Happy Yule to All!
Just a quick little message to wish everyone who reads Littledollface a very, very merry Christmas and an even happier New Year! Whatever you are up to this Yule, I hope everyone manages to get home safe, travel without delay, stay healthy, enjoy time with loved ones and eat some delicious food. I’m signing off until after the big day now, so to everyone out there, have a great one! Much love. xxxx
Picture by Camilla Engman
Weekend Walk in Hampstead
Hello all! Anyone who follows me on Twitter will be aware that I have been house-bound and bedridden with terrible flu for the last week, meaning all Christmas activities, photos and plans have had to be put on hold. Today is the first day that the fog seems to be clearing, after days of feverish temperatures, endless sleeping and total-body aching it seems to be on the way out. Phew is all I can say! Though, I did get diagnosed with a bit of a chest infection today and as such I am rasping like a dog, around the flat that I have been penned into for the last 5 days straight. Enough of me feeling sorry for my flu-suffering self, Christmas is but a day or so away and it’s time to get a excited! No grand plans for me this year other than visiting the family and hoping for a full recovery in time for January.
I don’t have much to share sadly. However, I wanted to say ‘hello’ to everyone, as other bloggers are sharing such lovely gift guides I felt inspired, unfortunately (due to illness) all I have is a few sad shots of my weekend in Hampstead from a some weekend’s a go. I had such great plans to try and dream up some stunning present selections but every-time I dragged myself to the laptop to start I fall asleep or got distracted by other people’s attempts (ha,ha!)I’m a terrible blogger!
So here they are, a few snaps of my trip to Hampstead village and heath. There was snow, frozen ponds, wildlife, lots of dogs, hundreds of craft fairs, real hot chocolate and plenty of cold fresh air – bliss! Blew the cobwebs away a treat and you can always count on this part of London to make you feel like you’re not in London at all!
Craft, Cake, Christmas and an Elf
Today was a good day. What day filled with friends, cake, fizz, Elf and craft couldn’t be good? That’s just what we did, today was a Christmas crafty day will with cakes, roast dinners and lovely ladies. Now it’s starting to feel a lot like Christmas, all I need is Miles Tinsley to come come from America and all will be complete.
Christmas is always such a busy time for me, work is bonkers and my social calendar goes from nothing to all – I’m not moaning, oh no, I love Christmas but it does leave much room to take a breath. I am so looking forward to heading home in a few weeks, having time off and getting festive.
The tree is up in my flat, I went for icy blue, white and silver ornaments this year – with a very funny white feather owl topping the tree this year. The owl was Miles’ idea, he really took a shine the the bird in Liberty this year?!
With the cold weather here to stay I’ve been mostly reading the new copy of Lula, painting my nails hundreds of times with Models Own glitter polishes (I’ve got glitter fever this Christmas), watching the trash-factor and wearing a puffa jacket (something I always said I would never own). How’s everyone else Christmas preparations going, are the decorations up?
Christmas Flags
I’m yet to put all my Christmas decorations up, however I am managing to sneak a few things past Miles and up befor our designated decorations date. One of the first things to go up has been this Christmas mini flag bunting that I made a few weeks back. I was really inspired by the windows of my local Toast store and decided to recreate the look and make my own. I had no idea that they actually sold the flag bunting, I thought it was just a window decoration! Anyway, it’s cheaper and more satisfying to make your own and this way I got to use this dreamy rain drop paper from Paperchase. I’ve used the finish product to adorn my fireplace, any regular readers will know I can’t resist making something seasonal for my fireplace, you can see last year’s garland here.
I am pretty excited about putting the rest of my decorations up this weekend, including the tree! It’s been snowing on and off here in London so I am hoping there might be a few flurries whilst we put the decorations up – extra Christmasy feel! Am I the only one who’s ridiculously excited about decorating their home for Christmas? I’ve just got my hands on the new Lula, so I think a good reading sessions is on the cards tonight. It’s so curling up under a blanket or duvet weather right now……night all!
My Mini Mistake
I had a bit of an ordering miss-hap! I got excited an ordered my much wanted Fjallraven backpack from America for Miles to pick up and boy did I get it wrong. The Opening Ceremony website wasn’t really the most helpful and did’t give any measurements for the bags so I ended up ordering one that would even look too small on a Child – the Mini Kanken. I had my heart so set on the bag that I had to go out and get the right sized one at English prices, which are considerably more (sob). However, since having it it hasn’t left my back and I have had free limbs, no longer ladened with my heavy handbags – I love it! I have no idea what I’ll do with it’s little brother – lunch bag maybe? In other news I’m loving Two Door Cinema Club, Oh Happy Day! blog and The Help (a book I’m reading).
Blueberry and Lemon Cupcakes
Despite the fact that it’s pretty much winter and the weather is dismal, I couldn’t resist baking some summer style cupcakes. Well, I think it has lots to do with the fact that blueberry and lemon are one of my all time favourite flavour combinations. I love a blueberry and lemon american pancake and the same can be said for cakes – they are yum! These didn’t turn out to be the best looking cupcakes I’ve ever made, but they do taste good. The icing was a little soft as I was about 50g out on the icing sugar (which does effect the consistency) but I had to go with what I had in the cupboard. Another pitfall is that they do bake quite heavy with the fruit in, next time I would reduce the amount I use to try and get them a bit lighter. The wafer flowers on top of the cakes I picked up from The Country Living Christmas Fair on Wednesday, but I think Squires Kitchen sell similar ones.
You’ll need the following:
115g of unsalted better
115g of golden caster sugar
115g of self raising flour
2 medium sized eggs
the grated rind on one lemon
a table spoon of milk
1 generous handfull of blueberries (washed)
For the icing:
500g of icing sugar
100g butter
Around 50ml of milk
The rind of 1/2 a lemon grated
How to make the cupcakes:
1) Cream the butter and sugar together until fluffy and light, then beat one egg in at a time until mixture is smooth.
2) Add in the lemon rind and mix again. Now sieve in the the flour and mix until smooth. Then add the milk to make a dropping consistency.
3) Roll the blueberries in a little flour to stop them sinking, shake them off then fold in gently to the cake mixture.
4) Spoon mixture into cupcake cases, making sure to only fill them a 3/4 way full. Bake for 25-30 mins at around 150 degrees.
5) For the icing blend the butter until soft add in the lemon then add half the icing sugar and milk, mix until smooth. Then add the other half of the sugar and blend – the mixture should now be very stiff, add as much milk now as you want to create the desired consistency. (Stiffer icing is easier to pipe)
Happy Sunday, I hope everyone has a lovely cake filled weekend. I’m hopefully off to the Mid-Century Modern show at Dulwhich today - if you like Mad Men or well designed furniture take a look here. Also I plan to make some more seasonal cakes soon, when I do I’ll be sure to share them. However if you want some fun cake-spiration, check out this AMAZING cake my friend Sarah created for someone’s birthday.
San Francisco Gifts
Miles returned from yet another trip to American and bought with him a bag of pressies. Although it’s a pretty lonely with him not around (well really lonely) it’s always nice to receive a present or two. I don’t know if you’re familiar with Plover Organics, a lovely US company that produce beautiful bed linen and cushion covers. Well, Miles knew that I love the confetti pattern and managed to pick me up 4 stunning napkins in a shop in Hayes Valley, San Francisco! To say I’m in love with them is un understatement – they are lovely.
He also treated me to my favourite stationary – Rifle Paper Co recipe cards! Rifle Paper produce some of nicest stationary around, it’s so unique, detailed and whimsical – everyone should check out some of their lovely wares. I know Paper Mash is a stockist in the UK and there are lots of places stateside that stock them. He also picked me up a copy of Martha Stewart Living as it seems very hard to get hold of in my area lately (sob). Overall I was very spoilt and I’m very grateful, although my biggest gift was having Miles home (cheesy but true). I hope everyone else has had a great week?
Autumn Harvest
This week I seem to have pumpkin fever! All I want to do is buy lots of the little, twisted and unusual ones, not the orange ones that occupy every supermarket shelf here in the UK. It’s a real treat for me to find the green pumpkin that I did (above), and now it’s pride of place in the living room. It’s funny because at no other time of year do I display a vegetable next to my fave milk glass.
So, this week was also the one that we finally decided to give up on failing tomato crop. After months of feeding, watering, tending and not really being able to get in our front door, this is all the tomatoes it decided o give us (sob). I don’t think they liked the lack of sunlight they had, oh well there’s always next year. Needless to say we haven’t sampled these very green and very hard tomatoes, even with sunlight they are not ripening at all – a tomato disaster! I don’t think I have very green fingers, either that, or I should just wait until I finally get that garden (one day).
In, other news I’ve been to my second crochet class at Loop and learnt all sorts of new stitches, then fell apart when it came time to try a granny square. Pattern and diagram reading is not my strong point, that and grown tomatoes. I’ve been practicing all day so hopefully next week I’ll have made progress. Also, I am off to the Belle Epoque Party, Green Fairy Halloween party next Saturday, so I’ve been busy preparing a costume (my goodness, I’m not sure).
Have a great week…x
Where I’ve Been – Loop N1
Sorry for the super long hiatus. I’ve been in another world of feeling ill and being so busy I don’t get a minute free. Also, weekends are the time I usually take some pictures and blog, however these have been all been very hectic so I’ve managed neither. I always think I must snap that for the blog and then I come home from running errands and the light has gone! I really need to re-program myself for the fading light.
So, seasonal woes aside, I’ve been learning to crochet. Now ordinarily I might share a photo of something I’ve made or created, but in this case all i would have to show you would be curly ball of wool that has been unpicked a hundred times. Needless to say, I’m not quite there yet, in fact, I’ve only had one, two hour lesson and a lot of home practise. I’m lucky, I have a mother who is incredibly talented a crochet (remember this blanket?) so I’ve been getting a few after class pointers, but for the most of it, I’m on my own.
The photos above are of the beautiful wool shop and learning space, Loop. The shop is just 15mins from my house so I do feel very lucky – it’s so beautiful and my class is taught by the very talented Bee Clinch. The shop space is lovely, all Ercol tables and stick-back chairs – with stunning knitted blankets draped over them. Wood and wool really does look so natural together – just like Ingrid always says.
Anyway, that’s a little update from me. I am also busy booking my tickets for The Country Living Christmas Fair and a swish Belle Epoque halloween party. If it’s anything like last year costumes the photos should be fun.
(All images are from Loop)
Autumn Escape
Sorry for my short pause in blogging, I nipped off to Spain for a little autumn escape for 5 days and forgot to post anything before I left. I went to a town 2 hours north of Barcelona to watch Miles do some skydiving. We went with friends and had a lovely time soaking up some last-minute sun, eating plenty of tapas and getting neck ache watching Miles floating down from the sky.
Now I’m home, it’s officially autumn and I’m embracing the the cooler weather and trying hard to embrace the darker evenings and mornings. I’m also looking forward to starting my crochet course at Loop soon, fingers crossed I can actually master it. I’m hoping this could be my winter hobby, something to keep me occupied on the long dark days. Other things keeping my occupied at the moment is listening to The Like, reading new blogs and finding new cake recipes to bake.