Brighton Festival 2016

During May Brighton awakens from its winter hibernation and the city comes to life with the arrival of the Brighton Festival. This year is the 50th Festival and will be bigger and better than ever.

To find out more about the festival click here:

http://brightonfestival.org/

To celebrate the festival Artist in Brighton open their houses to the public to display and sell their work as well as many guest artists. It has always been my favorite time in Brighton, people plan their route, pick what they would like to see and spend there weekends strolling the streets of Brighton looking for local art to fill their houses. You are always guaranteed to bump into at least one person you know and if you don't you will leave each house knowing at least one new person. Everyone is so friendly and relaxed. There are often cakes for sale and some houses even offer people lunch in their gardens. 

This year I am very pleased to announce that I will be displaying my work as part of the 5ways open houses. 

http://www.aoh.org.uk/home

I will post more information nearer the time but for now I am beavering away to make loads of beautiful pieces to display (and hopefully sell) as part of the festival.

Here is a speak peak at what to expect:

Competition time

To celebrate the launch of my new etsy shop I will be giving away 3 of these beautiful handmade flower brooches.
1 when I reach 100 followers on facebook

1 when I reach 100 followers on instagram

1 when I reach 100 followers of my blog.


How to enter:
Like my facebook page and share
https://www.facebook.com/WhatPollyMade
Follow me on Instagram
https://instagram.com/whatpollymade/
Subscribe to my blog emails
http://whatpollymade.blogspot.co.uk/

Do all 3 and you'll be entered 3 times.

Good luck

Winner will be notified via the social media platform on which they entered the competition.
Winner chosen at random.
One entry per person per social media platform.
No cash or alternative prize offered.

My Etsy Shop is here

I've finally done it, I've set up my very own Etsy shop. It's very small at the moment but as I make more and more things I will add them on. I will still be blogging about what I make, this will just give you a chance to buy it for yourself or as a gift. Lots of things will be made to order in your own choice of colours or personalised with initials and names. 

LINK

Follow the link above and check out my first few items. 

Lemon cod with basil bean mash

I thought I'd share this recipe with you all as it's one of our favorites. It's a great week night dinner, easy to make and healthy.

Follow the link below for the recipe I followed

http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/7189/lemon-cod-with-basil-bean-mash

Looks quite fancy for something that even my husband can make!!!

Let me know how you get on and please recommend any other recipes you think I should try in the comments section below.

Enjoy!

AMAZING Chocolate cake

http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/4577/wedding-cake-rich-dark-chocolate-cake

This is my all time favourite chocolate cake. My friend and I discovered it when looking for a substantial chocolate cake to use as part of our wedding cake. It's really only for special occasions as it's quite rich (and expensive). Perfect to celebrate Weddings, birthdays, anniversary's, Fridays, Saturdays.....Mondays?!!!

I made this one for my husband for his birthday last year and then my mother made it for him this year (I had a 6 week old baby, pretty good excuse). We actually made the cake 2 months before when I was pregnant and put it in the freezer (undecorated), my mother then took it out of the freezer the day before to leave it to defrost and then decorated it.

We covered the whole thing with a chocolate butter icing then drizzled it with melted white chocolate. Then let this cool a little before drizzling it with melted milk chocolate, tipping the plate to let it pour over the side. Finally decorating it with whole strawberries which I had dipped in melted milk chocolate. To finish drizzle with white chocolate using a chop stick. You need a very sharp knife to get through all the chocolate but its well worth it! A definite crowd pleaser!

Paper Cut

I am pleased to finally share with you all one of my latest creations.

 PERSONALISED PAPER CUT

My lovely sister-in-law Emma married the equally lovely Sam last weekend and as part of their present I made them a personalised 'Paper Cut'.

I have been wanting to try to make a 'Paper Cut' for absolutely ages. They are such a great idea for presents, cheap to make and full of love.

If you would like to make one of your own here are the steps that I followed:

1. Materials

-Choose your paper. If you are going to frame it like I have, then the paper doesn't have to have any weight to it. I chose a light grey to sit behind and a slightly textured off white paper to cut. Don't use card,  I started with card but it isn't as easy to cut so you don't get such clean lines.
-Craft knife, doesn't need to be anything fancy.
-Cutting board or surface to cut on. I used a magazine.
-A frame

2. Design

To get a really clean design I would recommend creating your design using a computer. I used Illustrator. I placed a rectangle the size of my frame in the background then added the grey shapes on top. The grey is what you will be cutting out so bear in mind that the white should all be connected together, be warned this may make your brain hurt a bit!!
Once you have finished flip your design so that it is back to front.
Adding a personal touch makes it even more special. Can you spot the two little cats I added into this one?

3. Print

Print to scale onto your top paper. Use a light grey colour so that it can't be seen through the paper.

4. Start cutting.

This is the time consuming bit. Very carefully cut out the grey sections. Cut the small bits first, leave the larger sections to last to avoid ripping the paper.

5. Frame.

Cut your work and backing paper to the size of your frame.

Place in to your frame, wrap up and give to your loved ones!

Tuscan Bean Soup

A healthy bean soup for a winters day (even for the most skeptical of soup eaters)...

Earlier this year my husband and I went to Italy on our honeymoon, when we arrived home our wonderful friends had left us a hamper full of Italian delights. As we had managed to go over the baggage allowance before we had even started our holiday and therefore were limited to what we could bring back, we were over the moon when we were greeted with this on our return.

I have been slowly working my way through the hamper making sure not to waste any of the ingredients (as you can imagine some things went very quickly).
This week I made a Tuscan bean soup with the final thing from the hamper, a bag of beans, it was delicious and thought i'd share the recipe with you as I used a mixture of different recipes online.
Enjoy...



Serves 4

350g bag of Tuscan bean mix (dried)
(or 40g black eye beans, 40g Borlotti beans, 40g Canellini beans, 40g kidney beans, 40g lentils, 40g yellow soya beans, 40g chickpeas, 40g broad beans, 40g peas)
1 x tablespoon olive oil (or chili oil)
1 x onion
1 x stick of celery
1 x carrot
2 x large cloves of garlic
1 x 400g tin (or carton) chopped tomatoes
1/2 litre chicken stock
sprig of rosemary
1 tablespoon paprika
chili flakes

to serve:
olive oil
bread
Parmesan
ham (optional)

 1. Soak the beans over night in a bowl of cold water. They double in size so make sure your bowl is big enough.

2. Drain and rinse the beans. Boil in salted water for 45mins. Drain when cooked.

3. Finely chop your onion, celery, carrot and garlic.

4. Heat olive oil in a heavy bottomed pan that can be placed in the oven.
I used chili oil but you could add a sprinkling of chili flakes to normal olive oil if you would like a bit of a kick to your soup.

5. Add in the garlic, rosemary, onions, celery and carrot. Saute for 5-10 mins until your onions are nice and soft.

6. Add in paprika and stir for 30 secs.

7. Add in cooked beans, chopped tomatoes and chicken stock.

8. Leave to simmer for 45 mins or more. I put the pan in the oven on a low heat (150 degrees roughly)

9. Add more water if it thickens up too much, season with salt and pepper and serve with toasted rustic bread, Parmesan cheese and a drizzle of olive oil.
I also added some chopped up ham as we have a lot left from Christmas but this is optional.

My soup went down a storm, even with my husband who doesn't believe soup is a meal!! This one definitely is.