The power of word of mouth advertising...

Last week, I had an email in my inbox from Photobox. It was advertising their classic A4 photo book, and after saying they had 1000 reasons to make one, they said 'hang on, 1001 reasons - it's free!" I was given a voucher for a free classic book. I had a week to use it in, so I needed to use existing photos. I first thought of doing a random 'year in the kids' lives' selection of pics, but then had the brainwave of using our holiday snaps from Tenby, Wales. It worked out perfectly that across the 26 pages, I used all my favourite shots, without compromising any. It's great that you can choose your layouts and background colours on each page, so if you want to go for one picture or six, full bleed or with borders, you're in control. It also marks each shot from your album that you've used with a check, so you can instantly see if you've missed one or used it twice by mistake. Because mine was free I decided to pay for the upgrade to premium paper, but actually, I'm pretty sure the regular would be just as good as this paper is really thick.

I've wanted to do a scrapbook layout using these shots for ages, I'm so happy to have been able to use them this well in the book. The full bleed looks great, and the print resolution is fantastic.

A friend exclaimed about this page - "It looks just like a book!" I know what she meant though, it really does look fabulous, don't you think?!

So, proving just how powerful word of mouth advertising is, I've shown this to everyone who sits still long enough to shove in their hands, and quite a few have said, "Ooh, I'm going to make one for my folks" or "This is what I can do with all my holiday snaps!" and I reckon Photobox will sell at least three books as a result of me showing off my book. Plus, I really really want another one for myself now!

'Scuse the long silence but...

...it's been Easter holidays and we've been having fun!

Seriously, since the holiday started, I/we/the kids have : visited my sister and a had a great day shopping with her; taken the kids to an indoor play area; gone to Alice Holt Forrest station; had an Easter Egg hunt, gone ice-skating (Holly and me) and swimming (Liam and Tris), taken photos of my friend's baby for a brief I got from PaperCraft Inspirations; gone to our favourite park; built a den with all the neighbourhood kids; played for hours in the sunshine with neighbourhood kids; finished job for PaperCraft Inspirations; made a whole bunch of crafty projects, including a teddy bear Holly got for Christmas; gone shopping and discovered we have an H&M kids close enough to go to weekly (if we wanted!); gone into London to the Natural History Museum; had friends over for lunch and play and built tents, cars, trucks and dens in the living room using every chair, cushion and blanket in the house and that doesn't even include tomorrow, when cousin Michael's coming, and the weekend, for which we haven't made fixed plans yet.

Isn't being a kid fun? And as blasphemous as this my sound, I haven't taken my camera with me anywhere, preferring to just let them play and have fun, and not think about posing for me every two seconds. I have had my mobile though, so while they're not great quality, the memories are there...

Happy Easter!

Does this picture make this teeny tiny little Easter Scene look big? Believe me when I say, it's the teeniest little gem I've ever seen, and I was so surprised to receive it in the mail this week, all the way from Mercedes in New Zealand! The little nest is exquisite, and those eggs!

Thank you Mercedes, it was such a lovely unexpected little parcel, and it's on display with all my other Easter goodies!

My 1:1 Easter Wreath...

....and my 1:12 Easter Wreath, hanging on the dollhouse door!

Hope you all have a lovely Easter!