'Grandma's best recipes' book is the ideal gift for anyone who has just begun to love cooking, making and baking. It is full of easy recipes of everyone's staple favourites - from soup to Shepard's pie, crumble to casserole, and crab cakes to sponge cakes. This would also be a great gift for someone moving into a new home. Even if they're not a keen cook, the vintage floral layouts and polka dot pages are enough to make any girl coo.
You can buy this book from Marks and Spencers either instore or reserve online and collect for only £8.00.

Happy Valentine's Day everyone. I hope everyone received some lovely gifts and treats today. However, this exact date 1 year ago is also the day my boyfriend packed his bags, left his home town in the Midlands and moved to the North to be with me. He left his friends, family and his whole life behind to help me follow my dream career and I am eternally grateful. Therefore, as a special gift to him, I have taken inspiration from AMY ELIZABETH's Christmas Hamper sets (found on the January archive of my blog) and I gave it a bit of a twist. 

I have gathered up a range of gifts that represent his new life living in Yorkshire. Included in this 'kit' is;

Flat cap - typically worn by most men from Yorkshire
Aagrah curry sauce - a jar of sauce bought from the popular local curry house chain 
Yorkshire tea - brilliant for tea lovers living in hard water areas
Wensleydale cheese and Seabrook crisps - made in Yorkshire
Parkin biscuits - a modern twist on the traditional food 'Yorkshire parkin cake' 
Saltaire blonde ale - a brewery located just up the road and named after its town of origin
'I didn't know that about Yorkshire' book - fun and interesting facts not so commonly known about Yorkshire
'The great Leeds Pub Crawl' book - our local city and where we normally go on nights out. As an extra touch I passed this book around all my friends and got them to write notes in the margin.

Then, I packed it all up into one of my vintage suitcases and laid it out on the table, ready for him to find when he came home from work. As I already had the suitcase to hand, the total cost of the whole gift came to little under £30.

This could be easily adapted for new home gifts if one of your friends is re-locating. Or, if one of your friends is having a birthday and has recently moved far away from home, why not make a kit based around their home town? They will really appreciated the sentiment.

Rather handsome I'd say

Marks and Spencers

These Le Creuset Ramekins are so cute! An ideal gift for Valentine's Day. Available instore from Marks & Spencers, or you can buy online, reserve and collect instore.

Today I have come across another brilliant hand made tutorial by the amazing Amanda at Wit & Whistle. This time she has created a step by step guide on how to make a blackboard mug...

How to... Make A Blackboard Mug

Naturally when I discovered porcelain chalkboard paint I had to grab some. The inventor must be some kind of genius. Now I have the most amusing coffee mug ever, and you can have one too.

you’ll need:
a porcelain mug
masking tape
a soft bristle paint brush (a watercolor brush works well)
Pebeo Porcelaine 150 Chalkboard Paint, available at Amazon for around £5.45
(Don’t use regular chalkboard paint. This only works with porcelain paint.)

Wit & Whistle

how to:
1. Make sure your mug is clean and dry.

2. Use painter’s tape to mask off the part of the mug you don’t want to paint, or you could skip this step and paint the whole mug. Personally, I think it looks snazzy only partially painted.

3. Apply the paint with a soft bristle brush. If you mess up just wipe the paint away with a wet paper towel and try again. Please note that this particular porcelain paint says it’s not recommended for surfaces that come in contact with food - so don't paint close to the rim. (Although it’s water based and nontoxic, so I don’t understand what the problem would be.) As soon as you are done painting carefully remove the tape. If you remove it before the paint dries, the tape will be less likely to peel up the edges of the paint.

Wit & Whistle

4. Let the paint dry for 24 hours. Then, bake your mug according to the paint package instructions. After baking turn off the oven and leave the mug inside until it has gradually cooled to room temperature. After you bake it the paint should be dishwasher and microwave safe.

5. I recommend chalking up your mug before you fill it with a hot beverage. (I learned this the hard way!)

 *All instructions and images are taken from Amanda's Wit & Whistle blog, 

but some words and sources have been edited by myself.

...

However, there are other less time consuming options. You can buy a similar mug online at play.com for £8.99 with free delivery.

Or you can buy one instore at certain larger hmv stores for only £6.