Makers Month: DIY Colour Block Tray with Claireabellemakes

We are finishing up Makers Month in style with a beautiful DIY from our best blogging buddy Claireabellemakes.  She has a pretty and practical tray tutorial, any excuse for afternoon tea!  Take it away Claire. 

Live it: Biscuiteers Icing Cafe Lates + Giveaway (Closed)

A few weeks ago we were given the opportunity to visit the Biscuiteers for one of their Icing Lates classes.  Now, we have been to the Biscuiteers before - ok, ok, a few times, see our post here.  But this was the first time we had gone to ice some biscuits and boy did we have fun!

When we got there, we were given an apron and a name sticker so we could get to know our fellow icers! It just so happened that friend of the blog Becky, was teaching us, so it felt very friendly and informal.  We were given a glass of prosecco and a choice of icing colours and then Becky showed us how to use the lining icing to make our later flood icing stay in place on the biscuit.  We could have some practice on the greaseproof paper first and then got down to the biscuits.  Sammy was much better than me, a natural biscuit icer in the making.

We then got to flood the biscuits using the squeezy bottles and popped them in the oven to speed up the drying process.  Then we could add sparkles, gold or silver paint (edible of course) and add extra prettiness with more lining icing.

We had then finished, one and a half had gone by, just like that!  We got to take them home in a lovely Biscuiteers box too, which along with the apron and book we got to take home, is just plain amazing!

We had a great evening and along with the beautiful biscuits we got to ice, we had fun chatting with the other attending icers which was lovely.  We would definitely recommend going to the Biscuiteers for one of their classes including their Icing Lates.  In fact we have been given an exclusive discount for our lovely readers for the next Icing Late on the 1st July, click here to book directly and pop in the discount code liveit15 at the checkout and you can get 15% off.  Are these guys just not super wonderful or what!

Our Giveaway is now closed.

We also have a great giveaway for you guys, we have the lovely Biscuiteers book and an apron for you. All you need to do is comment on this post below with your favourite biscuit, leaving your email address too, so that we can contact you after the closing date on Monday 30th June.

A few Rules

The giveaway will close at midnight GMT time on Monday 30th June.

We will pick the winner at random on Tuesday 1st July.

The giveaway is open  to UK and International residents.

If we do not hear back from you within 1 week of the closing date, we will pick another winner  and so please check your junk mail box too.

We will need your email address to contact you and so please make sure you leave it with your comment.

If you do pop down to the Biscuiteers, please do say if you saw it here!  We just like to spread the love.

Now to get us started, Sammy's favourite biscuit is a chocolate Hob Nob and I am partial to a Ginger nut biscuit myself!

mmmm biscuits
H

Live it: Biscuiteers Biscuit Boutique and Icing Cafe

We do love an adventure - you may have noticed, and so when we got the chance to go to Notting Hill recently we took the opportunity to visit Biscuiteers, the biscuit boutique and Icing Cafe.  This lovely little place is just off Portabello Road, pretty much opposite an Oliver Bonas and so for us, it was the perfect place to have a cuppa and a biscuit of course!

Aside from the gorgeous illustrated exterior when you walk into the shop there is a large array of biscuits and cake themed goodies.  It was a mission just to decide what to look at first!

They have a beautiful display of treats to buy, from Biscuit tins to sweets to Iced Gingerbread men and of course they have a huge collection of their signature decorated themed biscuits in tins, from 'Paris' through to 'Gardening', something for everyone.  If you can't make it down to the cafe you won't miss out, you can buy them online and get them sent direct, wouldn't they make a great gift! We loved (and bought) The gingerbread men or 'Jolly Gingers' as they are known, iced in characters from Batman to a fireman, they make a brilliant treat for anyone, young or old.  They come in the cutest presentation box, illustrated just like the shop front.

At the back of the shop there is a little seating area where you can have a sit down with a cuppa and a biscuit (or cake) from the selection in the old haberdashery display cabinet.  It's a nice cosy area that is more of a quick stop-off than a sitting down for the afternoon kind of place.  Although we did stay for a while!  Our friend Becky works at the shop and so it was a great chance to sit and have a catch-up with her over a lovely cup of tea.

Down stairs is the Icing cafe where you can book in for their Icing classes or just drop-in and ice 3 biscuits for a mere £15.  It's just a case of getting them home before eating them, so you can show off you skills to your friends...  But that's what Instagram is for, right?!!

You can also buy lots of icing supplies, so if you catch the biscuit bug you can carry on at home.

How amazing is this giant biscuit iced to look like the store! Becky told us it was made for a window display which included iced biscuits of all the shops on the street, I wonder who got to eat the rest?

Going back to our lovely friend Becky who works for the Biscuiteers, she has just done this little tutorial on You Tube for Icing your own biscuits this Valentines Day, so cool.  She has such a steady hand and makes it look so easy, I'm not sure ours would look that good! We can't wait to go back and have a try ourselves. 

We had a lovely time checking out the Biscuiteers venue and will definitely be back as we have to try all the different biscuits and do some Icing of course!

H & Sammy

Make it: Quick bake biscuits

With all the horrible weather we have been having recently, I have been inclined to stay indoors and make a few treats to keep myself going through all the crafting/blogging.

I found these simple to make biscuits and they can be made with store cupboard bits without even having to leave the house for extra ingredients.

It's a very simple recipe:

100g/4oz Butter

50g/2oz Sugar

a few drops of vanilla essence

175g/6oz Plain Flour

1.  Preheat oven to 150c / Gas 2

2.  Add the butter and sugar in a bowl and mix until light and fluffy.

3.  Add the vanilla, mix, then add the flour and mix well.  

4.  Roll out to about 5mm and cut into shapes or if like me, life is just too short, make small balls out of the mixture and push down on a baking sheet to about 5mm thick.

5.  Then pop them into the oven for about 25 minutes or until golden brown.

Then voila, done.  Just wait for them to cool and you have some simple biscuits. You could add chocolate drops or nuts if you would like something a bit extra, just add them in at the mixing stage. Unfortunately they get eaten far too quickly with me, but as they are so easy to make, I can always make another batch hey!

What's your favourite quick bake?  let me know in the comments below.

Make it

H