oh.my.

I've just spotted these on etsy:

I could own everything in this shop (when I get my own mansion to house all the lovely things I could own, oh, and when I win the lottery).

My lovely friend bought me these for my birthday last week. How did she know I needed them?

I probably need some of these measuring cups to go with them now:

I have a bit of a thing for kitchen gadgets, which I have no doubt inherited from my mum.
I'm currently coveting one of these:

mini-moon

We're back from our mini-moon in Norfolk (not to be confused with the 'maxi-moon', which will happen in a couple of months, somewhere a bit warmer). Yep, we went to Norfolk, in February.

We actually chose our mini-moon destination after finding the Mr and Mrs Smith website. It's fair to say, I could actually have stayed at any of the boutique hotels I found via this website, but in the end we went for Strattons in Swaffham - for 3 reasons mainly.
Firstly, we've never been to this part of the UK and felt it was worth an explore
Secondly, the hotel was having an offer on bed, breakfast and dinner (bonus!) and
Thirdly, the restaurant menu looked amazing, and we were clearly thinking with our bellies after spending many months being ever so good with food and exercising like crazy so we looked tip top in our wedding togs!

Strattons is a Bohemian 10-room country hotel. It's a Grade II-listed Queen Anne villa with canopied four-poster beds, open fires, stripped wooden floorboards and an award-winning restaurant serving mostly seasonal, organic food.

This was our room

We really were not disappointed. The hotel was great, the people were lovely and the food was amazing. Because we were staying in the hotel for 4 nights, the staff in the restaurant asked us if we wanted a special meal of our choice on our last night which was a really nice touch (and it also happened to be my birthday).

We found a nice beach which was all but deserted, and had a nice long walk (we needed it after all those three course dinners and two course breakfasts!). We also drove the north Norfolk coast, stopping off here and there where we fancied it, and we spent a day exploring Norwich and pottering around the shops

It was a nice break and we both really needed it after all the hectic wedding prep, but being the home bird that I am, I was glad to come home too. I missed my little cats, and it seems they missed us too. They've been super affectionate since we returned. Today they helped me make this valentines card for my boy:

Well, they kind of helped - they were sleeping at the time, which did help me because it meant they weren't trying to get on my knee or sit on my keyboard - these things are usually a daily occurrence.

letterpress

Me and Mr Monda, having been together for so many years have furnished ourselves with everything we need for our home, so on our wedding invites we asked that instead of wedding gifts, a donation for our honeymoon would be much appreciated. Everyone was exceptionally generous and we have booked our honeymoon for later this year. A honeymoon and a mini-moon! We are quite spoilt.

We did receive a couple of gifts however which were personalised for us. This keepsake was a personalised gift from my sis and brother in law - containing both our initials and the date of our wedding:

It's great isn't it. We're very lucky indeed.

say cheese

Here we are. Mr and Mrs.

We made a photo booth, along with props, and encouraged our guests to take silly pictures of themselves. We've got a bit of work to do with photoshop to adjust and crop some of the pics but we're really happy with them and so glad we did it.

We hand made so many things for our big day so I'll share a few more wedding pics over the next few weeks, along with one or two official pics when they arrive.

Fresias

I had Fresias as my wedding table flowers, for their colour, smell and simplicity. They are my favourite flowers.
I arranged the flowers myself in vintage enamel jugs, and old horlicks mixer jugs:

We had all the china, cake stands, decorations, leftover cake and tea to bring back to the house on the day after the wedding. Thankfully I had a team of people to help me so it was a relatively painless exercise, although this did mean that my house was full of boxes again.
There were no free surfaces for the flowers, so this became their temporary home:

Mr and Mrs

We are married!
We had a lovely day and I'm so looking forward to seeing the photos. 
We have a few days before we take off on our mini-moon (just a short break) before we decide what we're going to do for our honeymoon - we'll probably end up making a last minute booking somewhere.
When Mr Monda left the house today he yelled 'see you later wife!'

The birds above were a last minute purchase to decorate our wedding venue. They are made by the very clever Kirsty Elson who got these to me with just a few short days notice - excellent customer service indeed.

Biscuiteers

This week we received a really pretty tin of iced biscuits as a wedding gift from some of Mr. Monda former work colleagues.
I've seriously never seen such pretty biscuits before. They are wedding themed - just like the ones below:

We haven't tried any yet (we're both being very good with food at the minute to make sure we're not squashing ourselves into our wedding clobber!), so they are sitting in the cupbard quite whispering my name each time I venture into the kitchen.

Go and have a look at the Biscuiteers website - there are some lovely ideas for Birthdays, valentines, new baby celebrations and much more:

3 days to go!

So many

Cake stands! and this picture is just a fraction of what we have:

For the last couple of years I've been collecting bone china for our wedding. This last week we picked out all our favourite plate combinations, drilled them and made them into 3 tiered cake stands.

I won't be able to keep all these after the wedding - I just don't have the space for them, and can't imagine having an afternoon tea so big that I'll need all of them again, so they'll be going to new homes (via ebay!).

4 days to go!

ta da!

All the wire twisting and sore fingers seems more than worth it now, as my button bouquets are now finished and I'm so pleased with them. The shapes of them actually remind me of broccoli and cauliflower:

I have made three in total. The ones for my bridesmaids are slightly smaller than my own one. I thought they might end up being quite heavy but they're not actually.
My bouquet being slightly bigger and containing more buttons is a bit weighty. I won't being throwing it at the wedding though - aside from wanting it for a keepsake, I'd be likely to take someone out with it if I did throw it!

Only 5 days to go now. Still lots to do though...

buttonholes

I call them buttonholes but these are also known as boutonnierres. A bit of French always makes something sound a bit more chic and classsy doesn't it.
The delicate crochet flowers were made for me (with vintage thread) by my blog buddy and crochet master Emma Lamb, who has also made me lots of flowers for my dress.
I'm only half way through these boutonnieres so I'm off to crack on with the rest.
Yeah, get me being all chic and that. I'm just getting in some practice for the big day!

I'm just trotting along...

...with all the making for the wedding. I'm surrounded by buttons and felt. The bouquets are coming along and should be finished in a couple of days. Then I can move onto the buttonholes.

Listen to this:

I'm not totally loving the video, but I do love the song. It has a bit of an MGMT feel about it. I think.

Hugh's Fish Fight

I am sat here at the moment watching Hugh's Fish Fight on C4. If you didn't see it, take a look at the short video below.

If this makes you angry, then please sign the petition here
I'm not normally one for sharing crusades but this is utter madness, and I just feel we should do what we can to stop this happening.

on my messy desk

I have hundreds of buttons lined up, sorted and stacked waiting to be put onto wire stems for bouquets for me and my bridesmaids:

3 down, many many more to go...

standing at the bottom of the 2011 hill

Somehow I think by not writing a blog post to welcome the new year, I am infact delaying the realisation that it is actually 2011. It is though, and we're already speeding through the year at an alarming rate.
I still have lots of preparation and finishing to do for our wedding on the 29th. I know I should be feeling excited by this, but I actually feel quite daunted by the whole thing. It's like I'm standing at the bottom of a big hill that I need to climb. In fact, my life feels a bit like this at the moment too.
I think this is a case on early onset January blahs. Perhaps subconsciously I'm trying to get it out the way before the wedding comes?
I do wonder why this happens to me each January. I am of course looking forward to marrying my boy, and the possibilities that a new year brings - especially for me and my change in career path. I do feel like 2011 will be my year. A year where good things come to those who wait and work hard for them. Now, if I could just get rid of these blah feelings.

I don't really have resolutions, however after the wedding, one thing I do plan to do this year is put a lot more structure around my working life. Planning, and then making those plans come to fruition, whilst stretching myself creatively.

I'll make no apologies that my blog will be dominated by 'wedding this' and 'wedding that' for the next few weeks.
There is still so much to be done, however one thing I don't need to worry about is my wedding cake. I'm lucky that my friend will be making my wedding cakes for me. We've decided to go for a number of different cakes in different flavours, a little less traditional and more tasty than an iced fruit cake.
We would have loved to have macarons too, but they don't keep or travel well (and my friend lives quite far away), so we've decided on whoopie pies, which I've never tried, but they do look good.

They make for pretty palettes don't they. I especially like the whoopie pies palette.

The day I ruined the Christmas cake

Today marked the day that I officially ruined the Christmas cake.
On this day, I have to admit that I am a disgrace to my profession as a designer.
Perhaps the Christmas cake was doomed from the start, because it did get a little too 'dark' on the outside during cooking. Some careful trimming of the cake was conducted (it was necessary actually) before the marzipan was applied. Marzipan must surely be hiding a multitude of burnt cakes up and down the land this Christmas.
I was quite happy with the cake at marzipan stage. I was even quite happy with it when the icing was applied. The downfall and ruin of the cake came in the decoration. Once I started I couldn't stop you see. I had cake glitter and sprinkles at my disposal. The result is this shameful specimen:

I'm really not sure anyone would want to eat it - the green glitter really does look like mould.
Delia advised of simple white icing and spring of holly leaves with berries. Wouldn't that have looked nice. Maybe I'll just hand everyone a pair of dark glasses with their slice of cake.

Cake aside, I'm sure we'll have a very Merry Christmas, and to anyone ready this tale of Christmas cake woe, I wish you a very Merry Christmas too.