Phone cases by Mr Nutcase- A Review

I recently bought a personalised phone case, where I typed up all the things I love and the company printed them onto a case for me. I was really pleased but eventually the case started to catch on my ear and it really hurt! Since then, I've been going without a case whilst I looked for one I really liked.

Whilst browsing online I checked my inbox and I had an email from Mr Nutcase. I checked out their site and decided I'd love to do a review of a Mr Nutcase custom case. I chose the ultra lightweight slimline phone case and spent ages going through favourite photos of my little ones before settling on two I really liked. I would recommend doing the personalising on a computer, I decided to do it on a phone and settled on the easiest design because I found dragging and dropping the photos really difficult the more I had. I don't think there are any such problems on a desktop computer or laptop though.

My case was delivered really quickly, although I'd prefer it to have been wrapped up instead of just placed in a parcel bag (I know the parcel bags are lined with bubble wrap, but when spending £14.95 on a case, I'd like to see some extra wrapping or anything that shows the company goes for that personal touch)


The case itself is brilliant. I honestly can't fault it. The case doesn't appear easy to scratch, the texture of the case isn't smooth like my previous cases and I actually feel like I have a better grip on my phone. The description of the the lightweight ultra slimline case is completely accurate, my phone feels the same with the case on as it does without. Previous cases have always added extra weight to my phone. Strange thing to be pleased about maybe but I am.


My photos have been printed perfectly, the colour is bright and exactly how I would expect them to look. I also love that the side of the case is clear. I cannot abide white sides, for me it looks really cheap and horrible and i'll admit, after I ordered I wondered if the the sides of the case would be coloured white or not! Again, odd thing to be pleased about perhaps, but I am very pleased indeed!

All in all I think this product is worth the £14.95 you pay and I would recommend Mr Nutcase to anyone looking for something extra special and a little bit different for their phone cases. You can get personalised cases for many gadgets from lots of different manufacturers.

Cupcake Mumma

I was sent a personalised phone case from Mr Nutcase in exchange for an honest review. All words and photos are my own.

43 Questions for Midge

Here's 43 questions I asked Midge this half term when she was bored after checking out City Girl Gone Coastals blog post on half term activities. Some of these made me laugh, others made me raise an eyebrow...it'll be interesting to see what her answers will be even in a few months let alone a year!

1. If you could live in a house shaped like anything, what shape would it be?
A square house.

2. What do you think is in outer space?
The moon

3. What is your favourite colour?
Purple

4. Where is the most wonderful place you've ever been?
Flambards!

5. What are you good at?
Maths

6. What's the nicest thing anyone has ever said to you?
The tooth fairy left me a note with nice things inside.

7. What are you most proud of?
My writing

8. If you were invisible for a day, what would you do?
I'd walk and eat and trot along and skip and hop and run. And do jogging.

9. What is the worst smell in the world?
Poo!

10. What do you want to be when you grow up?
A police officer!

11. What makes you cry?
Spiders- big, giant spiders

12. Where do babies come from?
Tummies

13. What are you scared of?
Spiders!!

14. If you could, what two animals would you combine?
A cat and a dog.

15. Who is your hero?
Spider-Man!

16. What is your favourite song?
A song from power rangers

17. What is a friend?
Somebody who is kind and nice.

18. What is your favourite memory?
Flambards on the log flume where it goes up and down and then splashes.

19. If you could, what type of animal would you be?
I'd be a cat.

20. Who is your best friend?
Tiffany.

21. What is your favourite thing to do with family?
Have cuddles and kisses with my mummy.

22. What is the most important rule?
Don't kick or slap.

23. If you had a million pounds, what would you spend it on?
Toys and biscuits and mirrors. Loads of mirrors!

24. Why do people get old?
Because they just get older and older and then they pop!

25. What is love?
It's like 'I fall in love with you' *gives me big kiss*

26. If you had super powers, what would they be?
Ice powers!

27. What's the best thing about being a kid?
Getting to be loved.

28. What makes you happy when you're sad?
Tickles. But I don't like tickles.

29. Do you have a favourite number?
100.

30. What is something that you don't understand about grownups?
Naughty words.

31. What do you think is the most important thing in your house?
Climbing upside down on the sofa

32. What is your favourite word?
I don't have one

33. If you had your own country, what would it be called?
Invisible Country

34. What do you dream about when you sleep?
Frozen!

35. If you were in a band, what instrument would you play?
I'd play the violin

36. What 3 words would you use to describe our family?
Beautiful, strong and love

37. What's something you'd like to learn how to do?
To be a giraffe

38. If you had to give away all of your toys but one, which one would you keep?
Hello kitty teddy

39. What do you think Heaven is like?
I don't know I haven't been to Heaven!

40. What is something that you're thankful for?
Going outside

41. What's the hardest thing you've ever had to do?
Maths

42. Do you think that telling the truth is always right, even if it hurts someone's feelings?
“YES”

43. What's the greatest thing about being you?
I'm lovely!!

Cupcake Mumma


Accepting my Mental Health and Need for Medication

Three weeks ago I noticed how I just wasn't myself anymore. My husband couldn't work out why until he asked me "are you still taking your tablets?"

No. No I wasn't and I didn't want to. I had spent at least 2 weeks with a smile on my face and feeling pretty good. Prior to that I had been forgetting to take them and as I felt okay I made the rather foolish decision to stop taking them. Maybe I can be normal again? I thought. Fast forward a week and I'm overthinking, anxious about play groups, about ordering my costa, about bumping into people I know. I don't want to leave the house, I'm tired, angry, sad and more than anything so frustrated at myself.

After a brief online conversation I was made to realise that needing my tablets was OK. That so many people out there need their medication to feel normal and I am one of them. Accepting that is no bad thing. I'm very thankful for that conversation because it made me realise something. If I had high blood pressure, asthma, diabetes or a physical illness then i'd take my medication and I wouldn't screw around with it because it would be helping me. So now I will do the same with the tablets which are helping my mental health. They balance the chemicals, they help my anxiety which in turns help me to feel happier and well.

Addis Sit and Store! Fab Storage Solution!

Do you know what I think is really cool? Having a product that doesn't just do one thing but does two things! It doesn't matter how simple these two things are, if a product can provide me with two functions I'm usually sold. Easy to please me!

For a while I've been hunting for storage for Little A's (very) many toy cars. He has hundreds and that's no joke. I have been using a basic, plastic see through box but recently Little A leaned on it and snapped a bit of the corner off leaving a very sharp edge that I had to tape up to make sure no one got hurt. Since then I've been looking for something small, toddler proof and something that will fit a small space. That's when I was contacted and asked if I would like to review an Addis Sit and Store storage unit.


My Addis sit and store arrived quickly and I love it! Available in red and blue it is cylinder shaped and a lot bigger than I imagined. As soon as it arrived we tipped all of A's cars into it. As you can see the sit and store is now full to the brim! However, it is still really light and easy to move and the lid fits on perfectly despite the cars filling right up to the top.


Both Little A and myself have had a sit on the storage box and I think it's really comfortable for a plastic object! The lid is shaped for your bottom and I like that! It could have been made to be a standard flat lid but the shape just screams 'you can sit on me too!' (Told you I really get into this stuff!)


So, we love the look, the colour, it's a really useful product and it's currently £12.79 online. It doesn't look cheap and horrible and fits in perfectly owing to it's cylinder shape. I could re locate it to many areas of my house without finding it a nuisance. The one and only criticism I have is although light, there isn't anything to grab hold of to move the sit and store. I'm not saying you need to pop handles on its sides (that may actually ruin the look) but I can't even get a grip underneath the lid, so if I lift it up with the cars, one slip and I could have a lot of cars noisily falling to the floor complete with storage unit! If I want to pick it up properly I have to remove the lid otherwise the lifting hurts my back. Other than that I would recommend the Sit and Store by Addis to anyone needing storage.


 I was sent the Addis sit and store free of charge in exchange for an honest review.

Cupcake Mumma

Siblings in May!

A really lovely moment captured for this months Siblings post with Dear Beautiful. Last week both of my little sweeties came down with a random bout of sickness (random because they were only sick twice then perfectly fine!)


As they watched television and I tidied up the dining area, I looked across at Midge who brought Little A in a little closer and covered them both with a thick duvet. Little A shuffled around a bit to cosy up to his big sister and brought his blanket up to her shoulder for extra comfort like he does to his Daddy and I.


Precious moments indeed.


Cupcake Mumma

dear beautiful

Free From Find #2: Baked to Taste Pasties!

Living in Cornwall you just got to have a Cornish pasty! Sadly, the good old traditional pasty is out for me but that's where Baked to Taste have come in handy!


Now of course you can make your own pasties and I have the perfect gluten, wheat and dairy free pasty recipe (filled with sun dried tomatoes and vegetables) so do check this out for something to bake and eat straight away or even wrap up and take out!

Back to Baked To Taste and their pasties. There are several flavours of pasty in the range: cheese and onion for those who can eat dairy, curried vegetable and the one I bought: sun dried tomato and spinach. The pasties are sold so far in health food stores in the frozen section. Once bought I popped the pasty in the oven and roughly 30 minutes later I was tucking in to a really rather tasty tea. The pastry isn't hard and crumbly but flakes off with a nice big bite like any other pasty! The only part of the pasty that's a bit of a let down is its crimped edges which seem to cook slightly harder and crispier than the rest of the pasty. I've seen this mentioned elsewhere too so I'm glad it isn't just me!


The pasty is filled to the brim which is so good to see. Nothing like the disappointment of a stingy pasty! The filling is quite peppery and the sun dried tomatoes add to this with their own flavour. I think it's absolutely delicious.


Cost wise they're not cheap (but free from never is) they are £2.18 and I consider them to be classed as a small pasty. The price does put them with your freshly baked pasties so you can't complain!
They are rather nice and filled me up perfectly at lunchtime...I'd probably add a side of chips for dinner though!

Product: Baked To Taste pasties (Sun dried tomato flavour)
Price: £2.18
Dietary info: wheat free, gluten free, lactose free.


Cupcake Mumma

Papery Peep! A New Link up!

My lovely penpal and fellow blogger Jocelyn from The Reading Residence is on a mission to get us all writing letters, cards and reading more books. I love reading and have never been a fan of these electronic readers (although my app has come in handy on long train journeys!) I will always prefer having a paper back in my hands. I also have a number of pen pals whom I love writing to and since I started letter writing again I love buying gorgeous stationery. Sadly, my budget doesn't really allow room for lots of lovely stationery so when I see a bargain I grab it with both hands! Here's a photo of my new paper set, case and blank cards (because I'm getting back to making my own cards again!)


Now onto reading. I've read a few books over the last few weeks. Firstly there was The New Arrival by Sarah Beeson.

My New Arrival Selfie!
The New Arrival is a novel about Sarah's career and time as a trainee nurse in the 1970s. I have loved this book and have been inspired by Sarah's belief in helping others and standing up for the rights of mothers and their families. I have the second book on pre order and I can't wait to read about Sarah's journey in a new roll.

The second book I wanted to share was The Third Reich. I'm a big fan of history books (World War II, Titanic and Tudor history in particular) This book is great because it's based on the politics behind The Nazi Party which I knew next to nothing about. I read a lot about the actual war and the concentration camps but I've never read anything like this and I enjoyed it a lot.


My current book:

Mary Berry, Recipe For Life


I hope you've enjoyed this post! Do check out The Reading Residence for more on Bring Back Paper!

The Reading Residence

Cupcake Mumma

My #DICraftSwap with Dainty and Ivory!

I recently followed a new blog, Dainty and Ivory written by Hannah. I'm so pleased I did because it's a lovely blog with craft, round ups and now swaps! Every month, Hannah sets a theme (sign ups are now going on for next month with a geek theme!) this months theme was Spring.

I didn't honestly focus too much on the theme itself preferring to think of nice bright or pastel colours, what spring means to me and what my swap partner loves. With all that in mind here's what I sent:

I made several cards, one in particular I loved because of this little kawaii character I placed on the front. She has a basket for little flowers which reminds me of spring.


I made some earrings and a needle felted cat (one of my partners favourite animals) I added some hot chocolate sachets because we're still having chilly evenings and a lovely bright notepad too.


Here's my gorgeous gift from Rhiannon who blogs at  The Sparkly Panda! A beautiful handmade bunny which I adore, a cross stitch pack, a lovely notepad and a pair of handmade earrings in my favourite pastel colours. Thank you so much!




I'm looking forward to the next swap and also blogging about an upcoming one I'm sending off this week! In the mean time, why not check out my mug swap post from last month?

Cupcake Mumma

Best of Parenting app Review and £20 Amazon Giveaway!

It's no secret that we've been having a few stresses of late with behaviour in the Cupcake House. Little A was causing us concern over his very dramatic tantrums and Midge has been driving us slightly around the bend with homework refusal and repeated bedtime wakings (technically not waking as she's just up and down not even going to sleep!)

Little A and I have been getting help and advice from our local health visitor (we've been happily signed off already but know she's always there if we need her help again) but this new app has given me some really useful suggestions and it will really apply to midge too.

Best of Parenting is an app ( as well as online blog) with suggestions on how to deal with tantrums, fussy eating, swearing, whining, homework refusal, sibling squabbles and so much more! You get daily suggestions which you can read if you feel they'd be of benefit to you. This app is really great because it is adapted throughout for ages ranging from 1-18. I don't know of any other apps which provide this. I have noticed that most of the sections don't show much change, if any, but this indicates to me that the approach (which I think I'd describe as firm but gentle) is adaptable to many different age groups. I can certainly see how I talk Little A around (age 3) during a potential strop is the same, effective approach for one of Midges (age 6) slightly rarer melt downs.


I plan on using this free app whenever I get a bit stuck on how to handle a certain situation. It will come in handy for my fussy eating Midge and diffusing yet more melt downs with Little A! It's worth a mention that to save time you can search the app using keywords which will be matched with the appropriate section. I tried to search for help with dropping the dummy and was a little disappointed to not find a match. I did break it down though and realised when I take the dummy away I'm met with tantrums, so that was the appropriate section for us. You won't find help on many issues (such as teething, nightmares and night terrors) I don't believe the app focuses on these issues, more issues which are really common throughout all ages.


To enter this competition please download this app for free! Click here for Android and here for iPhone users. Enter the Rafflecopter form below to be in with a chance of winning a £20 Amazon gift card from the lovely people at Best of Parenting. Please follow the instructions below and read the terms and conditions.

Good luck!

Cupcake Mumma

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Celebrating my Midwife: International Day of the Midwife

Both of my children were born here, in Cornwall, in a lovely birth center. I absolutely loved the birth center. There was the office where the midwives would sit doing their paper work whilst letting us get on with things during that 'in between' stage. There was a smaller room where you could make hot drinks, bottles, a microwave and the birth partner could even have a break on a huge bean bag if there wasn't much progress (my husband didn't dare!)

Then there was the delivery suite set up with a hospital bed, linen cupboard, the standard cot for your newborn, emergency equipment (also used to place baby on to dry them off first and to administer the vitamin K injection.) There was a lovely big shower with seating, the loo and the other essentials in the on-suite then the birthing pool itself. The pool was huge, clean and heavenly when full! My midwife showed us around and I couldn't stop smiling.

I had several midwives (much like a home birth I suppose there has to be 2 midwives present) my first midwife with Midge, Jo, was wonderful. She was calm, friendly and just what I needed as an 18 year old first time very anxious mother.

The initial midwife I had with my son, Little A, I sadly cannot remember her name. I do remember she was a bit older and very relaxed, doing paper work whilst I laid in the pool sweating it out! She trusted me and she made me laugh. A lot.

Very shaky newborn photo of Baby A

This post is about the midwife who reached Midges birth with literally minutes to spare. Who wiped her hands, rubbed them together and gave me a huge, comforting grin as she looked to Jo mouthing 'Can I do this bit?' And she did. She helped deliver my first born safely and gave her to me all wrapped up and well.

Then 2 years later she was there to tell me to come into the unit. She wasn't on shift at that time and after my examination by the initial midwife (who confirmed I wasn't ready to be admitted yet) we went for lunch and went walking around the park. A few hours later my waters broke, I headed to the unit,my first midwife already there running the pool water. Back on shift my second midwife returned to the unit and there she was from beginning to end. Encouraging, but mostly silent. She helped me deliver my son. My actual hands guided and then full bringing my son to my chest.

Photo of a photo.
Midwife and Aunt with Midge. Not even an hour old!

My midwife is now retired after over 40 years in midwifery. Her name is Fiona. She was and still is a truly wonderful woman who I still go to on behalf of my friends for their questions. She was everything a midwife should be. Calm, trustworthy, encouraging, emotionally caring. Oh yes, one small detail which actually makes all of this even more amazing for me. My midwife was my Aunt. I received the same wonderful care she had given to hundreds of women before me. That's something very special to me.

Have you written a post about a wonderful midwife? Even with the most difficult births many friends have told me they would not have felt so in control, or comforted, or listened to and valued without their one (or several) very wonderful midwives. So if you would like to celebrate your midwife or one you know, please link up below and help celebrate midwives everywhere on International Day of the Midwife.

Cupcake Mumma