A few months ago, I agreed to review a new online course from Love to Learn, who have a range of online courses for adults who enjoy learning.  They wanted some feedback on a new course on Memory Training that they were about to release.  I wrote up my review on GransNet and was lucky enough to win £100 in John Lewis vouchers for it!  I spent the lot online in the last day of their January sale…

First up, my husband and I have been talking about buying a new frying pan for ages now!   Pretty boring conversation for us to have, I know, but we did just keep talking about it and never actually got around to finding the money to do it!  So, with my sensible head on, I decided the first thing to get should be a new frying pan.  I decided to go for the standard John Lewis Frying Pan, which was £20 reduced to £15 and is still available at that price to clear.  It is made from aluminium, so is nice and lightweight (a must for me just now).  It also has a heat-resistant phenolic handle, which means it can go from hob to oven (although only to 140 degrees C) – I don’t know when I’ll actually ever want to do this but it seemed like a genius idea anyway!  It comes in various colours and I chose a nice bright blue…

I’ve used it a few times now and it is fab – everything cooks evenly, doesn’t stick and is breeze to clean – our old one had to be scrubbed with a scouring pad it was so bad.  I have no idea why on earth it took us so long to get around to buying this!

I didn’t really have any firm plans of what else I wanted to get with my vouchers but browsed around the rest of the kitchen department and before I knew it my budget was well-and-truly blown!  I realised there were a lot of baking goodies in my basket, so decided to stick with this theme to get me back under budget.  After deleting all the non-baking goodies, this is what I ended up with…

My metal baking trays are all getting a bit rusty and I’ve been loving the few silicone pieces I already have, as it is so easy to pop baked stuff out of them and they are a doddle to wash.
In my opinion, everyone should have a bun tray and I couldn’t resist this one, at £8 reduced to £4, and in blue to match my kitchen.

There was also a matching muffin tray at £10 reduced to £5.  I adore muffins but have never actually made them, so this was a must buy.

Of course, if baking is happening, then you definitely need some pretty cups to measure out your ingredients, don’t you?!  NOPE – I am much more of an exact weighing-on-scales kind of gal but these were just too cute to leave behind at £12 reduced to £8.40

Next up a selection of little cases to make those cute little buns look even cuter…

Of course, I was going to need something to store all the goodies I would be making, so I got this gorgeous set of two retro-inspired cake tins.  On top it says “Bake More Cake” – always a good sentiment in life I find!  These weren’t in the sale but were a good price at £15 for the two and are still available here.

I then “spotted” (haha) this cute jam cover set from the famous London confectioners Hope and Greenwood.  The set has 20 covers, labels, wax discs, transparent circles and elastic bands. As you can see in this earlier post on chutney, I usually just do a DIY cover on my jams and chutneys.  However this little set was an absolute steal, at £2 reduced from £8, and will make my gifts look a little more “made by hand” and a little less “homemade”!

Finally, off theme and call me sad if you wish, but I have wanted a feather duster for a while!  I am old-school in cleaning, doing all my dusting by hand with a cloth duster, but it can be very time-consuming, not to mention sore on the knees for those low down places & inconveniently requiring of a step ladder for those higher up places.  I just love my new Eddingtons Sugar Static Duster, with its extendable handle.  It was only £7 and is still available here at that special price.

I love its floral handle – doesn’t show up in the picture too well but is the same pattern as on the cardboard label which came with it…

Always keen to avoid unnecessary waste, I plan to add a pretty ribbon to this label to upcycle it into a cute bookmark!

 So, that was all my buys.  It seemed selfish to spend all the vouchers on things I wanted, so I gave my hubby £40 worth to get whatever he wanted too.  Guess what he chose?  Yep – toys!  Dr Who toys to be specific, or “models” as he insists they are called!  This is the selection he bought for him and our grandson to play with, sorry I mean to display!

So that’s it.
Not a bad return for testing out a course I was interested in anyway and then spending a few minutes writing a review!  Thank you Love to Learn!
I can’t remember the last time we spent £100 in one go.

What’s the best surprise reward from a company you’ve ever had?

Vohn
xx