I always love picking up a few little bits and pieces for my home for Easter & Spring and this year has been no exception as there’s lots of pretty decorations and pastel china featuring in all the Spring /Summer interiors collections. My favourites were in Dunelm and Matalan and I bought the mint dinner plates from the Pure range in Dunelm and the duck egg striped cups & saucers from Matalan which will match beautifully for my Easter table….
My daughter bought me these gorgeous Peggy Porschen books for Christmas a few years ago and they are full of the loveliest cupcake & cake recipes. I decided to try making the Strawberry & Champagne cupcakes this time and they certainly didn’t disappoint! Recipe is as follows – Cake mix – 200g unsalted butter 200g caster sugar pinch of salt seeds of one vanilla pod 4 medium eggs 200g self raising flour —————————— Frosting – 200g full fat cream cheese…
I absolutely love decorating my home for Christmas and if you follow me on FB or IG you will know that almost every corner of my home has some Christmas decor featuring! When you are working with companies for Christmas it all has to be done a bit in advance which means that the Christmas decorating has to start in November and by the time Christmas comes round I’m kind of itching to get the tree down and the house…
My Christmas table decor is usually planned well in advance but as my mum is very ill I hadn’t given it much thought this year until the week before Christmas and it ended up being quite similar to last years table which you can see here. Last year I used lots of holly picked from my friends garden and ivy from my own garden but this year I went to my local florist and bought lots of eucalyptus and some…
I’ve loved crafting since I was a child and used to drive my mum mad with all my projects and leaving trails of glitter, paper and ribbons everywhere. One of my earliest memories is sitting at the kitchen table in winter time making a Christmas card for my gran. It was made with white card with a little lamb cut out and stuck onto it and I remember covering the lamb with silver glitter and being so pleased with how…
After seeing lots of cute hot chocolate stations on Pinterest I decided to set one up in my kitchen for my little grandchildren as they love a mug of hot chocolate with mini marshmallows and chocolate buttons on the top. There’s nothing nicer on a cold & dark night than curling up with a mug of hot chocolate and it’s perfect for a girls night in where everyone can choose their own toppings. The ultimate experience in hot chocolate has…
As the nights get darker and there’s a little nip in the air I must admit I immediately start to think about all things cosy & Christmassy! Warm blankets, hot chocolate with marshmallows & cinnamon candles are all on the agenda and although I love autumn as a season with it’s beautifully changing colours and crunchy leaves underfoot I’m not a huge fan of reds & orange so I don’t use traditional autumn colours in my decor. I do love…
To make these chocolate cupcakes I use my favourite chocolate cake recipe found here and divide mixture into muffin cases. I usually get 12 large ones and around 20 mini ones from this recipe. Reduce baking time to approx 15 minutes at 180 degrees (fan oven) Once baked place them on cooling tray and make ganache. I’m not a huge fan of chocolate buttercream icing so I make a simple ganache with just two ingredients. I also don’t go by…
Scottish Tablet has a long history, first noted in The Household Book of Lady Grisell Baillie in the early 18th century. It’s a very sweet & sugary melt in the mouth type of sweet treat and is often served in Scotland after a meal with the tea & coffee. I made a huge batch of it the day before my daughter Rebecca’s wedding to be served after the meal and it was a huge hit with all the guests. Growing…
I’ve painted many items of furniture over the years and used lots of different types of paint. Originally when I started painting furniture I always used satinwood paint and then I went through a stage of using chalk paint for everything but found it seemed to mark easily on pieces of furniture that were being handled a lot. I prefer using it for smaller projects like mirrors and frames but mainly use satinwood for larger pieces of furniture. In saying…