Wordles

I came across the website Wordle today.  It is a site that generates "word clouds" from the text that you provide.  The clouds give greater prominence to words that appear more frequently in the source text.  You can tweek the clouds with different fonts, layouts, and colour schemes.  The images that you create with Wordle are yours to use however you like.  I spent a good half an hour procrastinating from planning during my impromptu snow day today on Wordle and experimented by posting the URL of blogs with an Atom or RSS feed as the source text! 

All of a sudden I feel very self conscious at an apparent overuse of the word, "bath."

Nobody told Nick at Mid-Century Midwest to never say never... 

 Need a personalised gift?  Create a Wordle and get it printed and framed or put to canvas.

Everybody loves a little typography...

Vintage Scarf Bundles.

I love it when gift ideas pop into your head!  The inspiration for these little bundles came from countless trips to the cosmetic shop, "Lush".  The products are almost delectable but the prices are not quite as appetising.  

£7.95 will buy you a tiny soap and single bath bomb.  

A single bath bomb can cost up to £7.  Most average £3/£4 a piece.  Surely you cant just buy someone one enjoyable bath as a gift! You would want to buy two or three pieces to fill out your wrapping.

Lush also sells a a selection of synthetic vintage knot wraps for £3.95.  The marketing gimmick behind these is that they are the ultimate in reusable wrapping.  You get to choose the up-cycled scarf you wish to wrap your gift in.  Once it has been given to the lucky recipient they can wear it or use again as wrapping.  I appreciate the idea each and every time I visit a store but have never yet committed to a purchase.

I figured out that a nice gift from Lush would set me back approximately £15 for two small bath bombs, a soap and a vintage knot wrap.   The penny dropped when I realised I could make up my own bundles, with soaps of my choice and real vintage scarves to suit the individuals I am making them for.  

Ebay came up trumps...

+ 25 essential oil bath bomb hearts:

1. 5 x Blueberry and lavender - chamomile, sandalwood, blueberry decorated with lavender heads.
2. 5 x Violet and vanilla - violet and vanilla essential oils decorated with blue mallow.
3. 5 x Rose and ylang - rose and ylang ylang essential oils, decorated with rose petals. 
4. 5 x Passion - rose, patchouli, pine and ginger essential oils decorated with rose petals.
5. 5 x Tangerine - tangerine, pine, ginger, black pepper and orange essential oils, decorated with marigold petals. 

I regularly read Miss Thrifty's blog.  Last week she posted about The Body Shop and a deal of £10 off any £20 spend.  I purchased a selection of large heart soaps in vanilla and cranberry for £2 a piece. After visiting the Body Shop website through Quidco I managed to receive 18% cashback for the purchase which covered the shipping cost.

My finished wrapped bundles contain a soap and a selection of 5 bath bombs and cost:

• £1.80 (on average for each scarf)
• £1.76 (5 essential oil bath bombs)
• £2 (1 large vanilla or cranberry Body Shop soap)

Total: £5.56

... Just call me Miss Thrifty II.

Libby's Pumpkin Pie

It's been a good week.  It involved, some quality time with my Grandmother, decorating for christmas with my family, the discovery of a new item at Tesco's and a lovely, lovely, lovely surprise. (More on that later)

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In regards to the new item at Tesco...

Libby's canned pumpkin isn't actually a new product at at all, the company itself was founded in 1869 in Chicago.  Libby's Famous Pumpkin Pie is a traditional holiday pie, the recipe of which has been on the labels of the can since the 1950's.  It's something i've eaten a lot in the Mid-West and it's delicious so i'm excited to be able to make it at home now too.  

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup of granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon of ground ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon of ground cloves
• 2 large eggs
• 1 can (15 oz) of Libby's 100% pure pumpkin.
• 1 can (12 fl oz) Nestle carnation evaporated milk
• 1 unbaked 9-inch (4 cup volume) deep-dish pie shell
• Whipped cream (optional) 

Method:

1) Mix, sugar, cinnamon, salt, ginger and cloves in a small bowl.  

2) Beat eggs in large bowl.  Stir in pumpkin and sugar-spice mixture.  Gradually stir in evaporated milk

3) Pour into pie shell.

4) Bake in preheated oven at 425F for 15 minutes.

5) Reduce temperature to 350F and bake for 40 to 50 minutes or until a knife inserted near the center comes out clean.

6) Cool of a wire rack for 2 hours. Serve immediately or refrigerate.  Top with whipped cream before serving.