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!

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

Cold Obsession & Christmas Crafternoon

OK, so I have to admit it now... I do have a bit of an obsession with snow and the like and find it totally fascinating. I love it and it makes the world feel magical. I was particularly fascinated, and dismayed at the temperature display on my mac.

If you can see, it says -14??? Well I wouldn't be surprised because look at the ice on the inside of my living room window this morning!

 Brrrr... anyway. On to less chilly things but super festive. I mentioned yesterday my Christmas Crafternoon. I've been working on putting together a programme of activities for my crafter guests. Things like these pretty snowflake felt coasters.

Mulled wine...oh cosy, warm and boozy... can a drink be any better??

Paper decorations made from last year's Christmas cards.

And a recipe for the mulled cider I told you about yesterday...ooft!

These were the kind of things I would like to do with my friends. They're dead easy but fun to make and they can take them home to but up in their homes.

I ordered my felt, tissue paper and the like yesterday so I am awaiting a delivery. I just hope the weather doesn't delay the postie or my Christmas Crafternoon!

Back on the property search... boo hoo

Well, after a very productive week last week doing financial projections for the tearoom, having the first meeting with my new accountant and catching up with an old friend in their new café business Café Wander, I had some bad news on Friday morning... One of the worst things to go wrong, again, someone else had jumped in and put an offer in on my place!! Argh!!!

So not quite back to square one, I've still done all of my research, but I'm back on the search for a property, and feeling a little bit sad. The property search part is so difficult. There just isn't an abundance of suitable, affordable places here in Glasgow. Saying that, I'm off to see another property this afternoon and hopefully if it is suitable, I can haggle a bit on the price of the rent.

Anyway, enough of the moaning. To cheer myself up, I bought myself a book on how to make macarons. I'm going to make some this week. I have a little idea that if I get really good at making them I can sell them in the tearoom.

Ooh they're sooo pretty!

Action Plan

Well my meeting at the Cultural Enterprise Offices in Glasgow was really useful. We came up with an action plan:

1. Locate property and arrange visits
2. Attend marketing and business planning seminars (I'm booked onto these already)
   
3. Complete business plan

The property is my first priority because I need to know where I'm going to set up and how much it is going to cost before I can finish my business plan and go the the bank...

If anyone knows Glasgow, I'm thinking about setting up in the Merchant City or the West End. Preferably the West End, it's a bit more bohemian.

I'd love a shop facade like this one. This shop as you can probably see is called Cupcake. It's in Glasgow. When you walk through the door the smell of vanilla cake mixture is divine! I had one of their cakes last week. Mmm, the vanilla butter cream icing was sooo good.

I love this shop too. It's on Byres Road and is full of vintage, shabby chic style fancy goods. I love the blue painted facade. Very sweet.

Making and Baking

So, last time I wrote I started to tell you about my dream tearoom and craft gallery project, but I didn't really tell you much about it at all!

Well, in a nutshell, I'd like to bring together two of my hobbies in a business, making and baking and open a craft gallery and tearoom in Glasgow Scotland. That's it really. I think it is a great idea and we could really do with some more indie places in Glasgow.

My style is quite shabby, vintage style chic so I'd love my tearoom and craft gallery to look a bit like this...