Summer Crafting Weekend - Doncaster 2012

Cake decorative painting by Stephanie Weightman 2012

What an honour it was to be invited to go with my Mum to the Summer Crafting fare at Doncaster Racecourse (hosted by QVC). It was a brilliant day out and well worth the drive. We had a brilliant time and had so much for our eyes to take in that we had a hard time deciding where to go first. But my Mum - as organized as ever - kept us on the straight and narrow... But the highlight of the day was having the privilege or meeting the queen bee of QVC Stephanie Weightman. She is absolutely lovely!
My Mum had told me lots of good things about her but I'd never, consciously, seen her work before. As my Mum had the "special silver pin" we were allowed access to the VIP lounge where we got a hot drink. However, when we looked around the near empty room, Stephanie was sat waiting to be interviewed by Craig Rowe (a lovely presenter on QVC). It was fascinating and exciting to be able to watch them both be filmed for a future show on TV. They were both so professional and relaxed it mesmerized me! It was also encouraging to hear what she had to say. She is so genuine and passionate.
After the interview she was mingling with the other crafters in the lounge and later on my Mum and I were able to say hello. She gave me some advise and encouragement that I will never forget. Thank you Stephanie! :) What an honour!
Later on my Mum and I were drawn to the cake stalls (if you know me you know that I'm addicted to baking cake and eating it!) After being introduced to an amazing product - that I shall post on here when I use them - we realised Stephanie was behind the stall doing a demonstration of painting onto cake (the edible paint was part of the product they were selling). I was fascinated by how easily she painted. I can't paint very well so it was amazing to watch. So simple but beautiful. After the demo she gave me this sample to take away. Wow! It's like an edible Cath Kidston rose!! Now that's pretty hard to top on my awesomeness list! Ha!
Anyway, it was a great experience to go to such a craft fare. The atmosphere was so positive and friendly. Thank you for inviting, driving and taking me Mum. I think I have the bug for craft fares and shows now :) I hope I get to go to more in the future. Exciting times.

The Genius that is Graze.com

I can't pretend that this is an original post but I'm still excited to do it. After a couple of people I know posted about their deliveries I thought now that I've finally been introduced to Graze.com (about a year later) that I'd show you mine! I love it just for the packaging and presentation! How exciting.
It's also making me try new things. Interested? Why don't you take a look for yourself!

Happy Birthday Dee!

Esther Orridge 2012

Made for You by Me! 2012

Well it was my wonderful placement boss's birthday this week and I wanted to get her a something to celebrate. I've got bored of buying the same presents so I'm trying this year to make them a lot more personal and tailored to the one I'm buying for. I've banned myself from buying ornament type presents from now on (unless absolutely necessary).
So over the past few weeks I've been listening to my boss and trying to figure out what I could get her. The idea I came up with was a cheese board. Simply because I had asked her what she likes to snack on when she wants some "me time" and she said she prefers cheese over chocolate (I gasped at this ha!). However at this time of the year they are near non-existent!
As usual, if I can't find something I'll try make it myself. So deciding to make it a personal cheese selection for 1, I came up with this hamper-style idea. I decided against the cheese "board" because a) they were stupidly priced, b) it would have been too heavy to carry around, and c) I wanted to do it a bit different.
I wanted to go for a funky but slightly vintage look with the wrapping. I used scrunched up brown paper to pad out the inside/bottom of the bucket and wrapped everything individually to give it a little bit of a fun-factor. The ribbons added more colour (this reflects her colourful personality) and  made the card to explain what it was all about.
The top image shows my finished, personal cheese selection/hamper for 1. Complete with crackers and a "Star Bar" which is her favourite chocolate bar (in case she wants a break from cheese).
The bottom image is the card that I made for her too :)

Baking Adiction

Well I've had another baking craze for the past 2 weeks. Both my husband and my workplace have benefited from this though ha! However tonight there is another baby shower that I've been invited to so I've freshly baked some treats for everyone. I only bake now when I know they will all be eaten (otherwise I will eat them all - seriously!)
These are a few from the 3 batches I made. Each seems to be better than the other as I'm trying to work out the best way to prevent the choc-chips sinking to the bottom and pealing away with the case. Please let me know if you have the answer :) I'm just experimenting at the moment and seem to have a good consistency at the moment. Let's see how they go down tonight! Yum yum!