Just because it's too good not to share! It's my fifteen minutes of fame this week, all the mums stop me at school to say they've seen me in the paper so I feel that it is only appropriate to show you too. Ha.

Every month we trade at the Leigh-on-Sea Farmer's Market which is a really lovely community event showcasing wares from makers in Essex. We are there with our soaps, and we trade alongside some fabulous people like Sarah Green Organics (vegetables), Nutrimental (really lovely vegan goodies and raw food), and Donald Sutherland (jams and chutneys).

Here I am in the paper showing off my soaps. I'm the one in the middle on the left, and in the middleish(right) on the top right image. If you're local, come say hello! The market is usually on the third friday of the month but December's market is on the 23rd, from 8.30am until 1pm.

The magic of handmade There's something really special about receiving a handmade gift. Here's Isla jumping on the trampoline with her best friend "Miffy Bunny" - a handmade crochet bunny she received while on holiday from someone very special (thank you Althea!). I love this bunny because I know how much love and effort and time goes into something like this, and I love that Isla loves this bunny more than anything else. It's her special friend. As a maker, it fills my heart with happiness and pride that she loves Miffy Bunny so much and that she totally understands that someone MADE it especially for her.

I think a lot of people are enjoying this kind of handmade happiness. Not just makers, but people who appreciate the love and effort that goes into these makes. Christmas time is our busiest time at markets with Bean & Boy, our handmade soap business. Every weekend we find ourselves standing shoulder to shoulder with other makers from around the country as we tell people about handmade soap, helping them choose a bar of soap for a specific "difficult to buy for" relative, and explaining the soapmaking process over and over again. I think it's amazing that everyone is interested in hearing about the making process, and that we get to meet so many other enthusiastic crafters who make everything from "raw pizza" to giant hair bows. We've seen ceramic santas, handmade jams and chutneys, cake decorations and (a first for me) neon budgie tree angels. The markets this year are bigger and better than they were last year, and everyone is opting to buy handmade instead of commercially produced. It is a magical time and I'm really excited to be involved. It's even more exciting when someone buys from you and truly appreciates the amount of work that went into something.

I've always loved making things, all sorts of things, so it's wonderful that there's a huge interest developing in things that are made from scratch. From scratch, what a strange phrase. Apparently it has something to do with competitive sports and it denotes the starting point of a race or event. Anyway, the only kind of competitive sporting event around here is how fast you can knit a pair of socks. I'm losing, by the way. One pair a year does not seem like it is record breaking!

So, a big thank you to everyone who has supported us at markets and online. An even bigger thank you to everyone who supports the kind of crazy that comes along with made-by-handers (the accumulation of materials just-in-case-I-get-a-chance-to-make-that-thing-I-once-dreamt-up, the insistence on taking crochet in the car whenever I become a passenger, the persistent glitter that I can't seem to get out of the carpet, all those late nights making soap). And of course, the biggest thank you of all for everyone who has decided to go handmade this year instead of shop-bought. You're all magic.

Happy birthday Isla!

Wednesday, November 15, 2017
It's been go-go-go since we got back from holidays. We've been attending festive Christmas markets with our soap, making up lots of gift sets between events, fighting off colds en masse, and celebrating a third birthday! I didn't think I'd find the time to put together the party but we did - thank goodness - and I think it all went down fairly well. Isla was delighted with the party food. She snacked for about an hour before her friends arrived, taste testing everything and making sure it was all just right. Everything was ridiculously bright. Perfect for a third birthday. We decided on an ice cream theme. We had an ice cream style cake, ice cream style cupcakes, ice cream coloured decorations, and an ice cream sundae bar. This cake! It was brilliant! A pink ombre cake iced in buttercream, with four chocolate layers inside sandwiched with caramel treat. The ice cream cone is filled with a cupcake, and then iced to look like an actual ice cream. Delicious. I took a chance making cupcakes inside flat-bottomed ice cream cones and they were brilliant. Really pleased with how these turned out, and will make them again. I filled them about half way with cupcake batter and then baked for about 15 minutes. Perfect. We even had ice cream themed goodies to take away (thank goodness for Pinterest!). These are pinata ice cream cones! They're filled with sweets, topped with a meringue, and sealed with icing dipped in sprinkles. SUCH A WINNER.

I'm so pleased that we survived another year as parents, and got to celebrate this magnificent and marvelous little girl. As I sit typing, she's sitting on the carpet playing with blocks and building a tower. "Daddy, I like your yarn socks," I can hear her say. "Did you make them daddy?"

I love that we live in a house where our children totally think that everything is - and can - be made by hand. I love that they prefer things that have been handmade too, which is something I'm sure that they'll outgrow so I'll just enjoy it as much as I can right now. And I especially love that daddy does in fact have "yarn socks" on (his favourite ones) and I made them for him last year about this time. Knitting, it's my winter sport.

Baby it's cold outside

Thursday, November 02, 2017
We've been away on holiday. Beautiful, marvelous, magnificent holiday. I was very spoilt. We went to visit our family in Cape Town, South Africa. We ate too much, laughed a lot, bought too much yarn, ate far too much cake, enjoyed every minute of our time there, and cried a little when we left. The children adored spending time with all of their relatives - it can be so hard growing up far away from "home," and being surrounded by all that love must have been simply wonderful to my two littles. I'm so pleased that they had an opportunity to get to know everyone. We also had a birthday! Isla turned 3 and we celebrated with cake cake cake cake cake and a bit of trampolining, running around, swimming, hugs and squeals of delight. I learnt a lot there too. There's a severe water crisis in South Africa, and you have to be hyper aware of every drop of water. Washing and cleaning take on a whole new significance, and small things that we take for granted - flushing the toilet, brushing our teeth, washing out dishes after every use - become big things. Water used for washing is then used for flushing the toilet or watering the garden. Every drop is accounted for.  I have become so aware (and so ashamed) of how much water we waste every day, and we are making such an effort to continue to preserve water even though we left the crisis behind when we returned to the UK.

And so, we've come back to winter. It''s freezing cold here! The temperature has been dropping very low this week and we've had thermals on and the radiators turned up. I had to dig out socks from my winter clothes stash, and put blankets on the beds. Brrr. It's really very cold outside.

It's starting to look a lot like Christmas with the festive songs playing in all the shops and the lights twinkling on store displays. We've already started selling soaps at Christmas Markets (another excuse to get the tinsel out) so it's jingle all the way here. There's also a lot of festivity at our house as we prepare for a family visit, a packed festive season of local markets to attend, and lots of DIY - this weekend we're lifting up the carpets in the lounge to see if the floorboards can be sanded down and used as flooring. It's all very exciting. Hello, I’m Stacey: mama, maker, occasional baker.
I live at the seaside with my husband and two amazing kids. I make natural handmade soap over at Bean & Boy, and share my love of craft and family life here at Bakercourt.
Welcome to my little corner of the world.
email: stacey(at)bakercourt.co.uk Some links included do link to products on Amazon.co.uk. It does not charge you a different price, or change what you see. All it does is give me a commission if you buy something that you see on my blog.
You're not obligated to click on anything or buy anything - but if you do, I would appreciate using one of my links! Thank you x
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