As regular readers will know I just love baking and try to bake something new every week. I was very excited when offered a new cupcake book to review. For the Love of Cupcakes by Ann Nicol is an illustrated book offering step-by-step instructions to show just how easy it is to make your own cute culinary creations that have become such a phenomenon! Read up on the essential equipment, ingredients, basic methods and recipes, and decorating tips, before choosing from the exciting range of inventive cupcake recipes, from dainty cakes such as Crystallised Violet Cupcakes or rich and indulgent…
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Pinterest is my newest love and I’ve been busy pinning lots of gingerbread ideas for those quiet moments I have (after my son goes to bed!). I came across a pattern for a lovely gingerbread house which I thought I would make. I amended the pattern slightly and added a couple of spooky touches for Halloween. For the full pattern take a look at craftideas.info This is my Monthly Make for October
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We were recently asked to try the Yoomi bottle and warmer in one. Edward is now down to one bottle of milk before bed so we were anxious to try it and see if it would be useful for the Second Baby who arrives in a couple of weeks. Yoomi claims to warm baby’s feed to the natural temperature of breast milk at the touch of a button – in just 60 seconds. Our first impression was that the packaging was bright and cheerful, just what you’d expect from a high end product. The instructions sounded complicated but really weren’t!…
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I know we haven’t had Halloween yet but I’ve been itching to show you our wooden Christmas tree. I’ve seen lots of variations of wooden Christmas trees using driftwood so every time we were at the seaside I would scour the beach for suitable pieces. After months of looking and not finding I gave up and decided small branches from the local woods would do just as well! I also found a piece of scaffolding wood outside our house so knew this project was meant to be. How to make a wooden Christmas tree You will need: a selection of…
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Edward and I went for our usual shopping trip last week, visiting the charity shops of Crouch End. It was a strange trip as I got accosted by two Eastern European women in one shop who pointed at my expanding belly and told me I was having a boy. We decided not to find out the sex of our Second Baby but I seem to be attracting lots of unwanted attention on the pregnancy front. I can’t hide my bump but I just seem to attract people who want to talk to me about it. I’m so fed up of…
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I’ve taken Edward swimming once a week at our local pool since he was little which he really enjoys. The lessons are quite structured (sometimes too structured) but I’m just happy that he loves the water and is happy and confident in it. He dislikes putting his head under water or using armbands so we just concentrate on having lots of fun! We’ve always used Huggies Little Swimmers underneath his swim shorts and they’ve been brilliant and never let us down. I remember when we had just started swimming when one little boys swim nappy didn’t contain a rather runny…
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I found a bar of dark chocolate and orange languishing at the back of the fridge so thought I would try making some chocolate orange cupcakes. I used a basic cupcake recipe but added 50g of the melted dark chocolate. When they were cooked and cooled I then decorated them with a simple buttercream icing but added 50g of melted white chocolate which I coloured with orange food colouring. I finished off the cupcakes with a mixture of white chocolate buttons and dark chocolate sprinkles.
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I can tell this pregnancy is going well because I just don’t have time to worry about it. I can’t even remember how many weeks pregnant I am which is worrying. Thank goodness I signed up to lots of marketing email so I get weekly reminders! When I bump into mum friends at our weekly events I either get “I didn’t realise you were pregnant” or “You look ready to pop” – not so great when I have a good couple of weeks to go! I actually have my second midwife appointment this week – yes, my second midwife appointment…
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October’s been yet another busy month at Night & Day Studios which means they’ve got some killer apps ready just in time for Halloween. We went on a long car journey to Devon at the weekend so we were very happy to have some new apps for Edward to play with. We really enjoyed trying them out, read on for your own chance to grab a new app! Turn scary into silly this Halloween when Ed Emberley’s beloved and best-selling book, Go Away, Big Green Monster!, comes to iPhone and iPad. Cleverly die-cut with bold colours and overlapping pages just…