Still life part 2

A longer delay than expected between this and my previous post... nevermind, I'm so glad I took 10 minutes to take these pictures. I adore the colours, less bright than the blooms of late summer but rich and scrummy none the less. They are the perfect shades to pair with misty mornings and the hint of wood smoke in the air. 

I was playing with light with these photos -first with light from the side and then with light from the top. I've been collecting quite a lot of treasure lately so can't wait to play around some more. I've taken a few photo courses over the years which I've loved but this coming autumn I really want to play around with my own prompts mixing a bit of everything I've learnt along the way. 

I've been without my beloved Olympus Pen camera for three months -  initially I felt like I'd lost my arm but over the last few months I've really come to enjoy taking my time and being more mindful with the photo's I've been taking and sharing with my big DSLR camera. I still love my 'pen as its so easy to use but realise I've been gorging on pictures. Like the physical decluttering I've been really enjoying around the house I've also been enjoying taking less pictures. When I do take pictures - even if its only a five minute window - I'm much more careful with what I take and really really enjoy the process of gathering, capturing and sharing in a less frantic way. 

Changing the subject, these are all home grown flowers - Penhill Watermelon and Cafe au Lait dahlia, Pop Socks cosmos, astrantia, hydrangea and ivy. Despite being Mid October my garden is still in full bloom which is so exciting. I have a bag of bulbs to plant and a green house to seriously clean but I'm in no rush to do either, I just want to enjoy the colour whilst it lasts. 

Hope you've been having a lovely month - this weather is too good! xx 

Some posts you might enjoy...

Decluttering

A beginners guide to growing flowers

How to take better photos 

Flower crowns and cameras

How to create a flat lay photograph 

Still life part 1

If you feel your self comparing against others, close your eyes and focus on you. Paraphrasing my yoga teacher this week but it struck a cord. 

Results of a dinner time play around with my camera -  everything including the lens on manual plus that magic autumn light makes for a few dreamy shots. Definitely going to keep experimenting with taking pictures of my flowers this way, I love how painterly everything looks. 

A fairy themed birthday table

Last month my sweet girl turned one - to celebrate we held an afternoon tea of chocolate cake and fizz to mark this grand occasion. 

I knew I wanted to create a magical table for her with a subtle fairy/woodland theme so came up with this wall hanging and cake stand using my homegrown flowers. I'm SO happy with the end result, Milly's birthday came at the end of the summer holidays and I have to admit I felt rather faded but was determined to create something beautiful to celebrate my girl. It's been a summer of change and adjustment so I needed to keep the decorations as simple as possible but also had a massive need to create something new. I made the wall hanging over the course of a few weeks using up bundles of fabric and ribbon, eventually it'll hang above her cot. I shared the process over on my Instagram stories and got such a buzz from the kind words I received, it's in my highlights if you want to take a look (sharing tutorials is my favourite thing about social media). I went for muted dusky colours of mauve, green and natural cream with a shot of shimmer using these iridescent tassels from Other Letters .

For the cake stand my Dad kindly transformed my vision into reality one Friday afternoon. I have been buying wooden planks from a local garden centre for £2 throughout the summer - I can't resist them! I wanted the cake to sit amongst the flowers as if it was on a forest floor, he added holes so I could add vases underneath and made legs out of an old christmas tree. After a quick sand down it was the perfect stand for this most beautiful cake. I ordered this cake from a local company called Wilma's - apart from tasting as good as it looks - the owners put so much love and care into every cake. They perfectly colour matched the icing to harmonise with the rest of my scheme. 

Gone are the days when I could spare a morning decorating, having the wall hanging and cake stand pre-done saved me so much time. The longest job was adding flowers which took no longer than half an hour. All these flowers are homegrown from my garden - I used a mix of roses, astrantia, hydrangea, dahlia's cosmos, ferns, rudbeckia and ivy. I know, I know, cosmos and dahlia's aren't forest flowers but I used some artistic licence and added them for their colour and movement - it was scary but also fun to try something new, luckily it paid off! To decorate the cake I used a custom topper, gold crown and candle from Other Letters. 

Even though my creativity can sometimes feel lost under the washing pile or hidden in the toy cupboard at the moment, I'm glad that its there when I need it. I had so much fun putting this together  - making the everyday beautiful really is the best. 

For more birthday/cake posts have a look at these...

A colourful first birthday 

Easy party decorations

Layered lemon cake 

Early autumn afternoon tea

Summer table

Adventures amongst the flowers - Sarah Raven's garden, Perch Hill

One of the places I wanted to visit this year was Sarah Raven's garden at Perch Hill. I can't deny the influence the gorgeous catalogues have when they drop through the letter box. As a keen but fairly new gardener I wanted to see first hand how the flowers are grown and what a cafe au lait dahlia should really look like (I feel mine are bit small). Milly woke us all up at six (insert tired face) so we made it there bright and early which was a good thing as it got really busy around midday when we were leaving. 

The garden itself was as lovely as expected, full of English country flowers tumbling and spilling from pots and onto paths. What I took away was despite being a serious garden it felt homely and in many ways obtainable (over many years). Planting in pots is definitely the way forward, I tend to only use pots for spring bulbs but I'm definitely going to add more summer flowers to them next year. They are especially good if you're not planning to be in your garden forever as you can take them where ever go but also change them around as different plants fade. 

As I've been learning, the same plants look so much better (and seem to perform better) when planted on mass. Whilst I love the scattering of dahlias I have around my garden I think I'll buy more of the tubers that have done well and plant bigger groups of them next year. On a separate note I really want to add more of these ball shaped ones to my collection. 

Of all the plants in the garden, it was the simple phlox plant that I came away with wanting. I've been doing well with my annuals, like cosmos and sweet peas but I think I need to add a few more plants that just get on with things. I loved how this plants filled gaps and kept a slightly wild look.  

There are still open days going on through out September - you can see them all here - its definitely worth a trip if you love growing flowers. We stayed about 30 minutes away in an Airbnb close to Lewes - there is so much to do and fab places to eat the surrounding areas I really hope you make it.  

On the shelf with The Neon Finca

It's easy to stick in a comfort zone especially when children are in the mix, there isn't often room for new ideas and thoughts of any kind. That's why I'm always grateful when I get the opportunity to try something new without pressure. My friend Shelley, who runs The Neon Finca, and I were both feeling a little uninspired at the beginning of summer so we had a play around with her new products for the shop and both came away buzzing with ideas. I can see so many things I'd change with these pictures but I can also see the start of something emerging...

You can buy a selection of these gorgeous bits here - The Neon Finca

Back drop tutorial - Tie dye table cloth

DIY - Simple beaded silk necklace

Ahhhh, it feels good to be sharing a tutorial here again. I was amending a past tutorial for someone last week and I had forgotten how good it felt to sit and write. I promised myself the next free time I had I'd share a new tutorial so here today is a super simple silk beaded necklace - hooray! 

Throughout my beading life I've been making variations of these seed bead necklaces, the process is really simple and due to lack of time I kept the finish as easy as possible and long enough to pop over my head without a fiddly clasp. To make them feel more grown up I used silk thread and finished with a tassel. I've been wearing mine almost daily throughout summer and can't wait to keep wearing until the clocks change. I hope you've been able to enjoy the summer so far, apart from lack of sleep (which I think is standard for me these days) it's been great! Steps below...

For the necklace, you'll need - No.5 Beading Silk , 2 x 5mm split rings , 5mm jump rings, seed beads (gold, white), tassel (optional)

Step 1. The silk thread comes with a fine needle attached, unravel from the packet and tie the end (without the needle) onto a split ring using a few simple knots. I always add a dab of superglue to stop it unravelling (if you don't have glue handy a tiny dot of clear nail varnish will do the job).

Step 2. Thread on the seed beads, every so often add a contrasting bead. Keep going until you have a length of approx. 58cm.

Step 3. Tie your finished length to another split ring and snip off any extra threads (don't forget to super glue the knots).

Step 4. Fasten together with two jump rings and if you decide to add a tassel add one now. If opening a jump ring is new to you, take a look at this tutorial - how to open a jump ring.

To make the bracelet, I used this exact tutorial - Heart Friendship Bracelet - and added a charm, a tassel would also work! 

I really hope you give these a try, happy making! xx 

Layered Lemon Cake

I'm not sure why I never posted this layered lemon cake (probably lack of time) but I found the photos the other day and really wanted to share. At the moment I'm using my blog as an online journal, keeping a record of the little ways I make the everyday beautiful. Whilst the days are whizzing by and its easy to be totally absorbed in raising two little ones - its so important for my wellbeing to keep creating and most importantly sharing in the hope that I can inspire you too. When I'm really pushed for time creatively I find baking the easiest way to add a little extra in my day. I normally get Stanley to help with the mixing and turn it into a fun activity that we can do together. Decorating is strictly for me to enjoy though ;-). 

This cake (a Mary Berry recipe) is really easy to whip up, I baked the sponge the night before and decorated on the day. I made this in June when peonies were just finishing but you can use any seasonal flowers - Dahlias are just blooming so would look amazing, as would spring flowers if you're in the Southern Hemisphere. I started with the largest flower off centre then graduated outwards with smaller ones on the back half of the cake - make sure you cut the stems really short and make sure not to use flowers which produce sap that could be dangerous if eaten. I then copied(ish) a similar floral arrangement on the cake plate below. I really love using flowers on cakes, they make even the most homemade cake look extra special.  You can see another floral cake here. 

Cake recipe below - happy making! x 

Ingredients
* 2 small thin-skinned lemons, or 1 large one
* 275g (10oz) softened butter, plus extra for dusting
* 275g (10oz) caster sugar
* 275g (10oz) self-raising flour
* 2 level tsp baking powder
* 4 eggs

For the filling and icing
* 50g (2oz) softened butter
* 175g (6oz) icing sugar
* 250g (9oz) full-fat mascarpone
* 175g (6oz) fondant icing sugar

To decorate
* 1 thin-skinned lemon
* 50g (2oz) caster sugar

Method
1. Grease two 20cm (8in) round sandwich tins and line the bases with baking paper.

2. First make the lemon decoration. Peel long strips of lemon rind then cut into fine strips (keep the lemon to juice it for the icing). Place the peel in a saucepan with half the caster sugar, cover with boiling water and boil for one minute. Drain and pat dry, then place on baking paper.

3. Scatter over the remaining sugar and dry out in a low oven set at 110°C/90°C fan for about one hour, until crispy. Cut the lemon in half and squeeze the juice, then set aside for the icing. Increase the oven to 180°C/160°C fan.

I skipped steps 2 & 3 because I didn't have enough lemons or time

4. To make the cake, place the two whole lemons in a small saucepan, cover with water, bring to the boil and simmer for 20 minutes or until very soft and tender. Drain and cut the lemons in half and remove any pips.

5. Place the boiled lemons in a food processor and process to a smoothish pulp but still with chunky bits. Transfer to a small bowl. Add all the remaining cake ingredients to the food processor and blend until smooth. Lift out the blade and stir in just over half the processed lemon pulp.

6. Divide the mixture evenly between the two prepared tins and bake for 30 minutes or until golden brown and just shrinking from the edges of the tins.

7. Leave to cool for five minutes then turn the cakes out, peel off the paper and leave to finish cooling on a wire rack.

8. To make the lemon filling, place the butter and icing sugar in a bowl and mix till smooth and creamy (you could also do this in a food processor). Add the mascarpone, mix again, then add the reserved lemon pulp and mix until just combined.

9. Cut both cakes in half horizontally so you have four layers. Spread the lemon cream evenly between three of the layers, stacking them on top of each other. Place the remaining layer on top.

10. Mix the fondant icing sugar with one or two tablespoons of the reserved lemon juice to make a thick pouring consistency. Pour the icing over the top of the cake, allowing it to drizzle down. Sprinkle the candied lemon rind on top.

I didn't do step 10 either (I couldn't get fondant icing) so just added more cream to the top and spread around the sides with a palette knife.

Prepare ahead
The baked cake will keep for up to four days in a tin.

Freeze
Freeze the unfilled baked sponges for up to three months.

Extracted from Mary Berry Cooks by Mary Berry (BBC Books, hardback £20) Photography by Georgia Glynn Smith.