Potty Training with Dry Like Me (PLUS Your Chance To Win)

Potty training is quite a big milestone for children, and even parents, to reach. It's a time when you can ditch the nappies, saving quite a few pennies in the process, but you can expect a few tears and tantrums along the way too. Therefore, anything that helps to make the transition that little bit easier is definitely appreciated by mums and dads alike!

Dry Like Me, the award-winning potty training pads worn in children’s own pants, were created by mums Jude and Di when they couldn’t find anything that helped to move their potty training children away from nappies and into underwear. They commissioned independent research, which showed the pads reduced accidents after only one week, and Dry Like Me are now sold by most supermarkets and online.

The Essential Baby Care Guide (Plus Your Chance To WIN)

Of course babies don’t come with a manual, but the Essential Baby Care Guide really is the next best thing: four DVDs, Online Courses or Apps (Appstore/Googleplay), including 160 clips, narrated by Professor Robert Winston and featuring leading experts presenting courses on:

•    Feeding

•    Care and development

•    Sleeping

•    First aid and accident prevention

Each Course follows expert advice from:

- The Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health

- UNICEF UK Baby Friendly Initiative

- St John Ambulance

- The Child Accident Prevention Trust

- The Meningitis Research Foundation

- The National Literacy Trust

- Consultant Paediatricians, Midwives and more.

Work Options For Parents

When planning a family it's vital to think about childcare and whether or not you will be taking a break from work to raise your child(ren). For many it's not a feasible option financially so they opt for childminders and nurseries to look after their little ones, but that can be costly which again creates questions about what is best for you. Some parents may not wish to stay at home after maternity leave as they enjoy their careers too much to part with, whereas some mums and dads have an amazing support system of family friends to care for the kids so they don't need to worry as much - every situation is different but deciding to be a working or stay at home parent can be difficult. 

5 Ways to Add Value on to Your Home

The housing market is a volatile place where it is difficult to predict trends and a local school can be more important that the number of bedrooms in the property. If you are thinking of selling your house you will want to ensure you get at least the amount you paid for it in the first place. However, depending on the market this can be a tall order. However, there aremeasures you can take which are sure to add value to your home. Not all of the following suggestions are cheap fixes but they are a guarantee of justifiably pushing up the price of your property without detracting potential buyers.

Night without the kids? Then it’s glamour time!

They run around at your feet like excitable hounds, jump around while you do the dishes, and wake you up in the middle of the night to get rid of monsters under the bed. You love your kids – but when will you have time for yourself?

Sometimes you simply have to drop the kids off at their gran’s, get dolled up and hit the town. But that eye for fashion that used to be so sharp has grown a bit rusty since you’ve started raising kids.

Fear not! We’ve put together a few top fashion tips to inject a dose of modern glam back in your life. Have a gander and you’ll be looking more stylish than a Cara Delevigne and Kate Moss double act.

Maximise your makeup

You’ve probably got a few friends who are complete fashion disasters; the type of people who own more mascara than sense.

Setting the stage: simple tips to make your home more valuable

Staging is the process of preparing your property for sale with an aim to render it as appealing as possible. Though the culmination may result in you debating whether you even want to leave such a pleasant abode, it can help sell your property faster and increase its value.

Whether you’re thinking of selling soon, or considering the possibility several months down the line, the following simple tips can provide a real boon.

Clear the way

During staging, it’s important not to lose sight of the fact that it’s all for the prospective buyers. You might think your living room exudes a cosy ambience, but to a fresh pair of eyes it might look like clutter-central, population: “not me”.

Decluttering is an easy and inexpensive first step that can boost your property’s value and help you enjoy it more in the meantime. After all, as well as putting off realtors, bank appraisers or viewers, clutter has been reported to cause negative psychological effects like stress.

If the task ahead looks beyond the abilities of Mary Poppins, you could hire a professional clearance company. With a considered choice you can get an affordable clearance made possible through waste

The Flu Vaccine - Protecting Your Children This Winter

The bugs are back in town. That's right; it's that time of year again when the tissues come out and the coughs creep back in. Flu can develop quickly and leave us feeling quite unwell indeed. With many of us not wanting to miss work or school and definitely not wanting to be poorly over the magical festive period in particular, it might be worth booking your family in for a flu vaccine today. 

Facts about flu

• In an average flu season in England, flu affects up to 10% of children aged 0 – 14 years

• Children are the main transmitters of flu and pass the virus on for longer than adults. For every 10 children who missed school because of flu-associated illness, eight household members subsequently became ill

How to teach children about saving energy

You might be looking for ways to cut down the cost of the energy bill at home but it doesn’t just have to be the adults' job to look out for a rogue light left on or a dripping tap - get the kids involved as well.

You can find advice and ideas from organisations, such as the Energy Saving Trust, on how to save energy and then get to work on encouraging the kids to take an interest.

It’s important that little ones view energy saving as a fun task: screeching at them when they leave the TV on when no one is in the room won’t get you very far.

Make them feel like a superhero and tell them that by turning off the lights and shutting all the doors that they are saving the world, one flick of the switch at the time. If they want to wear a cape whilst undertaking their energy saving duties, don’t stop them!

Christmas Gift Giveaway - Day 9

My Christmas Gift Giveaway is back! 30 days, 30+ fantastic prizes.
A big thank you to my amazing followers this year.

How to get a job without relevant experience

It’s the chicken and egg scenario – you haven’t got the experience to snare the job you want from a site such as jobstoday.co.uk, but without snaring the job you won’t get the experience. For the young jobseeker it might seem like an intractable problem, but help is at hand: here are several ways to bridge the gap.

Get the qualifications

Face facts: you will not get a job as a lawyer, secretary, doctor, or many other jobs without the basic skills. Working to get the correct paperwork will show that you are taking things seriously. And don’t assume that you have to wait until the conclusion of your studies to apply for experience!

Simple ways to upgrade your home

Our home is our sanctuary: a place that we can truly make our own. There are so many different ways to decorate our home, and the best part about that is if you don’t like it, you can change it! Taking a trip to Tesco and picking up a few bits in the home section can make the world of difference.

An upgrade to your interior decor doesn’t have to be this big event; some simple changes can transform your home into whatever your heart desires. Here are a few ways to upgrade your home decor.

Tips for Achieving Better Photos

If you’ve recently gotten into photography and are enjoying your new hobby but want to take it a bit further, you’re probably wondering how you can brush up on your skills and improve your photos slightly.

We’ve come up with some tips for helping you to achieve better photos every time to hopefully help you on your way!

Game on for kids in sport

Image source

Children spend far too much time in front of computer screens and games consoles. It’s been in all the papers, so it must be true.

But what is a lesser-documented fact, is that there are also millions of kids who are happy to kick technology into touch and get active – while the former group is being encouraged constantly to try their hand at one sport variant or another.

Ensure You're In Safe Hands: Keeping Healthy This Winter

It’s important, as the cold weather quickly draws in, that you take precautions to ensure you and your family stay healthy. As fuel bills rise and we try to resist switching the heating on, you should be looking at ways to stay healthy over the cooler months until spring rolls around again.

Winter is a time of year when we are more prone to getting sick and suffering with flu like symptoms. Children and older people are much more vulnerable to illness over this period, so make sure you take the first step to staying healthy by protecting yourself from their symptoms.

The Ultimate Guide To Trick-Or-Treat Etiquette

With everything from glow in the dark skeleton onesies to Frankenstein outfits available from companies like Morph costumes, it’s no wonder the streets are taken over by excited trick-or- treaters come Halloween. Wicked witches and cheeky little devils go from door to door looking for candy and while this is a well-known custom trick-or-treat etiquette is essential, so here are some essential rules. 

Preparing For A Special Day

Is it too early to mention the C word? Some of you may think it is but how nice would it be to have everything purchased and ready weeks in advance; it would be amazing! You could sit back and enjoy the festivities without worrying about forgotten gifts or getting a turkey last minute. I'm going to be super organised this year when it comes to buying perfect presents for family and friends and having all the food and drink we require ready for an unforgettable feast. 

I'm also hoping that shopping early will save me money, which it most certainly can do when you know where to look.

Preparing for School - The Uniform Edition

As the summer holidays approach many of us will be thinking of days at the beach, playing in the garden and picnics at the park but it's important to be prepared for September, whether your children are returning to school or starting for the first time. Being organised early enables you to enjoy the break without worrying last minute about purchasing shoes and blazers, when the size and style you require could be out of stock. 

Our school uniform guide should help you to remember everything you need!

Polo Tops and Shirts

Some schools prefer one or the other so ensure you order the correct style and in the necessary colour. If you opt for shirts then it might be wise to get a few long and short sleeved versions, or even

No More Clutter: How To Make Your Home Look More Spacious

As life gets busier and more hectic, our homes tend to reflect our erratic frame of mind. With so much to do and so little time to do it, it’s very easy to let things be, and in no time at all, you feel like the walls are closing in! Unwashed dishes, clothes on the floor, books strewn on the desk, unnecessary ornaments that you used to like – it’s no wonder you’re tripping over yourself trying to navigate your way through everyday life. Never fear – there are solutions to your chaos! A big part of de-cluttering is to organise your belongings using cabinets, shelves and other means of storage – check out www.superamart.com.au to gather some inspiration. Tackle one room at a time, and before long, your home will look and feel more spacious than ever before!

The kitchen

Everyone has a drawer full of utensils and ‘thingamajigs’. Chances are, you don’t even use half of

Organising Your Kid's Clutter

There is no task around the home more daunting than tackling a child’s bedroom in an effort to bring a little order to the chaos and introduce a system where things can be found, without the need for a grid search. And it is even more soul destroying when you realise that within hours of cleaning, the room will be once again a mess.

Children are perhaps among the most prolific hoarders on the planet, refusing to dispose of anything that has had special meaning to them while they grow up. And, let’s face it, parents aren’t so much better. Who hasn’t heard of the mother not wanting to throw out little Johnny’s first teddy bear, even as the youth now known as John is out buying his first car?

The Best Flower And Modelling Paste Decoration Techniques

If you want to explore the world of sugarcrafting then eventually you’re going to start using flower and modelling paste. On the surface this looks a lot like fondant icing, but it actually has very different properties. Flower and modelling paste dries much harder than fondant icing which makes it perfect for creating intricate models such as flowers, butterflies and so on. 

Working with flower and modelling paste has its own unique set of challenges, but like everything else in the sugarcrafting world, with some advice and practise you’ll soon get the hang of it. Here are a few Renshaw flower and modelling paste decoration techniques to help you get started.

• Start Simple. Nobody takes their first packet of flower and modelling paste and creates stunning hand-made roses right off the bat. Instead, to get you used to the properties of flower paste and how it behaves try making simple flowers with plungers. You can press out the flowers and then experiment with moulding them slightly by hand or layering different cuts to create a three dimensional flower.

• Use Colour. It’s fine to use plain white flower paste to create your models, but eventually you’ll want to use colour to liven things up. You’ve got a couple of options. You can add some food colouring to the flower paste and then work it through to colour the paste. This will give you a milder colour, and is great for creating pastel shades. Alternatively you can wait for your flower paste model to set and then paint directly on to it. This yields brighter and more vibrant colours.

• Mix It Up. Flower paste is great for making decorations that have a lot of intricate details. It’s also good for adding stiffness to fondant icing when you’re making large figurines. Because fondant icing is softer large figurines made with it can sag and lose their shape. By using flower paste mixed with fondant icing you can retain the rigidity of flower paste while also getting the malleability of fondant icing. You’ll be able to make colourful figures to top your cakes that don’t collapse under their own weight. 

• The Devil’s In The Details. Thanks to its hard setting properties, flower and modelling paste allows you to make very fine details to your decorations. To achieve this you’ll need some tools. A toothpick is really handy for making small lines and also applying tiny amounts of food colouring with precision. There is an enormous variety of sugarcraft tools out there for working with flower paste. Be sure you have a selection on hand to achieve details like fine lines on butterflies and leaves.

•  All That Glitters Is Not Gold. When you’re making flowers or butterflies and other delicate flower paste models a hint of lustre dust or glimmer sugar can really make your creations come alive. All you need to do is lightly brush your model down with some cool water and then apply the glittery covering of your choice with a brush.

What tips do you have for cake decorating?

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