Come Round Gallo Moscato Party

well I hosted a Come round part a few days ago and had great fun doing so had some great things included in my party pack .....and had great fun unpacking this is the second party I have hosted and once again went without too much of a hitch over then a few guest could not make it because of the weather so that is why we rescheduled .....

This was all in my party pack !!!

As you can see from the photo we had some great stuff sent .... we even had a recipe for cupcakes and you all know how much I love to bake and so I had to enter there competition ... with one great prize to win so wish me luck on that one .... the prize I could win is A honey-themed afternoon with tea and cake (nom nom) for me and a friend ... a spa facial and a massage (yes please) and £200 spending money and a overnight stay at Londons Athenaeum hotel (OMG ) so you can see why i had to enter.... 

And here is my entry well here are a few photos i took off my cupcakes ...

So if you want to have a go at making these yummy cupcakes then look at image below with all the details. 

And cant help to say the wine was amazing you can really taste all the fruits that make up the wine is a really good dessert wine and they even have a red version which is summer fruits and that is really good as well ...

Also if you want to check out Gallo or come rounds facebook pages please click on the links 

Here is the recipe 

This is my mum enjoying her cupcake 

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 ....

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. 

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

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 !!!

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 !!!