatre, to celebrate the return of War Horse in October (more on that soon!). After the event, a lot of us went to the bar for tea and cakes. Although I arrived at the function on my own, I am glad to say, I collected a couple of new friends along the way, who happily shared my love of cake. I love meeting new people, and it's a perk of the job, when you are a blogger. So there we were, squeezed into a very small bar area, enjoying some rather delicious scones, when one of our party decided to go off and find us all some tea. But what happened next, left me asking myself, was I in the wrong? 
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Tuesday 21 March 2017

Easy Crafts for Mother's Day


Pink Rose Close Up with Title OverlaidMother's Day is the perfect time to grab the glue sticks and get out the glitter, because most mums love their children's handmade offerings. If the very idea fills you with dread, however, I've rounded up the most ingenious and super-simple Mother's Day crafts from some of my favourite bloggers, as well as some from our own archives, to give you some low-mess, fairly quick options to entertain the little ones and delight mothers and grandmothers too. They are worth far more than anything you can buy, and hopefully you will have fun making them too. These easy crafts for Mother's Day, are so simple, even I could do it!
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Celebrating World Poetry Day with Viking

The lovely people at Viking asked some bloggers if they would like to have a crack at writing something for World Poetry Day. I love an excuse to write and this was no exception, so I hastily agreed. I had absolutely no idea what I was going to write about until Viking kindly sent us some lovely gifts, to inspire us. The box included a beautiful quill pen, some writing paper and little canvas on an easel. The canvas was so cute and it gave me an idea, which inspired me to write the following poem. I hope you like it and a big thank you to Viking for the inspiration. 

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Monday 20 March 2017

Lee Stafford CoCo LoCo Long Tong Hair Curler Review


Girl with curls and title overlaid
After reviewing the Lee Stafford Academy Ionic Hair Straighteners, which I loved, I was offered the chance to try the Coco Loco Long Tong Hair Curler for free too, from the same company, to see what I thought. The curling tong boasts a 40% longer barrel than a standard tong and I felt this would be really useful for my very long, thick tresses. It's currently on sale for the reduced price of £22.99, which seems pretty reasonable, from a company who make really great quality products, if the straighteners are any indication. My first attempt wasn't a roaring success to begin with, and it took some getting used to, but I put that down partly to my inexperience with curling tongs and my unhelpfully unruly hair. 
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Win a Disney Princess Travel Easel Ends 02/04

Disney Princess Travel Easel
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Sunday 19 March 2017

My Sunday Photo: Pokemon Birthday Cake


Chocolate Cake with Pokemon Figures
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Blogging, Best and Worst Bits

Old, battered typewriter with title overlaidI've been blogging for four and a half years, which surprises me. It really doesn't seem that long, but I guess that is why I do it. Time moves so fast, and it's lovely to be able to look back at everything we've done. For a long time, I stubbornly refused to monetise my blog, because it was fun having no pressure and just writing for the joy of it. However, in recent times, I have introduced a few sponsored posts and reviews, because the biscuit bill really adds up when you're a blogger. However, I still try to keep the content relevant and the emphasis on general ramblings. Today's general ramblings are all about the best and worst bits of blogging.
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Sunday 12 March 2017

April the Giraffe, a Time-Consuming Tail


Close up of giraffe with title overlaid
I never thought I would become this addicted to a Youtube feed, but I have, so I thought I'd better share the saga with you. Normally it's all Minecraft and mayhem in our house, but, a few weeks ago, I caught wind of an interesting development over at Animal Adventure Park in New York, where a giraffe was soon to go into labour and produce a cute baby giraffe in front of the world via a 'giraffecam'! It doesn't get much more exciting than that, I thought, so I tuned in to watch. Two weeks and two days later (and I was late to the party!) we are all still waiting! It's #AprilWatch, folks!
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My Sunday Photo: Lake View


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Saturday 11 March 2017

It's National Bed Month! #ReclaimYourMattress and Your Health!

Child sitting on bed, with title overlaid.
We are a family of allergy sufferers. We snuffle our way through summer, and then, when the heating comes on, some of us even sneeze our way through winter! This winter has been particularly snuffly, and we have suspected many different culprits for the itchy eyes and endless sneezing. Dust, heating, winter bugs, but it was only recently I turned my attention to the beds. I invested in anti-allergy pillows, but they didn't seem to make much difference. I have, however, just found out a wealth of facinating, and, in some cases, a little bit gross, facts about mattresses. In case you were also unaware, your mattress is not the innocent bed-bystander that it would seem.
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Thursday 9 March 2017

Our Weekend Wanderings, Week Nine


Chocolate Gateau slice with title overlaid.
We're late this week, sorry, wifi issues! This is more of a Saturday post, really, but quite a lot happened, so I'm hoping it will still be interesting and no one will mind. A lot goes on in Bristol, there was even a fire limbo dancer! And cake, of course, there will always be cake. It's also more about my wanderings, as I decided I would do something a bit out of character and go totally rogue. Oh yes, you heard me right, I went out, completely unsupervised. So, basically, what I'm trying to tell you, is that the title of this post is a bit of a big fib, really. But, I can't change it, because then it wouldn't be Weekend Wanderings, and anyway, Saturday is half the weekend, after all. 
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Tuesday 7 March 2017

Win a £10 Amazon Voucher Ends 19/03

Win a £10 Amazon VoucherHere's another opportunity to win a £10 Amazon voucher in our latest competition, to spend it on whatever you like! Please be advised that the email address you use on the rafflecopter will be the one I send the prize to if you win, unless you tell me otherwise, so do make sure it's up to date. Entry is very simple and you can enter using as many, or as few of the options as you like, there are no mandatory entries. I have had more than one competition winner who just entered through the free entry, so it shows it can be done! Good luck!



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Saturday 4 March 2017

Very British Complaining #FirstWorldProblems


Large dessert with title overlaid.There has always been a stigma around complaining in this country. Very British complaining is an issue that divides the nation. To complain, or suck it up with a stiff upper lip? Personally, in a lot of circumstances, I'm all for it. There are right ways and wrong ways to complain, but if it was my business, and my customers were unhappy, I would want to know. Also, as a consumer, I don't like to waste money, so, if I am paying for a meal, or a day out, or whatever, and it's not enjoyable, I feel like I've wasted our hard earned cash, which really annoys me and I don't think it's very fair. Take, for example, our experience in a local eaterie yesterday...

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Wednesday 1 March 2017

Our Weekend Wanderings, Week Eight!


Bath Pug with title overlayed
Last weekend began on a Friday, because I couldn't let some awesome artwork pass by, without giving it a mention. I have to admit, it wasn't the most exciting weekend, as I somehow managed to injure my leg, doing absolutely nothing and haven't been able to walk on it since. It's really been annoying me. If I get a painful injury, I want an exciting story to go with it. At the very least, I want to have done something to earn it. No fair! We did manage a couple of trips out, though,and Jade did very well after being dispatched to Lush for emergency bath bombs! 
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