♥ Field of Bluebells ♥

MATALAN SKIRT // ASOS BLOUSE // PRIMARK CARDIGAN // TED BAKER BAG // ASOS SHOES // ASOS SOCKS // PRIMARK RING // PRIMARK HAIR CLIP // VINTAGE BROOCH // PINK INSTAX MINI

Carl & I went to a local wood the other day, aptly nicknamed "Bluebell Woods", where we took some photos of my outfit. I also brought along my Instax mini (which I don't use often enough!), & also too some pictures with that. I do love the fact you can have an instant hard copy, and Carl thinks it looks like the photos were taken 50 years or so ago, which I think is kinda cool :p

I wore this cute gingham skirt, which I actually saw first on the lovely Charlotte's blog, and had to get. I do love the way she styled it with pink & white, but I decided to mix mine with mint, wearing my trusty ASOS blouse & a new cardigan from Primark (only £14, & it has a lovely beaded collar & pearl buttons).

Sorry for all the pictures, I just loved the setting of bluebells so much, I wanted to share them with you.

 ♥

♥ Hoppy Easter ♥

PRIMARK TOP // DOROTHY PERKINS CARDIGAN // SOUTH SKIRT // TOPSHOP SOCKS // LE BUNNY BLEU SHOES // HANDMADE DAISY COLLAR CLIP // PRIMARK HAIR SLIDE // NEW LOOK DAISY BUN ELASTICS // DOLLY DARLING POM POM RING // HANDMADE TEA CUP RING // JI JI KIKI CAKE RING*

So yesterday was Easter Sunday, & the day of my little party. I put on a little Easter egg hunt for my sister, Charlotte, in the garden, & Carl took a few pictures of my outfit whilst we were out there. The other day I chopped about 6 inches off my hair, because the ends were looking a bit straggly, but it's so weird to not have hair that goes past my waist anymore!

To be honest, dressing for Easter is no different than dressing for any other time of year for me, pastels and more pastels! I wore my bunny shoes, and some old favourites, like the skirt & cardigan. I also used the fact I was having a party to buy these cute Easter themed balloons, I couldn't resist! I love balloons :p.

Food! I made violet & strawberry flavoured macarons, the chocolate nests I shared with you the other day, and many sandwiches. I also bought some chocolate eggs, and other cakes as well. It was just a little gathering, just family & Carl, but I think everyone had a nice time. I now have tonnes of leftover food, so if anyone wants a macaron...haha!

I picked some spring flowers from the garden and put them in vases to decorate the table, along with this handmade Easter tree, which I made from a wooden cotton reel, and wire wrapped with sparkly yarn. I hung little decorations I bought from John Lewis on it, along with some foam speckled eggs I bought a few years back from Hobbycraft. I also had those cute little fuzzy chicks scattered around the table, because I can't resist those!

Hope you all had a nice Easter, if you celebrate, or just a good weekend anyway!

 

♥ Georgina

♥ Easter Chocolate Nests ♥

Baking Mad recently asked me to try making a recipe from their site. As it's Easter, and I'm having a little Easter party thing on Sunday for my family & boyfriend, I thought I'd use this chocolate nest recipe. They sent me a few chocolate themed baking supplies, of which I used the chocolate flavour cake covering. I normally use proper chocolate when making these, but I figured this would work just as well, and might be softer/easier to eat.

For those that have never made chocolate cereal cakes before (you can use rice krispies, cornflakes like me, or if you want them to look more like actual nests, shredded wheat like the recipe suggests), here's a quick run through of what you need, & how to make them. The basics are chocolate, cereal of choice, & optional, paper cases & chocolate eggs. Firstly, heat your chocolate in a bain-marie on the stove until fully melted.

Then remove from heat (make sure you put the bowl on a heat proof surface!), and pour in your cereal. I do this by eye, rather than weighing it. Add more than you think you'll need, the chocolate will go further than you think when you start to crunch up the cereal. Stir until chocolate coveres the cereal completely.

Then spoon carefully into your cupcake cases, (or even directly into a bowl to make a giant nest!). Add mini eggs, or leave plain, then put in the fridge to harden. Easy peasy! Hope everyone likes these on Sunday. I'm also planning on making macarons tomorrow (hopefully 3 flavours - strawberry, violet, and chocolate, but we'll see how much time I have). I'm not religious, but Easter is one of my favourite holidays, purely for all the pastel colours, and bunnies & cute things! I'm having great fun organising everything for Sunday, hopefully everyone else will like what I've done!

 ♥

♥ Sewing More Dresses ♥

I bought some more fabric recently (I bought this and this), with plans to make more pretty summer dresses. One of my favourite dresses is this one I made in 2011 (woah - old photo alert!), so I picked out similar striped fabrics, but hopefully not too similar! Plus, the fabric was fairly cheap, at £5.50 a metre. (I bought 3 of each, but only used about 1.5 for this dress - oops!). I made this in a few hours the other day, again from scratch.

 

I always get asked what patterns I've used, but I never use a pattern to sew. The closest I come to using a pattern is grabbing an already existing garment from my wardrobe and seeing how it was made, and copying that. I did draft my own bodice pattern using that method, and made a fabric pattern that I sometimes use. For this one though, I made another pattern myself by making a muslin out of scrap fabric before cutting the proper fabric.

This dress doesn't really have a fitted bust, it's more of blousy effect, with elasticated waist. I have a picture of me wearing it on instagram (cupcakesloveme). I have recently discovered that regular old zig zag stitch is better than the overlock stitch on my machine which I had been using to finish my seams for years. I feel a bit derpy about that, since zigzag is much faster too, as well as neater & using less thread. I do still dream about getting an actual overlocker someday, but zig zag does nicely for now.

I finished the hem with pink satin ribbon, and I also for the first time ever made bias binding, which I used to finish the armpits. I have used bias binding before, to finish the edges of a quilt, but I'd not made it though. I really need to buy one of those little things that help you fold it exactly though, would be even easier then. The straps are just frilly broderie anglaise ribbon, which I bought as is, rather than assembling that myself. Finished with a pink satin rose & I have a dress perfect for summer! I don't know why I don't do more sewing, it's very satisfying creating things, as opposed to buying them.

♥ Making Headbands ♥

Sorry I haven't updated as much as I said I would...I am useless! Anyway, just wanted to share one of the things I've been up to lately, making new headbands for Dolly Darling. I've also been doing some more sewing - which I plan to show you in my next post, which should be up within the next few days.

My most recent creation is another deer headband, but instead of the usual flowers, I made it pic'n'mix themed. The antlers are even candy striped (I was hoping they'd look like marshmallow strips, but not sure how successful that was). The ears are made with candy speckled wool instead of plain, so I am super happy with the way these came out.

♥ ♥ ♥

The floral kitten headband I've had in my shop for a while, and you've seen one on me in a few recent outfit posts, but not sure I've shared a proper picture with you. I used one of my latest crafts I've learnt to make the ears - needle felting! I actually did a post on my other foray into needle felting here, but I haven't ventured into 3d felting yet, still a bit intimidating.