Last week I came across something very special at exactly the right time.

If you have been to mine for your photography session you will have noticed all the photographs I have up of my children, but I often say that a family photograph is well overdue. So this summer I made it my mission to do this, and I was very pleased with the result, it was exactly what I wanted and exactly how I wanted my family to be captured. Anyway, now came the hard part, getting that image on the wall! Of course, being a professional photographer I have a list of suppliers. If you know how my business works, I mainly sell digital images as these are part of the package you choose. I like to remain affordable by allowing clients to get their own products printed elsewhere. Whilst I always recommend getting products through me so I can ensure the best quality and colours, I understand not everyone can afford professional quality products so I thought I should test some high street brands to see which were good enough to "recommend" to my clients. 

This is when this fantastic opportunity came up for me to review a Tesco canvas! The timing couldn't have been better. I already had my favourite image picked ready to order and the process was super easy. 

What amazed me the most was that if you order your Tesco canvas before 12pm you can collect after 3pm the SAME day! I was in no immediate rush for mine so I opted for the home delivery option, but it still arrived in less than a week, which is also an amazing turnaround time. Now I have done something similar before, you have probably seen those little places in shopping centers that do you a canvas in an hour, we have had these done in the past and the colours have been awful. As a professional photographer I am extra picky about colour balance, but Tesco came out very close to the colours I see on my screen so I was very impressed with this also! 

It was very easy to order my canvas online. I simply selected the size required, then chose the type of side style. I was very impressed that ALL options were available and done automatically for you; mirror, image stretch, block colour, or image wrap. It also showed you which part of the photo would be wrapped around the outside so you could choose the best option. I personally like the image wrap, but for this and the mirror option you need to ensure you have plenty of background otherwise you will end up cutting bits of your photo off or having a shoe or someone's foot or whatever is on the outside of the image mirrored, which looks terrible! But fear not as you can clearly see what your image will look like before you order. 

The only thing I would do differently if I ordered again, is order a bigger one! Canvas definitely look better the bigger you get!

Thank you Tesco, I will definitely be recommending your canvas' to my clients! 

During the summer holidays we were given the fantastic opportunity for my children to attend some biscuit decorating and craft classes at Lollipops play cafe in Bournemouth whilst I took some promotional photographs for the lovely Sarah from Biscuits by Sarah B and Lexy from Made by Me Craft Parties. 

I decided to bring my husband along to look after the children at the class, so I could concentrate on my purpose for being there; to take photographs. But he was not needed at all! Sarah and Lexy were amazing with all of the children and each class provided a full hours entertainment for the children whilst the adults could enjoy a hot drink in the cafe and a much needed break during the summer holidays. 

During these classes the children got to make a spell book with invisible ink and secret pockets and tabs ( I wanted to make one myself!) and decorate five yummy Harry Potter themed biscuits. I have even booked myself onto an adult biscuit decorating class because it looked so fun. 

Needless to say, I got some great photographs which show how involved the children were with what they were doing, they all had a great time and as well as being entertained for a hour or two they got to take some fantastic creations home with them! 

If you would like more information on upcoming classes you can visit the Mini makes and bakes facebook page. Or if you run classes and would like me to take some photos for you please do get in touch I would love to hear from you, I love doing something a little different.