My very own patch jacket

Look at what Has has been working on for the last few months...

My very own patch jacket!  Full of my favourite bands and some very rare badges and patches.  Has always wears his patch jacket when we go to festivals and he decided to make me my very own - so next week we'll be Mr and Mrs Patch Jacket :D

Thank you baby!! \m/
xxx

Wedding Wednesday

Wedding Wednesday again - got to love these 4 day weeks!

If the idea of planning a wedding scares the life out of  you or if things are starting to pile up and you need an extra hand, then give Julie The Wedding Genie a shout.  She offers packages to suit most couples' budgets and requirements ranging from an hour of advice to on the day coordination and more.  I'm an avid reader of her blog where she posts advice and inspiration for your wedding day including guests posts from other top rated people within the industry.  I'm yet to meet Julie in person but we have spent a lot of time tweeting and emailing each other.  She really is a very lovely lady and I honestly believe she will do her utmost to help out any bride in any way she can.

Another lady I am yet to meet, but will hopefully in the near future.  The very talented Kerry runs Cupcakes and Peonies in the The Heart of the Country Shopping Village in Lichfield where she sells her wonderful cupcakes in a variety of flavours and colours.   You can also read about Cupcakes and Peonies on her blog

The grand reopening is happening next Saturday 12th (unfortunately I'm away else I would have been there like a shot!) So if you're in the area make sure you stop by for a cupcake or two.. or three!

Happy Birthday Sue

Today is my mother-in-law to be's birthday.  Happy Birthday Sue!  We are celebrating later with the family by going out for a meal, which I'm really looking forward to.

Sue is so clever and creative, helping us out with several little projects including hand-making over 160 stuffed fabric hearts!

A few Christmas' ago as a gift, Has treated me and Sue to a day out in London.  We started at Gordon Ramsey's restaurant, Box Wood Cafe - where we both had a little too much to drink and left a little giggly and tipsy and then went to see the stage production of Dirty Dancing - it was such a fun day!

We've also spent many a day together dressed in Victorian/Medieval costumes at various craft fairs where we sell Sue's famous Worry Bears along with a collection of Sue's other clay work. (I told you she was clever!)

I hope you have a wonderful birthday Sue!
Lots of love xxx

My new toy

Love it, how have I spent so long without it?!  

So as far as apps go I have the basics, Twitter, Facebook, Wordpress, Hipstamatic (which I love!) Angry Birds (hmm addicted much!) and a pollen count forecast (for my sneezy nose - high tomorrow if you're wondering.)

But what other apps do I HAVE to have?  What's on your iPhone? Are there are cool wedding apps?  Tell me!

5 months

How was your bank holiday weekend?  I had fun spending it with family and friends.  We went to our friends wedding party on Saturday night, it was nice to be able to congratulate them properly and see them in their wedding outfits. We didn't get round to looking for our rings, so they'll be on next months list!

I had a bit of a "oh crap it's June, which means we have 5 months left" moment this weekend.  I don't have a weekend off now until the middle of August with various events so I'm going to have to call on the help of others to get things finished off.

Over the next few months we have 7 festivals/gigs, 2 weddings, 9 birthdays, a Race for Life and a craft market.  Busy!

I haven't crossed off everything from May's to do list.  I ordered the bridesmaid's dresses, painted the chalkboard hearts with a second coat, re-joined weight watchers (and lose 5lbs in total so far!).

I also ordered something for the bridesmaids from Yarwood-White for them to wear on the day and I tried out my camouflage make up.  The invitations have had a little more work done to them and are very close to being finished!

I do have quite a bit on in June, including the Download Festival next weekend, which I am super excited about, but I do have to get a wriggle on now, I was hoping to have all the DIY projects finished by September so I didn't have any last minutes battles with glue dots and ribbon.

Therefore in June I am hoping to...

• Finish day invites (Suzie and Hayley are coming to mine on the 16th armed with tweezers for attaching teeny pearls to the invites
• Print out and back evening invitations.
• Print out the Chrysler Building shapes on to card for the covers of the Order of Services.
• Think about the menus and table plans
• Go over guest lists for day and evening.
• Look for bridesmaids shoes.
• Speak with Deborah Stott about our pre-wedding shoot
• Purchase rings

This month I really want to focus on the invitations.  I don't want to be worrying about them next month when the deadline is getting tighter.

One minute I think it's still quite a way off, but then judging by how the months are flying by at the moment the day will be here in a heart beat!  Exciting and petrifying all at the same time!

Some Things for the Weekend

Another bank holiday weekend!  Has and I are going shopping for our rings tomorrow, we're going to the Jewellery Quarter in Birmingham to find ourselves a deal... hopefully!

Our friends were married in New York earlier this month, as most of their family and friends couldn't attend they are having a party tomorrow night to celebrate.  I hope they have pictures to show us!  They got married in the Empire State Building, I bet it was amazing!

source

Also, today I ordered myself...... an iPhone!!  Yay!!  It will be arriving tomorrow morning and I.can't.wait

Things I've been loving this week

• Hipstamatic for the iPhone will probably be the first app I buy!
• Young Love, I "awwww'd" a little louder with each and every photo
• Not sure what it is about this engagement shoot that I love so much, maybe it's because the bride is so beautiful, or the cute floating away photo or even the remake of the Beatles cover, which ever it was I love, love, loved it
• A engagement shoot too pretty for words
• This vintage beach shoot is so different, not sure I would ever be brave enough to pose in my swim suit though!
• I couldn't stop smiling when I saw this wedding, it looked like a day full of love, laughter and geeks! Read about it here and here
• Love the location, love the dress, love the flowers, LOVE the shoes!
• Check out the dress!  Gorgeous... and those photos on the Brooklyn Bridge.. perfection!
• Fabulous dresses were huge this week! This mountain side wedding is unbelievable!
• Wedding in a tree house anyone?
• Doily envelopes... what a fab idea!
• Don't fancy a flower bouquet?  How about one made from pretty door knobs?
• These maybe a little advanced for my sugar crafting skills but, wow, just wow!
• Fun ideas for photo booths with a difference
• Create your own DIY vintage book ring holder... easy peasy!
• Goodbye LOST, I'll miss you

Have a wonderful weekend xxx

Cupcake Decorating Workshop

Last night me and Suzie joined Sarah in her Blue Door Bakery for a lesson in swirls, sugar shapes and sprinkles. It was pure cupcake heaven!

As well as me and Suzie, 5 other ladies joined us including Louise who writes a food blog Comida yVida.  We all sat round a table full of cutters, gel colourings, spatulas, rollers and sprinkles in every shape, size and colour you could imagine.

We learnt about sugar paste and we able to use different gel colours to create beautiful shapes from the dozens of cutters she had.  (Sarah had made a purple sprinkles section for me to sit next to!)  These were mine and Suzie's creations.

Can you guess which ones were mine!!?

Sarah taught us how to make the best tasting fondant and butter cream icing and then how to create perfect peaks and rose swirls.

We each had 12 cupcakes to decorate with our icing, sugar shapes and sprinkles.  It was so much fun!  We even had the chance to fill our cupcakes with a chocolate ganache Sarah had made earlier, yum!

Look how proud we are!

A closer look at our cupcakes, mine...

Suzie's...

You'll see Suzie perfected the rose swirl, a lot better than my attempts!  We had such a fun time and I would definitely recommend a workshop to anyone who loves cupcakes and baking.

Suzie and I also left with a cupcake decorating kit, which includes loads of goodies needed to recreate these decorations at home.  You can buy these online or when you attend one of these workshops.

Thank you Sarah for being a wonderful host and teacher... I want to do it all again!!

Guess where I'll be tonight?!

Here!

Hopefully making gorgeous looking cupcakes at the Blue Door Bakery Decorating Workshop  I can't tell you how excited I am!

I shall post the outcome tomorrow....!

Wedding Weight Loss

I've been sticking to the diet religiously, even when we went out to Stratford I included a 99 ice cream into my points.   I'm very much in the zone and although I have a few wobbles where I would kill for a doughnut or pizza I'm focused on my end goal.

Last week I put on 1/2 pound.  It really upset me, the only thing I can think of that may have caused the gain was because I ate a meal of chicken and spaghetti before being weighed.  (Never again!)

Today is my usual weigh in day, but as I'm going to the Blue Door Bakery cupcake decorating workshop I went last night instead.  I'm happy to report that I lost 2 1/2 pounds. Yay!