Floral Feature

pic from here

My spare room is looking very spare. It’s one of those rooms that I have every intention of making amazing, but then real life kicks in (as do budgets) and realistically, time is better spent on rooms we use regularly. 

 

But that being said, I had to do something to add some pretty to a pretty stark room.

And then my amazing team at work inspired me!

On a recent shoot for a client of mine, we had our model pose on a bed of flowers. 

 Simple, striking. I loved it.

So I took inspiration from my creative team of geniuses and made my own floral frame for my spare room.

work in progress...

All it took was a frame, some polystyrene board, and a selection of fabric flowers.

Simply push them into the polyboard, pin down the tricksy ones that want to jump out (there were a few) and voila, a quick and effective flower wall feature.

Final pics to follow soon

xx

It's beginning to look a lot like christmas...

Christmas is all around, so obviously my nails would follow suit and get dressed up for the season...

If you like it then you shoulda put a bow on it...

Because everything looks better wrapped in a ribbon...

Dress: Ideals, Cardigan: Mr Price, Ring: Asos, Belt: Gifted, Bracelets: Gifted

 

Happiness is... being organised

How organised are you?

I can be the queen of organised or utterly forgetful, overwhelmed and lost. It all comes down to planning. When I plan I feel confident and everything just works. So I like to plan... I write lists and I  keep a calendar.

Keeping a calendar has been my social saviour. At the age I am, there are so many weddings, engagement parties, hens parties, baby showers and then also all the usual; birthdays, dinner dates, farewells, and everything in between. So I keep a calendar, stuck right up on my fridge, penned in with all our events, so that I see it daily and then so does The Boyfriend. (Don’t try tell me you didn’t know we had dinner with your parents tonight… It’s been on the fridge for two weeks now).

And now to add a touch of joyful happiness to my organising, Fathima, the  cat-loving, water-colouring illustrator behind the beautiful Happiness is blog, has started designing free printable monthly calendars. If you need some clarity in your life too, click here to visit her site and download these awesome calendars.

While you’re there be sure to look around at all her gorgeous illustrations and designs – you are going to love her style!

Here’s just a peek…

 

All images taken from Happiness is blog.

Pink - it was love at first sight...

There’s nothing like a little overdose of pink in this cold winter weather, and a promise of good things from the always optimistic and super girly Magic 8 Ball, to make everything good!

World Baking Day - 19 May 2013

In anticipation of World Baking Day today, last night I received a mysterious wrapped up parcel from I Love Baking SA, which once unlocked, was a box full of ingredients and a challenge for me to #bakebrave and try out a particular recipe. In my box were all the ingredients for Raspberry and White Chocolate cupcakes.
I have my favourite go to recipe for my vanilla cupckes so it was exciting to try out somebody else's.

The mystery parcel

 

  

playing about...

My box of ingredients and the Raspberry & white chocolate recipe challenge.

Raspberry and White Chocolate Cupcakes

Recipe from here.

Method: (makes 24 - 36 depending on the size of your cupcakes)

Cupcakes:

• Sift all dry ingredients together.
• Separate eggs so that egg whites are in a separate bowl. Beat egg whites with electric mixer until stiff (where you can hold the bowl upside down without the whites running out). Set aside.
• Melt the Stork Bake and mix remainder of the wet ingredients in with the dry ingredients. Once it is mixed fold the mixture slowly in to the stiff egg whites. Do not over mix.
• Bake at 180ºC for approximately 15 - 18mins.

White Chocolate Ganache:

• Melt 500grams of white chocolate in a bowl until just soft set aside to cool but still be melted. Add 250 grams of Stork Bake and mix with mixer.
• Once the cupcakes are cooled, spread the White Chocolate Ganache on the cupcakes.

Raspberry Buttercream:

• Put 500g of Stork Bake and 1 kg of icing sugar into a mixer and beat until mixed. 
• Add 400g of fresh raspberries and mix in.
• Pipe the buttercream onto cupcakes and decorate.
  

As far as baking goes, I have always favoured quick and easy recipes over recipes that requires hours in the kitchen. This one unfortunately does require some extra time, whisking the egg whites and making the ganache, and the end result is just as good as cupcakes made the easy way.

I took these to a family lunch today and they went down a treat, but for me personally, the sweetness level is very high so I do prefer a cream cheese frosting.

But they sure do look pretty...

*UPDATE: Brought a few of these cuties to work this morning and they were received with cheers and lip smacking. (so it is only me that prefers the less sweet options)