merry xmas

Today I had a little pre Xmas tea party for my youngest son, with 2 of his nursery school friends. We made the Gingerbread house yesterday (all 4 of us had a hand in it!). I used the recipe and instructions from Rachel Allen's Bake book. We also made fairy cakes, gingerbread biscuits and homemade mincepies (1st time I've ever done that). Everyone loved it, so far we've eaten half of the roof!

easter weekend

I hope your Easter weekend has been as good as ours. First we were invaded by bunny rabbits. Two have already been decapitated!

Then someone turned 41, so you can only really go BIG and FUN with a birthday like that!

This is a home-made Genoise Cake (recipe from Eric Lanlard) filled with fresh cream and strawberries, raspberries and blueberries. I calculated the calories and it's a terrifying 520 per slice!

Much lego has been built. Battle hideouts...

...and dragons.

Then we decided to go back to an old (but brief) haunt of ours, Godalming, Surrey.

There is a lovely riverside walk that we did, past the boathouse (who had rented all their rowing boats out by the time we got there!)

The lovely river itself. There were narrow boats, canonists, rowing boats and even someone punting! It reminded me of this song.

I love photographing my 3 boys! Look at the height difference! That's a 41 yr old, 8 yr old, 4 yr old! Even though the 8 year old is very tall, he's still small compared to his dad! (Not me, he comes up to my shoulder already). The boys walked along the river looking for wildlife, using a stick as a gun, a walking stick, a probe. Far too many dandelions were picked up and blown by my little one. Near misses with stinging nettles (how we got away without a sting, I don't know). At the end of our walk, a riverside pub for bitter shandy and lemonades.

There are some amazing houses that back onto the river. This house had beautiful lilac wisteria growing all it. On a day like yesterday, it felt like life was perfect.

The whole day was stunning. And our guilty pleasure on the way home (using our Chippy app to find a fish and chip shop!)

Big Decs

Although we have just taken down all Xmas decorations tonight, I wanted to share this sweet reindeer that I bought in the lovely Inhouse Space in Brighton the other day. The shop is in the North Laine area, on Gloucester Road.

I saw him before Xmas, when I was buying a present in the shop, and then couldn't get him out of my mind! I went in the other day and even though not in the sale I decided to have him anyway! When I got to the till, the owner said, without any prompting from me, I'll reduce that, and knocked about a third off. That was very nice of her.

It is made by a company called Big Decs Unique whose website says they are eco friendly, handmade, and fair trade.

Then I went into Berts (who I have mentioned before!) and saw these two ornaments, also by Big Decs. They were reduced so I had to have them! The red is looking brighter on the computer than it does in real life. They have a nice tactile quality. I think the heart and star are made from shredded coconut palm.

All of the decorations are quite large, around 30cm/ 12". I am very pleased with them, as it's nice to have a few things that stand out, and capture your attention. The fact that they all match is good, as it'll help create cohesion within the flat!

Xmas greetings

Tree's up, cake baked, presents (almost) wrapped. Gingerbread House is still a baking fantasy.

Just one more job; to thank all of you for stopping by and reading this blog.

Have a very merry and prosperous Xmas and New Year.

See you in 2011.

Claire xox

jewelled delights

It was my birthday on the 5th November, and my sister made for me these wonderful necklaces and bracelets. They all came wrapped beautifully inside the box above.


I love this simple, classic purple and silver necklace. Not the best photo, but it looks great in reality.


Take a look at these amazing orange, red and brown beads for my autumnal beaded necklace. My sister has done an amazing job sourcing all these cool beads. I love the middle bobbly bead above!

And look at the opulence of those red and gold beads, fantastic. Somehow, I have failed to take a photo of the entire thing, but it's brilliant, trust me.

This is my silver charm style bracelet, which I love. Great day or night, sufficiently sparkly for either time! I especially love the super glittery balls and the hammered silver hearts.

This is my blue glass beaded bracelet. Again photo issues, so expect to see this again soon! It's so nice though.

Here is my blue disc necklace, which i have round my neck as I type! A Grecian feel to it maybe?

This is my blue beaded necklace, again, beads that are good enough to eat!

A further close up of yumminess.

I think my sister has made some gorgeous pieces for me. She has sourced some amazingly beautiful beads from around the globe. I believe she may start an online shop. If you want to encourage her, send me a comment and I'll pass them onto her!

My jewellery box is now overflowing!

UPDATE: I should clarify, my sister is looking at selling jewellery that she makes (not individual beads)

present ideas

We are having a birthday this week. Our youngest is turning 4. 4 I know, I can't believe it. Sometimes I feel like I never want my boys to grow up. They are at such great ages, and just like all things in life, once it's gone, it's gone.

Of course, the older they get, the more complex they are. My eldest is just surprising and delighting me with his creativity. We can read complex novels together and both really enjoy it (we're on the Harry Potter series at the moment).

But back to the younger one. It's been quite difficult deciding what to get him. We are very resistant to purchasing more plastic toys, that seem to get everywhere around our house. And of course, having an older brother, a lot of stuff gets handed down. But we have come up with a few cool presents that we think he's going to love.

We have bought him a Vtech Kidizoom Camera (suitable from 3-7yrs). It looks pretty good, you can zoom, do fun editing options and do small movies. I think it's going to be very popular! This is the first working camera that we have bought for either of our children, so I hope that it doesn't cause jealousy with the older one! We will see.

I also bought him a few puzzles and games from a lovely independent toy shop called WigWam in Brighton. There is another great toy shop in the North Laine, on Sydney Street called Daisy Daisy.

The lovely jigsaw we got is by Djeco. I love these, they come in different shaped boxes to fit around the character. They do a ballerina, a pirate, a Knight to name a few.

I love games and when I saw this small card game I couldn't resist. It's Happy Families, which I definitely played when I was little.

The illustrations and design style of these Djeco puzzles and games just make me so happy. I adore their sensibility.

I also picked up this lacing set, which is great for hand eye coordination. You get to make a few sweet pictures.

As my son's birthday is by Halloween, I bought him this very clever torch. In fact I liked it so much, I have bought more of them for other gifts. It doesn't have batteries, you just "wind it up" via squeezing it's sides. Clever!

I have probably spent more than I normally would but he's not having a party, and I can't help feeling as the second child that he misses out on lots because we've already got it/ done it. I hope that he gets a lot of enjoyment out of these gifts, I'm pretty sure he will.

Additional Note: I'm pleased to say that most of my gifts have been bought from independent local shops. And there isn't a huge amount of plastic - phew!

summer wedding

Well it's been a little while since I last posted. I did not mean to be away for so long. Steve and I have had a few busy weeks, packing lots in to the school summer holidays.

A couple of weeks ago I started a new job, and the children's grandparents took them home for a week. This meant we could attend a dear friend's wedding and stay out late.

For the first time, in a long time, we went to a wedding where we actually live, which was nice. It was held in Due South, on the beach, on a lovely, yet typical, overcast summer's day.

Steve took their wedding photographs as our gift to them, and I was his glamorous assistant! (Although running up and down stairs in 3.5" heels to bring memory cards and tripods is not easy!)





The wedding was great, the bridesmaid's outfits totally rocked, with their summer beach theme.

The groom looked very smart and stylish with a bespoke suit made in Brighton from here.

I have to say, completely unbiased, that Steve has done a terrific job.

The bride and groom are really pleased, and he has been getting loads of great comments from everyone who has seen them. I'm allowed to share them as well, so please go ahead and have a look. They make my heart flutter with joy, as it's so wonderful to see your friends so in love and so happy.

daffodil head

This was the hat that made everyone smile yesterday at school.

He certainly turned heads with it!!

Happy Easter, I'll be away for a week or so, on a trip to see family in friends in the North!

Happy Valentines Day!

Handmade, for me, by my husband!

I'm pretty impressed!

He even sewed on the beads!

Hope you, too, are having a great Valentine's Day.

Merry Xmas

We may never get a white Xmas, but it was nice to get some decent snow the other day!
Everything looked beautiful for a few days, but the ice was somewhat deadly!

I wish everyone a wonderful and happy holiday, and a fantastic New Year. I'll probably see you in 2010!!

Sorry I've Been Away

I haven't actually been away, but life has been very busy of late. Not that I had forgotten my blog! I do have one admission, I can't find my camera, I put it in a "safe" place (ie where my children couldn't find it) and now I can't find it!

Still I've been up to bits and bobs.

Firstly trying to teach myself crochet (mixed results so far!) I've been using library books (Jan Eaton's encyclopedia), you tube, web tutorials and Attic 24's patterns to get me going! I'm using yarn from my stash so apart from buying some different sized crochet hooks, I'm keeping the cost down.

Talking of keeping the cost down, over here is the latest Tie One On's Apron theme of No $$ apron! Sounds good to me, as I'm trying not to buy anymore fabric, but I really should finish my apron that I started making ages ago, then unpicked and then put away, defeated! I think I may be psychologically ready to approach it again!

I also saw a window of opportunity yesterday afternoon, youngest one asleep, eldest one watching Scooby Doo 2 to get going with my Simplicity 3835 pattern.

Firstly I traced the size I wanted onto tracing paper, then cut that out. Then I cut out the fabric. Then I followed the instructions (6 or 7 points at most) and sewed it up. It did come together really easily. I got slightly confused about the sleeves, but probably because I was being harassed by the elder child, Scooby Doo 2 not lasting forever and all! But it was incredibly straightforward. Anyway, as soon as I can find my camera I will post a pic here and on Flickr!

I did also do some papercutting (remember this post) and I really liked it.So I may well be making some more cards using this technique, for the ones I love! Again, will post pictures, funnily enough my husband bought me a laser cut heart card, so we were on the same lines!

My sister has asked me to make her a quilt for her birthday, a lap quilt in the coins style, in oranges, browns, reds, golds, touch of pink perhaps! She wants it to fit in with her lounge. Her husband likes the house cool, and my sister either shivers, or puts more layers on! Still their carbon footprint is kept down! I have till October to make that! But I thought I'd write it down to remind me.

My eldest turns 6 on Saturday. He didn't want a party so I'm taking him and a friend to a local Zoo and play park which should be good. I can't be bothered to make a highly decorated cake, I'm going for a chocolate sponge, chocolate frosting and decorated with chocolate buttons and maltesers for total chocolate indulgence!

Finally...

I was so sure I'd have this in the bag or on the blog by the 1st week of January, but that came and went, then I thought the middle of January, ditto, now we're finally in February 2009, I can show you my Xmas 08!

Firstly these are the 2 cakes I made for Xmas.

The wreath is all sugarcraft, that I made in my class. I was quite pleased with it. I also made a pointsetia that I must post a picture of, as I was really really pleased with that!

This is my cake for my children, penguins from Ann Pritchards DVD. Snowman, all mine! I finally got to use my bead maker, at the base of the cake! My eldest picked them all off to eat, he called them caterpillars as in sections that is what they looked like!

For Boxing Day we went to the Angel Inn , Hetton, N Yorkshire and I thought the desserts were beautifully presented. So here are a few that adorned our table!





I love the cocoa sillhouette of the fork and spoon the best.

New Year's Eve - that happened mid January due to flu!

This is our table setting for New Year' Eve. I let my husband choose the look and colour scheme of the table this year.
The table cloth, napkins, silver napkin rings, red chargers and burgundy runner are all from John Lewis.

Crockery, is our "best" from Royal Doulton's Fusion Range, it was our wedding present from many guests. Cutlery is Royal Doulton Roma. I'm very sad that their parent company is now in administration after trading sucessfully for a few hundred years.



I had to hand it to my husband for his great choice (in my opinion) I thought it looked very modern and sophisticated.
The champagne flute was from M+S.

As were the wine glass, the wicker table mat was from John Lewis.

The meal was really well received. I made, from Rose Elliot's Vegetarian Supercook book, the goats cheese and cranberry parcel for a starter, her Christmas Galette for main course with loads of vegetables and then a Passionfruit Pavlova, from Nigella Lawson. I was really really pleased with it, and I got so many compliments, so I thank RE and NL for their recipes. It all went very smoothly as well!

My birthday (in November!)

And finally, from November, my afternoon tea at Browns of Mayfair.

Get those cakes and scones, sorry sandwiches already eaten!

Yes, that is me, out of focus, in the background!


I'm now looking forward to Christmas, Boxing Day, New Years 09 already!!!!