Chocolate souffles

I have a small addiction to GU chocolate souffles, light as air and rich with the flavour of the darkest chocolate. As a result I end up with lots of the glass serving jars they come in, I reuse them for serving butter and dips, holding toothpicks and olives, but still have stacks in the cupboards.

So to give them yet another purpose I gathered some scraps of lace and favourite twine to wrap around the glasses then trimmed them with some berries, gold beads and silver sparkles. Now they are tea light holders. Glowing and twinkling on the kitchen table.

Winter cupcakes

Jessica is hosting lots of yummy cosy winter and holiday recipes over at her blog Way Side Violet including my winter orange and amaretto cupcakes.

Staying warm.

Hi, how are you? Did you find lots of great things to make in the Sweet Paul Magazine?

Today for me has been spent staying warm, wrapping an Autumn package and eating all my favourite things.

Stay close as I have another super exciting giveaway tomorrow. x

A decent meal

One of my favourite things about being at home so much is eating three proper meals a day. No more hastily grabbed snacks like greasy sausage rolls or cardboard tasting sandwiches that are laced with too much mayonnaise and cheap margarine. My fridge is also a happier place now that the greenery gets eaten before it wilts, and I get to see my husband for lunch too. An hour of daylight spent slowing down and spending some time eating home cooked meals at the table without our laptops is a simple luxury.

I am leaving for London now, excited to be meeting some other creative girls, we so often speak via email and twitter but rarely find the time to gather in one place, so it will be a treat to put the faces to the names I know so well.

Paper me pretty 4 The best of bespoke.

Soft metallics, faded glamour and sweet little garden birds, just a few of the exquisite details in this collection of bespoke papers from Top Deborah Bowness middle Louise Body bottom Barneby Gates.

Think thats all on papers for today, my head is in a spin of lace and flower garlands.

Paper me pretty 3

I see where this is heading, bankruptcy or I'll end up with nothing. These ravishing examples are all from Designers Guild. I am in love (again) a thousand times over. Help.

Paper me pretty 2

These beauties are all from Sanderson, traditional English inspired design at it's best. I was having a peek around there site and noticed that you could create your own scrapbook using the products, which looks pretty cool.

Flavour up.

Thursdays yummy giveaway is this super lunch bag packed with delicious cereal bars from Dorset Cereals. I have been a long time lover of their delicious granolas, and new convert to the Tasty Flakes range, these are just another addition to my ever burgeoning shopping basket.

In order for these treats arrive on your doorstep all you need to do is leave a comment containing the three ingredients or flavours (for instance they could be regional or seasonal or just downright outrageous) that you would love to see used in a Dorset cereal bar.

To stop me rambling I will say go over and see what they are up to on their site, it's full of fun, exciting competitions, recipes and the lovely simple pleasures blog.

Midweek serenity

Appreciating the calming white space that is my kitchen. Pretty soon this wall will be papered in pattern. I would really love some links to your favourite wallpapers.

Everyday favourite

I am lucky to have many pretty thing in my home. But my unlikely everyday favourite is still this battered old table. These are just three scenes from the life of that table today. Miscellaneous items, lunch and afternoon coffee with a side of scrap book. What's on your table top?

A black liquorice door.

Every time I walk up towards my house, freshly painted pale grey like the British sky with white icing around the windows, I can't help but wonder how fabulous it could be in pink, a huge hunk of pink birthday cake with iced windows and a black liquorice door. Cream puffs for shrubs and sugar flowers in the garden. I have been awake since five this morning and as I'm sure you can guess, baking since six thirty. My brain is addled from all the lemon frosting and chocolate cake batter.

With the frill off an old dressing gown, some fabric flowers, vintage french ribbon and a roll of pretty making tape from the lovely Lynne of Papermash I decorated the corner of the kitchen to accommodate my makeshift cake stand. Then popped in to town to deliver the cakes to my colleagues as an afternoon cheer up, had some lunch and made it home between the summer showers.

Pretty in pink

Kitchen is sparkling clean and a subtle scent of lavender is in the air. Lunch and a bakewell, which looked pretty in pink but had icing like a rock and zero flavour, that will teach me not to bake my own. I think I will make one now to delete the bad memories of this cute looking one.

All I want to do is bake

I spent Friday screaming and getting soaked through all the layers of my clothes at a theme park with four of my girlfriends and had so much fun, slow drive home in weekend traffic and then a dinner at Wagamama's. When I finally got in at ten o'clock I was happily exhausted.

Then up at 6am Saturday to bake 150 cupcakes for a wedding and I was a bit daunted at first but mostly it went well (my electric whisk blew up) and was such fun icing them all, I really think I could do this for a living. The house smelled divine and they looked so pretty all lined up in their boxes ready to be delivered. Think I will try whoopie pies for a birthday tomorrow.

Lisa Stickley's tea time crockery

Happy weekend to you, I have had a lovely day out with my sister. Eaten way too much, spent a little too much. But I arrived home to find my inbox full of fun things. Some just for me and some to share, like this.

I have been a fan of Lisa Stickley for years now, I love her nostalgic memory inducing designs, I once got a cushion cover from her stand at one of the home shows when she was just starting out, and seeing the photos now I realise that is was Lisa herself who helped me choose a design that day.

Her newest collaboration is with Debenhams and Lisa is launching a beautiful collection that will include printed bed linen, kitchen storage, tea time crockery, table linen and kitchen textiles as well as decorative accessories. If only my buckling kitchen shelves could take another cake stand.
Recently I was lucky enough to steal some of her time and Lisa answered these questions for me. I hope you find her answers inspiring.


Who or what are you creative influences?

I am very much a magpie and constantly collect bit and pieces from all over the place. I have always been drawn to the more utilitarian times of the 1940’s and the colour and way of life from the 50’s. I have always been a passionate admirer of the artist cy twombly and the wonderfully poetic nature of his paintings. also I am an avid collector of david shrigley. I love the way that he sees the world and his topsy turvy, idiosyncratically intellectual work.

What has been one of your favourite collaborations or design opportunities?

I have particularly enjoyed my collections for the last 10 seasons for Ships in Japan. this is an ongoing collaboration and is great especially when we get to go and visit Tokyo and enjoy the karaoke culture!

Across the pond (and in their new stores in London town) I have embraced the concept of the frilly pinny, and along side other kitchen product I have pulled together a kitchen collection for Anthropolgie.

Was it difficult to manage your own range whilst working with such a big high street department store such as Debenhams?

It is always a good test to manage time well and even harder to switch off at the end of each day. I often have as many projects on the go at any one time along side working on my own ranges and of late working hard on the PR side of things. I seem to have interviews coming in from all directions at the moment, which is fantastic if not a little exhausting! I very much enjoy being busy though and have a great team working with me who all help in keeping things running smoothly and look after me very well.

It seems as though a good dose of nostaligia goes into the mix when you are designing your collections, would you share one of your fondest childhood memories?

It would have to be repeatedly watching the sound of music with my best friend Jo often dressed up as rabbits with tights on our heads!


I fondly remember a notes and doodles page like a mini blog that was sent out via e-mail will you continue to write this.

Yes! we send out regular updates of the goings on at lisa stickley hq to everyone who is on our mailing list and notes and doodles is a favourite page of mine, although we are moving more hi tec (!) too, and will be blogging more and more often in the near future.

What is you favourite sunday outfit?

If I am lucky my pyjamas with a cup of tea and the sunday papers. if I am very lucky and the weather is good a bikini and beach towel on the common or on the beach in kent! sunday should be time to relax.

Tell me more about the most treasured item in your house.

This is tricky as most of the items/ pieces in my home are important to me one way or another as I do tend to surround myself with things I love. people always come before objects though so a big Sunday roast with friends and family around the table makes me very happy. my goldfish Ingrid and Marmaduke sit quite high on the treasured list!

I dream of running my own business, what are the key elements to managing your own time? do you let work and social time overlap?

Hmm, social life is very rare at the moment and I am working hard to find a good balance (its difficult to stop when you love what you do). running a business does take an enormous amount of energy, focus and determination and I am very lucky to have extremely supportive friends and family around me. time off is very important but often very much a luxury, although fully taken advantage of when it happens!



Thank you Lisa.

All images from the Lisa Stickley range for Debenhams.