Q-tips and Elephants you can WIN*

Q-tips® cotton swabs has teamed up with Celebrity Nursery Designer, Wendy Bellissimo, to introduce the newest addition to the Q-tips® family – Q-tips® Baby Packs.  Wendy, who is no stranger to designing perfect nursery spaces, has worked with celebrity moms like Brooke Shields and Kelly Ripa.  She has great tips and tricks to create a nursery that is both beautiful and practical … to care for any baby with style!

I was sent a nursery pack with the following included :

o   NEW Q-tips® Baby Packs in two designs (safari & farm animals)

- The new Q-tips® Baby Packs are a stylish nursery essential that are functional and finally cute enough to keep out in the baby’s room

-  In two adorable nursery animal designs, these space-saving packs make it easy for mom to keep Q-tips® cotton swabs at her fingertips and feature a sliding drawer that helps keep Q-tips® clean for use in baby care

o   A chic, silver elephant bank to display in baby’s room – another nursery design essential

o   OH BABY!   Wendy Bellissimo Shares Her Tips on How To Create The Perfect Nursery

The Q-tip nursery boxes are simply adorable. When the Q-tips are gone I am going to re-purpose them to hold my daughters little jewelry and hair accessories. They are too cute to throw away. I love how they slide too. There are 285 Q-tips in each pack. (will be coming to Walmart and Target and will retail for about  $3.19 per pack).

The little silver elephant bank is simply gorgeous. It has pastel colors on it too. It is a heavy little bank and will make my daughters nursery even more complete. Every little baby needs a bank to keep their money from birthdays and holidays. Or for potty time rewards when the time comes.

TIPS from Wendy Bellissimo :

1. Be Your Own Designer: Go through magazines, catalogs and visit baby & furniture stores to see the looks available. Choose a style that feels most natural to you so the nursery can become an extension of your home. Then create your own book or board of clippings, fabric samples and photos for inspiration. Start the design process well before your due date so that you have time to relax before the baby’s arrival.
2. Save the Paint for Last: Select your nursery furniture and fabric before you paint. It is easy to find a paint shade to match your furniture/fabrics and not always the other way around. Keep in mind, furniture and fabrics do not all need to match – a great mix of textures that complement each other can add a truly custom, “designer” feel.
3. Don’t Sacrifice Style for Functionality: It is easy to create a beautiful, organized space in the nursery to care for your baby (without the piles of diapers and a mess of toiletries). Place a basket or fabric covered box (from an arts & crafts or paper store) on the changing table or shelf above and fill with diapers, Vaseline® petroleum jelly, diaper cream and rubbing alcohol. One nursery essential you won’t have to hide is the new Q-tips® Baby Pack! They are available in two adorable nursery animal designs and are functional (with a new sliding drawer that keeps Q-tips® cotton swabs protected for baby) so they can always be within arm’s reach.
4. Add a Personal Touch: Give your nursery a personal touch by adding framed covers of your favorite childhood books or classic black & white or sepia photos of you and your significant other when you were babies.
5. Create A Sleepy Time Sanctuary: We all need our beauty rest, so it is important to create an environment that’s peaceful for your baby to sleep. Create a calming atmosphere with soothing colors and softer tones rather than bright or harsh colors. Then, use accents to add pops of color without being too overwhelming. Be careful not to make the room too dark or too quiet at nap time. This way your child will be able to fall asleep in any environment, which is great when you are traveling or when new siblings arrive! You can also play soft, soothing music or lullabies to help the baby fall asleep.
6. Room to Grow: Choose design options that can grow with your child – consider color palette, furniture style, storage options and a play/reading area. Look for a dresser with drawers and cabinets, rather than a standard changing table and simply secure a changing pad on top. Once your child outgrows diapers, you will have a beautiful piece of furniture with drawers for clothing and cabinets for toys that are within reach for your child.
7. X vs. Y: Not finding out the sex of your baby? No worries! Design a gender-neutral nursery with yellow, green, white or crème and simply add touches of blue or pink accessories when the baby arrives – these simple changes can be made to anything from the receiving blanket to the changing pad. These color options also give you the flexibility to use the bedding over again for a new sibling.
8. To Theme or Not to Theme: Nursery themes such as safari, princess or transportation are a great way to create a fun, lighthearted statement. A themed nursery can still be done tastefully if the items are selected in moderation. For example, if you are doing a safari-style mural, keep bedding and fabrics neutral so the room doesn’t look overdone.
9. Accessorize: A few must-have accessories for any nursery are books, books and more books! You can also add a silver piggy bank and a few irresistibly soft stuffed animals that will quickly become your child’s best friends! Even my celebrity clients still go for the traditional accessories – they bring us all back to that magical time of childhood.
10. The Essentials: When designing your nursery (large or small), you should always keep these essentials in mind – a crib, rocker, changing table/dresser, light dimmer switch and books within the little one’s reach. If you do not have enough space for a bookcase, a basket for the floor will do the trick perfectly. Your little one will be crawling around before you know it and handing you their favorite book at bedtime!

NOW you can WIN  a fantastic nursery pack which includes the 2 packs of Q-tips (one in each style) and the adorable elephant bank !!! (winners MUST be subscribers to this blog)

HERE IS HOW :

• Tweet the following on twitter :  ” WIN Q-tips and Elephants on @plussizemommy ‘s  blog      http://bit.ly/5fOMS3      ” – every tweet earns an entry up to 4 tweets accepted per day!
• Join us at the Twitter Party on January 28th from  8-9 pm EST.  #QtipsBaby  sponsored by Q-tips. Hosted by @MomTalkRadio (Maria Bailey, Founder of MomSelect and Mom of 4)
  while at the twitter party TWEET ME (@plussizemommy) and say, I am here = 2 entries. comment and let me know you tweeted me. (separate entries please.)
• Comment and tell me what your MUST HAVE nursery accessory is = 1 entry per comment up to 3 total.
• Comment and tell me which Q tips box you like the best, Safari or Farm animals = 1 entry (total of 1 allowed)
• use stumbleupon, technorati, digg for this site/post.  - comment letting me know which you have done = 1 entry per way.

• fave my site on momfaves – comment and let me know you have = 1 entry

This is a fabulous prize that I know the winner will just love.

This giveaway starts NOW and ends on Feb. 1, 2010 at 9pm EST. Winner will be chosen via random.org. Winners name will be posted to this site on Feb. 2 . Winners will not be emailed so please be sure to check back to see who wins

Good Luck to everyone and thank you so much for entering.

The Plus Size Mommy

*I was sent a nursery gift pack which includes the Qtips and the silver elephant bank. The winners prize will be sent from Mom Select on behalf of Qtips to the winner at no charge to me. Thank you to Mom Select for asking me to work on this campaign with them.