March Instagram monthly round up

Happy Easter folks! Hope you are all enjoying a leisurely and fab weekend. I have been so lucky to have some time off and have been enjoying some rest and relaxation with my boys.

A quick snapshot of my March Instagram photos doesn’t actually reflect the mood and vibe of March! I am not liking March with it’s depressing and gloomy weather. I am not normally this negative, but the weather has really been affecting my mood and I have had enough! We have the most glorious park lands nearby and I really miss going for my daily walks.

So my favourite March photos are……

So looking at the photos above it does give me hope for April. So I am saying a firm goodbye to March and I’m looking forward to welcoming the longer lighter evenings of April, the sunny mornings (?) and gorgeous spring flowers we have been missing out on.

Come on Spring. Let’s do this.

xx

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Sugar Swizzle Sticks are now in the UK!

We are soooo excited to announce that we are now stocking sugar swizzle sticks otherwise known as rock candy in the US. You may have seen the white or brown sugar swizzle sticks that you can swirl lovingly in your coffee or tea, but we have colour! This really is BIG news!

I have had many requests for these and people often ask why can’t you find them in the UK? Several rumours have been circulating including the colouring is not approved by the Food Agency and they are too expensive to import in. Yes, it is not cheap to import them that much is true BUT hopefully my prices are still are affordable. In regards to the colouring; we have been given the green light to import them. We are using a supplier in the US that are aware of the colouring issues therefore uses as minimal amount of additives.

So what is Sugar Swizzle Sticks? It is the product of the further refining by recrystallisation of pure cane sugar.  In fact, it is the purest form of sugar available, because all impurities are excluded as large crystals form.  Crystal growth is based on the particular characteristics of sugar (sucrose) chemistry, and cannot be done with the various “sugar free” substitutes found in the market.

What can you use Sugar Swizzle Sticks for? Swizzle Sticks have has a huge presence on the party and wedding scene in the US and around the world. Often they are used in candy buffets and dessert tables to compliment a particular colour theme. They can be eaten right off the stick, similar to a lollipop! Swizzle Sticks can also be used as a nice addition to your favourite cocktail or glass of champagne. Just add to your drink, stir and watch the magic happen!

Can we tempt you to try??

Easter Free Printables

Happy Monday everyone! With Easter fast approaching and a very bleak weather outlook I thought I would sprinkle some happiness your way with a couple of gorgeous Easter printables – and best of all they are free!

If you haven’t discovered Itsy Belle yet, its worth checking out her gorgeous Etsy shop with some beautifully designed invitations and party printables. Christy the designer and stylist of Itsy Belle has created some lovely Mr & Mrs Egg head printables. How cute are they?

To find out how you can download the template to make these gorgeous little egg outfits view her blog here.

Are you planning on having any cupcakes at your Easter celebration? Why not garnish with them with these gorgeous cupcake flags designed by the Tomkatstudio.

I love all the vibrant colours, so different to the standard pastel shades you often see at Easter. Get step by step instructions on how you can download for FREE here!

Hope this brightens your day a little more.

Melissa xx

DIY Easter Candy Jar

A couple of weeks ago we were lucky enough to do a guest blog feature for Crafts and Giggles. The owner Katie Rand runs craft work shops for children and adults, take a look at their amazing gallery to check out some of the activities they do.

I created a variety of cute Easter jars using the following equipment…….

It honestly does not take long at all and I think the outcome looks pretty nice, what do you think?

You can check out the full tutorial here. If you do get a chance to make any Easter sweet creations please let me know, I would love to see you photos!

Have a wonderful week xx

Thank god it is Friday…..

OK, I know it is not the most original title to this post BUT…. I am soooo relieved it is Friday!! I think this week I am just feeling totally blurgh. The weather is seriously annoying me now (along with a few other non trivial things like messy house, grumpy babies etc).

We have also had a very busy week with more stock arriving. I have been busy checking off and taking photos of our amazing new products. I have learnt some new photo editing tips via YouTube. Gotta love an online tutorial.

Has anyone got any nice plans for the weekend? I have a babysitter tonight and off for a meal with the hubby tonight – much needed! Then lots of rest and relaxation. Hope you all have a good one.

x

10 reasons to love glitter tape via Pinterest

As you may know The Sweet Hostess is a big fan of all things glittery and sparkly and we have fallen in love with glitter tape! I have seen so many stunning craft projects and ideas on how you can use glitter tape but thought I would turn to pinterest for a little inspiration. So here it is, my 10 favourite crafty picks for using glitter tape!

If you love these ideas as much as we do then you can check out my glitter tape folder via Pinterest. Look up each image individually and then you can see who / what / where posted these amazing pics!

And it will probably not surprise you that we have glitter tape coming to our online shop very shortly!

Melissa xx

I know it has been snowing but I am already thinking about ice cream.

It seems a tad inappropriate that I am blogging about ice cream when it’s snowing outside, but oh well we all need a bit of cheering up!

I have just added an ice cream section to the website, yep that is right. I’m expecting all my stock to sell out within days with this heatwave. LOL!

We have added all our Sucre Shop printed ice cream spoons and have the most gorgeous ice cream cups. Don’t worry, we will remind you of this again when the weather starts to warm up..!

In love with Bakers Twine and a little Pinterest inspiration..

Yay! A new addition to our online shop – gorgeous bakers twine!! We are currently stocking 6 colours including yellow, red, orange, green, brown and black. We are also looking at expanding our range with some glittery options.

If you haven’t caught the Pinterest bug yet, you need to get yourself signed up quick! It is great if you are seeking inspiration for basically anything! I even have a ‘private’ folder with all things business, social media and tax related. Visual images on all things tax related works for me 🙂

Anyway I digress, I wanted to share some ideas via Pinterest on what you could use your baking twine for. So here are my Five top picks!

Easter Twine Inspiration

Wrapping paper with twine.

Wedding Stationery and twine combination

Wrap your sweets in twine!

Dress your drinks up with twine, and why not?

We hope you enjoyed our little Pinterest party of inspiration! Go over and take a look.

xx

How to Fluff your Tissue Pom Poms to Perfection Tutorial

We are so pleased to be stocking some gorgeous tissue pom poms. They are such a simple decoration yet have a massive impact when styled at your event/home/shop. Some of our customers are surprised when they arrive flat packed. The reason for this is they simply do not travel well in the post when they are ‘fluffed’. In all our pom pom packs we do include instructions, but I thought I would just write a quick tutorial and include a few piccies to help you along the way.

Step 1: You will receive your tissue pom pom something like this.

Step 2: Fan out your pom pom. Usually one side at a time is perfectly fine.

Step 3. This is probably the most important step. Carefully pull the strip of tissue paper one by one. It is vital that the first couple are strips are pulled up at a 90 degree angle. If you don’t pull it up straight you often come out with a wonky pom pom. But wonky pom poms look cute nevertheless 🙂

Step 4: Once you have fluffed one side, then you can continue the other side by repeating the above step. You should then have your finished pom pom!

Most pom poms appear slightly oval shape, so you can use your hands gently to create a more rounded shape.

And this is the finished outcome….. Voila!

Got a little bit more organised this week.

At the moment I am at a cross roads in my life. I am slowly finishing my maternity leave and slowly getting back into work. I love working and I love being at home with my boys, so I am trying to join the big group of mums trying to find that balance. Let’s see if it is possible!

Like most working mums my head feels like it is going to explode most days and if I was to do a ‘to do’ list I am sure it would reach the hundreds! So last Sunday I thought I would set myself a work goal everyday – and I surprised myself by achieving all of them!

So here are some of my daily goals:

Monday – Blog on iced biscuits. Kept it nice and easy as it was my boys birthday!

Tuesday – Take photos of all my new straws and glassware. Achieved this goal, plus managed to edit straw photos and upload to my online shop. Plus went to the pub with hubby. This was a very good day.

Wednesday – Meeting with bank. We got a bank account! Send my designer image and text for new promotional cards and business cards. Done!

Thursday – Update my website gallery. Finally updated my photo gallery and it was great to have a reminder of all the work I have done recently.

Friday  – Blog about my big babies birthday cake.

This was in between looking after my babies all week, other social activities and house stuff so I was pretty chuffed with myself. So now my Sunday night ritual will be goal setting for the week and writing lists (with a cuppa and biscuit).

Hope you all had a lovely weekend! xx