{Halloween Fun}

My kids are at the age now where Halloween is lots of fun. We've been busy deciding what to dress up as for the school disco and I think we'll try and visit a few of the neighbours too whilst we're at it!

I thought I'd share with you a few of my Halloween finds...

First up is an event in Glasgow being held this weekend by Rowdy Roddy Vintage at The Sparkle Horse, 16 Dowanhill Street. It's a free event with Halloween games, pumpkin carving, home decor, costumes and more.

There's also a Baby Loves Disco 'Boogie Halloween' event at Hummingbird on 2nd November, 1-3pm and a Pop Lock-In at the same venue, same date for 4-11 year olds at 4-6pm. Have a peek here for more details.

I've also come across some tasteful Halloween decor... we're not having a party so I'm not going to go crazy, but I might put up a couple of garlands and try and carve a pumpkin. My cousin Scott creates the most amazing pumpkins each year, and hopefully he won't mind me sharing the one he made last year...

Tinkerbell! Isn't this so cool!! I'll be attempting a more straight forward design!

John Lewis is one of my favourite department stores, and they have loads of Halloween goodies. This tissue paper garland is great value at just £2.50:

Tissue Paper Pumpkin Garland from John Lewis

I also love this felt ball garland from Violet and Percy:

Halloween Felt Ball Garland, £8

These bat garlands and tassel garlands are also amazing:

Velveteen Babies Bat Garland from Molly Meg, £17.50

My Little Day Black Tassel Garland, £12.50

If we don't get time to bake any Halloween inspired cakes for the neighbours (I've ordered some bat shaped sugar sprinkles and edible wafer cake toppers!), then these Hotel Chocolat treats from John Lewis are ideal as a wee favour.

Yikes Milk Chocolate Treats, £2.50

I've got some other Halloween ideas over on this old post and there's also some ideas on my Halloween Pinterest board, which you will find here.

Halloween - do you love it or hate it?

{Daughter's First Birthday Party}

I've just realised that after posting my plans for the afternoon tea party for my daughter's first birthday, I didn't post any photographs of the actual party! Silly me! So here are some of the details...

I made a number '1' applique vest for my daughter to wear:

I created a number '1' template in Word

I used this to cut a number '1' out of rose patterned fabric, which I then sewed onto a pink long-sleeved baby vest. Up close it didn't look great, but from a distance it was ok!

I had bought a very cute little ballet tutu from Sainsbury's that I teamed with the baby vest and striped tights to complete the outfit!

I also made some bunting to decorate the living room. The fabric (which I also used for the applique vest) was from Remnant Kings Curtain Warehouse.

I sewed triangles of fabric and attached them to bias binding. You can follow the tutorial I used by Homemade & Happy here. I'm going to use the bunting to decorate my daughter's bedroom, so I hadn't just made it for the party.

I made the birthday cake myself with some help from Mrs Jones, Passion in the Baking. This was part of my 35 at 35 list. I also used Ruby Delicious, who I would highly recommend, to cater for the party (I had enough to stress about!). Alison brought vintage crockery for us to use as well as bringing lots of different teas and a selection of amazing cakes, brownies, meringues... It was all lovely (I've got more photographs of the food and other details, but they're on another camera and I need to download the pics to my computer. I'll post them soon!).

Button birthday cake.

And here is the birthday girl herself:

My favourite out of the vintage tea cups (photo is a little blurry, sorry!)

{First Birthday Afternoon Tea Party}

It's my daughter's first birthday in April and I'm in the process of organising a little afternoon tea party for her. Nothing fancy, just some tea and cupcakes with a few friends and family. However, I've found some adorable accessories (I couldn't help myself!) and thought I would share them here with some of my inspiration pictures from Pinterest.

The Invitation...

{Martha Stewart}

{Hip Hip Hooray Blog}

The Birthday Cake & Cupcakes...

If only I could decorate cupcakes like this!! {Cotton & Crumbs}

How gorgeous are these rose cupcakes!! {Hello Naomi on Flickr}

Wow!! {Cake Journal on Flickr}

The Table...

{Neither Snow}

{HGTV}

{Inspired Design}

{Bake-a-boo}

The Details...

Truly Scrumptious teapot individual cake stands... how cute are these!!!

And I also purchased the matching Utterly Scrumptious Cupcake/Sandwich Stand...

The Birthday Girl Outfit...

{Amazon}

I don't think I'll be buying an outfit especially for the party - she already has a very cute red tutu from Christmas - but if I have time I was going to applique on a number '1' onto a baby vest and she can wear that with the tutu. I also bought some fabric to make some bunting, which I thought I could decorate the table with and then use in their bedroom afterwards... I'm just not sure if I'm going to have time to make it. Watch this space to see how I get on!

{Fabulous Finds}

Every so often I come across amazing things to see, do or buy when I'm browsing the web, and I've decided to do a regular post to share my fabulous finds... Glasgow Mummy's fabulous finds! When I think of a better name I'll change it, as I feel like I'm sort of copying the name of a new favourite blog of mine, Florence Finds. If anyone has any other suggestions for names, then please let me know - I could use the help!

Bearing in mind that I recently went on a cupcake course, I thought I'd share some of the cute, quirky & different things I've found to do with cakes... (yum!!).

First up is Planet Bake. I've literally just found this website (yesterday, in fact!) and I love it! I've just placed an order for a number of their goodies.

I just love the cupcake boxes... I've ordered some of the Christmas ones (for my Christmas cupcakes I'm going to bake for the neighbours) and I couldn't resist the Patisserie shop ones too.

Christmas Cupcake Box (holds 4 cupcakes)

Patisserie Cupcake Box (holds 4 cupcakes)

There are also some gorgeous cupcake kits, and I particularly like the Pretty Pansies set (which I first spotted at Enid Reid Flowers in Glasgow when I was there for my recent flower workshop). The white picket fence made out of candle silhouettes is just too cute!

I bought this adorable truffle stand from Marie Brown At Home yesterday. It's going to look great on my Christmas dining table (I did have some chocolates to put on it for photographing, but I've eaten them already - whoops!) so I've just taken a quick pic with my phone camera. If you are wondering, the other two glass domes on the shelf are from Marie Brown too - I just haven't decided what to put in them yet! 

Another online company that I've ordered cake supplies from is the Cake Decorating Company. The items I've bought previously have been superb and everything is sent out so quickly - a great service. They have an amazing range of edible cake toppers and I particularly adore the cute baby vest toppers which would be lovely for a baby shower or christening.

Where do you get your baking supplies from and do you have any other companies that you can recommend?