Ad | Review: Reasonably Priced Personalised Photo Gifts from ASDA for Mother's Day...

ASDA asked if we wanted to take a look at some of their personalised photo gifts, so I set my children the challenge to make me something nice - and they haven't disappointed me! They chose a Mother's day card, a mug and a large canvas... 

A good measure of how easy a website is to use, is to send a 13 year old to try it, and clearly ASDA's website is easy enough, because I received no complaints.

The teenager did have assistance from his older brother, and direction from his other siblings, but I am told he designed the card entirely by himself... including 5 photos of himself - 3 of them photoshopped into love hearts. Winning the prize for getting into my good books there... 

HP Sprocket Photo Printer Limited Edition Gift Box Review

Photo printing has changed beyond recognition in my lifetime and one of the latest developments for the home market is portable photo printers. This Christmas the printing experts HP have released a special gift box edition of their gorgeous and almost pocket-sized Sprocket Photo Printer and they've sent me one to review.

There will also be a Twitter Frenzy from 6pm until 7pm Thursday 23rd November and HP will be giving away some incredible prizes - Shopping Vouchers and HP Printing products including 2 Sprocket Gift Boxes! Follow the hashtag #reinventmemories

Inside the box is the gift bundle.  The HP Sprocket itself in white with rose gold trim, Zipped Case/Wallet with wrist strap, HP Sprocket Photo Album and voucher for a free personalised skin from Wrappz.

When the kids decide they don't want to be on the blog...

A friend of mine today explained on her Facebook page that her family would no longer feature on her blog. She'll continue to talk with authority and be a fabulous advocate in her field, but won't share personal stories. This was at the surprise direct request of her 9 year old.

When your children are little it may not occur to you that you are sharing anything they wouldn't like shared - you may not even know. I think you get away with this scott-free for a shorter period than most people might think.

Finding The Right Local Professional Easily With Bidvine (Review)

Bidvine was launched 18 months ago, and is a local services marketplace that intends to be the easiest way for you to find local professionals with the right qualifications and experience to complete the job you have.  Professionals pay a fee each time they are hired, but customers don't pay anything extra to use the service.

The site  is really simple to use, and actually allows you to find out if they have what you want before you even log in. The UK is split into local areas, with most of the UK population covered by the 75 areas currently shown.

Bidvine list absolutely tons of different professions - from Accounting to Asbestos Removal, Zumba Lessons to Mobile Petting Zoos. The autocomplete gives you a clue as to what you can choose from, although you may find there aren't actually so many of the more obscure...

For my review I chose Family Photographers in the Manchester area, adding a random postcode fairly near to me for the purpose of the review. Then I was asked a series of quick questions to find out more precisely what I wanted - indoor or outdoor? Studio or home? How many people will be in the photos? etc. These are the questions I'd have to answer each time if I was ringing round for quotes.

Pokemon Go! Photo Competition from NCC Home Learning

It comes as no surprise now if you see someone stop suddenly in the street and start swiping their phone screen before giving a little fist pump and carrying on. Clearly they're playing Pokemon Go!, and had spotted Charizard waving at them.

Animated Pocket Monsters aren't the usual thing to see when going about your everyday life, and these encounters can lead to some pretty amazing and amusing images. NCC Home Learning have a Pokemon Go! photography competition running until 30th September 2016 for you to share your Pokemon Go! photos.

Cheerz Photogifts Review - Cheerz Photobox and Retro Magnets

I was recently asked on Instagram if I'd like to review for Cheerz, and I thought it would be quite nice to see some of my favourite Instagram photos turned into good old-fashioned photographs you can hold in your hand. Cheerz make a nice range of different gifts and have some novel ways to display your pictures. They're perfect for a proud Dad on Father's Day.

I chose the Cheerz Box. 30 prints in a nice 'letterbox' sized box. They're crisp and clear and the colours are very true. The border colours on these are lovely. The photos are cropped to square, and you can reposition them, resize and also add captions if you want. It's actually a fantastic way to save memories that you think you'll know forever, but time steals some of the information. I've labelled a few with dates, and I chose some of the very best smiles.