These are a few of my favourite things #1

 

Lifestyle:

A seasonal flower arrangement

My kind Aunt sent our family some beautiful festive flowers. 

They stand lovely in the conservatory.

Eco-gift wrap & special design

I like to be eco-friendly but stylish with my wrapping. I had some spare 

recyclable craft paper, and made each gift unique using ribbon, toppers, etc.

A winter walk on the beach

The weathers been so rainy this Christmas but there’s been one or two days when 

the sun came out. There was a bit of frost, but lovely light on this trip to the beach.

Entertainment:

Spotify Music: Story of Me by Megan McKenna

I knew of Megan from celebrity X-Factor, but stumbled across her album on Spotify quite recently. Don’t judge her until you listen. Her music is a lovely a mix of country, and pop with meaningful lyrics. 

Films on TV: Christmas Date

‘After Brooke's boyfriend breaks up with her right before the holidays, she agrees to go 

home with an actor who poses as her boyfriend.’ I tend to watch a couple of channel five 

Christmas films each year; this was my favourite as I couldn’t stop laughing along. 

Festive Reads:

Calm Christmas by Beth Kempton

A beautiful little coffee table book, with atmospheric writing, 

and heartfelt thoughts on Christmas.

One Christmas Wish by Katherine Rundell

We follow a young boy with a special wish on Christmas Eve. 

Loved the magical realism and stunning illustrations.

Cardboard Creatures by Claude Jeantet

A non-fiction read I lent from the library. Really innovative

 ways to recycle cardboard, for Christmas and beyond.

Internet:

Blog Post: https://www.nourishmeblog.co.uk/2020/12/10-ways-to-have-more-sustainable.html

I appreciated reading this post on having a sustainable Christmas. There were some great ideas!

YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/AmberBurns

Amber has a lovely YT channel. I’ve been enjoying her down to earth, 

conversational videos. She does vlogs, bookish content and more.

What were your favourite things over Christmas?

Have I given you any new ideas for things to watch, listen or read? :-) Xx

The Seaview Café Review & Tour

Merry Christmas to my blog readers! I hope you are all well. Today I have a café review to share. We visited it New Year’s Eve last year, and didn’t get a chance to post it in time so I saved it up. We’ve been to Seaview a few times now, and really enjoyed it. We sat by the window, and the view overlooking the beach was a treat. 

We were early we when arrived at the café, and luckily it stayed quiet until a bit later. The staff were particularly welcoming and friendly which I liked. I absolutely loved the décor, with the blue sofas, and they decorated for Christmas beautifully. We all had a coffee and a croissant/scone. We hope to visit again at some point.

Did you have a quiet Christmas too?

Are you looking forward to the New Year? :-) Xx 

Morrisons ‘Mystique’ and ‘White Musk’ Body Sprays

Welcome back. Today I wanted to chat to you about these Morrison’s body sprays. I’ve been slowly working my way through supermarket/drugstore varieties hoping to find some gems. I love the packaging on these ones in particular, you could easily mistake them for a high end brand. Also they are only 75p each would you believe, complete bargain! Plus a cruelty-free leaping bunny logo is printed on Morrison’s own brand toiletries.

While both scents are so pretty, I think my favourite is mystique. It’s quite a festive, Christmassy type of scent, so would be handy to use around this time of year. White musk feels like a romantic, subtle scent. If you are after last minute stocking fillers, these might be a good choice. My only issue being I wish they had slightly more staying power but other than that, I’m pretty pleased with the quality. Buy here.

Do you find yourself reaching for body sprays?

Do you have a favourite brand or scent? :-) Xx

My Christmas Gift Wrapping 2019

I’ve done this post every year for a couple of years now. With sustainability becoming so important, I wanted to aim to be a bit more caring to the environment. I decided I wanted to give recyclable brown wrapping paper a go. It took me a while to find some, but I spotted these in Sainsbury’s for a good price. I bought my Mum some similar from B&M so it’s just a matter of testing the quality from different shops.

I wanted to add a bit of style into my wrapping, these patterned papers I found around Christmas last year, and thought they would look nice against a plain brown paper. I noticed a good deal on some glitter washi tape in B&M, and thought they would make things very jazzy. Gift bags are eco-friendly because they can be used over and over, and these three from Wilko are lovely.

What are your gift wrapping ideas for this year?

Let me know if you have any eco-friendly wrapping tips for me! :-) Xx

What I Bought:

Sainsbury's

Recyclable brown paper 5m £1.00 (x 2)

Home Bargains

Polka dot design brown paper 3m gift wrap £0.99

Glitter stars design brown paper 3m gift wrap £0.99

Glitter tree design brown paper 3m gift wrap £0.99

Wilkinsons

(3 for 2 offer)

Luxe sparkle gift bag medium £1.00 

Luxe sparkle gift bag large £1.50 

Midwinter gift bag large £1.50

B&M

Glitter rainbow washi tape pack £1.99

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 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