So, what’s the plan… lots of you told us “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it” so we won’t be re-inventing ourselves a la Madonna, that’s for sure. However, there were some stand-out things you asked for which would make shopping with us more enjoyable or our range better suited to you.

So, thank you Paul Clark, Dawn Seddon and Lynne Addison for suggesting that we give you the option to see different sizes grouped together on our website – hopefully you will notice the change in the next few months, so you can jump straight into seeing all the mats we have available at the size you want. Judy Barham, I hope the newly launched Micro Mats fulfill your need for smaller sizes too.

Lots of you wanted new designs and I am happy to say there will be some fresh faces for autumn/winter 2010, with more to follow in the spring. Keep checking the blog to find out more, as we may well post a sneak peek of some of the new designs here first.

Finally, congratulations to Sue Boxall from Camberley who won our survey responders’ prize draw for a National Trust day pass and free cream tea – we hope you have a great day out!

The “Micro” Mat measures 37x50cm the perfect size for all sorts of situations and locations. Here’s just a few:

• Festival/camping essential to keep tents mud free – the perfect “glam-ping” accessory

• Caravanning – perfect doorway size, because Turtle Mats deserve   a holiday too!

• Pet mats – for food and drink bowls

• Kneeling mats – appealing to the gardener in us to avoid muddy knees

• Car foot-well mats

So go take a peek (you can nip straight there by clicking on the picture) and now for the best bit….they’re only £14.95 each and until the end of July we’re offering free postage* when you quote offer code MM88.

* free delivery offer is available to UK mainland addresses only, postage saving for Micro Mat orders is £4.95, postage saving for Micro Mat orders with Turtle Vac is £7.50.

It may not be the same for you (you lucky things), but over the years I have pleaded with, pestered and cajoled my inscrutable father to reveal what he would like most to mark the day, all to no avail! I have however developed a secret weapon to get round this pernickety-ness (some might say obstinacy), and it’s covered by one word…sport!

Well not just any sport, football and tennis to be more precise and for once timing could not be more perfect with the World Cup upon us and Wimbledon just around the corner. I can picture my dad reclining on the sofa and smiling with glee as England do battle in the qualifiers or as Murray strikes another winning return (mum meanwhile has suddenly found something very interesting to do in the garden). I know without fail a gift along these lines will illicit a similar response – job done.

My grandfather however is a different story, he makes taciturn an art-form, so it came as little surprise when my father ended our telephone chat last week with the immortal words “what gift should I get my dad?”  Oh, how the worm has turned!

I will admit I pondered whether to answer as enigmatically and frustatingly as he always does but the truth is I had the perfect present in mind. My granddad, you see, has his own magic word…trains!

No sooner said then are two Flying Scotsman Turtle Mats winging (sorry I couldn’t help myself) their way to my granddad to adorn his loft. Not the normal place for a Turtle Mat you might think but then my grandfather’s attic is anything but normal – it is in fact a giant model railway set, resplendent with stations and shrubbery, passengers and platforms, tunnels and the obligatory sheep on the hillside….ever the rail enthusiast.

The moral of this somewhat rambling tale is that the magic word isn’t always please. Sometimes, just sometimes, it’s planes, trains or World Cup fever.

Up until Father’s Day (20^th June 2010) we will be offering the Flying Scotsman mats at £34.97, a discount of 30% – order by Sunday so you don’t get left on the platform!

…May not keep the doctor away but definitely keeps a smile on our faces here at “Turtle Towers”.

To celebrate the launch of our new Turtle Mat spring 2010 catalogue, with its kitchen inspired cover, we have been baking up a storm and thought we’d share with you over the week some of our favourite cupcake recipes.

As always, we would love to hear from you whether it be with recipes, pictures of your baking successes (or disasters), comments on how your Turtle Mats help catch culinary spills (they definitely helped when road-testing these recipes) or any other thoughts.

Finally, keep an eye on the blog over the coming few weeks for a competition to win our new catalogue cover mat – “Cupcake”. So without further ado, here’s the first scrumptious recipe.

Magnolia Bakery’s red velvet cupcakes (with Turtle Mat tweaks) with vanilla cream cheese frosting

A rich, moist and unashamedly decadent American classic. The red colour of these cakes originally came from unrefined cocoa powder but today is often made with red food colouring; however here at Turtle Mat we like to keep things as natural as possible so have improvised with raspberry juice – the cakes now take on a slight pink hue instead!

Makes around 24 cupcakes

For the cakes:

500g plain flour

165g unsalted butter, softened

500g sugar

3 medium eggs, at room temperature

6tbsp of reduced raspberry juice**  (rather than the red food colouring in the original recipe)

3 tbsp unsweetened cocoa

1½ tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp salt

330ml buttermilk

1½ tsp white wine vinegar

1½ tsp bicarbonate soda (baking soda)

** For the reduced raspberry juice

A generous handful of raspberries

1½tbsp of icing sugar

A “splash” of water

For the frosting/topping:

300g cream cheese (we used half fat, futilely trying to keep the calories in check)

60g butter, at room temperature

340g icing sugar

1½ tsp vanilla extract

24 raspberries

1. Preheat oven to 180C/gas mark 4.
2. Place cupcake cases in cupcake trays and set aside.
3. Sift the plain flour into a small bowl and set aside.
4. Create the raspberry juice by placing the raspberries, icing sugar and water in a pan over a low heat and leave (stirring occasionally) until enough juice is produced for 6tbsp or so; the juice should be roughly the consistency of single cream. Leave the reduced raspberries to cool and then strain the juice.
5. Cream the butter and sugar together until fluffy and smooth (it’s best to use an electric hand whisk for this, rather than a hand whisk as Becca here at Turtle Mat found out when testing the recipe!)
6. Add the eggs, one at a time to the butter and sugar mix, beating well after each addition.
7. Mix into a paste, the cocoa powder, cooled and strained raspberry juice and vanilla extract. Add to the batter and again beat well.
8. Add the salt to the batter than add the buttermilk and floor in three parts, alternating between them and folding the floor in carefully so that it is fully incorporated but so the mix isn’t “overworked”.
9. Mix together the white wine vinegar and bicarbonate soda (watch it fizz!) and then gently add to the cupcake mix (ensuring again it is fully incorporated).
10. Divide the mix into the cupcake cases and bake each tin of cakes for 20 mins (or until a skewer inserted in the centre of the cake comes out clean).
11. Whilst the cupcakes are baking make the cream cheese frosting by whizzing all the ingredients together in a food processor until thoroughly combined. This will appear quite liquid so place in the fridge for about an hour to firm up a little before use.
12. Cool the cupcakes in the tins for about 10 mins and then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely before adding the frosting.
13. Top each cupcake with a raspberry and then enjoy!

We like to think here at Turtle Mat that we help just a little bit to make mums lives easier; keeping floors and homes cleaner for longer with the dirt-trapping power of a Turtle Mat. Don’t just take our word for it though; the Family Panel (review guide)     thought so too…

http://familypanelreviews.blogspot.com/2010/03/turtle-mat.html

It’s great to receive such positive feedback (stop – you’re making us blush!) and it got us thinking about the secrets our mum’s have shared with us to make housework a breeze.

So we thought we’d spend the week (through tweets #cleaning and Facebook posts) sharing with you the hints and tips that make the boring job of cleaning that little bit more bearable. So to get the ball rolling:

Vinegar is a great household cleaner (good on chips too!)…

* Use white wine vinegar to clean floor tile grouting (two tablespoons of vinegar into a large mug of warm water)

* Cider vinegar (approx 100ml) with about 4 litres of warm water is great for cleaning wood floors – just make sure the mop is well wrung out and not too wet

* Vinegar into the warm water you use to clean glass (1 litre water and 250ml vinegar) makes your windows sparkle, dry-off excess with newspaper

Hope they help and if you have any tips you’d like to share don’t forget to comment, we’d love to hear from you.

Refinishing hardwood floors in a home can be a dusty and tedious job, but the results are well worth it. And if you’re going to do it yourself, there some things that you should know before you start the process.

Proper equipment to be used during the process is very important for safety and of course, stunning results. Renting a sander for a couple of days from the local home improvement store should be the first step. Make sure to also invest in some good sturdy gloves and a dust mask for your face because as stated before, this type of home improvement can get dirty and dusty.

During the process, make sure to close all doors leading to other rooms. This will cut down on the dust getting into the rest of the house. Do leave a window to the outside open, in order to get fresh air into the room. Depending on room size and previous stains or damage, sanding can take only one day or a couple of days.

Once the floors are sanded down to your liking, putting a new stain on them along with a coat of polyurethane or sealer should be done. There are many different types and colors of stains to choose from, so be sure to research which stain will work best for your home and lifestyle. Oil based stains are generally the most resilient, but water based stains are slightly easier to work with and tend to dry faster.

Hardwood floors are a beautiful asset to any home, and by properly refinishing them they can be enjoyed for years to come.

If you are interested in different type of floor covering please visit the Turtle Mat Door Mats range.