#and i was opening up shopkins when it was playing

[rainedroptalks]

hey did anyone else collect shopkins like an insane person as a child or was that just me

#ramblings #i have multiple core childhood memories that include them for no reason #my dad used to watch these truly terrifying bollywood movies (translated into somali) and i vividly remember one #and i was opening up shopkins when it was playing #those or beanie babies

[avatar-anna]

Shopping Spree

i keep seeing videos of parents taking their kids to target and letting them buy whatever they want as long as it fits in their little shopping cart, and i just had to do that for my favorite family!

Young dad!Harry x Young mom!Reader universe

“Okay, Maeve, you know the rules, you can get whatever you want, as long as it fits in the shopping cart.”

Maeve nodded, her little four year old hands gripping her shopping cart like she didn’t need the instructions and just wanted to get started. Still, she smiled at where Y/n was holding her phone up to film. Her nose crinkled as she moved from foot to foot. “Yes, Mama. I know.”

“Alright then. Go crazy, my love.”

Giggling, Maeve set off down the main aisle. “Makeup section first!”

“Makeup section? She—She’s four she doesn’t need—”

Y/n turned her phone camera toward her husband for a moment. “Anything she wants, remember?”

Harry was the one who suggested this little shopping spree. Ever since the world began to open up again, Y/n and Harry started letting the kids out of the house more. They were adjusting to the normal world again after being locked up, wearing masks to school, washing their hands, making new friends, dealing with the separation from their parents after being with them 24/7 for so long. Everyone except Maeve, who Harry and Y/n were told was having a hard time at school socially. She didn’t want to participate in class and cried throughout the day, sometimes wouldn’t let Julian play with the other children, and not making any effort to make friends. “It’s not uncommon. Lots of children are struggling to adjust, and she’s just used to a specific way of living,” her preschool teacher said when she asked for a meeting with Y/n and Harry. 

So to cheer Maeve up, Harry decided she needed a shopping spree. Y/n all but rolled her eyes at the suggestion, but he insisted that retail therapy worked wonders for him. She finally caved, but only until they agreed on finding other ways to help out as well. Harry just kissed his wife before putting his wallet in his bacl pocket. “Well duh. Now come on. Today’s gonna be great.”

So now they were trailing behind their four year old as she pushed her little red shopping cart. 

“Ooh. This looks pretty!” Maeve said, grabbing an eyeshadow palette with all sorts of sparkly pink and purple shades and dropping it into the cart.

Maeve continued on, working through the makeup section, the clothes, where she found some very cute sunglasses and a denim jacket, then the toy section. The three of them spent a lot of time in the toy aisles. Barbie dolls, a Rapunzel costume, plush candy hearts, and—

“Shopkins we have to get Shopkins,” she said, reaching on her tip toes for a collection of toys in bright pink plastic wrapping.

“You’re running out of space there, sweet pea,” Harry said, eyeing the cart. It was his idea to let his daughter roam free throughout the store, but he didn’t expect her to fill the cart so much. Or be so good at fitting everything just right.

“It’s fine,” Maeve said, then continued on to the next aisle.

Before long, Maeve was stuck with making decisions on what to keep in the cart and what to leave behind. Which Barbie to keep, where to fit that stuffed animal. For a moment, Maeve stood and stared at all the things she piled into her shopping cart, another box in her hands. Then, she turned to Harry.

“You can just hold this one,” she said, handing the box over to him.

Harry nearly took it from his daughter’s outstretched hand before Y/n stepped in. “Hang on there, Maeve. Those weren’t the rules,” she said, trying to hide her laughter.

Maeve pouted at her for a moment, and unsurprisingly, so did Harry. But then she shrugged and switched out one box so she could fit the other one in and carried on.

“Tyrant,” Harry muttered.

“Pushover,” Y/n muttered back, then kissed his cheek.

As they were heading back to the front of the store, Maeve stopped as she saw a pair of sparkly blue shoes hanging up on a rack that was well within her reach. She immediately grabbed a pair, and Y/n almost said she didn’t have any room for the shoes when Maeve simply hooked them onto something else in the cart. “There! All done!”

Harry had to hide his face in Y/n’s shoulder so he wouldn’t laugh loudly and bring attention to them. Y/n covered her mouth with her hand as she giggled quietly and continued to film. She had to hand it to her daughter, she was as crafty as Y/n was and as willing to do anything to buy what she wanted as Harry. A perfect mix of the two.

Maeve strolled up to the cash register, slipping some last minute candy into her cart before she began placing her things on the conveyor belt. She had a smile on her face the whole time, especially when the cashier marveled at all of the things she’d crammed into the little shopping cart. Harry had to admit that he hadn’t seen his daughter this excited or social in a long time. Maeve showed the older woman behind the counter all the things she found, pulled out the bills from the pockets of her little jean shorts that Harry gave to her a few aisles back, and put the change in the brand new purse she bought once the woman handed it over to her.

Y/n and Harry helped Maeve get her bags into her shopping cart, and all three of them waved goodbye to the cashier as they left the store. Maeve skipped the whole way, ecstatic about all the things she bought all by herself. When they got to the car, Harry lifted her up and into his arms and kissed her cheek.

“Have fun today, peach?”

Maeve nodded. “I got so much stuff!”

Harry helped her into her car seat while Y/n slid into the passenger seat. She turned back to look at Maeve, who was already asking Harry to open toys sealed in plastic. “You know, Maeve,” she said. “There’s some really cool stuff you could show to your classmates, don’t you think?”

“I guess,” she said, not sounding particularly excited or daunted by the task. “I think I’ll just show Collette and JuJu.”

“Why don’t you want to show your friends at school, peach?” Harry asked, smoothing her hair back.

“I don’t need friends. I have JuJu and Collette and Simone and Mommy and Daddy,” she said, kicking her feet in her car seat.

Harry glanced back at Y/n, who just motioned for him to continue. She got the ball rolling, now it was up to him to take it home. He looked back at Maeve and gave her a small smile. “I love that you love your brother and sisters, Maeve, but there’s some really nice boys and girls at your preschool that could be your friends too.”

“Everyone already has friends at school.” Maeve said, looking down at her hands.

“Well, who do you sit next to during circle time?” Y/n asked.

“JuJu.”

“Okay…so maybe you and Jules can sit next to another kid during circle time,” Harry said, kissing her forehead. “You are the coolest four year old I know, and your family is so lucky because we get to see that all the time, but I think all those kids in your preschool class should be lucky too.”

Maeve was quiet, her brow furrowed as she thought about what Harry said. Both Harry and Y/n watched with bated breath, not sure where to go from here if she said no. Y/n had brought up seeing a specialist, but Harry wasn’t sure that was necessary yet, thinking she just needed to come out of her shell. And maybe they would have to have Maeve start seeing a behavior specialist, Harry would do anything to make his baby happy and healthy, but he didn’t think they were there yet.

“I think that would be okay,” Maeve finally said. “But not Samuel. He picks his nose. Bleh.”

Harry chuckled and kissed her again. “Not Samuel, then. Someone else. Maybe someone who likes Rapunzel like you do.”

“Okay, Daddy.”

Y/n’s grin was wide as Harry slid into the driver’s seat. He buckled himself in, then lifted his hand up toward her. She high-fived him and held his hand as he pulled away from the parking lot and began the drive home. Squeezing his hand, she turned up the music on the radio with the other, then murmured to him so Maeve couldn’t hear, “Another excellent parenting moment.”

“We could write a book,” Harry mused.

“Mm. How to raise six—six—children,” Y/n said, correcting him when he tried to imply they might raise more than six children in the future. That would not be happening. “How to raise six children during the pandemic when you were already living in secret.”

Harry pouted, but Y/n let him. Then, he said, “Might have to work on the title. It’s a little clunky.”

“You’re a little clunky.”

“Oh. Very mature.”

“Mommy, can we make pizza tonight?”

Y/n looked back to where Maeve was holding one of her new stuffed animals. “Of course we can, peach. What are you going to do at school tomorrow?”

“Sit with JuJu and someone else during circle time.”

“And snack time?” Harry added.

“Don’t push it,” Maeve said.

“All right, all right,” Harry said. Then, quietly to his wife, he said, “If only she was that sharp at school.”

Y/n giggled. “Give it time. She’s our baby. She’ll be just fine.”

“Can we do that again tomorrow?”

At a red light, Harry and Y/n shared a look. They were both thinking the same thing, but only Harry said, “We’ve possibly created a monster.”

#harry styles #young dadrry #young dad! harry #young mom! reader #harry styles blurb #harry styles x reader #harry styles fanfic #harry styles oneshot #harry styles imagine #harry styles fanfiction #harry styles x you #harry styles fluff #harry styles writing #harry styles one shot #harry styles fic

[bumpscosity]

I could remake my meebas and make them a hit.

The little screen comes off and can go on a wristband thing and when you walk it’s like playing with them but you can still feed them and play minigames and stuff but at the end of the day you put the screen back onto the pod and essentially all the points get tallied and that’s when the meeba evolves if it’s gained enough points and then once it’s max level the my meeba thing happens where the pod opens up and the plush comes out the top.

You can connect the pods either via Bluetooth or cord to eachother and your meebas can play together. After they’ve max evolved you can connect your meeba to an app via a QR code it has on its tag or something to keep playing games with it. Also if you put the plush back in the pod there’s a chance it’ll have a baby who’s like a different species kinda and it’s max state is still little and in the screen, maybe it connects to the app too and the app lets the parent and the child interact.

The idea of the old character designs worked but they ended up looking cheap, the different kinds of pods should have more clear themes, maybe one looks like amebas and sciencey and another is very techy and robotic and another is more animalistic, maybe even one that looks like plants/flowers or abstract shapes. A dinosaur line is a must have because dinosaurs are awesome and also always sell.

The downfall of the OG is that it was pretty much exclusively marketing for young girls, who definitely didn’t have the money to spend on a ton of them nor did they care abt them for long enough to save up, they need to market to everyone from little girls to toy collections to adults who are nostalgic for digital pets. Something that could help with that is the introduction of chase variant pets that aren’t on any of the official lists or marketing, make them collectible! Tie-ins with other brands can extend it even further! A shopkins line perhaps? Maybe even sanrio or Nintendo if they got popular enough?

#sassy speaks #can you tell how passionate I am abt stuffed animal tamagochi

[baby-pigtails]

Kiddo Sites/Apps!

Hi hi! I always see a lot of posts recommending sites and apps for age regressors but a lot of the time they’re the same things, so I thought I’d make my own! All the sites and apps on here are free, don’t worry! (Some may have ads or in-app purchase, though!) It’s under the cut cause I tried to include some preview pictures which made it kinda long! If anyone would like to add more or have me add more, just let me know! Have fun and stay safe during this time of quarantine and social distancing!

WEBSITES

- DisneyClips

     This is probably my FAVOURITE site for when I’m regressed! It’s made by Disney fans for Disney fans, and is updated with new activites pretty often! It has a bunch of safe and fun games, quizzes, coloring pages, and even things like analysis charts for kiddos whose special interest or hyperfixation is Disney! It has dress up games that are super-duper easy and cute, and I love them because their style looks like it could come right out of the film it’s from! Like the dresses and everything, and they stick to each princess’s style while making different dresses from the original ones! It’s crazy!!

-PBS Kids

     A classic but awesome site!! You can watch all sorts of episodes for free, you don’t have to put in an email or anything! There are even games and episodes from shows that have long since gone off the air!

-American Girl

     Don’t be fooled by the site’s title, this site is for everyone! If you’re familiar with the American Girl characters, there’s lots of dress up and themed games, and if you’re not familiar with the characters, don’t worry cause there’s still super cute games like pet grooming and, my favourite, Coconut’s Safari! I linked to the games page, but there’s quizzes and polls, too!

-Webkinz

     I’m sure a lot of you know about Webkinz already, but it hasn’t gone anywhere even after all these years! It’s one of my favourite sites, and it’s free to play now! For people unfamiliar with Webkinz, it’s a virtual world where you can raise a pet, decorate rooms, and collect all sorts of objects, food, and clothing! You can play this one online, with their new desktop app, or with their mobile app! (I will warn you, though, the mobile app does not have that much stuff on it)

-Poptropica

     Poptropica has been around for a while too, but it’s changed a lot in recent years! You can play it online and there’s also an app. This one is probably for older kiddos, though - it has a lot of puzzles and requires a lot of thinking at times, so if you’re looking for a relaxing game this probably isn’t it. 

-Poptropica

    Poptropica has been around for a while too, but it’s changed a lot in recent years! You can play it online and there’s also an app. This one is probably for older kiddos, though - it has a lot of puzzles and requires a lot of thinking at times, so if you’re looking for a relaxing game this probably isn’t it.

APPS

- Habitica

     Habitica is a super-duper easy habit tracker/reminder app! I use it to remind me to take my meds, shower, brush my teeth, things like that! But you put in your habits and to-do list so you can personalize it! Usually I don’t like apps like this because they offer no incentive but Habitica turns it into an RPG like Dungeons and Dragons!! So you can level up and get equipment and even pets! What I love about it, too, is that if you ever have any question, their FAQ is super clear and easy to understand, which makes it ideal for autistic kids like me!

- Cookie Run

     Cookie Run is an oldie but a goldie! It’s a running platformer game where you can collect lots of cute cookies and their pets and learn their stories! Plus there’s canon LGBTQ+ rep with some of the cookie heroes! Cookie Run has a lot of bright colours and fast movement though, so it might not be the best game for kiddos with seizures or sensory issues!

- My Tamagotchi Forever

     Super cute revamp of tamagotchi!! Your pets don’t run away or anything in this one, haha! You can decorate your town and your house with coins you earn from simple minigames, and you can dress up your tamagotchis in different outfits and fill out their scrapbooks and collect them all! I really liked this app, definitely one of my favorites :)

- Hello Kitty Lunchbox

     Super simple “cooking” game! Again, this is a super easy, no hassle game and is good for really young kiddos. You get to make a lunch for Hello Kitty and decorate it, along with her lunchbox before “eating” your meal. But again, I wanna stress this one is super simple and some kids may get bored of it.

-Pocket Ponies

     A My Little Pony version of the classic ball shooter game. You aim to hit enemies with your balls, and eventually charge up your ponies so they can perform their special action. You get to collect My Little Pony characters and each one has a different ability.

-Hello Kitty Music Party

     This one’s more of an idle tapper game. It wants you to tap on your screen along with the beat of the music, but even if you don’t tap with the beat you can still get rewards! It has a couple cutesy pop songs in the app, but it can also access your music library on your device so you can tap with whatever you want! The app itself doesn’t offer much instruction but it’s fairly simple to figure out. But like the other Hello Kitty game, it can grow boring quickly for some kids, which is why it became an idle game for me. 

-Disney TsumTsum

     This one is kind of like Bejeweled or Candy Crush - you connect little Disney characters to make them “pop!” You get to collect a bunch of different characters and each character has a special ability.

YOUTUBE CHANNELS

-RescueHero’s Nostalgia Zone

     A lesser known channel but it’s one of my favorites! It’s a gameplay channel, but pretty much every video is old video games like TV plug and plays, leapster/leap frog games, or CD-ROM games from the 2000s. It’s an active channel, too, and tends to upload every week or so! From what I can tell, there’s no voiceover and their videos are just simple, nostalgic gameplay.

-Shirley Curry

     This one’s a little weird but it’s very wholesome - it’s a grandma in her 80′s(?) who loves to play video games! She mostly plays games for older kiddos like Skyrim, but her videos are very calming and she’s very cute in the way she comments on games. She’s super sweet to her viewers and calls them her grandkids, and usuaslly responds in comments. Her videos are also easy videos to listen to in the background, too.

-pstoyreviews

     I don’t watch a lot of toy channels because a lot of the time they’re over the top and super corny or just... really weird, but this channel is run by two people (I think they are a couple but I’m not sure) named Shannon and Paul, and they’re very casual about their videos (despite the corny thumbnails, lol). Anyway, they mostly do blind bag openings for trinkets and toys that are currently on the shelves - things like Tokidoki, LOL Dolls, Shopkins, minifigures, things like that. It’s a very good channel if you like those cutesy sorts of things but don’t have the money to get them yourself! To my knowledge they’re not really sponsored, so there’s no encouraging you to buy a product or anything like that. Like I said, they’re very casual and do talk during the videos but they talk a little slow and there’s no background music, so they are very easy to understand! I believe Shannon also has a doll-specific channel, too, if you’re into that.

-nana825763

     Better known as piropito, this channel is well known for its really cute and wholesome Minecraft gameplay that you can start watching here. This is a Japanese channel, but he captions his own videos, so don’t worry! Anyway, his goal was to figure out everything in Minecraft with absolutely no cheats or searching the web for information or anything like that. That’s really the only thing I’d recommend on this channel, however, and do be careful because they do have some horror game playthroughs on there so stay safe!

-Sesame Street

     Not much to explain here! It’s Sesame Street, and they post clips of the show, songs, and sometimes even full episodes.

#goodness this took forever #kidcore #nostalgia #agere #chire #piggy tales #I feel like these are all kind of girly too so if anyone would like boyish' ones let me know!

[littlefunfetti]

🦄I saw this floating around the agere tag for a long time and thought i should try it!! I dont have the motivation to do each day so imma do it all at once!!

1.Am I A 24/7 age regressor?

🌸It really depends!! My regression is mostly involuntary so i don’t really have control over how much i do it sometimes? But i try to regress very frequently to cope, my ptsd can be a pain.

2.Do I have a cg?

🌸Yup!! Its my boyfriend 🥺🥺

3.Whats my smol age?

🌸1-4!

4. Do you have pacis?

🌸Yup! Not only do I use them to be smol they also help me stim and sleep well!!

5.Favorite Disney Movie?

🌸Oooh thats a toughie!! Definitely a tie between Zootopia and Up

6.What’s my favorite snack?

🌸When I’m regressed it would 100% have to be gogurt!!

7.Favorite Stuffies?

🌸Ahhh definitely my bear Mr. Wiggles, Tempura the Clown, goodnight bear, and my cow squishmallow Brummel!

8.Favorite Agere Song?

🌸Try Everything from Zootopia & The Smile Song

9.Do I have age regressor friends?

🌸Yeshhh!! I have a few on tumblr n i used to have some irl in high school!!

10. What’s My Insta Inspiration?

🌸I dont really use insta but i love a lot of blogs on tumblr!!

11. Favorite Agere Activity?

🌸Playing with my shopkins lil secrets!! (esp the bunny one hehe!)

12.Coloring or Drawing?

🌸Coloring!! I draw when im big but it stresses me out ;m;

13.Toys or Stuffies?

🌸TOYS!!!

14. Favorite Nickname?

🌸Baby Butt!!

15.How Long Have I Been An Age Regressor?

🌸Ive been regressing since I was 13 so about 6 years! (nearly 7!) I found the community when i was 16 but joined officially last year

16. How Did I Realize I Was Agere?

🌸Unfortunately I discovered the k1nk community first and assumed I was in “sfw” k1nk. However after learning about the agere community I realized what I was doing wasn’t k1nk and was an involuntary symptom of my trauma!

17. What Does Agere Mean To You?

🌸Happiness, reclaiming what I lost, forgetting pain, reliving what should have been, engaging in something I love

18. What’s My Favorite Animal?

🌸Guinea Pig!!

19. Do I Have A Fave Agere Youtuber?

🌸Rori BunnyDearest! Her content is so soft n dreamy and it really helps me regress!! I also love her accent!

20. Am I An Open Age Regressor?

🌸It really depends on the person. My bf, sister, and close friends know! But outside of that people assume that I’m either a toy collector or toys are my special interest lol. (This also answers 21)

22. Milk or Juice?

🌸APPLE JUICE!!

23. Sippy Cups or Bottles?

🌸SIPPIES!

24. Any agere gear?

🌸*looks at my room full of toys, stuffies, pacis, bottles, etc* ****SWEATS*** N,,,no🥺🥺

25. Kittens or Puppies?

🌸Puppies!! Especially dachsunds, theyre so pudgy and adorable aaaa!!

26. Chocolate or Strawberry?

🌸Strawberry!! Its a subtle yet sweet flavor!! PLUS ITS PIIIINK

27. How many stuffies do you have?

🌸Close to a hundred ^^;

28. What Makes You Feel Smol?

🌸Brushing my little ponies, bouncing to music with a huge stuffie, picnics, spinning in skirts, and taking a nap listening to rain sounds.

29. Did I Enjoy This Challenge?

🌸Yes but it’s a number short, so Imma add one!!

30. Favorite Agere Shows?

🌸Care Bears, Paw Patrol, Spongebob, My Little Pony, and Go! Go! Cory Carson.

#agere #sfw agere #agereg #agere community #age regressor #age regression #age regression community

[escapetoyourdolls]

HAIRDORABLES/LOL Comparison

I picked up a “Hairdorables” surprise doll at my local Target in order to compare the unboxing experience and the dolls themselves to the L.O.L. Dolls I have recently become obsesssed with.

The “Hairdorables” have only 1 series so far. I love this because it feels like I didn’t miss out on the beginning of the collecting curve, and like I don’t have a bunch to catch up on. There are 12 different characters, and each girl has a standard, exclusive, and ultra exclusive version that is available. It’s, of course, a surprise which one you’ll open, which I also love.

I will say, so far, that I love her more by the minute, whereas the L.O.L. Dolls usually immediately make my heart swell, for some reason.

First, a few photos of the unboxing process and my initial comments:

I think the box that she comes in is really neat. It folds out into a play area setting with a little cardboard stage on the bottom and a colorful background that I’m gonna love to use for doll photos. Each surprise came in like, a ketchup looking peel-open container. I can’t say I like this more or less than the blind bags that are in the L.O.L. Packaging. They’re both really fun to open! Everything in this package is just a hint larger than the accessories for L.O.L. Most noteably, those bulky plastic boots. For reference, check out the short post featuring Countess; there is a photo of the shoes I unboxed for her there as well as some other tiny adorable shit.

Now, some photos of Harmony! This purple sparkly cloth dress, black and purple high-top boots, bow-tie, and guitar accessory are all included in in her signature/most common look: “Harmony Rocks”.

The smaller, plastic dress black and pink dress that she’s in at the end is one of the L.O.L. Fashion Crush series items. It’s really short on her, but it definitely fits her shoulders quite nicely! I think she looks really good in it.

Post Unboxing

Pricing difference- at my local Target, an L.O.L. Eye Spy Series capsule is about 14 dollars and the HAIRDORABLES is near 12. Granted, the L.O.L. markets as having 15 total surprises, and the HAIRDORABLES box says it has 11 surprises. That being said, after the stickers and paper products that don’t really do much for me except for labeling the dolls I have already acquired; in the end both dolls come with one pair of shoes, a complete outfit, and 1/2 accessories. I would say the number of products inside each of the packages is very similar.

Amount of waste- this is all just estimation because I didn’t do any real measuring at all but it does seem that the amount of trash after opening the HAIRDORABLES box seems to be less than with the L.O.L.’s. When I was finished opening each doll, I found it was easier to organize and throw away the plastic for the HAIRDORABLES than for the L.OL.

The cardboard fold-out box for the HAIRDORABLES versus the capsule that the L.O.L. dolls come in seems to be of an obvious lesser quality than the hard, plastic colorful capsules that the L.O.L. dolls are safely snuggled in latex inside of. Opening an L.O.L. is almost like a birthing process to me; having to pull off the rubbery, placenta-like encasing that she lie nude in, piece by piece. There is a certain way that I take it off every time, too. Eyes first.

But the cardboard HAIRDORABLES box is very artistic looking, and photogenic I think. I’ll use it in my comic strips probably in upcoming posts, haha.

Unboxing Experience- oh I think I went in on this in the above answer. I think, now you know I’m weird as fuck. 💁🏼‍♀️

Quality of Accessories- I like that the HAIRDORABLES clothing is actual cloth instead of plastic, but it's not as cute to me as the L.O.L. clothes. I guess it’s because the little plastic outfits are more unique to me than all of the Barbie clothes I have seen my whole life. The L.O.L. accessories are so cute and well-themed, and I absolutely love to find a teeny tiny facial mark or tattoo on one of their chubby little bodies. I am definitely going to play with getting some wigs for my L.O.L. dolls and knit clothing as well. That, I think, will really make me prefer them after-all. It will really make them perfect. Anyone know of any artists who make L.O.L. wigs?! 😋 The HAIRDORABLES don’t (that I know of) have any outfits and accessories available separately, I’m not sure that there is much available online yet. Also, the HAIRDORABLES doll comes dressed in her clothes, with the shoes wrapped as a surprise, whereas the L.O.L. doll comes either nudey or with little (sometimes color changing) undies and bra, making the outfit itself one of the surprises before you’re able to see the doll. I like that there is more to do with the L.O.L. wardrobe. I can go to Target or something if I’m bored, or only want to spend 5 bucks on toys that day (yeah, right) and pick up a couple L.O.L. “Fashion Crush” pods to re-dress my existing dolls in. I am growing to like the rubber clothing more and more, too. So far, I have so many more L.O.L.’s than HAIRDORABLES accessories. I am learning how to put on and take the clothes off easier. I used to be like, pulling frustratingly on sleeves and arms and shit haha. I also like how the entire doll (rubber hair, clothes, and all) remains pretty resilient in my backpack or pocket all day. The L.O.L. dolls come with baby bottles and pacifiers, and the HAIRDORABLES come with things like a skateboard and a guitar. I also love the cute little cardboard I.D. card that each HAIRDORABLES came with. Good for collecting.

Quality/cuteness of Dolls- Both of these dolls are really well made for their prices. Both have a nice weight to them for their size, and both have 5 points of articulation: neck, both shoulders, and the pelvis at each leg. I would fucking LOVE if the next wave of either of these dolls had knee joints, but that’s a cheapskate’s BJD fantasy. 

ANYWAY. Each L.O.L. doll is able to perform one water action: spit, pee, squirt out of her ears, cry, or color change. In order to figure out which one of these actions your doll performs once unboxing, you fill her head with water (either via her water bottle or by dunking her under water) and then bring her back up, squeeeeeeeeeze, and see what happens. The color change ability is exposed with both hot and ice cold water. It’s by far the coolest ability. This makes playing with these dolls, as well as watching the unboxing and now “testing” videos on Youtube super fun. The fact that they are not only completely water proof, but are made to play in the water is genius to me. And, another reason for rubber hair and remove-able wigs! aha! These dolls remind me definitely more of a baby doll than a Barbie or any other kind of action figure doll. They have cute little bulging bellies, and big, doe-y, innocent eyes. The HAIRDORABLES do not have any play options like this, but they are still super cute and do each have a story to tell. They remind me of a BRATZ doll, and have more of a teenage girl feel to their personality. They have longer, lean legs and a thinner torso than the L.O.L. My Favorite part about the HAIRDORABLES dolls is their large head and sweet painted faces. Oh, and obviously their HAIR! It is so silky soft, and super do-able. I sat on the living room floor and french braided my second doll, Skylar’s purple hair last night. 

Size of Dolls- HAIRDORABLES stand approx. 5.5 inches tall, and are essentially the same size as the Shopkins SHOPPIES. L.O.L. dolls stand approx. 3.5 inches tall, quite a bit smaller. and boxier. and cuter. I think I definitely have a preference hahaha. 

In conclusion, I am pretty happy with both dolls. I do prefer the L.O.L. doll because of it’s unique shape and tiny size, but I am happy to have both types of doll in my collection. 

#hairdorables #doll collector #doll photography #lol dolls #lol doll #doll review #doll reviewer #dollcommunity #dollblr #loldolls #doll

[jeremystrele]

Creating The Best Kids Bedroom Ever!

Creating The Best Kids Bedroom Ever!

Interiors

Lauren Li

Dulux ‘Pancake Mix‘ elevates this nursery to the perfect shade of neutral. Photo – courtesy of Dulux Australia. Stylist – Bree Leech. Photographer – Lisa Cohen.

So many designers admit that their first ‘project’ was their own bedroom. It seems that designing their own rooms sparked a lifelong passion for interior design, which made me think about how our childhood bedrooms are so influential in all of our lives.  Childhood bedrooms are a place of independence, where little people can carve out their own space in the world. It’s where they go to sleep and dream, read and play – and sometimes for time-out! It’s a place to keep their books and the things that are precious to them. Kids bedrooms should be a space to spark imagination, feel safe and comforted.

I love kids’ rooms that let them be kids. There should be an opportunity for them to put their stamp on the space, even if their preferred ‘colour palette’ may not flow with the rest of the house. After all, it’s their way of expressing themselves through their surroundings, which is so important! However, at the end of the day, we need to balance their ideas with what will look good. In my experience with my daughters, their influences range from the plastic fantastic Barbie Dream House to Sylvanian Family country cottage. They need guidance!

The best kids rooms happen when their ideas are integrated into the concept for a room, but executed in a more refined way. Above all, the space should show their personality. So if that means a crazy stack of books here, a fleet of plastic trucks there, or a Barbie campervan, then so be it. They won’t be kids forever!

When I design kids’ rooms for my clients, I love to ask the kids a few questions so that I incorporate their ideas. Some kids have never given what their bedroom looks like a second thought, while others provide mood boards! It’s a lot of fun. Be careful what you wish for though, I have been asked to do a cactus/outer space theme… that one was challenging!

Dulux ‘Pancake Mix‘ elevates this nursery to the perfect shade of neutral. Photo – courtesy of Dulux Australia. Stylist – Bree Leech. Photographer – Lisa Cohen.

Dulux ‘Pancake Mix‘ adds warmth to this nursery. Photo – courtesy of Dulux Australia. Stylist – Bree Leech. Photographer – Lisa Cohen.

This is how to create a pretty pink room, while avoiding the princess clichés! The home of Melissa Harris and family. Photo – Caitlin Mills for The Design Files. Styling – Annie Portelli.

Kids rooms don’t have to be just blue or pink! This old gold colour painted to dado height is bright and fun yet sophisticated. In the South Yarra home of Mardi Ola. Photo – Caitlin Mills. Styling – Annie Portelli.

Room by Studio Giancarlo Valle. Photo –  Stephen Kent Johnson.

Room by Studio Giancarlo Valle. Photo –  Stephen Kent Johnson.

There is hardly a more classic combination than navy and tan, which is perfect for a nursery that will carry through to their teen years and beyond. Room by Nest Design Studio. Photo – Kate Monotti.

Colour

If there is one room in the house you can avoid white, it’s the kid’s bedroom! Even a subtle shift from white to a buttery cream wall (we love Dulux’ Pancake Mix, as seen above!) adds so much warmth and interest to the room, whilst still offering a calm, neutral base.

Painting all of the walls a beautiful colour creates a different feel to the rest of the house, and makes the room feel like it’s really ‘theirs’. Even painting the bottom half of the wall is a great way to introduce colour in an impactful way, without committing to the entire room.

When choosing a colour for the walls, firstly think about what kind of mood you want to create. Sometimes the first thoughts are to go fun and bright, however if you want the room to feel restful (ie. if you want young kids to actually go to sleep!) then maybe consider some more calming and muted colours.

But paint is just one way to use colour in a room, consider how fabric can add gorgeous colour. An upholstered bedhead or curtains can be a great way to incorporate colour, while an incredible canopy over the bed is sure to delight and make bedtime a little more fun!

Using an over-scaled design keeps a floral look young and contemporary. Room by Aimee Tarulli of Archer Interiors. Photo – James Greer.

Room by Sisalla Interior Design. Photo – Tess Kelly.

Room by Sisalla Interior Design. Photo – Tess Kelly.

Room by Sisalla Interior Design. Photo – Tess Kelly.

Room by Nest Design Studio. Photo – Melissa Lau.

Wallpaper

Using wallpaper in a kid’s room is a lot of fun – but it can be totally overwhelming to decide on a design! The more colours in the design, the busier the room will feel. However, if the pattern is quite busy, but incorporates just a few colours, it will look more harmonious overall. I encourage my clients to consider wallpaper on all of the walls in a room, as it creates a continuous backdrop to the room, with less breaks in colour and pattern. My tops pics for wallpaper are:

1. These Walls is an Australian brand perfect for a youthful yet sophisticated look suited to tween – teenage rooms.

2. Anewall print murals to suit the wall size you need and they have some beautiful painterly and overscaled designs.

3. Sandberg is another go-to. The designs are floral but with a sophisticated Swedish twist.

4. If the wallpaper designs out there are not quite right, consider commissioning a mural from a local artist like Kelly Thompson or Leah Bartholomew.

Photo – Caitlin Mills. Styling – Annie Portelli.

Kids bedroom from the home of Melissa Harris in Box Hill. Photo – Caitlin Mills. Styling – Annie Portelli.

Kids’ bedroom from the home of interior architect Edwina Gelann and family. Photo – Caitlin Mills. Styling – Annie Portelli.

A kids’ bedroom from the Melbourne home of interior designer Karin Altman. Photo – Caitlin Mills. Styling – Annie Portelli.

Photo – Caitlin Mills. Styling – Annie Portelli.

The teenage bedroom from the home of Chloe Quigley and family. Photo – Eve Wilson.

Art

There is absolutely no reason that kids shouldn’t be allowed to enjoy art in their bedrooms. There are so many types of artwork – consider prints, vintage posters, fabulous tea-towels by Third Drawer Down, mobiles and even kids’ own masterpieces!

Art can also be found in more traditional gallery spaces, however, broaden your search to markets (like The Big Design Market), Etsy, antique stores and auction houses. Try using different coloured frames and arranging them in creative ways.

Artists such as Pete Cromer, Rachel Castle and Hello Miss May are great places to start. Check out the collections by Pinky’s Store, Contemporary Editions, Minted and Paper Collective.

The Sorrento weekender of Kate from Kip & Co features clever under bed storage in the kids bedroom. All bedlinen and blankets from Kip & co.  Photo – Caitlin Mills. Styling – Annie Portelli.

Front-facing perspex bookshelves from Ubabub, in the adorable kids’ bedroom in the Fitzroy apartment of Imogen Milford. Photo – Amelia Stanwix. Styling – Annie Portelli.

Plywood crates by Like Butter, in the kids bedroom in the home of Georgie Cleary and Pino Demaio. Photo – Caitlin Mills. Styling – Annie Portelli.

Storage, shelving + keeping things tidy!

Storage is key in keeping my sanity at home, but I’ve found that there is some storage that works better than others. To get the kids to pack up their own things (I can dream right?), storage needs to be accessible. High shelves don’t work, because they simply can’t reach them, so opt for low shelving and cupboards. There needs to be a combination of open and closed storage; they like to keep some of their favorite things on display, whilst games can go in a cupboard.

Too many baskets filled with toys can just take up floor space, so put your baskets into shelves. The key is to have a place for everything to go – lego, games, toys and barbies all have a ‘home’.

Kids love to have a special drawer or cupboard for their precious things (mostly consisting of rocks from the garden, erasers from Smiggle and stickers). Mustard have a great range of lockers that make perfect bedside tables for small people.

Plyroom do an open shelf that suits books and baskets, with a range of furniture that suits little kids and transitions into pieces to keep for life.

Ubabub design and manufacture a clear acrylic shelf, the Booksee that allows the books to front face so that kids can easily see and access their books.

Pinky’s Store has cute colourful crates that stack.

The String Pocket is a perfect way for them to display their favorite toys (let’s face it, maybe your idea of a nice wooden handmade toy is different to the Shopkins and matchbox cars given to them by the grandparents) but almost anything displayed on this nifty Swedish system looks good.

Gorgeous kids bunks in the home of Alex McCabe of Kip & Co. Photo – Amelia Stanwix. Styling – Annie Portelli.

A tent-style bed in Finn’s bedroom in the Fitzroy apartment of Imogen Milford. Photo – Amelia Stanwix. Styling – Annie Portelli.

Kids quadruple bunks (!) in the gorgeous Eltham home of Sunni Hart and family. Photo – Caitlin Mills. Styling – Annie Portelli.

Photo – Caitlin Mills. Styling – Annie Portelli.

A sweet kids bedroom in the former home of Poppy Lane and Scott Gibson and family in Eltham.  Photo – Annette O’Brien.

Sleep Zone

Bunk beds are having a moment. They certainly have the novelty factor, especially custom-made bunks, with curtains for added bonus points! Bunks give kids the kind of space where they can hide and feel cocooned and safe. A little shelf to keep their favorite books close, with a reading light inside makes bedtime a little more enticing. Well, we can hope!

In terms of bedlinen – this is the quickest and most affordable way to add impact easily to a kids room. Letting them choose their own bedlinen (from an edited selection!) is a way that they can take pride in their own choices too. A great way to create a room that looks cohesive is to select the bedlinen first and then choose a wall colour based in the bedlinen. Afterall, the bedlinen selection is limited compared to the paint colours available!

Pony Rider, Kip & Co, Sage & Clare, Rachel Castle, Society of Wanderers, Little Louli and even your local Adairs proves there is absolutely no shortage of gorgeous bedlinen for kids!

[lunar-magus]

So, in one of many strange decisions I've made lately, I picked up this weird clearance gacha toy from Target for $5

Inside is a booklet that goes into way more detail than I anticipated about the items you can pull, and a (somewhat) working mechanism to spin and get the capsules out

The capsules are fun. They're definitely what makes these more interesting than Lol Surprise dolls or Shopkins, in my opinion at least. The first capsule contained a weird gremlin torso and a shirt. I'm nervous to open the rest

Turns out this is a build a girl situation. I'm having trouble getting the jacket on. I really should have played with more dolls growing up; you never know when skills like that will help you make a dumb Tumblr post. The 4th capsule has her head, and it is kinda terrifying without the hair/hat piece

In total, there were 5 capsules: torso, legs, accessories, head, and hair. All in all, this was an experience. The gacha actually sorta worked, which is everything that I hoped for when I bought it. I'm a little disappointed that there was only 1 outfit, but whatever, it was 5 bucks. The style is strange, but I kinda like it. Was it worth it? Yeah, this was surprisingly fun. Will I get more? Probably not. Unless I find more on clearance, then maybe... Anyways, thanks for reading!

#original content #review #god this was so weird #what has my life become?

[iamknicole]

Daddy & Haleigh

Okay so I lied, I’ve got more Roman fluff and it’s Daddy Ro. I’m not gonna day of its the last one or not. We’re just gonna rock with this. Okay? Cool! 😂😂

——-

Five years old

“Hold on tight, Princess. Don’t be scared, Daddy’s got you.” Roman assured his daughter.

Roman and her mama had gotten her the pink Shopkins bike she asked them to get her for her birthday two months ago. When she first got it Haleigh begged them not to put the training wheels on, of course they did anyway. Roman promised that if she did a good job with them, then he would take them off and teach her how to ride without them. Here it is two months later and he’s making good on his promise but Haleigh isn’t sure about it anymore.

She looked up at Roman with big, brown, scared eyes. “Don’t let go, Daddy.”

“I won’t just yet, Haleigh. Go on and pedal,” He encouraged, “I’ll be right behind you.”

Haleigh did what her daddy told her and the bike started to roll down the sidewalk of their neighborhood park. She was beyond excited to be riding without the training wheels. Now she knew what all her friends were talking about.

Roman was barely holding onto the bike anymore, just letting his fingertips graze the back of her seat as he jogged alongside her. Eventually he stopped and watched her ride with a proud smile. His phone made a quick appearance so he could snap a few pictures and videos. Haleigh laughed and screamed about how much fun she was having until she turned a corner and saw Roman was no longer behind her. Her fear had returned causing her to forget how to break or turn her handle to avoid the bushes in front of her. Roman realized where she was headed quickly sprinted over to her just as she made contact with the bushes.

“You okay, Princess?” He asked pulling her from the bushes. It hurt his heart to see her face red and tear filled. He started to pick the pieces of brush that were stuck in her helmet and on her clothes.

“You let go,” she sobbed with an accusatory stare. A look she had surely gotten from her mama, Roman couldn’t help but laugh a little.

“But I was always right behind you. I saw you, I didn’t go anywhere.”

“But … but,” she cried wrapping her arms around his neck. “You let me fall.”

“Wasn’t I there to pick you up, Hae? Even if I’m not right there by you I’m always behind you and I’ll always be there to pick you up,” Roman explained pulling her face from his neck, “You’re gonna fall a lot but Daddy will always be there. Alright?” She nodded allowing him to wash her face with the towel he had brought along. “Do you have any owies for Daddy to kiss? Or are you alright?”

“No owies,” she squeaked through her tears.

“You did really good though. Daddy’s so proud of you.”

“But I fell, Daddy.”

“But you got back up. I tell you what, if you’re feelin’ up to it you can ride your bike back home and I promise not to let go unless you ask. Sound good?”

“I dunno.”

“Don’t you wanna show your mama and big brother that you can ride your bike?”

Haleigh put her hands on her hips and leaned her head to the side. Her thinking pose, another thing she had gotten from her mama.

“Can I get ice cream?”

“Yeah, you can, Princess,” He laughed picking her bike up, “Mama won’t like it but she’ll be aight.”

Thirteen Years Old

This was the day Roman dreaded more than prom and college send off. As he sat outside Haleigh’s bathroom door he wondered when did Jesus start to hate him. Koda was gone with friends, his wife was at work which left him to have a Daddy Daughter day with Haleigh. Even though she was a teenager, she was still a daddy’s girl.

They were watching one of the many Fast and Furious movies when she got up to use the bathroom. The back of her baby blue sweatpants caught his eye. There was an unmistakable red stain.

“Fuck my life,” He muttered a little louder than he should’ve which caught her off guard. She turned caught her daddy’s eye then moved her stare to the red stain on her mother’s favorite white sofa. Roman tried to tell her that it was okay and he would fix it but she had already ran off.

“Babygirl, come on out. We can fix this,” Roman spoke softly through the door.

“This is so embarrassing. Mama’s gonna kill me for destroying her sofa. Just let me be, Daddy.”

“Let me help, Hae. Just come out.”

She sobbed loudly catching him off guard. The hormones had started already. “I want mama. She knows about this you don’t. I don’t want you to see this. Get mama, please.”

Roman knew there was no way his wife could come home. She had a full day at the bakery and he would honestly be surprised if she got home before eight o'clock tonight. He figured he could at least call and have her talk him through this.

“I’m gonna go call her, Princess.”

He went back downstairs to call her. As the phone rang, he couldn’t help but laugh to himself about his lack of luck.

“Hey, Ro. You and Hae alright?”

Roman had never been so happy to hear his wife’s voice.

“Yes and no,” He sighed. “Hae got her period and won’t come out of the bathroom. She’s scared you’re gonna be mad for messin’ up the sofa. She doesn’t want me to help because I apparently know nothin’ about it.”

She laughed at the distress in his voice. “Breathe, baby. Everything is alright. First, put some bleach and fabuloso on the spot and let it sit,” she demanded softly, “While that sits go look in her closet for a box that says ‘Haleigh’s A Woman’ and tell her I told you to give it to her and open the door. Give her two of the pills and tell her to shower. While she showers, you need to get the stain out. Don’t rub it, scrunch it so it doesn’t set in. By the time you’re done, she should be and you’re gonna have to show her how to put the pad on. Afterwards just give her one of your daddy talks.”

——

Haleigh and Roman talked after the whole fiasco was over with. He decided to take her on his man cave to avoid her freaking out over the sofa again. They relaxed in one of the double wide recliners continuing with their previous movie.

“Mama told me that this means I’m a woman now. So does that mean I can’t be your little girl or your princess anymore?”

“You’ll always be Daddy’s little girl and princess no matter what, Hae.”

She snuggled into his side at his words. No matter how much her friends teased her, she would never stop being her Daddy’s little girl.

“Thank you for helping me, Daddy. Sorry for saying you didn’t know.”

Roman kissed her forehead, never talking his eyes from the screen even though he could feel Haleigh’s brown eyes on his face. “It’s alright, Hae. Just remember Daddy’s always here and he’s got you.”

Seventeen Years Old

Roman couldn’t help but feel a pang of sadness watching his wife do Haleigh’s hair and make up as she got ready for prom. His little girl was becoming a young woman right before his eyes and there was nothing he could do about it.

She had caught his eyes in the vanity staying at their daughter and smiled. “Doesn’t she look beautiful, Ro?”

“Yeah,” He sighed, “She looks as beautiful as her mama.”

“Mikey should be here in a few minutes, Daddy. And you promised to be nice.” Haleigh reminded him. She was already nervous about going to prom with the boy she had a crush on for years and the thought of her dad intimidating him made it no better.

“Don’t worry your pretty lil head about that, Princess. I’ll keep him company while he sits on you.” The doorbell rang out through the house before either woman could say anything else. “Get the door, Koda! I’m coming!” Roman had flashed them a sneaky smirk before leaving the room.

Koda had come home from college once his mama mentioned Haleigh going to prom. He had to meet the boy that would be taking his sister out. His dad needed reinforcement after all.

As Roman came down the steps, he noticed Koda had the poor boy hemmed up in the corner of the foyer. He laughed going to separate them.

“It’s alright, son. Let him go, we can all go sit and talk while we wait,” Roman smiled giving Mikey a firm hand slap on the back, “Right?”

“I’m sure my daughter has told you what I expect from you. And I mean every single thing I said. Im allowin’ you to borrow her, she does not belong to you and will be returned to me the same way she left out of this house. You got that, Mickey?”

“It’s Mikey, sir.” The young boy sputtered out.

“Your name won’t matter if you hurt my Princess. You keep your hands in respectful places and your lips and other body parts to yourself. If so much as a piece of hair is out of place, I will hunt you down. Not only me but her brother here, her uncles and cousins. Don’t play with me, Mickey.”

Mikey let the name thing go. He didn’t want to upset the large man anymore than he already was. He held Roman’s stare until Koda grabbed his attention.

“I hear there’s a hotel party afterwards,” Koda said nonchalantly, “If I find out you took my sister there, I’ll break your lil ass in half. Got it?”

Mikey stared wide eyed at the two men. He didn’t know what to say. He had already made plans for the night but they were making him seriously reconsider.

“I believe my son asked you a question, boy.”

“Ye-yes sir. I got it.”

Just as they wrapped up Haleigh and her mama entered the room. Roman and Koda stood while Mikey sat dumbfounded until Koda snatched him up.

“You look real beautiful, sis. Don’t she, Mickey?”

“Uh..uh,” Mikey stuttered until Roman patted him on the back, “You look amazing, Haleigh.”

“Thanks, Mikey. Is that for me,” she laughed pointing to the corsage he held.

After her mom took a million pictures, the couple were finally on their way out the door. Roman watched her walk hand in hand with the young boy, saddened at the fact that she had left without hugging him. He watched them pull off, closing the door once they were out of sight.

“Perk up, big man. She’ll be back.”

“She better,” He mumbled.

Minutes later the front door opened and the sound of heels clicking against the floor caught them off guard. Roman rose to see what was going on, Haleigh met him in the doorway of the kitchen. She wrapped her arms around him tightly catching him off guard.

“I forgot my hug, Daddy.” She mumbled into his stomach. “You let me forget.”

“It’s alright, Princess. Go have fun and call me if you need me. I’ll be there.”

———

It was just after ten, Koda and and his wife had turned in for the night. Roman couldn’t sleep until he knew his babygirl was home and safe. He settled on Fresh Prince reruns while he waited. He had started to dose off when the front door opened and the sound of sobbing emanated from the foyer. He waited for her to stumble into the living room before he said anything.

“What’s wrong, Hae?”

She looked up from her hands she was crying into. One look at her father and she broke down even more.

“It’s alright, sweetheart. Just calm down and tell Daddy what’s wrong.”

She shook her head still crying into his chest. “You’re gonna be so mad at me. I can’t tell you, Daddy.”

“I won’t, baby. Just tell me, please.” It joked him to see her like this. The only thing on his mind was killing Mickey, Mikey or whatever his name was.

“I fell and I should’ve called you sooner so that you could pick me up, Daddy.”

He rubbed her back still confused. “What does that mean?”

“Mikey didn’t take me to prom cause he liked me. He took me cause h-h-he wanted to have sex with me.” The anger rose within him. He wanted to go find the little shit by he had to comfort his baby first. “He asked me to come to the hotel party with him and I figured it would be fun since … since some of my other friends were going. Bu-but when we got to the room there wad no one else. He tried to kiss me and I told him I was wanted to go with everyone else. He told me to stop acting like I didn’t know why he asked me out.”

“What did you do then, Princess?” Roman tried to keep his anger at bay, it was getting harder and harder.

She laughed a little as she rubbed her nose. “I kneed him in the balls when he tried to take my dress off and called an uber.”

“That’s my girl,” He joked, “Look, you did good. You fell and I was here. I told you Daddy will always be there to pick you back up. Even when you think I’m not.”

“I love you, Daddy. Thank you for not getting mad.”

“Love you, too, Princess. Go on, get this stuff off and get some sleep. We can talk more in the mornin’.”

Roman waited until he heard her bedroom door shut before going to Koda’s room. His look alike was sprawled across the bed, mouth open and snoring. Roman laughed a little as he popped his bare chest waking him up.

“What? What? Something wrong?” He asked sleepily.

“Yup. Mickey didn’t listen, now we gotta pay em a lil visit,” Roman explained quickly, “Get dressed. I’ll be in the car calling your uncles and cousins. Don’t take all day or your ass is gettin’ left.”

Nobody messes with his princess and gets away with it.

———

@lavitabella87 @thiickreigns @x-fivefoot @macfizzle & whomever ender this finds!

#roman reigns #roman reigns fluff

[mysticsparklewings]

Birthday Wishes

I have successfully completed another revolution around the sun!  I swear though I'm such an old soul because even though I'm only 19 I feel like I'm about a hundred sometimes  (But then also sometimes I feel like I'm five again, so I don't know where that leaves me...) We partly celebrated yesterday since my brother had work today, which is one of many reasons why Monday Birthdays suck.  But that just means I got cake a day early.   Red velvet with my mom's buttercream chocolate frosting. And that's the makeover I attempted to give Wishes the Shopkin here. I've actually only drawn one other Shopkin before, Pamela Pancakes, and that was on my whiteboard a couple years ago when I was bored. I don't know, but they usually don't interest me for drawing subjects. Or, well, they haven't in the past. After how well this one turned out, I think I'll be more open to drawing them in the future. Originally I just wanted to draw something cute and birthday-ish, kind of small so I could get it finished before today ended. While I was brainstorming, it occurred to me that a festive Shopkin would be more fun than just a party hat and balloons or something. Then I had the idea to color it like my actual cake, and here we are. I started with my alcohol markers, mostly Prismacolor, but a few Copics on the candles and a Chameleon for some of the chocolate shading. Then I went back and did some highlights and extra shading things with a few Prismacolor pencils, mostly because I was a bit scared to try and lighten up the face with a colorless blender marker for fear of accidentally making a harsh blending/water line. And I wasn't confident in my ability to do the glow on the candles with a marker. Then I did the sprinkles with my favorite Pentel Sparkle Pops, which I think I'm going to need my third set of soon because some of them are almost out.  And of course, I did the brightest highlights with my white gel pen. Also, while I was transferring the sketch to my mixed media paper I had the idea to do the little banner at the top to keep it from being quite so empty, and I attempted to do a plaid print with my colored pencils there. It's not super clean, but I think it works. This is also me taking the opportunity to thank anyone who sent me happy birthday wishes today.   I know my next post is going to be a colored pencil test, and then I think I might try some testing with some watercolor pencils I got yesterday. But I think for the rest of tonight I'm going to take a break and play some video games I've been away from for a few months while waiting to procure a new controller   ____ Shopkins (c) Moose Toys Artwork (c) me, MysticSparkleWings ____ Where to find me & my artwork: My Website | Commission Info + Prices | Ko-Fi | dA Print Shop | RedBubble |   Twitter | Tumblr | Instagram

#shopkins #birthday #wishes

[nobodysuspectsthebutterfly]

Happy Purim, all! As I do every year, here are some pics of my shaloch manot, the gifts of food I gave to family and friends. This year I made apricot hamentashen and salted caramel bars, plus candy and dates. (No decent sales on smallish apples, didn’t feel like getting a box of mandarin oranges, but I was tempted by these mini-mangos... didn’t get them, but evidently other people did since I got one in one of my exchanged bags. :))  Sort of a orangy-brown theme this year, I guess. And I had just enough leftover Ikea bags to cover most of my plates, though if I want to use them again next year I’ll have to go and see if they still carry any. Oh, I also made a Boston Cream cake (this cake covered with chocolate ganache) for the family dinner, but I didn’t take any pictures of that, alas.

I hope everyone celebrating had a lovely holiday! And if you’re going to any carnivals or other events today on Shushan Purim, have fun. :)

Oh, and as expected, my nieces adored my costume -- my youngest niece was a little shy when she first arrived at the dinner, but I said “do you see, I’m a butterfly!” and later when she opened up my sister-in-law asked her what my name was, and she said “Butterfly!” which was awesome. And then she kept playing with my cape. :) She was Batman, btw. Two of my other nieces were dressed in sparkly Shopkins costume-dresses. (If you don’t know what Shopkins are, it’s this ridiculously memetic collectable toy thing based on items you can buy in grocery stores and other stores -- cupcakes or purses with anime eyes basically -- and my nieces and some of my little cousins are obsessed with them; my nieces (aged 6 and 3) watch these unboxing videos on youtube regularly and even do their own (unrecorded) show called “Hi Guys!” which makes me die lol’ing whenever I babysit them -- the next generation is going to be amazing let me just say.) And my last niece was part of a Wizard of Oz theme - she was Dorothy, her parents were Oz and the Wicked Witch, and her baby brother (3 months old) was Toto. :)

Anyway, I did get a better shot of my costume--

My sister-in-law is a good photographer, she made me look tall. :) Well, tall-ish.

And actually, the pose here reminds me of the vampire costume I wore for Purim when I was 16, so have a pic of that too.

It’s been 20-mumble years, I may or may not have changed that much. ;)

#purim #jewish things #baking #desserts #hamentashen #food #costumes #personal stuff #gpoy as the kids are calling it these days #because nobody *ever* suspects the butterfly #they do suspect the vampire though #i wonder if they will suspect the myranda royce

[jennmapp]

10 Reasons Your Mom Deserves a Mother's Day Time Out

This is #MOMLIFE

Hi. I'm Jenn. I am a working mom, wife, the brand manager for Bubbles Hair Salon's exclusive haircare line Cibu and a capsule wardrobe fashion blogger.

Even though I make hair products for a living and write about fashion, my life is far from glamourous.

Once upon a time I was a sassy, well-rested career gal with a convertible and no cares in the world. Today my house is a mess, the laundry never ends and I spend hours a day barking at my children to stop barking at each other.

I guarantee your mom can relate. I also know she works too dang hard to look like a hot mess. So, as you brainstorm this year's Mother's Day gift, consider these 10 reasons why she might appreciate a little peace and quiet and a fresh new hair do.

10 Reasons Why Mom Deserves a Time Out

Reason #10: Carpool Karaoke

Sure, it's #hillar when that British dude sings acapella with Bruno Mars, but in real life your mom is lucky to feel "Happy" enough to sing along to the Displaceable Me 2 soundtrack on backseat repeat.

Reason #9: Yogurt

Good for calcium, they say. Active enzymes, they say. "I don't like yogurt!" you say. Your mom says if nobody ever eats it why is it smeared on both sides of every cushion of my once pristine Crate and Barrel Petrie sofa.

Reason #8: The Rising Cost of Daycare

For the same monthly price of a matching set of his and her 2017 Range Rover Sports, your mom and dad can afford double daycare in the Washington DC metro region.

Reason #7: Unrealistic Expectations Set by YouTube Kids

No, your mom cannot make you a mega-size surprise egg stuffed with Minecraft and Shopkins blind bags and covered in a Play Doh shell crafted in the likeness of Olaf.

Reason #6: The Bathroom Audience

There was once a time when your mom could use the bathroom alone. Those days are over. Props to your mom for teaching you to fetch some toilet paper.

Reason #5: Spilled Milk, Orange Juice, Wine and Cashews

Your mom asked you 10 times not to drop that box of chocolate milk. Your mom should know better.

Reason #4: Waking Up at 7AM... Forever

Before your mom had children she had a nightlife. When she finally went to bed she slept it off.  Now she wakes up when you do and knows that no open bar or headlining DJ is worth that type of torture.

Reason #3: Laundry Day

Have you ever watched the movie Ground Hog's Day with Bill Murray when he is forced to repeat the same day for the rest of his life? Your mom calls that movie Laundry Day. She never wants to see it again.

Reason #2: Prize Fighters

The only reason you kids get a tiny pass on the never ended screaming match over nothing is because your mom knows how much she fought with her own sisters. All the time. Over nothing. With no concern for her dear parents' ears. Now she also knows that karma is a bitch.

Reason #1: That New Hair Feeling

Under your mom's tired eyes and sparkly grey regrowth, there's a pretty lady begging for a fresh new hair do and that amazing feeling she gets walking out of the salon.

I guarantee if you give her a beauty time out for Mother's Day, she'll be a lot nicer when she finds what you hid behind the couch.

This Mother's Day, give your Mom a well deserved time out and a dose of that amazing fresh new hair feeling with a gift card for a service at your local Bubbles Hair Salon. Plus, every gift card purchase of a $50 or more earns a $10 bounce back for you (psss... you should use it try out some Cibu. Just saying.).

#Mothers Day #collaboration #Bubbles Hair Salons #Mom Life

[crisnotchris]

💙💩🚿🥂

💙 = What is one thing that can calm down the mun and muse? Is it a person, thing, or place?

Mun: Listening to Classical Music or watching youtube vidoes.  I’m a huge fan of Grav3yardgirl and I’ll watch and rewatch her Shopkins unboxings or just her unboxing videos in general when I need to calm down or as a helper for getting me to sleep.

Muse: Cris plays piano to calm himself down.  He can just bang around on the keys or play an actual song but it helps him to calm himself or to sort out his feelings and think things through.  His mom too helps. The one thing that will always calm him down is laying his head in someone lap while they play in his hair and tell him nice sweet things, preferably in Romanian but since he doesn’t know anyone who speaks it, just the telling him nice things part will do.

💩 = What do the mun and muse usually do when they feel bad?

Mun: Cry... it’s cathartic as fuck and that’s science my friends.  Also sleep... If I’m ill just let me lay in bed and wallow and sleep.  It’s all I need!

Muse:  Cris likes to sulk tbh... like just let him wallow in his sadness for a bit and eventually he can drag himself up out of whatever is bothering him.  As far as him being sick he likes to sleep and leave the door of his balcony open, because the balcony is off his bedroom and he likes to listen to the sounds of the ocean.

🚿 = Do the mun and muse have any bathing routines? Any habits like singing in the shower?

Mun: I like to take long showers and I definitely prefer night sowers.  I can shower any time during the night but as long as it’s at night I’m good.  I do sing in the shower because I bring my phone with me into the shower to play music from.  I love to play the shower playlist from Spotify!

Muse: Because of his job he likes to shower often.  he doesn’t deal with as much grossness as doctors but the work he does, he still feels like it leaves a residue and so he showers as often as possible  He does sing in the shower... I honestly feel like everyone does or at least hums and Cris is no exception to that stigma.

already answered that last one!

#{cris' questions and answers;} #{out of tape rolls;} #stcrmpower

[piano-pieces]

Piano Practice Motivators!

How do we help the aspiring pianist practice at home between lessons?

Things I hear most often regarding not having practiced from... Parents of students: "________ didn't practice very much ... " Students of all ages: "I forgot to practice." "I had too much homework." "I was busy this week." "I didn't have enough time to practice." This is heard between weekly lessons, and after coming back from small holiday breaks. Yes, everyone needs a break (even teachers!), and I too am a culprit of not practicing everyday.

Growing up, I loathed having to practice. It was a struggle, and sometimes even resulted with fighting with my mother about practicing piano on several occasions within one week. First of all, this doesn't lend to a loving relationship between parent & child, I know this first hand. It develops anxiety, non-love, even animosity because of all the negative experiences developed, albeit small, but it gradually builds over long periods of time into this incredible ball of negativity. DO NOT LET THIS HAPPEN. A loving bond between parent & child is more important than getting them to practice. Trust me. Looking back and having taught for several years, witnessing the similar "I don't want to practice" pattern, I feel like I did not enjoy practicing because I felt like I was forced to. There was no fun element, flexibility, or meaningful connection to myself. All I knew was: I have to practice because so-and-so says I have to, or, I have to practice to play without mistakes. This is not fun at all - especially for a growing child!

 SOLUTIONS!

For Parents: - please remind your loved one to play piano once in awhile during the week - remind them 3-4 days in advance that piano lessons are coming up! - if you had music lessons or a music background: use that to your advantage and suggest to play music with them! Pick up your guitar and strum along as they play their pieces assigned that week, play the harmonica while they play! Any instrument is able to play along with your child as they play (...practice ;) ) their pieces. It takes a little improvisation on your part, perhaps polishing up on a few basic chords, but it will benefit both yourself and your little one :) - if you have a piano background: sit down at the piano side by side with your loved one and play their song with them, as a duet, or even just the same notes :) Count out loud with them, perhaps even point out different elements in the music such as dynamics, or details to spark awareness of these tiny details in music - if you don't have a music background: don't you worry! you are still able to sit down beside your loved one and ask them to teach you their song. Ask them a few questions about what you see in their music, "how many counts does this note get?", "what note is this?", "what does this picture mean?". Even without knowing how to play an instrument, you are able to clap along or try to sing the words in the music while they play :) - suggest to "surprise" the teacher with their best playing of one item at the lesson (eg. the scale we've been working on, their piece of choice, even a song they've made up!) - try using words other than 'practice' to get them to the piano, such as "play" - there will be days when they just don't want to play anything assigned for the week, if this is the case, suggest making up or creating their own song as a surprise for the teacher! :) - the bottom line: it's wonderful if your child practices what is assigned, but the main goal is to have them spend time at the piano, to move their fingers, to explore the different sounds, perhaps even discover sound combinations that they enjoy hearing, and reporting these finds at the lessons! - sometimes, you encounter a child that wants to practice alone, and that is perfectly okay too. Some like a little privacy when practicing, perhaps because they will feel more okay making mistakes without having someone right there to hear it, as they learn :)

For Students: - practicing is not torture, at least, it's not supposed to be :) - do your best to be mindful of sitting at the piano for 4 days, MINIMUM per week. Everyday is the best, even 5 days is still pretty good, but 4 days will make sure things will progress forward instead of falling backwards - when you practice, I understand we do not all have 60 minutes -even 30 minutes- to dedicate to piano practice (although, if we use some video game playing time, iPad game time, even computer time... I'm sure we could make 60 minutes open for piano practice ;) ), think to yourself to practice for about 120 minutes - DO NOT SET A TIMER, this is useless because you will be focused on the timer instead of putting your brain energies into meaningful piano time. And if you happen to sit there for longer than 15-20 minutes, WONDERFUL! :) - choose 1 or 2 things to do from the list, and focus. Tell yourself: "today I will focus on this _______, I will play it about 6-10x, and my goal for today is when I finish 6-10x I will feel more confident with this part", or, "I will feel I improved on this finger pattern/technique/trill/dynamics, etc. when I finish my practice today" ---- if you do this each time you sit down to play, you will feel the improvement, and feel more successful every practice session. - create a brain shield, or a force field around yourself when you sit at the piano, what I mean by this is, do not let any other outside thoughts distract you from what you sat down to do. Block out thoughts like: "what's for dinner?", "I have so much homework to do", "What am I doing this weekend?" - these other thoughts will still be there when you're done, and if you feel it is something very important, write it down so you know you will remember it. Then, you can block it out :)

DEFCON 5

Sometimes, nothing seems to work. No amount of kind reminders, even strategies set up by the teacher to motivate practice. It's time for DEFCON 5: - MONEY: set up a jar on top of the piano, every time your sweet child practices for 15 minutes, put in a quarter (or any other combination of time and $). This is a concrete way for a young one to see the results of practice in the form of money ... that they are able to spend on whatever they like. Almost like an allowance, earned through practice. - TREATS: if candy or other sweets are not usually allowed too often in the household, consider having treats as a reward for x amount of time practiced. Eg) 30 minutes of practice = treat (bite size, full size... you decide!) - Other Rewards: clothing items, coveted Shopkins - Hot Wheels - Lego - other toys or items that are wanted and you're okay with purchasing before their birthday/Christmas/gift giving holiday. Make sure that the amount of time practiced is equal to what you feel is deserving of the price of the reward! Perhaps your child doesn't fancy toys & items, but values experiences instead: consider these as rewards as well - a family outing to a waterfall, an extra trip to their favourite nature park, etc.

REWARDING THE SELF-DRIVEN STUDENT

Rewarding RCM Exams: usually students who choose to go down the path towards accomplishing an RCM Examination all on their own is unlikely to need too much coaxing to practice using rewards or outside motivators. Due to their awesome drive to succeed, they too should be rewarded for their independent efforts! Surprise them with a gift of some sort for outstanding accomplishments they chose to do all on their own, for achieving a wonderful mark and for their continued dedication towards becoming a self-driven musician :)

WORDS OF YES!!

To be fair, I don't only hear words of "____ didn't practice". There are parents who do report their lovely child practices all on their own without needing to be reminded to do so! These self-driven students are quite amazing, as they know what they are aiming for with goals in mind, very self-sufficient in following weekly notes and accomplishing the small tasks and goals discussed at the previous lesson, and self-motivated to learn more and more!

"_____ is practicing a lot more, and I don't have to remind them at all." "_____ practiced for over an hour one day!" "_____ practiced all on their own! Without needing to be told" "_____ learned a song all by themselves!"

 Give these suggestions a try :) Let me know how they work out for you and the aspiring pianist!  

#piano #piano practice #piano student #piano teacher #piano parent #music education #music lessons #piano pedagogy #motivation

[unifiedsocialblog]

20+ Creative Social Media Contest Ideas and Examples

A little inspiration goes a long way when it comes to brainstorming social media contest ideas.

To get your creative juices flowing, we’ve rounded up more than 20 ideas across Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Snapchat—and even TikTok.

And to make things easier, we’ve sorted them by objective, from increasing engagement to generating leads.

If you’re looking for platform-specific guides, don’t fret. Check out our Facebook and Instagram contest ideas for suggestions and guidelines.(PS: before launching your social media contest be sure to make sure it doesn’t violate the platforms’ T&Cs or R&Rs.)

Now that the fine print is out of the way, let’s get to the fun stuff.

Bonus: Download our free, customizable social media calendar template to easily plan and schedule all your content in advance.

7 Social media contest ideas to increase engagement

Turn up the likes, comments, and shares with these social media contest ideas.

1. Like and/or comment to win

The classic “like and/or comment to win” is a tried and true way to increase engagement. It can be held on just about any social platform, from LinkedIn to Instagram.

Simply create a post with an explanatory caption, include an entry deadline and simple guidelines, and voila! You can also share the post in Facebook or Instagram Stories to better spread the word.

In this example from Hallmark UK and Ireland’s Instagram account, the entry rules and deadline are clearly stated, and an on-brand image of the prize ties it all together. Hashtags like #giveaway, #freebie, #liketoenter, and #commentoenter help to amplify the contest’s reach, too.

View this post on Instagram

????W I N???? We have a Tuesday treat for you! You could win this beautiful bundle of Birthday cards???? Simply like and comment on this post for a chance to win???? The winner will be announced tomorrow, good luck???? . . . . . . #giveaway #tuesdaytreats #freebie #competition #happytuesday #tuesdaythoughts #cardbundle #liketoenter #commenttoenter #followtoenter #birthday #birthdaycards #birthdaycard #happybirthday #gift #hallmark #hallmarkuk

A post shared by Hallmark UK & Ireland (@hallmarkukandireland) on May 21, 2019 at 11:26am PDT

2. Share or RT to enter

Like and/or comment to win contests prompt engagements with your base, but by pairing the contest with a share or RT requirement, you can reach more people. If you ask followers to share to Facebook or Instagram Stories, keep in mind that you’ll only be able to confirm those shares within 24 hours.

To promote the launch of its new direct flight from Tampa to Frankfurt, German airline Lufthansa ran a two-week #Hausguest social media campaign. To enter for a chance to win houseguest essentials, all participants had to do was retweet.

3. Tag a friend

Bring ideas 1 and 2 together with a “tag a friend” entry requirement, since a tag is technically a comment and a share wrapped into one. Ideally, this approach will benefit from the ripple effect: A friend tags a friend tags a friend kind of thing.

This example from Montreal-based shoe brand asks participants to tag three friends, increasing the odds of additional tags.

View this post on Instagram

GIVEWAY ???? ????????

A post shared by L'intervalle (@lintervalle) on Apr 5, 2019 at 12:14pm PDT

Brands with big budgets may also wish to incentivize tags with double prizes. For instance, a restaurant could ask followers to tag the person they’d like to share a meal with. Another way to encourage tags is to let them count as multiple entries.

View this post on Instagram

*CLOSED*☆????????????????????????????????☆ We're teaming up with @mininatorilla to give two lucky winners a chance to win☀️summer kick-off essentials☀️Enter for a chance to win one $50 Whole Foods Market gift card plus a variety pack of three Mi Nina Tortilla chips sure to make the [unofficial] first weekend of the summer a fiesta to remember???????? To enter: 1. Like this photo 2. Follow @chicadegallo + @mininatortilla 3. Tag a friend in the comments 4. Tag more friends for more chances to win [one tag per comment] . . . This giveaway ends Monday 5/27/19 at 11:59PM EST. Winners will be selected at random and notified via Instagram message shortly after. Open to contiguous U.S. residents only. This promotion is in no way sponsored, endorsed, administered by or associated with Instagram or Whole Foods Market.

A post shared by Chica de Gallo® (@chicadegallo) on May 23, 2019 at 11:25am PDT

4. Photo caption contest

A “caption this” prompt is a fun way to encourage followers to comment on your photo and engage with your brand.

Shopkins toy brand uses this type of contest to showcase its products. You don’t need a big prize budget to run a successful social media contest, either. Simply featuring the winner in Instagram Stories was enough to prompt 45 comments in this contest, three times more than its previous post.

View this post on Instagram

Caption this, SPK fans! (Psst, best caption will be featured on on our IG Story.) Comment your captions down below! Winner announced on 22nd March on IG Story. T&Cs: https://bit.ly/2HEwCwI #CaptionThisContest #SPK11 #ShopkinsFamily #TheDiPastas #Shopkins #MiniPacks #SPKFans #ToyCollector #Collectibles #Toys

A post shared by Shopkins (@shopkins_world) on Mar 20, 2019 at 8:09am PDT

5. Create a best comment competition

Giving followers a prompt can inspire more comments. Ask them to tell you why they—or a person they nominate—deserve to win. Or ask them to come up with a name for a new product.

For a chance to win a print of this Saskia Skoric painting, participants were asked to come up with a name for it.

View this post on Instagram

!!!????????COMPETITION ????????!!! **WIN**WIN**WIN** an A3 PRINT of THIS PAINTING!!!!!! All you have to do is FOLLOW me ????????@saskiaskoricfineart ???????? and ????????LIKE ????????the post.. THEN .. in the comments, give me a NAME for THIS PAINTING as it is yet UNNAMED. The name that myself and my family think works best for the painting will be the WINNER!!!!! It’s THAT simple!!!! I shall announce the winner on 23rd February. ????~GOOD LUCK~???? . . . #texturedpainting #oilpainting #fingerpainting #saskiaskoric #saskiaskoricfineart #competition #biggiveaway #win #beawinner #followtowin #commenttowin #newcompetition #competitiontime #artcompetition #artcompetitions

A post shared by Saskia Skoric Fine Art (@saskiaskoricfineart) on Feb 9, 2019 at 1:27am PST

6. Create a play-to-win game

Over the course of one week, Chipotle kept its Instagrammers on their toes with a series of successive games intended to get people excited about the addition of queso to the menu.

On the first day, fans were asked to comment with the letters “Q-U-E-S-O” on a post in uninterrupted succession. That led to 22,000 comments and a year of free queso for the winner.

On day four, Chipotle launched a “spot the differences” game using Instagram Galleries, a game that 450 people played.

By the end of the week more than 50,000 people had participated, making The Queso Cup Chipotle’s highest engagement Instagram campaign of all time.

7. Vote to win

People love to have their say. Create a contest where a vote counts as an entry. Ask users to vote in the comment section of a post, or create an Instagram Stories poll. This is also a quick and easy way to collect feedback from your audience on something important to your business.

View this post on Instagram

⁣⁣ GIVEAWAY!⁣⁣ ⁣ Ink lovers! We need you! Help us pick our next #thINKthursday ink review from these four inks and you could WIN a sample set of all four! ⁣⁣⁣ ⁣⁣⁣ To enter, just…⁣⁣⁣ 1. Like this photo/post.⁣⁣⁣ 2. Post your ink choice (A,B,C,D or E) in the comments.⁣⁣⁣ 3. Be sure you're following @andersonpens⁣⁣⁣ Voting begins: Now⁣⁣⁣ Voting ends: Tuesday at 5 pm CST. ⁣⁣⁣ A random winner will be selected from qualified participants and will be contacted on Wednesday. ⁣⁣⁣ ⁣⁣⁣ This giveaway is in no way sponsored by, administered by or associated with Instagram, Inc. By entering, you confirm that you are at least 13 years of age, that you release Instagram of any responsibility, and that you agree to Instagram's terms of use.⁣⁣⁣ As with all good giveaways, this one is open to anyone and everyone, worldwide – but you need to be at least 13 years old and have an Instagram account.⁣⁣⁣ ⁣⁣⁣ #fpn #fpgeeks #fountainpenday #penaddict #fountainpenink #inkreview #inkophile #andersonpens #handwriting #votethINK #giveaway #vote #votetowin #inksamples #thINKthursday⁣⁣⁣ #apgiveaway #andersonpensgiveaway #ink #inks #inked

A post shared by Anderson Pens (@andersonpens) on May 6, 2019 at 8:49am PDT

Ginsoy’s new menu’s bound to leave you drooling for a WIN! Which one did you like best? Red Roast Chicken or Shanghai Beef?#Ginsoy #ExtremeChinese #votetowin

Posted by Ginsoy – Extreme Chinese on Tuesday, February 21, 2017

This type of contest can also be paired with a submission-based campaign. For instance, if you’re running a caption or photo contest, the winner can be chosen by vote.

6 social media contest ideas to increase followers

Grow your follower count with these tried and tested social media contest ideas.

1. Follow to win

The most straightforward way to broaden your audience is to require a follow for contest entry.

This contest structure is usually combined with a “like” request, too, as in this example from Riedel UK.

View this post on Instagram

Follow @RiedelUK and like this post for the chance to win a set of 6 Riedel Fatto A Mano Cabernet/Merlot glasses worth £425! Comp ends at 2pm on 22.02.19 ❤️???????????????????? #RIEDEL #myRiedel #competition #liketowin #followtowin #tagtowin #cabernet #merlot #wine #glass #fattoamano

A post shared by Riedel UK � (@riedeluk) on Feb 20, 2019 at 3:15am PST

Brookes Blooms ran a similar contest. But, instead of using a date as an entry deadline, they set a goal of 100 followers before drawing a winner.

View this post on Instagram

GIVEAWAY TIME! Not long to go now until the winner is drawn to win a Keyring & Candle of your choice! Open Australia wide! Simply follow this account and like the corresponding post on my Instagram page! (Post pictured in second photo). Winner drawn once @brookes.blooms reaches 100 followers ???? #smallbusiness #smallbusinessmelbourne #win #free #botanicalart #floralart #candle #soycandles #soycandle #likeforlikes #followtowin #likeforlikes #followforfollowback #asinglej #promiseimlovable

A post shared by Art & Gardening By Brooke (@brookes.blooms) on May 24, 2019 at 3:41am PDT

2. Follow and share to enter

There’s little point in asking your followers to follow you. The best “follow to win” contests are supported by an amplification strategy.

Ask people to follow and share your post. Or ask them to tag someone in the comments so you can reach and hopefully entice non-followers to come aboard.

View this post on Instagram

GIVEAWAY TIME ???? We are giving away one of our lunch boxes to one lucky winner! Winner will be announced on Sunday the 2nd of June! TO ENTER: •You must be following @luxury.eco •Like and share this photo •Tag as many friends as possible for multiple entries Good luck!

A post shared by LuxuryEco (@luxury.eco) on May 26, 2019 at 5:53pm PDT

3. Follow to win + influencer

Another great way to reach new potential followers is to partner with an influencer. These contests can require entrants to follow both accounts for a mutual gain, or just your company’s account.

Keep in mind that the terms you agree upon may influence the partnership cost.

Lufthansa teamed up with influencer Marissa Cox @ruerodier to reach her audience of 123K followers. Based on the post’s comments, the airline scored somewhere near 650 followers out of the promotion.

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Congratulations @lilitoohappy – you’ve won!! Please DM me your address details etc…. NOW CLOSED: COMPETITION/CONCOURS: I don’t know about you, but I have serious wanderlust at the moment, so I’ve teamed up with @lufthansa to offer one of you x2 return flights within Europe (Lufthansa destinations) To enter: – Follow @ruerodier & @lufthansa and like this post – Comment and tag your partner or friend you would like to travel with. (You must be +18 to enter & I will announce the winner on Wednesday.) Good luck/ Bonne chance! #unknownplaces #lufthansa [AD]

A post shared by Marissa Cox (@ruerodier) on Apr 14, 2019 at 9:01am PDT

4. Weekly or monthly draws

It’s easy for followers to unfollow. But accounts that run monthly contests or draw winners weekly have a better chance of earning loyalty and maintaining follower counts.

A few years back, Expedia noticed that #tbt was the fourth most popular hashtag on Instagram. Every Thursday over a 10 week period, people who shared a vacation throwback with the #ThrowMeBack tag were entered for a chance to be “thrown back” on that holiday.

Expedia featured content on its account and published winners once a week, a strategy that encouraged people to follow to see if they’d won.

In less than 10 weeks, the company nearly doubled its following on Instagram.

Our winners in action! Post your #TBT w/ #ThrowMeBack @Expedia & you could get thrown back! http://t.co/K6k9QXBDhdhttps://t.co/uJBWLbZ5ti

— Expedia (@Expedia) July 24, 2014

5. Follower milestone campaign

Brands that are on the brink of passing a follower milestone like earning that capital K or M beside a number can use the occasion to build momentum.

There are a few ways to approach one of these campaigns. The New England Patriots asked people to RT or share the hashtag #1MillionPatriots for the chance to see their name on a custom digital jersey. Unfortunately, they used a bot to select winners and things didn’t quite go as planned.

We're saying thanks to @patriots' 1million followers w/ custom digital Pats jerseys – RT for yours! #1MillionPatriots pic.twitter.com/u2SfidCb9e

— New England Patriots (@Patriots) November 13, 2014

As NBC’s Dateline approached the million “like” mark on Facebook, it launched a “One in a Million” campaign. To enter, participants had to explain why they deserved to win a special New York experience.

Bonus: Download our free, customizable social media calendar template to easily plan and schedule all your content in advance.

Get the template now!

Two weeks ago, we brought Kim Trimble & Denise Hunnings, two of Dateline's biggest fans and the winners of our 'One in a Million' contest, behind the scenes of Dateline NBC for two days.It was awesome.

Posted by Dateline NBC on Monday, July 21, 2014

Others, like the craft queen herself, offer to award the two-millionth follower with a price.

If you are my 2 millionth follower – I will give you an amazing Singer sewing machine! Spread the word and RT

— Martha Stewart (@MarthaStewart) February 2, 2010

6. Stage an exciting unveil

Brands can ask people to follow them, or they can give people a reason to follow them. Use a contest as an initial hook, and secure followers by creating an incentive to tune in for the results.

Foot Locker nabbed a Shorty Award for its #HorseWithHarden contest on Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube. For one week, fans were asked to shoot a video of their most creative basketball shots and share them with the hashtag.

Now here’s the sinker: NBA star James Harden would be recreating the best submissions on Foot Locker’s feeds in a faceoff against the Internet.

Unsurprisingly, Foot Locker’s YouTube subscriber rate skyrocketed by 300 percent.

In a battle of two heavyweights, only one could claim victory. @JHarden13 vs. The Internet. WATCH! #HorseWithHardenhttps://t.co/1AFCGFQjp9

— Foot Locker (@footlocker) October 3, 2014

Want to do something like this on a lower budget? Plan to announce the winner in a separate post.

If you put the onus on participants to claim their prize, rather than contact the winner directly, they’ll be more likely to follow for the results.

3 social media contest ideas to collect leads

Learn more about your audiences with these lead generating social media contest ideas.

1. Enter to win sweepstakes

Sometimes the most obvious solution is the best one. The old-fashioned enter-to-win sweepstakes formula still works like a charm, especially with tools like Facebook’s Instant Forms feature.

To collect email addresses for future retargeting campaigns, Asian restaurant chain P.F. Chang created a sweepstakes on Facebook and Instagram that asked people to share their email address to enter.

Backed by paid reach, the month-long contest received nearly half-a-million entries.

Automaker Opel used Instagram Stories and it’s direct-link capability to secure 1,887 contest registrations.

2. Chat to win

A chatbot can offer a more tailored experience than generic form registration.

KIA Motors Europe developed a Facebook Messenger chatbot that could ask people questions and help them enter to win a special experience. Promoted with click-to-Messenger ads, the chatbot was able to deliver 3,000 registrations.

3. Plan a social scavenger hunt

Leaving easter eggs or clues across your social media channels allows you to provide multiple call-to-actions to fill out a form.

Take medical web and mobile-learning platform Osmosis for example. Its #OsmosisQuest challenge asks followers to find answers to its contest across its social media accounts in exchange for a free month trial of Osmosis Prime.

To complete the submission, participants are also asked to share basic information, like what school they attend and what degree they’re pursuing.

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Announcing #OsmosisQuest! Running March 25–29, this interactive adventure will take you on a scavenger hunt through all the different features of the Osmosis platform. . Every entrant gets one free month of Osmosis Prime for completing the Osmosis Quest, as well as a shot at winning SIX MONTHS! . Visit the link in our bio to read the full contest rules and begin your journey. ????️???? . #osmosis #giveaway #learnmedicine #FOAMEd

A post shared by Osmosis (@osmosismed) on Mar 25, 2019 at 9:01am PDT

6 social media contest ideas to generate buzz

Promote a new product, takeover a social conversation, or just increase awareness and consideration.

1. Put out a call for submissions

A call for user-generated content is a surefire way to generate buzz. Especially if the call is specific, easy-to-follow, and realistic for enough followers to complete.

Before launching a new chicken burger last September, Burger King UK knew it would have to address its “checkered chicken past.” So the company asked people to share photos of themselves taking a bite out of an imaginary burger using the #BK20KBITE for a chance to be paid £20,000 to taste-test the real thing.

Other companies have encouraged people to submit photos with real products, which in turn can help to boost sales, too.

Taking a different approach, Adobe challenged its community of creators to explore the full range of Photoshop’s possibilities. After realizing many of its users were Dungeons and Dragons fans, the company put out a call for the community to create the new D&D monster.

In the end more than 2,000 creatures were shared, showing everyone what Photoshop and the Adobe community were capable of creating.

This Halloween, create a Dungeons & Dragons monster for a chance to win $5,000 & have your work immortalized as a D&D miniature. #SummonTheTerror of Undermountain at https://t.co/uflRuuYh03.

No Purchase Necessary. Ends 11/16/18. Age of Majority. Rules at https://t.co/uflRuuYh03 pic.twitter.com/Ngm2q8huFP

— Adobe Photoshop (@Photoshop) October 30, 2018

2. Create a hashtag challenge

Hashtag challenges have been around for a longtime, starting with Cinemagram and Vine, and now TikTok. Thanks to their popularity, it’s easy for companies to join in with branded hashtags that prompt users to engage and become brand ambassadors.

Guess was the first to challenge TikTok users with its #InMyDenim campaign that asked participants to create videos depicting their denim transformations. The hashtag has raked in 37.9 million views.

Wondering what TikTok is and if you should care about it? Learn more.

3. Take over an event

This is not the same as an influencer “takeover”. Frank’s RedHot scored a touchdown on Twitter this year with a #FranksSweepstakes that asked fans to help bring its “Put That S#!t on Everything!” catchphrase to life.

During the game, fans were asked to put the chili pepper emoji on every ad they saw. In other words, when a car commercial comes on, you’d tweet the pepper plus the auto emoji. Franks RedHot made use of an event that wasn’t officially “theirs”, but at which they knew lots of customers would be in attendance.

It's time! Tweet ????️ + the emoji for the category of the ad you're watching + #FranksSweepstakes, and you just might win. Not all ads quality.  Full rules and prizes here: https://t.co/8NLgQkg2bp pic.twitter.com/u6i8E6EYY6

— Frank's RedHot (@FranksRedHot) February 3, 2019

4. Use a branded filter/lens to win

Why not ask fans to create a Snap or Story with a branded filter for a chance to win a prize? Many companies, including Taco Bell, Dunkin Donuts, and HBO’s Game of Thrones have created branded filters to promote a new product or simply increase awareness.

You donut want to miss our #NationalDonutDay lens on Snapchat today 6/2! ????: dunkindonuts pic.twitter.com/wEEJjRJ4xJ

— Dunkin' (@dunkindonuts) June 2, 2017

5. Play to win a Snapchat game

We’ve all been caught in a Snappable snafu, whether you’ve been walked in on trying to catch imaginary Twizzlers in your mouth, or fulfilling some other odd objective.

With a built-in games setup, brands can use Snapchat to create video-gamified contests.

GrubHub created a Snapchat game called “Food’s Here” game that offered players $10 off their first order for winning, and $15 off if they downloaded the food delivery app.

6. Create a Pinterest Board to Win

Asking followers to create a Pinterest board can be a great way to encourage engagement with your products.

For instance, Pinners could be asked to use a travel company’s Pins to create a board depicting their dream vacation. Or home interiors companies could ask Pinners to use their products to create a board for their ideal living room.

Save time and run your next social media contest with Hootsuite. Promote it across all the major networks, engage your followers, and manage user-generated content in one place. Try it free today.

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    The post 20+ Creative Social Media Contest Ideas and Examples appeared first on Hootsuite Social Media Management.

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[lovelettertoemoryann]

You turned 3 today

My beautiful, wonderful, kind-hearted Emory. Today is your third birthday. I have so much to say to you, so much I want you to know. Today was the end of a 5-day storm so our big plans got washed out. We spent the day in a playplace at Memorial City Mall and had Chic-fil-a for lunch and you got to pick out some candy at a candy store. You picked little gummy things and a rainbow gummy rope. After nap we met picked up Mimi and Papa and went out for dumplings (Ocean’s Palace) and had dinner, then back to Mimi and Papa’s house to open presents and have your little blue genie birthday cake :).  A simple day full of little fun things and celebrating you for  the incredible little girl you have become. You were wonderful all day, and were so happy with your little presents. (Gold shoes that matches Olive’s- you shrieked “Gold shoes just like Olive!! They’re so shiny”, a shopkins mermaid house and things, magic carpet blanket, and an Aladdin swimsuit.) Each gift you were so happy to open and were such a joy to watch. As per usual the day ended with you singing “A whole new World” with Olive and off to bed... where you repeatedly open the door and giggle. Again, as per usual on my last check of your room, I come in and you have your big plastic shopping cart in your bed playing and hide your eyes with your little hands so I can’t see you. :) :) I just could not adore you any more. You are perfect. 

It’s been a big year for us as a family. Daddy finished graduate school, passed the board exam, and began working in a new field. You gained a cousin (”Baby Miller”), Olive began pre-K at a new school, and you were moved up to the big “Ladybugs” class. :) you have become your own person this year, and made your place in this family. And this family would not be complete without you. Here are a few things about you that make you Emory.

-You are stubborn. You want your way, you want to do it yourself. You do not want people to clap for you unless you want them to. You do NOT want anyone to sing happy birthday. :) :) 

- You are confident and headstrong. I stand in awe at little you some times. You are a “force of nature.” little Emory. You are dynamic, and you are strong. All great qualities in an adult. :) But can, at times, be challenging as a 2/3 year old. hahaha.

- You have a mushy heart. You melt when you see a baby, or a tweet  tweet (bird) or almost any animal. You are empathetic beyond reasonable for a little one your age. You have a big big big heart, and I love it. You adore Olive in a way that is hard to  explain, but you adore her. You get still and quiet when daddy raises his voice too loud and cry so honestly and painfully, that it breaks me into pieces. I hate raising my voice to you... but see the above bullet point haha. 

- You adore Olive. You listen to her when she bosses you, as if she is your mommy most times. You light up when she gives you attention. You so perfectly smile, and clap for any achievement or praise that she receives. You are her biggest fan, her biggest cheerleader, and forever her baby. Just this week, I walked into the playroom and Olive was in the little beanbag chair holding you like a baby all swaddled up and everything haha. You sing Disney songs together, and discuss who is the prince part and who is the princess. 

- You are brilliant. Your vocabulary is off the charts, you are learning letters and numbers so quickly. You love to do our little experiments, you are curious about everything. You do so well in your little class.. except that you tell us that you get in arguments about what the weather is like with all the other kids every day during circle time hahahaha. 

- You are just precious beyond words. Incredibly cuddly, (when you want to be), incredibly funny and charming, you make us laugh constantly. You have a way of getting out of trouble by making me laugh, and by using that heart-breaking smile. You may call me a “toopee” and laugh your signature loud cackle where you throw your head back. :) :) 

I tell you every day that I would not change a thing about you, and that you are PERFECT just the way you are. And I mean it. I love you Emory. 

We had a good year. We biked a lot.. You now take your little strider bike down the trail and will bike a few miles on it with us. We ate some great food. You are getting there, and will eat a lot of things. You are learning to swim now with Ms. Janet. you love swim lessons and are soon to be swimming behind Olive. You learned to pretend play. You have such an incredible imagination. I love sitting around the corner, in the other room, watching you play with your dolls. You have the best conversations and play dates with your stuffed animals and dolls. It is always the highlight of my day to see you play. It softens my heart, and takes me back to being little myself. 

The bad- you have allergies.. or something we are trying to get it al figured out... But you get bad excema and we are almost sure it is food intolerance, likely dairy and or soy.. I hate it for you.. But you are such a trooper, it hurts me and your mommy much worse than you. By your 4th birthday we are going to have this thing taken care of. :( Some nights you cry at bedtime because you are “a prince” and you are not “a princess” because we coat you in lotion and put on footie pajamas. :( :( You want to wear your little princess nighty dresses so you can be a princess. This hurts me and your mommy worse that you will ever know. :( But mommy bought you this lacey little robe/dress thing that we put over your pajamas and you are a princess again. And you are happy again. I love how you can go with the flow of things, and accept things like this. I know how important dressing like a princess is to you at your age, and you take it all like a champ. :( :)  

Emory.. You are the last puzzle piece in my life. With you our little family is whole, and my life is complete. You bring so much joy to my life. I tell you every night. I would change NOTHING about you, and that you are PERFECT just the way you are. I feel that  I don’t deserve to have a child as wonderful as you. You are perfect, and you are perfect for me. You are beautiful, you are adorable, you are kind and empathetic, you are hilarious, you are brilliant and creative, you are friendly and considerate, you are everything a daddy could ever want in a little girl. I love you. Always and Forever. 

Love you Emory, Daddy