Smelly smelly candles

I was reading a blog the other day (can’t remember which one for the life of me) and they mentioned soy candles. I love me some candles, smelly or otherwise, so I thought I’d have a look and see what all the fuss was about. Soy candles are made from soybean oil. The thing that really interested me was that they are supposed to produce less soot which is very good if you suffer from asthma and the like (as I do).

I hopped on to the Busy Bee website (which you can visit here) and had a look. The website it very cute looking and easy to use. I had a look through all the different scents and options and eventually decided on some wax tart melts (which kind of misses the point about them producing less soot seeing as that’s why I was keen to try them!). Wax tart melts are made to go in the top of a tart burner where you put a tea light underneath. I had to order a tart burner as I didn’t have one and this is the one I got.

A very dark picture of my tart burner.

Top of the tart burner.

I decided to go for some Mini Rose Melts to go in the top of the burner. According to the website these burn for at least the time it takes to burn 1 tea light. I liked the idea that they only last that long so that I can easily swop out the smells depending on what mood I’m in. Below are the ones that I got.

Close up of the Mini Rose Melts

The smells I got were Black Cherry, Creme Brulee, Golden Caramel, Vanilla Dream and Cinnamon Sticks. When I picked up the package from the post office you could smell the candles through the packaging! Each of them smell really nice. I haven’t burned any yet but I’m hoping that the smells are just as good when they’re burning.

When I was looking through the website I saw some larger wax melts which are layered so that they release different fragrances as they melt. I like the idea of that so I went ahead and ordered one of them in Vanilla Chocolate Sundae. These larger melts will last for at least 5 tea lights so I’d better like it! Unlike the other melts, these are layered to help the different fragrances emerge.

Layered so it releases different smells.

And then, as a surprise I found two free wax melts in the package. One of them is called  Rose Petals which is really too flowery for me so I’ll be giving that one to my mum. The other one is called Sun Kissed Raspberry and this one smells really nice. Can’t wait to burn that one.

My freebies!!

So, all in all, this was a really nice package to open. I can’t wait to get some burning and see what they smell like then. Looks like that’s the plan for this weekend.

Come on over to my place. It’s going to smell gorgeous!

I just cannot stop myself……

So I went shopping today. Well I mainly went to get a Starbucks coffee and some Krispy Kreme doughnuts (which one of my friends is convinced are laced with crack because they are so addictive – especially if you have no willpower like me!) I wandered in to Marks and Spencers to get a few bits and pieces to keep me going until my shopping is delivered and I spotted these two cute little sets.

Measuring spoons and measuring cups

I thought these were adorable. I’m not really a big pastel colour fan but it suits their tiny little shapes. The spoon set was £3.50 and the cups were £5 which I didn’t think was too bad considering they come from M&S!!!! I’ve been finding lots of recipes from America which call for cup measures and I figured using these would be easier than trying to convert them over to English measurements. Now I just need to find something to bake so I can use them! Any ideas? And in an unrelated but kind of related way, I saw this mug when I was shopping a while ago and thought it was the cutest thing ever. And quite big (all my mugs have to be big!)

It's got cupcakes on it. And it's a mug. A big mug. Woohoo!!!

Sunday Internet Stuff

In my down time I like to peruse the world of wonder that is the internet and find some funny or cool pictures. Below are this weeks entries:

I'm not sure that this is the most practical thing in the world but I have to admit it is quite cool!!

This appeals to the geek in me although I'm not sure about the hairy arms.

As well as having a thing for bats, I have a thing for skulls also. These are very cute. Must see if I can get one for myself.

Again with the skulls but also very practical too!

It would be a shame to eat this but that's what I would do!! You can buy the rose from here.

Baking, baking, baking

When I caught up with my friend this week we spent a long time talking about baking and where to get the best baking paraphenalia from! She is currently doing a course in sugar-crafting and, whilst that is not for me as I don’t think I have the patience for it, some of the things she makes are fantastic. I told her about some of the baking things I had bought not so long ago and I thought I would share them with you guys.

I ordered my things from The Craft Company. Delivery was quick and they were certainly well packaged (they came in a huge massive box with lots of packaging!). Here is what I got:

Bright and colourful as all bun cases should be!

Cake leveller, blue glitter, lavender glitter, silver glitter.

So where do you get your cake/baking supplies from? Anywhere good in the UK?

Ramble, ramble, ramble

I am generally quite good at rambling on about nothing in particular so I figured I might as well carry that on to the blog!

I was looking through the photos on my phone the other day and found loads of random ones that I haven’t seen for a while. Some of them are cool and/or interesting so I thought I’d share them on here.

I wish I could say that you'd only find this kind of thing in America but alas, it's made it's way to the north on England too!!

I have seen this dress on various google searches for ages. I love it. It has the right mix of girly (fabric) and rock n roll (leather).

Some times I look working within easy driving distance to a Krispy Kreme. Some times I don't (like when I'm trying to fasten my trousers!)

I get strange celebrity crushes. I think Eddie Izzard is one of my less 'unusual' ones!

The tattoo on my left foot. I'm not sure why I took the picture. May be I just thought it looked purty!

This totally speaks for itsel

My friend bought this for my godson for when he goes out with his Aunty Me!!!

I love Hello Kitty. She is cool. I'd have it all if I could afford......

Good from bad

Tags

bat, car, cuddly

So, this week I’m on holiday from work. I envisaged lots of shopping, drinking coffee and getting together with friends. Unfortunately this was not to be as on Saturday morning my dad was admitted to hospital. Thankfully he is now on the road to recovery but between visiting him and making sure my mum was ok, my week hasn’t been going as planned. So, I was very happy when I walked in to the hospital shop to get my dad a paper and saw this little cutie.

Isn't he cute?

I have a thing for bats of all kinds. My first tattoo was of a bat (a throwback from my full on goth days) so they hold a special place in my heart. I have several cuddly bats that currently reside in my car so when I saw this little orange and purple one I had to have it to put it with all it’s new friends in my car. One day I’ll get round to taking pictures of all my bats but for now, there’s just my new addition.

Therapeutic Baking

Tags

baking, cakes, cream, food, jam, strawberries

So, after the Easter from Hell which saw me spend 12 hours in two different hospitals while doctors deigned to grace my dad with their presence and another early morning phone call from my mum this morning saying that they were rushing my dad in for an emergency operation (he had his gallbladder removed and, thankfully is doing SO much better) I took to the whisk and made a cake.

The cake was originally supposed to be dessert for lunch on Easter Sunday but that didn’t happen. So, seeing as I had the ingredients already in the cupboard I figured I might as well make the cake.

I love baking. It’s so therapeutic. You have to concentrate on what you’re doing and you get to lick out the bowl afterwards!

I figured I’d make a cake seeing as I always make cupcakes and I have some springform tins that I got for Christmas waiting to be used. I used a normal equal measures cake mix, chucked it in two of the tins, threw them in the oven and then 25 minutes later I had two lovely cakes. I levelled one off using my new cake leveller and put them in a cake tin overnight. The next morning I spread one half with jam, whisked up some cream and put that over the jam and then put sliced strawberries on top of that. I have to say it looked great and tasted even better. Rather than eating the whole thing to myself, I wandered around giving cake to various different people although my dad couldn’t have his piece. I did show him the below photo today in a ‘look at what you could have been eating if you hadn’t have been making everyone frantic with worry’ kind of way!!

Therapeutic Baking

So, after the Easter from Hell which saw me spend 12 hours in two different hospitals while doctors deigned to grace my dad with their presence and another early morning phone call from my mum this morning saying that they were rushing my dad in for an emergency operation (he had his gallbladder removed and, thankfully is doing SO much better) I took to the whisk and made a cake.

The cake was originally supposed to be dessert for lunch on Easter Sunday but that didn’t happen. So, seeing as I had the ingredients already in the cupboard I figured I might as well make the cake.

I love baking. It’s so therapeutic. You have to concentrate on what you’re doing and you get to lick out the bowl afterwards!

I figured I’d make a cake seeing as I always make cupcakes and I have some springform tins that I got for Christmas waiting to be used. I used a normal equal measures cake mix, chucked it in two of the tins, threw them in the oven and then 25 minutes later I had two lovely cakes. I levelled one off using my new cake leveller and put them in a cake tin overnight. The next morning I spread one half with jam, whisked up some cream and put that over the jam and then put sliced strawberries on top of that. I have to say it looked great and tasted even better. Rather than eating the whole thing to myself, I wandered around giving cake to various different people although my dad couldn’t have his piece. I did show him the below photo today in a ‘look at what you could have been eating if you hadn’t have been making everyone frantic with worry’ kind of way!!

Christmas is over!!!

Woohoo. Yeah. Thank God for that!

But that’s the only good bit cos now there’s the New Year to go through complete with people asking you what you are planning on doing. Well, to save people from asking me, I shall be on my sofa, in my pyjamas, with a chocolate brownie cake I will have made that day, a pot of cream and a large unopened bottle of Russian Standard Black Label vodka. And in no way, shape or form will I be watching anything that involves a countdown to midnight. In fact, if everything goes to plan, I should be passed out in a chocolate and vodka coma by then!!! Happy New Year everyone!

Oh yeah, and I’m back in work tomorrow. Why I didn’t book the bit in-between Christmas and New year off I’ll never know? Working 2 days this week seemed like a good idea until I realised that I don’t have a right lot to do once I get in there, the building is going to be half empty and my boss is going to be in so I can’t even spend the two days doing something I want to seeing as she sits next to me!!!

Trawling the t’internets

It’s been a while since I had a trawl of the internet and found some amusing, funny or just plain wrong pictures and, seeing as I am apparently wide awake at 8am on a Sunday morning (not amused – thanks cat – sorry dead baby mouse), I figured I’d do some today. And also because it doesn’t take that much brain power and I’m not feeling too good today.

I know this isn’t real dried zombie skin (in fact it looks suspiciously like dried seaweed for sushi) but it just goes to show how much the zombie craze has taken over the world. Which reminds me, I really must get around to watching Season 2 of The Walking Dead.

I loved Garfield when I was younger and what struck me about this picture is that I know what everyone was called apart from the pink cat with the big lips. I can’t remember at all. Anyone?

This is one for all the cats out there judging by what my cat brought in this morning (still, at least it isn’t a perfectly gutted blackbird!). I know I shouldn’t laugh but this one did make me chuckle. Kind of like a baked hamster. They want to sprinkle some salt on there too. It’ll make the skin crisp up really nicely.

 Penguins. Jewellery. Sparkly. What more could a girl want?

I love skulls. I think they’re ace but there’s something out this watch that I’m not too keen on. Maybe it’s cos it looks a bit tacky……

 Your own portable ouija board. I don’t know why they didn’t think of this before when they were popular. They could have made a killing!!

My friend Sally likes everything shiny. She’s like a human magie. But I defy even her to think these shoes are anything other than wrong wrong wrong!!!