Christmas Gift Giveaway - Day 27

My #ChristmasGiftGiveaway is back - 30 days 30+ prizes!
A thank you from me to my followers this year.

WIN 1 of 2 Smiggle Bundles

I love Smiggle. The products are so bright and funky and really encourage the Mini Mes to be more creative, which definitely gets a thumbs up from me. They now have the pencil cases, pens and lots of quirky little accessories, like animal and macaroon erasers, but I've recently discovered they do far more than just stationery too...

Smiggleball Glow - £12.50
This basketball hoop and ball duo are great for target practise indoors this winter. The hoop can be attached to the wall with the stickers provided (we even stuck ours to the bathroom tiles for some water play) or over a door with ease. The ball glows in the dark so it's perfect for some late night

Back To School With Smiggle - WIN A £50 Bundle

The fresh uniforms are ironed and labelled, the fridge is stocked with lunch box goodies and the new bags are hung up above the shiny shoes. Although selecting all of these new items is fun, getting the stationery and pencil cases is our favourite part of going back to school and we like to seek out the most fun and quirky products available. It makes writing those stories and drawing those pictures a little more exciting doesn't is? 

Smiggle certainly helps with this!

Smiggle - Where a Smile Meets a Giggle

I'm slightly obsessed with pretty stationery and I have quite a collection of notebooks, pens and pencils hidden away at home. Anything that makes writing letters and work related tasks that little bit more exciting is certainly a bonus in my eyes! Plus who doesn't want brightly coloured goodies in their pencil case or school bag?!

Smiggle, an Australian based company, sent the Mini Mes a lovely variety of fun and funky stationery supplies to unleash their creative potential. Although the products are primarily aimed at children I was thrilled to un-box such a wonderful collection of items (and possibly a little green with envy) knowing that the kids were keen for me to get artistic with them! I obviously jumped at the chance and they helped to unpack the beautiful supplies in lightening speed.

What we received

Bubble Hardtop Spot Pencil Case

12 Scented Twin Tip Markers

12 Double Sided Pencils

2 Whammy Sharpeners

Giant Twisted Eraser

2 Maze Pens

Animal Pencil

Treats Rainbow Pen

Book Lite

Scratch Book

Sketch Book

Stencil Book 

Minxy was keen to take everything to school that day to show her friends as she was that impressed by the unique and quirky pieces. I have to admit I was really pleased with the quality and I loved the fact that the attractiveness of the stationery was encouraging the children to draw and colour! 

After school we placed all of the items onto the table, grabbed some coloured paper and got stuck in...

We all had a great time being creative and talking about some of our favourite movies and games (can you guess what the kids drew?).

The pens with their own case was ideal for storage but being double sided, similar to the pencils, meant they didn't take up much space in the pencil case anyway, especially with its different internal sections.

I'm hoping the Mr treats me to some stationery of my own from Smiggle as they have some great value things that I love... especially the strawberry gift set below! Well, it is nearly my birthday after all.

 OPENING IN THE UK

The first of the Smiggle stores to open in the UK is at Westfield, Stratford on 20th February 2014 followed by launches in Reading, Brighton and Kingston.

You can find out more about their stores and products here:
www.smiggle.co.uk



*We received a collection of products from Smiggle for the purpose of this review. The opinions given are honest and our own*

WIN a Notebook and Pen Set from MadeByEllis #ChristmasGiftGiveaway

I'm a little obsessed with stationery and when it's pretty and personalised too it's even better!

This notebook and pen duo is from MadeByEllis and is just one of the beautiful products from their collection. They also have a range of writing sets, invitations, Advent calendars and Christmas cards too. Some great gift ideas.

You can add a name of your choice to the wire bound, hardback notebook and select a style that suits your taste - this includes crocodiles, owls and giraffe.
It contains 70 lined pages and has a miniature pen attached by a silver chain so there is always something to write with to hand... I'd quite like one for myself!

It would make a lovely stocking filler or an end of term treat for a teacher.

*** WIN ***

For your chance to win a notebook and pen set from MadeByEliis you can enter via the Rafflecopter entry form below.

The giveaway closes on 1st December 2013.

Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Make sure you enter the previous competitions and return tomorrow for our next #ChristmasGiftGiveaway!

You can find out more information here: 

http://www.theminimesandme.com/2013/10/christmas-gift-giveaway-2013.html

Shoplet Stationery *Review and Giveaway*

I hadn't heard of Shoplet.co.uk until I was approached by them, but having had a look at the website and product range I wish I had sooner - they provide great value stationery for the whole family and small businesses at competitive prices. 

We were sent a few items to try...

Bic Kids Washable Water-Based Felt Tip Pens

With water-based colour you don't need to worry as much about clothing as apparently the ink comes straight out in the wash! Hands were cleaned easily too so mums and dad need not panic when the kids want to be creative. The set of 12 pens with transparent lids have medium sized tips suitable for both detailed doodles and larger pictures too. 

The tips seem strong too and weren't ruined when a little pressure was applied by Jamster drawing dogs and turtles!

Bic Kids Sharpenable Crayons

These crayons are not only great value at £2.54* for a set of 24, but they are sharpenable and a lot more robust than a standard crayon. We began doodling on some paper and soon discovered that the coloured crayons can be rubbed out just like a pencil - great for any errors. 

They come without paper wrappers and won't make your children's hands messy. A great buy for home or school pencil cases.

Silvine Exercise Books (10)

With the return of school little ones may need somewhere to practise times tables and spellings at home and instead of using bits of paper, which often get lost or binned, these exercise books are ideal.

The A4 sized books are similar to those used within schools and the lined pages keep work tidy and organised with ease. The space on the front allows you to fill in your child's details and with 10 in a set you can use a few yourself for any shopping lists or work you may need to write down too.

Derwent Academy Colouring Pencils

This set of 24 pencils comes in a tin for storage and with high quality pigments they are perfect for a budding artist and even parents to use for their own drawings. These are more suited to older children than toddlers and pre-schoolers but they are still strong enough to be used by someone heavier handed!

*** WIN ***

For your chance to win a set of each of the above items you can enter via the Rafflecopter entry form below.

The giveaway closes on 25th October 2013.

Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

**We received some stationery for the purpose of this review. The opinions given are honest and our own**

*Before VAT

Smencils - Scented Pencils

With the Mini Mes returning to school next week we have been busy purchasing new bags, uniform and of course stationery. 

We were recently sent some Smencils to review from Learning Resources and we will definitely be popping them into their character pencil cases to take in with them!

Smencils are made from 100% recycled newspaper and are the world's only scented pencils. They have their own biodegradable tube to guarantee freshness for two years and come in 25 scents. You can buy them in colour and graphite and there are also black ink ballpoint pens known as Smens available too!

We received a starter set of 5 original Robinsons Fruit Shoot Smencils to try. The scents included were blackcurrant and apple, summer fruits, tropical, apple and orange. They all smell delicious, just like the scent that they are meant to. After having a sniff the Mini Mes got a pad of paper out to test them, discovering that they sharpen and draw well and the rubber to the end is handy for errors - they were keen to doodle for much longer than usual due to the yummy smell.

Smencils can be purchased in sets or individually so you can soon have a collection of all of your favourite scents. They are great value so ideal for both party bags and to use pocket money on with seasonal Smencils available too for Halloween, Valentine's Day and Christmas.

Learning Resources currently have a competition where you can win 1 of 10 sets of Robinsons Fruit Shoot Smencils. You can enter here before 7th September - Smencils competition. Good Luck!