Friday 28 March 2014

Spring has so nearly sprung


Everything in the garden is just starting to look lovely again.  The light in the garden on Saturday was glorious, it was such a nice, fresh spring day.

I am so excited about planting some flowers this weekend in my terracotta pots to add a bit more colour to the garden.  I have decided that bulbs are the way forwards and I'm excited about choosing some more daffodils and tulips to fill these pots.




Wednesday 26 March 2014

Spring Blooms


I was so pleased with this gorgeous Essie Gel colour that I bought from Amazon.  It's similar to my favourite colour Fiji but this is a gel.  I bought the lamp and equipment for doing gel nails at home and it works so well with these gorgeous flower nail transfers as well (also shown here)


Monday 24 March 2014

I Feel So Fat


I don't know if many of you know this, but I studied Graphic Design and Illustration at Uni.  I loooove getting creative and drawing but I rarely have time now. I think that's maybe why I love the blog so much, it gives me a way to release my creativity without taking up loads of time and getting the place all messy.

One of the projects I did as part of my degree was an illustrated book on how I felt about myself.  I have ups and downs about being bigger and at the moment I can certainly say I'm on a big fat down.  I've put on loads of weight since the wedding and don't feel very cool or sexy.  

I had done so well to loose so much weight before the wedding, I was even feeling like a normal size person for the first time ever.

I found this book yesterday hidden on the book shelf and it made me realise that although I think I am fat and blobby, there are still some beautiful things that can come out of it!

Hope you enjoy the illustrations x


However, note to self: stop being so lazy and eat less cake and pastry!








Sunday 23 March 2014

Recipe: Lemon Layer Cake


I haven't baked for ages and although I've made jams and chutneys recently and made some very tasty meals, I don't remember the last time that I spent the afternoon baking.

I feel like I've managed to master my pastry but I haven't ever quite mastered the sponge.  Cupcakes never really work out so I thought maybe I would try a layer cake.  I went for something plain and simple so as not to get carried away with frills and whistles, rather than concentrating on the texture and flavour of the cake.

I keep seeing fantastic layer cakes, and although I attempted one a year back, it never really lived up to Emily's or these tasty looking treats on Pinterest.

When searching through for recipes it's tricky to find fab ones that are in English measurements, but after a quick bit of looking good old Delia came up a treat!

This lemon layer cake was the perfect choice!  I doubled the recipe to make it a super tall 4 layer cake and added some lemon juice and icing sugar to the icing to make it a bit less creamy.  Admittedly also I used shop bought lemon curd as that was a bit much to do as well!

I cannot believe how super quick and easy this cake was and the result was flipping amazing! 

What layer cakes have you tried?