Share Your Sunflower | AD

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Disclosure - I am a Get Out And Grow Ambassador and I have been compensated for my time.

You may remember that this year I have posted a few times about my collaborations with Get Out and Grow and Sudocrem. The idea behind Get Out and Grow really appeals to me as I love the idea of giving children the opportunity to step away from the screens and enjoy the outdoors. Gardening is such a lovely way to spend time together and we have enjoyed lots of growing in my Mums back garden this year so far.

Anyone would have thought Jack had learned his lesson after that beanstalk and giant hoo-hah.…not so. This summer he’s more into massive plants than ever before! And he’s calling on mums and dads and children all over the nation to get involved in growing an enormous sunflower for his collection. Yes, Jack’s gone mad for those yellow, heliotropic beauties that’ve come to mean sun glorious sun for anyone who claps eyes on them across the land. 

They’re easy to grow and they’re impressive – it’s not every day that your children get to see something grow from a stripy black and white seed to bigger than them in a matter of months. They’re a good lure for insects and bees to your garden and after they’re finished, you can dry them and eat the seeds: tick, tick and double-tick. It’s a great way to make gardening and the natural world interesting to your children, sure, but also, who can resist a little competitive sunflower-growing between well-meaning family members?

This summer holiday, we Get Out and Grow ambassadors would like to stir up some friendly sunflower-rivalry between mums, dads, kids and ourselves. We have created a friendly competition called ‘Jack and the Giant Sunflower’ or #jackandthegiantsunflower to those of you on instagram.

We would love for you to get involved and win in with our competition.

TO ENTER

Post a photo of your sunflower next to your proud little (or big) gardener on instagram

Tag @playdaysrunways

Use the hashtags #getoutandgrow, #sudocrem #jackandthegiantsunflower

Tag anyone else you’d think would like to be involved for a chance to win

PRIZES

A mural for your children’s school – chosen by Sudocrem,

A bespoke sunflower t-shirt – chosen by me, as well as Jack’s giant seal of approval.

If you need any last minute Sunflower-growing tips then check below. 

Plant your champions in separate pots and give them plenty of room to reach their potential.

Grow them somewhere with as much sun as possible – and we mean LOTS OF SUN!!!

 Against a south-facing brick wall can create nice little heat trap for your champions to grow up big and strong.

Sunflowers are thirsty beasts and they need to be watered on a daily basis. So, keep that soil moist and set your children the task of monitoring water levels.

Good luck and I am really looking forward to seeing those Sunflowers. 

Michelle

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How to Child Proof Your Garden | AD

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Disclosure - This is a paid collaboration with Lawsons

With the school holidays now underway, there’s no better time than now to make sure your garden is child-friendly. You have probably already dealt with some of the more obvious measures, like removing toxic plants, fencing off the pond and locking away any pesticides and other chemicals, but there are lots of other things you can do to ensure your kids are safe and sound whilst playing outside this summer.

When cleaning your garden decking, be sure to keep your little ones out of the way because it can become extremely slippery when wet and cause an accident. It’s also important to check the decking regularly to ensure the boards, joists and balustrading are all still intact and haven’t suffered any damage over the winter months. If any of the screws have come loose, your decking may fall apart beneath your feet which can be dangerous for the whole family, not just the kids.

Instead of decking, you could think about installing artificial grass in your garden. This is great for parents of young children because not only is it low maintenance, it also means you won’t have any mud brought into your house when the kids have been playing out.

Be sure to check the fence panels closely and fix or replace any that have become damaged. After all, you don’t want your little ones to go exploring through a hole in the fence. Generally speaking, it would be wise to check your entire garden for any hazards, not just the fence and decking. Keeping on top of maintenance and repairs will ensure your children stay safe whilst playing in the garden.

Storing your garden tools away in the locked shed is a great place to start and nothing can replace adult supervision, but the above tips should really help you child-proof your garden.

Michelle

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My-Picture.co.uk Framed Photo Print | Review

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Disclosure - We were gifted a framed photo for the purpose of this post. All thoughts, opinions and photographs are our own.

Every time we take a Disney holiday we come home and try to decide which of our photos we will turn in to a large print to hang in the living room. My-Picture.co.uk had offered us the chance to review their service and choose from their framed photo prints so we wanted to make sure we chose the perfect photo.

Once we had decided which photograph to use we then chose a framed print from the many options available and uploaded our photo.

Once the photo was uploaded we could see a little preview of what the frame would look like. We then needed to choose our preferred size.

Sizes available are

24x24 cm

34x24 cm

44x34 cm

44x44 cm

64x44 cm

Once you have chosen your size you can then customise your frame. You can choose from

Black Matte

White

Vintage Silver

Walnut Flair

Oak Vintage Flair

You can then to choose whether to have the photo as it is or change it to black and white.

We then proceeded to checkout and waited for our framed photo print to arrive.

The whole process to order from My-Picture.co.uk was very easy and we are really happy with the quality of the photo and the frame. The finish is lovely and looks perfect in our living room.

Michelle

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Photowall Canvas Print | Review

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Disclosure - We were gifted this canvas for the purpose of this post. All thoughts, opinions and photographs are our own. 

We love our family pictures around the house and have a number of canvas and framed large pictures that we like to  keep up to date as much as possible. Choosing a provider to bring your digital photographs to life on a large scale can be daunting as there are so many different services offered these days. For our latest canvas we wanted something a little bigger than we have had previously, and Photowall had exactly what we wanted.

The online process was simple enough. As you would expect we needed to upload our photo, in the highest quality possible. The higher the quality of the picture, the better the final version of your canvas is likely to be. After uploading its time to choose the size of your canvas. Finally you can choose whether you want the canvas to stretch over the sides of the frame, or to leave the frame on view. We always choose the stretch option, as we like the photo to go all the way around.

Our canvas was printed within 24 hours and dispatched really quickly. It arrived less than 48 hours after ordering which was a really impressive turnaround.  When the canvas arrived it was not the shape we expected!  Instead of a large rectangular parcel, we had a long, but small parcel that would be more at home when posting an umbrella or something of that nature.

We quickly realised that the canvas needed to be self built from the included rolled up canvas, frame pieces and screws.  Every other canvas we have delivered has been ready made, however this was a bigger size than we have had before.  Instructions are provided and overall it isn't difficult to put the canvas together, although I was a little nervous as the canvas itself is delicate.

Once you attach the four frame sides to the canvas and push them together, there are pre drilled holes for you to put brackets over and fasten with the screws that are provided.  Honestly, it took me two goes to actually get the canvas on to the frame properly as I always seem to miss an instruction somewhere along the way with anything involving construction.  However once completed, the canvas looks fantastic, with the quality of the finished product evident when it is up on the wall.

So, if you don't mind a small amount of DIY, and are looking for a quality canvas then you should give Photowall a try, you won't be disappointed with the final outcome.

John

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Win A Get Out And Grow School Gardening Kit

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Disclosure - I have been compensated for my time and involvement in this campaign. 

Encouraging the boys to play outdoors is something I feel really passionate about. Luckily they do both enjoy being outside whether it's playing football, heading to the local park or exploring in the woods. You may have seen recently that I am supporting Get Out and Grow offering a lucky winner  a gardening kit to help get kids outside more. Today I am so happy to be able to offer one of my readers the chance to win a Get Out and Grow School Gardening Kit for their chosen UK School or Nursery.

Just in time for summer, Get Out and Grow, is launching an incentive encouraging students to head outside and get planting, growing and learning about just where fruit and vegetables come from.

Little J is interested in gardening and whenever he brings home plants or seeds that he has planted we always take them to the garden to plant them in the soil. 

In a recent survey, 90% of children said that they would like a garden at school and at one primary school in Lincolnshire, a school garden made all the difference when it came to pupil’s behaviour.

The Benjamin Adlard Primary School, run by headmaster Sam Coy, was previously rated by Ofsted as one of Britain’s worst schools. Four years and one school garden later, and the Gainsborough school has won the national Pearson award for School of the Year: Making a Difference.

Headmaster Coy insists: “The children absolutely love den-building, just generally getting dirty and nature hunts. One child recently told me that he loves going to the forest school on a Tuesday afternoon so much as it helps him to behave all week as he never wants to not be able to go.”

Little J went to forest school last year and he still talks about it now. It was probably one of his favourite experiences ever.

Sponsored by British skincare brand, Sudocrem, the Get Out and Grow project was created following research that suggested gardening is being forgotten and that many children lack basic knowledge about the natural world and where their food comes from.

Starting in June and running throughout the month, Get Out and Grow will award school gardening starter kits to 20 schools nationwide. The kits will include children’s wheelbarrows, gardening gloves, mini-trowels, seeds and lessons on how to make the most of a school garden. And the good news is, anyone can enter! Nominating your local school or nursery is easy. Just fill in the widget below and enter the details of your chosen school or nursery to be in with the chance to win. 

Good Luck

Win a Get Out and Grow School Gardening Kit

 Michelle

Giveaway closes 16/06/2019 at 11:59pm

Upon entering this giveaway you agree that should you be the winner your details can be passed to the promoter to arrange fulfilment of your prize.

All other entrants details will not be used in any way. They will not be added to a database, mailing list or passed to the promoter. 

Entrants must have a valid UK address. 

Bulk, third party or any other entries using automated software will be disqualified. 

All entrants and entries are checked and verified. 

1 lucky winner will be chosen at random by the Gleam application. 

Their nominated UK school or nursery will receive the gardening kit

Playdays and Runways will contact the lucky winner within 3 days of the competition closing. 

The winner must respond within 28 days. If no response a new winner will be chosen. 

This prize is non-transferable and there is no cash alternative. 

The Prize : Get Out and Grow School Gardening Kit

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Giveaway | Get Out And Grow Goodie Bag

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Disclosure - I did not receive anything in return for this giveaway.

Little J loves being outdoors and would rather spend time exploring the woods or looking for bugs than playing with toys inside. We are always going on outdoor adventures no matter what the weather. It's proven that a childhood spent outdoors helps children grow up healthier and happier, however this is proving harder in recent times due to children choosing screen time over playing outside.

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AD | A Bathroom For All The Family

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Disclosure - This is a paid post in collaboration with Premier Care Bathrooms

It's been just over a year now since our home had a full makeover and we are starting to get ready for the big Spring clean as the lighter nights and brighter days start to come through. Thinking about what needs to be done It got me thinking that the bathroom we have now is probably three times bigger than the one we started with when we first moved into our home.

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Review | Panda The Cloud Bamboo Duvet

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Disclosure - We were gifted products for the purpose of this review. All thoughts, opinions and photographs are our own.

It's been about 18 months since we were first introduced to Panda when we were sent a Memory Foam Bamboo Pillow for little J. He absolutely loved that pillow but as it was a toddler size he has since outgrown it, however we did pass it on to a friend and it is still going strong. He loved the Panda motif on the pillow and would fall asleep stroking it. For the past few weeks we have been trying out another Panda product, the Cloud Bamboo Duvet.

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AD | I Love My Kitchen

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Disclosure - This is a paid post in collaboration with Fishpools 

We have had our new kitchen now for over 12 months but I still love it as much as I did the first time I saw it. Our previous  kitchen was somewhere I used to cook in, do the dishes and not much else. I didn't like it at all. It was old, out of date and I would try and spend as little time in there as possible. When it was time to have a kitchen makeover I wanted to create a space that I would enjoy spending time in. Somewhere that was bright, fresh and modern. I am so happy to say that after 16 years of living in our home I finally love my kitchen.

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Giveaway | Milton Antibacterial Products

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 There seems to be a lot of bugs and sickness going round lately and I only just said to John that I think this is probably the first Christmas that no one has been ill. We have been doing our best to keep our home clean as sometimes, especially when the kids are off school we can become a little lazy with the cleaning. We have been using Milton Antibacterial products recently so our lack of sickness could be because of them but either way it's such a relief that no bugs hit our house.

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Review | Silk Filled Pillows

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This weekend we will be putting our Christmas tree and decorations up and I can't wait. I have started to add a few Christmas themed bits around the house already including my festive place mats and Christmas bedding. We were recently sent some Silk Filled Pillows which we have added to our 'Walking In A Winter Wonderland' bedding and our bed has never been cosier.

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Review | Carpet Cleaning From Fantastic Services

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It has been almost a year since we had our new carpets put in, and I thought it would be a good idea to get them cleaned to keep them looking fresh and new just before Christmas. You may have read recently that Fantastic Services cleaned our oven and they did a 'fantastic' job so I was confident the carpet clean would be great too.

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Collaboration | Steps to Make a Bed Look Plush and Beautiful Like a Dream Bedroom

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Chic sheets, plump pillows and sumptuous luxury throws are all crucial elements of a perfectly plush bedroom. But simply putting all these components together will not automatically create a ‘beautiful dream bedroom’. You will need to follow a few certain style steps to achieve a luxurious and exquisite bedtime resting place. Have a look at our steps below

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Review | Tesco Photo Canvas Print

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Since I became a Mum I am obsessed with taking photos of the boys. I always have my camera or phone to hand to capture memories. I'm lucky that they like having their photo taken although sometimes little J will pull funny faces or stick his tongue out but thats okay, because that's just the way he is. When Tesco Photo asked us if we would like to review their services I instantly thought 'A new canvas for the wall'. I love my canvases and have lots that we rotate through the year keeping the walls fresh every few months.

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Review | Oven Cleaning With Fantastic Services

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 I know we all like to do a spot of Spring cleaning but I also like to do a big clear out and clean in Autumn, getting ready for Christmas. I think the Summer months are so busy for us that we tend to be on the lazy side when it comes to cleaning so I really feel it this time of year. I have been browsing Fantastic Services looking to see what they could help me with and I found a job that I knew would be perfect for us.

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Collaboration | How To Create A Warm And Cosy Home This Winter

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This year will be our first winter since our whole house had a makeover. Everywhere feels so fresh and new but it just needs some finishing touches to help create a nice warm and cosy feeling for the winter. We have already started buying a few little bits and pieces and Christmas decorations too. There is nothing better than snuggling up on the sofa while the weather is cold outside. We have created some tips for you all on how to create a warm and cosy home this winter.

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Collaboration | How To Keep Your Home Safe

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There's been a chill in the air the past few weeks and we've already noticed that it's getting darker much earlier than it was before our Summer holiday. It's always this time of year I start to feel a little anxious and probably more aware of keeping our home safe. We are very good at making sure our home is secure and we still use our Piper camera however darker nights and mornings attract opportunists so I've created a list of top tips for keeping your home safe.

1. Keep All Your Windows And Doors Locked. 
So this may seem obvious but I am almost certain that we have all left the house in a rush and maybe not locked the door behind us or we've left a top window open. Any unlocked windows or doors attract burglars and if they can gain easy access then they will take it. If any of your windows are damaged or do not lock properly now is the time to think about getting replacement windows.

2. Keep All Valuables Out Of Sight.
Again obvious but most people will start thinking about Christmas around this time of year, maybe picking up little bits here and there. It's normal to leave shopping bags or boxes on the floor by the door or on the sofa until you've found a place to store them. If these are on show when you are out the house anyone could look through your window and see exactly where you've been shopping.

3. If You Are Unsure About A Knock At The Door, Don't Open It. 
Whenever someone is at the door that I am not expecting or don't know, I don't open it. I pop upstairs and open a top window. If they tell me who they are and I'm happy to open the door to them I will. If it's someone I'm unsure about then I speak from the window. Make an excuse, tell them you're putting the baby down to nap or you're in the middle of ironing.

4. Use Timers For Your Lights
As the darker nights creep in, its always obvious in our road who is home and who is not. Even if you only work till 5 or 6pm it's dark then so more than likely if you haven't left a timer on your lights, your home will be in darkness when you return.

5. Avoid Putting Plans On Social Media
This applies all year round, you should never put where you are planning to go or where you are on public social media. You are basically telling anyone who wants to know that your house is empty. Lots of people talk about holidays, days out, concerts etc they are going to online and this is an easy way for an opportunist to know you aren't home.

Do you have any tips on how to keep your home safe?

Michelle

This is a collaboration

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Collaboration | Creating A Space Themed Bedroom

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You may have read my post yesterday about Little J's ambition to be an Astronaut when he grows up. He's really into Space at the moment and is always trying to make rockets out of plastic bottles or building spaceships out of Lego. I love how creative he can be at times and he will sit for hours trying to perfect his latest model. I hope his love of Space stays, as he now wants a Space themed bedroom. We have not long decorated his room however we just painted it, we didn't give it any type of theme as he wasn't really passionate about anything at the time.

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How To Educate Your Child Through Gardening?

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I have to admit that I never been been a huge fan of the garden. Although my mum and dad love gardening, planting flowers or just sitting out it's never been my thing. I've always said they could have been professional gardeners because they definitely have an eye for garden design. When I became a nursery nurse I found that a huge part of my job is outdoor play and how important it is especially with children spending more time indoors now on consoles and tablets, it’s important for them to know that enjoyment can be found outdoors, too.

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The Finishing Touches Thanks To Hello Canvas

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It's so nice to use the words finishing touches because that means that our house is finally done. It's taken a long time but I can now say that our home makeover is now complete thanks to our last two photo frames which arrived a few weeks ago from Hello Canvas.

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