Arguably the Best Kids' App Creator, Toca Boca, Has Created Tattoos for Your Little Ones

Toca Boca are my absolute top favourite kids' app creator. Their imagery is fresh, inventive and quirky, like being the Ikea of smart phone or tablet games, and they pride on keeping the games gender neutral .

Their latest launch is physical however, the Artists Play series. On sale over time on their online store the first collab is between themselves Virginia Elmwood and is called 'Toca Ink'. We received a pack to play about with. Michael loves it. We have almost every Toca Boca game, and the tattoos are of characters from the games.

They are applied the way all temporary tattoos are, with water.

And parents, I highly recommend the Toca Boca games (many have free previews) Click here to see what they have on the iTunes App Store, or search on your tablet's App Store. Have fun in Toca Boca world!

Toca Town

To a Train

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas at M&S #FollowTheFairies

There's a certain November day when the light is just right, the shops are sufficiently bustling and the smell of cinnamon is in the air, and it hits you, the Christmassy feeling. With all the new Christmas adverts launching this week, including the Marks and Spencer fairies my Christmas feeling hit me on Saturday.

Our son has had his eye on this adorable little tin of gingerbread men the past two weeks, so this Saturday I allowed him to pick one of the light-up tins for his own Christmas display.

Marks and Spencer invited me to pick out my top choices from the new Christmas and party range, to share with you, my readers, what I think it worth stocking up on for celebrating with this December.

Yeti £2.50 : Gold Whips £1.65 : Christmas Pudding Cookies £2.00 : Twigs £1.50 : Smaller sweets 60p

You won't be short in supply of sweet treats to pick from. Reindeer twigs (Matchmakers) and smaller lunch time chocolate novelties can be found near the till. The coconut covered mini Yeti are a sweet idea, and if you ever want a cookie that tastes EXACTLY OF CHRISTMAS then you'll adore the Christmas Pudding Cookies.

Then there's the return of the chocolate sprouts. These look so realistic in their needed bags and cost only £2.00

There are also chocolate Santas.

Juice £2.00

I couldn't do a Christmas food round up without including mince pies. I only started eating & enjoying mince pies about two years ago. Before I thought they tasted disgusting. Maybe my palette is changing as I age, but I still play it safe by making sure the mince pies I do eat around Christmas time are from M&S, where the quality will be superb.

Heres a cool little idea, a Night In Christmas Treats Box for family movie night, or indeed nibbling through on a Saturday night, cheering on your favourite in Xfactor. Makes a nice alternative to the yearly getting smaller box of Roses chocolates.

Treat Box : £8.00 : Mini Mince Pies £2.50

I also treated myself to this gift box of very special handcrafted chocolates. The Chocolatier's box is something special. The colours make them look like jewels rather than exquisite desserts. Hands off, this is mummy's box of chocolates.

With all the sweet treats, I didn't have much budget left over for savoury, but as ever M&S is streets ahead with the quality & inventiveness of their party food. Remember to call in soon as items are on 3 for the price of 2. Freeze them until party season & have saved some money.

Pork Belly £6 : Ready to Eat or Heat Prawns £7

Pizza fashioned into Christmas tree shapes are ideal if you've kids coming round to visit.

I've often wished you could concentrate the taste of Christmas into one thing, and M&S have only gone and done it. Dare you try the 'Christmas Soup'? Tell me what you make of it on Twitter (@rudedoodle).

Christmas tree pizza £5 : Christmas Soup £2.50

Finally, a quick peek at some other items in store which I didn't try out, but which look splendid all the same.

M&S helps homeless charity Shelter every year with proceeds coming from sales of their Christmas takeaway lunch selection. The packaging is almost too cute to throw away.

And there's a whole red labelled section of the store for those basic Christmas ingredients you might forget otherwise. PLUS they are on 3 for 2 right now.

The Ultimate Onesie from Marks & Spencer

I'm a big fan of onesies. I spied this beauty last week on the Marks & Spencer Instagram feed, and knew it had to be mine. I picked one up thanks to M&S yesterday, and it's everything I could have wanted. The faux-fur is super soft, and the anti-bobble fleecy material that makes up the body of the sleep suit is peachy, velveteen delicate yet cosy. I'm calling it the Ultimate Onesie.

It costs £27.50 and you can order online and have it delivered in your size (ranging from 8 - 22) with FREE DELIVERY to your local M&S. Now when I picked mine up in store I was a little worried (excuse the pun) as I'm only 5ft4" and it's a TALL one size fits all type garment. But somehow it works. The onesie is lightly elasticated at the waist and ankles, so it doesn't sag or trail, even on tiny ladies like me. While I'm talking about it, I'm going to admit something that's probably not very cool,  but I get all my jeans from M&S Denim Collection. They have a comprehensive sizing guide and three different leg lengths available for each dress size. So I can wear a 12/short and not have my jeans soaking up rain water, trailing along the pavement.

But back to onesies, check out the kids' and men's jammies they also have available. All non-bobbling, all soft and snuggly. Perhaps get everyone a new onesie for Christmas Eve night, then they'll all look smart in he Christmas Morning photos. 

Monty... is that you?

There's even a onesie Christmas card!

My First Time: Ground Espresso Bar, Belfast

My friend and fellow blogger, Sera McDaid, always tweets about her favourite coffee spot, Ground Espresso Bar. She lives up North Coast way, where the family owned business first sprouted, and until now I hadn't had a chance to taste the delights she always raved about.

Manager Dermott invited me up to their Next branch in Belfastcity centre to see what makes Ground different to the chains of coffee places elsewhere in our towns. 

The second floor cafe is spacious, bright and even has a little play section for kids who need a break from being dragged round shops. I had a white mocha & little Michael chose a strawberry milkshake & Aero muffin.

Crazy face

The coffee is proper coffee. Not the sickly sweet, sugar-laden stuff you'd get in certain places. Their new exclusive Purple Dragon blend is selling very well, and after one mocha I felt like I was buzzing on caffeine- something that never happens usually! It was smooth and delicious.

The tea that Ground Espresso serve is another local product, Suki Tea, made here in Belfast. They pride themselves on ethical, local sourcing of food, drinks and even the wood used for the interior design.

The traybakes are hefty and rich. Dermott kindly gave us some to nibble on our train journey home too. They launch their Christmas drinks soon, which includes a Snowball- a white hot chocolate with coconut- which sounds like my dream drink. So why not mark Ground Espresso as your shopping break spot when you are in the city for Christmas shopping?

My Seven Year Old Son Gave Me a NYC Cosmetics Makeover

Products we used- NYC 5 in 1 BB Creme in 01 Light.

Before

Big Bold Curl Mascara in 855 Extra Black

City Proof Twistable Intense Colour Crayon in 040 South Ferry Berry

What do you think?

Interesting mascara beauty spot he's given me!

See the full range online and compare prices. NYC is priced very reasonably.

Yardbird Belfast has given me Chicken Fever!

Yardbird in Belfast is a restaurant who have taken to heart the culinary advice of, 'do one thing, but do it really well'. They serve chicken, and that's that, but they are bloody amazing at it.

Nestling just a stone's throw from The Merchant Hotel, Yardbird can be found inside & upstairs of The Dirty Onion pub. 

The cosy, first floor eaterie is family friendly, with kids eating free at the weekend (one free child's meal per full paying adult). Their menu is straightforward, well priced and can all fit on one table mat.

The main question is 'how much chicken can you handle?', then it's a choice of sides including skin on fries, corn cobs with garlic butter, coleslaw and an avocado salad to die for. I also went for a quarter chicken, and should you visit on a weekend you can try their lunch special of 1/4 plus side for only £5. They are also trialling a chicken burrito, which we are coming back next Saturday for, we loved Yardbird so much.

A whole chicken straight from cooking. Yardbird only serve free range birds, sourced from Crossgar here in Northern Ireland.

The free kid's meal- not bad at all!

Golden corn cobs with hot, liquid garlic butter poured over them at your table.

Two stuffed and happy boys.

They also have their own special sauces, a hot version and a BBQ one. You can buy bottles of them to take home too.

We also had the chance to try the dessert menu. Leave room for these because they are out of this world. Apple pie, lime cheesecake, or a hot brownie with fresh cream or icecream.

As I said, we are going back this Saturday for another chicken feast. Maybe we will see you there?

eBay Has a Tonne of Anthropomorphic Taxidermy at the Minute, & it's Too Weird Even for ME.

There are about half a dozen eBay sellers listing some really weird anthropomorphic taxidermy at the moment. I'm trying to find something for my husband to buy me for Christmas.

This is my favourite. 

Heisenberg??

Dear god, no.

Volpe & Volpe's Batty Dinner Plate

A creative collaboration between Volpe and Volpe Founder Trish Scorgie and renowned ceramic artist Robert Dawson, the Last series re-imagines traditional British china designs adding a curious and contemporary twist to create modern day collectibles.

Highlighting the fragility of nature and drawing on traditional British ceramic manufacturing techniques, the Last series of four preservation plates blend old natural history prints of animals and birds with a floral design from a long forgotten dinner service creating designs which make them relevant for today.

The Last series of four designs is available at £45.00 each or £160.00 for the set of four (one of each design).

Volpe and Volpe will make a donation of 5% from the sale of each plate to the corresponding supportive charities:-

Greater and Lesser Horseshoe Bats

Bat Conservation Trust www.bats.org.uk

The Last series of Preservation Plates also includes Cuckoo, Hedgehog and Wolf designs - available from www.volpeandvolpe.com

Donations from the Cuckoo plate will go to - B.T.O (British Trust for Ornithology) http://www.bto.org/uk

Donations from the hedgehog plate will go to - British Hedgehog Preservation Societywww.britishhedgehogs.org.uk

Donations from the Wolf design will go to - John Muir Trust www.jmt.org