Thursday, July 30, 2009

Tiffin!


Tiffin is basically my favourite snack time treat. It's ridiculously yummy, and like most things that are both yummy and English, impossible to obtain in the US.

So...I took it upon myself to make some the other day (which is all gone and Mr.Style demanded I made more, so yesterday I made a second batch!)

It was both easy and yet more complicated than I expected. I had assumed you mix cookies, raisins and melted chocolate in a pan and then put it in the fridge - nope....making it made me realise why it's so yummy!



Ingredients:

- Approx 2o Digestive Biscuits (these are English cookies, you can buy them at World Market, they make the best Tiffin but you could try other cookies)
- Handful of Raisins
- 1 stick of butter
- 2 Tablespoons of Sugar
- 2 1/2 Tablespoons of Cocoa (or drinking chocolate)
- 2 Tablespoons of Golden Syrup (available at World Market or you can just use pancake syrup)
- 10oz of Milk Chocolate

What to Do:

-Melt butter with the sugar and the syrup on a low heat in a pan.

-Add the raisins and the drinking chocolate and bring to the boil. Let it bubble and thicken for 2-3 minutes without scorching the butter.

-Put the biscuits (cookies) in a ziploc bag and crumble, you can hammer it with a rolling pin, but I prefer to just break them with hands so that it's not too powdery. You want some chunks, but not too big or the mixture won't stick together.

-Add the crumbs to the mixture and mix them all up making sure to coat all of the crumbs. It needs to be wet enough to stick together but not too wet to slop about! (if you find the mixture is too wet you can refrigerate it for 10 minutes, but you may end up with congealed butter bits as it generally means it's not mixed enough)

-Line a brownie pan (square pan) with parchment paper and fill the pan with the mix. Use a metal spoon to press the mix into the pan.

-Melt the milk chocolate, don't boil! And pour the melted chocolate over the mixture in the pan.

-Pop in the refrigerator for about an hour and voila! Tiffin!

Enjoy...we did!

Monday, July 27, 2009

Dyed Gemstones!


After lots and lots of trial and error (so much so the launch of this collection had to be pushed back to the end of the month!) the gems are dyed, polished and lacquered.

I dyed, magnesite, howlite, shell and coral, with coral and magnesite being the most successful in terms of colour.

It's a messy, multi level process which left my kitchen somewhat skanky for about a week, but overall I was pleased with the results. (p.s don't stupidly wear white clothes and wear gloves if you ever dye anything)


The colours are not quite as bright as I had initially hoped for, but I like they're very very pretty nonetheless. In fact I've fallen in love with them a little bit!

See them in some new creations at the end of the month in store! Each piece made with them will be a one of kind dues to the nature of dyeing gems!

Saturday, July 25, 2009

Friday, July 24, 2009

Graffiti? On Feathers? Seriously?

New hand painted feather earrings, a sneak peak from the new RGB (Rocks, Gems and Butterflies) collection at Stylesmith! They'll be listed in the store by the end of the month

(though if you want one earlier do let me know, it can be arranged!)

Single feather earrings 80's styley-o. The biggest ones are 8 inches long. Not for the faint hearted!

Prices will range $10-$15

Sunday, July 19, 2009

Celebrating Erica's Birthday at Dodgers Stadium!

Erica opening and enjoying her presents!

Myself and Mr. Style watching the game.


Dodgers vs Astros


LL Cool J, dropping by to wish Erica a Happy Birthday (hee hee! he was in the next box down - Erica's Dad knew his agent)


Fireworks to end the night set to The Beatles (couldn't be more perfect for Erica - she's obsessed!)

Altogether a fantastic night, and Erica had a blast - Happy Birthday Erica!

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As well as getting you some prime advertising space on one of the coolest up and coming fashion blogs out there! The past month has seen our daily unique views double to approximately 200 hits a day with some days hitting almost 700! But our price is staying the same. $10 will buy you one month of advertising in our sidebar (that's $2.50 a week or 33¢ a day!), with a given space of 150 pixels wide by 100 pixels tall. If you're interested in a space of a different size, just let us know and we'll see what we can do!

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Friday, July 17, 2009

Happy Birthday Erica!



So I spent some of yesterday and most of today putting together Erica's (the young woman with autism that I care for) birthday present! She's a plus size girly girl and to be honest the department stores don't always meet her fabulous taste!

So for birthdays I've been putting my sewing skills to the test and making her little outfits! This dress is put together based on the tutorial I found at Pretty Ditty here.

Sorry for the poor quality pictures - I was in a hurry! We're now off to Dodgers Stadium to watch a baseball game from a VIP box to celebrate her birthday!

Happy Birthday Erica!

Thursday, July 16, 2009

Stylesmith at Renegade!


Had a fantastic time at Renegade, making lots of new friends and a ton of new customers!

The space was absolutely huge, but luckily even with the short notice still managed to bring enough stuff to fill the booth! (plus we were lucky and managed to wangle an extra table!)

For the best of the venodrs and some stylish Stylesmith customers check out my Renegade post at Dedicated Follower of Fashion!



Friday, July 10, 2009

Feeling a Bit Renegade!

In case you've all been wondering where I am....on Tuesday I received an email from the lovely folks over at Renegade, they'd had a last minute cancellation and wanted Stylesmith to join them. Needless to say, no time for blogging this week!

I feel like a one woman factory and my hands are red raw.

But we'd love to see you there this weekend! You can check out more info here