I am a chocoholic creating chocolate themed jewellery as I explore Canadian chocolate one bar and bonbon at a time

Bonbon with cacao bean in it next to a bronze cacao bean necklace.

Recent blogs

Happy Mail for Chocolate Lovers

My desire is to create beauty and joy to share with others. Happy Mail for Chocolate Lovers was born. My hope is to surprise you with fun things as the year passes and to always put a smile on your face as you receive Happy Mail for Chocolate Lovers.

by canadianchocoholic April 23, 2021April 23, 2021

New Adventures – The Chocolate Notebook

This year I was fortunate to be asked to join the team of The Chocolate Notebook, a notebook/calendar/agenda/journal. I had a first edition of The Chocolate Notebook and used it throughout 2020. I was surprised and excited when Anelisa Lauri and Lauren Heineck, the minds behind the creation of The Chocolate Notebook, invited me toContinue reading “New Adventures – The Chocolate Notebook”

by canadianchocoholic January 8, 2021January 9, 2021

Wreath made using Chocolate Bar Wrappers

Make this stunning wreath out of chocolate bar wrappers to add fun, whimsy, and chocolate flair to your Christmas decor. A DIY paper Christmas craft.

by canadianchocoholic December 21, 2020December 21, 2020

Canadain Chocoholic links

canadianchocoholic

🍫 Chocolate, maple, and fleur de sel, a wonderf

🍫 Chocolate, maple, and fleur de sel, a wonderful combination of flavour.⁠
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🇨🇦 Maple. 🍁 Delicious. By itself, in baking, added to drinking chocolate, used as a sweetner in chocolate, maple sugar, maple cotton candy, a bit added to a cup of tea, really, maple is such a wonderful flavour in my books.⁠
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❤ I will always choose chocolate bars with maple as a sweetner.⁠
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❔ What is one of your favourite foods or food that you love to combine with chocolate?⁠
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#maple #mapleandchocolate #chocolatemaple#maplechocolate #canadianmaple #ontariomaple #maplesyrup #maplesugar #maplecandy #maple #tulips #flowers #chocolateandflowers #explorechocolateflavours

🙂💌🍫 This card was included in the first @

🙂💌🍫 This card was included in the first @HappyMailforChocolateLovers envelope in April.

✂️ It can be cut up, yep, I encourage you to cut it up if you want. A 5.5 x 8.5 inch colour printed card, it has an inspirational saying on the back. I encourage subscribers to cut it out and make it into a card if they want. If not, the card can be hung on the wall or sent as a postcard, placing a label over the saying.

✌️ There's room to make a second card as well by placing the first cut out one over and tracing it. I encourage you to use it however you like, the possibilities are endless.

❔Would you keep it as is or cut it up?

🍫 Cool drinking chocolate and peonies.⁠
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🌸 A perfect pair to enjoy the day with - beauty, scents, textures, taste.⁠

☹️ I'm a bit sad the peonies are almost done.

#chocolate #peony #peonies #iceddrinkingchocolate #drinkingchocolate #beauty
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🌳 If you've been following me awhile you know o

🌳 If you've been following me awhile you know one of the things I love is trees.⁠
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📚 I was thrilled when @myic2016 messaged me about this book by @artur_cisar_erlach that @beantobarstool mentioned in a post about their podcast, she knows me well, and this book is so my style.⁠
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🍫 So I have been reading, and very much enjoying it so far. Trees and chocolate are something that go together in so many ways.⁠
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🍫🌴 Chocolate grows on trees... so there's that of course, but more so, I enjoy exploring treey flavours.⁠

🇨🇦 Maple is one of my favourite things to combine with chocolate, also a tree.⁠
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🌲There are so many tree-ish flavours to explore with chocolate, and you can find some of them in previous posts in my feed.⁠
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📷 Shown here are some bars that have plants/trees incorporated into them. @palettedebine Sapin bar, @kasamachocolate Forest & Sea Bar, and Costal Rainforest by @sirenechocolate. Each of these bars has unique flavours and plants that work with the chocolate.⁠
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🍫 Honestly these are just a few of the bars I have on hand right now that I will nibble on as I make my way through this book.⁠
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❔ Tell me, what is your favourite wood bar?⁠
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#trees #cacaotrees #treesandchocolate #tttt_w #ttttt_2021#wood #theflavourofwood #chocolate #ilovetrees #explorechocolateflavours #eatgoodchocolate #mapleandchocolate #firtree #rosemary #forest #kelp #exploreflavours #woody #chocolateeducator #artandchocolate

🙂💌🍫 These handmade notebooks were include

🙂💌🍫 These handmade notebooks were included in May's @happymailforchocolatelovers envelopes.⁠
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📒 One of a kind, each notebook has a handmade paper cover that I made using chocolate bar wrappers with cacao nibs sprinkled on top.⁠
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👩‍🎨 It was so fun to create these unique notebooks that celebrate chocolate. I hope they are filled with lovely chocolate memories, happy tasting notes, information about chocolate or sketches and art. Really, whatever fills them, I just hope it brings joy!⁠
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🎨 I loved making these, so much so I have a few extra! Pop over to my shop to take a look.⁠
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📷 Note that the notebooks are sitting on top of a few other items ready for shipping out in Happy Mail for Chocolate Lovers.⁠
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#happymailforchocolatelovers #artandchocolate #funmail #ilovechocolate #handmadepaper #chocolatebarwrappers #upcycle #createart #notebooks #handmade #cacaonibs #oneofakind

🍫 Wonder : a feeling of surprise mingled with a

🍫 Wonder : a feeling of surprise mingled with admiration, caused by something beautiful, unexpected, unfamiliar, or inexplicable.

🙂 That definition pretty much sums up how I feel about eating chocolate. It's so often beautiful. Unexpected flavours can be so amazing. Some sides of chocolate, tastes, processes and flavours of it are still unfamiliar to me. Plus there are often times when I just don't have the words to explain how WONDERful it truly is.

🧡 Surprise and admiration always play in when I am eating chocolate bars or bonbons, surprise at taste and texture, admiration for the farmers, the growers, the makers.

🙂 I feel like I can spend my whole life learning more about chocolate and still never know enough.

❔Do you find wonder when enjoying chocolate?

PS - it's #tttt_w this week for Tangential Twin Tasting Tuesday, a day when the #chocolatecommunity shares their thoughts on chocolate using a similar theme or prompt, this week is w, next week will be x, then y, then z. We welcome anyone to join along using #tttt_w #tttt_2021.

#cacaobeans #wonder #chocolate #ilovechocolate #chocoholic #wonderful

🍫 Chocolate comes in all sizes and varieties, b

🍫 Chocolate comes in all sizes and varieties, but what about chocolate do you value?⁠
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🙂 When choosing a bar of chocolate to purchase what do you look for?
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🍫 Do you look to see where the cacao is grown?⁠
🍫 Do you choose a bar based on price?⁠
🍫 Do you ask about the ingredients in the bar?⁠
🍫 Do you ask about the farmers or the chocolate makers?⁠
🍫 Is it the packaging that draws you in?⁠
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🙂 Each and every one of these things (and more) add value to each bar. We all decide differently what adds value to our purchases. It's okay to ask questions! Know where your chocolate comes from, what it's made of and who contributed to its creation.

🍫 A little late for V week, but tap the photos to see the makers in this V lineup of bars.
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#chocolate #beantobarchocolate #value #values #enjoychocolate #ethicallysourcedchocolate #variety #tttt_v #tttt_2021 #cacao #chocolateeducator #wheredoesyourchocolatecomefrom #beantobar #singleoriginchocolate #vietnam #venezuela

🙂💌🍫 I love this postcard!⁠ ⁠ 🍫 Cac

🙂💌🍫 I love this postcard!⁠
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🍫 Cacao beans and silver foil for the word #chocolate.⁠
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🙂 Two of my favourite things!⁠
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📷 This is a photo of @goodkingcacao that I took, I am still deciding what to do with these lovely beans that @chocolatedriven sent me a while ago. I have so many ideas it's hard to choose just one, much like all the ideas I have for @HappyMailforChocolateLovers⁠
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❔ What would you do with these beans, maybe you can help me narrow it down?
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#happymailforchocolatelovers #happymail #snailmail #digitalmail #chocolatelove #cacaolove #ilovechocolate #shipsworldwide #shippingincluded #patreonartist #patreonmaker #subscribetoday #artandchocolate #chocolateandart #artist #creative #chocolategifts #giftsforchocolatelovers

🍫 I spent the afternoon having a virtual tea pa

🍫 I spent the afternoon having a virtual tea party and tasting with a seven year old and it was so much fun!

🦋 We set the table up fancy, made sandwiches and ate veggies before our mini chocolate tasting and craft time.

🔬We did some sciencey stuff with our tea which she proudly told her older brother about later. 🌼Yay for the magic of butterfly pea flowers! We talked butterflies (which she is learning about in class and I had happened to send in her parcel for our date), blue (her favourite colour) and made crafty things.

🍫 I also had a great convo with the older brother about cacao pulp and how amazing it tastes, how chocolate is made, and if I need to eat chocolate everyday.

🙂 Such a fun afternoon. It takes me back to the many, many years I worked and volunteered with children.

#teatime #chocolatetasting #crafttime #zoomdate #learn #create #havefun #cacao #chocolate #kidsandchocolate #butterflypeaflowers #science #chemistry #simple #thinkoutsidethebox #butterflies #unicorns #fun

🍫 Chocolate! ⁠ ⁠ 🍫 What would you put in

🍫 Chocolate! ⁠
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🍫 What would you put in this mini notebook?⁠
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#artandchocolate #chocolateandart #artist #creative #screenprinting #screenprint #createart #handmade #onebyone #printtoorder #supportsmallbusiness #womanentrepeneur #makersgonnamake #chocolategifts #giftsforchocolatelovers #chocolatenotebook #blanknotebook ⁠

🍫 Chocolate comes in a rainbow of colours just

🍫 Chocolate comes in a rainbow of colours just like people.

🙂💌🍫 Today @HappyMailforChocolateLovers found an email in their inboxes with a calendar and a little something else to celebrate the arrival of June.

💻 All subscribers get a digital download (or more) every month, it's a fun surprise in your inbox that I hope puts a smile on your face!

🎨 #artandchocolate #chocolateandart for more info find the Happy Mail for Chocolate Lovers button in the link in my bio, I aim to share a variety of chocolate themed downloads, art, paper and other items.

#chocolate #art #artist #patreonmaker #patreoncreator #makersgonnamake #loveislove #rainbow #colourful #createjoy #calendar #watercolour #fun #playful #orange #chocolaterainbow #tttt_v #tttt_2021 #variety #createjoy

🍫 Chocolate from friends always brightens my da

🍫 Chocolate from friends always brightens my day!

🎨 An original art work with a chocolate theme arriving with that chocolate. This makes it an amazing day!

🙂 Many thanks to @kindred.soul.art for sending this piece of art she painted along with some @migaloochocolatier bars my way.

🧡 I am so grateful for all the chocolate and art friends I have connected with via video calls this last year.

#artandchocolate #friendswithchocolate #chocolatebarsn#bonbonart #chocolateart #happymail #chocolatecommunity

🍫 A trio of chocolate.⁠ ⁠ ❤ Love this cho

🍫 A trio of chocolate.⁠
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❤ Love this chocolate tasting from @eastvanroasters that I picked up last time I was in Vancouver, it feels like it was forever ago.⁠
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🙂 Do you enjoy tasting different chocolate together or do you prefer to just enjoy one bar of chocolate at a time?⁠
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#chocolate #ilovechocolate #chocoholic #beantobarchocolate #beantobar #whenwecouldtravel #vancouver #westcoast #socialenterprise #chocolatetasting #chocolatetastingflight #singleoriginchocolate #madeinvancouver #eastvancouver #cacao #canadianchocolate #chocolateeducator #certifiedchocolatetaster #cacaolove

⁠ 🙂💌🍫 May's @HappyMailforChocolateLover

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🙂💌🍫 May's @HappyMailforChocolateLovers had a little extra packaging.⁠
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✉ I try not to put anything extra into the envelopes for several reasons. ⁠First being less waste and useless packaging. Second is less weight means it's cheaper to ship, which in the end, matters to the cost I can offer these envelopes at. Third is that there's often no need. The envelope is the wrapping and I like to think it's pretty and unique.⁠
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🎁 May's mail out was a bit different, I added an extra piece of tissue to add a bit of cushion to an item that I wanted to keep extra safe while it travelled, I was a bit worried about it's edges. (I'll share that with you after subscribers have received their mail, I don't want to spoil the surprise!)⁠
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📷May's postcards and envelopes getting ready to be addressed and sent out, looking a little prettier than usual. I love using this roll of washi tape!⁠
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#happymailforchocolatelovers #happymail #snailmail #digitalmail #chocolatelove #cacaolove #ilovechocolate #shipsworldwide #shippingincluded #patreonartist #patreonmaker #subscribetoday #artandchocolate #chocolateandart #artist #creative #chocolategifts #giftsforchocolatelovers #postcards #cacaopods #washitape

🙂 Hello! If you are new here I'm Cyndi, the fa

🙂 Hello! If you are new here I'm Cyndi, the face behind @CanadianChocoholic.

🍫 I love all things chocolate and aim to provide you with ways of expressing your love of chocolate too.

🎨 As an artist, I create chocolate accessories for you in many different ways!

🍫💍 I make jewellery inspired by chocolate in sterling silver and bronze.

🎨🍫 I make art inspired by chocolate using chocolate bar wrappers. You can check out the DIYs over at @chocolatenotebook.

✂️ I design fabric and create (see) things from it, including masks and chocolate stash pouches.

✍️ I illustrated the @chocolatenotebook with an amazing team of #womeninchocolate - @laurenonthewknd and @chocolatedriven.

🙂💌🍫 Plus I recently started @HappyMailforChocolateLovers, a monthly subscription that is all about bringing you joy and surprises each month.

🧡 All these thing combine art with my deep love and appreciation for chocolate!

💻 I'd love for you to pop over to my shop and take a look at some of my products to find something perfect for you, or a gift for a friend.

#artandchocolate #chocolateart #supportartists #smallbusiness #canadianchocoholicjewellery #giftsforchocolatelovers #chocoholic

⁠ 🍫 I love exploring all flavours, but partic

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🍫 I love exploring all flavours, but particularly the flavours in chocolate.⁠
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🌸 I imagine that at some point you have given someone chocolate and flowers. Maybe as a graduation gift, a get better soon gift, or just a friendly hey I'm thinking about you gift.⁠
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🙂 But have you tasted chocolate and flowers together? This bar from @cocoarocraftchocolate combines cherry blossoms with chocolate, and is availble in the @synergyteachocolate pairing box that I work on. We've paired it with a unique tea and have included two different kinds of cherry blossom flowers that are added to the tea.⁠
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🍫🌸 This is certainly a tea and chocolate flavour experience.⁠
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⬇ Drop a flower in the comments if you have tried chocolate and flower combinations. Pop a smiley face into the comments if you'd like to try chocolate and flowers together.⁠

#flowers #flowersandchocolate #chocolateflowers #floralchocolate #canadianchocolate #beantobarchocolate #cherryblossom #appleblossom #chocolatepairing #tea #teaandchocolate #chocolateteabox #chocolateeducator #chocolatetaster #floral #exloreflavours #synergyteachocolate #chocolate

⁠ 🙂💌🍫 I have been loving creating @Happ

🍫 U is for Utilize.⁠ ⁠ 🎨 As an artist an

🍫 U is for Utilize.⁠
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🎨 As an artist and in my goal to use less, I try my best to #utilize everything. I love using chocolate bar wrappers to make other useful items like handmade paper, tags, ornaments, gifts, tabs for @chocolatenotebook, and large scale art pieces.⁠
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🔶 As a goldsmith, I am very conscious of using less, wasting less, using greener products, and recycled metals. All my scraps get saved up to be used for casting future pieces! ⁠
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🍫 So many craft chocolate makers utilize so many unique and uncommon ingredients in their chocolate bar creations. Here are a few #canadianchocolate makers creating unique bars.⁠
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🍫 @mcguirechocolate makes an unroasted bar⁠
🍫@uncouthchocolate uses rice white couverture in this dairy-free raspberry and dragonfruit bar, and makes 🍫frosted nibs as an unmeltable snack.⁠
🍫@kasamachocolate uses ube in this purple bar.
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❔ Which of these would you try first?⁠
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#tttt_u #tttt_2021 #chocolate #chocolatecommunity #chocolateeducator #explorechocolate #discoverchocolate #chocolateartist #uniquechocolate #explorechocolate #canadianchocolatemakers #madeincanada #ube #unmeltable #unroasted #cacao #darkchocolate #whitechocolate #cacaonibs #frostednibs

🍵 Today is International Tea day!⁠
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🍵🍫 One of the things I work on is a collaboration with my friend Ji for @SynergyTeaChocolate, a tea and chocolate pairing box.⁠
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🍵 I am the first to admit that I have never been a tea drinker. I am really enjoying diving into tea and all the flavours that it brings. ⁠
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🙂 Creating these tastings with tea and chocolate has taught me a lot, and I love the flavour combinations that Ji and I come up with. Her vast expertise in tea and my knowledge of chocolate complement each other so well.⁠
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💕 I love that together we have created a fun, exciting pairing box. It is a perfect gift for tea or chocolate lovers, or anyone looking to explore flavours.⁠
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📷 Shown here is a @qantu_chocolat bar with a Wild Tree Bud tea, an amazing pair featured in one of our @synergyteachocolate pairing boxes.⁠
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#chocolate #tea #teachocolate #teaandchocolate #teaandchocolatepairingbox #exploreflavours #chocolatetasting #teatasting #giftbox #canadiancompany #beantobarchocolate #uniquetea #teatime #chocolatebars #canadianchocolate #awardwinningchocolate @chocoawards #tree #ilovestrees #tealover #teadrinker #chocoholic #ilovetrees #giftsforchocolatelovers

🙂💌🍫 @HappyMailforChocolateLovers is all a

🙂💌🍫 @HappyMailforChocolateLovers is all about surprise, excitement and wonder.⁠
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💻 Digital Happy Mail for Chocolate Lovers is included in all subscription levels.⁠
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📧 This month all Patreon Happy Mail for Chocolate Lovers subscribers received 5 things.⁠
👩‍🍳 A recipe.⁠
🖼 A printable graphic (it looks stunning in a 5X7 frame).⁠
🖍 A colouring page.⁠
🎨 A mini DIY that links in with the colouring page.⁠
🎵 A playlist, perfect for listing to while baking or colouring!⁠
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🙂 My hope is that this mix holds a little of something for everyone, creative folks, visual folks, bakers and makers, and those who may just want to relax and listen to some fun tunes. ⁠
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🍫🎨 I hope you enjoy all the fun things that arrive in your inbox each month, I enjoy creating them! My hope is for this to grow and allow me to pay other artists to contribute to these items.⁠
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#chocolateinspiresme #create #artandchocolate #chocolatelover #cacaopods #cacaotrees #roots #printableart #chocolate #createjoy #artist #patreonartist #patreoncreator #giftsforchocolatelovers #chocolategifts #chocoholics #happymail #chocolatehappymail #chocolatemail #supportartists #smallbusiness #digitaldownload #chocolateart #chocolateprintable #art #cacaolove #chocolaterecipe #playlist #inbox #colouringpage

🌷 The lilacs are blooming! I have been spendin

🌷 The lilacs are blooming! I have been spending time each evening on my deck, cuddled up in my hammock gazing at the stars as the scent of lilacs washes over me. It is heavenly. Almost better than the smell of walking into a chocolate shop.⁠
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🍫 I have also been enjoying a bite of chocolate while I am out there. I find with the strong scent of the lilacs that I want a darker chocolate, an 80 to 90% bar to savour as I smell the lilacs.⁠
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👀 Be sure to keep an eye on my stories this week as I dive into using and eating one of my favourite flowers. I plan to make all sorts of wonderful edible and not edible things with the lilacs. I’ve already started making lilac sugar so I can bake with it in a few days.⁠
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💐 Lilacs have always been one of my favourite flowers, stunning to look at, gorgeous colour, and the smell… If you haven’t already, check out my blog about lilacs from last year, I recommend reading it if you are interested in using your lilacs to create with.⁠
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#lilacs #flowers #purple #edibleflowers #lilacsugar #lilachoney #amazingscent #smell #scent #springflowers #springtreat #bakewithlilacs #lilacrecipes #ontheblog #floralnote #floraltastingnotes #eatyourflowers #flowersofinstagram #betterthanchocolate #purple #purpleflowers #lilaclove #createwithflowers

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