It’s getting spookily close to Halloween so I thought it was time to make a batch of gingerbread men all dressed up for Halloween. I used my favourite gingerbread recipe and whipped up a load. When they had cooled down I decorated them as skeletons with an icing pen. Yummy, but not very scary! Perhaps I will have to get some inspiration from my Halloween board on Pinterest. I’ve seen some amazing carved pumpkins in the shape of Hello Kitty and Bert & Ernie from Sesame Street. Going on last year’s pumpkin efforts I think we had better get started…
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The Knitting and Stitching Show is the highlight of my year. If you haven’t heard of it before it’s the textile event of the year, featuring hundreds of exhibitors, galleries from leading artists and groups, plus hundreds of workshops. I’ve gone every year since I heard about it but last year was really strict with myself and only bought items I actually needed or would make. This worked pretty well and I made everything I bought except one (due to an elusive Moda quilt pack). This year I was lucky enough to go with a friend and we took our…
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*****giveaway is now closed and the winner is Katie Skeoch***** Klorane is a French company whose founder believed that the human race can only progress and survive through nature. The company now produces a range of plant-based products for hair and also eye care. The hero product is the Klorane Gentle Dry Shampoo with Oatmilk which celebs such as Gwyneth Paltrow, Diane Kruger and Kate Moss love, but there’s also a range of shampoos and conditioning balms which use specific plant extracts for different hair problems. I tried the Klorane Mango Butter Shampoo and Conditioning Balm which are great for reviving any…
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I’ve got to that stage of my second pregnancy where I need a helping hand in the bedroom. I’ve been using the duvet to make a pillow under my bump but my husband is starting to complain about the lack of duvet (because I’ve obviously been using his quota of duvet!). However I can’t quite bring myself to resurrect my maternity pillow from its place in the loft. Not that it wasn’t useful, it’s just really un-sexy. Do you agree? I’m not at the stage where I want to cover my pregnant tummy in an old ladies-style nightie but there…
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I’ve been dying to try my hand at felt biscuits ever since I saw them on the cover of Mollie Makes, which were designed by Ouissi Gresty. The patterns were quite simple so I bought a copy of her book ‘Felt biscuits’ but I found it a bit disappointing. It’s a small book and only covers patterns for five biscuits (pink wafer, bourbon, shortcake, custard creams and a jam sandwich) but does include a pattern for a biscuit tray and tin. Personally I would have liked more biscuit patterns (garibaldi, rich tea, chocolate digestive, etc) or the patterns which featured…
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Slim pickings this week in my eternal search for cool vintage finds. However, what I did find was pretty special: Vintage Kia-Ora cup and jug in bright plastic orange. It was manufactured by Crayonne Ltd, probably in the 1970s. Kia-Ora was launched in Great Britain in 1917 and is still going strong today! I am definitely on the look out for a couple more cups so we can use them in the summer. For more vintage loveliness check out the following links: Flea Market Finds nifty thrifty things Magpie Monday Thrift Share Monday Thriftaholics weekly
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I’ve been busy participating in lots of fun swaps lately and received the most amazing swap parcel as part of the International Craft Swap from Gina. I asked her to make Edward a personalised muslin as he loves a small muslin square to hold whilst he goes to sleep. She completely surpassed what I expected and made him a beautiful quilt which features a giraffe (his favourite animal) and his name. As soon as he saw it he realised it was for him and he’s been snuggling under it on the sofa and wrapping it around himself – very cute.…
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Boobs, love ’em or hate ’em but mine are definitely growing bigger throughout my pregnancy (and bigger than I remember last time round!). I have been in desperate need of a maternity bra and recently seized my opportunity. I was out shopping with a friend in Covent Garden when I remembered there was a branch of Bravissimo. I’m on their mailing list and their bras look kind of cool so we stopped by. I find it really hard to go shopping for clothes as a) my husband hates shopping and b) my husband hates shopping. This means that although we…
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I was feeling very brave and decided I wanted to try baking a cake in a jar. I’ve seen them on lots of American blogs, including spectacular rainbow coloured ones. My first problem was finding glass mason jars but I tracked down some Kilner jars in our local bake shop which were suitable. As this was my first attempt I used a white packet mix. I couldn’t find any neon food colouring so divided the mixture in two and added cocoa powder to half the mixture. I then layered the mixture inside the jar with the chocolate layer at the…