Finally done!

This is the longest amount of time i've ever spent making a single item, apart from maybe that scarf i made.
Anyway the pillow I've been making for my mum is finally done!

 The colour looks a bit funny in this photo, i tried to fix it but failed. Anyway this is the back.

 And this is the front. My parents names in the heart and a leaf for each of their children, and the dog!

I think it looks right at home sat on their bed. Now to wrap and hide it until Christmas. I'm way too ahead of myself.

This week i've been doing a lot of packing, you see i'm moving to Bedford on Tuesday! That's less than a week and i haven't even started sorting out my bedroom at all. Oops.

This is the cutest owl i've ever seen in my life. Don't even try and deny it, you know it's perfect!

Have i ever told you that i like VW camper vans? Well i do, a lot. Those and beetles! I don't know why but they're so adorable. The old beetles obviously. And i love that this camper van is on a cupcake. I just want to eat it up! nom nom nom.

 They had lots of old cars at the unfair ground at Glastonbury this year. Can you see the VW beetle on the left? They also had lots of things made out of old cars. It was pretty cool.
Anyway enough rambling from me. I will blog more i promise, once i've moved and unpacked.
Have a lovely week!

August is Red

In my last post I showed you come pictures of what I've been baking recently. Well I posted the plum cakes I made and since then have made a lot more plum goodies. Red Red plums.
Sadly I've not taken any pictures but I think you'll get the point! There's been loads of baking going on.
A plum crumble
Stewed plums with meringue and whipped creme
Another giant plum cake
German plum dumplings
And we still have heaps of plums left over, have you got any suggestions for more things i could make?

As promised this week I'd show you things I've been making.

I've had this little mirror lying around for months just waiting to be decorated. Before it was white covered in big colourful hand painted flowers. I also made those red rosettes a few months ago too with my glue gun *love it* but didn't have anything to do with them yet. Add a few pages out of a book my brother was using as a notebook for a photography project and hey presto. I also love that quote. Now i just need my boyfriend to look into it.

close-up of the fabric flower Rosettes made of a silky material.

Now I'm pretty sure that I told you what I'm making my mum for Christmas already. Well this is it. In the process. this is the back anyway. I've put buttons down the middle so it can easily be taken off for washing.

This is the front. Yes i haven't rotated it. But It's not done yet, so you'll be getting another picture soon. I still need to add more lines on the tree a few brown a few black. My parents names are in the heart and there's a leaf for each of their children. Me and my three siblings, and our dog!

These are my two newest owl additions. Made from my little brothers old socks and a bit of fabric i had lying around, oh and buttons too. Their names are Oliver and Olivia, perfect companions for Odette the last owl i made.

Moving on to things I've found on the internet and really like.

This bed. Must have it. Not as cool as a bed in a wardrobe i must admit but I'll settle for it. My boyfriend probably wouldn't mind this as much!

Now this is awesome! You attach a device full of powdered chalk onto your bike so as you ride it sticks to your tyre and you draw all over the road. I want to colour my village pink!

Owl jewelery; I've now got a stupid amount. An owl ring, two owl necklaces. One is a bronze owl in the middle and the other is a string of beads every other one shaped like an owl which is silver. Two pairs of dangling own ear-rings. You now the ones that are tiered. If not, sorry, that will probably confuse you. I don't really wear much jewelery but i make exceptions for owls.

This is me down to a T. I can't run to save my life, literally. I can't walk up hills to save my life. I feel like I'm going to die!

I'll try update more often for you, especially now that I've joined pinterest. You can find me here.

The girl and her owl.

I've seen so many beautiful pieces of artwork recently that have owls and girls in them. I love the way the artists compare the girls to the owls they're portrayed with and wanted to just share a few with you.

I found this neutral coloured piece on Flickr, it's by the wonderfully creative 64colours. I love the way the girls hat matches the owl's feathers and their identical eyes.

This gorgeous piece is by Jen Mann she has a number of images which all compare females to different animals. The short hair and sculpted eyebrows go well with the owl.

Sara Blake illustrates a number of pieces which have birds in them including cockerels and the owl above. This particular image is available in a number of colours which are shown beneath the image. I love the way the feathers look more like fabric.

Chad Woodward has a range of greetings cards which can be found here at Urban Graphic. This card is from a group which are called "Melodika" due to the theme of music running throughout. The idea of an owl as a DJ is genius. This picture makes me happy on the inside.
Society6 is full of great artists such as: Ola Liola and Amanda Mocci. The images which these two artists have produced are probably my favourite two that I'm blogging about today.

This one is by Ola. I love the little details in this picture such as the little bird in the bottom right corner and the tiny bit of colour for the cheeks of both the owl and girl adding symmetry. The plaits also look like feathers, well maybe that's just me. But so cute!

Amanda is amazing. This is my favourite. I love the hair! And the pattern on her neck. I also like the limited colour palette. Just a dark yellow and redish-brown colour. I want this is my room. Or tattooed on my back. Not really... but you get the picture.
P.S. I added the quote underneath the image. I thought it went so well!

Hope you have a lovely weekend!

Magical shapes and noms

When i lived in Spain my favourite fruit was "chiwimoya" Well that's how i used to say it anyway. And i've been sad ever since as i can't seem to find it anywhere in this country. The other day i was wandering around the internet when i came across a post called "20 fruit i bet you've never tried" Or something like that. Sadly i didn't save the URL if so i would link it. But alas i didn't. So i appologise for that.
The major problem i had was spelling it wrong to start with!

Yeah it's a cherymoya also known as a custard apple. Because apparently it has a slight taste of custard. Maybe it's just me but i don't remember it tasting like that at all! It's the texture of a ripe pear. Well softness anyway. The flesh is delicious and amazing. I want one right now! As for the taste, it's hard to describe. Try describing what an apple tastes like without comparing it to an apple. Difficult isn't it!

This fruit was also on the list. Yes, it was number one. Apparently the most amazing thing in the world. As my image states it is miraculin, a sugar substitute which makes it miraculous. But the fruit being sweet isn't a miracle. The fact that the sweetness somehow sticks to your tongue and your sour receptors think you're tasting something sweet for a good while after eating it. Apparently there are tasting parties in the US where people eat the miracle fruit then a variety of other food to see how it effects their flavour. I want to eat a lemon after one of these. Imagine a sweet lemon!
The best contribution of this fruit that i can think of is as a diet aid. Fat people love sweet foods right? Just get them to eat some of these before i nice tasty fruit or vegetable salad. Yum.

Now on to the less exciting but equally pleasing non-edible things i've found.

It's an umbrella shaped like a heart! I've wanted one of these for a while but never known where to get one. Apparently (according to google) there's loads of places which sell them on the internet, in a variety of colours too. I want a baby pink one please!

These are keys, in weird shapes. I like the gun one best. There were a lot of other ones but these were the coolest as the actual key part is included in the design of the key. Some were like mickey mouse with a key jutting out of his head. Not as cool.

I'm just throwing this in because i like it. Fairy lights are awesome!

Now moving on to another topic. Bento! I've shown you bento boxes before, but what can truely make a bento box is the accessories.

These picks are some of my favourites. You can turn food into a balloon, flower, umbrella, ring or chicken drumstick. Turn a cherry tomato into an apple or a couple into cherries. If anything is going to make your kids eat healthy foods it's these!

How adorable are those hats! Now i want to give all of my food faces just so i can give them hats!
You really do need to wander over to all things for sale, it's an American site but all of their products are so cheap. If i ever get kids i'm going to buy their stock in bulk!
They have everything from bento boxes, cups and hard boiled egg molds (they're amazing!) to sandwich cutters, stamps and nori cutters.

Anyway have fun getting lost in all the kawaii bento items they have. Before i go i have to mention that my brother bought me a kawaii ice cube tray which makes animal shaped ice-cubes! I'll take a picture one day and show you. I love it!

Grammar and Randomness

I Admit it, I'm a grammar Nazi. If you've never heard that term before I'm not trying to compare myself with a Nazi and i appologise if it offends you. But if you have you'll know what I'm on about. I hate reading things which contain bad grammar. Well not so much grammar, but spelling. Here's a picture demonstrating my main spelling pet peeves.

The one i hate most it they're/their/there. I have a friend who always writes it as they're. Annoys the hell out of me. Ah well.

I do actually use this comma. Since I started reading academic journals at university and they all use the oxford comma. I swear at primary school they tell you not to use it though. If you're using and you don't need a comma. I'm going to be a primary school teacher sometime soon, so I'm sure I'll find out at some point.

Yes, although i call myself a grammar Nazi, I do actually get things wrong sometimes. But my mistakes are never as bad as the above example."Too", "Its", "Dificult". Fail!

Anyway. Moving on to things I think are cool.

This is actually a realistic idea for a kitchen i think. Most of my house ideas normally involve secret rooms and other expensive things. This would make it a lot easier to add extra people around than table just by squashing instead of adding another chair. It's also just like a restaurant. Well some of them anyway. The best ones. Red Robin *cough cough*

So i was playing Sims the other day, the first one. I was extremely bored, don't judge me! And my baby transformed into a child and this creepy lady face appeared as my child's face. My actual child was normal looking though and next time i went on all was normal. The weirdest bit about it is that the one on the congratulations pop up is frowning. And the one next to the family faces is smiling. Odd.

I want to make a couple of these. It's genius! All you have to do is snap a glow stick, tear it open, tip the inside into a jar, and shake. That simple yet so effective.

This is a pine forest in Poland where around 400 trees grow at a 90 degree angle facing north. This is an inexplicable occurrence and a pine tree forest close by is completely normal. It's called the "Crooked Forest" and I really want to go there!

I think this is such a cute idea for a wedding, but it could also be used for other occasions. How about a parent and newborn with their name or the word baby inside? I would try and think of more for you, but I'm lazy. I'm sure you could think of some pretty awesome ones for yourself.

Last but not least i leave you with this beauty. My little brother is convinced that the zombie apocalypse will happen so this would be perfect for him.

I hope you have a good week.

Pinterest, my new obsession.

So i discovered a new website today called pinterest. It's "A place to catalog the things you love". It's pretty much full of amazing photos that you can add to your own page.
Here are a couple of pictures that i found that i adore/ want to make.

How genius is that! i can't believe that bagels fit so perfectly into old CD case thingys. If  i can find some of these around my house i'm putting them in the Tupperware draw!

This is so Kawaii! Who else here would love to get an egg in the post, telling you to crack it. (Crack an amazingly beautiful Easter egg decoration?! WHY!!! <-- immediate response) But when you open it up you receive a lovely letter from a friend. Smile!

I've seen these before, but i've now decided that i'm going to make them when i'm next home. I love cupcakes, I love icecream (i bought some this morning in fact) what better than to combine the two to make a delicious treat?

There's a wall like this in one of the student pubs i think it's in the CAI (Cardiff Arts Institute) I think. I remember playing on it before. Was very sad when i went back and my creation had been destroyed though. Wish it could have lived on forever.

My little brother make newspaper plant pots when planting seedlings as they can be planted straight into the ground, But who'd of thought of lemon skin! I'm assuming you could also use oranges or kiwis. Mmm fresh nutrients.

Aren't these the cutest chocolate covers you've ever seen. You could give them to a friend who's moving, a teacher (when i'm a teacher i will demand owl gifts! haha), or pretty much anyone you're going to miss. Squee.

When i first saw this i had to think about it for a while, then i got it, then i wanted to make some. Shame i'm short of both frankfurters and spaghetti at the moment. Oh well. I'm going home (mum and dads) on Tuesday and i'm sure their cupboards are well supplied.

This goody bag is obviously meant for a teacher, who else makes you wiser? Your parents maybe but teachers, well, it's their job! And of course they'd love a goody bag full of treats as an end of year thank you. The owl is a huge Bonus. They are wise after all. We all know that.

This last picture isn't from pinterest i was just searching through blogs the other day and found it.

I realise the whole point of this picture is to show you the giant quilted B. Ucreate is full of fun ideas. But i just couldn't help falling in love with the owls! They're gorgeous. I want some on my mantle piece (not that i've got one) or on my shelf, or bookcase. I need them!

Anyway that's enough of my rambling for one day. I hope you enjoy these pictures. Back to revision.

Green Mint Baileys

After yesterdays post i was left thinking about mint icecream. I love mint. And then i thought about Baileys.
It's my favourite drink in the entire world. I want some right now. I don't care what time it is. I would even have it on my cereal.

My favourite flavour of all is the mint chocolate one. Obviously.
My boyfriend's favourite dessert is cheesecake and i like making them. It's quick and easy. One day agess ago i stumbled across this recipe from BBC Food.

It's a Baileys cheesecake. I would have to adapt the recipe to use mint chocolate Baileys though i think and have mint chocolate chips in the cookie base. Mmm. I really want to make one now.

Oh also. After updating yesterday all about green tea i went onto The cupcake blog this morning and to my surprise they had so many tea and coffee cupcakes.

Green Tea and Kiwi.

Chai Latte.

Double Mocha.

Maybe it's just me but i found that really weird. Anyway carrying on with the green theme. I haven't had any baby animals on here recently, which is ridiculous. And i don't know how i've managed it. Did you know there are no green mammals in the world. Apart from a sloth. Yes i know sloths aren't naturally green. But algae grows on them which gives them a green hint seeing as they're so slow.

Just check out the baby sloth! so so squee!
Who doesn't like hugs! I love squee little animals and their babies. I want a baby animal!

Want more green things? Okay.

 

Memes can be green. The key two are philosoraptor and bachelor frog i think.

He is literally reading my mind!

I'm pretty sure that they do. I want to know the answer to this. And the answer to the first one. If anyone has any idea please let me know!

Now onto random things that i have seen and liked. They are not green, they are not baileys, they are not mint. They are not related to this post at all. Not in the slightest. Oh well :)

Apparently it's meant for sweets and things and that cake won't actually fit in it. I beg to differ. I will make one. And it will be for individual cake slices.

It keeps your hand from freezing when you have a really cold beverage. Thank you Mr. Shark. I guess you could make one with any animal you want really. Well they have to have a pretty big mouth. i wouldn't use a Bee. You can buy your own on Etsy from user handamade.

Oh he is so fancy! Owls are known for being wise, but i didn't know they were this posh.

Last but not least i found a website. It is called wordle. And i really want to make one, but for some reason it won't work for me. Let me know if you have any luck!