The Other End of the Spectrum
At the same time that I was snapping all the pink tones that I had lying around, I noticed that I also had as many blue and green hues. Playing around with some of the trinkets I keep buried away is fun, I love making colour collections. The weather has been less than ideal this Easter bank holiday, which has lead to me spend a little more time inside and re-discovering some of things I have squirrelled away. I’m on a baking sabbatical until after my holiday due to the temptation to eat them (she says sipping a glass of red wine), so I’ve been finding other things to fill my time.
In this colour collection is:
1) Paper straws
2) Eco wrapping paper - Furoshiki
Happy Easter
Happy Easter everyone! Not being religious I find Easter a little bit of an odd holiday to celebrate, however, that said I do very much appreciate four days off from work and the chance to catch up with family/friends and life in general.
I couldn’t capture any exciting pictures of the eggs that I received, however the beginning of spring always makes me a go a bit pastel crazy and subconsciously my home seems to be filled with candy coloured objects everywhere at the moment.
I was very lucky this year, the Easter bunny skipped the eggs and treated me to a very lovely Easter chick yellow, Kate Sheridan tote bag. Miles and I are off to Antigua at the end of the month, so a beach bag is far more practical than some calorific eggs.
Outside of celebrating Easter, I’ve been spending some serious amount of time at Frame in Shorditch. Frame is a pretty damn cool workout/dance studio that actually makes working out fun again. With classes that combine yoga, pilates and dance into one, it’s not only really hard work, but I can actually do a real press up now – the frist time ever!
I also invested in some Cable and Cotton lights for my flat…I’ll share a picture of them soon.
Inspiration String
After reading about Bri and Jen’s Anthropologie craft up I felt inspired to have a go at making my own inspiration string. I’ve never really been one for mood boards, but I do love pulling out all my crafty bits and throwing a few things together. I used Polariod pictures, ribbons, wool pompoms and washi tape on my inspiration string – but you could use anything you want. Bri and Jen used everything from balloons and string, to postcards and doilies. Check out all the great strings that people made at the event – there’s some amazing colours!
Aside from playing around with colours, textures and concepts, you could create these strings as friendship gifts, wedding decorations or just add one to an empty wall in your home. Change it around regularly, take new pictures and create some weekly inspiration.
Would love to know if anyone else has a go at one of these, or already uses them to organise their inspiration.
Story Deli Shorditch
London is full of great places to eat, however rarely are the great places as stunning looking as they are yummy. Well, Story Deli in Shorditch is one of those few places that ticks both boxes. A white lofty space decked with botanical style collages and cuttings from fashion and garden magazines alike, Story is a completely organic business. Focusing on fresh produce these peeps make a pizza like I’ve never tasted before. Wafer thin, crisp, cracker-like- crusts piled high with delicious toppings – each mouthful is different and totally delicious.
As a diner you sit among sacks of Tipo 00 flour and crates of flesh tomatoes. Menus are hand printed on brown paper and uniquley you take your own order up to the pizza chef! With it’s greenhouse like aesthetics, Story is a communal eating space that breaks all the rules of formal dining and of pizza as you know it. Previously located on Brick Lane you can now drop into it’s new space on Redchurch Street, next to the new APC and Aesop store. Go forth and discover a new type of pizza for yourself. Note: They only accept cash, no cards.
Blogshop London 2012
A few weekends back I was lucky enough to attend the wonderful 2 day Blogshop class when it swung in to London. I’ve been wanting to attend Blogshop for around a year now, secretly hanging on in the hope that Bri and Angela would one day head to London. Well, the hoping paid off because they did – and it was well worth the wait! Spread over a weekend the course is geared towards teaching you everything you need to know about Photoshop, but from a blogging perspective. That means, that unlike any other Photoshop courses, you don’t spend the whole time learning to re-touch photos and learn the things you really want to - like how to make cool headers, create shapes, add text to images and make the all important animated GIFF!
Both Bri and Angela were great and walked us through the basics (and not so basics) of making your blog and it’s images more interesting. As you can see from above I’m in the stages of playing about and trying hard to remember and practise everything the lovely ladies taught me (I also need to learn to tone it down, watch this space for improvement). The two days weren’t just focused around hardcore learning, I also got the chance to meet so other very talented bloggers including the ever helpful Michelle and the rather lovely Katie, ate some yummy food and we even took a field trip to Coloumbia Road.
I would totally reccommend Blogshop anyone wanting to learn more about Photoshop, but also to anyone wanting to learn from people they admire, who just really ‘get it’. For me Blogshop was two days of amazing inspiration, creativity and excitement. I walked away wanting to blog again and wanting to put into practise everything I had learnt! Two thumbs up, amazing experience.
Check out the cool video fellow blogger and photographer Xanthe put together here.
Absent Without Leave
I can’t hide the fact that I haven’t updated my blog in quite some time. I could ramble on with all the reasons why I’ve been awol however the real reason is, as it always is, that blogging really is one of those things that you can only do when you’re really into it and feel like you have something to say and….
I guess I ran out of things to say, or the energy to say them.
However I thought I’d get back groove, starting with a few highlights over the past 6 months:
- Trip to New York/New England
- Wonderful Christmas gifts
- A LOT of cupcake baking
- Funfetti everything
- Dinosaurs on everything
- Drinking too much Allpress coffee
- Celebrating turning 27
- Painting my nails all the colours of the rainbow
The Renegade Craft Fair London
So back in October I popped along to the Renegade Craft Fair on London’s Brick Lane to check out their first offering on UK soil. I know, I know this blog post is four whole months overdue (I’m not even going to try and explain what’s taken me so long).
I have to make a full disclosure now that I was just a little bit excited about this, as this particular craft fair has been on my ‘must attend’ list for years. I’ve always wanted to make it to the San Francisco Renegade Craft Fair, but my holidays have never quite lined up with the dates.
The Fair was held in the Old Truman Brewery, a lofty-industrial space, that’s very easy to miss unless you know where your going. It wasn’t quite as big as I’d hopped it would be, however I my fingers are crossed that next year it will expand and be even bigger. This year it was testing the water and hopefully next year it will start to get somewhere near the size of the ones they hold in the US. Size aside, it really did have a lovely selection of vendors selling some incredible crafts.
I tried to photograph some of my stand out favoutires including Jim Bob Art (the amazing painted bear plates with El Guapo on!) and Hazel Stark.
(I know this post is 4 months late, however I had it draft for so long that I thought I’d go ahead and share the pictures anyway….)
Autumn Wish List
1. Topshop mustard chunky cardigan
2. Alex Monroe bicycle necklace
3. Flying A New York elephant print scarf
4. Boden breton striped t-shirt
5. Ally Capellino red satchel
6. Boutique by Jaegar spotty dress
7. Liberty Barbour jacket
8. Cath Kidston fairisle hat
9. Topshop tassel loafers
With the weather officially changing and the leaves turning rusty, I can’t help but think about all the cosy and delicious things in the shops at the moment. Every year, at the end of summer, I start to get itchy for cooler weather fashion. It’s funny because when I was putting this collage together I looked back at last year’s autumn collage and realised that my taste really hasn’t changed that much at all. I seem to have a set autumn style that I stick with, large jumpers and lots of opaque tights.
Regular readers will probably have noticed that I am a real autumn nerd, I feel complete with a coat on and have an extensive collection of berets. However, I’m fining this autumn a little more exciting than most as I’m totally in love with the whole country look, nut brown leather loafers, waxed jackets, tartan skirts and chunky knits are simply bliss to me! Now all I need is a mansion in the country to enjoy it all in.
However I don’t have a masion in the country, nor do I live in the country at all, meaning I have to take it easy and mix it up a bit. Walking around Islington dressed like the Queen at her Balmoral Estate really isn’t going to work – country wannabe isn’t a good look. I think items like the Barbour Liberty print jacket is a good compromise though, the pattern is edgy enough to wear in the city, without being too twee . Now all I need to do is find an excuse to purchase it….do walks on Hampstead Heath count?
As much as I love autumn fashion, I’m not looking forward to the nights drawing in and loosing the light. I get so sad arriving and leaving work almost completely in the dark. Although every cloud has a silver lining and that is new produce, yummy autumn foods are back on the menu! Hearty pies, pumpkin, squashes, root vegetables, stews and hot puddings – yes! What is everyone else hankering for this autumn, anyone already baking up some great seasonal recipes? Please do share.
Dinosaur Cupcakes
I’ve been on a bit of a baking spree lately and these dinosaur cupcakes are my latest creations. Inspired by all the cool retro Christmas deers that people put on cupcakes, I thought I’d give dinosaurs a go. These cakes are actually pretty special as I made them as a belated birthday cake for Miles, as we were in Italy over his birthday. The little retro dinos were from an office supplies shop in my home town (Whitstable) and I accompanied them with some pink sugar. They look quite effective, in a new-rave 1990′s kind of way.
Miles being a former huge dinosaur fan loved them, and although not edible kept the dinosaurs on them until the very end. To make the cakes I always use the Hmmingbird Bakery vanilla cupcake recipe and then combine this with the Primrose Bakery’s buttercream icing recipe, as I think it creates a nice, firm icing.
This week has been so crazy busy, I’ve barely had time to stop, however there’s always time for cupcakes – even if I have been eating them at 10pm, when I should be brushing my teeth for bed! In other news, I’m really late to the party but, I’ve just discovered the joy that is Laura Marling. I also want to buy everything in the Boden and Hobbs NW3 collection – not god! I hope everyone’s had a great weekend? x
Happy Tape Cupcake Flags DIY
Step 1
Everything you’ll need below. Try to source cocktail sticks with flat ends. I managed to find mine in a specialist cook shop, I think they are indented for displaying cheese and pineapple creations – retro.
Step 2
Depending on the length of the flag you want to create, snip off your tape and lay the cocktail stick in the middle and try to make sure the two sides of tape are roughly even.
Step 3
Bring the two sides together, making sure they are smooth.
Step 4
You can cut the end of the flag straight, or you can take the ribbon approach and snip the end into non-fray points by folding in half gently and slicing out a V shape.
Final Product (remember to bake cake)
Pop the flag carefully into the tip of the pipped icing on your cupcake. If you are making a big layer cake you could use wooden BBQ skewers (cut to lengths) to make larger, more dramatic flags with happy tape – put into the cake a different heights. More pictures of the end product here.
I hope someone finds this helpful. I know they are not the most technical things to make, but for anyone not great at icing (like myself) they do detract and hide any pipping mistakes nicely. They would be great for a baby showers and general partys - not just weddings!
I hope you all have lovely week…