festive makes and bakes

I'm squeezing in one last blog post this year - my festive makes and bakes.

Personally, it isn't Christmas without pervy gingerbread Santas and boobie angel. And dinosaurs. It has been a tradition of mine for quite a few years now and they always go down a treat. I made these for a Christmas party and they caused an absolute sensation. I have never seen so many grown adults get so excited about a tray of biscuits. It was hilarious to witness.

I acquired two new biscuit cutters this year for a bit of variety - a Santa and reindeer. The Santas in particular looked really fancy once decorated but man were they labour intensive to do. I'm glad I only had a handful of them to decorate, otherwise I'd be sitting there icing for days!

In addition to gingerbread biscuits I made an industrial supply of shortbread and tablet to give as presents to family. (I have a lot of family!) The amount of sugar and butter I went through was positively obscene.

Sadly all my baking ground to a halt after the shortbread and tablet marathon as I caught a nasty cold. I just managed to make a trifle for Christmas day but didn't manage to bake anything new which was a shame.

Now onto the makes! I knitted a couple of small, silly presents and first up is this snazzy penguin. I found him a bit fiddly to put together but the end result was worth it as he looks so cute and cosy in his big jumper.

The pattern came from a book I received last Christmas called "Mini Knitted Christmas" by Sue Stratford. It has loads of funny, little festive projects which kept my Mum and me occupied through most of December. It's hard to beat a bit of knitting whilst watching terrible Christmas films about incomplete women who need a boyfriend for Christmas or vice versa. And everybody is either called Holly, Chris or Nick. It's Christmas film law.

I also knitted a gingerbread couple from the same book. They're so hilariously odd yet adorable. I photographed them against my gingerbread man dress as I couldn't resist being a matchy dork.

My last piece of random knitting was this ginger cat. The pattern is called "Beans" and is a free Ravelry download by Linda Dawkins. It only dawned on me afterwards that the cat looks more Baked Beans coloured than ginger which made me laugh. Either way, it's a cute cat and I learned how to knit an i-cord.

And last up is a sewn present. For the first time ever I was completely stumped on what to get my Mum for Christmas, so after a bit of discussion I agreed to sew her a new apron. She picked out the fabrics (spotty and gingham heavy cottons) and told me what kind of style she liked and I drafted something suitable.

I tried my absolute best to sew and finish to the best of my capabilities and I'm really pleased with how the apron turned out. My Mum is delighted with it too which is the main thing. She loves all the handy pockets, the broad straps and that the whole thing matches her kitchen perfectly.

And that's it from me this year. I intended to do a big round up of all my makes and bakes from this year but I'm afraid I've run out of steam. I'll probably do one in the new year though as I've enjoyed doing them in previous years. In the meantime, I wish you all a happy and creative 2017! x

festive making and baking

I've been a bit slower than usual with all my festive baking and decorating this year but I'm well under way now. The tree is up (although still bare at the moment), presents are wrapped, fairy lights are twinkling and cake, tablet and gingerbread have been baked. Festive decorations have also been sewn whilst watching terrible (but brilliant) Christmas films on tv.

My first festive bake was Mary Berry's Victorian Christmas cake (which I first baked two years ago). I had forgotten how long it took to chop/rinse/drain all the fruit and nuts but it's definitely worth the effort. I gave this as a gift to my aunty and she was delighted with it.

My second bake was my annual batch of boobie angels and perverted gingerbread men/santas. 

I don't know why putting jelly tot sweeties on gingerbread angels or drawing pants on santas is funny, but it just is.

Although not a make or bake, I had to include this photo of Bob the cat. He looked very comfy on the bench whilst I decorated the gingerbread. He's certainly not stressing out about the run up to Christmas.

How are all your festive plans coming along? Everybody feeling organised? I would love to feel smug but it's hard to with headache/toothache. I need a filling done and a wisdom tooth pulled out and perhaps somewhat foolishly didn't accept treatment today (I just couldn't handle the idea of it today.) It's scheduled for the beginning of January instead. Great way to start the new year, ugh!

5 festive bakes

Not long till Christmas now! I've been busy making Christmas presents for the past month but it really feels like Christmas now that I've started my festive baking. I debated splitting all my festive bakes into separate posts, but decided to make one massive Christmas post instead. Hope you enjoy it!

First up are the funky gingerbread biscuits I baked yesterday to give to my cousins. They're quite crunchy, definitely more of a biscuit than a gingerbread, so they're good for dunking in your tea or coffee.

My mum helped with the decorating. We definitely have more of a childlike than professional quality. But who wouldn't want a stripey or splodgy dinosaur biscuit?! I don't know why I don't make biscuits more often as I love all my cutters, the dinosaurs in particular.

You know it's officially Christmas when you make mincemeat pies. I know many will be disappointed that I used bought mincemeat but I had jars left over from last year and I don't like to waste food. I made my own sweet shortcrust pastry though. It has ground almonds in it which gives the pastry a lovely crumbly texture.

It's also officially Christmas in my household when my Mum makes tablet (fudge/candy). I think we made 5 batches(!) to package up prettily as gifts. Don't even ask how much sugar is involved. It is not healthy!

I have also baked a couple of ginger bundt cakes to give to some aunties and uncles. They look impressive without taking up much of your time and they're perfect for sharing. I think my aunties and uncles will like that it's Granny's sticky ginger cake recipe too.

And lastly, a rarity on my sweet toothed blog, a savoury creation! I found this recipe for caramelised red onion chutney through the Cake Hunter (she's got a fantastic Christmas Countdown Gifts series at the moment which is worth checking out).

Chopping so many onions was a tearful task and certainly left a strong aroma in the house, but it was definitely worth it. This recipe made 3 and a half Bonne Maman jars worth of chutney. I'm glad there's a half jar so I can keep one for myself to eat with cheese. If I'm not eating cake, I'm definitely eating cheese.

How are your festive plans coming along? What are you all baking for Christmas? The amount of sugar and syrup I have gone through this weekend is insane!

Tablet and button earrings

One of my best friends, Alice, loves tablet. She also loves pink, earrings and buttons. Therefore I knew she would appreciate these homemade gifts for her birthday last week.

My family go through a lot of Douwe Egbert coffee jars (not me though, I'm a tea girl) and I find they're the perfect size for storing tablet. One batch of tablet fits two large jars, with a few "tester" pieces left over.

I've been dying to make button jewellery for ages so this was the perfect opportunity to make something. I've got so many buttons I could make all kinds of cute and crazy earrings. I also made the little origami box which I got ridiculously excited about. It's so pretty and the paper matches the earrings.

I'm also pleased to say I made this batch of tablet all by myself! Usually I get Mum to help as I'm never sure when the mixture is ready to set but I did this all on my own. It set with a lovely glossy top and had that perfect crumbly, melt-in-the-mouth texture. Delighted!

I would type out the recipe but it's a vague hand me down one which very much relies on observing changes in colour and consistency rather than timing and thermometers. However the next time I make it I could try step by step photographs to accompany the recipe if others fancy having a go.

Frilly floral brooch

A different type of post for you all today! I made a brooch for a birthday gift last month using a floral brooch tutorial on Gem's blog. It's simple, effective and makes a really sweet homemade gift.

I think the most fun part was choosing a button for the centre. I love buttons! So much so that I have three or fours tins/tubs full of them. They're a mixture of inherited and shop bought which makes them an interesting pile to rummage through.

There's something very satisfying about running a finger through a tub of buttons.

I finished the reverse of the brooch with another piece of felt, a brooch fastening which pierced the felt backing and clipped into place (hurray no sewing!) and some blanket stitching. Shamefully I had to google "how to blanket stitch" as I had forgotten how to do it!

I definitely want to make more of these brooches as they're fun and a great way of using up fabric scraps from previous projects. I stuck to only one fabric for this brooch as I liked the effect of the stripes, but I can't wait to try a multi fabric one. Thank you Gem for such a great design!

It looked lovely against my mustard cardigan.... and my gloriously pasty, Scottish skin. Yikes!

I used to do a fair bit of sewing, initially clothes for my barbie dolls and later cushion covers, bags, skirts and even a pair of trousers! I bought a 1970s dress pattern last year in a charity shop for 50p with the intention of doing more sewing but I have yet to find the perfect fabric. The sensible part of me wants a plain, versatile dress but my inner pattern magpie wants to buy this elephant fabric! Or perhaps this cool view finder print (any of the fabric from that site really). I also have a ridiculous urge to add ric-rac to something, especially after seeing this polka dot number on the Coletterie website.

I'm sensing the inner magpie is going to win the battle.