Being Mrs C

Elevenses

In some ways Little Miss C is a very girly girl. She loves playing in her little play kitchen and one of the Christmas gifts that she loved most was a tea set that we bought her. We often have pretend tea parties together and I don't think it's coincidence that two of her first words were "cake" and "tea".

The tea parties aren't all make belive though. Most mornings after a good play session or a quick trip out I do try to make sure that we stop and sit down for a spot of elevenses together. By that stage of the day I need a cup of tea (normally Earl Grey these days) and a slice of cake for both of us makes that last bit of the morning much easier to deal with. We try and make it a bit of an occassion too - sitting at the table together and talking about what we've been up to that morning and our plans for the rest of the day. If we're out and about then we still try and make time for that morning pause and we've found quite a few local cafes where I know LMC likes their cake and we can get a high chair for her.

Years ago when I worked in a very old fashioned bit of the civil service it was almost compulsory to have elevenses! Anyone who didn't step away from their desk when the kettle went on was seriously frowned upon by our boss. The whole team sat down together and chatted over a cup of tea and a tea cake from the work shop. It worked a treat though and really did make the working day so much easier to get to the end of - sadly I've not seen it anywhere else, but I definitely think we should try to make it happen. Those lovely people at Anchor Butter are hoping to change all that with their campaign to bring back elevenses - definietly something that I will support.

When it comes to what to eat with your elevenses cuppa in our house the firm favourite with LMC is my Matilda cake (recipe here from when I last blogged about it). It always gives me a bit of a boost and the mixed fruit in it makes me think that there is at least a little bit of something healthy in there! I've no idea where the recipe originally came from, but I do know that it was in my mum's recipe book so I'm guessing from either a relative or family friend.

Anchor Butter are campaigning to bring back Elevenses and this blog post is part of their promotion. You can join Anchor either on their Facebook page or via Twitter. If you use the Twitter hashtag #AnchorElevenses you might also be in with a chance of winning some great Anchor memorabilia too!

VTech My Laptop

If there's one thing that children want to do more than anything else, it is to do whatever their parents are doing. Any parent who has ever tried to use a laptop whilst a toddler is in the room will know that they will very quickly run over and start trying to press buttons - normally whilst you're in the middle of something rather important!

At just 18 months old Little Miss C could already get past the screen lock on my iPhone and before than she managed to launch various applications on Granny's computer too. We were beginning to think that it was time to get her some technology of her own when Cuthbert's Toys came along and asked us to review the VTech My Laptop. It should be noted that the recommended age range for this laptop is 3-6 years, so Mr C and I have tested the full range of functionality whilst Little Miss C has concentrated on the bits that appeal to her now.

The first thing that struck us about this laptop is just how much you get for your money. The RRP is £16.99 which seems a bargain compared to so many other toys. The laptop is designed for preschool children and comes with loads of games on it which encourage the learning of letters, words and numbers. The simplified mouse and basic, chunky, keyboard are easy for little hands and fingers to use whilst also teaching the child some fundamental computer skills. For the older pre-schooler there really are enough games to keep them amused for hours. The laptop also comes with a workbook which is a combination of extra games that can be done on the laptop (and the answers written in the workbook) and other activities like dot-to-dot and colouring. As a bit of a geeky-child I used to love workbooks like this and that alone would probably have made my day. For the price it really is amazing.

As soon as LMC saw the laptop she ran over to it shouting "pooter, pooter!" and that day we really had problems separating her from it. She loves pretending to type on it and has got the hang of turning it on and off and enjoys the various different noises based on which buttons she presses. I can see that this will easily be a toy that she comes back to time and time again as she grows.

Not much in life is perfect though and there are two things that I would look to change on the laptop. Firstly the volume control. There is a specific user interface built in for changing the volume, but sadly the total range isn't that big at all. Mr C and I really felt that it could do with being quieter. This would be particularly useful if you were hoping to use the laptop to keep a small child entertained whilst you did some work on your laptop - the last thing you want is someting loud distracting you when your child is actually quiet. The second thing that we found strange was some of the pictures that are on the letter keys. VTech have tried to put a picture on each key of something that starts with the letter on the key. The problem is that some of the choices are not totally obvious: k for kitten (but a child might easily think this is a cat), o for oak (easily seen as just a tree by a child that doesn't know the difference), q for quail (how many pre-schoolers know what a quail is?) A shame as with some more obvious choices this could remove some confusion and looking online I can see that other people have raised a few concerns about this.

Working on the move!

One thing that LMC did try to do with the laptop quite early on was put her hand on the screen as if there were touch-screen functionality. You can see why though when she seems mummy and daddy using iPhones regularly. This is where I'm sure the new VTech InnoTab fills the gap in the market, but as such I do wonder if children's laptops will become somewhat redundant, especially for children whose parents have iPads or other tablet computers.

If you have a toddler and a laptop of your own I definitely think that a laptop like this (or one of the others in the VTech range) is a fantastic thing to have. As well has having an educational value for your child the abilty for a child to pretent to be like Mummy or Daddy is such a valueable one.

Disclaimer: I was given this VTech My Laptop to review by the lovely people at Cuthbert's Toys. Cuthbert's is an independent toy shop with physical shops in St Albans and Letchworth, as well as an online shop on their website.

Designs and Such Christmas Tree

I was delighted to recently be asked to review something from new local St Albans company Designs and Such. They are an online craft store that sell both craft kits and also one-of-a-kind handmade items which would make lovely gifts.

Being a crafter myself it seemed logical to test out one of their kits and I was sent the Trio of Feltivity kit to make for Christmas. I should add here that time constraints mean that I've only completed one of the trio so far - the chirstmas tree - but watch out for the other two completed projects later in this advent craft month here on the blog.

The first thing I want to say about these kits is that they contain absolutely everything you need to make the completed item, apart from a bit of sewing skill. There's no faffing about to find needles or a certain coloured thread and it was all beautifully packaged together. I particularly liked the vintage style striped paper bags containing all the smaller items in your kit - and from a green viewpoint it was lovely to not get loads of extra plastic to throw away.

I started with the Christmas Tree from the kit and surprised myself at just how much I enjoyed making it. You need to have a little bit of sewing skill, but this really only requires you to do simple running stitch and blanket stitch around the edges. If I have to have one little criticism it is that the kit doesn't include photographs of the finished items - I will be saying this to Designs and Such as feedback though so I hope they'll take it on board and incorporate them in future versions. The sequins give it a nice bit of detail without it being too "bling" and I loved the twine hanging loop which makes a nice difference to the usual ribbon.

Even Little Miss C declared the finished item as "pretty" so bearing in mind that came from a little lady with a limited vocabulary that's high praise indeed. I'm really looking forward to sitting down and getting on with the other two projects in the kit and if you've got someone crafty who deserves a gift before Christmas then this would be ideal. On their website they also have some other lovely non-Christmassy kits that would also make lovely gifts along with handmade items.

Disclaimer: For this review I was given a Trio of Feltivity kit by Designs and Such, which usually retails at £13.99. This kit contains everything to make the christmas tree detailed and photographed above, plus a robin and a festive red heart. These two latter items will hopefully be made and reviewed here later this month!

Julie Slater & Son Notebook

Hello. My name is Mrs C and I am a list writer.

There I've said it. I write lists and I love doing so. I have lists for everything. What meals we're having this week; what shopping I need the next time I place an Ocado order; what jobs need doing around the house; craft projects that need finishing; what I plan to buy people for Christmas and what I'd like to receive at Christmas. I always have several lists on the go - sometimes on post it notes stuck in strategic places, sometimes on scraps of paper in the bottom of my handbag and some of them written in notebooks that can be found all over the house.

This year though I'm getting organised and I mean seriously organised. About three weeks ago the lovely Julie Slater and Son left on my doorstep one of their A5 notebooks to review in a delicious purple colour. Since that moment all my lists have been compiled in one place and some jobs are actually getting ticked off my lists.

Never before have I owned such a nice notebook - one that makes me want to write in it as often as possible. Even Little Miss C seems to like it and I've had to fight off her advances with an assortment of wax crayons and felt-tip pens! The cover is so incredibly tactile that I find myself stroking it ever now and again, in the way that a sane person my subconsciously stroke a cat whilst thinking of other things. The stitching detail around the edges really gives it a quality look. There's a very handy elastic loop for attaching a pencil or pen - always necessary when you have a list to write - and a tab to keep it closed. A vast number of pages mean that it should last for many, many lists, but when an avid list writer like myself does manage to fill it, you can also buy paper refills for it too.

A notebook like this really would make a lovely gift for any organised person and the matching 2012 diaries would also make great accompanying Christmas gifts.

These limited edition notebooks and 2012 diaries have come from a collabortaion between Julie Slater and Son and Italian diary manufacturer Castelli. Both are available from the Julie Slater & Son website along with loads of other lovely gift ideas. 

Disclaimer: I was sent a notebook for this review by Julie Slater and Son.

VTech Toot Toot Drivers Garage

It's as if Christmas has come a bit early for Little Miss C this year. I came home from town the other day with her buggy weighed down with the Toot Toot Drivers Garage to review from our lovely local toy shop, Cuthberts.

The Toot Toot Drivers range comes from VTech, and as you would expect from them combines bright colours and noises to attract the children, with interactive elements to help them learn through play. The vehicles are a lovely size to fit into small hands, and also talk and sing in response to pressing a button on them whilst the Garage provides a fantastic centre piece to play with. Not only is there a road area to drive the vehicles along, but also a lift to take the vehicles up to the upper level, a spiral ramp for them to come down again, a turn-table area, car wash area, parking space, heliport and filling station area. A couple of small barrier arms help traffic flow around the garage and seem to be one of Little Miss C's favourite parts - I had no idea that lifting a small arm up and down could be so fascinating. There are also some large buttons which can be pressed to hear various other things. There are two modes one of which seems to be a learning mode and the second a music mode, but since LMC hid the instruction book when we unpacked it all Mr C and I are yet to discover exactly what the modes do!

The interactiveness of the range really comes apparent when you combine the cars with the Garage. There is one section at the top of the spiral ramp where if you press the vehicle down the Garage recognises the vehicle type and sings a welcome song to that particular vehicle. (All cleverly done by a small plastic plate on the bottom of the vehicle pressing down on a series of buttons in the garage. The shape of the plate being unique to each vehicle type.) The garage itself comes with a pick up truck vehicle, but all of the vehicles in the range work with it and I can see that new vehicles would make great presents further down the line.

Little Miss C has been playing with this garage for just over a week now and seems to love it. Being only 16 months old she obviously doesn't quite understand all of the things that it can do (but then neither do Mum and Dad!), but she was very quick to work out all of the things that she can push to make it play noises and songs, and pushing the vehicle around it also came quite naturally to her. I know some people may initially think that cars are for boys to play with, but that's not an attitude we adopt in this household and LMC has played more with this than the doll she owns! With all the different areas in the garage there's loads of scope for imaginative play using it and I can see that the way LMC plays with it is likely to change as she develops.

The only complaint I might have is that when you have the garage making all its noise the addition of the vehicle independently making noise and singing can be a bit much. I've started ensuring that either the garage OR the vehicle is turned on at one time. I imagine that with more vehicles you might end up with a bit of a cacophony going on so I'm hoping LMC doesn't discover the on/off switch too quickly.

At the moment the Toot Toot Drivers range just consists of the vehicles and the garage, but looking at the way that it's built I am hoping that VTech will also bring out some road areas, as it looks like there is space for them to click into place. The inclusion of the heliport makes me wonder if the vehicle range will also extend to include a helicopter of some sort. There is no doubt that the garage is a huge hit in this household and I definitely think we'll look to buy Little Miss C a couple of extra vehicles for Christmas. I'm also going to keep a close eye on how VTech look to extend the range.

 

We were given a Toot Toot Drivers Garage to review by the lovely people at Cuthberts. Cuthberts have fantastic physical toy shops in St Albans and Letchworth, Hertfordshire and also have a full online store available on their website.  

If you're local it's also worth ensuring that you check in on foursquare when you visit them as they run some great check in specials as well as fantastic deals for the mayor. 

Little Books

When I was sent a couple of sets of Little Books to review by GMC Publications I just knew that they were the perfect thing to save for our holiday. If you've got flights to endure with a little one they these are perfect to take with you. We decided to have one box set for the journey out to Madeira and then to save the second one for the journey back and that worked really well for us.

Little Miss C loves books of all sorts and now that she's talking more and more, books where she can point at things and saw what she sees are ideal. We were sent Gyo Fujikawa's Little Library and Richard Scarry's Best Little Books Ever to review and each set contains 4 books. The Gyo Fujikawa books are Friend Time, Play Time, Animal Time and Hug Time, whilst the Richard Scarry books were the slightly more tangible Opposites, Shapes, Colors (yep, spelt like that as it's American) and Counting.

Mr C and I were already familiar with Richard Scarry before this trip and LMC likes the characters he uses in his books and the grown ups that were reading them with her appreciated the slightly comedy style of it all.

Gyo Fujikawa's books are very different in style and the pictures are beautifully drawn and detailed. The animal time proved to be a big favourite of LMC's, mainly because she could name many of the animals that she saw. Some of the concepts in these books were a bit beyond her at the moment, but I can see the Friend Time book in particular being very useful later on when she comes on to understand the idea of friends and the different types of friendships that you can have. With the exception of the animal book all the others also feature lots of little children who all look very different and seemed to really hold LMC's attention during our flights.

Since we've returned from holiday she keeps going back to the books again and again, and insisted on going through all of the Gyo Fujikawa ones before bed last night.

Richard Scarry's Best LIttle Books Ever, ISBN: 9781402785658

Gyo Fujikawa's Little Library, ISBN: 9781402785665

Both book sets cost £4.99 each and are published by Sterling. They were both published in September 2011.

Carla Daly Children's Wall Art

Decorating a young child's bedroom can be tricky. You want something that's bright and colourful for them to look at, with some educational value, and also doesn't look too, well, childish. I was delighted therefore when I was emailed by Carla Daly and asked to review some of her Children's Wall Art.

We were sent a Kid's map of the United Kingdom and I was delighted to unwrap it when we arrived back from holiday. The map is in a simple style and clearly shows the countries that make up the UK, along with some of the major cities. Overlaid are a variety of animals (all labelled) which I think are all native to the UK.

Little Miss C is nearly 16 months old now and was delighted as soon as we put this up in her room. She loves animals (and birds) and most of the words that she has so far are animal related. After getting up this morning she spent nearly five minutes stood in front of the picture shouting "fish!" and pointing at the whales, dolphins, salmon and tuna shown in the waters around the UK.

If you have a look at Carla's website there are several other maps - ideal if part of the family is not from the UK and you want to teach your child more about that country - various art pieces and some lovely height charts, which are a particular favourite of mine.

The map was incredibly easy to attach to the wall - some might say so easy a child could do it - and it arrived packaged really well, so much so that even our holiday cover postman didn't manage to damage it at all (remarkable!) If you're looking to buy a gift for a new baby, or to celebrate a child's birthday (or that December event that's fast approaching!) then definitely think about some art like this.

I was sent a copy of the Kid's map of the United Kingdom to review by Carla Daly. This map usually retails at £24 and is available from Carla's website - www.carladaly.co.uk

Avon calls on you to Bake for Breast Cancer

Nearly 48,000 women in the UK are affected by breast cancer every year. There are very few of us who don't know someone effected by this awful disease or other types of cancer. All of us want to help find a cure, but for many of us the best we can do is to donate money to the scientist who are working hard to understand the disease better and to develop drugs to fight it.

You can help to raise money for Breakthrough Breast Cancer by hosting an Avon Pink Pamper Party and Avon have made it even easier to raise money through a bake sale with their Crusade Baking Set. The set contains a pink ribbon and heart shaped cutter and six silicone cupcake holders (pictured above). It costs £5 of which £1.25 is donated directly to Breakthrough Breast Cancer. All remaining proceeds go to not-for-profit projects. The sets are available from your local Avon representative, or online from the Avon shop.

Having been sent a baking set to play with Mr C got some slightly more exciting cupcakes than usual and I even got my icing bag out too to help decorate them! The cutters provide some different shapes that would be especially great for fundraising biscuits -  I would give you one tip though; when using the ribbon cutter the biscuits take a must shorter time to cook than the hear shaped one! I learnt a lesson on that one...

October 2011 is breast cancer awareness month, so why not send off for a baking set now and plan a bake sale for October?

For this blog post I was kindly sent a Crusade Baking Set to review and in return I have made a donation to Breakthrough Breast Cancer.

Supersoft Kids and the Smurfs

My first of the Supersoft Kids range was our postman handing over a very sodden package (inside one of those "Royal Mail are sorry plastic bags") and saying "I've no idea what this is,but it's damaged and smells delicious!"

I was kindly sent the Tropical Surge 2in1 shampoo and conditioner and the accompanying detangling spray to try and the postman was right, it smelt delicious - something like the sort of cocktail you might enjoy whilst lying in the sunshine on a sun-kissed beach - not the kind of thing I'd expect to think of when washing Little Miss C's hair!

The 2in1 works really well and certainly cleans LMC's hair and gets out all of the food that she's insistent to rub in at each meal. The detangling spray isn't something I'd usually use, but made combing her hair post-bath that bit easier. The bright coloured bottles also provided entertainment when she was in the bath and she also loved looking at the Smurf characters on the bottles - she's obviously not been exposed to many blue people locally!

Supersoft Kids 2in1 shampoo & conditioners offer a fresh and fun hair care range specifically designed for children, with an Intensive Care-Vitamin Complex. Available in two fruity varieties, Strawberry & Milk and Tropical Fruit the range also includes two detangling sprays, for use after washing.

The new The Smurfs movie was released on August 10th 2011.

Julie Slater & Son Mini Photo Frame

I'm sure that I'm not the only person out there you likes filling their home with nice things. In my mind it's part of creating a home - surrounding yourself with people and things that you love. I'm always on the look out for lovely things, both new and secondhand, and I'm always particularly thrilled when I find someone new creating lovely things that I like.

A few weeks ago I came across Julie Slater & Son - a lovely company selling leather purses, wallets, bags and gifts. I was delighted to be asked to review one of their products and Julie sent me a lovely mini triple photo frame in my favourite colour, purple!

The photo frame is beautiful; small and perfectly formed. It is much smaller than many leather photo frames that I've seen (just measuring 64 x 56 mm when closed), but is actually a perfect size for someone travelling who wants a small frame to tuck away in their handbag or luggage as a way of carrying photos of their loved one. As much as I love having a selection of photos of Little Miss C on my phone there is something about printed photos that is particularly special and I can see myself using this to carry around some of my favourite family photos. It's a lovely quality and very tactile too.

Looking at Julie's website there are some truly beautiful looking items on there. I could quite happily bring home most of her bags and the gifts section of their website has some lovely things in would make lovely gifts for friends or relatives. I'm also quite annoyed that I didn't discover their range before buying myself a new purse a few weeks ago - this large zip round purse would have been perfect. This Daisy Chain Print Passport Cover would also make a useful addition to my handbag for our first foreign holiday with Little Miss C that's fast approaching. All items are priced very reasonably and their range contains enough variety to suit both outgoing personalities and more conservative tastes.

I'm really hoping that several more items from Julie's collection will be finding their way to our home soon!

The details...

Top image: Mini Triple Photo Frame

Bottom image: Mini Double Photo Frame

Julie Slater & Son's range is available to buy via their website.