Gift ideas for Valentine's Day

You should be able to find some great gift ideas on PhotoFairytales to give your loved one this Valentine's Day! Here's a few suggestions for you (all prices quoted include UK delivery):

1: "Great British" canvas designs - 6 variations to choose from, available in a selection of colours. A big size canvas, this measures 12" x 24" and is a chunky 40mm deep. Price £29.95

2: Gift Balloons in a Box - forget sending flowers this year, send a crazy balloon creation instead! Lots of designs to choose from, prices from just £10.75

3: Spoof Blue Heritage Plaque - give your loved one the recognition they deserve this Valentine! A fun, very different gift idea fully personalised with your own wording, price £16

4: Handmade Wooden Gifts - created to order and fully personalised, there are some lovely gift ideas with prices ranging from just £12 ("Love" plaque shown is £14.95)

5: My Message to You framed prints - lovely framed prints created to order and fully personalised with your chosen message and photo. Available in a choice of frames and designs. Price £17.50

6: Fantasy Photo Portraits - created from your own ordinary photo, there are over 100 designs to choose from. Custom requests are also welcome. Order just the artwork alone, or you can also purchase quality prints, canvas prints, keyrings, mouse mats, and more! Price around £10

7: Personalised Valentine's Love Poem - A simple and truly romantic way to say "I love you". Available in a choice of colours, designs and frame finishes, your poem is personalised with your chosen names. You can even completely amend the wording if you wish to create your own very special keepsake. Price £17.50

For more gift ideas do take a look at the Romantic Gifts section on the website.

Sarah x

Lots of new Canvas Designs on site today!

There are 22 brand new canvas designs to be found on the website today, with something to be found for all occasions!

With Valentine's Day just around the corner, you'll find some lovely designs just right for that special gift.

Prices from £15 including UK delivery - take a look at the new designs by clicking here.

Hope you like them!

Sarah x

Too young to cook..?

How old would your own child need to be before you set them loose in the kitchen? Do you believe a kitchen is a dangerous place (all hot things and sharp knives, and far too risky), or have you always tried to encourage your child to take part when it comes to cooking?

My own daughter Amy was given a fabulous children’s cookery book from Santa this year - if Santa thinks its OK for her to cook a chocolate cake or chicken goujons, who am I to argue?! Amy turned 9 at the end of December, and I’ve always tried to find time to have baking sessions with her. We’ve turned out sticky buns (with lots of icing), the old favourite rice crispie cakes, shortbread (good excuse for using all those shape cutters), and loads more. But it’s always been based around “baking”: weighing the ingredients, stirring them up, rolling out or tipping into the baking tin. Then I would take over with the hot oven bit.

But this weekend was different! Amongst all the cake recipes in Amy’s new book there is a big section on main meals, full of things like chicken skewers, curry and rice, savoury pancakes - and chicken chow mein. It could be the fact that it’s the Chinese New Year, but Amy decided she wanted to cook chicken chow mein from scratch, herself with no (well, very minimal!) help. She wanted to cook a proper grown-up dinner for the family - none of those soppy rice crispie cakes here, thank you! So we wrote out a shopping list for the ingredients, bought everything we needed, and last night she set to work.

Now, chicken chow mein involves all those scary things: hot water to cook the noodles, sharp knives to cut the chicken and vegetables, hot fat to stir fry. Was I nervous? A tad…

I confess I took over the boiling of the noodles - the site of all that bubbling hot water, yikes! But step two in the cookery book involved peeling and slicing carrots, chopping spring onions, slicing beans, etc. I handed Amy a very sharp knife and gritted my teeth….. She was fine - she was very careful and respectful of the sharpness of the blade, took care to make sure her fingers were clear - honestly, she was fine!

So next step: stir frying the chicken. OK, oil put into wok and heated [gulp], chicken tipped carefully in [gulp], wooden spoon handed over: and she was off! Stirring the chicken like a seasoned pro, taking on all my comments about keeping it low so that the oil doesn’t splash, etc, etc. Then we added the vegetables: more stirring in hot spitty oil, and finally the noodles. Stir, stir, stir.

I can only say that the meal was fabulous - tasty, cooked to perfection, and with clean plates all round afterwards. What was most interesting was that the recipe included mangetout and fine beans - both vegetables that Amy normally “hates”, but it seems when a child cooks their own dinner these things lose the yuk factor. She scoffed the lot!

So, despite the fact that it was a great way to encourage my child to eat vegetables she wouldn’t normally, was I right to let her near the sharp knives and hot fat? Would you let your 9 year old do something like this too? Am I overly cautious/not cautious enough?!

Happy Year of the Dragon!

Sarah x

1st Christmas Gift Ideas...

A baby's first Christmas is an important event - and needs a meaningful and thoughtful keepsake to mark it. There's a whole range of lovely gift ideas available at PhotoFairytales this Christmas, here's some suggestions for you:

1: Ticket to Parenthood, £17.50 - perfect for new parents this Christmas, fully personalised and in a choice of frames (last orders for Christmas: December 13th)

2: Handpainted Personalised Plates, £21.50 - 12 beautiful designs to choose from, including 4 gorgeous Christmas themes (last orders for Christmas: December 13th)

3: Fantasy Portraits, around £10 - beautiful bespoke images created from your ordinary photo, over 100 designs to choose from (last orders for Christmas: artwork only December 17th, artwork with prints December 15th)

4: Personalised Baby Board Books, from £10.95 - stunning books created to order featuring your own photos and words, 6 designs to choose from (last orders for Christmas: December 10th)

5: Personalised Canvas Prints, from £15 - big range of designs available, perfect for the new nursery! (last orders for Christmas: December 13th)

6: Meaning of Name Prints, £17.50 - bespoke prints available in a range of designs and choice of frame finishes, ideal Christening gift too (last orders for Christmas: December 13th)

7: Handmade Personalised Albums & Keepsake Books, £23.99 - a range of lovely designs available, including "Baby's 1st Christmas", perfect for storing Christmas memories (last orders for Christmas: December 9th)

8: Family Tree Prints, £22 - perfect for new parents and grandparents, featuring up to 3 generations and 25 names, available in a choice of frames (last orders for Christmas: December 13th)

Click here to have a browse around the PhotoFairytales site and discover even more gorgeous Christmas gifts!

Sarah x

Slummy Mummy at Christmas

Things have definitely cranked up a notch at PhotoFairytales Towers with the steady approach of Christmas. I can tell things have got busy, not solely because orders are pinging in at a rate of knots but also because of the following tell tale signs:

1: My daughter had to eat her breakfast this morning with a soup spoon (it seemed the best choice over a tablespoon or teaspoon), because I haven’t had time to load/unload the dishwasher.

2: We are having to use kitchen roll as toilet paper because I haven’t had time to do the big shop.

3: The carpet in the living room has gone from a nice oatmeal beige to a nice oatmeal beige with black hairy divots (haven’t had time to hoover or brush the dog).

4: I’m typing this while constantly having to go “phrffphh” to keep the fringe out my eyes because I haven’t had time to make an appointment to get it cut (hence the picture - which is quite true to life).

5: Every time I get an order in which is obviously for a Christmas present I feel a burst of anxiety because I haven’t had time to think about my own Christmas shopping yet.

So now you know I shouldn’t even be sitting here doing this blog - I should be finishing off orders whilst hoovering. Trouble is, I’m not sure even my (usually) stupendous multi-tasking skills are going to help. I may have to dig out my Wonder Woman costume - problem is, its in the wash - or possibly the ironing basket. One of those anyway…

How are you coping? Got everything organised? Do please leave a comment - but if you are one of those super-organised types please try not to sound too smug. I may cry!

Sarah x