Trunki Paddle Pak - Review & Giveaway

Morning! Friday again and I am sure us mummy's are looking forward to a lie in and breakfast in bed on Sunday.  I hope we all get this but I know that children never sleep in when we want them to!  I think I may get lucky as Drew and the boys will be awake early for the first race of the F1 season, so I heard a rumour that they will be delivering breakfast in bed. 

Kitty was very excited a few days ago to arrive home from school to a parcel from Trunki.  I'm sure many of us think fab ride-on suitcases for chidlren when we think about Trunki, but they have added to their product range.  One of those products is the PaddlePak, which is a very cool fish shaped swimming bag that I think every child would delight in carrying to the pool.  It is made with a waterproof, lightweight and durable material but it's the clever fastening at the top that impressed me.  With three twists the wide top opening is quickly fastened with a safety buckle, making sure the contents don't leak.  I know from experience how annoying soggy swimming bags can be when left on the back seat of the car! 

The best thing about the PaddlePak according to Kitty is the special Trunki grip to pop your sunglasses in.  She was also excited about the fishes tail, which is made with neoprene (think wetsuit fabric!) and has a bright chunky zip to make for a great waterproof pocket for ice cream money.  Kitty was very keen for us to head to the beach and test out her bag, complete with icecream money in the tail, but sadly the weather hasn't been kind enough for a swim in the sea just yet! 

Would your children love the PaddlePak? Well the fab people at Trunki have very kindly provided a PaddlePak for one of my lovely readers too.  How do I get to win such a cool prize I hear you ask.  Well here's how to enter this fab giveaway -

In order for your entry to count you must leave a comment below. Please leave a seperate comment for EACH action you take.

• Visit Trunki and leave a comment below stating which of their suitcases you think is the coolest.
• Tweet "I've entered the @Trunki PaddlePak giveaway on @ZoeandDrew blog."

This giveaway will be open until 11.59pm on Sunday 25th March 2012.  A winner will be chosen using a random number generator and will be announced on this blog on Monday 26 March 2012. This giveaway is open to UK residents only.

Good luck and have a fantastic weekend,
Zoe
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All images supplied by Trunki

Style Love - Organic Fox Blanket

Organic Fox Blanket from Sewn Natural

Foxes are the new owls! This blanket is adorable and be sure to take a look at Sewn Natural's Etsy store, there are some really fabulous designs.

Have a lovely day,
Zoe
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Lucy Loves - Papercutting

Morning! Halfway through the week already, how did that happen?  Lucy is back today for another Lucy Loves post with a craft she is desperate to try, papercutting.  I am a little wary as it involves a sharp craft knife, but I think with very careful supervision I may just have to let her try.

For this weeks blog I’m writing about one of my favourite crafts paper cutting! Paper cutting is a gorgeous but tricky way to show art. So here are a few that I really like.

'Beside The Seaside' Lasercut Card from Pogofandango

I love the seaside! This is really pretty.

'Three Little Birds' Papercut from Kyleigh's Papercuts

This is a gorgeous papercut

'How Sweet It Is' Papercut from Ant Design Gifts 

This another lovely papercut.

'Live, Love, Laugh' Papercut from Ant Design Gifts

My mum says this alot so it's perfect.

These are just a few papercuts and I know my mum would include Rob Ryan and Mr Yen.

Love

Lucy

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Thank you Lucy these are a really lovely selection of papercuts, thank you for sharing with us your new crafty fascination, maybe at the weekend I'll let you have a try :)

Enjoy your day,

Zoe

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Childrens Rooms - Tangerine Dream

Morning, I hope you're all well and had a good start to the week.  Having been checking the survey results I know how much you all love my interiors and finds posts, so here is the first of a new series of posts.  Every week I will be bringing you gorgeous finds that fit a theme for childrens rooms.  This week I will start with the colour of the year, Tangerine Dream.  I think orange can work so well in a childs room, however old they are.  Maybe splashes of orange are all that you need or maybe you will be brave and paint the walls orange.  Connor and Jack chose to have orange, although it's on the terracotta side of orange and it works really well.  So here you go, some Tangerine Dream inspiration for your childs room.

The little details

{Shapes & Things Cushion}{Giraffe Height Chart}

{Orange Storage Rack} {Chevron Blanket}{Monkey Wall Sticker}

{Chevron Storage Bucket} {Elephant Crib Set} {Orange Fabric Storage Tubs}

Love this fun Pets Sounds wallpaper in Harvest Orange from Mini Moderns

A very stylish crib/cot bedding set from Happy Mae

Love these orange based fabric designs from Spoonflower designers.

Apples from Annika Bee

Little Forest Mushrooms and Forest from Bora

Orange Carousels from J Shin

Would you choose orange for a childs room? Maybe it would be better for a playroom rather than a bedroom due it being bright and bold!

Have a fab Tuesday

Zoe

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Style Love - Bubblebouncer

Love this new Bubblebouncer from TP Toys.  Having spent ages wrapping a bungee cord through the trampoline base in the past I think this Bubblebouncer is a fab idea.  All you have to do is attach the handle, no tricky bungee cord tying involved! Perfect for all your little Tiggers to help them practice their bouncing.

Available from TP Toys and John Lewis

Happy bouncing!
Zoe
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Gardening with Children

Morning! I hope you all had a fab weekend.  We've been busy clearing the veggie patch in hope of a sizeable crop this year.  Thankfully Connor and Jack have been willing to get digging so we've actually cleared over half of the 30 foot long plot.  Since moving to our house eighteen months ago we've had to do a lot of clearing of old shrubs but we did manage to have a small veggie plot last year, with surprising and tasty results.  Obviously spurred on by last years success Drew and I have been planning a larger plot this year and hope to try to grow a greater variety of veg.

Children's Gardening Set from Mr McGregors

Ever since he could walk Jack has loved being in the garden and digging holes.  I used to joke when he was little that one day he would reach Australia!  Thankfully his keeness hasn't faded and he still loves digging.  He has progessed obviously from digging random holes and now happily clears the veggie patch, cuts down large shrubs and small trees and then digs out the roots. I am also pleased to say that Connor can be torn away from the Playstation to help with some gardening.  Now the girls are a different story.  Amber is scared of creepy crawlies but will happily sprinkle seeds or help drag branches from chopped down trees and bushes to the bonfire pile.  Kitty loves to dig holes and plant things to see if they grow. She has planted all sorts of things, paper, lolly sticks, apple pips and yesterday happily planted some old runner beans she found when we were digging over the veggie patch.  I haven't a clue if these beans will grow, but I know they will be well looked after.  Lucy happily runs around in her wellies, trimming shrubs, digging holes or helping me clear away at the end of the day.  Yet her willingness to help is often sidetracked by the need to turn a few cartwheels across the lawn or a few flips on the trampoline!

Girls Wellies from Joules

Have you got some willing helpers when it comes to gardening or are your suggestions of help met with moans and groans?  I think capturing their enthusiasm when children are little bears fruit as they get older, as they are still keen to help, even if only for half an hour.  Also by giving them a space, even if a couple of containers, to plant things and watch them grow all helps feed their curiosity and makes them keen gardeners as they grow older.  Rona Wheeldon of Flowerona recently wrote about a bulb planting workshop with BBC Blue Peter's gardener Chris Collins.  Chris is the frontman for the RHS Campaign for School Gardening and has also recently written a book with Lia Leendertz, 'RHS Grow Your Own For Kids : How To Be A Great Gardener'.  I am thrilled to see that there is more being done to encourage children to get outside, get dirty and grow things.  Whether it's some cheery daffodils or yummy beans children will love growing things and it also gives them a great sense of achievement to see something they have planted come up out of the soil.

Wacky Wheelbarrow from John Lewis

Do your children have their own space in the garden to grow things? I would really love to see and maybe share some here on the blog.  So send a photo or two of their garden/growing space and details of what they are hoping to grow, my email is zoe@zoeanddrew.co.uk.  I really hope we can inspire each other by sharing some real gardening spaces.  Please do not worry if you don't have much space for your children to grow things, photos of plants they are growing on a windowsill or lettuce leaves in a container on a balcony are just as important in letting children grow something.  I will add an album to our Facebook page today aswell so I can add your photos there aswell, I may even work out if you can add them yourselves!

Have fun digging,

Zoe

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Family Holidays - Travel Games

Morning! We've made it through another week and I think we all deserve a yummy treat with our coffee this morning, almond crossiant anyone? As it's Friday it's time to think about holidays on the blog and I thought today that I would look at fab ideas for travel games.  How many times have you been stuck in the car with grizzly, bored children and hae run out of ideas and lollipop bribes?  May difficult car journeys be over with a little pre-planning and I promise there's not an expensive in-car entertaiment system in sight! 

We have this set of cards and they are fantastic.  There are 50 cards in the pack with all sorts of fun games to play and things to do on any kind of journey.  Usbourne have some great things for travelling with children, find more here.

 

Travel game from Little Butterfly Toys

Hangman is such a classic car game and one we love to play. Squares or dots is another favourite.

Travel Monopoly from Amazon

There are some great travel versions of favourite board games, often complete with magnetic pieces to avoid vital parts being lost under the car seats or rolling down the plane aisle!

Wooden car from Giddy Kipper

Recently Drew devised a whole new car game over on his blog.  This is quite complicated so may not be suitable for younger children and takes the game of car spotting to a whole new level!!

Do you have some fail safe travel games? Please share in the comments or over on our Facebook page.

Enjoy your weekends
Zoe
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