Layered Skirt

Spring and summer always make me want new dresses & skirts, and this year is no exception.

I love the skirts with lots of layers...

All floaty, and very feminate ...

...looking beautifully gothic..

and all in my favourite non-colour. The best ones are always handmade, gives them a unique look, also cuts the cost as these in shops usually cost a bomb.

Chocolate Crunchy...

...just the way we used to have at school
Ingredients
8oz plain flour
5oz Sugar
5oz marg
1oz cocoa powder
1 egg

Method
Place flour, sugar, cocoa powder and marg into a mixing bowl, the rub until it resembles breadcrumbs.
Add egg and mix
Press into a lightly greased tin
Cook at Gas mark 5, 375F, 190C, until just firm to touch. (this makes it slightly chewy, if you want it crunchier leave it a bit longer)
Cool, cut and serve

Stores for upto 5 days in a sealed container

pushchair foot muff

With Kai being so long I had huge problems finding foot muffs to keep him warm while in his pushchair. I spotted some online that were fleece blankets buttoned up at the end and attached to the puchchair, I decided I could make similar.
I took my old fakeleather coat and cut a rectangle out of it which I hemmed with a piece of fleece on the inside.

At the top I fastened 2 elastic hoops and buttons. I then attached 3 buttons on each side from the bottom, about 2.5inches apart. and then 3 button holes after these on each side so when done up it creates a pocket
The elastic at the top can be looped around the tubing of the pushchair and done up on the buttons. The feet the slip inside the pocket at the bottom. The 3 buttons at the base allows it to lengthen it still, undo the buttons, and move down a hole (you will end up with buttons with no way to do up).

The fleece kept Kai warm, and the fake leather kept him dry. He was certainly was snug in there, even in winter, especially with his heated rice penguin.

Cluster bracelet

This is the first cluster bracelet I made, and I am very happy with it :)

It took an evening to make, my hand ended up aching from cutting the headpins and bending them round

I used clear seed beads imbetween the Faux glass pearl beads

Intricate Quilling

These beautiful pieces of art are by Yulia Brodskaya, her quilling work is beautiful and I would love to be able to do something similar. I'm sure it'll take a lot of practice and hard work to get that good though.

Muffin Pizzas

This is a recipe Kai was taught at nursery, its very simple, quick to make and perfect for youngsters (with a bit of adult help).

Ingredients

Breakfast muffins

Pizza topping sauce (make your own, or Asda do a nice one in a jar)

Cheese

Any other pizza topping you like.

Method

Cut the muffins in half, and add a dollup of sauce on top of each. Cut cheese into strips.

Carefully spread the topping all over the top of each muffin

Add any extra toppings you want to.Put a cross of cheese on top of each muffin
Put in the oven at 180oC for about 15 minutes, or until cheese has melted and gone a little bit golden
& finally theres only one more thing to do....

...enjoy!!!

Recycling

I have been having a good sort out of my sons old clothes, sorting out those to pass down, to ebay, & to recycle. Some items were to faded, or badly stained to go anywhere but the bin, but, as with many baby/young childrens items, they had cute images on.

I roughly cut out the images, leaving as large a border as I could as I dont know how much I'll need when I use them.

I put them in a box so they are at hand should I wish to sew them onto another piece of clothing, or maybe use one that brings back memorys on a scrapbook page.

I also removed any fastenings such as zips, bottons etc, so these can be used again as well.