Friday, August 30, 2013

StickyGram Magnets from Instagram photos

A couple of weeks ago I ordered a set of 9 magnets which comes on one little square sheet and then you separate them and pop them on your fridge.  The StickyGram website links directly into your Instagram account and you just click on the picture you want and order them.  They have an "add/remove" button so if you change your mind on a picture you just swap it out. The company is in England with free worldwide shipping.

The whole process only took a few minutes to do my first order.  They are $21.99 postage included however with the exchange rate it came in around $16.84 which was inclusive of the international bank fee.  Therefore the 9 magnets cost $1.87 each which is a little expensive however for a personalized magnet or gift I think they are pretty cool.  Having said that I will happily buy a chocolate bar or diet coke for $2.50 without giving it another thought so really....they are not that expensive when you think of it like that.  Half the cost of a coffee or bottle of water or chocolate.

These magnets would make great Christmas presents for the grandparents of the grandkids or even use photos of the grandparents and the grandkids that you have taken on Instagram.  Here's a look at my magnets and it also comes with a white proof sheet on cardboard which has your address on it which slips into the envelope.  Jump on and give it a go to order a set of magnets for your fridge.  I can't remember when I did order them but I think it only took 2 weeks to arrive or thereabouts.



Monday, August 26, 2013

STILLS : A WEEKLY COLLECTION

I have been linking up with Emma at The Beetle Shack for a few weeks now for a Collection of Weekly Stills and here are some previous posts here, here, here and here.

This is the round up for this week in our lives:-















This week's line up are as follows:-

1.    Sunflower in our veggie garden.
2.    At the start of the 5km Fun Run to support Spina Bifida see here for more photos.
3.    KWH - aka "Kids Were Here" - Sienna's Ugg Boots.
4.    James choice of reading.
5.    My choice of reading.
6.    James and Sienna playing with his Beyblades.
7.    Inside the Beyblades Battle arena.
8.    These horses live about 100 metres from our house.
9.    Baking these Apple & Oat Muffins with Sienna.
10.  Sports Day at the Oval.
11.  James doing his long jump.
12.  James running his 100 metres - he is 2nd on the left.
13.  Sienna running her 60 metres - she is 2nd on the right in yellow.
14.  We had a full moon this week over our house.

Sunday, August 25, 2013

Fun Run 5km for Spina Bifida

Today we did a 5 km Fun Run to support the Spina Bifida Organization which commenced underneath the Story Bridge and ended in the same spot.  When everyone was back the kids were treated to some wonderful "Life Be In It" games which kept them engaged and entertained and of course we all enjoyed a sausage in bread and a soft drink for lunch.

James and his friend ran the entire 5 kms without stopping (go boys!!).  Sienna ran most of the 5 kms (go girl!!) and I walked 3 kms and took some lovely photos along the way given that it was beside the Brisbane River and opposite the city.  Here's some photos from our morning enjoying the Brisbane winter sun.







Above - the warm up was enough to make us all want a rest
afterwards however the music was great.  James said it was like a disco.



Above - I was so impressed with James, Sienna and their friend running
up the front with the big boys from Churchie Boys College.  








Alove - Sienna in the pink and purple running...my kids totally impressed me with their stamina today.










Above - This is Will who we were there to support...look at that cute face and big eyes.








Above - That's James being thrown up in the air and lands on the parachute (not sure what's it's called).

Wednesday, August 21, 2013

Week in the Life 2013

Each year I participate in the wonderful Ali Edwards (USA scrapbooker) project called "Week in the Life" (aka WITL) and this year it is on from the 9th to the 15th September, 2013.  I have written about my 2012 WITL book here.  My sister asked me why I have to do it during that week and I said because "that's when Ali does it" and lots of people from around the world do it at the same time and share their links to their daily lives, photos and books.  Of course I could do this anytime of the year myself but when a group of people do something together (even if most of them are cyber people whom I'll never meet) it is still more exciting to do it together.  I have a couple of friends in Brisbane who do it with me as well and that's pretty cool also.



As I'm talking photos of our life everyday this is not too far of a stretch however it's a morning until evening account of our life in September 2013 so it is pretty full on.  In saying that, this project can be whatever you want it to be ie if you only want to take 10 photos each day, then take 10 photos each day.  I take lots of photos everyday and then you have more of a choice for options about what to put in.  This year I'm thinking of heading into the city for a day to take snaps of Brisbane as I never venture into the city but we do live in Brisbane and years to come it will be good to have this history.

Also when I think about what sort of things to photograph I think about if my Mum gave me a book like this from when I was 6 or so I would want to see what sort of cereals we were eating, the wallpaper on the walls, my bedroom which I shared with my sister, our house, dressed up going to school, books we were reading, artwork I did, games we played in the backyard, tv shows we watched, dinners we ate, the time on the clock we left to go to school, ate dinner etc.  Whilst our daily lives are "normal" to us now, in 30 years times when James and Sienna are looking at these books what will it show them about their lives in 2013.  One thing I must do again is be in the photos and not just alone, but with my kids.  The remote and the tripod will take care of that, now all I need is semi co-operative children....that may or may prove illusive.

It is truly a fabulous project to do for your family and lots of opportunity to think about photography and different angles to photograph things instead of the obvious ones.

Here's a couple of pages from WITL 2010 but my all time favourite was last year in 2012 using the Blurb book which I wrote about in this post.

Things that I remember when I look at these 2010 pages of WITL are the following:-

  • James was in Grade 1 and was 6 years old and Sienna was at Kindy and was 4 years old.
  • I love their little round chubby baby faces and which I could give them a big squeeze they are so cute.
  • We had just started our very first veggie garden and the kids loved watering the plants.
  • The kids had a sleep over at Granny's place (my Mum) and set up a cuby house in the lounge room.
  • Sienna loves all creatures great and small, dead or alive and she carried around a dead grasshopper with her at Granny's place.
  • The price of petrol was $1.35
  • My sister moved into her unit that she bought.
  • James teaching Sienna how to play UNO and obviously it was taking too long as she looks very bored and oh so cute waiting for the cards.
  • A set of traffic lights that we had to wait at every morning going to school from our old house.
  • The cereals the kids were eating in April 2010 Sustain and Weetbix.
  • I got to sleep in until 9.35 am because the kids were having a sleep over at Granny's.