Happy Halloween ...

It's lunch time already today and we have only just arrived at the warehouse.  I promised the girls a day of celebrations rather than work today as they are very excited about Halloween tonight. 

This morning after breakfast the girls carved their pumpkins (with a little help from Daddy!) and now they sit proudly by the wood burner in the living room waiting to be lit later.

  Every year at Halloween the girls have a little chocolate treasure hunt around the house in their costumes as nobody really 'trick or treats' in our village.  The girls never mind that they don't get to go knocking on other people's doors as they know that they are always guaranteed some chocolate to fill their buckets!

We have come along to the warehouse for a couple of hours to get orders out and then we are off home to put up the decorations and have ourselves a little party!

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We have also finally managed to get round to baking our Christmas cake this week

{a little late this year but better late than never}.

This Year Mr P. wanted to have a go at baking it and the finished result looks and smells gorgeous.  We always use my Mum's recipe which never fails to produce a lovely moist cake. 

We always tweak the ingredients a little as we add cranberries, dried cherries and nuts which is not part of the actual recipe but makes the most wonderful cake.

This year the cake is going to be extra, extra special as Mr P.  decided that the recipe did not call for enough brandy and so soaked the fruit in the best part of a small bottle. 

I cannot wait to taste it but I don't think that I had better drive for a while afterwards!

Hope you  have a lovely Halloween!

A little me time ...

This weekend I finally found some time to sit down and think about Christmas cards.  Of course it helped that so much lovely Christmas stock has arrived in the warehouse.  All it took was one look to make me feel inspired and all Christmassey! 

Here are a couple of cards made with the new Aspen Frost range from Basic Grey ...

 {The dots around the punch circles were added with a white gel pen}



{The foam letters were some old 'Adorn it' letters that were left in my craft box

and the bit of ribbon [Cosmo Cricket] was lying in one of my many craft drawers}

{The Christmas trees were created from triangles of patterned paper backed

onto cream card stock and trimmed}

Enjoy xx

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  {click images for more info}

                   

               

 

  

Christmas has arrived at the warehouse ...

We have been so busy over the past few weeks here at the warehouse. 

Lots of new stock has been arriving.  We have had lots of furniture and home wares arrive which Mr P gets very excited about. 

But for me ... well I get soooo excited when we any new craft products arrive!  Last week we had a huge order from the USA.  So much so that I thought all of my Christmases had come at once.

It has taken days to get all of the stock checked off and put into some sort of order in the warehouse.

The new Christmas range from Pink Paislee is just gorgeous ...



Basic Grey have done it again with their Aspen Frost range! 

And the new Christmas ranges from Authentique Paper are as beautiful as ever!

You can see the ranges over at www.philpotts.com .  We still have lots to load on and I will let you know once it has all been done. 

Once we have everything on the website we are going to celebrate with a little voucher code for all of you so if you are not already a subscriber then it would be a good time to subscribe so that you don't miss the code later this week!  

Halloween Party Invitations ...

Where is October going to?  Not many more days until the half term holidays and of course Halloween.

This year the girls are going to Halloween Parties at friends houses so all of the work is done for me.  If you are hosting some parties then here are a few ideas for party invitations which are so easy that even the children will be able to have a go!

Craft room inspiration ...

Okay, hands up who has a craft room/workshop as tidy as any of these?





Source: Pinterest

 


Source: Pinterest





Source: Pinterest





Source: Pinterest



Hmm, my hands are firmly in my pockets!


xx

Busy Weekend

 On Monday we are visiting our first Antiques and Collectors fair  in Redbourn.  I am excited about going along not only for the selling but also I love browsing all of the lovely stalls looking for my next item of furniture to restore and repaint.

I use Farrow and Ball paint on all of the pieces as not only is there a super colour range but I think that the paint can take some knocks and bumps and still looks freshly painted.  This is probably why I use it to paint doors, windows and furniture at home as well as the walls.  Living with 2 children and 2 dogs mean that we need a paint that can stand the test of time!

I have items placed all over the workshop depending on where they are in the restoration process, some waiting to be sanded, some waiting to be painted or dry some requiring a little more restoration.  These pieces get passed to Mr P. to breathe a little new life into them before they come to me to add the colour and waxing.



Here are my multicoloured drawers waiting to go back into the little merchant chest...

My kitchen table which started life as a very orange varnished pine table ...



A beautiful Swedish Dinco chair which when the seat was cleaned and waxed has shown the most stunning grain running through the wood ...

If I am honest I keep pushing the chair closer to the door or the workshop in the hope that I can convince Mr P. to let me take it home!

The show starts at 8am at the Hertfordshire Showground this Monday 15th October.  I have still got so much to do and will be working all over the weekend adding the final touches to pieces. 

Gosh, so much work, time for a cup of tea I think!...



Hope to see you at the show if you can stop by!

Chewy Dark Chocolate Cookies ...

So here they are, the chocolate cookies that I was telling you about from Sunday ...

and absolutely delicious too!

I've added the recipe below for you if you fancy having a go with the kids this half term ...



Ingredients

250g self raising flour

1/2 tsp salt

170g unsalted butter

100g caster sugar

200g soft brown sugar

1 tbsp vanilla extract

1 egg and 1 egg yolk

325g Dark chocolate chips or chunks



Method

Pre heat the oven to 170 degrees celcius

Sift the flour and salt and set aside;

Melt butter in a pan over a low heat on the stove;

Once melted add the sugar and blend well;

Beat/Whisk the vanilla extract and eggs until the mixture is creamy;

NB. MAKE SURE THAT THE BUTTER IS NOT TOO HOT BEFORE MIXING IN THE EGGS

OR THEY WILL COOK

Mix in the dry ingredients until they are just blended;

Grease a baking tray and use an ice cream scoop to scoop the mixture onto the baking tray to form the cookies.  Do not flatten the mixture, the baking process will cause the cookies to flatten and spread.

Bake for approx 20 minutes or until cooked. 

Leave to cool if you can and then enjoy with a lovely cup of coffee ... perfect!

Move over Mary Berry ...

Mia has decided that just like her Daddy, she finds baking relaxing and a perfect way to wind down after finishing the extensive amount of homework that she gets every week.

So this was Mia on Sunday making Chewy Dark Chocolate Chunk cookies for tea.  Apart from a little help from Daddy to decipher his handwritten recipe she cooked them all by herself (not bad for a 10 year old). 

They were so good that we completely forgot to get the camera to take a piccie for you.  We do have one or two left for pudding tonight so I will try to get a picture for you and post it along with the recipe tomorrow.

If some of you are wondering whether you have visited the right website ... don't worry, you have ...

Since the move from the shop in Hitchin we have been busy finalising bits and pieces and making sure that we get the new look of the business up and running in time to be able to move with us when we get to the West Country.  Some of 'Philpotts' will be coming with us and so this blog will support the new website over at www.philpotts.com which is being finished at the moment and will be working properly soon. 

The new Philpotts will still have some of the old familiar bits that you will recognise but also some more interior/crafty/design based items which will fit in nicely with our new life.

There will still be lots of design and crafts here on the blog mixed in with some interior and lifestyle inspiration as well.  So grab yourself a cup of coffee take a seat and come along for the journey.

Bye for now

Teresa

xx