Baby William James has made his arrival...

© Victoria Smith Photography

Our little bundle of joy has finally arrived. We are over the moon and so in love. Had to stay in the hospital for a few days due to some labour complications, but I'm now recuperating nicely at home. Turns out that having a newborn is a very tiring business who knew, so it maybe a little while before I do a new post. 

© Victoria Smith Photography

© Victoria Smith Photography

Polka dot crazy...

I love polka dots. I may have fads with my clothing, but one thing that stays a staple of my wardrobe is polka dots. Here's some of the wonderful polka dotty items out there that I like...

1. Spotty tights from Tights Please.

2. Polka dot skirt from New Look. 

3. Polka dot wedges from Tesco.

4. Polka dot teapot from John Lewis.

5. Polka dot dress from Next. 

6. Polka dot bag from Tesco. 

7. Polka dot mug from Matalan.

8. Polka dot swimsuit from Asda.

9. Polka dot umbrella from John Lewis.

10. Polka dot swimsuit from Next. 

1. Polka dot dress from Dorothy Perkins.

2. Polka dot mug from Matalan. 

3. Polka dot dress from Oasis.

4. Polka dot dress from New Look. 

5. Polka dot bag from Debenhams. 

6. Polka dot jumper from John Lewis.

7. Polka dot skirt from Oasis.

8. Polka dot jumper from Oasis. 

9. Polka dot ballet pumps from Zara. 

10. Polka dot top from Dorothy Perkins.

Snowy walks and Father-to-be gifts

We managed to have a little walk at Yorkshire Sculpture Park over the Easter weekend. It was really pretty, as there was still a dusting of snow about. The latest exhibitions look amazing. We had a quick walk through the Fabric-ation exhibit. I'm planning lots of nice picnics in the Sculpture Park this summer, so I'll take lots of pictures of the artwork when we next visit.

I have been creating a couple of Father-To-Be gifts for my husband, as I know that the Mummy tends to get more attention. I got a big basket from Matalan for £5 (similar ones here) and filled it with all things to remind him of his childhood. (I asked his family and friends for some ideas) These included Wrestling and Thundercats figures, his favourite books as a child, some DVDs of programmes he used to watch, his favourite childhood movies, some Tizer (He used to have Tizer nights with his best friend, where they would pretend this was alcohol - Bless!) etc. I also decided to create some T-shirts and Baby vest sets.

These were really simple to make. 

I bought two cheap T-shirts and baby vests, and some fabric pens from Ebay. I had bought the fabric pens for people to decorate baby grows at my baby shower

Fabric pens bought for £3.39 from here

On a piece of paper I wrote out what I wanted on the T-shirt. You could print this out for it to look more accurate and professional.

I then placed this under the top layer of the T-shirt, and placed a piece of cardboard underneath this. To be honest, the pens did not actually go through as far as the cardboard, but I still think that it is worth taking precautions. Once I had traced over my design, I left this to dry for half an hour and then ironed on the reverse to lock the colour, so it is machine washable. My husband's unfortunate nickname is 'The Big Dog', so I thought it would be cute to do a play on this too. 

These fabric pens were so easy to use and didn't bleed into the fabric. I'm looking forward to doing some different T-shirt and baby grows for Halloween and Christmas this year.  I think I'm better dressing my child up before they can answer back and I'm sure my husband will be thrilled to wear them! I have got some fabric paints, so I may make some stencils and be a bit more creative next time.

Cheering yourself up on a snowy day...

I'm still awaiting the birth of our first child. I'm unsure when I will be induced due to my liver condition, so just playing a waiting game of sleepless nights and itchy feet! As the days are starting to drag, I decided to use some sure fire ways of cheering myself up.

I really got a strong craving for some chocolate cake, but only had one egg left in the house. I found this recipe on the internet and it made a really moist lovely cake. I topped with some Betty Crocker Chocolate Fudge Icing. 

There's nothing like some girly movies to cheer you up, so I have been watching Clueless, Mansfield Park and the BBC series of Pride and Prejudice. I can not imagine that there's anything in the world that a bit of Darcy would not fix!

I've been enjoying sitting in a snuggly chair, cuddling up to a teddy and imagining life with our new little baby. At the moment our nursery is in neutral taupe and cream colours. I love the soft feeling in the nursery, especially in an evening when the lamps cast a beautiful warm light. I often go up for a little quiet ponder throughout the day.

Whilst up in the nursery, I love getting out all of the baby clothes and imagining the little being that will soon be filling these. My mother-in-law has been busily knitting and created more clothes that the baby could ever wear. My husband has decided that he is in charge of dressing the baby, as he fell in love with the cute little baby socks. 

My Auntie and cousins came round to see me and brought me some lovely Champneys pregnancy toiletries. My skin has been in a very bad condition due to the constant scratching, but a nice long soak and some of the rejuvenating lotions have definitely improved my mood. I love having a long soak in the bath. As we have a television in the wall above the bath, I often time my baths with something good to watch. My husband wonders how I can possibly stay in so long. I am trying to make the most of these, as I'm guessing with a newborn baby I wont get much chance for a leisurely dip in the tub. 

Well after that I do feel a lot more cheerful. Let's hope the weather improves, so I can venture out.

Easter

I can't wait until next year when I will have a cute little baby to dress up in Easter outfits. (Our baby should be here in the next couple of weeks!) For now I have just been looking for some little Easter treats to cheer me up in my final, difficult weeks of pregnancy.

1. Yellow Jaeger dress from John Lewis.

2.Pale yellow ballet pumps from Debenhams.

3. Yellow Cambridge Satchel from Paperchase.

4. Mini chicks from Paperchase.

5. Flower tealight holder from John Lewis. 

6. Bunny egg cup from John Lewis. 

7. Mini chocolate speckled eggs from John Lewis.

1. Egg decorations from John Lewis.

2. Gingerbread bunny mask on a stick from John Lewis.

3. Chocolate lambs from John Lewis. 

4. Bunny ears from Paperchase. 

5.Woven Easter nests from John Lewis.

6. Mini egg cubes from John Lewis.

7. Large cream bashful bunny from Laura Ashley. 

Painted Pottery and Egg Shell Surprise

I thought that I would make a little Easter gift for my sister today. My sister has the food blog Bilberry Tart, and is obsessed with buying kitchenware and crockery. I thought I would utilise a couple of bowls that I already owned and use some paints that I had bought. I first used these paints to decorate some tea cups and saucers for my baby shower's favours. Unfortunately, my baby shower was cancelled due to my ill health, but I'll post some photos when we have the rearranged shower. 

I used Pebeo Porcelaine 150 paints and mixed together some Ivory and Opaline Blue.

I decided to paint a simple flower design on to the bowls. These paints are really easy to use and mix well together. If you make a mistake, and the paint is still wet, it will wipe off with a bit of toilet roll or a cotton bud. If the paint is dry then I used a sponge with a bit of soapy water to remove the mistake. I painted the two bowls and left them to dry for 24 hours. Once they have dried for 24 hours to seal the paint you need to bake them in a domestic oven for 35 mins at 150°C. 

As I had some paint left over, I decided to do a little secret message in a painted egg shell. First you need to get an egg and a needle and pierce both ends of the egg. Wiggle the needle around in the hole to widen it a little. You then need to break the yolk inside by piercing it several times with the needle. Once you have done this you should be able to blow into one of the holes and the egg should drip out of the other end. If this does not happen then you may need to widen the hole or wiggle the needle around some more to break up the yolk inside. When all of the egg has been removed, run water into one of the holes and blow through to make sure all remnants have been eliminated. To dry out the egg, I give them 30 seconds in a microwave.

I then painted the egg in a couple of coats of paint. Once this had dried, I used a cotton bud to make spots on the egg.

Whilst this was drying, I wrote out my message on a small piece of paper. As the message will need to fit through the hole in the egg, your message cannot be very long. 

Your message needs to then be rolled up as tight as possible and when your paint has dried and stuck through one of the holes you made initially. I then made a little label saying 'Crack me open.'

I'm sure I'll be posting some more painted crockery in the future, as I think you can make some really beautiful personalised, and inexpensive gifts. 

Yummy cookies

As I'm getting some visitors tomorrow, I thought I would make my favourite old faithful cookie recipe. To be honest, I'm not entirely sure where I first discovered this recipe and its had several alterations since I first made it. What I love about this recipe is its really hard to get wrong and they taste like the chewy, gooey American style cookies!

Ingredients

50g Dark Muscovado sugar

175g Caster sugar (Still works with normal granulated sugar)

125g Butter

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla extract.

225g self raising flour

1/2 tsp salt.

100g Milk chocolate chips

100g White chocolate chips.

1. Preheat oven at 180°C.
2. Cream butter and sugars together.
3. Lightly beat egg.
4. Add egg and vanilla extract and combine.
5. Add flour (I don't bother sifting) and salt.
6. Add chocolate chips. You should now have a nice cookie dough
7. I then make them into balls roughly the size of a golf ball and squish them flatish. (They work at all different sizes, just need to keep an eye on them in the oven.) I cover a baking tray with reusable baking paper and fit six balls per tray. 
8. Place in the oven. The amount of time is dependent upon how you prefer them. If you want them really gooey like the many chains of cookie stores make them then they need around 8 minutes. If you like them a bit crisper and golden then 10-12 minutes.

Once they've cooled, if you want to get that fresh from the oven gooeyness back, then I stick them in the microwave for 10 seconds.

I am planning on modifying this recipe for Bonfire Night to make some toffee apple cookies and also want to try a maple syrup and pecan version (Will let you know how these turn out!)

Chocolate roses were made using mould bought from Ebay here.