Spring Flowers

With March here, Spring has officially arrived, and with it, it brings a whole host of beauties to feature in your home. Beauties that come in a massive array of colours, shapes and sizes. Whether it is bright jewel shades that you favour, or something a little more subtle like pastel shades, Spring certainly offers it in abundance.

 Out of all the seasons, its probably Spring which offers the widest and varied of floral selections, all of which mix beautifully with each other and will undoubtedly create the most graceful display in any room of your home. 



 Probably the best known and widely recognised Spring flower is the humble Tulip. A masse of these simply arranged in a cut glass pitcher looks understated and elegant without being over the top. My personal favourites are a pale pink variety. The effortless, handpicked look of an arrangement such as this lends itself perfectly to the Tulip. Once cut, Tulips continue to grow and lean towards the natural light source, creating a wayward, pretty, natural looking display.

[caption id="attachment_102" align="alignnone" width="480" caption="Paperwhites and Muscair"][/caption]

Narcissi are little gems when it comes to Spring arrangements… these teeny tiny daffodil type flowers are Spring personified and can’t fail to make you smile. Coming in a limited palate of whites and pastel yellows they look fabulous with blue and white china… perfect for a Dining room or Kitchen display. Because of the small nature of these blooms they mix well with other small Spring flowers such as Muscari. The china blue variety, more so than the white, look gorgeous with Paperwhite Narcissi or a pale lemon Narcissi, in little vessels dotted about your home, but particularly so on the windowsill of your kitchen! Grab an empty jam jar and pop them in… it really is as simple as that.

[caption id="attachment_103" align="alignnone" width="550" caption="hyacinth bulbs"][/caption]

If you are wanting a more bold Spring statement in you home opt for the Hyacinth. These highly fragrant bell shaped florets are densely packed onto thick fleshy stems and come in a fairly limited colour palate but are available in a range of shades, from whites and pale pinks to, my favourites, deep china blues! Again, because of the short, stocky stem length, its difficult to use these in general, everyday vases. As a cut flower they would work nicely in a glass cube vase, but I think displaying them as a potted plant looks sensational. Your florist should be able to provide them as a potted plant and depending on how much you want to spend, you can buy these already potted up beautifully in a wooden trug box or basket. The Real Flower Company do a version in their beautiful hatboxes. This would look sensational in a drawing room or study.

The final flower that I think deserves a mention is the Ranunculus. One of the loveliest of Spring blooms around, that has infinite ruffles of paper thin petals that are packed tightly together to form a perfect rosette. They come in a gorgeous array of jewel and soft pastel tones and can adapt to both low and tall arrangements. Again, you can mix these with the aforementioned Narcissi and Muscari in a simple jam jar arrangement but they can also look equally elegant in a taller, footed vase arrangement or glass pitcher. The soft stems of Ranunculus can lead to top heaviness as the buds open, resulting in a wayward, natural looking arrangement. For this reason they look great mixed with tulips and Anenomes. An arrangement such as this would look so pretty gracing a console table in a hallway.

[caption id="attachment_104" align="alignnone" width="584" caption="Ranunculus"][/caption]

I hope you agree, Spring florals are a fantastic way of bringing a little sunshine to your life after a long, cold winter. Now is the time to splash out and brighten up your home. Whether it’s a simple bunch of tulips from your local supermarket, or a choice selection from your florist, Spring blooms will undoubtedly add a pretty, and cost effective lift to your home. 

Guest Blog Post by Stephanie Saunders - www.stephaniesaundersflow
Duck Egg Designs Website

March Newsletter

Friends of Duck Egg

I hope you are all well and enjoying the ever changing weather at the moment.

We have some exciting news and have been flat out on a number of projects and meeting more and more inspirational people to collaborate on the Duck Egg Designs adventure. One of the most enjoyable projects was sourcing all the furniture, mirrors, lighting and little trinkets for a gorgeous couple in Battersea. It was a full on project with a sharp deadline but the couple contacted us through a recommendation on twitter and loved our style so gave us a budget and we were off sourcing beautiful items from all over the country and adding special finishing touches to a few to make sure it all worked beautifully with their new home. Through our contacts we saved them a huge amount of money and time rather than them going down more traditional methods. We love working closely with people and know how important every home is!

So what's new?

SO MUCH!! We have launched our Poster Prints Range and we couldn't be happier. Below are a few examples:

Surf's Up



The Glass is Half Full



Good Egg



All posters start at £14 for A3 and £18 for A2. All posters can be personalised to the colours and shades you want to ensure it goes perfectly with you interior spaces. To see the complete range then go to: http://duckeggdesigns.com/Duck-Egg-Designs-Poster-Prints

DUCK EGG DESIGNS BESPOKE BUTCHERS BLOCK

We also have produced our first bespoke piece of kitchen furniture which can be painted to the colour of your choice and handmade by our trusted team of highly skilled craftsmen. We haven't even had time to put it on the website yet but just for you is a first look at the Butchers Block.




For more information on the sizes and cost of the Butchers Block then please contact us on info@duckeggdesigns.com

WHAT'S NEXT?

We are busy in the workshop creating more products and very excited about commencing on our long awaited Summerhouse / Shed Project which we will update via our blog, twitter account (@duck_egg) and facebook (search for Duck Egg)!

As always thank you all for the support and spreading the word, we love your input and feedback on all the projects and have started doing more and more one offs for our friends (you guys!).

Looking forward to catching up again soon!

Don't forget our Book Club!



Click here to visit the Book Club

Take care

Ellie x

Team Duck Egg
More Information Here

Duck Egg Book Club - Alice Hoffman's - The Dovekeepers

Duck Egg Designs runs a monthly book club chaired by our Editor Supreme, Jess. Last month our Book was Alice Hoffman's - THE DOVEKEEPERS.

Review below:

The Dovekeepers – Alice Hoffman

This is the first book of Alice Hoffman’s that I’ve ever come across; I was really surprised when I found out how many others she’d written!  It was recommended to me sometime ago but I only decided to give it a try when I was thinking of a book to kick off the Book Club with.  I’m actually really glad I did!

The story of the Dovekeepers is set in 70 AD and is based on the true story of the siege of the fortress Masada following the fall of Jerusalem.  Masada (once King Herod’s palace) became a place of refuge for fleeing Jews as it was considered impregnable.  However, the Roman Army was determined to conquer it and this story had a tragic ending with a mass suicide of the 900 Jewish inhabitants when the Romans finally began to breach the walls.  According to the ancient historian, Josephus, only two women and five children survived. 

The Dovekeepers follows the stories of four women.  We begin with Yael’s story as she flees with her father and another family from Jerusalem into the desert.  Yael’s mother died giving birth to her and she is shunned by her father.  Yael travels across the desert eventually making her way to Masada.  Revka, who witnessed the horrific murder of her daughter at the hands of Roman soldiers, comes to Masada with her two grandsons who have been rendered mute by what they have seen and her son in law who has become a fearsome warrior following the death of his wife.   Aziza is a warrior’s daughter, raised as a boy and taught the skills of warfare she must somehow stay true to herself though women are forbidden from touching weapons.  Shirah, Aziza’s mother, is learned in the ways of ancient magic but must conceal all she is and all she knows for fear of being cast out again.

This story is so complex it would take me a long time to even begin to summarise all that happens.  Hoffman has written the book in four sections, one for each of the four women but as all of these women become dovekeepers at Masada she has cleverly weaved each woman into the stories of the other’s, so we follow the journey of all four women right until the end.

The book is so detailed and precise, Hoffman literally takes you on a journey; you can feel the relentless heat of the desert, smell the intense scent of the dovecote and feel the emotions of each woman.

From reading summaries of Alice Hoffman’s other books, she often writes about magic and there is an element of that in this book.  The magic is quite dark but doesn’t take away from the story.  I don’t know whether this is magic which was practised by women at that time but it certainly wouldn’t surprise me. 

I really enjoyed reading the historical note at the end and discovering that Hoffman had kept a lot of fact in her story.  I would love to visit the site of Masada at some point as the idea that over 900 Jews chose mass suicide rather than face the Romans is utterly fascinating.  That the man leading them could inspire them to do so is also something which intrigues me.

Perhaps something to bear in mind is the fact that the book is lengthy.  At 500 pages it isn’t a light read and the material can sometimes feel a bit hefty.  It’s worth persevering with it though as I think it’s a great story, perhaps more so because it has an element of fact in it, I don’t know.

This is a story of loss, love, suffering and survival and I would recommend it 100%.

Jess - Duck Egg Book Club - Editor

If you are keen to join the Book Club then please click here: Duck Egg Book Club

More details visit us on www.duckeggdesigns.com 

Join us on twitter:           www.twitter.com/duck_egg

Join us on Facebook:   www.facebook.com/duckeggdesigns

Please feel free to add comments.

Team Duck Egg. x

January Newsletter - Duck Egg Designs

www.duckeggdesigns.com

A Late Happy New Year to you all!

Everyone at Team Duck Egg has been working flat out on new designs and sourcing some gorgeous vintage finds from across the country. We are very excited about 2013!

We wanted to say a big THANK YOU to you all for your support and help in growing the Duck Egg Community in 2012. All your help so far has led us to now having over 35000 Twitter Followers and over 1000 Facebook Fans, these numbers are rapidly rising and it is all because of you!

As a thank you to you all we are doing a 10% Discount all this week to all our Newsletter, Facebook and Twitter fans! Simply enter the CODE "35000" in at the checkout and receive 10% of your order!

Our most popular products of 2012 were our Personalised Toy Boxes, being modelled here by William. We have more models coming out soon.

Duck Egg Book Club:

We also launched our Book Club which can be found at https://www.facebook.com/pages/Duck-Egg-Book-Club/258262500933422 - this is thanks to our New Editor JESS - she is a superstar! The club is growing fast and always has great comments and views on it. Please help spread the word!

The opening image of the Newsletter refers to the fact we launched our kitchen range at the back end of last year. It has been a great success and we are currently working on our exclusive range of Duck Egg Kitchenware - plates, cups, mugs, saucers and much more!

We are very excited about 2013 and hope it has started well for all of you also!

You Guys 

One the driving forces behind Duck Egg is you and your comments. We source and stock what you want and we love your feedback and it hugely influences everything we do. We'd ask if you would keep writing to us at info@duckeggdesigns.com and keep us updated with all your stories and thoughts. Also let us know if we can help you in some way? A shout out on twitter maybe to help your business or events?

So much to update you on and we will in our next newsletter. Until then have a great January and best of luck to everyone who is trying to keep to thier New Years Resolutions.. we have already failed!!

Speak soon.

Ellie.

Team Duck Egg

 www.duckeggdesigns.com

www.facebook.com/duckeggdesigns

Chocolate Pavlova and Top Baking Tips

Chocolate Pavlova and Top Baking Tips

From time to time we get to introduce some excellent guest bloggers and interesting people we meet through the Duck Egg Designs Community. 

Our first guest Blogger of 2013 is Becky of "Becky Bakeswells". We met the wonderful Becky through our twitter community (35,000 followers - Twitter: @duck_egg) where her friendly helpful advice and super tips have helped us on a number of baking occasions... and we have a few!

Becky is planning on launching her bakery soon and we thought it would be great to introduce you to her and some of her delicious recipes!

We thought we'd start with Becky's Top Tips before we fly into one of her delicious cakes.

Becky BakesWell's Top Baking Tips

1)      If you’re up against the clock when baking, put fridge cold eggs into a bowl of warm water for five minutes to take the chill off them – room temperature eggs will whip up more easily and produce better quality results.

 

2)      When trying out a new cupcake recipe it’s wise to bake one ‘test’ cupcake before filling the rest of the cases. This test cupcake will enable you to check oven temperatures, timings and will influence how far you fill the cake cases - some mixtures will rise dramatically in the oven and others can be more modest.

3)      Cakes not rising as they should be? Check the date on your baking powder and bicarbonate of soda – the shelf life of these raising agents is surprisingly short and using fading raising agents can lead to disappointing results. You can put left-over bicarbonate of soda to good use as a thrifty fridge freshener though – put an open container of it in the fridge to absorb strong smells.

4)      When whisking up egg whites, wipe the inside of the bowl and whisk/electric mixer beaters with a lemon wedge to remove any traces of grease that could prevent your egg whites from whipping up properly.

5)      Before storing flour in your cupboard, pop the pack of flour in a sandwich bag to protect the packaging and freeze it for 48 hours to safeguard against flour mites. Always store flour in a plastic container with a tight fitting lid. 

AND NOW FOR THE MAIN EVENT:

Chocolate Berry Pavlova

This crisp yet marshmallowy meringue base is studded with chunks of chocolate, blanketed with a cool, smooth layer of cream and is then scattered with berries. This dessert is so useful - the meringue base can be made in advance, the fruits can be tweaked to suit the season and it’s perfect for serving at parties as it’s light, and handily gluten-free.

Serves: 8-10

Chocolate Meringue Base

300g caster sugar

6 egg whites

3 tablespoons cocoa powder sieved

50g dark chocolate, chopped into small chunks

1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar or white wine vinegar

Topping

500ml double cream

500g mixed berries

Finely grated dark chocolate or sieved icing sugar to decorate

Method

1)      Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Centigrade/350 degrees Fahrenheit/gas mark 4. Using a pencil, draw a 23cm diameter circle on a piece of baking parchment, turn it over and place this on a wide baking tray.

2)      Using an electric whisk or the whisk attachment of a food mixer, whip up the egg whites until they form soft peaks of tight, compact bubbles. Whisk in the sugar one spoonful at a time until the meringue is stiff and glossy.

3)      Gently fold in the sifted cocoa, the vinegar and the chocolate chunks until everything is completely combined. Be careful at this point – you want everything to be mixed together properly, but you don’t want to bash all the air out the mix that you have just carefully created.

4)      ‘Glue’ the baking paper to the baking tray with a dot of meringue mixture on each corner of the paper. Dollop the meringue mixture into the centre of the circle, then flatten and spread outwards to cover the circle shape. You want to create a thick circle with a flattened top and straight upright edge – you don’t want the side surfaces to be shallow and collapsed.

5)      Place in the oven and turn the oven down to 150 degrees Centigrade/300 degrees Fahrenheit/ gas mark 2. Bake for 60-75 minutes. When it’s ready, the meringue should look like it has a crisp outer shell and it should be dry on top. However, when you press the centre, it should feel marshmallowy.

6)      Now, here’s the trick – turn the oven off and open the door slightly, leaving the pavlova base in the oven to cool completely. This precaution helps to avoid the meringue becoming deflated or damaged when you build the pavlova later and helps it to remain crisp and chewy.

7)      When you want to serve the pavlova, invert the meringue base on to a serving plate or a cake stand and peel off the baking paper. Whisk the cream until it just starts to hold its shape and dollop it on to the base. Scatter your chosen berries over the cream and then sprinkle over the grated chocolate or a slight dusting of icing sugar. 

For more info on Becky:

 http://beckybakeswell.blogspot.co.uk/

 http://www.facebook.com/pages/Becky-BakesWell/268130966537555?fref=ts

We will be back with a new blog soon but in the interim you can keep up to speed with our website: www.duckeggdesigns.com and our Facebook: www.facebook.com/duckeggdesigns 

Do leave your comments and ideas as we love to hear from you all. Big thanks to Becky and enjoy baking!

Team Duck Egg.

Top Tips for Vintage Finds

Wine Box from a selection at www.duckeggdesigns.com

With all the excitement and the thrill of our new kitchen and idyllic country style dining room, our attic is looking a bit forlorn. Forgotten at the top of the house, we were lucky that it had been converted before moving it, but with the little one's tribute to the Olympic gymnastics down the attic stairs, it is a place off limits during the day. It has become a functional space of housing awkward items such as the golf clubs which elbow and jostle anything that might sit beside them. It is an office to house the bigger computer and somewhere there is a bed which any poor unsuspecting overnight guest has to seek beneath forgotten toys and dusty sewing projects. My mother stoically comes to stay and has until recently been very jolly about fashioning a blind for the Velux windows with a towel. The blind has been fixed, but time and money has meant the attic has become a vortex. So now with the computer disappearing behind reams of drawings and filing, I have decided it is a New Year and time to get organised! With this in mind and the space being a challenging 'U' shape we need to find pieces which are useful, practical and have of course the potential to up cycle!

Top Tips for Vintage Finds...

Our first priority and a top request from Duck Egg are for chest of drawers. When I first started out in interiors, I was amazed by the ferocity of the chest of drawers market! It is a case of if you see something you like, buy it before it goes. The answer to why they are so loved is their unending practicality. We often look for the less fashionable mahogany type because they usually have beautiful and original handles. Don't worry if the handle set isn't complete you can usually find similar style on eBay or if you are little like the Duck Egg crew we use ours with the missing handle. The darker wood styles often have lovely engraved patterns on which in a lighter colour add another interesting dimension. I like to use a white palette with larger pieces of furniture and have recently started using 'Pavilion Grey' from Farrow and Ball, which is a very soft grey and lovely for distressing with a dark wax for a more Gustavian feel. It is often a good contrast with other white furniture. Annie Sloan also has a beautiful 'Paris Grey' which is lovely if you are covering darker wood as there is no need for primer or sanding. We are looking for an interesting and Victorian style small chest of drawers for the attic that can cope with the low eaves and has that Downton feel....

Always check for wood worm in pieces by looking for fresh dust inside drawers...and a great although maybe slightly outdated idea is to line drawers either with scented liners (try Crabtree and Evelyn) or wallpaper off cuts with dried herbs placed in the drawers.

We are also looking for bookshelves. A great way of transforming cheap bookshelves is to paint in a luxurious colour such as a rich Duck Egg or Pink and distress. A white undercoat showing through will help with ageing it when you distress it. To make these bookshelves more unique and vintage, cut out old maps and wallpaper to line the back and paste with PVA or a spray adhesive. Simple, fun and very stylish. You could also stencil the outside if you wanted to. Line up old Penguin titles and junk shop finds and integrate favourite collections such as shells. A vintage crate might also fit well  in the shelves or be a useful addition on top.

A big expense when finalising an interior is often the mirror. Go for shapes. An oval shape will not take up too much room and add gentle curves to the room. There is something very fairy tale about this shape, so don't be put off by a heavy gilded frame if you want a more shabby chic feel. You are more likely to find gilded frames and a chalk paint will cover well and brighten the frame if you want to change it. Just remember to mask the glass with a good quality masking tape.

Good places to start looking for vintage finds are antiques fairs, a great place to define your taste from a wide range of eras.

http://www.antiques-atlas.com/dbevents/january2013fairs.php?counter=4&counterlimit=4

Look out for lovely styles, easy to upholster pieces such as footstools, which are a quick and relatively inexpensive way to update an interior with a vintage feel, quirky cupboards where you can replace front panels with chicken wire for a rustic French feel. Come and share your projects with Duck Egg on Twitter @duck_egg or www.facebook.com/duckeggdesigns .

A Duck Egg Vintage Christmas - Christmas in a Cup Recipe!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Duck Egg Designs has had a great year and was fortunate enough to appear alongside Kirstie Allsopp and Sue Timney in Kirsties Vintage Christmas on Channel 4. It was a wonderful experience, so much fun and we met so many interesting people.

(Making our Christmas Tree decorations)

One of the many amazing people we met was Richard Hunt (picture below), one of the UK's best chefs and 

Head Chef of the Torquay Hotel. Richard came up with a recipe for the show that we thought was so good that we wanted to share it again with you.

So without further a do... we are please to introduce to you.

CHRISTMAS IN A CUP

Christmas in a Cup

(Serves 8.)

What you need:

Standard Coffee Mugs (or any mug) just not fine bone China.

Flour 300grams, butter 165grams, pinch of salt.

Add ingredients to a bowl and rub gently together keeping the mixture light and fluffy...

Cool hands and cool work surface are important here.

Add cold water to mixture 4-5 tablespoon, stir with fork.

Roll pastry into a ball, wrap in cling film and leave to rest in the fridge for 30 minutes... in the mean time you can start on the filling.

Fry your vegetables in 50mls of vegetable oil and 2 knobs of butter.

We have: 2 chopped onions, 5 sticks of celery, 2 carrots and 1 small swede all chopped into little cubes.

While vegetables fry prepare the meat.

1 Kilogram of diced venison but beef or lamb will do.

First coat the venison in a little seasoned flour. Richard's tip is to pop your venison and flour into a plastic bag and seal then shake until the venison is covered in the flour. The flour will seal in the juices and thicken the sauce.

Once your vegetables have fried, pop them into a heavy croc pot and you can start cooking the venison.

Put the frying pan back on to the heat and get it really hot again and add some a few table spoons of oil. Then you can start to fry the venison and seal in the flavours. Fry venison until nice and brown.

Once brown, remove from the heat and add it to your vegetables.

To make the sauce:

Take 1 tablespoon of Tomato puree and then add 400mls of yummy port! Stir within a hot frying pan.

Add 5 tables spoon of cranberry sauce and the zest of 1 orange to the pan. You should really be able to smell the wonderful Christmas aromas now!

Now add you sauce to your venison and vegatables and top up with 450mls of beef stock.

For some extra flavour add thyme, bay leave and some mixed juniper berrys in a muslin cloth. Once done season with salt and pepper.

Then pop in the oven at 160c (Gas 4-5).

Leave the venison in the oven for an hour and a half and then let it cool for another hour and a half.

Once cooled, take the pastry out of the fridge and cut out circles to go over the coffee mugs.

Once the pastry is over the mugs wash with egg yolk and when you want put them in the oven for 15-20 minutes at 200c for the perfect Christmas in a Cup!

We can tell you they are delicious!

We hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and looking forward to more adventures in the New Year. Thank you for all your support and helping Duck Egg grow and grow. We really do appreciate the community and all the support!

Merry Christmas!

Team Duck Egg.

For more information on Duck Egg Designs contact:

Ellie at info@duckeggdesigns.com

And visit us at www.duckeggdesigns.com 

Be part of the growing Duck Egg Community at : www.facebook.com/duckeggdesigns - give it a go! x