The BritMums Blog

#BritMumsSTC: BritMums are blogging for a better world

Blogger Christine Mosler’s trip to Mozambique with Save the Children opened her eyes to the grave situation facing millions of people around the world who have no access to healthcare. 

Determined to make a difference, Christine and Save the Children's Liz Scarff are currently at the UN General Assembly in New York to try to persuade governments to provide healthcare to help save lives in East Africa and they have been asking fellow bloggers to help. 

On Saturday, Save the Children held a bloggers’ conference to reach out to the thousands of bloggers and encourage them to send people to sign the No Child Born To Die petition which will be sent to David Cameron. 

To inspire other bloggers to share Save the Children’s message and highlight good causes through their blogs, Christine joined BritMums for a Twitter party this lunchtime.

#BritMumsSTC Twitter party: How to use your blog for good

Mozambique opened my eyes in a way that nothing on TV, radio, internet or newspapers can. The realisation that millions of people worldwide have no access to healthcare and what that means in reality, on the ground, won’t leave me.

These are the words of Christine Mosler, a blogger who visited Mozambique with Save the Children to raise awareness for the work the charity is doing there. Now Christine and Save the Children's Liz Scarff are in New York City, along with other bloggers, putting pressure on governments to provide air to that will help save lives in East Africa. (Sign the petition now!)

BritMums’s Jennifer Howze spent Saturday at Save the Children’s blogging conference which focused not only on how to be a better blogger but also how we can help with Save the Children’s campaign.

For anyone who’s interested in highlighting a charity or a good cause on their blog, we’re hosting a special Twitter party on Tuesday. Christine will be tweeting from New York, sharing her tips and the work she’s been doing. Join us to hear how you can get involved in this and other campaigns.

#BritMumsSTC

When: Tuesday 20 September

Time: 13:00 – 14:00

Come join us for a Twitter discussion that could change not only your life but the lives of others as well!

Picture: courtesy of Christine Mosler, Thinly Spread

Time Saving Tips Twitter Party

We held another successful Twitter Party on 12 July where we asked Mums to give us their top Time Saving Tips. We always know where to turn when we're looking for the best tips in the UK...our BritMums!

We asked for your top tips, favourite apps and Mummy's Little Helpers that make your life easier. We're all running around managing our lives, families and selves. How DO we do it? So here are some of our favourites from you, the bloggers.

Join our #mumsonthree Twitter party all about time-saving tips today at 1

We’re always looking for ways to save time, whether it’s finding a quicker way to cook, network or just manage our hectic lives.

We’ve got at least one or two time-saving gems that help us overcome the chaos and just get things done more efficiently. Perhaps it’s a wonder of modern technology that helps you nab back those lost minutes – an amazing smartphone app, QR codes for flight check-ins, Oyster card for London travel or just your self-cleaning oven. Or maybe it's a time-honoured trick handed down by your mum or dad.

We're excited to announce our next Twitter party, sponsored by Three, on July 12 from 13:00 to 14:00 and we want your time-saving tips! In just 60 minutes you'll discover ideas that will give you back hours of your life.

#savvyfetes Twitter party tips and ideas

On May 11 BritMums hosted another wildly successful Twitter party sponsored by Supersavvyme. We had a thoroughly delightful and productive discussion about school fetes; the good, the bad and the ugly and how to survive them and make your school's fete successful and fun.

Co-hosted by Supersavvyme and writer and entertainer Arabella Weir, the ideas were flying on Twitter and we'd like to share some of the best tips and best Tweeters from the party. As many of us have school fetes just around the corner, hopefully you'll find some useful ideas to put forward for your own school. Report back to us on the success of your school's fete! We'd love to know what worked and what didn't.

Blogger of the Week + #passiton

This week's Blogger of the Week is a bit of an extension from last week's glorious Christine Mosler of Thinly Spread. As we all know, Christine is, as I type, in Mozambique doing very important work for Save the Children and the #passiton campaign. We've also had some very important bloggers on the ground here in the UK who are so admirably working for and supporting the #passiton campaign.

One such blogger is this week's BritMums Blogger of the Week: Maggy Woodley of Red Ted Art! Over the last year or so, Maggy's brilliantly crafty and creative blog has grown by leaps and bounds. Inspiring all of us to get "down and dirty" with our children is but one of her accomplishments. Maggy is a wonderful voice in the BritMums blogging community and has leant her support to the #passiton campaign as well.

Join our #savvyfetes Twitter party on 11 May!

Bring out the bunting and ice the fairy cakes; tis the season for school fetes. Fetes are important not only for the fun they provide but for the essential funds they raise for the schools themselves. But what makes a good fete? What's the best way to organise a tombola? How do you get people involved?

BritMums Royal Wedding Twitter Party

Fly your Twitter bunting this Friday for the #BMRW Twitter Party

It’s the event that has got the nation, if not the world, talking. You may be a royalist; you may be anti-royal; what you can’t argue is that the impending nuptials of Wills and Kate is the event of 2011. Well, at least the event of April 2011! While some are making a mass exodus out of London, others are planning street parties or maybe even hauling their families, lock, stock and barrel into London to experience a once-in-a-lifetime event.

Your #mycolours tips: 42 craft projects and dyeing ideas

Our #mycolours Twitter party, guest hosted by the lovely and talented @redtedart, revealed just how crafty and clever a bunch of mum bloggers y’all are. One blogger, @missielizzieb, tweeted a link to a cushion she dyes for her daughter’s playhouse. Just take a moment and let that sink in.

 Scroll down for great tips and ideas for the home, the family wardrobe and general how-to’s. As our sponsor Dylon (@dyetodye) tweeted to @6kidsandMe: "If you've done your hair, fabric is even easier."

Do up your home:

@missielizzieb: Couldn't find the right colour cushion for DD's playhouse, so I dyed one! #mycolours http://twitpic.com/4gv5e3 >>GORGE!

@TheRealSupermum: I made fab bed cushions by stuffing a favorite newborn babygrow of the kids make fab cushions for the kids bed & keepsakes too

How to taste wine #bmbwinetasting

For all of you joining us this evening for our first BMB Twitter Wine Tasting here are some tips from our host @knackeredmutha, aka Helen who blogs at Knackered Mother's Wine Club.

You have to watch the vid -- it is short and very useful. And it's worth it to see Helen wink at us.

The tasting starts tonight at 8 on Twitter, please use the hashtag#bmbwinetasting. Get the official wines, or just bring whatever you have on hand. See you soon!

 

 

Announcing our #mycolours Twitter party Mon 4 April!

While this time of year perversely heralds the arrival both of Easter chocolate and the first magazine bikini diets, it's unquestionably the season of renewal and colour, a moment when you don't just want to leave the new beginnings only to the flora.

You start to think of dressing differently, looking different, even giving your home a makeover, and what better way to liven up than with a fresh burst of colour?

At our next #mycolours Twitter party, we’ll be talking about ways to reinvent your wardrobe and pep up your home with colour.

#mycolours

Mon 4 Apr

13:00 – 14:00

Sponsored by DYLON, the party will feature our first “blogger hostess” – the inimitable Maggy from Red Ted Art, whom many of you know for her brilliant crafting ideas. She’ll be on hand to talk tips about using colour and dye for projects and crafts.

We’ll also learn more about ways to use dyes from our sponsor. For example, did you know that you can use fabric dyes to:

• Capitalise on fashion’s colour blocking trend to inject vibrant shades into your wardrobe
• Complement a bright feature wall by dyeing cushions and throws in sympathetic vivid colours
• Give your bathroom a spring update by dyeing  towels, face clothes and bath mats with Easter egg blues, greens or yellows
• Revive your faded black jeans, little black dress or trusty black leggings with black dye
• Get out the children’s greying white t-shirts and do a tie-dye project.

But we want your best tips for accenting your look or home design with colour too! Tweet your tips during the party and you’ll be entered to win a Colour and Make Up Consultation from Colour Me Beautiful. Three runners-up will also win £50 worth of makeup vouchers, with all winners bagging a selection of DYLON home dyes.

Be your own stylist or home designer using colour. Start collecting your own tips now, and see you on April 4!

 

Join our #bmbwinetasting on 31 March!

Got that wineoclock feeling but not sure what to have? Fed up with drinking the same old thing? We’re here to help! We are really excited to announce our first ever BMB wine twitter tasting, taking place on the 31st March from 8 - 9 pm.

The format is simple. Starting at 8pm, we will taste through a selection of three wines including a sparkling, a white and a red wine. All of the wines have been selected by fellow BMB member and wine expert Helen McGinn (@knackeredmutha). She’ll guide us through the wines answering any questions you might have as we go whilst we swirl, sip, slurp and swap notes.

Mum bloggers’ 66 tips for spring cleaning

Our #springcleaning Twitter party last week was a great success, with loads of bloggers showing up to tweet their favourite cleaning tips, laugh about this never-ending job and lend moral support to those who just can’t get motivated. Sponsored by @Rentokil, the party turned up tips for every type of housekeeping philosophy, which we’ve separated into sections below.

And as @PippaD pointed out, the benefits of spring cleaning aren’t just a tidier house – it can also give you a more ordered state of mind after the cobwebs of winter.

There were so many fabulous suggestions that we couldn’t include them all here. But here are a smattering to help you with the practical (and psychological) task of getting your home shipshape.

Cleaning strategies

@Aresidence: One room at a time. Gives you a sense of completion before moving on.  

@neviepiecakes: Declutter a small area each day eg. a shelf or makeup bag. off to do mine now!

@Aresidence: Dress up as fifties housewives, drink g and t and listen to Nina simone. Worked when i was a student anyway...

RT @SarahJBass: Thats more like it RT @Beckicklesie: More motivation?! Heavy cleaning burns 204 calories PER HOUR!

@Lauren122484: Making it a goal to throw away 100 things today!

@momonawire01 Reward yourself when you've finished the house, it's blooming hard work!

 

Don't miss Sarah Brown's Tuesday Twitter party

Loads of BMB members have been coming to our Twitter parties lately to share tips, trade advice. crack jokes and generally chat. Now you have the chance to do the same with Sarah Brown as she launches her new book Behind the Black Door!

Today at 16:30 - 17:30 Sarah will be hosting a live Q&A to talk about her new book and life in Number 10. Make sure you're following @SarahBrownUK and tweet using the hash tag #SBBlackDoor. You can find out more on her book's promotional site, www.behindtheblackdoor.co.uk.

Twitter party March 10: your best #springclean tips!

Mark your calendars!

10 March 2011

13:00 - 14:00

The #springclean Twitter party - tweet your tips, get advice and maybe win a prize!

The daffodils are blooming, half term has arrived, the weather’s increasingly mild (where it’s not snowing, that is) - there’s no doubt that other sign of spring will soon be here: spring cleaning.

It’s not just Fifties housewives who enjoy sitting down in an orderly environment with a fresh frame of mind. There’s something refreshing about the whole family knuckling down and shaking off the cobwebs of winter.

And it’s not just about pulling on the Marigolds and wiping round all the way around the cooker. Besides that good old standby dust, you need to take precautions to avoid pests that even the cleanest households can suffer from - bedbugs, moths, rodents – all of which are on the increase in the UK.

What are your tips for getting organised and making a clean sweep in the house? Come share your tricks at our #springcleaning Twitter party on Thursday March 10 at 13:00. We want to know everything from your special tap-descaling tactics to what you use to keep the unwanted furry friends away!

Sponsoring our party is Rentokil Pest Control, a pest control global leader, operating in 50 international markets with 650 pest control technicians across the UK. They know how to get to rid of everything from fleas, wasps and bees to ants and (shudder) cockroaches.

Plus, there are prizes!

Tweet your tip with the #springcleaning hashtag and you are eligible to win:

* A Grand Prize of an intensive spring clean for your home by professional cleaners

* Second and third prizes of a basket of cleaning and pest control products - everything you need for a spic-and-span home - worth at least £50 each.

Read on for terms and conditions

Mark your diaries now and see you on Twitter on 10 March!