Taking my fancy

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Taking my fancy

Think pink

I was never one of those princess girlie girls and so it surprises me that as a fully grown adult I have developed such a love for pink. The thing is when you’re a grown up you can express your love for a colour in bigger ways than dressing your Barbie head to toe in it. I have tried to smuggle the odd little nod to pink in. Honestly, I can cut my hair off and walk around the house naked and there wouldn’t even be a blink of an eye, sneak in a little glittery trinket and they sniff it out straight away. It doesn’t stop me dreaming though and here is my wish list for all things beautiful, kitchenalia and pink.

The Aga, argh the Aga. How I dream of an Aga. This isn’t one just for pink lovers, there is a rainbow of colours to choose from, but for me it’s blush that has my heart.

Following on from the Aga is any of the cookware from Le Creuset, and this little number would look right at home on any cooker top. Plus it’s a lot cheaper than splurging on an Aga. Is it a sign that I’m a proper grown up if I’m excited by any type of Le Creuset pot or pan? They have such a solid and timeless feel that even though they’re pushing £100 it’s something that I would get so much use from.

Accessories are by far the easiest way to add colour and a bar stool like this one from Cult Furniture is not only a thing of beauty but functional too. Plus it’s so much better when there is someone with you to chat along with while you’re cooking, and this bar stool means you could chat in comfort.

I’m really into rugs at the moment, I find them a cheap but really effective way to brighten up any space. I’ve seen them featured a lot in kitchens and really like how they can soften a space. This one from Wayfair adds a vintage feel and the colours are gorgeous.

And finally, I’ve seen a lot of gold and rose gold bathroom fittings around but when I stumbled across this baby pink mixer tap at Dowsing & Reynolds I made a little excited scream noise.

Taking my fancy

Just a few bits…

So I’ve got a bit of a thing for kitchens, it’s the room I’m drawn to and definitely the place I spend the most time. It’s not just the furniture that I lust after, although I do dream of a pink Aga, but all the accessories and finishing touches.

For years I lived in student houses and then rented, they were never places where I could have made cosy or my own, so now I’m making up for lost time. I view my house as an on-going project, there are always ideas that I screen grab and an ever growing shopping list. In our house, these accessories have become known as ‘just a few bits’and I’m always on the look out for more bits. I discreetly add these bits and then wait for husband to notice.

One place I’ve accessorised with a few bits, is the top of the kitchen cupboards. We have two white cupboards on a white wall on either side of the cooker hood, which I felt looked a bit bare. I ordered a couple of mirror balls from EBay, for less than £30 they added a bit of interest and sparkle to an otherwise empty space.

Then while having a good old look online, I found a perspex ‘dancing ‘sign on Rockett St George. I ummed and arghed, put it in my basket, ummed and arghed some more then hit the buy button and cowered. A week later my sign arrived, bigger than I thought because I never measured it, but when I put it on top of the cupboard it actually seemed pretty damn perfect.

On the other side is a small collection of the Crystal Head Vodka bottles. Neither my husband or me drink vodka but we first saw the bottles in Vegas a few years ago. We didn’t buy one and regretted it instantly. Then as if by magic, we received one in the post as a gift. It looked too damn good to hide away, so we put it on top of the kitchen cupboard. The Aurora one was a Christmas present and the baby one was picked up in America, it’s now like the three bears but in vodka skull form, on top of the cupboard.

Ideas

Not a sprinkle in sight

Don’t get me wrong, you can’t beat a good dollop of sprinkles, but sometimes it’s nice to do something a little different. Hiding in my drawer of sugar craft bits and pieces, I stumbled across a bikini mould that I hadn’t used in ages. This, I thought, would be the perfect cake topper for the cupcakes for my mum’s birthday.

The knack of using these moulds is to make sure you get a decent covering of icing sugar or cornflour right into the nooks and crannies of the mould and making sure your sugarpaste hasn’t been handled too much other wise you risk getting part of it stuck in the mould. Once they were free of the mould I then left for about 20 minutes just to firm up before placing on the cupcakes.

I can’t remember where the bikini moulds came from, but here’s a cheeky selection

Happy Birthday mould TheVanillaValley £6.95 plus shipping
Lips mould home sale_sky on Ebay £2.42
Wonder Woman mould WeLOVE3dprinting on Etsy £4.50
Skulls ArtycoUK on Etsy £7.50 (Sugar Skull) & £17.95 (skull)
Gamer mould The Craft Company £19.06 plus shipping
Cherries Kawaiikitchen on Etsy £4.21 plus shipping
Shoes TheVanillaValley £8.35 plus shipping

Ideas

All that glitters is gold

After all that snow that the beast from the east left us, how about something all glittery and sparkly? During my usual trawl through the cake supplies shop, I took the plunge and bought some sheets of gold leaf, something I’ve wanted to try for ages. And while I was there I picked up some edible gold paint and sprinkles, well it would be rude not to.

As it was my first foray into gold leaf I wanted to give myself something simple to get a good feel. I decided on a simple design on a plain iced white cake and topped with some silk flowers. It’s actually a lot simpler than I thought. You need a couple of brushes and some water; brush the water onto the area you want to cover, then place the gold leaf onto that area and smooth with the dry brush. I jabbed the gold leaf a little to give it some texture. I used some silk flowers that I had that had a little gold sparkle to top off.

While I was on a roll, I decided to paint some Haribo Star Mix in the edible gold paint, because why not? I opted for the ring and the love heart over the egg. The paint is ready to use, just brush on. It’s quite thick so you get a good coverage but the Haribo still needed a couple of coats. If you were painting straight onto icing one coat would be plenty.