Review: The Craft Studio books + Giveaway (CLOSED)

We have a review for you today and a little Giveaway, yey (only UK residents this time, sorry).  The Craft Studio books from Thames & Hudson and are out today!  So hot off the press just ready for you to win them, more about that at the end of this post.

There are four books in the series at the moment, but I am sure there will be more.  The books are; Tote Bags by Sonia Lucano, Brooches by Corinne Alagille, Decorating with Pompoms & Tassels and Stamping & Printing by Emilie Greenberg & Karine Thiboult-Demessence.  Each are priced at £9.95 each and so not too expensive either which is always nice.

 Each of the four books contain 20 easy to follow projects with beautiful pictures and an easy to read layout.  They are not too large a book, so they fit neatly on your bookshelf while also being useful for those 'what project shall I do today' times.

The contents page just makes you want to dive in more.  Lovely photographs and a simple to find contents page is always a great thing in my mind.

There are some Tips & Techniques in the books, to get you started and help you if you are a complete beginner.  If not a beginner, then you can dive on in to the rest of the book without a problem.

I just picked out a few of the pages from the books, this sequinned tote bag looks so fun to make and will make a great gift for someone.  The projects are broken down into what you need and how long it is going to take you which is always nice as then you can decide which project you want to take on in that spare few moments.

Onto a Pompom mobile, what a great project for a children's bedroom or wedding decoration.  Some of the projects have handy hand drawn details to go with the written instructions, handy for the more complicated parts.

This Origami brooch is definitely on my list of makes.  I am not a big brooch wearer, but they look so fun to make, I might change my mind.

Last but by no means least, this simple to print polka dot tableware set is so cute!  I am all about the ceramics at the moment as you may have noticed from my pottery class post and so this project is also on the make list.

I love that the four books give a good range of skills for people to pick up, even if you only had one of the books you can learn new techniques and gain some new ideas.  The projects inside range from very simple to more complicated projects for the beginner and more experienced crafter, which makes them perfect as gifts or just to keep for yourself.

Speaking of which, that Giveaway.  You can win all of these books, yes all four!  One lucky winner will get these books to be able to go through the projects all by themselves.  Which one will be your favourite?

All you need to do is comment on this post with the skill you would like to learn the most with these books (remember to leave your email address).  If you like us on Instagram and twitter (if you don't already) you will get an extra entry for each one you follow us on - so those people who already do will get an extra entry too.  The Giveaway will be open until Friday 18 March 2016 at 12am (midnight GMT).   This time I am afraid the Giveaway is only open to UK residents - sorry international readers.  We will have something for you soon, promise.

We will add all the names into a hat (I know, so retro) and pick our winner and email you, so don't forget your email address when you enter.  Then we can post them off to you for you to enjoy.

THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED.

Good luck
H & Sammy, xxx

A few Rules:
The competition closes at 12am midnight GMT on Friday 18 March 2016.  No entries after this time will be counted.
The winner will be picked by ourselves and will be picked at random.
If we do not hear back from the winner by Monday 21 March 2016 at 12noon GMT, we will redraw and another winner will be picked.
This competition is only open to UK residents this time- sorry!


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Life update March

Hello March! Before we get into birthday's, Mothers Day and Easter Eggs, lets catch up on our shenanigans through the month that was February.

H - This month has all been about work for me, but as I love my job, that's not all bad.  I went to a conference in London and had the Southbank view through the window in the room, it was so hard to concentrate.  Any excuse for a London view though, something that is so calming about it.
I visited the Watts Gallery for a teachers evening and got to have a look around their new renovated studios.  I loved this set-up of a room 'that had just been left' by the artist.  All the paints and brushes made it feel very like you had just missed the artist going out the door.
A new exhibition of Constable's work opened at the day job this month, so that always means new interactive ideas.  I made these cool cloud finders, so you can find out what all the clouds are called in Constable's work.  Makes the exhibition accessible for all ages and adds a bit of fun into the paintings.
We got to check out the Kikki K store in Covent Garden recently and it's a whole load of pretty.  If only I could make as many notes as there are notebooks!

Sammy - Like H it is good that I love my job because this month was all about work for me. I am settling into working from home really well, but I managed to get out of 'the office' this month to visit Stitches in Birmingham. My selection of jewellery for the weekend was greatly admired by a lot of my industry friends, especially my Terrarium necklace from Finest Imaginary.
I have been trying to up my water intake and limit my sugar, more on that in a minute, I have also been loving Innocent Coconut water. It is the nicest tasting brand I have tried and apparently it is really good for hydration.
I also signed up for a new subscription box this month. It is more of a cards and gift wrap box than any of my other subscriptions and I am enjoying it so far. Check out the Noisemakers club if you are up for a monthly dose of British gift wrap goodness.
Last but not least something which has fascinated and scared the hell out of me at the same time, Sarah Wilson's I quit Sugar, and I quit Sugar for Life books have been all I can think about. I am planning on taking the plunge in the next week or so, wish me luck.


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Make it: Easy Easter Treats for Grown-ups with Thorntons

Easter and chocolate go hand in hand, but not all chocolatey treats need to be for the youngsters. When Thorntons got in touch recently and challenged us to create an Easter treat with one of their Chocolate eggs I imagined creating something that the grown-ups could enjoy. When this amazing White Chocolate Lemon Meringue egg arrived, I knew right away what I wanted to make as the centrepiece of my Easter celebrations. 

Two of my favourite desserts are Pavlova and Eton mess, so I decided to make a twist on those classics to include some chocolate lemony goodness! 

To make a White chocolate, Lemon and Raspberry Mess you will need: A Thorntons Lemon Meringue Easter egg, Meringue nests, Double cream, Raspberries, Lemon curd and to add an adult twist a little Gin (optional)

I started by.... breaking up the egg! I know, I know it will be worth it I promise. I kept the pretty centrepiece to use later and broke up the rest of the chocolate into small pieces. 

I also crushed up one large strawberry meringue, mine came in a pack of two, but if you want to use regular nests, two or three nests for the base would work. I settled the meringue over the base of my serving dish.   

Next whip up the double cream and spread it gently over the bed of meringue, mix a little Gin (if you are including it) with the lemon curd and layer that over the cream. Then add some fresh raspberries or strawberries if you prefer before sprinkling the white chocolate pieces over that layer.

Finish off by adding another layer of crushed meringue, you can add any left over cream, lemon curd and fruit as garnish to the top.

I also added some freeze dried strawberry sprinkles to make it look extra special, but you could sprinkle some extra chocolate over the top if you have some left over. How spectacular does it look as a dessert centrepiece for the Easter table. So simple to make, pretty to look at and super tasty. 

If you want to make a smaller version for a fun dessert why not layer up the same ingredients into a jar, everything looks good in a jar!

To add to your party treats why not mix up some zesty cocktails. I made a couple to compliment the sweetness of the meringue. Above you can see my version of a Tom Collins.
To make a TC Fizz mix-
50ml of Gin
25ml of lemon juice
25ml of agarve
top off with bitter lemon
garnish with ice and lemon.

And this is my version of a Moscow Mule, I am calling it a Lemon Meringue Mule!
Mix 25ml of vodka
25ml lemon juice
25ml of  honey, lemon and ginger cordail
50ml of raspberry lemonade
then top off with ginger beer
Garnish with ice, fresh raspberries and mint with a sprinkle of crushed meringue, just for fun!

These treats would also make great menu additions to a Mothers day lunch, which is this weekend if you're in the UK.  Or save them for Easter weekend at the end of the month. I don't know about you but I want a virgin Lemon Meringue Mule every Wednesday! Thanks to Thorntons for setting us the challenge and supplying the Easter egg for this post.

Sammy xxx


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Let's meet: DaphneRosa

This month we have finally featured the lovely Kate from DaphneRosa.  Her bouquets are just plain beautiful and the perfect alternative to the usual flowers for your special day, especially if like H you have hayfever!  We caught up with Kate after another successful wedding fair and had a chat about what she is up to and what's next!

Who's Your Solemate? with Wynsors Shoes

It is not often in life that you get moments that so heavily effect your future in such an amazing way, you can't imagine your life if it didn't happen. I feel like that about the moment H and I met. If you have been reading our blog for a while you will know that we met over 15 years ago at college, we sat next to each other on our first day and have never looked back. We have been through make ups,  break ups, weddings, divorces, living round the corner from each other and living hundreds of miles apart, but one thing that has never changed is the passions that we share and our soul-mate status.

Craft Swap: H

You may have seen last month's Craft Swap that Sammy posted, now this month is my turn with the items that Sammy gave me.

Sammy gave me: Kids Craft Mod Roc, fabric scraps, coloured labels, grey leather style material, blue spot paper, orange honeycomb pom pom, web paper, round cork board, plastic animals, fabric rosettes, blue cord, blue chevron ribbon, gold paper clips, round box with mini pegs inside, silver clips and 2 wooden shape cut-outs.

There was a lot there!  So first I went through everything and came up with a list of ideas, some of these will definitely be tutorials later on I think, but for this post I went with 3 ideas to keep it simple.  At least I know I have a stash of items for future posts! ha ha.

First, I decided on using the round cork board and grey leather style material.  This is not quite Leather, but a synthetic lookalike version.  I thought that it would be good to make a mouse mat for my new Laptop table I got as a Christmas present.  My mouse sometimes doesn't like the wooden surface and it would give me extra space to use a mouse on the table.  As I wanted the mouse mat to sit next to my laptop, I cut off a slice of the cork board with a craft knife to make a straight side.  Then I just gave it a quick sand down so that cork bits did not go everywhere and gave it a nice straight side to push up against my laptop when in use.  I then used some HT2 glue from my stash to glue the leather like material on top and using the craft knife I cut around it, so that it was exactly the right size.  I think this came out very well and its just what I needed, so even better.

Next up, it couldn't be me at the moment without a plant, I am a bit obsessed with surrounding myself with fake and real plants.  I really wanted to use the mod roc for something other than the usual masks or bowls and so I came up with this white cacti to add to my collection.  I first made a structure out of newspaper and kept it in place using masking tape.  I then followed the instructions to add the mod roc to the structure and smoothed it down as much as possible.  I then left it to dry for a good 24 hours and gave it a quick coat of white paint from my stash on top of the already white mod roc.  I just wanted to make sure it was all covered, I did think of painting it a different colour, so maybe I will change up the colour every now and again, but for now white.  I then added it to a small pot I had been given as a gift from a friend (which is from Anthropologie) and some small stones to keep it in place and add to the look.

My last swap project is this cute animal keyring for my bin store key.  It is just one key on its own and so I keep misplacing it and so the animals were going to make the perfect keyring idea.  Sammy gave me a hedgehog, fox and rabbit plastic animal and so I chose this fox, as foxes go for the bins?!  Its the small things in my head!  Anyway, I had some eye screw & ring's from Willko which have been laying around for ages and so I decided to use one for the fox.  I simply just screwed it into the top of the plastic animal and added a bit of glue to keep it in place.  A very quick project to make your own keyrings or even a necklace if you wanted as the ring can be added to a chain.

I hope you liked the projects I made with the Craft Swap items, what would you have made?  We would love this to become something that everyone can get involved in, if you have a friend that you can do a swap with we would love to see your makes!  Tag us in your pictures @liveit.loveit.makeit on Instagram and use the #lilimicraftswap so we can see and share them with everyone. 

If you are a blogger and would like to get involved in our craft swap please get in touch via email liveit.loveit.makeit@gmail.com so we can feature them here or pair you up with another blogger. 

Don't forget to come back next week, to see who will make the next Craft Swap.

H,xxx

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