The Diamond Jubilee Build-Up - Day Five!

Welcome back to the final day of my build-up to the Diamond Jubilee. I hope there has been something for everyone to find useful, interesting or even just amusing! Today I've got a couple of recipes with a jubilee flavour. They are both pretty quick to make and you could enlist some little people to help if you have them. They will be perfect for any celebrations you've got planned this weekend.

I love a good trifle and think they are typically British, but I was hoping to make something even more patriotic. I thought for ages about what could be the red, white and in particular, the blue. In the end I settled on an interesting combination of blue sponge cake (hmmm!), red strawberry jelly, white rice pudding (Lewis's absolute favourite) and fruit and sugar balls to finish.

I made the individual trifles in jam jars once again as I think they look really cute, and are also easy to transport if you're taking them to a party. To serve, I served the strawberries and blueberries on the side so that each person could decorate their own trifle. I have to admit that they were a bit odd looking - my husband said the blue sponge cake looked like the foam you find inside sofas! But they sure tasted delicious...

This next recipe is from the River Cottage Everyday cook book. I have tried almost all of the recipes in this book and they have all been good, but these cookies are particularly delicious. And they can be ready within half an hour! I have added the red, white and blue myself...

Ingredients:
125g unsalted butter
100g caster sugar
75g soft brown sugar
1 egg
2 tsp vanilla extract
150g plain flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt
dried cranberries
dries blueberries
white chocolate chunks


Melt the butter in small pan. Put both sugars in a bowl, pour in the melted butter and beat well. Beat in the egg and vanilla. Sift the flour, baking powder and salt into the bowl and stir them in. When mixed well add the cranberries, blueberries and white chocolate chunks.


Dot dessert-spoonfuls onto a baking sheet lined with grease-proof paper. Make sure you leave 4cm between them as they will spread. Cook at 190 degrees centigrade/gas mark 5 for 8-10 minutes, until they are turning golden brown. They will firm up as they cool but you want them to be a little squishy. Try to eat with restraint!

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I wish you all a wonderful Jubilee weekend, and I really hope the weather holds for all the street parties that will be taking place over the next few days. My family and I are off on holiday for a week so we will be missing out on all the fun here in the UK but I look forward to seeing all the pictures from the different events.


A big thank you goes to my two special guests on this series: Stacie Swift and No More Disco. We've really enjoyed getting into the jubilee spirit and I hope you have too? Now all you have to do is eat, drink and have fun!

The Jubilee Blog Build-Up - Day One

Welcome to the first day of the Diamond Jubilee Build-Up event, here on This is Wiss. As Jubilee Fever begins to build up to the long bank holiday weekend, you have two choices: detest it or embrace it! If you're doing the latter then this week will be right up your street, and who knows, we may even be able to convert some of the haters too!


It really is hard not to get swept up in all the celebrations, especially if you have children. But regardless of your opinions of the Royal Family, and even if the weather isn't as glorious as it has been lately, we've got TWO bank holidays to look forward to and that's worth a smile, surely?! Over the next five days I will be bringing you some great ideas and inspiration: things to keep the kids amused, fun recipes, crafts and to start us off, a costume.


Day One: A Union Jack Fancy Dress Outfit


It's fancy dress day at Wiss's nursery on Thursday and I'm sure lots of you will also be putting some kind of outfits together for this coming week. We had a 'Princes & Princesses' theme last year for the Royal wedding, but this year it is a little more abstract with a 'Union Jack' theme.

I haven't made any clothes for Wiss for ages so I knew I wanted to make a pair of trousers, and this fabric from Sew La La was perfect! I always use the great tutorial for Kid's Pants from Dana Made It as it is quick to follow, so easy and the trousers are a great fit.


I thought that with such busy trousers the top half of the outfit should be more restrained (plus I wanted to finish the whole costume in a couple of hours!) so I simply drew a shirt and tie onto a plain white t-shirt with a fabric marker pen.

I was aiming for an 'English City Gent with a Twist' * so the perfect finishing touch is a red bowler hat which Wiss surprisingly loves wearing. 

* Not sure if I've managed to pull off the City Gent look convincingly though - maybe more Pet Shop Boys? or a bit Clockwork Orange?


I'd really love to see any outfits that you've been making for the Jubilee, so please leave me a comment or a link below.


Don't forget to pop back tomorrow for Day Two of the Jubilee Build-Up with a very special guest blogger Stacie from Swift Somethings. Enjoy your day!

The Diamond Jubilee Build-Up - 5 Day Blog Event!

A quick post to remind you that I will be running a Diamond Jubilee blog event all next week, leading up to the long bank holiday weekend! Starting tomorrow there will be five daily posts with some great jubilee-inspired ideas, crafts and recipes, plus two fantastic guest bloggers.


Please stop by each day next week to get some inspiration, and meet my very special guests: Stacie Swift and Amy from No More Disco. I can't wait to show you what we've all been up to, all in the name of the Queen's Diamond Jubilee!


See you tomorrow!

Handmade Diamond Jubilee Limited Editions!

As promised, I am back with some very exciting This is Wiss news! (In fact, there was so much news that I'm splitting it into two posts so you don't get overwhelmed!)

Jubilee Fever has struck! Regardless of your royalist beliefs, it's hard not to get carried away by these kind of events when you have children; it's a great opportunity to have fun (and of course, dress up!).

I wanted to make something to give a nod to the occasion so I was honored when I was approached by The Noverre Gallery & Shop who were interested in my Bobby Horses. They are running an exhibition called 'Queen & Country' which invites artists to interpret the title in their own quirky way. I decided to make a strictly limited edition series of 'All the Queen's Horses'.

The Queen's Horses are made from red, navy and grey wool blend felt, with reinforced vintage button eyes and bamboo blended wool for manes. So far, they are not all that different to the standard Bobby Horse but there are a couple of special touches:

Diamond Jubilee 2012 has been lasered onto the handle, along with the edition number for the strict limited run of only twelve horses made. And of course, there are the usual ribbons and bells.

You can't really think about 'Queen and Country' without thinking about a crown either, so I've also made some very simple but cute felt crowns. These are lasered from yellow wool-blend felt before being sewn together with round felt 'jewels'. They are adjustable with either Velcro or elastic to fit all kids' head sizes. Unfortunately, Wiss wasn't a very willing model so I had to enlist the help of someone more compliant!

'Queen and Country' runs at the Noverre Gallery in Norwich from 1 June - 27 August so pop along if you are in the area, it looks like it will be a really interesting exhibition. If you  aren't local to Norwich but would like to purchase either a Queen's Horse or a Crown then please contact me directly on mail@thisiswiss.co.uk

As Jubilee fever increases I have one more surprise planned - a 5 day blog event leading up to the long weekend! It will run from Monday 29 May - Friday 1 June, with craft ideas, recipes, activities for kids and some wonderful guest bloggers. Please stop by next week for some inspiration and if you're making any Jubilee-related items then I'd love to know about them...

I will be posting again very soon with more news about improvements to existing best-sellers, and an exciting new venue for Sell it Mama this Saturday!