Winner of the Beary Special Giveaway

Thank you so much to all the entrants for helping raise awareness of the Children's Trust charity bear week.  I hope you joined in and had fun!

I have used random.org to select a winner.

And that winner is.......


number 9......




@emmacella !!!

Congratulations. Please DM me on twitter @missielizzieb or email me at missielizzieandmyshadow@ymail.com with your postal address and I'll get your prize off to you. x

Spooky Crafts

I love Halloween. However, this year for some reason I don't seem to have made the most of it. Maybe it's because we've had a hellish half term week, have all come down with colds, the weather has been bleak and we are all going a bit stir crazy!

Friday I decided it was time to start getting crafty. Having finally accepted that my seasonal home decorations will no longer be tasteful and sophisticated (pah!) but will now be garish splodgy paintings done by a 2 and a half year old, we got the aprons on and located the paintbrushes.

First we made some handprint spiders, inspired by an idea I saw from @Teach_Preschool. These are so easy to do and very effective. We used black glitter paint (I was very pleased with myself to have found this range of glitter poster paint in Poundland! Oh yes, I always love a bargain.) 

As the spider only calls for the four fingers to be painted, and not the thumb, it was easier to paint it onto the hand rather than let Ruby loose with a plate of paint.  Print one 'half' of the spider, with four legs and the body, then rotate the paper and repeat. Simples.  When the spiders have dried, we drew, cut out and glued on eyes.

As it was so much fun, we all had a go and in the end, we made a rather cute family of spiders: Daddy spider, Mummy spider and Baby spider.

We also coloured in pumpkin templates, did some leaf rubbings and made a spooky haunted house by doing a chalk rubbing on black paper of some plastic 'brass' rubbing templates I had knocking about from Early Learning Centre. With these splodges, I decorated the front window, as an open invitation to the children of the entire neighbourhood to come knocking for sweets/throw eggs at the front door.

And finally, by Sunday afternoon, I eventually got round to carving a pumpkin.  I couldn't quite manage Thomas the Tank Engine as was requested, so we settled for a Charlie & Lola theme instead.  You like?

For fabby crafty ideas to do with kids, may I recommend you follow my favourites @RedTedArt and @Teach_Preschool

Join Daisy Chain Baby's 2nd birthday bash supporting The Children's Trust

 

On Wednesday 3rd November, online eco-friendly kids store DaisychainBaby.co.uk will be hosting their 2nd birthday party in honour of The Childrens Trust.

 

The event, to take place at London's Museum of Childhood from 6-9pm, is set to be a fun & FREE evening as the DCB team celebrate two years of trading and raise funds for their chosen charity partners.

 

Join them for champagne, nibbles, the chance to win some great prizes at the raffle, networking, and to see the DaisychainBaby.co.uk collection at heavily discounted prices (10% of all sales made on the night will also go to The Childrens Trust).

 

For an invitation to their party, please email Lins Drabwell - lins@daisychainbaby.co.uk - and she'll pop you onto the guest list.

 

I for one can't wait for the big day - I've been to a few 2nd birthday parties recently and not one of them included champagne!! 

 

Congratulations on 2 great years in business and well done on all your great work with my favourite charity. Here's to a hugely sucessful evening.

A Beary special week and a beary wonderful giveaway

This year, for the first time, I Love My Bear Week is taking place – a seven day celebration of all things teddy bear!

Commencing on Monday 25th October bear lovers from all over the UK are being encouraged to join in the celebrations and help raise funds for The Children’s Trust at the same time.

There are loads of ways to take part.  You could take your teddy bear to work for a day, making a donation to The Children’s Trust; host a teddy bear picnic or teddy bear themed party for the kids over half term, or by buy a special edition of ‘The Bestest Ever Bear’ poetry book.

The book published by Walker Books at just £4.99, with profits benefiting The Children’s Trust, is a charming book of bear poems, chosen and illustrated by Colin West with foreword by Phil Tufnell. Officially launched on 25th October, it's packed with poems about bears – from A.A. Milne and Furry Bear to John Agard and Sir Grizzly; from Spike Milligan and Polar Bear to Hiawyn Oram and Rare Bear.

‘The Bestest Ever Bear’ poetry book is available at Waterstones and other main bookshops and can also be purchased on-line. 

You can find out more about I Love My Bear Week or download information about bear themed activities from the Children's Trust website, and you can even make your donation online.  The charity care for children from all over the UK, providing care, education, therapy and rehabilitation to those with multiple disabilities and acquired brain injury through accident or illness.

To celebrate this special week, Royal Mail have kindly donated a beautiful presentation set of their new stamps, featuring, arguably the most famous bear in the world.  The new UK Winnie the Pooh stamps feature the original illustrations to AA Milne's classic, by EH Shephard.



Photo credit: Royal Mail


Along with the stamp presentation set, Royal Mail have also donated a gorgeous writing set, containing 30 sheets, 15 envelopes and a sticker sheet worth £9.99.

In addition to these lovely prizes donated by Royal Mail, the prize will also include a copy of the Trust's 'The Bestest Ever Bear' poetry book.

So please do get involved with I love my bear week and make a donation to the Children's Trust - no matter how small.

How to enter the giveaway:

1. Make sure you are following my blog.
2. Follow @Childrens_Trust on twitter.
3. Tweet the following : Its I love my bear week @Childrens_Trust http://bit.ly/dxUrgU & I'm entering @missielizzieb 's blog competition http://bit.ly/byTO3y
4. Leave a comment below stating that you have done all these steps and leave your twitter name.

The competition will close at midnight on 31st October. Open to UK only.

Prize package consists of a set of Winnie the Pooh stamps, writing set and poetry book as described above.

Winner of the My Funky Party Giveaway is...

Firstly, a huge thank you to Angela at My Funky Party for sponsoring this giveaway. We had a massive response and it seems people really love the products.

Random.org has chosen a winner, and that person is....




@mammamccann (Michelle McCann). Now, I know Chelle has recently changed her twitter name, and for the life of me (please forgive my weekend brain) I can't find her new one!

So please, if someone would remind me, or give Chelle a nudge to this post that would be great.

And Chelle, congratulations. You chose the Rosie Feltcraft doll kit. Please DM me @missielizzieb or email missielizzieandmyshadow@ymail.com with your address so I can pass it on to My Funky Party.

Thanks everyone for entering. x

Christmas is coming and every little helps from Tesco Direct

Much as it pains me to admit this, Christmas is indeed coming and with a very vocal 2 year old I can't even shove it to the back of my mind until mid December this year.

Doing the weekly shop at Tesco I have seen some amazing bargains in the toys section, including my daughter's favourite characters at half price.  Now anyone with a toddler knows that they 'don't get' the concept of saving something for later, plus I quite want to keep the mystique of Father Christmas alive, so chucking these kind of things in my trolley is never going to work!

Thankfully, all these great offers are available online at Tesco Direct. Not only that, but I still get to collect clubcard points and there's free delivery if you spend over £50.  Perfect!



Grandpa Pig's train - now half price at £9



Thomas & Friends Cranky Playset half price now £20

My daughter is a little train obsessed so these will be perfect, but there's plenty more to choose from, and I should be able to get all the nieces and nephews pressies wrapped up here.  All it takes is a little bit of pottering online - something which I am quite expert at!

My nephew would love any of the Fireman Sam range of toys, like this



Fireman Sam helmet with sounds £14.97

Or any of the great toys from the Playmobil Toys range like the Police motorbike

Playmobil police motorbike £9.97

So, this Christmas, I can sit back with a nice cuppa, avoid the cold and the crowds and order it all online. Now, that's my kind of Christmas!

This is a sponsored post

My Funky Party Giveaway

This week I was lucky enough to win a gift voucher on twitter from the fabulous My Funky Party.

Rubbing my hands with delight, I trotted off to browse the website. Well, I was there for ages! There were so many lovely things that I just couldn't decide, and such brilliant value for money I quickly realised that my voucher was going to stretch a long way.

Here's a selection of delectable goodies that I loved.

  


Pretty floral and gingham jewellery box only £3.95

 

 I've bought one of these for my 18mth old niece as a stocking filler.  She has a Cath Kidson decorated nursery, and this will be ideal for storing all her little hair clips and bobbles.


Decorate a hairbrush kit only £2.50


 I though this was such a lovely idea.  My daughter hates having her hair brushed, and I think if she's decorated her own little brush, then the daily tackling of the birds nest should be much easier.  It will be a lovely rainy day activity to do together too.



Colourful critter pencils 75p each


Great value party bag treat or Christmas stocking filler. I love these adorable looking springy insects adorning the pencils.  I think they'd cheer me up if I was hard at work!



Charlie & Lola Thank You cards £4.00

 
We love Charlie and Lola, and these gorgeous cards will be perfect for saying thank you to granny for Christmas presents.  Reasonably priced at £4 for a pack of 8 cards and envelopes.

Cupcake cases only 90p


Finally, I couldn't resist these from the pirates party section. They will be perfect for Halloween baking and are only 90p for a pack of 72.  There are loads of other items in this range suitable for Halloween including garlands, paper plates, cups and napkins.

I have shown a selection of products, but there are many more including beautiful fabric bunting, transfer tattoos and party bags.  When ordering online you can pay by card or Paypal, and they offer free delivery too.  Also, check out the My Funky Party Blog for party ideas, inspiration and competitions.

My Funky Party offers both an online party supply store and a party planning/hosting business. Organising themed parties for children, if you are interested in this part of the business, check the website and contact Angela to find out more. They are currently looking for party hosts in the North West area, but opportunities for franchises will be coming soon.

My Funky Party have kindly offered the chance to win your choice of gift or party supply from their shop.  To enter, first browse the store and choose your favourite item (up to £10). Then come back here and leave a comment telling me which item you like best (this will be your prize if your name is picked at random).

How to enter:

1. Make sure you are following my blog
2. Check the My Funky Party Supplies webstore and chose your favourite item (value up to £10)
3. Leave a comment here telling me what it is (remember to be specific as this would be your prize)
4. For an additional entry, follow @myfunkyparty on twitter and tweet 'I'm entering the prize draw on @missielizzieb 's blog to win a @myfunkyparty prize http://bit.ly/902SH3 ' YOU MUST LEAVE A SEPARATE COMMENT HERE TO GAIN YOUR EXTRA ENTRY

If you are having trouble commenting on my blog, please contact me on twitter @missielizzieb and I will post your comment for you.

Competition closes at midnight on Friday 22nd October. UK only. Good luck x