Ladyboss Collective

Hey Edinburgh folks! Have you checked out Ladyboss Collective on Candlemaker Row yet? If not you need to pop in to Edinburgh's snazziest nail bar and concept store.

Ladyboss Collective was opened in May this year by Amber Vermeulen after studying Fashion, spending a couple years working in hospitality and doing some traveling she decided it was time to open her own 'dream store'. She had been playing around with Nail Art for a while and it dawned on her that it was the missing link to making her dream come true. Not long after qualifying as a trained nail technician an opportunity to open a pop up shop arose and she jumped at the chance! Through her art school connections and working in hospitality she already knew quite a few creatives on the Edinburgh scene. She teamed up with a bunch of her favorite boss ladies and the 'Sassy concept nail bar featuring a gaggle of the best creative Ladybosses' was born.

I caught up with the Ladyboss herself for a wee chat and to get my nails done in the shop. Amber had done my nails once before and came recommended by a friend and before this appointment she asked me for three words for things I liked so she could create a custom design for me. I didn't make it easy for her and chose; Cats, Space and Vintage as my three words. I had seen some universe nails she'd done on Instagram a couple weeks before and loved them and we all know I love cats and anything vintage. Amber did not disappoint! She had all her cat decals at the ready, including some vintage/antique looking ones and showed me a couple for her free hand cat designs too but I settled on the decals that had a strong resemblance to Grumpy Cat.

Space Cat Nails!!!!!!

We sat and had a catch up while she layered up the varnish and glitter to create the universe effect on my nails and then positioned one cat on each hand, we done want over kill now, and then added more glitter to make them merge with the design. 

We chatted about why she started Ladyboss, how she stocks the shop and what inspires her. As mentioned already she has a lot of contacts in the local creative community and uses them to her advantage, she chats to everyone who comes through the shop and reaches a few folk that way as well as recommendations from people already supplying her. She also makes the most of social media and says 'I sometimes randomly message people I like and ask them to get involved, there are so many talented people out there often it seems you just have to ask'.

Some of the huge selection of stock.

Amber finds her inspiration for her designs in all sorts of places but likes to keep up to date on the nail art trends through Instagram and Pinterest, while I was in she was showing me a practice nail she'd been working on for a festive Christmas jumper design and it was awesome. She's great at working with people to find out what their style is, when I walked in for my first appointment with her I didn't have a clue what I wanted and walked out with stunning blue Mexican Día de Muertos nails, perfect for my summer holiday. 

Some of Amber's other designs

So if you're out and about in Edinburgh then you should pop in and say hi, check out her amazing stock that ranges from prints through clothing (vintage and new), jewellry and zines. There are some amazing stocking fillers and presents to be found and maybe a wee something for yourself too. Obviously I would totally recommend making an appointment to get your nails done while you're there as Amber is a pro! You can check out the Collective on her website and check out her Instagram for her latest designs and whats going on in store. 

Ladyboss Collective - ladybosscollective.co.uk - 23 Candlemarker Row, EH1 2QG 

Date Night - Al Dente

It feels like an age since our last date night at Saiko Kitchen back in July! August as a crazy with trips to London and and Bristol and some crazy flat hunting. The good news is that we found a flat, its not far from our current rented flat so the move should be easy and it has a second bedroom so we'll have a bit more space to breath (and craft). So brace yourselves for more DIY tutorials for the new place. I've already starting new Pinterest boards you can check them by clicking the badge on the side bar.

The Rules of Date Night

Martyn and I started ‘Date Night’ over a year ago when we were still living in Tollcross, Edinburgh. There are so many lovely independent restaurants in Edinburgh we are completely spoilt! In a quest to work our way around some of these places we declared ‘Date Night’.

The Rules of Date Night;
Once a month after pay day.
Must be local (walking distance from the flat).
We take turns on who pays.
When he is paying I choose the location.
When I’m paying he chooses the location.
We never go to the same place twice for date night.

It feels like an age since our last date night at Saiko Kitchen back in July! August was a crazy with trips to London and and Bristol and some crazy flat hunting, thank goodness its over now. It was September before we managed the next date night, we went back to local and headed towards Easter Road again for some Italian.

About Al Dente 

Al Dente is a tiny wee restaurant right on Easter Road it's after the first up on shops just before you go over the rail tracks going down the road. It's been there for a while but if you blinked you'd miss it. They pride themselves on 'Pure Italian food' and that means fresh made pasta and traditional Italian flavours. They have a wide ranging menu of the usual suspects; pasta, risotto salads etc but also a large specials board too. 

The Food and Drinks

So I've recently joined a slimming group so I was trying to make 'wise choices' on date night, by the main course that was out the window and a glass of the house red was en route to our table. FYI the house red was delicious and next time I'll be ordering the bottle. 

To start I had the Bruschetta Classica and Martyn ordered the Sformatino di patate e salumi. The bruschetta was beautifully, fresh bread topped with tasty tomato, basil and garlic. Martyn's starter was an oven baked potato tart with cured meat and topped with mozzarella. Our starteds disappeared into our faces so fast I didn't even get a chance to photograph them...

For our mains we went very traditional, Spaghetti alla Carbonara for Martyn and Pumkin stuffed Ravioli with Sage and Parmesan for me. 

The carbonara was served in a good sized portion of spaghetti with cheese, pancetta, and plenty of black  pepper, it was gone in no time! My ravioli was stuffed with smooth and sweet pumpkin, very seasonal and smothered in, not very slimming, sage butter and parmesan. 

By this point the wise choices were out of the window and the vino was in hand as well as the Desserts menu. As you'll know from the Origano review I'm a sucker for tiramisu so it was ordered along with a Gelati misti, Chocolate ice cream with hazelnut and chocolate sauce, for Martyn. 

Unfortunately the cream in my tiramisu had turned, I mentioned it to the waiter (the only waiter) as soon as I realised and he was very apologetic and took it straight away returning to apologise again and ask if there was anything I'd prefer. He also pointed out he'd forgotten to mention the dessert special which was an amaretti semifreddo. Boom! Done! I love anything amaretti and ordered it without seeing the menu again.

It was delicious, creamy, sweet and all I could have asked for. I finished it off with my glass of wine feeling satisfied and full.

Round up and Atmosphere

Well as I'm sure you can tell I was quite impressed by Al Dente, apart from one hiccup, they were amazing. They were short staffed but everyone was getting the attention they needed and the food was fresh and seasonal. 

We both thought it would be a great choice for a big family meal or a big bunch of friends catching up over great food and wine. 

They also do pre theatre and great deals. If you pop down and check it out let me know what you think of it

xxx

Al Dente -139 Easter Road Edinburgh EH7 5QA - Tel: 0131 - 6521 932

The Biscuity Workshop with Nikki McWilliams

You may have seen on my Facebook or Instagram that a couple Saturdays ago I was lucky enough to spend the day with Nikki McWilliams and a lovely group of ladies at Hill Street Design House making Biscuit themed clutch bags.

You might recognise Nikki's name from my Wish List Wednesday post a year ago about her Tunnock's Tea Cake cushion that I fell in love with. Nikki is a Scottish designer, has her own blog and one of the best Instagram accounts you'll find! Her home ware and accessories label launched in 2009 and was inspired by 'a love of British culture, contemporary Pop-Art and her fascination with the ritual of the Tea Break'. You can check out the full range on her website!

The workshop was one of my Birthday presents from Martyn (after a very large hint). We all had to be at Hill Street Design House, on Hill Street, for the class starting at 11am. I wore my Collectif Dolores top, skinny highwaisted jeans, new red pumps and, of course, my custard cream brooch.  

The bright room was laid out beautifully with a big pink covered central table covered in craft supplies and plates piled high with biscuits! Everyone took a seat and Nikki introduced herself and explained the plan for the day. We were all making biscuit-inspired clutch bags with our own designs using simple printing and sewing techniques.

Nikki demonstrated set up our fabric for printing and folding for sewing. she then showed us how to mix the acrylic paint and printing medium then how to print on the fabric using craft foam designs we had to create. We had brown or cream fabric to choose from for chocolate or vanilla biscuits and I chose the cream as I wanted to create a Nice biscuit bag.

We all settled in and started drawing and cutting out our designs, there were some great ideas and we were all chatting and helping each other with ideas, Nikki was floating around the room checking out or designs and offering help where it was needed.

Before we knew it it was time to start printing, Hannah who was sitting by me was doing a custard cream design so we decided to share paint and Nikki helped us mix up the perfect biscuity, creamy yellow.

I think the printing is the most nerve wrecking bit, making sure we didn't print letters the wrong way up, making sure they didn't smudge or even just spill and splatter everywhere! Nikki introduced us to the concept of Wabi-Sabi which roughly translates from Japanese as 'Finding the beauty in Imperfections' which I just love and can totally relate to. Most things that I craft have an imperfection somewhere but I like to call 'Character'. 

I was very happily surprised with how mine turned out, it had just the right amount of 'Character'. We had a break for lunch while the paint dried and when we returned it was time to sew them up and embellish them. The table was covered in wool, ribbons, pompoms, pompom makers, beads, ricrac and all a girl could need to jazz up her biscuit bag. 

We glued craft foam to what would become the inside front and back of our bags and folded them up, sew stitched up the side while it was inside out and them turned them out. We were left with envelope style clutch bags that just need the top flap tidied up with a couple more stitches and we were ready to embellish. 

I love a pompom but I also wanted to keep my bag quite simple so I chose the bright yellow ribbon with mini pompoms all along it, simplicity isn't my strong suit. I stitched the pompoms along the edge of the envelope opening and then made a wee bow that I popped on the back too. Everyone was having a ball making pompoms and tassels it was infectious so I made a tassel for the side of my bag from some thin ribbons in the yellow I'd used for my bow, blue and violet.   

I'm so happy with the final product and was so inspired by all the ladies around me and their creative designs, we had Kit Kats, bourbons, custard creams, jammy dodger and party ring designs too. 

Once we had all finished up, or at least as far as some of the overly adventurous were going to get, we took them all outside so we could take some pictures in the good light and Nikki even took a wee Boomerang video. 

I had an amazing day, it was lovely to meet some lovely new creative ladies as well as Nikki McWillliams herself and check out Hill Street Design House too. I know Nikki is running more of these workshops and Hill Street run events like this all the time making all sorts like jewellery, lingerie and flower crowns as well as hosting private events too. So keep an eye on both of them.

Wish List Wednesday - The Cambridge Satchel Company's New Poppy Bag

The newest item to be added to Wish List Wednesday is the new Poppy Bag from The Cambridge Satchel Company. Have you seen it? As I'm sure you all know I am a massive Cambridge Satchel fan, I was gifted the Classic Satchel in oxblood by my sister for my 30th and received the medium Push Lock in red when I left my previous job - yes I know I'm a lucky bunny!

Cambridge Satchels are great quality and made from 100% leather in the UK. They are all hand made in their factory in the Midlands. It was all started by Julie Deane, starting with a £600 budget brain storming in her kitchen with her mother. They started with an order of 6 classic vintage style brown satchels. The first of their famous bright satchels was created with off-cuts from a run of belts at the manufacturers and the post-box red bag was picked up by stylists for Italian Vouge. Before they knew it they were in with Bloggers and the Fashion Pack and production moved up from 3 bags a week to nearly nearly 100.

These days, after opening their own factory, they are producing over 3,000 bags a week, including a mens range and collaborations with derringers like Vivian Westwood. They have expanded past the satchel into other classic handbag styles, always keeping it simple and stylish. 

The Poppy Collection is the newest release from The Cambridge Satchel Company and has 3 designs including the Poppy Bag, the Mini Poppy and the Poppy Backpack in a variety of colours, brights and autumnal for the next season. The have based the bags on a traditional Doctor's Bag and added their signature push lock closure for a clean, modern finish. This makes it much roomier than previous Cambridge bags and practical to open and close. 

I'm a massive fan of the full size Poppy Bag in black, it's a great size for day to day but looks classier than my current standard canvas bag. Pop(py) over to their website to see the whole range and let me know which is your favourite xx