Wordles

I came across the website Wordle today.  It is a site that generates "word clouds" from the text that you provide.  The clouds give greater prominence to words that appear more frequently in the source text.  You can tweek the clouds with different fonts, layouts, and colour schemes.  The images that you create with Wordle are yours to use however you like.  I spent a good half an hour procrastinating from planning during my impromptu snow day today on Wordle and experimented by posting the URL of blogs with an Atom or RSS feed as the source text! 

All of a sudden I feel very self conscious at an apparent overuse of the word, "bath."

Nobody told Nick at Mid-Century Midwest to never say never... 

 Need a personalised gift?  Create a Wordle and get it printed and framed or put to canvas.

Everybody loves a little typography...

Vintage Scarf Bundles.

I love it when gift ideas pop into your head!  The inspiration for these little bundles came from countless trips to the cosmetic shop, "Lush".  The products are almost delectable but the prices are not quite as appetising.  

£7.95 will buy you a tiny soap and single bath bomb.  

A single bath bomb can cost up to £7.  Most average £3/£4 a piece.  Surely you cant just buy someone one enjoyable bath as a gift! You would want to buy two or three pieces to fill out your wrapping.

Lush also sells a a selection of synthetic vintage knot wraps for £3.95.  The marketing gimmick behind these is that they are the ultimate in reusable wrapping.  You get to choose the up-cycled scarf you wish to wrap your gift in.  Once it has been given to the lucky recipient they can wear it or use again as wrapping.  I appreciate the idea each and every time I visit a store but have never yet committed to a purchase.

I figured out that a nice gift from Lush would set me back approximately £15 for two small bath bombs, a soap and a vintage knot wrap.   The penny dropped when I realised I could make up my own bundles, with soaps of my choice and real vintage scarves to suit the individuals I am making them for.  

Ebay came up trumps...

+ 25 essential oil bath bomb hearts:

1. 5 x Blueberry and lavender - chamomile, sandalwood, blueberry decorated with lavender heads.
2. 5 x Violet and vanilla - violet and vanilla essential oils decorated with blue mallow.
3. 5 x Rose and ylang - rose and ylang ylang essential oils, decorated with rose petals. 
4. 5 x Passion - rose, patchouli, pine and ginger essential oils decorated with rose petals.
5. 5 x Tangerine - tangerine, pine, ginger, black pepper and orange essential oils, decorated with marigold petals. 

I regularly read Miss Thrifty's blog.  Last week she posted about The Body Shop and a deal of £10 off any £20 spend.  I purchased a selection of large heart soaps in vanilla and cranberry for £2 a piece. After visiting the Body Shop website through Quidco I managed to receive 18% cashback for the purchase which covered the shipping cost.

My finished wrapped bundles contain a soap and a selection of 5 bath bombs and cost:

• £1.80 (on average for each scarf)
• £1.76 (5 essential oil bath bombs)
• £2 (1 large vanilla or cranberry Body Shop soap)

Total: £5.56

... Just call me Miss Thrifty II.

Libby's Pumpkin Pie

It's been a good week.  It involved, some quality time with my Grandmother, decorating for christmas with my family, the discovery of a new item at Tesco's and a lovely, lovely, lovely surprise. (More on that later)

__________________________________________________________________

In regards to the new item at Tesco...

Libby's canned pumpkin isn't actually a new product at at all, the company itself was founded in 1869 in Chicago.  Libby's Famous Pumpkin Pie is a traditional holiday pie, the recipe of which has been on the labels of the can since the 1950's.  It's something i've eaten a lot in the Mid-West and it's delicious so i'm excited to be able to make it at home now too.  

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup of granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon of ground ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon of ground cloves
• 2 large eggs
• 1 can (15 oz) of Libby's 100% pure pumpkin.
• 1 can (12 fl oz) Nestle carnation evaporated milk
• 1 unbaked 9-inch (4 cup volume) deep-dish pie shell
• Whipped cream (optional) 

Method:

1) Mix, sugar, cinnamon, salt, ginger and cloves in a small bowl.  

2) Beat eggs in large bowl.  Stir in pumpkin and sugar-spice mixture.  Gradually stir in evaporated milk

3) Pour into pie shell.

4) Bake in preheated oven at 425F for 15 minutes.

5) Reduce temperature to 350F and bake for 40 to 50 minutes or until a knife inserted near the center comes out clean.

6) Cool of a wire rack for 2 hours. Serve immediately or refrigerate.  Top with whipped cream before serving. 

W GERM where are you?

Got pots?

I'm currently on the look out for some West German Pottery.  Nick hopes to fill the new divider with some and is relying on me to come up with the goods.  It shouldn't be a difficult task seeing as I spent the Spring and Summer months regularly passing it up at car boot sales.  The irony behind this trail of thought is now that I am actively looking the darn pots seem to have disappeared. These little vases above are the closest i've found but they aren't really the fat lava kind that i'm looking for.  I'm hoping to find some Dumler and Breiden, Jopeko, Roth, and Scheurich in particular.  There are some beautiful pieces up for auction on our UK ebay which are mostly located in... wait for it... Germany.  They are selling for very reasonable prices but the shipping is often a pretty penny.  If I bought anymore than one or two I might be financially better off finding a cheap flight out to Germany to pick them up by hand. 

In other news, I picked up a couple of large, vintage, paint by number landscapes.  They are in original frames and in pretty good shape.  I'm debating whether I have enough wall space to hang them at home at the moment.  For 50p a piece it was worth a try! 

Lastly, something Essex...

Wait...no... 

Something dusty...I found this old map of Essex by John Cary at the bottom of an old box at one of our local charity shops.  I've learnt a little about various antiques from my father and now share an interest in some of the things he likes to collect.  Maps happen to be one of these things.   

Chocolate Fridge Cake

I've worked so hard this weekend to allow myself a guilt free Sunday afternoon for a little down time before Monday comes round again! The Sunday afternoon plan consists of baking, a bubble bath, new pajamas, some early online Christmas shopping and a nap! Considering such a hectic afternoon plan my baking amounted to a chocolate fridge cake which in fact required no baking at all nor can it really be identified as a real cake.  None the less this little lovely is quick and delicious.  It has to be the perfect recipe for busy people that need some chocolately sustenance.

Ingredients:

• 250g/8oz digestive biscuits
• 150g/5oz milk chocolate
• 150g/5oz dark chcolate
• 100g/3.5oz unsalted butter
• 150g golden syrup
• 25g chopped glacier cherries
• 100g raisins 
• 75g mixed nuts (pecans, almonds, hazelnuts

Method:

1) Line a 20cm shallow tin with foil

2) Place the biscuits into a plastic food bag and bash them into pieces using a rolling pin.

3) Melt the chocolate, butter and golden syrup in a heat proof bowl set over a pan of simmering water and stir occasionally. (Or cheat as I did and heat in a pan on a very low heat being extremely careful not to burn by stirring continuously)

4) Remove pan from heat and stir in the broken biscuits, cherries, raisons, pecans, almonds and hazelnuts.

5) Pour the mixture into prepared tray, top with chopped hazelnuts and cover before placing in fridge for 1-2 hours to set.

6) Turn the cake out and pull away the foil.  Cut the cake into bite-size pieces and enjoy!

Life

Sometimes life has a way of grabbing you by both shoulders and screaming in your face until you have no option left but to stop and take note of everything that's going on around you.  It's been one of those months when like dominoes one thing just leads onto another and you are left feeling helpless trying to get one problem under control as best as you can before the next one crops up.  Everything is still very much unsettled and on hold.  Family sickness, stress, responsibilities and uncertainties rife. Life just feels a bit like this at the moment really...

Oh blow.

So... During the week I wrote a post declaring my love for few particular pieces of teak that I have been on the hunt for.  A G Plan sideboard and dressing table in particular.  Well on the way home from work today I decided to drive by a local charity shop to see what they had in stock before the weekend. As I entered I passed a couple of nice looking Formica chairs and decided that this was going to be a good visit! Then to my right I caught a glimpse of something very familiar! It wasn't! Oh it was! A G Plan sideboard!  In perfect condition! £80! I was all set to get my purse out until I notice a second sticker on the piece.  "SOLD 7/9/12"  

Oh goodness.  Such disappointment! The most sour part of the story would be that I actually thought to visit yesterday but decided to leave it a day in the hope that they might have more stock in right before the weekend. Crumbs. 

There were plenty of other MCM finds to be had, but after the sheer disappointment that the stars had not aligned to make the G Plan sideboard happen I wasn't in so much of a mood to shop anymore! 

 

Time for teak.

After spending so much time hunting down Mid Century furnishings across the pond I decided it was about time to bring some home in England.  I visit the charity shops and boot sales a lot but tend to just pick up smalls that I can just revamp and send away.  Due to limited space i've turned a blind eye to all the remarkable woodwork that i've come across... like the Ercol found here at Battlesbridge Antique Centre.

Well with the new school year i've committed to the decision to redecorate my English bedroom.  I've scoured Gumtree and I think I have found exactly what i'm looking for! Now I just need to find it down South! The G Plan teak dressing table below is from the late 60's/early 70's.  It seems in great condition and has the detachable full length mirror at the back. It would fit in perfectly with its dimensions of 152cm width, 50cm depth, 70cm height without a mirror and 120cm height with. The seller is asking £160 for it in a location closest to London but i've found the exact table two times over in Glasgow and Cardiff for a snip at £70. I've made an offer so fingers crossed!

The second piece I have my eye on is this beautiful piece of teak.

Or this!

I came across retro zebra furniture during my searching today.  They are based in East London and open by open by appointment only.  They allegedly specialise in vintage decor from the 50's, 60's and 70's so I sent them an email today to enquire about what they might have in stock that would be suitable! An added bonus... They deliver! Oh my little car will be happy!

Once the furniture is in situ i'll make a trip to Ikea to pick up some soft furnishings and decoration and keep an eye out whilst thrifting for any other keepsies.  These are on my maybe list...