Love Local – Kelly Ann from “Party Playdough”

Love Local – Kelly Ann from “Party Playdough”

Posted on by Rebecca

The “love local” series focuses on local, proudly South African individuals, making waves in their
industries. Breaking boundaries, creating empires and being the best inspiration of locally produced/manufactured products.

Meet Kelly-Ann Gibbon. The founder and creator of “Party Playdough” is the beginning of an empire. Kelly-Ann creates unique party packs especially designed for childrens parties, as well as the cutest mixed-media/ educational playdough sets. She has won two awards through “MommyMall”, last year walking away with winning the “Mompreneuraward” and this year being awarded the “Naomi Butow Business Excellence Award”.

Read on below to find out more about Kelly Anne and her career journey thus far…

Tell me more about yourself and what you currently do?
I am a full time working mom 🙂 who loves her job. I qualified as an oral hygienist from the University of the Western Cape in 2005, and was awarded the Golden Key international Honours
society award. I really really loved studying and if I ever get the chance I would love to study dentistry. I work in private practice currently along side a dentist, we see clients everyday and provide great high quality service. Our clients are everything to us. I run a recall system which means I am responsible for recalling our patients on a regular basis to maintain their oral hygiene and healthy mouth all year round. So from 8-3pm I am a oral hygienist but then I magically transform to a mommy and playdough queen after working hours 🙂 I love being active so I am quite sporty, I’ve run a handful of half marathons and love training. I also do pole dancing as a sport as well as sup boarding.

How did “Party Playdough” come about?
As a mom, I have catered and planned many parties for my kids. It’s lovely but there is a lot of
sugar that is involved in party planning. Professionally I am helping my clients avoid the effects
sugar can have on their teeth and I think it’s only fitting that I came up with a Sugar-free party
pack don’t you think 🙂 It’s really a educational and fun twist to our usual sugary and unhealthy
sweetly loot bags we have so frequently handed out. I make handcrafted Playdough, specifically
tailored to your party theme. Glittery or plain, and in any colour under the sun 🙂 I’m always up for
a colour challenge 🙂 so far it’s been a beautiful journey. I pride myself on the fact that my dough is
NON toxic and super soft, with NO harmful preservatives or chemicals. I use a natural preservative
, being salt. So if your child takes a little bite out of their Playdough biscuit they so delicately created don’t stress please! Apart from Party Packs I supply mixed media sets too. These are Playdough sets with a theme attached to it. I have many, dinosaurs, silly spiders, under the sea etc. They have been a massive hit and I love creating new themes, currently I’m busy developing a few more which will blow your minds. These sets are aimed at imaginary, educational play, to inspire your child to explore and just have great fun all while improving their fine and gross motor skills.

What was your first job and how did you progress to this?
As most people, I started off as a waitress at spur 🙂 I had to earn some extra moola and progressed to
more academically challenging environment as I realised I needed to further myself. As time passed I became incredibly interested with the idea of being in the dental industry and gravitated I
suppose to where I am today. I really love children and I enjoy my job.

What have been the highlights?
My highlights? There are many.. the birth of my business in 2015, winning the “Mompreneur
award” last year, this year being awarded the “Naomi Butow Business Excellence Award” at the
Cape Sun hotel. My online shop is active and I’m very proud of this development, thanks to my wonderful friend Nelia Smit who designed this for me!
Working hard and really being elevated by these awards surprises because it lifts my spirit to
continuously aim higher and work on my business ideas everyday!

What’s the best part of your job?
Best part….. hmmm.Thats a tricky one but I’d say I pour my heart and soul into my orders so when I get messages and pictures from very happy mommy’s and little customers I smile from ear to ear,
be a use their joy is my joy !

What is the most challenging part?
Time management is a big issue for me why are there only 24 hours in a day. Why cant a supplier
be open at 11pm when I run out if stock 🙂

Describe a typical day in your life.
I feel horrible writing this, because my morning are chaotic but here we go.Wake up at 5:30am,
prep school clothes and lunch boxes, I then organize breakfast for everyone. (I’m addicted to tea so I’mprobably on my second cup by 6am 🙂 ) get everyone up with their breakfasts waiting and inspire them to move it along…. eeeeek the clock is ticking….. I’m always stressing about traffic. Make myself semi decent and try remember to brush my hair. I’m always rocking a mommy bun, not sure I even know where my hair brush is? Fight traffic into town, start up my surgery, I see my first client at 8:15 am. I work straight through till 3pm and jump into the car to collect my monsters from school, juggling school meetings/sports practices/my business orders and queries in between all this chaos is hard, but some how I have mastered the task…. or at least I think I have. We eat a nice warm meal together every night, that quite important to me and discuss our days because if we don’t, I have no clue what is going on in their little lives. My kiddos go to bed at around 7:30pm and that when I start admin work, and my orders. It’s more often than not a very long day for me as I put my head down at 1am. It sounds more crazy than it actually is, I can’t imagine my day being any less hectic to any other mommy out there, but that’s my routine in a nutshell.

We love to break routine, there’s nothing more dangerous than getting stuck in it, so weekends we are All up.early, breathing in the fresh air, eating brekkie on the beach and catching some waves and sun rays, skate boarding or having adventures around us in our beautiful city, you only live once right?

What are the “secrets” to your success?

I sometimes wonder myself but if I carefully think about it, I’d have to say my passion and
dedication to my quality control because in my opinion, having handmade goods can either be a
success or just overlooked. I wanted my dough to really stand out and be special, something every
mom wants to order for their kids. I am quite particular with finer details so I focus on those as I
really feel it and it sets your product apart from the next one. My Playdough is Non-toxic and
handcrafted, specifically tailored for every order. I pride myself on high quality finishes and
beautifully packaged, to create a-wow- factor….

How do you balance being a wife, a mother, all while running a successful business?
So this has been a constant worry because there is only so much you can do. I would not call myself blemish free in this department….. I think I’ve made enough mistakes along the way to realise that as soon as you feel you have a sense of balance in this department, life will come along and totally throw it out of sync…. but to be very honest the answer is to do your best, and have a good support system. Call on those favours, drop the kids off at granny so you can go for a run around the neighbourhood and don’t sweat the small stuff. I’ve burnt many a dinner dish because I’m juggling too much.

What is your dream for Party Playdough?
I dream that this business Will continue to grow from strength to strength and be a constant form
of joy to children all over the world, because yes, even though I’m rooted in the mother city, I have
packs travelling all over the world. Canada, Amsterdam and the USA! I want the playdough love to
travel far and wide and I hope my kids will draw inspiration from my hard work and always know
that what I do, I do for them and their futures.
Currently I’m in partnership with adventure clubs, gazoome play center and bash in Cape Town. I
am their resident Playdough supplier. Negotiations are underway to be in a few wimpy and
Colcacchio stores in the very near future and start branching out even more…

I am the ultimate “Party Playdough” fan and her mixed media kits are amazing! To learn more or order your own Playdough or Mixed Media sets visit www.partyplaydough.co.za

Ill be giving away one lucky reader TWO mixed media sets of your choice!

Simply make sure you are following and have liked, Party Playdough on facebook and Instagram and comment below on what your dream “mixed media set” would be.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PartyPlaydough/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/partyplaydough/

Edible Sensory Play – Chocolate mud

Edible Sensory Play – Chocolate mud

Posted on by Rebecca

I’ve been dealing with a bit of “mommy guilt” the past two weeks, feeling like I hadn’t given the boys any fun activities to play or do, though I am an advocate of “let them be bored”.

My eldest is going through a HUGE “arts and crafts” spree and every morning wakes up asking to make some creative concoction. We haven’t done a sensory play activity In so long and I’ve been wanting to do “edible mud” for quite some time. This “Mud” is fantastic for younger kids, all ingredients are edible, in fact they taste quiet good!

It’s a great “taste-safe” play idea and even more effective when paired with a little themed book or song.

Having boys I was so tempted to chuck in some spaghetti worms, or sweet snakes, but decided to go with more interactive toys. We did two set ups, one “farm yard” and one “digger yard”.

All the recipes I found online for this include syrup and sugar, I have no idea why but if my intention was certainly not for my kids to find it “tasty”, so I omitted that.

Ingredients:

I started off with about 1.5 cups of flour

1.5 cups of cornflour

1 cup cocoa

Water to mix.

 

I added and mixed as I went along, until I got a nice thick consistency. I wanted it to be a Newtonian fluid, that became solid as they played.

We kept a water station close by so they could wash their figurines straight after, and we also did this right before bath time 🙂

I am such an avid supporter of sensory play activities like this one as they learn about “clean and dirty”, they learnt about all the different farm animals and where they normally lived, textures and role play.

My youngest was so confused, he kept saying “Its yucky mud” but it smells like cake !

Happy playing!

Avoiding Entitlement in Children – Discovering Responsibility Through Chores

Avoiding Entitlement in Children – Discovering Responsibility Through Chores

Posted on by Rebecca

Entitlement – It’s a word that can send shivers down my spine, and something I’m petrified of creating in my children. According to my husband I have already lost that battle and cave at my children’s every whim. If they grow up with a sense of entitlement, thinking the world owes them something, then I’m not doing my job as a mother well.

My boys have a slight obsession with money, a little early right? I tried introducing the concept of pocket money a little while ago to my eldest (now 4). He was 3 at the time and had a meltdown in a kiddie’s toy store for a wooden fire truck. I had to walk out of the store with him crying and throwing a tantrum. I know he is young, I know he doesn’t understand, but I never want to raise a child that’s gets whatever he wants. That day when we got home we created a “Fire Truck Jar”. For every task successfully completed, he got R5. Of course, mommy ended up forgetting half the time, and yes reached my hand into the jar if I was short on cash in a moment. The Fire Truck was eventually forgotten about. The obsession with money however, not so much.

 

We had another episode with my eldest last weekend. I constantly hear “I want”, “I want” coming from his little mouth. Actually the more he gets, the MORE he wants. China Town with its cheap R20 toys is actually a problem. The latest “NEED” is a Robot. No matter how often I sit him down and speak to him about the value of things, it doesn’t seem to make a difference. I try to make a point of taking the boys with me to under privileged schools and orphanages, so that they can see how much they have. At this age, they actually don’t see the difference (which warms my heart), all they see is potential friends to play with.

Which leads me to question, what is the right age to start introducing chores to our children? As a mom of two boys I want more than anything to raise independent, able men, who are able to do their own dishes and are able to cook their wife a meal. Men that know the value of hard work and that with a little effort and perseverance they can achieve their dreams.

So, we started introducing chores.

It actually turns out, little kids can do a lot around the house.

So we started again, and this time it set. Chores help children to see themselves as people who help, as opposed to people who are helped by others. Aadam now has 3 main chores now every day. He loves to choose his own clothes, so every morning he has to get himself dressed for school, “pull up” his bed (It gets remade but the action of him doing this is enough to melt my heart). He also has to put his toys away before we go to bed. This for some reason, gets him every night. Perhaps it’s because he’s tired, but he is physically incapable of doing this by himself. You have to “help” him through it. I’ve found that creating a “sorting” game out of it helps a bit. By putting cars with cars, colours with colours it’s more of a challenge to him as opposed to just “cleaning”.

Here are some more tips I’ve found when it comes to introducing chores.

Manage your expectations – My boys love to do the dishes, letting them actually do them however a pure action of love on my end. The amount of water that ends up on the floor is more than in the sink. I don’t expect them to do it perfectly, I just expect them to try.

“Help” mummy – Most children LOVE the opportunity to “be a helper”. By making them feel important and choosing them to help you put the toys away for example, your child is leaning so much.

Start off with smaller tasks initially, ease them in with one or two important tasks a week.

Praise matters – Make sure you praise them as much as possible when it comes to chores. Make it an exciting, important task. Use dish-washing as an example; I had to bite my tongue when the boys did their first lot of dishes as so much water ended up on the floor, but to them, they did the best job in the world.

Be flexible – give them a choice of tasks for that week, vacuuming (which my boys will never say no to), or picking up their toys.

Not all rewards are created equal – Star charts don’t work for every child. I tried it with Aadam initially, maybe he was too young at the time, but he didn’t grasp the context. Now with actual, physical coins he is more motivated than ever before. He counts his “gold coins” every morning to find out how many more he needs to buy his robot. Each plastic gold coin is worth R5.

 

Not sure where to start?

Some basics that are great for toddlers include:

Sweeping, vacuuming, mopping

Wiping, dusting

Watering the garden

Washing the windows

Cleaning the car

Getting dressed

Putting their plates in the kitchen after eating

Packing toys away

 

I would LOVE to hear what chores you have your children do in your house, and how do you “reward” them? Do you think “chores” with rewards create a bigger sense of entitlement or should they be done with no expectation of reward?

 

 

The dreaded “D” word – overcoming Demotivation

The dreaded “D” word – overcoming Demotivation

Posted on by Rebecca

The dreaded “D” word, relax, I’m not referring to “divorce”, I’m referring to “demotivation”.

Something that’s been plaguing me the whole week.

I have a mountain of work to catch up on, 3 half written blog posts saved on my desktop, and I have 2 DIY projects that keep being pushed back. I struggle to keep focus and my mind shifts to something new every ten minutes. It doesn’t matter how many cups of tea, Krispy Kreme’s or Chocolate eggs I devour, nothing seems to give me the energy to snap out of it. (Yes I know those are all the wrong foods). Every day that passes, the more work builds up, its like a black cloud hanging over my head.

I am a very impulsive person. When I do something it must come to me in the moment, naturally. If I have to sit down and think too hard about things, I lose interest quite quickly and get frustrated. That’s how I have been feeling this whole week, nothing is “flowing”.

Blame it on the flu? Perhaps, but I have seem to have lost my mojo….temporarily of course.

Does anyone else find they go through highs and lows in terms of productivity? I know it’s related to motivation, but I find one week I can accomplish 20 thousand different things and then the next I pretty much just need to take a step back to chill.

Motivation is central to creativity, productivity, and happiness, how do I get it back?

Typically, when I fall into a slump, it’s because I have too much going on in my life. I try and take on too much, once I’ve accomplished all of those things I fall into a slump, it’s sucked my energy and motivation.

The first thing I’ve recognized is You have to choose one goal, for now. For me, it’s one blog post. While my 3 other half finished posts are more relevant to parenting, this blog post is most relevant to ME, right now. So here I am, focusing on one goal, completely. You can always do your other goals when you’ve accomplished your one goal. Shut off all distractions, for me that’s switching off my phone and internet.

Go back to writing your goals down. Select one achievable goal for each day and write it down in big letters. Keep it in front of you. You know for that day you won’t stop until you achieve that one thing.

Realize that there is a natural ebb and flow. You cannot remain motivated 100% of the time, every single day (which is why I always tend to maximize on those motivated spells and knock out so many goals). It comes and goes, and goes and comes back again. I know that if I’m having a down week, it doesn’t mean I’m in a “deep dark hole” screaming for help, I know its natural, and it will come back.

Whatever you do, don’t give up. Stick with your goals. Even if you don’t feel the least bit motivated today. The sun will rise tomorrow. Your goals, your motivation is a long journey, with bumps in the road. Use those bumps to rest, reflect and recharge. Listen to your body. You will get there.

Squash all your negative thoughts. Self-talk is critical to success (I don’t mean you have to stare at yourself in the mirror reciting mantras all morning, though for some people that does work. I mean in your thoughts, or like I’m doing by writing out this post.

Lastly I would say is to communicate it. No one will judge you. Tell those close to you how you are feeling. Let them support you. Ask them for their input or take on an accountability partner. In every big goal in your life you always need a team to support you. Surround yourself with positive people. The saying “Your tribe is your vibe” is so very true in more ways than one. You feed off peoples energy around you, so make sure you choose well.

So there we have it. Here’s my one small goal. I completed a blog post, Hip Hip Hoorah, and I think I just may have “self-talked” my way out of my slump. Onto brighter weeks!

Milk Tart Recipe

Milk Tart Recipe

Posted on by Rebecca

One thing South Africa certainly has down is some of the best “comfort” desserts. From Milk Tart to koeksisters and Malva Pudding we sure know how to make our tummies very very happy.

If a dessert has a National Day created for it, you know it has to be pretty exceptional. Yesterday, February 27th, was National Milk Tart Day in South Africa. Being a sucker for all things celebratory, of course I had to make one.

I have to admit I haven’t made a milk tart at home for probably close to 5 years, I haven’t needed to as there are so many good ones readily available. My Favorites are from Woolworths and “Upper Crust” bakery in Fordsburg.

When the craving does strike however, this recipe is pretty full proof. After so many years it still came out perfectly!

Ingredients:

For the base: 
500g (2 cups) of cake flour

65g butter

2 teaspoon baking powder

125ml sugar

1 egg

Pinch of salt

For the filling: 

4 cups of full cream milk

3 eggs

1 cup of Castor Sugar

Two Cinnamon sticks

2.5 tsps cornflour

2.5 tablespoons cake wheat flour

1 tsp vanilla essence

60g butter

 

 

METHOD

Base:
1) Cream the butter & sugar until pale, add egg and beat well.
2) Add all the ingredients until it comes together
3) Tip out into a well buttered tart pan and press into the pan to form a base. Bake at 180 degrees Celsius until lightly golden brown.

Filling:
1) Boil milk together with a few cinnamon sticks.
2) Beat eggs well, add sugar, corn flour, cake flour, salt & add to milk mixture.
3) Mix together and bring to a gentle boil until mixture thickens.
4) Add the butter & vanilla essence to the mixture. Pour onto base & dust with cinnamon powder.
5) Place in the fridge to set

Once it has set grab a cup of tea and enjoy this yummiest piece of heaven on a plate! Everyone always has different variations of Milk Tart, how do you make yours?

DIY storage solution for Hot Wheels cars

DIY storage solution for Hot Wheels cars

Posted on by Rebecca

Any mom of boys will relate to the frustration of finding little “Hot Wheels” or dinky cars lying about absolutely everywhere. Pick any one of my handbags and I can guarantee you will find a car of some sort in it. I find them everywhere, in my car, my bed side drawer, my under wear cupboard. We have dozens of the, yet at the same time, because they are all scattered everywhere you can never find them !

Hot Wheels® vehicles have been an ongoing favorite of collectors, car enthusiasts and racing fans of all ages. The brand is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, remains the number one selling toy brand in the world with more than 5 billion Hot Wheels® cars produced and 2 cars sold every second! I can officially say I have contributed to a large share of that with my boys 🙂

Typically I hold their toys and cars in your standard large plastic storage boxes from a Plastic Land but I absolutely hate digging to find the smaller cars in amongst the sea of other toys. I have been wanting to create a storage solution for their cars for a while. Naturally on google, there are endless storage solutions for these little matchbox sized cars. I loved some of the book shelf styled ones, where the cars are displayed up on the wall, but i wanted something slightly more interactive. I was particularly drawn to the one created by Frugal Fun for boys as it doubles up as a “play station” as well as a storage solution. It’s also darn easy to make.

You can make it out of three things:

Toilet paper rolls, mailing tubes or PVC piping as I did.

Initially I started off collecting the toilet roll inners but along the way i decided i wanted something a little more sturdy. I headed off to my nearest Mica and got 3 metres of PVC piping cut up for me it about 10cm sections. It literally cost me all of about R50 !

Using an old crate that I already had, I positioned the pipe pieces into the crate. If your crate is to deep for your pipe pieces you could easily attach a backing board into it to ensure the pipes all come out level and the cars don’t fall out the back.

I washed and lightly smoothed out the pipes with a soft sand paper (there were a few rough edges) and glued the pipes into the crate. I then made a super quick sign out of cardboard and nailed it into the top of the crate.

 

The entire project took me less than 20 minutes, to add in a little extra storage, we all know I am always extra, i glued a magnetic strip down the side of the crate. I had read somewhere that some hot wheels (with the metal bottoms) could stick to magnets. This didn’t work however so i cut small strips of magnetic tape and glued that to the bottom of some of the cars so they could stick to the strip, to increase the storage space.

 

 

Et Voila ! A super easy storage solution of all of your Hot Wheels ! Do you see the magnetic strip down the side? I love that part 🙂 Now i could really get fancy and spray paint it black and silver i guess, but lets me honest, “ain’t no body got time for that” 🙂

 

Love Local – LABEL Collections

Love Local – LABEL Collections

Posted on by Rebecca

The “love local” series focuses on local, South African, women who are making waves in their industries. Breaking boundaries, creating empires and being the best inspiration of strong, driven women to society. This week I’m featuring the incredibly talented Nadia Turton, Founder and creator of “LABEL Collections”. Nadia began working in the retail industry where she learned the basics and gained an idea of what she liked before graduating from Cape Tech with a degree in fashion design. She spent two years in London before returning to Cape Town where she gained experience designing for retailers Truworths, Foschini and Edgars before finally launching LABEL Collections.

I have always been a more “classical” style when it comes to fashion trends, preferring items that I can wear year after year and perhaps mixing it up with one or two key pieces. I have always admired LABEL Collections style and cuts and when I found out the company was local, I had to find out more!

LABEL Collections is about luxury, quality, simplicity and integrity.

With the intention to design pieces that are for longevity and not landfill, always chic and comfortable, reflecting the confidence and versatility of their global customer.

Subtle signature LABEL Collections details allow us to evolve rather than re-invent. We love that you can purchase less and receive so much more wear, season after season, out of every LABEL Collections piece. Team the first seasons dress with this seasons coat for an instant wardrobe update.

Their collection is produced locally, where Nadia personally sources the fabrics and trims which are then created into our beautiful, easily wearable Cape Town made garments. Limited quantities of each style are produced, keeping it exclusive. Their goal is to create jobs and support positive social, cultural and environmental shifts.

Feminine, contemporary, effortless chic designs set LABEL Collections apart.

Nadia, creator of LABEL Collections, lives in Cape Town with her husband and two boisterous pugs.

Stalk away @nadiaturton

Label Collections : www.labelcollections.com and instagram : @label_collections

Read on below to find out more about Nadia and her career journey thus far.

Tell me more about yourself and what you currently do?

More about myself, well I love surfing, trail running, mountain biking, Gin and all things pretty. My favourite thing to do is spending time with family and friends and sharing a few G&T’s and see who can create the best G&T.

What I currently do? EVERYTHING – haha, So a quick run down of the process of getting a garment onto the online store and into boutques coutnry wide: First I research trends, including silhouetes, fabrics, trims, garment finishes and then I put a mood board / inspiration board together. From here I decide which direction we’ll be going this season – so many different trends and influences to be considered, I then adapt it to fit the brand and our ethos. Next step is to design the new collection, broken down into assortments – so tops, bottoms, caots / jackets, dress (knits & wovens). Once I have the basis of the collection, I then start to weigh up each design. Does it fit the brand ethos – is it chic, comfortable, easy to wear, easy to style and does it have longevity, would it be able to be worn for more than one season? Only once it has ticked all these does it crack the knod to be included into the collection. From here we source and purchase fabrics, have patterns made and then we go into production. When I see final products, I feel like a kid on Christmas day. It is the best feeling (and never goes away) when you see the actual garment made and ready to go to store. In between we arrange photo shoots for the online store and a lot of admin.

How did “Label Collections” come about?

After designing at various studios and for the retailers, I decided to branch out on my own and start LABEL Collections.

What did you study – was it in this field or something different?

I studied Fashion Design. Traveled for 2 years and then started working as a designer at a studio who supplies the major chain stores.

What was your first job and how did you progress to this?

My first job ever was as a casual sales assistant at Stuttafords and then at Juanita Pacheco while studying fashion design. At Juanita Pacheco I learned a tremendous amount about owning a store and implemented those systems when I owned my own boutique store.

What have been the highlights?

Selling my first collection to a boutique.

Seeing someone besides family and friends wearing one of my garments

My first magazine feature

Opening my own factory and employing my first ever staff member and growing from there

Owning a boutique store

Everytime I receive an order from our online store – it still makes my day EVERY SINGLE TIME!

I am grateful for every single customer and brand follower we have!

Finding and building an incredible team to work with.

What’s the best part of your job?

Seeing people wear the garments I have designed and the LABEL team has made!

It is so rewarding for us and makes what we do so worth it.

What is the most challenging part?

The most challenging part is to not produce everything we love and want to.

It is definitely that edit we do after conceptualising the collection. It often takes us weeks to decide on the final collection.

Describe a typical day in your life.

Every day is different, but I normally start with COFFEE @ 5:30 maybe 6 am if I am really lazy. Then I do something fun like surfing, riding, running or yoga, it starts the day right and somehow makes me more focused.. And then at about 7:30 / 8 am I start with emails, then at about 9 am with my rounds (going to fabric suppliers, trim suppliers, pattern maker, graders, cutters and then the factories). And then back to the office for more emails, research, processing orders, sorting orders etc. Work never stops, I am always thinking about the collections, always searching for something awesome to use or incorporate or just be inspired in general. I try and switch my Mac off at about 4:30 / 5, otherwise I’ll continue and never stop.

What are the “secrets” to your success?

I don’t think I have any “secrets”. I think it is just perseverance and grit. Trust your gut. Keep the end goal in mind – always.

How do you balance it all?

It is easy – only kidding. Somedays better than others!

What is your dream for Label Collections?

To grow the company and by doing so, to create jobs and support positive social, cultural and environmental shifts with in our local community and South Africa. We would like to continue to design pieces that are for longevity and not landfill, always chic and comfortable, reflecting the confidence and versatility of our global customer. To continue to build a community around our brand with followers and fans that are as passionate about and love the brand as we do. We really do love and value our customers and followers.

Blaze and The Monster Machines: how simple toys and TV shows can spark creativity and imagination

Blaze and The Monster Machines: how simple toys and TV shows can spark creativity and imagination

Posted on by Rebecca

We all know we should be limiting screen time for our kids…. right?

Well I will be the FIRST to admit there are certain times in the day where TV is my LIFESAVER, and I am not afraid to say it. Yes I try to “limit” their screen time, but I also need my sanity. First thing in the morning, when I am too tired to think and need them to just sit in one place long enough to eat a decent bowl of oats, Saturday afternoons when I just want to try to catch a 15 minute nap and of course sometimes at those unravelling dinner times, when the only way to get them to eat is to watch something on the I-pad (we have all been there right?).

YES, my kids watch TV ! In fact it’s often on in “the background” in my house, BUT, I do monitor what they are allowed to watch VERY carefully.

We are pretty spoilt for choice in today’s world with educational shows for our children, but one of our favourites by far, has to be Blaze and the Monster Machines. As a mum, it ticks all of my STEM obsessed check lists, teaching children about Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (click here to see some of my STEM experiments). As a child it ticks off speed, cars, and crazy imaginative talking animals/vehicles.

Each of the show’s presents some sort of problem that is addressed and fixed by getting kids involved, asking the viewer’s questions directly, inviting responses. My 3-year-old has learnt about concepts such as force, acceleration and friction. He can tell you all about combustion and how an engine works. He knows about angles and trajectory. In fact, by allowing him to watch Blaze I feel like I am encouraging a future scientist in him, I certainly DO NOT worry about him watching TV.

Playing with toy trucks in a sense promotes STEM concepts as well. Toy cars roll, they crash, they race. They learn that “wheels turn” and that cars move faster when pushed downhill. It teaches them pressure, and strength, learning how hard to push a car to make it go further. By playing with the toys alongside the show, they aren’t just “learning”, they are “experiencing it”. The best way to learn is through doing.

Mattel South Africa has a great range of toys out from Blaze and the Monster Machines™. We have had great fun playing with our trucks, re-enacting scenes from Blaze with our Talking “Zeg”. Zeg “loves to race” and is a mighty dinosaur truck who loves to smash and bash. The “Talking Zeg Truck” brings to life for kids the STEM concept of sound waves. Get involved with the kids and create your own adventures.

There is a full range of Blaze Talking Vehicles available to help you and your littlies recreate Blaze’s high octane adventures at home. These monster-sized truck tires, authentic styling and lots of phrases make these talking Monster Machines a must for every Blaze fan! Perfect for recreating the amazing adventures of Blaze and the Monster Machines™, each of these freewheeling vehicles comes to life with phrases and awesome action sounds! Suitable for ages 3 plus.

Technology is here to stay, that’s a given, I won’t feel guilty about letting my children watch TV, but I can also actively get involved in their play time and be selective in the programs they watch. If I had shows that encouraged critical thinking like Blaze does when I was growing up, maybe I would have had a chance to pass physics 🙂

** We received a talking Zeg Truck to review**

I Choose Love

I Choose Love

Posted on by Rebecca

Valentines day is surrounded by controversy. It’s a completely commercialised day coercing consumers to unnecessarily spend money. It’s a pagan festival celebrating a “saint” we should not follow, there shouldn’t be only one day dedicated to love… I mentioned before, that now, more then ever we need love in this world. We need more people to open their hearts and love, with empathy.

So here’s a little bit about why I CHOOSE LOVE.

I remember during my psychology studies at University, coming across the story of a “Dr Emoto” and his “Messages from water” study. He basically had people “speak into water”. They whispered words of love and affirmation, and shouted words of anger onto the water. Those water samples were then frozen and photographed. He found that water that had been exposed to loving words created brilliant, complex, and colourful snowflake patterns. In contrast, the water exposed to negative thoughts, formed incomplete, uneven patterns with dull colours. This more than anything should show the world how our words and our energy impact the earth itself as well as our positive health. Another reason to say a prayer before we eat or drink 🙂 My favourite words (in terms of water crystal pictures) are happiness, gratitude and “I love you.”

I choose happiness. Of course the world can get you down, bad things will happen. In my family we have coined the term “Wilson’s law” instead of Murphy’s law as typically what can go wrong will go wrong, but it’s the way that you get through those things that make the difference. Your attitude. If you aren’t naturally a bounce off the wall “happy” person there are certain things you can do to choose happiness and positivity. Be the best that YOU can be, make a choice to surround yourself with the right person. As you saw above the power of another person’s energy on you has a dramatic effect on your wellbeing. I know personally if I have a fight with someone my body literally feels drained. I can’t quite explain the feeling but I physically feel weak and drained. Don’t take yourself too seriously. Everyone is in the same boat, whether you are the CEO of a global conglomerate or a street sweeper, we all have a same emotions and fears. Never be afraid to step outside of your comfort zone a little to see where your potential lies.

Choose to help others when you are able. There is no greater joy in life than the joy in seeing someone’s gratitude to receiving something, to helping someone in need.

We also get so caught up in our day to day world that we forget to tell those people closest to us how much we love them, we forget to show them through actions. So frankly, I love a day to use the excuse. I take my husband as an example. I honestly feel that in the past 2 years I could probably win the world’s crappiest wife award, and yes, I do think the title of worst husband could go to him too 🙂 (sometimes). We are caught up in life. Between work, school, raising our children and everything in between we often live “past” each other. Not even connecting with each other on truly how we are doing. For years in our relationship my husband was my sole priority. I did everything for him and he had my undivided attention and then came the job changes, the kids and with that my priorities shifted dramatically. He was bumped off his pedestal. So my dear husband, firstly I want to apologize to you, for not always giving you the attention you deserve, but you will always be my number one. Secondly I want to thank you, for supporting your family with such determination. I admire that so much. So this year my focus is you. My focus is showing those around me just how much I love them, how much I appreciate them.

My focus is on spreading the love and giving freely. If I could add a bit of positivity into just one person’s life it would be worth it. Choose love with me. Choose to rise above the hate and negativity in this world because there is far too much of it. Choose to be a BETTER PERSON. Yes there are horrific injustices in the world, which break my heart, but instead of focusing on how bad they are and blaming someone for them, CHOOSE TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE YOURSELF.

So happy valentine’s day everyone, yes we don’t need a “DAY” to tell someone special that you love them, but sometimes it’s nice to have a forced reminder !

Valentine Themed Sensory Bin

Valentine Themed Sensory Bin

Posted on by Rebecca

There are so many wonderful ways to fill and to play with sensory trays and I love any excuse to find a theme to create one. If you follow my instagram and facebook pages you will see a lot more of my other ideas for sensory bins, we do slime, animal environments, snow, rainbow rice, anything I can really!

Sensory play has a lot to do with the nervous system and your child will react to how it feels, good or bad! They can be both calming and stimulating for a child as well as engaging and educational. Each item used in this valentine themed sensory bin is reusable and bought from our local china mall for under R100.

Items used include artificial rose petals, pink rainbow rice (homemade), pink polystyrene balls, plastic hearts, cardboard hearts, a variety of heart-shaped tins and containers for them to scoop and play.

I used a variety of different textures and shapes here and I knew I wanted to do a “dry” sensory bin this time. As I was creating it I knew that my boys would probably be too “old” for just a touch and explore one and realised that it was the perfect treasure hunt bin!


The challenge was on.

The boys had to dig in the bin, through all the petals and rice to find all 14 of the little plastic hearts, next came the foil ones and so on. My little Yusuf loved the feeling of the Polystyrene balls and watching how the static made them jump (Tip: have a hoover close by, second tip: the rice seemed to diffuse the static slightly so I would definitely do both).

Once we had finished the treasure hunt we moved onto a game of eye spy before Aadam decided he wanted to do arts and crafts with all of the hearts.

So a simple activity that took less than 15 minutes to set up created an afternoon of play!

What else would you add to your bin?

For more fun activities to do with your kids subscribe to the blog with your email address on the right hand side.

HAPPY VALENTINES xoxo