Monday 31 December 2012

Happy new year

HAPPY NEW YEAR ...... !!!

LOADS OF TOY REVIEWS COMING SOON

been away on hols for three weeks and had some time off from the computer to spend it with me kids...

we have furby reviews lots of lego and loads more stuff to come so stay tunned a new comp too .....


once again have a great new year see you in 2 weeks once the kids are back for some fab reviews ....

Sunday 4 November 2012

Dig & Play Egyptian Tomb Review



Bought this last year for my daughter and we only just got round to getting it out of the box so i thought we would do a review of this product ... The Age group is for 7+ but both my 6 year old and 9 year old enjoyed playing with this and its educational too ...

Has you can you get a big block of clay which you need to Excavate with the tools which include a hammer and scrapping tool as well as a brush brush around parts that you have uncovered so you can feel like a real archaeologist.

But make sure before you begin you put newspaper down or a bin bag or bag as it does make a big mess ...




This takes depending on the kids around a good hour or so to uncover all the pieces inside. 






30 mins later we start to see some pieces of the set coming out kids are getting a bit excited now ... Even I am starting to look forward to uncovering the Egyptian tomb and seeing what mysteries are inside ..
After about 1 hour 15 mins between me and the kids we finally uncovered the Tomb and inside are all the pieces the board game side of the pack, so even after you have finished uncovering all the pieces there is a board game included which is both fun and educational too kids really enjoyed this as well ... 



After another 15 mins we uncovered all the pieces and the excavation is complete time to clean up and play the board game 

The main aim of the board game is to see who can get to the treasure first using the dice and counters that you dug out. As you go around the board the game tells you some interesting facts about Egyptians which is great as my kids have been doing this in school. 

So i would  give this a thumbs up it can be a bit messy but that can be fun too and kids seemed to enjoy making mess and digging out the artefacts  and playing the  board game too and the best bit is if you are on a budget this Christmas then this is priced on amazon for less then a tenner its a great buy. 





Wednesday 19 September 2012

Win Alton Tower Tickets !!!




Thats right I have teemed up once again with with The Secret Garden Flowers who runs a fab florist shop on the Barbican inside the House That Jack Built. 

The prize is Two tickets to Alton Towers Theme park the tickets are valid till October 12th 2012


So the winner gets to take a friend to Alton towers what could be better than that ... with such rides as Thirteen (a personal fav of mine ) and the brand new Nemesis Sub Terror whats not to like.
A picture I took last year of Nemesis
Entry is via the rafflecopter widget below, there is two compulsory entries and all of the others are optional extra entries. The competition will end on 28/09/2012. Terms and Conditions are below and I will contact the winner shortly after the closing date to get your details (ie address). So what are you waiting for? Good luck x
Also Please take note that we will be doing more comps in the future that includes  more prizes and non local comps too ...... so please join and stay tuned for more prizes and more competitions from The Secret Garden Flowers.

Please tweet daily and don't forget to join her Facebook page here .......


a Rafflecopter giveaway

Thursday 13 September 2012

Win a new bike! with My Jenny Craig competition !!!

Right I found out about this a little while ago but being so busy with kids and going back to school and school clubs and everything makes me wonder how I used to fit in 24 hours a week working at Game before I got made redundant ....... but anyway back to the point ....

Jenny Craig UK are running a fabulous competition on there blog where bloggers can win they very own Bike.... you get £400 towards a new bike how great is that .... and on-top of all that a 28 day weight loss programme as well (which I really want )  all you have to do to take part is ask a question on your blog .... before 13th 11.59 so be quick if you want to take part ...... check term on Jenny Craig Blog 


A little about me .................

I am a busy mum of three great kids I used to work but since losing my job I am finding it hard to get active since not being out and about I am terrible eater as I find I don't eat enough and skip meals as I never have time, which never helps my weight loss I have now signed up for a gym and have started going twice a week which is helping but had to take a lot of time out since the kids were home during the holidays .....

I suffered with a thyroid problem for a few years which has left me at 15 stone and desperate to get into shape ......  and now my metabolism is rubbish I am really trying and cant seem to get any results I am going Zumba tonight as I do enjoy this a lot as well ..... 

as you can from my picture I don't look to bad but my confidence is a big thing and I hate having my photo in all is glory on here ...I am going on holiday soon in March and really want to look good in my swimwear 




so here is my question ...... 

As I said before I am a very busy mum and  I skip meals all the time what would you recommend I do or change so I can stop skipping meals and eat on the go .... which will work into a healthy lifestyle and help me keep up my energy levels at home and in the gym ...


Cadburys chocolate review new bars nom nom



Happy International  Chocolate Day !!!!







So I though ill do a quick blog about Cadburys new Chocolate Golden Biscuit Crunch and Toffee popcorn ..... as every time a new chocolate bar comes out I have to give it a whirl .

So what are they like .... as you can see the design on both bars are very eye catching which grabs your attention right away ..... 
So lets start with the Dairy Milk Golden Biscuit  Crunch  my daughter is mad on the caramel one so I thought she may like this one the best and yes I was right ....  As you can see there are many layers inside this one which add to the overall choco experience ... it has a layer of biscuit with a crème filling and it is very yummy ..... gets a thumbs up in our house and is becoming one of main favs now ......


Now we move on to the Toffee Popcorn ... now I was unsure about this one at first .... But it is amazing very yummy indeed but I think this will be one of those that I will have to pick up if I am having a movie night or going cinema .... Kids love it especially the two boys .... and there is loads of popcorn packed inside as you can see....

One of the best things as well if you are not a massive chocolate lover you do have a resealable bar so if you find the chocolate a bit too much which never happens in my house you can reseal the bar and save it for later ......


But both bars have gone done a treat with the whole house and will be buying more very soon as these have already gone !!!

Wednesday 5 September 2012

Many Cake's of Katie



Just wanted to do a quick blog about all my cakes as i have never really showcased them all on here before never been professional but I love learning new ideas and trying new things ........


  • Rainbow Cake ......This cake I made for the kids and everyone loves this one a lot .....
  • Butterfly Cake ...... This cake I made for my Mums most recent birthday ....
  • London Underground Cake ... I made this for my sons last birthday as he is mad on Trains...
  • Heart Biscuits .... Normal shortbread and iced was bored on afternoon and this is the result ...
  • The Black,Red,White Cake .... made this for a friends daughters 16th birthday ...


As you can the Black,Red,White  was a pretty good cake did not take me long to get this one done and I was happy with the finished result .......


These cakes I made last year in 2011 we have my mums 60th cake that I made with  a orange and pink sponge inside with a buttercream filling ... and lots of little flowers over a gold shimmer cake she was very happy this took me a while as it was quite fiddly ... And then my Husbands cake I made him a Batman one as he went to go see Batman at the O2 Arena as he likes Batman quite a lot ... cake was yellow inside as well ....



Well what can I say about these apart from I was bored and this is what happens again I made the easter bonnet one a few years back and not one of my best as I was still learning then ... and have learned a lot more now with practise.... The one with all the M&M's this was made using a chocolate sponge cake and then melting chocolate on the top and round the sides and then placing KitKats around the base and then chucking on loads of M&M's this went down well with the family ...... Then there is the washing Machine as you know I won a Eco Bubble (review coming soon) last year and I tried lots of different ways of winning this did not win me the washing Machine but it tasted pretty good .....Halloween one of my favourite Hoildays of the year and I was asked by my mum to do a cake for a party she was having so I did once again this was a few years back pretty sure I can do way better now ... But the best thing on the cake was the Oreo cookie cakes that looked like mud with worms coming out they were scrummy will do them again this Halloween but as a bigger better cake so watch this space on that one ..... New York , New York ... well I did these to try and win a holiday to New York as it is a dream of mine to go there one day and I will just wait and see ..... did not win this time but maybe one day I will ....Ice cream these were a recipe I got from a cookbook of mine and they were fun to make with a light sponge on the bottom and butter cream on the top with flake they are perfect for any sweet tooth ... a little to sweet for me but they look fab ... 





Last Year I made a Christmas cake I don't like fruit so I made a sponge using my Rainbow cake recipe Idea  so I did layers of Butter Cream and Red and Green sponge and then used Royal Icing that I made for the first time as well and covered the whole cake ... and I the results were okay .... not bad for a first go ... I wonder what ill do this year if I get the time ...


Well you all know my Rainbow cake and here is the original and then another spin on the same thing using a few different colours .... if you need the recipe Click here ....

Here are a few cupcakes that I have made over time the first one on the left was done for my good Friend at Secret Garden please go and like her Facebook page here as her flowers are fab .... this was done for a wedding show to help showcase her flowers and if i do say so myself the cupcakes look great with the flowers ... Also check out the comp I have on my blog to win tickets to A show and Plymouth theatre royal  



Right so moving on we have the blue sprinkles just a experiment with things I had in the kitchen I like these they look fun .... and then I made pink and green ones this was just playing around with butter cream .... to be honest trying different styles ... and the Union Jack themed ones did these for my kids school Jubilee party they had I was very popular that day ... and then my Purple Passion ones these were blueberry cupcakes with purple frosting this was a play on flavours and it worked out pretty well ........ But would love to do a cupcake course to pick up a few more skills here to be honest ....


This cake was made for another 16th Birthday a few years back for another friend she wanted something pretty and fun ...




And this is where it started as my friend asked me if I could make her a wedding cake so I said I try after lots of failed attempts and many hours watching Ace of Cake and Cake boss I finally pulled it off ... but if I was asked again now I am sure I could do a lot better .... with all the other cakes that I have made ... Inside the cake I did a plain sponge with vanilla flavouring and made the sponge pink too !!!

Sunday 2 September 2012

Impulse Sweet Smile (Pear & Jasmine)

OK this is short sweet review of the new Impulse Body Spray Sweet Smile that has just come out ..... as I am a big Impulse fan I had to share my views on there newest fragrance  ........

So here is a video sharing my views on the fruity new fragrance .......





So yes I am now sold on Impulse Sweet smile will keep me smiling for a long time to come that is for sure ....

Tuesday 28 August 2012

Capture the Colour Competion










I  just found out about a great colour capture bloggers competition from by Travel Supermarket have launched - Capture the Colour  They want bloggers to blog about  photos representing showing  four colours red, yellow, blue, white  and green and the best blog that shows these colours will win  £2000 in travel vouchers .... sounds like a plan i saw this blog on Superluckys blog which is here

RED


Last year I went to Belvoir Castle and whist I was there i walked around there rose Gardens and I wwalked upon the most amazing Red Roses i have ever seen. I took this photo using my Nixon Coolpix Camera colour capture mode....





GREEN

Not far from my house is a park in Plymouth, keyham and I took the kids walking up there one day and decided to take pictures of the dockyard through the trees and i captured the green again with my coolpix camera to make a striking photo....






BLUE

On a rainy afternoon me and the kids made a local visit to our Aquarium in Plymouth and during our vist be saw sharks, starfish, clown fish but the best part had to be the Turtles in there watery Blue water breath-taking....

 

WHITE 

 This was taking last Winter when Plymouth got so cold that on my way to work I could not even read the Bus stop sign takes to all the white snowflakes of ice all over it  Brrrrrr!!!



YELLOW

Taken in my back garden my Daughter Amy enjoying a moment inside her bright sunshine yellow Wendy house  on a hot summers day






The last part of this comp is to tag five Friends who might want to blog about the comp too  so i am tagging


@MissEmmaDunn,

@V82CHRIS

@cherylp59

@LauraCYMFT

@janesgrapevine

 Ends today So fingers crossed for everyone who is entering 

 

 

 

 








Thursday 23 August 2012

Toyologist 2012 Lego Batman Batcave review







It’s that time of year ago Toyologist time I have been waiting for this since last year when we were unsuccessful ... so this year I could not wait to enter.... 
So me and my son Thomas who is 6 decided on reviewing his New lego Batman toy as he saved up all his pennies and did lots of chores around the house like keep his room tidy and take dishes to the kitchen.

so he could afford to buy this toy as it does not come Cheap at £69.99 but is it worth the money, well I’ll let you tell him in this little video below. 


 

Lego Super Heroes The Batcave (6860)



So as you can imagine after our trip back from Toys R us both the boys were excited (husband and son) so when we got home madness was unleashed upon the Bennett household as packing was ripped off and lots of Lego bags and instructions books were waiting for them.

But to everyone surprise the manuals were very straight forward with big illustrations to help you build each step as you go and lots of fun construction each step on the way.






After only a short time the Batcave was starting to take shape much to the kids delight, but needed some help from daddy on the more fiddly bits but otherwise found it easy to construct themselves so they did not get bored during the building stage.






Half an hour later they were finished and it was pretty impressive I think everyone’s favourite part is how Bruce Wayne changes into Batman like magic, in the set it also included Poison Ivy and Bane. So there is a lot of play value staging battles between the heroes and Super villains.





Like all Lego Play sets this set has set the kids imagination on fire and many hours of playtime to be had and represents great value for money
So if your children (or husband) are like mine and they love Lego and superheroes in equal proportions then this is a great buy for you.
You can get this from Toy R us by following this link here ... and at £69.99 it is worth every penny!


This set includes
  1. Batman
  2. Bruce Wayne
  3. Robin
  4. Poison Ivy
  5. Bane



As you can see we have bought a few extras to add to the Batcave




Wednesday 22 August 2012

Comps to keep kids entertained during the summer !!






I have been busy getting my kids to enter loads of colouring comps and drawing comps over teh holidays not only does this mean they are having there is a opportunity they could win some fab stuff too ...

We have done the flora bike comp which they did not win but had fun thinking and designing there dream bikes.......

My daughter Amy also entered a comp drawing  a dream forest which has not ended yet so if you want to enter here is the link here ....


But the best one of all that the kids have really loved is the Back to school ones and with the youngest starting school this year they have been loving these the best ....

During a wet windy day during the week we all sat down and found that Ebay on facebook were doing a fantastic back to school comp which involves two different Craft making projects.



One is The castle desk tidy and the other is the Pencil Case .... so what were we going to make ....
the kids loved the castle and having three they all wanted one so we got to work looking around for what we needed getting the cereal boxes were easy ...



 finding the kitchen rolls was not so easy as i have this but they are all full ...... so guess what mummy had to do yep unravel all the kitchen roll and fold it all up so they could make there desk tidys (Thanks Ebay lol )

So we got to work

After a hour we had managed to get alot done ... the Mirror stickers we bought at our local craft shop were proofing a excellent buy as the kids were loving them the most putting them on there castle ...
The Thomas who is 6 was helping the youngest Robert who is four putting his mirror stickers on so that all there castle would match ..



Many Many hours of fun later we had finished and i might say they look fantastic even if we are not lucky enough to win one of the prizes ebay is offering we all had fun and cant wait to try out the next project ....

Thanks Ebay we had lots of fun today making these From Amy Age 9 Thomas Age 6 and Robert Age 4......


 

Thursday 16 August 2012

The Secret Garden Flowers Giveaway Blood Brothers Tickets









Thats right I have teemed up with The Secret Garden Flowers who runs a fab florist shop on the Barbican inside the House That Jack Built to hold a comp we are giving away Two tickets to Plymouth Theatre Royal Friday 28th September to See Blood Brothers.

 Marti Pellow joins the cast of Blood Brothers for one week only. The Wet Wet Wet front-man and music legend will take on the role of Narrator in the critically acclaimed smash hit musical.

Blood Brothers opened in London’s West End at the Lyric Theatre in 1983 to critical acclaim. The musical written by Willy Russell won the Olivier Award for Best New Musical and Best Actress in its first year. After a successful first run, it did not appear for 5 years before being revived at the Albery Theatre in 1988 where it stayed for three years. It was then transferred to the Phoenix Theatre in 1991 where it remains today. Over two and a half decades, it has accumulated a host of Awards and has become one of the longest standing musicals on the West End. 




So the winner gets to take a friend to Plymouths own west end you seats are in Row B of the circle Entry is via the rafflecopter widget below, there is two compulsory entries and all of the others are optional extra entries. The competition will end on 21/09/2012. Terms and Conditions are below and I will contact the winner shortly after the closing date to get your details (ie address). So what are you waiting for? Good luck x

Also Please take note that we will be doing more comps in the future that includes  more prizes and non local comps too ...... so please join and stay tuned for more prizes and more competitions from The Secret Garden Flowers.

Please tweet daily and don't forget to join her Facebook page here .......


a Rafflecopter giveaway

Saturday 11 August 2012

Benefit Plymouth Boutique !!!




Thats right folks !! it is going to happen and very soon the Grand Opening is going to be on 28th September  and I cant wait .....

So what is it all about I hear you ask, well I was lucky enough to win a comp and go to London and meet Lisa Potter-Dixon who is the head make up artist and brow expert for Benefit.
I then got to visit one of there London Boutiques  and OMG they are pure heaven on a plate, I got my makeup done and my eyebrows as you can see from all the photos ... I was well impressed with my eyebrows they look stunning. 




I also was lucky enough to get some free make-up as well and bought some new foundation as well as i was very impressed with the finished look.

from right to left  ...
  1.  Coralista Ultra Plush / Sheer Coral Lip Gloss
  2.  They're Real! Mascara
  3. "That Gal" / Brightening Face Primer
  4.  Play Sticks Concealer Foundation And Powder
But you have noticed that my Just Real is a little bit different it's covered in orange swarovski Crystals and is very limited I think they is only 150 if I remember the girls telling me.



So after our make upper we went to a restaurant called Kettners in Soho where we I had such a great time with all the girls we played some games and chatted about loads ... Our meal was amazing I had the soup for starters which was Pea and Truffle which was out of this world ... My main was The slow cooked Pork and my dessert was the crème Brulee 

 This is my Room at the Raddison Blu it was super stylish with great a view of the London eye from my window and a few other landmarks too


After we all had ate we were taken to our Hotel which was right in the heart of the west end and will no doubt be a hotel i use again as it was right next to the theatre that is playing Matilda. This is wear we said our goodbyes and I had such a great time that i will remember my time in London with the benefit Girls for some time to come. But the best thing about it is that I did hear from then that we in Plymouth were getting our on Boutique store and i really cant wait as i am almost due to get my eyebrows re done soon.

Also they will be doing giveaways and you can get you make-up done its is going to be a good time to get yourself into Plymouth and visit debenhams i know i will be ... so if you see me come and say hello

This was my Yummy breakfast i had at the hotel the next morning it was super srummy



And here is the final photo of me and the other winners with Emily Thomson and Lisa Potter-Dixon after we had our makeup and brows done !!