Friday 23 January 2015

Brit Decor Bakes: Midas Touch Chocolates







All images / Mike Ahern





This post is dedicated to all those choc-lovers amongst us (I include myself in this category, of course), whether you are a self-confessed chocoholic or simply love to give, these chocolates are so easy to make, look great and taste divine. These little treats could also make a cute Valentine's gift...just saying.

Following some bad news recently, I couldn't resist picking up a chocolate making mould from Lakeland to indulge in some therapeutic making - knowing that there would be some comforting sweet treats at the end of it - and I certainly was not disappointed.

I picked up 2x 200g bars of Belgian dark chocolate and one bar of white, plus a single Crunchie bar from Waitrose, I had also ordered some edible gold leaf sheets from eBay, and was ready to go into meltdown (in the chocolatey sense).  

My reason for choosing two different contrasting colours was to create a marbled effect and as an added twist, I broke the Crunchie bar into small chunks and added these to the melted chocolate before pouring into the mould. Once cooled for a couple of hours, I removed the chocs from the mould and carefully placed the gold leaf to complete the luxe-look. 

Wishing you an indulgent weekend!



Friday 9 January 2015

Brit Decor: Makes/ Into the Woods












All images / Mike Ahern




Here on Brit Decor I have made no secret of my passion for stylish stationery, but in hierarchical terms, notebooks take second place as cushions rule supreme in my home. In fact, I am utterly obsessed with this most essential of interior accessories. I always like to switch cushions with the seasons and sometimes even with my mood - they are tools of the trade for stylists and can create an instant colour, texture or pattern fix. I just love instant impact, don't you?

However, on recently realising the true and very full extent of my cushion collection, I decided it was time to clear-out those that I hadn't used in a long while and to pack away others for safekeeping. It was during this attempt at organised domesticity that I had an even bigger eureka moment - how about I make my own cushions!

It was during the cushion cleansing process that I found a pair of old rectangular cushion pads, and I immediately knew that these could make the perfect pillows to partner up with my new Mina pin-tucked bedlinen from Habitat. After some frenzied rummaging through my scrap fabric collection, I stumbled across an old pair of heavy white cotton curtains from Ikea, which I would cut into 4 small rectangles to create the pillow covers. 

Although I wanted to keep the look of my pillows very simple, I needed a small design detail for that extra special touch. I took inspiration from my Cole & Son 'Woods' wallpaper and decided to pull this theme into the bedroom by creating some very simple embroidered pine trees, using black thread and a back stitch. I finished the backs of the pillowcases with a basic slip opening, making them very easy to remove for washing - easy-peasy!

I hope you are inspired to have a go at your own 'make' project this weekend.






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