Write at Home

There's a lovely market in our little town square once a month.

The second Saturday of the month.

I always love going, even if I can't afford to spend much.

We're so lucky where we live.

You can guarantee you'll bump into some people you know while you're out!

And that's a good thing, as everyone's so sweet here. :)

 

So you know about my love of stationery, right?

And how it's kind of moved into a love of art and art supplies too?

It's kind of an organic process really, moving from notebooks to things to *do* with said notebooks!

You can imagine my glee when I noticed, about this time last year, a stall dedicated to stationery, in our very own little market!

Not just your bog standard, but things like Hope Press House journals, and treeless papers, and quills and and and... sqwee!!!

I got to talking to Mags, the owner of the stall, and somehow I managed to mention my blog, and gave her the address - not thinking that much of it. After all... pimping out blogs is what we bloggers do, right? Not many people actually take the time to look it up though.

Thing is, Mags actually went home, and read it!

We started following each other on twitter and facebook, chattering away, and that was that!

Now when I go to the market, I make a beeline to see Mags, and her stall - the in person version of her website, Write at Home.

I even had the chance to do some product photography for her... my first proper "shoot" of any kind!

Her quills, inks and pens are perfect for when I want to write anything on my art. I do love pretty writing!

My mum has been using one of the Lokta (treeless paper) books to do her art journaling too.

This is a lil shout out for Mags... her items are great quality, and I have (and will continue to) bought some beauties from her.

So do me a favour, and next time you're looking for some boutique stationery, go straight to Write at Home.

Review: Tefal ActiFry

When I was contacted by the lovely Rebecca who asked if I would like to be sent one of Tefal's ActiFry fryers, I was over the moon and eagerly accepted!

I mean, who wouldn't? I love proper home made chips, but they're just not the same if you attempt to oven bake them.

A few days later, I was woken by the sharp knock at the door. On a Saturday morning. I always seem to get deliveries on a Saturday morning... it's just cruelty really, but as I knew what it was, I didn't mind getting up for it!

The ActiFry boasts that you really can make the best chips with only a tablespoonful of oil, and oh my. Oh MY! They are not wrong!

That's not all it can do though...

With my precious came a handy recipe book with various ideas on what to make using her (yes she has a name. Her name is Precious. Yes really. Leave me alone, I name my gadgets ok!).

Anything from the regular chips, roast potatoes (OH MY LORD they are perfect!!), to perfectly cooked chicken drumsticks, and sausages. Even CURRIES!

Oh yes, you heard me right... CURRIES!

It also has a good bit of information about how to cook using different oils. I went out to buy some olive oil, walnut oil, and rapeseed oil to make the most of my new baby. There are so many more different types of oil, and all are good for different things.

Did you know that using half veggie oil and half walnut oil makes your chips taste *so* much better than just using one or the other? Or that you can make your own chicken nuggets, but the best way to fry them is in rapeseed oil? It gives them a more, well, nuggetty taste.

Not to mention how using different kinds of potatoes are better for particular types of potatoey goodness, from Maris Pipers for your regular chips, to King Edwards for roasts. OK, so most of you probably know that already, but I don't, and I liked that the book laid it all out on the table for me, so to speak!

Now, you guys must know by my twitter stream, I'm not much of a chef. I don't have the energy, or know how to do more than the basics.

Well, ok that's a lie. I do have the know how. I just don't see the point in making my awesome stir fries or fajita's when I know I'll be the only one eating it.

Precious though, she's so easy to use. AND she can cook things to perfection that even *Max* will eat!

First, I made some chicken drummers with a basic salt n pepper seasoning, followed up by

I barely got to have any of it as the boys hoovered them down their wee gullets. They were *good*. Even MAX! Max... ate... a chicken drumstick. He took it right off my plate, and started scoffing. And then proceeded to eat as much as he could from my plate!

Then, the next night, I waited till the boys went to bed and made myself some chips. I added some paprika to the oils I used, and waited the 30 minutes it took for them to cook to perfection. Then... mmm. MMMMMM! They're good!

I made the Christmas dinner roasts with Precious, and boy did she deliver! Perfectly crisp on the outside, and light and fluffy on the inside. I don't think I've ever made roasts from scratch before (hi Auntie Bessie... I do love you, but... Precious is better!), but now I don't think I'll ever use her any other way.

I've made chicken nuggets from scratch. Again, they were wolfed down by the boys.

I've even used it to cook our sausages while making a nice mash to go with them. MUCH easier than frying them in a pan, and as we don't have a grill, that's the only other option.

Oh but I haven't even told you the best bit about Precious.

She's SO easy to clean.

I mean, all right, I admit it, I have a dishwasher, but the parts are easy to take off, and I'm not stuck trying to figure out how to fit all the pieces in as well as my regular dishes. A definite plus for me.

Even if I didn't have a dishwasher though, she'd still be my favourite appliance.

I may even have stroked her absent-mindedly after putting her back together after cleaning her.

*cough*

So... yeah... annnyway.

As far as kitchen appliances go, I'd say the Tefal ActiFry is definitely one worth getting. If you're lucky, you could still catch it in the sales in a fair few places, including Argos and Amazon.

I Do Love Christmas Music

Even though it starts far too early for my liking in shops and such.

When I see the Christmas Coca Cola advert on the telly, I know that it's almost time to start decorating.

I do have quite a few Christmas cd's, but none of them seem to have the good old favourites.

Luckily we got our hands on a lovely new album in the post recently, called Snowflake.

"Fun festive favourites for children and grownups" is what it says on the tin, and I've got to agree.

Zack knew straight away that it was "Christmas music Mummy!!"

It's got some of my favourite carols, like Little Donkey, Jingle Bells (every child's favourite, or at least from those I know!), along with some more recent (and I use that word loosely!) songs like Let It Snow, and White Christmas.

Sophie Baker (singer from Zero 7) does a great job, such a lovely soft voice, often accompanied with a choir in the background.

All in all? Well, the boys are dancing away to this as I type, and I'm not sick of listening to it yet, so it's a thumbs up for me!

I can see me playing this while putting up the Christmas decorations very soon...

Oooh I do love Christmas time! Don't you?

You can get Snowflake on Amazon and Play both at very reasonable prices. I'd definitely recommend it to those of us with pre-school aged kids. Even Max loves it. Well, I assume that as he's swaying to A Little Town of Bethlehem at the moment... :)

First Canvas! A Photobox Review

I have been umming and ahhing about wanting to get some of my photos printed on canvas for a while now, but I never really had the spare cash hanging around. Luckily for me, Photobox got in contact and asked if I'd like to review one of their products. Of course I jumped at the chance, and I am now the proud owner of a Softthistle Photography canvas print of my very own!

Photobox's site is very easy to get around. You do have to register (for free), but then I think that's the case with most photo-production websites anyway, you are uploading photos after all.

Now when if comes to printing out photos, the larger the photo's size, the better the quality. There is a limit of 10MB per photo, but that's more than enough to get a decent print, even a large one. Just in case you haven't realised that you've uploaded the smaller size at first, they have a handy tool that will tell you if the image is good enough for the size of print or canvas you are wanting to purchase.

Something I really liked was that I could crop the picture somewhat to the positioning I liked. It also meant that I knew the photo I would be hanging in my living room wouldn't be cut off in random places for example.



Another happy moment for me was that I could pay with Paypal instead of having to go find where I'd put my card.

Wait a minute, I hear you say, didn't Photobox say they were giving you a canvas? That they were, however I got a couple of extra regular prints too, and you have to add on the £7.50 delivery for a canvas.

Now, what was I saying? Oh yes, Paypal makes me a happy bunny.

While choosing the delivery service, I couldn't help but be a bit miffed that although I could pay extra for a courier delivery, it would still take five working days for my canvas to be made. I am a stay at home mum, so I wasn't bothered about it not arriving straight away (I have enough on my plate, right?), but I would have been happier to have the choice to pay a bit more for the canvas to be made and sent sooner.

Anyway, here we are six days after ordering my canvas online.

I got an email on Monday from Photobox saying that the canvas had been shipped, and I could track it on the Royal Mail website. There was a reference number, but when I copy/pasted it in, I got this coming up: "The reference number does not use the correct format. Please check and try again". I could have called up Photobox about it, but quite frankly I didn't have the time, bad reviewer, I'm sorry!

Yesterday passed and I wasn't sure if while going to take/pick up my son from school I would miss a delivery. Luckily there were no wee cards pushed through the door to confirm that fear.

Today, at about lunch time, my package arrived. Hurrah!

It was bloody well wrapped that's for sure.



Took me about 10 minutes to get the flippin thing out, as I was having to be careful - I didn't want to damage it!

Covered in bubble wrap, and with another plastic cover around the canvas, it was definitely safe, and well labeled too.

The finished product is now hanging on my wall, and I'm really pleased with it.



The light in my living room is awful, sorry bout that, but the canvas is really well made. It's a 60x30.5cm canvas, usually used for panoramics, but I just knew it would be perfect for this photo of Zack.

So, the nitty gritty.

The price, well it's usually £49.99 for this particular size of canvas, but Photobox often have offers on with their products, and I managed to get it for £34.99. That plus delivery put me to just over £40, which I reckon is well worth it.

The quality is really good,

it was delivered with hanging materials,

printed on heavyweight 100% cotton canvas,

it's hand stretched over a 3.8cm deep wooden frame, which is in really good condition.

And Zack's reaction?"Oh my GOD that's ME!! It's AWESOME!" followed by posing like he is in the photo.

I will buy from Photobox again. I liked how much I could 'customise' how the photo would look blown up, the quality is superb, and one day I want to have my entire house covered with photos of my own.