Mint Choc Chip Cookies (aka Grinch biscuits)

For the School Xmas Cake Stall I made some of this festive version of the best ever chewy cookie recipe (found here). For this version I added some peppermint extract, chocolate chips and a little green food colouring. Bob's your Uncle - Grinch biscuits.

Hama Bead Christmas Tree Decorations

We whiled away a Saturday morning making these festive tree decorations with the Hama beads. They would make great little presents but I can't bring myself to give them away!

Magic Reindeer Food

Another Christmas Fayre/Fair make. This one is an annual make. I made the label myself as I couldn't find a printable that was quite right. They are the usual mix of oats and glitter wrapped in cellophane.

Reindeer Poop & Snowman Poo

Another make for the School Xmas Fair/Fayre. Reindeer Poo, chocolate raisins.

The Snowman Poo is tictacs

I have lost the link for the free printables I used but google it and there are loads! They went down a storm especially with the boys. Toilet humour reigns strong!

Santa's Magic Key

I made these for the school Xmas Fair/Fayre for fundraising purposes. I got the free printable here. It was the nicest one I could find, although a little American with the cookies but I think they went down well.

I bought the keys Wilkinsons. I didn't intend to buy them as I thought I had a whole pile of old house keys from various residences but no idea which! Turns out I don't have as many as I thought. But these decorative keys were quite bargainous and nice and old fashioned and weighty.

Baby Quilts

I have been very, very busy beavering away making a couple of baby quilts for two very close friends who have both had gorgeous bouncy baby boys. Here are some pictures of one of them.

I made it double sided (in the hope they would like at least one side) and used the clouds as the quilting lines.

I saw the phrase 'Eat, Sleep, Play, Repeat' somewhere when Charlie was a tiny baby and it really resonated with me as being exactly what it is all about! I was very excited to find that a new quilting shop opened in Grantham just a month or 2 before we moved here. I found some great fabrics and can't wait to have another reason to visit. 

Blankets as curtains

When I had the idea for this I Googled it and very little came up so this is for anyone who Googles it in the future!
I really wanted to have woolen blankets as my living room curtains. This was because I wanted to bring a little of our Scottish experience with us in our move back down south but also because they were relatively cheap but beautiful quality material being woolen. It also happened that they were exactly the right dimensions.
So, I found these clip curtain rings and just did it and I love the results. I know using blankets for curtains was what you did in the old days when you were too poor for real curtains or just needed a temporary fix but to be honest I think the result it lovely and I will keep them like this as a permanent thing.

Awesome Witches Brew trick

This is the BEST Halloween trick ever. The kids were totally absorbed and in absolute awe and wonder of the magic. Basically you tell them that you bought this bottle of drink from a witch who was selling door to door. (You buy it from the supermarket, It's fizzy, flavoured water and put a free printable spooky label on it). Then you pour it into the cups and by magic each cup is a poured clear but fills the cup as a colour and then the next cup is even more magical because it isn't even the same colour and the next and the next and they are flavoured not just plain water!

The trick is to set the cups out earlier with ice. Hidden under the ice is a tiny dab of food colouring which when the fizzy water is poured over it mixes up and makes the water that colour.

Total awe and wonder - achieved!

Witches broom sweet parcels

As part of the Halloween party, I made the kids some parcels of sweets disguised as Witches Broomsticks using twigs and brown paper.

Milk bottle Ghost Lights

These decorative lights were made simply with repurposed empty (and clean) 4 pint milk cartons. A hole cut in the bottom to feed fairy lights in (about 5 per bottle) and black paper spooky eyes and mouths stuck on with pritt stick.

We got a LOT of trick or treaters and loads of comments on the cool ghost lights!

Cobwebs - snowflake style!

We made some Halloween decorations. I was thinking how to make cobwebs and it struck me that you must be able to make them the same way you make snowflakes at Xmas time.

I spent a while thinking about what pattern you had to cut out, but figured it out in the end. They looked quite effective.

Halloween feast food

Spider bodies (black olives)

Chopped intestine dip (salsa)

Vampire Teeth (Apple and mini marshmallows)

Sick dip (Houmous with bits of carrot and sweetcorn)

Witches toenails (almonds) and Zombie Bogey Dip (Guacomole)

Bat droppings (chocolate raisins)

Snake Pie (snake shaped sausage roll!)

This year's Pumpkins

A Witchy with a Parsnip nose, hat and a green glowstick instead of a candle

The Witches cat with kebab sticks for whiskers, the stalk for the nose and other cut outs for the ears.

These were from designs the children drew on paper and recreated by their Dad's. The staple gun was particularly successful as scar stitches.

Halloween wreath

The husband asked me to make an Halloween door wreath. I didn't have time to go and get anything so I knocked something together with what I had to hand.
I made the ring with aluminium foil then wrapped it in grey yarn to give it a base. I used some black netting and bunched this around the ring using black thread which I then used to 'weave' a sort of spiders web in the centre for the toy spider to live on.
I felt it needed jazzing up a bit and so used orange felt to write the word BOO. Not the greatest effort but better than nothing I think.

4 types of Brownies

This week I had the first true test of my baking, baking for the W.I. cake stall!!!

Oh the pressure!

So I went for something I knew was a winner. Brownies and then I thought I would mix it up a bit and did 4 types:

Roasted Hazelnut (with a dash of Hazelnut syrup, usually used in our Saturday Lattes!)

Mint Choc brownies ( with a dash of peppermint extract and some green food colouring)

Regular Brownies (with white choc chunks)

Mocha Brownies (with some instant expresso powder)

The good news is that the ladies of the W.I. liked them!