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Tuesday, June 21, 2016

How To Create A Magical Shadow Box Fairy House

When I was little one of my favourite movies was Fern Gully, I was so in love with the fairies and the thought that they really did exist. I wanted to be Crysta and have all her magical powers. I wanted to fly around all day protecting the forest. Imagine being able to really fly, how cool would that be?

girl dressed as fairy flying

Isn't it amazing how the things that excite us stay with us for years after we've grown up? I still get excited at the thought of fairies living in the forest, and there's a teeny part of me that believes it's possible. It proves just how powerful our imaginations really are. I want bub to experience this magic for herself. I want her to believe in fairies and I want her to think that anything's possible, like I did. I also hope her imagination lives on long after her childhood. 

Now days there are new fairies on the block to entertain our kids. Bub's favourite is princess Holly from Ben and Holly's Little Kingdom, closely followed by Nanny Plum {who just quietly is one of my favourites too}. Holly spends her days playing with other fairies and elves, doing magic and solving problems. Bub loves watching her adventures on tv each day and I'm fairly certain she thinks Princess Holly is just as real as I thought Crysta was.

What if we could take that magic out of the television screen and bring it to life? 
Friday, June 3, 2016

Love to Dream 2.5 tog nuzzlin sleep bag + arm warmers review

This week Queensland finally realised that its meant to be getting colder around here {only a few months late, but never the less we got there in the end}. I'm not sure if it was Autumn showing up fashionably late or Winter popping in a few days early, but since the start of the week its been decidedly cooler. I'm actually a huge fan of the cooler months, I love nothing more than jeans, socks, layering and lounging on the couch under a warm blanket {not that I do much of that since I had bub, but I can reminisce of days gone by}.

Thanks to our never ending summer this year, the sudden cold snap has come as a bit of a shock, especially at night. Just last week we were still sleeping with the air conditioner on to keep cool. This week we're sleeping with the air conditioner on to keep warm. It's funny how 20 degrees has gone from feeling really cool to really warm all of a sudden.

Bub isn't so lucky in her room though. She's gone from an average of 24 degrees overnight to an average of about 18 degrees. Even though she's nearly 3, I'm still paranoid about whether she's too hot or too cold overnight. Yep almost three years in and I still have anxiety about certain aspects of parenting, please tell me you do too? Thankfully Love to Dream sent me some of their new products for winter recently so we were prepared for the cool change this year.

LOVE TO DREAM NUZZLIN 2.5TOG SLEEP BAG


Love to Dream have recently released the 2.5 tog Nuzzlin sleeping bag, which is perfect for winter. We've been huge fans of the Nuzzlin range of bags so I definitely wanted to try out the new winter bag. The new 2.5tog Nuzzlin bag is nice and cosy for winter, but still quite lightweight like the rest of the Nuzzlin range. It's made from soft knitted cotton and is padded with 100% natural bamboo filling, meaning it's nice and warm, but not too heavy {your baby won't look like the michelin man}. The bamboo filling is also hypo-allergenic so it's great for littlies who have sensitive skin.


Like the 1.0 tog Nuzzlin bag, the 2.5 tog bag does up via press studs over the left shoulder and an extra long double ended zip. I love this system for so many reasons. Firstly it means the bag completely opens up flat making it really easy to get bub into it, especially on the nights she falls asleep before I've put her in the bag, getting a 17kg toddler manoeuvred into a sleep bag while they're passed out can be quite tricky, but having the bag laid flat certainly heaps. Secondly, the press studs above her shoulder mean she can't escape from her bag. Thirdly, the double ended zip {and the fact it goes from her toes to her armpit} means nappy changes are super easy during the night and I don't have to take her out of the bag.


The Nuzzlin 2.5 tog bag comes in three different designs, pink with a stripy penguin, blue with a stripy seal and grey and white stripes with a red whale. Of course we went with pink, because we're a little pink mad at our house, and seriously how cute is that penguin?! The bag also comes in three sizes - 4-12mths, 12-18mths and 18-36mths. Bub is in the 18-36mths size and is almost 3, but the bag is still quite long for her so it will definitely see us all through winter, which I'm so glad about because I'm not ready to give up sleeping bags yet.


BUT HOW DO YOU KEEP BABIES ARMS WARM IN WINTER?


The one drawback I've found with all the sleeping bags we've used however, has been that they don't have arms. Obviously the summer ones don't really need them, but I always worry in winter that her little arms are going to get so cold even with long sleeve pyjamas on. I know I certainly feel the cold in my arms at night and unlike me she doesn't have the luxury of snuggling her arms under a blanket {she would if she'd use them and stay underneath them, but clearly she hasn't learnt how awesome they are yet as she just kicks them off}. I know I'm not the only mum to feel this way either because we've had many chats about this in mothers group over the years.

Thankfully Love to Dream have been working behind the scenes to fix this problem and have now released new arm warmers. Like the Nuzzlin sleep bags, they're made from soft knitted cotton with 100% natural bamboo filling. They come in the signature Love to Dream grey marle with striped sleeves and are available in three sizes {4-12mths, 12-18mths and 18-36mths}.
The arm warmers are 2.5 tog and designed to work with any sleeping bag. They're also a great trans-seasonal item for when its just starting to get cool at night, but its not cold enough to switch sleep bags yet. We've been using these for a few weeks with her 1.0 tog bag before we switched her over to the 2.5 tog bag and they worked a treat. Probably one of the best inventions for babies and toddlers ever.




Disclosure - I was kindly gifted a 2.5 tog Nuzzlin sleep bag + a set of arm warmers for the purpose of review. All opinions expressed are my own based on our experience with the products, as per my disclosure policy. I did not receive payment for this review. Stock images used with permission from Love to Dream.