Wonderbly Christmas 2023 gift guide + a discount code (25% off & free shipping)

Hi Everyone,

With Christmas slowly approaching, and people starting to plan and seek for gift ideas for their loved ones, I thought that I would share with you a few of my recent discoveries in the personalised Wonderbly books range. 

I wrote a similar blog post last year, so - if you're looking for additional recommendations - please make sure to pop over here. 

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FOR THE LITTLE ONES

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Wonderbly have kindly sent me one of their recent personalised Christmas stories, "Your night before Christmas", which I feel is somewhat of a Christmas version of their best selling "Lost my name" book. 

Taking into consideration how much my kids (now aged almost 6 and 8) loved, and still love, reading about the little girl who lost her name, I had no doubts that my little Hanna would be thrilled to get a Christmas version of the story. And I was not wrong - just look at the smile on her little face, as her older sister explored the story with her for the first time.

As always, the story is full of beautiful and colourful images and illustrations, and the quality of the book is fantastic. We thoroughly enjoyed the journey searching for Hanna's name through Christmas wonderland. 

In this book, aside from the usual personalised dedication, you can also add a photo of your child at the beginning of the story, which I thought was an additional special touch. 

The only constructive feedback I have for this lovely story is the rather low amount of options in terms of choosing the looks of the main protagonist - whilst a few skin tones & hair styles are available, I wish there were better options in terms of haircuts (in our case, we were lacking the option of a little girl with a fringe), eye colour/shape, etc. 

All in all, the girls enjoyed it, and they confirmed that they recommend it for a Christmas pressie! :o)

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FOR OLDER KIDDOS

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If you're after a present for a slightly older child (or not necessarily a Christmas-themed one), Amelia (age 8) and I recommend the "You are extraordinary" self-belief journal for kids. Amelia got this for her birthday back in August, and she has had lots of fun with the information pages & activities included. 

In a few year's time, it will also be a fun reminder of what she was into at the age of 8!

One of Amelia's favourite pages is the "extraordinary by definition" section, where a dictionary of made-up words using her names & surname has been created:

The nice thing about this journal is that there are sections just for reading (and contemplating!), some are dedicated to colouring & doodling, and then of course there are also sections that need to be completed by its owner:

But, there are also some surprising activities included:

We highly recommend this journal for any child that can read and write. Amelia has a couple of similar journals already, but she really enjoyed exploring this one, as the personalisation made it just that tiny bit more special.

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FOR ADULTS

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Finally, a little recommendation for those adults in your life who already "have it all" (have a peek at what Wonderbly offer in their range for adults here). 

Last year, we tested out the adult version of the "Where are you" books on Granddads and Uncles, and they were a big hit (you can read more about these in my Christmas post from 2022). 

Earlier this year, Granny received "The book of Everyone" (birthday edition), which she absolutely loved. This is now also available in a Christmas edition, as well as a couple's and a milestone birthday edition, amongst others.

There is room for LOADS of personalisation in these books, and we especially loved adding lots of photos to it (I won't be sharing them on the blog for privacy reasons, sorry!). 

The only disappointing part of the book we created was the Global Times section, dedicated to events from the year the recipient was born - we feel that a bit more effort could have been put into this page for some of the dates (s0me have this section filled to the brim, so you might be more lucky!). 

We overcame this issue by adding cut outs from more recent newspapers where Granny was featured, which was also fun! 

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BRAND NEW BOOK ALERT

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I, personally, am very excited for one of the newest additions to the Wonderbly collection - The Personalised Astrology books. Unfortunately, at the time of writing this blog post, I have not received my copy of the book just yet, hence I am unable to share my opinion about it. But, stay tuned in the coming weeks! :o)

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MORE IDEAS NEEDED....?

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If you are looking for additional inspiration for Christmas gift ideas that Wonderbly offer and recommend themselves, have a peek at their Early Christmas Gifts recommendation page. I am sure that you will find something for everyone over there. 

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DISCOUNT CODES - what you have all been waiting for :o)

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Affiliate disclaimer: if you purchase your books via the links in this blog post, or use the below coupon/discount codes, I will - at no additional cost to you - get a small commission from the sale, as I am a Wonderbly Ambassador, but please rest assured that all of my above opinions are honest, and I would not be putting that much effort into writing a long post about something that I don't personally endorse or believe in! 

Make sure to come back to this post once you're ready to purchase the Wonderbly books of your choice, as I will keep updating it throughout the rest of 2023 with the best discount code I have available. I would imagine they will have something special planned for Black Friday! ;o)

IF YOU ARE READING THIS BEFORE DECEMBER 5th 2024, use

BFDHZIFB for a whopping 25% off AND free shipping*

*free standard shipping does not apply in Spain at the moment, sorry :-(

Happy shopping, and let me know in the comments what caught your attention, or which books you already have in your Wonderbly collection!

Mirella 

A sweet and simple (& quite quick to make!) card for a friend - for any occasion

Hi Everyone,

I hope you're all doing well! 

I shared this sweet card over on my Instagram recently, and so I thought that I would pop in in here, too! My plan is to go back through some of my favourite Insta shares, and post about them here on the blog, to share more info about the process, products used, etc. It shouldn't all be about the Insta love! ;o)

This sweet any occasion card came together rather quickly, as the colouring is not very complicated, and the background took literally just a few minutes - so, if you're a beginner, or you're under time pressure - it might be a great design idea to go for. Plus, you could use any critters you have, to achieve a similar effect. Changing the background colour combo would make it a great card for a male friend, too (I, of course, went for a more girly look this time - you know me, I love cutesy & pink!).

To achieve a similar look, all you need is to gently blend on some ink for your background (I used pink & purple, and left a bit of white around the edges, focusing on more intense shades towards the center of the panel). For a bit of interest, I added some shimmery splatter, and cut the panel with a stitched die. 

I coloured & die cut the adorable images by MFT, and stacked them one on top of the other, to make the scene more fun. I chose for the critters to stick out from the ink blended panel a little bit, too - this adds a bit of an "unexpected" element to the design, and makes it more interesting (+ notice that all of the coloured images are popped up with foam tape, yet again - to add some interest!).

Finally, I stamped the sentiments, and adhered the whole panel to a grey card base. The enamel hearts, some while gel pen highlights, and a black gelly roll for the critters' eyes were the perfect final touches - when you make a simple enough card, little details like this can make a big difference!

What do you think? I believe it's really adorable. 

Stay safe and crafty,

Mirella

SUPPLY LIST (please see affiliate disclaimer & essential supplies info here):

Stamp & Die set: MFT Weather with you. Sadly, looks like it's discontinued, but some crafty stores still have them in stock - google it! :o)

Embellishments: Doodlebug Rainbow Hearts

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Brandbassador - want to join in?

Hi Everyone,

A bit of a different post today, as I thought that I would share with you some of the ins and outs of becoming a Brandbassador - both as a brand looking for out-of-the-box marketing solutions, as well as an ambassador of a specific brand (which I have a tiny bit of experience with). 

I first came across the Brandbassador app thanks to a brand that I had been a big fan of for a few years - they reached out to me, and invited me to become their ambassador. I initially thought that the invitation was perhaps a bit out of place, as it felt like this would be an invitation that should go to an "influencer", but I quickly realised that the core idea behind Brandbassador is that it's the ambassadors (aka fans, followers & people who actually know, use & love the products) who should spread the word about a brand that they stand behind, as opposed to the influencers, who share the product with their followers purely for a profit. Whilst I believe that both relationships can be very beneficial for a brand, the idea of a true ambassador - and not a transactional influencer - pitching a product to me truly resonates with me.

I took the plunge, and became one of the Brandbassadors for Wonderbly (which is the brand mentioned above) - a fantastic publisher of personalised books for kids & adults alike. I had nothing to lose, really - I had already purchased many of their products (both for my own kids & as gifts), and have been recommending them to friends and family for years. So, why not try to be rewarded for my preaching? :o) 

I have been Wonderbly's "official" ambassador for a couple of months so far, and I have really enjoyed that experience. The Brandbassador app makes everything really easy & fun: as an ambassador, you get various "missions" suggested to you and - if you choose to accept them & meet the required criteria and challenges - you get rewarded (with product, discounts, gift cards or - indeed - cash). The missions range from something as simple as liking/commenting under a social media post, through sharing your opinion about a particular product (that you frequently get to test out yourself first) or creating content describing your favourite product, all the way to creating personalised discount codes that you can share with friends, family, and other interested parties. If your discount codes get used - you might get awarded with a small commission, at no additional cost to the purchaser. 

Yes, I know, all of the above does sound like exactly what influencers would be involved with, but the key difference here is that you can become an ambassador without a huge social media following, and your "super power" is not hundreds of thousands of followers, but the mere fact that you love & stand behind the product that you're sharing with others.  

Let's address the elephant in the room - unless you are somewhat of an influencer (e.g. have lots of followers or are really good at your use of social media), the Brandbassador programme won't exactly make you rich! But that's not really what it's all about. The fun here is in being able to use the products you already know and love, perhaps getting some of the products for free or at a heavily discounted price, and - with a bit of luck - making a bit of a "pocket money". And if you are a bit competitive, too - you'll simply enjoy participating in the missions and challenges! :o)

If you are interested in becoming a Wonderbly Ambassador, please feel free to use this link. As always - if you have any queries or questions - please reach out, I am here to help & offer any guidance I can!

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I am afraid that I cannot speak much in terms of my own experience with Brandbassador from the other side, e.g. from a brand's perspective, but I can totally see how a brand could benefit from using the Brandbassador app - as far as my understanding goes, it's extremely easy to engage with the ambassadors, and to create the fun missions and challenges. There are loads of options of data & engagement analysis, and the Brandbassador team themselves are excellent at assistance & guidance - they're very approachable, too (this I actually know from experience)! 

Just having analysed my own little involvement as a brand ambassador, I am pretty shocked with how much revenue my love for a product managed to generate for Wonderbly! And, honestly, it makes me happy and proud! :o)

Brandbassador have done an excellent job themselves, explaining everything a Brand needs to know before joining in, so I think the best thing I can do, is simply share some of their content:

1. Everything you need to know about the Brand Ambassador Programs

2. What is Ambassador marketing? 

3. A Guide for fast growing brands

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Are you a Brand looking for a fun marketing program like Brandbassador? Would you like to find out more, and see if this is something you could benefit from? Click here, and check out your options today! This link will allow you to book a 1-2-1 strategy session with the lovely Brandbassador peeps. 

Let a new exciting chapter of your journey to success begin... :o)

Mirella