Appleyard Flowers

I was approached by Appleyard Flowers a couple of weeks ago to do a review for them, it all fitted in nicely as I could get the flowers delivered whilst I was staying at moms. 

We unexpectedly ended up out all day so the flowers were left with a neighbour, I retrieved the box and mom (who had no idea what was going on!) did the unveiling...

The bouquet was beautiful, very vibrant which was perfect since the weather had been do grey and miserable, nothing quite like fresh flowers to brighten a room.

Ebi-kun got to work and arranged the flowers, he is bit of an old hand at this now, it's a great Montessori activity and one he absolutely loved doing as a toddler. If you have a little one, let them try it, either with store bought flowers or freshly cut ones from the garden. Start them off with just a few flowers and a small vase then they can build up to bigger versions. 

The kids like to smell and feel the different types of flowers and it's a great starting point for so many topics!

I was impressed with the whole thing, the packaging was well designed and the flowers are beautiful my only slight criticism was the message card was packed in the flowers wrapping, I almost missed it and it was damp because it had been amongst the flowers but apart from that I give Appleyard Flowers the thumbs up!

If you want to send flowers they even have next day flower delivery and because you are one of my lovely readers you can use the code BLOG33 to get a 33% discount off their luxury bouquets*.

They only deliver in the UK, but if you are like me and sometimes need to send a "rush present" this is great!

*excludes the flowers by post range

Stolen from an Italian restaurant (not a recipe!)

We sometimes go to a lovely Italian restaurant and there are two things that I really love, tiny tweaks that make a big difference. They are so simple that anyone can do them! The first is that on each table they have a little vase or glass with a single flower or a small cutting taken from their garden. Now, I am not the worlds best gardener but even I can manage this! 

With it being small it doesn't over power the table but it does bring it up a notch or two and surprisingly, it starts many conversations too. It is also a great little job for the kids to do, you can show them the first couple of times how to do it, then let them pick one or two sprigs to make the table decoration.

The second thing is also equally easy. You need a net and some fresh herbs - from the garden if you have them. Put a small bunch in the net bag, tie the top and pop it in your hand washing basin/sink. When the water hits the bag it releases a lovely smell, leaves the room smelling fresh and no need for nasty chemicals.

You do need to remember to change it every couple of days though and to move it out of the way when brushing your teeth. Last year I planted lemon balm and it went crazy, it is popping up all over the place this year - great way to dispose of un-wanted over enthusiastic herbs!

One of my mentors, Denise from Lucky Bitch often talks about upgrading, I love implementing these tiny upgrades and they don't even cost anything! Do you have any little upgrades that you can share?

flowers

Finally BabyEbi has got the hang of putting the flowers the right way in the vase. I have to try and keep an eye on him though because he likes to get the vase to smell the flowers, which usually results in water everywhere - and then tears because he has spilt the water. He is getting better though, he recently started to climb on the chair and just sniff from a distance.