something fishy

At long last the Summer holidays have arrived and after the chaos of the last few weeks of term a family holiday was just what we needed. 

After such dire weather over the last year or so, hubby and I have been dreaming of a holiday on a Greek island, with blue skies, bluer sea, little coves to explore in a wooden rowing boat and evenings spent at beach side tavernas drinking Amstel and eating whitebait and Greek salad.  It's a great dream but this year finances wouldn't permit it.

However when the weather is fine Cornwall has to be one of the best places in the world to be.  And that's where we were.

The weather was perfect and we spent plenty of time swimming in the sea, enjoying fish from the local fishmonger with crisp cold Prosecco and beach combing.  We even hired a little boat and that was the highlight of our week.  Culminating in a triumph on our final night when we decided to have a go at catching some mackerel for our supper.  Baby (who is now 5) and I were in charge of the mackerel line, hubby in charge of the boat, Boy in charge of the dog and our little girl sat feeling very sick in the swell.  But it was worth it because 40 minutes later we had 10 mackerel for our supper.

Another 40 minutes, barbecue lit and sea sickness overcome, each of the children had each gutted their fish and were happily tucking into a delicious meal, caught by our own fair hands.

Nothing more satisfying than that! So who needs Greece?

pretties

i have been playing with an app called picframe - inspired by  one of our lovely stockists the lovely debbie at rooms with a view in diss, norfolk.
its so easy and you can use it on your phone, ipad or computer. i have had lots of fun this weekend making pretty collages!

loving st ives

we have recently returned from a lovely sunny but windy trip to st ives in the camper van.
we finally got a pitch at a campsite i have wanted to try out for years . Ayr Holiday park is set just above the costal path to the south west of porthmeor beach, and it books up quickly! I now know why! it was one of the loveliest sites we have ever stayed on, small, fab views  and the loveliest bathrooms imaginable - think underfloor heating and music and lovely clean large showers.
heres a little collage of our trip!

a little pop up sale

pin it forward uk

I was really thrilled to be invited to be part of the "pin it forward Uk" campaign which is running throughout may, as part of its UK launch.
For any of you who haven't come across pinterest it is the most marvellous tool for collating all of those visual treats you find whilst meandering through life online and off.

I use it everyday to organise all of my visual inspiration via different boards on pinterest. I do most of my clients moodboards on it, as they can then easily see how i am trying to bring their room together. here is an image from   a board  for a client who wanted a contemporary take on toile 

image originally from poppytalk 

i have also taken to storing all of my recipes on a food board - and a wholefood board for when i am feeling virtuous!

image from alexandracooks 

I thought it would be fun to do a board that was all about an introduction to pinterest, so every image i came across that i wanted to pin in a week, went on my board 'inspired'

- it was an interesting exercise in looking at the types of things i continually pin - which seem to be food, fabric, art and interiors! - not really that surprising.

come and join the fun, pinterest have prepared a special little registration link for you here, where you can join in the fun.
While i am here i would like to take the opportunity to introduce fellow pinner and fashionista Caroline Burke   caroline is a Uk based style expert and pins all manner of fashion loveliness - i wonder if she could give me a gok style makeover?  i don somehow think Caroline would be very inspired by what i wore today - mainly wellies and pyjamas.........

the secret of the cinnamon roll

many of you will know - an possibly share my addiction to pinterest. i also have an addiction to cinnamon buns ever since a trip to san francisco let us to the gorgeous little store called molly stones in sausalito.  i am always on the lookout for a cinnamon bun that replicates that molly stones taste. i have tried many but i think i have found it ...........and ahem.....its not a made from scratch (she says slightly red faced!)

 it starts with a pack of jus rol croissant dough - to be found in the chiller cabinet next to pastry!
roll it out flat (dont separate it into triangles) and spread it with butter and sprinkle liberally with soft brown sugar mixed with a teaspoon or 2 of cinnamon.

 roll it up like a sausage and chop into rings.
put a ring in each hole of a mini muffin tin - i am especially fond of  this one with 24 holes

bake them in a hot oven, and take them out of the tin as soon as they are done - or they weld themselves to it! (top tip, don't ice them in the tin or you"ll have to eat them out of the tin with a spoon!)

put them on a plate and dribble with icing made with icing sugar, a teaspoon or 2 of maple syrup and a teaspoon or two of milk and a little pinch of cinnamon.

eat while still warm and enjoy!!!

talent for textiles

If you are in and around bradford on avon this weekend Jo and I will be at the Talent for Textiles 'rag market'  9am - 3 pm at Mason's Hall and the Wine Vaults, Church Street, Bradford on Avon.
We will be selling lots of odds and ends of fabrics, along with cushions, lampshades and some bargain sarah hardaker fabrics  .
As usual we got very distracted making our bundles of 'rags' look beautiful!!!

if you are in Bradford on Avon pop in and say hello, there are lots of fabulous dealers who are selling wares at bargain prices.

howdy

its been busy busy busy here, with jo racing around doing 2 jobs - and still managing to come and sort out my muddles on a weekly basis, and me being the woman of a hundred hats for months on end, - i feel like that faulty towers sketch where manuel changes his outfit depending on whether he is the waiter, the doorman, the bell boy etc!!
we have had alot of exciting projects on the go, our pattern books arrived! (and i was like a proud mummy!)

all of our new designs were launched....... and selling!

we have done some really exciting interiors projects, at home via  our website  room service (using my embroidery training - judy barry - i am still doing you proud!!)

and abroad.......

 i was brave and had some professional pics taken by the wonderful paul, at lemon house (who performed photo-surgical no chins miracles!!) so this is me ...in real life!!!

we have had some amazing magazine coverage.. (thank you wonderful team at country homes and interiors and fab stylist lisa brown)

and i have indulged my guilty pinterest addiction - usually at 5am!!!

anyway, we are back, and in fine fettle, so heres to a creative summer!

A little bit of colour

After a fabulous yet exhausting weekend of  endless sledging and too much red wine by the fire ('the best days ever' according to our now-5-year-old baby).  Life has sort of returned to normal today.  School opened late with excited children turning up covered in every conceivable item of clothing to protect them from the snow and prepared for a really good out door play later on in the school day.  But the snow is thawing and people have been digging it off the roads, drives and pavements leaving large dark patches of concrete, in an already rather bleak landscape.  Hubby has had the day off work (little he can do as a gardener!) and after a failed attempt to get my car out we jumped in the 4x4 and headed into Nailsworth for some retail therapy and a spot of lunch a deux.  On our return home I realise that I must be hankering after some summer sun as my kitchen table is now adorned with a bowl of cherries, some brightly flowered Rununcula and an ice cream soda glass!

So, for those of you who are also looking for something to brighten up their day, here's a little bit of colour.

its beginning to feel a lot like christmas...

Hello folks
though i might be broadcasting to an empty room and tumbleweed i have been away for so long!
somebody once asked me would i recommend leaving the rat race to set up their own business? sometimes it is fab, but other times you feel like you are racing around at 100 miles an hour with a million different hats on!!!  so even though it is my busiest time of year i decided to stop for 5 mins and have a little break with a coffee and a blog!
i have been having a quick peruse of pinterest in my spare moments in the last few weeks, and i have to say there is some fabulous christmas inspiration on there at the moment, home made holiday gifts, cards and decorating ideas.  with all of this inspiration around i agreed to host a workshop with my friend kate, who has the most lovely barn in the old selsley herb farm.

you can click on the picture to enlarge the details, we will be concentrating on handmade natural christmas decorations, a christmas wreath and decorating your home with a natural feel. so i will post some pictures of our efforts!  there are 2 spaces left if any local readers are interested do contact us.

time for tea

Like January, September marks a time for new beginnings.  This September is particularly momentous for me as my baby has just started school.  In turn I was hoping that that meant that I would have hours of time to myself to catch up with the things I've not had time to do over the last 9 years.  Some how this isn't yet the case (not helped by the fact she isn't full time at school until after 1/2 term!).

I am getting slowly back on track though. I managed to find the time and head space to read our oven instructions so I can now use the timer - something my life would have benefitted from years ago.  Leaving the house to do the school run, knowing the oven will turn on itself and having the 'supper-ready' beeper going as I get back 2 hours later with children worn out from swimming is great.  I used it the other day to make this delicious Rosemary cake, a fab Nigella recipe, for a new mum's coffee morning at school.

Anyway I've also decided that it's time to re-visit the resolutions I made in January.  Somehow I've failed to be a prolific blogger yet this year, hopefully that's going to change.  I'm hoping and anticipating waves of time for 'me'.  When it comes hopefully I'll have time to write some more posts, and time to sit down, enjoy and (most importantly) finish a hot cup of tea.

defeated by technology

if you are trying to access our website today we are experiencing some difficulties with our new server.
so we have a temporary site at www.sarahhardaker.com
we are hoping to be fully back up and running in our normal site in the next 48 hours.
you can also call the studio on 01453 872480 and we will be delighted to help you with samples and orders.