RECIPE: Cheese biscuits

I made about 6 batches of these cheese biscuits before Christmas, most of them were wrapped up for Christmas gifts, but I did keep a few for myself. They are so tasty and very moreish...so be warned you wont just be able to eat one :D 

I've been asked about the recipe and I am really bad at finding recipes on the internet, scribbling them down in my note book and then tweaking the recipe as I go a long and then forgetting where the original came from. 

So here is the one straight from my note book.....

You will need: 

3oz Butter (cubed)

4oz Strong cheddar

2oz Corn flour

4oz Plain flour

Pinch of salt

Pinch of cayenne pepper

(Handful of grated parmesan for sprinkling on top

Method:

Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius 

Cover baking tray with greaseproof paper

Sieve plain flour, corn flour, cayenne pepper and salt into a bowl

Add cheese and butter (cubed) into the dry mix and rub together

Once combined knead a little and roll into a ball

Roll out onto a floured surface

Use cookie cutters to cut out shapes

Place onto your baking tray and sprinkle with the parmesan

Bake for 10 mins or until golden brown

Leave to cool for 15 mins then you can either transfer to a tin of scoff them whilst warm

Hope you enjoy making them as much as you do eating them. 

RECIPE : Cappuccino cake

If you like coffee you will love this cake, if you like chocolate you will love this cake, if you love cake you will definitely love this cake!!!!! Don't be put off if you're not a coffee lover, its not as intense as it sounds, its more of a chocolate cake with a hint of coffee. And if you really hate coffee then why not substitute it with caramel flavouring? 

To make the cake you will need :

50 gms Cocoa powder

6 tblsps boiling water

3 eggs

50 mls milk

175 gms self raising flour

1 tsp baking powder 

100 gms margarine/butter

275 gms caster sugar

To make the coffee cream filling/topping you will need :

300 mls whipping cream

1 tsp coffee

2 tsp boiling water

Method : Cake

Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius and prepare x2 cake tins

Mix cocoa powder with the hot water until it makes a smooth paste (dont be tempted to stick your finger in to taste as it smells so chocolatey and delicious - it is bitter and will not taste as nice as it smells - I found out the hard way ha ha ha!)

Cream the butter and sugar together

Beat the eggs together with the milk and add to the creamed butter and sugar

Mix in your cocoa mix

Sift in your flour and baking powder - don't over mix

Pour into the two prepared tins and bake for 25-30 mins (test with a skewer to make sure its cooked in the centre)

All to cool and then remove from the tins

Place on a wire rack to cool completely before adding the cream filling/topping

Method : Coffee cream filling/topping

Whip 300mls whipping cream (or double cream) 

Mix 1 tsp of coffee with 2 tsp of boiling water - stir till dissolved

Add to the whipped cream and fold in til mixed

Spilt into two lots and sandwich one half in-between the two cakes and use the other half to spread on the top.

Dust with cocoa powder and add walnuts/pecans if you wish :D 

Enjoy!

Festive fun

Taking a breath this morning to take it all in. We've had a wonderful Christmas shared with our nearest and dearest. Admittedly eaten waaaaayyy too much and over indulged in a little too much alcohol but we've had a great time. I made Christmas dinner with the help of everyone and it was absolutely delicious, even attempted Nigella's glazed ham to go with our Turkey, I changed the black treacle to maple syrup and it was fantastic!!! 

We had 4 cats in the house, 3 of ours and my Mam and Stepdad brought their cat Gordon down too. Surprisingly they all got on fine. Everyone seemed to have a great time, lots of laughing and stories of Christmas's before.

Thankfully all my home-made gifts made it to their destinations in time for opening on Christmas day, they included: Cheese biscuits, gingerbread biscuits, chocolate shards, lemon curd, reindeer decorations, a wreath (which I totally forgot to take a photo of when finished - doh!!) and some other bits and bobs.

For the first time I treated myself to a bit of pampering and got some sparkly nails. 

We received some lovely gifts, I cant thank everyone enough. My crafty friends, you know who you are, thank you for your so thoughtful gifts xxx I am so very lucky!!!! 

All thats left to say is that I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas with your family and friends.

Now its time to relax and enjoy the time off before going back to work in the new year. xxx

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

Having more time to myself in the run up to Christmas has meant that I've been able to do some of the things I'd always wished I had time for. We normally have a real wreath for the front door but this year I wanted make a fake one that we could use year after year. I wanted to keep it simple with Holly and berries, a few tiny gold baubles, and a gold hessian bow.

I also made this one for indoors it is hanging in our dining room. I added some little copper wire lights and a wired ribbon bow. 

The tree is up and looking very traditional, I have an eclectic collection of baubles but I try to stick to a red and green colour theme. 

The only thing left is to decorate the table. I have no idea exactly what I'm going for this year but I have some bits and bobs and I've been searching for ideas on Pintrest. Just need to put it all together.

My favourite cake to date!

Home-made Cappuccino cake

I've been spending a lot of time since changing my eating habits looking for recipes so that I can enjoy some treats that I can cook from scratch so I know exactly what is in them. I've realised that no one should really eat processed food, we have no idea what's in it half the time. 

On my search I've been trying to fill my recipe book up with lots of different dishes, one of them being this delicious Cappuccino cake. Its one of the easiest cakes I've made and was pleasantly surprised at how it turned out. I love coffee......so a perfect choice for me :)

I also made this cake for a charity Bake sale at work and it went down a treat!!! 

Let me know if you would like me to post the recipe and I'll add a tab at the top. 

Definitely my most favourite cake to date!

Feeling festive

So this started off the feeling festive bug......

So then I listed all of these in my Etsy shop.....

Which then led to lots of little ginger cuties globe-trotting their little sugared socks off :D

Lorraine Pascale and my Kmix win!!

I am a huge fan of celebrity chef Lorraine Pascale, I've followed her from her early days creating delicious deserts and cakes on TV and was gutted I never got to visit her cupcake shop in London before it closed. 

I love her new healthy eating lifestyle and following her on Instagram and you tube has really motivated me to be healthier and more active. 

Amongst posting delicious recipes and fitness tips Lorraine also gives away some fantastic items from her sponsors. Every time, I have entered in the hope of winning and two weeks ago I did just that!!!! I won!!!! And what a prize I won too, a brand new Kenwood Kmix mixer. I couldn't believe it. I'd had a pretty crappy day so to find out I had won really made my day. 

Lorraine is so lovely, I messaged her straight back to say thank you and she replied and even said hi to my Dad too :) 

Can't wait to give it a whirl and make some cakes with it. At the moment it is sitting pretty on my kitchen bench and very pretty it looks indeed! 

Spppoooookkkyy!!

OK well here I am again, playing that age old game of blog catch up. This is what you get when you can never find anything to blog about and then low and behold it all comes at once. If there was ever an award for sporadic blogging I'd be right up at the top. 

So please excuse the fact that this post is from Halloween, if you are a follower of Instagram then you will have already seen these photos. I've always been a huge fan of Halloween, mainly because I like a damn good excuse for decorating the house and behaving like a 10 year old all over again.

We did our best to make the front of the house as spooky looking as we could and it has vastly improved from last years efforts. Mr. B added the red light to make it look a bit more sinister, but I was worried we would be giving people the wrong impression of what we were offering ha ha ha. Maybe a red light would have been better if it were green :D

I cant take any praise for this years pumpkin as Mr.B took care of it. Didn't he do a grand job of it. I covered the huge log with cobwebs and added a tarantula....we also had a flashing "BEWARE" sign on our gate but I couldn't  get a good photograph of it. 

We had quite a few children from the village on the hunt for treats and they had all made a fantastic effort of dressing up. We let Mr. Pumpkin head burn right throughout the night and reluctantly decided to put him in the bin 4days later. I did however roast the pumpkin seeds on the afternoon and they were delicious. I'd never thought about roasting them before but noticed that quite a few people in blog land were doing it so I thought why not give it a go!! 

I'll post the easy instructions at some point if you're interested?

Moving forward....

So this time last year this was me....this was my life.

I was engrossed in making gorgeous creations like the below, I loved it and relished in the fact that when it suited me I could turn out pretty much whatever I wanted or a customer commissioned. I cant tell you how much I love/d to make bags, its something that just felt right and never felt like work....ever!

I started Bagladee because I loved to make bags, it was that simple. I was very lucky to be able to do this, I was/am still working full time in a very demanding job, along side moving to a new house and still in the process of "putting our stamp on it". I was starting to feel stressed and anxious about the smallest of things and couldn't quite put my finger on what was wrong. A close friend of mine suggested maybe I was putting too much pressure on myself and maybe it was time I give myself a break. I pondered on it for quite sometime, in fact I think it quite possibly could have been months. One day it just clicked and I decided it was time to just hang up my bag making apron and make a new plan.

It was tough at first, I had my new list of priorities, but I was still seeing all my crafty friends posting about all the gorgeous things they had made and it made me feel sad that I wasn't creating too. That was until I put my plan into action.  

 So at the end of July, I pressed pause on Bagladee and pressed play on what you could say "me".  So this is me now.....kick started my new healthy life style, eating healthier, exercising, I've lost a stone in weight and feel so much better in myself. We took a holiday, the first in 5 year, spent a lot of time with Mr.B, spent quite a lot of time making our home as beautiful as our creative skills will allow and I have found out I really love to be in our kitchen. I'm learning to cook more from scratch, making meals healthier and getting as much fruit and veg as I can.

I love all aspects of my life, past and present and have never regretted any decision I've made as I've always gone with gut instinct. Its all a learning curve right? Isn't that why we're all here, to experience as much as we can in life. There have been tough times too but I'm a firm believer in that bad times help us appreciate the good times.

Slowly I'm getting back into a little sewing, I've stocked my Etsy and Folksy shops with some decorations and maybe I'll get round to making a bag or something soon. But for now, watch out for some homemade cakes, soups and breads....Oh yes and some lemon curd too :D

Holi-bobs and painting jobs

As you were all probably getting ready for the children to go back to school or recuperating from the last bank holiday of the year....ours was very quiet. Although it was quiet we were still very busy. Before the weather starts to turn we're having all the windows and facias of the house painted. So while the weather was still mild this weekend we primed all the parts we could physically reach. Its amazing what a change of colour can do. The front door (top right photo) is currently primer white but it is going to be the most decadent heritage grey colour. The inside is already painted the colour and I truly love it. We seemed to have turned a corner with our home, its gone from being someone elses vision to having a huge personality injected into it. There is still a little way to go yet but it really starting to feel like 'us'.

I accidentally discovered on a trip to Wilko's these delicious dark chocolate mint M&M's, I'm sure there are many of you shouting out there "WHHHAAATTT how have you not seen these before?" but I genuinely haven't, one bag and I'm hooked!!! Maybe the green is a little reminiscent of Superman's kryptonite.....I feel his pain!! Eating healthy has been pretty easy until these green monsters came into my life. Must resist, must resist!

Speaking of eating healthy, after being a huge fan of Lorraine Pascale for a long time I was ecstatic to see that she has released a new book called "Eating healthy made easy"! I haven't attempted to make anything from it yet but the recipes sound utterly delicious and uber healthy without being pretentious or too complicated. Next on my list is to invest in a Nutribullet. So far I have lost a stone, which I'm still reeling from, I wanted to lose a couple of lbs before my holiday (only 8 days left to go) but never thought it would take me to a stone lighter. I feel full of energy and a lot happier in myself. My aim now is to maintain my weight but continue on the healthy eating route.

Last week I watched the final episode of Falling Skies, I only really got into this TV series when I was ill in the Spring. I managed to wade my way through 3 series in a week, and couldn't wait for the 4th. I was a little sad to hear that season 5 would be the last but couldn't wait to see what happened. If you haven't watched and are into Sci-fi then I'd really recommend it.

My other exciting news is that we have a new car, we never planned to replace my little Fiesta just yet but I've had her for 8 1/2 years and when the bill for repairs is double the worth of the car it's time to get a new one. So we popped into a local garage to test drive an Astra (bottom left photo) and ended up putting down a deposit 😳 its strange not driving Dolly but I'm sure I'm slowly getting used to the new one.

Hopefully the next time I post I will be well rested from my holidays, which I totally cant wait for, I think I'm going to burst with excitement before next week!!! Not having a holiday for 4 years will do this to a person :D ha ha. See you all soon xxx

What have I been doing???

Well.....its been quite difficult trying to retrain a brain that naturally wants to hop straight into the studio from work and start making bags but I think I'm slowly getting used to it.

There has been LOTS of list writing and I mean lots!! lol I've been slowly filling my diary with notes and goals and my note book is awash with different ideas and things I need/want to do. Top of my list is to finally get round to making the cushion covers for the snug which I have been meaning to do since November last year!! 

I've also been Zumba'ing my butt off along side eating healthier and of course completing a detox. It was really important for me to spend some time taking care of myself. I feel sooooo much better about myself and a lot happier. Some of the goals that I set myself before I hung up my bag making apron was to eat healthier and be happy so far its going well :D 

We've been trying to get through the mahhooosive list of DIY/Painting tasks that we still had to complete, to be honest I think we were both just putting it off but its time to bite the bullet now and just get on with it. 

And this past week I've been easing myself into a little bit of hand sewing. I do love to sit with a cuppa and a pile of felt, it makes me smile.

So thats me all caught up, what about you, what have you been doing?  

Teatox complete!

I did it!!!! I've completed my very first detox!!! 

I cant believe it was so easy! And I am a little sad that its over :( just to recap with you, for the last 28 days I have been following a teatox program from a company called Skinny Mint. I added more fruit and veg to my diet and started doing regular exercise (x2 40mins Zumba a week).

I want to say that I never went on this detox to lose weight, that's not really what its for. I wanted to detox because I've been struggling with certain foods as I've gotten older. I've never been able to consume cows milk, apparently when I was a baby my Mam brought me up on goats milk. But after I left home I bought and drank cows milk as I thought it was just something I would have grown out of, until I realised that it was making me really ill. I was having awful stomach pains/cramps and I was so ridiculously bloated, sometimes it even made me feel nauseous. So I'm back on the goats milk/cheese/yoghurt and loving it. I also have trouble with white bread, white pasta and white rice. So I have switched to wholemeal/protien pasta, brown rice and only eat wholemeal bread. I gathered that making these changes and detoxing would be just what I needed.

Before the teatox I weighed myself and I was sitting at 11st 1lbs, which for my height 5"11 is where I should be. But I felt heavy and lethargic and I had heard that the morning tea really gave you a boost. So I thought with my holiday coming up in September I had nothing to lose by trying it. 

I finished my teatox on Wednesday and when I weighed myself I was astonished to see that I am now 10st 6lbs. This was just an added bonus I have to say as the teatox did what it said it would. It gave me so much more energy and I no longer felt fuzzy headed and lethargic on a morning. I also found that during the day my energy levels didn't dip like they used to. And to top it all off no more tummy troubles. 

When I had completed the teatox I really missed the morning teas so I've went ahead and ordered some more. The morning ones you can continue to drink in between detox's. They arrived this afternoon and I will be glad to get back to it tomorrow morning for sure :)

As I have already posted it on my Instagram account I just want to warn you before, that I don't normally make a habit of posting photographs of myself in a bikini and this will be the one and only time I will ever do it. I apologise to those of you who would rather not see if it, but since I'm only ever going to do it the once I feel like it may just be OK? :D

The top two are of me before and the bottom are from after. I am more than happy with the result and would definitely recommend it to anyone wanting to cleanse their system, feel better and more energised or just want to kick start a healthy eating regime. 

OK I have embarrased myself enough now so I'm signing off there. Thanks for taking the time to read through my progress. Other crafty news to follow :) xxx

The last for sometime

If you have caught up with my blog lately you will know that I've made the tough decision to give up making bags for the time being to pursue other things that make me happy.

It was an even tougher decision as I had just finished this custom bag for a lovely friend of mine. I have really pushed myself this year to not be afraid to dive in and try new designs and I'm proud to say I think I nailed that one. 

As always I loved making this bag and loved the brief I was set by Michele. It took longer than I anticipated but I got there in the end......

Its a little bit ridiculous that I was so scared of zippered pockets, they weren't half as difficult as I thought they were going to be and this year they have appeared in every bag I've made.

Michele was as pleased with her bag as I was with the end result. I have no doubt in my mind that there will be more bags in the future but it will be as and when I feel the need to get back in the saddle so to speak.

I feel content that I "went out with a bang" with this bag, although it did make me question my decision to stop making bags. That was until I reminded myself of all the new projects/tasks that I was looking forward to getting started on.

I'm hoping all this practice with piping will stand me in good stead to get cracking on those cushions I was planning to make over a year ago!!! :D

So I leave you with this picture........

Bagladee xxx

Colour Therapy

As I seem to be on a new road of self discovery at the moment I thought I'd give some colour therapy a go. I have heard from quite of few of my friends that this actually works. I was secretly thinking to myself that even if it didn't work I really wanted to do some colouring in!!! :D I searched on Amazon for Adult Colouring books, now I'd just like to confirm that is colouring books for Adults and not something a little bit *coughs* a-hem! h ha ha!! And these were the two that caught my eye....."Colour Therapy, an anti-stress colouring book" and "Cool cats". I also treated myself to a good set of felt tip pens. 

I chose a page from the blue section to start and since orange is the complimentary colour of blue I used golden yellow and orange accents. 

Not quite finished yet but almost there.

Feeling like a kid again, it took me back to colouring as a child. It really focused my mind and I found myself immersed in it for over an hour before I realised. Sometimes I find it really difficult to clear my mind of everything and even when I'm trying to relax my brain is going ten to the dozen. This really helps clear your mind and concentrate on one thing, making the picture look pretty with amazing colours!!!

If you're interested the two books and the pens including delivery came to £15.95, cheaper than an hour of actual therapy ;)

Feeling happy :D

Skinny Mint : Update 2

I'm gonna make this one short and sweet.....

So I'm now on day 22 and I can't believe how much of a difference I'm seeing. The bloat has gone and my belly fat has reduce significantly (with the help of exercise of course). I thought maybe the whole energised feeling would subside after a while but no, I'm still feeling awake and cleared headed every morning and just generally in a better mood.

I had a good clear out of my clothes on Friday afternoon. Now we all keep those items if clothing that we love in the hope of one day being able to "get back into them" don't we? Well some have gone and some I can actually fit back into WIN!!! I now have an organised wardrobe full of clothes that fit me.

To sum up my progress so far, I went into this teatox 11st 1lbs and when I weighed myself last night I now weigh 10st 7lbs so I have lost 8lbs so far. Again I'd like to reiterate that I have also been eating more healthier and exercising. I have 6 days remaining until the end of my teatox and cant wait to see the end result.

I'll be back at the end of the 28days to show you my end result :)

Not giving up

I feel a little bit sad writing this post but at the same time excited of what is to come. I'm just gonna come out as say it and then I feel i need to explain....

I am hanging up my bag making apron for the foreseeable future. 

There I said it, it's out there now! It was never an easy decision to make and of course nothing of this nature is ever final. It's something that has been in the background niggling at me since last Christmas. 

As I've said many times before, Bagladee for me is more of a hobby than it's ever been a business, I did it because I love to sew and I've revelled in the whole process of teaching myself new techniques and realising that I could actually make a good quality bag that could rival some of the best! Life has changed since the start of Bagladee and so have my priorities. I enjoy my day job since changing just over a year ago and everyday is unpredictable and busy which I love. I've started eating healthier and exercising regular. We still have much to do in the way of decorating our beautiful home and I just want to let go and relax and enjoy life in general with Chris (Mr.B). 

I could write a list that goes on for miles of all the things I would like to do in place of the time I would be sat making bags. I just feel that now is the perfect time to stop and take stock of everything and do more. 

I will still keep everything going in regards to my blog, Facebook, twitter, Instagram and my website. I don't want Bagladee to just disappear, you will just see a lot more things about me and my life. I'm going to spend more time developing my brand of gingerbread men as they are so popular with you all. So you can expect some new little bits in that sense. Maybe I'll even get round to making myself a bag! Ha ha.

Way, way back in 2008 I started this blog and opened my Etsy shop and since then I've had the most amazing support and encouragement from you all. For that I cant thank you enough! I never thought for one minute that Bagladee would have become such a huge part of my life and the new friends I've made along the way. As I have no idea where the road is going to take me I'm hoping that you'll join me for the ride.

I've spent the evening tidying up my studio (as always it looks like a tornado after I've finished a bag) so now its all ready to be decorated and ready for a new chapter.

Skinny Mint : Update

So I am now on day 10 of the 14 day Starter pack of the Skinny Mint teatox. I thought that I wasn't going to like it to be honest, as I said before I'm not really a 'herbal' tea drinker, I love a good cup of builders tea or you are mostly likely to see me with a cup of coffee in my hand.

I have to say that I am really enjoying the morning boost tea, I love the taste and even more so I love how energised I feel since starting the teatox.

I am definitely not a morning person, I start my day job at 7am and it always takes me about an hour and a couple of coffees to get me into some sort of cohesive state and sometimes I can be, shall we say 'a little moody' or sharp until at least mid morning. God I sound like a right moody cow....I'm not like this everyday I'd just like to add :D

My usual routine would be to get in and log into the works system then go make a coffee. I've now replaced this with the morning boost tea and boy what a difference. I've felt more awake this week than I have in quite sometime, I've also felt more cleared headed, less fuzzy and overall generally in a better mood and state of mind. So for me the morning boost tea is a winner for sure.

The night cleanse tea however, I still cannot get away with the taste, I'm not saying its awful its just not my thing. its very gingery and has peppermint in it too, I really don't like peppermint tea :( but I've been persevering with it to see what the results are. It does make you feel really relaxed and sleepy which was a nice bonus, its really helping me wind down before bed.

Please remember that while doing this teatox I am exercising too, I try to fit in x2 40min sessions of Zumba a week but I'm not dieting I'm just trying to eat a little more fruit and veg. I have been losing a teeny bit of weight here and there over the last couple of months but when I weighed myself this week I had actually lost 2lbs!!! Am I seeing any difference though? YES!! I am no longer feeling bloated and have lost an inch or so from my waist and I have noticed my muffin top has reduced. And one of my work colleagues asked me today "Have you lost weight?". So this evening I have gone ahead and ordered another of the 14 day pack to complete the full 28 day teatox. I'm interested to see what difference doing the whole course will be.

They only recommend that you detox 3 times a year with a break in between each detox but you can however still carry on drinking the morning boost tea. If I find that after I complete the teatox I'm starting to become lethargic again I think I will invest in a pack of just the morning boost.

I've even managed to persuade my Mam to try it too, so it will be interesting to see what results it has for her. I will pop back in a few more days or so and let you know how I'm getting on. Would you be interested in seeing some before/after photos or not? 

Oh yes and I would just like to also add there has been some sewing going on here at Bagladee HQ but I will tell you ball about that later. 

Skinny Mint

I don't usually post about this sort of stuff but since we have booked our Summer holiday to Portugal I have been more concious of how unhealthy and unfit I had become over the last couple of years. I used to be really active when I was younger going to dance class and competing in competitions and even though I stopped competing at twenty I still kept active with aerobics and running.

Life came along and got in the way....moving house, busy making bags, busy changing jobs at work, decorating....well I could go on. I'm going to put my hand up now and say for the last 4 year approx I have done not one ounce of exercise, nope nada nothing!!!! Which would be OK if I watched what I ate....I didn't and ended up a stone and half heavier. Now to some that wont sound very much, but I've always been slim and I felt heavy. Its all about the way we feel rather than what we weigh right?!?

So.....I started back on Zumba on my WII twice a week and started trying to eat a little healthier. I started to read about different types of detox regimes on the internet, and was almost ready to try "those wraps" (very expensive) I'm sure you know which ones I mean until I read up about Skinny Mint. Skinny Mint is a 2 step Teatox which you drink for 28 days. There is a morning boost tea which you drink every morning before breakfast and then a Night cleanse which you drink every other night after your last meal.

The 28 day teatox is £32.90, I know sounds expensive for tea right, yeah thats what I thought, but I read some of the testimonials and thought I'm gonna give it a go. There is a 14 day starter pack which retails for £17.90 which is the one that I went for, I was a little dubious that I would like the taste of it so the starter pack seemed like a good way to go.

Here goes......

My pack arrived on Monday so my first day started on Tuesday. I had one of the morning boost teas as soon as I got to work on Tuesday morning, the tea bag itself smelt gorgeous and I was pleasantly surprised that I really liked the tea. I'm not normally a fan of fruit teas but this seemed really easy to drink. I then had one of the night cleanse teas just before going to bed, this one was very different, I couldn't really tell what the tea smelled of, it kinda smelled a little pepperminty. My other half complained that he thought it smelled awful but then he says that about most things lol anyway I did drink it and it was fine, I could taste peppermint and ginger, both of which I don't mind, the tea was palatable but I have to say I preferred the morning boost. So its now my third day and I have to say that I've felt a lot more awake since drinking the tea, my mood has improved on a morning (I'm usually a right grumpy sod) and feel like I have more energy. As I have only had one of the night cleanse teas I cant really comment if it does have an effect. Although it made me really relaxed for bed and I found myself drifting off to sleep the moment I put my head on the pillow. So far, so good.

I'm just about to go and make a night cleanse tea now so I'll end my post here. I'll come back in a couple of days and let you know how I'm getting on.

There are some links in this post to the Skinny Mint website, they're also currently having a sale on if you were thinking of trying it.

Night my lovelies.....x

Duolingo

One thing that I wished I'd learned more of when I was younger is languages. I envy other countries who learn a second language from an early age. 

When I was at secondary school we had the choice of learning French or German. I was one of the lucky few who were given the chance to learn both but sadly when I left school for college I didn't carry either on. I sometimes wonder if I'd have started learning them sooner in Primary school would I have carried it on later in life?

That aside I do remember quite a bit of French and when we have been in France I have known enough to get by. German however...I barely remember a thing, well I can count to 100, tell you my name and that's where that talent ends. 

Since starting to visit Portugal for holiday I've really wanted to learn Portugese. I've picked up a couple of phrases from holidays and even bought some CD's to try and help but it never really seemed to sink in. Recently I have discovered Duolingo and I am really enjoying it. All of the levels are varied and it's almost like playing a game which keeps you interested. Because the levels are in bite sized chunks it makes it really easy to learn in my lunch break or when I have a spare 5 minutes. 

I'm hoping by the time our holiday in September comes round I will have learned enough to really test my new skill. And then maybe by the time we get to emigrate over there I will be fluent 😉

Have any of you tried Duolingo? 

Fighting fit

At last I feel like myself again!! Yipeeeeeee!

I am rubbish at being ill ha ha just purely because I refuse to actually admit that I am feeling under the weather and will try to carry on doing everything I think I should be doing. Most likely why I ended up so run down in the first place!!

Well that was my plan until my body had other ideas and I ended up vegged out on my bed for the whole of the week. Apart from watching the first and second series of Falling Skies (and starting on the third) I did sew a little, funnily enough it was things that I just hadn't gotten round to like sewing these gorgeous grey buttons on our mustard cushions. We bought them quite some time ago (ashamedly I think it was about 8 months ago) as a contrast to the grey wall we painted opposite the sofa (chimney breast wall) and I kept saying I will do them at the weekend. Ha ha how many times have I heard that before!!

Now I'm back to my usual self it feels fantastic. But I am still concious not to push myself too far in case it happens again. We're having a pretty slow paced weekend but still trying to pack lots in to fully enjoy the bank holiday weekend. Right I'm off to make a coffee and plan out what we're going to be doing today.

Have a fab weekend :D xx

If I were...

....to make a bag for myself this is probably what it would look like. Although I didn't pick this fabric, my customer did, I love it!!!! Its a perfect combo for Summer.

To co-ordinate with the silvery grey flowers in the pattern of the main bag I chose a silver grey lining with a leaf pattern....

And now I have mastered the zippered pocket (as mentioned on my big To Do list) here is another, on the other side of the lining is a slip pocket perfect sizing for popping your mobile phone in.

 And hidden away inside the zippered pocket is a surprise everytime....this time turquoise polka dots!!

I'm really loving making these new style satchel bags and cant wait to make one for myself.......if I ever get round to it lol :D

Weekly round up...

Time for a weekly round up, it's been a busy one (again) but we have absolutely no plans for the weekend. Maybe we'll get some more decorating done or pop into the garden for an afternoon tea yum!!! As long as it's relaxing I don't mind :D  

This week I've been trying to get this gorgeous beauty finished, I feel like I'm on the home stretch with it now. Main body is all sewn together along with a the small components. All that's left is the lining and construction of all the pieces together. 

I also had a couple of orders for decorations to make (no mention of the C word just yet lol) I still love sitting on an evening hand sewing these, I find it so theraputic. I did think that you would all call me crazy for posting photos of these so early in the year but hey if you lovely people order them I am happy to make them. It always feels strange sewing them when the sun is shining though.

The Gingers are still proving to be the favourite, a lovely lady in San Diego has ordered a set and they set off on their long journey yesterday. It still boggles my mind that my little makes travel to all sorts of destinations around the world. 

Well that's it for me, I'm going to go and put some coffee on and get some washing pegged out. Best take advantage of this lovely weather, here in the UK you never know how long it's going to last. Have a fab weekend!!

And onto the next one...

I am so lucky that I get to work with all these gorgeous fabrics and colours! Here's what is next on my work desk, isn't it so pretty? 

I have already started sewing the components ie the strap, side pieces and pockets and I'm loving the fabric combination. I've picked a fabric the same hue as the red flowers in this fabric for the piping and the lining is going to be silvery grey. I'm keeping the secret zip pocket fabric a secret for now ;)