CLAUDIA LOVES CATS: October 2016

Hope you're all having a hygge Halloween!

This week I have been reading and baking these spooky cakes.

THIS BOOK IS AMAZING! It is all about being HYGGE which is such a lovely thing - the closest that Meik Wiking can get to describing the word in English is "cosiness" but as can be seen from this book there is SO much more to it than that. This book has ideas, interior ideas, home ideas and recipes in it, all the ingredients for a lovely hygge time. I thought this book would be ideal for this time of year but in the book there are ideas for hygge for any time of year!

The book suggests cakes as a hygge snack so I thought I would make some Halloween cakes for this evening - perfect snack with a tea in my Emma Bridgewater Halloween mug. I just made basic fairy cakes and iced them with orange and black icing.

We are all ready for the trick or treaters tonight!

Claudia

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Happy Halloween weekend!

What could be more Halloweeny than costumes! As I am not going to a Halloween party this year I thought it would be better to dress up my favourite little friends.

POUND LAND was amazing for these!! Peggy's devil (above) and Coco's skeleton costumes both came from Poundland (£1!!!) and Coco's witch hat came from Pets at Home and was £5. All the costumes were made for animals and are made out of stretchy material to make sure your pets are comfortable!

I feel like I should make this post more pet fashiony so here we go: Peggy wears a size small and Coco wears a size Large (although this was a little small for her round her waist so I didn't do it up and it looked more like a skeleton waistcoat).

I absolutely LOVE seeing animals looking festive and can't wait for pet Christmas outfits, this really made me wish I could take them treat or treating.

Taking photos of pets is SO HARD!! To try and get them to pay attention to the camera and also not just roll about or knock the hat off (Coco!!). I would recommend some treats to keep them engaged and make sure that the costumes are not uncomfortable AT ALL. Then lots of hugs and kisses afterwards. Coco actually kept running back upstairs to where I had taken the photo as she clearly loved the attention!

Hope you all have a lovely Halloween!

Claudia

P.s Peggy is so cheeky! (see below)

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Pumpkin season is here!

This weekend it seemed to get a LOT colder all of a sudden! It was really crisp weather here, perfect for autumn days out. I have been purchasing loads for autumn recently, as I love the colours of this time of year, and have tried to make it a cross between halloweeny and autumny rather than just halloweeny, as that is only one day really! Hope you like the blog post!

(the above photo was taken at Emma Bridgewater in Stoke)

Halloween baths..

Thanks to the good people at Lush we can now have the most autumnal bath ever! I paired this bath bomb with some Waitrose pumpkin tea lights. It smells gorgeous apparently it is meant to be pumpkin pie, but a little overpowering when not in the water so the sooner you use it the better! I can't wait to try their other stuff now. I think I will have this in the bath while watching the Thanksgiving episode of Gossip Girl Season 1.

Halloween house decorations...

This year I have tried to not spend lots of money on my decorations, because I am now a student again and also it then means I can spend more on Christmas decorations (yes I said the "C" word already!). I have scoured high and low for some good deals which you can see below, I don't think I paid over £4 for anything in this blog post! I think sometimes cheaper decorations can look more elegant as they are cheaper and you may even be able to convince people you made them yourself.

I think I will be decorating my pumpkin this week as well, but the issue is I always spend ages looking on Pinterest for the PERFECT design and when it comes to it it never looks anything like it, such a Pinterest fail! I usually end up buying 2 pumpkins and trying something daring on one, then just going for a bog-standard look on the other!

Bat Garland - Wilkos (£1!!!!)
Pumpkin decorations - Poundland (£1 for 2!)
Pumpkin Lights - Poundland (again) (£1)

I don't really know what to do for Halloween itself this year. I much prefer bonfire night as a cosy evening out! It was more fun in the days of trick or treating, I'm not sure the neighbours would appreciate me asking for sweets on behalf of Peggy and Coco, although I have bought them Halloween costumes (which I will hopefully be able to take photos of if I can get them to sit still!).

Claudia

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One of the best things about living in Leek is the proximity to the potteries that are based in Stoke-on-Trent, this weekend me and my mum (also an avid collector) went to check out the new collections at our two favourite potteries in Stoke to look at their Christmas collections!!!

Emma Bridgewater

At Emma Bridgewater, they had their Christmas range up and running already and I thought it lived up to the hype. I loved the Robin design (see the photos below, and ended up buying a little baker from this range), even though apparently some people have been saying the Robin is "too skinny".

Emma Bridgewater also has a lovely cafe where me and mum had a spot of lunch, and you can decorate your own pots there and have a tour of the factory!

The best bit is undoubtedly the seconds shop!!! This is where you can buy pieces that slightly didn't make the cut for a (much!!!) reduced price. Definitely worth a look!!!

Emma Bridgewater can be found online here, and in person here where you can also book tours (I've been on one it's very interesting).

Emma Bridgewater Factory
Lichfield Street
Hanley
Stoke-on-Trent
ST1 3EJ

Below are some of the goodies in the seconds shop!! An emporium of pottery...

Burleigh

Burleigh is a little bit further into Stoke than EB, but is an absolutely gorgeous building with an equally nice cafe that is right next to the canal. The pottery is really classic, with a really vintage feel and is always beautifully displayed (see below).

I couldn't see any Christmas layouts or specifically Christmas designs, which is good because it gives me and mum another excuse to go back later in the year, right?

Burleigh can be found here and at this address:

Burleigh Factory Shop

Burgess & Leigh Ltd

Middleport Pottery

Port Street

Burslem

Stoke-on-Trent

ST6 3PE

England

Hope you all had a lovely weekend!

Claudia

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Happy Friday everyone!

The weather is starting to look a lot more autumnal now, and I can't wait for cosy nights and warm hot chocolates! We have so many good things to look forward to in autumn, Halloween and Bonfire night, as well as the clocks changing (extra hour in bed). Plus I can now start to binge watch the autumn and thanksgiving episodes of my favourite TV shows (hello Gossip Girl season one!). It will also soon be time for the new series of Gilmore Girls to come out on Netflix, an autumn favourite for everyone! If you are struggling for something to watch in the meantime, I would definitely recommend Stranger Things on Netflix, or a nice period drama (my favourite is North and South).

I thought I would try and get to grips with my new camera (Fujifilm A-X2) with the colourful autumn scenes. These photos were all taken in Leek, the town where I live on the edge of the Peak District, the air today was fresh and there was a slightly chilly wind.

This weekend I am hopefully going to check out the Christmas collection at Emma Bridgewater in Stoke-on-Trent, to get me in the festive spirit!

Claudia

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This weekend I went to London to meet up with my friends from my year abroad, who are from 3 continents and all congregated at Sciences Po in Paris in 2013. We had the best time, and me and my boyfriend stayed in a Premier Inn Hub on Brick Lane, which was super convenient for our pub golf in Shoreditch (but was a little like Fifth Element)!

By Sunday morning we were all really hungover and wanted brunch, so we headed to The Book Club cafe.. I had pancakes (see above!) but they have a massive selection of goodies on offer, Jonny had a pulled pork burger and everyone else had the classic full English.

The food was super yummy and it was a really lovely and bright cafe - there was also a ping pong table in the room next door!

... particularly like the ~Shoreditch Twat~ at the bottom....

The Book Club can be found at:

http://www.wearetbc.com

100-106 Leonard St, London EC2A 4RH

Hope you all had a lovely weekend!

Claudia

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Yesterday I went to Lou Lou's Vintage Fair at the King's Hall in Stoke on Trent, which is a really lovely vintagey venue. Last time I went to this event, it was CRAZY busy and you could barely reach any of the stalls, but this time it was a lot less busy so I could get a proper look around. As I have been buying a lot of clothes recently (particularly of the vintage variety) I wanted to restrain myself and only buy the two things I had in mind: some vintage jeans and a black clutch bag.

In the end I bought a burgundy clutch bag (told myself it would be good for Christmas!) and didn't find any jeans that fit unfortunately. Entry was £2 and when you're in there you can look at everything, take photos, have your hair done in a vintage style and eat so much cake you will be rolled out!

The next vintage fair on at the King's Hall in Stoke is the vintage weigh and pay in November (found here), which reminds me of the Kilo Shop in Paris that I used to go to at least twice a week when I lived round the corner from their Marais store! Can't wait already....