101 Things to do with Jelly Beans # 12

101 Things to do with Jelly Beans #12 - Nail Art!

Image - Jelly Bean Nails by Nail Loopy

One for the girls this week! 

I don't know how many of you have visited the social media site 'Pinterest' but I for one am hooked! It enables you to create your own virtual pinboard and save and share images of things you have found on the internet. 

Whilst spending one of many hours looking around the site I came across this amazing picture! Jelly bean nail art!! It was designed and crafted by Nail Loopy and most impressively all done by hand. I don't know if I dare try this on my own nails but it is such a fun, colourful and creative idea! Maybe someone could do it for me?! 

You can read more about how the design was created by visiting Nail Loopy's blog ... click here!

Father's Day Jelly Bean Machine Giveaway!

With the long weekend over what better way to keep up the celebrations than with a Jelly Bean Machine giveaway!

This fun and novel product comes filled with 600g of delicious gourmet jelly beans from The Jelly Bean Factory and is the perfect gift this Father's Day, Sunday 17^th June!

Around 26cm tall, it’ll happily fit on his desk at work or on the kitchen counter and with 36 flavours to choose from he might even let you pick out one of your favourites. After all sharing is caring!

I can guarantee the beans won't last long but not to worry, this Bean Machine can be refilled and reused time after time.  

 How to enter –

• It's really simple; just tell me what was your favourite childhood sweet? Let me know by,
• Leaving a comment on my blog 
• Posting a comment on the Facebook Page http://www.facebook.com/JustForYouConfectionery OR
• Via Twitter @JustForYouUK

The rules –

• The competition will finish at 00.00 GMT Sunday 10th June 2012.
• The winner will be chosen at random and announced on Monday 11th June.
• Only available to UK mainland addresses.
• One entry per person only.
• Your details won’t be passed onto any third party or kept in any way.
• This promotion is no way sponsored, endorsed or administrated by, or associated with Facebook.
• Unless otherwise requested at the time of the post the winner’s name will be announced on the blog.
• The lucky winner will be sent an email asking for their delivery address details. 

Whilst you’re there share the competition with your friends, ‘Like’ our Facebook page and follow the blog and Twitter to keep up to date with Just For You! 

Good luck! 

11/06/2012 Drum roll please! The lucky winner of this brilliant Bean Machine from The Jelly Bean Factory is .... freyamae2000 whose favourite childhood sweets were wine gums!

Congratulations! Please contact me via email, info@justforyouconfectionery.co.uk to arrange delivery of your prize! 

A big thank you to everyone for entering and remember there will be other fantastic giveaways so make sure to check the blog, Facebook and Twitter pages for details on how to get your hands on some more free sweet treats!

Jubilee Jelly Beans!

With over 10,000 applications been made for street parties and over £334m spent on snacks, alcohol and treats, the Diamond Jubilee weekend is nearly upon us!

FussFreeFlavours.com - Union Jack Jelly Bean Cake

A cake is a must have at any celebration and what better way to celebrate the Queen's Diamond Jubilee than with this union jack jelly bean cake! Easy to make, bake and decorate, it will be the perfect centrepiece at any street party, picnic or royal celebration!  

Stylist.co.uk - Royal Works of Art

Jelly beans have also been used by other people to bring out their patriotic side! This portrait was created by Fizziwigs sweet shop in Brighton and uses over 10,000 of Her Majesty’s finest!

A number of other weird and wonderful portraits of the Queen have been produced using a variety of different objects!

From a jelly bean Queen to a Monarch made from money, click here to see more unusual portraits at The Mail Online   


The upcoming Jubilee seems to have united the nation in their enthusiasm for all things British and I hope you enjoy the long weekend however you decide to celebrate it!  

101 Things to do with Jelly Beans #11

101 Things to do with Jelly Beans #11 - Plant them in the ground and try to grow a beanstalk.

Get a handful of your favourite flavour jelly beans.

Dig a small hole in the ground and place the jelly beans in it.

Image: See Jane Blog

Carefully cover with soil.

Water and wait for it to grow ... just watch out for the giant living at the top!

Image: See Jane Blog 

When looking for things to do with jelly beans I came across a similar idea which is great for young children and seems to be somewhat of an Easter tradition across the pond.

Get your children to plant the jelly beans in the garden and overnight place lollipops in the ground where the beans were planted. When they wake up in the morning, the magic jelly beans have ‘grown’ into scrumptious lollies! 

National Vegetarian Week

This week, Monday 21^st – Sunday 27^th, is National Vegetarian Week and if you didn’t know our range of jelly beans from The Jelly Bean Factory are all suitable for veggies! They have even been approved by The Vegetarian Society!

http://www.nationalvegetarianweek.org/

 

Every single one of the 12 million 

jelly beans produced each year by The Jelly Bean Factory are made with 100% natural ingredients and real fruit juice!

 

The bags, boxes and tubes make for the perfect snack whilst the jars and novelty products, such as the bean machine, are perfect gifts for jelly bean devotees!

Take a look at the scrumptious sweet treats here!

Easy as Pie!

Cupcakes that are as easy as pie!

I am going to see the film ‘American Pie – The Reunion’ this evening which jolted my memory back to when I found this recipe for decorating cupcakes a while back!

Taken from the book ‘What’s New Cupcake?’ by Karen Tack and Alan Richardson, they seem so simple to make and really look like sweet mini pies!

Click here to visit the Hello Cupcake website!

I have the original book ‘Hello Cupcake’ at home and have posted a few recipes from there before.

So to make these Bake Sale Pies, 

What you’ll need:

• Vanilla cupcakes in silver foil cases
• Vanilla icing
• Yellow food colouring
• Cocoa powder
• Coloured M&Ms, Smarties or my favourite ...Jelly Beans!

Rather than copying out the instructions, here is a short video tutorial made by the authors of the book, Karen and Alan, on how to decorate the cupcakes!

These could be the perfect addition to your Jubilee party in a couple of weeks time. The red and blue colours are very patriotic and us Brits love a good pie!

Let me know if you have a go at making any and please feel free to send me in any pictures! 

101 Things to do with Jelly Beans #10

101 Things to do with Jelly Beans #10 - Create a musical instrument.

I have just realised I haven’t written a blog post since the 1^st! Eek!

I think I have been far too preoccupied with eating chocolate rather than writing about it!

So here is this week’s 101 Things to do with Jelly Beans! I’ll keep it short and sweet. Get yourself a tube of The Jelly Bean Factory jelly beans, it doesn't matter whether it's a 100g tube or the 410g Mega Tube! Munch your way through half the tube, now shake! Your own musical instrument! 

http://www.justforyouconfectionery.co.uk/Jelly-Beans

P.S. Keep an eye out on the website for our Spring Sale!

101 Things to do with Jelly Beans #9

101 Things to do with Jelly Beans #9 - Use them as playing pieces!

• A perfect addition to any board game.
• Instead of using counters, grab a bag of The Jelly Bean Factory Gourmet Beans, pick out your favourite flavour and use it as a playing piece!
• It doesn't matter whether you’re playing Snakes and Ladders, Draughts or Monopoly, playing with jelly beans is a fun way to jazz up any board game.
• There are no losers when the game comes to an end as everyone gets to eat the juicy jelly beans! So what are you waiting for? Happy playing!

Click here to view our extensive range of fantastic products from The Jelly Bean Factory!

Edward Monkton - The Connoisseur of Confectionery

After publishing the St George’s Day blog last week I was left a comment informing me not to forget the quirky Englishman Edward Monkton!

So I have decided to dedicate this blog post especially to him.

Some of you may be wondering, who is Edward Monkton?

Edward Monkton is a British artist best known for his quirky and philosophical musings on life. You are most likely to find his designs on greeting cards and an ever increasing amount of products.

Here at Just For You Confectionery we have a number of delightful treats from the Connoisseur of Confectionery himself. Each product is decorated with a quirky illustration and a novel piece of Edward’s wisdom. But what is better than wisdom? Chocolate and wisdom of course! His profound yet humorous insights will brighten up your day and inspire you in equal measure, whilst the delicious Belgian chocolate will most certainly satisfy your sweetest desires. 

Click here to view our range of Edward Monkton confectionery!

Take a look at his website for more interesting thoughts of Edward Monkton and a gallery of his artwork. http://www.edwardmonkton.com/.

101 Things to do with Jelly Beans #8

Jelly Bean Sorting and Graphing

101 Things to do with Jelly Beans #8 - Make maths more fun!

Jelly beans are a fantastic way to get children engaged in maths activities. 

They can be used to help children learn how to count, add, subtract, sort, plot graphs and much more! 

They can make lessons more fun, interactive and rewarding! 

Take a look at this website for more ideas, http://www.ehow.com/list_6183987_math-activities-using-jelly-beans.html. 

St George's Day - Celebrating all things English

It’s St George’s Day and a day to celebrate all things English!

I thought I’d take this opportunity to tell you about some of our delicious products featured on the website that are manufactured in England!

Whitakers specialise in classic confectionery that tastes as good now as it did back in 1886 when the company was established. Based in Skipton, North Yorkshire, the family business has been passed down through four generations and the ideals that founded the company still remain true today. We have a fantastic selection of their chocolate Neapolitans, chocolate crisps and wafers and chocolate fondant cremes. Click here to take a look at their classic chocolate selection. 

Maxons is a family run business based in Sheffield and is one of the few remaining traditional sweet manufacturers in the North of England. They specialise in boiled sugar confectionery and flavoured sherbets. Their ‘Jesmona‘ brand initially started out solely as Black Bullets - a very traditional mint flavoured sweet said to originate from the North East of England, but 100 years later the range was expanded to showcase the art of the traditional confectioner and includes Old Fashioned Mint Humbugs and Liquorice & Blackcurrant, to name but a few. You can't beat a classic sweet! Click here to have a peak at the range of traditional confectionery.

Simpkins have been producing traditional confectionery in Sheffield for nearly 90 years. All their products are still made using methods and recipes first used by the founder back in 1921, incorporating only the finest ingredients and flavours available. Their travel tins are filled with sweets bursting with flavour that guarantee a mouthwatering taste sensation. The perfect companion to a long journey, take a look at our sweet selection!

A Brief Bit about Jelly Beans

As you all know by now it’s National Jelly Bean Day on Sunday 22^nd April! Unfortunately, this is not a National holiday, nor do we know who invented it or why. It is just a bit of fun and an excuse to overindulge in jelly beans … not that we need one anyway!

Here are a few facts about how jelly beans came about,

• The origin of the jelly bean is a bit of a mystery.
• It is thought that the jelly bean originated from Turkish delight but instead of a powder covering the soft, sweet, jelly centre, a hard sugar shell was created.
• The earliest reference to jelly beans is associated with an American candy maker called William Schrafft who asked people to send his jelly beans to soldiers fighting in the American Civil War.
• Jelly beans earned fame in the USA as they were apparently president Ronald Regan’s favourite treat. He was known for keeping a jar of jelly beans on his desk in the White House and he even had a blueberry flavoured jelly bean created in his honour.
• In America jelly beans are popularly associated with Easter due to the fact they are shaped like eggs!

So that was a short and sweet history of the jelly bean! 

I hope you all have a fantastic weekend and don't forget to let me know what jelly bean antics you get up to on Sunday.

Happy Jelly Bean Day! 

101 Things to do with Jelly Beans #7

101 Things to do with Jelly Beans #7 - Decorate a cake 

It’s National Jelly Bean Day on Sunday 22^nd April and when there’s cause for celebration there’s always cake!

So grab your recipe book and start baking! Whether it’s a traditional Victoria sponge or the ever so popular cupcakes, decorate them with jelly beans for a delicious treat this weekend!

Please send me any photos of your jelly bean cake creations and I’ll feature them in the blog! Just email them to info@justforyouconfectionery.co.uk.

Countdown to National Jelly Bean Day 22nd April - Win a Bean Machine!

Jelly bean lovers can rejoice as one of the most highly anticipated days of the year is nearly here ... National Jelly Bean Day!

Every year on the 22^nd April jelly bean lovers all over the world celebrate these sweet delights which are bursting full of flavour.


You may be wondering, how do people celebrate National Jelly Bean Day?


Well that's easy. Eat more jelly beans of course! But there's more! 

• Remember sharing is caring! 
• Present them in jars as gifts to family and friends.
• There are loads of jelly bean craft ideas and recipes which are great for kids! Look at the '101 Things to do with Jelly Beans' feature on the blog for ideas!
• Play the classic 'How many jelly beans are in the jar' game and have friends, family and colleagues guess the correct number. Whoever comes closest to the answer wins the prize!
• Have a jelly bean themed party!

So with only 6 days to go Just For You Confectionery want to kick start the celebration by giving away one of these brilliant Bean Machines from The Jelly Bean Factory!

This novel  product comes filled with 600g of delicious jelly beans! 

Around 26cm tall, it'll happily fit on your desk at work and you'll be the envy of your colleagues! Or pop it  the kitchen counter for everyone to see and share. 

I can guarantee the beans won't last long but not to worry, this Bean Machine can be refilled and reused time after time. 

How to enter –

• It's really simple, if you could create your own jelly bean flavour, what would it be? Let me know by,
• Leaving a comment on my blog OR
• Posting a comment on the Facebook Page http://www.facebook.com/JustForYouConfectionery

The rules –

• The competition will finish at 17.30 GMT Thursday 19th April 2012.
• The winner will be chosen at random and announced on Friday 20^th April 2012.
• Only available to UK mainland addresses.
• Your details won’t be passed onto any third party or kept in any way.
• This promotion is no way sponsored, endorsed or administrated by, or associated with Facebook.
• Unless otherwise requested at the time of the post the winner’s name will be announced on the blog.
• The lucky winner will be sent an email asking for their delivery address details. 

Whilst you’re there share the competition with your friends, ‘Like’ our Facebook page and follow the blog and Twitter to keep up to date with Just For You! 

Good Luck!

20/04/2012 - Thank you to everyone who entered into the Jelly Bean Machine competition! You definitely came up with some weird and wonderful suggestions for new jelly bean flavours! 
The lucky winner of the fantastic bean machine is Tracey Gibbons! Congratulations! If you'd like to email me Tracey at info@justforyouconfectionery.co.uk I can arrange delivery of your prize. 

Sweet Surprises Associated with Eating Chocolate

Over indulged on chocolate this Easter? Here are a few surprising reasons not to feel so bad,

• Chocolate can make you more intelligent - A study in 2009 showed that chocolate can help people do maths calculations more accurately. Compounds found in chocolate, called flavonols, have antioxidant-like properties which are thought to improve circulation, including blood flow to the brain.
• Chocolate fills you up - Did your Mum ever warn you of spoiling your dinner by eating sweets beforehand? Well she was right! Danish researchers report that people who ate a tiny bit of dark chocolate before a meal consumed 15 percent fewer calories than those who didn't have a pre-dinner treat. Eating it also lessens cravings for sweet, salty and fatty foods.
• Chocolate makes you feel better - It contains phenethylamine, which triggers endorphins. This reaction is similar to the one that people experience when they fall in love!
• Ever felt stressed and in need of a chocolate fix? There’s a reason for that. Chocolate helps you relax. A study found that people who rated themselves highly stressed to begin with had lower levels of stress hormones after eating dark chocolate every day for two weeks. 
• It can help you live longer - A study showed that participants who ate chocolate one to three times a month had a lower mortality rate than those who abstained from the sweet treat. It was concluded that this was most likely due to the antioxidants in chocolate.

Yes, there are underlying health benefits and yes, it’s delicious but it’s not advisable to eat it by the pound ... however tempting it may be! 

101 Things to do with Jelly Beans #6

101 Things to do with Jelly Beans #6 Create your own Jelly Bean sculpture!

If you’re feeling creative this could be the perfect project for you! You can take inspiration from anything. All you need is lots of jelly beans, glue and a huge amount of patience!!

Jelly Bean Statue of Liberty, Marilyn Monroe, Birmingham Bullring Bull

101 Things to do with Jelly Beans #5

Very Best Baking - Jelly Bean Easter Bark

101 Things to do with Jelly Beans #5 Easter Jelly Bean Bark

Jelly Beans seem to be an incredibly popular Easter treat and as it’s Easter weekend I thought it seemed quite fitting to have a themed 101 Things to do with Jelly Beans.

After scouring the internet I came across many recipes on how to make ‘Jelly Bean Bark’ - something I have never heard of before. 

It looks amazing! It seems so easy to make and no doubt delicious!!

What you’ll need,

• White Chocolate
• Jelly Beans
• Baking Tray
• Greaseproof Paper

What to do,

• Line your baking tray with greaseproof paper.
• Carefully melt the white chocolate.
• Place half of your jelly beans onto the baking tray, then pour over the melted chocolate.
• Sprinkle the remaining jelly beans on top.
• Place in the fridge and leave to cool.
• Break into pieces and enjoy! Yummy!

You could always make it with milk or dark chocolate. You could even try a marble effect! 

This is a fun treat you can make with kids over the holiday for everyone to enjoy!

Let me know if you have a go at making it! Send in your pictures and I'll feature them on the blog! 

'Chooseday'

I know how much you all love chocolate and sweet treats and it’s no secret that we all have our favourites. Which is why today is the launch of our ‘Chooseday’ competition and the opportunity to win your favourite product on the website!

What you need to do,

• It’s simple, go to www.justforyouconfectionery.co.uk, pick the product you love the most on the website and let me know why it is your favourite by posting a comment to the blog, Facebook Page or Twitter. 
• One lucky winner will be selected and their chosen product sent to them!

The rules,

• The competition will finish at 17.30 GMT on Wednesday 4^th April.
• Only available to UK mainland addresses.
• Your details won’t be passed onto any third party or kept in any way.
• This promotion is no way sponsored, endorsed or administrated by, or associated with Facebook.
• Unless otherwise requested at the time of the post the winner’s name will be announced on the blog. 
• The lucky winner will be sent an email asking for their delivery address details. 

Whilst you’re there share the competition with your friends, ‘Like’ our Facebook page and follow the blog to keep up to date with Just For You! 

Good Luck!




05/04/2012 - Thank you to everyone who entered the 'Chooseday' competition. It is great to hear what some of your favourite products are! The lucky winner is Bex who loves our chocolate foiled fish! 


These delicious milk Belgian chocolate fish wrapped in brightly coloured foil are both appealing to the eye and stomach! A great choice!! Bex if you’d like to email me at info@justforyouconfectionery.co.uk I can arrange delivery of your prize! 

April Fool's Day Cupcakes

It's April Fool's Day on Sunday and what better way to trick your family and friends than with these imaginative and irresistible cupcakes!


Corn on the Cob 


What you'll need -

• White iced cupcakes
• Yellow and white jelly beans
• Yellow Starburst sweets
• White and black decorating sugar
• Corn holders

Place the jelly beans in rows along three iced cupcakes to mimic kernels. Line up the cupcakes and sprinkle the white and black decorating sugar across the tops. To make the butter, mould a yellow Starburst fruit sweet in your hands or place in the microwave for only a few seconds, then set it on top of the centre cupcake. Add a corn holder to each end of the cob and serve on a plate. 

Feeling creative? Why not try serving up these Spaghetti and Meatball cupcakes!

• White icing tinted with cocoa powder and yellow food colouring
• Hazelnut Chocolates e.g. Ferrero Rocher 
• Low Sugar Strawberry Preserve e.g. Balance No Added Sugar Strawberry Jam
• Shredded coconut

Arrange the cupcakes on a plate so that they are all touching. Place the icing in a sandwich bag and snip a hole in the corner of the bag. Pipe the icing all over the cupcakes to resemble spaghetti. Place the chocolate in the strawberry jam then position them on top of the cupcakes with some extra jam for sauce! Sprinkle with shredded coconut or grated white chocolate!  

These wonderful cupcake creations are from a book I have called 'Hello Cupcake' by Karen Tack & Alan Richardson.

Click here to visit the Hello Cupcake website!

They are guaranteed to put a smile on anyone's face and get people talking! Not only do they look absolutely fantastic but they are delicious too! 

Let me know if you have a go at making them and send in your pictures! 

7 Sweet Easter Facts

Easter's not far away so I thought I'd share some fun chocolate Easter facts with you!

• The first chocolate eggs were made in Europe in the early 19th century and remain one of the most popular treats associated with Easter today.
• Over 90 million chocolate Easter bunnies are produced each year.
• 76 % of people eat the ears on their chocolate Easter bunnies first. 5% said bunnies should be eaten feet first, whilst 4 % favoured eating the tail first. 
• Jelly beans began to be associated with Easter in the 1930s because of their egg like shape and bright colours. 
• Americans consume more than 16 billion jelly beans at Easter! 
• According to the Guinness Book of World Records the largest Easter egg ever made was just over 25ft high and made of chocolate and marshmallow. The egg weighed 4076kg and was supported by an internal steel frame. 
• The world's most expensive chocolate Easter egg has sold for £7,000 in London. 

There is a fantastic selection of Easter treats on our website, from eggs to bunnies, chicks to chocolate bees! All of our products are made with the finest chocolate, are extremely delicious and would make perfect presents! www.justforyouconfectionery.co.uk 

101 Things to do with Jelly Beans #4

101 Things to do with Jelly Beans - #4 Create a piece of jelly bean artwork

These amazing pieces of jelly bean artwork were the original concept of American artist Pete Rocha. Now many talented artists are giving jelly bean art a go and creating some incredible portraits.

Why not try creating your own piece of ‘eye candy’ using your favourite film star, singer or celebrity for inspiration? You could even attempt a self portrait!