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Showing posts from July, 2013

Noble Isle Bath And Beauty Products

Noble Isle Fireside Gift Set *Sponsored Post Pampering should be a part of every girls life, and it certainly figures in mine, whether I want to unwind after a tiring day, or just feel in need of a treat. Just like all of you, I have my favourite products, but I do experiment as well, and don't always get the results I am looking for from high street brands. After doing some research I was introduced to luxury bathing and beauty brand Noble Isle, and am going to share their ethos and a bit about their brand with you now. Noble Isle offer a range of products covering home, haircare, hand and body products, all positioned at luxury brands. As you'd expect from a higher end product, they have put thought into every detail, from their logo (a fist of herbs and flowers bursting from a bath tub) to their complimentary gift packaging. What I also found interesting was their transparency when it came to what natural extracts were contained in their products and where they

Chelmsford City Life - In Photos

 One thing I absolutely couldn't live without is my camera. I love taking pictures, and have done since I had my first camera when I was younger. I even won a little award (bar of chocolate!) for being 'snap happy' on a geography field trip at school!! Although I haven't got any photo's of exotic holidays to share, I still thought I'd pop up a photo post, and share some of my favourite snaps from the last few years!  I didn't have to go far to catch this shot. Fleeting glimpse of duck family in the pond down our road. We've also spotted deer, foxes, owls, and baby hedgehogs where we live!   My sister's dog Wilson, playing in the snow. He wasn't sure about the snow when he was younger, but loves being chased about now! One of my favourite shots from Street Diversions Festival in Chelmsford, you have to be on your toes to capture shots at this event!  Hylands Park Chelmsford I promised myself I'd go on a proper c

Make Of The Month - Flowery Gift Tags

If any of you have been with the blog since the start, you may have noticed my review of a very brilliant silicone mould from Katy Sue Designs. If you haven't seen the review, you can find it here . I have been busily making flowers since then, and Mum even discovered blending polymer clay can make new shades of colours, so it's been great fun. With this in mind, I decided to start up a make of the month post to share some of my creations, and I thought I'd start with the results of my flower making, and what I decided to do with the flowers. Time for some summer themed gift tags!  Finished Gift Tags I decided I wanted something fairly simple, but effective, and with a few processes involved, so I didn't get bored when I was mass making a few. My new embossing board on my Crafter's Companion Ultimate Pro has score lines to do various size gift tags, so I chose two different sizes (one smaller than the other). The larger one I used as the base and cut this

Dr Organic Monoi Melt Body Oil Review

Coconut has always been one of my favourite ingredients in a bath product (closely followed by mint), and I had never tried a Doctor Organic product before, so I was happy to be sent the Monoi Melt Body Oil to try. As a review product, this is a brand new concept to me, so although I was sceptical about how an oil based product would suit me, and what it would be like to use, I was intrigued. What arrives is a box with lots of pointers on what the product does, and the natural ingredients used to make it. The packaging is striking, and the information clear, so it ticks boxes there, and for the number of natural ingredients the company was able to include in it. You can use the body oil on your hair, hands and nails, and body. It comes in a glass bottle as a solid mass, and here the fun part starts, as to use it, you first have to melt it, by putting the bottle in warm water. It doesn't take very long for the product to melt before you can start using it. I wasn't t

City Life - Fling Festival 2013, Chelmsford (Review)

Sunshine makes everything better, and while I was enjoying some vitamin D therapy on July 6th, I also popped down to Central Park in Chelmsford for the 2013 Fling Festival. As the festival took a year off for the 2012 Olympics I'd been looking forward to this one for a while, but wasn't sure what to expect from the extended site, and extra hours of fun. The award for best decorated tent goes to...... In the end I entered the site just after midday, and left around 10.30pm, so it's safe to say I had some chill time and was occupied, although predictably some of that time was spent queuing for drinks, food, and the increasingly (as hours wore on) grim festival loo's. But I went with a plan, and more or less managed to stick to it, so here's what I got up to: As I arrived I caught the tail end of Jakob Deist's set in the Beyond Fusion tent run by Limbcare and the organisation Dancing Giraffe. Even early doors the tent had a good number of people in it, who

Cake Of The Week - Weetabix Loaf Cake (Guest Post)

  Have you had your Weetabix?!   As promised in last week's post, I bring you a healthy cake ( well as healthy as cake can be!) that is full of fibre, uses no fat, contains one of your five a day, and is as cheap as chips to make. Has my fab marketing pitch sold it to you yet? The quirk to this recipe? The main ingredient is that old breakfast favourite, Weetabix! I can almost see a few noses wrinkle up but please don't let this put you off. This is a lovely moist, fruity bake with a slightly chewy outer that sits perfectly with a teatime cuppa, and is great for lunch boxes as it travels really well.   I would definitely recommend giving this bake a whirl to share with your nearest and dearest. Don't spill the beans about the main ingredient and see if anyone can guess!   For this week's bake you will need the following equipment:  a 2lb loaf tin, baking paper, a mixing bowl,  a wooden spoon and a teaspoon.   Ingredients: 3 Weetabix biscuits ( own

Comment : Things I Dislike About Music Fans

Anyone that knows me in a professional or personal sense will know I am passionate about music. It doesn't matter whether I am listening to it, going to gigs, or writing about it for the press, it's a big part of my life. So there is plenty I love about music, and occasionally some things I don't, and sometimes I feel I have to share a 'dislike' style post. This one is about music fans. Here is my list of things (in no particular order) I dislike about music fans. Fans who label other fans - when I was younger female music fans, particularly those who supported boybands, categorised other fans as 'fans', 'followers', or 'cravens'. Fans were the ones quite happy to sit at home and buy a CD and maybe go to the odd gig, followers were at the top of the food chain and considered themselves a higher species than everyone else, because they bought every format of every release, travelled the country to gigs, and spent countless hours hanging aro

Snack Time - Burts Chips Review

Snack time is very important for a writer, it's a break from the computer, or the chance to chill out with a treat and a DVD, so I thought I'd bring snack time to the blog, and try out some new things. I think crisps would be one of my top snacks, so I couldn't say no when I was asked to try Burts Crisps. I was sent two 40g packets to try, one was wave cut Jalapeno and Red Pepper, and the other Sea Salt and Malted Vinegar. What struck me right away with these crisps was the branding and packaging, not something I would normally pay attention to with a packet of crisps, beyond reading the nutritional information! But Burts Crisps have done a great job here, I like the inclusion of not just the ingredients, but the origins of the potatoes as well, so you can trace where they were cooked. These are British products, made in Britain, and that warmed me to the brand before I'd even tasted anything! But on to the taste test, and my verdict on the two flavours! Jala

Guest Post: Recipe Of The Week - Cookie Crumble Cupcakes

Biscuit AND cake you say.....! yes it's time for the introduction of a new section, recipe of the week, so read on for all things baking from Vicky's kitchen, and why not have a go yourself! This week's recipe of the week is Cookie Crumble Cupcakes. These are naughty. So naughty in fact, that you will have put on a pound just by looking at the picture! However I'm sure you will agree it's worth it, as what could be better than the combo of chocolate, biscuit and cake? Answers on a postcard please!     Each cupcake has a whole cookie incorporated into its base, and crushed cookie crumbs added to the butter cream icing. Aside from being a very welcome treat, they are very simple to make, and the crunchiness of the cookie sits really well with the creamy smoothness of the butter cream. Quality control (aka the husband) has also heartily approved this bake! To make approximately 14 -16 (dependant on whether you use cupcake or muffin cases) of these cupcakes