A Jammy Black Friday.

Hiya Folks.

Today is Black Friday with discounts galore online so I am joining in at my wee Etsy shop with a 15% discount on all orders placed today.

At the checkout use the code JAMMYBLACKFRIDAY15 and you will instantly receive a discount.

Just this week I have added a new brooch design for feeling Festive this holiday season.

With a choice of three button berries as I couldn't decide on a favourite.  I still can't and I am struggling to choose which one I will keep for me.

Click on the 'Etsy' link above or on the shop link on the top and side of the main page.

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Find me as @jammypudding on Instagram and Twitter.

*NEWS* My Etsy brooch shop is OPEN!!

As I said in my last post I have been beavering away, sewing and generally getting organised and finally I can say my Etsy shop is opened.

Click here to go looksee or follow the shop link under my profile on the right of this page.

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Beavering away....

I have been such a busy bee lately preparing for the opening of my Etsy shop jammypudding next week. Investing a not insubstantial amount of pennies on supplies and sewing like a wee trooper to build up stock.

These are what I am selling...

Lovely (if I do say so myself) felt brooches.

Some of the designs go way back to 2010 and I have been making them as gifts ever since but finally decided it was time to share my love of brooches with any one willing to part with their hard earned pennies for them. I'm selling them already on Instagram (since yesterday) and am pleased to say that I have sold some already. It feels lovely actually. Lovely that someone wants them, lovely that I made them with my (sh*t, less than 5 weeks till 40 year old) hands.  Lovely that I feel competent I know what I am doing and am organised. Lovely to spend lots of time sewing, watching Heroes on LoveFilm and it feeling like a job.
To be fair lately it has stopped me furfilling other creative urges but I am nothing if not committed so I kept at it even though I have a list of wishes and WIPS as long as my arm. It just feels like the right time.

So I am taking photos to edit, ready to list on Etsy very soon so if you are looking for a wee gift for yourself or another come have a looksee when I open.
Or if you are in need right now get in touch, (contact details at the top of this page).

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Find me on Instagram and Twitter as jammypudding.

The 52 Marvellous Makes Madness Challenge - Week 5!

Feeling quite back to normal today!  As the lovely Heather predicted no matter how much I pottered about yesterday I achieved nothing.  Should have sat on my bottom watching DVD's after all.  My Biscuits had a wonderful first day and came home very excited and full of news.  I always feel sorry for their Daddy at this point as they tell me about their day when they arrive home but by the time Hubby Biscuit comes in from work they cannae be bothered repeating themselves.  Shame!  Eldest Biscuit got all moody and teenager like by tea time, it seems you cannot be that 'up' without the come down.

So before I get back to cleaning I thought I would share with you my make for Week 5 of the 52MMM Challenge.  Youngest Biscuit is just entering his third year of Primary School and his teacher this year has never had a class of her own yet as she has just finished her probation year.  She was very excited yesterday photographing the kiddies as they lined up and during the holiday YB received a post card from her welcoming him to her class.  He was so chuffed to get a note from his new teacher as well as receiving post full stop.  She really made his day so I thought she deserved this as a wee thank you being so thoughtful...

...an apple brooch.  She loved it I am pleased to say! See below for my makes up to now and for a looksee at some other lovely peeps makes at Flickr.

I wonder what this weeks make will be?

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Week 1

Week 2

Week 3 & 4

The 52MMMC Flickr group!

Happiness is.......

A Wedding.

Oh how I love them.   My lovely soon to be wed friends popped in today surprising me with an invitation handed to me in person.............

 It's all very exciting and even the fear of making the requested three tier cake cannot deter me from the sheer joy I feel about attending a wedding.  The cake is inspired by this one....

 ...from Cake Chic by Peggy Porschen.

I love the detail of a bow with a brooch.  It also takes away from having anything too complex for an amateur like me.  The ribbons will be attached on the back by diamante pins to make it look like a delicately buttoned up gown.  It will look very elegant I think.

I cannot wait to see the tables decorated, to see my boys in kilts again and to dance the night away.  Oh and the flowers, how I love flowers...

It will be a wonderful celebration and I am so very pleased to be invited to share in my friend's special day.  I will be like the proverbial pig in mud.

My piggy Seymour with the floppy Elvis fringe

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Halt!! Hoot goes there?

Hello lovely ladies on this March Monday, I'd say bonny Monday but it's blowing a gale and pouring, really p.o.u.r.i.n.g with rain here in my part of Scotland.  Spring did seem to have sprung earlier this morning, the walk to school was delightfully sunny if a little chilly, still I'm indoors, it's relatively warm (off to hunt for slippers) and I'm filled with cappuccino.  I've been a wee bit crafty, as in partaking in some crafting as opposed to getting up to mischief you understand (well a little mischief!) making the above owl brooch for a lovely lady at my boys' school nursery where I pretend I have a career, as a Librarian on Wednesday mornings, my boys both went there and somehow I still help out, it is a lovely place to spend time and three/four year olds are adorable.  So the lady in question has a birthday next week so after spotting the owl a while ago here, I thought I'd whip one up.  He has funny googly eyes with beads as I couldn't cut such teeny circles, wishing I had mini brads (so ordered some from paper-and-string).

I made cushion covers yesterday while the men folk went on a boys day out to Our Dynamic Earth in Edinburgh and listening to a Doctor Who story CD....

Hamish feeling shy!

It's the two bigger patchwork ones and yet again something else done in the shades of milky coffee.  

I did get those cupcakes made eventually, vanilla with lime and coconut buttercream and the one I ate (not saying a word about others scoffing them!!) was delicious and most worthy of being photographed......

.....one of the photos I took reminded me of those dutch oil paintings of fruit so I had a play at Picnik.

Not quite as ornate as I wanted but still effective?

I also got some of my wool stash out.........

......in mind to making some of these.......

 .......from a pattern purchased from Ysolda, here.  

My 'like a little sister' friend is expecting a wee girl in June and won't these be perfect?  I'm also thinking of making a patchwork quilt for the cot inspired by these.......

.......from Cath Kidston's Sew book.  I have an inclination towards applique ducks as once, many moons ago, said friend played a duck amazingly well, spookily well in fact, named Quackers in a Panto.  It's lovely to think I can make pretty things in pink and buy pretty clothes, stripes and polka dots.  I get away with stripes (I do love stripes!)obviously with my Biscuits but not dots. 

Goodness what a long post, time for lunch me thinks!

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What is it about a cupcake?

Really though, what is it about a cupcake?  Is it all that heavenly spongy cakeyness packed into miniature? Yes! Definitely!  Is it the wealth of designs and variations; cupcakes for children, cupcakes for grownups?  For me it's cupcakes for all.  Yes, yes and YES!

I love a cupcake!

Whether it be knitted like these.......

 

.........or felty like this one made by Alex from LimeMoose at Etsy.

or fabric like the one I bought recently from Kitty Eden at Folksy......

or giant edible ones like this........

....or regular edible ones.  

I love a cupcake!!

I love to choose the cases for them, purist white, spotty, Halloween, Christmas, silver, gold, pastel or chocolate brown. Which recipe? Vanilla, chocolate, moreish lemon stuffed with added lemon curd.  I love to  bake them, have a rummage in my baking drawers (Oh-er Mrs!!) deciding how to decorate them, Royal Icing or American Style Frosting? Which colour? Sprinkles, smarties, glitter, hundredsandthousands, sugar flowers, wafer roses, coconut (my favourite! I'm drooling!), sweeties; broken or whole, crumbled Flakes or crushed Maltesers..........the possibilities are endless.

I can go Girly for a friend, refined to shabby chic for afternoon tea or my favourite; either myself or my boys going a little or a lot OTT with a bit of everything.

I have forgotten something I hear you say, the best part of it all!  The unwrapping of that paper case to reveal the cupcake in all it's glory, from the first nibble to the licking of the icing adhered to the case.

Aaaah!! She sighs!

So today I opted with creative input, if not actual physical endeavor, from my boys, to celebrate Christmas Selection Boxes and Celebrations/MiniHero tins. Not forgetting a little Girliness for me!

Mrs B I chose the stand to show what incredibly good taste we share!

It's not just any cake stand, it's a M&S cake stand!

 .......and after.

 

 

packed away......

(like that lasted for a few seconds after the photos, my boys were there scoffing before the icing was set!)

and the bowl ready for licking, I barely got a teaspoons worth............still it's all about the cupcake!.....but I also love a biscuit particularly any of these..........

...or any, really. NOT Garibaldi's....Y.U.C.K!
Or a fabby brooch to wear on a cardi like this one that came today from HomemadeHome at Folksy...

You can also get a jammy dodger and a bourbon and I will have to at some point I'm sure.

I love a cupcake and I love a biscuit but which is better? There's only one way to find out........

FIGHT!!

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Could you have guessed a post about cupcakes and biscuits would be a long one?