Tuesday, 21 February 2017

Ask Allison Anything: Non Chocolate Easter Gift Ideas from Cotton On Kids

Every Easter, the Easter Bunny brings our kiddos some cute Bunny themed essentials for the Winter ahead. These are usually in the form of PJ's, slippers or gumboots and a dressing gown.
 
As I have both boys and a girl in my family, I know just how frustrating it can be when you can find all the cute goodies in the girls section, but none in the boys. That is why I was SO excited when I saw all the gorgeous Bunny themed goodies - for both boys and girls - hitting Cotton On stores and website. Every year I always get asked for non chocolate gift ideas, so I hope this helps you out...
 

Pyjamas:

 
Alicia LS Girls PJ Set: $29.95
Shop it Here

Harry LS Boys PJ Set: $29.95
Shop it Here
 

Dressing Gown:

Boys Hooded Gown: $29.95
Shop It Here

Girls Hooded Gown: $29.95
Shop It Here
 
 

Slippers:

Novelty Homeboot: $24.95
Shop It Here
 
Novelty Homeboot: $24.95
Shop It Here

 
 

For Baby:

Mini Long Sleeve Bubby: $16.95
Shop It Here

Babies Bib: $12.95
Shop It Here

Cotton Baby Blanket: $22.95
Shop It Here
 
 

Easter Basket Fillers:

Knot Messy Hair Brush:$4.95
Shop It Here

Rain Poncho: $10 (online only)
Shop It Here
Spring Drink Bottle: $5.00
Shop It Here
 
 
Honestly Cotton On Kids - HUGE pat on the back! I love seeing that there is finally an equality of cute Easter stuff out this year for both boys and girls.
 
There are loads more cute bunny items over at Cotton On (tops, nighties, leggings, bags, headbands), you can check out the rest here
 
NB: Post contains affiliate links in conjunction with my disclosure policy


Thursday, 2 February 2017

Organising and Storing my Digital Photographs

 
A few weeks ago I shared over on my Facebook page that one of my biggest resolutions for the year was to try and get on top of the mounting pile of digital photographs that I have accumulated since having kids. So many of you came up with brilliant ideas and so many of you sounded like you were in the same boat as me (drowning in photos), so I thought that I would share where I am at with it all.
 

Step One: Sort

 
The first thing that I did was to take all of the photos for the past few years off every phone and camera and save into folders onto my laptop.
 
I now have all photos saved by year and then under each year there is a folder for each month. Sounds simple enough, but boy it was a pretty mammoth task! However moving forward every single month I will simply just save the photos for the month into the folders set up.
 
I have also purchased an external hard drive to back up the folders should anything happen to my laptop or phone.
 
 

Step Two: Printing

 
The next thing I had to do was to try and work out what the heck to do with all of these photos?! I am the type of person who loves having photos around the house, but have avoided making albums and the like.
 
 
The kids each have a baby album that shares the first year of their life (these have been done through Mixbook). I decided to do a similar thing with the family memories for the year. So every year I will pick the top highlights for the year and produce a photo book.
 
 
As for the rest of the photos...I have purchased some basic photo albums from Kmart for these.
 
 
 
The lovely Kristy from the Sprinkle Studio created labels for the spines (by year) and each album contains all of the photos for the year. These albums the kids can flick through, help me add to etc during the year. Yes I definitely feel like I have gone all retro with these albums, but the kids adore photos just as much as me!
 
 

Step Three: Routine

 
This is absolutely the critical part, because I really need to stick to a routine throughout the year so I stay on top of everything.
 
The plan is to:
 
- Save photos off the phone/camera once a month into the folders
- Once photos are saved, pop on a USB to print at Kmart (we all know that I am there nearly every day anyway!).
- Pop photos into the small album once they are printed
 
If I stick to this, by the time the year is up I will have an album full of photos, photos organised and sorted on my computer (and backed up) and a family photo book done.
 
 
Like I said, I know that this is pretty basic. I absolutely LOVE the idea of Project Life and scrap books etc, but I just don't think that I would ever stay on top of it. So for now, this is going to be a manageable way for me to capture and stay on top of the family memories.
 
If you would like to get into the habit of doing something similar, I will issue a little reminder once a month on my Facebook and Instagram pages that it is time to save photos (and print) how does that sound?!
 
 


 
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