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.
Fair weather wanderings
Tom is busy building his new website (with the help of the amazing Dan at Baltic Design) and has been saying for ages that he wanted to go out on a sunny day and take some photos that he might use. Well, Saturday turned out to be that day! We knew that storms were coming…
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Jamie Oliver’s Beef Stroganoff
As many of you will already know, I’m a huge fan of Jamie Oliver’s recipes. I’ve blogged about a few of his recipes in the past, perhaps the most popular being the pork marsala with mushroom rice. That recipe, and this beef stroganoff, are taken from Jamie’s 15-Minute Meals. Many people have said that the…
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Nigella Lawson’s breakfast bars
I have to admit that I’m a real cereal fanatic – particularly when it comes to muesli! I usually mix up my own with lots of fruit and nuts, and when I saw these breakfast bars I just had to give them a go. This recipe comes from Nigella Lawson’s ‘Nigella Express‘ and she says…
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Instagram gallery: January 2014
It has been a busy start to 2014 with lots of crafting, cooking and baking – and lots of my projects have been things that I’ve been meaning to do for ages! Here’s to more next month 🙂 pop over to my Instagram account and say hello!
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Tutorial: how to line a vintage suitcase
Today’s post is a wonderful DIY tutorial: how to line a vintage suitcase. I bought this gorgeous vintage teal suitcase last year with the intention of re-lining it – in fact, I looked at my original post about it and realised that I got it in March!
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Scrapbook paper thank you cards
I’ve never really got into ‘scrapbooking’ as a thing, but recently I’ve discovered that scrapbook paper is brilliant for projects where you need a small print. The first project that I did using scrapbook paper was to line the insides of my wooden drawers, and I’ve been thinking of new things to do with…
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RE – found objects
RE is my favourite shop EVER! It’s tucked away behind a garage in Corbridge in Northumberland, and I could spend hours browsing their amazing homewares, stationery, haberdashery and everything else you didn’t know you wanted. The staff are always welcoming and helpful too – it’s generally a brilliant place 🙂 I’ve been quite a few…
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Making my first stamps
Making my own rubber stamps was one of my top crafty plans for 2014, and today I had my first attempt! I received this amazing book for my birthday (thank you Helen and Keith!) – ‘Making an Impression‘ by Geninne D. Zlatkis. The photos are so inspiring and the instructions throughout the book are…
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Potato and leek soup (with optional bacon!)
There are occasions when I open the fridge and realise that I should have gone shopping…today was one of those days! But the weather has been pretty rubbish and I didn’t fancy going out, so I decided to cobble something together with what we had. What we had turned out to be a couple…
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Birthday fun!
It was my birthday at the weekend and we braved the weather and went up to Alnmouth for the day. I had a super day, but it was a little bit bleak as you can see! That didn’t stop us having a wander on the beach though – I love Tom’s expression on this…
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Playmat toy bags
This has been a top-secret project for a few weeks now, and I’m so excited to finally share it with you! I’ve made these playmat toy bags for our gorgeous friends Rachel and Daria – Rachel has now given birth to baby Joshua and Daria (my partner-in-craft) is due very soon! I wanted to…
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Embroidered pin cushion
I love craft books. In fact, I’m hooked on them (in addition to my little obsession with cookery books too…our house is pretty full!). I’m a big fan of Aimee Ray’s embroidery designs and have already blogged about some designs from her Doodle Stitching books. When I saw the pincushion on the front of…
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Carrot and coriander soup
This super simple and delicious soup is really healthy and takes no time at all to prepare (about 30 minutes!), which means that it can easily be made on a week night. If you have more time, then you could make your own bread to go with it! This recipe comes from the BBC…
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Ginger golden syrup loaf
I made this gorgeous loaf ages ago, and then completely forgot to write the post about it! It comes from Rachel Allen’s ‘Cake‘ – a fabulous book which the Bakewell Cake that I made a few months ago came from too. If you’re a fan of ginger then you’ll love this – it didn’t…
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A Cumbrian Christmas – gallery
This year we spent Christmas in Cumbria, and I took lots of photos in and around Maryport and Keswick. Here is a little selection of the best ones!
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Paul Hollywood’s Gingerbread
I love baking on a Sunday morning, and as I haven’t done any for a while I thought that today would be a perfect day to try this new recipe! It comes from Paul Hollywood’s ‘How To Bake‘ – I think there was a series of the same name, but even if you haven’t…
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Letterpress Thank You cards
I’m a firm believer in sending thank you cards, whatever your age! I’m always trying to think of new ideas for cards, and this year I found some lovely letterpress letters in one of my favourite shops (I’ll be doing a post about it shortly…) and thought that they would be perfect. I don’t…
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The handmade Christmas gift challenge – Tom’s project
If you’ve seen my previous post about the handmade Christmas gift challenge, then you’ll know that Tom and I decided to make each other a present for Christmas with a budget of £10. Tom was really pleased with his stocking – yay! At some point this year I’ll get around to making myself one…hopefully!
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My 2014 crafty plans
Happy New Year to you all! 🙂 It’s that time of year when people think about new starts and resolutions. I don’t make resolutions because I never manage to stick to them, and then I beat myself up about it a bit too much. So instead, I try to make plans and set a…
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Instagram gallery: December 2013
December was a busy month, but it was a lot of fun! Here’s my Instagram gallery for December 2013 – here’s to more fun and craft in 2014! 🙂
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Angie Lewin: A Natural Line
We recently visited the Yorkshire Sculpture Park to look around Angie Lewin’s exhibition, A Natural Line. Her work is absolutely beautiful and I’ve put together this mini gallery of photos of some of her sketchbooks and materials on display. The exhibition is running until 23rd February 2014, and you can find out more here.
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Chilli chocolate pots
This is possibly one of my favourite desserts ever, and it’s surprisingly easy to make! If you don’t like chilli chocolate then you could just use good quality dark chocolate, but the chilli gives it a nice warming aftertaste. I used Lindt chocolate for this recipe, which comes from The Hairy Bikers’ Great Curries. It…
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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.
