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.
Fabric covered letters
I’ve seen lots of fabric covered letters around recently and have wanted to have a go myself – this weekend I finally got around to it! It is a project that you could complete on an evening after work (if you need a weeknight craft fix, as I often do!) and would make a great…
Nancy Nicholson – teapot sew kit review
As many of you know, I love all things sewing and embroidery! I’m always keen to develop new skills and learn new stitches (I seem to get stuck with split stitch sometimes!). For Christmas I received a beautiful teapot sewing kit designed by Nancy Nicholson (thank you Helen and Keith!) and I finished it…
Lemon cupcakes with raspberry curd filling
Having made my raspberry curd I wanted to make something special with it. My friend Laura returned to work following her maternity leave this week, and this seemed like a perfect excuse! I had a little look online for some recipe ideas and was inspired by this one on the Smells Like Home food blog,…
Grey’s Monument gallery
[vc_row][vc_column css=”.vc_custom_1408390069743{margin-top: 20px !important;margin-bottom: 20px !important;}”][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1408390088863{padding-top: 20px !important;padding-bottom: 20px !important;}”]This week saw the 250th anniversary of the birth of Earl Grey, and the monument built in his honour is open every Saturday this month. This morning we braved the windy weather to climb to the top – it was definitely worth it because the…
The Festival of Thrift 2014
The Festival of Thrift was launched last year at Lingfield Point in Darlington, with the aim of showing just how much fun and creativity there is to be found in living thriftily and sustainably. Thrifting, the idea of creating something yourself or ‘make-do-and-mend’-ing has definitely seen a huge revival over the past few years…
Flow – Book for Paper Lovers
I discovered Flow magazine through Instagram – I kept seeing beautiful photos of things that were in the latest issue! Then I discovered that they had issued a special book to celebrate the fifth anniversary of the magazine. How could I resist?!
Raspberry curd
Having made my own lemon curd last year, I’ve been completely hooked on it ever since! But not so long ago I discovered raspberry curd (shop-bought) and decided that I’d definitely have a go at making it myself. This weekend I finally got around to doing it – yay! It’s really creamy and zingy…
Spring is in the air!
I’m so excited that spring is in the air! As you can see, our lovely crocus pickwick are in full bloom and we’ve got plenty of other bulbs popping up now too. We spent a bit of time out in the garden this weekend doing a few little jobs to tidy up. But the…
Linguine with creamy pesto, caramelised red onion and spinach
I often decided to make up a recipe when I have a particular ingredient that needs using up, and this recipe came out of one of those occasions. We had a little bit of goats cheese left and, after feeling uninspired following a quick internet search, I decided to get a few simple ingredients…
A trip to Barter Books
Barter Books in Alnwick, Northumberland is possibly the best bookshop in the world. I have to plan a day trip whenever I go up to Alnwick to allow for lots of looking-at-books time! It is such an incredible place. I visited the shop many, many months ago when my fab friend Tiffany came to stay,…
Chilaquiles – the real Mexican nachos
Last Sunday, we went to our first Newcastle United home game – despite living here for 9 and a half years! Their opponents were Aston Villa and Tom is a Villa fan (so we won’t mention the score…). I don’t support any football team, so spent the whole game clapping everything! 🙂 We…
Fabric button badges
I love embroidery and I love badges, so this little project is perfect as it combines the two! It’s also a really good way of using up fabric scraps – I hate having random little bits of lovely fabric left over with no idea what to use them for. I’ve made these badges using…
Instagram gallery: February 2014
This month has been another busy one, and spring is finally on the way! 🙂 Here’s my Instagram gallery for February!
Super Soup
This ‘Super Soup’ lives up to its name – it’s really healthy and tastes delicious! And it doesn’t take very long to make, which means that you could whip up a batch during the week. You can pretty much put any vegetables you like in a soup, but this seems to work well as…
Roast tomato sauce
I absolutely love Mexican food, but have only really got into it over the last couple of years since I’ve been able to eat much spicier food. I still can’t stomach super hot things, but at least Tom doesn’t tease me as much about it now! This sauce is a staple for lots of…
Scrabble letters bag
Many, many years ago, I made a bag for our Scrabble letters with my Mum – here it is:
Stamped button notebooks
Many of you will already know that one of my crafty plans this year is to learn how to make my own stamps (see my previous post about stamp-making if you haven’t already!). I have a new found admiration for anyone who can make beautifully crafted stamps – it’s trickier than it looks! Getting…
Mississippi mud pie
Mississippi mud pie is a traditional American pudding and it is a real treat – definitely one for a special occasion! We made a smaller one for our day-after-Valentine’s meal that used just half of the amounts given here, which served 4 (so more for dessert tonight – yay!). This is another recipe from Gordon…
Cod with romesco sauce
Before I begin with this super tasty recipe, I must apologise for this terrible photo! The light in our kitchen was truly awful last night and no matter how hard I tried, I could not get a decent snap. So one day I’ll make it again and get a photo in better light! …
Getting organised
There hasn’t been a huge amount of crafting going on here this week, but this is for an important reason: I was sorting out my embroidery threads. I used to keep them in a little bag, and would do that thing where you try and pull out a colour but end up with a…
Rose shortbread hearts
These shortbread biscuits were inspired by some that we received as a present, and I thought that I’d have a go at recreating them by making up the recipe myself! They would make a perfect Valentine’s or anniversary gift, and are delicately flavoured with rose (as long as you don’t go too mad with…
Venetian duck ragu
This gorgeous recipe takes quite a long time to cook, but it is honestly worth every minute! It comes from the March 2014 issue of BBC Good Food magazine, and the quantities here will serve 6 people (you could always freeze the rest for another day). Why not make it this weekend?
Tree planting
Today was an exciting day, because we planted a special tree in our garden! The reason that it is special is because Tom’s Granny bought it for us for our wedding. We knew we wanted to get a cherry blossom, and chose Incisa which is also known as ‘The Bride’, which is quite fitting!…
Aubergine Parmigiana
Until fairly recently, I wasn’t a huge fan of aubergine (or eggplant, if you prefer). But we had a delicious meal on honeymoon that changed my idea about it – one day I’m going to try to recreate it! Helen came to stay with us last weekend and I wanted to try out a…
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.
