Afternoon Delights from Mr Stanley's Classic Confectionery get the The Three Generation Taste Test

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I stumbled upon Mr Stanley's online sweet shop pre-Christmas. The virtual rows of tempting classic treats made lovely little presents for our neighbours & our son's school teachers.

I ended up having a box of gourmet dark chocolate violet creams left over, and well, it would have been rude NOT to eat them. This was my folly, as I was quickly hooked. Imagine Parma Violet fondant dipped in dark chocolate, heaven.

The confection experts at www.MrStanleys.com were kind enough to send me a hamper of their finest wares to try out, and being that these are classic, old favourites, I took them to share with my classic old favourites, my parents!

After Sunday lunch we had a sampling session. My parents, my husband & myself, and my five year old son. Three generations worth of taste testing!

We got to try the Rose variety of the Creams, which tasted like Turkish Delight, fragrant and exotic.

Two varieties of Mr Stanley's fudge were also happily gobbled up. It's PROPER fudge, not like in a fudge bar, but the kind that crumbles a little & melts in your mouth. The Maple Fudge was my favourite, so sweet & buttery.

We also had Coconut Delight, which came in a wooden box, a very cool retro touch for gifting. These were coconut delicacies beautifully rolled with various flavours of Turkish Delight.

Visit www.MrStanley.com and have your own little vintage tasting party yourself. Let them know which are your favourites at http://www.facebook.com/MrStanleys and http://www.twitter.com/MrStanleys

Teenage Mutant Ninja Toilets, Thunderpants & Wee-Man- My Favourite CITV Show Round the Bend. Watch it all online!

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My favourite CITV programme was the kids' satire show Round the Bend. With puppets by the Spitting Image team, and claymation from what would be the Wallace & Gromit people, it took the piss out of other, patronising children's magazine shows.

The cartoon segments ripped into current shows, but basically changed them to be about bums and toilets. Which is the funniest thing ever to a seven year old.
He-Man became Wee-Man, BotMan was BatMan with a giant bum, and then there were the Teenage Mutant Ninja Toilets.

The CITV throwback weekend isn't showing Round the Bend, which is fair enough, as the majority of the comedy was current, and would be lost on kids, and maybe us too, now. 

But, I have found the creator's website which has every single episode for you to watch! 

Don't forget to sign his guest book and share your love of the show. I'm pretty sure it set me up for loving Chris Morris & Armando Iannucci satire as a teenager and adult. Thank you, Tony Husband!

I Made My Own Cbeebies' Pantomime Stage

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My son has watched this year's Cbeebies Pantomime over & over on his Christmas present iPod. Today we discovered print outs on the Cbeebies' website to recreate your own stage set, so that was my afternoon dictated to me.

A shoe box, lots of backing card, left over wrapping paper and a whole roll of cello tape later, here we are.

Make your own with the guide here-

A Snappy Photographic Look Back at 2012 for The World of Kitsch

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In January 2012 I was very privileged to be painted by my favourite artist, Dan Lacey. This is one of my prized possessions, 'would save in a fire' type objects.

One of my new year resolutions was to learn glass painting. This is as far as that got.


In February I met the Ghostbusters.


And The World of Kitsch was Posterous.com's Spotlight Site.


In March I was a finalist in the West Coast Cooler style awards.


In May I visited Emma Gilles in the new Titanic Quarter base of www.Crafty-Belfast.com


May also brought sweet & candy swaps with Dan Lacey.


And this very clever bits & bobs display from www.HandpickedCollection.com


In June I was hooked on the football. I watched 90% of the matches and got myself a vintage Holland scarf on eBay.


We took a trip to Dublin zoo.


July saw the finalists for the 2012 Cosmopolitan Blog Awards announced. Which meant in the autumn I'd be off to London again.


On my birthday in August, my son & I went tea tasting at www.Suki-Tea.com Oscar gave me a beautiful little tea pot for my birthday present.


My gift from my husband was a new tattoo. An Eames' chair by Chris Crooks at www.WhiteDragonTattooStudio.com


I got a Bill Murray colouring book.


The World of Kitsch turned three, and my friend Leah made a kitsch cake.


At the end of August I travelled to Ipswich (via London, peeking at the Olympic Stadium) to meet with www.Next.co.uk at their huge, new, shiny home store.


September had me busy customising tables in preparation for www.Ikea.com having a decorate-it-yourself month with workshops.


Locally, Junior Magazine launched and I was invited to write a monthly column.


October & I travelled to London to attend the Cosmopolitan Blog Awards 2012. I stayed in the kitschest hotel in London, The Pavilion.


I appeared in the Sunday Life with my dead beasts, thanks to my old pal Edwin McFee.


We met a fox at Ikea's 25 years in UK celebration week. My favourite of the animals.


November brought about the Benefit Challenge. My son applied a full face of make-up for me. You can watch the videos here worldofkitsch


Alice Snape's magazine www.ThingsandInk.com launched in November. I still can't believe I get to be part of this project amongst so many talented women. You all need to subscribe this new year.


I looked a bit grumpy in this really cool interview in the Belfast Newsletter.


And so December, and another challenge, do lucky charms work? I tested out a box of tricks from www.Ladbrokes.com


And my year wouldn't be in any way happy without my two favourite people in the whole world, my husband and our son. I love you both, thank you for putting up with me and my weirdness for another year. You too, readers.


Slayer jumper from www.BackStreetMerch.com