Lullaby Creations - Personalised Santa Sack Giveaway!

This giveaway has ended! Congratulations to Narelle Rock! Thank-you to all those who entered and thanks to Lullaby Creations for such a fantastic giveaway!

**The winner was chosen using random.org and a screenshot saved.

I love representing small businesses and I’ve been lucky enough to work with Renee at Lullaby Creations.

Lullaby Creations provides gorgeous, handmade décor for a child’s room or nursery, including coordinating sets like this:

Love the uniqueness of her products!

Renee has a child with a disability and found herself in a position where she needed to earn an income that allowed her the flexibility to be at home and care for her little one. She is clearly a natural talent when it comes to sewing and has also studied Art and Graphic design. She put all of this together to create her business.

I was given the opportunity to try out one of Renee’s favourite current creations – A personalised Santa Sack! (and there’s one to giveaway!) The thing I noticed straight away is the quality of fabric. It seemed so thick and durable. This is not one of those cheap sacks that will wear over time, or rip after a few uses of bulky material. It’s built to last!

 

And Renee tells me it’s not just the sacks that are of high quality. She uses a polyester wadding with all quilts and the wadding is thermally bonded to hold its shape without the use of chemicals and adhesives and treated with Ultra-Fresh for lasting protection against bacteria, dust mites, fungi, mildew and odour. The paint she uses is non toxic and any creatures are double stitched for extra strength and safety. Check out her page for more gorgeous creations. I couldn't do the Santa Sack justice and fill it up but check out how awesome they look!

You can find Renee at the Williamstown Craft Market on the third Sunday of every month and also occasionally at the Gisborne Market in Victoria. You can also of course find her on Facebook as well.

GIVEAWAY TIME!

One lucky person could WIN their own personalised Santa Sack – pictured here. All you need to do is:

1. COMMENT below – Tell us what letter you would have Lullaby Creations put on your sack and don’t forget to include your name and email.

2. LIKE School of Mum and Lullaby Creations

3. SHARE this post on Facebook or Twitter with your friends – By Clicking Share below and either Facebook or Twitter. It helps if you tag us in your entry too.

Too easy! The winner will be someone who has done all of the above and will be randomly chosen! So get entering. Christmas is just around the corner!

Here’s the fine print:
* Entry is open to Australian folk only (sorry!)
* Winner will be posted on School of Mum’s Blog only due to Facebook restrictions.
* One entry per person
* A valid email must be provided in the comment so we can contact you if you are a winner.
* Entries close midnight 24^th October, 2012
* Winner has 5 days to respond before another is chosen. 

* The Santa Sack will be posted by Lullaby Creations and is not the responsibility of School of Mum

Read to Little Ones Using Books, not Apps!

Here’s the thing. I don’t believe that my child, or any child will learn to read on an ipad or using some fancy app. Sure, when reading is established and they are fluent readers then of course, it’s the way of the future, a great tool that is useful and convenient. But for now, please, don’t take away picture story books!

Being a teacher of junior students, my baby was read to in the womb at least 3 times a day and constantly heard my voice. When he was born he liked to hang around and breastfeed for one hour sessions and day time TV just didn’t cut it so I would read to him Peter Rabbit. They were given to me as a gift and I loved that they were small enough to fit into the palm of my hand but had plenty of text in them.

As the months went by my son developed ‘favourite’ books. Whenever I started to read The Big, Hungry Caterpillar he would laugh at every page and squeal in delight. His current favourite is Hairy Mclairy from Donaldson’s Dairy.

Holding a book in your hands, turning the pages, pointing at pictures and text and feeling their surfaces, whether the book be soft, hard, large or small. All these things simply cannot compete with reading from a handheld screen.

Thomas engaging in text at 9 and a half months

Of course, reading picture story books aloud comes naturally to me as it is part of my job so if you think you want to read more to your child and you’re not sure where to start here is my quick guide;

* Embrace your inner child! Get down on the floor with your baby, use silly voices, laugh outrageously, and make faces. Your baby will probably look at you as if they have seen the purple people eater if you've never done this before but they are sure to gain amusement over time.

* Read something you enjoy too. Maybe it was that book you enjoyed as a child yourself or maybe you love to read the Better Homes and Gardens magazine. It doesn’t really matter what you are reading as long as you are using lots of expression in your voice and face when you do it.

* Edible books are the best! Be sure to have some cloth books at hand for your baby to play with. It may not seem like it but over time they do make the connection that this is a book, with pages to turn, pictures to see and words to read. The earlier they make that association the better reader they will become!

* Establish a good time to read to your baby. Try not to read to your baby when they are overtired or busy doing something else. Find a time that works for you. We don’t do bedtime stories because my baby gets too excited and won’t go to sleep afterwards! But if you find reading relaxes your baby then be sure to make it part of your bedtime routine.

So, how do you read to your kids? Did you try reading in the way I described and how did it go? Please share with me here!

Posted to FYBF