Florence



Outside the cathedral. Dress: EBay, shoes: Reef, bag: an Italian purchase!



The only way to travel in Italy!

Posing outside Gucci? Oh go on then!

Matilda Doll - part 1

The green floral fabric was purchased on ebay

The pink polka dot fabric came from Ikea, £5/m

We are going to try to make all of our Christmas presents again this year as so many people liked the handmade presents last year. Given how time consuming this is I started making the first present this weekend - sorry, I know it's too early to be talking about Christmas!

I'm making rag dolls for a couple of special little girls this year. This weekend I sewed all the clothing for the dolls, little bloomers, dresses and pinafores - the tiniest stitching I've ever done, and I can't believe I didn't sew my own finger into it at some point!

I'm thrilled with out the clothes turned out. Just need to sew the dolls themselves now!

The sewing pattern came from Sourdough designs.

Cloud 7

This weekend I found a lovely vintage shop in Shepton Mallet which I wanted to share with you. I always find Shepton a strange little place, there has been so much drive to improve the high street, with lovely little craft & vintage shops popping up, but it still has a weird, empty, 'land that time forgot' feel to it!

However, don't let that put you off, there are several vintage shops, three sewing/craft shops, and an antiques centre to visit.

My favourite of the day was Cloud 7, a lovely vintage & gift shop in the front, and a vinyl record shop at the back - the perfect combination for The Boy & me! The owners even let Bronwyn in as she was well behaved...

My purchases from Cloud 7

Inspiration

Lemon Meringue Cupcakes

Ingredients:
115g butter
100g caster sugar
2 eggs
115g self-raising flour
grated zest & juice of one lemon
3 tablespoons lemon curd
to decorste:
150g cater sugar
2 egg whiles

makes 12 cupcakes

Preheat the oven to 180c, then line a muffin tin with 12 cases.

Beat butter & sugar together in a bowl until pale & fluffy. Bent in the eggs one at a time. Sig t the flour into the mixture & fold in, then stir in the lemon juice & zest.

Spoon a dollop of the mixture into each muffin case & make an indentation in the center with a teaspoon. Drop in a dollop of the lemon curd, then top with the remaining cake mixture.

Bake for 17 minutes until risen & golden. Allow to cool.

To decorate, put the sugar & egg whites in a bowl & set over a pan of simmering water. Whisk constantly for about 5 minutes until the mixture is thick & glossy & stands in peaks. Use a piping bag to pipe a whirl onto the top of each cake. Leave to set for at least 30 minutes, longer if you want a firmer meringue.

Peggy from Mad Men dress

This weekend I made a dress from a pattern I'd found in my local charity shop for only 20p. As the fabric I used was purchased on ebay for only 99p for 5 meters, I think that offically makes this dress an absolute bargain!

I'm calling it my 'Peggy from Mad Men dress' as I definately think it's something she would wear to the office. Joan is usually much more my style, and my workwear fashion inspiration, but in recent series of my favourite tv show Peggy has been improving her wardrobe so that I now regularly lust after her clothes too! I love that I will be able to wear this dress plain in summer, with a shirt in Autumn and a jumper in winter - truely versatile!

Assisi

Alienfox

Recently I went to a charity fashion show for the headpiece designer Alienfox. The event was raising money for lesbian & gay charities, specifically after recent events in Russia.

As you can see from the photos above the headpieces are fantastical & certainly not something you'd wear to pop to Tesco! I like the feathered mohawk one in particular. You will be seeing Alienfox's headgear in the new Wella advertising campaign soon. 

Have a look at some more of his beautiful designs on http://www.alienfoxdesigns.com/

Makeup by the lovely & talented Charlene Howells http://www.charlenehowells.com/

Rome

The Pantheon

Interior of the pantheon

Getting a fruit pot from the market for breakfast

The Colloseum

Inside the Colloseum

An amaretto bellini - my new favourite drink!

You know what they say, "when in Rome..."!

We had a wonderful time in Italy this summer, and finished off our trip with a weekend in Rome. We stayed in a small apartment and spent our days wandering around all the sights (which are surprisingly close together) and taking far too many photos. In the evenings we sat outside restaurants and ate - and boy did we eat a lot!

Everything about our stay was amazing, the weather (43 degrees anyone?!), the architecture, the people, the markets... sigh!

Umbria

Viw across the bridge to the town & castle from our house

Evening over Spoleto

You can't go without ice cream in Italy! This one was English trifle flavour...

At the cathedral

The only way to travel in Italy!

The Roman ampitheatre

We were lucky enough to spend our summer holiday in Italy this year. We had a week in Umbria, followed by a weekend in Rome before flying home. It’s safe to say that we both fell in love with Umbria, and could quite happily get used to the laid back lifestyle out there!

We rented a beautiful restored artist’s house just outside the town of Spoleto. The town itself is a walled medieval town, with a castle, a cathedral, a roman amphitheatre and lots of pretty squares hosting markets and open air cafes.

Using Spoleto as a base we did day trips out across Umbria, or just spent our days potting around the winding roads of the town.

If you get a chance to visit Umbria, do it, it is just the most beautiful place!