Nail Art

For Christmas I recieved a great kit for my nails which i'll be sharing with you soon, for now i'll share a few of the designs which i've done this week including Christmas, Pacman and the latest one's for new years eve.

Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas

So christmas day has finally arrived and this is just a quick message to wish everyone a very merry christmas. I hope the day is filled with lots of love and laughter, great food, great times and great company.

Merry Christmas All.
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Christmas Crafts

Over the past year with not being too well, at times when i've felt OK i've needed to keep myself busy with things that I can enjoy but without causing any more pain or discomfort. Crafts have always been a love of mine but even more so over the past couple of years, and although I'm not a master of any of them, the pure fact of making something myself not only lets out my creative side but it also really chills me out and helps me to relax, who cares if it's not perfect?

With Christmas coming up I decided to make some homemade decorations. The first ones i've made were done with a little help from Hobbycraft. Hobbycraft is like my haven, I could spend hours in that shop, and if my purse would allow it i'd buy the lot! I bought some unfinished wooden shapes to decorate myself. These come in a variety of different christmas themed shapes as well as non christmas shapes.

These don't work out very expensive to make and are much cheaper than buying decorations from a shop. Making them yourself is not just rewarding but it creates a lovely homespun feel to your decorated home. You could even make them for a friend or a relative, I made my sister a few for her new home but I decorated them to match her decor colour scheme.

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Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree



So Christmas is only a couple of weeks away and in our house the decorations have been up since late November. We don't really do any outdoor decorations but inside we love to fill the house with beautiful things which make you feel all festive and put you in the mood for Christmas. With the tree being the main event, I love to spend time making it look nice, with some festive tunes on in the background.

                                             

Our tree is quite a traditional themed tree, just a classic green tree with decorations mainly in red/gold/green. Some of the modern white trees can look fabulous in-store but I don't think they'll suit our decorations. Rather than just filling the tree with decorations that mean nothing we like to buy all different ones to make our tree stand out and be unique to us.We usually buy 2-3 new special ones a year. We still have one on the tree which was bought for me on my first Christmas, 20 years ago!

                                               

I think that a Christmas tree needs to be full of decorations, a sparsely decorated tree isn't quite as interesting. So once I've put on the lights and all of the main decorations in place, I like to fill the rest of the tree with just normal baubles. I got some new ones this year from Asda and Sainsbury's, they didn't cost very much but finished the tree off perfectly.

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What's your decoration theme? Classic or modern? 



Table Top Cookware

Last week whilst at one of my favourite restaurants I had my first experience of "Steak on a stone" , If you haven't tried it, you must. I was blown away by it, it not only allows you to cook your food to your exact liking but it also adds more theatre and excitement to a meal. Every one of us tried the "steak on a stone" and we were all equally impressed with our meals.

I immediately knew what I could get my Dad for Christmas, he's ridiculously difficult to buy for and with his birthday being on Christmas Eve it makes it even harder having to buy double the amount of gifts. He loves to cook and I thought these would be a perfect present. It's a bit different, and it's something which all of the family can enjoy and experiment with.

I rate a company very highly if they are good with customers and I was very pleased with the service I received from Table Top Cookware. I often find that with many companies your email can take a good few days to be replied to, that's if you even get a reply. When I contacted Table Top Cookware with a query I was impressed when I got my reply 20 minutes later, and that was after midnight... I wasn't expecting the reply so soon.

So I ordered 2 of the Hot Stone Grills which cost £28.99 each. As with all new things you want to get them out of the box and use them straight away but being a gift for the parents, it'll just have to wait for Christmas eve! It makes for such a unique gift idea or even a great investment for a more enjoyable and interactive meal. I'll be sure to update you once Dad has used it!

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All Wrapped Up

So December is finally here and for the first time ever i'm completely organised for Christmas weeks in advance. Early in November I was starting to think I was a little crazy organising things so early, but now that all my gifts are bought and wrapped I can just sit back, relax and not worry about the stressful last minute shopping which I would usually be running around doing.

Christmas is my favourite time of the year and when it comes to wrapping gifts I love to take my time making them look pretty, with some Christmas music on in the background and a glass of wine. I usually go for a classic wrapping theme with red/silver/gold being the main colours. However this year I decided to go for something a little different, a frosty winter's night theme that is coloured with deep blue, white and silver is what I eventually decided on. All of my gift wrap is from Sainsbury's, I think it's important to get wrapping paper that isn't too cheap as they often too thin and are prone to tearing. You don't have to spend a fortune, you can get great quality wrapping that is still affordable. All of my gift wrap cost under £10. Many of the wrapping papers in sainsbury's are also included within a 3 for 2 offer. 

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What is your christmas wrapping theme this year? Classic or modern?

Ideal Home Show at Christmas

A few weeks back I recieved my daily email from groupon which I usually just delete without even reading. However after 100's of emails an offer finally caught my eye. 'Ideal Home Show at Christmas', I simply had to get it. The show ran from 14th-18th November at Earls Court, London. This year I visited the Ideal Home Show for the first time back in March and had a really great day. So the thought of the show mixed with the festive theme makes me very happy, I absolutely love Christmas!
If you buy your tickets from the website then you pay less than if you were to pay on the door. If I hadn't of got the offer from groupon then for my weekday ticket it would have cost £12/16.50. With the fantastic savings from groupon I saved 61%, for two tickets it only cost £12.50 and that included show guides and goody bags.

The show hosts over 600 exhibitors from various different fields including, home, fashion, technology and fashion. They also have 'Celebrity Ambassadors' who make appearances and do some demonstrations. These include the likes of Myleene Klass, Gino D'Acampo and Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen.  There was also a pop-up ice rink this year which is in partnership with ITV's Dancing on Ice, if you wanted a skating session you could pay extra for that. I gave the skating a miss, as my bad leg wouldn't allow it and I cannot skate to save my life. You wouldn't have seen me gliding across the ice like those on Dancing on Ice, I can assure you of that.

After hours off looking around the stalls we decided it was time for a break, we went for a lovely meal in Pizza Express which was a lot quieter and more relaxed than just buying food from a counter. There was also the Gregg Wallace Winter Restaurant, in which you can try a 3 course tasting menu.
We all bought some lovely items from the show, some great Christmas gifts too. The tickets were an absolute bargain and we had a really fab day out. It really gets you in the festive spirit, I can't wait to return next year!
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My Bicester Buys

Earlier in the week I posted about my weekend away in Bicester and I thought I would share with you a few of my purchases that I made.

I bought this lovely scarf from Ted Baker, it's a fairisle print with pink, grey, black and white colours.
it's a cosy knit which will keep my neck warm throughout the winter and with the little prints of reindeers makes it even more fitting in the winter months. The RRP of this scarf was £55 but the outlet price was £30 and with the 10% off I got it for £27. I've never spent so much on a scarf before, but i'm sure it's a worthy investment! This cosy scarf has already been used several times this week as the weather has been rather chilly!

My favourite shop from the village was Cath Kidston. I'm a lover of their products and prints. If I had the money I could have spent hours in the shop buying loads of things. In the end I decided on a bag which i'll be using to transport a few of my crafty bits about. The bag is green with a pink based floral print. The RRP of the bag was £25 but I got it for £14.40.



I done a little bit of christmas shopping whilst I was there too, I went into Links of London to get a couple of charms as gifts for people. I was happy to find they had some really fantastic discounts. The charms I got are normally around £30 each but I got one for £15 and one for £20!

If you like your higher end branded shops yet don't quite have the money to pay full price then I would recommend making your way there for some great discounts. Even when it was busy, there was a very relaxed and spacious feel around the whole outlet village. It'll make a great day out looking round the boutiques, buying some christmas gifts or treating yourself!
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Christmas Fragrance Oils

I love Christmas, I always have and I always will. So as it gets to this time of the year and the shops are starting to bring out their Christmas ranges, it's safe to say that I am getting very excited! The other week I posted about the oil burner and fragrance oils, since then I have been out shopping in Sainsbury's and noticed their new Christmas scented candles, oils and decorative section. I bought two new fragrance oils, the first is Christmas Spice, its full of the recognisable Christmas scents such as cinnamon, allspice and nutmeg. The second is Snowflakes, this reminds me of crisp winter mornings, it's has a fresh, soft and heavenly scent. In the range they also have a Christmas Tree one and Frankincense & Myrrh. They cost £2.50 and are perfect to fill your home with a warm, Christmasy scent.

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Fragrance Oil Burner

I am a girl who loves nothing better than a long soak in the bath, taking the time to pamper myself and simply relax. Whilst the bath is running and once I've put my candles on I like to use my oil burner. You can find oil burners in a variety of shops, from Sainsbury's to The Body Shop, anywhere that sells candles usually sells oil burners along with the oils. To use them you simply fill the little well at the top of the burner with water, fill it just over half way. To the water add a few drops of whatever fragrance oil you fancy.

With the variety of scents that are available in refresher oils you can chop and change your fragrance as often as you like without having to buy lots of different scented candles.
Oil burners are much more versatile than candles as you can not only control the scent but you can control how strong or weak you would like the scent to be, simply by controlling how many drops you put in. I like to add quite a few drops as I like the whole room to be infused with the lovely scent, but if you only want a slight hint of scent then a couple of drops will be plenty.

Once you have decided on an oil and put the drops into the water, simply light a tea light and place on the bottom under the well. You don't need to buy expensive tea lights which are scented as you will get the scent from the oil, I use the cheap ones which do the job just as well and they only cost around £2 for a large bag of them.

Within a few minutes once the water has started to warm up the room will start to smell lovely, it lets of a fragrant aroma that is relaxing and calming. I also have one in the bedroom and living room so that the whole house can smell gorgeous. I'd recommend them as a great alternative or addition a long side candles.

P.S, if you can get some fragrance oils which are sold around Christmas time then buy and try them, you can get many different ones, the winter spiced and cranberry ones are simply heavenly!

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