Category: christmas

Christmas posts from relentlesslypurple.com

Baking Fun Using My Cupcake Toppers

christmas / 7 years ago / RelentlesslyPurple

The girls had some baking fun yesterday making cakes after I was given a £15 off code to try out some of the Toppers from MyCupcakeToppers in exchange for a review of them.

 

After looking through MyCupcakeToppers site I picked out some lovely Minnie Mouse & Disney Prince Real Icing toppers (12 for £6) that I knew the girls would love.

 

For our Minnie Mouse & Disney Princess cakes the girls made a mix for 12 chocolate chip cakes each. They quickly got their mixes made up, poured into the cases and into the oven.. so they could lick the bowls of course!

We loved the cakes and all helped ourselves to a few since we made 24 in total. The real icing cupcake toppers were amazingly yummy, even the Mr who isn’t keen on cake toppers really enjoyed it and munched through quite a few cakes!

The real icing toppers are absolutely brilliant and the printing is amazingly clear, they make the girls messy (but tasty) cakes look lovely.

I will definitely be ordering again in future for special occasions. I love how many design choices were available on the site. If you can’t find a design you like you can upload your own images or fill out a form with details of what you would like and the in-house design team can see what they can do for you too!

Want to make some too? Check out our recipe below.

You will need:

110g(ish) Caster Sugar

110g(ish) Butter

2 eggs

110g(ish) Self-raising flour

1tsp(ish) Vanilla extract/flavouring 

2ish handfuls of milk chocolate chips (plus a few to ‘test’)

1 tub of chocolate frosting 

A pot of sprinkles you completely forget to add

Method:

1. Preheat oven 180°c. Cream butter and sugar and add vanilla extract. Beat in 2 eggs.

2. Fold in the flour & throw in the chocolate chips.

3. Fill 12 cases halfway and bake for 10ish minutes until brown.

4. Let cakes cool (and sit on your hands to stop yourself eating them warm) before adding the frosting.

5. Pop the Real Icing sheets in the oven (once it’s cooled/cooling so it’s just warm) until the icing is easily removed from the sheets.

6. Add toppers to your cakes and ENJOY!

What do you think of our recipe will you be trying it out or do you have one of your own we could try? 

How lovely are the cupcake toppers? What design would you go for? 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Racing In The Blood Part 1: The Seduction of Speed by Max M. Power

Cars and Bikes / 7 years ago / RelentlesslyPurple

I recently received a copy of Racing In The Blood Part 1: The Seduction Of Speed By Max M. Power to review. If any of you follow my Instagram you’ll know the Mr & I love cars & racing.

I love the pictures on the front cover and back of the book by Andrew Whitson it really draws you in to take a closer look at the book.

If you love reading in depth stories about racing then this is definitely the book for you!

The introduction – The Birth and Development of Motor Sport is really interesting to read. It covers the repeal of the Red Flag Act in 1896, the first motor race in 1895 in France along with more facts and information on races, speeds and more.

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The rest of the book is full of stories about Frank Cartland and George Marshall. It explains how they ended up following the same paths racing the dangerous racetracks at Le Mans and Brooklands, the people they met, the things they did outside of the racetracks and everything in between.

With 30 chapters covering the twists and turns of racing following Cartland and Marshall on and off the track it is a fairly long but interesting book and includes circuits maps and photo’s of Brooklands in 2016.

This would be an ideal christmas present for racing enthusiasts who are interested in the history of the world of speed and want a little more detail than the basic facts. If your interested in the book you can buy it here from the Auto’s UK website.

The Hoxton Street Monster Supplies Cookbook Review & Giveaway!

christmas / 8 years ago / RelentlesslyPurple

Hoxton street monster supplies

Most of you know we’re an oddball family and love all thing’s weird and wonderful so when I had the opportunity to review The Hoxton Street Monster Supplies Cookbook I couldn’t wait to see what it was all about! It looks rather interesting with the front cover stating ‘Everyday recipes for the living, dead and undead!‘ I have a feeling this one will be working it’s way into my brother’s stocking once I’ve noted down my favourite

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This Cookbook is full of all kinds of gruesomely gory recipes for all the monster’s out there! It’s just like any other recipe book with specific sections for recipes such as Biscuits & cookies, Jams & Preserves, Savoury Snacks for Entertaining Monster’s, anything and everything you can think of that you will need for entertaining monster guests or just a little home baking is in this book!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For hundreds of years, the Hoxton Street Monster Supplies shop has been supplying quality goods for the monster community – and this, it’s classic recipe book, has been in use for just as long.

Now, for the first time, it has been adapted for use by humans as well as monsters. So wherther you’re entertaining trolls, hosting a vampire soiree or expecting zombie round for tea, you can make delicious treats to suit every occasion.

 

It’s so difficult to choose a recipe to start with, do I go for the Fairy Brain Fudge? Some Dragon Fuel for my beloved dragon friends? Gingerdead men look soo delicious too, then there’s the Strawberry Shortdeads.. argh it is just soooo hard to decide and we haven’t even got to the cakes yet! *Drools* Don’t they all sound scrumptious!? Think of all the Monster Tea Parties you could hold to show off your baking skills!

Along with all the monstrously delicious recipes there are also pages full of Advice & Wisdom full of all the important stuff, Golden Rules For Entertaining, Seasonal Humans (This one’s been a great help, now I know which Humans to go for during which months!), Common Ailments & Recommended Cures, How to Carve a Human and more!

I was totally unaware of The Hoxton Street Monster Supplies shop existing in London so I will definitely be taking my brother & the girls along to visit & pick up some Icky ingredient’s to help us as we work through the recipes! Head on over to the Monster Supplies website to find out more.

Do you like the sound of this Cookbook for yourself or know a Monster who would? Well I have 3 copies for my Monster readers, just enter the giveaway to get your claws onto one of these delicious cookbooks!


Keep Calm and Carry On Linking Sunday

Christmas Bargains & Lies

Bargains / 8 years ago / RelentlesslyPurple

Ugh Christmas bargains.. I love them.. OK.. I admit it.. I’m a liar. I said NO TOYS this Christmas after getting halfway through writing a post on why I’m not buying toys this christmas.. and what did I do? That’s right I acted like a child myself when the Mr spotted this Wilko Wooden Pirate Ship reduced from £15 to £5!!!!! Well now..

Christmas Bargains - Wilko Pirate Ship

At that price and being the last one on the shelf, I couldn’t resist. I can’t wait to play with it I cant wait to see Izzy play with it.. Especially as she is a huge pirate fan just like her Mummy! 😉

On to the next Aisle and I spotted the Wilko Wooden Peg Story kits reduced to 50p each!! So of course I had to grab one of each… Realising I had officially started Christmas shopping!

I had that ‘I’ve started so I’ll continue’ moment and picked up two £1 Shopkin Activity Kit’s as we’ve bought a few. As there’s always at least 2 of the activities inside the girls love to do them together. Not exactly a bargain as all these activity packs cost £1 in most places but still well worth it. (Again I lied, as I had previously told Eva NO SHOPKINS THIS CHRISTMAS!)

I have to admit although I totally lied to myself about not buying toys this year, I am pretty pleased that for a grand total of £8.50 I am up to 6 presents already! Ah I do love Christmas bargains!

I may have talked myself into believing I technically only bought 1 toy as the rest are ‘craft kits’ but I’m hoping we don’t end up buying too many toys. In all honesty though with Wilko amongst other’s reducing things like this and me still being a bit of a child at times, I can see it being a struggle, haha!

Perhaps I’ll just stick to non character toys?.. Or maybe I’ll fail miserably, get carried away myself & end up picking up toys for the next 10 or so years lol! (When do children stop wanting toys?) Keep an eye out for future posts & fails 😉

Have you started Christmas shopping? Have you found any awesome bargains yet? I’d love to hear and see what bargains you’ve found so far!

Keep Calm and Carry On Linking Sunday

 

 

August MS515B Bluetooth Speaker Review

Bargains / 8 years ago / RelentlesslyPurple

You may have spotted my post offering a one day only early Christmas deal with a 40% discount on a set of August MS515B Bluetooth Speakers. Sold on Amazon for £29.95.

For sharing August Lab’s early Christmas deal I was given an awesome discount on the bluetooth speaker myself & ordered them first thing Thursday morning when the discount codes went live.

Friday morning we received our email letting us know our parcel was being delivered later that day!

This made me pretty excited as A) I LOVE opening parcels 😂😂 & B) I love listening to music! Especially when cleaning & these can easily be moved around room to room without disturbing the music!

Our parcel arrived around about 4.30pm and we quickly got the box opened up to have a look inside.

August Bluetooth Speaker

I checked the manual and got them plugged in to charge up & was really impressed by how easy they are to set up. They come with a USB lead with a split lead to charge both speakers at the same time. The speakers connect by a lead included in the box. They also have an AV in lead so you can plug them in to devices without bluetooth. So you can literally use them with anything!

I quickly got my phone connected via bluetooth to test them out and was amazed by the sound quality. They are pretty loud too! For small speakers they really do have some power. Anything with bass (when up loud) makes them jump across the side a little which really amused Eva.

We had them set up in the kitchen and the sound filled the room & we all ended up dancing in the kitchen whilst I cleaned & the Mr cooked for the girls. 

The Mr loves music too and has play-lists saved on his youtube. He eventually got bored of typing in each song on my phone. He decided to connect his phone to the speakers instead and took over with his play-lists for a good hour.

We are seriously impressed with the quality of the bluetooth speakers. Especially for only £29.95 (Unless you used my discount code 😉 ) delivered the next day even though we chose the free delivery option!

I can see these becoming one of our new favourite toys. As Eva has seen them I cant give them to her as a present. Instead I have said we can all share them.  I can see the girls using them in our room and me using them around the flat when cleaning to save having the sound system on which we currently have no remote for & have the bass up high which can be a bit much at times! 🙈🙊

I love that the girls can connect using the Tablet as well as us using our phones & pc/laptop and as they are rechargeable we can take them anywhere. I’ve yet to find a problem with them. I like that I can skip forwards and back a track using the button on the back of the main speaker.

*This is a sponsored post & I received a large discount on the speakers in return for sharing the 40% off discount post and an honest review.

 August MS515 Bluetooth Speaker – One Day Only Early Christmas Discount!

Bargains / 8 years ago / RelentlesslyPurple

As my readers will know I’m already planning ahead for christmas & with less than 17 weeks to go I’m on the hunt for awesome bargains and discounts to go under our tree.

As I mentioned before I’m thinking about getting Izzy a Tablet for Christmas as she loves Eva’s & was struggling to think of a present for Eva but then I came across an offer* from @August_Lab for a set of August MS515 Bluetooth Speakers & knew she would love them for playing music in her room from her tablet.

xmasdealspeakers

I know a lot of my readers love technology and also love a good bargain so if you want to get yourself an early christmas bargain with 40% off these August MS515 Bluetooth Speakers on Amazon (currently £29.45) Just click the link & enter your email and your coupon code will be emailed to you on September the 8th for a one day only special christmas deal!

Not sure if these are the bluetooth speakers for you? I’ll be writing up a review on these myself so check back soon to read what I think.

*This is a sponsored post in return for a discount on the product mentioned.

Christmas On A Budget – Starting Early!

christmas / 8 years ago / RelentlesslyPurple

I know, I know, summer isn’t even over yet but there’s only 17 weeks until CHRISTMAS so it’s time to get planning!

Although I do love Christmas it’s quite a stressful time for me especially being on benefits with 2 children means we really have to try and spread the cost of Christmas so we have to start early and pick up deals & Bargains on the way. This year I am determined to be well prepared again and get started early so from this week onwards I’ll be looking out for & picking up bargains & stashing them for the girls. With only 8 pay day’s to help us out I’m hoping to find and share with you some of the awesome bargain’s I’ll (hopefully) be finding over the next 17 weeks.

I’ll be looking for an Android Tablet of some sort for Izzy as she loves using Eva’s Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 which we bought Eva 3 years ago & has lasted surprisingly well considering the girls often fight over it!

So far that is all I have managed to come up with but I want to find more educational games/toys for the girls & activities or games they can play together, so I’ll be doing a bit of research to find things appropriate for 2-6 year old’s (if you have any idea’s let me know).

I’m also going to start planning activities and days out for the girls to help get into the Christmas spirit. As always there will be a letter to & from Santa, I’m going to have a look around this year and probably use a different company from the last 2 years & find something a little more special.

When Eva was born I started a little family tradition leaving a Christmas Eve sack from Santa out for when they come through from the their bath, which usually contains New Pj’s, slippers & a dressing gown to change into. I also put in a DVD, Book, Mug & Hot Chocolate & a little treat so they can snuggle up with their drinks, watch a film and read a story before bed which helps calm them down enough to sleep too.

I’ll be on the lookout for any Christmas Film & Book List’s to help me find some really good ones for the girls this year so if you have any helpful posts please share!

Last year we visited the Santa’s Grotto in Basildon with my Brother & we decided to make it another Family tradition to go together & get our photo taken so I’ll be booking us in for a visit again this year well in advance too.

Christmas Photo

The girl’s love making their own decorations so I think I need to spend some time on Pinterest & find some bits for the girls to make and some arts & crafts activities to make the flat feel Christmas-y and really get the girls into the Christmas spirit.

Have you started or are you thinking about starting Christmas shopping yet? Do you have any special family tradition’s or are you thinking of starting a new one this year? Do you have any activities you’d recommend?

Don’t forget to share your bargains too!