threelilprincesses.com

Tag: Reviews

  • WIN: Aussie Giveaway Linkup and another winning entry

    FOLLOWING on from my previous posts about how to ace 25 words or less competitions, here’s another winning entry for you. This time it was for another $2000 Prepaid Visa card, with the question being what you’d spend the money on.

    To Sydney, to Sydney, to buy a Forelli bag, Home again, home again, with a new watch from Jag.

    Hmmm, I’m guessing there were some pretty poor entries for me to score this one!

    If you’re a blogger or business owner with a giveaway you want to link up, please read the below. For readers, simply start clicking the links and enter for some great prizes. If you think you won’t win anything, think again – last week I won two prizes. Best of luck.

    This linkup is a combined project with the wonderful Tina Gray, so don’t forget to pop on over and say hi. You can link up your giveaway on either of our sites – it all goes into the one linky.

    If you’re a blogger wanting to take part in the Aussie Giveaway Linkup:

    1. Only link directly to the giveaway post/s and include the prize and end date in the linky tool below. Link each giveaway separately.
    2. Giveaways must be open to Australian residents. 
    3. Grab the button to add to your post.
    4. A new list is added each Sunday so bloggers need to add their links weekly. 
    5. Start entering the giveaways!




    Aussie Giveaway Linky
    Hosted by Three Lil Princesses and Tina Gray {dot} Me



  • WIN: Full Belly + Little Bundle double book pack (review and giveaway)

    WIN: Full Belly + Little Bundle double book pack (review and giveaway)

    WHO ever thought a host of celebrities could have eased my morning sickness during both pregnancies. They could have reassured me when I struggled to fall pregnant the second time. They could have allowed me to see those labour pains in a whole new light.
    Don’t believe me? Then you obviously haven’t read Adelaide psychologist, author, parenting expert and Parent Wellbeing director Jodie Benveniste’s latest book Full Belly: comfort and inspiration for pregnancy and birth.
    During both pregnancies, I devoured pregnancy books like they were bibles. However, often they weren’t all that comforting or reassuring. Often, it was the opposite – magnifying the fears I already had.
    Jodie has compiled a book that helps deal with not only the physical, but also the emotional issues that come with being preggers. There’s such a calming tone within this inspiring little book – from food cravings to labour pains. Each subject is given its own page and, in bite-sized form, includes a quote from a celebrity, a bit about Jodie’s personal experiences and some words of inspiration. It makes it such an easy read.
    It’s this formula that she used for her successful first book in the series, Little Bundle: Comfort and inspiration for new parents. This is the book I’m most devouring – for obvious reasons. I can pick it up and read just the page that most relates at the time, I can skim through to the subjects that interest me or I can lap up every page. I love how Jodie reassures, gives you confidence and inspires you to make the most of every precious moment.
    There is a warning I’d like to add though. Tears: there will be many, but all happy. The anxiety page has been my saviour. So too the self belief page. The quote for self belief comes from Henry Ford and really resonates with me: “Whether you think you can or you think you can’t, you are right’’.
    If you’re looking for someone who speaks with warmth and empathy, who offers comfort and reassurance, then I’d recommend these books for whatever stage of parenthood you’re at. Or alternatively it’s a wonderful gift for a friend. Now, where’s that page on babies not sleeping again…. You can learn more about Jodie and the books at www.parentwellbeing.com
    To go in the draw to win the double book pack – including a copy of Full Belly: comfort and inspiration for pregnancy and birth AND Little Bundle: Comfort and inspiration for new parents – leave a comment telling us your favourite quote.  The giveaway closes Friday, July 10 at 7pm and a winner will be drawn randomly and announced on this blog and via Facebook and Twitter. Australian residents only. Limit of three entries.
    Want extra entries? Then here’s how you can up your chances in the draw. Each task is worth one extra entry, but must be included as a separate comment (or it won’t count).
    1. Click the Facebook button below and share this giveaway with your Facebook friends. Then leave a separate comment saying something along the lines of “I’ve shared this on Facebook’’.
    2. Click the Twitter button below and share this giveaway with your Twitter followers (Twitter handle is @ThreeLil). Then leave a separate comment saying something along the lines of “I’ve shared this on Twitter’’.
    **DISCLAIMER: I received a copy of both books for review. All opinions expressed are purely my own.
    Aussie Giveaway Linky
    Hosted by Three Lil Princesses and Tina Gray {dot} Me
    AND THE WINNER IS: Tutu Ames, who said: “I tweeted (then got distracted on Twitter)”.
    Congratulations, Tutu!
  • FEATURE: First Foods I Fed My Frills ebook review

    FEATURE: First Foods I Fed My Frills ebook review

    WE’VE been blessed with two girls who rarely turn up their noses to new foods. We’ve always credited three-year-old Ella’s wide and varied tastebuds to trying all manner of foods when she was starting out. She now loves olives, mushrooms, sundried tomatoes (sometimes) and eggplant (if it’s on homemade pizza). We’re hoping to strive for the same outcome with Baby Holly. (Me? Well, that’s a different story. I just cannot do olives.)

    With Holly reaching eight months, sometimes I need a bit of recipe inspiration, especially when I like to cook everything myself. Holly’s already started on the finger food. Vol-au-vents and canapes, of course. Although, I’m learning again how there’s a fine line between learning to feed yourself and just throwing the food down like it’s going out of fashion. Talk about a choking hazard.

    As an avid reader of the Frills In the Hills blog, I was more than a little excited to hear Liss had released the ebook First Foods I Fed My Frills. I was secretly hoping there might be an opportunity to review it and there was. Although, to be honest, at a rather affordable $5 I would have been more than happy to pay for it.

    What I like is that mum-to-three Liss doesn’t preach hard and fast rules. It’s more about what’s possible at certain stages and letting parents know each child is different. This I can vouch for. There are also some wonderful resources at the end, a list of equipment (including one rather ingenious invention) and some handy snack food ideas.

    Holly in her high chair ready to eat.

    The most appealing part of the book for me though was the recipes for the whole family. I’m not into doing different meals for different family members, so it was here I needed the most inspiration. And I got it. The book is written in Liss’ usual conversational tone and is well worth a look for mums navigating their way through introducing their bubs to solids and the six months beyond that.

    I’ve signed on as an affiliate for Liss, so you can buy the book by clicking on the picture in my sidebar there. Well worth the $5 investment.

    What solids did your bub enjoy when starting out?

    **DISCLAIMER: I received a copy of First Foods I Fed My Frills for review. All opinions expressed are purely my own.

  • WIN: Cupcake City’s bake and decorate kit (review and giveaway)

    WIN: Cupcake City’s bake and decorate kit (review and giveaway)

    IT WAS hard to pick who was happiest when the delivery man arrived this week. Was it his joy in seeing me in my dressing gown, no hair or makeup and coke bottle-thick glasses (more on that another day… maybe)? Or me realising he was delivering this:

    from the wonderful Glenys of Cupcake City? Yes, definitely me. The other real joy in receiving our miniamo Cupcake Bake and Decorate Set is The Bloke in The Shed isn’t much of a sweet tooth. Poor us, hey!

    I opted to bake our cupcakes one day and ice them the next – I couldn’t bear the thought of Ella bouncing off the walls after eating a bowl of icing on top of cupcake mixture. The kit included 12 round cupcake moulds, heart-shaped stencils, easy squeeze icing tube, decorating nozzles and 16-recipe cupcake and biscuit book written specifically for your child. I’m indecisive at the best of times, so the choices (combined with our own baby cupcakes with sprinkles recipe) caused slight problems. Finally, we settled on a recipe which called for a swirl of strawberry jam just before popping them in the oven.  Too easy.

    Then the real challenge began. Of course, art is subjective. Right? Well, that’s what I’m telling myself, anyway. We got out the full colour palette,

    some candied decorations and Cupcake City also threw in some edible gold dust. You can find other fun cupcake decorations at Cupcake City too.

    The end result was Ella with fingers and a mouth laced with blue.

    She looked like she’d been playing in the toilet bowl. Unfortunately, my icing was far too runny, so when I was trying to achieve beautiful little flowers atop my cupcakes, I ended up achieving this:

    My other challenge was an impatient preschooler who just wanted to grab the piping bottle and have her way with each cupcake. I think, with a little more time (and minus a preschooler), this kit has the ability to create some really beautiful cupcakes. Alas, mine are far from beautiful. Now please, don’t laugh.

    Here’s the cupcake Ella decorated. Note, it wouldn’t stay on the bench long enough for me to photograph it.

    So, they’re not perfect, but we can promise we had an absolute ball. The kit works a treat (it’s just me, really), the piping set is really easy to use and the cookbook is actually a great bonus to this kit. Tomorrow we’re tackling some of the decorated biscuits.

    While the silicone moulds make cupcake making easier than ever (and help save the environment), the decorating side of the kit is probably suited to children with a little more patience than my three-year-old. Although, to be honest, she had fun despite her unusual looking creations.

    So, if you’re thinking of visiting us, beware: you may get a little cupcake with your icing! I’d suggest it would be safer to visit Cupcake City’s Facebook page and website instead – she comes across the most incredible cupcake finds.

    To go in the draw to win a miniamo Cupcake Bake and Decorate Set (RRP: $30) from Cupcake City (choose between “Pastel’’ or “Bright’’), leave a comment telling us what you love to cook in the kitchen with (or without) your kids.  The giveaway closes Sunday, June 26 at 7pm and a winner will be drawn randomly and announced on this blog and via Facebook and Twitter. Australian residents only. Limit of three entries.

    Then here’s how you can up your chances in the draw. Each task is worth one extra entry, but must be included as a separate comment (or it won’t count).

    1. Click the Facebook button below and share this giveaway with your Facebook friends. Then leave a separate comment saying something along the lines of “I’ve shared this on Facebook’’.
    2. Click the Twitter button below and share this giveaway with your Twitter followers (Twitter handle is @ThreeLil). Then leave a separate comment saying something along the lines of “I’ve shared this on Twitter’’.

    **DISCLAIMER: I received a miniamo Cupcake Bake and Decorate Set for review. All opinions expressed are purely my own.

    Aussie Giveaway Linky

    Hosted by Three Lil Princesses and Tina Gray {dot} Me

    And, using my new “And the winner is…” plugin, the winner of the Bake and Decorate Kit is:

    BARB! Barb said.

    Yummy looking cupcakes! I personally am looking forward to a pic of the woman in her dressing gown that met the delivery guy!!! I have a few of these cupcake kids cooking sets packed away as presents for Ellie’s friends…..they’re always well recieved by 6-8 year olds!

    You’ll be waiting a while, Barb!! hehe!! Congratulations! I hope you and Ellie enjoy it.

  • WIN: Aussie Giveaway Linkup and winner’s secrets

    WIN: Aussie Giveaway Linkup and winner’s secrets

    Yay! You're a winner!

    WHEN I announced I wasn’t a lucky person during last week’s Aussie Giveaway Linkup and then proceeded to talk about all the prizes I’d won, it made me realise I really have been blessed. I guess it happened during a small space of time, when Princess Ella was just a bub. I had time on my hands, because she slept so much during the day, that the 25 words or less competitions nearly became my full-time occupation.

    So I thought over the next few weeks, as the gorgeous Tina from tinagray {dot} me and I co-host this linky, I’d offer up some of the entries that scored me all that loot. You can visit The Inaugural Aussie Giveaway Linkup to see some of the huge prizes I won.

    I also have to correct myself from last week. I said I’d won two $1000 Prepaid Visa cards. But, I actually won two $2000 cards. Now I sound even greedier. This is how I won one of them (under The Bloke in The Shed’s name, but with his permission, I might add). It was to state in 25 words or less what you’d spend the money on at the competition host’s venue.

    “Fendi dresses with beautiful sashes, Mac mascara for my wife’s eyelashes, Gucci watches and Destiny rings. These are a few of my `must purchase’ things.’’

    Easy. Much easier is winning something in the below link up though. So get clicking!

    If you’re a blogger wanting to take part in the Aussie Giveaway Linkup:

    1. Only link directly to the giveaway post/s and include the prize and end date in the linky tool below. Link each giveaway separately.
    2. Giveaways must be open to Australian residents. 
    3. Grab the button to add to your post.
    4. A new list is added each Sunday so bloggers need to add their links weekly. 
    5. Start entering the giveaways!

    What are your tips for winning competitions?

    As mentioned, this linkup is a combined project with the wonderful Tina Gray, so pop on over and say hi to her. You can link up your giveaway on either of our sites – it all goes into the one linky.



    Aussie Giveaway Linky
    Hosted by Three Lil Princesses and Tina Gray {dot} Me



  • WIN: Raggs DVD and CD (review and giveaway)

    WIN: Raggs DVD and CD (review and giveaway)

    GIVEAWAY NOW CLOSED. See the end of the post for the winner.

    IF YOU visited the blog yesterday, you would have seen the rock star that kindly offered up an interview.

    Yes, that’s Raggs, from the live action and animated TV show of the same name and rockin’ Kids Club Band. It’s fair to say, our surprise interview caused quite a few giggles.

    Raggs is a pretty familiar character in our household, thanks to previously being part of our afternoon TV schedule. It’s returning to TV on Boomerang and 7TWO, by the way. He’s also familiar to our car, maybe a little too familiar. Although, Tutti Fruity Baby is a rather fine song!

    Three-year-old Ella didn’t sit still too long when we popped in the new batch of Raggs episodes from the Move Your Tails! DVD, promptly standing up, putting hands on her hips and wiggling to the theme song.

    When there are so many movie-length DVDs out there, it’s nice to discover something for toddlers and preschoolers that has TV-length episodes. Even better when the episodes revolve around play and play ideas. We all need those!

    Ella had a giggling fit during one scene where one of the five dogs couldn’t stop saying the word “fleas’’. Small things, huh. Another scene, which had the five dogs playing doctors, meant I spent the rest of the afternoon operating on her to get rid of bees in her stomach.

    What appeals to me about the wonderfully bright Raggs, other than the Australian accents, is that it addresses preschool curriculum topics (yes, really), looks at emotions and there’s great variety within its format to keep little ones engaged.  The downside is that those songs are just way too catchy.

    Although, you can put up with that when you have characters like the wise-cracking cat Dumpster. He was definitely put in the show to entertain parents.

    For more information on the show or DVD, visit www.raggs.com.au. Now for the giveaway…

    To go in the draw to win a Move Your Tails! DVD and Have a Ball! Raggs 15 Hits Songs CD (with free 16-page activity book), leave a comment telling us your favourite game to play with your kids.  The giveaway closes Friday, June 24 at 7pm and a winner will be drawn randomly and announced on this blog and via Facebook and Twitter. Australian residents only. Limit of three entries.

    Are you game to try for more entries? Then here’s how you can up your chances in the draw. Each task is worth one extra entry, but must be included as a separate comment (or it won’t count).

    1. Click the Facebook button below and share this giveaway with your Facebook friends. Then leave a separate comment saying something along the lines of “I’ve shared this on Facebook’’.
    2. Click the Twitter button below and share this giveaway with your Twitter followers (Twitter handle is @ThreeLil). Then leave a separate comment saying something along the lines of “I’ve shared this on Twitter’’.

    **DISCLAIMER: I received a DVD for review. All opinions expressed are purely my own.

    Aussie Giveaway Linky
    Hosted by Three Lil Princesses and Tina Gray {dot} Me

    Winner of the DVD and CD was…..

    Deb! Deb said:

    My favourite game to play with my kids is hide and go seek, its so funny because when its their turn to hide they actually tell me where they are….

    Congratulations, Deb!