Make It Monday

Dreamy Chocolate Cake
Do you love cooking with the kids? Well I do & on the boutique. I have some gorgeous kids cookery items including character based chefs aprons & hats, bowls & spoons, as well as a fabulous kids cookery book called Truely Scrumptious which has some great recipes to try out with your little ones. So for 'make it monday' this week we give this gorgeous Dreamy chocolate Cake a bash

Alisha's Dreamy Chocolate Cake (Kids cooking compay recipe book Truely Scrumptious)

Serves 8

Preparation 25 mins

Cooking Time 25 mins

Ingredients

6oz/175g self raising flour

8oz/225g caster sugar

8oz/225g margarine

4 eggs beaten

2oz/50g cocoa powder

300ml double cream

8oz/225g dark chocolate

chocolate curls & mini marshmallows to decorate

Equipment

2 Mixing bowls plus one small bowl

Mixing spoon

Sieve

Fork

Saucepan

2 x 9" cake tins

Method
Pre heat the oven to gas mark 5/200oc
1 Put the sugar and margarine into a bowl and beat well until it is light and fluffy.
2 Sieve the flour and cocoa powder into another bowl.
3 Slowly add a little of the egg & flour to your sugar & margarine bowl, and mix well. Keep adding and beating until all the flour and egg is used up.
4 Divide the mixture between your two greased and floured 9 inch sponge tins. Now pop the tins in the middle shelf and bake for about 20 mins or until the top springs up!
5 Decoarte the sponge with the chocolate sauce and marshmallows...have fun!

For more recipes & up to date offers on cookery items why not visit my other blog Sarah & Josephs Cookery Corner
                                ....coming soon .....

...to my online  shop the F.T.I Boutique we have the kids gardening company products plus much much more

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Friends Feature Friday

Hello & welcome to another friday feature guest writer with this weeks monthly columist Laura Adkin from Dreambox Interior Design with colour psychology & this week she brings us yellow


colour psychology - Yellow!

Since the past week has been very cold and gloomy you are in for a visual treat today! There is only one colour that can lift your spirits and inject some sunshine into your life on these rainy April days. This month I am going to look at the colour psychology of yellow.

Cheerful yellow is associated with laughter, happiness and the sunshine. A person surrounded by yellow feels optimistic and energetic because the brain actually releases more seratonin when around this color.

Have you noticed a common theme running through these inspiring images yet? Yellow is the most visible color, it is also the most attention-getting color, So although only used in small details and as an accent colour it is still the most eye catching. For this reason it is also advised that you only use yellow as an accent otherwise the room may become overpowering and can increase negative feelings such as anger.

Tip: It is very clear from these images that yellow and grey are a match made in heaven! They yellow seems to jump out of the grey backgrounds but it is a very sophisticated team. I also love yellow combined with a beautiful blue.

And remember, it's Friday........... Smile.

See you next time.

Laura. x

http://www.dreamboxinteriordesign.blogspot.com/

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Kids Bedroom Ideas

So I am in a dilema presently for the next room of the house to decorate. You see with 2 boys to cater for one being 12 & the other being just 5 there is a rather large age gap between the two of them & they are into very different things. So how do I pull together some ideas without it being to babyish for the 12 year old or too grown up for the 5 year old. Time to start putting some ideas together for what I think may be my toughest customers yet!!! well here's some inspiration to get me started, I have to say i am really loving the London theme for boys rooms right now its great for any age.

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make it monday

Welcome back to Make it Monday (sorry for missing last week with the lack of internet connection )
     
              This weeks home made home tutorial
                   Recovering a Lampshade
                                                       comes from
                                     http://craftylittlechick.blogspot.co.uk/

                                          so lets get started ......

 Materials Needed:

-Lampshade 

-Fabric of your Choice 

-No Sew Fabric Glue

-Heat N Bond Hem Tape

-Iron

-Scissors

-Clothespins or Paper clips

-Newspaper

Step 1:  Using a sheet of the newspaper, trace one of the sides of the shade to create a pattern.  Depending on how many sides your shade has (most have 4 or 6), use this paper pattern to cut out the correct number you will need from your fabric.

Now measure the length (top to bottom of shade) of one of the sides.  Cut appropriate number of strips you will need to cover the edges of your lamp.  I usually cut my strips about 1 1/4 inches wide, but you can make them wider if you so desire. 

You will also need a strip of fabric for the top and bottom circumference of the shade. 

Step 2:  Take each strip of fabric and lay it out flat.  Now cut a piece of the Heat N Bond Hem tape that is the same length as your strip of fabric.  Lay the hem tape down the center of the strip and iron in both sides so that they meet.  As you iron, the hem tape will glue the fabric together to form a finished edging for the lamp.  Repeat this step until all of your strips have been ironed together. 

Step 3:  Now take your fabric glue and apply around all 4 edges of one of the sides of the lamp.  Carefully place one of your pre-cut fabric pieces over the face of the shade and smooth to make sure there are no wrinkles.   Repeat for all sides of the lamp.  (*Please note that I do not spread glue over the entire side of the shade.  Just glueing the edges will hold the fabric secure, making it easy to take apart if you ever wish to recover the shade in the future).

Step 4:  Now take the fabric strips you just ironed and glue them to each corner of the shade.  This strip of fabric should cover over the seams where your fabric is glued to give it a finished edge.  

Step 5:  Almost finished!  All you have to do now is glue the strips of fabric around the top and bottom of the lamp to completely finish off all of the raw edges.  I usually will fasten paper clips to the edges while the glue dries to ensure that it is securely fastened to the shade. 

Step 6: Now enjoy using your new lampshade! :) 

                                                   craftylittlechick.blogspot.com/

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Some Sunday Inspiration

This otherwise very industrial space is softened with the gorgeous fur rug. I love to see wood flooring against a mix of brick & crisp white walls.  There's something appealing about these elements together especially with  the brick glass wall & glass doors that make it feel light & airy. 

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Home Office Inspiration

I desperatley need a proper working space at home, simply sitting at the dining room table doesnt quite cut it for me. I need an inspiring space to help me concentrate. A little corner tucked away somewhere where I can spreed out my moodboards & samples & not have to keep sweeping them up for meal times. A pin board on the wall above my desk with inspirational images of things I like. (You know where I am coming from here)
My own little space, well I am still dreaming this is somwething that needs to be worked on but here's some of my favourites I picked out from house to home.

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Friends Feature friday

Welcome to the lovely & talented Hannah Jones from Hannah's buns xx

 

50th Birthday Cake pops

A couple of weeks ago I was asked to make these cake pops for a ladies 50th Birthday. She wanted 130 cake pops as a present for her guests.  I had made her some cake pops a week before for mothers day from her daughter.  She liked the cake pops so much she asked me to make some with her logo on for the party. She gave the logo and to be honest with you I was a little scared as it was a big logo to fit on a cake pop but I manage to piped all 130 in about 2 hours :) I have put a picture of the logo on here for you to see as well as my cake pops hope you like. I have also attached a recipe if you would like to make them yourself. If you would like to order some please visit my website www.hannahsbuns.co.uk  these travel very well and last for up to a week due to the candy melts. Thanks for reading.

The recipe for cake pops

What you will need

560g Cooked chocolate cake

375g Chocolate Butter cream

1.5kg Candy Melts

Lolly pop sticks

Styrofoam

1. Break up your chocolate sponge with your fingers in a bowl until you have a texture similar to bread crumbs.
2. Then add your soft butter cream to the bowl and stir until the mixture sticks together.
3. Have a tray with parchment paper on ready to put your cake balls on and weigh them to about 26g each and roll into balls.
4. Place on your baking tray and leave in the fridge for about 2 hours until they firm up.
5. Now you need to melt your candy melts follow the instructions on the packet for this.
6. Take your cake balls out of the fridge. Dip your lolly sticks in the candy melts about an inch in then push into the cake ball.
7. Then you need to dip the whole cake pop into the candy melts and pull out quite quickly.
8. Place the dipped cake pop in the Styrofoam and continue with the rest. This should make around 30 to 40 cake pops
9. Once you have dipped all your cake pops comes the fun part of decorating them. There are so many different things you can make them into just let your imagination run wild.

If you are interested in featuring as a guest writer for Friends Feature friday please get in touch by email at

sarah@finishingtouchinteriors.co.uk

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Friday Flight Of Fancy

Hi everyone happy Friday to you all, very sorry for my lack of posts over the past couple of weeks but I have no internet at home presently & the work internet has also been down for over a week (thank goodness for my Blackberry is all I can say so at least I have my emails). Well here's an image that really cheered me up, as you already know I am a huge fan of the colour blue & this living area really hits some high notes for me. The stunning feature art with the pretty blue blossom tree & birds is simply stunning & as for the peacock rug I am absolutely in love with it. In fact the peacock rug is really inspiring me right but for why thats a secret for now. xx

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Contemporary Bathroom Styling

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House Tour - Stunning Barn Conversion

I am very excited to share this absolutley stunning house makeover with you today. Tracy Jones takes us on a tour of her beautiful home & shares with us how she & her husband transformed this old barn....

 ........ into thier beautiful dream home .....

Interview with Tracy Jones
(full house tour below)

1. what made you take on the huge job of converting a barn yourselves? (it must have been a long job)

it has always been our dream to do an unusual conversion, we had a stunning new home in Scarborough, but one day decided to look on the internet for a barn. i have two older children who both live and work in saffron walden and although my mother lives in Scarborough we started to look to be central to visit both.
we found this barn with cattle sheds, stables and tractor sheds all adjoining with a courtyard in the centre, an acre garden to the rear with a 2 acre woodland area to the front, situated 2 miles at the end of a fen just outside the hamlet of howell, nr. sleaford, i rang the agent, who these happened to belong too and he suggested, after a long list of questions, we travelled down to view. well, it was love at first site, we both clearly saw the potential.
we put our home in Scarborough on the market and managed to find a buyer within six weeks. our dream came true.
we moved on 1st Sept 2010 and started work immediately, we lived in a two bed static caravan onsite, with no water, no sewage, no electric for the first two weeks, which was horrid, to say the least, but we survived.
we completed the conversion of the tractor sheds, cattle shed and the stables in may 2011, which gave us a very large open plan kitchen/living area, three large bedrooms and three bathrooms.

2. Where you very involved with the architects plans for the building, did you have a good idea of what you wanted & where yourselves.

our intension was to do the main barn first which had full planning and architect drawings for an open plan kitchen/living area downstairs with a mezzanine with two bedrooms and two bathrooms, the architect worked closely with Steve and myself to put our ideas into a working plan, but when the BBC came involved we favoured the presenter Jules Hudson's idea of converting the other parts first, because these were in a much worse condition. The thought was that structurally, the big barn was ok, but the smaller barns would deteriorate further if left and may not be viable to put right, which was what we did. Steve gave up work for six months to work along side the builder as a labourer which worked extremely well. We didn't use an architect for the smaller barns, just used a building notice and worked with the local building inspectors, they were most helpful in giving advise on how to do certain aspects like strengthening the pillars between the folding doors. This also allowed us to 'go with the flow' and come up with changes and solutions as we went along which might not have been so easy to do with full plans as every time we wanted to change something, the council would need to agree to amendments which took time (and sometimes another fee). The downside of this is that it was difficult for a novice to budget. We still have the barn to do, and the drive through the wood, however this is a five year plan and its great to be out of the caravan and enjoying what we have achieved.

3. You clearly have a good eye for colour & style what were your inspirations for your finished look

my passion is interiors, I adore white and wanted that crisp clean and very modern look throughout, with the occasional colour.

4. the kitchen & bathrooms are beautifully designed (coming from a kitchen & bathroom designer these are fantastically put together)did you have a general idea about the look you wanted or where you swayed by the designers

I clearly knew what I wanted with regards to the kitchen and bathrooms and spent an awful lot of time finding the one i wanted, all designs were done by ourselves. in our bathroom, i fell in love with the "pod" design suite and although it was extremely expensive, it looks absolutely stunning.

5. what are some of your favourite features ( I love the fish tank) & tell me a bit about what made you choose them

I can honestly say that I love everything about the whole conversion, I love the open plan living, especially when friends are round, it is a great entertaining space. the fish tank is amazing and has become my hubby's passion. it is so relaxing been able to relax in the bath watching the fish or laying in bed watching them, beats tv anytime. We decided on marine fish after always having tropical and although it is harder to maintain correctly, and we made some mistakes, my hubby has now managed to achieve the correct balance and the fish and corals we have are stable and loving there new home.

6. it must feel fantastic to have people want to feature your home you have been on the telly how did this come about

we feel extremely honoured to be offered a feature of our home, it really makes all the hard work worth while when you receive so many compliments. we contacted the BBC at the very start of our project in the hope we would get some professional help, as we had never done such an enormous project before. it was quite scary been filmed for three and a half days for the first series and three days for the second series, don't think we would want to do it again though,

7. is there anything else you would like to add about your beautiful home.

(from Steve) , my task was to work with the buildings limitations such as walls and room sizes and to make the building 'work', the great thing was because there was nothing there, it was a blank canvas for us to use how we live our life, I know everyone is different, and might have laid thing out differently, but for us, this is perfect. But full credit needs to go to tracey as she came up with all the little 'finishing touches', which have turned this once derelict place, into 'our amazing home'.

House Tour

Tracy shares some before shots of the barn

(before guest bedroom)

                 before of kitchen/lounge area

                 before of master bedroom

               (before of master un-suite)

  lets take a tour of what the barn looks like now..............

                   A stunning open plan living area with kitchen & dinning

            A beautiful & stylishly designed bathroom & guest room

A swoon worthy & spacious master bathroom complete with fish tank

The master bedroom is contemporary & sleek & sophisticated

          Tracys son has a stunning statement room too

A huge thank you to Tracy for sharing these wonderful images of her home with us & for kindly taking the time to tell us about the makeover. An absolutely beautiful home x

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