A week in a life of Cocoa & Heart

This week, I felt a bit down and it was not just the rain. Few things did not go according to plan (I am a perfectionist - you see...), so I though I should write a blog for Handmade Monday about the things that did go right and cheer myself up a bit.

So, it has been pretty busy week for 'Cocoa & Heart' my little (lifestyle - as my husband calls it !) business. At the beginning of week I started to work on a new commission for a personalised bunting made from a lovely fabric.


On Tuesday I received a phone call from a lady who did a Bread Making Courses with me last month and asked me, whether I would put together a Cupcake Decorating Master Class for her daughter birthday. This got me really exited and I started to plan the theme (Summer Day's Out ?), flavours (lemon, lavender or velvet chocolate ?), colours and how to decorate the party bags...


Towards the end of the week, I was frantically trying to finish our 'marketing materials' (leaflets to you and me...) for the weekend. Each year we have two day local family fun festival and this year my friend from Riverford Organics was happy for me to promote my bakery side of the business on his stall.  I finished the leaflets on time and even baked some spare bread and arranged it to a wicker basket to add to his display.


Friday is normally a baking day for me and this week, I was making sourdough bread. I started really on Wednesday and prepared the starter and then after about 48 hours of folding, rising and lot of persuading, I took out of the oven lovely crusty bread - worth waiting for.

On Saturday I run my Bread Making Course. There is usually loads of last minute tidying and moving things around, but by 10 am I am ready and look forward to a day of sharing my skills of bread making with others.



Oh, yes, and Sunday ! Well, somehow I still managed to squeeze three days of actual paid work in my summer job...

So, now when I am re-reading my blog, I think, that maybe it's O.K. that not everything goes smoothly, because other things do...






15 comments:

  1. The cakes look fantastic... and I am sure that I can smell the bread from here... yum! Love the fabrics you have mixed together to make your bunting :)

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  2. The duck and chicken fabric is so adorably cute! The cupcakes are beautiful- lavender sounds good. The bread looks scrummy too. Perhaps everything didn't go totally smoothly, but you certainly have managed a lot to be proud of this week!

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  3. I like the choice of your fabrics together. The cakes are amazing - shame they will be eaten and the bread looks scrummy. You are amazing at what you do but we all get down times - without them we wouldn't have ups!

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  4. I think sometimes we all expect too much of ourselves, and it does us good to record what went well. I love the mix of things you've shoehorned into your week x

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  5. Your cakes looks really beautiful. Almost too lovely to eat, but expect I'd manage it

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  6. OH my, the cakes and bread look soooo delicious. What a good idea to have a kiddies cake decorating class....I would come!

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  7. Sounds like a pretty successful week to me - I agree with Wendy I think we often expect too much of ourselves and should be kinder to ourselves, sometimes sitting back and looking at what we have achieved rather than what we haven't is just the thing to do x

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  8. Thank you for your kind comments - I think, you are right about reminding ourselves what we do well, rather then dwell on the negatives for too long.

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  9. Your bread looks lovely. I can't make bread to save my life. Your cakes look too good to eat, very pretty. Thanks for sharing. Ali x

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  10. Those cakes look so scrummy I can almost taste them.Love the look of your bread too-mine never looks like that!

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    1. It's all in practise - I have not bought a supermarket bread in 10 years now....

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  11. I had a good look at your side bar bakery link last week and was smitten by your cakes. Definately something i want to learn, love the way you decorate them, they are beautiful. Looks to have been a busy week to me!

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    1. Thanks ! Baking and crafting seems to go together, so it is like a natural progression. Uh, and the best bit, is that you can eat the cakes !

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  12. I have just been asked to make some bunting for a 5yr olds bedroom in pinks and mauves. Your fabrics look lovely together.
    Hugs Mrs A.

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  13. wow! fantastic cakes and bread :)

    I make different kinds of bread by myself for my family. And I'm always interesting in new ideas for baking.

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