Happy New Craft!

January needn’t be dark, dull and decidedly unexciting!

No, no no. Why not start the New Year learning new crafts and stuff at Cushion & Cake?

It’ll be sociable, fun and I’ll show you how to make some stonking things to take home and gloat to your friends and family that you made them yourself.

Each Sunday will look at a different area of craft so choose one, choose a few, come along and make. All materials will be provided all you need is yourself.

Sunday 15^th January- Paper

Sunday 22^nd January- Fabric

Sunday 5^th February- Print

Sunday 12^th February- Valentine Special

January sessions are priced just £10 and February £15 and will start at 4pm.

Call 0141 339 4114 to book your place or fill out the wee booking form.

A deposit of £5 would be smashing to book your place.  

You can pay in cash or through paypal at tea@cushionandcake.com

Talkin Shop- Evening Times 24th December 2011

Festive Opening Hours

Thurs 29th Jan 12-3pm
Fri 30th Jan 12-3pm
Hogmanay 12-3pm

Buy Handmade This Christmas

I, like many of you out there have made a conscious effort this year to spend my hard earned pennies a bit more wisely this year when we're out Christmas shopping.
I decided that I was going to buy from smaller retailers and any money that I do spend this Christmas, is spent wisely. The UK Handmade 'Buy Handmade' campaign outlines reasons why you could consider buying from smaller independent shops and designer makers. Not only can you be assured that your purchase is a bit more bespoke or unique, you support local economy and reduce the carbon footprint by buying local. These are issues that we should all be thinking about and doing our bit to contribute.

My wee tearoom is supporting the buy handmade campaign stocking work from local designer makers. So if you can, come on in and have a look xx

Molly Makes December 2011

In the post last week I received a copy of the latest Molly Makes magazine and was particularly delighted with the delivery as Cushion & Cake is in it!

I was contacted a month or so ago from some of the team at Molly Makes looking to find out a bit more about crafty goings on at C&C. I thought it would be nice to tell them about my Christmas Crafternoons. They put together a lovely little article about the tearoom which hopefully will cpature the attention of new customers to C&C.
Thanks to all at Molly Makes xx

http://molliemakes.themakingspot.com/

Happy Crafters

With Christmas Crafternoon number 1 a success on Sunday I can't wait for next Sunday's fun...

Come and craft

Well folks the little group of crafters meeting every second Tuesday evening at Cushion & Cake is growing! Every Tuesday you'll see regular Cushion & Cakers Nichola and Cat knitting up a storm while eating cake but a number of others are now coming to join us.
You don't have to be a sewer or a knitter, just bring something you'd like to work on and if you don't have a project to bring with you, you can come along anyway... I'm always working on something, you could help me!
If you want to come along, you'll find us on these dates: 18/10, 1/11, 15/11, 29/11,13/12.
Also don't forget the Christmas Crafternoons taking place at Cushion & Cake. The perfect way to get you excited about Christmas, the way you did when you were a child :-)

China addiction

I've always been a collector and a hoarder but my china collecting is getting out of hand! Obviously I need lots of tea cups and saucers for the shop but I certainly don't need the 10+ tea sets I must have in my one bedroom flat.
Today I bought a whole bunch of my favourite Johnson Bros Grey Dawn china from a charity shop for the obscenely cheap price if £3. I almost shrieked when I saw it greedily gathering all of it up and dashing to the check out.
What's worse is that I've still got a box of Grey Dawn stuff that I haven't unpacked that I sent my folks across counties while on holiday to collect for me. Help....

Christmas Crafternoons 2011

Hi everyone!

Well I'm excited to announce a series of Christmas Crafternoons which I will be running this Winter at Cushion & Cake. You can book a place to come along on a Sunday afternoon to get Christmassy and get crafty.

I'll take you through a number of crafty activities that will get you in the mood for CHRISTMAAAAS!

You'll get to drink your fill of hot chocolate and scoff a load of Christmassy treats while listening to the best Christmas tunes and take home some of your own hand crafted items and some ideas on decorating for Christmas.

To book a place for you and maybe a friend, fill out my wee booking form here

Places cost just £10 each and include refreshments and all materials.

Party Time at C&C

My first 30th birthday celebration at C&C.

Tearoom Closed 8-9th October 2011

Hi folks, just a note to say that the tearoom will be closed this weekend 8-9th October as I'll be away for the weekend. I hope this doesn't cause too much inconvenience and I'll be back as usual on Tuesday 11th October until 8pm xx

Catching Up

Agh! It has been weeks since I was posted, but that's not because I have nothing to tell you. On the contrary actually!
First things first. I'm closing the shop next week to have a wee holiday. I'm heading off to France for a week. I'll spend some time at my aunts house in Lege near Nantes then the weekend at Rock en Seine. Its the third year in a row for me at Rock en Seine. Its a great festival. Not too big and the weather is usually good. Can't ask for much more.
Exciting things have been happening at C&C too. I've hosted my first ever hen party and the tearoom was even used in a photoshoot for a vintage style clothing website.
A couple of weeks ago I was visited at the shop by Garry MacLennan, a Glasgow based photographer who was looking for a location to shoot some photographs. I was chuffed to be asked but even more chuffed to find out I could actually get involved! I got to be an extra! Make up done, dress on. Lots of fun.

I'm in this photo. Looking quite spacey (or simple) You can see more images from the shoot on Garry's blog here.
It is tea parties galore this month too at C&C. I have two groups of ladies celebrating a hen do in August. I had my first group on Saturday. The had a beaufiful afternoon tea followed by cupcake decorating and fabric brooch making.

I have a group of seventeen this weekend for afternoon tea. I'll let you know how that goes next week!
The shop was a little quiet today so I had some time to rearrange the crafts in the shop and find some space for some lovely new stock from Cornwall based crafters Crumpetty Tree. Not only is the name wonderful, but their work too. I was immediately attracted to their range of animal brooches and prints.

Look at this adorable wee bear print. I love his stance, two paws together at the front. I think he's a bashful bear. I've got prints, brooches, stationary, cards and even a set of these marvelous boys for your wall...

I'm still getting weekly deliveries of flowers from a beautiful local florist, Allie at Lavender Blue. Just when I think the flowers can't get any better, she brings me this 'amnesia' rose. I have to share it with you because I know it won't last forever, at least it won't wilt on this blog.

Oh, one last thing. It was my birthday last week. I saved you a piece of cake.

Look who's on the loose!!

Sock monkeys! And they're hidden all around Cushion and Cake! How many will you find in the tearoom?

 

They've got Iona Bruce's owls all in a flap!

P

RIP Rosemary Cassidy

So I had to close the shop this morning for a funeral. My best friend's mum Rosemary died last week of cancer. She'd spent her last weeks in a hospice. I did see her twice in the hospice but I much prefer to remember her when she came to my tearoom last month for her birthday. She loved the place and even though she wasn't feeling well, she remained bright and wished me well for all to go well at Cushion & Cake. She'll be missed by all.

Closing the shop today was odd too. When you work in an office or something you get leave to do these kind of things. Working for yourself there is no one to cover or let you away for a few hours. I guess this is one of the (very few!!) downsides of self employment. I came back in the afternoon and stayed open till 6 pm and made a hummingbird cake for tomorrow. Some pictures of cakes are long overdue on this blog but I'm happy to say I've been so busy in the tearoom to be able to take photos! I'll try to get some up tomorrow xx

Wednesday Morning Tearoom Closure

Hey folks, just a little note to say that if you were planning to visit the tearoom tomorrow (Wednesday 27th July)I will be closed in the morning unfortunately. But I'll be back in the afternoon with Summer Fruit Loaf and Orange & Rosemary cake xx

Beautiful Foody Blog

On my usual web surfing of gorgeous things on the internet today I came across this lovely site/blog. What first caught my eye were these chocolate brownies, but they're additionally special because they're made with Twix chocolate bars!

I'm salivating right now! I think I may give the recipe a whirl in the tearoom and see what people think.

Today was my day off which I spent treating myself to a little lunch, on my own, in the sunshine, running around getting things for the shop and more furniture painting. I got some outdoor tables and chairs from Ikea but they were BORING, so I bought a beautiful exterior wood paint called Little Pond and got to work. I've just been outside to check on their drying progress and they're still really tacky, so I built them a wee tent out of old shower curtains and bamboo canes to make them showerproof. The shelter however is not preventing lots of FLIES getting themselves stuck on my newly painted surfaces! I tried to rescue as many as I could but it was too late for some... Well... adds a bit of texture doesn't it?

A wee bit of notice for dates with early closing

Hi folks, there are a couple of dates in August where I have to shut the shop early to accommodate some lovely hens celebrating their friends entering into wedded bliss with a Cushion & Cake tea party.

The shop will be closing early for these events on Saturday 13th and 20th August 2011 from about 2pm. 

New Food!

What a great week so far! My wee tearoom has been quite busy with lots of lovely new people and plenty of my new fidels!
Finally  I arranged to go and see a fellow new business woman and florist, Allie, at Lavender Blue a week or so ago and arranged to get fresh flowers from her every week. How great, a surprise delivery of gorgeous flowers for my table displays. Last week I got a huge hydrangea, sunflower and peony, some lavender straight from Provence and delicious roses.

I've said a lot recently that if I hadn't done the tearoom thing, I'd love to retrain as a florist but I've changed my mind! The work involved is HUGE. I saw Allie today and she told me she'd just worked 24hrs! And she was still bright and smiley! I wouldn't be able to keep up with that...

I was super pleased when a new friend and C&C fan Cat Ingall popped in with her Stitch n Bitch gang to the shop on my late opening last night. They're working on a knitting project together while having a good gab and giggle and from what I could hear, advice on how to remove tics from dogs or yourself if you're ever walking in the country. I didn't get to join in last night but I'd like to. It's been ages since I was part of a wee group or community. When I was younger I was in groups of everything, Girl Guides, youth orchestras, art groups, you name it. I just realised I miss it. Perhaps working alone has prompted this need to socialise!?

I've decided to offer a bit more choice of food at C&C. There just wasn't enough cheese for a start on the menu for my liking so I'm introducing Tasty Plates. Three different types. A cheese plate, Mediterranean plate and Scots plate. They each will have lots of things to nibble on and share. We'll see how that goes. I'm bringing them in from Friday so I shall take a picture and blog it here to see what you think :-)

More lovely news is that two individual women have approached me to provide an afternoon tea for their hen parties. I'm delighted to have have them and let's face it, it is an excuse to get more decorations up!! One group wants to do some cupcake decorating which will be excellent fun. I can't wait to do that and the other woman wants an afternoon tea for her and sixteen other ladies. Big group. It'll be a hoot. I'll have to impress them with my banter ( and food).

This cake went down a treat yesterday, blueberry packed cake with a cream cheese frosting. A woman who bought it yesterday was back in today looking for a whole one to buy and take away! T'is a good one and I love people who love cakes as much as me!!

Late Opening Tuedays

That's right people. I'm now open late every Tuesday until 8pm for tea and cake, and tasty food. I hope we get nice weather here in Glasgow because my shop gets full sun in the evening and I've got some lovely new outdoor furniture to help you enjoy it :-)

All's going well at C&C headquarters. I'm pretty chuffed with the repeat customers and new people that I meet every day.
Today I tried staying open later to see if anyone came in. It was pretty quiet but I think on sunny evenings, people may come along to the tearoom. I get full sun in the evening, so with some cute tables and chairs outside, it is a great alternative to the pub. I might try late opening Friday too, even just for the Summer to see how that affects business.

I'd been meaning to go and visit a lovely florist that I met just before I opened my shop, so I popped into see her yesterday. He name is Allie and she has an adorable florist shop called Lavender Blue. From the moment I stepped into her shop I could see that we had a similar style. She had pastel blue painted furniture and a lovely selection of handmade goodies amongst all of her beautiful blooms. Yesterday we had a chat and organised a weekly delivery of flowers to Cushion & Cake. I can't wait to get seasonal flowers for my tearoom. Agapanthus, peonies, allium, hydrangea, sweet peas, all my favourites will soon be all around my tearoom. I'll be sure to take lots of pictures each week to show you what I've got.

I've been on a mad fabric buying frenzy. I hadn't been buying fabric for quite some time but recently, I've been quite fabric greedy. I'm aiming to make cushions every week and keep changing them round in the tearoom.

I love this pink and turquoise fabric.

 I've had this trug in my flat for ages but I couldn't find a use for it. So here I'm using it for flowers and things for sale.

You can see little notebooks by Lovely Pigeon and felt toys by Iona Bruce.

I love the work these girls do. They're perfect for the shop.

I'm having great fun here at Cushion & Cake. I'm baking a Dorset Apple Traybake and while I wait for that I thought I'd get an update on the wee blog.

Business has been fine over the last few days. Some days are inexplicably quiet, other days are inexplicably busy, I can't see any trends as yet and I suppose I might not ever. I just have to be prepared each day to be busy.

During quiet periods I've found some time to make some little things to sell in the shop. I've been enjoying a bit of stamping and making simple but cute cards.

As well as making some cards myself, I met a lovely woman last week, an illustrator who made cards. The lettering us cut out in her cards and features greetings in Gaelic, a wee bit of Scottish culture which may appeal to tourists of people who have relatives living abroad. The little rosettes for example are detachable so when the card is used, you still have a wee something to keep.

 www.catingall.co.uk

 

 

 

 

I've made some new cushions too with lovely fabric I found when I was out and about.

I feel quite inspired being in the shop each day and go home with more ideas on what kind of things I'd like to make. I've got a custom cushion order to get ready tonight so I'd better get on.
xx

Upcycled Blackboards

I was pleased to finally get some old frames to make into blackboards to write the soup of the day and other messages on in the shop.

I just removed the back and the glass from this picture frame, got my dad to cut some ply wood to fit, and painted with blackboard paint and voila. A vintage, upcycled, handmade blackboard for the tearoom.

Diggers and C & C Press

It is a little bit of a quiet day today at the tearoom, except for the big digger digging a BIG hole outside the shop.

They're fixing a drain just outside.
I'm still adding little bits to the shop. Mostly hand done stuff such as my jazzed up Ikea clock.

I took it apart, spray painted the outer frame, then got some lovely retro style paper with bikes and mopeds on and cut to size then reassembled the clock. I'm really please with it. I love the paper.

I also needed some blackboards so that I could have my soup and cakes for the day displayed on the wall. I got a thrifted some old frames from a charity shop, got my dad to cut some new board for them to paint with blackboard paint, then reassemble.  I'm pretty chuffed with these too but I'll have to add these images tomorrow. I left them at my parents house to fully dry off.


Experimenting with some cookies today I made rose and pistachio cookies. I had one of these in a cafe in Glasgow and always wanted to make one but couldn't find a good recipe. I did a search online but the ones I found looked a bit complicated and had some ingredients I wasn't sure about so I just messed about with a similar recipe.

They're pretty tasty. I'm looking forward to seeing what people think of them tomorrow.
And finally. I managed to figure out how to scan something on my printer. This is a little article in Glasgow's Evening Times a week or so ago about my little tearoom.

 

You may have to zoom in to read it!

Lovely Review from Scotland's most popular 'what's on' guide The List

I had a lovely couple and their little baby during the week for a bit of lunch, tea and cake and as they were leaving, the gentleman mentioned that he was the food reviewer from The List. I noticed the little review on my place had appeared online yesterday and I'm delighted with it.
You can read it here.
I'm really happy with it. He's captured the mood of the place really well so a big thanks to The List!

Daft Day

My day off today was pretty busy but I did get some cushions made from the great fabric I got a week or so ago. I'll take proper pictures of them in the shop tomorrow but you can see a little purse I made for myself with some of the remnants.

I'm quite pleased with the little purse so I think I'll make one to sell at Cushion & Cake.
Bit of an eventful day today too for me. A bit disaterous in a comedy way. I couple of examples are having two car park securtiy staff searching for my car in a city centre car park because I couldn't remember where I'd left it and accidentally cutting a cushion I'd just sewn a zip onto in half! There are more like these but I won't elaborate... I don't want to demonstrate how daft I can be sometimes!

The tearoom now has one lovely highchair for small children. I'll get another next month. I'll get my mum to set it up  tomorrow. She's a recently retired childcare professional and if you've seen me assemble Ikea furniture you'd be glad to hear someone sensible is going to see to it!

Stuart sent me a link today for some pretty hooks. Something like this to hang the highchair on when it is not in use would be nice.

 I think I'd prefer something handmade though. Handmade, quirky and up to the job. Any suggestions?

super second week

What a way to end my week number two! I was run off my feet earlier, full to capacity with lots of lovely people. It is the first time the shop has been that busy and I was on my own today into the bargain, however, I think I coped ok. People just had to wait a wee bit for their sandwiches but I think they were OK with that. I've got a little bit on my menu which says the food takes a wee bit to prepare as it is fresh. One poor guy though really did have to wait a little longer... I forgot the sandwich for his soup and sarnie combo- SORRY :-)!

This week has run a lot smoother than last week and I'm getting more and more organised every day, and each day getting a little busier. I really hope it continues to get busier and better because this life style is suiting me! I'm happy, calm and contented. Can't ask for much more.

I have my day off tomorrow and I will DEFINITELY do some making. Cushion & Cake is lacking in the former at the moment so I'll get on with it tomorrow. I did get up to some of the crafty business last week though. On Monday I went with a friend to a card making class and on Thursday, a felting class.

 Fusing the two colours together.

I knew I'd like the felting class but I really loved it. I've got ideas now of felted decorations in the shop, maybe a curtain type thing or a garland like this.

There are so many possibilities. I could get a bit carried away! The yarn itself, the untreated, unspun wool was so tactile and so lovely just to hold in your hands and stroke. Sooooo soft. My guinea pigs don't enjoy being handled that much so maybe I could get my furry fix from the yarn and leave the guineas to their business. I think I'll book onto the next class. I really enjoyed crafting as a group. It was very sociable. If you live in or near Glasgow, Damselfly and Queen Bee is where I went. Annie and Yvonne run the workshops and the shop itself. Great ladies.

So I'd better go and get cleared up for the day and get ready for some relaxing tomorrow xx

cushion and cake blog's new look!

Oooh... look at my new blog. Isn't it pretty?

Also I went live today with a little temporary website just to get me started.
www.cushionandcake.com
Stuart and I are going to work on taking some beautiful images of the shop for the super duper website. Just trying to find some free time to take the pictures!

C&C menu

If any of you ever wanted to pop in....

finishing touches and trouble shooting

Thanks to everyone for your kind words. I really appreciate them. Some of you have even said you'll pop in. Ooooh. I'd love that. I really would.

Things were a little busier for me today compared to the weekend which was great. I had a couple of tables at the one time so I was able to see how I coped preparing everything for both tables. It was fine. I have learned so much in the last few days. The best way to do things. Where to keep things. How to do things speedily and lots more.

One thing I am struggling with and it is not something I had thought would give me hassle and it is my till. Now I'm not a technophobe by any means but my till terrifies me! The instruction manual is so complicated and when I look at the diagrams and the words on the page, they all start to swirl into a psychedelic pattern which makes me have to close the manual and come back to it later. I met a fellow tearoom owner at a friend's birthday at the weekend and she visited me yesterday and showed me the basics so it is a little less scary now.

I also didn't have a proper book keeping system in place so I sent an emergency email to my follow on business advisor from Glasgow North Regeneration Agency on Sunday to ask for help and she actually came to the shop this morning and sat for an hour with me and got me set up with something simple. I owe a lot to this organisation. They worked with me for months to put together a business plan and I even got a grant from them to buy equipment for the tearoom. I'd recommend to anyone setting up a business to get help form their local version of this Glasgow North Regeneration Agency

Also first thing this morning, my signage was erected. That do you think? Cute? Stuart designed it for me. It is just perfect for the wee place. One of my friends popped her head in the door as she was passing today and said the signage looks 'edible'. I agree!

You'll see my vintage bicycle too with a little flower basket there. I decided not to paint it after all. I couldn't do it. I'd loose the 'Triumph' painted on the frame and the rusty bits give it character. Some things are best left as they are. The bicycle is one of them. The wee blue outdoor table and chair was thrifted from the recycling centre last week. The guys must see me coming and say 'here she comes, what rubbish does she want today?' Hee hee. I should probably paint it in case someone in Glasgow recognises it!

first days

Today is my day off. However, I have been in the tearoom all day baking, paying bills, organising my kitchen and waiting for the signage company to come and fit my shop front signage.
Today I made a raspberry bakewell cake, gooey choc and cherry cookies ad lemon drizzle cake. All that leaves is to make my scones fresh in the morning. I'll have to be really careful with how much cake I'm eating. When I was making my cookies, one of them fell apart when I took it out of the oven, so I just ate it as it wasn't good enough to sell. On top of that, I had a bit of leftover coconut & lime cake at lunch from yesterday. I can't help myself!!!
A photographer was in today too to take my pictures for Glasgow's daily newspaper, The Evening Times. They're running a little story on the shop which is great exposure. It was quite good fun having my picture taken posing with cakes and teapots but it did feel a little odd. I'm not used to having my picture taken and rarely enjoy seeing pictures of myself!

I've got some more images to show you of the shop, full length shots and some more little details.

I also have some party photos...

It was pretty packed! I was delighted with the turnout.