We've Moved!!

Hello!

It's been a while! I've been working on lots of behind the scene things in recent months for the business and one of them is a new blog!

Visit us here and follow us for all our updated news!

Our New Blog!

Our new blog links directly from our website now, and we've also linked our Flickr gallery from there too. Just visit the site and click on Gallery at the top to see what we've been making.

TiarasAndFascinators.com

You can also follow us on Facebook for lots of info. We're currently holding a giveaway! When we reach 100 FB fans we're giving away a pair of our gorgeous Romance Earrings in a colour of your choice. Visit us, Like us, and suggest us to your friends to be in with a chance of winning!

Our Facebook Fanpage

We're also on Twitter!! We've been busy! Follow us here!

Tweet With Us!

I've loved PinkTigersDen and I want to thank all of you who've read over the last few years and hope to see you over at the new blog soon!

Have a great day!

N x

*Wave*

I'm still here! I've had a February blogging hiatus. I realised it's exactly a month since I blogged!

But it's good to have a break, right??

Anyway, big wave! I'll be back soon...

Oh, and well done Amy Williams for providing GB with our only Gold medal at the Winter Olympics. We came a resoundingly crap 24th in the medals... obviously saving our best for 2012...

N x

Happy Birthday, Mom!

My Mom was 60 last Friday. She's on a cruise in Dubai with my Dad for her special birthday, and although I found it very difficult to not see her on that day, I spoke to her which was brilliant, although very emotional for me and I did have a few tears when I put down the phone!! My sisters and I arranged for her to have some champagne and chocolate covered strawberries in her cabin, and for it to be decorated with happy birthday things to make sure she knew we were thinking about her, even though we couldn't be with her which I know she loved!!

Anyone who reads my blog will know that my family are the most important thing in the world to me and my parents have been my rock during pivotal points in my life, from petty fallings out with school friends when I was a kid, to the amazing birth of my baby, and the awful time I had when my husband left me and P when she was 6 months old and my consequent divorce and the hard times, both financially and emotionally that accompanied that. Throughout everything, they've put their own life on hold to make sure I was supported, loved and cared for, from taking 10 minutes out to dry my tears whilst sitting on my sister's bed in my school uniform, to cancelling major holidays and making unbelievable personal financial sacrifices to ensure that I didn't lose my mind or house during the worst times. For them, I know that these things are second nature. They would do exactly the same for all 3 of their children, and love us all equally and unconditionally. It's not even a question of whether they would do anything for us, it's a question of how soon they can do it for us to make it all better. My dad's famous quote is "You're only as happy as your unhappiest child." Something any parent can associate with, I'm sure. (Wise old bugger, my Dad...)

I was thinking this morning about how my family knows we love each other and my conclusion is that we show and tell! All the time. When we leave we say 'I love you' and hug and give each other a kiss, when we text we say 'I love you' when we're done, when we do things for each other, the silent 'I love you' is always there behind the action and for me, those acts and words mean the world to me. I know if anything happened to any of us, we would all feel like we'd been totally loved by our family for our whole lives, and I'd have no doubts that my parents, my sisters and my daughter know how I feel about them and how much they mean to me, even if we have disagreements! Our love as a family has no barriers and that's the way I like it. We're not overly exuberant, we just have this energy that says that no matter what, we'll be there for each other.

My parents have taught me a lot about how to be a good parent and it's something that I'm constantly trying to emulate in my role as a mother. My Mom has been the best mother I could have ever wished for. She's my friend, my confidante, my sounding board, my cooking instructor, my childcare, my role model, but most of all, she's my Mom, and I couldn't love her any more if I tried. She means the world to me, and I don't know what I'd do without her constant support, advice, love, guidance and understanding.

Happy 60th Birthday, Mom.

I love you more than you could ever imagine. And then a little bit more. :)

N xxx

Enquiries and Custard

It's been a quiet winter on the wedding front, but this week I've had several enquiries for multiple orders which is really encouraging. I guess spring and summer brides are starting to tie all their loose planning ends together now and making sure that they have the right accessories to complete their looks. I can't wait to get making again.

One of my friends lives in Prague, and his wife is having a fascinator off me for a wedding in February which I'll really enjoy making. I used to really dislike making pieces for friends as I found it a lot of pressure and as a perfectionist was always worrying that they wouldn't be pleased with what I'd done for them, but after doing a few I've realised that everyone's been more than happy, so now I love it! J has the most gorgeous dress to wear with her head piece. I love the ruffles and the way the gorgeous fabric reflects the light. This is her dress.

And this is the Joanna fascinator she'll be having to go with it, in Wild Rose to match her accessories.

On a positive note about my newly found lactose and egg intollerance, I've found out that I can replace eggs with Bird's Custard Powder in my baking! I'm going to try it out this weekend with a batch of cupcakes and cookies. Hopefully the vanilla flavour will enhance the flavour of the baked stuff because the egg substitute powder tastes disgusting! I'm not sure if you can get this outside of the UK, but I totally love the flavour of this stuff and I'm excited that this might be a good substitute! My Mom always uses this powder and mixes it with milk to make custard and it's been a staple in our family ever since I can remember. One of my favourite puddings is bananas and custard, although I'd have to make it with lactose free milk now!!

Yummy!

N x

True Love

My daughter is in love. She's 6. He's 6. She writes in her diary how much she loves him and that his best friend is called Luke. It's very cute. She showed me her diary yesterday, giving it to me with a giggle and as I read it, I realised why I am so in love with my girl. Her affection for her beau is real. She feels her emotions, and she's not scared to write them down, with accompanying pictures of stick people looking smiley and happy. Her youthful naivety melts my heart, and I hope that when she grows up she feels love with all the intensity she feels it with now, at 6, but with passion, and that that love is returned back to her with the same vigour.

N x

Hello Ducky...

Well, it's a bit all change here. The cat's had her collar off and is absolutely loving her new found freedom after 10 days, doing flying leaps onto our big cat and generally jumping about all over the place. The operation obviously hasn't phased her one bit, although she still has a big bald patch on her side where she got shaved. I think it's going to take months to grow back!

P is off school again and has a chest infection. I took her to the drs last week and could have told him that then, so as he didn't give her any medication we've ended up going back again today. Very frustrating. She'd be well now if she'd have had those meds last week, and consequently she's missing another day off school. She's paparazzi shy...

The benefit is that we have Zac Efron on the DVD and he's getting his head in the game! Gotta love Zac bustin' some cool moves on a Monday morning!...



I've finished knitting my cousin's little girl a duck with a big fat 'F' on his bum for the first letter of her name. Now the snow's all gone, I can get to posting it! She loved the penguin I did for P, so hopefully will love her new ducky!

Follwing on from my new obsession with food blogs, feast your eyes on THIS baby!

                                                        (Photo credit to notsohumble.blogspot.com)
Isn't she the most gorgeous thing you've ever seen? She's a lemon meringue lamington made by my favourite blogger Ms Humble. Be sure to catch her blog here and join me in daily salivation. She is like a food deity, producing the most edible pictures and text, coming up with amazing recipes and generally making me want to move to Seattle to live with her. A sugary, cakey, moussey, meringuey, lemoney, chocolatey inspiration. I love her. And that lemon meringue lamington.

Dad, P and I managed to do some sledging and build a great snowman at the end of my parent's road last Thursday when it snowed ALL day and we had so much fun. P was ill after this, so I guess all fun has its downsides! Here's my Dad sledging! We haven't done this for years! And our snowman with his sprout eyes, carrot nose and red pepper lips!

Apparenly the UK hasn't had snow like this for 30 years. It's been great, but I'm so glad it's gone now... although it's forecast to come back later this week so I won't hold my breath!

N x

No One Puts Cupcake In A Corner...

My new obsession is reading cupcake and cookie blogs. It's not the baking that floats my boat, it's the genius artistic ability these women have to turn some sugar and butter and eggs into the most beautiful things I've ever seen. Their creations are absolutely beautiful and it makes me want to bake. Therefore, I am setting out on a cupcake and cookie mission. I want my cupcakes and cookies to be beautiful. I want people to think I'm a cupcake queen. And it might give me something to do whilst I wait for the wedding season to pick up. Who knows, I might get so good I can offer wedding cupcakes to my brides...

Talking of bridal cupcakes... get this. I found it on a fabulous blog called IronCupcake and it's probably a sugar fiend's dream!! How could you say no?

In honor of Since1910.com’s 100 year anniversary, Since1910 is offering a $106,794 cupcake.

The diamond cupcake is available in vanilla or chocolate and features a 5.48 ct Round Diamond on top of the cupcake. The diamond advertised is a GIA certified 5.48 ct round diamond – F color – Si2 clarity – Good Cut. There are many diamond options for the cupcake, which will affect the total price of the cupcake.

“We are thrilled to offer this amazing proposal dessert for those discerning patrons who want to create a once in a lifetime memory.” – says Eric Peerless, Vice President of Since1910.com

Peerless states that they will ship the cupcake and diamond via Free Fedex overnight anywhere in the world.

After hearing a surprising amount of engagement stories from men who proposed using dessert as the proposal vehicle, Peerless decided to offer this incredible dessert via their website.

For more information contact http://www.since1910.com at customerservice@since1910.com or 1-800-979-1910

I'll take 2!! 

N x

Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow...

...and we've had some! This is the worst winter I think the UK's seen for a while. The snow has stayed around for the last 3 days, and some parts of the country are -17 degrees which is colder than Russia! My walks to school have been beautiful and really refreshing and the roads look super white. Really beautiful. Pity it's so dangerous and this country is not cut out for heavy snowfall, so I've not taken the car out all week. It does have the downside that you can't do what you want to because of the trecherous conditions, but it makes you walk more which has got to be good, and apparently walking in snow is the same as walking on sand, so I'll have thighs like a championship tennis player by the end of the week....yeah right!!

Here's the road I walk down to school in all it's sparkly glory, and my road underneath.

I found my Christmas photos on my camera and wondered how it could have been nearly 2 weeks ago  since my daughter sat down in front of this monumental pile of presents! (these were for 8 people, not just her!)

                                                      

And my little sister riding away into the sunset to find her Prince Charming...(snigger)

                                                  

My short hair is starting to grow out a bit and I bouffed it up into a mini beehive for Boxing Day! I love this picture of P, me and my Mom. :) 3 generations of us girls. Love P's face!!

N x

Proper Winter!

Atchoo!! Cough, cough, cough. Ouchy!

:( pooooorly Tiger

Oh, plus it's snowing! We had about 2 inches in 40 minutes this morning and it's been on and off all day. The kids came home from school early and played in the garden, making snow bricks. I had to wrangle 3 of them home, but only got to keep my own!! Bring on a closed school tomorrow so I can stay indoors with my cold and my girl :)

N x

Branching Out?

My kit Lola's been spayed today, and when we went to pick her up, she was wearing this! A cat fascinator!

It's pink and sparkly (no joke!) and she has to keep it on for two whole weeks! I think she looks fabulous and the colour is just her! She's not so sure. She's backing up a lot to try and cunningly de-collar herself, and walking around all top heavy with her head dragging on the floor, and I have to admit, sleeping and eating is a bit of a problem, but she's a tough cookie and she'll be bouncing around in no time after she's got used to it. I'm thinking about branching out into cat head accessories... what do you think??! They are obviously all the rage when you've been for a spaying, and cats have loved hats for a loooooooong time...

The vet said 'definitely a calm and quiet house' to go back to... so, what happens? Charlie walks down the stairs, sees this thing with a pink sparkly collar on, all wide eyed and semi drugged up from the anasthetic, dragging her head around and goes completely nuts, sending Lola skidding off into the kitchen where she promptly bashed herself up against the units... the joy of a crazy cat household! Lucky for Lola, she gets to sleep in the lounge tonight, not the kitchen as it was -7 this morning when we woke up, and I think a post-op feline needs some comfort in a slightly warmer room!

P wouldn't go to bed tonight because she was worried that Lola couldn't sleep and that she was in pain. Too cute. My girl loves her kitties.

I, after all the post-vet commotion, managed to cook a gorgeous mushroom and pea risotto. Yes, I of the 'I don't cook' school of finishing, stood slaving over a hot stove for more than 20 minutes to do our tea tonight! It got the "I hate it" vote of disapproval from P, but Kris loved it and said I could make it again! (If this becomes a habit, I may stop altogether... don't want to be cooking things that are actually nice meaning I have to cook more!)

Oh, and Penguin's finished after a bit of help from Lola last night!

 He accidentally supports Aston Villa Football Club though in his claret and blue strip!... good job they're local!

=

N x

25 Seconds of Bliss

Every Sunday, P and I go to my parent's house for Sunday lunch. Sometimes my sisters are there, sometimes not. Today was a not. Just me, P, Mom and Dad. After lunch they went to watch a film in the back of the house, and I was left in the lounge. I had my knitting with me and sat down, in the warm, with no TV on, and just the whirry slurpy noises of the dishwasher coming from the kitchen, and the hum of the central heating and a sense of complete bliss. I was surrounded by my most comforting things, all the smells and feelings of the house I grew up in, my little bit of crafty, and a warm drink, and I can honestly say, at that moment in time, if I'd got a million pounds in my pocket, I couldn't have felt any happier. I'm  not a rich person in monetary terms, but in terms of being surrounded by a loving family and a happy home, I'm definitely a millionaire...

... of course this only lasted about 23 seconds before my 6 year old and her Grandad came in shouting and play fighting and I had to succumb to the madness of my family life!

I wouldn't have it any other way...  :)

N x

Twenty Ten

So, the dilemma... what are we calling this new year? Twenty ten? Two thousand and ten? Two zero, one zero? It's so complicated, I can hardly keep up! I think I'll stick with twenty ten... or maybe two thousand and ten... who knows... ask me in 363 days time.

I was thinking about what the year might have in store for me and what I need to do to make it a good one. If I had to choose a buzz word for 2010 it would be focus. I tend to get very distracted which is made worse by working from home. There always seems to be a million things to do, but I am determined to make more structure to my days and focus on doing little things each day which are important. Sometimes I find it all to easy to have a million things to do but actually get so consumed with thinking about them that I get nothing done.

I've also promised myself that this year I'm going to do one thing for myself each month. A massage, a facial, a head rub, you know the thing. I really never do anything for myself as my home, business and daughter take up so much of my time, and I think it would help me to focus better if I took time out to do something special for myself.

More focus on saving up for my new kitchen this year too... must stop frittering money away on things I don't use or need. My worst vice is buying stuff for the business. I find it hard to resist that gorgeous feather, or that amazing bead, and have a workshop full of things that I could make but never seem to get the time! I'm like a magpie. If it sparkles, I want it!

But I guess I want a new kitchen more. Mine is SO old and the only room in the house that isn't refurbished. I'll have lived here for 7 years in May and I really don't even like going in the room now. It's cold, old fashioned and small. And there lies the problem. I need to knock through into the utility room and have a complete new roof for it to be worth while, hence not just an easy job. Lots of ££'s. Better sell more fascinators this year!

Talking of magpies, I love this Steampunk Cuff by edmdesigns on Etsy. $225 but fabulously gothic and beautifully made! Such a clever girl!

I hope you have some good reso's yourself and you manage to stick to them for January at least!!

N x

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year's Eve! I hope you have a great night, whatever you're doing and you're warm and safe!

Thanks for reading in 2009, you've been very welcome! See you in the '10!

N x

P-P-Pick Up A Penguin!

What a strange inbetweeny day. Not Christmas, not the New Year yet. What do you do on 28th December? Not much happened historically today... check out Wiki for some light (?) reading... and so, I decided that 28th December was my 'get out the knitting needles and make a cat toy' day.


I got some catnip the other day for the cats, and to much hilarity, my eldest (that sounds like he's my child!) went totally nuts for it. If you don't know, catnip is a plant that 'pleasantly stimulates cats' pheromonic receptors, typically resulting in temporary euphoria', and I'm not joking when I say that Charlie is on a trip when he smells it! I put some onto a knitted toy that he plays with and he was rubbing the toy all over his face with huge dilated pupils and a proper look of love for that knitted kitty! So, I'm knitting him a penguin with the catnip powder inside with the stuffing now! Lucky Charlie. He's been totally demasculated by being neutered when he was 6 months old to stop him making kitty babies with the local queens, (very responsible), so the next best thing for him is a love toy just like the one below, I think which is a Jean Greenhowe design. I love her knitted toy designs. What a lucky boy!!

Well, I guess I should get on with tidying up the bombsite that is my lounge since P came back and decided to get ALL of her Christmas presents out at once this afternoon! Oh to be 6 again!


N x

Christmas Eve

Wow, I can't believe it's Christmas Eve already! I've been getting food ready most of the day for our little family drinks and nibbles party tonight. I love having my family round altogether. My Grandad is coming too, and a couple of friends so it'll be a lovely night, before we have to usher them all out, sprinkle Rudolph's magic oats on the garden (so he knows where to stop), and get to bed for an early start in the morning!

I've actually baked 3 batches of Christmas Ginger Cookies today, taking inspiration from the blog and programme I watched yesterday! Some are to hang on my little cookie tree from the garden, and the others I boxed up with ribbon and a christmas tree label for my parents and sister as a little extra present! I love making things for people.

Here's the recipe if you want to try it:

*50g unsalted butter
*2tbsp golden syrup
*100g light brown sugar
*1 egg
*150g plain flour
*1tsp bicarbonate of soda
*1/2 tsp ground ginger
*icing sugar to decorate

1-  Preheat the oven to 180C, 350F, Gas 4. Mix the butter, syrup, sugar and egg in a large bowl.
2 - Sift the rest of the dry ingredients together and stir into the mixture. Form into a dough, adding more flour if it is too sticky.
3 - Roll out the dough on a floured surface until 6mm thick and cut out your cookie shapes.
4 - Put the cookies onto a non stick tray or one lined with greaseproof paper and use a skewer to make holes in the top if you are going to hang them.
5 - Bake for 10 minutes or until cookies are golden brown and take out of the oven and cool before threading with embroidery silk or ribbon and dusting with icing sugar.

Enjoy!

Merry Christmas, lovely people. I hope yours is healthy, happy and without hangover!! See you on the other side!

N x

Don't Assume I Cook!...

It's no secret in my family that I don't like to cook. I can cook, but I just don't enjoy it. I'd actually do most things to get out of having to rustle up something from scratch which takes me 30 minutes to chop and prepare then 45 minutes to wait for it to cook. I'm far too impatient! An added problem is that I can't stand mess... or ready meals. The amount of added salt, sugar chemicals and what not in some of those things scares me to death, plus there's the fact that they taste like plastic once you've cooked them.

I'm not a great 'foodie', in the way that food doesn't give me pleasure and I think that's at the root of my apathy for cooking. I recently found out that I'm highly intollerant to cow's milk and whole eggs, with cashew nuts featuring high on the 'eat these and you'll suffer' list of produce. It was a really interesting experiment that I did with a home testing kit from a reputable company that supplies hospitals and clinics with testing equipment and I was in the middle of having one of my frantic searches for a cure for my daily headaches which have plagued me for the last 20 years. So, I guessed that as I consume cow's milk every day in one form or another I'd give it a go and go 'cold turkey' (very seasonally apt!), and guess what... I'm on day 6 of not having a headache or taking pain killers!! I'm not counting my chickens (or turkeys) yet but if cow's milk and eggs are at the root of my headache woes, then I'm happy to substitute them for something else!

So, lately I've had to read labels on food for the first time in my life, and have realised that milk in one form or another is in most products, from tomato soup to Pringles crisps, to nearly every chocolate, so I've been making my own stuff more so that I know that I'm not consuming some sneaky lactose or egg and I've actually been secretly nearly enjoying it! (oh, plus I've dropped a few pounds from having to cut out bakery stuff! Win all round!)

Somthing that I've realised too, is that I might not actually like cooking but I sure as hell LOVE watching cooking programmes with a whistful dreamy twinkle in my eye wishing that I was Nigella Lawson. I lay on my sofa watching her Christmas Kitchen programme last night, and her velvety voice, total passion for food and gorgeous voluptuousness makes me just want to jump up and bake these chocolate cookies and give them to everyone I know with Christmas music playing in the background and twinkly lights adorning every surface of my whole house! You just can't help but fall in love with Nigella. I want to be her friend. She makes me happy and everything doesn't seem so bad once you've spent half an hour with her!


















As I was reading some random blogs last night I came across this one which made me swoon with excitement! Not So Humble Pie is the most fabulous diary of a Seattle Sweetie who takes basic ingredients and transforms them into works of art with a fun element to her cooking. The reason this tickles my taste buds, and nudges my creative gene is that she bakes cookies! Now, if there's anything I love baking it's cookies. Just the thought of baking something special that I could actually decorate makes me have a big smile on my face... although P does all the decorating in our house when we bake cookies so I never get a look in! Have a look through her older posts, she makes some amazing stuff which looks like it would last about 3.2 seconds if she put them on a table and asked everyone to help themselves! I love the layout of this blog and the way she writes, but it's the photographs that do it for me. Talk about visual merchandising! These Snowflake Cookies are to die for!!!

I guess I'l have to make 2010 the year I start to enjoy cooking, using lactose free milk and whole egg substitute of course!... and I'm starting with watching more Nigella! I'm off to buy some cookie cutters!

N x

I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas!

Let it snow... (just a bit though because I'm not that keen...) We woke up to a smattering this morning, but still went out for a play. P loves throwing snow at me for some reason. Can't think why!

The Queen's grandaughter, Zara Phillips attended a wedding this weekend wearing a fabulous fascinator in steel grey which looked amazing. I love it when the royals get dressed up and wear great head wear!

I particularly loved the Duchess of Cornwall's (Prince Charles' wife, Camilla), wedding head piece. An amazing plume of feathers that suited her so well and worked perfectly for her age and for a second wedding. Classy but fabulous showing that fascinators can be worn at any age.

P and I have been on a Christmas baking spree this weekend. We've made vanilla cookies which she had so much fun decorating for everyone, and has made a special one just for Santa for Christmas eve. Bless her!

I've been making presents for my sister and my two friends who I don't see as often as I should. I made Chocolate Brownie Jars! Basically it's the dry ingredients of the recipe layered into the jar, and finished off with Christmas ribbon and instructions on how to bake! I think they look amazing and I'll definitely be doing more of these for other presents throughout the year now. I love home made presents, and you can't beat ones that you can eat!!

I've actually had time to complete all my orders too this week, making a fascinator for Hong Kong, some jewellery and a hair comb for a client in the UK and I forgot to show a fascinator that went over to the States a couple of weeks ago for a repeat client who has lots of children who are all getting married around this time so I'm sure I'll see her again!

For the States. Laura design in English rose with blue and purple feathers:

Jewellery and hair comb for the UK:

Jane design in daffodil yellow with fluffy yellow feathers:

We went to the candlelit carol service in the church tonight which was lovely and walking home in the snow made it feel really Christmassy. Roll on Friday!!

N x

More Pics

John has worked fantastically hard to get me my new product shots within a week! Thanks John! I've finished writing up 95% of the descriptions for the site now, so I'm literally waiting for some artwork to be done for my new look site, then I can put everything together and 'Hey Presto', we're in business for 2010!

Here's the rest of my new shots.

N x