Wardrobe Remix

I havent done one of these in aaages and i cant believe its taken me so long to figure out my bathroom has the best light during the day... go figure. I hate that place. Look at that floor its horrible! And yellow walls... eugh. Hate it!! Anyway lol....

The purple sweater - originally from topshop but i thrifted it on sunday when i was giving something back to the shop that was left behind in the bookshop before crimbo. It was £6 and well worth the investment. Its got a cool button deail on it and its really nice and long which i love.. cuz im stupidly tall. The black jeans, i cant really remember where i got but theyre oridinary straight leg black jeans from New Look Originally. Theyre short on me so i hafta wear pumps with them. My wee leopard print pumps i dont wear enough! I got those from primark ages ago.. again for siz quid. The floral headband I bought over a year ago and this is the first time ive worn it. Never thought it looked right before! The white watch was a christmas gift but it came from asos.

And thats Ninja doin some investigutin.

Make | Top 10 Valentines Crafts

My Top Ten Valentines Crafts 

Free ♥ Printable ♥  DIY

Number 1.

Twig & Thistle Apple pie boxes - i absolutely love these. If you click on the link it should take you right back to the site where you can download the printable template. There is also a little recipe/tutorial along with it!! I really like this site. D might be in for an appley treat on valentines day. This is an update for any of you who want to create this are from the UK! I tried printing out the twig and thistle template but its set for US paper which is a diff size and the smallest lil foldy over pie i could get my hands on was 6.5cm across... now im buying these pastry things online to do the folding so i was having to check sizes etcetera. I edited the twig and thistle item for UK People, I hope thats ok Twig & Thistle. Please just go here or click on the other image below of the template sized for UK A4 pages.

Number 2.

Luckily D loves tea... so this is sweet.. unfortunately though the teabags over here in the UK are absolutely massive and dont come with little strings in individual packets! So i hope when i print these they will fit or else i will have to make them bigger. Or buy him different tea! If you click on the image it should take you over to the Creature Comforts download section where the link to the pdf file is.

Number 3.

Back to Twig & Thistle - they have an amazing range of printable paper bags. Another craft to be featured from these folks are their valentines paper bag printables, which will be inserted below.

Number 4.

I dont think a little craft featurette could be done without mentioning martha stewart! This isnt a printable craft - its a simple cutting of craft paper craft! I really like these wee hearts. Im afraid my boyfriend might look a bit girly having this in his book and I wish id done this feature *before* i sent ashleys swap! C'est la vie!

"To make the diminutive page keeper: Create a template of a heart, about 1 1/2 inches wide. Cut out with a utility knife, and trace onto heavy card stock. Copy it at 80 percent, cut out, and trace onto decorative paper, such as wrapping or origami paper. Cut out both hearts, and use a glue stick to secure smaller patterned heart to center of the larger one; let dry. Finally, trace bottom half of inner heart with a utility knife, cutting through card stock beneath. Then your valentine can slip pages between the hearts."

Number 5.

Looking at this and thinking about fudge has made my mouth go... *SWEET THINGS GIVE ME SWEET THINGS* im guna go lick a sugar cube in a minute. If you click on the image you can be brought to marthas instructions for these bad boys. I think these lil guys would be great in the Twig and Thistle Paper bag! I only have massive heart shape cutters so im not too sure if il make these. All the sugar might kill him. Although.. I he wouldnt have to eat them alll on his own. hmmm....

Recipe:

Ingredients
Makes about 4 dozen 1-inch hearts

• Canola oil for the pan and cutters
• 1 1/4 cups milk
• 3 1/2 cups sugar
• 8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut in small pieces
• Pink gel food coloring, (optional)

Directions

1. Lightly oil a 9-inch-square pan. (A smaller pan will make the fudge thicker and more difficult to cut.) Place milk in a heavy 12-quart saucepan. Stir in sugar; add butter. Over medium heat, stir constantly, until sugar dissolves and butter melts. Increase heat to medium high, bring to a boil, and cover with lid. Let boil for 2 minutes, and uncover. Do not stir; clip a candy thermometer on side of pan, and let mixture boil, over medium-low heat, until it reaches 240 degrees (the soft-ball stage), 15 to 25 minutes. Meanwhile, prepare an ice water bath.
2. Immediately remove pan from heat, and dip the base of the pan in the ice water for 5 seconds. Let the fudge sit at room temperature without stirring, with the thermometer attached, until the thermometer reads 122 degrees and mixture is lukewarm, about 40 minutes. If using food coloring, add 1 drop. Stir the fudge with a wooden spoon until it changes from glossy to opaque and is thick and creamy, 2 to 5 minutes. Quickly pour into prepared pan. Use piece of plastic wrap to smooth fudge into the pan, creating an even surface. Let cool completely, 2 to 3 hours, and cut with 1/2- to 1 1/2-inch heart cookie cutters. (Oil the cutters with the canola oil inside and out before using.) Fudge will keep, well wrapped in plastic or in an airtight container, up to 1 week.

Number 6.

Printable brownie bags! Although Im sure once you download them you could edit them and change it to fudge if you fancied! Or alternatively just go up and use the other paper bag print outs for Twig & Thistle! Im a big fan of chocolate brownies... I could make them for 'us' and eat them myself lol... but he doesnt like chocolate brownies. I dont want to be totally selfish :p

Number 7.

Sweety jars - so simple....if your other half loves a certain type of sweety thing..... these are great. instead of a box of chocolates where he/she may only like certain things! Im lucky that my bf would eat anything put in front of him but it would still be a lovely gesture... buying loadsa jelly beans and picking out his favourite and sticking them all in a jar!! If you click on the image here it will take you straight to the flickr page where there is a lil tutorial on how to make these bad boys!

Number 8.

I fell inlove with this as soon as i saw it!! It would be amazing as a pillow. Its just a lil envelope and card set - so much effort put into it! I really love it. I know my bf would appreciate something like this because of the amount of effort but ive already made his card! This will give me an idea for next year i guess :) or even christmas.... or any other occaison which requires a card! (already past his bday)

Number 9.

lol i like this... althoooough i would possibly change the folded part of the wee bag more into a point.... pointy nose type. If its possible. Im still going for the apple pie boxes over this... it just depends.

Number 10.

The last one.. is one of my favourites and terribly mushy! From creature comforts and directly linked from the image!

Happy crafting everyone

SwapBot Valentines Swap

SwapBot | Valentines Swap with Aonbelay

 Posted this afternoon First class along with her christmas box that was returned to me yesterday! Such a palava. Anyroad.. I got round to photographing the box as a wee teaser as she did the same for me! The box shes sending me looks amazing. See it here 

 

This is some crazy self adhesive paper i got from Paperchase in the sale - i think its designed for backing kids school books. I am never buying anything like that again. Stuck to everything but the bloody shoe box! There are remnants of it stuck alll over my house.

I rearranged the box and crammed as much as I could inside, so much so that the lid wont close lol. BUT there are a couple wee extras parcelled with it. I just hope nothing gets ruined on its way over!

This is the swap info -

Valentine craft swap

Swap Coordinator:	CDonovan (contact)
Sent Items Status:	Sent (Oops, mark this unsent.)
Swap categories:	Craft Supplies  Crafts
Number of people in swap:	2
Location:	International
Type:	Type 3: Package or craft
Last day to signup/drop:	January 27, 2010
Date items must be sent by:	January 28, 2010
Number of swap partners:	1
Description:
Get one shoe box, size approx 8''x11'' depth 4'' and fill with random heart goodies, items you love and items you think I will love! Also provide a scrapbook page kit made out of items you already have, size doesnt matter but if its small (6x6) include enough to make a couple of pages. Theme of your choosing!

Camera Love | Ricoh Super 44

♥ My Camera | Ricoh Super 44

This was a christmas gift from my bf and its amazing! Im trying to get hold of 127 film for it but its proving tricky. It took a wee while for me to get around to shooting it!Im incredibly lazy though when it comes to getting things sorted out.

Art Journal 2010 | The Number 10

2010 | Art Journal Theme | The Number 10

This is the amazing wee leather art book my bf got me for christmas from the continental market when it was in Belfast in december. I love it loads :) The only problem with it is that its handmade paper and really thin so i can use ink on it or it bleeds like crazy through the next pages.

I decided that this year was going to be all about the number 10; 10 resolutions, 10 quotes, 10 doodles....etc. So to begin with i decided to write out 10 Resolutions - ive got all the resolutions figured out I just havent got round to all of my illustrating yet. I do have post its of wee reminders of what i want to do throughout the book. My first resolution was to stay happy... cuz i am incredibly happy despite being sick..i have my moments but i want to stay positive that il get better and im lucky im no worse than i am.. and lucky i have amazing friends, family and bf. My second resolution is to sort out my money and savings! Its depressing thinking about lack of moneys.

Third resolution is to buy more fresh flowers.. I have 2 flower shops beside me and i saw earlier that they do mixed bunches of flowers for a pound.. i just think it would bring a lovely freshness to the house but i want to get the living room decorated first! (Another resolution!)

I need to shoot more and use more of my film cameras! Especially my wee fuji that I love so much. My dad was amazing and bought me a pack of 5 double packs of Fuji mini films for christmas so im well set up!

The end of the resolutions and the start of the doodles and quotes!

Me n my bf :) the rva foxes - think im going to doodle these on a wee valentines card for him.

DIY | Tutorial | Shortbread Buttons

Shortbread Buttons Recipe

I came across this wonderful recipe tutorial from Forty-Sixth at Grace and I HAD to reblog! In the recipe she fails to add "food colouring" in the ingredients section! Remember this is important unless you want plain shortbready coloured shortbread. My Favourite shortbread recipe can be seen below :)

I love these!! I cant wait to have a girly tea party to get baking these wonderful shapes! I know that its possible to get candy moulds from BakeItPretty but this tutorial is great for making cookies! You can DOWNLOAD the recipe HERE

My Favourite Shortbread Recipe:

	INGREDIENTS 100g icing sugar 200g plain flour, preferably Italian 00 100g cornflour 200g very soft unsalted butter seeds from 1 vanilla pod vanilla or ordinary caster sugar for sprinkling

METHOD

1.	Preheat the oven to 160°C/gas mark 3.
2.	Put the icing sugar, plain flour and cornflour into the bowl of a food processor fitted with the double-bladed knife and give them a quick blitz (just to save you sieving, which is my most-hated job in the kitchen) before adding the butter along with the vanilla seeds you’ve scraped out of a pod. (I find the easiest way to do this is by cutting the pod in half across, and then splitting each short half lengthwise and prising out the seeds with the point and edge of a sharp knife. Don’t even think of throwing the deseeded bits of pod away: stash them in a jar of caster to use next time a recipe requires vanilla sugar.)
3.	Process again until the soft mixture coheres and begins to form a ball, loosely clumping around the blade. Turn this out on to a Swiss roll tin and press to form an even (or as even as you can make it) layer, using fingers or the back of a spoon, or both. Be patient: I promise you it will fit smoothly.
4.	Using the tip of a sharp knife cut the pressed-out shortbread into fingers. I make two incisions lengthways – ie to form three layers – and then make ten cuts down – so that you end up with eleven fingers per layer. Obviously, the aim should be to cut at regular intervals but don’t start getting your ruler out. Just go by eye: uniformity is the province of the conveyer belt not of home cooking. Use the tines of a fork to make little holes in each marked-out biscuit: I press down about three times, diagonally, on each finger.
5.	Now that you’ve pressed, incised, and punctured, slide the Swiss roll tin into the oven and bake for about 20–25 minutes, by which time the shortbread will be pale still, but not doughy. Expect a little goldenness around the edges, but shortbread should be not crisp but melting. Remove the tin from the oven and let cool for 10 minutes or so, before removing, with a palette knife and your fingers, to a wire rack. Sprinkle with sugar and leave them to cool completely before storing in a tin.

Recipe courtesy of the divine Nigella Lawson

Original post for button tutorial is here

I made This | December Daily 09 pt3

December Daily 2009 | Part 3

I cant believe it has taken me soo long to update this! Ok so The cover....

I made this cover using backing card i had in the house (previously purchased for binding my university thesis in May 09) - i made the front and back covers LAST because all of my pages were roughly A5 - that was the guide, but some were wider, smaller, all over the show so I sized the A4 card against the biggest page and made it slightly bigger than the pages in the book. The polka dot paper is from the downloaded wallpaper (click the link)

The letters are alphabet stickers from Making Memories Glitter Stock

This paper was downloaded from Ali Edwards click here the letter is from American Crafts, the speach bubbles, frames and hearts are my own doodles and illustrations and the snowflake is from a 12x12 October Afternoon Die cut page - christmas themed. I used it a lot throughout the book and on the rear cover!

This is just a photo i printed on A4 paper - sliced in half and doodled the frame on. The Fin letters are Brown American Crafts Thickers and the Gingerbread Man is from October Afternoon 12x12 die cuts I had been using!

Love Food | Carrott & Orange Cupcakes

Carrot & Orange Cupcake Recipe

I baked these for my bf's birthday yesterday along with some amazing chocolate moustaches! I got the moustache lolly pop mould off of ebay in the states and they delivered in pretty quickly so woop!

Ingredients

2 large eggs
175g golden caster sugar
150ml sunflower oil
200g self-raising flour, sifted
3 tsp mixed spice
2 medium carrots, coarsely grated
1 tsp vanilla extract
Finely grated zest of 2 oranges
1½ x 200g tubs Waitrose Light Soft Cheese
50g golden icing sugar, sifted

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C, gas mark 4. Place 12 paper muffin cases in a deep bun or muffin tin.
2. Put the eggs, sugar and oil in a large bowl and beat with an electric whisk for 2-3 minutes until light and fluffy.
3. Using a metal spoon, gently fold in the flour, spice, grated carrot, vanilla extract and half the orange zest, until thoroughly combined.
4. Divide the mixture between the muffin cases then place in the oven for 20-25 minutes until well risen and golden brown. Remove from the oven and place on a cooling rack.
5. For the frosting, beat together the soft cheese and icing sugar until smooth. Chill until ready to use. Spread liberally over the cooled cakes and top with the remaining zest, or, as shown, make long strips of zest using a zester.

Cook's tips

You can make 18-20 smaller cakes in fairy cake cases, if you prefer. Cook for 18-20 minutes. For added texture and flavour, try adding chopped nuts or pecans to the mixture. Once the cakes are frosted they should be eaten within a couple of hours or stored in the fridge.