win one of three moment watches - the john freeman collection

Remember this special watch I was gifted that I shared with you? Well, now it's your turn to be gifted!

Australian artist, John Freeman has partnered exclusively with Moment Watches to launch the world’s first watch brand inspired by stories of love, relationships and new journeys. Following his work as an art teacher, Freeman’s inspiration is drawn from the work of his students, incorporating the use of intense colours, strong lineal elements, and storytelling in the product’s design.

The John Freeman Collection comes in three 'stories' each presented beautifully in a large format mock book, which also comprises a second easel for displaying the watches – making it the perfect gift and collector’s item.

              

The watches come in male and female designs and can be personalised through interchangeable wristbands, available in a variety of bright leathers and glow-in-the-dark synthetics.

To celebrate the launch of Moment Watches and The John Freeman Collection, mum/toddler/babe is providing three readers the chance to win one exclusive watch from this new collection. The three watches are:

The John Freeman Story of a New Journey watch celebrates new experiences and events that make a positive change in us and in the way we see life. The bold shape and monochrome style of the watch makes it the perfect accessory to symbolise a new beginning. Its monochrome design with flashes of red makes it unique within the range.

The John Freeman Story of Friendships watch reflects friendships that energise us and add meaning to our journey. Perfect for changing styles from day to night, this watch comes complete with interchangeable black and white modern styled straps while the watch face features Freeman’s classic bright colours and emotive stories.

The John Freeman Story of Love watch conveys life’s most cherished moments; those of love, and the fruits of that love. Those moments that invariably involve the people we hold dearest to our hearts- husband, wife, partner and children. With its bold use of colour and romantically styled box the watch is a perfect gift for a loved one.

Watch specifications

·        Story presentation book which doubles as a beautiful gift box

·        Mini easel to display watch

·        Rubber-coated watch case

·        Leather strap and design-patented PU strap

·        30 metres water resistant

·        Japanese-made Miyota three-hand movement

·        Stainless steel buckle and case back

·        RRP $90.

To be in with a chance of winning your Moment Watch, just comment below in 25 words or less, sharing your story of either a new journey, a special friendship, or a love story. Each winner will be able to choose which watch they would like to win! This will be a game of skill, and the three most entertaining stories will be chosen. Entries must be made by Friday 18 January 2012 midnight EST. Competition only open to Australian residents.

You can visit http://momentwatches.com/ or http://www.facebook.com/CelebrateYourMoment for more information on Moment Watches.

EDIT: Thank you everyone for entering! The winners of the three Moment Watches are Big brother, little sister; Suzie Love; and babycakequeen. Congratulations! Please email me within the week with your watch preference and to claim your prize.

are you the winner of the bunnings voucher?

Congratulations to commenter #12 melissa! You are the winner of the $150 Bunnings voucher courtesy of Turf Australia!

Am sure it will be put to good use to help get your yard back to how it was before the flood damage. Please let us know how you go with restoring it all. Shoot me through an email with your address and I will have the voucher sent out to you soon.

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get your grass greener

Lawn. Grass. Turf. This is the most I will probably ever talk about the stuff! It's not really my thing. The garden is my husband's domain. We have plenty of grass, and my husband is obsessed with getting it looking good. We have had a few bad patches here and there and he is always trying to fix the problem spots and loves to talk turf. Turf Australia recently offered to provide us with a lawn consultation and hubby needed no convincing on this one.

Most people don't really pay much attention to their good, old grass. It's under our feet in most of our backyards, covering a massive area, and yet we tend not to give it a second thought or really understand how best to look after it. A lovely man from Millers Turf in Sydney was sent out to us to check out our lawn, tell us how it looked, give us tips on how to best care for it and offer advice on how to fix problems or go about making any changes, as well as answer any questions. We learnt about the different types of turf and the different conditions they are best for. Our backyard is always in part sun and part shade and you could really tell this by how the grass was growing. You can see in the pic below.

Lots of questions were answered and hubby is keen to try the Sir Walter turf (which was the turf most recommended for our yard, and in fact most yards) out in a section of our yard to see how it takes. We may then slowly re-turf our yard with it.

It was certainly worth having Millers Turf come out to our place. Hubby was given a fair bit of reassurance that some of the care strategies he was employing were good, including how he was fertilising and watering the lawn. It was interesting to hear  about the different types of turf and how they respond in different conditions and also how fast they grow which translates to how much mowing it will need!! Very important information for the mowers out there.

If you want to learn more about turf, head over to Turf Australia. There is information there about the different types of turf, care tips and there is a directory of professionals in your local area who can help you out like Millers Turf did for us.

And for mum/toddler/babe readers, Turf Australia are giving you the opportunity to win a $150 Bunnings voucher to put towards looking after your turf. All you need to do is leave a comment below telling me a little about the lawn at your place. Does it get lots of sun? Do you mow it or does hubby? What are the main activities that you do on your lawn? You can tell me anything you like!

Entries will close on Sunday 29 January at 11pm EST. I will announce a winner on Monday 30 January.

christmas lights spectacular

Do you do Christmas lights at your house? I've never really been into decorating our place with lights out the front. Mainly because it's a big enough job to get the Christmas tree and lights up inside the house, let alone have time for the outside. I do like the idea of it, but it would also mean hubby would have to set it all up and I don't like the idea of the extra electricity expense either! There are a few houses around us that like to get into the Christmas spirit with lights on their houses. Maybe one day we will join in.

The Hunter Valley Gardens also do their own Christmas Lights event - the Christmas Lights Spectacular! It's in its fifth year of running and t looks amazing!! Our family was invited to the Hunter Valley Gardens earlier this year to visit, in particular, their Storybook Gardens which the kids loved. We were recently invited back for the Christmas Lights event, however given the recent arrival of our third little babe and my illness, it is doubtful now that we will be able to get there. Instead, one lovely reader will benefit by being able to win a family pass to this event!

The HVG Christmas Lights Spectacular runs until the 14 January and includes lights and music displays, entertainment for the whole family, food and beverage stalls, Santa visits and photos, amusement rides, and a nativity scene. For all the details, read this page and have a little look at the video above for a sneek peek at what to expect.

I have one family pass (2 adults & 2 children 4-15yrs) to give away, valued at $52. Children under 3 years and under can enter for free. To win this pass, just leave me a comment below telling me your favourite childhood memory of Christmas. I will announce a winner on Monday 12 December and have the pass posted out to you ASAP so you can start planning your trip! You can even go on New Years Eve and see a fantastic fireworks display!

Good luck and I look forward to reading about all your memories!

what's for lunch?

Here's what I've been having for lunch at my house!

I've been testing out the new Vita Wheat Lunch Slices thanks to Soup, and I have to say they are YUM! I always struggle to come up with quick and easy lunch options. I'm usually really hungry by that time, but don't have the energy to put together anything that will take too long to make so these are just perfect. I just pop a few out of the pack, put on my favourite topping (at the moment it's cottage cheese, tomato slices and a bit of salt!) and munch away!

There are a few different varieties of the lunch slices, including lots of grains and seeds, lovely and healthy! Each pack also has two lots of the slices packed and sealed, so once you use one pack (which doesn't take long!) the other stays nice and fresh for the next lunch time.

Soup don't want just me to try the Vita Wheat Lunch Slices. They have put together a lovely hamper for one of my readers to enjoy too. All you have to do is share with me in a comment below what your favourite topping would be on a lunch slice? I'll pick a winner at the end of next week (4 November) and the lovely people at Soup will send out your hamper which includes the Vita Wheat Lunch Slices and a variety of toppings for you to try on them!

Good luck, and get commenting!

and the Doodle Bear goes to.....

The winner of the cute little Doodle Bear is......i-mumma! Congratulations!!


Thanks everyone for entering the giveaway and telling me all about your lovely little artists at home. Look out for the Doodle Bear in your toy catalogues in your mailboxes. They will be part of the big Toy Sales on at this time of year.


In a little bit, I've got another review to share with you on the Fisher Price Kid-Tough Digital Camera. Josh has been having a ball with it and has taken lots of cute pics. Will share some with you soon.


I'll be back soon....my little man had some day surgery this morning :( and needs lots of cuddles. xx

review & giveaway: fisher price doodle bear

Do you remember these at all? It's a Doodle Bear! To be honest I didn't know of these bears, but they were apparently around when I was little. Fisher Price gave me the opportunity to review one of these, and I was keen to give it a go as Zoe is a bit of an artiste and has often included the walls in the lounge room and bathroom as her canvases! I thought this might help get her inner creative out without ruining the house at the same time!

Sure enough, she has loved it. It's great as it comes with two markers, and the bear is completely machine washable, so your little budding artist can draw to their heart's content and once the bear has no more blank space left, you can throw it in the wash, hang it out to dry (or pop in the dryer) and they can start all over again. I must admit I was a little worried that it would encourage Zoe to draw on other toys or things, but it actually hasn't. She heads for the Doodle Bear if she wants to draw now, or the craft table of course!

Each marker is double ended, one end has a tip, the other a stamper. Ours has a heart shape on one, and a butterfly on the other. Perfect really, as these are perfectly aligned with one little girl's interests.

And the best bit about this toy.....no batteries required for once! Hours of entertainment!

There are three different Doodle Bears available. We were given Rose to review (she has a beautiful tiara!), and there is also Violet (purple) and Sky (blue).

Fisher Price have generously provided me with an extra Doodle Bear to giveaway to one reader! There is one beautiful Violet Doodle Bear up for grabs.

All you have to do to enter is leave me a comment below letting me know about a little budding artist in your life who would love this toy. The giveaway will run until midnight next Thursday 30 June and I will announce the winner on the morning of Friday 1 July!

yay.....some winners

Howdy all! Sorry I haven't much time to post. 

I just wanted to drop in tonight to let the winners of the A-mazing Finish Quantum Dishwasher tablets giveaway know who they were! The girls at Soup kindly picked two winners for me and they are:

• Sharnee ($150 Coles/Myer voucher)
• Anne ($100 Coles/Myer voucher)

Congratulations guys.  Email me when you can so I can pass on your details and your prizes can be posted and you can get shopping!

Thanks so much for entering everyone. It was lovely reading all the different things that amaze you all. Loved all the answers.

Promise I'll be back soon for some regular posting!!

Night night. xx

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ahhhhhhmazing! {giveaway too!}

See those little rectangular things up there with the red ball in the middle? Yes, dishwasher tablets. Now, I don't tend to get excited about anything that revolves around cleaning dishes. All those powders are they same aren't they? Well, that's what I always thought. I would kind of just gravitate towards whatever was on special that looked like it would basically get the job done. I'm also one of those people that doesn't think they can really notice the difference between products either.

Towards the end of last year, I received an invitation from Soup to trial some new dishwasher tablets. The new Finish Quantum ones. I was pretty keen since we do give our dishwasher quite the work out so jumped on board to give them a go. I received a huge stash of tablets to try out myself as well as some sample packs to hand out to friends to try. Every one I have spoken to so far has been impressed. And I also have to say I have been totally amazed too. I've certainly been able to tell that these have significantly washed my dishes better than anything I've used before, including Finish powder, and it also seems to wash your dishwasher too. I'd never seen my machine looking that sparkling before! My cutlery was also less streaky that what I was used to seeing at the end of a wash cycle. Ahhhhhhmazing, truly.

I love it when you get the chance to trial something and it well and truly surpasses your expectations. I normally expect to love something but not this much!! Without a doubt I've been truly blown away by the way these tablets do their thing, and I will definitely be adding these to my supermarket trolley in future.

Now not only do I get to benefit in trialling out this new product along with friends, Soup and Finish are also providing an opportunity for you guys to experience something truly amazing too.

All you have to do is leave a comment below answering the question 'what is amazing, every time?' in  100 words or less. This giveaway will be judged on the creativity of your answers by the lovely people at Soup, so get creative and interesting with your answers.

And what will you win? There are two prizes up for grabs: 

• 1 x $150 Coles/Myer voucher and 
• 1 x $100 Coles/Myer voucher. 

How amazing is that?!

Giveaway runs until next Thursday 3 February 8pm and the winners notified within the week following.

Good luck!!

christmas decal winners

Oops! I know I'm a bit late here....but I have some winners to announce for the christmas decal giveaway!

The winner of the Merry Christmas bunting stickers is #4 I should be folding laundry! Congrats!!

And the winner of the Snowflake set is #5 Cyndie! Congratulations to you too!

Please get in touch with me before Friday so I can arrange to get the decals to you before Christmas!

Meanwhile, I'm chasing my tail here trying to organise my household for Christmas day and working and preparing gifts for preschool teachers and ...... I think I need to go write a list before I forget something!!

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get your christmas decals on!

Just a reminder that the great christmas decal giveaway is still on until tomorrow night. Hot foot it over to this post and leave a comment to have a chance to win one of two prizes!

ps. if you see my blogging mojo anywhere, please let me know! i need it back asap.

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o christmas tree o christmas tree! {giveaway}

This weekend I finally got my act together and organised for Christmas decorations, including tree to go up! Josh was really excited this year about it, and was keen to help, so he was given the honorary role of placing the star atop the tree at the end.

I also quickly came to a deeper understanding of advent calendars and their fabulous ability to help children better understand that you need to wait for Christmas to come. Josh thought that putting the Christmas tree up meant instant presents. Ah......no. So out came our lovely little advent calendar that I bought last year. It has little paper decorations that you open each day to place in the tree. Very cute.

I also got busy putting up some wall decals - snowflakes behind our tree.....

and gorgeous Merry Christmas bunting to continue our red and white theme.

Just for good measure, here is a pic of my resident cheeky chops, trying to get up on to the table to have a look at our advent calendar that I have been trying to keep out of reach of said cheeky chops' hands!!

The lovely people at Bosco Bear were kind enough to give me the lovely Christmas wall decals to try out. I was super excited to do this as I had a look at their designs and really loved them and also the fact that they would fit right into the colour scheme we had going on here. I'm a novice with wall decals. Zoe has a few in her room but these are fully removable so I wasn't as nervous at putting them up, knowing I could easily remove and replace. I was a bit more scared about getting these ones right.

It's important to test out the decals on the surface you intend to stick them on first, and these came with a test sticker which I used all weekend, peeled off after 48hrs, and found it was perfectly fine! So I got to work arranging them. Both the snow flakes and the bunting were really easy to put up. For the bunting I just measured out two pieces of string the length of the bunting flags and taped them onto the wall and used them as a guide. Easy! The decals also came with very easy to read instructions too if you need a bit more guidance.

Overall I'm really pleased with the look. The quality of the decals is great too and the designs on the bunting are so cute and even include some vintagey looking designs.

Generously, Bosco Bear have given me an extra set of each of the decals you see in my dining room above to give away! You could win either the red and white snowflakes decals (valued at $15.95) or the red and white Merry Christmas bunting flags (valued at $29.95). Just leave me a comment below telling me your favourite Christmas carol and you could win! I will randomly select two comments and announce the winner next Monday 13 December, entries will close Sunday 12 December at 7pm Sydney time.

PS. I'll still allow you an entry for leaving a comment without a favourite carol too, just for reading this far!

drum roll please....

I have an announcement to make!

The winner of the Real Nappies competition is Monique! Please email me and let me know your postal address so I can pass it on and your newborn nappy kit can be on its way to you soon!

Thanks to everyone who entered. Hope you are having a happy day.

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real nappies: review & giveaway

Howdy y'all!

Ever tried cloth nappies? Some of you might be groaning and that's generally the reaction I got when I first told people that I was going to use cloth nappies just before I had Josh. My great intention was to do just that, but life after Josh played out a little differently. I didn't realise I'd have such a poo machine on my hands, and after having a c-section and adjusting to a new babe I just didn't want to be a gazillionty million loads of washing to do. Once he hit about 6 months, I gave it a go though, and loved it, and loved the savings at the grocery shop. However once, Miss Z arrived and with all my sleep deprivation, the only way for this mama to survive that period was to just use disposables again. Every now and then I use cloth still but largely we still use disposable here. Josh is only in overnight nappies now and this summer I will be toilet training Zoe, so I may use cloth with her a little during that time.

Not too long ago I was asked to trial Real Nappies. I wasn't that keen initially as I felt like I'd tried so many cloth nappies already but I decided to give it a go anyway and found that it's really quite a simple system to use. I was sent a starter pack to use on Zoe - so a few covers, some cotton prefold inserts, flushable liners and an instruction DVD. 

Have a look at the photo above I took. I found I really like the fit of them. They were were reasonably trim I thought, not too bulky. Super easy to put on too. Just fold up the insert into thirds, lay it down on the cover with a liner on top, lay bubs on top and do up with the velcro tabs as loose or tight as you need! I left the nappy on Z for a couple of hours to give it a good run, and when I changed her the prefold was soaked right through.

After washing, I was quite impressed with the drying time too. The inserts don't take days like some cloth nappies can do.

One of my main disappointments was that the inserts were just cotton, there was no bamboo or hemp which are more absorbant, though take longer to dry too.

Overall I found these nappies great, easy to use and would be a good introduction to using cloth. They seem well made and fit my toddler very well.

Real Nappies are offering a starter pack to one reader also. If you want to be in the running for this, you will need to:

1. pop over to the Real Nappies website and work out what size your bub is and,

2. join the mailing list. 

Come back and leave me a comment below which includes stating the size required. 

If you would like an extra entry in the giveaway you can 'like' the Real Nappies Facebook page, blog about the giveaway with a link to this Real Nappies review, or tweet about the giveaway and include @real_nappies in your tweet. Please leave me a separate comment for each way of entering.

Giveaway will end midnight next Wednesday 3 November and I will announce a winner on the following Thursday morning. 

I know it's all a bit extra, but it will be worth it to win a great little prize!

hello out there?

Hello? Anybody still out there? 

Sorry I've been missing again....it seems it's EOFY* again. *sigh* that dreaded time of the year when hubby's company's books need to be reconciled and cross checked and checked again and re-balanced......urgh! I'm also just recovering from a horrible bout of gastro. Still not back to a normal diet yet, but nearly there.

Anyway, here I am for now, saying hello.

I'm also here to annouce another winner of the Little Innoscents giveaway. The original winner has not got back to me, even after I have tried emailing, so.......after using that random number generator thingy, the new winner is:

Cat

Cat, please email me over your address and I'll pop it in the mail for you and the bebito! Just in time for this cool weather too.

* End of financial year, in case you were wondering....;)

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a giveaway winner

Phew! This looooong weekend is a busy one. I'm flat out catching up on a whole heap of work. Luckily I remembered to draw a winner of the Little Innoscents giveaway and I'd love to announce that the winner is:

Ebonie's Mummy

Congratulations! Make sure you send me your postal details so I can send you out your Little Innoscents vapour rub. I used mine again on Josh last night as he's got a terrible cough. It smells so good!

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little innoscents review & giveaway

Have you heard of Little Innoscents?

Last winter, I was fortunate enough to be introduced to Little Innoscents via a giveaway over at Mama Loves To Shop. They did a Little Innoscents feature and hosted a giveaway and I won a tub of the vapour rub balm. It was perfect timing too, as being winter, of course my kids had little colds here and there, so I had lots of opportunity to use this product. I haven't gone back to use my other vapour rub again. The Little Innoscents product is truly divine! Far less greasy than other products I've tried and rubs in beautifully while giving off the most sensational aromas. I've used this lots with Zoe now and it really helps her to breathe better at night as well as warm her little chest.

A young Australian mum with two adorable children, Antonette is the face and creator behind Little Innoscents – after a career in professional development and telecommunications, she now has over 6 years extensive experience in the alternative therapies industry and is qualified in both Health Science and Aromatherapy. Her mission was to provide Australian families with products that are organic, effective in treating various ailments, affordable, environmentally friendly AND funky. And she has certainly succeeded.

I have since sampled more of the gorgeous Little Innoscents product range and have to say that all truly live up to Antonette's mission. You can use these products with all your family too, not just on baby, and importantly they all work exactly as you expect them too.

Little Innoscents have given me a tub of their vapour rub to giveaway to one reader this week.

For a chance to win this beautiful product, you just need to comment below and tell me your favourite thing about winter. Giveaway will close on Sunday 13 June (evening) and I will draw and announce a winner next Monday morning on this blog.

Make sure you head over to the Little Innoscents website to learn more about their amazing products and to find the closest store to you to purchase the range. They have recently launched throughout Priceline stores too, so what better excuse to head there!

good day sunshine

Morning!!

Before I head off to try and start this week off well and entertaining the little people, I am here to announce the winners of my blog birthday giveaway.

Thanks to random.org the winner of the the stamps, print and cards is:

Flick,

and the winner of the second set of cards is:

Sarah

Congratulations! Please send me your postal address and I'll have them to you in no time.

Thank you to everyone who stops by here and reads and comments. You all brighten my week that little bit more. Here's to another year of blogging!

hurrah for friday

So glad it's the end of the week. In more ways than one....

I love weekends for:

♥ hubby being home = extra pair of hands = me not being outnumbered

♥ getting some 'me' time, even if for only for an hour and I'm doing the fruit and veg shopping

♥ getting into the garden

♥ feeling free of the pressures and obligations of the week

♥ spending time with friends and family

Thank you for all your lovely comments so far in my blog birthday post. If you haven't had a look yet, drop by at this post and leave me a comment to be in the running to win one of two lovely prizes! I'll be drawing and announcing the winner on Monday morning.

Well, this afternoon, I'm off to the hairdresser for a cut and blowdry. I can't wait. My hair will be all shiny and new, and to top that off, I'll be going out for a family dinner (all expenses paid by FIL!) at Somersault restaurant. Although, the reason for the dinner may bring about lots of awkward moments and possible conflict, I'm going to try and just sit back and enjoy the delicious child free meal and keep my head in the clouds and out of family dramas!

What are you up to this weekend?

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happy one year blog-iversary

Well, it's been a whole year since I started this little blog. It seems like much longer than that given all the things that have happened in the last twelve months. We've moved house, I had a really rough eight months of continuous sleep deprivation with Zoe, we've had birthdays, Christmas, babies born and unfortunately lots of family struck with serious illness. I'm hoping this next twelve months shapes up to be just as eventful in lots of positive ways.

As promised, to celebrate, I'm having a little giveaway of a few of my favourite goodies.

1. This Too Shall Pass print by Nan Lawson 2. Handmade buttons stamps in a matchbox by talktothesun

These two goodies I have found along my Etsy travels. Nan Lawson has to be one of my fave sellers and when I saw this print I thought it was just perfect to summarise my mantra for the past twelve months! I think I need to get one of these for myself. Would be great to have one in every room of the house as a reminder. 

The little stamp set was an accidental find, but I thought it was such a cute idea, and the seller is in Sydney! The buttons are so adorable and would make a great little addition to your little notes or letters.

3. Babushka doll card set by Melei

The third part of the giveaway is a set of cards from the gorgeous Jen at Melei. I've mentioned Melei a few times on my blog - I bought Zoe a lovely dress by Melei and was fortunate enough to finally meet Jen, the creator of all things Melei, at the last Mathilda's Market. She has generously contributed these latest creations for my giveaway. I have four of these lovely cards so will give two away as part of the main prize, and will have a second prize of two cards also. 

To enter my first blog birthday/anniversary giveaway, please just leave me a comment. Any comment. You can just say hello. You can give me some blog inspiration or tips.  You can tell me what you love about blogging. I don't mind really, I'd just love to see that you've stopped by.

On Monday next week, 24 May, I will draw two lucky winners. The first will be the recipient of the print, stamps and two Melei cards. The second will be the recipient of two Melei cards.

Start your comments now!