Melted snowman fruit cake gift

One of the many lovely things Josh brought home from nursery this year was this melted snowman fruit cake. Technically this is a 'handmadebyjosh' and his teachers project, but it was such a good idea I thought I'd share.

 

 

 

About 3 weeks ago we were asked to send in empty clean 220g bean tins. I couldn't work out what sort of craft a nursery class could make with them - I had visions of them being used as plant pots or candle holders. And was very happily surprised to receive this cute cake. Very simple to do, you just used them instead of a baking tin. The cake is removed once cool, turned upside down, topped with a disc of icing, a ball of icing and decorations to look like a melted snowman and dressed up with corrugated card an cellophane to make a really sweet gift.

 



Help! I'm drowning in Christmas Cards!!

The first batch of cards for nursery and a few friends is complete (and on going). Here are the first two designs, which I've been making in two sizes, 4x4 and 5x5. I've tried to keep the design quite simple as it had to be replicated so many times (cue: trip to my local craft shop more than once for more MME paper).:

 

 

I do have to keep asking myself why decide to make ALL of my Christmas cards this year? Especially considering Josh has 25 children in his nursery class and 5 teachers on top of the usual family, friends and neighbours ... the original reasoning behind it was that next year I want to launch packs of Christmas Cards in my Etsy online shop and take samples and pre-made/bagged tags and cards to some local craft fairs, and I figured practising making cards in quantity was good experience. What I hadn't counted on was the family having one illness after another for a month and no time to craft.

 

Right, no time to blog, back to the BigShot, guillotine and stamp pads :) Hope you are all having a lovely festive season, and good luck to those of you with projects of your own to finish! xx



Mojo Monday #261: Christmas

Here is my second card for the Mojo Monday competition this week. I went with a Christmas theme because it's getting to be that time of year AND it was a great excuse to break into my new Spellbinders Heirloom Ornaments (2010) set.

 

 

 

I also got to use my favourite Christmas sentiment stamp and (now, my reinker has arrived) I got to use lots of Brushed Corduroy and a bit of Aged Mahogany, and it wouldn't be a card from me at the moment without a page from an old book and a button (in this case a Marianne Creatables.

 

 

Here is the lovely sketch by Julee, why not head over to their site to check out all the amazing entries - some great inspiration there for all styles and techniques of cardmaking :)

First Christmas Card of the year (inspired by Mojo Monday)

Well, I'm not normally one for starting my Christmas cards early but with sets of Christmas tags under way for Etsy I'm feeling a little festive and what better way to get my creative juices flowing than to take part in a challenge, using Mojo Monday's sketch as a basis for a new design. I really liked this weeks sketch, think I'll be referring back to it for some future projects.

 

 

 

Here's how the card turned out, I use my trusty distress inks: Brushed Corduroy, Walnut Stain, Victorian Velvet and Aged Mahogany, the stampers (in ranger archival ink: jet black) are from my new set of 'Lost and Found Christmas' stamps by My Mind's Eye, the card base is a 6x6 Kraft card. The rosette is made with a distressed doily and an old page of a book, and the embellishment is a flattened beer bottle cap with a snowflake circle with room for a name (for when I finally decide who's getting this card).

 

 

Here is Julee's sketch, isn't it pretty? I'm looking forward to using it again when I have circle dies and materials at my disposal :) Check out all the other fabulous enteries HERE

 

Cranberry and Pumpkins Seed Flapjack

With this beautiful weather you may think I've gone a little crazy for making this comfort food snack in the blazing sunshine, but after experiencing a 'cranberry and seed slice' at a little cafe on site at Pendennis Castle while on holiday I just had to try and replicate the sensational taste.

I took my basic flapjack recipe and played around with it to make these lovely slices, I hope they do the original justice.

FOR THE FLAPJACK

250g/9oz Butter

85g/3oz Light Muscovado sugar

175g/6oz Golden Syrup

350g/12 oz Porridge Oats

½ tsp Baking Powder

50g/2oz Sunflower Seeds

25g/1oz Pumpkin Seeds

25/1oz Dried Cranberries

FOR THE TOPPING

85g/3oz Pumpkin Seeds

85g/3oz Dried Cranberries

2 tbs Golden Syrup

Preheat oven to 170°C (350°F, gas mark 4, non fan 180°C).

Butter and line a 9 x 9 inch baking tin.

Melt butter, Sugar and syrup in a pan on a low heat.

Stir into the Oats and add the baking powder, Cranberries and Pumpkin seeds.

Tin into the baking tin, pushing down into the corners and smoothing down with a spoon.

Baking for 20-25 mins or until edges start to brown.

Leave to cool in the tin for five minutes before turning out onto a chopping board, dividing into 8 long slices. Leave to fully cool on a wire tray.

For the topping, mix the golden syrup, into the cranberries and pumpkin seeds, coat well, and scatter over the cut flapjack.

It turned out beautifully, here it is in the tin, out in the sunshine.

With the green and red colours I think these would be perfect at Christmas but taste great all year. And for all the added nutritional value from the seeds, oats and cranberries I probably won't be working out the calorie count on these ;)