Made with love

Jewellery inspiration of the week.Love the colours against the...

Wed, 08 May 2013 06:14:26 +0100

Jewellery inspiration of the week.
Love the colours against the white, especially with the sun coming out to play… feels so summery!

Shanghai Notions Market, Shanghai

Wed, 08 May 2013 06:08:08 +0100

Shanghai Notions Market, Shanghai

Shanghai Notions Market

Wed, 08 May 2013 06:06:12 +0100

The other day, during yet another strange and pointless Chinese mid-week holiday… I paid a visit to the Shanghai Notions Market/ Embellishment Market to see what it was all about… and I was completely overwhelmed! They had everything you could ever think of in terms of embellishment. I walked around aimlessly trying to wrack my brains for what I actually needed rather than wanted.

Whilst on shopping trips my mum often says ‘Do you need it though?’, whilst helping to guide me in those times of need where you really just don’t know whether its a purchase worth making. I usually respond with ‘No… but I WANT IT!’. So with this in mind, I had to take my Mother’s advice.. otherwise I would have left that place laden with shopping bags and not a penny left to pay the rent… and lets face it, buttons won’t keep you warm at night.

So, whilst it has lots of amazzzing things, it is worth going with an idea of what you need in mind first. A lot of things are sold in bulk, and I don’t really need 40 metres of ribbon right now. That’s not to say you can’t buy small quantities, I just guess its worth your money to buyer larger if your in need.

Anyway its worth a visit! And I will definitely be paying another one in the future… when I need 40 metres of ribbon and 700 buttons.

Wholesale Notions Market (Shanghai Tan Shang Xia)
Address: Renmin Lu 388
Hours: Daily, 8:30am – 5:30pm

Shanghai Life!

Sun, 28 Apr 2013 03:36:16 +0100

Shanghai Life!

Eastern Adventures

Sun, 28 Apr 2013 03:13:26 +0100

It has been sooo long since I have blogged and I have missed it! Since the last time I posted I have packed my bags and ventured East to the land of pandas, chopsticks and bad hygiene habits. I’m in China!! Although I have been enjoying my time here, interning, partying, eating, culture-absorbing, I am sad because I have no resources to continue with my crafty passion. I don’t have an oven to make cute cupcakes or have any of my many boxes and tins of crafty stuff. So I will have to restart collecting again here. Tomorrow I will venture to the Wholesale Notions Market (Shanghai Tan Shang Xia) to see what bargains I can find so I can enjoy my crafting hobby again. I especially want to get on with some jewellery design!

So hopefully I will be blogging again with some new eastern creations soon. Zai Jian!

Two-tier birthday cake

Sun, 30 Sep 2012 22:55:40 +0100

Two-tier birthday cake

Two-tier Ribbon Cake

Sun, 30 Sep 2012 22:52:29 +0100

I made this birthday cake for my brother’s 18th birthday! It took a while but it is definitely worth the time and effort. I made the top tier red velvet chocolate cake and the bottom a Victoria sponge cake so as to not have too much of the same flavour!! If you want to make a special cake for a loved one then this is definitely a good choice!

I got the recipie from here to make the cake: http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/three-tier_red_velvet_17795

But I only made two tiers and changed the bottom one to victoria sponge by taking away the cocoa powder and adding 50g of flour.

To make the icing ribbon follow this tutorial but on a bigger scale! http://jennifercloud.tumblr.com/post/32225899590/little-bow-cupcakes

Reading the make and sew #cathkidston book from today’s...

Sat, 29 Sep 2012 12:48:46 +0100

Reading the make and sew #cathkidston book from today’s #telegraph… Going to be making lots this weekend! (Taken with Instagram)

Jam and Coconut Sponge

Thu, 27 Sep 2012 22:26:32 +0100

Jam and Coconut Sponge

Jam & Coconut Sponge

Thu, 27 Sep 2012 22:20:00 +0100

Many people may remember this pud as a school dinner favourite! There are not many foods I miss from school dinners but this is one that I do! Along with my brother who asked me to make some… so I did!

Its really simple and takes hardly any time at all..

Ingredients:

200g butter
175g caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 eggs
200g self raising flour
A few tbsps (depending on how jammy you want it) of jam (I used raspberry)
5 tbsps of desiccated coconut.

The how to:

1. Preheat your oven to gas mark 4/170c and then grease and line a square tin of around 25cm with greaseproof paper.

2. Mix together the butter, sugar and vanilla extract until the mixture is pale looking.

3. Whisk the eggs in a seperate bowl and gradually pour them in to the mix a long with a few tbsps of the flour.

4. Fold in the rest of the flour and mix until its all combined.

5. Then pour the mixture into your tin and make sure it is spread out evenly. Put it in the oven for around 30 mins.

6. Once it is springy to touch, take it out and leave it to cool down for a bit before transferring it on to a wire rack to cool completely.

7. Once it is cool, spread the jam over the top evenly and then sprinkle with the coconut… EASY PEASY.

Little Bow Cupcakes

Tue, 25 Sep 2012 00:25:01 +0100

Little Bow Cupcakes

Tue, 25 Sep 2012 00:21:50 +0100

Something I definitely want on a cold rainy day is a nice hot cup of tea, a yummy homemade cake and a hunky man to warm me up. Fortunately 2 of those things are easily provided and I can offer a how-to for the second one! The third one… well Channing Tatum on the tv and a radiator will have to do for that!

So these are lovely little bow cupcakes… I made a larger one for my brothers birthday which I shall blog next.

To make the cupcakes you need:

150g butter
150g caster sugar
3 medium eggs, beaten
1 tsp vanilla extract
150g self-raising flour
1/2 tsp baking powder

To decorate:
Ready-to-roll icing
Food colouring of your choice
Cookie cutter
Icing sugar

Baking:

1. Preheat oven to 180c/Gas Mark 4 and line a 12-hole muffin/cupcake tin with paper cases.
2. Pop the butter, sugar, beaten eggs and vanilla extract into a bowl and then sift in flour and baking powder.
3. Give the mixture a good beat either with or without a hand blender (probs less effort with one!!) Do this for about 2 minutes until it is pale and fluffy to make it taste really light - Almost like a mousse consistency.
4. Spoon the mixture into the cases evenly and bake for around 20-25 minutes.

Decorating:

THE FUN PART!!

1. Cut off a chunk of ready-roll icing and roll it out onto a clean and dry surface. Then get a cookie cutter and cut out a circle of icing.

2. Then put it onto the cupcake with a bit of icing sugar like this:

3. Now we’re ready to do the ribbons… Start by dying some ready to roll icing your chosen colour. To do this you just need to cut off a chunk and then pour a few drops of colouring on to it and then knead it so that it is fully covered. Roll out this icing…

4. Then cut out a strip about 1-2cm thick

5. Cut it up so you have two small pieces, which will be used to make the bows.

6. Keep the extra bit handy as it will be used later to go over the bows. Once you’ve cut them up just careful curl each one round and use a little icing to stick each end to each other.

7. Make up all 12 sets of bows and leave them aside to harden up a bit. Cut out two strips about the same size as the one made for the bows and place them over the cupcake in a cross.

8. Then stick the bows onto the cake using icing and use the left over pieces of icing strips to place over the top of the little bows.

The effort is worth it in the end :D

How to make Lavender Scented Hearts

Wed, 19 Sep 2012 19:23:34 +0100

How to make Lavender Scented Hearts

Magnetic Memo Board

Tue, 18 Sep 2012 19:28:28 +0100

So I recently made this memo board for my house as we often have bits of paper, vouchers, letter, receipts lying around! You can get a really good tutorial here:

http://www.noodle-head.com/2010/05/mail-organizer-tutorial.html

I changed mine by just putting one mail slot on and adding metal onto the back so that I could attach things using magnets. But the basics of how to make are on that tutorial! I would have made my own but I wasn’t sure it was going to work out !

Breakfast Banana Loaf

Mon, 17 Sep 2012 20:06:58 +0100

Breakfast Banana Loaf

Banana Breakfast Loaf

Mon, 17 Sep 2012 19:55:00 +0100

So I am not really a breakfast person at least not early in the morning anyway! I am more of an elevenses girl! I love breakfast loafs and muffins so I decided to make a relatively healthy(ish) banana bread that I can eat with a cuppa in the morning! Instead of making a large loaf, I decided to make mini ones so that they will stay a little fresher and look a little cuter :D. They are good for pack lunches as well… they will be going in my Dad and Brother’s in the morning!

Ingredients:

75g butter
110g golden caster sugar (I just used caster sugar)
125g plain flour
100g wholemeal flour
2 tsp baking powder
2 eggs
4 ripe bananas, mashed
50g pecans, snap each piece in half.
Mini loaf cases. You can get them from Asda: http://groceries.asda.com/asda-estore/products/products.jsp?skuId=910000436964&departmentid=1214921923813&aisleid=1214921925099&startValue=4201
Icing sugar

To make:

1. Heat the oven to 180c/fan 170c/gas mark 4.

2. Beat the butter, sugar, both flours, baking powder, eggs and banana together. Then stir in the pecans and spoon into the mini loaf cases…

3. Bake for 35-40 minutes and then leave to cool down. Drizzle icing over the top and finish off with a pecan on top.

Yuuuummmm :)

Photo

Mon, 17 Sep 2012 19:35:47 +0100

Rose Cupcakes

Mon, 17 Sep 2012 19:26:48 +0100

These rose cupcakes are so yummy and as ever… easy to make! I got the recipe from the hummingbird bakery book Cake Days… so they really are good!

Makes 12-16

For the Cupcake:

80g unsalted butter
280g caster sugar
240g plain flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 tbsp rosewater
240ml milk
2 large eggs

For the Frosting:

500g icing sugar
160g unsalted butter
3 tsp rosewate
50ml whole milk
Ready to roll icing

1. Preheat your oven to 190c, gas mark 5 and line a muffin tin with muffin cases.

2. Whisk together butter, sugar, flour, baking powder and salt, until its the consistency of breadcrumbs.

3. Mix rosewater in a jug with milk and then add the eggs and whisk them together. Pour 3/4 of milk mixture into dry ingredients and mix firstly on a low speed and then on a medium speed. Continue to to mix until smooth and thick and then add the remaining milk mixture and keep mixing on a medium speed until all ingredients are mixed together and batter is smooth.

4. Pop the mixture in the muffin cases evenly and then put them in the oven for 18-20 mins.

5. When cupcakes are springy to the touch, take them out and leave them to cool.

6. To make the frosting beat together the icing sugar and butter until butter is mixed in, it will still be powdery at this point! Mix the rosewater and milk together separately and then pour into the dry mix and mix until light and fluffy.

7. Smooth the frosting over the tops of the cupcakes with a palette knife.

8. I decorate the cupcakes using ready to roll icing and cutting out a little flower shape, but the book recommend putting some candied rose petals on top!

Home-made magnetic pin dish

Sun, 16 Sep 2012 21:44:02 +0100

Home-made magnetic pin dish

Magnetic Pin Dish

Sun, 16 Sep 2012 21:41:47 +0100

I have not blogged in aggges as I have been busy doing various different things! So I now have a pile of different crafty creations I have made over the past few weeks to blog.. cupcakes, memo boards, lavender hearts and a nice big birthday cake!

So the purpose of this blog is to show you how to make a magnetic pin dish! This is handy for when you’re doing sewing projects and you need to take the pins out quickly and don’t want them flying all over the place! It is very easy to do! I made mine using a ring dish I found in a charity shop!

What you need:

Ring Dish
Magnet
Pins
Mod Podge/strong glue
Brush

All you have to do is stick glue onto a little magnet and place it onto the bottom of a ring dish.

Leave it to dry for a bit and that is it!