Final Christmas order dates...

.... for www.onestoppampershop.co.uk 


International orders have now stopped.

The final date or guaranteed Christmas delivery to UK addresses is 16th December. Not long now!  

It's 1st December today!! That means I can officially play Christmas music now and eat advent chocolate :D

Have a great day

Maryann

www.onestoppampershop.co.uk

Getting a different kind of crafty

When I left school I was 100% sure that the only thing I wanted to do was be a photographer, unfortunately I had... shall we say a very unsupportive mother, and I got myself involved with a man who wasn't very nice. Both of them said I couldn't follow my dreams and go to college and do the courses I needed. I was a very different person back then and I listened, and carried on listening for the next 12 years or so. I was 25 before I had got out of that situation and  29 before I decided that I'd stop listening and just do it! Life is too short and all that. I had always been creative and in the meantime set up One Stop Pamper Shop, which I love but I still had this niggling "what if" so I went for it.

This isn't something I share very often over here, if ever actually because I am so damn critical of my photo's and its all I can do not to just delete them as soon as I have taken them. BUT I am trying my best to be more confident and at least trust other peoples judgement when they say they love them, I have been very lucky lately and had some people that like my photo's enough to hire me to photograph their children. But the nerves are still there! They fade with practise though, right? I hope so! 

I'm the world best worrier (perhaps it comes from being told "you can't" for so long) left to my own devices I wouldn't actually get anything done  just spend my days over analysing everything! I'll stop waffling and show you some of my latest pictures, hopefully I'll even press the post this blog button! Let me know what you think of them?

November News

It's cold out there! don't even think about going outside, stay home, light candles, have long luxurious baths and eat rich stews and stodgy puddings..... Ok so perhaps I'm just having a little day dream there. Sounds good though doesn't it?

But should you decide to indulge in a little pampering then im here to help! There is lots of scrumptious new products online now, and plenty of new scents as well as some old favourites returning.

Go on, you deserve a treat!!

Maryann xx

http://www.onestoppampershop.co.uk

Conkers....

So the children spent hours collecting 100's of conkers yesterday, it seemed a waste to just throw them all back and you just know how upset the little ones would have been! So here's my attempt at a Autumn themed table centrepiece -

It looks rather pretty lit on a cosy evening! Any suggestions on what to do with the rest?

News from One Stop Pamper Shop, Oh some from Handmade too!

Hi, I hope this finds you well? I have spent this week stressing over the new shop and worrying that the car has failed its MOT, this is always a good time of year! :) 

Exciting times though, as stressful as it is, the second of our "Handmade" stores is opening in Lavenham next Saturday, onwards and upwards. Do pop in to the Colchester or Lavenham store if you are local, its always nice to meet you.

If you are a crafter then we need you!! We are currently looking for the following crafts A potter, woodturner, moneybox maker - these are requested so often! A memory box maker and possibly a patchworker. There is room for other crafts too, but these are requested quite often! For more info please take a look at the Handmade website

This week our special offer is a sale across the whole store! 15% off absolutely everything over at www.onestoppampershop.co.uk 

There has been lots of new scents added in the last month, if you are looking forward to autumn try a hot cocoa or crackling log fire. Want to hang on to summer? Then a summer sunrise is just what you need! 

As ever -  If you cannot see what you are looking for or there is a scent we dont currently stock, please get in contact and we will do our best to help and remember, Everything we stock is cruelty free, of the highest standards, properly certified and NEVER tested on animals.

Many thanks for all your valued custom and support

Maryann

http://www.onestoppampershop.co.uk

http://www.handmadehighst.co.uk

A cheesy adventure

I've been getting rather stressy lately, which doesn't make for a very crafty mummy!  So a while ago I made a rule that I'd no longer work after actually leaving work. (blogging doesn't count does it?) which left me with lots of time on my hands to try new things, I've been looking at all the recipes on Pinterest for making Mozzarella and that seemed like a good "new thing" to try.

Cheese by Mummy, photo's mostly by Katelyn (very nearly 3)

We followed this recipe http://www.ehow.co.uk/how_5530039_make-mozzarella-minutes.html with a few adaptions I'll highlight

Instructions

Things you need

• 6-quart (or bigger) heavy stainless steel or Enamel pot (no aluminium)
• Thermometer sensitive to at least 110 F
• Slotted spoon
• 2-quart microwaveable bowl
• Microwave
• Stove
• Latex gloves
• 1.5 teaspoons of citric acid
• 1/2 cup of cool water
• 1/4 teaspoon of liquid rennet (or 1/4 of rennet tablet)
• 1/4 cup of cool, unchlorinated water
• 1 gallon of pasteurised whole milk
• Bowl of ice-cold water

1. 1
   Disinfect your working surface area with your household sanitiser.
2. 2
   Wash your pot thoroughly in warm water. An important step to perform before starting making Mozzarella is to remove any residues that may interfere with the process of making cheese. 

   • 
     
   1. 3
      Fill your pot with warm water, and place on a stove top on high heat. Bring the water to a boil. Remove the pot from the heat and place your utensils in the boiling water. Let sit for ten minutes.
   2. 4
      Remove utensils from boiling water and allow them to air dry. Discard the water from the pot and allow it to air dry.
   3. 5
      Dissolve 1.5 teaspoons of citric acid in 1/2 cup of cool water. Set aside. 

      Citric acid didn't sound very appetising, with the help of Kerry's mum (kerry runs www.loulousluxuries.co.uk where you can buy pretty things by the way) I discovered that 1 1/2 lemons had the same amount of citric acid in as 1 1/2 teaspons of the powdered stuff. Sounds much nicer and more natural?

      

      
      

      

      who knew lemons were that tasty?

      
      

      6             Dilute 1/4 teaspoon liquid rennet (or 1/4 rennet tablet) in 1/4 cup cool, unchlorinated water. You can use distilled water. Regular tap water has a high percentage of chlorine, which will stop the action of the rennet (forming the curds). Set aside. 

      The water part I was unprepared for, I think bottled water is the same? Anyway, it worked! WE found Rennet quite easily at lakeland for just £1.49, and it will make lots of batches of cheese!  http://www.lakeland.co.uk/16851/Vegetarian-Rennet
   4. 7
      Pour 1 gallon of pasteurised whole milk into the clean pot. Place on stove top over medium/low heat and then add the citric acid solution while stirring.
   5. 8
      Immerse the thermometer in the milk and heat to 32.2 degrees C. The milk will start to curdle. Stir in the diluted rennet solution slowly, with an up-and-down motion, while the milk is heating to 100 F.

      This just warms the milk, it doesn't get really hot so perfect for small people to do. 

      

      
      
   6. 9
      Turn off the the heat. Wait until the curds (the solidified part of the milk) have pulled away from the pot and have a bit of a shine. The whey (the remaining liquid) should be clear. If the whey is still milky, wait a bit more.

      

      
      
   7. 10
      Scoop out the curds with the slotted spoon and place in the microwaveable bowl. Put your latex gloves on and press the curds gently with your hands, pouring off as much whey as possible.

      Ah too much messing about! we used a sieve!

      

      
      
   8. 11
      Microwave the curds on high for one minute. Drain off the rest of the whey. Fold the the curds over and over to distribute the heat throughout the curds. Microwave two more times for 35 seconds each, kneading and removing excess whey after each time.

      

      
      
   9. 12
      Knead quickly until the curds are smooth, shiny and stretch like taffy. Roll the cheese into small balls. Place the cheese in a bowl of ice cold water for 1/2 an hour to bring the inside temperature of the cheese down rapidly, which will ensure the smooth texture of the cheese. Eat immediately or cover and store in the refrigerator.

      And of course for at least some of the cheese we missed this step! We ate it warm

      
      

      

      
      

And I must say - its lovely!!

At last!! A Theo Paphitis #SBS win!!

At last, after a mere 81 attempts, I finally won a #SBS RT from the lovely Theo Paphitis

"I won I won I won!! Wooohoo! was my initial reaction... no, that's telling a lie, my initial reaction is unrepeatable!! lol It was completely out of the blue and very unexpected, I had settled down with a cup of coffee, and decided to do my Photography coursework. All of a sudden I got a text from the lovely sarah from www.silverbirchcrafts.co.uk telling me to "get your butt on twitter" lol 

Its such a honour to be part of this very exclusive club, I am so amazed and proud that Theo Paphitis picked me!! Perhaps he just got bored of me tweeting him after 81 entries though?? lol. Whatever it is I haven't stopped smiling yet!!

I have already had the honour of meeting Theo, Back in March when I went to the #sbs event with Sarah, but of course there is nothing like being a winner in your own right! Something I am incredibly thankful to be!

This is a huge thing for little me, a nice big push in the right direction. It has already brought new followers on twitter, more traffic to the website and the welcome from the other club members has been lovely, In the future it should bring new networking opportunities - the #SBS club all seem to help each other out where they can! It should help get our name out there - word of mouth is the best form of advertising after all. Its a great achievement, come at a time when everything is going so fantastically well anyway, it's the icing on the cake.  

For those of you that arent sure that its all about, here is the link http://theopaphitissbs.com/about/

And of course the link to my #SBS page http://theopaphitissbs.com/profile/onestoppampershop/