Thelma Madine - makes your poofy dreams come true ♥

Yesterday, I saw a little TV report about a very special wedding dress designer on TV. Her designs took my heart within a second. ♥

The name of the designer is Thelma Madine, and she got mostly famous through the TV series "My big fat gypsy wedding", which unfortunately is not aired on german TV. =/
She just recently came up with her biography!


Left side: Thelma Madine
Right side: Happy bride ♥


I just found out about her yesterday, so I could only collect a little information about her ever since. =/

Mrs. Thelma Madine started professional sewing soon after her marriage broke down, about 16 years ago from now. She was designing simple christening dresses which she sold on small markets in Liverpool.

When business started to pay off, she was sentenced to stay in prison for one year, since she owed the government benefits of £10,700 (ca. 12.500€).
She was released after 4 month though, saying that this experience shaped her personality a lot. She began to feel for the travellers, that do often get misjudged by society.

Thelma Madine got back into business of sewing dresses for (mostly gypsy) kids, and gained more and more popularity. Her unique designs were evolving a lot, so it was only a matter of time when she was asked to design a wedding gown and 18 (!) bridesmaid dresses for a big gypsy wedding.

More and more work started to come in, and after all those years she gained the international popularity she has now. Her dresses are rated in upper price category, somewhere between £15.000 and £50.000 (ca. 17.600€ ~ 58.800€) - the real prices were never revealed, though. ;)

What makes her dresses unique: The ridiculous amount of poof (which I just LOVE! *__* Maybe I've been into Lolita for too long. xD), the bling bling, and the sexy yet princessy shape of the dresses.

See yourself, otherwise you won't believe it. :´D

The artist at work ♥
Mrs. Thelma Madine on the very left side!
And the bride lost in poof ♥ I so love the glitter on her bustier and her giant tiara, she looks like a dream princess ♥


Breathtaking snapshot of the backside of a dress
This... is... perfection. ♥
I've never seen such a beautiful detail like this. ;////;


White dream ♥I prefer a more cupcake-shape of the bottom, but still... this is so wonderful! :´D


Thelma Madine does design bridesmaid-gowns, too! ♥
Share some BIG love for poof. :´D


Very inspiring snap from a photoshooting
I love this photo! *__*
It gives me the "Enchanted" feeling, like a disney princess that slipped through the gates of fiction and reality. :´D


Not sooo much related...
...but I want such a carriage for my wedding, too. ;////; And a dress by Mrs. Thelma Madine, to fill out the space in it, just like the models dress above! xD


What do you think about those wedding gowns? A little too much, maybe? ;)


It's such a sweet, sweet life, isn't it?

♥♥♥Happy Valentines Day♥♥♥

I currently don't have the time to do a proper entry, but I still wanted to stop by to wish you all a
lovely Valentines Day! ♥

Hope you're all spending a gorgeous day with your beloved ones (may it be BF, friends or family - I believe a "Valentine" can be anybody! ^^), have a wonderful time! ♥


"Valentines Card" I made for my Honey
It's actually a photo of the selfmade chocolate candy I made for him. o///o
He kindly asked for strawberry and vanilla taste this year, so of course I made his sweet wish come true! ^///^

Happy Valentines Day! =D

♥♥♥

It's such a sweet, sweet life, isn't it?

♥Macaron recipe - comfort your darling on valentines day! ;D♥

Valentines day is coming soon (14th February), so you might want to prepare something special for your darling - sweets are usually the most preferred gift on this day, so why not loli-fy that a little and present some tasty MACARONS? ;D

I'll give you my favorite recipe - everytime I used this, the Macarons turned out to be FABULOUS. You just have to strictly follow the measurements. ;D

Have fun baking! ♥
Disclaimer (lol) - I didn't manage to take new photos while baking, I'll just repost old ones. Sorry that. =/

Tools that you will need:
Mixer
Powder sieve
Kitchen scale
2 baking bowls
1 cup
piping bag
2 baking trays covered with baking paper

Ingredients (dough):
They might sound very weird, but plz be aware that you need to follow those measurements as accurately as you can - a difference of only 3g might cause a different outcome!
47g Almond powder
90g Powdered sugar
37g Eggwhite
10g Sugar
Liquid food colouring (color of your choice. =D)

Igredients (filling):
You can fill the Macarons with pretty much everything you like - jam, chocolate, cream... I've chosen a lavender butter cream for this recipe, since it's my favorite ♥ (tastes so "lolita" xD)
180g~200g of soft Butter (just keep it outside of the fridge for some hours, it'll be soft in no time)
1 Big spoon of milk
8 Big spoons of powdered sugar
12 drops of lavender oil
2 Big spoons of dried lavender blossoms
Liquid food colouring (color if your choice!)

Oven:
140°C on hot air function

Let's get started! =D

1.) Get yourself the kitchen scale, and put a bowl on top of it - grab the sieve and start to powder the almonds, until the outcoming powder is as smooth as possible. Be sure to have exactly 47g in the end! ;D Repeat the same step with the powdered sugar! (Why you have to do this: To create the perfect macarons, all of the ingredients have to bee as fine and smooth as possible!)

2.) Now leave the powdered stuff aside, and grab yourself the second bowl and put it on the scale - throw 37g of Eggwhite in it. (That's kinda tricky and might take a while!) After that, you should prepare the 10 grams of sugar - just simply use the cup and the scale, you should be aware of that technique by now, I guess. xD
After you've prepared those two things, you can start to mix up the Eggwhite, using your mixer. As soon as it does became fluffier and white, add the 10g of sugar into it, and stir it until everything is stiff.
If you're brave, you can do the ultimate test to check if the eggwhite is stiff enough - lift the bowl over your hard and turn it around. If nothing falls out and on top of your head, the eggwhite has the perfect consistance. xD (okay okay, you can skip the head thingy... xD)

3.) So now you should have 2 bowls in front of you. One of them has the powdered almonds and sugar, the other one has the stiff eggwhite.
Add 2 big spoons of the powdered stuff to the eggwhite, and carefully mix it up. Continue this step until you mixed up everything!

4.) Now it's time to make it colorful ♥
Take the liquid food coloring of your choice, and add as less as you can, but as much as you need to get a decent colored dough. Plz be aware of the fact that the colors tend to get a tad darker while baking. =)

5.) VERY IMPORTANT - check the consistance of the dough. Take a big spoon, and put some dough on it. Let it slowly drop down into the bowl again.
The perfect dough will run down stringy, like a ribbon.
If the dough is too sticky/thick: Add some more drops of food coloring or a little eggwhite (talking about a few grams, 7~10g)
If the dough is too thin: Add a little powdered sugar
Correct the dough if needed, before you move on to step 6. =)

6.) Prepare two baking trays with baking paper, and get your piping bag ready. Fill the dough into it, and start to squirt drops of it on the paper - I like my macarons to be rather small, with a diameter of ~3cm. Feel free to make yours bigger, but be aware of the fact that the might need a little more time to bake. =)
Also: The Macaron-drops tend to run out in the first minutes, so be sure to leave some space between them! =)

My baking tray...

7.) The Macarons have to dry for 30 minutes now - plz do not try to shorten this period. It is a very important step, that will cause your Macarons to have a very even and cute "cap" in the end. ;)
Now it's time to heat the oven on 140°C on hot air function!
Things you can do while waiting...
- Write a loveletter for your darling
- Design a Lolita/Gyaru Valentine ;D
- Read the latest EGG magazine (oh how I crave for spring fashion! ~////~)

8.) After you've waited patiently, it's now time to bake your macarons for 12-14 minutes! =D (Depending on the condition of your oven - mine is rather old, unfortunately. =/)
You will see how the Macarons slowly grow taller, while the "cap" stays shiny and even. ^^

9.) Take the baking tray out of the oven, and grab the baking paper (with the macarons glued on top of it) - place it on a cold, even surface (for example the kitchen table). This will make it easier for you to seperate the Macarons from the paper afterwards. =)

Aren't they lovely ♥

While the Macarons cool down, you can prepare the filling! =D
You can fill them with pretty much everything you like, I'll additionally give you the recipe of my lavender cream! ^^

Filling step 1) For my lavender cream, I mix up 1 big spoon of milk with some purple food colouring.

Filling step 2) Mix up 200g of soft butter with 8 big spoons of powdered sugar, and slowly add the colored milk. If the color is not intense enough, it's now time to correct it. ;)

Filling step 3) Add the lavender oil and dried blossoms to finish it off. Check the taste and adjust it to your liking. I prefer a strong lavender taste over a too sweet taste ♥

Back to the Macarons itself! ♥

10.) As for now, the Macarons should have cooled down! Do carefully seperate them from the baking paper.
Now you should sort the Macarons - put two caps with the same size together. ^^

11.) Fill the Macarons with whatever you like, and stick them together! If you were making a creamy filling like my lavender cream, you might want to use the piping bag again! ;D

And you're all finished ♥
Wrap it up in some sweet, decorative paper or a box, and give your Honey a sweet surprise! ♥
♥HAPPY VALENTINES DAY♥

If you use my recipe, I would so love to see photos of your Macarons! x3
Plz also feel free to ask me questions, or give me concrit if there's something weird about my recipe! I'm always looking to improve! =D

It's such a sweet, sweet life, isn't it?