• How to bake the perfect gingerbread house cookies
    baking - Christmas - gingerbread

    How to bake the perfect gingerbread house cookies

    November 1, 2016 - By 

    Welcome November! I love the colder months, they’re a great excuse to stay in and bake! I’m sure you know that my favourite recipe all year round in gingerbread but they really are the perfect winter treat. Baking wit the family is always fun so I’m going to share our favourite gingerbread recipe and show you our gingerbread house cookies. Ingredients to make gingerbread cookies 140g golden syrup 200g soft light brown sugar 200g unsalted butter 4 tsps ground ginger 2 tsps ground cinnamon 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg 1/4 tsp ground cloves 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda 500g plain flour…

  • Ikea chocolate biscuits
    Christmas - homestyle

    Learning the art of tablescaping with Ikea

    July 30, 2016 - By 

    On what felt like the hottest night of the year so far I was given a late pass to head into Soho for a fabulous evening with Ikea. I’ve always loved Ikea and every room in our house has something from there. I love the clean lines, contemporary Swedish design, and of course, excellent value for money. I joined some other fantastic creative bloggers and were shown to the top floor of a gorgeous old building. It was decorated for Christmas which I admit did feel slightly odd given the warm weather. But soon the Christmassy smells got me in…

  • Cath Kidston - Christmas - days out - sewing

    Monday Happy Things – Week 67

    January 4, 2016 - By 

    Happy New Year everyone and welcome to my weekly Monday Happy Things post where I record the five things which have made me happy in the past week. I’ve really enjoyed the Christmas holidays. I’ve had plenty of time to indulge my hobbies, written some long overdue blog posts and loved not receiving too many emails.   One of my favourite Christmas presents was The Year in Stitches Calendar Kit from The Draper’s Daughter. I enjoyed stitching the first month and will look forward to making each one every month. On the way back from spending Christmas at my mum’s…

  • Christmas - Kids crafts - tutorial

    Duck glitter crafting tape balls

    January 2, 2016 - By 

    Regular readers will know I enjoy crafting with Duck Tape. It’s a really versatile material to craft with and late last year I discovered Duck Glitter crafting tape, which is Duck Tape with a glitter effect which doesn’t come off. There are a variety of colours and perfect for winter crafts! I decided to make some decorations and my Duck glitter crafting tape balls were born! This is a simple craft project and I used Duck Glitter crafting tape, polystyrene balls and scissors. I decided to cover each ball in one colour and cut the Duck Glitter tape into small pieces,…

  • Christmas - days out

    Longleat Safari Park Festival of Light 2015

    January 1, 2016 - By 

    A couple of weeks ago we made it to Longleat Safari Park Festival of Light in Wiltshire. My mum was celebrating her birthday with a large family party and we all (10 adults and 3 children) headed over to Longleat to enjoy the show. None of us had never been before so we were excited to visit. Festival of Light at Longleat During the winter months Longleat is transformed to a winter wonderland with the addition of hundreds of Chinese Lanterns, a Singing Christmas Tree, Ice Skating, and the Santa Express. We entered Longleat Safari Park as dusk was falling…

  • Christmas - days out

    Monday Happy Things – Week 66

    December 28, 2015 - By 

    I hope you all had a very Happy Christmas. I love the week between Christmas and New Year. We’re busy relaxing and helping the children play with all their new Christmas presents, Father Christmas was very good to them this year! On Tuesday we explored the new Fairy Village which has appeared in our village. The children were really excited to find so many fairies had decided to build their houses near us. It was also a great reason to get out and have some much needed fresh air. We had our first family ice skating trip. I thought it…

  • Gingerbread Biscuit Box
    baking - Christmas - gingerbread

    Gingerbread Biscuit Box

    December 24, 2015 - By 

    A couple of weeks ago I discovered a brilliant new baking subscription box and recently received my first Bakes Box. It was an exciting collaboration with Maid of Gingerbread to make a Gingerbread Biscuit Box which I mentioned in my gingerbread gift guide post. Gingerbread Biscuit Box It contained almost everything needed with dry ingredients, templates, decorations and instructions. Everything fitted in a flat envelope which slid through my letterbox. I made the dough, wrapped it in clingfilm and left it in the fridge for an hour. Then cut out my paper templates, rolled my dough and cut out my pieces. I…

  • Christmas - handmade - sewing - tutorial

    Fabric holly and berries wreath

    December 23, 2015 - By 

    Last year I bought myself a sweet Felt and Fabric Holly Garland kit from John Lewis. Did I get round to making it? No! So this November I took out the kit and started to make it. I cut out the holly leaves using different shades and fabrics. Then I machine stitched them. Then I left them until this weekend when I finally had time to get them out. The kit included lots of different sized red buttons for the berries but I couldn’t decide if I wanted to use them. I sent these pictures to my sister to see…

  • BB8 decoration for kids
    Christmas - Kids crafts - Star Wars crafts - tutorial - Winter

    BB-8 droid Star Wars decoration

    December 22, 2015 - By 

    Have you seen the new Star Wars film yet? My husband has seen it twice and my 5 year old has seen it once so far. I’m really hoping I’ll find a cinema ticket under the tree for me to go and see it! My 5 year old has fallen in love with BB-8 the cute little droid in Star Wars so I thought I would make him a special BB-8 droid Star Wars decoration. BB-8 droid Star Wars decoration If you’re not a fan of Star Wars then BB-8 is a spherical robot with a free-moving domed head. He is white, with…