Lego Creator Holiday Bakery Set #10216

Purchase your franchise here!

I was going to review the Lego Creator Holiday Bakery Set for you today, but I decided to let an alter-ego of mine tell you all about this gorgeous Lego set.

I hope you enjoy his story  review ...

Reviewing the Lego Creator Holiday Bakery

"Have you heard of the Lego Creator Holiday Bakery? Apparently there are lots of different ones around, but the Lego Creator Holiday Bakery that I know is located just outside of Lego City and is very popular at the holidays because a lot of Lego City residents buy their Christmas trees just outside and pop into the Lego Creator Holiday Bakery to purchase some of their delicious cupcakes.

My name is Leo G Brick and I'm actually what is known as a Lego Minifigure, I don't think I'm that different to you, the reader though in that I absolutely love bakeries. I love the smell of fresh bread and the taste of cakes, biscuits, muffins, croissants - just about anything you can find in a bakery! I was so excited when I heard that the Lego Creator Holiday Bakery was coming to the outskirts of Lego City, I must admit I ate far too many baked goods on the opening day!

The Lego Creator Holiday Bakery is actually available as a franchise that is quite affordable for anyone to purchase, click the link to find out more -

Get the Lego Creator Holiday Bakery to Your Lego City!

Now it’s called the Holiday Bakery because the original one opened before Christmas and it had Christmas decorations up ... the baker (pictured below) ‘forgot’ to take the decorations down and so the name stuck! In our Lego City we all go there when we’re getting our Christmas trees which further perpetuates the name, but the cupcakes, croissants and baguettes taste good all the time.

I love to visit on birthdays, anniversaries, Valentine’s Day and any other special occasion when I can ‘pretend’ I need to eat some delicious food. After all we don’t want the Baker to have to close because his trade only visits once a year!

Winter is great there though because there is a pond that ices over so you can ice skate which means you burn off calories that can ‘allow’ you to eat more cake – that’s my story and I’m sticking to it!"

PIN ME!

LEGO Creator Holiday Bakery 10216 

Set Details

The Lego Creator Holiday Bakery set comes with 7 1/2 minifigures – which sounds strange!

Basically the minifigures are as follows -

• Baker 
• Horse Carriage Driver 
• Christmas Tree Seller 
• 2 females 
• 2 children 
• 1 lower half of a body stuck in snow!

As well as these minifigures this Lego set also contains a horse and a snow owl.

According to the official product description the set -

• Features LEGO Power Functions lightup brick which lights the interior of the bakery when you push it! 
• Includes lots of fun winter accessories like a dark blue minifigure hood with new fur print! 
• Prepare holiday treats and ring up sales at the cash register! 
• Skate on the frozen pond made of 8×8 transparent blue plates! 
• Interesting elements include a camera, tan baguettes, croissants, green apple, 8×8 transparent blue plates, medium blue tiles and even a new caramel color for several brick and arch elements outside the bakery! 
• Features an evergreen tree for decorating, tree sellers stand and even a horsedrawn cart! 
• Bakery measures 7 (18 cm) wide! 
• Completed model (depending on space allocated between the individual parts) measures 16 (40 cm) wide, 12 (30 cm) deep and 7 (18 cm) high!

What Do You Think of This Lego Creator Set?

I hope you enjoyed Leo's review of this fun Lego set, if you already have the Creator Holiday Bakery set then you might be happy to know that there are a range of Lego Creator houses available too.

Not sure if this set is the one for you?  Well then why not check out some of the other Lego reviews here on Review This (they aren't reviewed by Leo, but by human reviewers including a couple by me!) -

Reviewing 2004 Lego X Pods
A fun Lego on the go toy - the 2004 Lego X Pod range - perfect for any Lego loving child ... and for any parent who has to wait with them anywhere!

Reviewing Lego Off Road Power Set - Lego #5893
I love Lego's Creator range of sets and this Off Road Power set is no exception.   3 Fun vehicles to make and play with, what more can you ask for.

Reviewing a Set of Basic Classic Legos
A Review of the Lego Classic Creative Supplement Set.   This set is called classic for a reason, they will always be welcomed in anyone's Lego collection.

Lego Big Bang Theory Reviewed
A set for grown ups and kids to enjoy, the Lego Big Bang Theory set is a fun piece to build and display

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Reviewing Lego Off Road Power Set - Lego #5893

Buy the Lego Off Roader Set here!

The Lego 5893 set is part of the Creator 3 in 1 series and is known as the Off Road Power set. Not only can you build an awesome Off Roader with this Lego Creator set, but when you're bored with it you can transform it into something else!

The Lego 5893 set comes with instructions for three different Lego builds which is why the Creator 3 in 1 series is so popular. As a mom I feel like I'm getting value for money because once they've exhausted all of the play with one model they can rebuild it into another - how good is that?

Let's take a look at the three different things that this Lego Creator 5893 set can be transformed into (and let's not forget they can always create their own models without instructions).

Lego Off Roader

The First Build from Lego #5893

As you can see from the picture this completed model is of an off road vehicle with a trailer and quad bike. This offers a lot of imaginative play once the build is completed.

The build itself is not going to be over too quickly either as this set does have over 1,000 pieces that need to be put together.

So this particular first model has three components to it – the off roader, the trailer and the quad bike so let’s have a look at them all.

When the off roader is completed it measures 10 inches or 25 cm long and looks pretty cool as you can see in the image above. You can open the doors of the truck, put down the tailgate as well as opening up the hood. When you do open the hood you may feel a little disappointed to see you only have a V6 engine (a V8 would've been much better in my opinion), however when you look at what great features the 4×4 has you can forgive the engine size. The vehicle has working steering, suspension and (the creme de la creme) a self-winding winch!

Basically this 4×4 off roader is a really cool vehicle to build as well as being a lot of fun to play with just by itself, but you don’t have it just by itself instead it comes with both a trailer and a quad bike.  A little note if you are buying it for a younger Lego builder than recommended there are components with the engine that will probably require adult help with, even if they're experienced.

Trailer has a ramp at the back to enable your to drive the quad bike on and off – this can be put up when not in use. It also has a cool kick stand so that when it’s not attached to the off roader it can stay still. It’s the attention to detail on this model that really shines through and makes it a great set.

The quad bike is also pretty cool, although I am quite partial to playing with quad bikes! When it’s build the bike measures 4 inches or 10 cm long and one of it’s features that I think really makes it is the tilt steering.

Lego Truck with Digger

Second Build from Lego #5893

Diggers are always cool and so are trucks so when Lego offers a model of a truck that has a digger on it you just know this model is going to be a hit!

Lego Dune Buggy

Third Build from Lego #5893

This racing car/dune buggy model is the easiest of the three models to build so if you’re buying the set for a child that doesn’t have a lot of experience with Lego (yet), it’s a good idea to encourage them to make this one first before tackling the other two (the ‘main’ model of the 4×4, trailer and quad bike is definitely the hardest of the three).

A little boy that I know well finds this buggy great fun to play with (although he’s a little younger than the recommended age and his father built it!), it seems really tough and certainly stood up to racing on the concrete area in the back yard with no problems whatsoever.

What Do You Think of the Lego Creator Off Road Power Set?

Personally I think it’s really cool, I particularly like the Quad bike that’s included as part of the first build – what do you like about the set?

Note: The author may receive a commission from purchases made using links found in this article. “As an Amazon Associate, Ebay (EPN) and/or Esty (Awin) Affiliate, I (we) earn from qualifying purchases.”

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Reviewing 2004 Lego X Pods

Available on Amazon

The first of the range of Lego X-Pods were released in 2004, in total Lego released 5 different sets of X-pods during this year. The premise behind this Lego range was that the Lego came inside of a pod, essentially this was 'Lego on the go.'

The pods that these small Lego kits came in were designed to fit in a pocket so that no matter where you were you could pull out your Lego pod and start to build.

This Lego X-Pod range was like a sub-range of the Lego Creator series and each kit could create a number of different things limited only by your child'simagination.

The X-Pods released in 2004 were -

• Black Robot Pod
• Robo Pod
• Auto Pod
• Aero Pod
• Wild Pod

Black Robot Pod - 4335

As you can see from the picture the Black Robot Pod comes in a clear container with two black lids. This set contains 50 pieces and is recommended for the age 6+.

This is a hard to find Lego product with the following features -

* Idea Book with instructions and inspiration for 6 robot models — quick to build and rebuild for           hours of fun!
* Handy carry case with studs — build it right into your models!
* Unique assortment of LEGO elements — great shapes and awesome colors!
* Fits into backpacks, pockets and more for on-the-go play!
* Combine with other X-Pods to build cool combo models!

An interesting snippet for you is that this Black Robot Pod was released for Halloween which might explain the color scheme of black and orange!

Robo Pod - 4346

This Lego set contains 65 pieces as well as step by step instructions to build 3 models.

Of course, as with all of the Lego x-pods there is no limit to the number of different models you can actually build!

This green set comes in a clear ‘pod’ with green lids to match the robots you can make with the set.

Auto Pod - 4347

This 67 piece x-pod set comes in a clear ‘pod’ with blue lids.

There are also instructions for building different Lego models – a bulldozer, truck, and rolling robot.

These models however are only for inspiration because the key to all of the x-pod sets is that your imagination is the only thing that will stop the number of different models you’ll be able to create.

Aero Pod - 4348

This 36 piece Lego X-Pod set is sometimes referred to as the X-Pod Planes as there is a later model also called X-Pod Aero so be aware that this is the 2004 set, model number 4348.

The pod as you can see is one of the transparent ones and comes with yellow lids, the bricks inside are also predominately yellow as you can see from the picture.

I actually can’t tell you much about this particular set as I haven’t seen it myself and there aren’t as many reviews available as I would like, but if it’s like the other X-Pod sets then I’m sure it’s fantastic and no doubt will come with instructions for a few models.

Lego Wild Pod - 4349

The Lego Wild Pod set contains 44 pieces and comes in a transparent pod with red lids.

The instuctions that come with this Lego pod show you how to make seven different creatures from a crawling bug to a flying dragonfly, but as with all of these sets the instructions are only the start.

I haven’t actually seen the instruction book or played with this pod, but I have seen a dragon made from just this set and I was very impressed!

Lego X-Pods Are An Awesome Idea!

When I was a child I absolutely loved Lego and assumed that when I had kids there would be Legos strewn across the house.  Of course life never works out quite as you imagine and when I had my only child she didn't like Lego so I never got to purchase these X-Pods for her.

I have been lucky to have a goddaughter who is Lego mad and plenty of friend's children to give me an excuse to 'hang out' in the Lego section of department stores and I still think that these X-Pods are an inspired idea.

They are an ideal size to fit in a child's pocket and perfect to take on road trips, plane trips etc to keep your child happy when they have to stay in one place.

Not only are they ideal for your child to carry they are also a perfect size to pop into your handbag.  Hands up moms who have bulging bags trying to be Mary Poppins when they go out with their children!  I used to have snacks stowed away, along with things to entertain my daughter in case we were stuck waiting somewhere - these Lego X-pods don't take up much room so can be a godsend for moms.

Even though they weren't something I used I wholeheartedly recommend them for anyone with a Lego loving child (I'd even love them for myself now!).

Most of this particular range are unavailable through many outlets so I recommend looking on ebay for them, if there's a particular one you're after be sure to search with the set number.

Images courtesy of brickipedia

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Reviewing Arbonne's RE9 Advanced Cellular Renewal Mask

Let's talk about my experience with Arbonne's RE9 Advanced Cellular Renewal Mask, but first, try and say that three times really fast! I tried this product a week ago and in one word I would say - Wow!

I could not believe how smooth and soft my face felt. I used it on a Saturday night and all day Sunday I was constantly touching my face, so much so my teenage daughter started rolling her eyes at me! Mind you, she did lean over and touch my face herself and all of a sudden was telling me how soft it was (I'd been telling her that, but ... ).

So what's so special about this mask? Well, all of Arbonne's products are botanically based and the Botanics in this mask are pineapple and papaya.

They have used pineapple and papaya because they are both natural sources of Alpha Hydroxy Acid (AHA) and this works as a natural exfoliator.

Who should use this mask? Anyone over the age of 30 or 35 depending on who you believe, but especially people over the age of 50.

Skin Rejuvenation

Let's talk about our skin rejuvenation because this explains why using this mask is a fantastic idea.

Our skin is made up of layers of skin cells and as they die they slough off without us even knowing.  When the old skin cells slough off the newer cells come to the surface.  This is skin rejuvenation (well very basic understanding anyway!).

As we get older this process takes longer, going from 14 days (as a baby) to 37 days (as an over 50's person).  It's after the age of 30 or 35 (depending on who you believe, let's face it scientists may like absolutes, but humans are all unique so they can't be completely exact!) that we really start to notice it.

Our skin gets dry, looks tired and sometimes we can even get skin blemishes and acne.   This is where we really should pop a cape on our tube of RE9 Advanced Cellular Renewal Mask and call it Super Skin Rejuvenator!  This may not quite have the same ring as Superman or Batman, but your skin will definitely thank you.

The Magic of AHAs

What's so special about 'Super Skin Rejuvenator'?  Well, you see AHAs remove the top layer of skin which means you look younger - your skin isn't as dry or tired looking.  It also means that any dead skin won't be blocking your pores and causing blemishes.

But hang on, what about 'normal' scrubs?  Now you could use another type of scrub that contains some type of abrasive granules, but using AHAs is a more gentle way of removing the dead cells and according to the Harvard Medical School AHAs are a much more effective solution over abrasive scrubs.

There was also a study at the University of Maryland Medical Center that suggested that Alpha Hydroxy Acids may also enhance your body's production of collagen.  Collagen is the protein that plumps and firms the skin surface so if this is correct you can put another tick next to our Super Skin Rejuvenator!

Back to Arbonne's RE9 Advanced Cellular Renewal Mask

Okay, so I'll stop calling it Super Skin Rejuvenator (even though I think it should be renamed that) and just start telling you what it's like to use.

When you use it you'll see it just looks like a day cream and when you rub it onto your face it feels like that too!

I left mine on for 5 minutes (it says to leave it on for 5-6 minutes) and it really didn't feel like I had a mask on.  I was expecting my face to feel like it would crack should I talk, but nothing like that at all.

They do say that some people experience a little tingling, but I didn't have any of that.

After the 5 minutes, I simply rinsed it off with water.

Now it does say that you may experience a little redness and I did have a little bit on both sides of my nose just up from the nostril.  Now I did my mask before going to bed and when I got up the following morning there was no sign of the redness at all. 

Will I be using it again?   Absolutely I will, I just had a sample tube that I used, but I have now ordered a full-size tube of this mask because I just can't get over how great my skin felt.

Alternatives to Arbonne's Cellular Renewal Mask

Now pineapple and papaya can be used on their own to the same effect apparently (I haven't tried this though)  When I was researching these two ingredients I found that you can get fresh pineapple, crush it and apply it to your face.   My first thought was what a sticky mess!  I won't be trying this, give me my tube of Arbonne Cellular Renewal Mask, please.

The other thing I was told was that you could take papaya, eat the flesh and rub the skin on your face.  There was some debate about how effective this was as opposed to just using crushed papaya.   Now to be honest if I liked papaya (which I don't) I may have tried this as I do like to find uses for skins etc to reduce waste (like my veggie skins for example that I freeze).

As far as other commercial masks in this ilk, I haven't found one that makes my skin feel this nice, however, I must admit that I haven't tested hoards of masks just a handful.

Have you tried this mask?  If you have please share your experience below, if you haven't what are your thoughts on it?

Note: The author may receive a commission from purchases made using links found in this article. “As an Amazon Associate, Ebay (EPN) and/or Esty (Awin) Affiliate, I (we) earn from qualifying purchases.”

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Reviewing Plastic Bag Sealing Clips

 Click to Buy a Set of 38 Plastic Sealing Bag Clips
One of the cheaper, yet indispensable items in my kitchen are my plastic bag clips. We use these without even thinking about it and yet I don't think I've ever seen them reviewed - until now that is!

Have you ever tried them? They usually come in packs, often consisting of different size clips and they are an absolute godsend in my kitchen let me tell you.

I thought everyone used them until one of the young accountants I work with came out holding a small one and asked 'do you know what this is?' Even after telling him what it was used for he looked at me as though I was from another planet - so maybe NOT everyone has them!

Why Do You Need Plastic Bag Sealing Clips?  

To keep your food fresh of course!  Seriously I use these bag clips for lots of different things.  People who know me (or have read some of my posts on kitchen organization) would know that I do like to use containers to store things in, but sometimes that's not always possible.

Photo by Lou of Lou's Designs

Let me give you two examples - if you look at the photo you'll see I have a bag of spiral pasta and a bag of brown rice with sealing clips on them.

I usually have dried spaghetti and dried penne at home and I keep them in containers, but I wanted to try a recipe using spiral pasta.  Now I could have found a container and used my favorite pink labelling machine to label it spiral pasta, but I didn't know if I'd be buying another packet so I just used a bag clip.

With the brown rice I had a container with basmati rice in it and one with long grain white rice.  I have just brought a new container to use for the brown rice, but for the last month (the previous brown rice I had came in a resealable bag) I've used a bag clip as you can see.

How to Keep Chips Fresh After Opening The Bag?

You simply grab some bag clips!  I love my bag clips when it comes to corn chips as when making nachos using corn chips I usually have some left in the bag.  Now we used to just snack on them until they were finished, but by saving them (we usually have nachos on the weekend instead of takeout) I find that I'm saving myself one bag of corn chips a month on my grocery bill!

We haven't been having nachos as much lately and I realized that I'd had a bag of corn chips in the pantry (sealed with a clip) for three weeks and you know what - they were still fresh!  Need I say more.

Now chocolate is my downfall, but my husband's weakness is potato chips and it's often cheaper to purchase large bags than smaller ones, but I really don't want him to eat a large bag - I also don't want to waste any.  Since we've found that our bag sealing clips work so well with corn chips we've tested them on potato chips and they keep them fresh too - win/win!

Can You Use Plastic Food Clips in the Freezer?

Photo by Lou16

Absolutely!  I don't know how you store your packets of frozen peas or frozen sweetcorn once you've opened them, but I use food clips.  I figured if they were plastic they would be fine and I was right!

Are There Other Uses for Plastic Bag Sealing Clips?

Probably, but these are the ones I use them for and I think that is plenty.  Let me know if you have other uses for them in the comments.

For an inexpensive 'gadget' this is one kitchen tool that everyone should have in their kitchens.  I know some people say well I use ziplock bags and I admit I use them too, but seriously if you can use the bag it came in why waste more plastic bags for storage?

Note: The author may receive a commission from purchases made using links found in this article. “As an Amazon Associate, Ebay (EPN) and/or Esty (Awin) Affiliate, I (we) earn from qualifying purchases.”

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Easily Increase Your Vegetable Intake with a Spiralizer

Image by Lou of Lou's Designs

If you're looking to increase your vegetable intake or reduce some of the heavy carbs like pasta from your diet then a spiralizer could be the answer.  Let me review why I think you'll adore having a vegetable spiralizer - I personally love mine, I don't know why I didn't get one sooner.

At the time of writing this I'm doing the Arbonne 30 Day Plan to Healthy Living and Beyond and basically that means that (for this month at least) I can't eat pasta, I can eat zucchini however ... enter zoodles! 

I have been meaning to try and made zoodles aka zucchini noodles for ages which is the whole reason I purchased my vegetable spiralizer.

Making the zucchini noodles was so easy and I'm now seeing lots of other recipes using other vegetables in place of pasta.  What a cool way of getting your child to eat more vegetables than to make their spaghetti bolognaise with zoodles?

So my vegetable spiralizer came with three different blades like the Paderno World Cuisine one below, but you can also get them with 7 blades, Amazon's best selling vegetable spiralizer comes with 7 blades and is the second one featured.

 Paderno World Cuisine 3-Blade Vegetable Slicer / Spiralizer, Counter-Mounted and includes 3 Stainless Steel Blades Spiralizer 7-Blade Vegetable Slicer for Healthy Low Carb/Paleo/Gluten-Free Meals With 3 Exclusive Recipe E-Books …

The actual one that I have doesn't seem to be available online which is why I've given you two alternatives.  Now I've only used the blade to made noodles so I'd just get the 3 blade one personally, but...

They were super easy to make you simply placed the zucchini (or vegetable of choice) on the spiky guard, making sure that the other end is in the middle of the round thing that is going to basically core your zucchini so that it looks like a very weird toadstool after the noodles are all made.

The next step is to simply turn the handle, however if that is all you do you won't get very long noodles, you'll just get little curls (they don't say that in the instructions).  What you need to do is as you're turning the handle you need to also be applying a gentle pressure inwards (towards the vegetable) then it will work beautifully.

It is super quick and I simply popped the zoodles into boiling water for a few minutes - basically treating them like fresh pasta noodles.  I've since been told of other ways of cooking them that involve almost sauteing them in coconut oil, but I haven't tried that (and probably won't).

Image by Louanne Cox, Arbonne Independent Consultant

I would recommend starting with zucchini as it's quite a bland vegetable which makes it ideal to replace spaghetti.  I would also recommend a pinch of salt in the water when cooking it, I didn't do this the first time and it was much better when I did do it.

You can use sweet potato, carrot, parsnips and who knows what other vegetable, just use your imagination.

I will be trying out sweet potato next as I think that will go really well with a number of dishes I enjoy.

Have you ever tired zoodles or thought about making them?  If so then why wait, just do it as Nike would say!

Let me know in the comments if you've tried any other vegetables as I'd love to hear how they went.

Note: The author may receive a commission from purchases made using links found in this article. “As an Amazon Associate, Ebay (EPN) and/or Esty (Awin) Affiliate, I (we) earn from qualifying purchases.”

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Her Fearful Symmetry - A Book Review

Click image to purchase book

I think I must be the last person on earth who has yet to read The Time Traveller's Wife (or to see the movie), but I did know the author was Audrey Niffenegger so when I saw another of her books I thought I'd have a read.   I'm very glad I did!

Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger is unlike any other book I've read, it's not a can't put it up kind of book, but it's nonetheless a really good read and very thought provoking.

Have you ever wondered whether ghosts have to learn to be ghosts?   Funnily enough that idea was written so well that it just made sense to me.

The teaser to the book that I read said.....

Take mirror twins, a man with OCD and a ghost and what do you get?

I'm not sure what it was about that statement but I was sold.  The mirror twins in question are Valentina and Julia Poole, the ghost is the twin's estranged aunt who they haven't seen since they were babies and the man with OCD is an upstairs neighbor of their aunt.

A Riveting Tale of Obsession & Love

A Review of Her Fearful Symmetry, Don't Worry There's No Spoilers!

Her Fearful Symmetry is all about obsession, love and the urge to control.  Audrey Niffenegger's  novel begins with one of the central characters dying. This in itself is nothing new, but what is new in this novel is that this particular character 'stars' as a ghost.

Following on from her hugely successful debut novel - The Time Traveler's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger stays in the realm of the supernatural with this ghost story. The main character is a ghost who has been estranged from her twin sister for years and decides to leave her flat and money to her twin nieces who she has only met once when they were babies.

Now nothing is ever that straight forward in books so of course this inheritance comes with a clause - the twins, Julia and Valentina Poole must live in her flat for a year. The flat in question borders on a famous London cemetery - Highgate Cemetery.

While she was researching this book Audrey Niffenegger actually worked as a volunteer at London's famous Highgate Cemetery and a great facet to this book is the little snippets of trivia about the cemetery that she sprinkles throughout the book.

There are some complex emotions in the book and it poses some interesting questions such as - do ghosts really have to learn to be ghosts? An incident that occurs later in the book can really give you goosebumps and wondering if that sort of thing could really happen!

 Her Fearful Symmetry

In all this was an interesting book and I enjoyed it, but I was rather deflated with the ending. There was a perfect place for the book to end, but when the story continued I felt I wasn't satisfied because I then wanted to know what else happened.

Would I read it again?  Absolutely, because I am sure that I would 'discover' more things that I had missed on my first reading.

Would I recommend starting it knowing that you don't have time to finish it in one sitting?  Yes, it was one that I definitely wanted to finish, but it was a book that I put up a couple of times to go and do things.......things that I could probably have postponed if I'd been reading a real 'can't put down' book.

Now I know that sometimes the last thing you want to read is a thought provoking suspense book, we had days when we just want to curl up with some historical romance or a cozy mystery etc.  Well don't worry we have reviewed countless books in different genres so please check them out - our book reviews.

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Organizing Your Kitchen Cupboards - Where to Start?

Organizing your kitchen cabinets!

I don't know about you, but my kitchen cupboards get messy (and we won't even talk about the odds 'n ends drawer!).  I think in my mind I believe I should have a walk in pantry, but in reality I don't which means that it's not big enough!  Back in the real world I'm sure that my pantry is big enough for my household, I just need to review how to organize it better!

I did buy an expandable metal shelf for the cupboard that houses my mugs and teas and this was fantastic, but I didn't think it would work the best for my pantry.

Problem number one is herbs and spices.  Now the old spice racks that I used to have would be great except I have no where to put them and also I have a couple of herbs and spices that I buy in larger containers as I use more of them.

Problem number two is cans.  I buy quite a few canned goods especially when they're on special, but I have to stack them on top of each other to see what I have and if I want to use something it can no longer be stacked so it sits behind something else and get's doubled up.

A solution?  I came across a three tier cabinet organizer and thought yes, this could be it!  I tested it out with my herbs and spices and then with my cans and went back to get a second one.

Now I know you can get can organizers that you can fit lots of cans in and they just roll out, but I just didn't think that would work very well in my home.  With this three tier organizer I can pop on my cans and see at a glance what I have.  Now you might look at the image and think well I can't read what the label says, but I pretty much know what the cans I buy look like so I can see enough to know exactly what's there.

Click image to go to Amazon and check the price of this awesome organizer (and buy it if you want to!)

As far as my herbs and spices go I find it works well, but it may not be the best organization solution for you as you don't really see the names on the spices.

Photo by Lou16

Check out my image to see what I mean.  Now this is fine by me because I keep my herbs and spices in alphabetical order except for the the larger containers which aren't showing (they're to the right if I had a better photo to show you).

If that sounds a little OCD - it's not, I just worked retail for a decade and in my mind alphabetical for herbs is the way to go!

I also know exactly what herbs and spices I have - someone coming into my kitchen may have problems using my organizer, but you know what?  I don't care, I just want to have it organized for me (and my husband as he's a great cook)!

I have a few other problem areas that need to be organized and I'm working on them.   I need to organize my cake decorating stuff - I have an idea on how to do that so stay tuned!

Another problem area is all of the bulk foods that I have especially since my daughter turned vegan.  I also think I have a solution for this problem too so there will definitely be a follow up post on organizing your kitchen cupboards.

Do you use anything special to organize your pantry?

One thing that my entire home lacks is enough storage so I've tried lots of different ways to keeping things organized, I hope to share more with you in the future.

Note: The author may receive a commission from purchases made using links found in this article. “As an Amazon Associate, Ebay (EPN) and/or Esty (Awin) Affiliate, I (we) earn from qualifying purchases.”

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A Novel Gift for a Sudoku Fan

If you know someone who loves Sudoku (and don't we all have at least one person on that list?) then you're probably sick of buying them Sudoku books and no doubt they already have (or don't like) the electronic version of Sudoku.

Let's review other ideas for s Sudoku fan and there are a couple.  A gift that I thought looked really neat was one of the Sudoku mugs (mind you I always think a mug is a cool gift idea) that's available, but from experience these really don't seem to be appreciated as much as an actual puzzle book.

What is left?  Well there are some  Sudoku calendars which look really good.  I have debated getting these, but so many people just use their phones instead of a physical calendar  these days.

This leads me to another idea - something very unexpected and a very novel gag type of gift.

Introducing the Sudoku Toilet Paper!

Reviewing a Puzzling Gift Idea

 Sudoku Toilet Roll/Paper - A Great Gag Gift for Puzzle Lovers

Now I have to be honest I can't claim credit for this gift idea, it comes with a little story.  My boss passed away a couple of months ago and we had to clean out his office and we came across some Sudoku toilet paper.

One of his friends called in as we were still sorting through things and noticed the toilet paper and told us that he'd given it to him as he loved to do Sudoku.  I immediately asked where I could get some as I thought it would be a great idea for my mother.

The paper seemed good quality and I personally think it makes a great gag gift, but also if you're going to be in the 'little room' for a while why not exercise your 'little grey cells' at the same time!

I give it a big thumbs up as a novel gift idea for a Sudoku fan and if you're a fan and on my Christmas list - surprise!  You're getting toilet paper.

The only question now is - can I find a toilet paper holder that has a pen/pencil holder attached because you just know that you'll forget your pen when you want to solve the puzzle and I don't think it's fair to try and do Sudoku in your head!

Please Pin Me!

What do you think a great gift idea or not?

If you prefer Suduko books or you want to give one as well then Cynthia reviews one of her favorite (like her I prefer the pen and paper form of Suduko to the electronic ones and this book sounds awesome!)

Brain Games 10 Minute Sudoku Puzzles Book Review
The 10 Minute Sudoku Puzzles Book satisfies my love of Sudoku really well, it's also a ring bound book which I appreciate as it is easier for me to use when traveling or waiting for appointments.

If you're thinking wow that's a great idea, but I don't know anyone who likes Sudoku then you might be pleased to know that you can get all kinds of novelty toilet paper (who knew?) and what better gag gift for a work colleague or your best friend?

More Gift Ideas

You can find lots of different gift ideas here at Review This from gifts for tea lovers, vegan teens, cat lovers, writers and more.  Be sure to check out our Holiday Gift Guide (by clicking the picture below) or just search gifts for lots of great ideas.

Note: The author may receive a commission from purchases made using links found in this article. “As an Amazon Associate, Ebay (EPN) and/or Esty (Awin) Affiliate, I (we) earn from qualifying purchases.”

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Perfect Mugs for Your Christmas Hot Chocolate

 Christmas Elements Mug
I love drinking hot chocolate while we decorate the Christmas tree and it has become a bit of a tradition in our house. I do think that if we had Christmas mugs it would make it even better though so I'm on the hunt for some cool Christmas mugs!

So let's review some festive mugs that will help make our holidays jolly and bright!

I fell in love with the featured mug a few years ago when I first saw it on the site Zazzle. I have designed a few of my own Christmas mugs on Zazzle as well and I love recommending them because I have had a Zazzle mug since 2014.

My Zazzle mug has been used constantly and still looks like new, the print hasn't faded and the inside has been easy to keep clean despite the amount of tannin that it's held!

I personally love the weight of the mug and it's a perfect feel for a festive hot chocolate.

Everyone Needs a Christmas Mug!

Even if you don't drink hot chocolate you need a Christmas mug - you can add coffee, egg nog, tea, just about anything you enjoy over the festive season.

If you don't like the Christmas Elements mug above then you might like to check out one of the Christmas mugs from my Zazzle store that features Santa himself...

 Santa & Reindeer Mug

I do think that this mug is pretty cute as well and you know even if you already have a Christmas mug for yourself they also make great gift ideas for people. You can add lots of things to a mug to make it a perfect gift.

Now I've already told you my favorite mug is the elements one and that's because it combines lots of things about the holidays on one mug.  I think Santa mugs are probably the most popular of the Chrismtas mugs, but if you don't like the one I've added then feel free to check out a great selection of some of the best Christmas mugs available which includes snowmen, Christmas trees, reindeer and more.

Let me know if you have your own Christmas mug or not and if you do is it from Zazzle or somewhere else?

Now hot to make your hot chocolate?  You can use a coffee machine - my moms coffee machine makes a great hot chocolate - or you can use this delicious homemade hot chocolate recipe.

Note: The author may receive a commission from purchases made using links found in this article. “As an Amazon Associate, Ebay (EPN) and/or Esty (Awin) Affiliate, I (we) earn from qualifying purchases.”

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The Coffeehouse Mysteries - A Series Review

Buy the Coffeehouse Mysteries by clicking here!

If you love reading murder mysteries in coffee shops then Cleo Coyle's Coffeehouse books are ideal for you. Well maybe not the one where the caramel chocolate latte is poisoned, but.....

I do like murder mysteries - both the easy to read cozy mysteries (which Cleo Coyle's ones are) and the grittier ones by the likes of Ruth Rendell or Kathy Reichs.

The Coffeehouse books are a little different in that they involve coffee - yes a whole series of books that unite both coffee and murder, want to know more?

Let's review the series of The Coffeehouse Mysteries, be warned this could become almost as addictive as your morning cup of Joe!

Clare Cosi is the Star of the Coffeehouse Mysteries

A Coffee Lover & Sleuth Too!

Clare Cosi is the heroine of these murder mysteries and she works as manager (soon to be partner) of The Village Blend a coffee shop that has been in Greenwich Village, New York for decades as it was started by her ex-mother-in-law, referred to simply as Madame!

As well as being the manager Clare seems to somehow have a connection to murder on a regular basis and then wants to solve the case - her ex-husband (and soon to be partner in The Village Blend) claims she has a Nancy Drew fixation ........and he might not be wrong.

Throughout the book Clare shares little tidbits about coffee - making it, the differences between beans, coffee folklore and more. To give you some background Clare moved away from New York with her daughter Joy when her marriage ended and only recently returned to New York for the first book in the series - On What Grounds. During the time she was away she worked as a food and coffee writer so has all of this knowledge which gets sprinkled through the books.

Clare has a good relationship with her ex, but the man she'd like in her life is a Police Detective called Mike Quinn which is pretty handy when you're after details of a case as well. Clare also has a good relationship with her ex-mother-in-law who is also a little nosy and loves to help Clare out when she's trying to solve a case.

Image from Pixabay, adapted by Lou of Lou's Designs

Why I Like The Coffeehouse Mysteries Book Series

The murder mysteries always seem to have a connection to The Village Blend Coffeehouse which could give you pause before drinking there ....... unless you like puffer fish that is. For those of you who don't 'get' that sentance then you need to read book #3 - Latte Trouble!

What sets these books apart from other whodunnits is the coffee. As I mentioned before sprinkled throughout the books are little bits of coffee trivia which I found really interesting. The trivia didn't detract from the story line, but it did add another layer to the story which I enjoyed.

To further seal the coffee influence with these books you'll find recipes from the stories at the end of the book. If you're in a book club you could recreate a Caramel Chocolate Latte to drink while you discuss the ins and outs of Latte Trouble to really get in the mood.

Who is Cleo Coyle?

The Author of the Coffeehouse Mysteries

Cleo Coyle is actually two people, husband and wife writing team - Alice Alfonsi and Marc Cerasini. They released the first book - On What Grounds - in September 2003 and now they even have their own website with recipes and a forum for fans - The Virtual Village Blend.

Cleo Coyle Books in Order

I'm linking to books here for you, but I should mention that I've been reading the kindle editions of these books and am thoroughly enjoying reading them that way.

On What Grounds (Coffeehouse Mysteries, No. 1) is the first of these books and it's where Clare Cosi returns to take over as the manager of The Village Blend.

I actually haven't read this book yet as I started off reading book 2, then book 3 and I haven't looked back! I will read it once I've finished the rest of the series though.


 Through the Grinder (Coffeehouse Mysteries, No. 2)
Through The Grinder is cool because you get to see inside the murderer's mind without it revealing who the person is.

In this book we also see Mike Quinn's jealous side as Clare gets herself a love interest who (rather predictably) turns out to be a main suspect in a rash of murders made to look like suicides and all customers of the Village Blend.

 Latte Trouble (Coffeehouse Mysteries, No. 3)
Latte Trouble is the third book in the coffeehouse mysteries and this time the murder hits even closer to home with the murder weapon being a poisoned latte poured by the lovable Tucker - can Clare's chief barista be a murderer?

This book could be the end for Clare as she's taken into the seedy underworld of the fashion industry and drugged, but wait I know I have more of these books so it'll turn out okay!

 Murder Most Frothy (Coffeehouse Mysteries, No. 4)
Murder Most Frothy doesn't actually take place in Greenwich, but at the Hamptons.

In Latte Trouble we were introduced to David Mintzer, celebrity restaurant owner, who was impressed by Clare's coffee knowledge.

In this the fourth book in the series, David has brought Clare, Joy and Madame to stay at his Hamptons' home to help train his staff up as baristas and of course this means that someone is going to be murdered while they're partying their way through a Hamptons' summer.

 Decaffeinated Corpse (A Coffeehouse Mystery Book 5)
Decaffeinated Corpse is the fifth book in this series and is the one I'm currently reading.

One of the interesting things I've found with this book is about how decaffeinated coffee is made because this book is all about a new coffee bean that is grown as a decaffeinated bean.

I was surprised by the first body that we 'meet' in this book (although it's the second murder in chronological order and the first wasn't a surprise to me), when the body fell onto the sidewalk I thought I knew who it was going to be and I was wrong which is always a good start to solving a whodunnit!

The following books are the rest of the series in order. I haven't read these yet, but will add a short description to them as I do.

• French Pressed 
• Espresso Shot 
• Holiday Grind 
• Roast Mortem 
• Murder by Mocha 
• A Brew to a Kill 
• Holiday Buzz 
• Billionaire Blend 
• Once Upon a Grind 
• Dead to the Last Drop 
• Dead Cold Brew 

 Due to be released in April 2018 - Shot in the Dark

Do You Love Cozy Mysteries? We Do!

The contributors here at Review This often review books for you and I've found that a lot of us really enjoy a cozy mystery or two, in fact one of our contributors, Bev Owens, has actually published a couple of her own cozy mysteries which are awesome. 

So, if you want a break from the fast pace of New York (where the Coffeehouse Mysteries are set) then why not take a trip to Beaver Falls with Beverly Owen's Up cycling mysteries.

Here are a few of the other cozy mysteries we've reviewed for you..

Mystery Series Review: Cats, Cupcakes and Killers
Author Sylvia Selfman has done just that with her Izzy Greene series in Cats, Cupcakes and Killers. All seven mysteries are published together ...

Reviewing Cozy Mysteries and Favorite Women Sleuths
Like cozy mysteries starring smart, female sleuths? ... My favorite genre is mystery and right now I'm particularly attracted to easy-to-read cozy mystery stories

Mrs Fix-it Mystery Series Reviewed
A very enjoyable series of mystery books with Mrs Fix It as the female sleuth. ... I was a little sad when I came to the last page of the 15th book.

Reviewing The Mystic Notch Cozy Mystery Series
I recently read the Mystic Notch Cozy Mystery Series by Leighan Dobbs and enjoyed it immensely. It was pretty easy to get attached to the ...

Chef at the Water's Edge by Kee Patterbee - A Mystery Review
A celebrity chef is found dead in a lake. Was it an accident as the police reported? Or was it suicide or murder? Can you solve the mystery ...

We're not all a 'murderous bunch' and we review plenty of other books too, but at the moment I just can't get enough of the cozy mysteries that are out there and I'm sure that you'll love them too.

 If you're not into the more grisly murder mysteries then the cozy mysteries are for you. I once heard them described as the Mills and Boon of mystery books and that made me smile because they are light reading and in general they don't contain descriptive violence (although obviously there is murder involved). I think of them as 'genteel murder mysteries' similar to Agatha Christie's books, but without the nostalgic feel of a different era.

Grab a coffee and let me know what you think of this series of books and don't forget to check out some of the other cozy mysteries too.

Note: The author may receive a commission from purchases made using links found in this article. “As an Amazon Associate, Ebay (EPN) and/or Esty (Awin) Affiliate, I (we) earn from qualifying purchases.”

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How to Create Pinterest Images with Photoshop

Today I'm going to review how to create Pinterest images with my favorite photo editing software - Photoshop!  I create most of my Pinterest images with Photoshop, I have tried a few other places, but I always come back to Photoshop.

I've been asked quite a few times how I create my images for Pinterest which is why I thought I'd just show you.  Now I can't promise you that your images will take off in popularity on this social media platform, but I can promise you that the steps will be easy to understand.

I have been using Photoshop for a few years now, but the way I create the majority of my images are easy for beginners and experts alike to follow.

The first thing you have to do is open up your Photoshop and select a new file, I simply press Ctrl N to do this, but you could use the file menu and open it that way.

You will be greeted with a pop up box where you have to select your image details, it looks like this -

I only change two things on the default and that is the width and height as you can see on the image.  I have changed the image height a few times, but the majority of the time I just use the standard 738 x 1105.

The next step means finding the image you want to use for your pin so I've decided that I want to do a pin for my welcome to Lou16.com post (I can't believe I was missing a Pinterest image on that post until I wrote this!)

I'm going to use the image I have in my introduction as the main image for my Pinterest image as well so let's have a look at what we're going to do....

So the first thing I do is create a new file, then I open up the photo I want to use and drag it onto the new file.

1.  Here you can see that this image has a border that I created previously.  I'm going to use this color for the background so to do this I need to use the eyedropper tool to select the exact color.
2.  This is the eyedropper tool.  To use this you click on the tool and then click on the color that you want to select.
3.  After selecting the color I make sure to select the correct layer (in this case the blank one as I'm using this for background.
4.  The paint bucket tool will cover the layer with the selected color.

After doing all of these steps you'll be left with the next image.

3.  I'm going to do things backwards here and get you to look at number 3!  When I did the background color the teal was on top and the white was underneath, as I'm thinking of doing the text in white I switched them around.  Sometimes when you're using two colors you can just change between these two to save having to use the eyedropper tool again.

Back to our image..

Now I want to add some text to the image so I have to select the text box.

1.  This is the Text box and you have to click on this before adding any text.
2.  This is the text tool bar, you can change the color from here (it will default to the top square at number 3 unless you change it), you can also alter the font, the font size and whether you want to use a bold or italic or both.

As you can see I dragged the image down a little so that I could add text above and below it.  Above I just used regular and underneath I selected italics.  You can also highlight just one or two words and change their color or size in order to make an impact.

1.  There are different things you can select on the side including a border which I always use for my Pinterest images.  You select the border (or arrow as I have done on these images for you) and click apply - the color on top of the color box is what color the object will appear as.

I didn't want to use white as a border because the website background is white so I used the eyedropper tool to select another color from the photograph.

I always try to pull either the border, background or text (sometimes all of them) from the actual photo as you know it's going to go.

I always keep Photoshop open until I see the final image uploaded to the website.  In this case I uploaded the border from a light green in the foliage that really made it pop on Photoshop, but looked strange on the white background of the website.

I then changed the border to the blue of my t-shirt, but again on the white background of this site it just didn't look quite right.  The third and final one is what is pictured above and I've use the brown of my hair!

Now you don't always have to use a photo, sometimes I'll use a graphic from a site like Pixabay and use that.

This is a very basic way to create a Pinterest image using Photoshop, as you get used to using it you can get more and more creative with using several images merged together like this one from another post I created -

In this image I used an image of traffic which I reduced and played with to get it to fit onto the laptop screen.  The background is taken from the laptop color and you can see I changed the color and font size of the 21 in the image.

Start off simple and as you get used to using these tools you'll find yourself creating all kinds of images, try not to become too addicted to Photoshop as once you start down this rabbit hole you can lose all sense of time!

You might be interested in my other Photoshop tutorial (and there will probably be more to come!) -

How to Remove Blemishes From Photos Using Photoshop
Let's review how easy it is to use Photoshop to remove blemishes from photos, trust me it's really simple and well worth the time spent to restore old family photos.

Our contributors here on Review This also use other platforms to create their images for Pinterest so be sure to check out our tips for writers including -

• A Review of Picmonkey Photo Editing Site
• FotoJet Free Photo Editor Review

... and let's not forget our Pinterest tips -

• Reviewing Best Practices for Pinterest Success
• How to Embed Your Pinterest Board in Your Blog Post

Before leaving I'd like to tell you one of the things that really helped me with getting traffic from Pinterest (obviously the images help!) and that was using Tailwind, I highly recommend this scheduling tool for anyone who wants to harness the power of this visual social media platform.

If you've found this article helpful please share on your favorite social media platform.

Image by Lou of Lou's Designs

Note: The author may receive a commission from purchases made using links found in this article. “As an Amazon Associate, Ebay (EPN) and/or Esty (Awin) Affiliate, I (we) earn from qualifying purchases.”

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