Wow, yesterday marked the first anniversary of my blog! And what an adventure the last year has been. I started writing a blog as a creative outlet and a form of therapy, really. I’ve always been passionate about writing and found it very cathartic. I also like playing around with techy things and like to get creative, so it seemed like a good project for me.
I was in the process of recovering from something of a mental breakdown due to myself being ill after birth and Autumn becoming critically ill a couple of weeks later. A blog was somewhere I could go to distract myself and focus my thoughts on. I planned to eventually tell my story in the hope that it would help people, and I did in the form of two posts: Autumn and the Ovarian Cyst and When Mummy went crazy with anxiety. The support I had from people after writing those posts and messages from people they’d helped were quite overwhelming!
The blog
Starting this blog was life changing for me. I went from being scared to leave the house or drive, to driving myself to baby groups within weeks. Within a couple of months, I was going further afield and visiting family 7 miles away! Autumn’s Mummy stopped me from being isolated. I went from waking up each morning feeling scared, to wondering what excitement the day would bring. This was in part due to amazing support from Family Action too, as I wouldn’t have been brave enough to get out driving on my own.
As the year went on, more and more exciting things started happening. I was invited to press launches, sent products to review and got to work with brands and businesses I’d long admired. As well as that, I’ve met so many amazing people. It is all hard work and as fun as it is, it can get stressful when you’re trying to balance the rest of your life and meet deadlines. Unless you blog, I don’t think you realise how much time it takes. There’s no such thing as a freebie, you work for it; spending hours writing about it, photographing, editing and working on SEO (search engine optimisation) for your blog post. However, it has been truly amazing despite my occasional stressy moments! It has helped to bring me out of my shell and I’ve done things I never thought I’d do!
To celebrate our first birthday in this little corner of the internet, I wanted to put together a little giveaway for my readers!
The giveaway
Firstly, I have some prizes very kindly donated by The Food Nutritionist. These comprise of a lovely kitchen towel and oven gloves which usually retail for £20. If you haven’t already seen it, Jeraldine’s website is amazing! She teaches people about the health benefits of eating ‘real food’ and helps them to become healthier, offering a number of services. Please do check it out.
Also to be won are £20.97 worth of bathtime fun goodies from Paladone! These include a light up bath duck, an aqua coconut shy and a soggy moggy bath plug. It’s sure to entertain the children for a while (or you, I won’t judge!)
There are also some goodies I’ve added to the mix! These include some face masks to relax with:
It’s so dull at this time of year, that I thought some fairy lights might brighten things up a bit:
Nice undies are one of the little luxuries I enjoy. So here’s a £10 Boux Avenue card to treat yourself with:
Last but not least, I’ve added some lovely shea butter body moisturiser by local company, Fenton’s:
The prizes I’ve added are worth around £20, bringing the total value of these prizes to over £60! I hope whoever wins really enjoys them; good luck everyone!
Autumn’s Mummy 1st Birthday Giveaway
I love reading the reasons behind people’s adventures into blogging. Starting a blog has had so many positive effects on people and there are so many lovely communities. It’s so lovely of you to host a giveaway and well done for battling your anxieties! #CoolMumsClub
Thank you! There really are 🙂
Happy one year anniverary hun! Look how far you’ve come. Here’s to another fab year and what a lovely way of celebrating with the giveaway. Thanks for linking up to #coolmumclub lovely xoxo
Thank you! 🙂 xoxo
Happy blog birthday to you!
I love the face masks. I do love a good pamper but I think my girls would enjoy the bath toys 😀 x
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Ah yes, I love a good face mask when I get the time! Good luck 🙂 x
You have achieved so much in one year. A lovely giveaway – and I have gone all out and got my full 50 entries! MMT for the win!
Thanks for linking to #coolmumclub
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Thank you and thanks for entering! Good luck 🙂
The gift card is my favourite – I like choosing…
Yes, it’s always nice to have an option! Good luck 🙂
Happy anniversary, I hope you have many more! I love a good face mask so it would have to be those 🙂
Thank you! Yes, I love a face mask too 🙂 Good luck!
I love the fairy lights as I have lots around our home all year round – I think they brighten up the room, especially at this time of year, when it is still dark and all the Christmas decorations are down !
Good luck! I agree, I have to have fairy lights or something to brighten it up at this time of year 🙂
I love the shea butter – so soft x
Good choice! Good luck 🙂
Well done on your blog milestone.
My favourite item is the face masks, because they would be a touch of luxury and pampering.
Thank you! 🙂 Good choice, I always enjoy a good face mask. Good luck!
I like the face masks! I love a good pamper night! Thanks for the chance x Happy Blogiversary!
Thank you! 🙂 Good luck!
Congratulations on reaching a year and for everything you’ve achieved. As a newbie blogger, it’s really inspiring to hear from people who have trod the same path only recently. I hope this year carries on in the same vein x
Thank you! 🙂 Good luck, I hope you enjoy your blogging journey as much as I’ve enjoyed mine so far! x
Bathtime fun goodies for my sons x
Good choice, they look so much fun! x
Happy Anniversary! I would love to try the face masks as its a great excuse for some pamper time!
It’s always good to have a reason to treat yourself. Thank you and good luck 🙂
Love the colour of the oven gloves and kitchen towel
They’re great, aren’t they? Green is such a lovely, fresh colour!
Fairy lights! I love them! I am always in need of more!
Hehe, you sound like me 🙂 Good luck!
happy blog day i love the light up duck my boys would love it xxx
They are awesome! Thank you and good luck. xxx
Happy blogversary! The voucher would be great to treat myself with!
Thank you! Good luck 🙂
Great prize. Please consider allowing competition entry via e-mail, blog comment, etc.
Hi Rachel, do you mean instead of Gleam? Or do you mean as one of the primary modes of entry, rather than having to enter via Twitter to get to the other means of entry? I’m a fellow comper so am always keen to hear feedback on my own competitions 🙂
happy bloggy birthday!! I would love the face masks, been so long since i had a pamper night x
Thank you! 🙂 I know the feeling, good luck! x
i love the bath toys for my daughter and gift card for me
Brilliant, good luck! 🙂
love the face marks
Thanks for entering, good luck!
I definitely need that light up duck in my life! Haha. They’re all fab prizes though 🙂 Happy blog-iversary! x
My daughter Poppy would love the aqua coconut shy. She loves bath time
I would love the boux card to suprise my husband with something (well a treat more for me lol). 🤞😊
Soggy moggy bath plug
I’d love the boux avenue giftcard to treat myself to something other than large knickers that currently live in my drawer
I like the light up bath duck. So cute!
Happy Blog birthday!
With 4 children I rarely get a moment to myself. I love the Face masks, would be the perfect excuse to allocate myself some ME time.
Thank you for running such a wonderful competition. I enjoy reading your blogs. Keep up the Amazing work! 😀
Happy anniversary x I love shea butter x
The Light Up Bath Duck – my kids would love that!
The Paladone bath goodies because I could enjoy some relaxation time in my new bathroom
The Fenton’s shea body butter looks nice and zingy with the peppermint ingredient
My favourite prize has to be the face masks as i use them every week after a nice hot bath relaxing in front of the TV.
The light up bath duck is fun!
£10 Boux Avenue card
The shea butter . I would love to try your local firm’s product.
the face masks i could do with a bit of pampering happy anniversary x
The face masks so I can really pamper myself
A lovely giveaway to celebrate your first year with your readers! #coolmumclub
My favourite is the Shea Body Butter!
My daughter loves Boux Avenue so she would enjoy choosing something nice for her birthday
The light up bath duck! I know my little one would love it!
The gift card is my favourite!
I love fairy lights I just need my daughter to love them too x
Happy anniversary, would love the face masks perfect way to relax which Ive not done in a long while
Happy anniversary! I love the voucher for underwear as it would be lovely to treat myself!
The Boux gift card because a little luxury is a real treat! Happy Anniversary!
Fairy lights and face masks would make for a lovely relaxing evening in!
Thanks so much.
And huge congrats on your blogiversary, you’ve come such a long way over the last year+. The internet helps me feel less isolated too, although I mostly just lurk on other people’s blogs and don’t have one of my own!
All the best for the adventures yet to come x
Face masks to fix my mess of a face 😉 haha!
Firstly thank you so much for the competition.
I really like the soggy moggy bath plug, it’s unusal and I think my kids would love it.
Soggy Moggy! My son loves cats and he would think this is brilliant
I love the look of the she’s butter moisturiser. Great selection of goodies!
It’s really difficult to decide which prize I prefer, as I would share them with my daughter and my grandson, who both live with me. My daughter is my full time carer, so I’d give her first choice, as she never ever complains, despite only being 22 years old and having had ME/CFS for several years as well as hypermobility problems since she was born. She’s also a fantastic Mum to my 4 year old grandson, who would love the bath toys. So, I’m really sorry, but I’m going to have to say I love all the prizes equally.
No problem, I’m not going to force you to choose one! I have hypermobility problems too, so I can empathise on that part. What a wonderful daughter you have. Good luck!
The face masks – I can’t remember the last time I used one!
Congratulations on blogging for a whole year, it’s such a great milestone to achieve. You’ve come such a long way in that time frame and it’s amazing what blogging can bring. Claire x #CoolMumClub
Thanks Claire 🙂 You were the first person who I guest posted for, I’ll never forget that boost of confidence it gave me in those earliest days 🙂 x
Loving the oven gloves and matching tea towel as would look fab in my kitchen x manyt hanks
The light up bath toy, the duck is my favourite, I think my daughter would love this, she loves her bath times ☺️ thanks for the chance.
i love a good pamper so the face mask for me
The bathtime fun goodies, my youngest is like an orca whale in the bath, the more splashing the better. Hopefully these fab bath toys will distract!
Great prizes but I do not have a Twitter account so can’t enter
Oh the face masks. Would really love to give myself a little a pamper treat.
LED Lights, to brighten up our bedroom
I like the fun gifts from Paladone, they are really quirky xx
I love the Boux Avenue gift card – what a generous prize this is!
I love the 7th heaven masks – love a pamper!
Light up bath toy
I like the sounds of the whipped body butter
I love the oven gloves 🙂
The face masks would be my favourite, I love a good face mask!
I really like the kitchen towel and oven gloves.
Oh la la, def the gift card, to add a bit of spice into this tired Mummys life! lol
Got to be the light up bath duck for my little ones
The Soggy Moggy Bath Plug!
face masks i love them xx
I love the led lights, you can make a dull room look so lovely with a few lights 🙂
The Light Up Bath Duck is my favourite as my baby boy would enjoy playing with this at bathtime x
cheese i love cheese
I’m absolutely loving the light up rubber duck =) teehee
I love a good face mask 🙃
happy anniversary congrats on the year mark ! My favourite would be the face masks love a pamper when my daughter goes to bed
My skin is so sad and dry this time of year. The body butter would cheer it up though
the body moisturiser as I use a lot of body cream to keep my skin smooth!!
The aqua coconut shy! The perfect novelty for my other half who spends hours in the bath! Why do men do that?!
I could do with some new underwear so the Boux Avenue gift card would be fab x
I love the face masks – very relaxing
It’s always nice to hear why bloggers started, we all have a different story and I particular love yours! I can’t believe it’s been a year since you started blogging. This is such a lovely giveaway, thank-you.
Gemma | http://www.anoceanglimmer.wordpress.com
The face masks are my favourite. I used to use them loads, but now I don’t often remember to take the time to pamper myself. I really need to start!
My favourite is the Boux Avenue gift card. Their stuff is so lovely and it would be great to treat myself.
The Boux Avenue gift card would be a special treat. Congratulations on your first year. I wish I’d had this charity after my baby’s birth, I had very little help.
i love the hot face masks. not had any for a while tho
The Boux Avenue card I need some new bras
I love the Soggy Moggy. So cute.
Happy one year anniversary hunni.
I would love to get the facemasks. I would be nice to have something for myself
The oven glove & tea towel are my favourites, my daughter would enjoy the face masks, body moisturiser and Boux Avenue gift card, and my granddaughter would love the bathtime fun items & fairy lights.
The LED lights as being a Mummy doing night feeds perfect so I can see to feed my little boy but not to bright to wake him up fully
Happy One Year anniversary, great giveaway thanks fingers crossed 😍🤞☘️🎁🥂💄💅🏼
The facemasks would be a real treat . I’m always running around after everyone else and could do with a pamper session! Great giveaway thanks for the chance!
The Shea Body Butter sounds really lovely to me along with the face masks I do love a nice pamper after a long day
What a lovley page with so many great items on, I especially like the light up bath duck – totally quakers!
I love the face masks because I love to pamper myself
Cheese, because I adore cheese 🙂
The dead sea mud mask – I love them! x
I love fairy lights! I’ve always thought they are magical x x x
The 7th heaven face masks, perfect for a good pampering session.