HOW TO: Have a more Sustainable Valentine's Day (+ Exclusive Discount Code for Nordgreen)

*Advertorial Content - Gifted Item

Valentine's Day is quickly approaching, so why not make celebrating it more sustainable this year? A lot of us are trying to make small changes towards living a more sustainable and eco-friendly way of life, which is so important for our planet and can be relatively easy to do too. Many of the Valentine's Day gifts, decorations or accessories are plastic based and not aimed for more than one use, so below there are a few ideas of how to swap those for alternatives that are more sustainable and reusable. I absolutely love any excuse to celebrate, make someone else feel special and spread joy, especially after the past two years. I think that we are all in need of little pick-me-ups and Valentine's Day can be the perfect time for that, whether it be celebrating with your husband, wife, girlfriend, boyfriend, best friend or your children. Let's kick start 2022 by spreading lots of love and kindness!

#LITTLELOVES: Tutus, Valentines Baking and Apple Tree Yard

What. a. week. It's been a crazily busy week, with barely a second to stop and take stock. Though lots of things have been ticked off my to-do list, such a satisfying feeling! I think I may have slightly overdone it, as I now feel on the edge of being ill and we're about to go on holiday. Just a slight headache and sore throat, nothing major I'm just really hoping it doesn't develop into anything. We've been on a pre-holiday mass organisation mission this week too, with many lists, phone calls, printed documents and piles of clothes dotted around the house. The run up to holidays is just the best.

VALENTINES DAY: What does notonthehighstreet have to offer?

Valentine's Day is nearly here once again - despite being quite the romantic I'm not actually into the highly commercialised image of Valentine's Day the media seems to create these days. However some companies refuse to take part in the overly cheesy image, instead concentrating on celebrating the love between two people. In the busy lives we all lead we perhaps don't have enough time to let our loved ones know how much we care, so it's nice to put aside a day to really show your love.

notonthehighstreet is one of the best websites for buying thoughtful, unique and luxury gifts for any occasions or even just a treat for yourself. Valentine's Day on notonthehighstreet is all about sharing the love, they have a fantastic campaign this year called Love: Your Story. You can tweet them or instagram them YOUR love story, a brand campaign made up of real people - so refreshing!

I am not surprised that I love almost every single product they have for Valentine's Day, so I thought I'd share my favourite with you...

Valentine's Day Cards

1/2/3/4


Gifts for Her
(I've hinted to Tom for a number of these -  a girl can wish)

1/2/3/4


Gifts for Him



1/2/3/4
(I got Tom number 3 for Christmas - it sums up our relationship perfectly!)




Which is your favourite Valentine's gift from notonthehighstreet?


Feel free to leave me a comment :)

GIFT: Cake in a Can

I first came across this concept on notonthehighstreet website, a cake in a can. It's pretty self explanatory and I think it's simply genius, it's so much more than a cake. The Food Ministry have created a Cake in a Can range that are ideal gifts for loved ones. They have a Valentine's Day, Christmas, Wedding and general range of Cake in a Can - which are available on notonthehighstreet website for £4.99 here.

When I received the Valentine's Day Cake in a Can* (£4.99) I couldn't believe how cute the packaging is. I chose the 'Romantic Pink' design but there is also 'Raunchy Red' and Mysterious Black and Red' designs. When you open the ring pull of the can you get a bag of cake mix, all you have to do is add 2 tbsp of water and mix. Pour the mixture back into the oiled can and bake for 15 minutes. You then have a freshly baked spicy fruit cake baked in a tin - I love the fact it's in a can, so unique!

The Valentine's Day Cake in a Can is a spicy fruit cake but they also have a Chocolate Cake in a Can and a Lemon Cake in a Can as well.

This is the perfect gift for any occasion but especially birthday's. My brother lives a couple of hours away from me at the moment but it doesn't mean I don't want to give him a birthday cake. Instead of trying to send a homemade cake through the post for a small fortune, only for it to sit there for a couple of weeks (I know what my brother is like, such a student!) and then not be eaten. Cake in a Can is perfect to send someone who lives further away from you, they can make the cake up when they want to and enjoy a freshly baked cake in less than 20 minutes!

The spicy cake was so deliciously moist and I now have a cute can to keep!

Have you come across Cake in a Can before?

Feel free to leave me a comment :)

Valentine's Day Cupcakes with cakecraftworld.co.uk

Cake Craft World are 'the UK's leading cake decorating supplier with over 8000 products. From cake decorations, bakeware and equipment to cake boards and boxes, it's all available right here.' They really do stock everything you could every need for baking. The range is outstanding, with very specialist products, as well as items an amateur home baker would want!

I was kindly given the opportunity to try out the 'Be Mine' Valentine Cupcake Set from Cake Craft World (£5.99). The set includes 2 x 6 cavity red cupcake boxes, 10m x 5mm of white curling ribbon with small red hearts design, pack of 75 white cupcake cases with vertical hearts design and 50g red hearts sprinkles mix. The set contains everything you'll need to present cupcakes in a beautiful, romantic and personalised way.

I decided to make some Chocolate Cupcakes with a Hidden Surprise and Vanilla Buttercream Icing, using the cupcake cases and red heart sprinkles.

This is the recipe I used:
(Makes 6 cupcakes)

55g Soft Tub Margarine
55g Caster Sugar
1 Large Egg
85g Self-Raising Flour
1 tbsp Cocoa Powder
55g Chocolate, white/milk/dark it's your preference, broken into 6 pieces (I used Cadbury Bitsa Wispa)

Buttercream

125g Butter
250g Icing Sugar
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
Pink Food Colouring
Lilac Food Colouring

Method
1) Preheat the oven to 190'C. Put 6 of the Valentine cupcake cases in a muffin tray or double layer the cases if you don't have a muffin tray.

2) Put the margarine, sugar, egg, flour and cocoa powder in a large bowl, and, using an electric whisk beat together until just smooth. If you don't think there is enough liquid (it needs to be the consistency or thick double cream) then add a splash of milk. The moisture level of the mixture depends on the size of the egg you've used.

3) Spoon half the mixture into the paper cases and place a piece of chocolate in the middle of the mixture in each case. Then spoon over the rest of the mixture into the cases, so that the chocolate is covered.

4) Bake for 20 minutes or until well risen and springy to the touch. If you don't want to serve them with buttercream icing, let them cool for a couple of minutes and then you can eat the cupcakes while the chocolate in the middle is melted, yum!

5) If you want to cover with buttercream icing, as I have, then using an electric whisk combine the butter, vanilla and icing sugar together in a large bowl. Once it's fully combined, light and fluffy then split it between two bowls. You can colour the buttercream any colour you would like, or leave it plain. If you want to colour it only add a drop at a time of the food colouring and mix thoroughly between each drop, until you have your desired colour.

6) I used a piping bag and star nozzle to pipe on the buttercream to the cupcakes, once they had cooled completely. If you do it any earlier the buttercream with melt. Then sprinkle over the red hearts in the Valentine set.

Check out Cake Craft World full range of baking goodies on their website - cakecraftworld.co.uk :)

What do you think of my Valentine's Cupcakes?

Are you going to make anything for Valentine's Day?

Please leave me a comment below, I love hearing what you think!

Who would have thought a wooden cheese board could be so pretty?

As Valentine's Day is fast approaching it's that time of year where we're searching for a present to give that person we love that they will actually want! I don't know about you but my experience of giving presents is a mixture of success and failures, I bet that some of the presents I have given over the years never get used and find a place in the renowned 'Present Graveyard'! To avoid this anymore, as it's a waste of your money and time, I have looked for some useful, thoughtful gifts for Valentine's Day from gettingpersonal.co.uk...

Personalised Heart Shaped Slate Cheese Board - £24.99

12 Luxury Valentine's Roses - £39.99

Personalised Hanging Slate Sign - Romantic Location - £9.99

Truly Madly Deeply Paperweight - £26.99

The Chocoholics Pizza - from £14.99

Rob Ryan His n Her Pair of Ceramic Mugs - £16.99

The kind people at gettingpersonal.co.uk offered to send me a Valentine's Day item, I chose the Personalised Wooden Heart Cheese Board with Leather Tie:

I love the look of this cheese board and because it has a leather tie I also thought it would look nice hanging up as a decoration. I'm a huge fan of personalised gifts, as they show that thought and time have gone into the gift, it's not a present you've found lying around. However the quality of personalised aspect of these kind of gifts can be variable, I was really impressed with this product!

I can't tell you how much I fell in love with this when I opened it! It's simply gorgeous! The wood is a lovely dark colour and the words are clear, neat and high quality. The wood is much thicker than I was expecting but it still could be hung up if you'd prefer to do that rather than use it for a cheese board. I just can't believe it's only £19.99 and it's personalised.

Have you bought anything from gettingpersonal.co.uk before?

Feel free to leave a comment below :)



Bakerdays - Delicious Personalised Cakes

As you probably know, I love baking and chocolate! Giving someone a beautifully decorated cake for their special occasion is a very rewarding feeling and personal. But like most people, work and time means that I can't always spend hours baking a moist sponge, then lovingly decorate the cake and finally hand deliver my homemade creation to their front door! If you ever feel like this then you need to know about Bakerdays! It's a company that personalises delicious cakes that fit through your letterbox! Taking away the worry of whether you'll be in to receive the cake or not, it doesn't matter as they neatly fit through your letterbox. The range of personalised cakes is vast on the Bakerday website, including designs for birthday's, christening's, Christmas, driving test, thank you, good luck, get well soon and design your own cake. There really is something for everyone!

Bakerdays kindly sent me one of their cakes designed for Valentine's Day, what a perfect present to give or receive! They had a wide range of design choices for the icing topping, which you could either personalise or not. I chose the '522' design and couldn't believe the quality of the print when I received it! The 'letterbox' cake comes in a cute tin to keep it secure and safe from damage. It's a nice addition to the cake, as you can keep the tin and use it again!

You may be concerned as to whether the cakes are delivered without being knocked around and ruined in the post. Once again Bakerdays have fully thought this through and securely package their cakes on a cake board, in a tin and then within a tightly fitting box, so there is hardly any risk of the cake being damaged during transit!

The quality of the appearance of the cake was amazing, I couldn't believe how clear the image was on the icing that covered the whole cake. Icing is seriously hard to print onto, without getting bulges, smudges or a 'pixelated' image. But Bakerdays have mastered this tough skill, the icing was immaculate, which helped to make the cake look very impressive! I chose a Chocolate Chip Sponge and it was divine, so moist with white and milk chocolate chips in and a light layer of chocolate buttercream covering the cake! Luxurious!

There are other types of sponge available, including vanilla sponge, carrot cake, fruit cake, gluten and wheat free. The cakes start from £14.99 with free delivery on the Bakerdays website.

Have you ordered from Bakerdays before?

Feel free to comment below, I'd love to hear what you think :)