A Few Home Buys

I picked up these few things while passing through Dunnes Stores....I was delighted when I saw the glass jar with a lid as I had been looking for something like this for a while.....It's the new home for my hair pins and ties and it sits nicely on my vanity.
I thought the owl was cute and would also be a nice decoration on my vanity and I love the all white. The Metal "Home Sweet Home" heart is hanging in my kitchen window. I got all three for under €15 so all very reasonable. I have to say Dunnes Home Wear has loads of lovely bits at the moment I just needed more time to browse.

I finally got round to buying a Wax Burner and Yankee Candle Wax Melts. I have been a fan of the candles for years but never tried these. I have heard great things so I decided to try them out. I got this burner and set of 12 wax melts in my local Yankee Candle stockist ( I would have preferred a plainer design on the burner but the mirrors actually look quiet pretty when lit) . The set is the "Mother's Day Pure Essence Tube" and the 12 melts included in the set are;
Baby Powder, Ginger Dusk, Champaca Blossom, Lake Sunset, Pink Sands, Fresh Cut Roses, Lovely Kiku, Honey Blossom, Cassis, Garden Sweet Pea, A Child's Wish, Aloe Water. This set has a few of my faves and also some I have never had before, the only thing I would say is I tend to opt for the Food&Spice or Fruit scents for the kitchen (which is where I bought this for) but I think this set is more suited the hall/living area. I have only been using this for a few days but first impressions are very good, there is a much stronger scent than the candles and I can see them lasting way longer. The girl who sold them to me gave me a tip for getting the cold melted wax out of the dish and that's to pop the whole burner into the freezer for a few minutes and the wax will slide right out! Will definitely be trying this!! I am happy so far and think I will move this to the hall and try to find an all cream/white burner for the kitchen with some vanilla cupcake melts!!

And last but not lease a quick trip in to Penney's (is there such a thing???) got me these! I was just popping in to return something and instead of being up money, I left with a big bag and a lighter purse! I really only had a few minutes (hubby and babies waiting outside) but I would have loved some browsing time as they have all the new season children's wear and homewear in stock (I presume ladies wear also but I ran through there with blinkers on).
So I picked up this mint green cushion with a Pink Flamingo on (€6) this is for the girls room (my next decorating project - post coming soon) . I also got this metal "You are my sunshine" hanging sign (€1.50) .....not sure where this if for yet but will be one of the children's rooms. And finally these battery operated set of 20 LED lights (€4) I saw these lighting in the store and thought they would look cute in the girls room. I'll have to pop into Penney's again soon because from what I saw it deserves a bit more of my time to look around.

Karen

xxx

Birthday Cake and Tutus

It was Miss 7's Birthday this week and I thought I'd share her cake and outfit.

Her cake was semi-homemade (by myself). I decided to go for a Giant Chocolate Cupcake and it turned out to be surprisingly easy. I cheated a bit and used a Betty Crocker cake mix. I bought two boxes of the "Devil's Food Cupcake Mix" but that wasn't enough and I had to run to the shop mid bake to buy a 3rd box, the Giant Cupcake tin was bigger than I thought!!! This mix only takes 15/16 minutes if you are making regular cupcakes but it took 50 mins to bake in the giant tin.
Once cooled I trimmed the tops so they would fit together well and sandwiched together with chocolate buttercream.
I then tried to pipe roses using the ribbon nozzle in my icing kit but it wasn't turning out like the cake I saw on Pinterest (did I really think it would???) so I ad-libbed and changed nozzle and just did my own unique design. I added some Maltesers, Dr Oetker's white chocolate hearts and some 100's and 1000's and I have to say I was very happy with the finished look.

The morning of her birthday I had her cake on the table with the candles lighting and presents and cards piled up waiting to be opened.

Her outfit for her party was a tutu dress she picked herself. She loved the colour (a dusky "ornate" pink). I decided to team this with baby blue and picked up the cardigan and shoes in H&M. It looked stunning and Miss 7 was very happy which was the most important thing.

Karen

xxxx