Children's rugs by Lorena Canals

We recently received a gorgeous rug for the girls' bedroom from Lorena Canals who are a company specialising in rugs for children.

The fantastic thing about this rug (and all the rugs supplied by Lorena Canals for that matter) is that they are washable!

I like to have rugs in every room of the house but the we have got through a fair few rugs in the children's bedroom from 'accidents' happening (sick, nosebleeds, poo).  So to have a fully washable rug is fantastic.

The girls absolutely love their new rug as it looks pretty, and it's also very soft and 'cosy' as my three year old put it.  In fact, when they get out of  their warm beds in the mornings they like to sit on the rug and get dressed!

The rug we ordered is handmade, and is light grey with dots in pink, beige and white, and is 100% cotton.  But this particular style comes in many other colour combinations too.

Lorena Canals also supply many other styles of pattern of rug in different shapes and sizes.

Lorena Canals  say: "We have always considered that our rugs are the final “touch” for a children’s’ room. They add warmth, sweetness, invite to play and create a more homelike environment. We can’t imagine children’s rooms without a rug."

Do go and check them out!

Juggling motherhood and business

In every economic downturn, the stories that dominate the headlines are always the negative ones – take HMV and Jessops in this year alone – and although a shrinking economy is never a good thing, under-performing economies can often be a breeding ground for hugely successful start-ups; one section of society that to my mind always seems to pop-up in the - albeit short - good news section of financial newspapers is mothers, or ‘mumtreprenuers’.

Being a mother appears to foster a creative streak that is probably borne of necessity on the one hand, and also an empathy with a huge section of society, i.e. other mothers. Motherhood inevitably brings problems as well as happiness, and these problems are great for inventive minds to solve, but how easy is it to get these ideas off the ground, and for those mothers who haven’t had that bright spark, how easy is it to find practical and worthwhile ‘from home’ work? 

The web is full of examples of start-ups founded by stay at home mums; Enterpreneur.com for example regularly features successful start-ups from enterprising mothers, and similar business sites are awash with these success stories. 

After having that initial idea, the next thing to do is put together a solid business plan. Every possibility should be accounted and planned for, but don’t let yourself bogged down in the planning – there will come a time when it’s time to stop talking and start doing. If you absolutely must have an amount of cash to get the idea off the ground that you just can’t raise yourself, then consider enquiring with local government bodies about funding - 18-30 year-olds for example are eligible for low-interest start-up loans from the government, and there are others available. The benefit with these government backed loans is that they often come with free business mentoring to help get your idea started. 

What about other work from home opportunities for when you’re not ready to make that jump into self-employment proper, or don’t want the responsibility of a business just yet? Unfortunately ‘work from home’ seems to be one phrase that doesn’t tend to instil much trust in people today, and this is all down to the internet jobs market (jobs advertised as ‘work from home’ are usually bogus or very heavily commission-based). There are however other more tangible options when I comes to working from home. 

Freelance work is one of these options, and sites like.elance.com and peopleperhour.com can help freelance workers find jobs online. Be warned however, competition for jobs is fierce, so be prepared to justify why you are the best person for that particular job. Another option is online marketplaces like eBay, where for relatively little effort an eBay shop can let you sell a huge variety of goods with no start-up costs. 

[This is a guest post written by Daniel N who is a UK-based blogger who writes on a wide-variety of topics including business and marketing.  He is currently working on behalf of Rajapack, a packaging company that supplies businesses of all sizes.]

Photo canvas from Printerpix

Printerpix recently offered us a large photo canvas to review, and so with my Godson's birthday coming up, I jumped at the chance!

And my Godson's mum has often talked about wanting a large canvas of her son to go above the fireplace.

So I asked her to email the image she wanted to use - and she sent a gorgeous photo of him 'surfing' with the waves crashing around him.

I promptly placed the order with Printerpix, and when it arrived a few days later, we were all blown away with how it looked!

The quality, the colours, and overall effect looked incredible - particularly as it had been blown up quite considerably!

Both my Godson and his mum were absolutely thrilled with it, and sure enough, it hangs pride of place above their fireplace.

Printerpix also supply photobooks and calendars among other photo gifts - they are relatively new on the scene, so do go and check them out!

Mega Hi Tower in a bag (giant Jenga)

Giant Jenga

We recently received a giant Jenga set to review, from Big Game Hunters, suppliers of many fabulous garden games and accessories.

I have always been a huge fan of the bog-standard small Jenga, and it is something we have always played together as a family, even before having children.

So I was absolutely delighted (probably more so than the kids to begin with!) to receive this giant version of the game.

It's a game that the whole family can play together - and it provides lots of laughs (and strops!) even for younger children.  In fact, my three-year old has made all sorts of other weird and wonderful constructions out of the blocks, and loves it.

This set comes with 58 blocks measuring 18cm in length, it's really well made, and comes in a sturdy carry bag which means it can be put away neatly without it disappearing all over the house!

I cannot wait to get it out over Christmas, with family and friends!

Bunk Bed from Bensons for Beds

Contempo Bunk Bed

My girls (aged six and three) have always shared a bedroom, and I have often thought about one day getting them a bunk bed, particularly as they are getting bigger and taking up more space.

And so we were absolutely thrilled when Bensons for Beds contacted us about the possibility of reviewing one of their beds.

Bensons have recently open several new concept stores around the UK featuring their new in store experience, the Comfort Station, which takes the stress out of finding the perfect bed!   But being where we are, we were unfortunatley unable to go to one of these stores, so instead we went along to our local store, to choose a new bed.

The service was friendly and very helpful and when I looked worried about assembling the bed, I was reassured by the fact that the store manager told me that normally it is her and another lady who assemble the display bunk beds in that particular shop!

My husband Tom and I set aside an afternoon last weekend and opened up the flatpack bed - to me, all the slats and pieces of wood looked pretty daunting, and within five minutes we were disagreeing about what went where.  Tom ended up telling me to leave the room, and I was amazed that a couple of hours later the bed was complete!

The bunk bed is made from solid pine and it indeed feels incredibly solid.   It is obviously of very high quality and is a lovely simple design.  The bed has given the girls' room a lovely 'wood' smell too, which I love!

And the icing on the cake is that when the kids get older the bed can be split into two seperate beds.

The girls are absolutely thrilled with it - Betty gets the top bunk and feels incredibly grown-up and Dolly gets the bottom and gets her very own snuggly 'den'.

This bed was £459.99 but is currently on sale for £229.99.  And it comes with a very high recommendation from the Button household! Thank you Bensons!

KIDFIX car seat by Britax

We have recently been sent the KIDFIX car seat by Britax which is a test winner in its category.  It is for the older child - group 2-3, for children aged 4 years to 12 years.

This seat is approved for two different methods of installation: either using the ISOFIX system which anchors the seat directly to the car for added protection, or by using the car's 3-point seatbelt.

When I first opened up the box I was immediately struck by the sturdiness of this seat, with  the sides looking well-padded and robust.  And when my daughter first sat in the seat she commented on its 'lovely soft cushioning'.  

The KIDFIX has multiple recline positions, and comes in a variety of fun colours from dark grape to smart zebra.

It has side impact protection, softly padded side wings, seat belt guides, height adjustable headrest, and a soft padded cover that can easily be removed for washing.  

You can  also purchase various accessories to go with this seat such as a cup holder - an absolute must for my daughter to store her random stones and shells in!

Black and Decker steam mop

Black and Decker have just brought out this new steam mop.

This is very exciting for me as I hate the traditional way of mopping - a scraggly mop head that sheds bits all over the kitchen floor, and often doesn't smell very nice.

I am ashamed to admit that I hadn't used my usual mop for so long that it actually had things growing on it when I went to get it from the shed the other day - it has promptly gone in the bin.

So with this new steam mop you don't get any of these problems.  It boasts killing 99.9% of germs and bacteria, and only uses tap water to do it - so you don't need to use any nasty chemicals in the process..

The mop has just a 15 second heat-up time, 180 degree swivel action and can work right up to the edges of the floor.  And the auto select function ensures safety on all sealed floors, and gives a deep clean every time!

Below is a short clip, showing the mop in action:

This is a sponsored post