Everything Alice: The Wonderland Book of Makes by Hannah Read-Baldrey & Christine Leech

This week I'm reviewing Everything Alice: the Wonderland Book of Makes by Hannah Read-Baldrey & Christine Leech. Hannah is a successful props and fashion stylist whose work has appeared in leading international publications such as Vogue, Elle, Red and Cath Kidston magazine. Christine is a trained illustrator with over 15 years experience designing and art directing magazines, including Buzz, New Woman, Marie Claire, Look and ASOS. Three years ago the avid crafters met whilst working on the newly launched HobbyCraft magazine, and they have been working together ever since. I chose to review this book as I love all things Alice, especially the Mad Hatters Tea Party!

Everything Alice is a super stylish, enchanting collection of fifty craft projects to make, bake and decorate all in the theme of Lewis Carroll's novel, Alice in Wonderland.

The book starts by meeting the creative authors: "This book began as a little idea – a little idea hatched within an ordinary conversation over a cup of tea. We were having a chat – standing at the bottom of a staircase in a location house, which was dressed up for Christmas Day, even though it was July – and simultaneously we both exclaimed, 'How we would love to make a craft book with the theme of Alice In Wonderland.' Everything Alice is our first book (one of many, hopefully...) and we couldn’t be prouder!" They then go on to explore Lewis Carroll's past at Oxford University in the fun form of 'On The Trail of Alice'.

After being given a list of essential items in the form of a 'Craft Kit' and a 'Cookery Kit' the real fun starts with...

Time for tea jewellery, which is a cute selection of charm jewellery you can make out of miniature doll's house furniture and accessories, all with clear explanations. Next up is the handsome dandy white rabbit, complete with bow tie and pocket watch. The book then seamlessly leads the reader through a host of projects to decorate your home and garden, from fabric covered furniture, to Wonderland mobiles and lavender mice. All are interspersed with treats you can bake, like the heavenly lavender-scented Duchess Macaroons and Wonderland cookies, complete with how to make your own cookie cutters and decadent looking red velvet cupcakes. For Alice-inspired parties there are tea set invitations, chic Mad Hatter hats and playing card bunting to name a few. Each of the fifty projects are beautifully photographed and styled with accompanying easy to follow clear instructions and photographed instructions, including templates where necessary.

Everything Alice: the Wonderland Book of Makes is a super practical book brimming with highly effective ideas. At a recommended price of £14.99, I think this book is a must for crafters, bakers and lovers of quirky vintage who admire Alice!

Some of my favourite ideas:

The dandy white rabbit

Vintage cake stand

Red Velvet cupcakes

Wonderland mobile

Please note that my opinions are my own and I am not paid for these reviews (apart from receiving a free book, of course!).





To go with this fabulous book the two lovely authors are running Mad Hatter weekends to teach you first-hand how to make many of the creations from the book, all set in the stunning, award winning Bedruthan spa hotel in Cornwall, England. To find out more please visit Everything Alice.

Have a sweet day!

Candy Easter Eggs

Last year I made candy filled Easter eggs and they went down a treat with the kids when I hid them in the garden as part of my Easter egg hunt. So this year I made them again, but this time filling them with vanilla, bubblegum and blueberry flavoured Jelly Belly beans to match my colour palette.


Candy Easter Eggs
Tools and Materials

• Transparent plastic eggs
• Narrow duck egg blue washi tape
• Lace tape
• Jelly beans/small candy
• 3mm wide ribbon

Candy Easter Eggs, How-to step by step


Start by washing and drying the plastic eggs. Then wrap a line of washi tape around the bottom half of the egg top, follow by wrapping a layer of lace tape over the washi tape. Cut ribbon to size and knot ends, thread through hole in top of egg and fill egg with jelly beans or small candy and carefully snap together.





Have a sweet day!

Paper Flowers for Easter

This past weekend I started to make paper flowers for my Easter tree and the little bunnies wanted one each! So now I have a few less for my tree, but don't they look cute!


Paper Flowers for Easter
Tools and Materials

• Petal pairs flower punch
• Craft pick
• Card
• Gold sequins
• Millinery flower stamens
• Double sided tape/PVA glue

Pretty Easter Egg boxes, How-to step by step



Start by punching out the petal pairs until you have a pair for each flower you want to make. Place one of each petal on top of each other and tuck one punched petal shape into another to create a beautiful flower. Then carefully push the craft pick through the centre of each flower so you have a small hole in the centre. Thread a sequin onto a stamen and thread the stamen through the hole. Glue in place.






Have a sweet day!

My Easter decorations part 2

Continuing my Easter colour scheme of mint, peach and gold, I designed an Easter bunny lace print in mint and white which Hello Canvas kindly printed onto a large canvas for me. I've started making paper flowers to adorn my Easter tree with and filled plastic eggs with pretty candy, all of which I will be sharing with you here this week, so stay tuned!

Also don't forget there's still time to enter my Oodles of Eggs, giveaway.

Have a sweet day!

Pretty Fresh Easter

This week on Flickr Faves Sunday, I bring you some pretty fresh Easter decorations from the gorgeous bowl of Easter eggs to the chicks in the Easter Tree!

Some beautiful shots from my Flickr favourites

• The pretty bowl of eggs in Easter Egg Tea Party - Day 105/365 - Week 6/52 by christopher_wood
• The adorable Easter tree in Easter decoration by Sweet Corner1
• The wonderfully styled single Easter lily by MayaLee Photography
• The pretty egg filled cups in Easter Eggs by abbeyroaddesigns

Have a sweet day!

Homespun Style by Selina Lake

This week I'm reviewing Homespun Style by Selina Lake, from illustrated lifestyle publishers Ryland Peters & Small and CICO Books. Selina Lake is a freelance interior & lifestyle stylist based in London, and has featured in many magazines and catalogues. Selina is also the author of 'Romantic Style' and best selling 'Bazaar Style', both shot with photographer, Debi Treloar. I chose to review this her third book as I love Selina's style!

Homespun style is a homely, crafty look that has been given a modern twist with bright colours, whimsical patterns and textural fabrics: an interior style that is unique to the individual creating it. But don't worry if painting or crafting is not your thing, Selina shares with you an abundance of great places to source one of a kind gems to create this look for yourself.

The book is split into three main chapters, starting with "Elements" of the look. In this chapter Selina covers homespun modern craft, how to use colour & pattern and how to customize & recycle. In Modern Craft she shows you some great ideas on storing all your craft needs in a creative, aesthetically pleasing way. In Colour & Pattern there are some fabulous shots of patchwork walls and cushions and in Customize & Recycle she shows you cute vintage bunting ideas and adorable cupcake wrapper garlands.

The second chapter "Details" looks at homespun textiles, furniture & lighting and display. In Textiles there are some whimsical cushions that layer crochet over prints and delicately adorned buttons give a chair a new lease of life! Furniture & Lighting is all about choosing display furniture and the quirkiest lampshades. For great wall art and statement pieces, Display has all your needs covered.

The last chapter "Spaces" shows how the homespun style can be used in all the rooms in your house including creative spaces, outdoor living and children's rooms. Kitchen spaces are kept practical and fun with lots of bright colours and an array of prints while children's rooms are adapted and changed to suit their evolving lives of baby, toddler to confident school goer.

Homespun Style by Selina Lake is an adorable hardback book full of bright and beautiful, unique, inspiring decorating ideas. At a recommended price of £19.99, I think this hardback book is a brilliant buy as it is has so many great tips and I can't stop pouring over the gorgeous photos!

Some of my favourite shots:

Craft room storage

Tea Party

Wall art

Cupcake wrapper garland

I am delighted to be featured in her inspiring blogs section

Please note that my opinions are my own and I am not paid for these reviews (apart from receiving a free book, of course!).

To go with this fabulous new book Selina is having a book party and homespun market event next month, which I for one can't wait to go to!





Have a sweet day!

Fanni Williams

Welcome to Friday Feature. This week I am sharing with you the beautiful Easter photography from London based photographer, Fanni Williams, an ice cream lover and graphic designer whose natural light photography is so so beautiful.

To see more of Fanni's gorgeous work check out her site and creative blog, and for her inspirational pins check out her Pinterest boards. For her graphic and illustration work check out her Fubumedia.

Happy Friday, sweets!

Easter mini bottle labels

At Christmas I made mini labels for my bottles and filled them with flavoured milk. I don't know who liked them best, the kids or the grownups! So to keep my Easter Egg hunters' thirst quenched, I have made some pretty lace bunny and polka dot labels for my mini bottles that I will fill with milk or fresh peach lemonade! Please feel free to enjoy the labels for yourselves.




Easter mini bottle labels
Tools and Materials

• Mini school milk bottles in a crate
• Easter lace bunny bottle labels
• Aqua stripy paper straws
• Ribbon
• P1 address labels

Easter mini bottle labels, How-to step by step

Start by printing off the Easter lace bunny bottle labels onto a label sheet. Carefully cover the printed labels in sticky back plastic and carefully cut out. Stick cut out Easter lace bunny bottle label around bottle.





Have a sweet day!

Organizing my Craft Room part three

Today, instead of my usual shops i love I wanted to share with you how my craft room is looking so far. I am loving my new wrapping paper storage, an alternative use for a metal laundry bin from Next. The washi tape attached postcards on the wall are from Belle and Boo and the ribbon spool storage is from Panduro Hobby.

Have a sweet day!

Pretty Easter Egg boxes

On Saturday I launched my Oodles of Eggs giveaway and showed you how I shall be packaging some of my gold eggs to hide in the garden. Today I wanted to share with you where I bought my turquoise egg boxes (a snip at £3.50 for 30!) and share my labels for you to enjoy.




Pretty Easter Egg boxes
Tools and Materials

• Turquoise egg boxes
• Oodles of Eggs
• Easter lace bunny labels
• Shredded paper
• Mini cupcake wrappers
• Ribbon
• P1 address labels

Pretty Easter Egg boxes, How-to step by step


Start by printing off the Easter lace bunny labels onto a label sheet and carefully cut out. Stick Easter lace bunny label on to top of egg box. Fill box with shredded paper and push cupcake wrappers into egg grooves, and fill papers with foil wrapped eggs. Tie ribbon around box to secure and there, all ready to be hidden!





Have a sweet day!

My Easter decorations so far...

After deciding to go for a colour scheme of mint, peach and gold this Easter, I have designed pretty lace bunny labels in peach and mint to stick on my chocolate filled egg boxes and mini bottles (labels for you to enjoy coming later this week). I dressed my bunnies with peach and gold trimmed ribbon bows and filled their bellies with Oodles of Eggs, the latter of which you can win in my latest giveaway. I also managed to sequin a few more eggs.

Have a sweet day!

Pretty Bright Easter

This week on Flickr Faves Sunday, I bring you some pretty bright Easter decorations from the gorgeous pink feathered Easter tree to the intricately decorated cookies !

Some beautiful shots from my Flickr favourites

• The bright pink feathers in Easter twigs by MayaLee Photography
• The adorable cupcake in Happy Easter! by annabober
• The wonderful Easter Egg Cookies by hellogeri
• The sweet  2011 Easter Eggs embroidery pattern by
  Carina » Polka & Bloom

Have a sweet day!

$100 Shopbop giveaway winner

My contest ended yesterday and I just picked a winner using random.org and I am delighted to announce the winner of the Shopbop Giveaway is...

Drumroll please? Without further ado, the lucky winner is...

Claire Trevor. Who would like to spend her voucher on the wool grey dress by Theory and accessorize it with bright colour. Please e-mail me your details.

Congratulations Claire, you will receive $100 worth of store credit for Shopbop

Thank you to all of you sweets that entered, to my loyal followers and new friends.


Have a sweet day!

Oodles of Eggs - Review & Giveaway

I was recently sent Oodles of Eggs to review from the lovely folks at Hotel Chocolat. I received an eye-catching cluster of 50 hollow-cast, 40% milk chocolate eggs, all individually wrapped in gold foil. They are deliciously creamy and yummy!

For my Easter Egg hunt I have packaged some of them up in pretty turquoise egg boxes to hide in the garden. The rest I will be using for my Easter table, perhaps hidden amongst the sequin eggs!?!

Hotel Chocolat have got a great selection of Easter chocolate gifts this season, from the vanilla mousse-filled choc cross buns to the truly enormous ostrich egg! There is something to suit all tastes and budgets.

I am pleased to announce a giveaway of Oodles of Eggs from Hotel Chocolat - worth £35!

To enter, please visit Hotel Chocolat and then leave a comment below this post letting me know what delicious chocolates you would like to give or receive this Easter. The giveaway ends on Monday, April 2nd 2012 at 10pm (GMT) and I will randomly select and announce a winner on Tuesday, April 3rd.

To increase your chances of winning this fabulous prize, you can gain one additional entry for doing each of the following:

• tweeting about this giveaway
• blogging about it
• following the Torie Jayne blog
• following Torie Jayne on Twitter

For the first two, please leave a comment below with the link to your tweet or blog post.

This giveaway is open to UK readers.

Good luck and have a sweet day!

Love Mae Store

This week on "Wonderful World of Etsy" I wanted to share with you the quirky fabric wall decals, pretty papers and cute kitchen labels from the Love Mae Store, created by Australians Peta and Emily who do all the designing, sales, customer service, accounts and warehousing themselves.

• Oh Deer!
• Wrapping Paper
• Pantry Labels
• Girly Forest Critters

Have a sweet day!