Treats!

Oooo I've had a lovely week of treats, some I bought for myself and some were from others. What a lucky girl I am, wanna see what I got? OK, here you go.

At the beginning of the week mother A rocked up with this lovely scarf that she bought for me whilst she was away on her jolly girls get away, it's blue and has birds on it, what's not to love?

The enamel mugs are a treat to myself ready for a camping trip at the end of this month, can't wait for that and I'm sure I will post about it on my return. The love mug was from Urban Outfitters and the folklore mug was from Bloomsbury Bath.

I will also be taking this lovely 'perfect shirt' in 'moonlit pool' that came in the post yesterday from Conversation Pieces, an indie boutique in Los Angeles. It came beautifully packaged in pretty lace ribbon with a lollipop, how cute is that?! I won the shirt in a give away by the lovely girls over at the Lynn & Lou blog, check them and their style and craft posts out, super cute.

Finally there is the pretty silver chain I bought to hold a new pendant I made myself, the pendant needed to sit lower so I indulged in a 20" Prince of Wales chain for it (someone told me this was the name for this style yesterday). I will probably have the pendants on sale in the shop soon.

What little things have made your week?

A little dress making

OK so when it comes to sewing of any kind I am a bit ropey, don't get me wrong I love it and I can just about pull off a lovely tote or toy bunny rabbit, but anything more technical and I have to call in Mrs A. And step in she will have to, as this week I took a delivery of this lovely pattern book to make some tea dresses out of a bunch of beautiful dress fabric I acquired whilst working for Cath Kidston. The fabric is rayon and the prints are of course very retro/vintage in style and would have been used as tea dress material by Ms. Kidston. I look forward to showing you the results when we are done (it may be a while yet).

Oh and one other thing... the book is entirely in Japanese so good luck mother!

 Stylish dress book ISBN978-4-579-11185-5

How are you with dress making?

A Little Romance

Now, I'm not celebrating Valentines day but it's quite nice to get in to the spirit of these things and embrace the hearts and flowers mentality. So today I am sharing some of my favourite romantic movies that I like to cosy up and escape with (don't judge me too harshly as I'm not claiming they are the best films in the world, but I like 'em!).

Of course the first one has to be the 1961 adaptation of Truman Capotes' 'Breakfast at Tiffany's', with the beautiful Audrey Hepburn playing party girl Holly Golightly alongside the oh so suave George Peppard - classic.

"I'm like cat here, a no-name slob. We belong to nobody, and nobody belongs to us. We don't even belong to each other."

Then we have the 1973 Sydney Pollack film 'The Way We Were' with Barbara Streisand and Robert Redford - makes me cry every single time (enough said).

"Your girl is lovely, Hubell."

On to a couple of RomComs that some may snigger at but I don't care, they make me feel good every time I see them. 'Whilst You Were Sleeping' with Sandra Bullock and Bill Pullman and 'Return to Me' with Minnie Driver and David Duchovny are sweet little love stories, but it is the supporting cast in both of these films that make them in my humble opinion.

Okay, so it's not a movie but the 90's series of Pride and Prejudice has to be on my list. The series that brought us the smouldering Mr Darcy in the form of Colin Firth, who let's face it will always be difficult to surpass. I have the DVD on standby for when I need an afternoon of Georgian sensibilities and chocolate treats.

So what are your favourite films to fall in love with? 

Ooooh are you having pancakes today? What flavours are you going for?

treats - thrifted tops

Look what I picked up this week. Whether it's thrifting/charity shop chic/flea market foraging, whatever you like to call it, finding little gems like these is always a treat.

Busy With Bakes & Makes

I'm very late writing up today, but I can't complain as I've been fulfilling some last minute Christmas orders!
I have also done some baking today, whipping up a batch of chestnut and brandy jam and my first round of marzipan mince pies. I thought you might like the mince pie recipe for any easy last minute bakes this weekend...

Ingredients

220g plain flour
100g unsalted butter, cubed
Pinch of salt
3 tbsp cold water
Mincemeat mixture
Marzipan

Method

• Preheat oven to 200*c/gas mark6

• Sift flour and salt into a bowl. Rub in the butter to create a rough sand texture.

• Sprinkle water in to the bowl and lightly work mixture into a ball.

• Wrap in cling wrap and chill in the fridge for 30 minutes.

• Roll out to a thickness of approx. 3mm and cut out enough circles to fill your greased tray (usually 12).
Press the pastry discs into the tray.

• Roll the marzipan out thinly and place a small disc in each pastry cup. Spoon a teaspoon of mincemeat on top of the marzipan.
For the lids I cut star shapes from the rolled out pastry and placed them on top of the mincemeat.

• Finish with a milk wash and bake for 20 minutes, or till golden.

Enjoy xx