Brand New: personalised 'Word Art' prints

'Word Art' personalised typographic prints, from £14.50

Over the last few weeks I've been busily working on some brand new product ranges to add to the PhotoFairytales site! 

One of the new ranges is my 'Word Art' prints - monochromatic typography prints, featuring vintage images and personalised with your chosen name and date of birth.

I wanted to design something that will work in a child's bedroom or baby's nursery, but which will grow with them as they get older. With positive, inspiring quotes and phrases, I hope that they will make a great gift idea for a new baby, christening, or special birthday.

I am now able to offer prints in two sizes - 8x10" and A3 (I'll be gradually updating most existing print designs so that they are also available in the larger A3 size). Prices start at £14.50, including free UK delivery.

What do you think? I'd love to hear your feedback, so please feel free to leave me a comment!

These new prints can be found on the PhotoFairytales site here: http://photofairytales.co.uk/wordartprints.html


Sarah x

Moving home... a year on

Unbelievably, the first anniversary of our move to our new home passed a couple of weeks ago! It's amazing to think that we've been here a whole year - boy, time flies...

In the time since we've moved in we've pretty much decorated from top to bottom, inside and out. It's a bit dispiriting when you spend ages making your old house look lovely before you put it on the market - and then find yourself having to get on the DIY train all over again when you move into your new home... But (I can say this now that the main part of the DIY journey is coming to an end!!), it HAS been worth it.

We've tamed the overgrown garden (so overgrown it had actually taken over the garage roof too), grassed, fenced, gazebo-repaired, planted and cleaned. And it's now actually a place where (next summer) we'll enjoy sitting out and having the odd BBQ and glass of wine.

We've put down new flooring, painted just about every room (just got the office left to do!), moved furniture around a million times and it's been worth all the aching backs and crunchy knee joints. Mostly!

I am so looking forward to the next year in our home - a year when we can actually spend some time enjoying the house properly, rather than planning the next project. A year when we won't be using paint charts as coasters in every room, and where we can wander into our local Homebase without the staff raising an eyebrow and saying, "back again, ha ha?!".

Home - as they say - Sweet Home!!
Sarah x

• Personalised 'New Home' house-warming print, from £14.50
• Home Sweet Home shelf blocks, £21.95
• Personalised 'I Love My Home' print, £14.50

Tight? Frugal? Penny Pinching? Money saving? Yep...

Does anybody else keep hold of used batteries just in case, you know, they might come back to life? No? Just me then…

I’ve got a drawer in my desk full of them - mainly because I once discovered that the battery that no longer made my toothbrush work still (weirdly) made my computer mouse work. Don’t ask me how I discovered this - it involved a fair bit of lazy "can’t be bothered to go downstairs" behaviour.

And whilst I was rearranging the batteries in the TV remote last night (because we all know that if you take them out, rub them Aladdin and his lamp style, and put them back in a different order you get another week out of them), it made me wonder if I’m a bit, well, tight?

For example, we need a new frying pan. Now, I don’t use the frying pan very often (it’s main action is seen on Pancake Day - and the odd egg for fried egg sandwiches when the late night munchies strike), so I don’t want to spend a fortune. Plus it has to live at the bottom of the cupboard with all the saucepans stacked on top, so it doesn’t get treated kindly. Therefore, by my reckoning it’s not worth spending a fortune on a new one. I’ve set myself a budget of £3.50. £3.99 at a push. So I’ve spent the last month in every shop that sells frying pans turning my nose up at them because they’re £4.99. (Well, for that pound I could buy a new pack of batteries - at least that’s what I’ve heard, I rarely buy them of course.)

And you know those plastic clippy things you use to seal plastic bags when you put them in the freezer? If I possibly can I don’t use mine - I always try to tie a knot in the bag or use those horrible fiddly wire ties that come with the bags. Why? Well, because the longer I don’t use the clippy things, the longer they’ll last. Obvious!

Am I coming across as a bit weird? Or am I striking a chord with anyone? Anyone??

I like to turning the heating down by just half a degree more if I can… and I don’t like throwing away slightly chipped mugs… and when I decant the handwash out of the bottle into the dispenser I leave it overnight to make sure every drop comes out… I keep trying to get ‘one more nails worth’ out of bald emery boards… I could go on.

It’s my Dad’s fault (see here for full details) - most definitely not mine. But on the upside, I’m not averse to splashing out a whole £4.50 on a bottle of wine sometimes, so I can be quite the spendthrift when the mood is upon me, oh yes siree bob!

Do you have any money saving (penny pinching) tips you can share? Say it loud: I’m tight and I’m proud!!

Sarah x

Brand new range: Wooden Shelf Blocks

Friday night, and here I am working late again - sometimes days and nights tend to blur a little when you run your own business!

But, these beauties just couldn't wait until Monday: I just had to upload them tonight!

These gorgeous new wooden shelf blocks come in a range of colours, handpainted and finished in a lovely chalk finish paint and given a rub down for a shabby finish.

Available in 3 different styles, they'll make a great gift for lots of occasions: new baby, wedding, moving home present, Christmas - you name it!

Only £21.95, they come with free UK delivery - you can see the range on the website here: http://photofairytales.co.uk/woodenplaques.html

Hope you love them as much as me!
Sarah x

Superfood Radishes: my latest craze!

It was back to work with a bang this Monday after taking a few lovely days off work - no 6am starts, deciding what we were going to do with our day over breakfast, picnics and days out. Smashing.

And every day little food treats - ice cream with a flake? Don't mind if I do! Glass of wine even though it's only 4 o'clock in the afternoon? Actually, I am quite thirsty now I think of it... Fish and chips for tea? Well, we are at the seaside!

So this week I'm making the shift to get back to eating a bit more conscientiously - and to be honest, I was ready to. Funny how your body starts telling you it's time to start giving it some proper fuel... Which means I'm back to my new secret habit: radishes. I flippin' love 'em!

There's no such thing as a lunchbreak here at PhotoFairytales HQ - lunch is something I grab at my desk, usually typing emails at the same time. And although I'm pretty good at dishing up something healthy for dinner, lunches are more of a challenge. Very often its just a quick sandwich (minimal effort, minimal thought) and quite often I'd reach for a bag of crisps too. Hhmmm... not a great choice - then a few weeks ago I had a brainwave: replace those crisps with radishes! And now I'm a little bit hooked on them - they're the perfect alternative for me: they give me something to crunch (like crisps), they're perfect hand-to-mouth food (like crisps), and they've got a stonking hit of flavour (like crisps). They're juicy, crisp and give you a fantastic pop of heat. Some are hotter than others too, so with every mouthful it's a little bit like radish roulette!!

Not only that, but I've since discovered that they have great health benefits too - in fact, they're one of those brilliant superfoods. Obviously I'm no expert, but this is what I've found after doing a bit of research online:

• Radishes are packed with potassium which helps to lower blood pressure
• One serving of radishes gives you a third of your daily Vitamin C hit
• They're also a source of Vitamin B6, magnesium, calcium and zinc
• They help you to digest fat more efficiently
• They have great cancer-fighting properties
• They're great for your kidneys
• Radishes are low in calories, cholesterol and fat - and they are high in roughage and water which is good if you have digestive problems
• They helps to relieve congestion when you have a cold or cough
• They're great for the gallbladder and liver, protecting from infections
• Radishes are a natural diuretic and great for bladder infections

Phew! These hot, peppery little ruby red balls of juicy crunchiness are most definitely staying as a feature in my lunches for the foreseeable - yum. And what's more, they last well in the fridge - they'll sit in there watching your lettuce turn slimey, and be ready for a quick wash and top-and-tail when you need them.

Sarah :)