'The Scenter' haul pt 3

Ready for another install meant of hauls from 'the scenter?' After the success, and unsuccessful items I previously picked up from them I thought I would try out a few of there own brand items.

In my first group of purchases I picked up some dead sea bath salts and scent oils.

I was very disappointed with there dead sea bath salts as I picked up three in Cherry, Orange Spice and Peach.

Apart from tinting the bath water a slight colour they did not have any scent effect on the bath or seem to create any difference to my skin. The cherry one smells like cola cubes in its bag which perhaps made it the most disappointing as had such high hopes. No mater if I used the whole bag, half bag or quarter bag it made no difference. I don't recommend these at all.

These didcost £1.64 and were on a buy three get one free deal with 85g ofsalt per item.

I have to say though I am very impressed by there scent oils. The oil is a slow scentful burn which would hint a them not being full of a mixer with a quick burn time. I find with super cheap oils they tend to burn very quick. These however are very budget friendly and worth every penny.

I picked up the cherry, sea breeze, apple and dewberry scent. Each of these smell true to expected. I have liked these so much I landed up putting in another order for 8 different scents.

Out of all the things I have purchased from 'the scenter' these oils are my number one recommendation from them.

These cost £1.69 each and avalible on a buy three get one free deal.

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Ikea Wishlist - Bedroom Edition

Ikea is coming to Aberdeen and I could not be more excited if I tried. The best bit of all is that my partner is going to be working there so I can not wait to get the flat decked out in some Ikea (with a discount) pieces and create that dream home Iv been wanting. So I have put together a little wishlist of my must get pieces for around the home.

For my bedroom I would love to get my paws on the below items. The furniture's all over the place with style and colour that I would love everything to go black to match my vanity and large standing mirror. The room has a dark colour scheme anyway (just how I like it) with beautiful deep green and purple walls.

Under Bed Storage - £25 | Mirror - £25 | Twin Hook - £4 | Lamp - £11

I just know that this mirror opposite the window would help brighten up the room. With the same sort of design as the rest of the furniture already in the room it would be the perfect addition. I plan on hanging up my hair dyer and straighteners so that's why I have chosen these hooks. An adjustable light would make putting on my make-up when its dark outside so much easier and you can never get enough storage (especially when it can be hidden).

 

Rug - £30 | Shoe Rack - £5 | Shelf - £55 | Draw Insert - £17 | Baskets - £5

Previously when I had driven to the Glasgow Ikea we came across boxes that we now store our clothes in. This self unit is actually made to hold these boxes so it would be perfect for cleaning up the space in our wardrobe. The drawer inserts Id love to get two, my plans are to put my make-up inside this using the below inserts. A shoe rack I feel is rather self explanatory and having so many pairs of shoes it would make life so much easier to have them organised. With the baskets I have the idea of placing my yoga mat inside it to keep them cleaner - and hopefully stop the cats clawing them.

Flat Trays - £9 | Lidded Box - £10 | Large Box - £15

Do you like to shop in Ikea? What's your favourite item?

Let me know down below or better yet why don't you tweet me at @Umber_Phoenix 

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'The Scenter' haul pt 2

Not long ago I posted my first review of 'The Scenter' and wrote near the end I was going to purchase more. Well today I am updating you with the new purchases. 

Throwing caution to the wind I decided to pick up some incense cones with names as opposed to named after what they smell like. The only issue with ordering from 'the scenter' is the lack of scent descriptions. It is a complete stab in the dark with the scents and unfortunately this gamble to an extent, to my personal tastes, did not pay off.

The scents I picked up from Stamford were: Unicorn's Grace, Vampire's Kiss, Moon Angel and Fairy's Mist. Each box held 12 cones.

Its really hard to find online any descriptions of the actual scents and you may know due to my Yankee Candle haul I'm just terrible for describing them. My favourite scents from these four would be Moon Angel and Fairy's mist. I would describe these more on the sweeter feminine side. Softy scented and not over powering, but with a lovely lingering smell which seems to develop over time. Vampire's Kiss is quite perfumed with a slight feminine edge. Unicorns Grace however is very strongly scented and reminds me, being completely honest, as toilet cleaner (though my partner described it much worse); not something I want wafting through my living room.

Each of these cost £1.49 with theoption of buy 3 get one free.

Trying out another brand, this time GR, I picked up some more cones. The scents I went with were Rose, Night Queen and Royal Vanilla with each box holding 10 cones.

I'm not a huge fan of these scents. Royal Vanilla did not come across very 'vanilla' but on the upside Rose is plessent. These did not smell as strong and the scent didn't linger the like Stamford's incense cones.

At £1.44 for a box (buy two buy one free) they are not as great value for money as the previously mentioned if you are to compare them side by side. However with the deal it does work out cheaper but I would go with Stanford's.

My last item to pick up were a mixed scent of mini incense sticks. Each stick is a dinky 10cm which makes it a perfect little scent pick me up. I chose the 'mixed' option and landed up with the scents Nag Champa, Musk, Patchouli and Cinnamon.

Unfortunately there is no brand labelling on these as they came in small plastic bags. Each scent is individuality wrapped in a set of 8. I took a complete gamble on the scents but landed up with some pleasing options. Cinnamon is perfect for those wintry scents and Nig Champa is a classic which I have never purchased before so it was great to try it. Musk to me is not to my taste but my partner doesn't mind it as its more of a 'man' scent.

This mixed set cost me £1.59, and with 32 incense this is incredible value. There is so many smells to choose from which is fantastic and I can see myself picking up more of these.

What is your favourite scent to fill your home? Let me know down below or better yet send me a tweet and lets get chatting.

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Arc Planner & Give Away

I'm a huge lover of the Arc Notebook from Staples. So today I just wanted to write a little bit about what I have done with the inside of mine.  Its so easy to buy a planner then forget about it, which is why I love this one. It's so easy to sort out and personalise it to just how I want it. Meaning ill want to use it rather than a 'one and done' job.

In my last post i wrote about wanting to buy a few things for it such as extension disks. I landed up going with the largest ones which are 38mm and can hold up to 150 sheets. These are far larger than the ones which come with the notebook at 19mm.  They look really chunky but I know when i start to add further pages ill be thankful I have the room to expand. 

I had also purchased the blank pages which honestly have completely changed how I look at my planner. These blank pages are thick enough to safely print on at 100gsm. I love designing my own pages for this book. Some of the ones I have made are the one above for helping me stay on track with saving money. I really love the workout scheduale one I designed. I have it in a few colours in my planner to swap out my routen every few weeks.

Other purchases for my planner were picking up the Diary, Zip Pockets, Page Flags and more plastic dividers. I love the plastic dividers and have colour coded the whole planner so finding what I need could not be easier. These little page flags are also really handy, not just for this planner, but to have when I'm sorting out paperwork.

The only thing i would change is not purchasing the diary insert, since buying the blank pages I'm able to make up my own weekly and monthly overviews. I find the weekly views inconvenient as there are no dates on them. There's nothing wrong with them quality wise, just doesn't work for what I want to do with my planner. My next goals for this planner is to upgrade the cover to the purple leather version plus get my hands on more blank pages (I got rather carried away with printing out).

However don't take my word for all this, I'm offering the change to get your hands on your very own black a5 starter Arc planner which has eveything you see in the image below.

Its a brand new day and with it brought a brand new year. So I would like to give you all the chance to win your own Arc notebook which has really changed the way I organise my blogging and life.  To take part just follow the instructions below.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

This is open to UK only at this time and there is no cash alternative. You must enter with all the mandatory votes or you will be disqualified. Winner will be notified within 24 hours of comp ending.

What add-ons would you give to your planner?
 

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PS: Staples did offer discount on the give away items. I have purchased everything else with my own money at full price. I belive in giving an honest review on items on this blog and money will never sway my opinion.

 
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Arc customisable notebook

 One thing I always struggle with is organising my life. I write to do's about my to-do lists and have random notes jotted down everywhere. I guess you could say I have a bit of organised chaos. It often gets to the point I just ignore what's piling up hoping it will go away. However not anymore.

For the longest time I have wanted a filofax. I remember being in collage going to WHSmiths for some new pens and having a look at them. With there sleek leather exteriors and the options to customise what's inside; I couldn't afford it then and I cant afford them now. After all it is a lot of money for a fancy notebook. So when popping into staples a few days ago to actually see if a 'to-do' notebook existed I came across there Arc range. A budget friendly planner but still in same idea as a filofax.

After weighing up my options I landed up walking out with the basic a5 notebook, to-do pages and side index dividers. So hopefully now I will have no excuse not to keep myself in line. The price was above what you would pay for a notebook, but not extortionate.

The basic package is an a5 notebook costing £6.49 and is the cheapest available. With a plastic cover complete with thick 60 pages of lined paper I honestly would pay this again for another notebook if I needed too. Each page is double sided, and with being 100gsm paper ink is not visible from the other side. There is an option of a leather cover and lots of colours to choose from too. 

The 'to-do' pages come in a pack of 50 sheets for £2.80, also thick paper. This is fantastic value as the paper, verging on card, really does feel like its worth more than that. Each page comes with a handy tick box so its clear what still has to be done. 

I wasn't sure whether or not to get the side index dividers, but I'm glad I did. At £2.80 it was not a huge loss if I didn't like them. I'm finding that I'm using them more than I thought I would, and my folder is already becoming a neatly divided book with organised thoughts. These come with 5 in a pack, with random colours. You are able to get tabs that are seen from the top for the same cost.

Images From Staples.co.uk

The book is a little different from what I was used too. Each page is able to be slipped in and out of the book around plastic disks that make up spine. Unlike a ring binder, the spine in this is solid. This means that any poly pockets will not be able to fit, and if you already have a system in place everything will need to be converted. The pages can be a little tricky to add into the binder, with it being far easier to add in a small amount at a time. Once they're in however the pages glide nicely and stay secure.

I'm already noticing that with these two add-ons, that I will have to purchase the extender rings. The cover bows very slightly already with the standard disks. I wish there was something on the shelf at the time to help with putting together a perfect planner. Information like which size of disks are needed to hold so many pages would have been welcome information on how the planners work, plus saved a trip back to there shop. This has not put me off however and I look forward to adding further things into the binder such as a diary so everything will be in one place.

Some other options Include Diary, Zip Pockets and page flags.

Over all my note book cost £12.09 and its a price I would very happily pay again. I plan on very soon enlarging it to hold everything I need to keep my life, blogging, modelling and mum stuff together. It is avalible on there website or instore Staples.

How do you organise your thoughts? Let me know down below what you use.

Plus don't forget to subscribe so you wont miss out on any further organisation posts.

PS You can find out what I did next with my planner by clicking here. 

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The Scenter Haul: Incense cones & Simmering Granules

 

 I love my candles and scents for the house. When I was tidying up my candle box I came across my little incense cone holder so went on a hunt for more cones for it. A quick eBay search threw up the company 'The Scenter' and from there this mini haul was born.

I got my paws on a few different scents to try, and with it being on a buy 3 get one free deal I knew I just has to get my moneys worth. So I picked up 8 different scents in 2 different formats: Incense cones and Simmering Granules.

The package came with the boxes flat and cones in there own bag. I was actually surprised when I saw this as I thought they would be in there boxes, but can completely understand why they were not as the boxes would have been crushed. Its nice however that they did give you the box with them, they can easily be wrapped as a nice gift to fragrance lovers then. My favourite thing about the cones are how they come with a little metal disk for burning them on. Saves on having to buy your own stand for them so they don't mark any wood or leave there ash everywhere. 

The incense cones are really fragrant and really do fill up the home with there wisps of perfumed smoke. Cones and sticks in general are not to everybody's taste and I always feel they are looked down on compared to the usual candle or room spray. However I find actually watching them burn is quite therapeutic as the smoke dances about. The smell lingers in the home unlike candles which I find vanishes quickly.

One thing im disappointed about is the Simmering Granules. Perhaps its my burner but there is just no fragrance from them when they burn. They smell heavenly when sniffed in there little bag but outside that there is nothing – quite disappointed as the black cherry smelt so good! All scents seem to be this way. I don't think I will be re-buying these kind.

All in all I'm actually away to make another purchase from them to try out the other smells.

~*The cones cost me £1.49which is a real bargain for 15 of them*~

~*The Simmering Granules are £1.34 for 85g *~

Much Love,

Umber x

PS: Love candles? You will just love this Yankee Candle Haul.

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5 useful Flexi Basket Tips

These are the perfect ideas that makes life so much easier when you are constantly on the go and hate having things unorganised. These small little baskets make the world of difference as going around organising my home. So I want to share my top 5 uses for these baskets. 

Under the Sink

My favourite use of them has to be for under the sink where usually everything is just thrown. No longer do I have to now hunt for a bottle which is probably hiding at the back. Instead it is all room sorted so I can grab the stuff I need in no time at all - a handy thing for a messy 17month old.

Food Organiser

Dont just stop at clearing up under the sink, organise your food cupboards too. I'm quite short and often cant see into the back of the cupboards. But having tins organised by colour means I can grab and pull down what and I need straight away. You could even do this in your fridge.

Organise the 'man drawer'

There's always one drawer in the kitchen that random things get thrown into. Battery, spare keys, old birthday cards, screws, light bulbs to name a few in mine. These useful things that I need on hand encase of a emergency. Imagine being stuck on a children's channel once they have gone to bed as the remote has died? Not in my house. Everything has its place and easy to reach for. No more smashed bulbs or hunting for the battery who find there way to the bottom. 

Holding Bath Toys

Little ones get spoiled with so many toys its hard to keep track of them. Buying specially made bath nets are £10 and up so I came up with the idea to put her bath toys are into a flexi basket. I have punched little holes into the bottom of which makes draining the water out a doddle. This also works perfectly for bathroom products too.

Children Clean Up Kit

The great thing about flexi baskets is that they are really easy to be held in one hand. Meaning you can use the other to wrestle your little monkeys into submission. I keep my daughters easy clean up items inside one. Life could not get any simpler - and neater.

I bought mine from Amazon and they are worth so much more than what you pay. The possibilities really are endless.

What would you do with yours? Let me know down below and make sure to subscribe so you dont miss any time saving tips.

Much Love,

Umber x

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Yankee Candle Haul

I love a good candle, especially one that smells strong and lasts a long time. So far in my search the closest I have came to happiness is with Yankee candles. So seeing there Christmas range out in asda I just has to pick up a few. At £1 each you really cant go wrong.

Inone of my posts i had shown what I like to use to burn my candles, and I also use it for burning these wax votive candles. I take a butter knife to scratch out the metal disk at the bottom of the candle and then pull out the wick. I think this helps them last much longer and also means you can pop the melted disks under radiators to fragrance the house on chilli days - just remember to put them on a plate.

So the fragrances I got this time were three of the Christmas scents and also a three pack of basic home scents. I'm useless for actually describing scents but when I goggled the festive ones for an 'official' scent description I found it hard to find them. Even to find them for sale was a little difficult as the prices were much more expensive than what I paid.

The festive ones 'Christmas Baking' I can smell a hint of cinnamon as for the rest merry berry is fruity with a cherry note and savour the season I would say is also a baking smell but not as spicy. I told you I wasn't very good, so next time your in any shop that sells them please do give them a sniff, they really are divine. 

As for the other three candles they are really easy to describe as they are part of the core collection and really smell like how you expect with there names: Raspberry Sunday, Sweet Vanilla and Apple Crumble.
 

There is just so much selection from this brand it really is amazing. Amazon does so many diffrent scents all year round its hard to make sure my pennys stay in my pocket.

How do you like to scent your home? Or do you have a favourite candle brand?

Much Love,

Umber x

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Christmas Cat Haul

Our furry friends need love this time of year, so armed with £20 of gift vouchers I headed to pets at home to pick up some festive treats to brighten up there Christmas day. Children have them, Adults have them, so why not our loveable companions? 

I picked up a perfect little calendar to share between my two cats. I did debate getting two but I'm sure they care share, after all Cerberus isn't a big treat eater unless its fresh fish from the supermarket fish counter - there both a bit spoiled. I didnt want to go over the top with treats for them as little piggy Ortherus trys to eat left over pizza, and Cerbie just isn't a food fan.

 With 24 catnip filled yummys I'm sure that they will enjoy being 'high' on the festivities. This was £2 from Pets at home. 

Thinking onto prezzie for the little darlings I decided to try out the Kong Re-fillable Catnip mouse. Cerberus is not one for toys, he prefers to steal the rubber ducks out the bat toy box and sit in the corner with them. However I do know that he likes feathers as he previously destroyed a few toys that had them for tails. So if he doesn't take to it then this gift can go to Ortherus, because he adores teddy's.  I really like the idea of having the catnip in the middle, I do like to watch my cat toys every so often -perks of toddler owning- so catnip in some of the other toys is now useless. But knowing I can pop some more into the toys  a real plus for me.

This cost me £4. 

In the same section I came across this little Rattle Ball Teaser Cat toy for £2.50. I have a love hate relationship with these sorts of toys. Having previously bought one which had three metallic fish, my views on these toys are quite low. I was forever untangling the fish so the cats could play, so it landed up in the bin. But with Ortherus still semi-kitten I thought I would give it another go. He loves anything that moves, and will happily chase a bit of string my daughter drags on the floor, so I'm looking forward to seeing his reaction to this toy. With the bright feathers at the bottom I have a feeling Mr Cerberus will also be joining in on the play time.

 You can find it here.

With £8.50 down and £11.50 to go I was starting to struggle with ideas. The flats already littered with cat toys which my little girl prefers, and the cats go for her toys. So I wasn't sure what to get. After all what does a cat really need? The answer: Catnip bubbles.

Yes you read that right, catnip bubbles. I just could not wait to get home and try it out on them. I'm sure they didn't mind an early Xmas prezzie.
 

I was a little disappointed at the lack of bubbles it made if I'm honest. The solution was watery but when it did work they both were popping them with there nose and little Ortherus swiping at them in the air. They seemed thrilled by the bubbles, which made it a good product, even if it was a bit disappointing for humans. It wasn't overly expensive at £2.99 so at the end of the day not a huge loss, and defiantly more fun than the usual sprinkling of leaves that then need hovered. They landed on the floor waiting to be popped by the cats and didn't leave any visible residue. The product on there website can be found here.

Whilst there my heart did melt on a small adorable white Russian hamster who was up for adoption under the name of 'Barry White', had I not had my toddler with me I wouldn't have thought twice about taking him home with me. I'm not very good when it comes to animals needing adopted. If you read my last pet post about my cats you will know both Cerberus and Ortherus are adopted too. I hate seeing animals in there waiting for the second chance at a forever home. It wouldn't have been fair on him to take him home and be swiped at by the cats though. The fish are a target as it is, with Ortherus already have made 2 attempts and one successful of swimming with them. At least out of that situation the fish did get a reward of a much larger tank with a solid wooden lid. 

So turning my back to the ideas of getting more for the cats, who will probably have just as much fun chasing around the wrapping paper, I thought I would spend the  remaining money on my fish. I landed up walking away with three white granite caves which where on a 3 for 2 deal at £6 each. My weather loaches are enjoying them and using small stones I previously had, they have a lovely big area in there tank to hide away.

What will you be getting your pets for Christmas? or have you already bought it?

Let me know down below.

Much Love,

Umber x

 

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Last Minute Halloween T-Shirt

I love flexing my art skills (or lack off should I say) especially at this time of year. 

Plus if I can do it on a very limited budget even better!

With Halloween just a day away I bet there is still many of you sitting there panicking not sure what to wear. Have no fear this hallow's eve and follow this tutorial for making a very simple DIY Halloween top. If your feeling brave why not spook out a pair of black legging/jeans too? 

But don't just use this for Halloween but keep it for all year around and modify your life and make bright and personalised tops. I might just hear that little tinkle of Xmas calling my name for a Christmas print t-shirt....

For this mini project you will need:

• An item of clothing
• Craft Knife of scissors
• Your Pattern on card (either printed or drawn)
• Acrylic Paint
• Sponge
• Iron 
• Masking Tape (optional) 
• Tailors chalk/fabric marker (optional)

For the top I made I did a google search for 'outline ribcage' and came out with a pattern I liked. If you are feeling particularly arty then draw your pattern onto a bit of card, so you can skip this first bit. 

Freeware editing software Gimp

I took the pattern onto my editing software and played about with the proportions of the pattern. I knew that my picture have to be stretched in length to fit the t-shirt of my 6ft6 wearer. So tweak the proportions until you are happy with what you would like. Then time to hit print.

It might take a few tries untill you land up with the perfect size pattern for your garment. This is when marking the fabric really helps to help you gauge what size you need. For the length of the t-shirt my pattern have to cover at least one and a half bits of A4. A mark is also very useful for making sure when you wear your clothing that the pattern will land up in the right place.

Tip - One thing to bare in mind is that if you have a symmetrical pattern that will take quite a bit of cutting out, only do a half pattern then flip the template over for the other side. 

Now for the more boring of bits - cutting out. This is where you will be glad for a larger pattern you have only printed half of it. I used a craft knife to make sure I got into the more fiddly bits. Not much I can say here other than the sharper the knife the better, less cutting and 'going over' if you have thick card. For reference I printed on 200gsm - it was a bit weak when wet with paint but it did hold up well. I wouldn't go for anything much thinner. 

Time to get the acrylic paints out that's stored in a cupboard somewhere and a sponge from the kitchen; sorry dishes. Stick that pattern down on your garment with a bit of masking tape to hold it in place if its a big pattern. If its something really small and simple just hold with your fingers and delicately sponge the design, this worked well on my previous paint art ankh leggings.

Now take a bit of paint on your sponge and dab away.

Make sure the paint is dry on your pattern before you flip it over like in the image above. Keep going all the way aligning or moving your pattern until you are happy with how its turned out. I chose to make it look a bit more 'grungy' because it is Halloween after all. If I had thought in advance I would 

 have bought some glow in the dark fabric paint; but there's always next time.

Once you are sure its completely dry, time to go over the image with a hot iron. Put a tea towel or something in between the paint and the iron just to make sure it doesn't burn. The heating of the iron will help the paint set into the fabric and help ensure the pattern will be there for a good few washes.

Now you can bask in the glory of your newly made specially designed t-shirt.

There is so much things that can be done from lots of colour layering, glitter, glow in the dark, spray bottles etc the only limit is you. Are you going to give this idea a go? Id love to see how you get on if you do.

Its also a great little idea for doing with any little ones, and if my toddler was a bit older I would defiantly be doing the painting bit with her.  Did I mention its also a very, very cheap project with most of the things used in this already found around the house. 

What are you doing for Halloween? Tag me on Instagram (@umber_phoenix) or leave a comment down below.

Much Love,

Umber x