New Things for Spring!

April 23, 2014

Here are my favourite new things to prettify your home and palette this May! From the best loose leaf tea (and the perfect tea set) to my new Aspinal passport cover, get ideas for your Spring home!

Spring Blooms

There’s nothing like a bunch of blooms to add a refreshing reminder that summer’s round the corner! Back home, our kerb sides are overrun with daffodils come April so I picked up this bunch of mini bulbs for £1.50 on a street stall and popped it in a little watering can to get a little bit of the countryside into my new London pad!

As for outside, these free wild flower seeds from the Grow Wild initiative are perfect. Just sprinkle and wait!

Time for Tea

Coffee? No thank you Mr Barista, it’s all about Tea for me! I’ve always been one to have a healthily stocked tea cupboard but none of this whole ‘wishy washy purple water’ malarky! I like proper chunky blends that I can tip out myself and sniff from giant jars in Fortnums!

My current faves are Turkish Apple from Camillia’s Tea House in Kingly Court, Cinnamon Apple black tea from The Tea House in Covent Garden and a lovely Breakfast Tea from Fortnum & Mason. Novelty tea infuser at the ready!

Spring touches for your Room

Its Spring cleaning time and when I’m not scrubbing the kitchen cupboards, there are objects to collect and display on my new shelves! I’m still in the midst of sorting out what goes where in my new room but that doesn’t mean I can’t start collecting! Candles and fun things like these waffle balls can be tossed in a corner and still look pretty. Easy least Spring room update!

Springtime Treats

Easter may have been last weekend but that doesn’t stop me eating hot cross buns, especially when they’re chocolate favoured! When the sun’s shining and tea takes a back seat I’ll be sipping smoothies with extra goodness thanks to innocent’s super smoothies.

Get Baking

Want to make your Spring treats a little more social? Set a date, invite your friends round and get whisking that pancake mix! If you don’t know what to bake, get inspired by my crazy burger cupcakes and enter my cook book giveaway!

My general life rule is if something mundane can be bought colourful, you’ve got to get it! This adorable mini frying pan abides by that mantra perfectly and these heart shaped cups will make any American recipes extra fun to make!

Travel Buddy

Doesn’t Spring time just make you want to travel? Take me away! I’m even more itching to get my feet off the ground now I’ve got this Aspinal passport cover in my drawer. It’s a luxe update after my plastic case fell apart and in pink lizard print leather, grosgrain ribbon and my initials stamped on the front, I’m jet-set for life! Next stop – Gothenburg!

///

Chair – Out There Interiors / Watering can and hand wash set – M&S at London Design Outlet / Seeds – GrowWild / Tea – See above / Waffle decorations – Sainsbury’s / Ombre candle – Next / Hot cross buns and paper plate – Sainsbury’s / Smoothie – innocent / Mini frying pan and cups – Various shops at London Designer Outlet / Passport case – Aspinal of London / Nail varnish – Barry M and Jessica / Scarf – Liberty

Like my New Things post? You might like what I had my eye on last time!

///

Baking Burgers!

April 18, 2014

Burger Cupcakes

Is it a burger? Is it a cupcake? Hell, it’s both people and it tastes bloody good! These double-take-needed fairycakes stirred a fair bit of excitement over on Instagram and they blew my colleagues minds when I brought them to work! Whilst they do take a couple of hours to make, there’s not a more fun edible outcome, so let’s get baking!

What better time to give my new retro style baking scales a spin? They’ve been sitting pretty since I picked them up for a mere tenner at London Design Outlet. I managed to nab a set of colourful measuring spoons and the spotty oven gloves for reduced prices too, I was just waiting for the perfect opportunity to use them!

Find out how to win the brand new Sainsbury’s cake book that I got the recipe from at the end of the post. Happy Easter!

Weighing scales, oven gloves, measuring spoons - London Designer Outlet / Paper pom poms, cake book and most ingredients – Sainsbury’s / White mug – Cath Kidston / Red mug – Anthropologie / Dress – Glamorous

Thank you Kristabel for the photos (and for helping me devour the cakes!)

Win, win WIN!

Have a go at making these little cuties as well as lots of other fun designs and classic cakes by winning a copy of the cook book I used! Simply comment below letting me know what you’ll be up to this Easter. Maybe you’re baking too? The competition is open to all ShinyThoughts readers and will close on Wednesday April 30th at midnight GMT. Good luck and get the oven on!

///

>I've Been Framed! (With Ben Grimes)

Mini DIY - Uniqlo Patches

Tatty Devine Speech Bubble Necklace Making

DIY: Snowflake Xmas Jumper

Bermondsey Street

April 11, 2014

Village East

Yum yum yum, I do love a good brunch! Though I am pretty pants at holding back on nibbling in the morning and therefore making it ‘earlylunch’. Ooops! Village East is worth waiting for though, just a little gander from the commuter’s corridor of London Bridge station down the gorgeous indie Bermondsey Street and you’re there!

The girls and I decided to check out the raved about road after we individually read about it in the Easy Jet magazine. (Jet-setters, we wish!) Independent shops and cafes, the Fashion Textile Museum and cute old streets to take snaps down? Sold!

///

All about the florals

It’s lucky that statement florals are trending because I can’t get enough of them! Did you see my crazy top in my last outfit post? Big, bright and blooming lovely, they were just the right things to wear to the Grow Wild launch – encouraging us all to sow more wild flowers! Sign up for your free seeds here and watch your local area blossom.

Trousers – ASOS / Sweatshirt – Cos / Shirt – ASOS / Chain Necklace – Cos / Blue necklace – Everything a Girl Needs / Trainers – Converse at John Lewis / Bag – River Island

Get colourful too!

///

Russell Square

April 5, 2014

Bill’s, Holborn

My dear Sweden-residing friend Fiona popped back to London last weekend for a whistle-stop visit which called for a months worth of deciding-where-to-eat prep between us handful of Blogging girlies. Choosing the perfect place to stuff our faces with (usually American style) easy food, as well as somewhere we could throw bagfulls of shopping and Instagram to the max in, is of course the no.1 priority.

We settled for Bill’s in Holborn which more than ticked all the boxes (even the secret ‘must have dashing waiter’ box) and meant that we could explore a little of Russell Square after our chat and cheeseburgers. I’d never been before but the square itself is lovely and you can see what potential it has when those spring blooms burst.

///

I must say, I was pretty chuffed of my very colour-coordinated ensemble. when the colours match and the cuts fall to the same length, you’re winning! This River Island bowling bag is worth the biggest mention after being on my wish-list for a fair few weeks. I’ve been getting maximum wear out of it. Colour pop bag, roomy shape, token chain. What’s not to love?!

What I Wore:

Bag – River Island (similar here) / Jacket – Topshop / Skirt – Zara / Shirt – ASOS / Coat – Warehouse (similar here) / Socks – ChattyFeet

///

>This Is How I Lazy Oaf It - Part 2

Scones, Sugar and a Huge Glitter Bow!

One Skirt, Two Seasons

London's DIY Club

Tea for Two: Mum and Me

April 3, 2014

Afternoon Tea Treat!

If you were with your Mum last Sunday celebrating Mothers Day, then I hope you had a jolly good ‘un. I certainly did; spending the day ambling with my ‘Maman’ around West India Quays in the Docklands, hopping on the DLR where we ‘ooh-ed and ahh-ed’ at views including the Olympic Village and yachts in jetties through the breaks in houses, followed by the tube to Mayfair where we cooed at the beautiful red brick houses and luxury hotels. Ooh, is that a Ferrari?! Yes!

///

Though we live relatively close to England’s vibrant capital, my Mum rarely comes to explore it and experience its little treats like traditional afternoon tea, so it was lovely to indulge in one at the Millennium Hotel where they served mini creme brulees – cute!, shimmering chewy macarons and delicious chicken and tarragon dainty sandwiches.

Mum sipped her way through about twelve cappuccinos and I took the Assam. She may love the traditional English food of an afternoon tea, but she’s 100% French when it comes to hot drinks!