Christmas pudding truffles

Another homemade gift... or just to enjoy yourself over the festive season!

My friend Sarah introduced me to this super easy recipe from Nigella (you can find the recipe here) I think I may have over done it slightly on the quantity of sherry, but hey its Christmas!! :)
I didn't use cherries to decorate the puddings, I used those little icing pens making it even easier!

Enjoy!

Happy Christmas!

Happy Christmas everyone!

Christmas Cookie Jars

So this year it's all about the homemade presents in my house. Here is a little treat for some of my neighbours and friends.

Its amazing what a simple Ikea jar and a little bit of festive ribbon can do to jazz up some dry cookie ingredients!

I must remember to mention they will need to add 2 eggs and some butter!

Heres how I did it... :)

Christmas is coming!

Here's some fun stop motions I made last year to get you in that Christmas mood!

I love dressing up the christmas tree, this was our best tree yet, it was so big I had to stand on a chair! 

   

The gingerbread house... I got a bit over excited towards the end and it all got a bit messy but it was fun!

More to come this year... watch this space!

B is for Basket

Here is a boring basket....

...and here is something a little more exciting! I saw a similar basket in Zara home (love Zara home!) but it was £30! This has cost a total of £10... winner! 

A colourful basket is a happy basket :)

Beautiful Bureau

I recently bought my first bureau from a lovely antique shop in Kent. This shop is FULL... litterally stuffed full of antiques! The minute I walked through the door I spotted the beautful bureau... I loved it! It took a total of two hours to convince my husband it was a good buy and I would make it look lovely! Finally with 10 mins before closing time we parted with the cash.

With a lick of paint or two and a pretty door knob from Zara home, it now sits in our hallway so many guests to our house can admire it!

Ahhh... our beautiful bureau :)

New logo

I have a new logo! :)

 Apparently I'm quite indecisive so check out how I eventually got to this logo with this gif

 :)

Union Jack purse

Cross stitch is back in a new way to the classic picture your mum has hanging on her wall!

Taken from Cath Kidston's Stitch book, this wasn't a very quick "make", it took me weeks but well worth the effort! 

Made with tapestry wool rather than thread makes it pretty sturdy. I used a spotty cotton to line the purse and floral backing.. The tricky task of getting a zip in a small space always takes me a few attempts and every time I say I must practice zip inserting!!

Flower Girl Dress Part 2

Ta-dah!!

So the wedding is over, the cake has been eaten and the happy couple are off on their honeymoon. As for the long awaited flower girl dress, it was created, worn and stained by the end of the day... it was a perfect!

My gorgeous niece Evie did us all proud skipping down the aisle all by herself and even managed to pose for a few photos.

If you didn't see my first post about this check it out here

I loved making this dress, it was small, neat and so much easier than meters and meters of fabric on adult dresses. The pattern was from Marina Brumpton I literally googled and her etsy shop came up, it was perfect and so easy to follow check her out here

Working for a bridal designer you find a few scraps of silk going here and there so I was fortunate enough to get some end of roll dupion silk so that was the bodice sorted. The Blue sash and bow matches the older bridesmaids dresses exactly. I decided to use layers and layers of organza and tulle to give the skirt that fluffy soft look.

Here is the dress in action...

.

Bread

Introducing... The eight strand plaited loaf!! 

Many a Saturday afternoon is spent in our little kitchen with husband Tom whipping up another ciabatta loaf. (I say 'whipping up' he spends most of the afternoon waiting around for it to rise!) In an attempt to better his bread baking skills I tried out the eight strand plaited loaf... Not only does it look good it tasted delish! And I think I impressed him! I'm not gonna lie I did get Tom to read out the instructions as I passed strand over strand... Just need to learn to plait my hair like this now! 

This with a can of Heinz tomato soup and I'm a happy girl! 

.

Knitting Toys

You can get so much joy from knitting toys and this is one of the best!

Knitting is in my family genes, I have a Grandma that can knock up anything in wool in a matter of minutes, and Mother with speedy little fingers steam comes off her needles once she gets going!

Meet Cinders and Cinderella...  take a look at the gif. What little girl wouldn't want one of these!!

 And there is more... this isn't two toys... this is two toys in one!!! It is knitted toy BOGOF :)
What a treat to discover lifting up her skirt you would find another toy under there. I just love this!

I would love to say I knitted this but this one was done by my Mum, she spent a while on and off making this for my little nieces to play with when they come over to her house.

Let me know what you think in the comments box below! :)

Cross stitch meets iPhone

Hoorah! I have finally finished my cross stitch iPhone cover (see post) I would love to tell you this only took me a few evenings to do but sadly this wasn't the case (no pun intended!)

I am loving my new, unique and very bright iPhone cover. You can make one too, buy this as a kit online.

Go on give it a go!

 

 

Elephant knitting

Here is another knitted animal I made for a little boy called William... This is another great pattern from Knitted Wild Animals by Sarah Keen. I just wish I could knit faster!!

Easter bunnies!

These are the easiest Easter bags that you could knock up in under 30 minutes... So there is still time before Easter Sunday tomorrow !

My four fabulous nieces will be receiving one these tomorrow filled with little chicks and mini chocolate eggs!

If you would like to make these too check out Mer Mag blog

Happy Easter!!

Another charity shop find...

Check out these beautiful silk threads I found at the charity shop for £5! I don't think I'm ever going to use them they look so pretty!

Flower girl dress

I found new love for my sewing machine tonight!
Here is a little mock up of a flower girl dress. My brother is getting married in June and I have been given the task of making my niece Evie her flower girl dress! She is only 2 a very excited about wearing a pretty princess dress!

This one is just made out of calico I wanted to make sure the pattern worked. I will also try this on Evie to make sure it fits!

The plan is to make the bodice out of silk dupion, I have managed to take the scraps from work (perks of work for a bridal designer) and as she is so small I don't need much. The skirt will be layers of tulle with a silk sash round the middle.

Im so excited about this little project, Ill update you over the next few months when I start making the final one... Watch this space!

William Morris Fabric

Second hand is the best hand! This is my latest find from a antique shop in Seven Oaks which is stuffed full of little finds. This is a lovely piece of Sanderson William Morris - Granville fabric. Love the vibrant green and the pop of the blue flowers in between... Now what shall I make with it?

X Stitch

Here's a little taster of something I'm working on... Watch this space!

Jacq made a blind...

How do you make a Roman blind? ... Throw sand in their face!! (my Dad's joke)

I recently made a roman blind for the hallway, surprisingly easy to make as long as you are good at measuring accurately. You can buy a roman blind kit from Terrys fabrics online. It tells you how to make it and gives you everything you need (apart from the fabric)

I searched high and low for this striped fabric and then came across exactly what I wanted in Ikea.

Check out the gif...

 

Lets eat cake!

Here's how Jacq made that cake...

Pin Pin!

A pin board, simples yet practical... check out the stopmotion!

Yesterday I made a cake...

'G' is for Georgina! It was her 30th birthday and birthdays mean birthday cake! A little vid of how I made this is coming soon so watch this space...

Go wild!

Say hello to Cheeky Monkey and  Happy Hippo... I knitted these cheeky chappies last year and gave them away to some little people called Felicity and Annabelle.

I cant remember where I got the pattern for the monkey from but the Hippo is from Knitted Wild Animals by Sarah Keen. Love this book, they can take a while to knock up but well worth it... just look at them!