How To Make a Slogan Bag

Buying a house (or at least, trying to) and keeping up with the blog has not worked out in the way I had hoped.  It's all taking much linger than I thought and with mortgage meetings, viewings, research and spending hours and hours with my new BFF, Rightmove, I'm finding no time to make the projects I'd like to - but have an even longer list than ever before.  So I'm trying to prioritise those that can be completed in an hour - hopefully there will be more quick crafts on the way.  

To start - this easy-peasy slogan bag!

What I Used:

Hobbycraft Cotton Bag [£1.50]

Bronze Pen

To create your bag, start with either writing your slogan to create a template, or printing your 

text in a font you like.  I used effects similar to those used in this easy calligraphy post:

Place your template inside the bag and hold this up to the window so that you can lightly trace the text:

Next, add a thick piece of card, newspaper or something to protect the other side of the bag and

 prevent the ink running though before tracing your slogan.
Use a fabric pen, or in my case, a Sharpie, to trace your text:

Take your time and use small strokes if you are after an effect of thin and thicker lines - 

build them up as you go and don't rush yourself, as this may lead to mistakes or the ink bleeding

 due to too much pressure and the ink in contact with the fabric for too long:

...once your slogan is complete.  You're done!

Fill it with your makeup, handbag essentials, jewellery - whatever needs wrapping up in something personalised and unique - these make great quick, easy and purse-friendly gifts!

see you next time x

Suitcase and Teddy Cake

Yay! It's school holidays!
No morning rush; no school lunches to pack; no scramble to find socks/ jerseys/ PE tops 5 minutes
60 seconds before we leave home, and no homework to fight through!
But it does mean having to entertain the kids for the whole day; every day for three weeks....
I may just need to pack my bags and disappear on a mom-vacation at the end of that.

So, here's celebrating vacations! (Or the anticipation of them!). 

This is an idea I'm trying out for a future class. It was such a sweet little cake to make. 

It's a 4 inch vanilla sponge covered in ganache and decorated with modelling chocolate/ fondant.

What you might just be able to see in the picture, is the post-construction dusting on the sugar paste: light brown/ tan along the edges of the leatherwork, and dark brown in the creases.
If  I'd taken a before and after photo (*ahem... ahem*), you'd see what a big difference it makes.
And I feel like such a "grown-up" decorator when I dust or paint on cakes! (Big enough to be using make-up!)

Give it a try sometime, if you haven't already - dusting can create subtle shadows and accents, and can bring a fondant piece to life. Just like my morning make-up!

Happy holidays! (And if you're going away, safe travels - and remember to pack Teddy!)

xxM

Up and Away Cookies

We decorated "Up and Away" Cookies for Fathers Day this year. I'm more comfortable with pretty and girly, though, so it took me a while to find my feet (or wings?!) with this theme.
 But in the end I really enjoyed it!

 Hot air balloons are especially fun to decorate! They have a structure to them - you know they've got a ballon and a basket, so they aren't an overwhelmingly blank canvas (Eeek! Where do I start?!).  But there are dozens of different ways to decorate the envelope; and geometric patterns, in particular, look great.

I'm not very good with symmetry and straight lines, however, so I always sketch the design on the cookie first.
I use a non-toxic graphite pencil for sketching. I know "non-toxic" is not the same as "edible", but we're not eating the actual pencil here, ok?!
(You can use an edible marker if you'd prefer. Just don't eat the marker - it's the ink that's edible, not the marker  ...).

You can find graphite pencils at CNA. They're called Bic Ecolutions.

(If you'd like to know how to create this deep shade of navy blue, read this post here.)



Happy decorating!

xxM

Double Chocolate Chip Cookies

The original author of this recipe called them "Marry Me Cookies" because they were apparently guaranteed to get her a date and/ or marriage proposals.
I'm not in the market for either of those, though. I'm relieved to say that my dating years are behind me. They were disastrous. Perhaps I could have done with these cookies back then. Or maybe not... More bad dates, or guys wanting to marry me for my cookies... um... no, thanks ;o)

But I did make these sweetly crunchy, chewy, yummy biscuits with men in mind - fathers and husbands, though.
They'll be a great treat for Dad (yours or your children's) this Fathers Day!

Double Chocolate Chip Cookies
Recipe by Melissa Stadler via the Cooking Channel

Ingredients:
250g butter
250g dark brown sugar
50g caster sugar
1 egg
1 egg yolk
1tsp vanilla extract
320g cake flour
120g raw rolled oats
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1 cup white chocolate chips
1 cup dark chocolate chips

In a medium-sized saucepan, heat the butter until it is melted.
Remove from the heat.
Stir in the sugar. Mix until well combined.
Chill for 10minutes.

Remove from the fridge and mix in the egg, yolk and vanilla.

Stir in the remaining ingredients.

Roll the mixture into approx 24-30 balls (large marble sized).
Place onto lightly floured baking trays.
Space them well apart. (They will flatten and spread as they bake).
Refrigerate for 30min.

Preheat the oven to 180'C.

Bake the cookies for 10-12 minutes, or until just beginning to turn golden.

Remove from the oven, and allow to cool for 10 minutes before placing on a cooling rack.
The cookies will be very soft when they come out the oven, and will firm up as they cool.

Have a great Fathers Day weekend!

xxM

Summer International Lolita Day 2015

Last Saturday, I co-hosted a meet along with my friends Sammi and Luna for ILD.

Over the past few months, I have felt that meetup planning itch, which I wasn't sure I'd ever feel again after having had a lot of negative experiences in the past. Still, I broached the idea with them of doing something a bit more organised and special than the usual restaurant meets, and we put our heads together to come up with something that would be affordable and yet a lot of fun. We knew we would have to charge entry to the event, and were at first sceptical as to whether the comm would roll with it. After a few weeks of making the event, however, we found ourselves with a guest list of 12 people, a great group size!

Using the money we put together, we were able to book out an entire floor for 5 hours in our favourite pub, came up with a whole host of activities and games to fill the day with, not to mention putting together a feast, and buying prizes for the winners of each activity. On the day of the meet, we were running a little behind schedule and rushing through the city centre like our lives depended on it! We managed to get everything sorted (somehow!) and ended up having a really amazing day!

We made silly little goodie bags for everyone to take home! I don't think it's a concept you ever truly grow out of!

Here is the table of food! Sammi really stole the show here, and prepared homemade potato salad, couscous dishes, and even macarons which came out perfectly! She truly is a culinary goddess.

Our first event of the day was one of my infamous quizzes. I put together yet another print name test, where you had to guess which of the print names were real, and which ones I'd made up. The highest score was only 11/20! 

After this, we did Luna's Lolita Assault Course! The tasks were as follows: walking through a slalom as elegantly as you could while having balloons thrown at you, doing the best lolita pose you could, sitting as nicely as possible, tying the best bow, putting a sugar cube into a teacup and stirring daintily, and then doing your best lolita laugh! As you can probably tell if you've seen Misako's series on Kawaii Pateen, a lot of that activity was inspired by it!

Gorgeous Maddie got the highest score in the assault course! She is so elegant!

At the start of the day, us organisers hide one of the prizes somewhere in the room. We gave no clues or hints as to how to find it, but whoever did find it would be the one to keep it! Only two people seemed to remember to look for it, and one of those two found it immediately!

Eva was victorious! She found the super cute and fluffy macaron purse.

The next activity was pass the parcel! It took myself, Luna, and Sammi close to an hour to wrap it and put it together a few weeks ago! It had so many layers we couldn't remember which layer was the last one, and so the game (aided by some cheesy pop music we found on one of the pub's CDs) went on for quite a while! 

 I think everyone won something, even if it was only a lollipop or a lip balm. The last layer had a pair of cute Bodyline knee high socks in it. 

Next up, cupcake decorating! Everyone was allowed to decorate two cupcakes each, to be put into an anonymous display where everyone then had to vote for their favourite one!

Some cake decorating action! People got really creative with their designs.

A few of the finished cakes! Some of the ideas were incredibly adorable! It was interesting to see how differently each person approached it.

Our final event of the day was lolita charades! This was so much fun! Us organisers took it in turns to pull a print name out of a hat, and act it out. Whoever guessed it right first got to claim one of a selection of prizes. It was a really nice way to end the day!

After this, people hung around for a while and we all ate more of the food as we were getting a little hungry again! Luckily, we had bought and prepared more than enough, so there was plenty of food to go around still. 

Of course, the day wasn't complete without a (most of the) group photo! 

So much Angelic Pretty made an appearance! It was like going back in time to when sweet lolita ruled the roost!

And now for an outfit picture!

I decided to give Dreaming Macaron an outing! Lately, I've really wanted to try to stop myself from wearing so much black, so this was definitely a success. I didn't feel particularly out of my comfort zone either, so I think it would be nice to do some more proper pastel outfits more regularly. I also tried out twin buns for my hair and I like how it turned out! It's a shame I didn't get any photos of my outfit in natural lighting, but I'll probably do a similar coordinate again soon!

And finally, a mirror picture for the organisers!

Luna went with her adorable Sweetie Violet dress, and Sammi rocked up in glorious Honey Cake! We all had fun being super sweet AP lolitas that day!

Overall, I had such an amazing time, and I'm really glad I got over my mental block for organising meets! Everyone else seemed to really enjoy themselves too, which was really nice to see! One thing I did learn is that three heads are definitely better than one. Putting things together as a group gives you so many more options, points of view, suggestions, and a certain comfort in knowing that if something isn't going to plan, someone else can step in with a plan b. Plus, it's so much fun planning things to do with your best friends! I am so looking forward to us putting our heads together again to come up with another extravaganza in the near future!

What did you get up to for Summer ILD? I'd love to hear about it! Thanks for reading, and I look forward to your comments ❤

Dark Chocolate Cupcakes with Mixed Berry Yoghurt Swiss Meringue Buttercream

Along with the truth about Santa, the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy,  I know that it's only a  matter of time before my children figure out that frozen yoghurt isn't really ice-cream.
Those revelations will herald a time when bribery and threats are no longer quite as effective on their naive minds. Sigh! ;o)

But in the meantime fro-yo continues to hold sufficient sway as a reward and treat, and doesn't have too much mom-guilt attached to it. Pity about all those topping though!

Anyways ... I give you this insight into my impeachable parenting ploys,  because this icing reminds me of frozen yogurt:
Subtle flavours, not too sweet, a hint of dairy, and silky smooth. It's flavouring comes from the addition of Woolworths double cream Ayrshire mixed berry trifle yoghurt.
Yum!

Dark Chocolate Cupcakes 
Recipe by Tea, Cake and Create

Preheat the oven to 180'C
Prepare 2x 12hole muffin trays with cupcake cases.

2 cups cake flour
2 cups sugar
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt 
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1 cup buttermilk
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup boiling water 
1tsp Vanilla extract

Sift together all the dry ingredients. Whisk to combine.  
Make a well in the centre, and pour in the eggs, buttermilk, oil and vanilla. 
Mix well. 
Add the boiling water. Mix until combined.  

Pour into the prepared cupcake cases - do not fill more than halfway! 
Bake at 180'C for approx 20min, or until a skewer inserted comes out with a few moist crumbs clinging to it. 
Remove cupcakes from muffin trays to cool. 

Ice when completely cool. 

Mixed Berry Yoghurt Swiss Meringue Buttercream 
Recipe by Tea, Cake and Create

5 egg whites 
200g white sugar
1tsp vanilla extract
250g butter at room temp, cut into cubes. 
150g mixed berry double cream yoghurt 
1-2 drops Electric Purple gel colour
(This recipe produces enough to ice half the cupcakes with large swirls. Double all the ingredients for a full quantity of icing.)

Put the egg whites and sugar into a mixing bowl, and place that over a suitable saucepan of simmering water. 
(The bottom of the mixing bowl must not be in contact with the water, and the water should not be boiling.)

Whisk constantly, until the sugar granules have dissolved and the mixture is hot to touch. 

Move off the stove, and to the mixer.
Using the whisk attachment, whip until it forms a thick and glossy meringue.

When the mixing bowl feels neutral to touch, change over to the paddle attachment, and add the butter one cube at a time, beating on low-medium speed.
It may curdle, but just keep whipping until it reaches a satiny smooth consistency and holds its shape. Add the vanilla extract and yoghurt; beat well to incorporate. 

Pipe onto cooled cupcakes.

Ed's note (that's me!) I've also made these with the addition of a mixed berry preserve secret centre. Double yum! 

Sweet treats and happy baking!

xxM 

How To Make an Origami Boat Accessory

With so much of my craft stash in storage, it's been a good excuse to try some ideas on my list that go back to basics and today I am sharing a quick and easy origami storage/accessory idea that needs nothing more than a sheet of a4 card: paper boat.

What I Used:

Plastic Coated Glitter Card

Paper / Ruler / Pencil

I used this tutorial to make my boat and understand how each fold worked.

To make the process easier, I created my boat from paper, which I could then unfold and use as my template.  My weapon of choice for this DIY was plastic coated glitter card [last used in this Ultimate Bows DIY] as it would allow me to make the folds, hold it's shape and the weight of my accessories and........glitter:

I placed the unfolded paper on top of the plastic coated card and using a pencil, pressed to mark
 every point where the folds met.  Removing the paper template, I then joined up the marks with a
 ruler and made sure the template was reflected on the card:

Once completed, I then used scissors to score over each line - not applying too much pressure [you don't want to cut through the card] and then rubbed out the pencil marks:

Follow the paper boat instructions and you'll find the folds much easier to make with the scored lines.  As each fold is made, make the fold crisp by pressing it down with a ruler:

...and your boat is ready for cargo:

Whether for keys:

...or jewellery and accessories:

see you next time x

P.S: How To Make A Stand For Your Boat

If you find that you prefer the 'long boat' look to your origami [this makes the ability for your boat to stand on it's own much harder] you can make a quick and easy stand that will blend in with your boat:

Cut a small section of card

Push this in place through the fold at the bottom of your boat:

You can now attach the bottom of the stand to your table top to help strengthen the centre of the boat and help it stand straight, rather than at an angle [unless that's the look you're after].

How To Make a Toy Animal Letter

When I saw these fillable wooden letters in HobbyCraft, I thought I'd use them to join the marquee letter bandwagon fashionably late [as I do with most projects] or try fabric flower embellishments - but there are so many options for the letters, that before deciding on my final design, I thought I'd share a few experiments on the blog.  First up is a simple, fuss-free and very quick plastic toy animal design.

What I Used:

Fillable Wooden Letter [HobbyCraft £3]

Plastic Animal Toys [B&M £1.99]

Simply take a selection of animal plastic figures - a range of colours, designs and shapes and 

use them to fill the negative space:

 Layer the figures, push them in to place [the letters are quite strong] and gradually build up the 

number of figures as you distribute them inside the letter:

 [smaller figures were great for filling any gaps or breaking up colours]

 The wooden letter can be painted, decoupage-d, coloured and embellished before the figures are glued in to place [a hot glue gun would be perfect] or add faux leaves or something that will help blend the background of your letters and animal figures if you want to add to the detail and finished design:

For a few more ideas, including pom poms and glitter [!!!!!!!] pop over to the HobbyCraft blog.

They are great for decoration, displaying toys or as a gift and are easily personalised - I'll share

 a few other designs over the next few weeks.

see you next time x