Categories
Inspiration

National Chocolate Week(ly) Inspiration

Note that we need one, but now everyone has the perfect excuse to buy and eat chocolate. It’s National Chocolate Week! It’s even listed on a website of National Awareness Days. Which means it’s important.

You can visit the Chocolate Week website here for any events happening in your area- there are some good ones!

If you’re feeling in an adventurous mood, why not check out some chocolaty recipes? I’ve picked out some of my favourites to inspire you:

  • Chilli Hot Chocolate

A really simple thing to do and totally delicious! Just heat chilli with the milk, so it infuses and you get a nice kick. Here’s a good simple recipe from Waitrose that can easily be adapted to taste.

  • Chocolate Fridge Cake

I remember making this a lot at Uni! Melt chocolate, mix with stuff, bung it in the fridge. Job done. Try this one out for size; again, it’s very easy to adapt.

  • Classic Chocolate Cake

An essential in any baker’s repertoire- and what better place to start than with this Old Fashioned Chocolate Cake recipe from Nigella.

  • Chocolate marshmallow slab

Not got the time or patience to do fancy things like tempering chocolate? Check out this cheaty trick from the fantabulous Choccywoccydodah.

  • Chocolate Truffles

The first time I made truffles, I used this recipe from Waitrose- I’ve been hooked on chocolate making ever since!


Categories
Art Craft Inspiration Notebooks Paper

Weekly Inspiration- Books and art

I’ve been thinking recently about what kind of books to make and decided that maybe it would be a good idea to figure out what kind of book I would want for myself. What is about a book that makes me want it when I see it? It’s most definitely the look of the thing, initially – it will always be the cover that caught my eye – but also the overall look and feel of a book, including the insides and how it’s been put together.

After that all important Google research, I discovered a wonderful world of artist’s books – and a concept that I was familiar with but that for some reason hadn’t registered fully.

Having started to become familiar with bookbinding techniques and thus able to start putting things together by myself, I think I may be almost ready to try my hand at something a bit more… well, a bit more.

Categories
Inspiration

The Rock ‘N’ Roll Guide To Wedding Music

This. Book. Is. Awesome. Ok, yes, I’m slightly biased as it’s my book, but still- you have to admit, it’s pretty damn awesome.

When preparing for my (I mean ‘our’, of course) wedding last year freezer_girl got me hooked on the Rock ‘n Roll Bride site. I found it endlessly inspiring and thoroughly refreshing, in a “Oh! Of course, it’s our day, we can do what we want” kind of a way.

Working as I do for a sheet music publisher, I got to thinking how yawn-worthy all the wedding music books we print are- in fact, all wedding music books. They’re full of stiff, traditional music, hymn suggestions and a few token utterly puke-some pop songs.

Ho hum, thought I. What the world needs is a wedding music book that ROCKS. What the world needs is a wedding music book version of the Rock ‘n Roll Bride site; something that people can look through and feel inspired and go “Oh!” at and then go off and plan their own wedding, their own way.

And here it is!

I emailed the lovely Kat, AKA The Rock ‘N Roll Bride, who wrote me a kick-ass intro and was generally great with input and advice. I filled the book with as wide a variety of musical styles as I could- Missy Higgins, The Buzzcocks, Portishead, The Beach Boys, Muse, Alice Cooper… It also contains some fab photos (oh, is that me?! How did that get in there…) and some casual but informative… um… information.

Go check it out: The Rock ‘N’ Roll Guide To Wedding Music– a big chunk of alternative wedding-ness for anyone who isn’t enthused by the idea of walking down the ideal to The Wedding March!

Categories
Inspiration Notebooks Paper Stationery

Weekly Inspiration- Scrapbooking

When I was younger, I thought scrapbooking meant literally putting scraps of paper into a book.

In the last few years, I’ve come to think of it as more of a cheesy American thing and all about having notebooks full of stuff and making the pages look fancy and sticking lots of things in them- not just scraps of paper. You can buy kits and everything, to help you scrapbook. This seemed a bit over the top to me and never really appealed; however, I liked the idea of making notebooks or journals for other people to scrapbook in.

I thought I’d start off by doing a bit of research into scrapbooking and the kind of notebooks and papers people wanted to use for it. Inevitably, on my Google travels, a Wikipedia entry popped up and caught my eye.

And ohmyword did it make me want to start scrapbooking. All I had to read was this paragraph and I was HOOKED:

Friendship scrapbook example from approximately 1795 – 1834

The following photographs show some of the pages from a “Memorial of Friendship” scrapbook kept by Anne Wagner, a British woman, between 1795 and 1834. She belonged to the same social circle as the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley. Anne Wagner’s scrapbook includes pages she created, as well as contributions from friends and relatives. The scrapbook contains handwritten poems, notes left by friends and relatives, and decoupage ephemera like locks of hair, decorative paper clippings, ribbons, and detailed watercolour sketches.

*Squeek!* these pictures make me go all fluttery:

I have come to the realisation that scrapbooking is something that has been missing in my life. I always keep ticket stubs, bits of printed info, articles I find interesting- they’re all in a magazine file, gathering dust. They need a home. They need a scrapbook.

The idea of having friends and relatives contribute I really do like- I can’t think of anything better than having a notebook full of sketches, doodles, pictures, poems and writing from people I know and love. Those who know me be warned!

Categories
Inspiration

Weekly Inspiration- Wilton ideas page

After the success of my peanut butter cups, I wanted to try more filled candy delights.

As I’d used Wilton Candy Melts for the peanut butter filling, I thought the Wilton website would be a sensible place to start.

I was right.

I have discovered that, really, once you’ve made your little chocolate cup, you can fill it with pretty much anything.

Mocha mousse:

 

Yummy fruit:

Mmm! Apparently good for serving liqueurs, too. Double mmm.  

I have a brilliant idea for making little mini cheesecakes in chocolate cups… yet to test it out but I’ll post about it when I do!

Categories
Art Inspiration

Weekly Inspiration- colouring in

When freezer_girl told me about her new colouring book I was very excited. Yes, colouring in. Quite true, we’re not children. And yes, genuinely excited.

BECAUSE IT’S AWESOME! Not only is there colouring of pretty pictures to be done, but you can doodle your own designs in there. And they’re all fun things that you’d really want to doodle designs for.

So, I got one too, and we’re going to colour and compare.

Categories
Art Craft Inspiration Lunchtime Lusting

Lunching Lusting- the Yorkshire Sculpture Park online shop

What do you do if you were all excited about seeing the Miró exhibition at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park, but were too ill to go?

Sulk, then remember about their website, then get distracted by the wonder of their online shop.

I particularly like these letter press cookie cutters:

And I have no idea what I’d do with it, but I want one of these:

Totally inspired by this farm stamp set:

Oh, and the Miró stuff in the exhibition shop is pretty good too.

Categories
Inspiration

FLORIDA ahoy!!!!!!!!!

The long-awaited holiday is finally here, hurrah!

Thus, I have nothing to post about, absolutely nothing at all apart from a picture of our hotel:

The pool, hot tubs, tennis and basketball courts:

A little map of City Walk and imagining I’m walking round:

And planning my birthday Disney outfit!

Categories
Art Inspiration Stationery

Weekly Inspiration- Cardcaptors

Ok, so this isn’t reeeally 100% about crafts. As I may have mentioned, we’re going to Florida soon. I’m making a notebook to take; it’s a little one, handbag sized, with a pocket in the back to put theme park tickets etc. The cover will be decorated with cartoon figures representing everyone going. 

My first thought was DISNEY, even though we’re only going for one day. Awesome. Job done. Plenty of Disney characters to choose from. But then, none of them really have my hair.

And I got to thinking.

Who does?

Cardcaptor Sakura!

Little manga versions of everyone would be awesome. Manga always inspires me to draw.

Categories
Craft Inspiration

Weekly Inspiration- Buttons!

Buttons are awesome. Just look how fun this pile looks.

They are sometimes misused because of this fact. Sticking buttons on something doesn’t automatically make it cute. That’s right. You heard me. Stop randomly sticking buttons on things!

Each to their own though, I guess, but these, for example, are delightful:

Check out absolutely small for these and also… chicken pants.

I have no idea what the point of this button book is, but I want to try and make one all the same: