Cherry & Coconut Cupcakes

I hope everyone had a wonderful christmas :D mine was very quiet & peaceful, which was perfect for me.
I also received funds from Milkwood Gallery from my sales, just intime for christmas! I sold two pairs of earrings and a charm bracelet, a total of £21.00, very exciting stuff :D

Anywho, in a previous entry, I mentioned that I was making some delightful cherry & coconut cupcakes.

This recipe is taken from the book "1001 Cupcakes, Cookies & Other Tempting Treats" by Suzanna Tee. I bought mine from Asda when it was £5 :O but you can get it from a seller on Amazon here.

INGREDIENTS
115g butter
115g caster sugar
2 tablespoons of milk
2 eggs
85g self-raising flour
1/2 teaspoon of baking powder
85g desiccated coconut
115g glace cherries, quartered

TOPPING
225g butter
1 tablespoon of milk or cream
350g icing sugar
12 whole glace cherries for decorating

INSTRUCTIONS

Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/ Gas Mark 4. Prepare bun tin with 12 paper cases.

Beat butter and sugar together in a large bowl until light & fluffy.

Stir in the milk.
Gradually beat in the eggs.

Sift in the flour & baking powder.
Fold in the coconut.
Fold in most of the quartered cherries.

This looks a bit weird to me but still very tasty!

Spoon the mixture into the paper cases and scatter remaining quartered cherries on top (I missed this bit, silly me)
Bake in the preheated oven for 20/25 mins.
Leave to cool

For the topping, put the buttercream into a piping bag with a large star nozzle and pipe on top of the cupcake
Add a cherry to each one to finish.

Now for whatever reason they didn't turn out so great for me. The sponge was perfect, very sweet and moist, would make an amazing loaf-type cake. But the buttercream frosting didn't pipe at all and it ran off the cakes. I think I might've used a bit too much milk, eek.

But I'd definitely recommend them, the sponge was delicious :D

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In other news, we have 10 followers, which means it's time for a giveaway :D yay!
I'll be organising it within the next few days, so keep your eyes peeled for a post detailing more info about it! :)

Love,
Fiona x

Merry Christmas!

Just a very quick post to say....

Merry Christmas! :D

I've sadly been very busy and then very ill with some kind of flu bug, so I haven't been around for a while.

But I will return very soon :D

Love,
Fiona x

Outfit Of The Day + Good News

I'd wear this outfit today, if only I could ;)

Tie Front Shirred Dress - New Look

£24.99

Click to view.

Flock Spot Cardigan - New Look

£22.99

Click to view.

Fleece Lined Legging - New Look

£10.99

Click to view.

Not sure how these would work with this outfit physically but they're so cute!

Grey Minnie High Heel Shoes - Debenhams

£75.00

Click to view.

Then the fun bit, accessorising! :D

Victorian Romance glass drop earrings - Sparklerose Designs

£4.00

Click to view.

Sweet Romance sparklebead bracelet - Sparklerose Designs

£5.00

Click to view.

And something sweet for my hair :D

Luxe Butterfly Pair - Crown & Glory

£8.00

Click to view.

I had the wonderful news last week that Milkwood Gallery have sold some of my jewellery items :D it's very exciting stuff for me. We're in the process of organising a cheque or me popping down to collect monies. It's amazing to know that there's people out there wearing my designs, it's an awesome feeling :)

I'm off work today and tomorrow, so I've hopefully got some free time to get making some more :D I want to start my new year collections v.soon. I also need to work out what supplies I need and find some interesting bits for said collections ;)

I'm also planning on making some cherry coconut cupcakes later on this afternoon, so I'll have to show you how they turn out. I've even picked up a cheap piping bag to make fancy icing :D I'm so used to blobbing it on with a spoon and it looking pants, haha.

I'm still plotting my giveaway when we reach 10 followers :D

I'm thinking of making a goodie box, filled with little things including, of course, some of my handmade jewellery :)

Hope everyone's feeling mighty festive!

Love,

Fiona x

Long Time

Christmas is most definitely on its way, and it's made me busier than ever! Sparklerose is getting terribly neglected, I haven't made a thing in ages now.

The past couple of weeks have been spent doing extra shifts in work, and popping off shopping on my very few days off. One such trip was to London, which was pretty exciting for me, I hadn't been there since I was 18.

I decided to go to The Hummingbird Bakery, once we managed to find it in Portobello Road. And I also went to Laduree, and tried my (first ever) french macaroons :D

The cream cheese frosting is amazing, and perhaps a little too indulging ;)

My fave = chocolate :D

We had an amazing day, filled with tube rides and shopping :D

I popped to Accessorize while I was there, it was much bigger than the one in Lincoln. I got myself a gorgeous bronze toned floral ring, with a rose necklace and a long necklace with charms & roses, very cute.

***

I'm still hoping to hold a little competition, sometime before christmas, although time is running out for posting, so it may be just after christmas. But we're waiting for 10 or more followers, so get following to join in :D It'll be a chance for you to win some of the jewellery from Sparklerose Designs, my handmade jewellery collection.

Anyway, time for housework (hurray!). Hope you're all enjoying the festive season :)

Love,

Fiona x

Christmas Time :D

As you can probably tell, I'm still very busy. I'll be able to slow down a bit in January though :)

Yesterday I ventured to Meadowhall and bought a lovely lace dress in Debenhams, from the Henry Holland range. I'm hoping it's ideal for a christmas meal I'm going to in a few weeks. I just need some nice silver shoes and a silver bag :D

I haven't been online much looking at things but I'm going to share something super cute. It's called Sweet & Co.

They sell the cutest sweetest jewellery in different categories ranging from desserts to cupcakes. They're based overseas but they do ship to the UK :)

Here are some of my festive faves.

Bowtie Penguin & Candy Stick Lovely Swarovski Bracelet

This is super cute and christmassy, yet not typically christmas-based. I'd wear this all around the winter season due to the icy white colour scheme.

Click to view.

Sweet Glitter Mirror Cupcake Stud Earrings

These are not so festive, but they're adorable. They also come in a variety of colours, including red. However, I am a big fan of the blue ones :)

Click to view.

Glitter Present Dangle Earrings

Ah, I love these. Again, they make them in different colours. The pink is especially girly.

Click to view.

As mentioned in the previous entry, I'm planning a bit of a competition, yay! :D

I'm waiting to have 10 or more followers to start the fun. It'll involve 2 prizes, 2 winners.

So get inviting your friends/following this blog to be able to enter :)

Love,

Fiona x

Busy Busy..

Wow, time flew since I last wrote!

Before I write this entry, I'd just like to thank my followers and readers :D It means alot to me that people out there share my interests and support my jewellery making. I'm planning on creating a giveaway involving some jewellery goodies v.soon :D

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I had a wonderful trip to Cardiff, it's a shame it wasn't a longer one, but I did get to see family etc. After I got back I had a load of extra shifts in work, and it's only now that I've had a bit of time to relax. With christmas around the corner, I think Sparklerose Designs is getting a little lonely. I haven't made a bit of jewellery in a while now, eek.

I've nipped into town today AND yesterday, I must be crazy. I did get a load of christmas pressies though, I'll be organising/wrapping later on ;)

Have you all finished your christmas shopping yet?
Here are a few items from my folksy store that might be the perfect gift for that certain someone :)

For the older & posher lady ;)

Jardin du Libellule glass drop earrings

£4.00

For the fun and funky one :)

Sweet Rainbow sparklebead bracelet

£5.00

For the floral/vintage lover :)

Navy Blue Sparkle Rose Earrings

£2.00

I also have the red sparkle rose earrings available (I have tons to add to Folksy, I'm just so busy, grr).

Before I finish this entry, if anyone is due to go shopping, Debenhams is having a massssive sale :D Alot of items are 20% off or half price. I was expecting a much larger bill when I was at the checkout, I was very pleasantly surprised indeed :)

Love,

Fiona x

Polyvore Fun

I do love Polyvore, surprisingly I haven't used it in forever though!

I logged on and found some of my old things, I forgot how much I liked these goodies.

Click on picture to view details.

I adore mint and pink colours, and that skirt is gorgeous :D
I made it a while ago, so I'm not actually sure what's still available! I'll have to make some more sets soon :)

I'm officially back in Cardiff for a few days. I'm hoping to pop to Milkwood Gallery and see my items being displayed :D I'm hoping to take some photos and do a blog post about it. Milkwood is really cool, I'm keen to go to one of their exhibitions when I get the chance.

Love,
Fiona x