Winter Photo Diary

The New Year is fast approaching and I thought now would be a nice time to share some of my photos from the winter months. There’s a mixture of outings, baking, books, Christmas & more. Hope you enjoy!

I’ve been reading a lot of Christmas fiction lately, here are a few of the books.

A little snippet from Christmas day, we had a turkey dinner.

What’s Christmas without baking? 

Here are a few of my recent bakes that I haven’t previously shared.

I was impressed with our local chemist window display this year, so much effort has gone into it so I had to take pictures.

My family and I have been doing jigsaws, we were kindly given this one thousand piece Christmas jigsaw from a friend. I contributed but it was mainly my Mum who did most of this one. I loved having it out to put in pieces when I was in the mood and the picture is super festive.

My friend Kate is a wiz on the sewing machine, here are some of here owl dolls she created.

We are lucky enough to live by the beach, and winter walks are my favourite. These little dogs we met were so adorable.

If I don’t chat to you before, wishing you all a happy New Year! :-) Xx

My Christmas Presents 2018

Hi – welcome back! I hope all my readers had a lovely Christmas time. I had a really nice Christmas with family. I got some beautiful gifts, and I can’t wait to start using all of them like reading my new books, testing out new toiletries etc. I won’t ramble on too much, and I’ll show you the things I was so thankful to receive.

Books.

Foodie items.

Toiletries and make-up.

Stationery. 

Miscellaneous.

A handmade baking apron, bought locally at a Christmas market.

M&S animal print pyjama bottoms.

Leave a link to any festive posts you want me to check out!

Merry Christmas and a happy New Year! :-D Xx

Christmas Baking: Gingerbread Men Shaped Scones

Merry Christmas to my readers, and wishing you all the best for 2019. I made this bake in autumn and I thought I would finally share it with you. I liked the idea of making gingerbread men shaped scones, as it’s a bit different and fits the Christmas theme. I used a basic scone recipe, and cut shapes from the pastry with a festive cookie cutter. I got a pack of different sized cookie cutters last year from Wilko, and they’ve been great for a variety of bakes.

After drawing a smile I used sultanas to create the eyes and buttons, I did this as neatly as I could, although I think for next time I would press them into the dough just a touch more. The toasted sultanas added extra flavour and a little crunch to the scones. You can make any size scone and use any shaped cookie cutter, the choice is yours.

Will you be baking over Christmas? 

Are you looking forward to the festivities? 

:-) xXx

Christmas Themed Library Book Haul

Recently I requested some Christmas chick lit books from the library and thought it would be quite interesting to feature a haul on my blog. I’ve already read two from this haul, and enjoyed them both. Also there’s a few others which I loaned more recently since then. Reviews will be coming up, but meanwhile here’s a list of the books I picked up. Let me know if you’ve been reading any Christmas fiction over December, I would love to hear about it.

Books I acquired from the library:

Nine Lives of Christmas by Sheila Roberts (Read)

The Chocolate Lovers Christmas by Carole Matthews (Read)

It Must Have Been the Mistletoe by Judy Astley 

Angels in the Snow by Sarah Morgan

A Christmas Cracker by Trisha Ashley 

The Little Teashop of Lost and Found by Trisha Ashley 

Have you heard of any of these books or authors?

Do you have any Christmas literature recommendations? :-) Xx

Christmas Baking: Christmas Tree Mince Pies

It’s time to get festive, Christmas is coming! Today I wanted to share with you a baking project I’ve been working on. Mince pies are a staple this time of year so my Mum and I made some from scratch. Normally we bake separately but we joined forces for these and I was pleased with how they came out. My Mum made the mincemeat and I made the pastry.

I searched for a healthier alternative recipe online and found this one which we used as a guide. Before I’ve made mince pies with ready made pastry so it was interesting making it myself this time. I used a Christmas tree cookie cutter to cut out a pastry shape for the top of each pie. Overall they were so tasty!

Do you like mince pies? 

Have you ever made your own? :-) Xx

My Christmas Gift Wrapping 2018

Hi – So Christmas is in less than two weeks and I am ready to start wrapping presents. Last year I did a similar gift wrap theme post and I’m bringing it back for 2018. Same as last year, I shopped around throughout the year to find everyday wrap that I could use for Christmas. I went for two colour palettes, one for men and one for women.

The male scheme consists of rose gold, gold and red with a statement using a modern triangle pattern. The female palette is girly pink, purple and grey. I was so pleased to stumble across two rolls of wrap at the Primark tills in early autumn. The pastel paint splat design is probably my favourite although the pink iridescent is also a statement with the texture and shine.

My top tip would be to look out for regular gift wrap throughout the year, particularly in places like Primark and Poundland. I do this so the designs are more unique, and I was pleased with what I picked up very inexpensively. 

What I purchased:

Primark:

Pink iridescent textured gift wrap 

Pastels paint splatter gift wrap

Poundland:

Rose gold triangle gift wrap

Gold craft paper gift wrap

Purple foil gift wrap

The Works:

Red foil gift wrap

I would love to hear about your Christmas wrap theme.

Are you going for traditional Christmas or have you gone graphic like me? :-) Xx

Festive Outing to Star Buds Café & Garden Centre

Hope you are all doing well. Today I wanted to share a family outing. A while back I did a series from our visits to Star Buds Cafe, it’s been sometime, but the day before December we went for a brew and a look at what was on offer in the garden centre. We didn’t plan it but that day they were preparing the Christmas trees ready to be sold. It was actually really interesting observing them, and I got some candid photos with my camera.

We relaxed in the café for a bit and the atmosphere was lovely. I had a freshly made blueberry scone, which was still hot from the oven, and it tasted so good. My Dad always orders a latte, and I was curious to try one for myself, I went for decaffe. It had quite a sophisticated taste and I enjoyed it. Garden centres can be a really good place to go this time of year – we might revisit before Christmas!

Do you like visiting garden centres or cafes?

What are your plans over the festive season? :-) Xx