Cocktail cupcake supplies

This week on Wonderful World of Etsy I bring you a selection of what I think would be great cocktail cupcake supplies. I so need to get those pretty vintage pastel cocktail parasols!

1. 12 Honeycomb Fan Cupcake/Cake Picks
2. Palm Tree Cupcake Picks
3. 80 Primary Striped Barber Cupcake Liners
4. For Tiny Rain Drops or Drinks - Vintage Cocktail Parasols

Don't forget today is the last chance to enter last week's fabulous giveaway from Jewel me Pretty!

Have a sweet day!

Strawberry daiquiri gluten-free cupcakes

Strawberry Daiquiri cupcakes (makes 12 muffin size cakes)

Ingredients
125g (4.5 ounces) butter, softened
150g (5.2 ounces) caster sugar
2 eggs
225g (8 ounces) gluten free self-raising flour
130g fresh strawberries blended
2 teaspoons grated lime zest
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
2 tablespoons light rum
pink food colouring


Cooking instructions

1. Preheat oven to 160-180 deg C (325-350 deg F).
2. Line muffin tray with paper cases.
3. Beat butter and sugar with an electric mixer until the mixture turns a pale colour.
4. Beat in eggs, flour, blended strawberries, rum, lime juice and lime zest.
5. Divide mixture among cases.
6. Bake for 25-30 minutes.
7. Place cakes on a wire rack to cool.

To decorate (for 12 muffin size cakes)

Ingredients
480ml double cream
30g (1/4 cup)icing sugar (powdered sugar)
3 tablespoons light rum
pink food coloring
12 maraschino cherries
12 cocktail umbrellas

Instructions

1. Whisk cream, icing sugar, food colouring and rum until soft peaks form.
2. Pipe in a swirl on top of cakes.
3. Spear maraschino cherry with cocktail umbrella and stock into cake.

Have a sweet day!

Cocktail cupcakes

A dear fried of mine recently asked me if I could make some cupcakes for her husband's birthday party. I love a good excuse to make lots of cupcakes! So, after much thought I decided to make cocktail inspired adult cupcakes with liquor. I went for a Hawaiian theme for my cupcakes as the birthday boy was getting a 1950's Hawaiian shirt from his adorable wife.

My favorites were the strawberry daiquiri ones, made with fresh strawberries and a hint of lime topped with freshly whipped cream and rum!

Strawberry Daiquiri cupcakes, Blue Hawaii cupcakes, Margarita cupcakes, Pina Colada cupcakes, Mai Tai cupcakes.

Have a sweet day!

Home-made Vintage

Last month a lovely lady from illustrated lifestyle publishers, Ryland Peters &
Small and CICO Books, contacted me to ask if I would be interested in receiving review copies of their books. So, I headed over to their site where I was greeted with titles like The Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook and Romantic Style by Selina Lake. How exciting!

I will be reading and reviewing a book a month from amongst their titles. Please note that my opinions are my own and I am not paid for these reviews (apart from receiving a free book, of course!).

This month I am reviewing Home-made Vintage by Christina Strutt. The author is the founder of country-chic lifestyle store, Cabbages & Roses, started in 2008, and Christina worked in interior design and styling before that. I chose this craft book as I love Cabbage & Roses' style, which is nostalgic, romantic and subtly eccentric.



In my opinion this is a charming book adorned with a wealth of fabulous inspirational photographs. From using scraps of fabrics to beads and ribbons, it inspires you to create an individual country cottage style home with a mix of modern and vintage.

It contains over 40 quick and easy sewing projects. Each item is beautifully styled by Christina Strutt and photographed by Lucinda Symons, with dedicated home sections for making beautiful accessories for your living room, bedroom, bathroom and kitchen which will brighten up any dull space and add some vintage chic. There are also clothes and accessories and a section for gifts, including stylish kitchen aprons, darling rabbit dolls, kitsch bunting and treasured pencil cups.

Not only is it a gorgeous looking book, but it is filled with great original ideas you'll want to make. The adorable hand illustrated instructions by Kate Simunek are clear and easy to understand and with sewing instructions by Jane Bolsover you can't go wrong! In addition to the illustrations and instructions the back is filled with useful templates and stockists.

If you, like myself, are a hoarder of fabrics and trims there are also creative ways to display your delicious collections.

At a recommended retail price of £12.99, it is good value for money as it contains so many great ideas. A perfect gift for those who are taking their first steps into the world of sewing.

Some of the delightful projects I'd like to have a go at are:



Seat Pillow - I would like to make a pretty duck egg blue seat pillow for my office chair, and I'm loving the big bows that secure it in place.



Cutlery roll - With some of the fabric I have left from my outdoor cushions, I think it would be super cute to make a cutlery roll to hold my pink and blue cutlery for summertime picnics.



Garden tool apron - I have some scraps of stone and white spot oilcloth that would be great for the garden tool apron. It would also match my garden shed curtains! The book suggests using the eyelets from the straps to hang it up.



Hot water bottle cover - As the nights draw in and the temperature drops, I will be giving a warm welcome to my hot water bottle by giving it a new sage green cover to match my bedroom.
Tied pillow cover - I wish I had seen this earlier, as I would have done my outdoor cushions with ties instead of buttons.

To summarise, Home-made Vintage by Christina Strutt is a beautiful book full of quick and easy ways to transform your home and delight your friends with a touch of vintage charm. You will want to pick up a needle and thread and get started, even if you have never given it a go before!

Have a sweet day!

Aqua haberdashery

This week on Flickr Faves Sunday, I bring you beautiful aqua haberdashery treasures with these gorgeous pics. Check back soon for some more of the most inspirational photographers on Flickr.

Some beautiful shots from my Flickr favourites (clockwise from top left):

• The cute Felted Flower Brooch Aqua Blue by fibrespace
  
• The pretty buttons and scissors in Untitled by Ola Smith
  
• The adorable aqua lace buttons by pompomrouge
• The wonderful threads in colours by kirstievn
  

Have a sweet day!

Tiered cake stands

1. Vintage pressed glass two tier cake stand in pink
2. Blue '100 Years of Royal Albert' two tier cake stand
3. 2 Tier Metal cake stand
4. Josette floral 3 tier cake stand
5. Love plates pink 2 tier cake stand
6. Blue ceramic 3 tier cake stand

This week in my series of posts, "Fridays Finds", I bring you a selection of pretty tiered cake stands, to fill with delectably delicious cakes!

Have a sweet day!

Jewel me Pretty giveaway

This week on Wonderful World of Etsy I am featuring the shop Jewel Me Pretty.

1. Worth the wait
2. Dear Lover - a set of rose filigree rings
3. Peaches and cream
4. Wishes for your Kisses - wishing well ring

I'm also pleased to announce a giveaway of $25 worth of store credit for Jewel me Pretty, and it's open to readers worldwide!

To enter, please visit Jewel me Pretty and then leave a comment below this post letting me know what you would spend your store credit on. The giveaway ends on Thursday, September 30th 2010 at 10pm (GMT) and I will randomly select and announce a winner on Friday, October 1st.

To increase your chances of winning this fabulous prize, you can gain one additional entry for doing each of the following:

• tweeting about this giveaway
• blogging about it
• following/subscribing to the Torie Jayne blog

For the first two, please leave a comment below with the link to your tweet or blog post.

Good luck and have a sweet day!

House Doctor Autumn/Winter 2010

This week for my 'shops i love' page I bring you yet another delightful Danish brand, House Doctor.

Their new Autumn/Winter collection, "Moment's", is a palette of nature-inspired faded yellow, berry tones and teal with pops of bright colours to give contrast and excitement. They also have a whole new range of gorgeous ribbons wrapped around wooden spools.

Available in the UK from Camel & Yak.

Have a sweet day!

Pear and blackberry whoopie pies

Pear Gluten free Whoopie (makes 48 5cm/2" size cakes)

Ingredients
2 1/4 cups gluten-free self raising flour (self rising flour)
4 tbsp unsalted butter, softened
4 tbsp of white butter (vegetable shortening)
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
2 large eggs
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp xantham gum
1 tsp white vinegar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 pears, peeled & blended

Cooking instructions

1. Preheat oven to 190 deg C (375 deg F).
2. Line two baking trays with parchment paper.
3. Peel and core pears, place them in a blender until blended finely.
4. In a separate small bowl combine the milk, bicarbonate of soda, and vinegar.
5. Beat butter, white butter, granulated sugar and dark brown sugar with an electric mixer until the mixture turns a pale colour.
6. Slowly, on a low speed, beat in the eggs and buttermilk until mixed thoroughly.
7. Gradually beat in milk, soda,vinegar mixture, flour and vanilla until mixed thoroughly
8. Gradually beat in blended pears until mixed thoroughly.
9. Pipe a splodge of batter onto one of the prepared baking trays and repeat 24 times, leaving a 5cm (2") gap between each splodge. Repeat above step on second prepared tray.
10. Bake one sheet at a time for 10 minutes.
11. Leave to cool for 5 minutes, then place cakes on a wire rack to cool.

Blackberry ganache filling (for 48 5cm/2" size cakes)

Ingredients
60 ml of whipping cream (1/2 cup heavy cream)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence
200g (7 oz) of finely chopped white chocolate
50g fresh blackberries, blended

Instructions

1. Bring cream to the boil in a small saucepan.
2. Remove from heat immediately and stir in chocolate until melted.
3. Stir in blended blackberries and vanilla essence until glossy.
4. Refrigerate for about 45 mins.

To decorate (for 24 5cm/2" size cakes)

Ingredients
48 Pear whoopie pies
Blackberry ganache Filling
Pink & purple pearls

Instructions

1. Spoon a teaspoon of ganache onto the flat side of cake. Spread to the edges.
2. Top with another cake, flat side down.
3. Repeat until you have 24 whoopie pies.
4. Roll whoopie pies in pearls.

Have a sweet day!

Autumn Falls

Page 1

• Image by Rachel Whiting

Page 2

• Hush
• Lombok
• Bloomingville
  
• Hush

Page 3

• Noa Noa
  
• Image by Giulia Noni
  
• Bloomingville

Tomorrow is the official start of Autumn in England. I, for one, am looking forward to wrapping up for woodland walks, hot blackberry and pear crumble and cosy nights in. What are you looking forward to this Fall?

Have a sweet day!

Pretty Bright

This week on Flickr Faves Sunday, as it is the last official day of Summer I bring you a bright summery floral palette with these gorgeous pics. Check back soon for some more of the most inspirational photographers on Flickr.

Some beautiful shots from my Flickr favourites (clockwise from top left):

• The cute little garden pin cushion by pompomrouge
  
• The gorgeous Bliss Ironing Board Cover by city chic country mouse
  
• The adorable mini pompom trim by pompomrouge
• The wonderful colour in Framed in 70´s fabrics by Pink Friday
  

Have a sweet day!

Bench makeover

For my outdoor living room I really wanted a cute, comfy bench to relax on. After a long search on the internet, finding a white bench within my budget seemed impossible! Instead, I bought a hard wood bench from Garden and Homes Direct and painted it jasmine white.

For the seat pad, I had some thick foam cut to size and made a removable cover for it out of hard-wearing cotton duck. I chose the stone spot from Cath Kidston so it would match the curtains in my garden shed, and added blue piping to match the cushions in my dining set.

I bought some cheap square cushions from Ikea and made removable covers for them in the Cath Kidston pink spot, which I trimmed with small white pom poms, and the Cath Kidston rose stripe, which I trimmed with pink and blue piping. The bolster cushions are from John Lewis, and are covered with a Clarke & Clarke blue spot fabric and trimmed with white pom poms.

For colder nights, I bought a green blanket to snuggle up in, which I got for less than £5 from BHS!

A quiet relaxing seat during the day, and a cosy place for drinking Pimms at night!

Have a sweet day!

Pretty mugs

1. Pantone Mug, Duck Egg Blue 337C
2. Cath Kidston pink spot mug
   
3. "Worship Fashion" Mug
4. Butterfly and Bird cage mug by Torie Jayne
   
5. I love shopping mug
6. Polka dot mug pink

This week in my series of posts, "Fridays Finds", I bring you a selection of my favorite pretty mugs.

Don't forget you can click on any blue lettering in any of my posts to link through to the relevant store website or blog post for more info!

Have a sweet day!

Whoopie pie supplies

This week on Wonderful World of Etsy I bring you all things Whoopie! I would love to get some bakers twine in bubble pink to wrap mine in. When I saw these cute 5' doilies I thought they would be perfect to serve whoopie pies on and to layer them in stacks.

1. Elegant pastry tray in blue - 1/12 miniature
2. Mini whoopie pies
3. One spool, pink and white divine twine, 240 Yards
4. Paper doilies - Leah (50)

Have a sweet day!

Day Birger et Mikkelsen Autumn/Winter 2010

This week for my 'shops i love' page I bring you yet another delightful Danish brand, Day Birger et Mikkelsen.

Their new collection is a palette of peacock blue, teals, warm chartreuse, browns and pale grey-greens. With motifs of leaf and reindeer heads, beautiful wool embroideries and plush velvet, they make up a glamorous, vintage looking Autumn collection.

Have a sweet day!

Vanilla & strawberry mallow gluten-free whoopie pies

Following on from Sunday's post, Whoopie pies, here are some I baked using the gluten-free vanilla whoopie recipe by Sarah Billingsley and Amy Treadwell from the book: Whoopie pies. I added some strawberry marshmallow fluff to the filling.







Have a sweet day!

Dining white

Page 1

• Image by Janne Peters
  

Page 2

• Cox and Cox
• Image by Trine Thorsen
• Image by Trine Thorsen
• Handmade cake stand
  

Page 3

• Martha Stewart
• White Company
• Touches Interiors
• Image by Rachel Whiting

As the Summer draws to an end, I am looking for ideas to update my dining room table. I like the idea of shades of white with lots of different textures.

For more of my pretty White Interior pic finds, check out my Pinterest!

Have a sweet day!