Sunday 27 February 2011

First fair today...

Today was the very first Frills and Fondant fair - well it was actually a wedding fair but we were in attendance! lol We handed out lots of cards, spoke to lots of brides to be and drank copious amounts of coffee and orange juice! Heres a quickie pic of the table set up - bear in mind this was our first fair so we have written down what we need to remember for next time (laminated scent lists etc as well as flasks of coffee - starbucks with an extra shot does nothing for the nerves!) lol

Just because i know you love an update - heres little Miss Princess behind bars - she certainly wasnt happy about being in her cot but doesnt she look cute! lol

Monday 21 February 2011

Creative Heart & Soul Weekend - May

We still have 3 spaces in our very first Creative Heart & Soul weekend! The girls are all working on their projects and im blown away with what we have in store for you all! My house is starting to look like a warehouse with all the goodies to take with us so dont hesitate and book your place now!

CLICK HERE TO FIND MORE DETAILS


Please email if you have any questions :)

Saturday 19 February 2011

Thank Goodness its the Weekend!!

Im ready to drop!! I have been making projects for the Stitches show with the new Core-dinations cardstock and OMGoodness it is divine!! Textured and sandable and downright droolworthy!! Here are a couple of quick shots i took of the cards before they went off - and by quick i mean 'aarrggh bring those back i havent photographed any yet' lol (15 cards and 3 layouts later - told you the Core-dinations stuff is yummy!)

Here is a little update pic of the latest candle to hit my shelves - Toasted Marshmallow!! MMmmm. Lipbalms are all set to go just need to send one last email and im ready! :)

We also visited my sister and family today and boy is Luke gorgeous! I took some pics and he slept through the flashes from the camera - such a quiet little soul too... just gorgeous!

Tuesday 15 February 2011

Big Chocolate Tea Party!!

Feeling Chocolate-Tea?

Forgo the calories and host a Big Chocolate Tea Party any time in April 2011 - and raise some money for charity.

The Sick Children’s Trust’s second annual Big Chocolate Tea Party is back!

The Big Chocolate Tea Party is about getting together with friends, family or work colleagues, over a cuppa and your favourite chocolate treat to help raise money for The Sick Children’s Trust, enabling them to help sick children and their families at their time of need.

Michael Crawford OBE , president of The Sick Children’s Trust said: “Many of the families we have helped have explained how swapping stories and sharing worries over a comforting cup of tea has enabled them to draw strength from each other; helping to ease the burden of having a seriously ill child in hospital. So I couldn’t think of a more appropriate way to raise much needed funds for our charity.”

Emma Thompson stayed at The Sick Children’s Trust Rainbow House whilst her son, George, aged one years, was being treated at Great Ormond Street.

She said: “We do not know what we would have done without the help of The Sick Children’s Trust. We had to come to London at short notice and our planned short admission turned into a long term situation that has turned our lives upside down. Because of the help of the charity we are able to have accommodation near to the hospital and it means we can still have a family life and all be together at this difficult time.

“We will definitely try to raise money for this wonderful charity in the future, not only would the money go to such a good cause but it would be fun to organise an event like a Big Chocolate Tea Party that the children could be involved with as well.”

Last year the charity raised £14,000 and have high fundraising hopes of trebling that this year.

As well as various tea parties being hosted around the country by the public, this year the charity has teamed up with The Chocolate Festival at the Southbank Centre as its official charity. It will be hosting a Big Chocolate Tea Party filled with fun chocolaty arts and crafts from 12-2pm on Sunday April 10 2011 and everyone is encouraged to come down and visit.

To receive a Big Chocolate Tea Party pack please visit www.sickchildrenstrust.org or email thebigchocolateteaparty@sickchildrenstrust.org. There are also lots of downloadable recipe cards created by famous chefs Heston Blumenthal, Ainsley Harriott, Gino D’Acampo, Phil Vickery and Gary Rhodes for chocolate inspiration!

CSN stores review and a giveaway!!

You all know my love of CSN and their generous giveaways! They sell everything from Chests of Drawers (the ones below being my current fave!) to standing lamps, cook equipment to camping stoves!!

Check them out and let me know if you would like to host a giveaway on your blog - leave a link with your blog address and i will forward it on to CSN!

Im also having a giveaway as soon as i reach 800 followers - only 7 more to go!!

Saturday 12 February 2011

Im an auntie again!!

My sister Kelly has had her little boy!! He was due a week gone yesterday but early hours of this morning Kelly went into hospital and now has a gorgeous little 8lb 7oz boy called Luke (....im sure its after the little boy in Witches as we were saying he should be called either Luke or Bruno but she wasnt having any of the Bruno suggestion!) lol

Huge congratulations honey to you and Mark and Yayy for Holly who is going to make a terrific Big Sister! :)

Im going through hopefully this weekend (when we go anywhere as a family its like a pack decending so I want to give her time at home to get settled in before we land! lol) so will take lots of photos and share :)

Monday 7 February 2011

Thank you!

Thank you so much for all the kind words and emails i have received saying its a positive move ive made etc :) I feel a lot less stressed and now and im actually getting MORE dont due to not having to panic about deadlines etc lol

Anyways, here is a little updated pic of the little Princess - 4 teeth and counting! EEK PLUS she is turning 1 in just 2 months - where the heck has this last year gone!!

I have also launched the Frills & Fondant store - there is lots more to come too! I am waiting on my certifications before i can sell any of the cosmetic items, I will update as soon as they are available :)

Thursday 3 February 2011

These darn wonderwoman pants!

I know a lot of lot of you have left lovely messages about how I manage to do it all and that my 'powers' seem beyond compare but Im giving in and hanging up my Wonderwoman pants for a while.I have kiddos that think its funny to spread the bugs around each other, right now we have a dose of the flu....obviously the next only starting after the first one has finished so its never actually out of the way altogether!

I am starting my own business and I want it to be a huge success and need to spend some time focusing on that - as much as I love being busy, if I want to stay at home with my kids (and hopefully have number 6 next year....bet that one knocked you sideways!) then I really need to put my everything into making this business work. Not just for me but for my whole family :)

I am taking back all commitments I made to the blog including the dinner party details each month - I will however be posting step by steps as and when I do them, tutorials - as and when I do them, updates and general blogging, no more pressure from here on in. Im taking a step back to how the blog use to be before I made it seem a lot more like work.

Hope you dont mind and hope you still visit - love you all and thank you for all your support.
Hugs
Debbie
x

Tuesday 1 February 2011

Valentine Dinner Dance and Tea......The Invitations and Floral Wear!

Day 1 of our very first 7 day mission to have a complete dinner party has started! :)Today I will show you the beginnings of our family Valentine Dinner Dance and Tea - meaning an all day dance-a-thon surrounded by pink goodies and lots of love filled food!! :)

You cant start a party without an invitation so that is where we will begin. Gather any supplies you think will work well with the Valentine theme...heart punches, gems, red & pink papers etc.....you may not use it all but at least if you know what you have to hand its easier in the long run!Print out the number of invitations you need onto sturdy white card, make the font something special with it being for Valentines day. Even though its being held in your home and by you this doesnt mean you dont need to add little details....go to town with your ideas!! :)

Trim each invitation, punch a heart into the bottom right hand corner and using a faint ink pad, stamp lightly around the empty spaces with a swirl stamp to create a watermark. Now edge the outside with a red Copic pen - this will blend the white paper more into the red background to create a seemless finish.Using the same heart punch you just used for the invitation, punch out some more hearts from a couple of different Valentine patterned papers. Curl the edges slightly and adhere to the invitation randomly. Using the same red edging pen highlight the words RED, may make the invitee take more notice! lol
Mount the white base of your invitation onto red card and trip around, pull up the edges with a paper edger or your nails (...Im a nail girl!) and voila all you need is a little jewel in the punched heart and youre finished :)

On the invitation I mentioned that everyone would receive a red flower for their lapel at the dance. The second part today is going to show you how to make these flowers - so inexpensive, so cute and so flippin easy to do I swear you wont ever want to spend a fortune on flowers again!!
Just using scissors, cut out 4 gradually smaller circles - doesnt matter if they arent perfect circles as they are going to be distressed anyway.Using the same red pen as before, ink around the edges and crumple the circles into small balls. Open them up and again, drag your nail or paper edger around the edges to create small tears and wear. Layer the 'petals' on top of each other and add a brad to the middle to keep them all together. You can either add a brooch backing or simply double sided tape to keep in place for the dance - either way you have a simple yet effective floral decoration that everyone is sure to admire! Come back tomorrow for our first recipe and a drink to make you swoon into the arms of your loved one! ;)