Elderflower Champagne

Another addition to my hampers is Elderflower Champagne

4 litres hot water

700g sugar
Juice and zest of four lemons
2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
About 15 blooming elderflower heads (I freeze mine to kill bugs as well as to store for making later)
A pinch of dried yeast

Put the hot water and sugar into a large container (I used a bucket from poundland) and stir until the sugar dissolves, then top up with cold water so you have 6 litres of liquid in total.


Add the lemon juice and zest, the vinegar and the flower heads and stir gently.

Cover with something like a clean cloth/tea towel and leave to ferment in a cool, airy place for a couple of days. Take a look at the brew at this point, and if it’s not becoming a little foamy and obviously beginning to ferment, add a pinch of yeast.

Leave the mixture to ferment, again covered with cloth, for a further four days. Strain the liquid through a sieve lined with muslin and pour into sterilised plastic bottles (a good deal of pressure can build up inside as the fermenting brew produces carbon dioxide, so plastic bottles previously used for fizzy drinks are essential).

Seal and leave to ferment in the bottles for at least a week before serving, chilled. The champagne should keep in the bottles for several months. Store in a cool, dry place.

Raspberry Vinegar

I grew up being given watered down Raspberry Vinegar when ever I had a bad cough - it cut through the phlegm, and left a warmth that I now tie in with being comfortable & cozy on a dark winters night.

My nan always would make my Mom a bottle for the family and as the one who suffered the most with bad coughs I probably had most of it.

Since my nan died over 5 years ago I havent had any so I decided to use her recipe this year to make my own and not only use it myself but include it in the hampers I'm making for my brothers families.

To each pound (lb) of  raspberries add 1pint of malt or wine vinegar and allow to stand for 4 days.

I used frozen raspberries but fresh ones give a much stronger flavour.

Strain through a fine sieve (do not press the fruit)

To each pint of strained vinegar add 4-5 oz of sugar.

Simmer for 10mins.

Allow to cool and bottle in sterilised bottles

You may recognise 2 of my bottles as being from a well known brand that I drink way too much of, to make them a bit more christmassy I cut red foiled paper into a circle and then placed over the bottle top, securing with an elastic band and finishing off with a bow of green rafia.

I have recently found out that raspberry vinegar is delicious as a dressing for salad, over vanilla ice cream, and also combined with oil and poured over carrots before roasting them.

To use as a cough drink dilute like you would cordial - not advised if you have a stomach ulcer.

I've frozen the pickled, left over fruit until I've worked out what I can do with it, its a pickled raspberry mush ... anyone any ideas?

The Snowman Jigsaw Blocks

When I was little my brother and I had a set of building blocks that when fitted together formed different pictures. I decided to make a similar item for Kai for Christmas.

I took 6 old building blocks and sanded them

I then painted the edges white just to ensure no colour peeped through when all was done.
I had a set of snowman papers that I cut each one to the size of the 6 cubes combined, & then each one into 6 to fit onto each cube.

I covered a side of a cube with pva glue and then stuck one of the pieces of paper on.

I repeated this with the same picture on the other 5 blocks.

I did this with the other 5 pictures and then covered them with glossy accents to seal them and hopefully prevent the paper from peeling or being knocked about so easily.

Sundays HMHF weekly recap

A belated weekly round up for .Hand.Made.Heart.Felted.

Come see what tutorials we've featured & get make some christmassy items.

Orange Pomander Tutorial

Button Scarves

Magazine Christmas Trees



Granny Chic Slippers

Melting Middle Truffles

Rose Cuff Bracelet

Trim that tree

Twinks infamous hobnob recipe

After their rave reviews I've kept meaning to make Twinks hobnobs and finally got round to it.

I made them up as directed and then split the mix in half so I could add choc chips to half the batch.
They cooked wonderfully and my only mistake was not pressing them down a little bit more as I thought they'd spread slightly more.

The whole family enjoyed them, and this huge batch only lasted about 3 days :-O
Next time I shall try melting chocolate and coating the tops of them after they've cooked and cooled so they'll be like chocolate hob nobs, mmmmmm.

Sundays HMHF weekly recap

Check out this past weeks great tutorials on .Hand.made.Heart.felted

Felt Ornament Tutorial

Baby Sock Advent Calendar

Paper Advent Calendar

Cute Slippers

Paper Garland Tutorial

Recycled Wool Sweater Slippers

Snowflake window clings

Drizzle cakes

The lovely Moor Mummy mentioned on twitter that she had made cupcakes & was going to drizzle vanilla syrup she'd made over them. Now I'd heard of doing it with Lemon but never anything else, it had never dawned on me that I might try other flavours!!! So after discussing techniques with her I thought I'd give it a go.

I made plain & simple "weight of an egg" cupcakes. While they were cooking I melted some sugar with a tiny bit of water and vanilla flavouring. When fully melted I put the "syrup" into a jug and placed in the fridge until the cakes had cooled.  I pricked the cakes and poured over the syrup

It soaked in lovely, leaving a glossy top, almost as if I'd finished them off with glossy accents (I'm not QUITE that addicted to the stuff ..... yet). It left the cakes moist & rather vanillary-delicious.

I shall be making more of these cakes & playing with other flavours .... do you make any of these syrups? Which ones do you recommend to make, & which ones to avoid?