• Decorated Trolls gingerbread biscuits
    baking - gingerbread - homestyle

    Decorated Trolls gingerbread biscuits

    September 15, 2016 - By 

    We’ve been taking inspiration from those cute little Trolls recently. We’ve seen the trailer for the new Trolls film a few times and enjoyed playing with the new Poppy Style Station which we recently reviewed. I thought it would be fun to bake and decorate Trolls gingerbread biscuits so found a cookie cutter online and got everything ready. Decorated Trolls gingerbread biscuits You can probably guess that I made a batch of my favourite gingerbread dough (using this gingerbread recipe here). They spread a little whilst baking as I hadn’t chilled it for long enough, but they were still recognisable…

  • days out - homestyle - Monday Happy List

    Monday Happy List – Week 103

    September 12, 2016 - By 

    It’s Monday again and for once I am sitting in silence, listening to the radio all on my own. Time for my weekly Monday Happy List post! Monday was the last day of the school holidays when we were all together so we celebrated by visiting Northala Fields,  local country park. Unfortunately the boating pond was out of action but they have an amazing play park and we took a model car too. It was really quiet and we almost had the place to ourselves. It was also a great way for the children to use up some of their…

  • Waddingtons vintage jigsaw puzzle
    homestyle - vintage

    Vintage bird jigsaw {charity shopping for me}

    September 9, 2016 - By 

    It’s been a while since I shared a vintage find here. I still love charity shopping but as my children get older (and there is no more room for toys!), I’m able to focus on the things I want for myself a bit more. I love vintage games as they are fun to craft with. I have more than enough Scrabble sets but I couldn’t resist a sweet vintage Waddingtons Birds Spelling Pictures jigsaw I found. I absolutely loved the birdy theme (very on trend for Autumn) so snapped it up. I bought it without seeing inside but I thought…

  • Makerly craft kit subscription box review
    crafts - homestyle - subscription box

    Makerly craft kit subscription box review

    September 3, 2016 - By 

    Regular readers know I love crafting and subscription boxes so it’s probably no surprise that I regularly feature the ones I try. The Makerly subscription box is a new one for me and I was kindly offered one to try out and share with you. Makerly make craft kit subscription boxes for people who like making stuff (like me!). Each kit is lovingly put together to make sure you have fun making something awesome each month. Your box includes all the materials, instructions and patterns you need to complete a new project, as well as a craft zine, various tools and…

  • Noisemakers birthday card subscription box
    homestyle - subscription box

    Noisemakers birthday card subscription box

    August 31, 2016 - By 

    When I went to Blogtacular earlier this summer I received the most amazing goody bag on my way out of the conference. The Blogtacular goody bag should have had its’ own blog post really as it was pretty damn amazing. The tote was a collaboration between designosaur and hello Dodo and inside was a fun retro jelly bag stuffed full of goodies from small indie designers to a pattern from Tilly and the Buttons and a sample pot of Annie Sloan paint. As well as the free things, many of which I kept and enjoyed, were leaflets for small indie…

  • Orla Kiely Multi Striped Petal wallpaper
    homestyle - interiors - Orla Kiely

    Updating our home {Orla Kiely wallpaper}

    August 27, 2016 - By 

    I find it hard to believe how long we’ve lived in our house. It’s definitely not our forever home but that doesn’t mean we don’t want to create a happy home environment. In the past 3 years we’ve decorated all our bedrooms, the hall and stairs and are just finishing off re-tiling the downstairs bathroom. I’m the first to admit I really hate decorating. I love the idea of freshly painted ceilings, new wallpaper and furnishings. But in reality I hate the mess and upheaval and would put it off for ever if I could. In a bid to fall…

  • Ice cream freakshakes
    homestyle - Summer

    Ice cream freakshakes {with Kelly’s ice cream}

    August 20, 2016 - By 

    It’s hot and mostly sunny which means we’ve been getting through a lot of ice cream this school holidays. The children have had ice pops, ice creams and lollies. Everybody has their favourite type but we have a soft spot for Kelly’s of Cornwall. Nothing beats the magical mixture of velvety smooth Cornish ice cream topped with scrumptious extras. We always have a tub in the freezer so were delighted to be asked to create our dream sundae – bringing the ultimate parlour experience into our home. We were sent a sundae starter kit including Kelly’s Ice Cream vouchers, Clarks new…

  • Orla Kiely designed kitchen bin
    homestyle - Orla Kiely

    Orla Kiely in the kitchen

    August 16, 2016 - By 

    I was shopping this morning, managing to tick off more of my Back to School shopping list. I couldn’t help but look round the homeware department and found a few lovely Orla Kiely displays. Our kitchen makeover is taking a lot of our free time. We are in desperate need of more storage and are hoping to move around a few of our white goods and squeeze in some extra cupboards. We’re having another consultation tomorrow and I’m beginning to feel excited about sorting this room out. We’ve spent so long discussing it that I couldn’t help but start to…

  • outdoor adventures
    Family Life - holidays - homestyle

    Reaching for the tree tops {Center Parcs treehouse adventure}

    August 9, 2016 - By 

    With the school holidays in full swing I can say that we are coping – just 🙂 My husband is still recovering from his abdominal surgery which means we probably won’t be having another holiday this year. Fortunately we live in London so are spoilt for things to do right on our doorstep. It doesn’t stop me day dreaming though, and I’ve found a magical place I would love to go – to a luxury treehouse in the middle of nowhere. We’ve already had a brief glimpse of all that Center Parcs has to offer when we visited the Festival…