When Hayley got in touch to see if I'd like to put her rustic gift wrap subscription box through it's paces I was excited. Brown Paper Packages does what is says on the box.
There is one for each season which is appropriately themed and your first will include a roll of double sided tape and some gift wrapping tips to help things go well.
Each box will include:
3 sheets of gift wrap, 5 metres of string and ribbon, 5 cards and envelopes, 5 gift tags and 5 decorations.
A whole year of boxes costs £60 or you can buy a single box for £20 and as well as a great idea for yourself, it would make a really lovely gift to give to someone else.

Can I just say how fragrant the box smelled; the sprigs of lavender brought it to life and really inspired me to get stuck in. The box arrived in excellent order, the shredded paper had kept everything well protected and safe. I really appreciated the gift wrapping tips (learned a few things!) and the double sided tape is revolutionary.

I had a few things which needed wrapping so I decided to strike while the iron was hot and get stuck in. It was Alice's birthday last week so I had a couple of things to send and was glad I had an opportunity to use this smart co-ordinated set instead of my usual haphazard mish-mash of paper and cards. My tongue was probably stuck out as I worked carefully to keep everything super neat and in order. While I measured out the larger piece of paper first, I wrapped a teeny gift first as my 'tester' which gave me a little more confidence to tackle the main item. Is it big-headed of me to say that I'm dead proud of how good my final piece looks? The overall appearance is very tidy and I'm hoping that this is the start of a new chapter in my life!
These were pretty straightforward to wrap and besides, by now I felt like an old hand. I took them round that very day, despite it being over a week until her birthday. She was surprised. When I saw her a day or two later she thought it was out of character (and assumed I'd bought a pre-wrapped gift) "I thought Sophie's not creative" so I explained that it had come as part of a set and I jolly well had wrapped it myself actually.
As you can probably tell, I'm really on board with the concept of Brown Paper Packages and am thrilled with how my gifts are looking! I need to keep up the momentum.

Here's your chance to win one of three summer edition Brown Paper Packages boxes!
The Rafflecopter form is below and runs for 2 weeks. The winners will be selected at random and the boxes will be sent directly from Brown Paper Packages. Please note that the boxes can only be posted to UK addresses

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Best of luck!
Sophie

If you've ever had a protein shake you'll know how important it is to give it a good enough mix to get rid of any lumps. Shakers come in a variety of designs but the only ones I've come across have one thing in common - you shake them (we have about 5 in our kitchen). Enter Promixx, a revolutionary way of making the perfect drink. The really different concept of the Promixx completely sets it apart from it's rivals. This sports drink mixer has a blending paddle set within the bottle and has a one twist detachable motor which goes ahead to create a vortex and the press of a button. The device is barely any larger than any other sports drink mixer as the motor unit is battery operated (2x AAA batteries) so it can be taken out and used on the go, on demand. No ugly cables required. I was very impressed with the functionality of the device and the build quality - the lid is strong, secure and leak-proof.

The  vortex created is a thing of beauty in itself.

To mix your drink up you first put in the liquid, start up the motor to create the vortex, then add your powder. When I gave the Promixx a whirl my drink was spot on, no lumps at all and in double quick time. Very impressive. Now don't think for one second that this device is purely for protein shakes; any liquid based drinks are good - from milkshakes to baby formula or even cocktails too! Nifty, eh? Any negatives? Well, my main gripe is that the bottle does not have any measurements marked on it which would have been super useful but hey, it’s no biggie.

Thanks to Promixx for sending me a mixer to review, it's certainly a product which is going to see a good lot of use (Husband is going to snuffle this quicker than you can imagine, d'oh!) and they have also sent me one to give away to you, dear readers *high five*.

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Sophie