23 Snaps- a Secure, Family Photo-sharing App

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Photos of your own child are the most interesting photos you can ever take. For you anyway.

From the moment you clutch that grainy ultrasound of a squishy, squashy tummy bump, you're thinking 'this is going on Facebook'. 'Even better, this will make a fine profile picture'. Cue sighing of everyone else on your Facebook timeline.

Unfortunately, the only other interested parties would be your family or very close friends. That's where 23 Snaps comes in.

Download the free app & connect with Facebook to link your nearest and dearest to yourself.


You can then add age and name details for each of your precious ones, and in a clever feature it marks each photo upload with their exact age on that day.

I'm also thinking this could be a useful tool for diet weight loss photographs for an adult over time, as you can easily enter that data too.

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www.23Snaps.com is available for iPad, iPhone and will soon be in Android app stores.

So download it, rope in the relatives and start documenting! Who knows, when little Ben or Susan is 17, instead of bringing out the photo albums to show their new girlfriend or boyfriend, you could just fire up 23 Snaps and show them what their embarrassed date looked like when they were precisely six years, seven months and three days old. 


Win a Trip to California with Jelly Belly's Hunt for the Great British Flavour

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Jelly Belly lab coat. That's right.

This being such a patriotic year has got the undisputed King of the Jelly Bean brands, Jelly Belly, pondering. They are pondering and wondering, what would be the Great British Jelly Belly Flavour?

God love them though, with their American ways, they are a bit confused about us Brits. They do enjoy things that taste like Root Beer after all- which our UK tastebuds recoil in terror from screaming, "WHY ARE YOU DRINKING DEEP HEAT MUSCLE RUB?!".


I donned my lab coat and got experimenting, well, in my mind. I suppose if we are being honest a Great British Bean might be Donner Kebab, or if you're thinking more posh a roast beef and mustard jelly bean? Of course that's a horrible thought, but Jelly Belly in the States aren't shy of straying to unusual flavours. A few years ago I ordered some imported Jelly Belly which were sold as a 'Russian roulette' pack. Half were delicious regular beans, half had flavours like pencil shavings & ear wax. So, hit them with your oddest suggestions, because we know Jelly Belly have the technology to make a bean taste like anything!

Here's the most exciting part- if you suggest a flavour on their Facebook page www.facebook.com/jellybellyUK and they pick your invention, they will fly you out to Jelly Belly HQ in California to oversee them making your bean! Get on it!

Sweet Valley High Cover Art- James L Mathewuse

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I know this will be a magical smack of nostalgia in the face of a large percentage of my female readers, if like me you had over a hundred of these books. The Sweet Valley Twins & High series were how we learnt about life, love & boys.

A very important part of the books were James L Mathewuse's beautiful artwork of the Wakefield sisters. It's reminiscent of Louis Shabner or J H Lynch and I would adore to have one in my collection.

www.jimmyart.com

Junior Magazine Issue 2- The World of Kitsch Feature

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Local Northern Irish news time. The second issue of Junior came out last week, but if like me you forgot to buy your Spectator Newspaper, you can pick it up all over the place. Leisure Centres or Bloomfields Shopping Centre have been placed I've spotted it.

The free magazine has a wealth of parenting articles, including a column by yours truly. You can add their Facebook too www.facebook.com/JuniorSpectatorNewspapers

Beautiful Bargains Including up to 75% Off Zatchels? Yes Please!

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I don't know about you, but I just can't afford to splash out on full price treats for myself these days. I'm not saying I'm living on bread and water, but I am having to cut out buying myself superfluous scarves, bags or glittery trinkets that two years back I'd have bought in a heartbeat.


 

So I'm pretty curious to see what new online department store Hush Hush has to offer. They launch this week & promise treasures such as discounted Zatchels and handpicked boutique clothing from up and coming designers. Hopefully I can pick up some treats for myself, with up to 75% off well known brands. 

 

If you'd like to join me and get a slice of the sassy, sneaky bargains, you can sign up at 

https://hushhush.com/r/4n0/ to get earliest access to the sales.

 


Quirky Christmas Decorations- a Beginner's Guide

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With the Christmas season rapidly approaching, there will be a lot of focus on tradition in the coming months.This means hearing Christmas songs everywhere you go, seeing people bundled up in red and green scarves, preparing holiday meals etc. You may even start doing some early shopping, picking up Christmas hampers from M&S or starting to compile a gift list for family and friends.

Its also the time to give thought to decorating your home for Christmas, and this is where you can have a bit of fun outside of normal tradition. In fact there are a lot of quirky possibilities for alternative decorations that you can dress your home with in a more unique style.

 

Blend the Seasons.

Halloween is by far the most fun holiday to decorate for. Many people go as far as turning their homes into veritable haunted houses for late October.So is there any reason why you cant leave up some fake spiderwebs and skulls for Christmas, Tim Burtonesque? Imagine the charm of a grinning skull with a Santa hat, or a zombie Santa ornament here or there. It may not be the most orthodox theme, but on the other hand if a fake skull can get into the festive spirit then why not anyone visiting your home?

 

Taxidermy.

Woodland creatures are very Christmassy. This can take the form of plastic reindeer in the yard, or bird ornaments for your tree. Instead of fake ornaments, you can always dress up some real taxidermy. Stuffed animals aren't for everyone, but some clever fakes can also have your guests doing double takes.

 

Light Shows.

Plenty of families do extravagant lighting inside and around their home as a Christmas tradition. Why not have some fun with this aspect of decoration? Take a lesson from the Gangnam Style halloween house video on Youtube, but if setting up lights to music is a little too tricky for you, have a go at spelling out words with your outdoor lighting. This can certainly ass a bit of humour to your Christmas decorating.

 

This is a guest post on behalf of Marks and Spencer.