Stena Line Day Cruises Are Back! £12 Day Trips Makes For Weekends They'll Never Forget.

When you are a kid travelling is always such an adventure. I remember pleading with my parents to take us to the Belfast City Airport, just to hang around cause I loved the atmosphere so much. 

With kids loving travel in mind, let me tell you about Stena Line's great value day trips. They have been on the go since at least 2013, because then still a family of three we went on their pirate & princess day cruise. Since then Smix has asked to go on the ship often and in 2015 we we're lucky enough to travel over to M&Ds with another Stena Line day trip. However it's the first type of trip we are taking again soon, and I'll feature it all on here.

They are called Kid Day Trips, and involve being at sea from 1130am - 545pm. There's a tonne of things to do on the ship, plus added entertainment especially for the day. 

Prices, considering its for a whole day's fun, is very reasonable. £12 for a ticket, adult or child or baby, and there's a family fare option of £44 for two adults and two children. 

There is a restaurant on board as well as a separate coffee shop and main bar. If it's the same ship as we were on before, then there is also a spa on the top deck with a sauna, jacuzzi, nail bar and masseuse. It was an extra payment of £10 when I was last travelling. 

Clockwise: Soft Play Area - Trendy bar - Cinema - Spa

There is also a small duty free style shop, and with your travel that day you get £5 off a £25 spend. I previously got some Chanel perfume and a frivolous but completely needed giant Care Bear toy. 

Keep an eye out on my Rudedoodle Instagram, and Snapchat (also username rudedoodle) to catch live updates from our day trip in a few weeks time.

IKEA's Art Event 2017- This Year's Artists Revealed

IKEA's yearly art event stands to bring together a limited edition collection of work from artists from all over the world. Whilst limited, the pieces are priced by IKEA with the intent of making beautiful artwork affordable so everyone can invest in the work of talented artists who some day will be huge.

IKEA choose the pieces by a certain theme, last year was photography. This year the dozen artists chosen are all well known for their hand-drawn work.

So while every artwork is hand-drawn and have that in common, you can still see the wide range of aesthetic in the collection. Different styles to suit different homes, or different rooms within your home.

Each of the prints is poster size, so they are 61cm x 91cm. One of my repeat purchases from IKEA Belfast since they opened is their poster sized frames.

Starting at £14 (see below), these frames will suit the Art Event prints perfectly. 

I find posters simply Blu-tacked to a bedroom wall can look very, 'student digs', so it's worth £14 to frame your posters to look more 'grown up'. Of course framing also protects your prints of that size from wear and tear, so they are a good purchase for kids' posters in their bedrooms too. 

There are several different frame types in the 61 x 91cm size, box frames, or more flush to the wall flat frames, as well as a range of colours of wood. You can pick whichever will look best with the Art Event prints that take your fancy.

The collection will be instore in April. 

So what else will be instore in April? IKEA's Stockholm is their affordable luxe, design led range and they will be launching 47 new pieces in the coming months.

Last week I blogged about my  bathroom makeover using plants & soft furnishings from IKEA Belfast. House plants are the big trend for 2017, and the images of interiors IKEA are sharing confirm this. How amazing do those trailing ferns look on the left? I would love to create a green ceiling like that in my own home.

April sees a really cool collab coming  IKEA kids' way too. Partnering with DreamWorks Studio, the LATTJO collection features characters Ernst the Eagle and Victor the Vampire.

The duvet covers and cushions in the works are especially cool looking.  So there is something for everyone due in store very soon.

Simply Crochet Magazine- Unicorns, Cacti, Doughnuts & Kitsch Patterns Galore

Simply Crochet Magazine isn't your Granny's crafting pattern monthly. I picked up a copy in Tesco this afternoon after spying their kit this month is a rainbow maned unicorn.

For £5.99 the mag is packed with patterns of cool things you'd actually want to own, including unicorn slippers! 

Needles aren't included but everything else you need is, and I'm not too sure if I will be able to follow the patterns yet, but it's a challenge I'm willing to accept. 

If you subscribe monthly you'll get the magazine delivered, and a panda bear Crochet kit. I'm going to try the unicorn make and maybe subscribe if I get along with it well.

There are some clothing patterns included in  month's issue too, as well as yarn reviews and accessory features. 

My Gran Phillips would crochet as well as knit, so it's in my genes. However Simply Crochet is definitely a crochet magazine for my generation, because beginners like me can learn how to follow patterns and do each specific stitch type, on the Simply Crochet YouTube Channel.

I've been able to knock out a ten foot long, skinny scarf in about five days so far, and I'm on my second. I'll be adding mermaid or unicorn embellishments then selling them to anyone who wants to be a scruffy, chic Doctor Who-ess. So I'll finish this second scarf this week, then research and attempt the rainbow unicorn from this month's issue of Simply Crochet. Wish me luck, I might need it until I master this new craft!

Instant Dan TDM Hair- L'Oreal Colorista One Day Spray Turquoise Review. The Good... & the Bad.

When I spied the new L'Oreal Colorista Spray range in Superdrug last week, I knew Smix would be up for trying the turquoise wash out spray to look like one of his favourite Youtubers DanTDM.

Dan has dark blue, turquoise hair, and the spray I chose looked exactly like his on the can. Smix has very dark brown hair, so to have any other colour product show up would require pre-lightening, something most parents don't want to get into with natural kid hair. 

Sprays can be a good alternative, as they coat the dark hair strands rather than colour them, so it shows up better. I was really impressed with the L'Oreal spray. It looked more like the strands were actually dyed rather than coated.

The colour went on pretty easily. Just cover your clothes with a towel and use the precision spray. The shade wasn't quite what we expected, and was more royal blue than the Dan TDM turquoise, but Smix was still impressed and happy with the result. 

It was easy to apply to short hair, but may be trickier to get coverage on longer girl's hair. Any mess on the skin was simple to remove with a baby wipe. 

As you can see the coverage and result is pretty impressive. Colorista spray is definitely the next generation of wash out sprays. It looks more like a proper dye job and less like a fancy dress after thought. Superdrug currently has the range on offer for £6, which is a good price for the results. 

UPDATE: I said I would add in how the dye lasted and the mess potential of sleeping with it on. I wish I wasn't having to share the truth about how it went, cause it's not good news, but at least if you read this review you'll be warned and be prepared to wash it out that night and not let yourself or your kid sleep on it like we did. 

Smix washed his hair on Sunday morning and I sprayed the Colorista Turquoise One Day Spray onto his freshly shampooed and dried hair, giving a great result. Monday morning his friend Connie was coming round to play and we didn't have time to get him showered to clean up what disaster we were faced with when he woke up.

His hair looked like he had been dragged through a hedge backwards. The texture with the spray coating the strands is crispy and tricky to comb through into shape. While sweating during his sleep, a lot of blue had transferred onto his pillow and duvet. Now this wasn't the end of the world. The transfer onto the bed cloths was slight and looks like it'll be easy to get off, I'll just be careful to wash it separately from clothing.

The bad part was Smix's face, neck and hands. He had turned a weird green grey which now wouldn't shift with the baby wipes. We had used a baby wipe to clean up any spray that got on his forehead during application, but this ingrained stain wouldn't move at all. To clean the hands we just had him wash the colour off in the sink using shampoo instead of soap, which worked a treat. So I then used a little bit of shampoo on a baby wipe to clean his face and neck.

To be honest the result wasn't great, so I was glad he and a Connie were playing indoors that day! That night he had a shower but even after two instensive shampoos with Pantene, the hair was still a strange shade and texture. It's now Thursday and he's had two showers since the Colorista one day spray and his hair still isn't back to normal.

So my advice would be if you use the one day spray, try to wash it off before you go to bed. 

CONCLUSION: 

L'Oreal One Day Spray is well priced and does a decent job, but it's messy and hard to get off. The Turquoise wasn't quite the shade we hoped. 

During the summer we plan on using Colorista Washout, maybe with a Sun-In type pre-lightener, but not a bleach. Age nine is still too young for bleaching hair I think, but if he wants some blue hair, who am I to judge? I've had my hair every colour of the rainbow over the years. 

UPDATE: At Easter we went a step further and tried the  L'Oreal Colorista Washout Vivid Turquoise which is a semi-permanent dye made for brunette hair. It's part of the range pictured above and should last 7-15 washes. Read our review (it was a bit of a fail) then if you need to, read our review of how to remove blue or green dye from your hair in one wash- yes that's how badly it went!

There will be another update when we dye his hair properly with pre-lightening at the end of June, but after that disaster I'm contemplating visiting my own hairdresser to get her to do it! 

M&S Valentine's Dine In 2017- Love Is a Home Cooked Meal For Two

The Marks & Spencer Valentine's Day Dine In seems to get more impressive every year. This time around it's the same £20 deal which includes a starter, main course, side, dessert, wine or prosecco and a box of chocolates. 

The offer is in store now and will be available until Tuesday. The full selection and menu can be perused  on the M&S site, and there are a lot of options to pick from with this deal, more so than during the traditional Dine In menus that run throughout the year. Here is a snapshot of some of the  options, and my picks from what was available in the Bloomfields Bangor store. 

I went for the smoked salmon starter (see a couple of photos down). I can't help but be swayed by golden shiny food!

For main course I chose a pair of sirloin steaks, and there is a rump steak option also. I reckon the garlic mushrooms are the perfect side dish to accompany the steaks. 

There are a couple of really impressive looking desserts, but the stand out dish has to be the rose shaped chocolate salted caramel mousses.  The white chocolate raspberry spheres are equally special.

I skipped the prosecco and chose the pink bubbly, but you can also select white or red wine, plus non-alcoholic choices too. 

So the Dine In is a must-buy for one of the next couple of nights if not Valentine's itself, but the store is also bursting with confectionary gifts for the 14th February. 

There is a clever little deal a lot like the stocking offer they did at Christmas, but this time for £5 you get a heart gift box, then you pick three boxes of sweets to build your gift. It's a little bit of personalisation that will be appreciated, and it's a bargain to boot. 

Of course there are also a dozen gifts already to go to chose from, and I'm loving the metallic shimmer on all the chocolates this year. 

Want To Know The Biggest Interior Trend For 2017? It's Affordable, Green & Clean and Available at IKEA Right Now.

Trends in fashion cycle every 20 years without fail. In the 70s it was flared jean bell bottoms, and in the 90s they returned like clockwork and you were nothing without your bootcut jeans.  

Home interior trends are a little more unpredictable, but one of the huge trends of the 1970s is making a huge comeback in 2017, and the good news is it's very affordable and doesn't involve ripping out an entire bathroom or kitchen. 

Pantone, the US experts on colour categorisation named their 2017 colour of the year to be 'Greenery', and The Telegraph stated,

"With Greenery, Pantone hammered home what a lot of us have been suspecting for a while: plants are here to stay. And, if the approach of their campaign is anything to go by, plants in urban environments, for digitally connected people - which can only mean that houseplants are set to become an even bigger phenomenon in 2017."

So the modern, chic interior can get a revamp & look oh so 2017 by investing in a good couple of house plants. Where better to start than IKEA, where you'll get more bang for your buck, or plant for your pound as it were, than a typical garden centre.

IKEA has everything you'll need, plants of all shapes and sizes, pots, plant stands, indoor growing equipment and more.  

The trend within the trend looks like it will be cacti, which I've always loved, and IKEA have lots of varieties of them to start a little collection should you be like me and not too great with remembering to water my plants. Cacti need less attention and can thrive indoors for years. 

If you think you are so totally un-green fingered that you could even kill a cactus, IKEA has a bountiful selection of fake plants. I've a mixture of real and fake to show you, so let's get stuck in.

Before

I told IKEA I wanted to make over my small bathroom into an indoor jungle, so they sent me a selection of items to make my dream a reality. 

My bathroom is pretty plain. I'm in a rental, so I can't go totally mad renovating, so adding fresh accessories and plants is a nice easy way to jazz up what otherwise is a very ordinary room. 

Ta da! My mini rainforest has been added! A mix of real and fake plants, and charcoal bathroom accessories.

At the sink station I've added ceramic cacti ornaments  (£12) and clean white soap and toothbrush holders.

The two plants at the sink are real, the smaller being £7.50 and the larger at £19 . They are a plant called the Peace Lily, and it's included in Buzzfeed's run down of plants which can purify the air within your living spaces. So besides being beautiful, it's also making your air cleaner.

The large white ceramic pots are £2 which is a total bargain. 

My window area has the FEJKA fake grass potted plant box (£20) which is satisfyingly neat and tidy. The grey knitted storage pots are a set of four, watch out for the other pot later. In the bathroom I used the two small knitted pots to store shower gel.

The two plants behind the shower space are both fake, but look pretty convincing to me. The larger plant is a fake bamboo and for £35 it's huge. It's nice to know I won't end up killing it!

 Large Bamboo plant

 Smaller bamboo style plant

So I'm really happy with my bathroom makeover, but I had some cacti left over that I ran out of space for, so I've added them to my living room to show you how you can use smaller plants to liven up your interiors too.

I'm an absolute sucker for carnivorous plants, and IKEA have four different types, the classic being the Venus flytrap.

It's almost impossible to grown one of these from seed (I've tried), and I've a previous murder charge for letting one die before when a certain toddler worked out if you poked the 'mouths' of the plant they will snap shut.

Unfortunately if you trigger the trap too much without there being a tasty fly in there for the plant to digest, you literally exhaust the plant and it ends up dying. So while it might be tempting to trigger the jaws to snap shut by poking the plant, be aware you are effectively weakening it and increasing the chance of it not living through the next month. 

Okay, so that's my flytrap lecture over, on to the easiest plants to look after in the world, and the most bad ass cause they can cause you a great deal of pain should you accidentally brush against one- cacti! 

I had a collection of cacti when I lived in Holywood when Smix was a baby, but once he got mobile I had to move them around out of his way so much, I ended up getting rid of them. Now he's nine, if he pokes one that's his own fault and not my bad parenting, so welcome back spiky friends!

IKEA sent me five prickly beauties from their excellent diverse cacti on offer and I found two pots fitted beautifully into the rectangular grey knitted bathroom accessory pot. I've seen 'non-pot' pots as another interior trend, and there's a Belfast company who sells plants in these heavy paper sacks with shiny gold interiors. 

So my living room now has cacti and a flytrap, but also the large palm like houseplant is another from the Buzzfeed list of plants that can filter out toxins in your air. It's a cornstalk dracaena, also from IKEA but bought two years ago. If you really like the look of it I'm sure they would have something similar in their large plant section.

Lastly keeping with the cacti trend, they kindly sent this cuddly cacti for Smix! I love it to bits! You'll find lots of cacti items round the whole store, including the must buy for me- cacti print tumblers for 75p. 

So let the door close on my glimpse into my home, the final touch for the bathroom jungle being this magic unicorn head which I found in Home Bargains.

Are you ready to get green-fingered and embrace the houseplant trend of 2017? Shop everything you've seen at IKEA online.

Charity Shop Treasure Hunting- Holywood

Holywood's maypole

Another instalment of charity shop visits, this time Holywood. They have about six or seven shops, and some vintage antique shops too. 

Its a nice little afternoon out too, with lots of quaint coffee shops, specialty delis, and independent boutiques. 

Vintage My Little Ponies. I also spotted a Rugrats doll- the ginger one? I want to say Chuckie? 

Lovely Irish linen

Royal wedding stuff is uber kitsch collectible. Charles & Diana trays, plates, moneyboxes, etc. 

More original packaging. Check out the top left suggestion of how to use your push-light. Fancy dinner time. 

The following items, apart from the last, are all from an antique shop beside the maypole. They are priced up accordingly, so you will pay more than a charity shop price if you want to go buy anything I show. 

I love the bird cage. It's a really big home interior trend to have bronze metal accessories, so this would be a show stopping centre piece of a room. There's even a bird in the cage.

The pair of dogs is a classic kitsch decoration and they come in all colours. It's a 60s/70s 'every home has them' furnishing, like paintings of gypsy kids by Dallas Simpson, or three flying ducks on the wall. 

And there's me! 

Lastly, I like to finish with the weirdest thing I spot, like last week's Mona Lisa, so here she is! 

Centra Go Back Stage in Vegas With Carl Frampton #LiveTodayNI

Pictured: Michael McCormack, managing director, Musgrave NI with Centra Live Well ambassadors, Jane McClenaghan (nutrition); Bridgeen Rea (mindfulness) and Johnny Davis (RunTogether).

Centra has teamed up with Carl Frampton’s award-winning and highly respected boxing coach, Shane McGuigan, along with a top team of Ambassadors, to help inspire the people of Northern Ireland to Live Well Every Day.

The new Centra Live Well programme aims to educate and inspire consumers to make healthier choices and encourage communities across Northern Ireland get active.

Get friendly with  Centra NI on Facebook and see the behind the scenes action with Carl Frampton in Vegas. Or follow them on Twitter to keep up to date with instore offers, competitions and giveaways.