The Button Tin

One of the girls at work, Steph, mentioned this place to me last week, The Button Tin. They do workshops on things like bunting making, book covering and vintage jewellery making. Seriously, how cute does it look?

Now for the surprising bit - its in Rotherham. {I know, Lizzie, I was shocked too!} For those of you not know in the know, Rotherham ain't the most glamorous or cool of places {trust me - I grew up there - and I mean it's home to the chuckle brothers!} so it's a little bit of a surprise that this would be somewhere like Rotherham. Leeds I could definitely understand, Sheffield maybe, but Rotherham. WTF?
It might even be worth negotiating the charity shops for a trip.

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Committing to

Cowboy Cupcake from here

I had a lot I ought to have photographed this weekend but it didn't happen so the image above is the inspiration for the cupcakes I made {although mine had bbq pringles, marshmallows and strawberry laces on them - taste sensation right there!} They were made for the wild west party I attended. Neither of which were photographed at all. Nor the bucking bronco. Nor the hog roast. Nor the bouncy castle. Not a stitch of it.

But I had fun. And I had a massive hangover on Sunday, but I got to spend some time with my brothers fiancé discussing their wedding plans. It sounds amazing and they only got engaged 2 weeks ago. Probably a good job I won’t be getting married.  For one, I saw the prices some of these places charge. Ouch. {I imagine my mountain top, white une-pieced excuse for a new board, jaeger bombed affair would not be cheap either!}

For this week’s commitments I have decided I am;

• Going to spend an evening reading. I miss curling up with a book and just sitting alone. Plus I think a little alone time is a house with inhabitants that are always there might be needed. I will leave the laptop downstairs so pinterest can not distract me.
• Planning on sending a letter or postcard to two. I mean why not.
• Starting a diet plan to match the exercise plan Lizzie and I are starting {after tonights trip to Pho 68 though} I weighed myself this weekend and it wasn’t pretty. I am a lot above my goal weight {admittedly that goal weight is the weight I was at uni, but I can dream right?}
• Remembering to pick my strawberries as they ripen. Just because the plan looks cuter with them on doesn't mean they should go to waste. 

There you go. This week’s commitments. 

{The commitments series is inspired by Pink o'clock - you can see hers here}

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IronCupcake:Leeds - Very Berry

Tasted good, but looked a little flat!

I keep saying to myself this IronCupcake will be my last, and I said it this time - I even said I was just going to take the photo's, but then Zoe goes and announces the next months theme and I know if I can I'll be there.

This month it was 'Very Berry' and you can see all the details of the competiton at the beautifully newly designed site - http://ironcupcakeleeds.co.uk/ and more of my images here.

I toyed with the idea of a summer berry black forest gateaux, but after discussions with my nannan on one of my visits we decided something lighter might be better, so I went with a berry and lemon cake.About a day after that decision someone posted this recipe on twitter {I would love to credit them but I opened it, saved it and forgot - slapped wrist!}

Its from Edible magazine, which after a bit of Googling I discovered is a foodie mag in Brighton. I followed the recipe to the T and I was super impressed. Really lemony flavoured sponge {before and after baking - whaaaaaaaat? of course I licked the bowl afterwards, and the whisks and the spoon!} and it was really quite light too.

For the frosting I kind of winged it and that might be why the frosting you see in the image above is a little, well, meh.

• Firstly I blended a frozen box of Morribobs mixed summer berries {I've still got quite a lot left to make sorbet with}. Probably I should have waited until they defrosted, but hey. I didn't. 
• I then mixed a cup of blended berries with half-ish of a block of butter. Again, should maybe have not added half frozen fruit to butter, but what the......It took a LOT of mixing by the boy. And warming up too. At this stage it kind of looked curdled. 
• Next I poured about 5 cups of icing sugar into the butter/berries combo. This made the whole thing a little better and more like a frosting. But not perfect. So I kept adding icing sugar. I have no idea quite how much. I would rather not think about it. 
• It still didn't fully harden, so it got refrigerated for a LONG time.

If I were you, and making a berry frosting, I would follow a recipe. Who knew icing sugar, butter and berries could go wrong? Hmmmmmm. Not me.

Once I was bored of waiting, and the frosting seemed thicker and more set, I iced the cakes. They didn't look too bad. Until I got in the car with them. Hot car + dubious frosting = splurge.

Once again I didn't place {totally NOT bitter. At all} But my friend said they tasted good, and one particularly classy friend did spoon up the mixture off the platter at the end of the competition, but she's a bit like that.

So there are my Lemon - Berry cupcakes. The verdict = tasted lovely/looked manky.

{P.s. Next month is cocktails. The theme I have been waiting for. Unfortunately the boy is plannign things for us so we might not be here!}

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Committing to

Our dog-sitting wards

This last week was half spent at my brothers house dog sitting, which was lovely as their house is beautiful. And massive. It needs to be massive though to house the huge dogs they have. They are the most stupid dogs though, they bark at anything and nothing and wind each other up so much that they just end up randomly barking at each other. It did make us both decide we defo want a dog.

And my brother got engaged whist he was away. The ring is beautiful. They seem stupidly happy. Apparently he picked the ring. I smell a rat. My brother has never had that good taste!

I also entered this month’s Ironcupcake:Leeds with a Lemon sponge and Berry frosting cake. The theme was ‘very berry’. I didn’t place – I think due to a frosting malfunction - but I was the photographer and I had a lovey time – I was a little disappointed at the numbers of eaters though as there were no cakes left over for me to try – I only got to sample one cake. Next month the theme is cocktails and I have one ‘go-to’ recipe but I might try another recipe for a whole different cocktail and see if I like it more.  

This week my commitments are; 

• Start some exercising – my neighbour, lizzie, text me to tell me she wants to start exercising when they get back from their hols this week, and can I help her. TBH my lardy ass needs to get off the sofa so I am copying her a version of the ‘30 day shred’ on to a memory stick and I have found us a couch to 5k plan and I am hoping that a little peer pressure might keep me motivated. Although the belly I am cultivating ought to be enough.
• I have some cowgirl cupcakes to bake for the wild west party on Saturday. Oh, and an outfit to find! {Obviously baking will help with the lardy ass thing!}
• I also have to contain me jealously at the boy going to see Snoop on Friday. Gutted. But it's a boy thing. All I can say is he best be fit for the party on Saturday too!

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Cowgirl Style

{click the image to see my cowgirl pins in more detail}

When we arrived at my brothers house last night for our dog sitting duties there was an invite to his girlfriend fiancée's 30th birthday party, next weekend. Its a wild west / cowboy themed do.

I need an outfit. Quick smart. But I would kind of like it to look classy you know. What do classy cowgirls wear? And come to think of it - what can i dress the boy in? {He wont wear checked shirts!}

{Also, my friend Jen is helping to organise a Cowgirl Hen-do in August for her soon to be sister-in-law {Jen is so not a tacky kind of gal either} so any help you give me will be passed on immediately to her. She has more of a job than me. I just need an outfit - she needs a whole party!}

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Sometimes

Make Everything Ok

This button would be ace to have. ;)
Sending it out to friends right now.

{Via lots of people, inc. @PG_Martin, on Twitter}

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Committing to

Lanterns in the Park @ Glasto

I wanted to get back to this. I felt like I needed to get back to some regular blogging. It’s all been a bit haphazard since I moved.

This weekend we went to Manchester for a chocolate making class with the boy’s mum. It was fun, messy and very calorific. More to come on this later. We also had a BBQ at his Mum's - There is nothing better than a cold cider and a BBQ on a sunny evening.
There was also a trip to Ikea for some curtains, bye-bye 4am and your sunshine. And not only do the new additions block the light out, BUT they match the room which means the bedroom is pretty much done. Maybe I’ll show you some pictures soon.

This week we’re heading to my brother and his girlf’s house to dog-sit whilst they are away for her birthday. We will be in charge of 2 massive Labradors and whatever type of dog Molly is. Their house is huge, the kitchen is so much bigger than ours, so I imagine the boy will be having a dream time in there, plus he can’t wait to spend some time with the dogs. It’ll be like practise for when we get one {did I mention we might have changed our minds to a Puggle?}

Right, without further ado this weeks commitments are; 

• Find some plants to fill the spaces made by the neighbours gardening spree whilst we were at Glasto - is there anything better than your neighbours weeding for you? I think not. I want pretty, low maintenance and if possible nice smelling. Any ideas?
• Try to stop getting so annoyed at living with boys - living with one messy boyf and one boy who is about as far removed from someone I would choose to live with doesn't go down well sometimes. At least I can nag the boy to be tidier. The other housemate however can't be asked to do anything and doesn't appear to contribute to the house, which makes it difficult. 
• Try and use this time with the dogs for some long walks to kick start a bit of exercise. I have done none for such a  long time and I am becoming a bit of a chubba. Who knows, I might even think about running again. One day.  
• Have at least 2 early, in-bed-pre-10.30pm, nights. I am so sleepy at the moment. 

So, there we go. Maybe, just maybe, I will get back to some regular posting now. 

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