Is there anything more lovely than an oh so pretty and sparkly manicure from the wonderful Monaco Nails to welcome in the New Year – I always feel so spoilt when I go and see Penny, she’s so lovely to chat to, very talented and has so many gorgeous colours and styles to choose from for your pretty nails! I love the start of each new year, you’ve had time over the Christmas holidays to think things through, take each warm lazy day as it comes, take lots of afternoon naps and of course set a few exciting goals and resolutions for the year ahead – I try not to set impossible goals each year, but I do love setting a little challenge for myself. So here are a few of my resolutions for this year, I’d love to hear your thoughts and what exciting resolutions/goals you’d love to achieve in exciting new 2013, it could be as simple and beautiful as Laura from The Velvet Doe’s 31 Days of Positivity . x
1. Always put my family and friends first
I know that this is a fairly simple goal, and one that maybe shouldn’t really be a goal. But I want to try my hardest to not lest the ‘day to day’ things to get in the way of being there for the people that you love most.
2. Take time with my ideas and don’t rush things
This is going to be very tricky for me! I’m like a little kid with ideas I get incredibly excited and passionate about them and can easily bounce from one to the next without taking the time to think about the first or give it the time it needs – it ends up getting me very very frazzled and confused. So this year I’m not going to rush into things so quickly, I’m going to take my time and think things through a little – even if it takes me longer to fulfil my idea, that’s more than ok by me!
3. Try a new recipe every few weeks
Like most foodies and bakers out there, I have a silly amount of cookbooks that I adore but don’t use as much as I would like to. So this year I’m going to make my way through each delicious book and make something new and tasty – and of course share it with all of you!
4. Look after myself
This is no doubt on everyone’s list, and for good reason too – nothing is more important than looking after yourself, if you’re not ok, then how are we to find the energy to be there for our loved ones? So this year, I want to get to the gym a little more, eat more fresh food and take time for myself when needed – that means going to bed a little earlier instead of spending all night on pinterest :)
5. Grow Made From Scratch
I adore my little space on the internet, and I’m forever amazed and so honoured that I’m able to share so many beautiful things with so many of you – but like everything I want to make things even better. So one of my goals for this year is to make Made From Scratch even more wonderful for you, I have some lovely little ideas for the blog and I can’t wait to share them with you. I can tell you one thing though, it’s going to be very pretty and filled to the brim with beautiful new content, stunning weddings and styled shoots and lots of yummy recipes, Made From Scratch of course!
Happy 2013 everyone – here’s to a wonderful and very exciting new year. xo
I adore this time of the year, Christmas celebrations, catching up with friends and family, delicious food and of course wonderfully warm summer days! It can all be a little busy from time to time but at the same time it’s wonderfully calm and quite, I find it’s the perfect time to relax and catch up on things that would otherwise have slipped by during the year – like going on a little Christmas holiday for a few day’s to Wellington, I’m SO excited about this as I haven’t spent much there!
I love the newness Christmas and the New Year brings with it, the last few years have been very very busy for Ben and I, getting married, buying and renovating our first home, Ben going back to university to study his MBA and establishing Made From Scratch into a lovely little business hasn’t given us a great deal of breathing room – and I wouldn’t change it for anything, it’s been an amazing couple of years and I’m forever honoured that I’m able to share it with you all! One thing that I do hope that 2013 brings is a little more calm to our lives, I still and will always have a long list of ‘to-do’s’ for 2013 but the first is to take time out for myself, my husband and our family more often as they really are everything! I hope that everyone has a truly wonderful break over the Christmas holidays you all deserve it. x
I served these delicious little desserts at our Christmas lunch and I have been overwhelmed with all the lovely requests for this recipe! It’s the perfect treat to make during summer – I can’t think of anything more wonderful than individual cheesecakes for your lovely guests! I hope you enjoy this little treat as much as we did. x
Click read more for the recipe.
My gorgeous sister in law Lucy Olive and I have had a little tradition for quite a few years now where we make a gingerbread house for Christmas – you can see our wonderful Gingerbread houses from years gone by here and here . It’s such a fun tradition and always filled with heaps of laughter, a lot of mess and without fail each year something little always seems to go wrong with our little houses – this years was quickly altered from a house to a mezzanine house/barn due to tricky structural issues but we honestly wouldn’t have it any other way! I hope you enjoy out little Gingerbread house/barn for Santa and his reindeer – complete with yummy fairy lights! I adore Christmas traditions they’re just so lovely, I’d love to hear what special traditions you do each year. x
Click read more for the recipe.
Goodness me, can any else believe that there are only 5 more sleeps until Christmas, it’s so exciting! I love how busy, relaxing and fun filled this time of the year is, I find that I tend to bake a lot during the silly season I find quite calming potting in the kitchen while everyone else runs around – hehe and you get to try everything first! These oh so cute Mini Chocolate Guinness would be the perfect treat for any Christmas celebration – they would be so lovely served with some delicious fresh summer berries and vanilla ice cream. x
Click read more for the recipe.
Weekly Roundup 14th December
Happy Friday everyone – yay is anyone else excited that the weekend is here again, it’s not long until Christmas now! I’m a little bit smitten with this weeks gorgeous baking themed Weekly Roundup by Toodles Noodles – isn’t it just so perfect, I can easily say that any baker in your family would adore something from this list this Christmas. I hope you all have something wonderful planned for the weekend – we’re having the first of three family Christmas’s, I can’t wait! x
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Well everyone the countdown is really on for Christmas now! Orders have really been flying through the shop and we have our last market of the year! You can find us this Saturday at Britomart’s Moad Christmas Market open from 10-2:30. Then on Sunday I’m super excited for the Day on the Green concert at the positively beautiful Villa Maria Estate Winery featuring The Black Seeds and Fly Me Pretties! Do you have some fun weekend plans – we’d love to hear them!
Now onto the good stuff – this week’s roundup is a gift guide for the cooks in your life!
1. Beautiful mini wood bowls by Wind & Willow Home.
2. A lovely handmade apron by Beth at Chirp will surely do the trick, located locally here in Auckland.
3. OneCanoeTwo make the most beautiful and vibrant letter-pressed
4. For the baker – this colourful cookbook is perfect!
5. Have lots of shopping to do – no problem! This notepad will help keep you and your home organised.
6. Time to make those baked goods shine with this handcrafted cake stand.
7. There’s nothing like a tidy kitchen, keep your cooking utensils looking fab.
Sure do hope this roundup help bring some inspiration for those cooks and bakers in your life! See you all next week!
Happy Monday everyone, oh my how fantastic was the weather over the weekend, I hope that you were able to get outside and enjoy the lovely sunshine! I’ve had a few requests from some lovely ladies who attended my baking classes for the recipe of shortbread that I served with tea on arrival. This recipe is so so lovely, and can even be turned into reindeer cookies, either one (or both) would make the perfect little gift for someone special. x
Click read more for the recipe.
Every year the very talented and lovely Anna Spiro of store Black & Spiro dresses up her shop windows with the most beautiful and ‘out of the box’ Christmas window displays – you can read all about it in the latest issue of Adore Home Magazine! I love how bright and fresh it is without being too ‘Christmasy’ – it’s perfect! There are so many gorgeous items that your eye falls upon, I’m quite smitten with the cushions and pineapple accents, I couldn’t think of a more beautiful way to enter Anna’s gorgeous store – which is at the top of my ‘must visit list’ when I go back to Brisbane. x
| Source, Adore Home Magazine | Shop, Black & Spiro | Photography, Life in Bloom Photography |
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