Based in Melbourne, My Baby Gifts

aim to provide the best and most unique baby gifts available. We believe that beautiful gift presentation is one of the most important aspects when giving a gift and has always been the core focus of the work we do here.

I’ve tried making nappy cakes and little bouquets made from baby socks and I can tell you that they turned out nothing like the gorgeous baby bouquets and nappy cakes available at My Baby Gifts!

The range at My Baby Gifts is always growing and constantly changing with the seasons. Their current featured products is their Disney range.

Everyone loves Eeyore! Both gift sets feature cute rompers teamed with lots of pink!

Pop on over to My Baby Gifts and tell them Tina sent you

Just  visit www.IsabellaOliver.com and use the code MFT5 at checkout.

Offer ends Monday 12^th March and is not valid with any other offer, promotional code or non-Isabella Oliver branded goods.

Happy shopping!

Whether it’s an indulgent outing to one of the 18 Max Brenner Chocolate Bars across Australia or a decadent Easter Egg for friends and family, Max Brenner is THE only place to get the true chocolate experience this Easter.

“Easter is one of our busiest times of the year and with Max Brenner turning 10 this year we have even more reasons to celebrate!” says spokesperson for Max Brenner, Jung Hyun Shin. “Whatever your plans, make sure you get down to your nearest Max Brenner Chocolate Bar to celebrate Easter to the Max!”

Limited Edition Handmade Milk Chocolate Egg with Orange Flavoured Chunks

For those looking for a truly unique gift, Max has created a limited edition giant handmade milk chocolate egg. Splashed with orange and studded with crunchy, chewy orange chunks it offers a fruity explosion that is sure to tantalise the taste buds.  Price: $18.50 (200g).

Max’s Fine Milk Chocolate Eggs

This year, Max is bringing back his classic milk chocolate Easter Egg to the delight of fans! Made with the finest milk chocolate, it’s presented in timeless gold foil Price: $2.20 (40g).

Kids and adults alike can’t resist a visit to Max Brenner’s cosy Chocolate Bars which is where his chocolate culture comes alive. The menu features a wide range of scrumptious drinks and desserts including a new addition created specially for Easter – Max’s Strawberries ‘n’ Cream Crepes. Light & fruity melt-in-your-mouth strawberry crepes make a delightful treat for the whole family. Price $14.50(2 crepes per serving).

And if you can’t make it to one of the chocolate bars, or wish to spread the chocolate loving Easter fun with someone, the Max Brenner Chocolate Shop is now available online at www.maxbrenner.com.au. Visit the site to find out the location of your nearest Max Brenner Chocolate Bar or follow Max Brenner on Twitter www.twitter.com/MaxBrenner.

Keep reading to find out how you can win a $50 gift voucher to spend at Addicted to Lip Balm!

The Lolly Shop for your lips! I LOVE the tag line of the Addicted to Lip Balm online store!

With 5 females in the Mummified household, you can imagine how much lip gloss and lip balm we go through! So I was pretty excited to find out about Addicted to Lip Balm, created by Leah O’Neill out of frustration with a lack of a one-stop shop for Lip Balm products and  a real passion for Lip Care.

Leah kindly sent me a parcel of goodies to sample. Even though, Annabelle (my 2 year old) is a lip balm princess and never goes anywhere without her “lippy”, I thought it would be a better idea to get Tiesha (16) and Madeline (14) to help me test them out.

All the better to kiss you with – Lavender Vanilla $11.95

• USDA Certified Organic Lip Balm in vintage recyclable tins
• 100% natural and always cruelty free
• One kiss breaches the distance between friendship and love
• For luscious soft lips, apply to lips and kiss! Yummy!

What we thought:

Tiesha: I don’t like lavender so the scent doesn’t appeal to me but the tin is cute and it feels nice on my lips.

Madeline: The tin is cool but I don’t like lavender so I don’t like the smell of it. But it felt soft on my lips.

Me: I like the cute little tin and it’s length is long nail-friendly. Lavender is one of my favourite scents. I like that it doesn’t feel too heavy on my lips and that it’s 100% natural.

Cake Kiss – Mulberry Sorbet $14.95

• Brand new to Australia – direct from Canada and only available through Addicted 2 Lip Balm
• A sheer, moisturising lip butter with the sweet scent of concord grapes, ripe mulberries and a touch of vanilla
• A rich and nearly sheer lip butter that nourishes, moisturises and protects lips leaving them dewy, soft and natural with a wash of colour
• Comes in 4 flavours – mulberry sorbet, caramel cream, lemon chiffon and pink berry

What we thought:

Tiesha: I like the smell of this one and I like the feel of it on my lips.

Madeline: Mmm! Smells good, I want to eat it! I like this one. It’s not sticky and makes my lips soft.

Me: I like the subtle tint of this one and the feel. But I think the scent is quite strong and too sweet for my liking.

Dr Bronner’s Organic Lip Balm – Naked $4.95

• Certified Organic Dr Bronner’s lip balms are based on organic oils and beeswax free of petrochemically modified ingredients
• The organic avocado oil and beeswax provide excellent lip protection while the organic jojoba and hemp oils assist moisturisation
• comes in lemon lime, naked, orange ginger and peppermint

What we thought:

Tiesha: This one smells a bit weird to me. I like that it’s in a tube so you don’t have to get it on your fingers.

Madeline: I like this one. I like that it’s in a tube but the smell is a bit funny.

Me: I like that it’s easy to apply because it’s in tube-form but the scent is a little weird to me and it feels quite heavy on my lips even though I only put a thin layer on.

Morgan Annie Lip Scrub – Latte $24.95

• organic raw sugar has been combined with other beautiful ingredients to create  lip scrub that will exfoliate, penetrate, hydrate and moisturise
• the natural antioxidant properties remove flaky skin and the replenish to ensure your lips will never look and feel the same ever again
• no time for your coffee in the morning? Apply this sweet creamy latte lip scrub, it’s almost like the real thing
• Also available in chocolate truffle and vanilla

What we thought:

Tiesha: I like the smell of this one. I like the feel of it when you rub in on your lips and how it makes your lips feel smooth afterwards. I don’t like how it’s in a small jar because it’s not easy to get out with long nails.

Madeline: It looks weird with sandy bits in it. It smells nice but I don’t like the taste of it.

Me: I LOVE this scrub! My lips have a tendency to dry out and get flaky so this was a great way to make them smooth. It felt a bit weird, feeling the raw sugar over my lips but once I wiped it off, I could feel the difference!

Urban Rituelle Lip Balm – Pomegranate $9.95

• soothe and hydrate lips
• enriched with natural beeswax, sweet almond oil, olive oil, shea butter and the added benefit of Vitamin E to keep lips soft and glossy
• also includes sunscreen for extra lip smackin’ protection
• each lip balm tin has a unique, funky design and is lightly tinted with delicious and juicy colours
• ideal for carrying in your pocket or purse
• comes in 20 different flavours and their Lip Lustre and Beachcomber Lip Glamour are also very nice

What we thought:

Tiesha: This is my favourite. I like the tub because it’s easier to put on with long nails. It feels silky on your lips and smells nice.

Madeline: This one smells good and feels nice. It feels a little sticky. I like the tin.

Me: The tin is really cute and easy to use with long nails. It has a very subtle scent which I like and it feels nice on my lips. Doesn’t feel greasy and when removed, my lips felt soft.

Seven Balm $11.95

• this lip balm may be the best lip balm you will find anywhere!
• all the way from Canada
• contains shea butter, coconut oil, avocado oil, aloe oil, calendula oil, neem oil, manuka oil and organic manuka honey
• formulated by Robin Logan, RSHom, esteemed homeopath and author of Homeopathy in Eczema
• no preservatives, no mineral oil and no cheap fillers
• all natural lip balm – there is just no comparison

What we thought:

Tiesha: It feels smooth and there’s no scent. The small tin makes it hard to apply.

Madeline: It’s very soft. Feels good on my lips.

Me: I like the feel of this one. It’s not greasy and it has a subtle scent. The tin is a little small and made it hard to use with long nails but it’s definitely another favourite out of the ones we tested.

Stella + Marco Lip Balm $6.95

• therapeutic natural balm that conditions, moisturises and “tingles” on the lips with a peppermint fresh scent
• “Bare Balm” features natural moisturisers including shea butter and cocoa butter, your lips will feel supple and smooth – very kissable!

  What we thought:

Tiesha: I like the smell of this one. And how it makes your lips tingle when you put it on.

Madeline: I don’t like the smell of this one. And I don’t like the tingly feeling.

Me: I like that this one is being marketed as unisex. More men need to use lip balm as well and know that it doesn’t make them less of a man! LOL Cute little metal tin and I love the peppermint scent and how it makes your lips tingle.

Botani Healing Lip Balm $11.95

• an olive-based, all natural, petroleum free lip balm
• protects, repairs and softens your lips
• all plant based, no animal products used
• no beeswax
• a wonderful alternative for vegans
• blended with a delicious natural vanilla oil to provide a protective barrier that nourishes and softens the skin, all day. The smell is divine!
• experience a new level of hydration and healing, with the lasting experience of soft luscious lips

What we thought:

Tiesha: I like how this one makes your lips feel wet and moisturised. It smells nice too.

Madeline: This one feels velvety. I don’t mind the smell of it and the tub is cute.

Me: While this one is a little greasy for my liking, it did make my lips feel a lot softer almost immediately. It has a nice scent and I love that it contains no petroleum.

We had so much fun testing out the lip balms from Addicted 2 Lip Balms! Thanks, Leah! I’ll be lucky to keep one to myself because the girls’ friends have put dibs on them! LOL

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The Giveaway: Addicted to Lip Balm is offering a $50 gift voucher to one lucky Mummified Times Five reader!

To enter, you need to:

1. sign up to Addicted 2 Lip Balm’s newsletter (located on the top right of this page)
2. check out the products at Addicted 2 Lip Balm
3. Come back here and tell me what you would spend the $50 gift voucher on and also the email you signed up with for the newsletter.

*All 3 steps are compulsory to be eligible to win the prize*

Giveaway finishes: 18 Feb 2010

Open to Australian residents only.

Good luck!

My regular purchases include the Supercurlacious mascara, Glimmerstick eyeliner, roll on deodorants and shower gel.

But it’s also great for stocking stuffers. And I know a few of you are going to freak out because I’m mentioning the C word, but you all know I like to buy throughout the year for Christmas gifts and Avon is awesome for that!

Especially when their lipglosses and deodorants and hand creams are on sale for 99c each!

The clearance catalogue is great too for gifts or for things to add to a bigger gift. For example, one year there was a cute mug with a cat design on it which I added to a gift basket for a friend who loves cats.

Lucky for me, my Avon lady is one of my neighbours and she knows she’ll always get an order from me! LOL

Do you buy Avon? What’s your favourite product?

We managed to JUST fit everything in and the few things that didn’t fit were quickly devoured by the kids because “we don’t want it to go to waste” LOL

So Bill mentioned the other day that we should go look at freezers because he’d just found out that I had ordered double the Christmas hampers that I ordered for last Christmas! He took it upon himself to help me find the best shopping deals and inform me which store had the best prices.

He has his eye on a rather large deep freezer and while I’m happy that he took the time to compare shopping prices and find a good deal, I’m wondering where he plans to put the thing! It’s almost half the size of my little bathroom!

Keep reading for an exclusive Mummified Times Five offer! (available to Australian residents only)

As soon as I saw the Flavorwave Oven on one of Danoz Direct’s infomercials (you know, the one with Mr.T?), I so wanted to try it and see if it really did do the things that they claimed it could do.

So I was really excited to be asked if I’d be interested in trying out the Flavorwave Oven and telling you all about what I think of it!

We’re told that the Flavorwave Oven cooks food up to 3 times faster. You can cook fresh or frozen food. You can bake, broil, roast, toast, sear, brown, barbeque, steam and reheat faster than using convention methods.

I’m not sure how it works but it uses halogen heat, infrared and convention cooking to make food faster and juicier. And I love that the fats and oils just drip to the bottom making it a more healthy option. But it does look a bit gross though seeing how much fat was in the meat that we cooked!

For those of you that like to read specs, these were taken from the Danoz site:

• Weight: 21 lbs. (9.5 kg)
• Bowl Capacity: 12 qrts (11.0 litres)
• Cook Temp. Range:150° F to 500° F (65° C to 260° C)
• Wattage:1300W
• Bowl Diameter: 12 in. (305 mm)
• Bowl Depth: 6.6 inches. (167 mm)
• Voltage/ Cycles:110V/120V – 60Hz | 220V/240V – 60 Hz

Anyone who knows me knows that I don’t call washing up one of my favourite chores so I LOVE that the Flavorwave has a self-clean option….or you can stick in the dishwasher.

I unpacked the box to find the oven with 2 racks, tongs, the manual and a little cookbook with some great recipes in it that we’re going to try over the next couple of weeks. When I lifted the lid, it had a bit of a strange smell to it but after following the instructions of what to do before using it for the first time, the smell dissipated.

I think the only thing that concerned me was how much space it took up. We don’t have a lot of bench or cupboard space in our kitchen and to add another appliance means that the cupboards needed a bit of re-arranging to fit it in.

Bill and I have been using the Flavorwave Oven to make a variety of dishes. Since receiving the oven, we’ve made:

(links will be added as posts are published)

• spicy chicken and rice

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Exclusive Mummified Times Five Offer

Danoz Direct is offering Mummified Times Five readers the opportunity to try the Flavorwave Oven for free for 30 days. To try it in your own home, all you need to do is pay a delivery fee of $29.95 (to anywhere in Australia). If you’re not happy with the Flavorwave, send it back to Danoz Direct. BUT if you love the product and choose to keep it, you will get a FREE upgrade to the platinum model for only $199.80, usually valued at  $249.75. You can then make one payment or 4 easy monthly payments of $49.95.

For more information about the Flavorwave Oven and how you can try it out for free in your own home for 30 days go to:

http://www.danozdirect.com.au/products/household/flavorwave-mx5/flavorwave-mx5.php

I love buying personalised gifts for kids, especially for littlies that are in the “it’s mine!” phase because they will love anything with their name on it!

www.mooo.com.au offers unique baby clothes, childrens clothes and personalised gifts. They know and understand that when it comes to baby clothes, children’s clothes, christening gifts, Christmas gifts and Birthday gifts- the major shops just stock kids stuff that all looks the same! Mooo’s products are all personalised to your children’s individual tastes and personalities, making it the perfect online store to find perfect gifts and clothing for kids!

The lovely people at www.mooo.com.au sent me a big box of goodies to sample.  Inside were canvas art, personalised t-shirts, a personalised backpack and samples of their stationery.

The kids canvas art is an easy way to add colour in your kids’ bedrooms. These can be personalised with the kids’ names and there are lots of designs to choose from.

I had to laugh because in with the samples was a canvas with William’s name on it (as you can see in the photo). As most of you know, my 17yr old son’s name is William and everyone who knows me, knows I wouldn’t pass up a chance to have some fun! So I pulled down the canvases in his bedroom that he had painted himself and replaced them with this cute one with planes, helicopters and balloons on it! Let’s just say he wasn’t impressed! LOL

I think that little kids look so cute in personalised tshirts with their name printed on. Mooo offers rugby shirts, tshirts and rash vests from size 00 up to size 10. There are lots of designs you can choose from to suit the personality and interests of your little person. The tshirts that were sent to me are good quality cotton tshirts and the printed designs were nice and bright.

Annabelle is starting preschool this year and she will need a little back pack to carry her stuff. Mooo has a variety of backpacks, pencil cases and library bags that can be personalised so the kids can easily see which bag is theirs. The backpacks are good quality and look durable enough to withstand being thrown down (because we all know that school bags aren’t treated kindly!)

I LOVE personalised stationery and Mooo offers a gorgeous range of birthday cards, kids birthday party invitations, baby shower invitations, christening invitations, baptism invitations, thank you cards, Christmas cards, birth announcement cards and more.

Printed on A6 premium cardstock with a smooth finish, you can choose from lots of different designs to suit your party theme and you can even make your envelopes pretty with matching envelope seals! AND THEY HAVE A CUPCAKE DESIGN!

Other products include wall calendars, diaries, wooden puzzles, name labels and wall stickers. Check them out. You might find the perfect gift for the little people in your life

 Sign up to receive the Mooo newsletter and stay up to date with any special offers, free stuff and new products. And check out their fundraising options too!

Giggling, I asked Bill “Would that be classed as joint pain relief because it would be soothing both of us?”

He just looked at me, rolled his eyes and went back to watching the tv.

Note to Self – some things sound funnier in my head than out loud.

Keep reading for an exclusive Mummified Times Five offer! (available to Australian residents only)

As much as I love my Dyson, there are some days that I just don’t want to lug it out, especially when I only need to give the lounge room a quick going over before visitors arrive.

The Swivel Sweeper, from Danoz Direct, is a lightweight, cordless, floor and carpet sweeper that lets you clean dirt and messes faster and easier than any other cordless sweeper.

It’s features include:

• Powerful, rotating brushes that pick up dirt and messes from all 4 sides
• Head swivels 360 degrees allowing you to maneuver around furniture
• Can be used on tiles, wood and carpet without fear of scratching
• Gets into hard to reach places and corners
• Easy to store
• Quiet
• One hand operation
• Cordless – you can use it anywhere
• Lightweight – weights .9 kgs.
• Extendable handle
• Rechargeable Battery
• Removable dust trays for quick and easy disposal of dirt
• Made of durable plastic and aluminum

What’s Included:

• 1 x Swivel Sweeper
• 1 x Rechargeable battery
• 1 x Brush Cleaning Tool with Storage Cover

After charging the battery for the first time for 8 hours (as per the instructions), I didn’t get to use it! Bill decided that he was going to give it a go and before I knew it, he had walked his way around the whole house with it!

So I guess I’ll share with you what Bill thinks of it then! LOL

He tells me that he likes how light it is. It would be a great product for those with arthritis or bad backs. He has a back injury and we all know how heavy some vacuum cleaners are, so I might find that he does more vacuuming now!

He also says that he likes that it’s not as noisy as a normal vacuum so if I do decide to vacuum before everyone wakes up in the morning, I won’t disturb anyone. Hmmm!

The low profile design means that we can sweep under the lounge and not have to get our 17 year old son to hold up the lounges for me so I can vacuum up the dust bunnies. Being cordless means when I’m running around with the Swivel Sweeper, I won’t be tripping up anyone in my wake.

It glides easily on carpet and lino/tiled floors and because of the powerful rotating cleaning brushes on all four sides of the sweeper head, it makes for easy cleaning. The extendable pole means no bending over (again, great for Bill or anyone else with a bad back) and the reusable dirt tray is easy to remove and empty.

It’s compact and doesn’t take up much space to store. Not like our vacuum cleaner which gets called colourful words each time one of us trips over it!

I dig it! Bill “likes it lots” and I think it’s definitely going to be a well-used gadget in the Mummified house!

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Exclusive Mummified Times Five Offer

(Australian residents only)

Danoz Direct is offering Mummified Times Five readers the opportunity to purchase a Swivel Sweeper at HALF PRICE and pay HALF PRICE on postage!

For more information and to take advantage of the special offer for Mummified Times Five readers, go to:

http://www.danozdirect.com.au/products/household/sweeper-mx5/swivelsweeper-mx5.php