How has your Christmas been so far? I’m taking some time off so here’s another festive snap from my Instagram account – it must be time for a candy cane hot chocolate! My kitchen is already starting to look more festive
As you know, I’m taking some time off over Christmas so I thought I would share a few festive photos from my Instagram account during this time 🙂 Best Christmas story ever!
As you can probably guess, I’m taking some time off over Christmas so I thought I would share a few festive photos from my Instagram account during this time Hope you’re having a great Christmas! World’s cutest Christmas gift! I wonder what it is..?! x A photo posted by
Hello and happy Christmas eve! Just a quick blog post today because I have lots of gift wrapping and cooking to be getting on with but I wanted to show you a couple of snaps of my festive bedroom.
We all know how stressful Christmas shopping can be. You’ve got so many people to buy for in so little time and worst of all, the shops are so full that you have to battle your way through in order to get it all done. It’s no wonder you might
Today I wanted to share with you the Christmas cake that I’ve made this year. It’s a simple recipe that uses a few ‘different’ ingredients to give a traditional fruit cake a Caribbean twist. I got the recipe from the Bake with Stork website, so please check out the recipe
Specifically, the Radio Times. I’m sure that many of you will have had a similar experience to me while you were growing up, of getting hold of the Christmas TV guide as soon as it came out and circling all of the programmes and films that you wanted to watch
How are you getting on with your festive shopping? After a full day of high street shopping, a second day of trawling the internet and a final day of visiting the shops in the local village, I think I have pretty-much finished my Christmas shopping. I am delighted, as there
Christmas jumpers. They are everywhere! I can hardly walk down the street without seeing festive knitwear in every shop window and cosy Christmas cardis worn by everyone I meet. I’m not complaining – I LOVE Christmas jumpers! In fact, I have a whole section in my wardrobe dedicated to festive
If you’re as crazy about your pets as I am about my cats you’ll understand why I feel the need to share this information with you today. Okay, okay, I know I’ve already bought Christmas stockings for my cats and I’ve shared a festive gift guide for pets a couple of
When my hamper of festive craft goodies from Country Baskets arrived last week for the Festive Face-Off craft challenge, I was completely stumped as to what I should make to decorate my home for Christmas. I had all kinds of ideas in my head for festive decorations but I had
Take one plain pullover and make it into a Christmas jumper for less than £5. What a challenge! I was inspired to create a snowy scene on this knitted blue jumper so I popped out to pick up some supplies for my sewing project and now I’ve created a thrifty
Have you ever thought that you’d like to create something a little different for a special someone this Christmas? Do you want to make a personalised gift but don’t have the time (or skills!) to be able to craft something yourself? I certainly fall into this category but even so, I wanted to
I’ve pretty much finished all my Christmas shopping and am pretty sure that I’m going to be spending all weekend wrapping gifts, so long as all my deliveries arrive today. Yes, I’ve been doing most of my festive shopping online this week and I want to quickly discuss just how very convenient
Anyone who follows my Instagram account will know how much I love my cats. Yes, Cookie and Muffin are practically my children and I adore them from their velvet noses to the tip of their fluffy tails. So today I thought it would be fitting to put together a little
I can’t wait any longer. For me, Christmas starts right here. I’m going to be decorating my house next weekend and I don’t care who knows it! I’ve already got a couple of new decorations to add to my Christmas tree and I’m ready to spread tinsel wherever I go.
Christmas starts here! As soon as bonfire night has finished, that is the start to my festive season. Some may say it’s too soon, but I’ve already had to hold myself back from watching Christmas films and singing carols. Okay, I’ve already done a little bit of Christmas shopping and
I know I sometimes go on about Christmas a little too early but this time it’s for good reason: If you get your fairy lights for Christmas sorted out now, you can make the most of them by using the lights to decorate Halloween too! I’ve already got a few
One of my favourite things to eat is a pasty. I know it’s naughty and I really shouldn’t indulge in buttery pastry too often, but it’s just so yummy that I can’t resist. I went on holiday to Cornwall one year and ate nothing but Cornish pasties for breakfast, lunch
It’s the big day! I’m busy giving gifts (I can’t wait to see hubby’s face when he opens his present!) and I’m currently opening my stocking from Santa so I just wanted to say a quick Merry Christmas and I hope you have a magical day!
I’ve been thinking about last-minute Christmas shopping and what you can do when you receive an unexpected gift right before Christmas. There might not be time to pop to the shops to find a little something, and there certainly won’t be time for online stores to deliver before the big day. And
This week I’ve finished creating my Christmas sideboard display and I thought I would share the world’s easiest tutorial with you for DIYing your own festive tea-light holders. It’s simply a case of saving up some empty jam jars, soaking them to remove the labels and giving them a quick
The school holidays are finally here and it’s a good idea to start thinking about how to keep excited children (who am I kidding? and us adults too!) occupied on the run up to Christmas. One of my favourite things to do over the festive period is a Christmas movie
As it’s the last Pieday Friday before Christmas, I thought I’d share a couple of festive recipes to kick-start your yuletide baking – gingerbread cookies and Christmas morning muffins. The first is a very traditional recipe for making gingerbread men, but here I have used cookie cutters from Wholeport to cut out
It’s not long to Christmas now and I’m sure that many of you will be decorating your homes for the festive season soon, if you haven’t already! I’ve come up with a super-easy DIY that you can make ready for the big day and it’s so easy to do that
Over the past couple of years Christmas jumpers have really taken off. This is not new information to those of us who love rummaging through charity shops, hunting out genuine vintage festive knits that your granddad would have worn. They were great for making your friends wince and declare you
This week I have been in the kitchen making my very own stash of preserves ready for the winter. But I’m not only making them for my family’s table, I am also making a few jars to give to my foodie friends as gifts! I’ve had a huge harvest of
You may remember that I previously discussed the new trend for framed Christmas messages as part of festive decorations and I have finally given in and recreated this look for myself in my home. There are loads of printable artworks available via Etsy or even given away for free on blogs
When Lauren from the Offset Warehouse asked me to be a guest blogger for their special Christmas Showcase, I jumped at the chance. Not only is it one of my favourite online haberdashers, but it also has a great range of recycled festive fabrics ripe for the making, and my head
People love getting really creative, one-of-a-kind books for Christmas. Books that elicit a “where did you find this?” response. As the leading indie- and self-publishing platform, Blurb has an entire online bookstore full of unique books by an incredible array of undiscovered, self-published authors, artists, and photographers. I’ve purchased books in
It’s that time of year again to make your own Christmas cake. Even though I know I can buy a cheap fruit cake from the supermarket and decorate it for Christmas, I love making my own cake and knowing exactly what yummy ingredients have gone into it – so I know
Christmas is a time of wonderful light displays: outdoor Xmas decorations adorn public spaces, and beautiful sprays of Christmas tree lights glow softly through netted curtains in residential streets. For some of us decorating the Christmas tree is an agonising experience; endless tangles of Christmas lights from years past, broken shards
I love looking at catalogues at this time of year. There’s just something special about Christmas gift guides that gets me in the mood for the festive season – even if I don’t ever buy anything from them! Although I try hard not to get excited about Christmas too early, I
It started with the party dress… and now I’m already looking into festive lights for my home. It’s funny how one thing leads to another when you’re searching for ‘Christmas shopping’ online and I ‘accidentally’ started browsing through fairy lights and christmas trees! I’ve only had one previous Christmas in
I am pleased to say that when I told my friends and family that all I really wanted for Christmas were books, they listened – and just look at this haul of fabulous new books for me to browse through at my leisure during the year! I received a couple of
There’s nothing better than the week between Christmas and New Year. You’ve got nowhere to go, time off work and lots of food in the house. The perfect time to kick-back and relax with a hot spiced drink and a festive film. Mulled wine, spiced apple juice, mulled cider or
Happy Christmas eve everyone! The day has finally come where everything is done, you’ve finished all your work and you’re ready to enjoy the big day. I think I might actually prefer Christmas eve to Christmas day itself, but don’t tell it 😉 In our family we not only have traditions
This year I went on a bit of a tour of the Christmas markets in the UK. It was a bit of a birthday treat from my husband, who took me to Manchester, Leeds and York to experience the best festive markets in the north. Here’s my photos from the
This year I decided to bake a batch of mini Christmas cakes rather than one large one. I find that one big cake often gets left after Christmas and I’m a little fed up with eating it myself after January 1st! So small cakes seemed to be the best solution
Hot chocolate is one of my favourite hot drinks during the festive season and I wanted to share a couple of photos and the methods for making these gorgeously Christmassy hot chocolates drinks. Make up a mug of hot chocolate according to the packet instructions and stir in the following ingredients to
I know it’s easy just to tape a piece of cheesy christmas wrapping paper around a prezzie, stick a foil bow on the top and hand it over to the lucky recipient but I like to add a little more excitement to my Christmas present wrapping. I spend ages choosing
As avid readers of my blog will know, I’m very keen on thrifty craft projects and on sharing tasty recipes on Pieday Friday. As such, I now have quite a number of articles written on these subjects and I’ve been thinking about summarising my favourite recipes and craft projects from
Here’s a super-easy, super-quick idea for making a Christmas basket decoration with pretty sparkling fairy lights. This would be perfect if you had an unused fireplace space in your living room to give a festive focal point to the space – or use outdoor fairy lights and sit it outside
I think I can safely say that one of my favourite Christmas films of all time is Elf. If you’ve not seen it, please do! I’ve watched it twice last weekend alone, and it often comes out during the year too to cheer me up. I know there’s plenty of
This weekend I went to the Christmas Lights switch on event in our nearby town and this had become a bit of a festive tradition for our family in recent years. I happened to be shopping in the town when they were installing their Christmas lights this year so I got a sneaky peek at
I’ve spent the past couple of weeks working on a present for my new nephew, and have finally finished it – so I thought I’d share my project with you. I have used my Crafting Christmas Gifts book from Dunelm Mill for the penguin pattern and stocking-making instructions, and it
Hurrah! It’s the 25th November and only one month til Christmas! So I’m celebrating with a trip to the famous Bury St Edmunds Christmas Market this weekend and here’s what I’m expecting to see this year: Plus, I’ve gone all festive whilst wearing my over-the-top fairy lights jumper and have got
Now that bonfire night is over, I think I am completely justified in getting far-too-excited about the fact that Christmas is coming! This year I’ve been pretty calm so far, but I recently allowed myself to visit a nearby Christmas barn in order to get myself into the full swing
This week I treated myself to a book that I’ve had my eye on for a while called Crafting Christmas Gifts. I know it’s a little early to be thinking about Christmas, and usually I wait until after bonfire night before starting to get excited about the big day, but
Over the years, families develop their own Christmas traditions and this year I’ll be upholding our family tradition of new pyjamas on Christmas eve and my own personal tradition of eating a Cadbury’s Crunchie whilst opening my Christmas stocking! When I was young Santa used to visit us on Christmas eve (on
I wanted to share with you my lovely little Christmas Tree. This is the first year I’ve ever had a ‘theme’ for my Christmas decorations – usually it’s dripping with baubles and tinsel of all colours – but this year, due to the need for a smaller tree in my
I don’t think I can beat last year’s Christmas tree decorations but I wanted to share this photo of my tree with you to show off just how pretty it was with a rainbow spiral of baubles & garlands!
Summer evenings feel different when you’ve got a cosy corner outdoors that tempts you away from the sofa. A comfy seat, a bit of atmosphere & a spot that catches sunlight can turn the garden into your favourite place to unwind. Here’s how…
Entertain children and teens over the school holidays with these handy ideas for indoor and outdoor activities: they’re affordable, easy to organise and, most importantly, fun for all ages. Here are 10 adventures to enjoy with your family…
If you’re a keen crafter, it’s easy for your sewing, knitting, art & crafting supplies to get out of control. That’s why I’ve upcycled a unit for my knitting kit & yarn stash. Here’s how to DIY your own super cute supplies storage, whatever your hobby…
If you love the look of luxury fashion but not the price tag, I’m sharing my favourite tricks for getting that high‑end aesthetic on a budget – from styling swaps to secondhand treasure‑hunting – all while keeping your wardrobe uniquely you…
Show your mum how much you care on Mother’s Day with some of these lovely present ideas. From handmade gifts and special experiences to beautiful books and fun prezzies, there’s sure to be something here your mother will love…
Outdoor spaces needn’t be summer‑only areas. With durable structures, protective shelters & comfort features, gardens & patios can become year‑round extensions of the home. Here’s how thoughtful design helps you enjoy nature in every season…
If you’re looking for some lush ideas for Valentine’s Day that are a little different, here are some things you can do and treats you can choose to make your loved one feel special this February..
Interior trends for 2026 are all about creating homes that feel soothing, expressive and lived‑in, blending comfort with character so every room reflects the way we truly want to live. Here are some easy ways to tap into this years top trends…
A home’s personality often appears in the little things we choose to look at every day — and that’s where wall art quietly works its magic. Here are some things to consider when you’re choosing prints, paintings and photographs for your home…
There’s something about finding your signature scent that’s so exciting. If you’re on the hunt for a lush fragrance but you’re on a budget, there are a few little-known tricks you can use to get the price down…
Seasonal change often disrupts our workout routines; however, you can maintain motivation by adjusting how you train and how you plan, rather than trying to push through with the same approach year-round. Here are some tips…
The festive season is such a busy time of year, but we mustn’t forget to take care of ourselves. Here are some simple ideas to turn your bathroom into a spa-like space so that you can relax and unwind at home this Christmas…
When it’s cold outside and the days are short, it’s tempting to hunker down inside our homes until the spring arrives. However, for your health and wellbeing, it’s important to spend time outdoors and creativity can help with that. Here’s how…
As autumn rolls in, the air turns crisp and the days invite a little more comfort and calm. It’s time to embrace transitional loungewear that feels as good as it looks – perfect for everything from cosy reading sessions to relaxed work-from-home days.
If you have a garden, it’s lovely to be able to enjoy it during the autumn. On those crisp sunny days, you can head outside knowing that you’ve got a gorgeous space to relax in. Here are some small tasks for your gardening to-do list this season:
If you love to save time and money, it’s likely that these handy life hacks will be helpful for you. From home to health, food to fun, here are some low-cost yet effective solutions for cutting the cost of your everyday expenses to help you better your budget…
While we often discuss money, bills and insurance as adults, it’s rare that we involve children in those discussions. Here are some simple ways to include kids in the conversation to give them a head-start with their own finances and future…
