Thrifty But Glam

So I have just remembered that I took photographs for a planned post four months ago and completely forgot to write it!  What a fool I am. In October of last year me and a Bestie decided to treat ourselves to a evening pamper session at the divine Senspa in the New Forest.  I would love to be very zen and say that the reason we chose senspa was because of the rave reviews about the facilities, but the real reason was the three course meal included in our stay ;) I am lucky enough to have visited Senspa twice before and I can honestly say that it is an amazing place that does leave me feeling very serene for at least a week.  Working 7 days a week does take it's toll and sometimes I do fear that I am going to become over-whelmed with balancing work, social and family dramas.  In October last year I was reaching my peek and decided to take a whole afternoon off from work and family and just enjoy being pampered, it was heaven! The entire spa is Thai inspired...

Well a few of my RL friends have become readers of my blog and there is one that I talk about more then most on here; My Bestie Helen!   You may remember her from nearly all cake/bake related posts, blackberry picking, spa dates (whoops still haven't uploaded that one), and the wonderful rudie bunting!  Helen is completely awesome; she has a kick ass attitude, a wicked sense of humor and is one of the kindest, most caring people in the whole wide world.  I am honored to have such a wonderful Bestie :)  Did I mention that like me, she also likes cake? ;)  What's not to love? So I asked her to share the amazing Banana loaf recipe that she let me sample last week and like the legend she is, she typed it all out and whizzed it over to me.  At the top of the message was a suggestion to share it on my blog - so here we go.  A guest post by the most fabulous baker there ever was! The banana cake recipe!! Maybe u could pop it on your...

Have received a few requests for the scrummy Cookie recipe I made at the weekend, so here goes!  Please enjoy and remember that Cookie making is not an art, it is a roll of the dice, lady luck, fate smiling upon you deal ;) In other words, be prepared for failure and then you will be pleasantly surprised with however your Cookie's turn out. Ingredients 125g Cooking Spread (stork or similar) 175g caster sugar (or caster sugar/granulated sugar combination if you've run low like me) few drops of vanilla extract 1 egg (beaten) 50g milk chocolate 50g plain chocolate 75g white chocolate 175g plain flour pinch of baking powder 2 heaped teaspoon of cocoa or good quality drinking chocolate With Regards to chocolate, I used Tesco value bars as they are a bargain at 30p a bar! Method Preheat the oven to 185 C (170 C for fan assisted ovens) and line a baking tray with baking paper/ parchment paper. Using a hand whisk cream the sugar and butter together unti...

Sorry I've been MIA - Have started a long term placement and trying to balance that and the stores is proving somewhat difficult!  I will try to get back to my posting once a week, may even post a few more then that to make up for the weeks that have been missed ;) So today I had a lovely catch up session with one of my best friends.  Baking is a shared passion for both of us and so it wasn't too surprising that we turned it into afternoon tea!  There was supposed to be three of us, but sadly one of our friends is AWOL this meant that we ended up with enough sweet treats to feed an army! For Christmas I got a lot of baking bits, this was going to be the first chance that I had actually got to use them :)  I decided on a traditional sponge cake (so I could use my icing stencils) and some chewy cookies (something a little different to my usual cakes). My Bestie bought me this gorgeous cake stand for my Birthday - I had been after a plain one like this for ...

Well the title pretty much sums it up!  I have a sparkly new Etsy store called Chibi-Chi Designs, it is the place that I am selling all my beautiful silhouette related crafts.  I started with a facebook page last Sunday and it has become quite the success! I had more sales in my first week, then in my first few months with the jewellery store!  And truth be told, it is my new favourite craft.  There is something so satisfying about weeding out paper to reveal a unique papercut. Our best seller has been our 'Love You to the Moon & Back'  cards, which I originally designed to give to my lovely husband for Valentines. I know that technically I'm biased, but I really do love this little cutie!  A wonderful person ordered the card in pastel blue and white, it was adorable - I really love that colour combination! Through the facebook page I have had two orders for papercuts.  The first is for our personalized family tree and ...