Cake Time: Every Little Helps - Tesco Van

One of my Mum's colleagues asked her if she could have a cake for her brother's 60th birthday. So with it being a special birthday we imagined that we would be doing something special for the cake.

But that's not quite how it went...

She asked for a Tesco van! The reason being he works at Tesco...and hates it! We though it was cruel and she thought it was hilarious. And it turns out it had been a family decision so the whole family also found it hilarious! So we got in on the hilarity and quite enjoyed it. 

But it got us thinking what would some one have to put on a cake that would really annoy us. For me, hands down, it would be a tin of baked bins. Oh man, how I hate beans!! :( 

I'd love to know what form your nightmarishly hilarious cake would take?

Vicky

Things I Love Thursday: Birthday Cocktails

One day, my Mum and I were in York, and over cocktails we decided that for her birthday we would have a dessert table/cocktail do (with a body shop party randomly thrown in there.) It was all very exciting and as we decided on this in October we really managed to convince ourselves that we would do some good planning and be super organised. Yeah, right...

I was still making scones at 2pm when the festivities were due to begin.

I was disappointed in us. No one else was surprised.

So typically, things didn't look how I wanted them to, the outlook didn't look like it did in my head (there was no beautiful dessert table set up) and we had no time to take pictures of anything. Thankfully my cousins and their iPhones did some snapping for me, which I am grateful for! 

But everyone enjoyed everything, there was a lot of laughter and love in the house, and my Mum had a lovely birthday, which, at the end of the day, is all that matters.

Spotty & Rudolf vanilla cookies

Mince Pies

Pavlova Wreath

Orange cake with cranberries & pistachios, peppermint mocha cupcakes

Things I love: My Mum!  iPhones  vanilla cookies covered in royal icing  my family - extended and otherwise  advent calendars   the strange satisfaction that comes from cleaning the oven  learning about, and watching, Japanese anime, no matter how bizarre, with Kurtis  watching how happy and proud of herself my Mum is using her new phone!  how actually cute my best friend is - adorable!

Dressember: Days 2, 3 & 4

Oh I am enjoying this... so far!

Day 2

What could be better than something lacey and glimmery for a day of cleaning? Oh yes, I adorned a dress for scrubbing the kitchen floor, scouring the oven and working my way through a gigantic basket full of washing. It certainly made the jobs feel a bit nicer! I tied a bit of ribbon in my hair just to spruce up my pony tail and, paired with the pale blue dress, I spent the day feeling like Wendy!

Dress: Dorothy Perkins

Cardigan: New Look

Bow: Random lace I found in my room.

Day 3

Wearing a summer dress in December. What craziness! It actually wasn't that cold so this worked well for wandering around the town getting out from the cold and in to the hot shops and back out again. Paired with a jumper and some woolly tights I felt practically snug!

Dress: Topshop
Jumper: M & S

Day 4

I think this is one of my favourite dresses - pretty and practical I do wear it quite a lot. A little gem found at Tesco!

Check out the royal icing smudge! A sure sign I'm working hard!

Must remember to put make up on for these pictures!

Dress: Tesco
Cardigan: H&M

Vicky xx

Cake Time: Ben 10

Ben 10, Alien Force, Omniverse, Omnitrix, Ultimatrix, Nemetrix, Anodites, Osmosians... Stop me when you know what I'm talking about... Null Void, Techadon Robots, Ascalon... 

Children's cartoons have got complicated!

It's actually pretty terrifying when you have to do a cake that spans multiple universes and has multiple seasons - how do you know what bits to put on on which characters should be included?

So for this Ben 10 cake, that needed Ben as the focus and his alien alter egos surrounding him on the cake, my mantra was - 'oldies but goodies'. I Googled a list of original characters and went with those. 

Upchuck

Heatblast

Upgrade

Ghostfreak

Humungosaur

Wildmutt

If these are the protectors of good, I would hate to see what the baddies look like!

And here is the main man, ol' Ben himself in his human form:

Yup, that guy has it all under control.

Vicky

Dressember: Day 1

Dressember started in 2009 and challenged women (and men) to wear a dress everyday in December. You can read all about the history of Dressember here but what started as a bit of a personal challenge has now taken on new meaning and is aiming to put a stop to global human trafficking.

I am looking on Dressember as a personal style challenge and a chance to bring a little femininity into my icing sugar coated existence. Call me ridiculous but there is a huge difference between baking in your scruffs and baking in a pretty dress, and this is something I have neglected of late. Also moving in to 2014 I would love to have a fully formed brand established and I think this might be a good way of really getting in tune with my own style.

Cheeeeeeeese!

I have, however, already hit upon a stumbling block: the camera. I do not have a good relationship with the camera, and, as I have had to send my phone off to be repaired, I am having to use my Mum's fancy smancy camera and that picks up everything!! So expect a bit of black and white and a lot of brightness going on until I have relaxed a bit more...

My first dress is my oh so beautiful Vivien of Holloway circle dress I bought in the summer to wear to the two weddings I attended. I have to admit that I do feel like a million dollars when I am wearing it. We were also celebrating my mum's birthday (happy birthday Mama Tallulah!) today so I made the effort.

I am looking forward to seeing what I can dig out of the darkest depths of my wardrobe for the rest of the month. Hopefully by the end of the month I can pull off a better photo. And maybe brush my hair...

Vicky