Crafty Magazine

Posted on June 29, 2013 by

Have you read Crafty yet? Why not?!

I discovered it after flicking through the vast sea of magazines in Asda whilst waiting for Tom. I suppose the reason why I picked it up in the first place is because of the cute cover it has every month, featuring items which you can make from the tutorials inside. These tutorials are plentiful and well written, with the most beautiful photography.

Another reason for picking it up and paying the £5 price tag (I never buy magazines, so this is expensive for me) is that it came with a free gift – a little purse clasp. Every month I have received another free item; there are always several tutorials on ways in which to use your free gift inside, in the most clever ways.

This magazine isn’t just for craft tutorials, there are features on members of the crafting community, quirky events happening around the country (The Tweed Run, anyone?) and a directory of useful links for buying materials or finding inspiration from featured blogs. This led me to discover, amongst other things, the awesome Seamless blog, where seamstress Elena Cresci either thrifts or sews her own clothes, resisting the lures of high street fashion chains. It’s well worth a read if you haven’t already.

I only bought one issue and decided to buy a subscription. I decided that it was full of the things which I find the most appealing about the crafting community – bright colours, quirky handmade items, beautiful photos, and easy and clever DIYs which make ordinary items just a bit more special.
It was only £25 for 6 issues, and I got another free gift – a camera!

You can buy Crafty from most large supermarkets, or check out their blog here.

We need to talk about Jamie.

Posted on June 25, 2013 by

We need to talk about Jamie Oliver.

I’ve got a problem with the man. I can’t quite place my finger on it. Perhaps it’s his relentless enthusiasm, perhaps his overuse of the word ‘bosh’, or maybe that he doesn’t ever put anything on a plate, choosing instead to present everything on unnecessarily large gnarled unhygenic-looking wooden boards.

Or maybe the worst thing about Jamie Oliver is that his food is just too damn good.

We saw his optimistically-titled ’15 minute meals’ on’t telly Sunday morning, wherein he made a Mexican soup creation which we decided to replicate.

I adapted the recipe from the one in his book (which has mysteriously disappeared off the face of the Internet). I made this for two of us and there was three portions left over for work.

You will need:
Small bunch spring onions (about 4 or 5)
450g jar of roasted peppers (mine were from Asda world foods aisle and called Melia)
3 cloves garlic
Bunch fresh coriander
100g rice
2x 400g tins chopped tomatoes
Small tub fat free natural yoghurt
Jalapeños (I used fresh, Jamie uses pickled)
Small bunch mint
1 lime
Nachos
50g cheddar cheese

Slice the spring onions and fry with the coriander stalks (save the leaves) and chopped garlic until soft. Add the drained peppers, tins of tomatoes and rice. Add 850ml boiling water, season, cover and simmer until rice is cooked (about 15 mins).

Meanwhile, tip yoghurt into a bowl, chop half a jalapeño up and add along with the mint. Blend this with a stick blender until smooth. Alternatively, chop the jalapeño and mint really tiny and mix with the yoghurt.

Tip the nachos into a baking dish. Sprinkle over the remaining jalapeño, chopped, and 50g grated cheese. Grill on medium high til cheese is melted and nachos are golden.

By this time the soup will be cooked. Blend with the stick blender or in an upright blender until desired consistency (I did mine really smooth). Squeeze in the juice of half a lime and stir.

Jamie recommends serving this with all manner of different toppings. We had chopped cherry tomatoes, coriander leaves and crumbled feta. You can have any or none, it’s up to you.

To serve put a handful of nachos in the bottom of the bowl, tip on a couple of ladlefuls of soup and top with desired nibble bits and drizzle the yoghurt over. Schkoff.

& other stories, an unboxing ceremony.

Posted on June 22, 2013 by

Hey! I thought you said this wasn’t going to be a beauty and fashion blog?

I know, and I’m sorry. But I finally got round to ordering the handbag I had been eyeing up for weeks on &otherstories. And when it arrived, I was unable to contain my excitement. So I thought I would do a little unboxing ceremony for all to see.

&otherstories-1

Firstly, this is one of the most beautiful boxes I have ever seen. You may think I am a little odd to consider something as ordinary as a box to be beautiful but honestly, I was impressed by this box. I sat there and stared at it for a good 10 minutes before I decided to open it.

&otherstories-2

It was taped up with really pretty branded tape, which I did my best to not destroy completely. I think my fixation with this box may have something to do with that shade of green; it’s my favourite colour. It’s the little things, you know?

&otherstories-3

It came in a bag.

My new bag came inside another bag. I sat for a while longer and pondered this fact. I’ve never owned anything posh enough to come inside it’s own little bag before.

Also the receipt and returns label came in a little envelope with a sachet of body lotion, which I thought was a nice touch. It smelt pretty good.

&otherstories-4

Here he is!

Ew, that bag is pretty fugly, Lily.

No it isn’t. I think it’s pretty darn good looking. The bottom is a rubber-y PVC material, and it came in either blue or pink. While I really don’t consider myself to be a ‘pink person’ I thought this colour complimented the wood a lot more, which was the main thing which drew my attention to it.

The handle opens up like a snap clasp, and is magnetised to keep it shut. I don’t think I’ll be able to fit much in it, and will have to invest in (or make) a handsome little purse to nest inside to keep my shrapnel in.

I’ve never had a clutch bag before; I dislike their awkwardness and distrust their lack of handle. But it was one of those purchases where if I didn’t buy it, I would be sad if I no longer could, and sometimes it’s good to buy things for their beauty alone.

Goodbye, ginger hair – Colour B4 Hair Colour Remover review.

Posted on June 19, 2013 by

It wasn’t my intention to turn this into a beauty blog. There are a lot of talented and pretty girls out there who do a pretty smashing job at writing about beauty and fashion, and it’s not exactly my area of expertise. However, if the lovely people over at www.colourb4.com decide to publish my review, I get a free box – win!

Last night I decided that after over a year with ginger hair it was time for a change, and so having spent the comparatively small sum of £11.99 (compared to the expense of a salon) on a box of Colour B4 I set about sucking the orange out of my hair.

The mixing process is simple, pour the solution into the developer and shake. Just like a hair dye.
Application was not what I was used to. The mixture is a little thicker than hair dye, more like a conditioner, and I found the easiest way was to plop it all on at the roots and then comb it through. I then sat with cling film on my head and waited an hour.

We should probably talk about the smell. Oh, the smell! This is something other reviewers had mentioned but I wasn’t prepared for, it smells a bit like rotten eggs. But once the window was opened it seemed to disappear.

After an hour of developing it was time for a 5 min rinse, then a buffering solution. After another 5 min rinse, another buffer and another rinse (I swear I nearly drowned, I had my head tilted over the bath, I suggest getting in the shower) my hair was ready!

(I should probably apologise for my stupid little face, and the bad quality of these photos)

As you can see I have gone from full-on ginge to a sort of gingery-blonde.

This is exactly what I was expecting, and to be honest I’m impressed it managed to strip as much colour as it did. I dyed my hair initially in March 2012 with henna and then moved on to Loreal Feria in the last 6 months, so that was a lot of colour to shift. Colour B4 has seemed to do the job pretty well!

I think one more box should do it, and then my quest to become Daenerys Targaryen will be almost complete!

Maybe not.

OMG! I made something!

Posted on June 17, 2013 by

Now, you might be wondering a few things:

Where is your head?
Why does it look like a tiny child has taken these photos?
Why are your clothes all creased?

Simple really. I have misplaced my tripod, my face is squished in a weird way in most of these pictures, and we don’t own an iron.

Now, back to the important topic at hand – I made a skirt!

OK, so the hems are all wonky and it’s a bit see through and the waist band is too big, but it’s the first item of clothing I’ve sewn since school and I’ve been wearing it around all this week with a stupid grin on my face.

For those who might be wondering, it is a plain old circle skirt, something which you can knock together in an hour or two and is relatively stress-free to make.

I adapted the pattern from I found on Pinterest ages ago and have been meaning to make for about 6 months.

I say adapted because I had to make the skirt in two pieces, whereas it is usually just one large circle of fabric sewn to a waistband. The reason for this was twofold; firstly, because I had made my pattern a bit too long, and secondly, because the width of the fabric I bought was too narrow.

At the end of the post she comments on how 60″ wide fabric works best, as you can usually get a whole circle out of it.

skirt04

Nevertheless, it still took me just over an hour and a half to make this, and I’m sure the next one will be even quicker.

Things to remember for next time would be to buy some more expensive/nicer fabric (this is cheap polycotton from FabricLand and cost about £4 for 2.5 metres) so that it isn’t so see-through, and spend a bit of extra time hemming the thing properly!

Oh, and buy an iron.

By the Yard

Posted on June 15, 2013 by

Last weekend I was lucky enough to get a sneaky peek of a new shop opening in my hometown of Cheltenham.

Bex Smith is a creative and highly talented individual who, along with business partner El, has been running Stuffed Nonsense since 2009, and has decided to venture into a real bricks-and-mortar establishment housing some of the most lovely items I have laid my eyes on.

Items range from Stuffed Nonsense’s collection of weirdy beardys, cards and gifts, beautiful painted ceramics, and even lovelier jewellery, from talented people all over the country.

By the Yard is a cosy little place, there’s even a sunny little garden to while away the hours drinking coffee and sewing to your hearts content.

As well as running Stuffed Nonsense, and now new shop By the Yard, Bex and El also dedicate two Wednesdays every month to ‘Craft Night In’ at Cafe Moochoo, an evening for arty types to get together, eat cake and talk all things creative. Sounds like a perfect night out to me!

By the Yard is open NOW, St James St, Cheltenham (little black door at the back of the Vine).

Fire in my belly.

Posted on June 13, 2013 by

We went out as a house collective to the newly opened Grillstock smokehouse on the Clifton triangle this evening.

I am currently nursing a small food baby.

We went to the Grillstock weekend in Bristol about a month or so ago and, despite the weather, had the most awesome time. Truly amazing food, great beer and cider and plenty of entertainment (including an eye watering chilli eating competition) made for a pretty darn good weekend.

So when I found out about the new restaurant, we had to go.

I had the beef brisket BBQ plate which came with a mountain of incredibly tasty brisket, fries, homemade slaw, cornbread and a hot link sausage (as a side!). Needless to say, it was awesome.

My other half Tom had what is referred to as the ‘LockJaw’ burger – a double cheeseburger topped with pulled pork, brisket and burnt ends, served with all the gubbins. I’m amazed he finished it!

The whole feel of the place is really nice as well, it’s not too big, and is made up of the open kitchen at the back and one long communal table which you share with everyone else. Like one big meaty community.

So, if you’re in that end of Bristol and your belly is a-growling, you know where you need to go!

The first rule of knitting club

Posted on June 10, 2013 by

I started a knitting and crochet course at The Folk House this evening.

I haven’t knitted anything since Art Textiles at school (where I knitted a rib cage and intestines for a body parts project) and have missed knitting a little bit. There’s something reassuringly simple about sitting in front of the telly with needles clacking away and not really knowing what it is you’re making, not until you’ve finished it (or until you’re halfway through when you run out of wool).

We did crochet this evening. I have never crocheted anything in my life. It is not easy. Once you get the hang of the awkward hand position it becomes a little easier, but I still can’t really see the point, not when you can just add another needle to the wool party and it becomes knitting.

I will persevere, however!
My ultimate goal is to knit a peanut hat like in the Mighty Boosh, I can’t find a picture but y’all know what I mean.

Updates soon!

Bookshop, birthday and birds.

Posted on June 7, 2013 by

So, it was my birthday yesterday.

I had a cake made by my friend Emma who runs The Lighthouse Kitchen, a small independent bakery based in Bristol. As well as making me a giant chocolate Guinness cake to take to work she made these cupcakes too. They didn’t last long in our house! The big cake was also suitably demolished by everyone in the office.

Dinner was at The Old Bookshop. We had a load of little tapas dishes, including the best macaroni cheese I have ever eaten. Word.

I seriously recommend this place; we always make excuses to come and eat here, and it never disappoints! Their menu changes all the time, and they have American diner night on a Monday, which is also full of incredible treats.

Once full, we waddled down the road a bit for cocktails at Zazu’s Kitchen.

That cherry had been soaking in JD. Needless to say, it was lush. These were some of the best cocktails I’ve ever had, as well as this manhattan I had a honey daiquiri, and my housemate had an elderflower fizz – a huge amount of vodka, elderflower cordial topped with prosecco. They were all amazing.

Today I took the day off work to do some important birthday duck-feeding at Slimbridge. We met some cute fluffy things…

… and befriended a gormless pigeon.

Birthdays are awesome!

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Good evening, San Diego

Posted on June 4, 2013 by

So how are you supposed to write a first blog post, anyway?

Lily Doughball

Bristol-based fashion, beauty and lifestyle blog

Monthly Archives: June 2013