The Winner is DEANNE!!!I am so excited to announce the first of next years Creative HeART & Soul retreats and it is in one of the most gorgeous places I know!
The Terrace, Windermere – a unique row of Three 4 star, grade II listed large holiday homes located in the heart of Windermere village, yet conveniently secluded from the hustle of the town in private grounds. Designed by AWN Pugin perhaps more famous for designing the Palace of Westminster these house are beautifully kept and as a result were awarded ‘best contribution to the visual appearance to Windermere village’ in 2008.
There are copious amounts of single, double, twin and kingsize beds – NO ONE will be sharing a bed.
The majority of rooms have ensuite facilities plus there is the added master bathroom etc on each floor of each house.
All bedrooms have TV/DVD combos and most have Ipod alarms, game stations etc. One of the houses even has a cinema in the basement, another has a hot tub and another has a pool table/games room!
Since there are 3 houses that we are taking over there is more than ample parking and we have a lot of outdoor space should the weather be nice to us!
The teachers we have lined up so far are our very own Tracie Hudson, Celine Navarro, Lida De Witte and another international teacher who is yet to confirm 
£375 all inclusive – accomodation, food, 6 classes plus make/takes and goodie bags. If you know Creative HeART & Soul you will know attention to detail is second to none and we have lots of surprises throughout the weekend!
Please email debbie@creativeheartandsoul.com to book your space now!
Deposit of £50 due at time of booking then a monthly payment of £50 on the first of Aug, Sep, Oct, Nov, Dec, Jan and a final £25 due on the 1st of Feb!
I did try to explain to the lady at checkout why I needed 2 sets without sounding like a complete baking fiend...failed miserably! I just knew you would need another set too - I mean, who can ever have enough cakestands, cookie cutters and well, erm nozzles! lol
How cute are these and boy didnt i need another standing bowl!! lol 
(Although wouldnt it look fab filled with sweets on a candy table and for only £2 for the bowl and 50p for the candle stick well i couldnt say no could I! ;)
for that price they have brightened up my windowsill no end! :)
Have I told you about my love of TKMaxx (im sure I have?! ;) Well, depending on what the buyers bring in depends on how high my blood pressure gets and boy has it been off the charts lately!! Look at those, that huge glass will be the centre piece of a wedding project i have coming up - filled with pink champagne it will be just perfect and £11.99!! Well, I couldnt say no (I cant say no very often if you hadnt realised!) LOL 
That gorgeous HUGE GIGANTIC glass container will hold lots of momentoes of babies for an upcoming baby shower - either that or im really losing my marbles and concidering filling it with water and a pair of goldfish for a wedding table! (good job they had more than one in the store as i certainly wouldnt use the same one for sweets and fish!!) haha
I love the little pics which are from when she first met her Percil bunny - which is now conveniently called Percy thanks to Rosie! lol ;)
Im going to strip it all back and redo the woodwork in pale cream distress then repaint the blackboard section, hang little hooks from those sections in the bottom and add a couple of rub ons etc. I know just what its going to be used for and I cant wait to get the kitchen sorted so that it has a home!
Its a little wonky, a little unloved but by the time im finished with it it will have a new lease of life and work really well as our in/out box!
she loved running around the field! 
The open spaces meant she could just let go and run.....she loved it and I have to admit I am really enjoying this little princess, watching her grow and the way the boys interact with her is just amazing, they love her so much and she is really thriving from it all!
can you tell what they enjoy doing in their spare time?! lol
Congratulations toHow gorgeous do these marshmellows look. Have to say that the Lemon Meringue Pie would be the ones i'd pick, it is my all time favourite pudding. Have liked on FB x
Well done honey - please email me your postal address to debbie(at)countryheartandhome.com and i will get them in the post to you first thing :)
I had so much fun making the pompoms and plan to use them an awful lot - i have so many different colour packs of tissue paper that I cant wait to make some more for my next party!
(please excuse the background and colouring - its a conference hall so i couldnt attach anything to the wall as backdrop so ended up with horrible orange wooden glare over everything!)
(dont even ask about the cake - its a bone of contention between the girls as it had been standing for 2 days and i hadnt cut it, because no one else had either i thought no one wanted it so took the photos and *whispers* binned it! LOL
The outcry from the girls was hilarious as they were all waiting for me to cut it to try some - even if it was just the middle that was still soft at that stage - sorry girls!) lol.
oreo sunken cupcakes which were topped with cream cheese frosting, I made the paper rosettes with the Tim Holtz die and had some Keep Calm and Eat A Cupcake badges made for each of the girls.
toffee and chocolate and amaretti biscuit coated cupcakes.
Lemonade with fresh slices of orange and lemon from a gorgeous glass dispenser - which became the star of the weekend :)
I covered the water bottles in pretty paper and made little caps for them as the purple tops didnt match the table!
(yes im a little ocd at times) Then i made cute little chinese takeaway boxes decorated with pretty paper and handmade pinwheels. These were filled with a lottery ticket, fortune cookie,
chocolate lipbalm and a little glass vial which i put nature rub ons onto, these contained a little scroll saying how strong, beautiful, important etc each of the ladies are.
The candy table was a huge success as it was filled completely with kiddy sweets and finished with a row of handmade bunting!
Jelly teddies, spaceships,
fizzy stars 
and lots more. There were little silver scoops for everyone to help themselves and the table was decorated with little teeny glass hearts.
I had so much fun making it all but got even more pleasure from the reception it all got from the ladies attending, seeing them smile and even thank me for what i had done was more than i ever could have asked for - love you all xxx
The next sense to be put to the test was smell....when you open each bag you get a distinctive scent of whats in store. Key Lime actually smelt like fresh Key Lime Pie....Millionaires Shortbread smelt exactly like...you get the idea! lol
Key Lime Pie...A tangy marshmallow with real lime bits held up by a crumbly sweet base.
Morello Cherry...A light and oh so subtle cherry flavour with a kick of dark chocolate for topping.
Lemon Meringue Pie...So moorish!! These are huge and almost melt in the mouth, so soft and tangy...perfect as a treat or dessert!
HOWEVER I do have my hands on an extra bag of the Lemon Meringue Pie Marshmallows which one of you can get hold of just by liking Burgh Bakes on Facebook and coming back to leave me a message to confirm you have done so :) Basically I graduated from University with a degree in ‘English Literature’ which turned out to be amazingly useless when it came to getting a so called “proper” job, so after a year of pub jobs, café jobs and a number of awful bosses I decided I’d had enough of waiting for a job to happen and make one happen for myself! I started off baking traybakes, cupcakes and loaf cakes and selling my wares wherever I could, even car boot sales! Around March I wanted to do something different, after seeing cupcake shops springing up in Edinburgh I knew I couldn’t compete with them so I wanted to do something different. I spent one sleepless night researching the internet looking for an idea and came across Gourmet Marshmallows, both incredibly popular in America and Paris! Two very different places! The American Marshmallows were very articificially coloured and look like a taste explosion on a plate, whereas the Parisian Marshmallows were very subtle, grand and, well… Parisian! I wanted to strike a balance inbetween and hence, “Burgh Bakes” – ‘The Marshmallow Lady’ was born! I made my debut in the middle of April and have gone from strength to strength since!
How do you not eat every batch!!??
Well.. who says I don’t? haha. No, but I have to try each batch just to make sure they’re as delicious as they can be, but apart from that I don’t really indulge in them that often, I’d rather sell them to keep the dream going!
What makes you think up new flavours - are they your own favourites or suggestions etc?
Mainly friends and family provide me with inspiration. The ‘Millionaires’ Shortbread’ was my mother’s idea, she came to me one day and asked if it was possible and two days later I delivered her a wee bag of the delicious treats. I also keep track of what’s ‘in’ with all the chefs. I’ve noticed that Elderflower seems to be everywhere right now, so I’m currently working on a flavour incorporating the yummy syrup! I’m also working on ‘Maple Syrup & Candied Pecans’, ‘Summer Fruits Crumble’ and ‘Reverse Rocky Road’!
Thank you so much Nicole, I wish you all the luck in the world on your adventure and I will certainly be back for more! :)
All of the ladies on the site bake like youve never seen before - no sooner is one pie or batch of cakes out of the oven then another is lined up ready to go in. There is the usual quiche, corned beef pie, bowls of salads, homemade coleslaws etc and what with an American lady on site too the table wouldnt be complete without refried beans - they go down a storm! 
Each year they have had a silent auction (where you go and bid on paper for what you want (this year there was everything from a slow cooker to a bike, beauty hampers and towers of Haribo sweets - bet you can tell which the boys wanted!) lol There was a raffle, of which they sold out of all 4 books - thats 4000 individual tickets we had to fold! The card and jewellery stall went down well as a lot of the ladies on the site have now been introduced to the world of crafts - im taking absolutely no responsibility and will leave that to mum *wink*
Scott was completely taken with the owls and spent a while drawing them :)
between keeping the younger children entertained and helping out bringing things around the site all night they really were a pair of stars :)
isnt he just yummy and couldnt you just grab those cheeks!!
