Fabric Flavours

Both my little ones love Julia Donaldson's storybook- The Gruffalo.

Fabric Flavours have brought out a T Shirt design that features Axel Scheffler's gorgeous illustrations embroidered and printed onto a very wearable item of clothing.

I ordered aged 5-6 years for my nearly four year old because I like the baggy T-shirt look over jeans (and find it hard to silence my mum's voice in my head reminding me about growing room). You will see from the photographs that it is generously sized.

My little Addy was very excited about her Gruffalo T-shirt.

Little brother recognises the Gruffalo!

From a mum's perspective, this is a quality garment -100% cotton and exceptionally well made.

Beautifully detailed on the back too.

The only down side for me is that the washing instructions advise not to tumble dry. However, it is definitely something that will make me smile to see hanging on my washing line!

For the whole stunning range from Fabric Flavours visit: http://www.fabricflavours.com/

T-Shirt price - £18

Easter Gift Ideas

The daffodils blooming in my garden are reminding me that Easter is just around the corner.

I like the tradition of giving Easter Eggs but there are plenty of inspiring alternative gift ideas if one does not want to restrict themselves to chocolate.

These are a selection of Easter Gift Ideas I was sent to review.

Easter with Schleich

Anyone familiar with Schleich figurines will know that they are exquisitely detailed and highly collectible.

The Schleich range is enormous but these farm animals, puppy and rabbits could make a fantastic Easter themed gift.

I made a cute display of them on my writing bureau but my little ones keep climbing up to get them to play with. Dylan especially loves the pig because PIG is one of the few words he can say really well. He can also make a pretty convincing oinking sound!

Rabbit Parade

The thing I love about jigsaw puzzles is sitting down with my kids to solve them together. This panoramic cute bunny picture screams SPRINGTIME and would make a lovely, gentle activity over the Easter holidays.

With 200 pieces generously sized pieces, this puzzle should keep us busy and give the little ones the opportunity to get involved. 

The picture has clearly been subject to some photo manipulation which has led to much speculation from my older (more cynical) children with regards to the method used to encourage the bunnies to snuggle together so closely and neatly (velcro/superglue/kebab skewer - you get the idea!) 

Rabbit Parade is a quality puzzle as you would expect from the Ravensburger brand.

Chocolate Rotator

Ok, so this gift idea does involve chocolate. 

The Let's Cook Chocolate Rotator is one of a range of food preparation sets from Character. This particular set enables children to create hollow chocolate shapes in a variety of designs. One of the moulds is an egg shape making this ideally suited as an Easter gift.

We did have a lot of fun with it but I have to confess that the biggest attraction was licking the melted chocolate spills and excess.

The amount of coloured foil you are provided with is only enough to make a very limited number of wrapped chocolates. 

The chocolate is not included.

The following video shows our not entirely successful attempt to make foil wrapped hollow chocolates.

I think that with some experimentation in how much chocolate to use and which type of chocolate works best, some reasonably good results could be achieved. However, if I am honest, it was the chocolate itself that got my children most excited rather than the ability to create the hollow chocolate shapes. I would probably have been better off sticking to Easter Eggs!

Be a Knight, Do it Right

My little ones have been enchanted by CBeebies' CG animated series, Mike the Knight, since its first airing.

Each episode is packed full of medieval adventure, comedy and magical mishaps with a strong moral code to Do It Right. 

There are a host of fun characters from Mike's two dragon friends, Sparkie and Squirt, to his wizard in training younger sister Evie (complete with pet frog, Mr Cuddles!)

Mike the Knight - Knight in Training (from HIT entertainment) will be available to own on DVD from 19th March. With five episodes and a musical bonus feature, there is plenty to keep the kids amused and would make a great Easter gift.

Huzzah!!

Cutey Charm Bracelet Giveaway

I love the idea of old fashioned silver charm bracelets - collecting tiny charms that mean something to you and displaying them together on a bracelet. Unfortunately, I've never seen one that actually looks nice! They end up such a muddle.

The new trend in charm bracelets makes a lot more sense and creates a beautifully aesthetic finished piece. Individual beads and charms can be selected to thread onto a simple silver rope bracelet to make something unique and personal. However, the cost of component pieces can be high and the overall cost prohibitive.

New online retailer Cutey have a range of charm bracelets complete with charms that offers a high quality piece of jewellery at a very affordable price. I was sent a bracelet to review.

I was very impressed with the quality of the bracelet that had an authentic feel and a lovely variety of  beads and charms.

I showed the charm bracelet to my fourteen year old daughter who is developing a keen sense of style. She fell in love with it. She spent a good deal of time studying the beads and charms individually and then familiarising herself with the piece as a whole - the tactile movement of it, its weight and wearability.

At  £12.99 with FREE UK delivery, these would make lovely gifts.

I have one Cutey Charm Bracelet to offer as a Giveaway.


For a chance to win, simply:

• Follow my blog and leave a comment below saying which from the Cutey Range is your favourite. (Please provide a means of contact eg Twitter ID)

For bonus entries (max 3)

• Like Cutey on Facebook and post a link to this giveaway on their wall.
• Like Qwerty Mum on Facebook
• Follow @PaulaHaylock and Tweet " Gorgeous Charm Bracelet from @CuteyJewellery to be won at QWERTY Mum blog  http://qwertymum.blogspot.com/2011/12/cutey-charm-bracelet-giveaway.html?spref=tw @PaulaHaylock #WIN "

Please leave separate comments below for each bonus entry to say that you have done so.

Thank you and Good Luck!

Winner will be chosen at random from all comments on Monday 19th December (UK only)

Competition closed

ThePrizeFinder - UK Competitions

The London Globee

One of the companies I discovered at the Christmas in July event was Globee.

The product that they are hoping will take a slice of the lucrative Christmas market is their innovative City Globe which bears the same name as the company.

The Globees are available in different sizes and featuring a whole range of different cities.

I was given a London Globee to review. It is the 15cm diameter Globee which retails at £20.

It is beautifully illustrated with 40 key landmarks and an accompanying booklet that provides additional information about the landmarks.

I love the slightly muted colour scheme, the cartoon feel of the building illustrations and the amazing amount of detail. What I am struggling to understand is the whole concept of having a city map in globe format. It works for the world map because the world is a sphere - but cities aren't. I don't really get it.

If I could get past that confusion, I would absolutely love these.

There is no denying that the globe format is intriguing and it invites you to spin and explore.

There is definitely an educational element but I also think it would make a lovely souvenir. I can imagine having a Globee collection of all the cities that are important to me - places I have lived or visited or dream of visiting.

Globee do aim their product at both the child and adult market and I could see that they would make an unusual gift for those 'difficult to buy for people', which is always a bonus.

My favourite part of the London Globee is the depiction of the little Guards outside Buckingham Palace because it reminds me of my dad who as a young man could have been found wearing a bearskin himself.

The more I write about how much I like this product, the less concerned I am about my initial objection to the whole globe thing. This is what the rest of the family think of the London Globee.

I have made a  decision - the Globee is going to take pride of place on my desk next to my computer where I will see it (and spin it) every day and who cares if cities aren't spheres!

Follow Globee on Twitter and Facebook