With everything that has happened recently it was a lovely surprise when I logged onto Twitter to find the fabulous Gemma @Missuswolf had nominated me for The Beautiful Blogger Award. What a wonderful honour. I have been blogging for exactly 6 months now and have been over whelmed by the loveliness of people who blog and people who read and comment on blogs. You are all amazing. Gemma who  writes her blog MissusWolfs Storyland is herself an amazing blogger as well as being a talented published author. She published her first Children’s Book –The Ruby of Egypt in 2011.

A condition of accepting the award is that I must also tell you ten things about me.

So here goes:

1. I run drama workshops for children who want to act on TV     (www.theyoungactorsworkshop.co.uk)

2. I once hung out with Tom Hanks and Halley Berry on a film set

3. My daughter has her own TV show that airs on Disney Channel

4. I have travelled the world

5. I once lived in Sri Lanka and spent 2 months in silent meditation with Buddhist Monks

6. I love clean simple functional design

7. I own a house in Brighton

8. I like to eat dim sum from a little cafe outside Liverpool Street Station

9. I love Bubble Tea

10. My current obsession is Pinterest. (Check out my boards, I love them)

I also have the honour of passing this award on to 6 other bloggers whom I consider to be fabulous. There are so many beautiful bloggers out there that it was hard to choose just 6 but I’ve narrowed it down (sort of…)

Here Goes:

1.Domestic Goddesque - An all round wonder women of the blogging world. She writes a fantastic blog on parenting, crafts and all things fun for kids

2.40 Something Undomesticated Devil – Brilliant and funny. A wonderful blog written by a really lovely lady and truly beautiful blogger.

3.Mum of All Trades - Another amazing woman and blogger. 5 kids, a job, a blog, good at housework and still has time for amazing crafts. I am in awe

4. Letters from LadyCurd - I just love this blog. I love that each post is written in the style of a letter. It gives the impression you are reading someones private thoughts. I love the writing style it is touching and humouros. The whole thing really works for me. One of my fav blogs.

5. Sonya Cisco - A great parenting blog by the former rock ‘n’ roll mum

6. Never Bored of Bubbles – A lovely blogger with a wonderful parenting blog

I would also just like to mention another couple of beautiful bloggers and they are Crafts on Sea. I know she doesnt really do these sorts of things so I wanted to pass this Award on with no obligation. We started blogging at the same time and she has made the experience a really good one so Thank you.

And AMummysView I know she has already recieved this award but I just wanted to let her know if she hadn’t I would have passed it on to her. She really is a  beautiful blogger with a big heart.

I feel really guilty for abandoning my blog for so long but a slight tragedy struck the fabulous household and I needed some time to deal with it.  I say slight tragedy only because the passage of these past few weeks has allowed me the kind of emotional distance that is not always possible when you are caught up in the eye of a storm. At the time however I thought my world was falling apart

For a while it felt like everything was perfect M and I where planning  our Caribbean beach front wedding and I was getting all excited about all the lovely pretty  things I could blog about . When much to our surprise and delight I discovered I was pregnant. The pregnancy wasn’t really planned, after the heartbreak of trying to conceive the second time I didn’t want to burden myself or the family with the stress of trying for another baby so we had left it to fate. After 5 years I had pretty much come to terms with the fact that it wasn’t going to happen for us, so the pregnancy news was greeted with utter delight.  Things couldn’t have been more perfect.

After doing some quick calculations we guessed I was about 10 weeks pregnant. I felt great, really healthy and so full of energy (just like when I was pregnant with my daughter) that I was convinced the baby growing inside me was a girl. I kept telling myself that there is long way between being pregnant and having a baby (We lost our first son at 38weeks) but the truth is as soon as the test flashed pregnant I saw her. My little baby girl, lying on my bed with her dark curly hair and chubby little legs. She was giggling and trying to shove her toes in her mouth and I was blowing raspberries on her tummy making her giggle even more. In that split second I fell in love. I knew I should have held back but I couldn’t help it. I loved her and I couldn’t wait to hold her.

A week or so later I trooped off to the hospital for a scan. The sonographer couldn’t find anything at first. She said maybe the dates where off and suggested an internal scan. For a moment I just stared at a blank screen but then I saw her, her little heart flickering in the small dark splodge on the screen. I was so excited that it didn’t really register that the sonographer had stayed silent for so long, I did fleetingly wonder why she kept scanning the empty space of my womb rather than focusing on the baby but I was just so excited that the pregnancy was real that I didn’t really care. So, when she finally said ‘I’m so sorry dear’ my heart skipped a beat, ‘this pregnancy is ectopic.’ She continued ‘The baby is growing outside the womb and will have to be removed.’ My first reaction (it’s unfortunate that I know how I deal with these kinds of situations) was denial. I thought she has no idea what she is talking about, quickly followed by a desire to get away from her as quickly as possible before she did something to hurt my baby, but she just keep talking and talking. I had no idea what she said all I could think was that I needed to get away from the hospital as fast as I could. Silly I know but it was my first reaction. Like a distant echo I heard her say that they would also need to remove my tube.  ‘But I’ve only got one tube’ I said. The other was removed years ago. ‘Well dear ‘she said ‘they will have to remove the other one now.’  ‘So will I still be able to have children’ I asked, I knew the answer to this question but I asked anyway just in case somehow, maybe…. ‘Not naturally’ She said ‘but you can always have IVF, although as you already have children you won’t be able to have it on the NHS and at your age…’ she let the unfinished sentence hang in the air. I just stared at her with a blank expression on my face. My mind was whirring. Then I just grabbed my bag and made a dash for the door. ‘I just need some fresh air’ I said.  There was no way this woman was going to take my baby and with it any hope I had of having another one. I ran as fast as I could to the exit and when I was in the relative safety of the car park I called M. ‘You need to come to the hospital’ I said. ‘They said there is something wrong they keep talking to me and I have no idea what they are talking about. I need you here’. Just as he was assuring me he was on his way a nurse came out to the car park to get me. ‘You need to come back inside’ she said. She had that sympathetic look that people give you when you have suffered a loss. I hate that look; it somehow makes everything seem more real. ‘The doctor is waiting to talk you’. At this point I completely broke down and once the tears started I couldn’t stop them.  Anticipating my tears the nurse fished out some tissues from her pocket and gently led me back into the hospital.

I sat in the chair opposite the doctor as she confirmed that the baby was growing in the fallopian tube and that I was lucky to have got my dates wrong (I was in fact only 8 weeks.) She said the baby was still growing so posed a significant risk to my health. She asked me when I had last eaten and I said ‘about 10 o’clock’ after doing some calculations on her fingers she said ‘we can have you in surgery by 4pm’. All they needed was a signature from me to say I consented to them taking my baby, they would dispose of the material gathered in any way they saw fit and I would have nothing further to do with it. They would take my one remaining tube and with it my fertility and any hope I ever had of having any more children. All I needed to do was sign on the dotted line.  I just sat there dazed staring at a bit of blu tack on the wall. It wasn’t material, they were talking about my baby, I had spent the past week  day dreaming about her, she was mine and I loved her and I didn’t want to consent to them disposing of her and I certainly didn’t consent to them rendering me infertile. It just didn’t seem real. Less than half an hour before I had been lying on that couch getting excited that I had had the first glimpse of my baby and now this. It was way too much to comprehend in the space of 20 mins and now they wanted me to sign a surgical consent form. My denial was not helping the situation either. It kept me from even listening to most of what the doctor was saying. Instead I was busy coming up with plausible ways I could make my escape. I didn’t want to look unstable and run screaming from the building but I definitely needed to just get out of there and put an end to this ridiculous debacle. Maybe I could even go to another hospital and get a second opinion.  ‘We are going to take you to the ward now’ a nurse said. A ward!, ‘Hang on’ I said ‘this is all a bit much. I need some time. I need to talk with M first. Is it alright if I just step outside and make a few phone calls?’ ‘Why don’t you use this phone’ she said pointing to a phone on the desk. ‘No.’ I said ‘I need some fresh air I’ll go outside if that’s okay.’ She eyed me suspiciously, like I wasn’t the only one she’d seen try to make a run for it when faced with devastating news.’ Okay’ she said finally ‘but please stay just outside the door. The surgeon is on his was to see you.’  I called M but his phone diverted to answer machine so I called my mom. ‘Mom I’m at the hospital’ I managed to blurt out. At this point I was crying so unreservedly that I could barely breath and was finding it increasingly difficult to talk ‘Oh no’ she said grasping the situation immediately. ‘I need you to come down. They said the baby is growing in the wrong place and they need to operate, I don’t really know what is happening, they want me to sign a consent form to let them take my other tube and I don’t know what is going on. They keep talking to me and I don’t understand what they are saying.’ Despite the fact that my mom was over 100 miles away she just said. ‘Don’t sign anything till M gets there. I’m on my way’.  I collapsed into the floor of the car park and sobbed uncontrollably until a nurse came to get me.

When M finally arrived he spoke with the surgeon while I just stared at the consent form like a wide eyed rabbit caught in headlights. I heard the noise of the conversation but failed to really take in what was being said. Now that M was with me I had given up the idea of running away but still worried that the doctors didn’t know what they were talking about and had made a massive mistake. M insisted that double check the scans and the surgeon reassured him it was a classic ectopic pregnancy he even got the scan pictures out showed him the womb and the baby in relation to it. There was also the issue of the removal of my last remaining tube and our hope of ever having a baby again. They explained to him that it was the only option then finished off by explaining that if the baby was left to grow it would eventually cause the tube to rupture which would lead to massive internal bleeding which would be fatal. He stressed how lucky we were to have found it so early but they couldn’t risk letting the baby grow any more. This was the tipping point for M he wanted the baby as much as I did and he hated seeing me this upset but there was no way on God’s earth he was about to risk my life.  He looked at me with tears in his eyes and said ‘I’m sorry baby but we don’t have a choice…You need to sign the forms’.  He held me tight as my world fell apart.  The decision was made and as they wheeled me up to the ward I prepared to say goodbye to my baby.

Because of my previous operations they said that keyhole surgery was out of the question and so I had a full caesarean. When I woke up the next morning the loss hit me in my heart like sledgehammer and for a few awful moments I struggled to breathe. The aching wound on my stomach served as a physical reminder of the emptiness inside of me. I lay in the hospital bed and closed my eyes in an attempt to halt the flow tears that ran silently down my cheeks but they just kept pouring out of me and there was nothing I could do to stop them.  The nurse came to check my blood pressure and administer pain killers and seeing my silent tears she said ‘but you have children don’t you?’  I nodded unable to talk. I wondered if she thought that made it okay. I wanted to tell her that having children didn’t make it easier to lose one in fact it meant that I knew exactly what I was losing. She would have been beautiful like her sister and as loving as her brother and I would have loved her with all my heart. I stared out of the window and wondered if I was crazy to miss something that never really was, but the truth was I did miss her. I missed that I would never get to hold her. I missed that I would never smell her baby newness. I missed that I would never get to feel her little hand on my check and that I would never get to blow raspberries on her tummy and hear her giggle and I missed that I would never get to hold her to my breast and share the precious moments as we silently studied each other. I missed that I would never get to love her. I did miss her and I was so very sad that she was gone.

Over the past few weeks I have taken some much needed time out to heal physically and emotionally from this experience.  Amazingly my tube and ovary remain perfectly healthy, apparently the egg passed down the tube into the womb and then somehow managed to implant itself in the stump of the tube that had already been removed. The fact that I have come out of this nightmare with my fertility intact has certainly made it easier to cope and on reflection the experience has definitely made me appreciate how lucky I am to have such a wonderful family.   I didn’t think it was possible but I think I love my family even more.

Even though I had only known about the pregnancy for a few weeks the loss, the emotion turmoil and the physical trauma all hit me hard. For the past few weeks I have just felt incredibly sad and sorry for myself, but this is not the legacy my child would have wanted to leave her family. Had she lived she would have loved us as much as we loved even the possibility of her. I don’t want to burden her spirit with tears and sadness so I choose to let her go with love.

The time has come to let go of my grief, my family need me and they deserve the best of me. I will carry my love for our unborn child in my heart as I do for her lost brother but I won’t let the sadness live in our house anymore. I have two truly wonderful children who I adore and for them I want to be a fabulous mom.

Okay so it my little boys 4th birthday a few months ago and I have only just got round to posting the pictures of his dinosaur themed birthday party, but in my defence it has been a busy few months. He is completely obsessed with dinosaurs so when it came to choosing a theme for his party it was pretty much guaranteed he’d go for dinosaurs. Despite the fact that he is only four he didn’t want anything babyish (he likes to think he’s a big boy) so the usual cartoon type dinosaur themes where out of the question. I was looking online for some inspiration when I came across these adorable party printables by Miranda at Whimsical Printables. I loved the colours, and the dinosaur images she used where perfect for my little ‘big’ boys party. The printable pack came with cupcake wrappers, cupcake toppers, bottle labels, bunting, food labels, thank you notes for the party bags and more. I decided to base my table around the colours of the printables and got some brown and green netting (from a floral wholesalers) and some deep green artificial foliage which I used to add texture to the table.  I used bright orange string and chocolate brown ribbon to accent the cake stand, bunting and marshmallow pops and scattered the table with  giant bugs and toy dinosaurs that I found around the house to give a Jurassic feel.

He wanted a volcano birthday cake which turned out to be really easy to make (I use the term ‘make’ loosely). I bought a couple of chocolate cakes from the supermarket, stacked them on top of each other and sculpted them into a rough volcano shape. The lava was made with red and orange buttercream which was topped off with red jelly. It only look me about 10 mins to put together and turned out rather well.

We had a nest full of chocolate dinosaur eggs.

There was jungle juice and for budding archaeologists a bowl of edible mud ‘n’ bones.

Green marshmallow pops made some edible foliage and the kids loved the swamp slime which was made by mixing two green jellies’ (Jell-O) together.

And of course a plate full of dinosaur biscuits.

Needless to say he had an absolutely fabulous time at his party and has already said he wants another dinosaur party next year.

I was very honoured when a couple of weeks ago when the lovely AMummysView awarded me with the fabulous Sunshine Award.

The Sunshine Award is a lovely orange flower that bloggers give to other “bloggers who positively and creatively inspire others in the blogosphere”.

What an honour to have my new little blog recognised by other fabulous bloggers.

As with most awards the Sunshine Award comes with a few simple rules:

I must thank the person who gave this award in a blog post.

Do the Q&A below

Pass on the award to 10 deserving and inspiring bloggers, inform them and link to their blogs.

Thanks to AMummysview.

I am actually very glad to have this opportunity to publicly say ‘Thank-you’ to CJ at AMummysView. Not only for honouring me with this fabulous award but also for being such a wonderful and lovely blogger. I have only been blogging for a few months and during that time she has stood out as one of the loveliest kindest and warmest bloggers on the block. She has made the blogosphere a brilliant place to be and I am so pleased to have been able to share my adventures into blogosphere with such fabulous lady.  Your kindness and support is really appreciated. Thank You.

Questions and Answers

Favourite Colour: I love bold bright colours because they make me feel happy. My current fav colours are Orange and Green.

I have orange in my kitchen.

and green in the little Dining area

(Apologies for picture quality. They are snaps off my iPhone)

Favourite Animal:  I think my favourite animal would have to be a Giraffe. They are so elegant with such big beautiful eye’s and otherworldly grace. I was lucky enough to go to the Serengeti on safari, they looked so amazing as they ran in herds across the African plains.

Favourite Number: 2 and 7 I have no idea why. I once told my daughter that 13 was an unlucky number and she said she didn’t believe in bad luck and that from now on 13 would be her favourite number.

Favourite Drink: Woo Woo 1 part of Vodka 1 part of peach schnapps and 3 parts cranberry juice all in equal measures. Yum

Facebook or Twitter: Facebook to share more in-depth, Twitter to have good banter

Your Passion: At the moment my Blog is my passion

Giving or getting presents: Giving

Favourite Day: Sunday. It is a dedicated family day. We play games and hang out. I love it

Favourite Flowers: We have loads of wild Bluebells that grow at the top of the garden. I love it when the kids come running down the garden with handfuls that they have picked for me. For a few weeks each year I have bottles and jars of bluebells all over the house. They have become associated with very happy memories for me.

So now all that is left is to pass this fabulous award onto 10 other deserving bloggers:

Keeping up with the Joneses.

Crafts on Sea

40 something undomesticated devil

Sonya Cisco

40 year old domestic goddess

365 pearls of wisdom

Letters from Lady Curd

Ramblings of a formerly rock n roll mum

Never bored of bubbles

Mammasaurus (I know you have already been given this award but I had to link to you on my list just because you are sooo amazing. The amount you give to the blogging community is awe inspiring. You are a truly inspirational lady)

Yeah. My request to join Not On The High Street.com  affiliate programme has been accepted. I love NOTHS because they have tons of unique gifts that you can’t find…well, on the High Street. Here is my round up of the best for Fathers Day.

1. I love these free standing Dictionary Letters. Each one is cut from solid wood and decoupaged with the corresponding letter page from a vintage dictionary – £10 each

2. If your Dad has been talking about growing his own veg The Dad’s Seed Starter Pack is the perfect gift – £41.99

3. There is only ever room for one super hero in a child’s life. Why not celebrate Fathers Day with this cool Personalised Comic Book Dad Sign – £39

4. Love this Super Dad Chocolate Bar. You can choose between smooth and creamy or richly lavish Belgian chocolate ( Yum) and best of all you get to have your own personal message printed on the wrapper – £6 per bar

5. The Cyclops Watch is perfect for the relaxed laid back Dad. It dispenses with the conventional hour, minuet and seconds hand and instead just has a single marker that passes around the coloured dial – £145

6. Daddy Rules. Anyone who has seen my post Mummy Rules will know I love these prints. Each print is mounted, framed and signed  - £38

7. These vintage inspired Personalised Leather Notebooks are beautiful and practical. Available in a choice of high quality ruled, plain or squared  paper they can be personalised with the name or initials of your choice. – £39.95

8. I love these quirky Sardine Handkerchiefs. They come gift boxed in a pack of 3 – £16

9. This Sharpener Desk Tidy is perfect for the Dad who needs to keep his desk tidy. Made from wood and stainless steel it comes packaged in an eco friendly recyclable box. – £17.45

So how did you spend the Jubilee weekend? With street parties and garden parties, picnics and lunches up and down the country it has certainly been a weekend of mass celebration. I’d love to hear what you all got up to and to start you off I’ll show you how my Jubilee party turned out. It was actually just a small family garden party and BBQ. With the threat of rain we set up indoors and then eventually when it looked like the weather may hold we moved it into the garden. Fortunately the weather Gods where nice to us and it turned out to be a lovely evening. Made better I might add by good company, great cakes and lashings of delicious fruit punch.

I made scones with fresh cream and jam…

jewelled crown biscuits…

and even more crown biscuits.

There was lots of cake…

more cakes with champaign buttercream (Yum) and Jubilee drinks.

Marshmallow pops and a big bowl of strawberry’s and cream.

It was the first time I’d tried to bake and decorate such a large cake myself and I have to admit that it turned out a little wobbly but no one seemed to mind.

Everyone had a great time and I had far to much fruit punch so I’m off to nurse my raging hangover. How was your weekend? I’d love to hear what you got up to.

Here are four fabulous cupcake recipes. Easy enough to make with kids, delicious enough to be enjoyed by adults. Below you will find recipes for plain, vanilla, lemon and chocolate cupcakes complete with buttercream recipes. For a picture tutorial on how to create perfect buttercream swirls click HERE.
Plain Cupcake Recipe

Ingredients

• 125g (1 Cup) butter or margarine
• 125g (1 Cup) caster sugar
• 125g (1 Cup) plain (all purpose) flour, sifted
• 2 large eggs
• 2  teaspoons  baking powder

Buttercream Ingredients

• 125g (1 Cup) butter
• 250g (2 Cups) icing (confectioners) sugar

How to Make Cupcakes

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C (Electric oven | Electric fan oven 160°C | Gas Mark 4)

2. Beat the butter and sugar until very light and fluffy. Use an electric whisk or wooden spoon
3. Add the eggs one at a time, beating each one in well before adding the next. Carefully fold in the flour and baking powder.
4. Divide the ingredients equally between 12 cupcake case and bake in the oven for 10 – 20 minutes. After 10 minutes, check to see if the cupcakes are ready by inserting a cocktail stick into one of the cupcakes. If it comes out dry then the cupcakes are done. If not, then back in the oven for a few minutes more. Don’t overcook the cupcakes otherwise they will dry out. When cooked through remove from oven and leave to cool on a wire rack.
5. Buttercream icing
6. For a simple buttercream icing mix 125g (1 Cup) of butter with 250g (2 Cups) of icing (confectioners) sugar. Continue to mix until smooth. Then add to a piping bag and create beautiful buttercream swirls on your cupcakes. Click HERE for a picture tutorial on creating buttercream swirls

The above recipe is your basic cupcake recipe and will create delicious moist cupcakes. To create different flavoured cupcakes you just need to add your flavours to the above cupcake mix.

Vanilla Cupcake recipe

Make the plain cupcake mix as above. Mix in ½ tsp of vanilla essence before baking.

Vanilla buttercream icing

Make buttercream icing as per the instructions above and add in ½ tsp of vanilla essence

Lemon Cupcake recipe

Make the plain cupcake mix as above and mix in ½ of the zest of a lemon to the basic mix before baking.

Lemon buttercream icing

Make buttercream icing as per the instructions above and add in the remaining ½ lemon zest and 2 tsp of lemon juice.

Chocolate Cupcake recipe

Make the plain cupcake mix as above. Mix in 30g (1/4 cup) of coco powder and 1 tablespoon of milk before baking. For a more chocolate taste you can also add in chocolate chips.

Chocolate buttercream icing

Make buttercream icing as per the instructions above and add in 25g (1/4 cup) of coco powder or melted chocolate and a few drops of Vanilla Extract.

For more buttercream icing recipes click HERE

For a delicious Swiss meringue buttercream recipe click HERE

For a picture tutorial on how to decorate your cupcakes with  buttercream swirls click HERE

With the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee just a couple of weeks away I have busy designing this regal printable party pack and to celebrate the event I am offering the pack as a free download to all new subscribers  (until the 5th of June.)  The pack is perfect for Brit’s abroad, little impromptu events and can be combine with high street party packs  to add a touch of regal glamour to your table.

The pack includes 3 cupcake topper designs. I love the crowns and have added little flat backed pearls to them to make them really stand out.

There are also Union Jack and Royal emblem inspired cupcake toppers. I have added little gems to these too. It was a bit of a dull day when I took these pictures so the gems don’t sparkle in the images as much as they do in real life. As the pack is printable gems are not included but they can be purchased cheaply from most craft stores.

The cupcake toppers have been designed with enough visual impact that they can be used just as effectively  to decorate napkin rings, party bags or jars of sweets.

For instructions on how to make these marshmallow pops click HERE

The pack also includes 4 cupcake wrapper designs. (Union Jack wrapper not shown)

and 4 patterned bunting flags. Red, White, Blue and a Union Jack. These can be printed as many times as you need to create long lengths of bunting.

Just to make it look like you’ve gone all out on your party planning I have included 3 water bottle label designs. Bottle labels are one of my favourite party tricks. They give the impression that you have really paid attention to detail and are pretty much guaranteed to get a ‘wow’ from your guests. Best of all they are super easy to do.  Just remove the label from a water / kids juice bottle (I used clear fruit shoot bottles) and replace it with one of these. Easy.

I just couldn’t resist adding a little bling to the bottles either.

I hope you all have fun with this pack. It will definatley add a little regal glamour to your Jubilee table.

The pack comes in 5 seperate printable PDF files so it is easy to print off just the pieces you need.

To grab your free party pack simply subscribe using the box below.
NB: This pack is no longer available for general download. However if you really really want it, leave a comment and I’ll email you the link.

Today in a break from my usual posts I am supporting the campaign #Blogging4Madeleine it was started by Amummyview and  Tea and Biscotti to raise awareness of Madeline McCann a young British girl abducted while on holiday. For those of you outside of the UK who may not be aware of Madeline McCann here is a brief summary.

On 3rd May 2007 Madeline McCann, a then 3 three years old little girl, was on holiday with her parents and two younger siblings in the Praia da Luz region of Portugal. One evening somebody broke into the family’s apartment and stole Madeline from her bed. Her parents have been searching for her ever since. Saturday was Madeline’s 9th birthday. She has been missing for 5 long years.

This is such a sad story. So many lives destroyed by this single horrific act. So much pain and suffering inflicted on one family. The McCann’s have never stopped looking for their daughter; they have kept up a constant media interest in the case in the hope that someone may remember something no matter how small that could prove a breakthrough in the search for Madeline.

Police have released a new image as a guide to how they think Madeline may look now aged 9.

If you see a young girl who looks like this, PLEASE CONTACT:

Your local police force immediately, AND

Operation Grange

0207 321 9251 (in the UK)

+44 207 321 9251 (non-UK)

Operation.Grange@met.pnn.police.uk

OR Crimestoppers in confidence on 0800 555111 or www.crimestoppers-uk.org

Somebody out there knows what happened to Madeline someone has a vital clue that could lead to finding her. The more people who are aware of the case the more chance there is that someone with that information will come forward. Please share this post with as many people as you can. In the hope that it may end up in front someone who knows what happened.

To find out more information on the on-going campaign to find Madeline please visit www.findmadeline.com

If you are a blogger and wish to write your on post on the search for Madeline you can link up at Britmums or visit Amummyview and Tea and Biscotti who are the brilliant organisers of #Blogging for Madeline

Please support the #Blogging4Madeleine campaign in any way you can to help spread the word and bring Madeline home.

If you know where Madeleine is now or who was involved in her abduction, or if you were in Praia da Luz around the time of Madeleine’s abduction (3rd May 2007) and have not spoken to anyone in the police, please contact Operation Grange or Crimestoppers using the contact details above.
It’s never too late to do the right thing!

What an honour my little ‘Woodland Dessert Table’ has been featured on Sweet Designs. I put the table together for my children a little while ago for no other reason than I found these really cute chocolate woodland animals and marshmallow mushrooms in a lovely little sweet shop in Dulwich.  The table was actually really quick and easy to do. I had lots of table dressings left over from my sons Dinosaur birthday party (I’ll be posting pictures of the party table soon) and other than the marshmallow pops which I made myself everything else was picked up really inexpensively at local shops.

The little chocolate owl and hedgehogs were the original inspiration for the table.

Nestled on top of the owls little hidey hole I stacked a pile rocky road chocolate logs. The little hedgehogs are solid milk chocolate covered in dark chocolate sprinkles.

The table included chocolate cupcakes, a little patch of coconut topped marshmallow mushrooms and chocolate covered marshmallow pops.

I dipped the marshmallow pops in milk chocolate and them rolled in crystallised coconut before planting them in little pots of edible chocolate dirt.

The marshmallow mushrooms where also displayed in edible dirt.

I decorated the chocolate cupcakes with little orange flowers and to complete the woodland look filled the jar at the centre of the table with pretzels.

The kids absolutely loved it but I suspect that had more to do with the chocolate than the table.

No grown up’s actually got to see this table so I’d love to know what you think.