Office Organisation with Shoplet

The fact that I blog, have two children and Chris is a student means that we have countless sheets of paper around our home; worksheets, appointment letters, blog related printouts, and storing them where we'd be able to find them easy was a huge faff.

Shoplet UK sell a wide range of Office Stationary and I was pleased to be offered the change to try some out. I received an A4 Storage Box (£7.41) and an A4 Paper File (£29.95 per pack of 10).

The A4 Storage Box I received is a gorgeous hot pink, perfect for my inner girly girl (it is also available in blue, orange, green, white and black). It's collapsible so it's easily stored when not in use. I found that the buttons to build were lined up correctly too. The A4 pages fit perfectly with a little bit of give so I have no worries about anything getting dog-eared. It's made from wood and has sturdy metal handles for easy transportation. There is also a label holder so you know what it contains without having to go through it.

The A4 Lever Arch Files are great for storing papers that you need to flick through. Simply punch holes in your sheet and slot them in. Again, A4's pages fit perfectly with a little bit of give and the file itself holds around 600 sheets. I received a blue folder but they are also available in orange, green, white and black.

Both of these items are very lightweight and are a great way to store your files whilst injecting a bit of colour to your office.

(Disclaimer: We received these items free of charge in exchange for an open and honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.)

Baker Ross Christmas Crafts

Back in August, I posted that we had become Baker Ross bloggers and C loved the box of crafts and toys that he was sent. 

Last month, we received a second box. It took us a while to actually get round to using them. Having a newborn baby with colic & reflux didn't give us a lot of crafting time but we've finally given them a go!

This box included:

Christmas Character Sequin Decoration Kits (£3.99 per pack of 3)

Glitter Porcelain & Glass Paint Pens (£9.99 per pack of 5)

Owl Ceramic Trinket Boxes (£4.48 per pack of 4)

Christmas Hand Puppet Sewing Kits (£3.75 per pack of 3)

Felt Star Stickers (£2.99 per pack of 144)

Christmas Pudding Felt Stickers (£2.99 per pack of 96)

Christmas Foam Card Kits (£2.97 per pack of 3)

Reindeer Card Blanks (£2.88 per pack of 8)

I did feel as though most of these crafts were a bit too old for his age but Chris as I secretly (not so secret anymore!) enjoyed using them! 

C loved the star and Christmas pudding stickers because he was able to use them by himself, with my help removing the backs of course. 

We also let him have a go with the ceramic owls and glitter pens. The pens are easy to use. There is no ink in the nib  to begin with but you just need to shake the pen vigorously for 1-2 mins then press the nib down on a piece of paper until the ink starts to come through. C had lots of fun decorating his owl and so did Chris!

I had a go with the Christmas sewing kits and they were a lot of fun. The holes are ready to thread your needles through and the needles itself is plastic so perfect for a young child who is just learning to sew. You can stick parts like Santa's beard and Rudolphs nose on to complete the image. C obviously had trouble sewing but he liked sticking the stickers on and enjoyed me making the hand puppets "speak" to him. 

The blank reindeer cards are really fun and simple. The body and head of the reindeer are ready to pop out, colour and glue together. I did a fun reindeer face and hooves on mine but C did quite "get" it, haha! These will be fab as handmade cards to send to family as they come with envelopes too!

The sequin decoration kits were even a bit tough for me if I'm honest! It was easy enough to stick the foam bits down but putting the sequins in stumped me at first. You need to put the plastic pins in the hole of the sequin and push them really hard into the polystyrene. I got a bit lost with the design but I don't think it ended up too badly! Can't wait to hang them on our tree this year. 

I love, love, LOVE the foam card kits. I did have to show C where to stick all the bits (okay, I did most of it!) but they are so simple for children to copy the pictures on the instructions and I think they look really fancy and pretty!

C loves to craft and draw so he really enjoyed all of the bits in this box (as did I). I feel that they would be great for kids maybe 3+.

You can find out more about Baker Ross at their website, Facebook & Twitter.

(Disclaimer: We received these items free of charge in exchange for and open and honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.)

Baker Ross Crafts & Toys

A few weeks ago, you may have noticed a shiny new badge in the sidebar of the blog - I'm a Baker Ross Blogger!

C loves to draw and paint. I think he'd draw all day if he could so I always knew that I wanted to encourage his artistic side (I've bought him a whiteboard/blackboard easel for Christmas - shh!). When Baker Ross contacted us about becoming one of their bloggers, I jumped at the chance. I knew C would love it. I did think he might be a little small for some of the crafts as there isn't a lot for his age (23 months) but he seems to really be picking things up quickly recently.

Baker Ross sent C a little box of goodies which included:

Solid Poster Paint Sticks (£9.99 per pack of 12)

Mini Plastic Buckets (£2.99 per pack of 6)

A4 Bright Coloured Card (£2.99 per pack of 50)

Ladybird Foam Stickers (£2.99 per pack of 100)

Seaside Ducks (£2.99 per pack of 4)

Stretchy Dinosaurs (£2.99 per pack of 12)

3D Sailboat Kits (£2.70 per pack of 2)

I wanted to let C work away on his own as much as possible so naturally, he used the poster paint sticks with the A4 card first. 

The A4 card is really thick card which is great for a toddler as he tends to get a bit frustrated when the paper he's drawing on wrinkles. 

The solid poster paints are fab! Such a great idea. They have a more crayon than paint texture and they easily twist up when you child has used quite a lot of it. It doesn't rub off the card either. C is just learning his colours at the moment too so he's is enjoying telling me what colour each one is.  They don't give off a strong chemical scent. We did get some on our hands but they came off really easily with soap and water.

Next, we tried the mini plastic buckets and foam ladybird stickers. C had never used stickers before so I wasn't sure he'd know what to do with them or even if he'd freak out over having them stick to his fingers. 

He initially didn't know what to do. He tried to put a sticker inside the bucket but I just had to show him once how to stick it on (I obviously removed the label for him) and off he went like a pro, decorating them all. 

The buckets are made from sturdy plastic and C loved that he could place on and then remove the ladybird stickers to put them on a different bucket if he wanted to. 

Next was the 3D sailboat kits. I knew that this would be a bit tough for him but he tried it anyway. Each bit of the boat is made from foam (with the exception of the wooden stick for the sail). I did 'hand over hand' to try and get him to do it but he got a little frustrated that he couldn't do it himself. You need to thread the foam bits onto the stick then put the anchor and lifebuoy foam stickers on. C was happy enough to put these on for me. 

The stretchy dinosaurs are fab quality. C, however, wasn't really amused by them. It may have been because the texture is a little slimy. He did like to throw them as they bounced. Maybe when he is a bit bigger he will enjoy them more!

The ducks were a huge hit and also taught him how to say 'ducky'! He really took to them and even gave them hugs. He liked counting them as he placed them on the table too. They will be a new staple at bathtime! 

C has had so much fun with all of these arts & crafts goodies. They kept him entertained for a good few hours and the fact that they are all really good quality made me a happy mummy. We had no tears or tantrums over things breaking or ripping!

You can find out more about Baker Ross at their website, Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.

(Disclaimer: We received these items free of charge in exchange for an open and honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.)

Shoplet GLO Aluminium Wall Clock - Review

One thing that we don't have in our home is a clock! It may sound strange but in a world filled with technology, we never really needed one. We could always glance at the laptop, TV or our phones to check the time.

When Shoplet got in contact about reviewing one of their GLO Aluminium wall clocks, I was definitely up for it. I love having things hanging on the walls (mainly photos of my son - I take way too many!) and, like I said, a clock was something we didn't have.

Upon opening, I was very pleased and couldn't wait to get it hung up on the wall. It measures 310mm in diameter so it's a great size. It doesn't come with a battery but it only takes 1 AA one and we always keep a stock pile of those in case one of C's toys needs it. 

It really makes a welcome change into our living room and injects a bit of colour into our bland beige rental property's walls. It is a lot lighter than I thought it would be so I had no worries about it being too heavy to hang. The black number markers and hands make it look very contemporary and against the orange background, the time is very easy to make out. I love the aluminium trim against the orange face.

I received the orange but it also comes in green, yellow, pink and purple and retail at £10.74.

You can find Shoplet at their website, Facebook & Twitter.

(Disclaimer: I received this item free of charge in exchange for an open and honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.)

I'm a Shoplet Blogger!

The best thing about starting a new school year, for me, was buying stationery. I used to love choosing nice pens and pretty notebooks - I still do now! Imagine how thrilled I was to be chosen as part of Shoplet's UK Blogger network. 

Shoplet.com was originally founded in 1994 and are an American based company. Today, Shoplet in the number one e-retailer of office stationery and supplies, carrying a selection of over 400,000 business products, 20,000 of which are eco-friendly.

In June of this year, they branched out to the UK with shoplet.co.uk which is where I come in. As part of their Product Reviewer Program, I'm here to pass the word on about this fantastic company.

To ease me in, I received a welcome pack. I was so excited to see what was inside.

I received:

• 43g Pritt Stick - this is great as I love doing arts and crafts with C so will come in very handy. I will be doing a lot of Christmas crafts so I will definitely need it!
• Nescafe Gold Blend sachet - Coffee is not to my taste so I didn't use this - my mum enjoyed it though!
• 3pk Remarkable pencils - I LOVE these. It's very noticeable that these pencils are made from recycled materials and they're bright and colourful too!
• Sample of screen cleaning wipes - I own a laptop, iPad mini and iPhone and I will always be using one of them. I'm naughty and never clean my screens but this worked so well! 
• 5pk paper clips - These aren't like your regular boring metal paperclips. They are so colourful and make your work look fun!
• Shoplet catalogue - I had a good browse through this and wanted to buy almost everything in it!
• Address Labels - I have a eBay account so these labels come in very handy when selling an item. Usually I write out the buyers address on a A4 sheet of paper and cellotape it to my package. These labels cut down the time it takes to get an item ready for sending.
• Folder - my partner has claimed this. He's currently doing a course in biomedical and biological science so this is great for keeping his notes together.
• Notebook & pen - again, something that Chris has claimed for his course. Definitely coming in useful!
• Information leaflets 

As well as what I have received, Shoplet also offer A4 paper, cleaning supplies and even discount office furniture!

I really loved my welcome pack and I'm so excited to bring you more Shoplet news!