Turn your home into a Retreat...

Have nothing in your home that you do not know to be useful , or believe to be beautiful...

The famous words of William Morris and the ethos of my new favourite shop, Retreat, who have nailed the trend for all things red, blue and white perfectly. Regardez...

The best thing about summer...

...is the sales! Tee hee. Seeing as this year has been a total wash-out, rootling out bargains has been my sole comfort! I shouldn't have really, but I did:

Lovely angora-mix cardi from Miss Selfridge, £15 from £39...ka-ching!

 The most perfect pink shoes from Faith and a veritable steal at £15 from £65!

 Clearly, I was powerless to resist in the face of such bargain-tastic madness...

Fairy tales and, er, German postage stamps...

The above are postage stamps from the Bundesrepublik Deutschland, you can find more beautiful  fairytale scenes and other images here (kindly scanned in by a mysterious fellow by the name of NobbiP), dating between 1948 and 2008. Random, but lovely!

Introducing...

...Modes4U - officially my new favourite shop! They stock a wide range of kawaii goodies and a truly mouth-watering selection of Japanese fabrics, be still my beating heart! Here are a few of my favourites...

In addition, they also sell these gorgeous woven ribbons....

As well as a MASSIVE range of delicious deco-tapes!

AAARRRRGGGHHHH! How is a girl supposed to choose?! I can feel a very large and very expensive order coming on! Meeps and wibbles...

Spotted on Ebay...

How cute?! I actually squealed with delight when I saw these but have never tried baking with ceramic moulds before...

Anyways, the thought of baking with traditional stone moulds inspired me to search for a traditional gingerbread recipe and I stumbled across this gem! Researchers from the University of Manchester have managed to dig up an original recipe that dates back to the time of the Crusades, when spices like ginger made their way into Europe with the knights returning from the Holy Land. So, without further ado, here it is:

Ingredients:

2lb Plain Flour

1tsp Bicarbonate of Soda

2tsp Ground Ginger

1tsp Allspice

1tsp Cinnamon

1tsp Cloves

12fl oz Molasses

8oz Brown Sugar

3 oz Vegetable Shortening

6fl oz Cold Water

Instructions:

Cream the sugar and shortening, add molasses and water, then gradually add the dry ingredients until a pliable dough is formed.

Leave to stand for 2 hours before rolling into shapes.

Bake at 175 degrees for approximately 10 to 15 minutes.

TA-DAAAAAAA! Now sit down and enjoy this mini medieval miracle with a nice mug of mead!

More gingerbread goodness...

This post is inspired by the mountain of felt gingerbread men shapes I have been cutting out all morning in preparation for Christmas goodies...woot! So here is a selection of random gingerbread-based loveliness from various online emporiums for your delectation!

This oh-so-cute chalkboard from Not on the Highstreet, priced at £13 and a definite addition to my Christmas list! ;o)

Lovely pastel-coloured cupcake cases from John Lewis, priced at £6

A silicone gingerbread man muffin pan, available from Mini Makers for £13.99. If you're looking for a cheaper alternative, then try Googling gingerbread ice-cube trays...

Cute but creepy 'Love Bites' t-shirt from Darkside Clothing and priced at £15.99

Yummy yummy! :o)

Going to the chapel...

Remember this?

Well, here's the finished result! There are a few bits I would probably do differently in hindsight but it was my first attempt at a customised piece and so all in all, I'm quite pleased with it!

And yet *more* novelty bakeware...

After being alerted to these by I Heart Cupcakes' blog, I can now reveal that the much-coveted (by me, anyway!) Nomskulls will be stocked by Totally Funky for the bargainous sum of £11.99! Roll on Halloween... :o)

I am in love...

...with this hat. How awesome?! Very.

Alas, it appears to be out of stock everywhere. Damn you, fickle finger of fate! If anyone knows of a place that has some squirreled away, I would be ETERNALLY grateful. Also, thank you to Diablo Rose for alerting me to this millinery miracle!

Custom design...

A sneaky-peek of a design for a custom piece I'm working on at the moment. I'm so glad that other people share my enthusiasm for ickle gingerbread men (and ladies)!