I have wanted to make a recipe with elderflowers since finding my Granny's old cook book and her elderflower Champagne cocktail handwritten notes.

But then I bought these ice pop moulds and a new idea was born! Instead of a cocktail how about an ice poptail?!

But these are not just any ice pops, these are Pimms ice pops.

The flavour of the Special Edition Pimms works perfectly as a grown up treat for hot afternoons in the garden. (Incase you were wondering I bought my bottle!)

You can either make up your own liquid using one part Pimms to 2 parts lemonade or buy it ready mixed! 2 cans makes 4 ice pops.

Chop up some fresh blackberries in half ready to add to your liquid mix.

Take your mixed Pimms and lemonade and pour into the moulds. Fill to half full and add some chopped fruit.

I used a vase to stand my mould upright in and let the first half of the ice pop set for an hour or so. This way when you add the second half, all the fruit won't rise to the top.

Leave to set for a couple of hours or overnight if you can. They are set enough to release from the moulds but you may want to keep them in for eating as in hot weather they melt fast! Hence the icy photos. Impossible to photograph without a bed of ice!

Is there anything better for the British Summer time than Pimms?!

Now what "Poptail" should I make next?!

Linking up with #recipeoftheweek, #TastyTuesdays and Sunday Best Showcase

Calling all happy bloggers!

Have you registered for Blognix yet? There's just one week to go before ticket sales close for the big event that sees bloggers come together at Birmingham's creative quarter, The Custard Factory, to learn from and inspire each other.

Images Credit - The Custard Factory

Blognix is all about promoting positivity in the blogging community, celebrating all that is great about blogging and helping you take your blog to the next level.

I am thrilled to be hosting the photography session after not being able to last year!

My photography workshop session is called Finding Happiness in Everyday because quite simply that is what photography means to me.

It's my go to happy place, behind the lens of my Canon or staring into the screen of my iPhone.

I could count on one hand the number of days in the last few years where I haven't taken a photo. I don't feel a slave to my camera, my "big camera" sits on the dresser in the dining room and every now and again, when I am not using it for work work, I will grab it and snap something, but generally I am content with the camera that is never far away.

Since reactivating my unloved Instagram account a few months ago I have fallen in love with my phone camera. No pressure of settings and playing around with Aperture or ISO, just snap and go.

Making photography part of your everyday life is easy. When you see something you want to remember, snap it. Then and there. It takes seconds!

My phone camera roll is bursting with images that I may forget about for a while but that all mean something at any given moment. 

I am a natural light photographer. I have a set of studio lights that have never seen the light of day (excuse the pun). At Blognix I am going to talk about creating quality content for your blog and social media, maximising the natural light around you, encouraging your creative side and inspiring others with your wonderful imagery. 

The session will concentrate on practical ways you can improve your photography skills, develop and hone your own style to produce consistently high quality content for your blog and social media. A chance to learn more about styling, composition, hints and tips for taking great photos on the go and at home. You will also get a chance to play with my props!

My motto is all about making the ordinary extraordinary. 

So come and join me at Blognix, along with the incredibly talented speakers and like minded bloggers all excited for a day of community spirit and indulging our blogging passions!

If you are already going let me know! And make sure you say hello!

Now go and snap something that makes you happy and share it!

If you haven't found me on Instagram I am HERE and you can also find happy photos on my Pippit feed. A great new sharing site for like minded creatives!

You can share photos, videos, add links (unlike Instagram) and the app shares your blog posts too. Brilliant! Come and be part of it from the start. It feels like I am part of a wonderful community who love a good floral photo or two. Hooray!

I am capturebylucy :)

Hold onto your fishing hats, this is a mammoth post!

Who knew I would fall in love with fishing?!

When Sammy asked if he could have a fishing party, having never ever been fishing, about 9 months ago (Yes, he is as excited about birthday's as I am!) I thought, crumbs, I've never really seen any fishing themed party accessories but luckily for me, the very talented Stacy from Style My Party saw my tweet for ideas and came to the rescue!

I can't thank Style My Party enough for all their help providing so many of the party bits, decorations and details you will see in the photos. And if your little one would love a fishing theme, then you can head over here and purchase a lot of the things you see at our party.

I loved setting out the buffet table! I scoured our house and garage, borrowed a couple of crates and hunted in our local charity shops were I found a reel and lanterns for a couple of pounds. I found squeaky fish dog toys which the Westies will be getting for their birthday this month and came up with alternative uses for a few bits from the fishing section in The Range.

I love having games stations at parties. When you have over 30 children it's hard to make them all sit down for traditional games like pass the parcel and I find it keeps the adults occupied too, going from game to game, enjoying seeing their children having fun. I am a mean party host and don't have lots of chairs for the adults to sit on. I find you end up on your phone, waiting for the time to pass, instead of chatting with the other parents and joining in the fun.

Party Games

Flying Fish • I found weirdly realistic fish which fishermen use as bait for a flying fish game. The children all stood on mats and had to lob their shoal of fish into 3 different buckets! 

Tattoo Station • Always a hit with a party heavy on boys, I found fish transfer tattoos on eBay and larger ones that fit your hands to make your thumb it's mouth!

Splat the Fish • I used some disgusting slimy hands on a length of rubbery slime in the pound shop to splat the fish confetti from Style My Party. The rest went on the tables but it was perfect and not too heavy!

River Run • Rich made a marble river run out of a pool noodle which we cut lengthways and propped them in my Mother's Day magnolia tree using cheap plastic rod rests!

Get hit in the face with a wet fish • This was the star of the show! Rich was such a good sport and let the kids pelt him with soaking sponges and a couple of soft toy fish. Ollie was drenched within 5 minutes and loved it, hence the pants photos towards the end!

Balloon Fish • I think balloon modelling is a fab idea as they are fascinated watching the creations come to life! They all loved their rods and fishes from Balloonitude!

Hook a Fish • I used the boys paddling pool and a couple of fishing rod sets from the pound shop to create their own pond complete with lily pads from my sister's actual pond!

I always think at 5 it's incredibly hard to be out. So at our parties no one goes out in musical bumps and statues! I bought a bag of whistle lollies and the last one from each round got a whistle during musical bumps and then a "puffer fish" punch balloon to take home and blow up for the best statue during each round.

We had a few rounds of the Superman song and our resident party DJ, who we have hired for all our parties Billy Chappell Discos, was on hand with lights and music. He is at secondary school locally and has built up a fab business charging £15 an hour for a full disco service!

Fish Print Guest Book • I found a great printable range from Spaceships and Laserbeams and everyone placed an ink thumbprint as a little memento for Sammy to have on his bedroom wall.

Bouncy Castle • Always a hit and I hired the most basic one, no slide, no ball pit and they loved it. Plus it said Under the Sea!

I love having a Photo Booth set up at a party and Sammy's boat shelves were a perfect prop!

The party food went down a storm. I was thrilled when a couple of the Dads complimented me on the detail! The main food for the children was a "tackle lunch box" by Style My Party (How cute are the buckles?!) of fish and chips from our local chip shop who heavily discounted the normal price of a child's portion on the basis that it was such a big order. We got extra chips for the grown ups and used cones and palm leaf plates by Style My Party! They gave me a few of the boxes they normally use for me to use as cake stands and masses of chip forks!

Ideas for Fishing Party Food

I did lots of research on Pinterest and came up with a few new ideas for the buffet table.

Fish Flakes • I used dried fruit flakes and some edible glitter flakes in little pots which looked just like real fish food!

Fish Food • Rainbow drops were perfect or you could call them Rainbow Trout poo?!

Bait • Crushed Oreo type biscuits made perfect dirt for some jelly worms to sit on!

River Rocks • I found candy chocolate rocks on line and put them in tiny specimen craft pots. Tins of sardines made lovely stands too!

Reeds • An easy way to make reeds is with a chocolate log and skewer! 

Rods • Sticks of rock made great rods or use liquorice sticks which I used for long worms.

There were a few other fishy treats, Swedish Fish sweets, white chocolate fish and chips and jelly freaky fish.

Drinks • I mixed lemonade & a little blue colouring to make "Sea Water" and Dandelion and Burdock made perfect "Pond Water".

The hall had one big space and one small space, where I set the food tables out longways. The fabulous bunting from Style My Party and some helium balloons tied randomly along the chairs filled the room! Green tarpaulins from the pound shop made perfect table cloths and they were all excited by the "Boat Brew" label by Style My Party and party water! The lunch boxes were so cute too.

The cake was by an incredibly talented local baker DusiCake, who is opening a boutique in Burnham on Sea above the Crafty Teacup Cafe where you can sample her cake tails (Cakes not cocktails!)! 

It was a pleasure to spoil our precious boy and give everyone an afternoon of family fun. We know our family have to travel hours, book B&B's and we really appreciate all their help. Master clearer uppers! Sammy even had a little blog friend!

Mum wore a brilliantly on theme "Big fish, little fish, cardboard box" t-shirt! We missed my sister, brother in law and the American family contingent dreadfully! Blasted work and the Atlantic ocean! I have to thank my brother and sister in law for bringing a suitcase full of fish goodies over from America last month including a 5ft long bass that managed to get stuck on the ceiling for a while!

I'd been hoarding things for months so all the guests went home laden with goodies!

Party Favours and Party Bags

Tackle Treat Boxes • I saw printable tags from Spaceships and Laserbeams and had to make up these sweet treats! I bought the cheapest containers I could find and filled them with almost all non branded sweets! Scour your pound shop!

Burlap bags • There's something about hessian that feels like a fishing theme?! Style My Party provided the bags and tags and I filled them with some fishy favours from eBay!

We had an amazing day, all the late nights making bits and pieces were totally worth it!

Now what are we going to do next year?!

You can find the full Style My Party Gone Fishing range here. Thank you so much Stacy for making Sammy's fishing dreams come true!