We received something rather unusual and unique to review for you this week: 3D BreakThrough Puzzles.

Now, we all know what puzzles are, and what a good experience sitting together building a puzzle can be. There’s always such a sense of excitement as the final pieces start coming together, and such a sense of achievement when the last piece slots in. And then… well, that’s the question. What then? Do you break it up piece by piece? Do you break it up in sections for when you ‘one day’ decide what to do with it? Do you frame it?

My dad took my mum’s two favourite round puzzles and actually made coffee tables for her out of wood, then framed them into the tables. They were gorgeous and are still used as coffee tables in their house – but there are only so many coffee tables you can make.

Then came along 3D BreakThrough Puzzles, definitely the next generation of puzzles, bringing your 2D puzzles to life.

I'll start this Daisy Tabletop Wooden Kitchen review off with a  little anecdote. A few months ago, I set an upside-down pot on the kitchen floor and gave my (then 14 month old) daughter a wooden spoon. Instead of banging it with the gusto only a toddler can muster, she turned the pot over and started to stir the invisible contents. Dear daughter had of course seen me do this many times, while she was in my arms and I was busily prepping dinner at the cooker.

My daughter is now about 17 months old and is really starting to understand the role-play style of learning through play. We were at her playgroup and I saw her playing with the teapot and cups, so I resolved to get her some kitchen items of her very own. I received this cute Daisy Tabletop Wooden Kitchen by Tidlo of John Crane which is about £35 at Dillons Toy Box.

Firstly, a word about the quality of this kitchen: When I took this little tabletop kitchen out of the box, I was a little disappointed when one of the wooden parts seemed to be detached from the toy. I don't think that it was supposed to come apart, but I was able to slot it back into place with ease. Following on from the disappointment in the unboxing, it was all uphill from there.

The actual Daisy Tabletop Wooden Kitchen set is really pretty, lovely colours and cute designs on both the kitchen itself, and on the extra implements. It comes with 3 spoon / spatulas, 2 pots with one lid, salt and pepper shakers, and a fried egg! It also folds up so you can store it away when not in use, which is pretty handy if you don't have much space to spare.

To be honest, I was quite surprised how much my little daughter likes this Daisy Tabletop Wooden Kitchen. It's sitting on the living room floor, and she keeps going back to it to play. She's constantly stirring the invisible beouf bourguignon in the little pots, and carrying them round the house with her. I sometimes find the spoons in various places round my home too; down the back of the sofa, under the kitchen table, in the bath... they get about!

When I was small, I never had a play kitchen and was always supremely jealous of the rich kids in my class with their amazing deluxe play kitchens at home. If you want a little kitchen for your child but haven't got that much spare space or cash, then the Daisy Tabletop Wooden Kitchen could be a good fit for you.

We recently reviewed two different scooters from Micro Scooter and they got rave reviews. Sadly this is not the case with the Micro Scooter lock. This extremely expensive piece of kit is a complete waste of your money and here’s why…

To start with you will pay around £15.95 for the Micro Scooter lock if you go via some of the affiliated stores, or around £10.95 from a store called Hop. The lock is the original manufacturer make by Micro Scooters themselves and is designed specifically for the Micro Scooters unique (ahem) design.

We decided to go ahead and stick with the branded lock because we figured it would be of the same quality as the scooter. How wrong we were. To start with the combination lock will reset itself if you depress the side buttons simultaneously. However, thanks to the lock being so small, doing this is way too easy. Risky too, you can’t reset it to zero if you screw up, oh no, you have to get wire cutters and bin it.

The second problem was that when you pressed the button to release the lock, the wire sprang out at a speed that was faintly worrying for an adult, much less a child. While I am sure that younger kids wouldn’t be playing around with a combination lock, the risk is there for older kids. Also, if you depress both buttons when the lock is released, the wire shoots back into the hole really fast. It whips around and spins back. This is NOT safe at all.

The final straw is that on the second day the button on the left of the lock, the one you need to release the wire, jammed.  On the second day. The lock cost us around £14 to buy and lasted a grand total of two days. And our scooter had to sit outside for three days while we tried to locate a wire cutter…

August is upon us.

Hopefully that will mean long, warm (at the very least please) summer days and the sanity-saving knowledge that before long children up and down the land, dressed in shiny new uniforms clutching newly stocked pencil cases, will be heading back to school for a new academic year.

School uniform can be hideously expensive, particularly if your child(ren) goes to a school that insists on every item being emblazoned with the school motto.

We don't want you to have to extend the financial agony any further than necessary, so we happily agreed to review some Back to School items from Poundland.

Following a quick rummage through the Poundland Back to School stash that arrived in the PlayPennies office, we duly sent it off to PlayPennies mum Ellen, to review.

"Various Back to School stationery items arrived from Poundland for me to test," says Ellen, "You know, the usual suspects: pens, pencil cases, pads of paper and notebooks etc.  It was tricky to know where to start really, so I just dived in."

The long haul of the school summer holidays begins in just three days time; I know a lot of parents who are already beginning to feel the strain and schools haven't closed their doors yet.

It wouldn't be so bad if the weather was a little more reliable, at least you could turf the kids out into the garden and let them burn off some excess energy.

The bad news is the changeable weather is set to stay for at least the first week of the school hols, but after that it should warm back up  and be a little more settled; hurrah!

There are only so many expensive trips out you can do between now (just pretend it's Friday) and the beginning of September.

Even a family trip to the cinema is now a bank-balance-busting experience, so when find-me-a-gift.co.uk asked if they could send us a couple of inexpensive summer toys to review we were happy to oblige.

A big bubble wand and water bomb catapult set duly arrived and, despite the temptation to launch a few water bombs across the PlayPennies office first, we sent them off to PlayPennies mum Laura and her six-year-old son to play with.

Bubble Wand

The Big Bubble Wand retails for £2.49.

You know how it often is with toys, if they don't cost a ton of money you don't really expect them to last that long, or be of very good quality; in my opinion, a toy with a £2.49 price tag tends to fall into that category.

Louise thought so too.

"I am surprised this is only £2.49," she says, "It is better made than other bubble wands I've tried, mostly from the pound shop, and the quality of the bubble mixture is much better too."

Louise tells us that her son has been playing with the big bubble wand for a month now and still hasn't used up the bubble mix, "You get a LOT of bubbles from just one dip!"

Apparently, though, the reason he really loves the big bubble wand is that it has become a sort of light sabre - a boy after my own heart!

"There's something about the sturdy build, the colour, and the way the bubble mix swishes about inside it that seems to have some sort of appeal for him," Louise explains.

Louise also reports that the big bubble wand doesn't come with any instructions.

"I did expect this to make large bubbles," she says, "and maybe it does and I just haven't worked out how!"

But fear not, it transpires you don't need a degree in bubble science to enjoy the big bubble wand.

Louise  tells us that it makes about a zillion bubbles just by waving it about, or blowing on it, "Good bubbles too, that kept my son happy by floating way, way, way up in the sky."

"This was an excellent toy to take to the park," concludes Louise, "It worked as a play sword and kept us all amused with the bubbles. It's especially fun with lots of space to run around in making bubbles, and chasing them."

Quick Knot Water Bomb Catapult Set

There's something about water bombs and a catapult  that brings out the 'Dennis the Menace' in us all.

It really is very satisfying when that balloon makes contact with its target (preferably a human target on the target on the run) and EXPLODES!

The Quick Knot Water Bomb Catapult set also retails for £2.49 and, again, earns high praise from Louise.

"Now this was amazing! For the price I really wasn't expecting much," gushes Louise, "but you get a sturdy, plastic catapult that will take a good pounding, a net to put the water balloons in, water balloons, and a little funnel to make it easy to fill them up."

Marvellous! All you need for water bomb chaos in one very reasonably priced package.

Louise confesses that there isn't really very much she can say about the Quick Knot Water Bomb Catapult set, without sounding almost evangelical.

"It is easy to use, and the catapult can be pulled back and released by even tiny hands." This is good news as, often, little ones want to play with things like this and end up getting upset, and frustrated, when they can't do it properly.

"We had a lot of fun with this at our local park, which has a water play area. I would suggest that you buy two of them though, so you can chase each other!"

Louise was concerned about the natural rubber latex used to make the water bombs.

She says that although there's a very clear warning on the back to always clean up the burst bombs, she does wonder how many people actually do.

"Also, when we used it in the park, I worried about pieces that we might miss," she admits, "especially if they get eaten by wildlife, like ducks!"

And finally...

As far as Louise is concerned both the bubble wand and the water bomb catapult are fabulous and fun.

The price is more than reasonable; in fact, she's still not quite over the fact they are so cheap compared to their quality.

"Both of these toys were a HUGE hit with my six-year-old son," she concludes, "...and me!"

www.find-me-a-gift.co.uk

Offer me anything that has the word 'Spa' in it and I'm rendered powerless to resist so,  as you can imagine, I was like the proverbial child in the sweetshop when the ENTIRE Skin Wisdom Day Spa range arrived in a huge box.

The range has been created by three of the country's award winning Spas and it's sold exclusively through Tesco.

This is v e r y good for me, Tesco is my local supermarket of choice and as I've fallen in love with more than one or two of the Skin Wisdom Day Spa products I know I can easily replace them when I need to.

The Day Spa products come in four 'flavours'

• Rose and Geranium
• Gingerlilly and Orange
• Warm Cinnamon and Fig
• Vanilla and Neroli

And just to make the world an even better place, most of the Skin Wisdom Day Spa products are on offer at Tesco, with 1/3 off,  until 2 August (I'm afraid I can't tell you whether or not this offer is also running in-store).

This is going to sound a little strange, but hear me out: I love the new Vileda 1-2 Spray & Clean mop. Now, I know what you’re thinking. A mop is a mop, is a mop, what’s there to love?  Well. Plenty.

We moved house recently, and before the van arrived at the house, I did, with new mop, cleaning liquid and toddler in tow. I took my new and as yet unused mop, clicked all the bits in place, and set about the business of cleaning before my furniture arrived.

The mop doesn’t require water, and it doesn’t require a bucket filled with water and sloshing bits around as you try to move it around the room. I know, a winner already, right?

The Vileda mop comes with a small supply of Vileda cleaner, which you can pour into the handle of the mop, and then you pull a trigger, sort of like a bicycle brake, which sprays the cleaning fluid onto the floor where you’re about to mop.

The mop bit is made of cotton, and is easily run over the floor – it is a flat mop with a swivel connection so you can clean under tables, sofas and raised kitchen counters (mine are about 10 inches off the floor for some bizarre reason) without having to get down on your hands and knees to clean.

And then, once you’ve finished, you pop it off, and into the washing machine ready to face all those toddler spills again tomorrow.

I never thought I’d be the kind of person to get excited about anything domestic, but I must say, this little bit of genius thrills me.  Especially since you don’t have to use any particular brand of cleaning fluid, so if you wanted to go for a more eco-friendly alternative, or use a home-made solution, you’d be able to do so.

I managed to clean all our hardwood surfaces in less than ten minutes, with a child on my hip. Using this Vileda 1-2 Spray & Clean mop is so easy, even my daughter – in the picture – can do it.

Vileda 1-2 Spray & Clean mop is available  from Sainsbury's, although they don't seem to have it online yet and you can also find a list of suppliers on the Vileda website.

Father's Day is just one and a half weeks away; it's on Sunday 19 June and if you've been stuck for ideas then this Liz Earle Men's Face Scrub, Cleanse and Polish review might give you some inspiration.

It's taken a long time for men and skin care routines to become comfortable bedfellows, and there are still hardcore guys who flatly refuse to go anywhere near anything vaguely resembling moisturiser.

Fortunately for us we have PlayPennies dad Simon on hand, he got wise to the benefits of skin care years ago and was more than willing to put some Liz Earle products for men, sent to us by QVC, through their paces on our behalf.

The Liz Earle Men's Face Scrub, Cleanse and Polish set contains Men's Cleanse & Polish (100ml), Men's Face Scrub (75ml), Aftershave Moisturiser (15ml) and two muslin cloths; at QVC it retails for £23.20.

I saw the products before they were sent off to Simon and was interested to hear what he thought of the packaging.

"I was relieved when I saw the packaging for the Liz Earle products for men," says Simon, "It's subtly manly without a bulldog, or garish colour, in sight which makes a refreshing change."

Cleanse and Polish

The Cleanse and Polish cleanser is suitable for all skin types and has a two-step process which promises to clean away dirt and  the excess oils that build up, block pores and cause spots.

"The hot cloth cleanser is great," Simon reveals, "it's lovely and creamy and easy to apply.  Then taking one of the muslin cloths, dipped in hot water and wrung out, you rub off the cleanser."

"It leaves your skin feeling clean, relaxed and refreshed - although at times with my shaved head I did feel like I was polishing a bowling ball!"

The Cleanse and Polish cleanser is mineral oil free and it's 'Naturally Active' ingredients include eucalyptus, to purify, and cocoa butter for smooth skin.

Face Scrub

The face scrub can be used one or twice a week after cleansing and/or after shaving - it can help prevent ingrowing hairs apparently - but it's not suitable for sensitive or damaged skin.

"The scrub leaves your skin feeling clean and seriously smooth to the touch," Simon tells us, "Like most scrubs it has rough bits in it but they don't feel like they're shredding your skin whilst you're massaging it in!"

Now I rather like that, but I understand feeling like you're rubbing sandpaper on your skin isn't everyone's cup of tea.

The rough bits in the Liz Earl Face Scrub for Men are actually tiny bits of pumice stone and jojoba beads.  It also contains eucalyptus to cool the skin.

After-shaving Moisturiser

Finding the perfect moisturiser can be a bit hit and miss; some can be a bit watery, others too heavy, some can smell horrendous and others have far too much of a scent to them.

The Liz Earle After-Shaving Moisturiser claims to be light, easily absorbed whilst being very effective at the same time.

Simon certainly agreed.

"I really enjoyed using the after-shaving moisturiser," he says, "it really was easily absorbed and left my skin feeling moisturised without that horrible oily feel you can get sometimes."

Don't be put off by the small size of the moisturiser, Simon says you don't need to use much at all as a little bit goes a very long way.

The Naturally active ingredients in the After-Shaving moisturiser include self-heal extract (I have NO idea what that is, but it sounds like it's a good thing to have in there) to help soothe small nicks and calm razor burn plus borage to help moisturise

Naturally Active

There is a very strong natural and environmental ethos behind all of the Liz Earle products.

They describe themselves as a botanically-based beauty company doing their upmost to keep their environmental impact down, whilst not compromising on product quality.

They won't settle for anything but the highest quality naturally active ingredients, which have to be ethically sourced, and try to ensure they're certified organic too.

Liz Earle are also committed to making sure that as much of their packaging is made from already recycled material and can be re-recycled.

Simon told me he feels the Company's efforts to go green and be a environmentally responsible and ethical manufacturer hasn't compromised the products in any.

If anything, he was surprised they weren't more expensive as a result.

And finally...

All of the Liz Earle products were a big hit with Simon.

"All of the products had a very pleasant neutral fragrance; it was light and fresh without being perfumed." Simon explains, "The whole system is quick and easy to use too."

"In the past I have mainly used L'Oreal for Men but I'd switch!" concludes Simon. "Liz Earle has a popular Facebook page where fans can get promotional offers and extra product information - I 'like' Liz Earle for Men!"

Liz Earle Men's Face Scrub and Cleanse & Polish @ QVC

The sun tan; summer holy grail for some and hell for those who burn, then peel, at the merest mention of 'heatwave'.

The one thing everyone can agree on is the skin cancer risk that comes from basting yourself in oil, baking under a hot blazing sun (I include UV sunbeds in that statement too) and that fake tans are the way to go if you want to be a bronzed beauty or Adonis.

I must confess I'm a tan fan; I have an olive skin tone and if allowed to be pale I just look pasty and rather unwell.  I'm most envious of those with stunning pale porcelain skin who have an, almost, translucent china doll glow about them.

However, that's never going to be me so over the years I've become something of a fake tan officiando.

I'd like to say, at this point, that when I say 'tan fan' I mean a healthy glow rather than 'footballer's wife orange' - so when Bronze Ambition sent us some of their tanning products to review, I was given the task to test them...because no one else was prepared to risk turning a deep orange and looking like they'd been tangoed!

I was sent home with Glow 'n' Glow, an instant tan that rubs on and washes off,  and Fake Don't Bake which is a tanning cream whose colour develops over a few hours.

I have a nearly 16-year-old daughter who was my victim willing volunteer and helped me test the Bronze Ambition fake tan products; we tested Fake Don't Bake on her and Glow 'n' Glow on me.

Glow 'n' Glow - £1.99 (100ml)

The directions for use on the back say 'apply to cleansed skin rubbing in firmly to ensure smooth and even coverage' and it will give you a 'flawless instant golden glow that easily washes off, whilst giving your skin a smooth radiant finish'.

Well, it does...and it doesn't.

I showered, exfoliated and cleansed before applying the Glow 'n' Glow.

I ignored the rather scary dark coloured liquid/lotion that sat in the palm of my hand and, after taking a deep breath, started to rub it on.

I began with my shoulders and arms first and all seemed to be going well - the colour is nice actually, despite it's colour coming out of the tube being akin to that of creosote my dad used to paint the garden fence with! - however, when I put it on my neck it didn't seem to be so smooth and my neck looked dirty rather than beautifully tanned, smooth and radiant.

The same happened on my chest.  I wondered if I was rubbing too hard or had applied too much here - you know when you rub cream in for too long it can start to rub off in 'bits'?  Well it was a bit like that.

So I grabbed a sacrificial towel and rubbed the Glow 'n' 'Glow off those areas and started again. My second attempt was marginally better, but not much.

However, I persevered and the rest of my body covered really nicely, including my face, is indeed looking golden and rather lovely.

It occurred to me that most people fake tan for the summer or before going away on holiday.  Bearing in mind Glow 'n' Glow washes off,  I wanted to know how it would stand up to me being hot and, dare I say it, sweaty. Go away somewhere hot like Italy or Southern Spain and this is will be a valid consideration when the daytime temperatures start peaking at 40C.

It's not hot in my little part of the country today so I embarked on a pretty hectic thirty minute cardio' training session to really put it through it's paces.

It did ok in as far as it wasn't running in streaks down my body, BUT it did come off when I wiped my face which left me looking more than a little odd.

I admit this is a little extreme but if you wear Glow 'n' Glow, get hot and wipe your face it WILL rub off - so perhaps think 'pat' with a tissue rather than wipe with a towel and I'm afraid it's also left me with 'interesting' coloured palms.

Fake Don't Bake - £2.99 (150ml)

The Fake Don't Bake natural look tanning cream claims to give you a 'no streaks' natural looking tan in a few hours.

My daughter and I, having inspected the colour of her skin quite closely (it was one of the more surreal mother-daughter bonding moments), we both agree.  There's not a streak or hint of orange to be seen.

To be honest I was expecting the final colour to be darker but I think this is just a throw-back to the fake tans of yesteryear, this colour is warm and natural and if you want it slightly darker then you could apply a second layer - but only when the first one is completely dry and developed otherwise you'll run the risk of the cream turning into bits like mine with the Glow 'n' Glow.

The Fake Don't Bake cream rubbed in easily and doesn't have that hideous fake tan smell about it either.

In fact, both the Fake Don't Bake and Glow 'n' Glow smelt lovely; after much sniffing we pinned the scent down to peach with a hint of coconut!

It took about three hours for the colour to begin to show itself on my daughter's skin and another one and a half, or so, to fully develop.

She found an old white vest top to wear for a while and, after close inspection of that too, we couldn't find any staining on it where it came into constant contact with her skin (around the seams etc).

And Finally...

I'm aware that my review of the Glow 'n' Glow could come across as being negative but it's not - I think it's perfectly suited to going out in the evening when you just want to add a little bit of colour to your skin.

It certainly doesn't have the colour intensity of a full-blown fake tan and if you're not going to be doing anything energetic, or you're going to be safely seated in a lovely air-conditioned restaurant then you'll be safe from inadvertently rubbing it off in the sweaty heat.

It smells lovely, comes in a 100ml hand-luggage approved travel size and at £1.99 it really can't be sniffed at.

The only downside is the way it stained my palms - just be QUICK about washing your hands or get someone else to do it for you!

I don't have a bad word to say about the Fake Don't Bake tanning cream.

It went on easily, has a nice smell to it and does exactly what it promises to do - give you a natural looking tan with no streaks.  It also comes in a 100ml travel size which is £1.99 rather than the £2.99 for 150ml.

Overall, we were very impressed with the products from Bronze Ambition, particularly when we took into the account the price and that you can easily pay at least three or four times that for other fake tan brands.

You can buy Bronze Ambition products online directly from their website - delivery is free if you spend over £15 - or you'll find them on the high street at Poundland, Home Bargains and B&M Bargains.

www.bronze-ambition.com

Sometimes review products land on the PlayPennies desk that we just don't want to part with - generally anything to do with food.

QVC really tested our resolve for spreading around the 'food love' when they sent us a selection of DeviliShh desserts to review; it was with heavy hearts, and tears and tantrums from some, that we sent them off to PlayPennies mum, Tracy, to try out.

"I was, naturally, very keen to review the desserts for PlayPennies," Tracy said, "especially as the name 'DeviliShh' suggests something rather scrummy and indulgent was heading my way."

Tracy also told us she was rather intrigued as to how they were going to arrive.

Were they going to come presented by waiter on a silver platter a'la the cooking competitions on TV?  Were they cold puddings that were ready made and could be eaten hot or cold? What?

"I must confess to being taken by surprise when the DeviliShh desserts arrived," Tracy told us, "there were about eight boxes of Creme Caramel puddings, one box of panna cotta, four boxes of pot au chocolate, four glasses, four bowls, two chocolate syrups, one rhubarb and strawberry coulis, a sour cherry one AND a raspberry one too!"

Now you understand why the sighs of remorse about not keeping the DeviliShh desserts in the PlayPennies office were as loud as they were.

You really can't beat wrapping off a meal with some sort of dessert; hot or cold, sweet or sharp, it makes no odds as everyone loves a little something else after dinner.

BUT, not everyone has the time, the inclination, or the skill sometimes, to knock up something fabulous. Sometimes you need a little bit of a helping hand and that's exactly where, according to Tracy, these DeviliShh desserts come into their own.

Chocolate Lovers Indulgence Selection - £22.25

The Chocolate Lovers Indulgence Selection was the first of the DeviliShh deserts that Tracy tried - we would have gone for the chocolate first too.

Following the instructions on the box all Tracy had to do, to make what she described as a 'delicious choccy desert', was pour everything into a pan, heat it until boiling, stir continuously, pour into heat resistant bowls/glassses and chill for one to two hours.

"This was so easy peasy," revealed Tracy, "that it almost felt like cheating! The pudding whips up quickly, smells utterly heavenly and sets REALLY FAST."

Tracy went on to say that by the time she was pouring the mixture into the last glass it was already starting to set.

"I served the glasses of chocolate pud' with sour cherry coulis and even my extremely fussy husband really liked the flavour and texture of the dessert."

Both Tracy and her husband felt the coulis was a nice touch and made a super contrast to the sweetness of the chocolate.

"I liked the fact the entire dessert was done and dusted in under five minutes and that there were precisely three things to wash up afterwards - bowl, spoon and jug," Tracy concluded.

She does have a piece of advice for anyone who decides to give the Chocolate Lovers Indulgence Selection a go, "The only thing that would be a minor problem is the one to two hour wait, but with a bit of forward planning this won't be a problem."

Create Your Own Creme Brulee Dessert Kit - £23.32

Along with all the various dessert making ingredients and paraphernalia comes a recipe for Bread and Butter Pudding; you use the ingredients from the Create Your Own Creme Brulee Dessert Kit to make it.

"You need the creme brulee mixture along with bread, sultanas, cinnamon and nutmeg to make this bread and butter pudding," explained Tracy. "Simply butter some bread, make the creme brulee mixture, pour it over the top and plonk in the fridge for 1-2 hours!"

Again, this seems wonderfully straightforward, faff-free and great for Bread and Butter Pudding fans.

Tracy told us she was a bit suspicious of the non-baking element to this particular DeviliShh dessert. However, the eating element of it seemed to go down well.

"My husband, who loathes bread and butter pudding, really liked this," Tracy told us, "he finished it off when I wasn't looking! It was very more-ish, very filling and incredibly tasty."

Tracy has another tip - I think I shall call them 'Tracy's Tips' - she says, "Just make sure you really cover every inch of bread or it is seriously weird and just like bread and butter with a bit of cinnamon sprinkled on it."

Create Your Own Panna Cotta Dessert Kit - £16.50

Now this is one dessert I'm happy to pass on to anyone else who will take it, it was also the one Tracy was looking forward to most and, as a result, she went a bit 'Master Chef' on us.

"I decided to get adventurous for the Panna Cotta DeviliShh dessert," she boasted, proudly.

"I crumbled chocolate brownies into the bottom of the glasses and then poured the Panna Cotta on top.  When they'd set they were super scrummy and delicious with that distinctive panna cotta taste on top."

The same basic principles apply to the DeviliShh dessert Create Your Own Panna Cotta Dessert kit as the others: mix it, pour it, chill it, eat it!

The Panna Cotta was Tracy's favourite by far and the chocolate, creme brulee and the creme caramel were huge hits with the kids and the fussy husband.

And finally...

Tracy was completely won over by the DeviliShh desserts we sent her.

"All the desserts are seriously easy and really tasty," Tracy said, "there was a hint of 'Angel Delight' in the chocolate dessert but, really, that only added to the awesomeness."

All of the family agreed that they loved the easiness of making the desserts and how, in spite of this, they tasted amazing rather than plastic and rubbish.

"I have to say I am very impressed," concluded Tracy, "as most instant desserts are a bit yuk and these, while not what you'd find in Gordon Ramsay's kitchen, are really good; I don't see anyone turning their noses up at them. "

So, ideal for busy parents who fancy a treat without the agony of having to slave over something for hours in the kitchen, then further hours afterwards washing up all the chaos and carnage.

Tracy told that on a scale of one to ten she'd give the DeviliShh desserts a nine and a big thumbs up.

Click HERE to see the full range of DeviliShh desserts available at QVC

When I think that it’s almost father’s day, my heart starts racing a little. I can hardly believe the year is almost halfway gone already. It’s all just going too fast for me – evidenced by the fact that a large box arrived for us with father’s day products to review.

Now, if I’m honest, my first thought was, “Great, a bunch of tat to clutter the house.” But, it didn’t take long for me to change my mind. In fact, when my hubby came in to see his very early father’s day gifts, there was already a bit of an ownership battle going on for the oversized coffee cup.

Paladone Products has been around since 1991 and is one of the UK’s leading gift development companies. You might not know their name, however, as they don’t have their own ‘shop’ as such, but sell their products in more than 30 of the UK’s biggest retailers. So whenever you’ve bought a little something from the ‘seasonal items’ isle, chances are it was from Paladone.

The first thing we looked at was the StressBerry. In our home, this is a pretty good all-rounder item – see, I’m a CrackBerry addict, which pretty much makes the hubby hate it. So for him, this foam rubber BlackBerry look-a-like is a wonderful alternative to a stress ball. I think he gets some rather frightening pleasure out of pummelling the poor thing. In fact, the look on his face when he squished it as small as he possibly could kind of confirmed that – especially when accompanied by the odd “arrrrghhhhh” sound.

I also thought it meant he’d pretty much destroyed it, but as it turns out the StressBerry is pretty hardy. Not only were there no cracks in the paint or foam, it actually sprang back to normal.  Since then, it’s become my daughter’s phone. I’m not sure what it’s made up of, but it doesn’t make annoying sounds, it isn’t anything into her brain when she holds it near her head and for the most part means she leaves my phone alone.

Also, at £2.99 from Amazon, the StressBerry is certainly not going to break the bank.

Next up was a Mr. Messy apron. While the hubby is actually a pretty great cook, it’s not something he gets to do too often, so the apron doesn’t see much use. Perhaps now that it’s summertime it’ll see the light of the barbeque a little more often, which would be great. It’s made from 100% cotton, so I also don’t have to worry about it melting near the stove or fire either, and is quick and easy to wash too. While he did take exception to being called messy, he liked it and has worn it since.  From a ‘typical woman’ point of view, it’s well made and neat and tidy in all the right places. It also doesn’t unravel in the wash as some cheaper craftsmanship does.

The Mr.Messy apron is available at Amazon for £9.99.

The Punk Washing Up Brush (on sale at Find Me A Gift for £3.49 at the moment) is the item we agreed is the most ‘average’. No matter what we said about it, it remains a washing up brush. But that’s possibly not entirely fair. It’s a fun item, it puts a smile or at least a raised eyebrow on people’s faces when they see it standing by the sink. The bristles are quite hard so it stands up to a good amount of cleaning. It can stand next to the sink – in other words the washing up brush balances well on those little punk feet. I found it a bit uncomfortable to hold, but with his bigger, manlier hands, my hubby didn’t complain about it.

While the Amazon description says “Now you can bring laughter and joy to this thankless task with this hilarious punk washing up brush,” I must admit it didn’t get the same response here. It was more “It’s a bit of fun, but still doesn’t make me want to get up and wash the dishes.” But in fairness, who wants to do the dishes?  But, for someone with a bit of an eclectic taste, or someone who likes trinkety things this would be a great gift. At least it’s functional and works well, so all’s not lost on me. So long as Mr.Messy does the dishes, I’m happy.

The final item we received was that coffee cup. The I’m The Daddy Mug makes Starbucks Venti cups look like shot glasses. Sort of. It has a 900ml capacity (just over 1.5 pints) and is actually ridiculously large, but while I might have my BlackBerry in one hand, I have a cup of coffee in the other, so the husband and I were fighting about who should have the cup. He is the daddy though, so he won out, but I’ll be borrowing it next time we have a teething night!

A reviewer on Amazon said that the print wasn’t as clear or well defined, but that wasn’t a problem we’ve experienced. Ours looks pretty much like the one pictured.  It’s definitely an ideal gift for new dads, or anyone wanting to mark their territory.

I must admit, I was dubious at first, but now as everything has a place in our cupboards, toy box and kitchen counter, it’s grown on me. If you’re looking for fun little presents for father’s day, you won’t be disappointed in these and you’ll definitely get good use out of each of them.

I've just been sitting here trying to think if I've ever dyed anything (other than my hair) in my 37 years of existence; I don't think I have but I know exactly who Dylon are!

Their name is just synonomous with dying fabric and we were more than happy to send some of their products out to PlayPennies mum, Tanya, to try out on our behalf.

She received three different Dylon products - Dylon Fabric Dye for hand use, Dylon Fabric Paint and Dylon 3D.

Dylon Fabric Dye for hand use

Tanya willingly admitted she had 'history' with dying fabric and it wasn't good; I know it sounds mean, but that's why we chose her for this Dylon review.

"I was quite terrified of using these," she confessed, "The last time I attempted to dye anything was in my Tie Dye phase and the shirt looked as if it had been attacked by a rabid paint pot!" Apparently the bathroom didn't fair any better either.

But inspired by the beautiful range of colours, and their names, Tanya toughened up and prepared herself for a new dying experience.

"I particularly LOVED the names of these Dylon fabric dyes," she told us, "they range from Goldfish Orange to Sunflower Yellow and Flamingo Pink; I tested out the Flamingo Pink because my daughter adores pink."

To make sure you get the best results from fabric dyes it's important to follow the instructions carefully.

"First," reported Tanya, "I had to weigh the fabric, wash it and then leave it damp.  Next came dissolving the dye using rubber gloves - otherwise you'll end up with dyed hands! -  and a bowl, pot or anything you don't mind being permanently stained."

Tanya recommends doing this outside.

All that remained was to soak the fabric in it's Flamingo Pink 'bath'. The length of time you soak the fabric for will determine the final colour; Tanya, ever thorough, ran three time tests to see exactly what a difference soaking time really made.

"I took some old and tatty pillow cases that needed some love and labelled them A, B and C.  A was in for the recommended 45 minute soak, B for only 20 and C was in for the longest at 60 minutes," Tanya explained.

"The colours were remarkably different but," and she feels this is worth noting, "the paler pink of pillowcase B did NOT wash out after the cases were rinsed, it stayed pale pink."

Tanya's overall conclusion, "The Dylon Fabric Dye for hand use was easy to use, the colour range is fabulous and the instructions are clear and simple. There was a downside though," she continued, "you must stir the water for the first 15 minutes of dying, and then stir and stir and stir and stir.  WOW! My arm was t i r e d by the end!"

Now prices; you can't buy directly from the Dylon website but there are various retailers, both online and on the highstreet, who stock their products.

The average price for the Dylon Fabric Dye for hand use sachets seems to be £2.99 but the final price you pay will depend on the differing delivery charges - I'll list the main online stockists I've found at the end of the review for you and then you can choose who to buy from.

Dylon Fabric Paint

Tanya got rather excited about the Dylon Fabric Paint; she received two 25ml bottles in turquoise and gold.

"Oooh these are going to be FUN!" she exclaimed. "Take a handy paint brush, grab some fabric and the world is your artistic oyster."

Tanya is actually so in love with these that she decided to do a quick test with them and save the rest for, and I'm quoting her verbatim here, "...that Big Idea that I know is coming to me.  I did a quick test to see how well the paint went onto the fabric and I was very impressed."

She is of the opinion that, should you be arty enough and want to update or customise a piece of clothing, then these Dylon fabric paints would be ideal.

The Dylon fabric paints (25ml) cost, on average, £2.85 excluding any postage.

Dylon 3D Paints

Tanya is quite crafty, not in the sneaky sense of the word but in the arty-crafty sense; she's currently making some dresses for her daughter from old pillowcases!

"I know it sounds mad but the pillowcase is the dress body with a knitted and crocheted bodice, and have already got a pillowcase, or four, for these dresses thanks to the Flamingo Pink fabric dye," she explained.

Tanya thought it would be a lovely idea to make a pillow case dress from one that her daughter had drawn on, "The pillowcase is entirely covered in her artwork and it is pure awesomeness;  I almost want to frame it!"

T-shirt, or pillowcase, painting with this sort of thing is great to do with young children during the school holidays; get some cheap plain white t-shirts and let them loose with the paints, they love it!

Tanya told us the Dylon 3D fabric paints were reasonably easy to use. However, two of the glitter tubes didn't work at all.

"I couldn't get the lid off to paint directly from the tube and the nozzle was completely blocked by the glitter," she told us.

"One of the tubes worked fine, but the glitter ones were basically impossible; only whitish paint came out -no glitter."

Tanya admitted that was a bit annoying and the tricky thing is there's no way of knowing if this will happen to you, or whether it was a one-off (two-off actually).

"That said," Tanya continued, "the other colours are fabulous and the paint dries in 3D which is awesome. It has texture and shape, it looks fantastic, and I am planning on making a message board in exactly the same way; I LOVE THESE!"

We think she likes them!

Prices for Dylon 3D fabric paints seem to be around the £1.70 mark.

And finally...

Tanya's faith in fabric dying has been much restored thanks to Dylon; her family and friends are bracing themselves for home-made tie-dyed gifts for the rest of the year!

She felt all the Dylon products were easy to use and, despite her 'fight' with the 3D glitter paints, would (and will be) buying more for future dying projects, especially as the prices are very reasonable.

You can buy all of the featured Dylon products at the following stockists, just check the delivery costs to make sure you don't end up paying more than you have to.

• www.hobbycraft.co.uk
• www.knitandsew.co.uk
  
• www.amazon.co.uk (from different marketplace sellers with varying delivery charges)
• www.wilkinsonplus.com

In addition, you can enter the first part of your postcode into THIS PAGE on the Dylon website and they'll list nearby stockists for you.

Quack Quack Moo got in touch with us recently and asked if we'd like to review some of their products.

Quack Quack Who?! was our first reaction, but with a name as great as Quack Quack Moo we had to find out more.

Quack Quack Moo is a company started by a frustrated mum and designer, Leanne, who'd had enough of big named products not living up to expectations and letting her down (I know THAT feeling); she decided she could do better, so went out and did.

The basic business principle is simple, to provide...

...clothing and accessories which not only look great, but are practical, unique and designed to make your life that little bit less stressful.

Anything that promises to do that, AND can deliver, would be proclaimed most definitely WORTHY in our book; we were all looking forward to hearing what our PlayPennies mum, Amelia, thought about the items we sent her from Quack Quack Moo.

"Upon opening the  packet of items from Quack Quack Moo, I was immediately struck by the cow print pattern," Amelia told us, "it makes these baby accessories pretty unique and fun!"

Amelia began sorting through the various items with some being easy to identify, like the Dribble Bib and the hooded blanket but others weren't quite so, "I had to look at the included leaflet to figure some of them out," Amelia confessed.

Amelia's daughter is just coming up to a year old now and she found the Dribble Bubbs Lap Bib (£12.99) very useful.

"The Dribble Bubbs lap bib was one of the items that I couldn't originally identify," said Amelia.

"But I found it on the Quack Quack Moo website and realised how to use it. It's something that's very handy actually, because I sometimes find myself tucking a tea towel around my little girl's lap to catch errant crumbs."

My youngest has a habit of dropping things in his lap still, he's almost five, so I can see the lap bib being something Amelia will be using for years to come.  Tea towels on the lap do an ok job but they fall off and they aren't waterproof.

The Lap Bib has a waterproof protection guard  with layers(that's the Dribble Bubbs technology bit) so liquid is absorbed and dries quickly, allowing your young one to stay comfortable and keep their laps free from half their breakfast, lunch or dinner.

It also fastens around the waist and poppers up at the back and is made from Organic Bamboo Cotton towelling which makes the Lap Bib is naturally anti-bacterial.

Having babies is a messy business so included in Amelia's parcel was a Quack Quack Moo Shoulder Chuck (£12.99)

"Many a time have I had a stream of vomit rolling down my shoulder blades," Amelia recalled, "thank goodness my babe is a little older now!"

Even though this meant Amelia wasn't able to properly roadtest the Shoulder Chuck, she did say it looked, and felt, as if it would be more than up to the job.

"It's pretty thick, so wouldn't let the liquid seep through to your clothing. It's even got a "trough" at the back to collect runaway liquids!"

The Shoulder Chuck, like the Lap Bib is waterproof, quick drying and naturally anti-bacterial.

The dummy fastener and the dribble bib, that we sent Amelia, were two of the items that she easily identified and their use is self-explanatory.

The dummy fastener is called the Length 'n' Loop (£2.99) and, whilst it may be very basic, is something I found very useful when my youngest was small.

No more dummies being spat out onto the ground of falling down the side of the bed to join all the other lost dummies for a late-night dummy party!

The dribble bib (£7.99) is also an essential piece of baby kit - multiple dribble bibs in fact - for drying dribbly faces and prevent them from becoming chapped.

It's amazing how quickly a damp chin can turn into a very sore one, it will also keep the chin and chest area of their clothes dry too.

The dribble bib has the Quack Quack Moo cow print back and is naturally antibacterial as well; it can be thrown into the washing machine and tumbledryer and also has a little fabric loop for attaching a dummy fastener to.

We sent Amelia a seat protector (£24.99) that you can use in a buggy or car seat, or any other seat that might need protecting for that matter.

"The seat protector was one of the most intriguing items that I received from Quack Quack Moo.

It's incredibly useful and is very soft to the touch as it's made from their organic cotton bamboo towelling," Amelia explained, "and it also has that funky cow print on the back."

The seat part of the cover sits on the seat to be protected and it has a flap on either side that go over the edges. The flaps have pockets in too so you can pop bottles, bibs and other bits and pieces in there when they're not being used.

The last Quack Quack Moo item was Amelia's favourite; a hooded blanket (£14.99).

"The hooded blanket I received was purple with a pink trim, made from an incredibly soft fleece, and it is GORGEOUS to run on your face," gushed Amelia.

The hood can be attached and detached from the square blanket by a couple of studs, so there'll be no more hats blowing off in the wind into muddy puddles; hurrah, because that's a real menace.

It's safe to put in the washing machine and zap in the tumbledryer (if you have to) but being fleece it should dry pretty quickly on the line or over a radiator - warm or not!

"The last few days have been sunny but breezy here, so it's been perfect for using when out and about," concluded Amelia.

And finally...

Amelia was very impressed with everything from Quack Quack Moo, she felt they lived up to their claims and the prices were fair too.

The website is very easy to navigate and there's a lot of interesting company 'mission statement'  information there too, for those of you with enquiring minds or just want to see the faces behind the site.

The final word to Amelia, "A couple I know is totally obsessed by cows, with a lot of cow-print paraphernalia round the house," she explained, "They've just got married and we're hoping they get on the baby making program soon so we can gift them some Quack Quack Moo items!"

www.quackquackmoo.co.uk

Laundry is possibly the biggest annoyance to me as a mum. It doesn’t matter how much you do, or how often, at the end of the day, there’s always more. If there was an environmentally friendly, cost effective way of using disposable clothing, I’d so go for it.  Even more annoying than all that laundry, however, is doing the washing and then, when you’re hanging it up finding stains still firmly in place!

We were sent a set of Dr Beckmann’s stain removal products to test, so we sent it on to PlayPennies mum Linda. We figured with a young boy in the house, she’s bound to have stains that need removing.

Dr Beckmann Stain Devil - Curry & Sauce

“It was funny to get this one for review,” said Linda, “as I already have it in my laundry cupboard. In fact I have a range of Stain Devils. I found with my older two that when they got to school, there was an amazing range of stains to get out of clothing every week: ink, grass, food. Especially tomato sauce.”

Linda really loves the Stain Devil – especially for ink and sauces. “For these two you really do need to use Stain Devil. I'm talking from long and bitter experience here! As long as you follow the instructions on the bottle you'll be fine.”

Dr Beckmann Non-Bio Travel Wash

The Dr Beckmann travel wash is a special concentrated washing gel, formulated to use when you’re travelling and away from home. It comes in a handy travel size, which Linda likes.

“I like the size of the tube because it is about a third smaller than the stuff I usually use. This means it will be easier to carry (a bugbear of mine as the other tube does not fit in my toiletry bag).”

Linda also really liked the smell. “It’s fresh, clean with a light floral scent. I didn't need too much to get a good froth up on the shirt I was washing. Much less than the other brand I use. It also rinsed out really quickly, which is always good. You don't want to waste time cleaning clothes on holiday.”

“But,” says Linda, “It did not clean as well as my usual stuff. There weren't any stains to worry about but the shirt was a bit smelly, and after it had dried it, it did not smell as fresh as it does after I've used my usual travel wash.”

Service-it Washing Machine Cleaner

“I've actually been using the washing machine cleaner for some years now.” Linda confessed. “I've used lots of different types of products in the past, including just plain detergent, white vinegar and household soda. Oh and lemon juice too.

The soda is great for keeping the limescale at bay, and I've found lemon juice to be a great way to get the innards of appliances shiny again. But for cleaning out that horrible detergent drawer, a good soak in this stuff has always worked best.”

The washing machine cleaner from Dr Beckmann has been formulated to remove residues from the door seal, detergent drawer and drum – including those hard to reach places. According to reviews on their website, it’s also really good for getting rid of the foul odour that sometimes comes from washing machines.

“Service-it gets rid of detergent residue from the drawer but also from the drum, pipes, seals and elsewhere in the machine. According to the packaging, it gets rid of dirt and grime and nasty odours, and I can say from experience that it does leave it smelling clean afterwards.”

Linda likes to use the machine cleaner every three months or so to keep limescale at bay too.

“We're in a really hard water area, and limescale is a bane of my existence. I'm forever fighting it on the taps in the bathroom, in the sink, the kettle, you name it!

White vinegar is good at keeping limescale at bay too, and when we bought our washing machine the chap who installed it told us to run a cup of household soda through once a month to keep it clear. Dr Beckmann is my back up insurance! This approach seems to work, I've never had a problem in ten years (touches wood). “

Well, Linda does seem to love the Dr Beckmann products – so much so that she even recommends those we weren’t sent to test.

“While we're on the subject, if your children's school uniform includes a white shirt then I heartily recommend their Glo-White product. In the summer, if you can hang your clothes outside, then just put in a squeeze of lemon juice with the wash and let them dry in the sun. That will naturally whiten whites. But in the winter time, Glo-white achieves a pretty good result.”

Samigail's is the sort of 'rags to riches' business story that I love.

Founded by 'accident' by a stay-at-home mum who's gone on to build a successful mail order company, it doesn't get much better.

Samigail's Handmade Personalised Gifts was founded by Fiona Morris and has had an online presence since February 2009, although she's been selling her beautiful personalised gifts since the end of 2007.

The gifts are made from wood that is decorated and has the personalisation burned onto them, using a process called pyrography.

We sent PlayPennies mum, Tamara, two personalised gifts from Samigail's to review; here's what she said...

"I received a stunning book bag tag and personalised wand from Samigail's," reports Tamara.

"Now you'd think that such things are silly fripperies that cost money for no reason, but I have to tell you that they are SO not!

The personalised wand is too beautiful with a stunning detail on both sides and the engraved quality looking almost burnt in the wood."

Tamara confessed that she loved the way the wand looked so much, she was actaully incredibly reluctant to hand it over to her almost five-year-old daughter, "I know she adores wands but this looked to pretty to give to a child!"

But being the doting mother, and dutiful reviewer, Tamara did give the wand to her daughter who, reportedly, ran of with it literally screaming with delight and joy.

Since then Tamara has been turned in a frog countless times and is of the opinion that this personalised princess/fairy wand from Samigail's is simply genius, not to mention robust!

"My daughter has has stood on it, dropped it, kicked it, hidden in and sat on it and the entire thing remains solid, unbroken and with the decorations still solidly stuck on; I'm pleased to report the wand is in perfect working order."

I saw the Samigail's gifts before we sent them to Tamara and they really are lovely; simple but full of charm.

The personalised princess/fairy wand retails for £5.50 and would make a perfect, and special,  gift for any little girl on her birthday, or for an expectant mum who's about to have a little girl.

Ahhh the infamous book bag - we didn't have those when I was at school but now no self-respecting primary school child is seen without one.

The trouble is they all look the same, so all hail the Samigail's personalised book bag tag (£2.00).

Tamara also thought the book bag tag was great, "It snapped easily onto my daughter's school book bag and has remained there for the past month," she tells.

This has also been stood on, dropped, kicked and disregarded as brutally as the book bag itself - you really wouldn't want to be a book bag would you, talk about abuse! - but Tamara told us the tag has endured this torture with courage and fortitude, "It still looks as fresh and pretty as the day it was made!"

Tamara loved the Samigail's personalised book bag tag so much she says she would happily get one or two for herself.

And in fact, I think I might join her - neither of us have school book bags (I checked with Tamara, she doesn't have one) but we do have various bunches of keys that could use something to identify them so we can quickly see which set we need to grab.

The applications for these are endless really - birthdays, Father's Day (don't worry it's not until 19 June, you're alright) anniversaries, births or for something 'just because' and at £2 each you really can't go wrong.

And finally...

Tamara and her daughter were completely enamoured with the Samigail's handmade personalised gifts they were sent; both stood up admirably to the rigours and abuse of an almost five-year-old and are price pitched perfectly in our opinion.

There are over 100 other gift ideas over at Samigail's and we were impressed that Fiona makes sure the wood she uses come from sustainable sources only.

The final word to Tamara...

"I give this shop at least 8.5 out of ten for originality, beauty, reliability, value for money and product robustness. A definite, screaming YES!"

www.samigailsgifts.co.uk

20% of the adult population are funtionally illiterate; a fifth of all grown-ups are unable to manage daily living and employment tasks that require reading skills beyond a basic level.

That is shocking and something that makes me wonder when, where and how literacy went so badly wrong for all these people.

Being able to read is not only a necessary skill for daily life, but the sheer enjoyment that comes from being able to immerse yourself in a good book is something too good to be missing out on.

Harper Collins have been publishing books in one form or another since 1819; they know what they're doing and have a fabulous range of books for children, so when they contacted us and asked if we'd like to review some of their titles, aimed at Key Stage 2 children, we didn't need to think twice.

We sent the books off to PlayPennies mum, Tanya, to read with her daughter.

Animals on the Move

Deborah Chancellor; paperback - £4.95

"This book came in just when my daughter was sent home with instrucitons for us to please read more non ficiton books," Tanya reveals.

Animals on the Move reveals the secrets and reasons behind why animals migrate; anyone reading it will find out about the journeys animals make in water, in the air and on land in this educational book.

I'm a huge fan of non-fiction books, I adore stories but there's something delicious about learning from non-fiction books that almost makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.

"The layout of the book is lovely and many of the photographs that accompany it are just stunning. I am particularly in love with the bird and elephant ones myself," continues Tanya, "The book encouraged a lot of questioning and chatting and was a lovely way to spend a couple of hours learning more about the world and involving her in the process."

The final verdict on Annimals on the Move is that it's well written and very concise without being patronising.

Gathering in the Days

Gareth Owen; paperback - £5.15

Gathering in the Days is a collection of poems written by Gareth Owen.

If you're not a lover of poetry please don't let you put this off, "I am not a fan of poems, never have been," admits Tanya, "but the descrptions were brilliant and so vivid they even had me laughing and nodding along."

Tanya wasn't alone, her daughter absoutely adored this book and some of the poems, particularly the Itch and the Pudding, had them both properly laughing out loud.

The poems explore both the humorous and more serious elements of childhood and it was a real hit with both Tanya and her daughter.

"I really like this book and my daughter has become very proficient at reading alongside me with these," she tells us, "For some reason they have really captured her attention; this book gets a resounding thumbs up."

Monster in the Mirror.

Jean Ure; paperback - £4.65

Monster in the Mirror was clearly the favourite of all the books from Harper Collins that we sent to Tanya.

"This story is genius; I love it!" enthuses Tanya.

This is a tale about Stretch the cat and Woffles the big woolly dog.  One day their People bring home a new cat, Muffy, who has sharp claws and the quiet life that Woffles has come to enjoy is SHATTERED, so Stretch comes up with a plan to to put a stop to Muffy's naughty games!

"I love the simple alliteration," Tanya says, "the clever use of words, the light story and text. It flows along like a river burbling over stones and my daughter loves it too.

We have this as a staple read for bed time now and it is very likely that it will remain a favourite for some time to come."

Sophie's Rules

Keith West; paperback - £5.30

Tanya wasn't sure about the writing style for Sophie's rules, apparently it's written like a script.

It's not a style I'm familiar with but despite her reservations about the style, Tanya found it didn't detract from the drama of the story, "This book covers the topic of bullying and how to remain true to yourself," Tanya explains.

"In spite of the fact that the script style put me off, I have to admit that when I first opened the book to read to my daughter I got so engrossed that I forgot to read out loud."

I had to laugh because this is something I AM familiar with and the ensuing cries of, "MUM! You've stopped reading!"

Tanya feels that this story is very VERY well told and get across an incredibly important message.

"I think Sophie's rules is sexcellent and would heartily recommend this to anyone who is worried about bullying or who want to help their children be sure of who they are and themselves," Tanya concludes.

And finally...

Tanya and her daughter enjoyed all of the books we sent them from Harper Collins.

Her daughter has increased her reading capacity and they've enjoyed lots of quality time together getting to know new characters and learning new facts.

As far as pricing goes, we think this selection of literary gems are pretty much spot on target when it comes to your reading budget.

www.harpercollins.co.uk

The Brother Max 4-in-1 cup is a weaning cup and you can buy it for £4.31 from Amazon.  I got one recently, so I'll do a mini review here.

You can use the cup in 4 different ways, as the title suggests!! Firstly, you can use it as a full weaning cup with teats and handles, which is the main way I tested it out. I tried it myself of course, I usually test most products before giving them to my baby.

I filled it with some blackcurrant juice and gave the  Brother Max 4-in-1 cup a try. I was surprised when nothing came out on tipping it up, until I realised the you needed to bite then suck on the teat area to make the juice flow. There must be some sort of release valve there, which also stops the cup from leaking when it's thrown about the place (which is always useful).

I gave it to baby in this form, and she wasn't very sure what to make of the cup, whether it was a juice dispensing device, or a toy! To date, she's been using a simple sippy cup, without a valve, so the juice just comes out when it is tipped up. I think the Brother Max cup was a bit confusing because of this, she didn't really realise she needed to bite the teat. I've been leaving the cup lying round while she's playing with her toys, and she's slowly realising how to use it.

The cup is dishwasher friendly which is perfect for me, and it's also microwave friendly. I won't use it in the microwave, but I was reading that it is recommended that you start to give baby their milk in a cup rather than a bottle from age 6 months onwards... I haven't done that though, baby is 11 months now and she's still taking proper bottles.

The handles are a good size and shape for baby's little hands, she can hold on to it really well.

I've used a few Brother Max baby products in the past such as the Brother Max thermometer, combi bibs and the powder dispenser, and I really love them. Every item I've used has been really useful, efficient, and perfect for me... until now. I wasn't as impressed with the weaning cup as I have been with other Brother Max products! I think if it had been the first cup that I ever gave to baby, she'd have gotten used to it, and would be able to use it well.

I got the Tinga Tinga Tales 15cm plush monkey for my little baby daughter.It was the monkey model, which you can see here on Amazon, made by Bandai.

I've seen the cartoon a few times when I was at my sister's house, so I recognised the monkey character from the show.

When I gave the Tinga Tinga Tales toy to baby, she had a little giggle as she seemed to find the Monkey rather amusing. Every time she looked at his face, she laughed. I'll admit it's a pretty cute toy.

And when she got hold of the toy, Monkey went straight to her mouth, of course! She was particularly fond of chewing on his hands and tail.

Baby was also very fascinated by the pattern on the monkey's tail. It's a pattern of embroidered colours, kind of like you see on those famous aboriginal drawings from Australia. That attracted her attention and kept her occupied for quite a while.

When I picked him up again, he was pretty soggy so I just popped him on the radiator to warm up and dry out a bit. I won't pop him in the washing machine though, as he says "surface washable only" on his label. Monkey is suitable from ago zero onwards.

And I will finish up this review with a quick video of when I gave Monkey to my daughter.

I'm trying to think how best to describe Hampton Blue to you...

You know when you come across a little shop which sells things that are a little bit different to all the usual run-of-the-mill things, whether it be clothes, toys, gifts or little trinkets that are just for the sheer hell of it?  Well that, to me at least, is Hampton Blue.

Hampton Blue is a family run business set up by two sisters who were, and I quote, "... inspired to set up our own online boutique offering a treasure trove of desirable accessories and gifts at affordable prices."

The banner headline on their website reads 'Temptation at your fingertips' - it won't take a long browse around to realise that this is very true...you've been warned.

We were sent two toys from Hampton Blue to review - a Pirate Tap A Shape Box (£4.95) and a Lanka Kade Wooden Snail Jigsaw (£5.95) - which we sent off to PlayPennies mum, Laura, to try for us.

Pirate Tap A Shape Box

Laura and her six-year-old son were a little bemused with the Pirate Tap A Shape Box.  Firstly, there's not a box in sight as everything comes packaged in a round metal tin.

Secondly, Laura tells us that name on the tin caused some confusion too, "The name on the tin is Tap A Shape Pirate in a Tin Game. Except, there are no instructions in there for how you are meant to play with this as a game."

She goes on to say, "What you do get are lots of little pieces, beautifully crafted out of wood, that can be moved about to create all sorts of different types of pictures. At six, my son was soon quickly bored with it though, and he didn't really get it either."

Laura explains the age advice on the tin is from aged three years onwards which, whilst she understands due to the small pieces presenting a potential choking hazard, she feels is a bit of a shame as, in her opinion, it's more suited to younger children.

However, all was not lost with the Pirate Tap A Shape Box!

"The tin was a huge hit though, with it's see through lid and cute pirate graphics. I've since noticed that the contents have been emptied and substituted for some of his 'treasures', such as a foreign coin, a plastic spider, and a domino."

It sounds a bit like the well known 'cardboard box' syndrome to me - where the packaging is FAR more fun than its contents.

Lanka Kade Snail Jigsaw

The Lanka Kade Snail jigsaw is described as a educational wooden counting jigsaw in the shape of a snail and Laura loved it.

"This is a delightful toy," she says, "there are five parts to the snail, each numbered. It works as a puzzle, and as a counting toy. It's made of wood, in primary colours. The label on the back says it is hand made in Sri Lanka, and that it is made of rubber wood."

Laura also explained to us that Lanka Kade is an approved Fairtrade supplier and that the Snail jigsaw was suitable for littlies aged 18 months or over, "As I don't have a baby in that age range, I gave it to my best friend's son to play with (he's 20 months) and he loved it too."

Laura said it was fun showing him how it went together along  with helping him 'count' through the pieces, " He played with the body part of the snail as a toy too, and his mother tells me that he takes it about with him when they go out too.  She finds it is a great toy to keep him occupied if they're on the train."

You can't get a much better endorsement than that - a toddler who wants to take a toy with them whenever they go out.

Laura also told us that her friend's son was particularly interested in the individual shapes that make up the snail, "The pieces of the snail aren't just rounded parts of the shell spiral that fit together. The parts of the shell sort of interlock. This keeps the snail together more than it would if it all just sat together, and that's probably the intention."

The unusual interlocking shapes of the pieces proved utterly fascinating in their own right making the Lanka Kade Snail jigsaw a huge hit.

And finally...

If you're looking for original little toys or gifts that won't break the bank then it will be well worth paying a visit to Hampton Blue.

Both Laura and her friend felt that both items were perfectly priced and even though the Pirate Tap A Shape box seemed a bit 'random', the tin is still providing plenty of joy and storage for those special little things.

www.hamptonblue.co.uk

Wipes, I am not entirely sure how I survived without them. I was almost in mourning when my tot grew out of nappies and I no longer had an excuse to buy wipes.

Then I was shown some Elias Superwipes. The name implies that they are for sweaty men in car workshops, rubbing axle grease off their clothing, and it isn’t far wrong. These guys can clean. I have been testing them on pretty much everything.

These are wipes for stains and clothes, not little bums, by the way.

First it was the red wine that had been jostled on the table. It had managed to slide under my favourite tablecloth. I whipped out my Elias Superwipes, followed the instructions, and managed to remove the wine before it left a nasty stain.

Now I thought, perhaps, this was due to speed and efficiency and not necessarily the wipes themselves. So I waited, like a cat, for the next opportunity. Boom, there was the coffee all over the carpet. While these are not actually FOR carpets I didn’t think they would notice and started to wipe. The bulk of the liquid had been soaked up by a cloth and the Elias Superwipes did the rest.

There was a bit of a brownish stain left behind but it was a full cup of coffee on a cream carpet and at least it wasn’t half as bad as it would usually be.

I have managed to use the Elias Superwipes to get rid of cheesecake, coffee, red wine, pasta sauce, and honey stains very effectively. The only problems I have with them are that they are difficult to get out of the packaging. They sell for £2.49 and are very helpful for mums with kids who don’t want their clothes to look like they are owned by mums with kids.