My blog is fast approaching its 4th birthday & I always like to take a moment to have a look back over all my posts from the previous year & pick out my favourites. I did this last year & you seemed to like it. Its been an exciting and busy year for me both in the blogging world and in my real life. So many changes and I am very much looking forward to 2016 and seeing where it takes me.
If you click on the photos it will take you through to that specific post.
I have so much content planned for 2015 and I even have some food related ones lined up too. My new kitchen is gorgeous and I have been getting a little more adventurous so I thought I would share with you more baking and cooking posts.
Let me know which of my posts has been your favourite this year!
When I saw Julia from rainbeaubelle Five Under £5 posts I thought it would be fun to get involved and share a few of my bargain finds this past month. I’m currently in Scotland visiting family and finishing off the last of my Christmas shopping & I have of course been treating myself to a few bits & bobs too.
First up is this Alphabet Makeup Bag from Matalan it was such a bargain at £4. It is 100% cotton and very well made. I have quite a few makeup bags but I couldn’t resist this one & I bought a couple as gifts too.
I also bought two tree decorations from Matalan too, a V & J in vintage looking gold. I think they have an Art Deco look. They’re quite heavy and were only £2 each. I won’t get to put my tree up until about the 19th but I am excited to add these to our eclectic mix of decorations. Matalan has some beautiful Christmas decorations this year its well worth a visit.
Tiger recently opened in Dundee so I popped in but it was so busy it was hard to browse. I did get 2 rolls of Washi tape for £2. I have a bit of an addiction to buying tape but never seem to use it. If you have any suggestions for crafty things I can do with all my rolls of tape then I’d love to hear them These were too pretty to leave behind.
I can’t believe that these cute gold detailed notebooks were only 99p each from Home bargains. I am going to go back and stock up on a few more. We don’t have a Home Bargains in Cornwall so when I visit a city that has one I have to visit and it never disappoints.
It wouldn’t be Christmas without something from LUSH & Butterbear bathbomb is my all time favourite, its only £1.95. It leaves my skin so soft and it smells lovely and fresh. Makes me sad its only out for Christmas
OK so I got a little over excited when Boots asked if I wanted to be part of their DIY Beauty Hamper Campaign*. I think making someone a personal hamper is such a great idea. Who wouldn’t want to wake up to a thoughtful gift like that on Christmas morning?
Boots is a great place to get all the supplies you need for your hamper, from festive wrapping paper and tissue, to perfume, skincare, makeup and everything in between. There are so many products to pick from in store or online so you can really create a fantastic hamper full of treats at a price point to suit you. I was kindly gifted the products that I put in my hamper and there are some of my favourite brands in there.
Supplies you will need
Tissue Paper
Gift Tags
Box
Wrapping Paper
Bows
Ribbon
Double Sided Sticky Tape
Scissors
Stuffing
Cellophane
Now time to get creative, I liked the brown box as it was but you might like to cover the box in festive paper. I put a layer of red paper stuffing in the bottom of the box for the products to sit on. I tried to make it look as festive as possible by adding little touches here and there, like a ribbon and a few bows to a couple of the gifts. I wrapped one or two up in tissue paper so they are more of a surprise.
If you have included anything in your hamper that is special or has significance to you then its a nice idea to include a little note and let them know why its important to you or if there is a story / funny story about it. Just something a little more personal.
Then start to pack your hamper, I had a play about with the layout before I was happy and to stop the products moving about I used the double sided tape. A DIY hamper Is a great way to be creative and put a little bit of personality into a gift, I think this type of gift is more thoughtful.
Once everything is in place & wrapped it in the cellophane, I added some cute red and white ribbon and a big gold bow. Now its ready for under the tree and I am going to gift it to my mum, she is going to LOVE it! Let me know if you have made a hamper as a gift and what products / items you included in yours. Or if you’re going to make one for the first time this year.
Thank you to Boots for including me in such a fun campaign. If you’d like to see a much better hamper than mine you can check out this step by step guide.
•this isn’t a sponsored post but Boots were kind enough to gift all the products and supplies I needed to put together this festive hamper.
I’m not a very organised person, its something I want to get better at and what better place to start than to purchase a pretty planner. I have been hunting for a cute but functional planner for ages & I came across the most beautiful ban.do one in Paperchase, completely by chance. I can’t find a link to it on Paperchase but here it is on the USA Ban.do Shop.
Ban.do are an LA based company that create the cutest bright bold stationery. I have no idea how I’ve only just discovered them, I am late to the party. I now have half of their website on my wishlist, this could get expensive.
I bought the ban.do 17 month large agenda with the Florabunda cover, it cost £25.00 and I love it! The good thing about it is it runs from August 2015 and ends in December 2016, so that means there are no wasted months with me purchasing it more than halfway through 2015, I get to begin planning right away. I’m so excited I have never owned something like this, I have only written a few lists & important dates in so far but I’m hoping to have lots of blog posts planned out for the upcoming months. I want to use it as a blog planner but also as a brief journal / diary of what I do each day. That way I will get the most use from it and there is plenty of space for me to do both.
Do you use a planner & has it helped you organise your life / blog more?
The Florabunda Agenda has a beautifully bright floral patterned hard cover and is spiral bound, I have the larger 8×10 size which is quite large but its a great size if you want just one planner for life, work & I will be using it as a daily diary too. I wanted to make the most of it and so will be using it for everything. Its quite heavy so I won’t be carrying around with me (too much, I will mostly be using it at home and thats why I really like that it lays flat & it can sit open on your desk on a specific page / week to remind you what you have on that week.
This planner is jam packed with the cutest illustrations, inspirational & motivational slogans and there is so much room for you to make notes, plan, organise and keep a track of all those important dates.
So it opens up to a blue sleeve with ‘You are the stars you are the galaxy’ in cute font, – I’ve been keeping stickers and a few lists in the sleeve. All the sections are tabbed so its easy to flick to the month you need and a gold elastic keeps the planner closed when you’re not using it. Oh & like that this planner lays flat which makes it easy to write in & means the spine doesn’t get all creased and damaged.
You get a two page spread at the beginning of each month with uplifting slogans & cute artwork. I love these & my favourites are ‘Being Nice is Cool’ & ‘Your Future Looks Bright’. Each month has two pages for notes which I have been using to make lists & jot down dates that haven’t been finalised.
Then each month has a month to view over two pages and after that you get the standard week over two pages layout. I find this layout gives me enough space but I know the smaller boxes for the weekends are an issue for people, but I’m never that busy at the weekend (homebody) so this layout works fine for me.
There is a page of bright sassy fun stickers to use throughout your planner, I might be in my 30’s but still get excited over stickers. Its a nice fun start to the planner. Then they give you a list of important holidays (American dates) and they have thrown is some cute fun days – like National Piña Colada Day, National Cat Day and National Flower Day!
There are so many little touches / details in this planner, its been so well put together. The quality of the cover and pages is very good, if something has to last you from 17 months you want it to be well made and this ban.do planner certainly feels like good quality.
I didn’t want to give too much away in the photos, but there are quite a few reviews of these planners online if you want a more in depth look at all the pages. Ban.do summarise this planner with some great bullet points,
17-MONTH AGENDA (AUG 2015 – DEC 2016)
GLOSSY PAPER-WRAPPED HARD COVER
SPIRAL-BOUND, LAY FLAT DESIGN
ELASTIC BAND CLOSURE
DOUBLE-SIDED POCKET PAGE
THE CUTEST STICKER PAGE OF ALL TIME (WITH EXTRA STICKERS!)
COLOR-CODED MONTH TABS
CHEERFUL ILLUSTRATIONS THROUGHOUT
FUN TO-DO’S FOR EACH WEEKEND
A BUNCH OF SPECIAL HOLIDAYS
Let me know what planner you use & I will do an updated post in a couple of months to let you know if I am in fact more organised & if I have been keeping up to date with filling it in. Wish me luck.
*Update – December 2016. My planner is out of stock but a UK seller does have a range of Ban.do merchandise
