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Good morning!

I’m doing a rather large cull of posts on my website. All those ones that are no longer relevant and just take up space. I feel like it’s a big ole’ virtual de-cluttering. It’ll take a very long time but it feels good too. While I was going through folders the other day I came across this garden apron project and realised that I had never posted it here. I originally designed this apron for Making Magazine about 18 months ago but it hasn’t been shown on my website before.
So here it is!

If you’re anything like me you’ll lose tools on a regular basis only to find them in the bottom of a trug covered in weeds or in the flower bed itself, so I find this apron really useful.  You can use any combination of fabric that you like but I would stick to upholstery as opposed to quilting fabric. It’s stronger, can cope with the weight of a trowel and is very easy to wash. If you garden like me you’ll certainly need to wash this apron more often than not. But I think that’s a good sign

Cut out the pieces of fabric for the apron as follows:

2 x 32cm by 55cm pieces for the main apron

2 x 17cm by 55cm pieces for the pocket

2 x 12cm by 60cm pieces for the ties

2 x 4cm by 16cm pieces for the loops

Take the 2 pieces of fabric for the main body of the apron, pin them together leaving gaps of around 7cm at the top either side, these gaps will be for the apron ties.

Take the two pieces of fabric for the pocket and pin them together face to face ensuring a wide enough gap is left so the pocket can be turned back the correct way.

Machine sew the 2 pieces of fabric together 1.5 cm from the edge, cut any excess fabric form the corners for neatness and then turn the correct way and iron flat.

Make the ties by folding the 2 fabric strips in half, lengthways and so the patterned side of the fabric is facing inwards, then pin them together.

Machine sew 1cm from the edge leaving one of the ends open for turning back the correct way. Cut the corners of the fabric for neatness and your corners and turn correct way. Iron flat.

To make the loops for the apron, fold in a hem of 1cm on all 4 sides of the two pieces of loop fabric and iron the folds flat; then iron both pieces in half, lengthways.

Pin in place and then machine sew all the way around 2mm from the edges.

To add the loops to the pocket fabric, pin them 3cm from the side edge and 2cm from the bottom edge, then machine sew in place.

Machine sew along the top of the pocket 1cm in from either side and 1cm down.

Next, pin the pocket onto the main apron making sure it is in line with the side and bottom.

Tuck 2cm of the of the open end of the ties into the gaps left open for them either side of the apron and pin in place.

Sew on top 1cm from the edge all the way round the apron. This stitch will close up the gaps left for the ties and the gap left in the pocket. Stitch over the ties and where the pocket joins the main apron a couple of times to reinforce it.

Finish by adding the stitches to make the two pockets. Each pocket was 17cm wide.

This is a simple wee project and great if you are getting started with sewing.

Have a lovely day and I’ll see you tomorrow.

i love you

Cherry x

Are you a blogger, a writer, a lover of good food, a crafter or someone that just loves lifestyle, gorgeous surroundings and a good old natter over afternoon tea with a glass of fizz?

If you are any of those things then I want to invite you to come along to a Meet & Eat that is being hosted by Sainsbury’s Magazine and yours truly. When I was speaking to the Sainsbury’s Magazine team about an event it was really clear from the start that this was to be something that you couldn’t get to read about on my blog or any of the magazines. This was to be an afternoon of revelation, tips and secrets. I’ve been on a terrific journey, both personally and with my blog and website, and it has all culminated recently with the publication of my first book. But what goes on the rest of the time? How did I get to this point? What keeps me going? And where am I going next?

These are topics that I haven’t covered on my website before. I have perhaps touched on them or hinted as to how I’m feeling at a particular moment but this event is a game changer for me because it’s forcing me to think about the bigger picture. And I’m incredibly excited about it.

But there’s another reason why this event is going to be a biggie….

Let me ask you this…

How many times have you had afternoon tea with the editor of the most read monthly magazine in the country?

How many times have you shared a glass of Prosecco and the attention of a team of TOP NOTCH writers, editors and publishers?

Well this is your chance.

Sainsbury’s Magazine isn’t at the top of it’s game for nothing. In an industry where magazines are folding every month it is going from strength to strength. And this is an afternoon where you’ll get to meet some of these amazing people.

The event itself is being held at the beautiful Le Cafe Anglais in London and the format of the afternoon is as follows -

Myself and the team will be there at the start of the event to meet and greet you as you arrive. Afternoon tea will be served and myself and the magazine’s editor, Helena Lang, will table hop and enjoy chatting to you all. When tea has been cleared Helena will introduce herself and give a talk. I will then take to the stage and will talk about my journey from actress to blogger to mum to published author.

After that I will run through my top ten blogging tips. To whet your appetite they will include topics such as -

• how to find your passion
• what platform to use
• how to use you time if you are working a ‘proper’ job
• be inspired not thwarted
• what happens when you get negative feedback
• what has love go to do with it

After this there will be a Q&A session, so think of your questions now, and GOODIE BAGS for everyone. There will also be a book signing so please bring your copies with you to get it signed or buy a copy on the day.

This event is unlike anything I’ve ever done before and part of me feels like every blog post I’ve ever written has been leading up to this afternoon. What I mean by that is that I place very little value on anything if it can’t be shared. Well, the last couple of years have been pretty eye-opening and if I can’t learn from them and share my experiences and lessons then what was the point?

If having a blog and a book published is your idea of hell then come along anyway and we can talk about craft businesses, using Facebook to your advantage and what action to take when you have so many balls in the air you can no longer see the sky.

This will be an afternoon that is rich in knowledge, fun, humour and understanding and I’m living for it, let me tell you.

WHY? Because I’ll get to chat with the folks who read my blog. We can talk and learn more about each other and how we’re all in this life together and not really separate at all.

Here are all the details -

Where: Le Café Anglais, 8 Porchester Gardens, London W2 4DB

When: 24 June, 3.30-5.30pm

You’ll get: Afternoon tea with a glass of Prosecco and a goodie bag to take home

Price: £50 per person, plus £3.50 booking fee

How to book:
Visit seetickets.com/go/cherrymenlove to book your place.
Payment will be taken on booking; places are subject to availability.

Did I mention that there will also be Prosecco…………………………………..?

i love you, see you on the 24th of June.

Cherry x

This past weekend Robert and I built a garden arch out of wood. Some of the wood we found here when we moved in and the rest Robert bought for a tenner from a chap who was selling it whilst also giving us a quote to chop back some of the huge trees that run along the edge of our garden.

Robert started the project off by using a post hole digger to dig four holes that were deep enough to hold the four main posts without wobbling over. When the posts were in place we packed them with heavy soil and ensure they were solid. We may go back to this and pour some post cement down there too but only if it looks as if the arch is not secure, which right now it certainly is.

Anaïs held the posts while they were being packed in to the ground.

When the four posts were in the ground we got to work on cutting the wood for the top of the arch.

Anaïs, meanwhile, played with the twine that would soon be holding the whole thing together.

It was around this time that I got involved. The four posts were in the ground so Robert and I took the two pieces of wood that he had cut to size and secured them to the top of the four posts in the shape of a cross. Tying them at each corner and wrapping them up tight with twine in the middle too.

You can see how we secured the pieces of wood at the corners. It looks incredibly ramshackle and unsecured but it’s really quite strong and robust. The wood is lightweight there’s twine and string galore holding it all together.

The crosses that I added on to each side of the arch are made form the branches of a huge elderflower bush that we cut back. I took three long branches, cutting one to size, and then matching the rest up.

And here it is. Standing at the bottom of some steps that leas out on to the grass. This archway will eventually lead on to a path that will run around the edge of a pond that we hope to start digging out this autumn. A peaceful spot and a lovely place to read a book or enjoy a glass of wine in the summer.

Of course the big question for me was “what shall we grow up it?”

Well, I was tempted to immediately opt for roses but the chances are we will have several other arches going up in the near future (now we know how quick and easy they are to build) so I opted for an evergreen flowering clematis. This clematis ‘Apple Blossom’ is extremely fast growing and will add some much needed green even during the winter months. I’ll look after it in the colder months while it is young.

I also added eight climbing decorative gourds to the bottom of the arch. I’ve grown these plants from seed and can not wait to see how they do. I love the colours, shapes and sizes of decorative gourds in the autumn months and spend a small fortune on buying them from the farm shops. Well this year I’m growing my own and will keep you updated via Instagram & Facebook etc on their growth.

Have a wonderful day. I have a really excitement update tomorrow that I’m excited to tell you about. Until then…..

i love you and thank you so much for reading

Cherry

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After the excitement and surrealism of last weekend I think I subconsciously checked out for last few days. Whereas I usually like to be busy and rushing about, cramming as much as I can in to a 24 hour space, something in me just stopped for a moment and told me to catch my breath. And you know what? I think this may be a new direction for me because I’m LOVING IT!

I think, without even knowing it, I’ve had a slightly revelatory damascene moment of sorts. I don’t know where it’s going but I like it.

I mean look at this! This storybook scene is right behind my friends house and we ran past it the other morning. I put it on to instagram and people were right when they said it looked like something out of a Harry Potter book or an Enid Blyton story. These places exist, in the real world, and that gives me enormous comfort. Because it means to me that creatively everything is taken care of. And, contrary to my egotistical mind, it is not my responsibility to do it all.

Her first hot chocolate.

Apple blossom hanging on for dear life in the face of unseasonal wind and rain. It’s doing a good job of sticking around.

Coffee, baking, twins that answer back, a short fuse and asking for inhuman amounts of love to give to enable me to do a half decent job as a mother.

Seeing the black sheep of the families all congregating in one place makes me realise that there’s a bit of that in all of us. Thank goodness.

Early morning moments with coffee and pea shoots.

A town bench sign that makes me want to get it right for the short time I’m here.

More love needed to be given out then!

And a son in a tiara.

My beautiful, beautiful boy.

I am complete.

i love you and i send love to you every day, wherever you may be reading from

Cherry x

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Saturday was a rather surreal day at first. I was up at five am and baking batches of chocolate cupcakes for the demonstration part of my book launch at Harrods. Then I was getting the kids breakfast and Robert and I were working out the logistics of him taking them on a long train ride up to London to meet me. After that I found myself packing up the car, driving on my own in a bit of a nervous daze to London and then I was parking in the basement of the most famous department store in the world and saying to the security guard….

“I’m here for a book launch”

“Which one?”

“Um, mine, I think!”

Like I said, it was surreal.

It didn’t get any less surreal as I made my way up to the second floor to prep before people started to arrive. The Visual Merchandising team at Harrods had decorated the floor using products and kitchenware and flowers that matched the colour palette of the book. This sort of stuff really gets my juices flowing as it’s all so creative and fabulous and when I see work like this coming together it makes me want to re-train and apply for a job as a visual merchandising intern!! I could not have been happier or more humbled by how beautiful it all looked.

Good gracious I LOVE my subject matter!!!!

I love the feel that homemaking, baking, cooking, kitchenware and even innocuous cardboard boxes of eggs gives me. And I love that after all these years my heart is still on fire for this.

I’m up the front somewhere and a lot happier at this point because there were people there and I had folk to chat to as I whipped up vast quantities of butter cream.

I’m not sure I needed a security guard as crafters and bakers have very gentle reputations (!!) but I think he was there for the cake to be honest.

The demo lasted about ten or fifteen minutes and I covered two different piping techniques as well as a cookie icing technique that I really love and find quite addictive. I’ve asked Robert if we can film a tutorial showing it and he’s up for it so hopefully I’ll publish that one soon.

“Dear Harrods, I’m sorry for the mess I made in your demo kitchen. I just felt so at home and that’s how trashed my kitchen usually is. Please send me the cleaning bill.
Love, Cherry “

{ Picture – @ailiewilliams }

I signed books after the demo was over and this was the part that I loved the most. I’m not sure I was meant to stand and chat to folks for as long as I did as Harrods still had a store to run but nobody said anything * blush *

{ Picture – @GlyndeFoodFest }

Thank you to everybody who came out to Harrods on Saturday. Thank you to the Harrods team for an experience I’ll never forget. And thank you to my dear friends and parents who came to the coffee bar and tiny basement bistro with us afterwards for a time of chilling out, toasts with Prosecco and giggles with our children.

Oh, and thank you to my son Ned. Ned filled his nappy to such an extent that we had to actually leave the bistro due to the smell. It being a small underground bistro and a very large nappy, I’m sure you can imagine the situation we found ourselves in.

You’re keeping it real for us son and we thank you!

i love you and thank you for reading today

Cherry x

************************************************************

Order my book The Handmade Home from Amazon

Join my Facebook page!

Cherry Menlove

Promote your Page too

Feel free to add me to your links list. Here it is ! - http://www.cherrymenlove.com/

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When you’re young you never, repeat NEVER, think that going out for an evening with your husband, family and friends and having a riotous good time will be anything out of the ordinary. But the time comes when you’ve had a child or two/three and you suddenly realise that it’s been quite a while since you last made your way out of the tracksuit bottoms and baggy tops to put on a dress and present yourself to the world with make-up on. I really look forward to these sorts of evenings as I know that everybody will have made an effort and everyone will be in a cracking mood. But there are no events that I look forward to more than a wedding.

You see at a wedding you are totally taken care of! You are presented with a beautiful ceremony and are able to witness a delicious couple (such as our Cathy and her Harry) devote themselves to each other in the most divine setting and in the most divine dress before heading out for a divine evening.

And there is also wine there.

I’m not kidding you the service was utterly magical. It was so personal and Jodie and I felt such pride seeing someone we know marry her sweetheart whilst looking so stunning. We both looked up at our respective husbands during the service and I think we both wanted to do it all over again.

Just gorgeous.

After the service Robert’s mum brought our kids up to the church to see Cathy come out and we took the opportunity to have a wee family picture taken. Yes, I mentioned chocolate in order to get Ned to be in it but needs must.

After the pictures were taken Robert and I and Jodie and her husband Garry all made our way to the reception. It was at this point that I mentally switched off from everything else in my brain and decided that tonight was the night where the only job I had on my list was the one that required me to have fun……and drink wine.

Going pretty well at this point. I remember this picture being taken. The conversation was good, we were mingling before heading in for the wedding breakfast and LOVING the venue which was beautiful barn that Cathy had totally transformed with her design for the wedding.

It’s always slightly nerve wracking when you go to see where you’ll be sitting on the table plan. Chances are you may not know everybody at the table and they may not be in the same mood for fun, irreverence and wine as you are……..

I needn’t have worried.

We were on what I fondly like to describe as the the Naughty Table. There is always one Naughty Table at a wedding and we were on it. When this discovery was made I’m sure I heard strains of the Hallelujah Chorus going off in the background.

OH MY GOD what a tonic that table was. It’s been pretty serious around these parts lately but here we were with the most delicious group of people who all knew Cathy from her university days. They were parents too and I think they liked wine as much as I did.

We laughed and laughed and laughed. At least I did because I found everything funny that night. The type of humour was my absolute favourite which is just slightly north of acceptable and guaranteed to make at least one person say “I can’t believe they just did/said that”

I laughed so much my sister turned to me, like she had just discovered electricity, and exclaimed “you look so much younger when you laugh”. I had to take a time out and think about that for a moment before resolving to laugh more …whilst drinking wine.

I remember signing the wedding book.

But I don’t remember getting entirely too emphatic about something that probably had nothing to do with anything. But I do appreciate Cathy’s beautiful bridesmaid, Jodie, trying to look interested.

At this point I possibly should have thought about stopping drinking wine.

But I really wanted to show Cathy and her uni buddy Mario how I “Moved Like Jagger” and I needed the wine to help with that (!)

Oh.

Do you think she’s ok?

Yea, she’s fine.

Aaaannnnd, I’m back in the room.

Phew, I manged to style that one out clearly. No one noticed a thing I’m sure (!)

My AMAZING brother in law was not partaking in any consumption of alcohol that night as he had to present a radio show the next morning but he was there to keep an eye on proceedings and make mental notes with which to embarrass us with in the future. The four of us hadn’t really been out together since THIS night and that was no fun for me at all because I was cooking the Meatballs. Hence making up for lost time.

And due to his lack of drunkenness he managed to get this shot of Robert flexing his biceps which is not something I’ve ever seen Robert do before. So I’m relaxing in the fact that there were two of us being silly that night.

At this point there are no more picture on my camera. So anything that happened later on in the evening should have really stayed there. But it’s not like that nowadays. Oh no, nowadays we have iPhones with REALLY good cameras and they capture EVERYTHING.

They capture the slow descent in to inebriation.

Where your eyes become a wee bit more glazed and the dark circles begin to appear.

This carries on until you are drinking out of glass that has a fizzy sweet in the bottom of it because someone was playing “throw the sweet” and you caught it and it was THE BEST GAME EVER. You know in the deepest darkest recesses of your brain that the next day is going to feel like nothing else you have ever experienced. Because not only will you be nursing a banging head but you will NOT be able to sleep it off, you will NOT be able to eat the entire contents of the frisge in peace and you will NOT be able to simply lie there and watch awful movies until the feelings of nausea wear off. Oh no, you’re still a parent and you can guarantee that your children will have the most energy you have ever known them to have on the day when you feel like a pickle that has been pickled in pickling fluid.

I have no idea what my husband found so funny about what I was saying to him while the worst picture I have ever had taken was being snapped. But I think it was along the lines of ‘I can’t feel my hands’.

That night did us THE WORLD of good though. We saw a dear friend get married, we laughed with people we had never met before and I danced to my Summer 2013 anthem.

Do I wish I hadn’t drunk so much wine? Maybe.
Do I wish I hadn’t had my first experience of a Jägerbomb? Sure.
Did I feel a bit rubbish the next day? That’s putting it mildly.

Would I do the whole night again because every other part of it was the most fun we’d had in an age? In a heartbeat.

Do you think Harrods will let me in on Saturday?

Yea, I’m not so sure about that!

i love you

Cherry x
************************************************************

Order my book The Handmade Home from Amazon

Join my Facebook page!

Cherry Menlove

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My favourite times in the garden are early morning and in the evening. But if I had to choose one it would be early morning, with a coffee, wandering around and making a list of garden jobs for the day.

We have a three day weekend coming up so my list of things I’d like to get done in the garden reads like this -

Start to paint some of the brick planters. There are four of these planters in total, hydrangeas in two of them and lavender in the other two.

Empty my herb trug of weeds, pop it outside the back door and re-plant it with kitchen herbs.

Bang a very long piece of wood in to the ground, tie some wire between one of my clematis and the wood and train the clematis along it.

Finish off the beds by filling them with compost and top soil. Make some pea frames and get my poor peas planted. Well, they’re Robert’s peas really but he’s abandoned them.

Can I just say THANK YOU to the reader who told me to put cardboard boxes on top of the grass. Where are you??? I can’t find you??? Anyway, you’ve saved me a TONNE of work. Cx

Take the Camellias out of pots and plant them in the ground.

Mow the lawn. Strim the edges and strim the bank that leads down to the wee brook that runs along the edge of the garden.

Plan for a hammock instead of these two swings. The A-frame is brilliant but it needs a hammock.

Weed.

This sounds like a huge list but I’ve been building up to it over the last couple of weeks. So hopefully it should be no more than pottering over the course of the three days. We’ve also got a wedding to go to in Petworth which is about ten minutes away from us. If you ever visit West Sussex visit Petworth. I can wander around that town at any time of the day, month or year and feel like I’m on some sort of fabulous holiday. Either that or that I’ve wandered in to a Merchant Ivory film and gotten lost. I think there are worse places to be lost than a Merchant Ivory film, I must be honest! I spent my entire teenage years watching their films time and time again. I think I may need to look them out and re-watch them…….but that calls for a Winter afternoon by the fire…..so they may have to wait because right now the garden and the outdoors is calling. And this makes me very happy.

i love you

Thank you so much for reading

Cherry x

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Order my book The Handmade Home from Amazon

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Cherry Menlove

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We roasted a chicken on Sunday and had it with salad and crusty bread. It was beautiful but it got me thinking about coming up with a recipe that was the tastiest, moistest chicken and one that had the crispiest skin. Somehow there’s nothing worse than having chicken with soggy skin and I think that’s always why I pull it off. But when the skin is just right, when it doesn’t taste like chicken skin but instead tastes like it fell from culinary heaven, well that’s when I pull it from the bone and shovel it in.

I chose to flavour the chicken with fresh tarragon, sea salt and black pepper. With butter to help it along, baked leeks and garlic rubbed in to the lightly toasted bread that accompanied it.

And then I added a lemon. It was then that whole dish came alive and sang at me while I ate it.

Simply served. Which is the way I like my food in the warmer months. I like to rely on flavour and texture as opposed to substance and volume.

And the presentation becomes a case of “take me as I am”. And tastes all the better for it.

Crispy Roast Chicken with Tarragon and Lemon

Serves 2
Heat the oven to 220c

What you will need

• 1 chicken weighing approx 1.3kg/2.5lb, dried inside and out using kitchen roll – invest in the chicken and buy the best you can afford as it makes a difference to the taste and success of the dish

• three quarters tablespoon of Maldon sea salt

• knob of  room temperature unsalted butter

• heaped tablespoon of chopped fresh tarragon

• half a small lemon

• ground black pepper (to taste)

• 1 small leek cut in to small pieces

• olive oil

• two pieces of Ciabatta bread or similar, lightly toasted

• 1 peeled garlic clove

• salad leaves to serve

• olive oil

After drying the chicken pull the skin away from the top of the breast and thighs. Mix the butter and three quarters of the tarragon together with your hands and spread that underneath the skin on top of the flesh and secure the skin again as much as possible. Sprinkle the rest of the tarragon over the top of the chicken. Sprinkle the salt over the top of the entire chicken and place in a lined baking tin. Pop the lemon half in to the cavity of the bird and place in the middle of the oven, uncovered. Roast for 20 mins.

After 20 mins turn the oven down to 180c and add the leeks to the fat in the pan that has come out of the chicken. Coat the leeks in the fat, season the chicken and leeks with freshly ground black pepper to taste and place back in to the oven for a further 30 to 40 minutes or until it is cooked. Remove the chicken from the oven and leave it to rest for 20 minutes. Pull the chicken away from the bird in pieces so that you have the legs, thighs and the breasts and place them all on the plate. I use my hands for this as I find they work better than a knife for this particular recipe. Lightly toast the bread and rub each half with the peeled garlic clove. Drizzle with olive oil and place on the large plate. Add the salad leaves. Remove the leeks from the pan, blot them with kitchen towel and place them on top of the bread. Finally, squeeze the lemon that was baked inside the chicken all over the chicken, bread and salad leaves. Add extra olive oil if you feel the need and enjoy with a crisp glass of white wine in the sun in the garden.

i love you and thank you for reading today

Cherry x
************************************************************

Order my book The Handmade Home from Amazon

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Good morning!

Without doubt I’d like to start today’s post by saying a HUGE thank you for all of your amazingness last week. The comments, tweets, instagrams, facebooks and Amazon reviews regarding the publication of the book have been overwhelming. I’ve tried to respond to most of them and I’m sorry if I have missed some. The generosity shown towards the book has been amazing and everybody in the team that worked on it are beaming from ear to ear.

I seriously thought that this past weekend would be an absolute anticlimax. But in fact it’s the opposite. Now that book is out it allows me to think about my next steps. Both creatively and personally. What things do I love now that weren’t in my life when we were shooting the book? How have my tastes changed and evolved and how have I changed?

I’m excited. I’m going to cook more and blog all the recipes. Savoury dishes, not just cakes. I’m going to completely redesign the garden and take myriad pictures that I hope will inspire you if you’ve been thinking about dipping your toe in to the world of gardening at home.

I’m going to spend days at the beach with my kids when it gets warmer and they’re not at nursery, as well as read all of those books that I haven’t gotten around to. And I’ll review them here as I know we all love a good summertime read on the beach or in the garden.

And I’m going to ENJOY all of the events that I’ve got coming up to celebrate the publication of the book. Because before it came out I wasn’t enjoying very much at all and my nerves were starting to get the better of me.

There’s the Harrods signing & the Sainsbury’s Magazine Afternoon Tea (more details to follow) and loads more, details of which can be found here.

Yes, I think ‘enjoy’ is going to have to be my word of choice for the next few months. Enjoy, enjoy, enjoy.

Have an amazing day, whatever you decide to do. I am starting as I mean to go on and working on a roast chicken dish that is perfect for Spring suppers and I’ll share it tomorrow.

i love you and THANK YOU!!!!

Cherry x
************************************************************

Order my book The Handmade Home from Amazon

Join my Facebook page!

Cherry Menlove

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Facebook – Please feel free to join my page

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My kids are fed and dressed and grandma is on her way to pick them up. Robert has left for work and I am on my third cup of coffee. Today I’m off to London because it’s the official publication day of my first hardback book, The Handmade Home.

I’m immensely proud of this book and it is everything I could have wished for. It is a book that has been created by a dedicated team of people who believed in it from the start and worked their butts off to make it beautiful, inspiring and easy to create from if you are a reader. So that fact that my name is the only name on the cover is a little bit misleading because there is a team of people behind the scenes that are amazing to work with and have inspired me from day 1 to do better, create better and believe in the all consuming LOVE that I feel for the HOME!

The indomitable and inspiring Emma Freud wrote the foreword to this book. She is a HUGE inspiration to me and a woman that I look up to and admire. For her spirit, her tenacity, her humour and her wise love. I’m planning on being Emma when I grow up.

There are also recipes galore, both sweet…..

…and savoury. They’ll take you right through from Valentines Day to Christmas as the book covers every season throughout the year!

There are also crafts…..Oh the crafts!!!! I crafted so much during the making of this book that I kinda stopped for a moment there but I’m missing it. So expect more crafts from me here soon.

There are also home, garden, decorative and entertaining tips and projects.

AND a new quilt pattern!!

So all that’s left is for me to say thank you. Thank you to those who have already purchased it and thank you to those who will do so. Thank you to the team who made it all possible and thank you to the people who read this site. Through thick and thin, good and bad, happy days and terribly low days, you have read this site. And THAT is why this book is being published today, make no mistake.

The book is available on the high street at WHSMITH, Waterstone’s and Waitrose and I will update the list as and when new suppliers are added.

It is also available online at Amazon. If you get the chance and you like the book it would mean a great deal to me if you would consider leaving a review on the Amazon page.

Amazon reviews –
I had no idea but it helps books enormously when people review books on Amazon and I’m so proud of this book that I want people to find it and to be inspired to try out the recipes, crafts and EVERYTHING ELSE in it!

Thank you. That is all.

Anyone for another coffee?

i love you

Cherry x

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This is a great room, we knew this when we first viewed the house. It is very light, has tall ceilings, overlooks the garden and is long. The previous owner sold us this table and chairs when we moved in as they fitted the room well.

I’ve played about with this room over the past year never thinking of it as anything other than a dining room. But it wasn’t working for me. I knew it was a really great space but it wasn’t reaching it’s potential. Over the last 12 months I’ve painted it (almost finished around the edges) I’ve started on the dark brown UPVC windows with Annie Sloan paint, I’ve added soft chairs and plants, bunting and lights.

But you know what?

The table had to go.

This room isn’t a dining room it’s a sunroom!

It needs to be sat in on a warm evening or cool morning with a glass of wine or a strong coffee in your hand. It needs to be comfortable and light and cosy and beautiful.

It is an inexcusably luxurious space and if we’re lucky enough to have it then we need to enjoy it. I always figured that the daybed would end up in my daughter’s room eventually. But it’ll be several years before she has her own bedroom and I wanted to use the daybed NOW and not have it stuck in a room we never go in.

The low coffee table I’ve had for over 15 years. It was pine and I painted it and allowed it to chip. The medicine bottles were found in my parents garden when they were digging the foundations for their new extension. I swiped them! The plate was thrifted and the flowers were free from the garden.

This room does need to earn its keep in other ways than just allowing us to lounge in it. As it is so light and gets so hot it is a great place to start seeds, tubers and bulbs off as we don’t have a greenhouse. The dahlia you see in the back will be put out after all risk of frost has passed and as it’s done so well in this room it’ll do very well in the ground.

I’ve moved my Ikea chair to the other corner, placed my favourite tree in the whole world (Meyer lemon) right next to it and will enjoy looking out in to the garden.

If you have never smelt Lemon blossom then I urge you to do so. Go to the largest garden centre you can find, head straight towards the indoor plants area and find a lemon tree. Smell the blossom and tell me what you feel. It is unlike any smell I have ever breathed in and the fact that it is close to this chair is no mistake. If I sit there to read or to gather my thoughts and I smell a slight waft of lemon blossom it helps me. It is better than any candle or room spray I may be able to buy. It is real, it is living and it is from nature. And no matter what huge global cosmetic companies try to do they will never, ever beat the scent that nature produces. Fact. So if you have room somewhere in your home for a medium to large sized pot then I would recommend filling it with a lemon tree. You get free lemons too!

I think that over time this room will possibly become more muted and a little more ‘french’ in its decor. But the fact is I have young kids and they need colour. Bright vibrant glossy colour. They wouldn’t appreciate my palette of grey and soft green right now they need bunting and books and life! And that makes me happy. That is one way that our home can serve the people that live in it, by providing colour.

I love showing you the spaces I’m creating in our home. Thank you for visiting today.

i love you

Cherry x
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Good morning!

And what a bright and sunny morning it is here in West Sussex. It’s made me feel better in about a nano second. I am cleaning my house today and working on a certain room in particular as I have to take some photos of it and send them to someone waiting for them. But I wanted to stop by quickly and tell you all about Harrods.

I shall be at Harrods on Saturday, 11th of May signing copies of The Handmade Home and demonstrating some recipes. I’d love to meet some of you and sign your books. Robert and I visited Harrods on Saturday and it was PACKED by midday and there was a real buzz in the air. It’s a fantastic store, one that my parents would take us to at Christmas when we were little, and I’m honoured to have been approached by them. I don’t think I’d finished hearing about the event before agreeing to do it!

So, feel free to stop by and say hello to me but do leave enough time to stop and have a good look around. Especially in the Food Hall (which I think I may start squatting in as it is THAT inspiring)

You can see all the event information right here! or you can click the picture above.

I shall see you again tomorrow with pictures of the room I’ve been working on. I’ve only got a few hours to finish it as my twins are at nursery and then off to Grandma’s (don’t ask me how the drop off’s are going !

Can you hear the silent screams? Yes, I thought so.

i love you

Cherry x
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Dear readers

I’d like to thank you for your responses to my last post. Blogging is only a few years old and I have been doing it for most of those few. I love watching the lives of the bloggers that I follow progress, change, grow and unfold. I’ve observed people marry, have babies, transform their houses, create magic from fabric and feed their families all through their blogs. I’ve also seen sadness, death, illness and hard times through that very same medium. Blogs are tremendous and can be cathartic, especially for someone like me who loves to write and create. So I’d really like to say thank you for your comments and emails after my last post here. I don’t find it scary to be vulnerable, although it’s risky, I think it’s necessary. And although this is is a home and garden blog it’s always had a little bit of life thrown in and probably always will.

I’m not able to bounce back on here today and announce that everything is OK and I’ve gotten over my ‘hump’ since I last blogged. I really think this is a season in my life and it will take time and attention and I will find my way with it all. But what I know I have to do is to be really honest with myself and honest about what I believe I have been put here for. Once I can get clarity on that I think I’ll be able to move forward in strength and throw myself in to that. The rational side of my brain knows that nothing stays the same and that if you seek growth, which I do, then change is an inevitable result. But I need time to think about what I want to grow in to. Where are my passions, my beliefs, my loves and how do I express them?

I think I know I just have to articulate them to my heart and my soul and I think the path will be revealed.

Last Thursday  evening I was up in town for the Sainsbury’s magazine 20th anniversary. It was very interesting being at the party and seeing all the people I had admired for so long as well as seeing the journey that the magazine had taken. I met and shook hands with Nigel Slater (a long time hero of mine). I have read Toast, his memoir, and have also seen the TV adaptation. Everybody loves Nigel, he is unquestionably one of our finest cooks/chefs and his love of food comes through in every article/book/tv series he presents. But he didn’t just arrive as this fully formed food god, he had to make his own way, forge his own path, celebrate his success along the way and keep going when the setbacks presented themselves.

I also saw Mary Berry across the room and smiled at her. She smiled back. I was far too nervous to approach her, which is odd as I’m usually braver than that, but I didn’t want to bother her. My love for Mary Berry is well documented on this blog and knowing her journey and seeing her still standing there was inspiring. It made me feel that I could pursue my dreams (whatever they are) and that this was an OK thing to do. That if my heart lies in creativity that is alright and it has some value.

I also saw the journey of Sainsbury’s magazine that evening. There was a presentation given by the editor Helena Lang and it charted the magazine from the first cover (Delia in a red dressing gown) to today. The magazine has evolved and changed and is stronger than ever but it didn’t just arrive in the space it now inhabits. It had to fight for it.

I think I’m just having a wobble.

I think I’m on the cusp of change and I have to be brave.

I also don’t think that I’m alone. I think that there are thousands of you reading this right now that are in exactly the same boat and it’s really confusing but at the same time I  know deep down it’s an opportunity for tremendous growth that can only be good and bring great joy.

I’m so over what we celebrate as great and good in our culture and seeing a woman like Mary Berry standing there with all her life experience minding her own business and enjoying the party was, to me, where real life resided. In experience, in wisdom and in growth. So I’m resolving to be braver from now on and move towards fulfilling my destiny in the best way I can.

In the words of a well known sporting goods brand I need to “Just Do It”

We spent time at home over the weekend in between a trip to London for Robert’s birthday and supper at friends last night.

The garden is springing to life and brings great peace to me. It does that when I’m worried or troubled because I only have to look at it to know that no matter what is going on the garden will still work according to the seasons.

The mornings here are something else.

As are the neighbors.

We went with the kids to the local farm shop. It only opened last week so we’re trying to support it in it’s first few weeks.

And then we came home to start on the garden. The grass has started to grow with a vengeance and we kinda need to keep on top of it . I transplanted roses, hydrangeas and potted up my beans. We also hammered the raised beds in to position and I have to get them ready for the veg that needs to be taken out of the sun-room and in to the garden. But I’ll get there. Hey ho.

While I was out in the garden Robert was having a different experience entirely….on the naughty step.

I came in to find this scene and asked Robert why he was sitting there.

I’ve been naughty was the reply.

What did you do?

I trod on Ned’s foot.

On purpose?

NO! I stepped back on it and it hurt him a little bit so he put me on the step.

At this point I laughed and laughed and laughed.

Then I got ‘the look’ and stopped.

Before heading for the step.

i love you and thank you for reading

Cherry x

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We moved in to this house almost exactly a year ago. We were certainly jubilant to have been given the mortgage that’s for sure and I think part of me felt we’d move in and settle down and that would be it. But it hasn’t quite been like that. What it has been is just the beginning of us starting to put down roots.

I grew up in Essex and Robert grew up in Shropshire now we find ourselves in West Sussex. So it’s not surprising that it takes time to allow the roots to grow, it’s just that my impatient self wants them to grow faster.

I’ve heard so much about roots in the news this week especially in relation to Margaret Thatcher and her roots as a grocers daughter from Lincolnshire who went on to become Prime Minister. Roots are terrifically important and inform the way we feel about ourselves and others and the space around us.

My roots stem from place where we all played out in the street and would wander up to the park without even telling our parents. I’ve got really fond memories of long summers and cosy Christmastimes. I’ve also got some memories that I’d rather forget including a spell at school when I was bullied but that happened to a lot of us and it’s very common. One of things I love most about Facebook is being able to be in contact with so many people that I grew up with, it makes me feel all the more connected. But good times and bad they are all part of my ‘root system’ and make me who I am today.

What’s interesting is that had I stayed in the town where I grew up and had my children there these roots would have just continued to grow. But having moved away and started again the roots that we are now putting down as a family are new and need to strengthen.  This is good but occasionally I wish that they were stronger.

I dropped my twins off for their first real morning at nursery this week. It didn’t go so well. Anaïs knew that she would be left there and had a meltdown. The teachers scooped her up like the pros they are and I was left with the sounds of her absolutely sobbing and crying ‘mummy’ as I started out the building. Idiot that I am I didn’t get very far and was found in the nursery kitchen by one of the teachers who was very gracious to me and handed me a box of tissues. It felt to me like such a primal scream coming from my daughter when in reality it was a completely normal reaction and ten minutes later, I was told, she was fine.

This is her process of putting roots down at nursery. She’ll do the same at school and then throughout her life.

But you know what? As a child and as an adult it’s hard.

There, I said it.

It can be terrifically tough to find your place in the world in order to put those roots down, not only as a child who misses her mummy but as an adult who should ‘know better’ when you really don’t know anything at all because you’re constantly evolving. When you don’t know where you belong, who you really are and where life will take you life can feel like a choppy ocean with no sign of the shore.

I think I’m having some of those feelings myself right now. I don’t quite know my place in the world. Once the book is out there and all of the excitement and glamour has died down life will go back to its normal routine. Which is great but who am I? As we all know the ‘public’ side of book launches and parties are when we get to show our best sides. When we all come together and celebrate years of work culminating in a book that has been published and will be in print for quite a while (hopefully).

But when I come home from a party or an event and turn the light off before bed I need to know who I am and what my place is in the world. I’m a parent, I know that, and I know how vital it is. I’m a wife to Robert, I know that too and I know that we live for each other.

But what about me?

Who am I when the party is over?

Who am I when there are boots over the sofa leaving muddy marks and I’m the only one that will be clearing them up.

Who am I when the washing goes on and on and on and on?
Who am I when my son climbs out of his cot and falls on the floor and I only just miss catching him because I’m so exhausted?
Who am I when a cake fails after a whole day’s work on it?
Who am I when my husband faces redundancy?
Who am I when I can’t stop crying?
Who am I when I see something by mistake on the internet that is so horrific I can’t get the few seconds I saw out of my mind for days and days?
Who am I when I don’t want to blog any more?
Who am I when the party is over and it’s just me?

The answer?

Well, I’m tempted to say “I don’t know” because there are times when I have no clue. But I do have a clue and even though I’m not ‘feeling’ it right now I do know what the truth is.

And that’s that I am deeply spiritual, naively hopeful, addicted to creativity and occasionally sensible.

That’s all I am, it’s all I have, and those characteristics are the basis for the roots that I am putting down. And in the still of the night they give me comfort eventually and it’s then that I can feel my roots getting stronger and stronger.

i love you
PLEASE take care of yourselves

Cherry x

 
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With only nine days to go until my book is published (it’s still on special by the way and has 40% off on the pre-order) I’m burying myself in cake and have designed a new collection. I shall be teaching the Strawberry Tea cupcake course on the 16th & 25th of May and  1st and 13th of June. It would seem that my book is not the only thing that is on offer as this class is also discounted and the whole course only costs £99.

That’s it for today as I think we’re all so shocked by the bombings in Boston that there’s nothing else to say. My kids are at nursery, unaware of what life throws up at times, and I am going to go back in to my kitchen turn the oven on and make sure there’s something nice for them to come home to. I look forward to welcoming you here, to my baking school, if you decide to take a class with me too.

i love you

Cherry x
************************************************************

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A simple picture of three plain baked cupcakes.

But the reason I love this shot so much is because of the lighting. You see I took this in the sun-room at the back of the house when it actually had some sun in it. For the first time is months the sun came out for a lengthy period of time this weekend and the whole house came back to life.

We did some more filming for Picket Fence Baking over the weekend and didn’t have to re-shoot anything because the light was so good in my kitchen.

I was working on a simple butter cream design and couldn’t resist the combination of blue, pink, soft green and the whitest of domed topped cupcakes. OK, you can tell I’m happier this week than last as I’m waxing lyrical about un-decorated cakes. But the sun does that to me.

Yesterday we got outside.

Last Autumn Robert and his mum (both keen gardeners) took some cuttings from the Laurel hedge at the bottom of the garden. Using rooting powder they stuck them in to some pots of earth and hid them at the back of the house in a sheltered spot.

Well look what happened. They took!!

We now have TWENTY TWO mini Laurel plants growing that we’ll use to plant a hedge at the front of the house. This has saved us a great deal of money as hedging can be pricey and although it will certainly take longer to become the height we need it to be the sense of achievement is second to none.

And I can well imagine Robert and I standing looking at the hedge when it’s all grown and mature and the kids have long since gone to University and saying “remember when that was just a bunch of cuttings?”

The camellia is coming on well but being slightly stubborn. Not long now though!

Halcyon days. I say this a lot but I mean it. If you guys had only been with us over the last few weeks, months years you’d have seen a tremendous amount of horrid horribleness (to put it mildly) but days like yesterday are like a soothing balm. They come along and allow you to finally feel the sun on your face and act as a metaphor for the life that we are currently living. Which is to say that this too shall pass and the sun will shine again.

Does that mean that this blog is an edited version of my life?
Well of course it is to an extent. It’s the best bits. It’s the bits that make me stop and think about people that we love, things that we love and events that make us happy. It’s the bits that make me feel better and the bits that I want to share to make you feel better.

It’s not the cancer, the lies, the greed, the threats, the press articles, the money or the trolls and the people who have never met me or my family.

Because life does not reside in those places and I steadfastly REFUSE to let them infiltrate. Those places are dead and empty of life and as a mummy, a wife, a friend and a woman I provide life and I love it so fill me up and give me all you’ve got because I shall carry on until I drop dead in my garden at the ripe old age of 109 with a huge contented smile on my face.

This is life.

My son.

Experiencing utter joy.

THAT. IS. LIFE.

And yes, Spring has has begun. In my heart.

i love you. Thank you for sticking with me. That is all.

Cherry x
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Good morning!

Well, seeing as we still can’t go out to play in the sun we can perhaps learn a new skill online! If you fancy making a few cupcakes this weekend and have no idea how to decorate them then my brand new video may be able to help. In this latest tutorial I demonstrate how to make edible pearls which are all the rage in cakeland right now and are super easy to re-create.

Click the photo below to be taken to the class.

Above are a collection of jumbo and regular edible pearls decorating the top of a domed cupcake that I designed at the start of the year.

And here is a collection of delicate edible pearls trimming a cupcake, adding a bit of class and glamour, and comes from a cake I designed over Eastertime (there is also a video that will teach you how to make the type of roses shown). Every video also comes with a list of all the equipment you’ll need.

And the price for this one?

£0.99 and it’s yours to keep forever. Bargain.

i love you and thank you for reading and watching today

Cherry x

************************************************************

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Cherry Menlove

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I have to say it’s been the oddest start to a year I have ever known.

They say that Spring is on its way this weekend but when I look out I see deepest darkest January and it’s getting me down. I feel very odd, slightly discombobulated and a little ‘all over the place’

This late start to the year has reminded me just how closely I follow and live by the seasons. How they dictate what I eat, what I wear, how I feel (both positive and negative feelings)
January often holds great promise for the new year but when you still feel like you’re in that month 14 weeks later it’s not that great.

Still, I’ve started my garden. Albeit indoors.

Ranunculus. A beautifully shaped flower, with fantastic colours and brilliant for cutting. Good to grow in pots too!

My peas. Well Robert’s peas, I should say. Except that I do all the looking after as he leaves in the dark and gets home in the dark. I’ve a feeling we’ll be growing these in pots too as I still haven’t tackled the raised beds. I have no inclination whatsoever to get out there and do it either. It’s my ridiculous pathetic stance towards the weather. Almost like I’m saying “if you can’t be warmer and sunnier than this then I’m not coming outside. OK???”

See, told you it was pathetic.

I just feel so lethargic. We still have the heating on and when it goes off at night it’s COLD! I hate to go in to TMI territory but I am still using an eiderdown and if it falls off at night I’m really chilly.

At least the Jasmine’s doing ok.

There’s stuff to do inside I’m just finding it hard to get my groove on as it seems like everything has stalled and frozen in time slightly. Weird.

But it’ll come.

It’ll warm up and perhaps we’ll have a scorcher of a summer.

We’ve been here a year and not had one really blistering day. I’m sad as I’d have liked to have seen it in all weathers by now and it’s a very expensive house to heat which is something that I find pretty hard to reconcile.

* thinking *

* still thinking *

I’ll come back to you when I’m more decisive and feeling clearer I think. Perhaps it’s all the book stuff and the excitement mixed with nerves but I really feel like a holiday. A small break with Robert and the kids. Just us.

Anyone else feeling a little bit blue due to lack of Springtime sun?

Please tell me if you are because if it’s only me I’ll stop the pity party. But if there are more of you we could perhaps wallow together?

i love you and thank you for reading (moans and all)

Cherry x

************************************************************

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* todays pictures are a mixture of iPhone snaps and camera shots

Wow, I don’t know what to say about the weekend I’ve just had. It was joyous and terrifying in equal measure I believe but also immensely enjoyable. So ‘NUTS’ is the word I would use to encompass all of it.

Before heading off to the show I pulled together the class I would be teaching which was Boxes and Bows. I believed at the time I had an hour but unfortunately the classes were only thirty mins, which was a shame as I love the teaching side of baking and cake decorating but I think folk got the drift of the techniques in amongst my idle chatter.

When I arrived at the show on Saturday it was already packed  and in full swing. This is Eric Lanard on the Baking Mad stage. He was teaching on every stage like a mad man throughout the weekend and must be exhausted right now. He is absolutely fabulous and an absolute treasure.

There was lots of inspiration floating about and these reminded me of my Peppermint Kisses recipe from Christmastime.

After having a quick look around I headed on over to the Sainsbury’s Magazine stand.

As expected it was a hive of activity as they are currently celebrating their twentieth anniversary. Sainsbury’s magazine holds a special place in my heart as there were supplements in a Christmas issue in 1994 or 1995 that I made my first Christmas wreath from and Delia’s Minestrone soup. I was on my way after that and I still have the supplements!

The stand was always packed with folk coming up and bagging themselves subscriptions.

Not one to hang around doing nothing the girls very kindly gave me a pinny and let me sell a few too. I was more relieved then them to be doing it as I went up to the show alone and didn’t want to wander around like Billy Nomates, so thank you!!!

Lots of famous people stopped by whilst I was there to say ‘hi’ to the magazine staff, one of whom was James Morton from Great British Bake-Off (@bakingjames)

I cannot begin to tell you what a lovely chap this man is. Just great, he exudes warmth and actually wears jumpers under his suit jackets. I tried to put him in my pocket but it was full of empty cake wrappers so I had to let him go.

While I was there I did have a fantastic time looking around all of the stands and doing a bit of shopping. I bought some great bits and bobs that you shall see in recipes and cake designs soon!

I had a book signing in the afternoon that was slotted in at the last minute so I tweeted about it like crazy and was lucky enough to meet some gorgeous people. I got the timings slightly muddled and missed some other folk but had a lovely time.

Yesterday I knew would be a busy day. Starting off with an interview on the Lakeland stage. I was REALLY nervous beforehand and had no idea how it would go or if I would end up waffling…

But in actual fact I really enjoyed it and felt better staring out and seeing the faces of people there watching.

And then it was off to a book signing.

This is where I get the most pleasure from and know that writing a blog is actually worth doing. Meeting folk who read it and having a chat with them.

People of all ages. Look at these darling girls.

I was even allowed to hold Nate. Beautiful boy.

Getting out there and meeting people that I’ve met on Facebook (like Sarah) and folk that I have no idea existed is where it’s at for me. Thank you all so much for taking time out from the show to come on over, say hello and get a book signed.

When my signing was over I had to head straight on over to teach my class. I thought there may only be about 6 or 8 people there but it was full. And although I got mixed up on the length of the class it was great fun. This event attracted such nice, interested and interesting people. I loved every second of it.

These two girls were teaching in the same room after me. They are known collectively as Queen of Hearts Couture Cakes and make everything out of buttercream. Amazingly gifted and talented women.

And then finally I headed on over to the other Sainsbury’s stand and hooked up with Holly Bell (@HollyBellMummy) where we had a good old chat. I was thrilled to meet Holly as I loved her on the GBBO and have loved the work she has done for Sainsbury’s online. About thirty minutes before I left I saw Natasha Stringer (@Natasha47) from the GBBO too and we all carried on talking. I have to be honest I was delighted that I almost lost track of the time because that means that I was having a blast and getting to know all of these creative people.

I was also very good for me personally to go away for a night by myself. I haven’t done that since my kids were born and I was in need of it. I had a lot on my mind before I went away and was able to chill in the hotel room, get some food in the bar downstairs and just settle for a moment without being asked for “more juice mummy”. I’ve been slowly, slowly getting more tired and a bit run down frankly. Slopping about in the same clothes and feeling all together ‘meh’ about things. But this trip was a tonic, a pick me up and has given me a boost.

So thank you so much to all the people I met at the show. I hope you all got home safely.

Just a quick reminder before I go to say that if you have been inspired by the Cake & Bake show you can see my English Rose cake topper tutorial online for only £1.99  and you get to keep it forever!

i love you and thank you for reading today.

Cherry x
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Cherry Menlove

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My life is regularly split in to two parts – the home part and the cake part. I try to manage the two, sometimes doing well and sometimes not doing very well at all. Right now I’m in the cake part. I get flashes of inspiration for new cakes wherever I look and have four more collections that I’m really looking forward to turning in to classes for Picket Fence Baking.

Aside from the physical classes that are held at the baking studio we are also now running online courses. So no matter where you are in the world you can learn to decorate and bake with Picket fence Baking. We’ve started off with one video, How to make a Rose cake topper, and will upload more. The best bit (apart from being able to learn a brand new skill online from the comfort of your armchair)?  Is the price.

We got the Beautiful Basics classes which are £0.99. These online cake decorating classes will cover a myriad of baking and cake decorating basics. Even if you only ever took these classes you would become very proficient indeed at baking and decorating.

The Glossy & Glam Techniques which are £1.99 move us on a stage. Covering some glitzy, more technical techniques which will take your skills to another level.

And the Couture Cake Decorating set which are £2.99. These are the premium classes (but still cost only £2.99). These will be longer in their duration and will have you raising the bar and creating cakes that look too good to eat! All from the comfort of your laptop. Just think, you can take a class, make the cakes and just turn up at somebodies house or party with them! They will be amazed.

So, I’m off to the Cake & Bake show early tomorrow morning. I’m really looking forward to it and can’t wait to spend the weekend covered in cake and all things cakey. I will OF COURSE be taking my Red Nose Day copy of The Handmade Home with me and signing copies on both days. I shall take pictures of any famous people that I get to sign it and will tackle them to the ground if they resist! Well they say do something funny for money, yes!

OK, I’ve got two children both being potty trained, a bag to pack, equipment to gather up and sheep in my back garden. Just another normal day here in West Sussex. See you tomorrow!!

i love you

Cherry x
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Order my book The Handmade Home from Amazon

Join my Facebook page!

Cherry Menlove

Promote your Page too

Feel free to add me to your links list. Here it is ! - http://www.cherrymenlove.com/

Facebook – Please feel free to join my page

Twitter – please feel free to follow me