February 14, 2011

Valentine's Day 2011

For all you romantics out there in blog land
"Happy Valentine's Day"  
Not a big day really in our house to be honest,  although I did get a little hand made card from Craig and a cup of tea in bed.  I am usually the one up and about at 6am putting on the kettle and stoking up the wood stove, so it was a pleasant start to the day.  
Another couple of weeks have passed by since my last posting.  Nothing very eventful this past week except visiting Jemma in Halifax, which I do enjoy.  We did our usual which consists of  chatting on her daybed, watching a movie (Tamara Drewe), a hilarious British comedy, cooking a meal together, topping up her pantry and having a little hunt around the local thrift stores. This time we popped into a fascinating Asian grocery store.  I found some delicious super crunchy sprouts that tasted delicious in my salad, I wasn't sure if I was supposed to stir fry them, I expect they would taste good that way too.  I also bought some coconut milk to add to the next Korma curry I shall concoct sometime in the near future.  Jem bought her favourite bubble tea and some extra spicy noodles for her lunch.
Coconut milk was actually one of the ingredients in the cocktail Craig and I made up last weekend when we were once again invited to Bridget and Kirk's annual cocktail competition/party.  The ingredients were to serve about 12 people and this was our recipe:
On our original trial run making up just enough for 1 drink we had some banana in the mix but it ended up looking like a brown murky sludge, so we swapped the banana for the coconut milk and crossed our fingers that it would be ok on the night.  Happily it was. We named our cocktail Oriental Express  and everyone seemed to enjoy it, even though we didn't win first prize, we did get a pretty good score all round and Craig even amused the guests with an impromptu silly speech giving a story behind the name.  
You might remember the James Bond themed one I blogged about last year?  This year the theme was 1920's gangster, think flapper or Bonnie and Clyde.  I do enjoy dressing up and with a few items I already had in my dressing up box it didn't take much to complete our outfits for the night.  I hunted down a long cigarette holder and Amber even helped by making a fake cigarette to fit in the end!  
The satin gloves and feather boa that came in very handy.
Cocktail making in progress....


Once again I shall give my shop a little necessary advertising.  Another custom order came my way for a couple of micro sized Toucans for a wedding cake (a significant special meaning between the bride and groom)  
I was also inspired by the Toucans to design a new tiny bird to add to the ever growing menagerie.  This is Charles, the rather distinguished looking Peacock.  I priced him a wee bit higher as he did take longer to make and I used more felt because of his flamboyant tail!  
I also received a delivery of wool felt in some natural shades of brown and beige, so I shall be making a few more wool animals soon.  The majority of my animals are made from Eco friendly felt at the moment, which is made from recycled plastic bottles.
Charles the Peacock!!
With love,

February 02, 2011

Romance for some in February....

Ahhh the month of February with the promise of romance, hearts and love......   
Seems like a few people are making plans for Spring weddings according to a couple of special request orders recently in my Blossom Hill Cottons Etsy shop.
This wedding cake bunting was fun to make using bright tropical colours in fuchsia pink, mandarin orange, lime green and lemon.  Two sets of fruity flags to adorn a cake or two in New York sometime soon.  
The second wedding request was to make up a couple of deer as cake toppers. My client wanted a Stag and Doe that would stand proudly and convey a sentimental special personal meaning.  
It was fun to firstly use my tiny fawn original 2" scale paper pattern as a guide, adapting it so the she would have legs (normally my fawns are sitting) and then enlarging to the required size before making the two forest friends up in different shades of brown felt with antlers on the Stag of course.  They were carefully packaged and shipped to New Jersey.
I do enjoy the little stories that go along with my creations, it makes every little snip and stitch all the more special  :)
With love