Petal Cupcakes

Hello! A pretty post for you today with a little help from my friends at Polly's Petals. We haven't done much baking during LD - the alignment of flour, eggs and butter hasn't always happened. That said when we did bake, it became a real treat and an opportunity to make an ordinary day into a special one. I found this Hummingbird Bakery cupcake recipe in a forgotten cookbook, having never baked proper cupcakes before I was so pleased with how they turned out. I had to improvise on the icing/frosting but I couldn't resist giving them a sprinkle with this beautiful petal mix, so much nicer than the garish sprinkles my children are addicted to! These petals have become a baking essential, now the weather is warming up I'm going to add them to ice cubes to make even a basic glass of water beautiful - enjoy! x 

You'll need 

a 12-hole cupcake tray, lined with paper cases

120g plain flour
140g caster sugar
1 ½ tsp baking powder
a pinch of salt
40g unsalted butter, at room temperature
120ml whole milk
1 egg
¼tsp vanilla extract

For a simple vanilla frosting (I've not used this one but its recommended) 
250g icing sugar, sifted
80g unsalted butter, at room temperature
25ml whole milk
a couple of drops of vanilla extract

Dried Flower Petals 

To make, preheat the oven to 170°C (325°F) Gas 3.


Put the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and butter in a freestanding electric mixer with a paddle attachment (or use a handheld electric whisk) and beat on slow speed until you get a sandy consistency and everything is combined. Gradually pour in half the milk and beat until the milk is just incorporated.


Whisk the egg, vanilla extract and remaining milk together in a separate bowl for a few seconds, then pour into the flour mixture and continue beating until just incorporated (scrape any unmixed ingredients from the side of the bowl with a rubber spatula). Continue mixing for a couple more minutes until the mixture is smooth. Do not overmix.


Spoon the mixture into the paper cases until two-thirds full and bake in the preheated oven for 20–25 minutes, or until light golden and the sponge bounces back when touched.


A skewer inserted in the centre should come out clean. Leave the cupcakes to cool slightly in the tray before turning out onto a wire cooling rack to cool completely.


When the cupcakes are cold, spoon the vanilla frosting on top and decorate with hundreds and thousands.


Beat the icing sugar and butter together in a freestanding electric mixer with a paddle attachment (or use a handheld electric whisk) on medium-slow speed until the mixture comes together and is well mixed.


Turn the mixer down to slow speed. Combine the milk and vanilla extract in a separate bowl, then add to the butter mixture a couple of tablespoons at a time. Once all the milk has been incorporated, turn the mixer up to high speed.


Continue beating until the frosting is light and fluffy, at least 5 minutes. The longer the frosting is beaten, the fluffier and lighter it becomes.



This recipe is taken from The Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook by Tarek Malouf and The Hummingbird Bakers
Published by Ryland Peters & Small
Text © Tarek Malouf and The Hummingbird Bakers

Thanks so much to Polly's Petals for gifting me these petals. Photography and Styling all my own work, Recipe credited within post. 

DIY - Colourful tassel necklace

It’s been a while but it feels so right to be sharing some jewellery making tutorials with you again. I’ve got lot(t)s in the pipeline so dust off your pliers we’re getting beady again! Hooray!

I made this beauty of a necklace a few years ago, inspired by the gorgeous pink quartz points I’ve used - I wanted to create a piece of jewellery that was 100% summer. I’m not sure why it was left in my jewellery box for so long (small children?!) but I was delighted to rediscover and I’ve enjoyed wearing it even more. I think I just made it rather than made it to share, so there are no pics to go with the steps but the technique is the same as this brass and glass bead necklace. I’m going to talk you through it anyway so, let’s go.

You'll need - mystic pink quartz points, 5mm jump rings, 7mm jump rings, tiger tail, crimps, knot covers , cotton cord, cotton tassels, beading wire and a mix of beads, I used what I had in my stash, a mix of large statement beads Kernow crafts has a beautiful selection of semi precious stones and small beads (I used large seed beads). 

Step 1. Prep your crystals and tassels. This earring tutorial has some great images of a wrapped loop. 

Cut lengths of wire about 10/15cm long (one length per piece of quartz). Thread the quartz onto a wire, fold the wire in half so the two lengths of wire cross at the top. 

Using pliers bend one piece of wire so that it points upwards, make sure the second piece of wire crosses over the first and points horizontally. You should have the quartz bead in the centre of the wire with a length of wire pointing vertically and another pointing horizontally. 

Take the horizontal wire and wrap it around the vertical wire a couple of times, snip off the excess. Make a small loop in the vertical wire and wrap the tail of wire around the wrapped wire a few times and snip off the excess wire. Repeat this step so all your quartz pieces have loops. I had seven pieces of quartz in this necklace. 

Take your tassels and depending on how big they are, thread a 5mm or 7mm jump ring to the top of each one. 

Step 2. Join your tassels and quartz crystals together with a jump ring, keep it as small as you can get away with. I had one central element which had one piece of quartz and two tassels (one turquoise, one pink) and then six smaller pieces with one tassel and one quartz.  

Step 3. Take a length of tiger tail (approx 30/40cm long),  you want enough to work with but so much you get in tangle. Thread on your central quartz tassel and then a small bead either side working outwards on both sides thread on your bead mix in a design that works for your beads, you might go super symmetrical or more random like I've done here. 

Step 4. Once you're happy with the design add a knot cover and crimp to one end. Squeeze the crimp closed and then close the knot cover over the top, repeat on the other side. Fix a 7mm jump ring to either end.  This brass and glass bead necklace tutorial gives you some good close ups. 

Step 5. Still here?! Yay! You can free style this part depending on what cord you've got. If you're using leather you could go with a fixed length necklace like the brass and bead necklace. If you've got cord like I had, cut two lengths 75cm long. Thread each piece through the jump ring on the end of the necklace, make sure each piece is exactly in half and tie in a knot close to the jump ring.

Step 6. You are more than welcome to finish here tying knots at the end of cord to finish off. You would tie the cord in a bow to secure when wearing. But for a final step I put the ends next to each other with the ends facing in opposite directions and did a simple macrame box knot over the top with some left over nylon thread - this friendship bracelet tutorial gives you a close up. 

Apologies for taking you on a journey through my back catalogue of jewellery making - even if you don't end up making this exact necklace I hope it inspires you to look at what you've got in your stash and see what you can create. Happy Making. xx

My flower stall

I had the jars and I had the flowers so it seemed like a good idea to put them together and set-up a flower stall outside my house at the weekend. And a good idea it was, I completely sold out and even took an order or two for the week ahead! As someone who really struggles to value themselves this really gave me such a boost not only to be braver with my ideas but to listen and act on my instincts. I loved every minute of it and had such lovely socially safe chats with everyone that came to buy. The garden is looking good for the weekend ahead so I'm planning to set up shop again this Saturday. 

Hide and seek in the bluebells

The weeks maybe merging into one but it's our little adventures immersed in the seasons that set each week apart. Last week inbetween the rain clouds we found ourselves among the bluebells in a tiny oasis near our local woods. The camellia's were fading but the bluebells were at their peak and frothy cow parsley gave everything a dreamy feel. Coinciding with visiting this magical patch I read a really great article from Hannah Argyle - a photographer who's style I really admire - about shooting in RAW. Armed with snacks and a few lens we made a second visit where I set about capturing our bluebell adventures. I still have a bit to learn on the editing side but I'm so happy with how these photos turned out. They will forever hold the light and gentle colours we discovered as we played hide and seek in the trees. 

Gift Wrapping - Liberty Print Gift Tags from Laura Made It

**this post contains gifted items, discount code at the end of the post**

You know spring has sprung when the urge to lavish anything with Liberty prints surfaces. As I wrote in my last post, we were having a particularly bad week when these gorgeous Liberty gift tags and letters arrived from Laura Made It. They were just the pick-me-up I needed to kick start a new gift wrapping post for you all. Beautifully handmade by Laura in Lincolnshire, I love how they are designed to be keepsakes and I know that I'll be using mine on Stanley and Milly's presents for many years to come.

I love the optimism and abundance that comes with Spring and really wanted to go to town with prints, patterns and textures on these presents but also inspire you to use materials you might already have at home. I started with a classic brown paper and layered up odd pieces of tissue paper and fabric in my stash - for this tutorial more is definitely more and in these difficult times creating moments of lightness and joy is SO important. Here's how to make...

You'll need - Wrapping paper (I used brown paper but use what you have), Wooden gift tags - I used a personalised letter tag and wooden gift tags, tissue paper or contrasting paper scraps and a selection of printed and plain fabrics, tape (double sided or regular)

Step 1. Wrap your present in your base paper - use my post The Basics of Gift Wrapping as a guide to get you started and run a band of contrasting tissue around the centre fixing at the back with tape. As a rough guide the tissue strip was about half the width of the present.

Cut or tear a strip of fabric for the bow, mine was about half the width of the tissue wrap - you'll need enough to wrap around the present and tie a bow. Wrap around the present and tie in a single knot.

Cut or tear a second contrast piece of fabric about the same width as the tissue wrap and long enough to be tied in a bow. Place under the first fabric.

Take your gift tag and tie around the knot.

I promise its easier than it sounds!!!

Step 2. Take both lengths of fabric and tie in a bow (my guide on How to Tie a Bow) will help. Puff out the 'ears' and ends and trim off any excess fabric.

Once you get going with these the possibilities are endless, I love how Liberty, vintage and modern fabrics look so good together complimenting the sweet gift tags. A huge thanks to Laura for kindly gifting these to me and also offering Lotts and Lots readers 20% off with the code CHARLOTTE20.

Tags - Laura Made It, DIY, styling and photography all me. If you'd like to work with me please get in touch for rates, I'd love to hear from you. Happy Wrapping! xx