It's my Birthday! :D

Hi,

Well, it was actually my birthday yesterday :P But I am bringing you my birthday post today.

First up has got to be my amazing cake, of course lovingly baked and crafted by my lovely dad. This year my cake was ice cream themed (because it is one of my fave desserts!) resembling a giant tub of ice cream and an amazing huge ice cream cone!!!!:

The ice cream cone is not even hollow! It was a moulded chocolate cone my dad made which he then added chocolate fingers to to strengthen and filled with homemade fudge sauce, cakes and biscuits before coating in white chocolate and broken wafers. Here is a cross section:

It is all soo tasty (as usual) and I am very much enjoying snapping bits off my giant ice cream cone and nibbling on them!

THANKS DAD :D 

My brother also got me some amazing gifts including a grumpy cat cuddly toy and a star wars jawa figure (an in joke with me and him :p) abd yummy american candy and spreads- my favourite! My parents got me some chocolate too:

I love grumpy cat!! (I am not sure she loves me though! :p)

I got some cool fashion books and bits which I can't wait to start reading and using!!!:

My family are always so generous to me I feel so loved and lucky to have them and love them very much. I couldn't believe how many gifts I had- I think everyone went mad because it was my 20th :p look at all these cool food makers I now have to try:

I am trying to be healthy so am starting with the ice lolly maker :-)

My love for Hamsters wasn't forgotten either!:

And look at these adorable softies.

THANK YOU TO MY FAMILY!!!

I also want to say thank you to my friends for

 Sending lots of birthday wishes and a lovely parcel of gifts from a college friend in the post and a knit your own boyfriend kit from my secondary school friend :p It is so nice to know you all and have you as my friends :)

Speak to you all again very soon I hope you are happy and well and thank you for reading my blog and being my friends too!

Bye xxx

Macaron madness! (and other stuff)

Hiiii!

 

I hope you have all been having a lovely week and it's Friday tomorrow so the weekend is not far away either :)

 

As I mentioned in my last post, the Saturday just gone I took my mum for a cream tea at Hush Brassieres in London- it was very nice and they had mini macarons. I wasn't sure if I even liked macarons (I didn't think I did) but after one bite I was hooked- they were soo tasty and fun!

 

When I went out with my family on Sunday my dad treated me to a box of mini macarons (just like the ones from the cream tea) from Marks and Spencers. I have been very much enjoying working my way through them:

 

Mmmm yummy!

 

I have officially been bitten by the macaron bug as on Tuesday this week after I finished early at college I tried making some of my own raspberry ones. I wasn't sure how they would come out as I had never made them before and had heard that they are notoriously difficult. I did some searching on the internet and found this youtube video: click here! I followed all her tips to the letter and left them with their filling inside in the fridge overnight (to moisten slightly) and they were almost perfect, apart from they weren't the pinky colour they were supposed to be as I couldn't get any food colouring :P:

 

 

 

I was so proud! I still have to hone my skills as I think I may have got a bit lucky how they came out with their feet and everything first time. I shared them with the girls at college who said they were really tasty so I was happy- I thought they did have the right macaron texture and flavour :)

 

And Just in case I hadn't made enough macarons already I ended up creating a pattern for a crocheted macaroon that evening! lol:

 

I think it is quite kawaii- now all that is left to do is make up lots in different colours (or flavours :P).

 

Hehehe, in other non-macaron related news yesterday after college one of the 3rd years ran a mini recycling project thing (as part of his final year project) which was really fun. We got to work with wrappers which was cool as I like to use these in crafty ways too. We made oyster card holders by fusing plastics together with the heat from irons and then sewing the plastics together. Here are mine:

 

One skips one...

 

And one Cadburys marvellous creations on (I love this chocolate!!!)...

 

I will definitely be using the heat technique to maker more wrapper stuff in the future!

The last instalment in this rather long post is a couple of pictures of the tasty food I ate at Giraffe - a really fun restaurant I went with my family on Sunday and a picture of my Ice cream from the Harvester which I went to with a friend from college today :) It was all so good, I had to share it with you guys!

 

This is the Farmers market burrito from Giraffe, sorry the picture is a bit blurry I was excited to get eating it :P:



 

and here is my brownie and ice cream dessert from Giraffe:

 

Warm, gooey and sweet- delicious!

 

I will definitely be going back to Giraffe as the food was really good and tasted really fresh :)

Hehe, and last but not least my minty aero Harvester sundae:

 



 

Again, very good, but safe to say I didn't need any dinner today and am also a bit worried about possibly having to do a corset fitting tomorrow, lol :P I actually went with the girl who I am making a corset for but luckily I did her fitting this morning, before we went and ate tons of salad bar and ice cream!

Sorry- I am done now! You can go and rest your eyes now :-P

Speak to you all again very soon,

Byeeeeeeeee xxxxx

A Jolly dolly day :)

Hellooo,

 

I hope everyone is having a lovely weekend so far :-)

 

I've had a wonderful day today :) First of all I got out all of my Blythe dolls to gave them some long overdue love and attention! I revealed to Catherine a new little hat I created for her ( a bejewelled bear hat :o) as a sorry for leaving her in a box for so long, hehehe I think she liked it:

 

 

It will keep her warm now it is getting colder. (I also got a chance to make a few more of the Blythe hats,with matching scarves :P for my shop :)

 

Hehehe talking about things getting colder- I got a new girl to add to my doll collection today;

 

 

Scoops Waffle Cone! hahaha she is a Lalaloopsy doll- a super, super, kawaii one.

 

I have many plans for little outfits for her some of which  I will start making on my weeks holiday in  the IOW with my family which begins tomorrow, I can't wait!

 

She says she is pleased I am starting on her clothes soon as Catherine said she could borrow some of hers- but they don't really fit scoops, as you can see from her just trying the hat :P:

 

After my dolly filled morning I went out with my friends I hadn't seen for quite a while since I went to uni. We went to Costa Coffee and I had one of their sticky toffee coolers (milkshakes) which was delicious and then I went back to my friends house and we had some yummy pasta, chatted and watched TV- a very fun afternoon!

 

And if all that wasn't enough loveliness for one day when I got home I found this letter from my friend Eleanor over at My life, my thoughts, my hobbies It was lovely to read- I haven't received a letter in forever! And she even popped in some fun Halloween stickers for me too:

 

I hope my reply letter will make her as happy as her letter made me :0)

 

Thank you Eleanor! xxxx

 

I am off now to finish my day with a bit of Strictly come dancing with my family before we get packing.

 

See you soon,

 

Byeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee xxxooo

 

More hats!

Hi guys,

Sorry I haven't posted sooner! I have been settling into my new uni accommodation (the house I share with a landlady and her dog Mabel :P) and have been going into the college for the different induction days too- I start properly sewing/costume making/my course on Wednesday!!! :D Soo close now!!!!

 

I have finished a few more hats in the time I have had because the induction days in the college aren't full days so I have been having a morning or afternoon off most days.

 

Here is my little collection of apple/fruit hats:

 

They were quite quick to make but hopefully quite fun, and I think they are pretty appropriate for the fruit smoothie bottles they will be sold on! :oP

 

Some little 'love hats' (using my applique heart I designed on top)- I am probably going to make several more of these in some different colour combos :):

 

Hehehe, and last but not least my ice cream scoop hat! This one is mint choc chip (my new food love!) I will probably also try to re-create some other flavours too as these ones are super fun to make with the little cherry and whipped cream :o):

 

I am home for the weekend now so it is nice to be with my family again, I missed them lots being away from home just a few days! I'm off now to raid my fridge to get the leftover cake from my birthday that they have saved for me whilst I have been away- and probably to get started on more hats :P Then we are heading off to Autographica (an event where you can meet astronauts etc... that my brother likes to visit each year).

 

I hope all of you have a great weekend!

 

 

See you all again soon,

 

Byeeeeeeeeee my lovely friends :) xxxxxxxxxooooooooxxxx

Cooking and crafting

Hi friends,

Since I got home I had really been craving those 'Maxibon Cookie' ice creams, I had a check in my local supermarkets but none of them sold them :/ But then I thought what do I normally do when I can't find what I would like? I try to make it :0) So that is what I did, me and my brother bought some cookies, ice cream and chocolate and attempted to re-create the deliciousness! We had to work really fast as you could feel the ice cream melting. They weren't very neat but they were tasty :P:

Another thing that was very tasty was the chocolate bunny me and my dad made together today!:

I bought my dad the mould and chocolate as a birthday gift as he really likes cooking and today we gave it a go, it was very fun. The chocolate came out very thick as I bought my dad a 1kg bar of Cadbury's and we ended up using it all :-P We didn't eat it all this evening though, promise!

In amongst all the chocolate and ice cream eating/making I have been doing some crafting though, Here is the little sign I made as a present for my mum and dad:

It is made out of scrabble tiles and I made up the little rhyme myself :o) A while ago my mum gave me a bag of scrabble tiles that she found in my brothers games cupboard, I kept thinking what to do with them and finally came up with the sign idea, my parents really liked so I was happy. I might try making a little door plaque for myself out of some of the remaining tiles.

I'm off to bed now as I am quite tired after spending the afternoon chocolate making :P Also I have got to get up my energy too as tomorrow me and my brother are making another batch of the cookie ice creams for when my nan and grandad come round in the afternoon!

See you all soon,

Byeeeeeeeee XXX

Holiday (and Olympic!) snaps :)

Hi guys!

I am back now and as promised I bring you pictures, lol :P Hehehe, I will try not to bore you all! (I have only chosen my best snaps :)

Here is the view from the back of the glass bottom boat, the water was very blue in Malta and it was ALWAYS hot and sunny:

Interestingly there is no tide in Malta... I don't know why, there just isn't! :-P

This is the best picture I could get of the fish through the windows at the bottom of the boat:

It was cool to the see the 'underwater world' though I did feel a little bit sea sick!

Hehehe, here is the infamous 'Maxibon cookie', soooooo tasty :0)

It got a bit battered on the way home from the shop but It was still very yummy!

If only it was possible I would have got one for a giveaway, lol!

Another thing that was super tasty was the ice cream filled croissants me and my family had by the sea front, I very much recommend giving it a try at home:

I had cookie and banana ice cream......mmmmmm.... I wish I had one now :)

In the main set of shops near our parade they had lots of handmade Maltese lace and my mum and dad treated me to this beautiful umbrella, I absolutely love it. I can't wait too use it in the park on a sunny day or at  the next family barbecue!

Last of my holiday snaps are the pictures of some of my makes :-):

Hehehe, I hope you all had a nice couple of weeks while I was away too (and I hope my pics didn't bore you too much :P) xxx

In other news as I'm sure all of you will already know London is hosting the 2012 Olympics! Me and my family luckily managed to get some tickets, we got to go and watch the handball today. I had watched quite a few events on TV whilst on holiday so I was quite excited to go and see the Olympic park in real life. (I'm also lucky I only live 10 mins from Stratford so we didn't have a long journey to get there either!)

Here is the main Olympic stadium, what you  see as you walk in:

It is a very pretty stadium. As you can see from the picture the park was relatively crowded but not jam-packed which was good as it was quite hot today. The queue for the mega store was huge but it did move quickly and only took about 10 mins to get into the shop for a look.

I also saw the velodrome quite clearly too:

I got to go into the basketball stadium though as that was where the handball was

The basketball stadium:

Here are some pictures inside I took from my seat:

It was the mens quarter final, Spain V France. It was quite exciting at the end as it was 22, 22 with two seconds to go and then France scored to win the match. They told you all the rules at the start so that was good as then I knew what was going on :-P

I promise there will be less pictures in the next post, I will give all your eyes a rest! I just wanted to share with you all my adventures :)

See you all soon my lovely lovely friends!

Bye XxXxX

P.S. In the next couple of days I will be celebrating my Second Blogaversairy (well belated one as it was a few days ago now) as I mentioned before I went away so make sure to check back soon :D

Byyyyyyyyeeeee

Holiday Update 2

Hi everyone,

I hope you are all still well and having a nice time :)

It is still very hot here in Malta (like it is all year round I think! :P). The other day me and my family went on an underwater safari boat trip, the boat drove out to a nearby rocky island and drove around it while all of the people on the boat got to go down to the glass bottom bit and look at the fishes. It made me a tiny bit sea sick :S But I did enjoy seeing the jellyfish/fish alot :0) (I'm still struggling with pictures but I will post them all up when I get home :)

Then yesterday we went and had an ice cream by the sea. Me and my dad tried ice cream served in a croissant, it was very yummy. I will definitely recreate it when I get home! (I will also try to recreate this ice cream I bought in a shop. It was called a 'Maxibon Cookie', it was like a half choc dipped cookie ice cream sandwich - DELICIOUS!)

After my croissant ice cream my day got even better as in one shop my mum treated me to a traditional Malta lace sun umbrella, it is beautiful and I can't wait to use it in the park at home!

Along with the chocolate brooches I previously mentioned I have now made candy floss, french fries and corn on the cob ones. I have been fitting in extra crafting as we have been staying in a bit longer watching bits of the Olympics which has been fun.

Which reminds me, the synchronised swimming is coming on very soon and I really want to see it (it looks so fun!) so I will speak to you all soon (probably when I get home now :)

Bye for now my lovely friends :) XxXxX <3 p="p">

Im back! (+ valentines day update)

Hola,

I am back from holiday now, I would have kept you all updated but there was no internet where I was so I have had to save my pictures till now :) Hehehehe, I will try not to bore you all :0)

First up HAPPY VALENTINES DAY EVERYONE!!!!!!! I was a bit sad I couldn't wish you all a happy, lovey, dovey day on the 14th so I had to do it now! My family loved their bookmarks so I was very happy :) I was also super happy because my dad gave me this lovely chocolate lolly from 'Chocolate island' (one of my fave shops on the IOW) as a valentines gift...

It was sooo delicious, I had to wrestle it off Domo, Etty M and Candy first though! Hehehe :oP

For dinner my dad also made heart shaped pizzas and garlic breads for dinner too, here are the garlic breads but the pizzas got eaten before I could take a picture:

They were super yummy too!

I really hope everyone had a lovely day :-)

In other news, I now bring you a picture of the infamous choc dipped Ice cream, I think I wrote about these in my last IOW holiday post but didn't remember to take a picture, but this time I did and this time I had a super duper double one.... mmmmm....

It was very big, but not quite as big as the one outside the ice cream shop.....

hahaha :D

I will leave you all with the picture I took of view of the sea I saw as I strolled along eating my ice cream :)

Keep an eye out tomorrow as I will be opening my special giveaway of the little parcel goodies I picked up whilst on holiday :D

See you all soon,

Bye! xxxxx