We can’t show most of the work we do for our clients at Caroline Foster Brown & Daughters but an important part of our company and the intention behind our lifestyle journal is to inspire our community to create their own beautiful and memorable moments at home themselves.
I recently styled a little Christmas moment at home, choosing a colour palette of sage and stone and using some of my very favourite companies. My passion is to create beauty, to dream up lots of little details that just elevate moments and make people smile so I am sharing with you the details of this years CFB&D Christmas plus at the end some images from our Christmas Eve and Day tables at home.
Last year we designed our little CFB&D Christmas stockings as our table gift. This year we have created these gorgeous little bags made from one of my favourite Colefax and Fowler fabrics, we decided to keep the top edge a little rustic and keep the natural fray of the fabric and ….
… as details are our passion at CFB&D we asked Initially London (one of our very favourite companies) to embroider our little reindeer face (which was inspired by the cookies we created last year and always makes people smile) we used our favourite sage velvet ribbon (nicotiana green) from V V Rouleaux and embroidered ‘22’ on, we chose a thread that was a very close match so it almost looked blind embossed. 22 is my lucky number and this year has been quite a memorable one for me and I wanted to mark it.
We love a bespoke tablecloth at CFB&D and wanted to use one of our favourite fabrics from Bee Osborn's collection with Zoe Glencross, we just love their ‘Twiggy White on Natural’ - the perfect base for our tablescape.
I have always wanted to use engraved bottles in one of my schemes, I sourced some old apothecary jars and asked the gorgeous Amelia (Millie Stone) to use her beautiful writing to engrave in gold.
We asked lovely Laura (Embellishing The Ordinary) to write a few words in her heavenly hand writing in sage green ink onto one of our favourite Khadi papers.
We love to make different cocktails at CFB&D and this year we wanted them to be extra special.
Again we sourced large apothecary jars and asked Amelia (Millie Stone) to engrave ‘Noel’ on each one.
We made cocktails using one of my favourite companies Mon Annie Cakes and their delicious raspberry cordial (Fen also makes the most incredible wedding cakes which are such works of art plus patisserie, cordials, jams and teas).
Recipe:
Mon Annie Cakes raspberry cordial with a good splash of iced vodka.
Served super chilled
‘Seeing is believing, but sometimes the most real things in the world are things we can’t see.” Polar Express
It doesn’t matter what age you are Christmas is always magical and every year I leave something for Santa.
We asked Amelia (Millie Stone) to engrave ‘Santa’ in gold on our little apothecary bottles and we used our favourite Khadi paper bags and asked Laura (Embellishing The Ordinary) to write ‘Santas Snacks To Go’ which we then filled with tiny Maryland cookies.
The little cocktail napkins were from Initially London, we wanted something special for Santas little helpers so asked them to embroider Santas reindeer names on them - any excuse for more monogramming!
A recent discovery of mine but a very joyful one is the wonderful Emma (Emma Dodi Cakes) I adore her personalised macarons where you can personalise with your own words.
The sign I ordered via Etsy - a very simple chalk board where you can choose your wording and their delivery is super speedy.
Can you spot three bears?
Just too pretty a moment not to share.
I love creating tablescapes, beautiful moments aren’t just about aesthetics it is also the positive emotional impact moments have on us.
We are lucky at CFB&D to work with the very best creatives in their fields, but an important rule for me is that I only work with people who are not only talented, that care deeply about their work but are also really lovely people in equal measure.
Caroline Foster Brown & Daughters Christmas Magical Moments Contacts:
Engraving:
Millie Stone: Amelia is so lovely, uper talented and runs the most wonderful stationery company
Embroidery:
Inititally London: Jane who founded IL is just so delightful and runs the most heavenly team who have beautiful products of their own and also can embroider anything you own too
Tablecloth fabric:
Zoe Glencross X Bee Osborn: I just adore Bee and love everything she does so really wanted to use one of her gorgeous fabrics from her recent collaboration with Zoe - White Twiggy on Natural was the perfect base
Personalised Macaroons:
Emma Dodi Cakes: Emma is meticulous and an absolute delight who really goes above and beyond - one of my new favourite finds!
Cordial & tea:
Mon Annie Cakes: Fen is infectiously joyful and incredibly talented, her cakes are such works of art its hard to believe they are edible
Calligraphy:
Embellishing The Ordinary: Laura is beyond lovely, has the most beautiful handwriting and always a joy to work with
Large vases:
RVH Home: Patrice who has the most incredible collection of beautiful beautiful pieces for your home. She also has RVH Prop Hire which is a treasure trove of heavenly pieces to hire for events - its my secret weapon and I use their products for every event
Glasswear:
Daylesford Farm: founded by the pioneering Carole Bamford, it has always been one of my favourite places for the most heavenly table wear and food
Rattan placemats:
Rebecca Udall: I use mine so often and love everything Rebecca has - such a great place for sourcing homeware
Plates:
Wonkiware: all made by hand so slightly different and neutral enough as a base for the rest of the tables fun
Mini vases:
Petersham Nurseries: I just love these tiny little vases, perfect for a sprig
Candles:
Candle Flair: Olivia who founded CF is such a delight and has the most wondeful designs, the most lovely colours and her candles also burn really well
Felt Bear:
Felt Art By Mariana: Mariana is exceptionally talented, her felt designs are just wonderful and I have just started to collect a different animal a year - this year happily it is a Bear!
Reindeer Table Gift Bags:
Designed in-house at CFB&D using our one of our favourite fabrics from Colefax and Fowler (Conway F4674-05)) and embroidered by Initially London
I hope this has given you a little inspiration for your Christmas celebrations .....
And a few images from Christmas Eve and Day at home .....
Just loving this heavenly Bamford candle and the little bespoke Nutcracker macaroons with guests names on from Emma Dodi Cakes which look super cute on our CFB&D bespoke stockings
These are the mistletoe macaroons Emma Dodi made for us - they taste just as heavenly as they look!
We updated our CFB&D stockings this year for sage green initials - each guest had their own bespoke stocking with their initials (embroidered by Initially London) on and a little (Emma Dodi) macaroon with their name on .....
The dreamiest of Bamford candles ....
I hope everyone had a very Happy Christmas 2022..
All images taken by CFB&D
.