Hi, my name is Nikki, I am in my 40's and live by the sea with my husband and our golden cocker spaniel Gracie. I am a gift wrapping addict, paper, bows, ribbon & pom poms and everything that looks pretty. I enjoy embracing all coastal living has to offer - walks on the beach, seafood dining, looking for inspirational home decor to match our landscape and relaxing.
For me June and the other summer months brings lots of Birthdays and family celebrations. Colourful brights will be my inspirations for gift wrapping.
Brown kraft paper is always great to have on hand. Online stores Amazon, Ebay and Hobby Craft have 3m rolls for as little as £3.30. Some string, balloons and a gift tag and you have a wonderful wrapped parcel.
Who doesn’t love a pom pom? With a little bit more of free time on my hands over the last few months (I am sure you understand!) I have started knitting again and with that I have lots of little ends of wool in different colour.
Pinterest have some great videos on how to make pom poms, many a happy night to be had by creating mixed sizes and using the Pom Poms on top of you presents.
I love this quote because to me it’s about starting the week off with a clear, organised, peaceful mind. What helps me with this is using a planner.
The amount of planners on the market is huge and some are so pretty with great motivational quotes, inspiring suggestions and have lots of creativity aspects.
My favourite brand so far is Create 365 The Happy Planner. Last year I had the small version (Just Be Happy in picture above) but this year I went BIG! I have one for my personal planning – blogging, holidays, house plans etc and then I have one for work.
I went with American Crafts Heidi Swapp Large Memory Planner with Gold Foil Stripes. Its faux leather, with 12 month tabs, each tab is different with pretty floral designs, quotes etc and the handy thing is its has clear pockets at the front of every month. For anyone who needs to keep receipts for accounting purposes this is a god send!
Its is delivered from America so takes a little bit longer than the normal Amazon shipping but it’s very functional. It comes in other designs and including postage comes in around £20.
There are lots of add ons you can purchase also but for this planner, because I use it for work I keep it professional and quite simple.
Now the real fun begins with my personal planner.
Last year I purchased a 365 Create Happy Planner for the 1st time and I loved it. They are beautifully made and come with lots of stickers, bookmarks and there are lots of additional add ons you can purchase.
This year I went online searching for another planner and liked the look of the boxes which contain your planner, stickers, bookmarks and pen all together rather than buying separately. However the only one I really liked the design of (as there is a lot of different designs) was from America (again!) and would take 1 month to arrive!!! Could I wait that long?
The answer is yes and I am so pleased I did….look what arrived today
And when I open it all these goodies were inside
The planner is the larger size (magazine size) but I love that for the house. It has a handy envelope flap at the front for magazine slips, recipes that kind of thing and gorgeous colourful monthly dividers some floral and some with motivational quotes. It also has a monthly sheet were you can write down what you are currently reading, watching, cooking, crafting etc.
The sweetest part is each month who can write what you are thankful for.
If you want to view the different version available ( I think this style is sold out) have a look on Amazon although there are other independent sellers in the UK.
In the general frenzy of present buying at Christmas, my attention was drawn to a great gift Boots had on offer – The No 7 Beautiful Skin Beauty Collection Box. Boots had it on special offer at just £39 and individually all the products would cost £144 – it was too good to miss so I loaded my trolley with the gift box and headed to the counter (will my double points coupon to boot!)
I was tempted to ask my husband just to wrap it as another present but I wanted to start using the products straight away.
You got all this lovely lot inside:
Box Contents
I have been using all the skin care products for about 3 weeks now and some items have been exceptional and some may take a bit longer to see any really difference and for me to be able to give a balanced view.
The few that have stood out already are
No7 Beautiful Skin – Hot Cloth Cleanser (200ml)
This was not a new product for me as I had previously used it however its a great cleanser. It is easy to use, definately gives your skin a great clean and does not leave it tight like some cream facial washes.
I dont always use the muslin cloth and it still removes all the make up from your face, however when you use the cloth (which is also included) you can feel the difference as everybit of your face is cleansed.
I am impressed with this, normally I reach for the Liz Earle Cleanse & Polish as I do feel it has a more herbal/botanical cleanse. There is a bit of a price difference with Liz Earle at £14.50 and this No 7 cleanser which is normally at £10. A repurchase for me when the time comes.
2. No7 Beautiful Skin Eye Make Up Remover (100 ml)
A new one for me and I love it! Removes the toughest of mascara gently. Now it is a bit oily for you oily skin people as it does leave a bit of oily residue on your skin after use but thats the only bad thing I can say about this product. I will definately buy this again – but only on 3 for 2 or with a £5 No7 voucher as it is on the pricey side at £8.50 for just 100ml
Again a newbie for me and something I would not normally pick up from No7. Maybe because it was winter or my skin was tired from the busyiness of Christmas but I felt like I need this little boost over the Christmas period and I have kept it in my dialy make up routine into January.
I have been wearing it like a primer before my foundation and I like the gentle radiance it gives. Its a very light texture, soaks well into the skin and does not clog up when I put on my foundation. I did wear it as a bit of glow on top of foundation also when heading out for the evening and it worked perfectly.
A great little product, you do not need much so I think it will last through to the summer. It comes in Nude or Bronze and a good price at £12.50.
All I can say about this product is WOW! Its the star of the box so far!
So…I am a bit of masking fanatic and I mask at least once a week if not a bit more. I love them from sheet masks to mud masks to charcoal masks to overnight masks I have tried them all including the pricey GlamGlow (good but not worth the money). This little jar of wonder surprised me!
I have used it about 4 times now and left it on for about 10 minutes, its comfortable on your skin – no stinging or ickiness so I am happy to let it just seep into my skin. Each time my skin the next day has been plumper, refreshed looking and generally healthier looking. I dont have dry or very dry skin so maybe it provided me with a better result because of that but I think for anyone with that skin type it would be well worth a try.
I am so impressed with it and for just £13.00 I think it needs to be a constant repurchase.
Thats all the recommendations from the box at the minutes. Its only been a few weeks of using the Day and Night cream, eye cream etc so I think I will come back to you on those items.
I have not used any of the make up either but looking forward to the spring/summer months to get use out of them.
Other products in box I have yet to review:
Protect & Perfect Intense Day Cream 50ml
Protect & Perfect Intense Advanced Night Cream 50ml
Protect & Perfect Lip Care 10ml
Protect & Perfect Intense Eye Cream 15ml
Exceptional Definition Mascara in black 7ml
High Shine Lip Gloss in ‘Sparkling Rose’ 2.6g
Overall so far, for £39, I am very impressed. Sorry if you missed the offer at boots however there are some full boxes selling on ebay for around £70 + p&p at the moment but in my opinon you would need to be a regular user of all the products to get the true value at this price.
Let me know if you love any of the product I have mentioned or any other Boots No7 products you enjoy – I would love to try a few more.
So when January comes around I always feel the need to get organised.
Pinterest often provides me with inspiration, looking at all the organisaiton tips and pictures of fabulous organised homes. Last year I set myself a target of getting some aspects of our home sorted and one of the big items I wanted to do was sort all my Christmas wrap, cards, birthday cards, wrapping paper, boxes and stationery supplies.
So I took inspiration from Pinterest and set up my own wrapping station – very american I know but its fantastic and what a pleasure it was to do all the Christmas present wrapping this year.
So this year I have set myself a goal of sorting 2 aspects of our home each month.
January
My Wardrobe – I actually do this every season so this is a good one to get me strarted.
Make Up Drawer – As much as I love keeping an eye out for new products and testing them I do have a hard time in either throwing them away, passing them on to someone else or donating. This will be a wonderful achievement.
I did it! My wardrobe is done. I sorted, purged, donated, cleaned, foldedand generally give everything a good tidy (I do love a bit of colour coded organisation).
That’s one off the list.
Why dont you join me and get sorted in 2018?
If you need some more inspiration I can highly recommend a wonderful book called ‘The Complete Book of Home Organization’ by Toni Hammersley.
Toni has a blog called ‘A Bowl Full of Lemons’ which I love. Its full of great useful tips, lots of printables and its full of encouragement to tackle those sorting tasks. Check it out, you will want to subscribe just after one read!
The book is an extension of the blog and website. Its filled with beautiful images and lots of handy tips from small projects to bigger tasks its a great read and I have found it so useful to dip in and out of through the year.
I am feeling very accomplished, next task is my make up drawer, so I will keep you all posted on how it get on.
Leave me a comment on what you hope to start with, how you are getting on and of course some before and after photos would be great.
Ok, so I missed a few months…..! Life (meaning work) took over and all my blog plans went out the window, but I have to say now I am back for good?
I had a wonderful restful Sunday night with a bit of home pampering.
I had a gorgeous Rose bath using a rose bath bomb from HOME BARGAINS, which was good but not LUSH good, however a better price point at just 79p.
I picked up an OLIVIA BLACK candle in my local TK MAXX on Saturday, black tea and plum which smelt devine. It looks very similar to JO MALONE, not as strong smelling but great and at just £5.99, I will be stocking up on a view more.
While in France on my holidays this year I had to go to SEPHORA, I mean it would have been rude not to right? I bought several of their sheet masks and used the first one last night. I will be doing a full review of this product this week in my blog….so I will keep you in suspense until then.
Lastly I have been on a reading frenzie this month, this is my 3rd book in July. I just started it and so far it’s a good read. I will give a full review when I have finished it.
Back on track now with this blog, so please subscribe if you have not already and I look forward to chatting with you all in the coming months.
Do you have a bit of old furniture sitting about? Have you seen a cute piece of furniture in your local charity/thrift shop bit it’s a nasty brown colour?
I spied this beauty in my local charity shop for £25, I liked the size, shape & mouldings but hated the dark colour. I knew it would look good over my fireplace & it was exactly what I had been looking for.
I had used Annie Sloan paint on some smaller projects so I thought I would give it a go with this.
I was so pleased with the result.
Let me know if you have transformed any old furniture using Annie Sloan, It would be great to see some other examples.
If you have not already tried it, give it ago. There are quite a few brands and colour varieties out there, I would recommend Annie Sloan for its simplicity & good range of colours.
Ok, I will admit I am a beauty blog addict, as I know many of you are. I love nothing more than reading about all the new products on the market, trying them out for myself, telling my friends about them & I thought hold on……..why don’t I write a blog too.
So what am I going to write about? Basically lots. All the things I love make-up, skincare & beauty products, thrifting & charity shop finds, home crafts – turning old bits & pieces into gorgeous new gems for your home, good recipes….not Michelin chef trained required recipes but achievable family meals, the odd book review & maybe a few more stories & random girl talk.
I would love it if you would follow my blog & join me in this blog journey.
Bucket and Spade Designs 