Today we all ventured into the West End for a very special event at Hamleys. Hornby, the classic British toy brand and Official London 2012 product supplier, have produced a huge range of London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games souvenir products which we were to see. Olympic memorabilia for big kids The train-mad husband and Big Brother loved seeing and playing with the Olympic Train Set and Scalextric Velodrome. Little Sis and I had a good look at the British Classic Vehicles, Destination London 2012 Taxi Collection, mascot key rings, figurines and racers. As well as looking at the collection…
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I’m definitely more excited about planning how we’re going to decorate our new house than I am house hunting and actually moving. We’ve let house hunting slip recently although we’re planning on going this weekend, weather permitting. We’re all getting fed up of constantly tripping over things, items falling out of overstuffed cupboards and just in general dread of the children needing anything bigger than a pack of nappies. Decorating and buying furniture is exciting though and I’ve been spending hours looking at nursery furniture as Little Sis will finally get her own room. I’m trying to steer clear of…
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A post dedicated to the beautiful battenberg? Yes. I love battenberg, it reminds me of afternoon tea at my grandmother’s house when I was young. Beautiful battenberg I thought I would make one for the Jubilee weekend although I chickened out of adding an iced union flag to the top of it! I used Wright’s Madeira Cake Mix as a base, adding water, vegetable oil, lemon juice, ground almonds, and red food colouring according to a recipe on their website. I lined the cake tin according to the instructions on the website and poured in the cake mixture – one…
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There’s a great sweet shop in Covent Garden which sells all kids of American sweets. On my last visit I bought some packs of popping candy thinking they would be great as a cupcake topping! I made some simple cupcakes using the vanilla recipe from the Hummingbird Bakery cookbook. I then made a buttercream to which I added a few drops of vanilla essence. I put a dollop of the buttercream on each cupcake and sprinkled popping candy on top. They whizzed and fizzed and looked quite pretty sparkling in the sun (obviously I made these last week before the…
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Last week the toddler and I were invited to a VIP performance of The Go!Go!Go! Show at The Empire Leicester Square with celebrities including Sara Cox with her baby Renee, Chloe Simms with daughter Madison, Michelle Heaton with her baby Faith, Javine Hylton with daughter Angel and both Nicola McLean and Danielle Brown with their families. It’s not often we get to spend any time together without Little Sis so we were both excited by the prospect of a trip on the tube, a show in the West End and the chance to mingle with some celebs. The Go!Go!Go! Show…
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In case you haven’t guessed I have boxes of vintage treasures picked up from car boot sales, jumble sales and charity shops. I *try* to have a project in mind before buying anything as we are rather pressed for space in our little terraced house. How to make a clock from a vintage tin One of my favourite collections is vintage tins of all shapes and sizes. These were the first thing I collected and I can’t resist picking up unusual ones when I see them. My latest project used one of the vintage tins found beneath our stairs which…
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I often find bath times can be quite stressful with two children. Lately I’ve been putting the baby in her bath in the big bath with the toddler. This way they both have a bath and seem to enjoy each others’ company. The baby loves kicking her feet and splashing and the toddler loves playing with water. It sounds like it should be fun but it’s not for me. I seem to constantly tell the toddler to sit down, be careful, don’t splash and other boring parenting phrases. To bring back some fun we’ve been trying some new baby bath…
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No trip to Devon is complete without a visit to the market town of Newton Abbot. If we ever have a decent stay in Devon I always persaude my husband to take us there. Last year I found a vintage toy London bus which is my favourite ever find. My husband loves going to a model shop and we usually have tea and cakes in the delightful Pharmacy on Queen Street. As the name suggests the tea room is in an old pharmacy which retains all the original shop fittings. They always have an amazing range of cakes which I…
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Time again for the PinAddicts Pinterest Challenge. The idea is to choose something from your Pinterest boards to create and link up each month. We’re having a bit of a Lego obsession at the moment so I thought I would try some Lego cupcakes inspired by a photo on my Pinterest Lego Love board. Follow Jenny Makes’s board Lego love! on Pinterest. My version is a lot simpler! My sister and niece are staying this weekend so I wanted something that looked good but didn’t take too long so I used ready made cupcakes and Renshaw’s Limited Edition Great British…