Day 63 - Christmas tree decoration, hearts

I've been stitching these for days, I actually cut them at the same time as the trees which is almost a week ago. It's been a busy week making presents, decorations, working and school but I think I've finally caught up with myself. Which means I have a bit of time to catch up on a few missed days recently...hopefully. Anyway, to go with my mini trees I've made these hearts too, they still need a ribbon for hanging but I'm waiting for it to arrive.

Day 62 - DIY winter nails

The elves are working hard to sort out presents and decorations for Christmas, but I thought I'd take some time out and do something...less productive. I used a base coat of metallic blue, which is very pale and sparkly, I drew white snowdrops with a fine brush and waited for it to dry. The snowman is a series of dots using white, black and orange, very simple but actually quite effective. I'm sure there will be more festive nails but for now I'm happy with this (though it is only on one hand.)

Day 61 - recipes, a trio of soup

As the cold weather continues to tighten its grip, soup asserts itself as my best friend and saviour. So this week me and the man have created three different soups which I'd like to share as they are wonderful.
First up:
Butternut Squash soup, 
Ingredients
4 onions
2 cloves of garlic
2 large carrots, peeled and cubed
1 squash, peeled, deseeded and cubed
salt, pepper, thyme and chilli,
1 pint chicken stock
1 pint chicken gravy
Small handful of Spaghetti (broken into small lengths.)

Begin by sweating the onion, garlic and chilli, when the onions begin to soften add the carrots and squash and prepare your liquids. After 10 minutes (or when the veg has begun to soften) add your herbs and seasoning and then add your stock. Bring to the boil then simmer for half an hour. Whizz in batches until your soup is nice and creamy, but always leave a few lumps as they are satisfying to eat. Add your small amount of pasta and simmer until cooked. The pasta isn't necessary but it adds a bit of weight and depth.

Slow roasted Red Pepper and tomato soup
Ingredients
2 red onions
5 cloves of garlic
1 carrot
1kg tomatoes (or just a lot!) I went for cherry tomatoes but you can use whichever.
500g peppers, halved and deseeded ( I used the dinky sweet peppers in a variety of reds, oranges and yellows.)
1 chilli, deseeded,
1 pint of stock (chicken or vegetable)
salt, pepper, basil, brown sugar, paprika
olive oil,
tomato puree

Place your peppers into a roasting tin, give them enough room to touch the pan, drizzle with olive oil, and add seasoning and herbs. In another tin do the same with your tomatoes, add your garlic cloes (still in the skin) to the tin and roast in the over at 200 for 25-30 minutes.
Meanwhile prepare your onions, chilli carrot and stock. Begin to soften the veg in a pan and prepare yourself for a bit of messy work.
Once your peppers and tomatoes are ready (the skin will be blistered and soft) transfer them to a mixing bowl and cover with cling-film for a few minutes. The steam will help loosen the skins a bit more as these are very bitter and need to be removed. The more the steam can do the less you have to.
With your onions and carrots softened begin the long task of skinning your roasted vegetables, it's ok to leave a little skin left on but you want to get rid of as much as possible. This takes a while and does get messy, but its worth it. Add your roasted veg to the pan, season with a bit of sugar, paprika, salt and pepper and add your herbs. Cover with stock and bring to the boil, simmer for half an hour and then whizz until smooth and creamy (again, some lumps may be desired.) I put a dollop of cream cheese into each serving which adds depth and reduces the tanginess.

Last up its The Man's Mushroom soup
Ingredients
600g Mushrooms (you can go fancy, but your average mushrooms have a nice flavour and don't cost a bomb)
2 cloves of garlic
1 red onion
1 pint chicken stock
salt, pepper, thyme, parsley
Olive oil

In a pan fry your sliced mushrooms in some olive oil, add onions and garlic, herbs and seasoning and let it cook down for a minute. Cook for about 20 minutes until the moisture begins to evaporate then add your stock and bring to the boil. Let simmer for half an hour, then whiz and season to taste. I came home from work to this and it was so rich and creamy, you can use fancy mushroom and dried porcini for more flavour but in my opinion this recipe is simplicity at its best.

So there are three really nice recipes for you to try your hand at and enjoy this winter. I always go large on soup making and store it in the freezer for lazy days.

Day 60 - DIY Christmas tree decorations

I'm making a lot of these today, very simple tree with lace ribbon and button detail.

Day 59 - homely doodle

A lilttle Home is Where the Chaos is doodle today, I had no idea what I was going to do this morning, but I might even do more to it tomorrow.

Day 58 - Quilled Christmas decorations

I had lots of strips of card leftover from card making last weekend, so I decided to make a quilled decoration for the top of the tree this year. I made shapes by coiling and folding the card, and stuck them together to build a shape I liked. then used glitter glue to make it shiny. I think I like quilling...

It's drying now, when it's done I'll add loops to the back to slip over the tree top and see if there are any places that need strengthening.

Day 57 - DIY baubles complete

I've had the same old red and gold baubles for the last two years, so it is definitely time to do something different. First I painted them all with white acrylic, I used a genius system of bamboo skewers and a polystyrene head to hang them all to dry, even so I got a few painty run aways leaving white smears wherever they went. For the detail I used a black and a red uniball pen, which worked much better than I had expected, so long as you leave it to dry and don't smudge it. I went with stars and snowflakes for my patterns, and did everything in sets, black and red isn't a traditional combination of colours, but once it is on the tree with everything around it I think they will be quite striking. For an extra christmassy touch I went over the detail with a gold glitter glue pen and added highlights, which when dry I will do again to make them even more glitzy.

Day 56 - upcycled bauble

 The plan for today (and probably tomorrow) is to repaint my old baubles, so here is the beginnings of something...

Day 55 - DIY budget book

It's always this time of month when I start counting coppers, I find it hard to keep track of my incomings and outgoings, so a budget book may help me keep on top of things. It has a little envelope inside for receipts so I can watch what I spend at the local shop, as I think that is where my budgeting fails. This is
just a regular exercise book covered in cool images and sticky back plastic, inside I have allocated a page per month with all my usual incomings and outgoings recorded and tallied, this way I can see what's left after bills, rent, food etc... I think the real trick is to include everything, and allow a little extra cash for the unexpected.

Day 54 - handmade Christmas cards

I've made a few of these now, I always like to have a few designs but I liked how simple and effective this design is so there are a few adaptations but essentially they are all the same. Today I added a cut out window, I played with the idea of pasting a picture on the inside, but decided I liked the bare cut out more. I am going to add a few finishing touches before I send them out, but that is for an element of surprise in case they read this blog.

Day 53 - Christmas Card prototype

I have always been particularly useless at cards, I remember writing them out to all my school friends and leaving them at home, only to find them and bin them in the new year. Hopefully this year will be better.
Anyway it's a pretty simple design with quilled pieces of card and a christmas stamp, I have more ideas to fill up the empty space so hopefully I'll be able to show you a finished design this evening.

Day 52 - DIY handmade paper

I have always done handmade Christmas' and as I develop more skills I like to make my gifts more unique, so I've made paper to use for all my tags and labels this year. I made paper for my boat project last year, but it was thick and lumpy and mostly a grim colour. This time round I have improved and experimented with thin, coloured, scented paper!
First I tore lots of junk mail and scrap paper into tiny pieces and soaked it in water for a few minutes. Next I blended the mixture into a pulp, (this bit is much easier if you have a proper blender, not just a handheld as it likes to splatter...) I added a bit of yellow food colouring first, to take away the dull grey tone and then used purple acrylic ink to give it a sweet lavender colour, I also added a touch of glittery acrylic for a touch of sparkle. For the scent I used a pinch of ground nutmeg, cardamom and a touch of vanilla, (I would have used cinnamon too but I unbelievably don't have any!!) which has given it a subtle yuletide aroma.

Here is a general paper making tutorial as there are too many steps and I didn't have all the equipment so my way is a bit more of a winging it style.
For the texture I imprinted a pattern from lace into it using a rolling pin. It looks interesting, but I'm sure I'll regret this when it comes to writing on it.

Day 51 - the epic Christmas list Part 1a ii and b

I spent today cutting colourful flowers from felt and arranging them with buttons onto my embroidered names. I also began adding a drop shadow to the lettering using the colours from the flowers, one of these is almost complete it just needs a ribbon to hang it on a door or wall. The elves are coming to finish Part 1 of my Christmas list as we all sleep so onto the next Part...

Day 50 - the epic Christmas list...Part 1a i

So as winter has arrived it's time to start totting up the family and friends and creating unique and personal gifts for them all. Today I began the truly epic mission of presents for all the children, all 8 of them between me and the Man. This is the first stage of many, embroidering names onto felt. It only took 3 episodes of the Big Bang, one episode of New Girl, a film, The Croods...make that two films! The Hangover 3, which is actually pretty entertaining... All in all not a bad day off, productive and relaxing, ready for school and work tomorrow.

Day 49 - DIY wrap around skirt.

Well, today has been a bit of a faff, I didn't make what I had set out too, which was just a more comfortable, interesting pair of trousers from an old pair of jeans. I have such bad luck with trousers even when I'm not making them...so to save my sanity I made an asymmetric wrap around skirt using the fabric from the jeans and some blue corduroy, I need to adjust the waist band as is not straight and I would also like to add some loops for the wrap around string to go through, but after all the sewing I've done today I'm happy to just sit in it. Cat seems to like it :)
 

Day 48 - Getting on with some Hemming

For some reason I find hemming trousers so tedious and loathsome, but if this 365 isn't going to urge me to get on with it then I don't think anything will. So here is The Man in his now hemmed jeans just in time for a typically rainy winter. Mine will have to wait for another day...
Really it takes about five minutes a leg, so I don't know what my problem is, I've done a double row of stitching so it's stronger and will last a while.

Day 47 - DIY fur lined cuffs and collar

I am completely in love with the Cat jumper I made the other day, and as promised I cosied it up a bit more by adding some fur to the collar, cuffs and waist. Now it is totally snuggly and warm for winter. I used a sort of fluffy towelling rather than faux fur, as it is softer and doesn't have the same inclination to matt and washes well.

Day 46 - DIY sewing box gift

Happy Birthday Taz! Today's post is my gift to my sister, a little sewing kit with a cute pair of shoes pin cushion and a makeup palette needle book. It even has a pocket on the lid for her scissors to slip into. I made a portable sewing kit for myself a few weeks ago which was tailored to my needs as this has been for Taz, I hope. It got a pretty good reception so I'm pleased about that.

Day 45 - music paper doodle

School today and work in a bit so here's something I made earlier. Sort of inspired by Bristol and bonfire night.

Day 44 - DIY Cute cat jumper

So I am ready to embrace my status as crazy cat lady, though one is more than enough for me. I chose a plain jumper that has been bugging me for a while and tarted it up with a bit of thread. Tor decided he could help me start by sitting on it and posing, thanks kitty! That's it for today but I have some cosy ideas to finish it off.

Day 43 - Upside down toffee apple cake

In the spirit of bonfire night I made something sweet and warm, and watched fireworks from the comfort of my bedroom window :)
To make this cake I made a basic cake mix, lined the tin with apple slices which I covered with melted butter and sugar, I split the cake mix in half and added cocoa powder to the last half before adding it to the tin which gave a nice tiered effect.

Day 42 - DIY carrier bag dispenser

Now that Halloween is over I can get on with some more useful things, this little dispenser took about half an hour and frees up two drawers in the kitchen. Its a Fat Quarter of fabric with two roll over slips at each of the short ends for the drawstrings to go through, folded in half lengthways and stitched on the inside. Turn the right way in, cut holes into your roll over slip and thread with elastic or cord. I used the elasticated drawstrings from an old pair of trousers. I've hung it beside the front door for now, so its pretty easy to access as you leave the house.

Day 41 - a home for faeries

I'm still running a day behind, but I have some time this afternoon to get on with something creative :) for yesterdays blog I'm sharing a picture I made last week for my sisters birthday, which was always meant to be a day, but got bumped behind all this Halloween madness. I could happily live here...
Happy Unbirthday! x

Day 40 - DIY fancy dress

So no blog yesterday as Iw as gearing up to a party, and then hosting. I spent ost of the day pottering around tidying and adding more decorations, but also the finishing touches to my costume. This costume cost me 99p for the tiny elastic bands in my hair, everything else was recycled, obviously it helps having facepaint lying around. After my practice on the polystyrene heads, it was pretty easy painting my own face, and I'm pretty chuffed with the outcome. Definitely a low effort costume I would recommend.
Anyway, off to work soon so I will be back again later.