Half Term Baking

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Half Term is upon us again. We have an extra day due to staff training, so we decided to put it to good use and do some baking. My 5 year-old loves being in the kitchen, although she does lose interest after a while.

So today we did some Mum and daughter Halloween cakes and biscuits, some paw-print biscuits and I made my Christmas cake!!

We started off with a very simple all-in-one sponge mix with added cocoa powder. My daughter chose to also add chocolate buttons and mini marshmallows to the mix for extra goo! She loved measuring everything out and adding the ingredients. I have to say she’s much better at cracking eggs than I am!!

Chocolate cakes

We let them bake for about 15 minutes then put them on the side to cool on a rack while we started on the Halloween biscuits to take to a Halloween party tomorrow. These are a really simple butter biscuit recipe. Instead of using castor sugar I used a bag of spiced sugar from a spiced apple juice kit that I’d been given (there was no way I would ever make 2 gallons of spiced apple juice, so what better way to use up the sugar!) The dough needed to rest in the fridge for around 20 minutes before rolling, so to keep her attention, out came the rich tea biscuits. I made a small amount of white water icing to top each biscuit and she added giant and ordinary sized chocolate buttons to make a paw-print on each one. I think they are lovely. So effective and they taste fantastic.

Paw-print biscuits

When the biscuit dough had rested, I rolled it out and my daughter had great fun choosing the spooky shapes to use. She settled on bats, cats, stars (large and small) men and Mickey Mouse! A fun half hour of rolling and cutting followed, with me on a bungee between the table and the oven!. Here’s a peek at the first batch once they had cooked.

Halloween spiced biscuits

They have a very subtle spicy flavour to them from the sugar. Very moreish. I think they will go down well at the Halloween party.

Once all the biscuits were cooling, it was time to decorate the chocolate cakes. Buttercream was the choice, so I made a batch, splitting it in half and adding orange food colouring to one half and green colouring to the other. Very spooky! Then it was little one’s turn to get creative with the decorations, and for her, more is most definitely more!

Halloween Cakes

The overall effect is great though. Very spooky and just right for Halloween.

Happy Halloween fun
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Anniversary

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Today is my 8th wedding anniversary.

Traditionally it’s a bronze anniversary, so I made this card for my hubby.

Anniversary card

We went for a lovely meal at weekend and I’ll be cooking tonight.

But look what hubby brought home!

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Something tells me this is going to be a well used book! The recipes look amazing. I’m hungry already.

Happy Anniversary
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Christmas kids crafting

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This week my daughter has been quite poorly. The change in the weather has brought out all the bugs! So after a couple of days in bed I decided we could do a bit of crafting for Christmas. I’ve been making some Christmas cards, getting ready for my Christmas craft stall and for some orders. As I was making cards, she wanted to make cards too. Out came the Christmas bit box and we thought it would be fun to get a bit messy, so there was lots of ink, pens, glitter and stamps.

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It’s such fun making Christmas cards. My daughter still loves stickers too, so peel offs were greatly in evidence too.

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These will be her cards to her teachers and Grandparents this year. Stamping was great fun. So I think there maybe some ink pads and stamp sets in her stocking this year.

There’s nothing nicer than a kitchen covered in glitter!!! And only one more week to half term.

Happy crafting
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Feel good baking

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With being off my feet for a few days, I really needed a pick-me-up.  So I thought I’d see if I could manage to do a bit of baking.  We didn’t have much in the baking cupboard, so it was  a case of making do with what I could find.

I started off with a basic all-in-one sponge mix and added some vanilla essence and fresh blueberries.  The second batch was another all-in-one sponge mix with cocoa powder, m&m’s and mini marshmallows!  They only take a few minutes to bake in the oven and were lovely and moist.

For the icing, I combined vanilla essence with a little water and icing sugar for the blueberry buns.  The chocolate buns are topped with chocolate spread and Halloween hundreds and thousands.

 

Chocolate and Marshmallow

Vanilla and Blueberry

They may be simple, but they do taste good. And they certainly cheered me up (and the rest of the family).

Happy baking
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Big Knit 2014

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While I’ve been off my feet I’ve taken the opportunity to use up some of my leftover yarn stash and make up some little hats for this years Big Knit.

This year they are quite simple designs with pom poms.

Big Knit Hats

It’s been a great way of making something for a great cause and keeping my busy while I recuperate.

Happy crafting
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National Knitting Week

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I have just learned that this week is National Knitting Week. So it’s time to get out my needles and start a knitting project. I have just finished my first beret. Made in bright blue chunky yarn. I love knitting with large needles (10mm in this case) and chunky yarn, projects knit up so quickly.

Chunky Beret

So what are you going to make this week?

Happy knitting
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Christmas Snowflakes

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I’ve been working on some more Christmas decorations this week, in particular a number of crochet snowflakes.

With ‘Frozen’ still being so very popular, the snowflakes are a perfect little decoration for this years tree. My daughter is particularly thrilled that she will have some for her tree this Christmas. I’ve used several different yarns, mostly dk, but I think they work well is cotton and in some different colours too.

Cotton Crochet Snowflakes

Icy Blue crochet snowflakes

I’m working on making a garland with alternate large and small snowflakes on next.

Happy Christmas crafting
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Christmas Market

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I’ve just booked myself a stall at the Bolton School Christmas Market. It’s going to be held on Saturday November 29th in the Arts Centre and is set to be full of lots of crafts and a great place to get your Christmas presents, cards, food and decorations.

So while I’m off my feet for a while, I shall be making the most of my time to make up some more Christmas decorations.

I’ll post more details nearer the time.

Knitted Christmas Stockings

Happy crafting
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The Big Knit 2014

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It’s that time of year again when Innocent launch their Big Knit in aid of Age UK.

As I’m currently sat with my feet up due to an operation, it’s the ideal time for me to knock out a few hats. This year I’m going for little bobble hats in a variety of colours and yarns.

This is an ideal project for any knitter and you can really make a difference. The hats are put onto bottles of Innocent smoothie and for every one sold, Innocent give 25p to Age UK. The hope is that this year they will have 800,000 little hats.

So get out those needles, there are patterns on the big knit website (http://www.thebigknit.co.uk/) and have a go at raising some funds for a great charity.

Happy crafting
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More Christmas Decorations

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It’s really felt like winter is coming over the last couple of nights, I’m freezing, having to wrap myself up in fleecy blankets. My knitting needles and crochet hooks are keeping my hands warm in the chill. I guess it’s time to put the heating back on!!

I’ve really got the Christmas vibe over the last week or so. I’ve been expanding my range of Christmas decorations to include more crochet items as well as the knitted stockings from last year. I found a lovely little pattern in LGC Knitting and Crochet magazine and have made up a number of snowflakes. Now all I have to do is decide whether to make them up into a garland or keep them as individual decorations for a tree.

Crochet Snowflakes

I hope you like them. I’ve also made some in a cool blue and am working on some in a slightly off-white yarn too. To go with them I’m making some more red crochet hearts. I think they work quite well together.

Hearts and Snowflakes

I’m going to add them to my range of decorations at £1 each or 6 for £5. E-mail me if you would like to order some. I will make them to order too, just choose your colour and I’ll get working on them for you.

Hope you all have a lovely day.

Happy crafting
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