Cards I've Made: Rachel

I've been a bit quiet on here lately, there is still a lot going on, especially wedding related things, but there are only so many pictures of organza flowers one can post. I've cut out another 874! So in the meantime, as I slowly bury myself in organza confetti, here is a card I created for my friend Rach, for her birthday. Alfonso popped in my head and told me he liked trains, so I decided to share. I only had heavily textured acrylic paper left, so I didn't end up being entirely happy it. You can tell yourself, rather optimistically, that you can outline text in black ink on this paper, but you can't, so it was all wibbley wobbley. Still, at least it has lots of personality! ;)

Finished Buttonholes & Wedding Props

I've now finished the buttonholes that were featured in my last blog post. I'm pretty pleased, they're possibly not the neatest buttonholes in the world, but not bad for someone making them up as she goes along. For anyone thinking of using hessian (burlap) in such a way, it falls apart so easily round the edges, I've painted the back with a thin layer of pva glue. It stiffens it, but secures those fraying edges really well, (unless you really start tugging at it). 

We've had these mini easels, for our books to sit on, on for a while now, but I've decided to paint them white, so that's what's been going on in our garden in between these darn showers!

 

Now, lets start talking about ebay! I've been collecting the books for our author inspired table names. Even though the tables are authors, we are trying to get the same titles with the same covers just to create a bit of visual cohesion, and make it easier for guests to find their tables. Who knew it would be so hard to get books with the same covers, companies using stock images of books are a land mine! Thank goodness for sellers that take their own pics on ebay.

We bought these mdf speech bubbles from ebay too, along with some matt black paint, so they are now all painted up, and tucked away in the dressing-up/photo booth suitcase ready to be scribbled on with loving messages, and the odd rude word (probably).

Another ebay purchase for the dressing-up suitcase. Funky glasses, because everyone looks like a rock star in heart-shaped glasses right? Right?

A Hobbycraft purchase, I saw the cow face and I liked the idea of a cow face. I liked the lion too, but I was only allowed to buy one (boo fiance) :) Anyhoo, the cow is all painted up (the black lines were in place but the rest was plain wood) and in the suitcase. 

Finally, I've been buying nail varnish to try and help me decide what I'll do with my nails on the wedding day. I'm sure there will be more on that to come, but for now I just wanted to share some excessive packaging from Avon with you, delivered by courier no less. I mean I ask you, do you think it was really worth it for a pot of nail varnish, a very small pot of nail varnish at that?! 

Flowers, Bouquets, Posies & Buttonholes

Wedding preparations continue. I spent a week surrounded by growing snippets of organza, slowly spreading around the house like a carpet of confetti. It wasn't ideal, it sticks to everything, but the boxful of flower shapes at the end was worth it.

I've now put together a couple of posies and my bouquet. I'm not going to lie, I winged it completely. My bouquet is a little more mushroom shaped than anticipated, but I'm still really pleased. Originally, I had an idea in my head that the flowers might have some kind of organisation, but it turns out that thin copper wires have their own ideas, and will go where they wish, regardless to how much Blue Tac you use to try and hold them in place. Yup, that's right I said Blu Tac, it's crafter's gold I tell you, it's a bit of a bum to cover up, but it does the job! 

I've been experimenting with arrangements to hang from nails on posts. This is the first unfinished prototype, and I also have a hanging, half polystyrene ball prototype too. We plan to visit the venue in a few weeks time to help decide whether to go for bunches or balls. 

 

To hide the Blue Tac and Sellotape holding the flowers in place, I have sprayed a little gold paint (but it's nice to know that I'll have something blue with me on the day), and wrapped the bases in hessian (burlap). I've also wrapped ribbon around the wires, which is possibly the hardest thing I've ever had to do! Well maybe not ever, but it made me swear a fair bit. It moves all over the place, kudos to florists everywhere that have to wrap ribbon around things all the time.

 

I've made a start on buttonholes too. I've only completed the one above so far (it now, after some more swearing, also has ribbon wrapped around it), we are going to try it on Rob's suit, then if we are happy, I'll continue with the others.

I've also been making ribbons on forks. It's such a neat and easy idea, heaven knows what people did before the internet though! I can't remember which tutorial I used in the end, but there are loads. 

 

I had about twenty jars left to decorate with hessian or paper cut-outs, and when they were done I went through them all and finished a majority off with little bows. With just over eighty jars complete, I think I probably have enough! 

The next step will be yet another box of organza flower shapes, as I need to make sure I have enough for the eight post arrangements. I've actually stopped counting how many flowers I've made so far, but I guarantee that is now comfortably over a thousand. 

Cards I've Made: Jackie, Liz & Archie

 

There were a bunch of birthdays at the end of April which I decided to make cards for. The first was for my sister's 40th. Then the following two (for my friend Liz, and a little boy called Archie) were my first attempts at painting cats (I prefer mice and bears). I seem to know a lot of cat people, but up until now I haven't gone near any with paint. I think they are going to be something I need to work on a bit more, not as scary as drawing bikes, but I still need more practice. 

Book Review: Melt

When I think about it, I don't think us Brits really know how to do sandwiches. We can successfully do dainty little morsels that sit neatly with afternoon tea, there are a variety of satisfactory pre-packed possibilities available in supermarkets and garages (I lived on chicken, bacon and mayo sandwiches for three years at university), and our coffee shops serve up some delicious paninis, but by and large we stick to what we know and play it safe. You certainly couldn't call us adventurous, not like the Americans, they will sandwich any-dang-thing. 

When I think of American sandwiches, I think of Joey in Friends describing his meatball sandwich, I think of Man Vs Food (yes, I watch it, it's hypnotic), I think of Philly Cheese Steak Sandwiches, those sound good. I think big, bold and exciting, so when Melt came into my hands, I felt apprehensive (in an incredibly British sort of way), but completely intrigued. 

The book focuses on the grilled cheese sandwich, and is divided into two parts, Savoury, and Sweet, and the two parts are made up of four chapters, which are adventurously titled: Gastronomically Gourmet, Living On The Edge, Epicurean Adventures and Experimental Territory. 

Firstly, the thing we Brits need to realise about the grilled cheese sandwich, is that is it less like our normal sandwiches, and more like a toastie, it's hot and the butter goes on the outside. It isn't going to be healthy, but it's going to be indulgent, comforting, and far more exciting than pre-packed, sliced ham or tinned tuna (oh, you know what I'm talking about). 

The whole design of the book screams fun, it's bright, bold, and has a slight comic feel. It certainly doesn't take itself too seriously, so if you like your recipe books to contain food that aspires to be on Masterchef, walk on now and remain hungry. 

The great thing about sandwich recipes, is that they are incredibly simple, it's essentially compiling a bunch of food items rather than actually 'cooking', and indeed in some places the instructions do get a little repetitive — "Let sandwich cook for 3-5 minutes per side or until bread is golden brown" — but all that means is that it's super easy, and anyone can cruise through the pages and then go create a taste party in their mouth. 

There are certain things in this super easy sandwich book that may catch you off guard, some of the sandwiches are bread specific e.g. Chaliah, so for the full experience, it'll be no good relying on a loaf of pre-sliced white bread from the supermarket. Also, being an American book, there are ingredients in general that we may not be familiar with (marble cheese, packages of Stouffers Spinach Souffle), so you may struggle to follow some of the recipes to the letter, be prepared to google and improvise. 

The only thing that makes me a little sad, is that not all the sandwiches have a photo, there are many photos included, and one could argue that many of the sandwiches look similar, so why fill a book with too many of them. I would argue that there is a lot of pleasure to be found in a picture of a grilled cheese sandwich and it should never be underestimated. 

There are some curious flavour combinations included such as roasted brussel sprouts with cheddar, some ingredients sound a little 'studenty' (the Soupless French Onion incorporates french onion soup mix), and there are some even more curious ideas for fillings that will throw any notion you had of carb control right out of the window: Fish and Chips (with cheese and coleslaw), Risotto (yes, rice in a sandwich) and Farfalle pesto Grilled Cheese (yes, pasta). However, there are other sandwiches that are less kooky, one that whets my appetite in particular is the Salmon Croquettes with Dill (posh fish fingers, yum).

This book may lead you to stretch your definition of what a sandwich is. To me, a sandwich involves bread, and being able to pick it up and eat it with your hands. There are several sandwiches in Melt that don't adhere to such rules. In the savoury sandwiches we find alternatives to bread such as lettuce leaves, mushrooms, eggplant slices, potato pancakes and savoury waffles, which I think are great ideas, but it's moving onto part 2 where we find the sweet sandwiches, that our definition of sandwich, particularly a grilled cheese sandwich, becomes challenged. 

Some of the sweet sandwiches, such as the Harvest Fest (sweet potato, cinnamon, marshmallows, apples and cheese) sound different and interesting, and others such as Squash with Apple Butter (spaghetti squash, apple butter, cranberry goats cheese in a croissant) sound tasty, but two brownies, with mascarpone and a crumbled cookie in the middle, whilst sounding absolutely delicious, is a pudding, not a sandwich, a pudding. 

My obsession with the definition of sandwich aside, Melt is great, great fun. Yes, you may have to improvise with some of the ingredients, but if you are bored by lunch time snacks, then this book is full of ideas to turn your midday meal time into a circus for your tastebuds. It's great for keeping kids entertained, great for those that aren't naturally gifted in the kitchen, but might like to be, and students, still trying to build their repetoire of meals. It is a bit wacky, but it does provide what looks like a great variety of grilled cheese sandwiches... and puddings! 

Melt: 100 Amazing Adventures in Grilled Cheese
Shane Kearns

RRP: £15.99 (Available from Amazon)
Adams Media Corporation

• ISBN-10: 1440538743ISBN-13: 978-1440538742

Please not I was given a review copy of this book, but was not paid to write the review.

Adventures In Chocolate!

The other week, as part of a birthday/christmas present from my friend Gayle, three of us headed into London to take part in a chocolate workshop from My Chocolate. Tucked away in a basement room, at the end of a long corridor, we found ourselves surrounded by jars containing sweet treats, and table that looked like this (look up), not too shabby. 

Our host for the evening was Davies, he guided us through all the practical chocolaty bits and pieces, and told us lots of interesting things about chocolate. The first thing that we made as a group were chocolate martinis. We each had to decorate our glasses with melted chocolate swirls before mixing and shaking up the provided ingredients. 

We were then taken through various pieces of chocolate that had been put out in front of us, discussing textures, flavours, percentage of cacao and countries of origin etc. We were also able to try cacao nibs and some 100% cacao (I think...I could be wrong... you noticed the glasses of Presecco on the table right?).

  

We made our own slabs of chocolate, which we were able to flavour and decorate. I chose cherry and decorated with nuts, as I thought those would be a pretty tasty combination, the white chocolate was purely because I like white chocolate. 

We were given a ganache to pipe out onto our baking sheets, but the nozzle on our table was cut a little big, so they came out more like cute little poos, rather than little piped blobs of cuteness. 

While our little poos were firming up slightly, Davies showed us how to make American chocolate fudge. We were given a slab of the chocolate fudge, and what I believe was Gianduja, to decorate alongside our truffles. What followed included rolling, dipping, sprinkling, rubbing (transfers), and possibly asking for more marshmallows when our table ran out, after dipping them in the ever present bowl of melted chocolate and eating them throughout the night, (how were we supposed to know that we'd need them again later?). 

I was pretty impressed with my selection of chocolates, although it turns out I'm not a fan of crystallised rose petals, (fortunately I only made one of those). 

 Gayle's treats. 

Lydia's treats.

The evening concluded, with us packing our chocolates into boxes and bags, whilst enjoying a chocolate and dessert wine pairing. I didn't think I was a fan of port, but it goes so well with chocolate, it may be my new hobby (yes, you can absolutely have chocolate and port as a hobby). I think we also tried some marsala (but don't hold me to that).

It was a fabulous evening, which I would highly recommend. There was a lot of information to take in, and trying to fit it into just three hours, did feel a little bit rushed. It also may have been a little bit lost on us, as after several glasses of Presecco, we did turn into ever so slightly inebriated giggling young ladies (okay so 'I' may have been giggling slightly more than everyone else). That isn't a complaint though, it was the best fun I've had in ages!