Weekend:IN at Kreativ House

A few weeks ago I was invited to take part in a day of creative workshops run by independent brands with weekend:IN. As someone who teaches a lot of workshops it was lovely to be on the other side for once and learn some new skills. 

Creightons Chocolaterie

We started the morning with an introduction to chocolate making with Creighton‘s Chocolaterie. We learnt to temper chocolate, before pouring it into moulds and creating beautiful swirled designs. I had a go tempering chocolate, using palette knives to lift the molten chocolate up aerating it and allowing it to cool slightly. Cooling the chocolate in this way insures the finished chocolate has a glossy shine and a smooth crack when broken. For my bar I swirled together dark chocolate, white chocolate, raspberry infused white chocolate and real petals, which created a very pretty marbled effect. It was lovely to see how different everyone’s final bars of chocolate work. Creightons are a mother and daughter run independent chocolate producer who have been selling design lead chocolate since 2011. They release new collections of on-trend chocolate bars every season, just like a fashion brand.

Meylor Goods

After lunch we were introduced to Meylor Goods, a minimalist stationery and homeware brand. Taking inspiration from their collection we learnt to embroider T-shirts. Being me I picked something too ambitious and didn’t have a chance to finish it in the session, but it was lovely to sit, chat and sew. Grace, the founder of  Meylor Goods, had bought a selection of her beautiful prints with her. I picked up this minimalist bouquet of flowers, which is now on my wall. 

Leafage

The final workshop of the day with Leafage was possibly my favourite. Leafage teach people how to make beautiful enclosed terrariums. These miniature ecosystems are perfect for gardenless londoners, all they need to thrive is a warm windowsill. It was so fascinating to learn how these miniature greenhouses are constructed. I loved all the specialist tools like the very long scissors and tweezers for reaching down into the glass container. Arranging a perfect minute garden inside a glass jar is not easy, but I’m pretty pleased with how mine turned out.

Thank you weekend:IN for such a lovely and inspiring day, thank you to all the brands you took park for sharing their skills and passion, and thank you Sophie allowing to to use your beautiful photos.

All photos by Sophie Carefull

Instagram for Creatives Workshop

Last month I hosted my first ever Instagram for Creatives workshop. The aim was to share what I had learnt about using Instagram to grow my business with other creatives. I wanted the talk to be inspirational, but also packed full of useful information and advise the students could implement straight away. There was a big focus on not seeing Instagram as a popularity contest, but using it as a tool to grow your business and we started the workshop by defining and writing down our goals. It was such a lovely afternoon and I had such a nice bunch of women to talk to.

I am very pleased to announce I have a another Instagram for Creatives workshop coming up in January. You can book tickets here.

The workshop was hosted in a beautiful East London venue and refreshments were provided by My Little Cake Tin. My good friend Nancy came along on the day to help with a bit of styling and took the photos. I booked the space via Breather, get £45 off your first booking with the code BKA5JG. 

We got Married!

So, I got married! The day was absolutely amazing, hopefully it’s clear from the photos that as well as being a beautiful day it was also a really funny, emotional, magical perfect day.

I’ll start with the night before. I spent the day before with my fiance and my mum, dropping off a few things at the venue and finishing a bit of hand lettering. I was so glad that I didn’t have lots of last minute DIY projects to complete, I deliberately had not given myself too much crafting to do so that I wouldn’t be stressed the day before. We went out for dinner at one of our favourite local restaurants The Step, where Alex had actually proposed, and had an early night, which was sheer bliss.

The next morning my mum and I had breakfast at my flat before getting a taxi to our hotel in Stoke Newington. When we arrived both my bridesmaids were there and Migle, my florist had just dropped off the flowers. I actually woke up feeling really ill on the day of the wedding. I’ve had a cold about a month before and due to stress and overwork I haven’t been able to fight it off, so it had turned into a sinus infection. Fortunately paracetamol, concealer and adrenaline got me through the day. I’d only booked the photographer for a half day so my bridesmaids got few photos up with getting ready. I love these photos, they are so personal and intimate. I did my own hair and make up, a decision I will blog about a bit later. Getting ready with my mum and bridesmaids was one of my favourite parts of the day.

We decided to do a first look, which I’m really really glad we did. It helped everything after the ceremony flow really smoothly, without the need to disappear for an hour to take lots of couple photos. It also helped my pre-wedding nerves, although I was still absolutely terrified walking down the aisle. 

Writing our own vows is something else and really glad we did. It made it so special and emotional. We also got my husband sister to do a reading from a Midsummer’s night dream, which was really beautiful. The ceremony was so beautiful and meaningful.

The weather was absolutely glorious that day, so after the ceremony we headed straight outside to the terrace for Pimms, canapes and confetti throwing. 

We managed to get a group of family photos done with the minimum of fuss, and then we will back chatting with our guests. The wedding took place in Clissold House in Clissold Park, Stoke Newington. Because it was such a gorgeous sunny day there were lots of people around, and that made it even more special. One of my favourite parts of the day was how happy everyone was for us and how many people came up to us to say congratulations. 

We eventually managed to drag everyone inside for dinner, cake, speeches and prosecco. Alex is a jazz musician, and his band serenaded us as we ate. I made a speech thanking everyone who had played a part in the wedding, and then we had the father of the bride speech and the best man speech, which were both hilarious. We finished with my husband’s speech, and I don’t think I was the only one who shed a tear. Time seemed to flow by very smoothly, there was no waiting or hanging around, but also no rushing or panicking. Just everything flowing very smoothly and everyone having a wonderful day. Everyone was magnetically drawn to the sunshine, with a pint or a Pimms in their hand. Before the light faded we regather for the first dance, under the arbour of fresh cherry blossom.