Writing with thread...Glitter and sparkle

Spurred on by my love of my 'darling' picture, I started my next one of 'glitter and sparkle'. Last year in The Nest, my boyfriend and I had christmas just the two of us, and we bought two gorgeous gold glittery crackers. The card was so pretty that I couldn't bring myself to throw it away, and kept it all last year, until I suddenly remembered about it and used it in my latest piece.

I embroidered the words in the same way as last time, only this time drew around the aperture in the middle of the frame so I didn't go outside the boundary.

To cover the frame in the glitter card I carefully measured, marked and cut out the card and then stuck it to the frame with PVA glue. If you're trying something similar and it doesn't quite match up and goes over the edges, just neaten it up with a mat and craft knife to give a lovely crisp edge.

After pressing the calico I stuck it to the back of the frame first to ensure it was in the right position, then stuck it to the backboard of the frame, which made sure it was anchored in position. If you find once removed from the embroidery hoop and stitched you can see some of the pencil marks, don't worry as when you stretch the fabric again to glue it, you can often make the marks disappear.

I love this piece, especially when fairy lights are reflected in the glitter and it really does glitter and sparkle! it looks lovely with all of the Christmas decorations, but I think I am going to leave it out year-round as hopefully when the sun hits it, it will be equally sparkly and pretty!

The most beautiful presents to give and receive

I was very lucky this year to give and receive some stunningly beautiful presents for and from friends and family, and below are my absolute favourites.

This was the favourites present that I gave this year. Fuelled by the love of my 'I Fell For You' piece that I found in My Little Vintage in Olney, they gave me the details of the artist and I asked him to create another leaf cut piece for my Nan. The words come from the first line of 'To Autumn' by John Keats as it is my Nan's favourite time of year.

Unfortunately this isn't the best photo as I had to hurry to get it wrapped, but I hope you will take my word that it is exquisite.

My very talented friend crocheted this stunning round cushion for me, and I absolutely love everything about it! From the colours to the design, to how lovely it looks in my lounge to how comfy it is! It's so tactile and I love the added texture that it gives to my chair.

I first heard about Ashley Thomas designs in Country Homes and Interiors magazine (which I have just subscribed to and am very much looking forward to receiving my first issue) and now I have my very own piece! I love my tea for two set and the illustrations of the gorgeous little mice on the tea pot and the 'Make do and mend' text on the sewing machine makes me want to get mine out immediately and make something!

I don't know about you but I find it hard to find photo frames that I actually like, so when I spotted these simple brass and glass frames from Nkuku, they went straight on my Christmas list. The ties are made from recycled saris, and give a lovely splash of colour to the frame. I love the fact you don't have to spend forever matching a frame to an image or your decor, and you can simply add your picture and go! I have several different sized frames now, and think I will put together a display in my hallway and will let you know when I've completed this project!

I have so many one pot recipes, but lacked the actual one pot to do it all in! So I was very pleased to receive two beautiful cast iron pots for Christmas. The red Chasseur pot is the perfect size for two, and I have already made Lobster Mac and Cheese and Fondant potatoes in it (If you haven't already tried fondant potatoes I strongly recommend that you give them a go as they are absolutely delicious!) I haven't tried my Le Cresuet pot yet (Funny that it should match my Kitchen Aid in colour) but I already have a queue of recipes ready for action. 

You would expect all of your kitchen utensils to be purely utilitarian, but that doesn't mean that some of them can't be gorgeous! This lovely little whisk will be perfect for hot chocolate or sauces, and has a gorgeous pink and shimmery ceramic handle to make even the dullest jobs in the kitchen a little bit more fun.  

A Weekend of Baking...Mint Chocolate chip cupcakes

To continue my journey through my cupcake menu, this weekend I have tried my Mint Chocolate chip cupcakes.

I picked up some baking cups in TKMaxx a little while ago, and as they were green and white I decided to give them a try. However, as I was decorating the cupcakes I noticed a bit of a design flaw! As they do not have the concertina edges of regular cupcake cases, it may be little difficult to eat the cupcakes, but if you're determined enough I don't think they'll pose that much of a problem!

I used my trusty delicious chocolate cupcake recipe, then for the buttercream I added peppermint essence and a few drops of green food colouring. I then grated some chocolate and blitzed it together in the blender. In hindsight I think it may be better to keep the chocolate in slightly larger chunks, as it has taken away the nice mint green of the icing and made it a little more brown than I was looking for!

I then finished the cupcakes with a chocolate mint thin and they were finished! I am looking forward to tasting them however with a few more tweaks I think they will be perfect!

Writing with thread - Embroidered pictures

After reading the November edition of Ideal Home, my eye was caught by their monthly feature Boutique Hotel Spy. This month they featured The Wild Rabbit, a gorgeous traditional 18th-century inn in the heart of the Cotswolds. 

Image from The Wild Rabbit Website - You can see the picture that caught my eye on the back wall.

On an exposed brick wall was a very simple print in a black frame that I absolutely loved. It said 'darling' in red in a hand lettered style and really stood out and complimented the design of the room and this fitted in with my idea of creating my own artwork based on my favourite quotes in embroidery. I love collecting images of quotes and the typography chosen by the artists always looks amazing, however I wanted to create something more tactile and I thought that hand embroidery would be the perfect way to do it.

I have always been interested in embroidery, and would love to learn more about it, however to give the simple and clean aesthetic I was looking for, I decided that a simple backstitch would be best (and is really the only stitch I can do!) I drew out the size of the frame on some calico, then sketched out my design in pencil. I know this isn't the best material to use, however once I get better and have more practice, I will buy a washable dressmakers pen.

I then stretched the calico in an embroidery hoop and got to work! I added a wooden heart button for the 'i' and then pressed the calico to settle the stitches. I then used double sided sticky tape and PVA glue to stick and stretch the calico over the backboard of the frame and then placed it back in the frame. 

I was really pleased with the finished item, and I have lots more plans for other designs. Although i've never through that my writing is particularly neat or interesting, in embroidery it took on a different style that I actually quite liked! 

Navy, silver and Kraft - This year's wrapping theme

Every year I pick a theme for my presents, and this year I have been really attracted to navy and white stripes with gold and silver. I thought this would be a great theme for the presents, as not only does it look very smart and stylish, but also quite festive. I love Kraft brown wrapping paper, or parcel paper, and every year my theme does seem to include this, but with a touch of silver and some smart ribbon, it looks very stylish indeed.

I bought this East of India stamp and silver ink pad from Amazon to stamp my tags with, and I was very pleased with the brilliance of the silver. I thought I may have to go over the letters with a silver pen, but against the brown of the tag it looks great. It isn't as bright as if you were using a darker colour, but I like the hint of sparkle and something that you have to look at more closely to read.

The white stag paper was left over from last year and came from Paperchase, and the silver Kraft paper and silver and brown chevron paper, along with the navy and white striped ribbon came from John Lewis.

I also found some lovely silver and white butchers twine on Amazon, and I love my rubber alphabet stamps so much that I always use them to make present tags.

I'm really pleased with the colour and pattern combinations on the presents, and hopefully when they're all gathered under the tree they will make a great display. It's almost then a shame to give them out and spoil the whole carefully planned design! Heehee.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas at The Nest

It's a Christmas tradition in our house that the Christmas decorations go up on the first full weekend in December, and it's a weekend I thoroughly enjoy. We put the christmas music on and unpack all the boxes and look forward to the surprises of all the decorations that you forgot about from last year! 

The new Nest decoration

Our Hogwarts Railways decoration that we bought when we went to the Warner Brother's Studio Tour.

A few weekends before we had gone out for a spot of Christmas shopping, and had accidentally / on purpose bought some more lovely things for the house.The tree is looking rather full now, and I did relent and allowed coloured lights on the tree this year as well. I've never been a huge fan but they do look lovely on the tree in the evening. My parents also bought us some lovely clear crystal ornaments for the tree. As they're clear they play hide and seek during the day, but at night, they look lovely when the lights catch them. 

As well as extra decorations for the tree we bought a fab light up sign which is sitting on top of our shelves in the kitchen and gives a lovely Chirstmassy glow when turned on! It's a shame it will only be up for a month, but it was definitely a good purchase. Or we turn it upside down for the rest of the year and have an 'OHOHOH' sign, we haven't quite decided...!

My final buy was  big addition to my family of robbins, and the three of them are now sitting on the windowsill in our bedroom. They are very cute and I love the mixture of felt and floral fabric which makes them look lovely and festive! 

(Excuse the grey photos, it's proper grim here today!)

A whole week of baking!...Wedgewood Blue cake

Once I had made the sugarcraft flowers, covered the cake board and iced the cake, it was time for the assembly, my favourite bit!

My boyfriend bought me a set of Claire Bowman's Cake Lace for my birthday, and this was the first time I had had the opportunity to use it. I was very impressed with how easy it was to use, however for the quantity you need, it was quite difficult to get it all mixed in the food processor as instructed. I ended up mixing it a bit myself by hand, but this didn't seem to interfere with the final outcome. I made it the night before and then let it dry out further overnight before using. It was so easy to attach to the cake with just some water, and looked stunning against the Wedgwood Blue.

The two photos above show the cake against my grandparent's Wedgwood Blue china, I couldn't have been happier with the colour!

Once the cake lace was attached and the cake was positioned on the board, I wound some white satin ribbon around the board, using double-sided tape to stick it on. I then placed the roses and pushed them into the cake, and was absolutely thrilled with the final design! Luckily it was admired for both the appearance and the taste which I was really glad about, however the piece de resistance (insert relevant accents!) was definitely the stunning roses, which I will definitely be making again and again to improve my skills.