'Tis the season to be spooky!

Happy Hallowe'en!

And now I shall revert back to Halloween, for Hallowe'en is more effort and makes me seem slightly pretentious.. 

I have honestly never felt more in the Halloween spirit than I have this year. I'm not sure why this is, whether the event itself just seems bigger in general this year, or whether it has something to do with my working in one of the nation's favourite stores, selling a plethora of the yummiest, coolest Halloween snacks around. It's probably more to do with the latter..

So I decided to really get into the spirit, showcase my creative skills (or lack thereof), tick something off the proverbial bucket list and carve a jack'o'lantern.

I am SO proud of this. I typed 'pumpkin templates' into Google and up popped the Pumpkin Masters page, informing me that if I liked them on Facey B, I could get free templates! Then I remembered that my parents had generously given my sister the ink cartridges from my printer, so I had to draw the template myself and then tape my shoddy homemade one on. But it worked! I also didn't really have a sharp enough knife, so I got very frustrated and got cramp in my right hand. 

It may look like the sun is shining brightly in my garden, but it's a security light and it is in fact night time. The conveniently placed broken pots are so the hedgehogs can manoeuvre easily. Naturally.

I'm aware that Halloween is officially over in 15 minutes, but I'm planning on making it last at least two more days as there are lots of Halloweeny baked goods I want to try my hand at!

 And so, in 15 minutes, Happy Tuesday!

New Bow!

The 'b' button on my keyboard is broken, so this post is more difficult than you can ever know..

But I have made new bows! Keep an eye on Robyn's Ribbons for more!

The fabric is completely amazing for cheer bows, I saw it and snapped up a few metres there and then. Pretty hideous in terms of anything else though..

Personally, I think one of my finest yet..

A few sizing issues..

A couple of posts ago, I talked about my Royal Corgi that I was planning on knitting for twitknitclub, from the Knit Your Own Royal Wedding book. You may think that this blog has just become an outlet for all things crafty that I start and never finish, BUT, I always finish them eventually. I get very impatient when something doesn't take shape immediately.

Now, from the photo, and I'm sure you will all agree, the Corgi looks like an average stuffed toy size. Which I was quite excited about. He was going to sit regally on my bed. Turns out, he's tiiiiny. I'm dedicating a whole post to this because I think it's mostly hilarious. The wool was delivered at the end of last week and I remarked upon how thin it was.. "Oh dear Mum, I must have ordered the wrong wool?!". Then yesterday morning I went and picked up the needles the pattern suggested, 3mm, and they were tiny too! Then I thought, well, maybe the Corgi is just absolutely tiny? Ding!

I was somewhat disappointed about that fact. Until, I saw this.

How cute is that? I think the Queen is amazing and definitely have to get the book to knit that too.

I'm going to make an army of tiny Corgis..

Clarks' Heritage Range..

After weeks and weeks of very careful and calculated budgeting, along with a heavy dose of BEING ABSOLUTELY IN LOVE, I have bought these boots.

Bizarrely name 'Licorice Candy', I have fallen completely and head over heels in love with these boots. I mention budgeting because they carry rather a hefty price tag. However, anyone who knows me can testify that I wear brown riding boots close to every single day of the winter months. I absolutely live in them. so these bad boys will definitely be worth the money. My last pair were from Debenhams and, rather unexpectedly, fell apart at a rather inopportune moment - in the rain.

If you are thinking of getting some winter boots now, as the weather starts to change, it is the best time; enter 'BENEW' in the promotional code box at the checkout and you'll receive 10% off! So you can see that I really couldn't ignore these boots.

The whole range is completely delicious; dubbed the 'Heritage' range, it has an incredibly English countryside vibe. I have a tweed Zara blazer and a jumper that I have just finished knitting (more on that at a later date) that will complete the look perfectly.

Sadly, the dog is sold separately. 

Happy shopping!

IMAGE CREDIT: www.clarks.co.uk

An ode to Mary Berry..

During a fit of late night impulse purchasing last week, I became the proud owner of this...

I was in Asda at about 10pm, you may ask what on earth possessed me to be in there at all, let alone at 10pm.. I was looking for Jamie Oliver's 30 Minute Meals. Which they didn't have. On a complete tangent, I cooked this the other night, and it was incredible. SO easy and absolutely delicious. I never thought I'd be able to cook anything as complex as this, hence my search for the 30 Minute Meals book. It's literally a miracle.

Back to Ms Berry. In Asda, when I was not finding Jamie's book, I happened to chance upon the Great British Bake Off book! I'd only watched the final the night before so was so surprised to see this. Asda has it for only £10, so I thought it was rude to refuse. 

The book is absolutely beautiful. The recipes are laid out perfectly, with a picture for each step and whole page pictures for the technical bakes. All the technical challenges from the competition are in there, along with some of the bakers own creations. Highlights include Mary Berry's coffee and walnut battenburg and some absolutely gorgeous summery tarts. Along with the BBC's Great British Bake Off Masterclasses on iPlayer, this is surely failsafe?

We can only wait and see. I have two days off in a row now, so I'm planning to attack the Battenburg tomorrow, armed with Mary Berry talking me through it via my iPad. I'll try and post some pictures when I've done it, but if it's hideous then I completely refuse. I fear that mine may end up looking slightly, hearty, if you will. Not as neat and delicate as it possibly should. 

Let me know if you bake anything from it, we can have our own bloggy bake-off. :-)

Happy Baking!