Hello! Hooray! blog
I really believe that it is so important to take time out to be creative, so here on my blog you will find lots of ideas of things to do in your creative time.
We spend so much of our lives focussing on our day jobs that we often miss out on time for making, but finding even small amounts of time to create something with our hands can have a big impact on our productivity and well-being.
Simple summer cotton top
I’ve been wanting to try out some new clothes patterns for a while now, and I decided to start with this simple cotton top – it doesn’t have a zip so it’s great if you want to have a go at sewing clothes but don’t want to tackle something too tricky.
Ukulele baby bodysuit
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]This cute baby project was inspired by something that I saw on Pinterest a long time ago – unfortunately I can’t find out where the original link came from before it was posted on a tumblr account. If anyone can help me out with that, let me know! The original is actually a guitar bodysuit,…
The School of Thrift: Thrifty fabric bunting tutorial
I’m so excited that my latest tutorial for The Festival of Thrift has gone live today! It’s wedding week over at The School of Thrift and I was delighted to be asked to write some content for it. This time last year, we were in the middle of our wedding planning (which was well-documented on…
Eastern-spiced shepherd’s pie with Bombay potato topping
We made this dish using leftovers from the roast shoulder of lamb with herbs and honey, and both dishes are truly delicious. I must apologise for the photo of this one – I was so hungry when I took it so it’s a bit blurry, oops! But I promise you it is worth making!
Roast shoulder of lamb with herbs and honey served with roast red onions and basil
It’s a Bank Holiday weekend here in the UK this weekend – hooray! No Sunday night feeling this weekend 🙂 If you’re planning to cook something a little special, then look no further – we made this amazing lamb dish at Easter and it is my new favourite. It serves 4 people but we served 2 people with…
Instagram gallery: April 2014
Here’s my Instagram gallery for April – a month when lots of cake was eaten!
Vintage sewing books
I love vintage finds – especially when they are craft related! I have to admit that these were not actually my finds, but Tom’s 🙂 He found them in the second hand bookshop during our visit to Clumber Park a couple of weeks ago, and thought that I would love them. I do, and at…
Pasta with tomatoes, ricotta, parma ham and sage
This recipe takes hardly any time at all to make, so it’s a delicious meal for a weeknight. The combination of flavours is really good (although the first time we made it we were missing the sage because I couldn’t find any at the supermarket!). You could easily make a bigger batch for family…
A trip to Clumber Park
A couple of weekends ago we went to Doncaster to stay with some very dear friends who we hadn’t seen for ages! On the Sunday afternoon we went up to Clumber Park – it was a glorious sunny spring day, which was perfect for wandering about and having the first picnic of 2014 🙂…
Mini chocolate and orange hot cross buns
There is still time to make treats for Easter, and these hot cross buns are amazingly good! I know what you’re thinking: “Your buns haven’t got crosses on though…” – and you are (obviously) correct! This was because I don’t have a new piping bag yet, and the mix I made was a bit…
Citrus and marzipan Bakewell tart
If you’re looking for a sweet Easter treat, look no further! This delicious citrus and marzipan Bakewell tart is a twist on a classic Bakewell. It is perfect for an Easter lunch – or for any other occasion actually!
The School of Thrift: Easter egg tutorial
It’s almost Easter, and I’ve designed this little project to help you celebrate! I love Easter eggs (who doesn’t?!) but I really dislike all of the packaging that they come in. So this is just like your stocking at Christmas – an Easter egg that you can re-use each year! This project has…
Gnocchi with roasted squash and goat’s cheese
I have always wanted to make gnocchi – it has been one of those things on my food bucket list for a long time now. It takes a little while but it well-worth the effort, and I’ll definitely do it again! But you can always just use the ready made gnocchi if you don’t…
Wordsworth House and Garden – photo gallery
Last spring, we visited Wordsworth’s House in Cockermouth, Cumbria. It’s such a wonderful place to visit – the garden is simply beautiful. I was pleased to spot daffodils in there! 🙂 Tom also got to play some Bach on the harpsichord! When we visited, there was an exhibition by Dianne Standen, who specialises in creative…
Stamped birthday bunting card
It’s my Mum’s birthday today (Happy Birthday, Mum!) and I wanted to make her a special card. I’ve combined three of my favourite things here: pretty paper, bunting and stamps! I bought all of the things to make this card from Paperchase – one of my favourite shops! 🙂
Happy blossom
Today we realised that our lovely little tree is in blossom! Yay! This tree was a very special present for our wedding from Tom’s Granny, so we’re so pleased to see it in bloom for the first time 🙂 Here’s to many more blooms!
Red lentil and chorizo soup
Yesterday I posted the recipe for sun dried tomato and parmesan bread, and it was really popular! So I thought that I’d post the soup that we made to go with it in case you’re going to try it out this weekend 🙂 If you’re a veggie, you might want to try my super soup…
Sun dried tomato and parmesan bread
I have wanted to make this delicious sun dried tomato and parmesan bread from scratch for some time now, because we usually buy the packet mix (which is super tasty).
Instagram gallery: March 2014
March seems to have gone in a flash! Here are my favourite Instagram photos from this month 🙂
Tutorial: One-pot tea cosy
Happy Mother’s Day to my wonderful Mum! 🙂 Hopefully you have opened your present…I’m about to tell people how to make it! My Mum has a little one-pot tea pot, and she asked me to make a little tea cosy for it. When I visited her a few weeks ago, I measured it…
Spinach and ricotta enchiladas
This is another recipe from ‘Mexican Food Made Simple‘ by Thomasina Miers, which has quickly become one of my favourite recipe books. You’ll need to make some roast tomato sauce for these enchiladas, which takes a little while but will be worth the effort! We altered the quantities to make this for two, but…
My new sewing machine!
Today was a really exciting day – my new sewing machine arrived! 🙂 My lovely old machine (that used to belong to my Mum and is many, many years old) decided last week that it didn’t want to sew through more than one layer of fabric 🙁 This is my old machine:
Tagliatelle with sausages, rosemary and porcini mushrooms
Today I made pasta (for only the second time) and remembered how much I enjoy doing it! It’s definitely something to do on a weekend, and it’s easier than you think too. My first attempt was some ravioli, and today I tried out my tagliatelle attachment 🙂 I had to get Tom to help…
A little bit about me and my blog
I have certainly found that being creative has helped to improve my mental health over the past few years. I find that when I have the space to take time out to be creative, I feel like I am working on something positive for me. Craft can't fix everything, but it certainly makes me feel good!
I am passionate about being creative with my children as well as working on my own projects, so some of my posts will discuss how we juggle our family time with running a small business and everything else in between.
Do feel free to get in touch, either by commenting on a post or by completing the contact form.
