DIY: How to make Boozy Gummy Bears

I've been seeing a lot of these Boozy Gummy Bears pop up on pinterest and I couldn't resist having a shot to see how well it actually turned out! For this DIY I decided to trial a few different kinds of spirits and worms as well as bears to see what came of it. The bears are just your standard Haribo variety which I can tell you now work a treat. Marks & Spencers' Colin the Caterpillar (my favourite kind of wiggly worm) didn't take to this at all... It must be something to do with the gods of gelatine, so if you're a veggie and wanting to give this a shot, try and get as close to the real thing as you can :)

Many of the tutorials involved flavoured vodka, which I can imagine works super well and is defo worth trying out. I opted to hark back to my past and bought a bottle of Apple Sourz; not only does it remind me of my student days, but I'm totally addicted to that fake apple taste. I figured if I was going to make alcoholic candy, I may as well go all out and make it real classy ;)

Whilst my main batch of bears was soaking in that, I also tried a few cocktail options to see how they came out. A few lined cupcake cases work perfect if you fancy testing out a few different combinations without breaking the bank. So, all you need to do is pop your bears in a bowl or jar, put in enough booze to cover them all, clingfilm / saran wrap closed and sit them in your fridge for 2 to 3 days till the alcohol has virtually gone. I found that it was good to give them a stir each day so ensure each one got good coverage and I wasn't left with a big gummy lump at the end!

Cocktail Flavours:

Orange Bears + Sailor Jerry

Raspberry Bears + Hendricks Gin

Pineapple Bear + Chambord 

The Verdict? These bears have got some kick to them! The Apple Sourz ones turned out really well, the flavour is perfect for those of you with a sweet tooth and a love of candy. I really enjoyed the Sailor Jerry flavoured ones too, but their not for the faint hearted. If you're not into strong spirits I would say this flavour is not for you. Being a lover of our local Hendricks Gin, I couldn't resist giving this a bash; it's still quite a strong kick, but I foreseeing these being made again in the future. Unfortunately our Chambord bears weren't as successful as the previous flavours. I'm pretty certain this is to do with the consistency; it's quite a thick liquor and therefor harder to be absorbed. They still taste lovely, but there was a lot of left over alcohol from the trial. I do like how the clear bears are now pinkish though! That is a top tip for next time - maybe a little flavoured vodka and some food colouring for themed parties!

Taste aside, the sweets themselves have definitely grown in size and are still quite gummy in consistency. They're more jelly like when you first bite into them and then get more chewy towards the centre. Good times if you ask me!

Overall, I'm really pleased with these and will defo be making them for adult parties in the future. They're a great throw back and really novel, but remember not to put these on the table if there's going to be anyone under 18 / 21 in the room! 

Also, I think they look totally fab when in a jar - wouldn't they make a great hostess gift? Or how about whiskey ones for your boyfriend on Valentines Day... or even your dad on Fathers Day... Oh! Gin on Mothers Day too :D As you can switch up the flavours the possibilities are endless. I think I might try popping some in a glass of lemonade to see how that turns out. How fun!

We'd love to hear what combos you think are worth trying!

Remember to eat your candy responsibly.

Happy Making
xox

Valentines Day Gift Ideas

With Valentines Day fast approaching on the horizon I couldn't resist creating a little Etsy wish list. I've had my eye on that sweater for some time now - it makes my heart skip a beat! I'm also totally in love with that little toast plate too; I'm obsessed with toast and eat a crazy amount of it. I think this is the greatest invention ever :D Also, how cute is that little fortune cookie necklace? Hmmm.. this was a bad idea! 

Incase you've not seen from our facebook page we've got a special offer for all you early bird Valentines Day shoppers on at the moment - our Mr & Mrs prints are 50% off! How great is that? You can also nab our 'Missing Piece' puzzle piece brooch or one of our beautiful ampersand brooches in our sale section too. Take advantage quickly - they'll be full price again in the next couple of days!

Big Dipper Sweatshirt - TwoStringJane    Suitcase Pet Bed - AtomicAttic     Gun Plate - MoreThanPorcelain
Toast Plate - Charlotte Mei    Fortune Cookie Necklace - Olive Yew

Oh Snap! A catch up on our week...

Can you believe we're half way through January already? Time has flown by crazy fast! I'm slowly getting back into things but I'd be lying if I said I was finding it easy to pick up where I left off. It seems like the Christmas rush was a million years ago, doesn't it? 

Last night we took down our our exhibition in Sofis bar which whilst we were sad to see it go we are super excited to see what comes in next. I never expected the show to be such a great success and we're both totally thrilled with how many prints we sold. I know I keep saying it, but we're so thankful for everyone who came down and showed their support, you're amazing! The upside is that our giant glasses are back, pride of place in Vivid HQ. They're possibly the greatest thing I own - I love that they get to go on tour! hee hee 

Being stuck in the house and in bed so much has totally made me pine for my travels! Being a total hoarder I have kept memory boxes full of ticket stubs and little tokens that I've picked up during my adventures which I find are really great to look back through for inspiration and a little pick me up. Today I had a sudden urge to look through all my Graceland memorabilia; I'm such a big Elvis nut and did the VIP tour when I went and it was totally brilliant.  I was super lucky to get to stay at the Heartbreak Hotel which genuinely is at the end of Lonely Street and it's got to have the best branding I've ever seen. I have very fond memories of swimming in their heart-shaped pool! I seriously hope I get to go back again one day, Memphis is one heck of a place :D

Reminiscing aside, so far my goals have been coming along well - I'm particularly enjoying my illustration a day project! I've been working on a few new print / card ideas which haven't been turning out how I've hoped, so it's been lovely to have a totally brainless side project to indulge in and distract me from feeling so frustrated with my fuzzy head. Whilst that side of things haven't been so successful, we do have something very exciting coming into the shop in the next couple of days :D Keep your eye out! And although I've not managed to get in a car yet, but I have started prepping for the theory test by seeing how much I remember through those mock tests. Turns out I know quite a lot which is nice! I need to brush up on little things like stopping distances and the anatomy of the car. Both topics I seem to find really hard to memorise! I found a free Theory Test app for the iPhone if anyone fancies having a go - there's surprisingly quite a few different ones available, so once I've done this a few times I'll probably swap to get some different test questions. It's a good way to keep myself entertained on the bus ;) 

I hope you're all making some headway with your new tasks and resolutions too!

Goals for 2014

This weekend I've been having quite the think about new goals to set myself for 2014. I think we've done really well with the ones we set for ourselves last year, but there is still one we need to tackle... sort of at any rate! This year I've decided to create a few more goals, but they're a bit more personal than just Vivid focussed. I'm a little nervous that I've bitten off more than I can chew, but it's all about getting out of your comfort zone, isn't it?

So, in summery, last year we managed to:
1) Take our little stall on the road to Glasgow, Dundee and London which I am super proud of. Considering we live in Edinburgh and don't drive I'd say that's mighty impressive!
2) We defo managed to grow our business; we doubled sales in our Etsy shop from February till December which is pretty crazy, plus we exhibited our work and started selling through new stores which is spectacular.
3) Having traveled to Hawaii and Florida this year (both trips of a lifetime, never to be afforded again!) I know for sure we certainly made time to have more fun in our lives!
4) I guess I can say that I've improved on organisation - there is no way you can pack all of that into one year without some kind of organisation that's for sure! Still, I think I can improve and plan to work on this more this year... actually I foresee this being one that I'm never satisfied with, but I'll always be trying!
5) The only thing we failed to tick off our list was setting up a website. Don't get me wrong, we are about 90% there and hit a major issue which totally floored us, so we made a supreme attempt to get it done and don't have much more to do once we've sorted out the issues...

All in all, I think I'd give myself a 7 / 10 for last years achievements - there is always room for improvement but some things are out of your hands!

Goals for 2014

1) Take a photo a day. I do take a lot of photos, but lately it's been rather sporadic. It's often an after thought at the moment and that's something I definitely want to change. I'll be sharing more of me and David too I reckon. You're only young once!

2) Do a drawing a day. Like the photography side of things, I feel like I've not being drawing enough lately. I bought a beautiful new sketchbook from Kate Spade and each day I'm going to add in one illustration. It doesn't need to be a whole page or something really intrinsic or anything, it just needs to be daily (and not a stick man!)

3) Learn how to drive I am pretty, pretty scared of driving. It may sound silly, but other drivers frighten the crap out of me... as do roundabouts which are pretty much my arch nemesis! I've been learning on and off for years and I think that this year I need to just embrace it and get it done. I'm always full of excuses and I just need to stop - I reckon putting it on the blog will actually push myself to prove myself wrong. If any of you have some kind of magical advice on how to overcome the phobia I'm all ears!

4) Learn a new thing (... or many new things!!) I think I might start off with taking a yoga class and take it from there. As I mentioned previously I've been doing really great with taking all my vitamins and trying to eat well since being so ill, so this feels like another great thing to take on without pushing myself too hard. I'm hoping to do lots of other things too, like properly learning to play my ukulele and learning a new craft but I'm going to leave it a little open for now.

5) Do up Vivid HQ This has been something that's been hanging over me for months and it's seriously bumming me out. I've been wanting to clear out, paint and fix up the place but I've not had the time of energy to do so. I've started going through stuff today and have already done a charity shop run but we have heaps to go through still. I've got a whole bunch of dresses, jewellery and oddities like vinyl toys that I'd love to go to a good home so I think I'm going to add a 'shop my wardrobe' sort of section to the blog so you can get first dibs if you want it. This is going to be the year I let go of stuff!

6) Grow as a business I'd like to get more stockists, more magazine coverage and do more collaborations this year. That means upping our game, but I'm quite excited to see what's in store for us. It seems to me the bar has been set quite high from last year which is kinda terrifying but also pretty thrilling. You can't run your own business if you don't enjoy the madness, I can tell you that for sure!

7) Web it up! This year, I'm going to get that website up. Full stop, end of story. I'm going to try and write more blog posts about running your own business and working creatively, I'd quite like to get back into my DIY posts, feature posts and create some outfit posts and write up more reviews. We also have plans to open up our blog to advertisers too. Exciting stuff!

So, I think it's safe to say that I have quite a lot of plans for the next 12 months. I think I'm going to make a note of every time I achieve something great and pop it in my giant poodle cookie jar - it's a fun way to celebrate, make use of the most random thing I've ever purchased (thanks Anthro sale!) and I'll have something really lovely to open and look back on come December 31st....

I hope I can look back on this post in 2015 and be as proud as I am of my previous achievements :) Only time will tell!

How about you? What have you got planned for your goals this year? If you're looking for a free printable diary with an aid to help you make (and keep!) yours, you can find one at the end of this post

Getting Back On Track!

I'm finally starting to feel a little bit better this year - I'm still struggling to hear properly but I've finally made it out of my bed and I'm looking forward to getting back into work, though I'm going to try and ease myself back into it slowly. In my last blog post I mentioned I was thinking about new years resolutions and goal setting for this year and I am so totally thrilled with the advice you lovely peeps have shared that I thought I would pass it on!

The Greatest Wealth Is Health ~ Virgil

If you treat your body like crap, you're going to feel crap. I've just stocked up on vitamins (I'm terrible for not taking them, my dad always goes on about it!) and have decided that taking care of myself and trying to keep on top of taking supplements really needs to be much higher up on my to do list. With November and December being such busy months for us I totally slipped on my general health. It's super easy to burn the candle at both ends and not give yourself time to recover. Being so sick now has had quite the effect on getting back into the swing of things and getting stuck in. Once I've gotten rid of this I have no intentions of running myself into the ground again!

There Is No Diet What Will Do What Eating Healthy Does.

And on that note, I've been making a lot of bad choices in my diet recently - I have definitely overindulged over the holidays! I don't believe in going on actual diets because I think that you only crave the bad stuff more when you say 'no' to it, which tends to lead into a binge and bad emotions... well that's how I work at any rate! If you want my opinion, don't cut out 'bad' food, just eat it in moderation. As soon as you say no to yourself you're going to obsess over it and that's when things get tricky. Keep an eye on your calorie count - you will be amazed what you'll learn and you'll probably find it often puts you off making the wrong choices. 

Being able to keep on top of a good diet since I've been sick has been remarkably tricky as I've not been able to cook. Fortunately the wonderful Kim of A Blackbirds Epiphany blogged about a company called ilumi that makes healthy ready meals that don't contain any milk, gluten or nuts. She was even kind enough to share a link that contained £10 off a £25 order. I don't usually go for things like these as they're often quite expensive and I can be a fussy eater, but with the discount (and it was free shipping) and having a quick look at the menu it seemed like the perfect way to eat better and feel better without the hassle of trying to cook myself! My box of treats has just arrived and for £15 I've got around 12 meals covered. I'm looking forward to trying them out and letting you know how I get on with them :) Thanks Kim! It's going to be a really helpful way to get myself back on track with portion size and better options. I'm looking forward to hitting the kitchen as soon as I've stopped sniffling!

Nothing is impossible, the word itself says 'Im Possible' ~ Audrey Hepburn

Finally, I mentioned that I've been struggling with setting goals for the year and finding a way to keep them. Kim wrote an amazing comment on the previous post sharing her tips on how to set a big goal and how to break it down into several smaller and more manageable goals that can be achieved monthly. It's simple, but it's totally spot on! 

Then, incredibly, the lovely Helen of Jolly Good shared this amazing link to a free practical kit and diary to help keep track of your main goals and mini goals which was created by Do What You Love. As you can see from the first picture in this post, it looks pretty sweet and it's jam packed full of helpful ways to work out what it is that you want and how to break it down into manageable chunks. I've printed mines out and started working my way through what it is I want to achieve and how it is I'm going to do it. I have to admit, I'm a little overwhelmed, but I think that's from being under the weather. Having something solid to look at is going to be really helpful to keep track of what I'm doing and how I'm going to do it :) Thanks so much for sharing this Helen - you're a total star!

Once I'm a little more organised I'm going to post up on how I got on with last years goals and what I'm hoping to achieve next. I know that one or two things will be carried over, but I'm kinda looking forward to upping my game to tick them off this year :) 

What's on your list for goals in 2014?

Under The Weather...

Hello peeps! We hope you've all had a cracking holiday! Unfortunately for me, I've been stuck in bed feeling absolutely broken. I'm not quite sure what it is that I've caught, but I know one thing for sure - it's totally rotten! I don't think I've ever spent this much time in my bed before, and it's truly starting to bum me out... it's not exactly how I thought I'd be starting the new year, but I'm going to try and turn that around as soon as I can. To try and get back into the swing of things on the blog, I thought I would share a few snaps from our mini-holiday...

As you will notice, it mostly revolved around eating and drinking, which is pretty much mandatory for the season! There was the posh dinner with my mum, a homemade mac n cheese feast and an obsession with tiny cucumbers in eldeflower and hendricks cocktails (see below)

How amazing is that tiny cucumber! Also, totally loving our new 'His' and 'Hers' highball glasses which was a super lovely Christmas gift :D

We went through to Glasgow for the day which was actually a really nice day despite this amazing picture I took of the rain on the window from the bus driving through.  Doesn't it look like a painting?

Indulging aside, I've been thinking a lot about getting a new tattoo recently so I've been sketching away at a few ideas that I'm really excited about. I'm not sure where I'll get it but I'll be sure to blog about it when I'm nearer to getting it done :) 

Besides that we've been trying to come up with some goals and resolutions for the next year. One is defo going to be sorting out the studio and we're both keen to read, draw and walk more but I'm struggling a little with setting out what goals we want to achieve... If anyone has any good links on setting tangible goals and how to keep them we'd love to hear about it! Hit me up with some inspiration peeps - I need to get motivated and get out of this bed :)

Happy Grogmanay! (And short film of how we created our new window display for 2014!)

HAPPY GROGMANAY EVERYONE! For those of you who are unaware of the Scottish term 'hogmanay', we're wishing you all a very Happy New Year! As you can see from our latest short film, we've been ringing in 2014 in style by creating a new sailor themed window display for Sofi's bar. What do you think?

Vivid Please Mini Film: Creating Our Grogmanay Window Display

It's been so lovely to be asked to create another artwork for the bar - it seems our Christmas pug window went down super well even though it was our first ever attempt illustrating on glass. We're absolutely thrilled to bits!

Now we've got the hang of this working backwards on a massive scale malarky, we were able to create a more complex artwork to cover the 3 windows as we knew just how much we had to prepare for. Even though there is a lot more work in this window, it probably took just about the same amount of time as the first. It's totally amazing how much you learn after your first attempt - this time things went much more smoothly!

Sofi's Bar hosted a fancy dress theme night on New Years Eve called 'Hello Sailor'. When they told us the theme and asked if we could come up with something to fit in with the celebration our minds went into overdrive - who doesn't want to be a pirate for the day?! With that in mind I put on my favourite Elvis Hawaiian shirt and sailor slacks to get in the spirit of things. I would have worn an eye patch too, but I didn't want to mess up my drawing ;)

Shiver Me Timbers!

David's steady hands worked wonders on our boat illustration (which you might recognise it from our notebook and ship in a bottle brooch!), whilst I outlined a lot of the fiddly text and crashing waves. I actually illustrated the bottle of grog for a personal project - it's funny how all these things can come together like it was meant to be! It fits in so perfectly :)

We lucked in once again with the weather too - both times we've worked on these windows Scotland managed to bring us some sunshine meaning we managed to get the job done a little faster and bagged ourselves some beautiful photographs thanks to the wonderful light.

Ahoy!

The waves pattern is a first for us and definately something I'd like to use in the future. There is something quite therapeutic about the receptiveness, which is not something I ever thought I would hear myself say!

Our exhibition is still hanging up inside, but we'll be taking it down in the next two weeks. It's been such an amazing run and we've been very fortunate in selling a lot of our prints from the show! It'll be sad to take it all down, but I can't wait to see what Sofi's will be getting in next :)

We're so pleased to be able to start this year with such a fun blog post! Fingers crossed it's a sign for good things to come... A big thank you to everyone for all you incredible support; I know I say it often, but we really couldn't do it without you!

We wish you all a smooth sea and treasure filled New Year matey's! .
..And remember, dead men tell no tales...
xox