January 10, 2016

Purrmaids. Cat Mermaids. And You Can Get a Double Duvet Covered in Them For £12 at Asda.

January 10, 2016/ Claire Spence

I put together a straight forward 'save and paste loads of product photos' post showcasing Asda online's pretty cool bedding selection before Christmas week there.

It went down a treat, and lots of you became new Asda bedding fans like me. Their designs are contemporary, funky and unusual, and a great example of that is the new Purrmaids duvet cover which is £10 for a single bed and just £12 for your double.

The matching cushion costs £5 and both can be delivered with NO postage charge to your nearest store, so you can pick it up when it suits- no missed parcels and trips to the Post Office.

Nautical navy & White is a smart, clean design classic you can't go wrong with.

If you fancy a more grown up, sensible pattern, but love the colour scheme, why not opt for the swallow print bedding at the same price?

Or this sailing inspired duvet for manly men!

Another choice for us cat lovers.

Or monkey fans.

There are so many unique designs, I advise just going and browsing.

Have fun! Let me know if you buy anything! I'm @rudedoodle on Twitter.

January 07, 2016

Tillfalle IS Coming to IKEA Belfast!

January 07, 2016/ Claire Spence

I featured a look ahead to Spring 2016 before Christmas, but I wasn't sure how much of this tropical Tillfalle collection we would get locally. It's been confirmed that we will be getting a selection of pieces, in store from February. My favourite is the black and white coffee table.

January 07, 2016

Marks & Spencer's Enviously Delicious Clean Eating Ranges for a Fresh 2016

January 07, 2016/ Claire Spence

In the past if someone announced their eating clean intentions I'd think 'dead on. Rather you than me!'. Clean Eating involves removing preprocessed foods from your diet, or at least avoiding additives in what you do buy already made. That sounds like no fun at all.

When I arranged this latest blog post with my lovely contact for M&S, she suggested I look at the new juices they've brought out, and clean eating involving a stirfry offer (it's a really great offer, more on that below). I wondered would I find anything to my taste, but I was pleasantly surprised.

The fruit and veg section is an obvious place to start. All sorts of delicious fruit with some on a 2 for £3, mix and match offer.

As well as the classic favourite fruits, there are some I haven't even heard of! M&S are great like that, they'll have products you just can't get elsewhere.

Adventurous cooks will love the herb station. You can buy potted herb plants too.

These little salad bowls have been around for ages, but they've launched a few new versions for the year ahead. I noticed quite a lot of avocado products round the store, always a good thing. These pots are £3 for 2, can be mixed varieties or even included in the fruit and veg 2 for £3 too.

Here's that fabulous stirfry deal I mentioned. You get a meat, veg mix, noodle or rice and finally a sauce for £7. It's all mix and match so the different combinations seem endless. The meal serves two but you could easily bulk it up to feed two kids as well with an extra pack of noodles.

The meat options don't cut corners, as well as the chicken and beef you'd expect, there are exotic choices like duck breast, king prawn and salmon. I don't think Ive ever had salmon in a stir fry.

Here comes a really innovative range- vegetables that replace pasta in meals. Each of these cost £1 and could definitely be used to bulk up the stir fry like I mentioned. I havent seen these for sale anywhere else and I'm very curious to try them.

Those of you with brand new Nutribullets will love these smoothie packs. For £2.50, or two for £3, you get everything you need to whizz up the perfect healthy juice. You can even use the container as a cup.

The little veg and protein tubs, such as this beetroot, chicken and pecan nut one below are an interesting alternative to a snack of chocolate or crisps during the day.

Green tea can help your metabolism, so with it only being £1 for this box, I decided to give it a go.

M&S fresh soups, from the fridge department, are known for being rich and delicious. They've launched a few new recipes and you can try them by taking advantage of the current buy one, get one half price offer.

Also newly launched are these tea based drinks. They are £1.50 each. They'd make a delicious afternoon snack with one of the crispy Pink Lady apples.

Staying with healthy snacks, these baked pea snaps are £2 for bags of 5.

I also loved the package design of their instant noodles.

So you're set for your evening meal with the stirfry offer, but what can you pick up on the go, or for a working lunch?

These new open sandwiches and healthy wraps are mix and match with a drink & snack all for £4.

Here are a couple of combinations I chose. All £4 offers.

Smoked salmon and prawn. How cool are these carrot crisps?

Finally, your healthy eating breakfast- porridge, you can't beat it!

Coincidentally Sprucefield M&S have Fitbits. I bought one last week and I'm loving it. It tracks your steps, exercise, quality of sleep etc. If you're thinking of getting one you should pop along and play about with what they have there.

January 05, 2016

Playmobil Summer Fun Fairground: a Great Timeless Set for Toy Collectors.

January 05, 2016/ Claire Spence

We are big fans of Playmobil. It's great quality, versatile and tough wearing. It's worth it's price because you can pass on or sell sets and they pretty much retain their value. Smix loved playing with my Victorian Mansion set which my parents brought down from the attic.

Two winters ago he got the Playmobil Hotel for Christmas and has had great fun with it. For his birthday there in October my parents bought him the first piece of the Summer Fun 2015 fairground set- a light up, spinning Waltzer.

Santa brought lots more Playmobil, and he has almost collected all the fairground pieces now.

As well as the swinging boats ride, he receive the sweet shop, tin can alley and fairground train.

The only piece he is missing now is the chairplanes.

The masterpiece of the collection is this, the light and action Ferris Wheel. He also got the motor attachment which drives the wheel automatically.

To see the whole range visit the Playmobil Website. They have Flash games and colouring in pages. Also check out Smix's video.

December 31, 2015

Happy New Year, World of Kitsch Readers!

December 31, 2015/ Claire Spence

Heading into 2016 and leaving you with a vlog we made this evening for Smix's YouTube channel.

We spotted this caramel flavour guessing game reduced in the post-Christmas sale in our local Tesco and had to buy it to give it a go.

Smix launched his channel in October when he turned 8, after making some Minecraft videos and having them posted to my own YouTube account.

He has already 1,750+ views on his videos in just over two months, and has worked with IKEA & Tiger Stores, he's going to surpass his Mum! If any brands would like to work with him, or me for that matter, you can contact me via the tab at the top of the page.

Happy New Year, everyone!

December 31, 2015

Make Your New Year's Resolution Not To Ever Buy Another Phone Charging Cable Again: Meet Titan, The Last Charger You'll Ever Buy

December 31, 2015/ Claire Spence

How much money did you spend on replacement charging cables in 2015? I use iPhone lightning chargers for both my iPhone & iPad mini, and I can estimate I spent over £20 easily this year on replacement wires, and that's using Poundland ones.

The problem wasn't me being tight with my wallet buying cheap wires, I had started out buying iPhone cables from CEX at £10 a pop, and they lasted no better than the £1 variety.

The iPhone charging cable is more fragile than a quail's egg, and knowing Santa was bringing Smix an iPad Mini too, I reckoned my charger bill for 2016 was only going to get bigger.

Then the week before Christmas I got an email from Jon at Fuse Chicken asking would I like to try out their Titan charger cable. It's billed as being indestructible, and can even withstand a CHAINSAW!

As the Fuse Chicken blurb reads, they invented the Titan, and then set out to destroy it.

As a product it's very quirky to play with. It's flexible like a toy snake, but can withstand huge weight.

The strength comes from the two layers of industrial steel wrapped round the otherwise delicate wire. But iPhone owners will know it's the little end connectors that are the problem. They bend, split, and expose the wires, or just stop connecting altogether. The Titan has fixed this with a hard, one-piece encasing over the fiddly bits, so no more broken ends. Another plus is the 1 meter length, so you've a little more to work with.

So it's everything proof, but is it Smix-proof? Six days since he got his iPad and it appears to be. I would imagine a regular lightning cable would be experiencing a bit of wear already.

You can purchase the iPhone compatible Titan Cable for around £24 and the Android Titan Cable for approx. £17 on the Fuse Chicken website. I'm going to purchase one for myself when my current regular lightning cable breaks, a big thumbs up from us.

December 23, 2015

Sushi For Santa: Christmas Bento Boxes, a Jolly Holly Edible Artwork.

December 23, 2015/ Claire Spence

The whole bento box way of life hasn't quite hit the UK, or NI at least, yet. It's a fun lunchtime treat with clever culinary masters turning snacks into 3D works of art. Here are some Christmas themed boxes, and Yuletide sushi ideas.

Finally, check out these sushi decorations for your tree!

December 22, 2015

Can You Control The Weird Pangs of Jealousy You'll Feel Viewing These Photos of 1970s' Kids Opening Star Wars Gifts from Santa?

December 22, 2015/ Claire Spence

Bright, shiny, new Star Wars sets and figures brought by Santa to lucky boys & girls in the late 70s. How much do you want to reach into the photos and wrestle a box out of their hands?