Sweet Living Magazine

Today I wanted to share with you the lovely Sweet Living magazine. Sweet Living is an online inspirational magazine from New Zealand that is packed full of crafts, DIY, delicious recipes and free printables; all of which are beautifully styled and photographed.

"Sweet Living is all about good living, offering fresh ideas and practical solutions for everyday life. Our emphasis is on economising (we hate the word budget!) – how to reduce household bills, how to save money (and your health!) with homemade cleaning products, how to create delicious meals for less, how to craft beautiful handmade gifts, plus DIYs for your home and garden… and more. We also have lots of free goodies for you to download."

I am delighted to have my Bunny Jars featured in the fourth issue of Sweet Living which is out now...

My bunny jar tutorial. I am so going to do these again for Christmas this time with deer and a sprinkle of glitter!

I love the clear, simple, beautiful step by step photography on how to make these delicious looking chocolate and raspberry layered push up cakes.

I so need to make these, sprinkles in any colour you desire!

Have a sweet day!

Next - a home blogger event

Remember last year when I went to the Next press event and shared with you their brand new store in Shoreham, England? Well this year they invited me to the home blogger event in Ipswich...

On arrival at the store we were treated to an icy cold fruity mango lassi and then given a tour of the new store which has inspiring, fully fitted stylish bathrooms, pretty bedrooms, luxe lounges and cute gardens. They had two major Autumn/Winter trends: Home Comforts and Salvage.

Home Comforts is inspired by the renewed interest in crafting and has a distinct retro country look to it. Ditsy florals and large scale checks are key and feature in a colour palette of raspberry pink hues, meadow greens, and warm chalky neutrals. Key items include the Bobbins table lamp, teacups chandelier and the balls of yarn vases.







In contrast, the Salvage collection has a recycled industrial feel to it. Soft greys, creamy whites, and biscuit in knit and tweedy fabrics are key. Furniture is made from distressed, untreated wood and wall storage from industrial looking wire. Key items include the decorative typewriter, cutlery chandelier and wire baskets.

I loved the mixture of neutral textures on this beautifully dressed bed

Have a sweet day!

Nectarines

Source 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11

Today on Inspirational Pins I bring you another seasonal fruit: nectarines.

Nectarines are simply a fuzzless variety of peach. Nectarines will sometimes appear on peach trees, and peaches sometimes appear on nectarine trees!

To see more nectarine recipes check out my Pinterest board, Nectarine. How yummy does that nectarine pavlova look?

Have a sweet day!

Adorable, sweet styling

This week on Flickr Faves Sunday, I bring you the beautifully styled sweet photography from SandeeA Cocina. To see more of SandeeA Cocina's gorgeous work check out her adorable blog, La Recetadela Felicidad.

Some beautiful shots from my Flickr favourites:

• The adorable cloud cookie pops in helado de fresa (IMG_1522)
• The cute Green Gate crockery in Bizcocho con frutas (IMG_2085)
• The pretty gingham bag of donuts in Donetes de queso
• The wonderful sherbert filled straws in Pajitas de pica pica casero
  

Have a sweet day!

Gluten free nectarine doughnuts with a fresh raspberry glaze

I have not made mini doughnuts in a while so I decided to make nectarine baked doughnuts with a fresh raspberry glaze and white chocolate sprinkles. I love the mix of the two fruits! However, the nectarine in the doughnuts makes the tops of the doughnuts slightly uneven, but they were so yummy, I dont care!

Gluten free nectarine donuts (makes 24 mini doughnuts)

Ingredients

• 110g (1 cup) gluten free flour
• 1 tsp xantham gum
• 115g (1/2 cup) caster sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 fresh netarine, pureed
• 2 large eggs
• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 2 tablespoons buttermilk
• Non-stick cooking spray

What you will need

• Mini doughnut pan

Cooking instructions

1. Preheat oven to 160 deg C, fan assisted (370 deg F)
2. Lightly spray doughnut pan with non-stick cooking spray
3. In a bowl beat the eggs, buttermilk, vanilla essence and oil together until you get a foamy mixture
4. In a separate bowl, add the sieved dry ingredients to the sugar and mix
5. Gradually pour foamy mixture into dry ingredients and stir until mixture is combined
6. Stir pureed nectarine in to mixture
7. Pour mixture into greased doughnut pan until each cavity is 3/4 full (I prefer to use a piping bag to fill each cup more evenly and cleanly)
8. Bake in preheated oven for 10-15 mins or until doughnut springs back when lightly pressed
9. Turn out onto baking rack and leave to cool

Raspberry Glaze
Ingredients

• 60g (1/2 cup) icing sugar (confectioners sugar)
• 1 tablespoon blended raspberries, sieved

Cooking instructions

1. In a bowl add the sieved icing sugar to the blended raspberries
2. Whisk all of the ingredients together until you have a smooth paste
3. Pour into a small, shallow bowl

Decorating the mini doughnuts
What you will need

• 24 mini doughnuts
• Raspberry glaze
• White chocolate sprinkles

Decorating instructions

1. Dip doughnut into raspberry glaze, shake off any excess
2. Sprinkle white chocolate sprinkles onto icing
3. Leave to set

Pink spot ribbon from Jane Means

Have a sweet day!

Emma Bridgewater - a factory tour

Emma Bridgewater is a British ceramics manufacturer founded in 1985, owned and run by Emma Bridgewater and her husband Matthew Rice. Well renowned for her colourful polka dot, Union Jack, starry skies, pink hearts and figs designs among others, Emma Bridgewater specialises in cream earthenware pottery drawing on expertise and traditional techniques stretching back over 200 years. The company is entirely based in England and all of their products are made in their factory in the city of Stoke-on-Trent using locally sourced materials.

Last Wednesday I was invited to spend the day at the Emma Bridgwater factory on the banks of the Cauldon canal in Stoke-on-Trent. We started the day off in the recently redesigned cafe with big windows that look out onto the factory courtyard, decorated with pretty bunting. From there we viewed the new Christmas collections and old favourites in the on-site gift shop.





We then headed up the iron work stairs to see the franchise lines where many Emma Bridgewater designs are also adapted for application onto wellington boots, umbrellas, and napkins, to name a few. My favourite was the pretty printed tins of home made fudge...



So so yummy!

Before heading to the factory tour we had a whirl round the Factory Outlet, full of a wide range of seconds and discontinued lines at greatly reduced prices. "If you like collecting Emma Bridgewater it’s a great hunting ground for some pretty unique experimental pieces as they also stock occasional samples and one-off pieces".



The factory tour...

From the throwing of the clay to the final firing and decorating, the tour was inspirational to say the least and made me have so much respect for the Emma Bridgewater brand. "Hand Made in England" they surely are, as they have resisted the trend to replace people with machines and have preserved the traditional skills of pottery. Like a well-oiled machine, each department was run efficiently and smoothly and they warmly explained and showed us how each skilled job was done. I was fascinated by the lady who was making the design sponges using what looked to be a very fine soldering iron, and in awe of the ladies using the design sponges to decorate mugs, bowls and teapots.

The tours cost only £2.50 which is redeemable against any purchases made in the factory shop on the day.







After a delightful lunch we visited the decorating studio - a bright and inspiring space set up for you to decorate a plain Emma Bridgewater piece with your own design. There’s a great selection of hand-cut sponges in a host of different styles, and designs ranging from mini cupcakes to dinosaurs, a whole bunch of colours and if you need a bit of help then one of the lovely assistants is always on hand.

I decorated an Emma Bridgewater mug in a pastel design of stars and spots. Now I patiently wait for it to be fired and glazed and returned to me... (and I promise to show you when it arrives)

If you don't get the chance to visit the design studio yourself but are looking for a pretty perfect personalized gift you can always get a lovely Emma Bridgewater personalised mug or a personalized tea pot in the iconic heart, spots or star print with up to 40 letters on! What would you say?

Have a sweet day!

Art.co.uk tin signs

Today on shops i love I bring you Art.co.uk. Art.co.uk is an online boutique full of, you guessed it, art! From posters to prints to framed art to wall art collections. The website is easy to navigate and is split into helpful categories like art styles, products, and collections. From the website: "We work with passion to bring you the world's largest art collection.Whatever your interest, your décor style, your inspiration – we're sure to have that piece you can't live without."

Ice Cream tin sign

Afternoon Teas tin sign

Strawberries & Cream tin sign

I love nostalgic vintage tin signs and have a few I have collected over the years. I especially like using them outside as I think they add quirkiness and interest. When the lovely peeps at Art.co.uk offered to send me three, I jumped at the chance! You see, the night before I had spent ages perusing the internet looking for a lovely tin sign to go above my potting bench and after much searching found what I was looking for at art.co.uk and bought a Cibron & Sons seed one which I have hung above my potting bench. So the following morning when I received the mail I was so excited as I had fallen in love with so many of their tin signs.

They have such a wonderful large variety of them it took me ages to decide, but in the end I opted for ones from the cuisine section. I chose the retro pink and blue American Soft Serve Ice Cream tin sign, the vintage looking Afternoon Teas tin sign and the nostalgic Strawberries and Cream tin sign. They arrived promptly and were mounted on card so they arrived in pristine condition. After playing around with where they would go I hung the two smaller ones either side of my bench from the fence using cup hooks and gardener's twine. I re-arranged my old tin signs and hung the Afternoon Tea one under my bunting above my dining area.



Thank you Art.co.uk, you have made my secret garden all the more special to me...

More lovely tin signs from Art.co.uk

*I was not paid for this review - I was sent three tin signs of my choosing. Torie Jayne does not accept payment for any of her posts.

Have a sweet day!