IKEA Christmas Lighting 2016- Setting the Holiday Mood with a Flick of a Switch

IKEA Belfast kindly sent us some Christmas lighting to start setting a holiday mood.

The star shaped STRALA shades can be swapped with your regular lampshades on either downward hanging bulbs, or table lamps.

There are strings of colour changing star lights which I used in a bowl to create a centrepiece, or they can be used traditionally as a string of lights on your tree.

Finally the stand alone candelabras are perfect for windowsills, or as a feature on your table. All on sale now in IKEA UK.

STRALA red star on table lamp

LED candelabra 

STRALA white star on roof fitting, LED candelabra  

Love Yankee Candle Silver Bells But Can't Buy It Anywhere? I've Found a Dupe.

Christmas time smells a certain way in your household, and when I first got married and had my own family home, I wanted to create a scent for us that would always remind us of holiday times. So that when Smix is a grown up, just smelling that scent would make him happy for the days of waiting for Santa. 

I picked a certain Yankee Candle that reminded me of my own childhood, not that Yankee was around at the time, but because the classic, realistic scent I chose smelt like the real Christmas trees we would have year after year. The dark green, festive jar candle I picked was Silver Bells, but then, something really annoying happened. 

Yankee discontinued the scent. So no matter where I went, garden centres, cute little homeware stockists, I couldn't find any Silver Bells jars, votives or tarts. For the next few years I would buy Silver Bells on eBay when I could, but as the years passed the rare remaining candles people found increased higher and higher in price. 

Yankee would bring out a couple of new Christmas range scents a year, but nothing matched Silver Bells. They even had a Christmas Tree smell candle, but it wasn't quite right, and Apple & Pine Tree didn't make the grade either. 

But today, today's found Silver Bells again. I was browsing the range of Yankee Candles in Ballyholme Post Office, as they had great prices (£15 for a large jar). I decided to smell some of the dark green candles, just in case they were similar, and that's when I found out that Christmas Garland is Silver Bells reincarnated! 

I'm not sure if it's a new scent for 2016, or if it was available last year too, but I'm so pleased to have my home smelling of Silver Bells again. So if you loved that discontinued range, you know what to do! Get shopping! 

The Yankee Candle Christmas Blogger Challenge

Christmas has a certain smell. The turkey roasting, the scent of a real Christmas tree, and cinnamon on basically everything. 

Yankee Candle can add to the mix with a range of nostalgic  Christmas scents like pine trees, cookies and warm familiar smells of the season.

Along with the selection of holiday scents, Yankee have a range of accessories that can really make your candle a centerpiece to your Christmas decorations.

Candles can make excellent presents for teacher, or someone making their first home. 

Yankee Candle UK have challenged a group of bloggers to create an inviting Christmas scene with some of the best festive candles and accessories.

The entries will be posted on the Yankee Candle UK Facebook Page and everyone who votes is automatically entered into a draw to win the products featured in the winning picture. So you can 'like' the page and watch out for the entries this week.

In the meantime here are my offerings! 

My main entry is this- The View From Santa's Sleigh, using cinnamon tea lights and classic glass holders. 

Cosy by the Fire has the warm, homely smell you can imagine. 

Snow in Love is a delicate fragarance. A good choice for those who prefer a subtle scent for their homes. 

Well, fingers crossed for my entry! Watch out on Twitter and I will let you know when you can vote, with your chance to win the products I used for my photos.