Tuesday 16 November 2010

Time to play with your food

I love these jigsaw cookie cutters from Cox & Cox. Think of the fun you could have playing with them. Once baked the cookies can be fitted together like a real jigsaw. you could get really creative and make your own picture with icing so that when they're served all mixed up the fun will be putting the picture back together. At just £4 they will make a lovely stocking filler.

Friday 12 November 2010

Countdown to Christmas


I'm getting very excited about Christmas after finding my perfect decorations from Paperchase. This cute little reindeer will look lovely perched on the fireplace and these crochet tree decorations will go perfectly with some of my homemade felt ones.



The cupcakes are £8.50 and the teapots are just £5.00. After trying to crochet for the first time last month I know how hard it is and can only imagine how much effort has gone into making these, so as far as i'm concerned they're a bargain!

Thursday 11 November 2010

A refreshingly cheap vase


I love having a bunch of flowers on the go but this luxury can be rather costly so I've discovered this cheap alternative. The bottle/vase is Frome Valley Cider, bought for £1.67 in Sainsbury's. The flowers are also from Sainsbury's and don't break the bank at just £1.99 a bunch. They also last a good three weeks, so you'll certainly get your moneys worth.

Wednesday 10 November 2010

It's Movember


The 'tache' is everywhere at the moment, appearing on mugs, pillows, badges and jumpers, it really is the symbol of the moment. I'm not sure how true this is, but I believe its current popularity stems from it being a symbol for lesbians. Either way, I'm a big fan of the moustache and in celebration of Movember I've posted these marvelous tache creations.

The pillow cover above is from Lifestyle Bazaar and costs £49. These comedy mugs are £14.95 each from also from Lifestyle Bazaar and come in a range of hairy styles.

Have a hairy chest with this necklace now on sale on Esty for just under a tenner.

Fantatstic Mr Fox

Foxes have had a bit of bad rap of late but thankfully this is one you'll definitely want to creep into your house. This lovely cushion is from Donna Wilson, and comes in range of colours. I've got to admit it's very expensive at £65 and I certainly don't earn enough to shell out this much for a cushion so I'm going to make own. If you'd like to join me all you'll need is enough green dress cotton to cover your cushion, along with some scraps of orange, white and black fabric. Draw up a foxface template and use this fabric to cut out your foxes face. Before you sew your cushion cover together use some bonding web to attach the fox to the cushion and the slip stitch the edges to keep them secure. Then just sew your cushion together. There you have it, your own stylishly sly fox!

Tuesday 9 November 2010

Daily dream dress

I love this leopard print dress from Topshop. I can't believe how reasonable it either, at just £38 it's a right bargain. It's the perfect day to night dress to be worn with flats in the day or chunky heels at night. I think i'll wear this to work and team it with these cute shoes from Accessorize

Monday 8 November 2010

Christening cupcakes


When it comes to christenings, I don't know about you, but I find it difficult to know what present to get. The child being christened is normally far too young to care or even know what you've given it and it usually ends up with numerous gold crosses and bibles. So when it came to the christening of Ava I thought some personalised cupcakes would be a nice, unique gift. I used, what I have found to be the best cupcake recipe by top cake chef Eric Lanlard, and then using flower paste and a sugar craft alphabet mould I cut out her name. I know what you're thinking, what if the baby is named Bartholomew or Gwendoline? I'll never fit that on a cupcake! Well, you could either use their initials or place just one letter of their name on each cake, then display them so they spell it out. These can also be made for birthdays, hen dos, wedding etc. Trust me if you bring a try of these to any party, they will be greatly received.

Beautiful Bunting


I made this lovely bunting in just a few hours, it's dead simple and ever so pretty. I originally made this to decorate our house for a party but I loved it so much it's now a permanent fixture in our lounge.

All you need to create your own is:
50cm of dress cotton in three different designs
15m ric rac (in a colour of your choice)
Eyelet pliers
200 gold/sliver eyelets to fit pliers

It's so easy it hardly needs explaining, just cut out as many triangles of fabric you like, make two holes at the top and punch in the eyelets. Then slide all the hole punched flags onto the ric rac and because of its waves the flags won't move about.
*Top tip: Instead of using boring old tinsel why not decorate your tree or house with Christmas bunting. made exactly the same way but with festive coloured or patterned flags.

Saturday 6 November 2010

Daily dream dress

I love this dress from the new Kate Moss collection at Topshop . I've been looking for something to wear to a winter wedding in December and with its fur neck, and long sleeves this is perfect. It's warm on top but if I'm daring and go tightless it'll also look rather dressy. As you'd expect it's fairly pricey as Kate's designs usually are, but I figure for a wedding outfit £80 isn't too bad. If I only had the figure of Miss Moss to go with it :(

Friday 5 November 2010

Say it with a mug

If there's one thing that drives me mad as a writer it's constantly being interrupted when I'm in full creative flow. I'm too polite to tell my colleagues to 'bugger off' so I smile sweetly and nod with interest while they tell me some dull anecdote from their weekend. On the inside I'm just wishing they'd leave me alone before I completely lose my train of thought! So I've just ordered this lovely mug in the hope that next time I'm interrupted all I need do is hold it up and hope they get the message. The range also features 'Go Away I'm thinking' and 'Go Away I'm reading' mugs. They are from The Literary Gift Company and cost £9.95.