My CyberMummy Thank You's and a wonky camera

Before you watch this really dodgy vlog I have to apologise for the shoddy camera work but my nine year old insists that she has to be in charge....

What can you do?!

Darn it - the naked child put me right off and there are obviously way more people that I wanted to mention but you know who you are.... right?
The wonky camera was all Biba - not me...
If I didn't mention you please feel free to abuse me in my comment stream.
x
sian.

Xbox Play Smart Play Safe Tips for Teens

Do you have techno savvy teenagers? Do you have techno savvy kids? Do you have kids?
If you answered yes to any of those questions you really should check out this vid from Xbox.

If your children online game it's up to you to make sure they play safe.

Dear Bloggers...

I just wanted to say a very big thank you for coming to CyberMummy today. It means a lot to me and you all rock. 

It was quite an emotional day and this how I ended it - fast asleep on a sofa in the very noisy bar at The Hoxton, surrounded by fellow bloggers!

If you have a post about #Cybermummy11, do add it to this Linky and if you have any pics you can share them on the CyberMummy Flickr Group?

pic by I am Wit Wit Woo.

Xx
Sian.

What is your child's online footprint?

Did you know?

1 - The average age at which a child acquires an online presence courtesy of their parents is at six months, and by the time they are two 81% of children have some kind of ‘digital footprint’.

2 - A third (33%) of children have had images posted online from birth.

3 - A quarter (23%) of children have even had their pre-birth scans uploaded to the Internet by their parents.

4 - Seven per cent (7%) of babies have even had an email address created for them by their parents.

5 - More than 70% of mothers said they posted baby and toddler images online to share with friends and family.

These shocking stats from AVG's year long research study were presented to us at last weeks #digitaldiaries blogger event. If you have children I urge you to read their report.

You can find out more about AVG at avg.com

Free MOO Business Cards for Everyone!

I love MOO and now you can too as they've decided to extend their offer of FREE business cards so that all my friends can get their hands on some.

You don't have to be in business to make use of them as they are perfect for handing out to friends and parents when you are arranging play dates. The world really is your oyster.

MOO will send you 50 of their new business card size cards (pictured below and the free cards I designed for CyberMummy) - and you just pay the £3 postage and packaging.

You can choose up to 50 different images to display on your cards using MOO's Printfinity technology. Use pics from your blog, pics of you, text,  or anything that captures your style. 

Each of your FREE MOO Business Cards will come with a moo watermark so that there's no forgetting where they came from.

To claim your FREE cards visit the offer page..

The MOO love is strong in our house. Even Biba has a set to give out to her friends showcasing some of the photography from her blog.

Bibasphotos.com blog cards

Welcome to the official CyberMummy11 Hyundai Car!

The official CyberMummy Hyundai car arrived last night. Here's our first road trip...

A very big thank you to Hyundai for supplying all of the cars for the car share

Now that it's less than a week until the big day we're busy building the perfect CyberMummy playlist. So get your thinking caps on, your creative juices flowing and your dancing shoes ready because we want you to let those Abba-tastic guilty pleasures out of the closet by sharing your favourite party tracks with us. 

Post them here or tweet about them using the #CMSoundTrack hashtag and you never know you just might get your track included in our ultimate CyberMummy party playlist.

I hope you enjoyed sharing our little piece of the English countryside:)

CyberMummy and Freya Competition Winner...

Thanks to everyone that entered. We have a winner.......

Congratulations to Actually Mummy - it looks like you are on your way to CyberMummy!!! Please email me sian [at] cybermummy [dot] com so that I can get your details.

See you next week!

Satchel Love part 2

A couple of weeks ago I blogged about my love of a good vintage style satchel. I tweeted and generally shouted and I was followed by lots of other satchel types. Then I came across The Leather Satchel Company and as they have been handcrafting satchels in the UK since 1966 I became all nostalgic at the thought that my beloved old (lost) satchel may actually have once passed through their doors.

Now I love my fluro green satchel but my macbook doesn't fit inside and as I'm rarely (make that never) without my mac it's a bit more fashion over function. So with the love of my mac in mind I decided a more practical satchel was needed.

Then came the really difficult part because The Leather Satchel Co can make a unique bag just to your own specifications including all / any / none of the following....

Monogramming

Longer strap

Shoulder pad

Deeper gusset

Magnetic closures

Multi colours

Custom sizes

The satchel world really is your oyster.

But what did I opt for?

Bright CyberMummy pink, with my initials monogrammed (to stop my girls stealing it) and in the perfect size for my equally loved macbook.
My pic really doesn't do justice to the colour. It's the brightest pink I have ever seen. One thing's for sure though, you really won't miss me!

The Leather Satchel Co offer a unique 5 year craftmanship guarantee on their bags, so if your stitching is wearing, or a buckle is giving in they will replace or repair free of charge. It doesn't really get any better than that - well I don't think so.

Check out their website, this vintage 15" beauty is currently £75.60.

If you are a vintage hunter like me and you come across a battered old satchel with 'Sian Reddick, class 1' written in a seven year old's primitive scrawl, please buy if for me - I will love you forever:)

CyberMummy and Freya Lingerie Competition

CyberMummy is only 11 days away and the final prep is in full swing. We know that there are still lots of people out there who would really like to get their hands on an illusive ticket and thanks to Freya Lingerie, you could still be on your way to the conference that everyone's talking about.

In celebration of the launch of their very first blog, Freya are giving away a CyberMummy ticket and a set of lingerie from their Keisha range to one lucky blogger.

To enter all you need to do is tell me what Freya's new blog is called.

a)  Freya Talk

b) Talk about Freya

c) Fitting Talk

Clue: Visit the Freya Blog to find out. Why not subscribe whilst you are there? 

You can also find Freya Lingerie on Twitter and Facebook.

To enter, please leave a comment on this post. All entries to be posted by midday on Saturday 18th June 2011, CyberMummy is on 25th June 2011. 

This competition is now closed.

My kids are models...

Last week my business partner asked me about my views on children in showbiz. I've attempted to articulate them here but the dog and both the cats decided that that they wanted in and the camera-gal, who is quite frankly more at home on the other side of things was a tad shaky - but none the less, here you are.

I'd love to hear your thoughts about this subject. My girls love what they do and I love the confidence and experience that they get from it but it's of it's time. Don't ask me how I feel about the possibility of Biba making the transition from child to adult model - that's a whole new blog.

This sums it up!

I'm running the risk of getting thrown off this weeks Silent Sunday but hey I'm a rebel:)


For Jay & the lovely Maggie that we met when spending a wonderful week in NYC.
I can't wait to see you at CyberMummy.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Pregnancy, Baby, Work and You.

When mums go on maternity leave, some of them may already know that they will want to return to work on a part-time basis and on roughly what date.   Others tell their employer that they will be returning after so many months – since maternity pay now extends to when the baby is 9 months old, this is a popular time for many mothers to return to the workplace.

However, many mums just don’t know how they’ll feel about returning to work until they’ve had their baby.  Some mums decide to hand in their notice and stay at home; others decide that for financial or other reasons they really have to return to work full-time.

But the vast majority of mums ask their employers, during their maternity leave, if they will consider allowing them to return to work on a part-time basis.

Employers have a duty to consider such requests, but can refuse them on various grounds; usually that part time work for a particular post wouldn’t meet the business’s customers’ needs.  For example, a business may need to ensure that customers can expect to speak to the member of staff dealing with their file during normal business hours. 

As a rule, the larger the company, the more likely you are to have a request to work part-time granted.  This is because they have more flexibility as they have more employees to cover the hours required, and are often amenable to job-share arrangements.  They are also more acutely aware of the benefits of being seen to be a family-friendly business. 

There are a number of choices available in terms of what kind of hours you would like to work, and some compromise with your employer may be needed.  You could ask to work, say, five days a week but just mornings/afternoons: that way, you get to spend good chunks of time with your baby every day.  This might be more appropriate when your baby is still young and spending long periods of time apart is hard on both of you.

Or you could ask to work two or three full days per week, leaving you with two or three full weekdays with your child, which you might find easier and more relaxing, knowing that you have full non-working days to enjoy with your young child – it’s easier to switch off from work that way.

Your choice may be ultimately decided by a combination of what your employer needs and what your childcare arrangements can facilitate.  If you have family who can look after your little one whilst you’re at work, you can obviously be much more flexible than if you are reliant on non-family care.  

When choosing a school for your child, be mindful of the need for wrap-around care if you are not able to work solely during school hours.  

Be flexible and keep reviewing your situation to make sure your needs – and your child’s – are being met whilst your bills are being paid. 

This is a sponsored post for workingmums.co.uk

Facebook competitions Can Seriously Damage Your Health

Your social health that is, because unless you're in line with Facebook's (recently updated) Promotional Guidelines your fab, feel good competition could actually result in your beloved page being removed from the site without a single word or warning.

It's hard to take the guidelines seriously given the sheer number of regulation breaches you see on Facebook every single day - but if you own (or worse) administrate a page for a brand, can you really risk logging on to find out that 'this page no longer exists'?

Here's a rough guide to the rules but please do subscribe to the Facebook news feed!

WHAT YOU CAN'T DO

• You can't run a competition where you have to 'LIKE' a page to enter.
• You can't run a competition that allows people to enter by checking in at your location, liking a status update, message, photo, video or link.
• You can't run a competition on your Facebook wall. It HAS to be via a third party app or on another website.
• You can't notify your competition winners via Facebook AT ALL. No status updates, wall posts, comments or direct messages.
• You can't ask people to join Facebook to enter a competition.
• You can't ask people to upload content for a competition (pictures, videos or other content) to your Facebook wall.

WHAT YOU CAN DO

• Run a Facebook competition using a third part app.
• Ask people to 'Like' you page before entering your competition using a third party app or on another website.
• Collect contact information and data from your entrants when using a third party app for your competition.
• Run your competition from your website or blog and promote it via your Facebook wall.

WHAT YOU HAVE TO DO

• Include a disclaimer on your competition app or wherever your comp is hosted stating that your competition is in no way related to Facebook.
• Disclose to the entrants that they are sharing their data with you and not with Facebook.
• Ensure that competition entrants aren't staff, sponsors or associates of Facebook.

All competitions should comply with country specific laws and regulations which means that the burden of responsibility is in the hands of the page owner or administrator.... Yes YOU.

Please take time to read through the official guidelines, not knowing is not a valid excuse.
You may also want to check out the 9 best social media tools for small businesses from Digital.com.

Journo Request... How to banish the grey!

Want to learn from a professional about how to cover those greys at home?

I'm looking for a women who has quite a spattering of grey hair who would

like to learn how to successfully colour it at home for a feature in a glossy women's magazine.

The lucky lady would get to attend a pampering photo shoot where she would have a consultation with a professional colourist who would then dye her hair for her, talking her through all the tricks she can apply when doing it herself at home.

She'd get professional photos taken of her new look plus receive a £25 voucher as a thank you for giving up her time. 

If this sounds like you and you'd be free to attend a photo shoot in London on June 14th (travel expense paid) please be in touch with:

- Your personal details (age, location, job etc)

- Why you'd like to have the makeover

- A photo in which we can clearly see your hair colour

- A contact number

Please email jessicapowell[dot]freelance[at]gmail[dot]com by 08/06/11