Styling the seasons

Afternoon peeps, just a quick post as I have decided with much trepidation to join in with the #stylingtheseasons project on instagram which was started by @lottsandlots and @aptapothecary.   Silly I know but I'm dead nervous about joining in as it means lots of people are likely to see my feeble attempts at styling a surface to reflect how I feel about each month but it's just such a lovely little project I couldn't resist having a go. And I'm hoping it will help me to improve my photography skills and to switch things up a little in my home from month to month as I'm actually terribly sentimental and tend to keep things just as they are because I get so attached to things! Last month I was terribly obvious and used autumn leaves, books and pumpkins.

 This month I've gone for something more simple...here's my reasoning behind the items I chose to represent this month.  I chose to use cooler colours this month as I've felt a definite shift toward winter these past couple of weeks, whereas last month it was still decidedly autumnal and everywhere seemed to have a golden glow to me.  I have used dried lavender as a focal point. Lavender is my absolute fave plant, the smell reminds me of my late grandmother whose garden and home was always filled with the stuff, and at the end of every summer I would go and strip her lavender bushes bare to hang and dry in bunches in my room. I like to make little lavender pillows to pop into draws and on top of radiators over winter as a little reminder of the summer. And of course, lavender has such calming and relaxing properties so I keep this little pot from the picture next to my bed to help me sleep. It just evokes such a lovely cozy feeling to me. I used the pebble candle because all winter long I light candles every night, I  just love the soft warm glow of a candle when it's cold and rainy outside. My candle is sitting on a piece of slate shaped like a heart, a found item that my hubby gave to me (he's such an old romantic). I use slate everywhere in my home and there are lots of lovely pieces to be found on the pembrokeshire beaches as it's a very slate rich area.  The candle snuffer is precious to me because it was a gift from my youngest brother when he was very little and I think one of the first spontaneous gifts he chose for me because he knew I would love it. Being the hopeless romantic that I am I like to use it to snuff my candles out at night rather than just blowing them out as I can imagine I'm in a Jane Austen novel ha ha! Finally the little glazed green bowl contains dried petals from a summer rose. At this time of year all the flowers I collected and dried over the summer come into their own as a home just isn't the same to me without a little bit of the outdoors brought indoors and it's lovely to fill the spaces that were occupied by fresh bouquets from the garden with delicate papery blooms I have dried and kept. So that's my styling the seasons post for December....I am looking forward to getting stuck in again come January!

Can't wait to see what everyone else uses.  

Stephanie xx

Hello! Ok, so I'm actually finding at the moment that I have so much going on in my head I can't seem to crystallise my thoughts enough to make a lot of sense in my blog, so as a result I keep putting off writing it.  I do have news I would like to share though, especially as I am mostly blogging about home making, as my news concerns my home. Currently we rent a big beautiful stone house in a pretty pembrokeshire village, and I would say it pretty much fulfils every criteria I have for my perfect home. We have 4 enormous bedrooms, a massive vaulted loft space, an ENORMOUS sitting room with windows making up one whole wall, a dining room with fireplace, a big kitchen diner with a range cooker and utility room, a pantry and two bathrooms. Add to that lots of period features like deep skirting boards, picture rails, original sash windows and panelled oak doors, a cast iron bath  and original fireplace in the bedroom, and a beautiful orchard and walled garden at the back and you have what I have always considered would be my perfect home. The cherry on top is that when we moved in the place was freshly renovated and actually belongs to friends who allowed us to have a lot of input into the choice of fitted kitchen, flooring etc and who gave us a very long lease. So, all things considered, I hoped to be here a long long time.  But recently, the hubby has been quite unwell and I've been worrying that he is struggling with his workload. This is an expensive home to run and I hate that he has to work so much in order for us to be here. He has also recently started his own business treating lawns for weeds etc and because he is in the throes of building that up he has had to keep on his old job in construction to pay the bills, basically working 2 jobs. To me, this is madness. I'm just not prepared to sacrifice our time with hubby in order to have pretty sash windows and an orchard.  So we have reached the difficult decision as a family to move on. At first we looked at other private rentals, but the idea is to slash our expenses as low as possible and exchange a luxury home for time together...private rental just wouldn't achieve that goal being so expensive. So instead we opted to join the list for a council house. Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought we would do this; I hold my hands up and admit to being a total snob when it comes to social housing. But in actual fact, when I started to look I realised it's actually a pretty sweet option, the rent is super low, the houses well planned and built and energy efficient, and there is a level of security you can't get renting elsewhere. I have gradually begun to view this as an exciting challenge for our family, to make a warm welcoming home from something most would consider to be a sub standard house. But I truly believe a house is just a shell in which you live your life, and any place can feel wonderful if there is happiness and contentment among the ones living there.  So.... watch this space! I am super excited to blog about our new home once we find it, and share how we transform whatever we are given into something beautiful and appealing.  Any ideas about space efficient living and home makeovers are gratefully received!  With love
 Stephanie x

Hiya folks. Haven't blogged for a couple of weeks, so much has been going on and by the time I sit down in the evening I've been flaking out too much to write anything! Last week our schedule went completely out of the window as my youngest daughter had a nasty cold and cough and as a result I felt as if it was a completely wasted week. I don't know if it's just me or if it's something all homeschooling mummies go through but every so often I feel as if I lose my way a little and panic that I'm not doing enough or that they are somehow missing out by being at home with me. Last week was one of those moments. But then I sit down, think it through, look at the bigger picture and realise that actually even when we haven't stuck to our schedule and done any planned learning, the learning has never stopped. It's impossible not to learn. It's amazing how left to their own devices children formulate the most incredible educational games and teach themselves. I was attempting some cleaning last week in between cuddles with my runny - nosed child and I hear the two of them outside my door on their way to solve a 'mystery', kitted out with their little backpacks and magnifying glasses, planting handwritten and intricately illustrated 'clues' all around the house and making up a complex story as they go. The game involved a lot of counting, addition and subtraction using various objects that they deemed relevant to their little story. And of course the whole thing was punctuated by bouts of uncontrolled giggling. I was fascinated and thrilled by how they were teaching themselves so much without even realising, while enjoying just being children and flexing their little imaginations. It's how learning was intended to be for children, I'm sure of it. By the end of the week I was feeling confident again and this week we are back with a vengeance. I got a fantastic free poster from open university this week based around the seasons, with a nature hunt for each month of the year, and that set my mind spinning with lots of new ideas for projects in the coming weeks.  I'm always on the look out for free resources to use in schooling, so I was thrilled to discover that the open university has a load of great stuff on their website. Check it out!
 We visited my sister in law and hubby the weekend before last as she is about to pop with her first baby and I wanted to give her a special gift I had made for her.  A while back when I found I was having my first baby I looked for a nappy bag that was big enough to carry the rather bulky cloth nappies I wanted to use but was still pretty and stylish, but to my dismay I really struggled to find anything that I considered to be reasonably priced. So I decided to make my own using one of the very lovely Clarke and Clarke printed oilcloths that you can buy for a very reasonable price. My first attempt was pretty clumsily executed, just a simple boxy rectangular shape, and made out of one rectangular piece of oilcloth, no cutting. The pretty pattern made sure it still looked acceptable and it was really very hard wearing,  so I was pleased with the result. Over time I made many more as gifts for friends with babies, and gradually I tweaked my design to make it easier to make and better looking, and of course as practical and useful as possible. So having seen my more recent productions, my sister in law requested a bag and change mat as her baby gift and chose her fabrics. She went for the beautiful bold Clarke and Clarke 'Agnes' in duck egg combined with their spot fabric also in duck egg. I made a cotton and fleece pram blanket in the matching spot print so that it could be used for a boy or girl. I was really pleased with the result and I think my sis in law was too. I like to try and get a professional finish using proper magnetic bag clasps, bag feet, adjustable slide bar on the strap and chunky d- rings for the strap also, all of which you can buy in craft shops or good old ebay. Here is a pic of the finished product, which included a padded change mat with white bias binding.....

Being new to this blogging lark, I keep forgetting to take pictures of the various steps involved so that I can give you step by step instructions to make your own, so I'm afraid you will have to make do with a basic sketch and my simple explanation of how to make one i'm afraid. But believe me when I say you really need only basic machine sewing skills in order to make this bag. I use only one metre of oilcloth to make the entire set as the clarke and clarke oilcloth comes in 135 cm widths which is a fairly decent width. In this case I wanted to combine 2 different patterns so ordered a half metre of each. Half a metre will do the outside of the bag and one side of the change mat, and the other half metre will do the lining, other side of the change mat and pockets. I also used a small piece of fleece to line the flap, another piece of fleece as wadding inside the change mat,approx 3 metres of bias binding and 1.5 metres of webbing strap.  To begin, I marked out the pieces of my bag on the back of half a metre of oilcloth like so: 

Sorry for the useless diagram but hopefully you get the idea. I rounded off the corners on the front and back pieces of the bag. You can cut out identical pieces for the lining but in this case I wanted more pockets out of the lining fabric to fasten to the front and sides of the bag so when cutting out the lining I replaced the flap piece with fleece and used that section for pockets. I don't want to be too rigid with this tutorial because the beauty of making your own bag is that you choose for yourself the size and location of pockets, whether you want squared or rounded edges etc. So don't hold back, just go for it with your design and personalise it! I wanted a large rectangular pocket on the front which would be covered by the flap partially when it was closed, another rectangular pocket inside on the back, and a pocket on each side. I fasten the pockets on first before I piece the bag together as it's just so much easier that way. When sewing with oilcloth I usually put a piece of masking tape underneath the foot on my sewing machine to help prevent sticking. I also use a denim needle and heavy weight cotton. Doing those few little things seems to mean that my basic little machine copes fine with the oilcloth.  To make the pockets, I cut a piece of oilcloth twice the size of the finished pocket, fold it in half and literally sew it straight on to where I want it, making sure the stitching is as close as possible to the edges and the fold is at the open part of the pocket. The beauty of oilcloth is you don't need to bother with seams as it won't fray easily so as long as you have cut nice neat edges and sew very close to the edge it looks well finished. The reason I don't bother with seams is that on a standard sewing machine you will find that it struggles with sewing through the extra thickness of a seamed edge when you sew the pockets on.  When sewing on the pockets at the sides of the bag I sew only the bottom edge of the pocket as I then sew the edges of the pocket into the seams of the bag when I piece it together. It just looks more professional and a neater finish.  (I hope this is making sense....Apologies for such rough instructions but really you just need to use your common sense with a project like this!).  Once all the pockets are in place, I move on to the flap. This is simply made by pinning the oilcloth and fleece together and sewing around the edge with your bias binding.  Before closing up the edge that will be sewn onto the bag I insert my magnetic bag clasps.  With those in place, I finish the final edge with the bias binding.  The next step is to sew the flap onto the back piece of the bag, which you do by pinning it in place about an inch from the top edge of the back piece and sewing straight across.  You are now ready to piece the bag together.  Begin by sewing the long strip for the base and sides onto the back piece of the bag.  Always start in the centre of this piece as if you have made any fractional error in your cutting out it won't matter so much this way as you can be sure it will still look evenly placed on either side. Line up the centre of your base with the centre of the back piece and pin the edges right sides together.  If you have pockets on the sides, make sure the edges of these are neatly sandwiched between the back piece and the side/base piece.  It should be fairly straightforward to sew these pieces together as you are sewing onto the cotton side of your oilcloth so there is no sticking and it runs through the machine nice and easy.  You can repeat this same process to fasten the front piece of the bag to the sides and base. Turn the bag right side out.  You then need to do repeat this whole process to make your bag lining, of course there is no need to turn it right side out at the end as it will sit inside the bag as it is. Once you have the bag and lining made, it's just a case of putting them together. Place the bag inside the lining, yes inside...We will flip them over when we are done.  At the sides of the bag you will need some leftover rectangular strips of oilcloth to thread through your d - rings for your strap. Thread the rectangles through the d - rings and fold them in half, then sandwich them between the bag and the lining at either side with the d ring facing down toward the base of the bag. Pin in place.  Sew the bag and lining together around the top edge.  I usually use double rows of stitching where the straps poke through just to make them extra strong. Leave the long edge where the flap is at the back of the bag open.  You can then flip the lining over so that it's sitting inside the bag through the open edge. At this point fasten the other sides of your magnetic bag clasps to the correct spot on the front of your bag. All that remains then is to close the final open edge by turning the raw edges in on themselves and sewing a neat line of stitching along the top.  You can then thread your strap through the d - rings and if you are using a slide bar to make it adjustable, add this also.   To make the change mat, I just sandwich a rectangle of fleece between two pieces of oilcloth and sew the edges together using bias binding. I sometimes like to add a little piece of applique, perhaps a heart shape or teddy or something if I have a scrap of oilcloth left. And that's it! Easy peasy!  I realise this is rather a rough set of instructions but if anyone wants to ask about anything in more detail I am more than happy to answer questions! I hope this inspires some of you to have a go yourselves because I am honestly not an expert at sewing, I just go for it and hope for the best, but this really is a lovely little project and can be finished completely in under 3 hours. Happy sewing! 

Steph xx

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Hi all, had such a busy day today so I'm just flaking out on the sofa with my candles lit and the fire going...Bliss!  Made a super delicious steak and ale pie for tea; at this time of year stews, pies and casseroles are the order of the day, hearty comfort food is just the ticket when it's so cold outside.  If you fancy making your own here is my mum's tried and tested recipe: 1 1/2 lbs lean diced steak, three handfuls of mushrooms roughly chopped (any will do but porcini are particularly delicious),plain flour, salt and pepper,1 bottle of 'old speckled hen' ale or similar, 2 or 3 beef stock cubes according to taste,2 strong white onions and 2 cloves of garlic, dash of worcester sauce,1 dessertspoon english mustard. Dessertspoon of cornflour.
For the pastry: 8 oz plain flour, 6 oz butter, 150ml cold water.
Method:  season the flour and toss the steak in it. Brown off the steak in a little oil in a heavy casserole pan. Add the onions, garlic and mushrooms and cook for a few minutes until golden and softened. Add your ale and stock cubes. Bring to a steady simmer...not a boil...and cover. This can simmer for a minimum of 2 hours on the hob. While the filling cooks, make your pastry. This is an easy puff pastry so not too much mixing or kneading required. Cube your butter and add to your flour, mix with a knife till the butter is covered. Gradually add your cold water and mix with the knife to form a soft but not sticky dough. Roll dough out on work surface till you have a rectangle that is twice as long as it is wide. Fold the two shortest sides into the centre, turn and roll again. Repeat the process a minimum of three times. Wrap in clingfilm and place in the fridge until needed. When your pie filling has stewed nicely for a couple of hours, mix your cornflour with a little cold water and add to the mix gradually, stirring constantly. Finally add your mustard and transfer to a deep pie dish. Roll out your pastry and drape over your pie dish. Pierce the top several times and place in the oven at 200 °c until the top of your pie is golden brown. I would love to show you a picture of the pie but unfortunately it did not last long enough to get the camera out! You will have to make do with the one remaining slice...

There is just something about the autumn that I absolutely adore, the crispness of the days, the golden quality of the light, the beautiful rusty colours in the trees and the feeling that there is no place like home.  It really does warm the old cockles to set up camp next to the fire with a glass of mulled wine by candlelight and curl up in an enormous comfy chair with a good book and a favourite blanket. My favourite snuggly quilt that I like to snuggle up with of an evening is homemade and holds many memories for me on account of it being made out of my children's old pram blankets and cot quilt. I just couldn't bring myself to give away these precious items that my babies were once wrapped in for nighttime feeding, sofa snuggling and wintery walks, so I decided that a patchwork made from all these things would be a lovely keepsake and a way to feel close to my girls as they grow up and become more independent from mum. I have never done a patchwork before so mine is really the most basic bit of sewing you could possibly come across, but the finished article is still very lovely. I basically cut out the blankets into equal sized squares. I then laid them out on the floor to decide on a pattern I liked. I decided the simplest way to make the quilt would be to have a large rectangle in the centre and use the patches as a sort of border around the edge. I started to piece the quilt together by sewing all the patches in a long row wrong sides together that would fit along the long edges of the rectangle. I then did the same for the short edges. When I had four lengths of patchwork to fit around the rectangle, I pinned them in place around it and sewed them on wrong sides together. I now had an extra large rectangle with patchwork edges. I then did the same again, creating long lengths of patchwork to fit around the edges of the rectangle and sewing them in place. I finished with an applique heart in the corner of the patchwork. I had a small cot quilt which obviously was too small to be of any use in a normal sized bed, so I used this as the centre padding for my quilt. I also had an old cream coloured heavy cotton throw that had a couple of stains in the corner, so I cut out the clean part and used this as the back of my quilt. I sewed the throw to the patchwork piece wrong sides together leaving part of the short edge open. I turned the resulting 'envelope' right side out and stuffed it with the cot quilt. I hand stitched the opening closed. To hold the quilt in place inside the cover I sewed around the whole thing about an inch in from the edge.  I am so thrilled with the result and I definitely intend to try doing a bit more patchwork as it just looks so pretty and is a really great way to upcycle any pretty fabrics of sentimental value. You could even use precious items of clothing. I'm certainly not the only one in the family who loves the quilt! Have a great evening everyone xxx

Homeschool

Hi folks, how was your weekend? I had a lovely weekend, we had family staying with us so enjoyed a jaunt out to beautiful Tenby, a couple of fabulous pub lunches and a mushroom picking walk in the woods, during which we got caught in a freak hailstorm and were drenched to the skin. Which was so much fun. Coming home soaking wet through and huddling up by the fire with a hot chocolate and a healthy glow in our cheeks is what autumn is all about. Ella enjoyed herself immeasurably, she told me excitedly that she's sure she was born to be an explorer. So dramatic about everything. Love her.
I thought I would write a little about homeschooling today. Of course it's not for everyone, but we are lucky enough to be in a perfect situation to teach our girls at home. I'm a full time mum, we live in an area of outstanding natural beauty where fuel for learning is literally everywhere when we step outside our door, and there is a great network of other homeschooling families in our area which means support for me and lots and LOTS of playtime for the girls. So we decided to go for it. We actually made our decision when Ella was 3, and as we were already very hands on with her learning and development it just became a very natural progression for us into schooling both girls full time. It has taken me a while to find my 'rhythm' though. We started out with ideas of following the national curriculum and sitting down at a desk in a designated 'schoolroom' in the house for a set amount of time each day. As we settled into it though, we began to realise that our children were actually learning more during their 'free time'. The saying that they are 'little sponges' is so completely true, they soak up information and constantly surprise you with their knowledge of things you did not set out to teach them but they have simply picked up along the way. So we began to change tack. I began to each day consciously make a number of activities available to them and allow them to dip into these as they felt the inclination. I began to plan lots of 'hands on' activities, such as kitchen chemistry, baking, and art, art and more art. I began to read to them as much as possible (I have read to my children every day since they were born, but it became more intentional, I would link the topic to what we had been learning about that week, I would point out words to them etc ). And I played with them as much as possible. We became more child led, meaning that when their interest was piqued by something we saw or experienced, we would grow that into a whole project and incorporate all the subjects into that one topic, the benefit being that because it was something they chose and were already interested in they were engaged and fascinated by what they were learning.And as we did so, we observed their confidence growing, their curiosity growing, and their problem solving ability being refined. It is so immensely satisfying to see your child's natural curiosity and inquisitiveness translate into a real love for learning. So, that is how we learn now. And so far it's working. The best part is that we get to really enjoy eachother as a family. There are days I admit when I wonder if I can really do it, my mind feels completely muddled and I'm stressed out to the eyeballs, but when I remind myself of why we are doing this and consider the benefits I know I wouldn't have it any other way. Just lately I have been reading a lot about Waldorf Steiner education, and it really seems to fit with our way of doing things. I love how it centres a child's early learning around the arts, and encourages a deep connection with nature. I also enjoy the way learning is structured into daily and weekly 'rythyms', so that you have some structure but room for a lot of movement within that structure. This term I have tried a new schedule which I have written on a little 'wheel' so that the kids can go to it each day, turn the wheel and see what they are doing that day. I'm also planning to try a year long theme of months of the year, meaning each month we will take the month itself as our inspiration and structure our lessons around that, for example as it's November we will be doing some lessons based around fireworks, hibernation of animals, and continuing our autumn theme. Ella has requested that we throw in some learning about horses.

It makes me feel calm and organised when I have some idea at the outset of where we are going with our learning that month. I've got new workbooks for the girls this month, one for 'words', one for 'numbers', one for their topic and one for 'art'. I hope I can share with you as we go along and hopefully give some support and inspiration to you other homeschooling mums out there, and I would love to hear from any of you regarding your ideas. Happy homeschooling everyone!

Snow globe tutorial

Hello everyone,
I can't believe it's almost officially wintertime already, but I actually rather enjoy getting snug indoors and feathering our nest ready to hibernate on the sofa with my girls. I like to change things round a little indoors when it begins to cool down to make home feel more cozy and inviting to reflect the season. This means piles of pretty blankets and handmade quilts (I shall be writing another post about quilts shortly so look out for that one), copious candles and fairy lights for softer lighting, stacks of favourite old books and pretty biscuits and snacks in kilner jars or on beautiful china plates, because, let's face it, we all like to put on a bit of extra winter insulation at this time of year :-) . The extra time spent indoors also means lots more crafting in this house, and today I wanted to share with you a simple little craft idea which adds to that magical feeling winter brings and also makes a fabulous handmade gift if you are stuck for something personal and a bit special to give. It's also a craft that the children absolutely love so that's a bonus! I have lots of little trinkets about the place that belonged to my lovely nan who passed away last year, and being of such sentimental value I wanted to make a feature of one or two of them, so after a short mooch through ideas on pinterest I decided to make a snow globe.  Snow globes always held a special intrigue for me as a child, ever since I watched Shirley Temple in Heidi receive a snow globe containing a miniature of her grandfather's house. I found it fascinating that there was this tiny little world in a flurry of snow that you held in the palm of your hand. So this was a perfect craft for me. I chose a small plastic deer for this project, which can be found everywhere in the shops around Christmas and are just deliciously kitsch. I remember being allowed to play with this one as a child and I thought it was completely gorgeous. I don't know why my nan kept it but she was a bit of a magpie and just loved animals and anything a bit cute. Anyway, to make your snow globe you will need an old jam jar and lid, perhaps a more globular shaped one would be best, some boiled cooled water and a bottle of glycerine which you can buy over the counter at Boots, some glitter and fake snow, and ribbon or any other little embellishment you may fancy. I used faux gemstones and some cute little toadstools I found at Wilkinson. You will also need a hot glue gun. You may need to begin by gluing your chosen figurine to a bottle top so that it's slightly raised up on the jar lid. You can then glue the figurine and bottle top to the inside of the jar lid. Fill your jar 3/4 full with the cooled water and a couple of tablespoons of glycerine. Add your glitter and faux snow and check that the liquid is viscous enough that the glitter etc takes a while to settle. If need be add a tad more glycerine. When you are happy with the liquid, screw the lid to the jar and hot glue around the edge. You can then add your embellishment.  I'm sure you will agree the effect is rather charming! I shall be making more of these so will post pictures of the results. Have a good evening all xx

Hi everyone, just a quick post today as I have to get on with the very important task of watching Bambi with my girls.  Love that movie.

Anyway in the interests of cozying up for our movie afternoon I've lit the candles, put the fire on and made a pot of tea.  I got some cheap fairy lights in Wilkinson this morning ( I get so many fantastic bargains in that place, only £3.50 for a string of led's) and decided to use them to finish off a little chandelier I made out of galvanised garden wire last year. I have made quite a number of these now, the design is fairly simple although you do end up with hands covered in blisters by the end of it, but I do think it's worth the pain to have something beautiful and handmade in your home. I'm not sure I could write a tutorial for one of these but I will see what I can come up with.  I used mine to glam up a lacklustre corner of my living room and I'm thrilled with the result now I've added a bit of sparkle with the lights.  You may notice a little cobweb in the picture... I'm afraid I didn't have the heart to evict it's tiny inhabitant so it will just have to stay for the time being!
Well I'm off for a lovely sofa afternoon now, Lidl is now stocking those gorgeous iced German ginger biscuits now in time for Xmas so I shall be tucking into one or two of those with my cuppa! Have a lovely afternoon x

Hi all,
So I'm back from visiting my folks in South Wales which was just lovely. Can't beat a weekend at your mum's no matter how old you are. Mum's home cooking and fussing over you as only a mum can is always so comforting, and now that I have children of my own, a weekend at mum and dad's has the added bonus of being a bit of a break for me on the childcare front too. It was lovely, I slept in, went and got my nails done, and had a night out with friends for cocktails and the theatre. We returned today for a kids party and now the little munchkins are tucked up in bed fast asleep after an afternoon of jumping on the bouncy castle, running around screaming and stuffing their little faces full of chocolate cake.

Speaking of parties...A number of friends, including my lovely sister in law, are about to pop and become mummies themselves so baby showers a - plenty are being planned left right and centre. As my sister in law was visiting us recently I took the opportunity to throw a little shower for her at my home.  I have to say I do love party planning, especially if I get to use my collection of vintage china, so I threw myself into the task with gusto even though I had only 4 days in which to pull it all together. I asked a good friend to provide one of her fabulous 'ruffle' chocolate fudge cakes, and I baked a batch of chocolate cupcakes, scones with jam and clotted cream(the key to a perfect scone is to knead the dough as little as possible), some gorgeous little heart shaped sandwiches and my piece De resistance...white chocolate macarons which I filled with white chocolate buttercream in pink and blue, as we don't know the sex of the baby. I absolutely adore macarons and their gorgeous velvety chewiness but they are notoriously difficult to make.  After endless experimenting with different recipes and rules, I have settled on what seems to be a fairly foolproof recipe and it works every time:

100g icing sugar (confectioners sugar if you are I  u.s)
100g ground almonds (almond flour)
2 egg whites
55g caster sugar
Heat safe food colouring

Sieve the icing sugar and almonds together. Any bits that won't go through the sieve can be blitzed in the food processor and then pushed through the sieve, this is really important as it needs to be really fine, any lumps in your mix can ruin your macaron. Beat the egg whites in a separate bowl till they resemble fluffy clouds, then add your caster sugar and colouring. Continue to beat until you have a fairly stiff dry meringue. At this stage add your almond and sugar mixture and fold it in.  The object here is to knock a good deal of the air out of the mixture so don't hold back, you will know your mixture is ready when it resembles molten lava, it shouldn't be too runny. Now you're ready to pipe your macarons onto a lined baking tray. Try to pipe nice even circles, or even use a silicon macaron tray.  It's crucial to give your tray a good few firm taps on the work surface before you put them in the oven, to get rid of any trapped air and avoid cracking. Bake in a preheated oven at 140 degrees for 12 mins; this will depend on your oven though, you may need to have a few trials to find the perfect time and temperature for you.  Let them cool completely before peeling them off the baking paper. You can fill them with ganache,  buttercream, chocolate or anything you fancy. This is just a basic recipe but they are super delicious and if you can master this recipe then it's fun to experiment with different flavours.  www.bravetart.com is a fabulous baking blog which dispels the macaron myths and gives some great troubleshooting for those macaron disasters which inevitably will happen. But when you finally make that perfect batch,you will be hooked! They are just the prettiest little bites of perfection.

The baby shower was a roaring success and left me feeling like I need to plan another little tea party soon, i'm thinking just an afternoon tea with friends this time, so watch this space! Xx

So today I took the kids swimming for the afternoon which I must admit I really didn't feel like doing today. It's getting decidedly autumnal outside, and while I adore this time of year I do believe it is best enjoyed kicking through the fallen leaves bundled up to the eyeballs in a big wooly jumper and hat,or indoors by a roaring fire with a mug of hot spiced apple juice. Most definitely not in a skimpy cozzie in a lukewarm swimming pool. But my girls disagreed, they couldn't think of anything more exciting for a Wednesday afternoon, so in the interests of earning mummy brownie points I stuffed our kit in a bag and off we went. Boy am I glad I did. Ella, my eldest, has been gradually becoming more comfortable in the water each week, and today for the first time she dunked herself under the water and swam quite a way on her own. Her little face was so overjoyed that she finally swam unaided I felt like I was going to burst with pride. Honestly if she had won an Olympic gold medal I could not have been more proud. And I taught her that. Such a wonderful feeling. 

Anyway, I wanted to share with you my boot sale finds from the weekend. It's been sooo long since I went to a boot sale, I've always been too exhausted after broken sleep with babies to drag myself out of bed early enough to get the really good stuff. So this weekend marked another little step towards being able to enjoy 'grown up' stuff again. Which did make me feel a little sad, because it brings home how quickly our baby girls are becoming big girls and I do miss having a baby around. Still, it was nice to feel that familiar thrill of rummaging amongst all the junk to find your one little piece of treasure. I do believe my enthusiasm rubbed off on my girls, they came home with a pink unicorn and a pair of mickey mouse roller skates,  items I do not know how we have lived without thus far. Although I only found a couple of treasures of my own I was chuffed with what I did get: a wonderful sanders teapot with a beautiful shabby chic design, and 2 Cecily Barker flower fairies books. I adore her illustrations. And I must admit I'm a bit of a magpie when it comes to vintage China.  There's nothing quite like the thrill of haggling for your desired item;

my heart skipped a beat when the lady apologetically asked me for £2.00 for my teapot. I do love a bargain. And I love the idea that I have rescued something that was once treasured by another person from ending up on the rubbish heap, instead to be treasured by me. I think there will definitely be a lot more boot sale trips coming up this winter! 

Off to my parents' tomorrow with the girls so will share what we've been up to when we return. Xx

Bloggin'

Well, I have been dancing around the idea of writing a blog for a long time now. I just take so many pictures of my home and my little craft projects or pretty things that inspire me, but I have nowhere to collect them all. So, a blog seemed a good idea. I have no idea if anyone will actually be interested in reading what I have to say, but I'm going to have lots of fun writing it nevertheless! I'm heading out to take my two little darlings swimming in a mo so I will write my first proper post later when I'm all settled on the sofa with a cuppa 😊 xx