my little Christmas box

OK, hand up, I admit it, this is the latest, wayest overduest of all posts, but man has it been a lazy month over here at the Peony house!
When this box came mid-December it truly was like Christmas. I opened it in front of a colleague in work and the reaction was just magical, what a top box to finish off 2016!

On the beauty side of things we had loads to be happy with: a new Courreges pefume (I loved the one I got earlier in the spring, I think it was May), a super cute lip balm and a lovely twin pack smoky eyes kits from My Little Beauty - always handy to have!

The lifestyle goodies had my heart melting: a gorgeous Christmas-themed candle(I got gingerbread) and a very stylish bracelet (Louyetu collaboration).

The real treats this month were the extras. First, a very yummy Kusmi Tea tin, and then a sample-sized salted caramel spread from Tiptree. The box itself was super cute, and they even put a little candy cane on the ribbon.
 It was perfect to get into the Chritmas spirit, I loved it! Once more the packaging is really impressive and just adds that nice touch to the whole parcel when you open it.

Deck the Halls

Although Christmas is now creeping up in the shops from September, for me it's quite important to wait until December to decorate the house and fully embrace the festive spirit.And this year it is the first time we can truly say we are spending Christmas "at home", so it has been a very special month spent decorating and planning for our guests to enjoy the festivities without the hassle of moving furniture around as a bonus!

We used to live next to a funky little pub where they used to sell fresh trees, and for as long as we lived in our old place we used to get one, but with age comes a more environmentally-friendly conscience and last year we took the plunge and went plastic. I can hear you say : "oh but it's not the smae thing" and that's quite true. I miss the smell, but not the dead needles. Instead now we have the luxury of having our very own shrubs, which I made several bouquets with. The main tree remains plastic. Best of both worlds, right?

Over the years our collection of trinkets has grown too, and it's always a nice moment when we open the decorations box and find things we had almost forgotten from the year before.
I love my little glittery deers and iceskating owls, but I will always have a serious penchant for my Maldivian seashell ornaments ;)
Do you have special ornaments from years ago too? 

Wishing you all a ***lovely Christmas***

My little Goodnight box

Aaaaaah....I have completely forgotten to tell you about November's Little Box, so here is a quick review - I only realised I ought to post when I received the December box yesterday!
Quite aptly, November's was called "Goodnight", and perfectly in tune with the grey weather, oh-so-short days and complete lack of interest in staying up late these days.

The lifestyle presents were very sweet again this month: a sleeping mask and a pretty adorable sidetable dish to put your trinkets in before going to sleep. I've actually been using it every night since the box arrived, although I have to say it's quite small, but that's OK as I tend to just wear stud-like earrings. I will be keeping my sleeping mask for when I am travelling next, as it's not the kind of thing I use at home.

Our beauty presents were a mixed bag for me this month. I was pleased with the Little Beauty make-up remover gel, it's quite neutral in terms of perfume and has a nice texture on the skin. It's not a product I normally use (I'm a wipe kinda gal), so once again it's a good discovery.
I am just not into Yves Rocher perfumes, and this is the third this year, so I'm not too happy with that, but hey, I can just throw it into a Christmas stocking, so I guess that's ok. But please, Little box, stop sending those, they're just not cool. And three this year? I bet other brands are lining up to be a part of the Little Box hype, aren't they? Give them a chance :)
The last thing was the best by far: Garnier Skin Active's 3 in 1. It's a great cleanser for everyday, and I love how it gently scrubs you at the same time. You can also use it as a mask, so it's a win-win product. Nice!
 Overall another nice box with a good few presents. What did you think of it? Do you feel the same about the old Yves Rocher perfumes, or did you enjoy them?

DIY advent calendar

Way before each and every single brand started having their own advent calendar, I started making those DIY advent calendars for friends and family. After a couple of years they had generated enough interest from colleagues that I started batch-adventing on a much bigger scale.
I have left this post a bit late in November, but do not despair, readers, it's not too late to put your own DIY advent calendar together for your loved ones!
Head out to the nearest high street near you this weekend, and keep your eyes open to spot all the lovely bargains, like the adorable mini Lindt chocolate bears pictured above ( I got 3 for £1). My best shops for gathering advent calendar supplies are supermarkets for chocolates and fancy cooking ingredients (for example this year one of my calendars has fancy little cake decorations), Boots and Superdrug for their mini-sized toiletries, and places like Tiger, which offer the wacky alternative options.

For me the best surprise is that you never really know what you're going to get, so I purposefully wrap a real mix of things like those mini toiletries or single-use face masks.
If you know the person you are wrapping for, even better, you can tailor their calendar and make their day virtually everyday :)

This year for example, I haven't really pushed the boat out, but I've been a bit cheeky and am trying to encourage someone hooked on pizza to try their hand at a bit of cooking. I hope they'll take the challenge and have a go at some of those easy-cook recipes. Another day they might try their luck at the lottery and buy their weight in pizza!

The worse part of the whole process is the wrapping. Man, do I hate it! Back in the day I used a single paper, but thought it ended up a bit dull, so the year after I used a different wrapping for nearly every day - what a crazy person I was! Last year I went for brown paper with simple red-and-white  twine, and guess what, what goes around comes around, and this year I am back on the simplest possible wrapping paper for every surprise.
After all, it's the thought that counts, and believe you me, whoever gets one of your DIY advent calendars will love you for putting all this together for them. So, with just about a week to go, don't hesitate, hit the high street or your local supermarket, wrap everything up, put in a decorated box or small basket, and hey presto, make someone happy for a whole 24 days in a row!

3 things to smile about #5

This time of year nothing makes me smile more than preparing for Christmas - well, it's only just around the corner isn't it? And before that, there's the advent calendars to think about, of course.
I've gone a bit mental with my advent calendar boxes business in the past three or four years, and although I am sure I'll come back to it, this year sadly, I'm not making any apart than for close family. The truth is, I've left it all a bit too late to get organised on that scale, and in any case it's good to leave things to rest sometimes. So one of the best things at the moment is browsing for my own advent calendar, and there is so much choice out there, it'll be hard to pick one.
 Carrying on with traditions, this year I will definitely be doing is homemade stocking fillers. So here are some of the easiest, lovely things that make me smile.

First up is the old classic - lavender bags. The is a really easy one to make, and a crowd pleaser, because you can always use a lavender bag to bung in a drawer or in the car for that extra fresh smell of Provence! I order my lavender online from the good people of Amazon, and any old bits of scraps will do for your fabric. That said, this series of fabric above is perfect as you can just cut up around one of the adverts.

Next up is great for little people, and although it's a bit fiddly it's a rewarding one. I make my life easier with this one by not turning any of the fabric over, I just shear it after sewing. You do need to get some small magnets, but again, my Amazonian friends are very resourceful on this one.

Finally, handwarmers. Who doesn't curse the cold when they go out on a cold morning? Those are so easy to make, and they're a cool, natural alternative to the ones sold in the shops for a fiver. You'll probably use them longer too. My one and only trick is to double-sew the edges if you're using rice like me. It just ensures your grains stay where they should, and don't end up in the bottom of your coat pockets!

Well, I hope I have inspired you to make a few stocking fillers with fabric scraps. I would love to hear more ideas from you. Do you make your own stocking fillers? Do you make and sell at Chrismas markets?

♥ Maldives ~ part 3

When you are staying in as nice a resort as Niyama it is so easy to forget about the rest of the world, and even easier I guess to forget that just a couple of nautical miles away from your paradisiac island, there are real, local, much more modest people. It was our privilege, while we stayed in Niyama, to go on a small excursion to the nearby capital island and we got to see their Maldives. The streets (well, paths, for the most part) were not so manicured as our little sandy paths, and their buildings were in complete contrast to the luxury rooms we were accustomed to, but all in all it was a breath of fresh air to go and see this amazing place.
The colours were vibrant, some walls on the oldest buildings were made of corals (yes!) and the local school just stole my heart. I wish everyone who was staying in our resort got to see this, but we were one of only two families who opted for the trip. What a shame to miss out on seeing this, and trying to understand what life is life, for real, for Maldivians. I hope you enjoy the experience, I know it was truly a great afternoon for us, especially thanks to our two lovely guides!