How to Select the Perfect Stone for Your Partner’s Engagement Ring

The stone is a crucial, central element to any engagement ring. It will be the main focal point whenever your fiancé shows the ring off to her or his friends. The stone will also be the first thing your loved one sees.

It’s a big decision and one that shouldn’t be rushed. A good amount of thought and effort should be done before selecting the appropriate stone for the engagement ring.

If you are still searching for the perfect engagement ring, why not check out The Diamond Jewellery Studio. You will discover a range of rings boasting an array of stones with all various cuts and shades. To find out more information, simply arrange an appointment or visit their website.

What Factors Should You Consider When Choosing The Stone?

There are a few factors you should think about when you start looking at stones. These are:

Understand your partner’s stylistic preferences

Getting to know what your loved one likes and dislikes is crucial to choosing a stone they will fall in love with. You want to check their collection to see what diamonds they may have already, shades and colours they love and which gemstones they are naturally drawn towards.

Getting to know your budget

Being confident on how much you have to spend on the engagement ring is another important factor. This will ultimately dictate the stone and various other factors such as carat and cut. It’s also important to remember that the price tag isn’t everything. You can often find something much more meaningful that expresses what you want without spending huge amounts of money. Check the exquisite range at The Diamond Jewellery Studio and be amazed by what they have on offer.

If you want to get a ring that will fit more with your budget, you can go down the customized route and design the engagement ring yourself. Nothing is more personal and intimate than this. You will also be surprised to discover that this option has a good amount of flexibility and can tailor to a range of budgets.

Think about the stone’s durability

You don’t want a stone that will scratch easily or catch. Each gem will have its own set of rules to keep it looking pristine and in great condition. This will be dictated largely by the type of stone and how durable it is.

As you may have guessed, diamonds are the most durable with the highest rating for hardness. However, there are an array of different stones out there that are long-lasting and tough also.

Consider if your partner would appreciate a unique stone

Your loved one might not be the typical diamond type and take you by surprise. Going for something stunning yet unusual like a sapphire is a lovely and more affordable alternative. You will often find these unique gemstones come in a wide range of hues and also are scratch-resistant. This means they will stand the test of time and be durable.

Considering these factors before you choose the stone is crucial to finding something special that your partner truly loves.

Don’t forget, you could add to the surprise by baking a chocolate treat! Just a thought:)

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This is a collaborative post

Hallmark Disney and Itty Bittys Review with Giveaway

These days life is so busy that we need to be as prepared as we possibly can. I have a calendar up on the wall to remind me of everything I need to do and where I need to be. I also like to keep a box of presents for either boys or girls so the children can always wrap up something really nice to take to their various parties. When they were smaller they could come home with invitations to three or four parties a month…each! It seems to be getting a bit easier now though. My motto is ‘be prepared!’ What really helps me with this is to have some cards at the ready for any occasion, cards that I have taken time over and carefully selected instead of having a mad dash at the last-minute. I’ve got a beautiful box made for me by one of my best friends on my shelf that I know that I can go to and be able to pick out a suitable card whenever I need it.

The selection of cards at Hallmark are so pretty and I have recently been looking at the Disney range.

Hallmark have been pioneers of greetings cards for over 100 years and pride themselves on being the go to place for when you want to show someone how loved they are.

I love this 3D Belle card which has a fold out honeycomb dress. Really pretty and it adds a bit of an extra girly flamboyance to it.

The itty bitty collection is made up of a whole host of well known and adorable characters, from the Frozen favourites; Elsa, Anna, Olaf and Sven to Captain Jack Sparrow from Pirates of the Caribbean. The cute toys are so soft and snuggly that I bet you won’t want to give them away as presents. I remember when my youngest was smaller he loved rubbing clothes tags between his fingers as a soother and when I saw the little arms and in particular the antlers on Sven itty bitty I imagined him doing the same with these toys.

With most toys being quite expensive it was refreshing to see that itty bittys are well within the price I like to pay. At £6.00 each they are very reasonable and they are bound to put a smile on the face of whoever receives them.

Giveaway!

I am delighted to be able to offer one of you lucky readers the chance to win 2 Frozen Itty Bittys of your choice!

Enter here:

a Rafflecopter giveaway
Good Luck

Open to UK entries

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Disclaimer: I was sent the items to review for this post. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

4 Ways To Check If Your Gift Is Safe For The Baby

Another of your friends is about to become a parent for the very first time, and, of course, you wish to buy something for mother and baby, and while there’s a wide range of choices out there. Safety is something that needs to be kept in mind when choosing a gift for a baby. As you may, or may not remember, we all start by putting absolutely everything in our mouth, as we try to fathom exactly what it is. If you are soon to be looking at suitable baby gifts, here are some ways to ensure the gift is both safe and suitable.

Buy Clothing – If you are at all worried about buying the baby a toy that they might end up swallowing, you can’t go wrong with items of clothing, and with well-known brands that are made from suitable fabric, mum will appreciate the practicality of your gift, and she’ll need all the help she can get in that department. Safety is rarely an issue with baby clothing, so this is always a practical and reliable choice. If you would like to read about the best fabrics for baby clothing, there is some further reading on the subject on various references online.

Choose a Baby Hamper – This is perhaps the most popular choice for a baby gift, as it contains many useful things, and with a themed baby hamper, you can select something ideal. There are hampers for boys and girls or a unisex version if you prefer, and with lower than retail prices and superb presentation, the baby hamper makes for the ideal gift, and with a secure online payment, the hamper will be despatched to the lucky recipient. Everything in a baby hamper is screened to ensure safety, and with only the best brands, the gift couldn’t be more suitable.

Do Some Research – If you have an idea about what you would like to buy, then you could conduct an online search, specifically looking for safety issues with that product and if you come up with a blank, you will have some added reassurance that your choice is suitable. You could also talk to friends, to see how they feel about your choice, and someone might have an idea that you had not considered.

Safety Approved Products – In some countries, there are agencies that review baby products, and providing they pass, they are given a seal of approval. Look for the specific logo on any product and you can be sure that the product has passed stringent tests, and they do not lend their trademark to any product lightly.

There are so many different things one could buy for a new baby, and perhaps the best choice is a baby hamper, as it contains many items that are necessary for mum and baby, and with an online supplier, you won’t waste any time looking for that ideal gift. The wide range of baby hampers makes choosing easy, and rest assured that the gift will be most appreciated.

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Thought of the day…

If all else fails then bake some rocky road!

Mothers Day Gift Guide

Colorland

There are so many important events to remember each year that the Colorland people have got it covered by helping us to remember everything with their calendar range. My calendar is used constantly so I was drawn to this pretty quickly. What I also love is photo books.

I created a beautiful photo book covering what we all got up to as a family last year. I love the fact that I can have a whole area of photo books on my book shelf to look through of special events and holidays. My boys and I will often snuggle up and look through them and reminisce. Time flies and the boys are growing at such a speed that it’s wonderful to see how much they have changed from year to year. We get up to so much that it is a wonderful way to reflect back on what each of us has done.

I’m so pleased to be able to offer all of my readers a promotional deal. You can get a 32 page Photobook Exclusive A4 (Portrait/Landscape) at a price of £11.99 GBP +free shipping (70% off)

All you have to do is enter the code: MDMYREALFAIRY at the checkout. Expiry date is: 30.04.2018

For other fun tips and ideas have a look at their facebook page.

Colorland ship to UK, Ireland, Spain, Czech Republic, Lithuania, Germany, France, Italy and Belgium and you can contact them if you have any questions regarding other destinations.

Bowe Organics

Bowe Organics was founded by Diane after her love of using organic products when she was hairdressing in London developed in a passion to create her own range. Diane launched her first line in 2017 with her organic lash oil.

Mothers Day Gift Guide

I like this because it is a one stop product for my eyes. You can use the oil on both lashes and brows to improve the health and hydration, this helps optimise the appearance of length and fullness. There are lots of pluses with both the luxury ingredients used to create the lash oil and the fact that it has been registered with the vegan society.

Diane is a lady on a mission to bring us a fabulous new line of beauty products and she has a lip balm soon to be released.

You can find out more about her and her products on both instagram and facebook at boweorganics

GiftsOnline4U

GiftsOnline4U has just about every product you could think of covered that you could ask for and you can have it personalised too.

This Mothers Day I’m having a dinner party for myself and my mummy friends; a group of gorgeous friends who met while our children were in nursery and have grown up together. I love having my get together with these ladies as we have so much in common. It’s also a time to really treat each other and for them not to have to cook, wash up or run around after anyone else.

So it was ideal to have the chance to review and buy some personalised alcohol to sip away while having our meal. It’s not an everyday thing to have a bottle of fizz to share and this one was extra special!

You can see the one I designed below, I’m so pleased with it and can’t wait until our meal.

The bottle looks so special with its personalised pewter label which is exclusive to GiftsOnline4U and you don’t need to worry about ordering a bottle to come by post as it was packaged really well.

Mothers Day Gift Guide

You can see the range of personalised wine and the great choice on offer. The ordering is easy to do and the step by step guide couldn’t be simpler.

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Your Special Giveaway

As a Happy Mothers Day treat I also have a giveaway just for you. Enter for a chance to win.

Worldwide entries

Social Soiree Pack of 12 Blank Notelets & Envelopes for Invitations & Thank You Cards

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Let me know what you think of the items in the guide in the comments below, I love to get your feedback.

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6 tips on how to support a friend through IVF with donor eggs

If a friend of yours has confided in you they’re planning to have fertility treatment, show them they can count on you from the start. The sheer fact that they told you about their plans for IVF with donor eggs is big news. This means she trusts you. Let your friend know you appreciate the trust.

If you’ve never dealt with infertility or are new to the concept of IVF with donor eggs, supporting an infertile person may seem tricky at first. Here’s what you can do.

Take it seriously

Don’t minimize the problem saying that “everything will be OK, you just need to relax and have treatment.” Infertility and egg donation are a big deal. IVF with donor eggs is highly successful treatment, however, the decision to have it needs to be well-thought-out and not hurried. Sit down together and have a look at the egg donation reviews online or egg donor profiles, if your friend is happy to do so. If she prefers to do it with her partner, you should respect her decision.

Ask them if they need anything from you

If you aren’t sure how you can get involved, simply ask. It’s better to voice your doubts than say something unnecessary. Ask them what you can do to help, if they want to talk about it and offer your time to just sit down, have a cuppa and listen. Just be there for her. However, don’t limit your conversations to IVF topics. Remember – you are still her friend. If you can, go out together and have some fun. If you prefer to stay in, have a girls’ night at home and prepare chocolate dessert.

Be kind and understanding

Kindness doesn’t cost anything. Be sensitive to the challenges your friend is currently facing. All in all, very few things are as painful and heart-breaking as the inability to conceive and carry your own child. It is a delicate topic – just give your friend a huge dose of love and care in this difficult moment in her life.

Don’t complain about your own children or pregnancy

If you have children or are currently pregnant, bear in mind that your friend would probably love to have sleepless nights or even a pregnancy heartburn if that meant she could easily become a parent. Try to save your kids and pregnancy updates for your other friends.

Back her up in all her decisions

Show your friend you support her no matter what decisions she makes. You can be sure that she and her partner have already spent countless days and nights discussing their options. If they plan to travel abroad to a more reliable clinic with better success rates, show her you are with her along the way. If she needs someone to look after her dog or cat, offer help. Such small gestures sometimes count more than the big.

Get Involved in advocacy

And, finally, spread awareness about IVF with donor eggs. Did you know that most advocacy efforts come from infertile couples and friends/family? What can you do? It is not a time-consuming commitment. Even advocating on a small scale helps. Overheard somebody speaking about test-tube designer babies or picky parents who choose their baby’s sex or eye colour? Speak up and refute the myths. In most countries gender-selection (family-planning) is legally banned and, in reality, infertile couples don’t care about the sex of their baby. They just want to become parents.

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Collaboration Post

London in the Wintertime

I love the winter and it was great to be in London recently with the London Eye sparkling in the winter sunshine.

London in the Wintertime

The day was hectic with work and a lot of rushing around and pre-speech nerves then the buzz of the presentation being over. To whiz over the bridge afterwards and to catch this view made me feel really happy and thankful.

I would’ve loved the time to walk along the Southbank but that will be for another day.

One of the many benefits and joys of having my blog is I can share this glimpses with you.

I’d love to see some of your favourite photos. You can always tag me in on Instagram as I’d love to visit and you can find me on Instagram at myrealfairyblog

For now I will leave you with this view. Even the reflection of the taxi window adds to the essence of the photo for me.

I’d love your thoughts 💭

Mainy

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For some more stunning scenery pictures have a look at my trip to Stourhead National Trust site.

Our home and building tales.

Since buying our home over three years ago now we’ve done lots of different renovations to the house. It’s been a great journey where I have learnt so many new skills and found out about an odd assortment of new terms that I wouldn’t normally of come across. It’s taken up lots and lots of time and of course the inevitable large chunk of our savings. The best part about our house was that it was one of those rare houses that needed doing up. When I viewed the house the agent even started by saying ‘oh you probably won’t like this one but I’ll show it to you anyway’. She wanted to show me something that needed loads of work and then another one which was the finished article and that you could just move into without doing a thing.

As soon as I saw my little house, as run down, smelly and in need of alot of tender loving care, I knew it was the one for me. I often hear people say that they know they loved a house as soon as they walked into it and this was exactly how I felt with this one.

The garden was huge in comparison with what we had been used to and the bigger the boys were getting, the more space they needed.

There was room for improvement and on the back of the house there was a rickety old lean-to that was being held up by cobwebs and not much else! There were old doors on the back and steps down into the lean-to. The ground floor was all pretty dark.

Our idea was to have this knocked down and build a conservatory on the back to massively increase the family space on the ground floor.

Our home and building tales. — Concrete floor poured and the plaster is up.

When we were planning to have the conservatory built there were so many different options when it came to areas like what type of roof we should have, should we go for our French doors or bi-fold doors, should we go for under floor heating or double radiators. The list seemed endless but we learnt so much from that process that we feel far better prepared for our next big project.

One of the key things I learnt was to be prepared! Prepare to invest in my property, prepare myself by researching products and prepare to have a certain amount of upheaval for the family while work is being carried out. No pain no gain!

There have been ways to reduce the cost of a lot of our items and that was by looking around to see the best deal we could get. I was so surprised by the difference in quotes from the sales people who came around.

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The patient part of our partnership has to be my other half, he has the patience to take in all of the little details whereas I tend to rush in and get over excited by the first good idea.

Our final design was great and had all of the elements we had on our wish list apart from one which was under floor heating! My other half still has to wear his slippers and if we had to do it all again and change anything then it would probably would be that.

We are moving on to looking at the loft next and moving upwards to converting it. I’ve started a pinterest board on it if you want to have a look at some of the ideas, also I would love some recommendations or ideas. If you have some I would love to hear from you.

Have you started any renovations recently or have experiences you’d like to share?

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Blue Moon….

A Blue Moon, Super Moon and Blood Moon are all being present tonight for the first time since 1866.

Once in a blue moon…an expression that we have generally all come across at some point. Does, “I only go out for dinner or the cinema once in a blue moon now that I have children“, sound familiar?? Well, have you ever wondered where the expression comes from…..

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The definition that we commonly go with in my generation is that an actual blue moon is the second full moon in a month. This was coined after a bit of a mix up back in 1946, when an article entitled “Once in a Blue Moon” appeared in Sky & Telescope written James Hugh Pruett (1886-1955), who was an amateur astronomer living in Eugene, Oregon USA. He had attributed it to the second full moon in a month. Originally it had been associated to the more complicated formular of the fourth full moon of a farming season. Some saw his version of the second full moon as a mistake but it has stuck as the more common version.

The name blue moon has been subject now of songs, poems and also used in every day language. When it’s used it stands for ‘never’ or ‘rarely’. I take all new parents back to the quote in the first paragraph!

Is the moon actually blue?…No. When there has been recorded sightings of the moon having a blue tinge it’s been when there has been volcanic ash which has risen and caused this slight effect.

It seems to transcend the years and still maintains a modernity that is as rare as a, dare I say it…….a blue moon!

There are many other names for full moons, which ones do you know?

Or, do you have your own tales of when you’ve used the term ‘once in a blue moon’?

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Valentines Gift Guide – Review and Giveaway

My Valentines Gift Guide series continues here with two products which have caught my eye. Firstly we have some beautiful hand cut and printed cards with which you can pen those love poems I’m sure you are all thinking about at the moment;) Secondly I have the great Australian teeth whitening system that will make those pearly whites of ours sparkle and look bright.

I also have my first post of my Valentines series here where you can win a set of provocative underwear! Have a look and with these posts we’ve got you covered.

Something Made

I love these hand cut and printed boxed cards by Something Made they are perfect for thank you letters, love letters and all manner of notes in between. Priced at £25 for a box of 10 they are affordable cards with an air of modern art to them.

They are the cards of the season!

They are single sided screen printed 350gsm coloured card folded to 120 x 120mm square. They come with envelopes and packed so well that they are great to send as gifts.

Ali and Rachel are London based and really easy to approach with your requirements. You can see more of their range over on their instagram page here

Giveaway…

I am so happy to be able to offer you the chance to win a box of 10 occasion cards (value £25) Enter in the rafflecopter giveaway below. Don’t forget you can come back each day for a number of the entries.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

White Glo

White Glo are Australia’s leading teeth whitening brand and the products are now available on UK high streets. They have a range of products from at home teeth whitening kits, toothpastes developed specifically for actors and models, as well as instant whitening strips, perfect to use before going on a Valentine’s date!

I remember paying hundreds of pounds a couple of years ago having my teeth whitened and am so surprised that now you can now get such a good service from buying online or at your high street shops. No more waiting for hours in a dentist chair while other people make you keep your mouth open for ages. This is for use in your own home with easy instructions.

These dissolving whitening strips are brilliant for a quick top up before a night out. Bright Nights, no gels or creams, just dissolving strips! Wonderful to lighten up to a shade a time.

There are lots of other products in the range and these two are my favourites.

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