Photo Scrap-book fun

I love taking and looking through photos; capturing special moments, photos of family and friends and even photos of my food and coffee excursions ( I apologise for the countless generic coffee shop pics) I cant help it! As much as I like sharing photos of my favourite moments on social media, I decided it was time to have those moments captured in a scrap book! I wish I had done this sooner as I feel like some photo memories will one day get lost among the internet, but these photos in my scrap book can stay with me forever:)

I picked up a scrap book from hobby craft, printed off photos at Jessops and away I went...

You will need...

What do you think?

:)

WEDMIN - where to start?

I have been engaged since August 2013, so I have had plenty of time to plan our wedding, I have tried to keep the designs, colours and my ideas for the day quite secretive as I want everything to be a surprise for people on the day, but I can share some of my tips on what I thought was most helpful at the start of my planning...

Wedding Fayres

Visiting local wedding fayres was really helpful and informative, we could see all the local wedding experts, talk to people about prices and from that we could gauge our rough wedding budget, we also got lots of free goodie bags :)

Bridal magazines

I found some bridal magazines really great and some not so great, I loved looking through for inspiration, I cut out pictures of things I liked and stuck it in my scrapbook :)

Making a wedding scrapbook

My wedding scrap book started off as mood boards of inspiration and pictures I liked. I now use it to add details of our guestlist, admin, costs of things, its great to have one book with everything you need in. The ideas of things you like might change (mine have) but its great to have anyway:)

Pinterest

PINTEREST IS AMAZING. You make boards and 'pin' pictures into the boards, I've sub-catagorised my boards eg. cakes, dresses, themes, bridesmaids (you get the picture) and I have used it for so much of my inspiration. It gave me ideas I never could have thought of by myself. Note - be realistic, all your home made versions may not look as great as they do in the pictures:)

I would love to hear of any resources people use or have used when planning their wedding?

:)

Wedding Health kick

With our wedding looming, 255 days to be precise, Liam and I have been really focusing on our diet and fitness as we want to look our best for the big day. What seemed hard at the start, has actually become really easy as the pounds started dropping off us both. I strongly believe that when you have something to focus on, it becomes a LOT easier, so the wedding was a long awaited but great excuse for us to get healthy. 

As well as both being massive foodies,we both work in environments where bad food is easily accessible. Avoiding the birthday cakes brought in by co-workers (how is it someones birthday every week?),countless chocolates, biscuits and cakes brought in by the ladies on the ward, we knew it wasn't going to be easy. For over three weeks I have resisted grabbing the chocolate fix you 'need' nearing the end of the twelve and a half hour shift, I've resisted the chocolate Thank you boxes, the biscuits on my tea break and Liam has resisted all birthday cake treats at work and boy don't we feel better for it.

Even just grabbing some fruit or cereal bar, swapping my cup of tea and biscuits for fruit, green tea or water we are already both reaping the benefits. I'm going to start documenting our healthy meal alternatives, our snacks that keep us at bay of the bad temptations, and how we treat ourselves when cheat day does come. 

I'd love any feedback, help or advice on getting healthy and clean, no fad diets please :)

Mothers Day gift ideas

Hand made, personalised or just great gift ideas for Mothers Day.

.Make a photo book of your favourite photos of you and your mum

.Why not get creative and jazz up a old frame or grab a frame from a charity shop. Find your favourite photo of you and your mum, wrap it up, present done:)

.Make a hamper

.Make some sweet treats and wrap them up in a pretty box - macaroons, mini cupcakes, homemade fudge, cake:)

.Flowers - you can never go wrong with flowers!

:)

Taking you to Mack Lake Rd Nova Scotia, Canada

Exactly five years ago I was in Nova Scotia, Canada. It is by far one of the most beautiful, picturesque places I have ever been and I would love to back. I wanted to share my great memories and pictures of this amazing part of the country. 

The Lake that my Uncle's house is on (photo stole from my Grandad - a previous trip)

 Snowy unreachable New York, only got stuck here in a hotel for 3 days:(

 House on the lake, Mack Lake Rd

 Everywhere is like this, felt like something out of twilight

 Mahone Bay - seaside towns

 Countless nights spent here, playing cards and drinking hot chocolate:)

 THE best coffee shop, and they do drive thru! Dairy Queens ice cream parlour is a must visit also!

 SNOW:)

You really feel like you take a step back in time in Nova Scotia, the people are so friendly, the wildlife and surroundings are out of this world, the coffee, ice-cream and food are to die for! 

Where in Canada should I go next!?

Spring Home Haul

My favourite spring buys so far...

I popped into George at Asda and was pleasantly surprised by their variety, colour schemes and the prices of some of their home ware. They had a really great selection of duvets, pillows and ornaments for around the house. As well as a really great selection of kitchenware which I particularly enjoyed as it fitted in great with my colour scheme at home.

 I'm really loving wood and pastels in the kitchen and a lot of there new range was exactly this, they have a lot of 'farmhouse' inspired egg cups, baking equipment and cutlery sets I especially liked there set of baking equipment which was also really well priced! I didn't purchase any myself but did pick up some gorgeous cushions for my dining table,they are a taupe colour with cream hearts and are super soft and pretty. They will fit in perfectly once I have finished up-cyling the table.

(The cats seem to like them)

My other buys were both from Ikea which is a firm favourite of mine. I don't really buy in bulk from Ikea as some of there things are a bit tatty, and not always good quality, but you can't knock them for price and for pretty things for around the house!

I'm going through a bit of a fairy light/ candle phase at the moment and picked up these great battery powered fairy lights for just £2.00 a pack, I've attached one set around my bookcase and one above my curtain rail in my bedroom, they are really pretty at night and add a really nice feel to the house.  

I also grabbed this eucalyptus plant and pot, I love having plants and flowers around the house, this one is very low maintenance and my cats can't tear it apart or pull the flowers off so as well as looking nice is very practical for my house:) 

The plant pot is really simple but bold and I love it! 

Tangle potato topped pie

My version of the ‘hairy bikers tangle pie’ instead of filo pastry I added the thin sliced potatoes to the top of the pie.

Enjoy!

You will need

Left over chicken

Left over gammon

300g half fat crème fresh

Chicken stock

100mls water

100mls white wine

1 leek sliced thinly

1 onion sliced thinly

1 garlic clove slice thinly / crushed

1 potato sliced thinly

How to make

Fry off your onion and garlic until soft and with a slight golden colour, Do not brown or burn

Add the chopped leaks and simmer for one minute

Add 100ml of hot water and 100mls of wine, then add the chicken stock cube and simmer until the liquid has halved

Quickly add your half fat crème fresh and take off the boil and mix

Take chicken and gammon, add it to your cooking dish and pour over the stock/crème fresh mixture and sprinkle it with pepper

Boil your finely sliced potatoes until soft and layer on top of the filling

Bake at 180c for 30-45 minutes

Serve with vegetables

Enjoy