Cupcakes by Jo Aberdeen

Cupcakes by Jo is another place I managed to visit when we were in Aberdeen before Christmas. Owned by the lovely Jo Gale, (who has been running the business for a while but only more recently opened her new shop) this cute wee cupcake shop is the perfect place to pop in for a treat! When you walk in it smells amazing and you'll be spoilt for choice with the cakes in the counter - if you're early enough! If you are planning a visit you should check out Jo's Facebook page where she shares the flavours of the day (and also sold out notices!). Jo's wee shop is so purple, sparkly and yummy, it's a good thing I'm not in Aberdeen now or I'd never stop eating cake. You'll find Cupcakes by Jo at 7a Crown Street... and if you need some legal advice you'll find my Dad next door at Jonathan Tait & Co!

Getting Organised Part 2

This week our Getting Organised series looks at home organisers. I'm sure lots of you are like us and come January want to get back into eating better. I find my worst habit is waiting until I'm hungry then deciding what to eat - usually something lazy and unhealthy so meal planning is a must for me! This rainbow planner features our new fruit and veg print in the background and has boxes for 3 meals a day 7 days a week and you can download it for free here or below - yay! Planning every meal every day might be a bit over the top but it's nice to have the option for when you want to with this planner. You may have also noticed the cute matching magnets in the photo above, these are brand new to our web shop and available here (also available in 'what's for tea?' and 'what's for supper?').

As well as planning meals we've gone and made ourselves a chore list. I know this sounds incredibly dull but for me having it pinned to the kitchen noticeboard makes trying to remember to clean one less thing to think about. It helps that it's in pastel colours with a touch of polkadot! I found lots of these on Pinterest with plenty designed to involve children but none right for us. It's a bit different since it's a pre-filled organiser but hopefully it will be useful as a starting point if anyone else is interested. You can download this here or below.

Next week is the last in our Getting Organised series (for now) and will look at organisation in the studio!

RockingStitch Sewing Studio

RockingStitch is run by the lovely Barbara who I got to know while we worked on her brand refresh and website last year. I designed a custom pattern for her which you can see in the background of the RockingStitch website, along with custom icons and some promotional design for print. Barbara opened the RockingStitch Sewing Studio in November and I managed to squeeze in a visit when we were back in Aberdeen for Christmas. Sadly not long enough to take part in a class as I'd love to get to know my sewing machine!

The studio is so beautiful, definitely worth popping in for some creative inspiration. Barbara has put so much thought into all the details, just look at the decorations on the Christmas tree! The space is so fresh and inviting with gorgeous homely touches. There's also an adorable selection of haberdashery for sale. Barbara runs a huge range of classes for all levels including dressmaking, classes for kids and classes where you can sew bunting, patchwork blankets, tea cosies, tote bags and more. The studio is located in Bead Pop at 19-21 St Andrews Street behind John Lewis. Bead Pop, owned by the wonderful Alex, is such a cheerful and crafty shop! Together they are hosting a Ladies Love Crafts Day which sounds like a lot of fun. It's on Valentine's day and includes a choice of 2 fabric/bead crafts, glass of prosecco and nibbles, tea and cupcakes and a free goody bag! For more info and for booking head to beadpop.co.uk.

Getting Organised Part 1

Happy new year! Ironically, this post is later than planned due to disorganisation for the first week or so of January... but hopefully we'll keep on top of things now thanks to our Getting Organised series this month. Before reopening the online shop after our Christmas break we went into full planning mode including a studio clear out, new stock take method, home organisation, a labelling frenzy and designing pretty, yet practical, printables.

This is our new weekly planner - it's perfect for us as some days are full lists and we want a blank column and other days we can add doodles and note bubbles as there are no restricting lines or time slots. The reason we chose not to include the weekend is that this planner goes up on the studio wall where we're trying to keep away from at weekends to make sure we get time off (which was an issue we had in 2014). Plus weekends are a time for relaxing and taking a break from lists!

If you'd like a copy of this planner you can download it for free as a pdf here. It's A4 size and perfect for printing off for busier weeks! We'd love to hear if you find it useful. Next week we'll be sharing some home organisers.

I'm Dreaming of a Pink Christmas

gingerbread house ornament - Asda

making decorations - sprinkle baubles, fimo candy canes and button garlands

finished with sparkles and ribbon!

handmade sprinkle bauble on the tree

ice cream bauble - Maisons du Monde

Gingerbread decoration - Miss Daisy Gifts

cupcake bauble - Maisons du Monde

snowman decoration - Fayre Earth Gift Shop

sweetie decoration - Maisons du Monde

pastel button book tree - Macbelles

candle - Pebble / vintage plate - Rural Reads & Threads

We have our first proper Christmas tree up! I'm so excited because I've been collecting things for months and had decided a while back that I wanted to go for a 'winter wonderland/sugarplum fairy' theme with lots of snow, pink, pastels and cute sweetie decorations. We got our snowy tree from Asda and a selection of cheap tinsels, bead strings and simple baubles from there too as well as B&M. We didn't have a big budget for Christmas decorations so doing that for the basics meant we could buy more special decorations from local shops and on holiday. We got lots in Maisons du Monde in Nice which go so perfectly and of course we finished the tree off with some handmade bits and pieces! I have to admit that I didn't stop at the living room and there is lots more in the house including our homemade advent calendars in the hall along with a mini tree, snowy lights in the windows and some other cute things but I've decided to split this post in two as I took way too many photos! Here is the end result...

Christmas Shopping Evenings at Pebble

On Thursday we went to Aberdeen to surprise my Mum at her first Pebble Christmas shopping evening. Mince pies, mulled wine, Christmas music and gorgeous gift ideas! After surprising my Mum I managed to get a lot of Christmas shopping done too. Pebble is the perfect place for finding a thoughtful gift since most of the items are handmade so you know that lots of thought and care went into each piece you buy... Plus you can get your presents wrapped beautifully for free! I've not shared photos of the presents I bought but instead here's a selection of festive stocking fillers and cute present ideas (JillyJilly mugs!) that would be worth popping in to pick up. Pebble has also shared some albums of gift ideas on their Facebook page. It was so nice just to pop home and see everyone for the night even if it did mean we had to spend the next day in a rush to catch up!

Pebble has one more shopping evening on before Christmas - Thursday 4th December 6-9pm with some special offers happening on top of the free nibbles and late night shopping.