Cupcake Mumma's Mug Swap Time!! (UK Only)

If you've followed from the beginning then you'll know Cupcake Mumma hosts a yearly Mug Swap and now it's time for 2014's! I absolutely love mugs and have quite a growing collection in my cupboard. My children seem to be picking up on my love and my daughter in particular adores adding to her collection as well. (We'll need new cupboards soon!)


If you fancy joining in with my Mug Swap, then all I ask is that you are absolutely sure you can commit to the swap. There is nothing more disappointing than sending off a swap to someone and getting nothing in return, not even an e-mail. So please, please only sign up if you are sure you can send by the deadline (no ones going to mind a bit of give or take though!)

If you'd like to join the swap, please mail me: cupcakemumma@yahoo.co.uk you can also leave me a comment with your e-mail address, which ever you prefer!

I'll be keeping the list of joining participants open until the 28th March, which means I will be able to spend the weekend partnering you all up before mailing you on March 31st with your swap partner's details! Unlike previous years, I will simply pair everyone up with just their name and e-mail address, you can then exchange likes/dislikes and addresses (It's hard work hosting a swap!)

Swaps should be made by 25th April (a nice after Easter gift) and feel free to add an extra something if you wish. As it's a mug swap, the only requirement to the swap is that there is an actual mug somewhere in the parcel, any extras are entirely up to you! If you blog, I'd love to see your mug swaps and will be placing a link up on my blog when my own post goes live, so do join in. Please note, you do not have to be a blogger at all, this swap is open to everyone as long as I have a way of contacting you, swap away!

I really hope you'll all enjoy my swap and fingers crossed it'll be as successful as the previous 2 years!

Cupcake Mumma

Mug Swap Link Up!

Hey! As it's now June i'm writing this post to show off my lovely mug and goodies I received from my swap partner Lucy from LeopardPrintMommy. At the bottom of this post there is a linky where you can link up your post all about the mugs you received and posted in May.

I was out on Saturday so missed the postie but hubby was kind enough to venture out to the post office yesterday morning and collect my parcel. My mug! Here's what the lovely Lucy sent me:

My beautiful mug!

The perfect card, oven glove and some cupcake wrappers :)

Miss Muffin! I love her!

Here is a quick photo of what I posted off to Lucy. You can see more on her blog shortly! 

Paddington went home from his Cornish holiday with some Cornish fudge, some tasty biscuits and i'm told by Lucy he looked after her mug very well. Look out for a post from Paddington's holiday here on the blog soon!

Thanks to everyone who signed up and sent their mugs. I hope you enjoyed the swap. Depending on how successful this one is, i'll get another one up and running same time next year.

CupcakeMumma

UK Mug Swap 2013!

If you were a follower of my blog last year then you may have seen a gift swap I set up. I've been going to and fro with my decisions on hosting another swap but after a quick Twitter check it seems another mug swap would be just the thing to cheer up some peoples month.

So, if you like mugs, have a collection you enjoy adding to or maybe you have had a clear out recently and fancy adding some new ones to your cupboard, you may be interested in my 2013 Mug Swap.

If you fancy taking part there's only one thing I ask of you:

*That if at any time you feel you cannot complete your swap you kindly let me know so your swap partner doesn't miss out on a great swapping opportunity. Either myself or one of my fab blogging friends will come through for you and take over your swap. Please don't worry If you have to pull out, things happen, that's life.*

Mugs can be handmade if you're super talented, they can be ordered online, from local stores or heck, even my local pound store have wonderful looking mugs. If you would like to, adding little extras is absolutely fine but not a requirement. Last year I received a fabulous mug and some extra goodies and I sent out tea bags to go with my theme, the only required item in this swap is well, the mug!

If this sounds like something you'd be interested in then do email me at cupcakemumma at yahoo.co.uk. You can also DM me on Twitter where you'll find me as @Cupcakemumma11

Ill need your name, your blog URL so your swap partner can do a bit of stalking (in the best possible way honest!) your postal address and mail address for your partner if you wish to chat and i'll mail you all the first week of May the details of your swap partner. If all mugs could be exchanged by the end of May that would be fab but make sure you keep in contact with your partner to let them know if you'll be late posting.

I'll post a linky so we can all share the Mug Love at the beginning of June!

Happy Swapping!

CupcakeMumma

My Mug!

After all the poking people in the direction of my link to share their fabulous mugs from my UK Mug Swap, I forgot to show off my lovely mug! 

I partnered myself up with the lovely Claire from Claireabellemakes. Please visit her blog, she's friendly and so crafty. I love spending time reading her posts and seeing what she comes up with. Below is the mug she sent me. Very Hannah I must say. I even got some Cadburys hot chocolate which is my favourite. We don't drink tea or coffee so it was an ideal swap really!

As another little extra, Claire sent me this rather cute button ring which she makes and sells from her Etsy shop. I love pink, I adore polka dots so it's a win win as far as lovely little surprises go!

Thank-you to everyone who took part in my UK Mug Swap. Overall it seems to have been a total success. If you participated I would love for you to take a photo and link it up here so we could all see these lovely mugs! I hope friends have been made and I may take up another swap next year.

CupcakeMumma

UK Mug Swap Link Up!

Hello fellow Mug Swappers! I hope you've all had a great time swapping mugs, hopefully getting to know eachother and having fun! I've really enjoyed hosting the Mug Swap and hope you've all enjoyed taking part.

I know some mugs are still in the post so I'm opening up my link for submissions for a few weeks to give everyone some time to share their gifts. I've seen a few posts as I've gone through my blog roll and I'm really looking forward to seeing everyone else's.

All you have to do is write a post showing off your fab new mug. Post the URL of your Mug Swap post along with your name so we can visit your blog and share our swaps.

Thanks for joining in! Please let me know what you thought of the swap and if you'd like to see another hosted on CupcakeMumma again next year!

CupcakeMumma

A Change of Scenery

You know when you stay in the same place for just too much time you start getting a bit fed up? That's how I felt on Friday so I called Mum and said instead if coming to mine, how about I come to you with the children? So a plan is a plan and myself, Midge and Little Man set off about 11ish on Saturday morning to Mum's and Dad's place leaving the Husband behind to play his football match.

It was so good to be somewhere more peaceful. To be able to pop to the local charity store with my sister and be able to leave the house open because no one comes around and it's much safer. I live in the town so there are obvious reasons I don't do this! Mum and Dad live just up the road from a harbour in a lovely village. Although I couldn't live in their house (it's too small for me, I find it 'pokey' in some places) it's such a lovely place to escape to for a bit.
Here is my purchase of the day although sadly missing the final doll it brings back a bit of my childhood and it's lovely to watch Midge play with them.

I managed to use my Dad's computer to upload my wedding photos which I am really pleased with so now I can send them off for printing. There are some lovely photos which will make nice Christmas gifts too which will come in very handy! I made some lunch for everyone, a very new dish chucked together consisting of mushrooms, cream and pasta. Dad grows a lovely herb garden so he suggested I use some of the fresh Rosemary instead of the dry bought stuff I use at home. It really topped it off!

A lovely wedding snap

I sat outside with the children watching them play. Midge was digging in the garden a bit, Little Man was on the rocking horse which is now nearly 23 years old but due to lack of space lives in the green house in his old age. He's still going strong!

It was really good to spend a bit of time with my sister because in roughly 3 weeks she'll be off to university and not back until December so it'll be weird but I'm sure it won't be that hard to get used to. We're all signing up to Skype now which is great. Mum and I are sorting out a little something to give her before she leaves which hopefully she will love but I can't tell you any more as she has recently followed my blog!

I had a lovely day and the change of scenery did a lot of good, not to mention the fresh air. When I arrived home the children were so tired they didn't fight bedtime which meant Husband and I got some quality time together. We looked through our wedding photos, had a late dinner (I was naughty and went for my pasta and mushroom dish again!) Husband had an even naughtier pizza. We watched some TV, had a nice chat and I gave him a good massage to soothe his poor pulled muscles! I got a back tickle in return so it's not all bad! Oh and had a rather yummy toffee apple- I must  get some of these in for Halloween!

I hope you all had a good weekend what ever you got up to. Have a lovely, relaxing Sunday and while I'm saying goodbye, how about popping over and signing up to my Mug Swap? It's always lovely to receive a gift in the mail!

CupcakeMumma

October UK Mug Swap! Join In Now!

Through the month of September I would love to recruit some fab bloggers (and non bloggers of course!)  to join in with my UK Mug Swap. 

I'm a big fan of gift swapping. It brightens up my day when I receive an e-mail, a Tweet and often read a blog post all about a gift I've sent to someone. To know that I've brightened up someone's day, made their morning better or just simply given them something to look forward to well,it's a great feeling.

Then there's the lovely surprise for me from my postman when I get to receive and then open my thoughtfully purchased and wrapped gifts from a fellow blogger. I enjoy relaxing with a hot chocolate when the children are tucked up warm and delve into my surprise.

Most swaps are about handmade items or a mix of hand making something and buying something for a set amount. I decided a mug swap would be something quite different and after getting permission from Natalie who hosted a Mug Swap in the US, I thought why not?

So, if you'd like to be paired up and hunt down that perfect mug for someone why not join me by signing up during September? Swaps are a great way of discovering new blogs and making new friends not to mention making you and someone else feel good.

Pleas e-mail me at

cupcakemumma@yahoo.co.uk

Please include your full name, the postal address where you would like your gift to be sent and if you do write a blog, why not add that in too? I'll pair up everyone by the end of September and then you're free to mug hunt until 31st October!

If you don't write a blog please also feel free to join in! Perhaps adding some of your favourite things into your e-mail would help your swap partner?

Have Fun!

CupcakeMumma

What Has Made Me Happy Week 2

Reasons To Be Cheerful is hosted this week by Angie at Cake,Photos,Life. I'm also linking up with the lovely Sian at You're Not From Round Here for this weeks What Makes Me Happy.

First of all I received a rather lovely surprise this afternoon when the postman arrived. I waited all day for my quiet time (read, time when I'm alone and the children are asleep) so I could take my time and really appreciate this homemade box of loveliness made for me as part of a summer gift swap. I'm not telling you what's inside, you'll have to wait for my next post!

Another lovely surprise from the postman this week was my rather awesome new(ish) pink converses which I LOVE and I have wanted for an incredibly long time. I absolutely love them and what's even better is they cost me just £23.50 from eBay and have been hardly worn!

I was feeling a bit down yesterday and went out with Midge to buy her uniform. While I was sat waiting for Midge to finish her sausage roll before entering the store I was befriended by a rather lovely little dog. They really do know how to cheer you up don't they?

It's nearly September which means I'm jumping ahead and looking forward to October because it is my birthday (yey!) I love birthdays but i'm also excited because this year I want to have a little Halloween party for the children. Fingers crossed everyone's free!

And finally I'm hoping people will want to join in my October UK Mug Swap which I shall be blogging about very, very soon so please keep your eyes peeled if you feel like posting a mug and maybe a few nice little things to a fellow blogger.

CupcakeMumma