Review: Photo Canvas from Wallcreate

Last week my Mum went in for an operation on her foot and now she is resting up in bed or on the sofa for the next few weeks and whilst I might think all that enforced rest is a good thing as it means I could ignore the kids and their constant demands, it seems my Mum is bored already.

I'm off to visit her tomorrow to provide some different conversation and to give my Dad a rest from the cooking, washing-up and ironing and I thought it would be wonderful to take Mum a gift.  We have already sent her cards and some flowers from our family but I now have a beautiful photo canvas to give her.

She has a space on the wall at the end of her bed and maybe she might just like gazing up at her daughter and grand kids whilst she rests up?  I'll soon find out tomorrow!

Above is the photo canvas that I am going to be taking down to Mum. It is 20 x 30cm and retails for just 14.97 with a 2cm depth frame or 16.97 with a 4cm depth frame from Wallcreate.

I was very pleased with this canvas and for the price it is fantastic value. It has been a couple of years since I last got a photo canvas but I'm sure they were not as cheap as this site.  Often cheap equals low quality but that does not appear to be the case here, the photo canvas is perfectly good, the colouring is accurate, it is finished well and you even get a couple of little fixings for when you want to wall mount it.

I like the fact that there is a whole variety of sizes available from Wallcreate (rectangles, squares, long rectangles) and I really adore the 3 canvas panels, where you have one print split over three different canvases. As I mentioned the prices are superb and the postage is reasonable too at 4.97 within the UK. They estimate that delivery will take 2-5 working days and mine did indeed take just 2 days.

I was happy enough with the packaging that the canvas arrived in, it was in bubble wrap and then sellotaped in a cardboard box. On the website it says there would be more card protecting it but I did not find that and frankly it didn't really need it anyway.

As well as the photo canvases Wallcreate also sell canvas wall art with famous pictures, pop art, cute images and so much more. It is definitely worth a good look around and see what you fancy.

Overall I'm very happy with my photo canvases and I'd happily buy from Wallcreate again.

Disclosure: I was sent 2 identical canvas photos for the purpose of this review. I have not been instructed what to write and I remain honest.

Review: Instajunction

I have been using Instagram since October last year and I really do love it. As someone who until last week has only ever had a camera phone in recent years I really welcome the opportunity to use apps like Instagram to make my photos look far better. Something really very ordinary, becomes fabulous in just a few short moments - perfect!

Left - before and right = after being Instagrammed!

And now I can use Instajunction to transfer those great pictures onto many gift ideas and pictures for my home.

I choose to order a set of 4 coasters (which will be a Christmas gift, so I sure hope they are not reading!). These retail for £14.99 and to be honest I'm not sure about the colouring on them. They are very dark and brightly coloured, whereas I'm not sure the original Instagram images were. Have a look below and judge for yourself. I do think they look very modern and I like them but the person I'm gifting them to would probably like them to be more muted and real-to-life in colouring. The coasters are fairly small in comparison to others (they are 9cm x 9cm) but I think big enough to do the job you want them to. They are a quality wood coaster with a hi-gloss finish on the photo and that might be why the colouring looks darker than it really should be.

The other item  choose to trial out was the vinyl wall stickers. I opted for a pack of 8, which retail for £19.99 and I put the rest of the money in myself. Let me say now, I absolutely love these, they are brilliant. I have not quite decided where I will put them as yet but I have been using some blu-tac and trying out a few places. They do say that they are fully re-positional once I have stuck them to the wall but I want to play around and be sure I'm using them in the right area first. Here are a couple of ideas I have been playing with -

I found the Instajunction website easy to use and there is a good selection of products to choose from including magnets, cards, framed prints, calenders, mini books and many more.

I thought the flat rate delivery charge of £2.95 per order is really good value and the products arrived quickly and well protected for delivery.

If you fancy trying out Instajunction then use the code LOY25C9C at checkout to benefit from a 25% discount, this can be used as many times as you like before 31st Dec 2013.  Have fun!

Disclosure: I received £25 credit to spend at Instajunction for the purpose of this review. I have not been instructed what to write and I remain honest.

Review & Giveaway: Pop Party 10 CD

As a child I avidly looked forward to Christmas each year as most children do. One of the presents I hoped I would receive each year and always did was the 'Now that's what I call music' compilation album. I think this series might even still be going now, they are probably on the 120th edition or something! Back in the day this really was the compilation album to receive and I treasured my music.

I am now excited that my children have a series of music compilations that they can love and appreciate as they are age appropriate for them. In the summer we got the Dance Party 2012 album and this formed much of our summer. I even wrote about how the music n that CD will provide memories for years to come.

We have just been sent the Pop Party 10 album for review and I have to admit that so far only dh and I have listened to it. This is because I am going to give it to my 9 year old JJ for Christmas. He is really getting into music now and has even asked for this album already, so it is just perfect! I am sure it will take hardly any time at all to use the lyric cards to learn all the words to this favorite tunes.

There is a good selection of 22 songs on the album -

1. Gangnam Style (?????) - Psy
2. Call Me Maybe - Carly Rae Jepsen
3. Payphone - Maroon 5
4. Young - Tulisa
5. What Makes You Beautiful - One Direction
6. Boyfriend - Justin Bieber
7. Call My Name - Cheryl
8. Let Me Love You (Until You Learn To Love Yourself) - Ne-Yo
9. Domino - Jessie J
10. This Is Love - will.i.am, Eva Simons
11. We Are Young - Fun., Janelle Monáe
12. Chasing The Sun - The Wanted
13. Where Have You Been - Rihanna
14. Twilight - Cover Drive
15. Dance With Me Tonight - Olly Murs
16. Part Of Me - Katy Perry
17. Black Heart - Stooshe
18. Can't Say No - Conor Maynard
19. Alone Again - Alyssa Reid
20. Mama Do The Hump - Rizzle Kicks
21. Proud - JLS
22. 30 Days - The Saturdays

Whilst JJ will be thrilled with the music CD my 5 year old twin girls will be over the moon with the bonus DVD that comes with it. Not only can they listen and dance around, our lounge can be transformed into a dance studio as they copy the dance moves shown on the 13 music videos. It is a good source of entertainment to dh and I on a Sunday afternoon as they put on a 'show' for us!

Pop Party 10 is available for sale now and to celebrate you can enter to win one of ten iPod shuffles, just head over to Poppartyworld.com and enter.  You can also find out the latest news about all your favorite pop bands like One Direction over there.  The CD is available from Amazon for £8.99 with free delivery, I think that is a bargain.

One lucky reader can win a copy of this great CD!

a Rafflecopter giveaway


Disclaimer:  I received this CD free of charge for the purposes of this review.  I have not been instructed what to write and I remain honest.

Review: Moxie Girlz Bendy Braidz Doll

I'm pretty fussy about the dolls that come into our house.  A short while back a friend of my Mums very kindly gave my girls some Bratz dolls but I have to say these made their way to the charity shop pretty fast.  I have a real objection to little girls growing up too quickly and I do not want to give them toys that encourage them that being a brat is good.  Nor do I want them to think that make-up and short skirts are normal for little girls.

So far I've not had any objections to the Moxie Girlz dolls, this is the third doll that we have in the Moxie Girlz range and the others have been fun and are lasting well. I tend to find it is the hair that lets these sort of dolls down, my girls Barbies look like they have been dragged through a hedge backwards but the Moxie Girlz Glitterin' Style doll we have is still perfectly groomed.

There are 3 dolls to collect in this range

Miss E was my lucky twin who got to try out this Bendy Braidz doll and she was super chuffed.  Like I said while I don't want my girls to grow up too quick, I am realistic and know they are girls and want to be like mummy, so I feel it is OK to let them show some creativity in regards to hair styles and make-up.  Better to try it out on a doll than on yourself which is what Miss M has done on many occasions and still has lopsided hair to prove it!

The Bendy Braidz doll comes with rooted braids for you to weave into the Moxie Girlz hair as well as glitter gel, pom poms and hair jewels for decoration. I have to be honest and say that miss E did find it hard at age 5 to be able to plait and manipulate the hair as an older girl might but this did not detract from the fun for her, she still enjoyed herself.

It did not take long for the glitter to be used up and yes it did make it into the girls hair too but I'm glad to say it washes out fine and does not cause any problems.

This doll is recommended for children aged 3 years and older, it has an RRP of £19.99 and is available from all good supermarkets and toy retailers, the best price I found was £ 13.49 at Smyths Toys  I think that is a great bargain and well worth picking up a doll for a nice Christmas gift for a little girl.

Disclosure:  We were sent this doll for the purposes of this review.  I have not been instructed what to write and I remain honest.

Review: Moxie Girlz Bubble Bath Suprise Doll

My two little girls are just like any other 5 year olds and they love dolls, they don't seem to have got to the age yet where they are inseparable from their dolls, not like I was with my Sindy but they do enjoy playing with them and when Miss M got the Moxie Girlz Bubble Bath Surprise doll to try out she thought she was in heaven that the doll was allowed in the bath with her! Luckily for us Miss M hates bubbles in the bath and this is good as bubbles are not recommended for use with this doll, we don't want a mouldy doll after all!

Miss M received the pretty Sophina doll, there are 5 in this range

Miss M does love to involve water in most of her play and this is a problem much of the time, real water filled teapots in her bedroom have a habit of spilling.  So to have something that I could happily say to her, yes you can get this wet is great.  Just one problem in my house only one of my twins has one so we did try and let Barbie come in the bath too but she did not like it much!

The large detachable skirt is what allows the doll to float and that is fine until you get a couple of excited 5 year olds that start to see ho hard they can make the waves come and will Sophina stay upright.  Oh yes, I have some tough little kids!  Miss Sophina does pretty well it turns out but if you make it too choppy she will fall over and her hair gets a bit of a mess when wet!

As you can see the bubbles and dogfish attach onto her skirt for safe keeping!

Miss M's favourite part of this toy was the dogfish that she received with it, a tiny little pet for Sophina the doll that is half dog and half fish, I do have to admit it is cute.  There is also a small vial of bubbles for blowing and Miss M liked this but they were over in no time at all. Luckily we had some bubbles left over from a recent party bag and both girls were able to have super fun in the bath with Sophina, the soggy Barbie and some bubbles.

There are 5 dolls with different colour outfits that you can choose from.  I do love that dolls have become multicultural nowadays.

This product is recommend for children aged 3 years plus.  It has an RRP of £19.99 but I see you can buy it on Amazon for £16.04 currently.  I think that price is reasonable and certainly comparable to what you would pay for this size doll from any of the other popular ranges.


Disclosure:  We received this doll free of charge of the purposes of this review.  I have not been instructed what to write and I remain honest.

Review: Mattel Junior Scrabble Boardgame

It's funny how things work out, a few weeks back JJ played scrabble with his Nan whilst we were at her house for Sunday lunch. It was his first time to play and he had an absolute blast, coming away saying we needed to get him scrabble for his birthday. Grandma, who watched him play tells me he was really very good and far beyond his years - that's my boy!

So imagine my delight when I was contacted and asked if we would like to review Junior Scrabble. JJ and I have played this quite a few times so far and I have to admit that I have been enjoying myself. I've never played scrabble before, I did not really think it was my kind of thing, but it seems I am mistaken.  It has been quite fun to stretch myself and increase my vocabulary.

Junior Scrabble is billed as being suitable for 2 - 4 players ages 5 - 10 years, so I did have my reservations before we played as JJ is 9 and very intelligent for his age but I need not have worried, there is enough in this game for him. I also worried that the age range was a bit wide, I know what a struggle it is to get my 9 year old to play with his 5 year old sisters.  Their abilities are just on different spectrum's at the moment but what I did not realise is that Junior Scrabble has a double sided playing board, so there are two games.  How sensible is that?  And how wonderful to be able to buy a board game that grows with your child.

I played the younger game with my 5 year old twin girls, at the moment they are both just learning to read but their abilities are quite different. One of them found it far easier than the other but they both enjoyed working with Mummy to try and figure out the letters and sounds that go in the words and match the pictures on the board.

Game play only lasted us about 15 minutes as their attention span when it involves work is still fairly short but I can imagine that in six months or so they will be much better equipped to be able to do the whole grid in this first game.

The real success for us was the more grown up scrabble board.  It does differ slightly to the adult version in that there are not any scores on the tiles but fundamentally it is the same game with slightly easier rules. A game takes JJ and I anywhere between 20 minutes and an hour depending on how fast we manage to block ourselves!

Here are the plus points of this board game -

• Education dressed up as fun, what more can any parent ask for?
• The board, box and tiles are all well made and look durable, as if they will last a long time.
• There are 2 age appropriate games, so it has longevity.
• A game can be played fairly quickly if need be.
• The game is good value for money at £17.99 on Amazon. It would make a great Christmas gift I am sure.
• The instructions are easy to read and understand and JJ was able to sort it all out and set u the game.

And the cons -

• No major faults or flaws to note to be honest! The only comments that JJ made was that to make the game more fun he would have liked scores on the tiles and a holder for his tiles so I could not see what he had!  Ohh Mr Competitive.

I would happily recommend Junior Scrabble as a great educational board game that is heaps of fun too.


Disclosure:  We received this game free of charge for he purposes of this review. I have not been instructed what to write and I remain honest.

Review: Bonusprint Personalised Photo Gifts

You may know by now that I adore photos and whilst it is fine to look at them on the PC, there is nothing quite like having photos in an album which can be happily flicked through at any time and with minimum fuss. As well as albums I am an avid fan of framed photos in my home and more recently I have started to enjoy some photo gifts too.

I find that photo gifts are something you can make for minimal cost but they are super little thank-yous or token gifts for God-parents. Perfect with Christmas just around the corner.

When Bonusprint asked me if I would like to review some of their photo gifts, 'why not' said I! Bonusprint is a company I used to use back in the old days when the only way to see your photos was to send your film off and get it processed, so I knew the name and I used to be happy with their product so I thought I would give them a whirl again. 

First things first, take a look around their site and see what I might like to create.  I spent a happy couple of hours browsing, uploading my photos and making my gifts online. I found the site easy to use and the instructions were clear.  Uploading the photos was easy and quick, unlike some sites I have tried to use before.  I had the option to crop or leave my images so they would look right on the gifts I chose. Once I had made up one gift it was then very easy to use the same image on another different gift. Checkout was easy and secure and I was able to pay by any of the widely recognised debit/ credit cards and also use paypal if I wished.

I ordered 4 different types of gifts as well as a couple of photos which I'll be framing as gifts. Delivery times are clearly stated on the site but I was surprised that my order came out in parts.  The photos arrived just 24 hours after ordering and then I received 3 more parcels, all arrived within 7 days of placing my order.  I was extremely happy with the time frame and the way the items were packaged but to be honest I would have preferred just one box with the full order as numerous trips to the post office to collect as the packs were too big for my letterbox was a bit of a pain. I did like getting email notifications though, keeping me up to date of the status of my order and letting me know when things had been dispatched.

Let me share with you what I made, these are just a small selection of the photo gifts that are available -

Torch Keyring - £4.99
 

When I saw this online I mistakenly thought it was a metal keyring but actually just the loop is metal the case is silver coloured plastic.  It does feel fairly sturdy but is still just plastic. The torch operates by the black button on the back, it is easy to depress and operate and provides a good light for seeing your lock in the dark. The photos look very good under the plastic cover and I'll be happy to give these out as small Christmas gifts.

Durable Glass Chopping Board - £18.99

Bit of a different one this but I am super pleased with it. My Mum has had glass chopping boards for years but they always have old fashioned and garish pictures on them.  Now my little ladies can make me smile as I prepare our dinner! The size is 30cm x 40cm.  Very tough glass, it has even been dropped so far and is surviving!

Kids T-Shirts - From £5.99

I am pretty sure my kids will be thrilled to find these in their Christmas stockings.  I have such a vain bunch that the idea of walking around with a picture of themselves on their front will be right up their street!  I love the idea, the size of the t-shirts are good, as are the printed images but I was a bit let down to find that one of the t-shirts is 100% polyester and the smaller two have a high polyester content too. I would not normally buy polyester tops for my kids. I should have read the description better, it is not as if they hid the fact. However, a good point about it being polyester is that they guarantee the image quality for a year.

Personalised Note Cards - From £2.50 per pack of 8

Getting ahead this year I ordered 3 packs of personalised note cards.  There are loads of standard designs you can choose from or you can tailor them to your need. I created Christmas thank you cards and was able to print a message inside every card to ensure that the after Christmas send out will be super easy this year.  I will most definitely buy these again.  They are pretty small at A7 size but they do the job very nicely indeed.

Conclusion

Quality of gifts 4.5/ 5

Delivery time and packaging 5/5

Ease of use of website 4/5

Value for money 4/5

All in all I have been very happy with my Bonusprint experience and I will happily use this company again. Especially when I see special offers, such as that I spotted earlier.  Spend £30, save 10%, spend £45, save 20% and finally spend £60 and save 25%. 

Disclosure:  I received the items free of charge for the purposes of this review. I have not been instructed what to write and I remain honest.