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Friday, July 29

Tutti-Frutti!


So a while back I bought some tasty Dutch 'Letter' candies from the sweet shop in Hanmer, and I decided I could make Tutti-Frutti cupcakes to put the candies on.

Using a plain vanilla cupcake recipe, but instead of vanilla I added a mixture of lemon, orange, raspberry, blueberry and strawberry flavourings. I did the same with the icing, only par-mixing the flavours  together.

The result was delicious!


I also made these apple cookies a while ago...

I modified an Edmonds recipe for Orange biscuits, into Apple using Apple juice.

They were a strange texture biscuit because the called for the butter to be rubbed into the flour. It made them almost pastry like.
I then painstakingly drew the apple flavoured icing on them...

They were very scrumptious!





Wednesday, July 27

Earmuffs!

It's high time I did a crafty thing, as I haven't posted one on here in ages (I blame all the illustration I've been doing)

Anyway, I woke up this morning and got ready to go out, (including getting my Mum to plait my hair!) then upon seeing the snow still on the ground and observing my bare ears I thought: 'Gee, I would really like a pair of earmuffs today.'
I have many times picked up a pair in a shop and considered buying them, but for some reason never did.

It quickly dawned on me that I could probably make my own... so I did.
Here is a little tutorial about just that.


I used:
An old headband, stripped
Sticky backed felt
Fluffy material
Dacron
And a few ice cream containers
(Thread etc)


Draw around a cup to get circles for the ears



Cut the circles out



 Cut a long, thick, strip of the sticky backed felt



Stick it onto the band, making sure to overlap it. (It is really sticky, and once you peel off the backing it's frustrating to cut, so make sure you have it the right size before sticking it on!)


Cut two thinner strips, peel, and tightly wind one around each end.


Using the circles as guides cut four circles from the fluffy material. (Allow approx 1cm for a seam!)
Also cut two long strips about 4ish cm wide.


Sew the strip onto the circle, and sew down the join. Sew only half of the top circle on.

Fill the earmuff with dacron (I packed mine quite firmly)

Make sure the plastic disk fits in

And prepare a thin layer of dacron for the outside section


Glue, tape or stick the plastic disk onto the covered band. I actually used some of the sticky felt as I couldn't find any tape or glue, and the felt is rather sticky!


Put the ear muffs together and hand stitch the seam closed. Make sure when you stitch through the sticky felt to only grab the top layer... as the sticky layer is very difficult to stitch and leaves a residue on your needle.

Volia!


I was pleased with my efforts this morning, and proudly showed them off this afternoon.


I am keen to make a few different types/colours now. I recall having a furry teddybear material somewhere...
Good luck making your ones!


Saturday, July 23

Bastille Day!

10 days ago it was Bastille Day, so naturally, I threw a party!

I did heaps of designs for my monthly design project, some of which I ended up as artwork for the party.

As well as a French theme, I featured a Neapolitan colour/flavour theme too.

For the party I created a big Neapolitan gateau...

It was made from 3 cakes, and the icing was white chocolate ganche, with dark Lindt chocolate leaves, white chocolate and strawberry white chocolate flower petals on top.


To make the leaves all you have to do is melt the chocolate and brush it on to one side of a washed leaf from your garden (the shiny/waxy ones with protruding veins work best). Put them on a baking paper covered tray and into the fridge to set. Carefully peel the leaf back off them when set and still cold.

The petals are similar, but instead of using a leaf (don't try to use petals!) shape some tinfoil pieces into a petal shapes (make sure they have sides) and put the white chocolate in these to set. Only colour/flavour your chocolate with specialty CHOCOLATE colourings/flavourings, I got mine quite cheap from Spotlight in the DIY chocolate section. Other colours will not work, not even the standard power colouring.



I cut the 3 different flavoured cakes in half and layered them, using frosting to stick them together. It gave it an awesome striped feel...




Dessert was served with French wine.


I also made macaroons, in keeping with the theme...



and served milkshakes!



Other delicious desserts were brought along too:

This lemon pie by Heather was so morish...




Hannah's dark chocolate mousse was up there with the best I've ever had...



Unfortunately I didn't get a chance to try Belinda's really yummy looking Lemon Meringue pie....



T'nealle brought a mixture of homemade croissants, pain au chocolate and truffles - they were really tasty!


And I'm not sure who brought these little danishes, nor did I get to try one, but they looked great non the less!



Suffice to say I ate way too much, but was very happy about it.

Monday, July 18

A nail is driven out by another nail

But today I'm actually talking fingernails!
I'd never cared much about painting my fingernails (couldn't be bothered waiting for them to dry) until last year - when I started getting them done on the odd occasion at Professionail or E-nails (much cheaper). I kinda got a crush on it then, and even since then I've been slowly collecting up colours. I'd tried to do the odd arty thing now and again but it always ended up looking a bit tardo. But lately I've been spotting these tutorials for fancy nail art around a bit... and I today finally gave nail marbling a go.
I'm far from good at it yet, but I suspect with practice I'll get much better!


From what I gather your nail polish can't be too cheap or old (they are too thick then) This first lot I tried with my O.P.I nail polishes and it seemed to work really well.





The one coat seemed a bit thin so I'll try a white coat underneath next time I think.

Later tonight I tried with some cheaper brandless stuff and it didn't seem to work so well. Needless to say I just made a big goopy mess.

Now I have an excuse to collect many more colours heehee... or perhaps I could organise a nail polish party and we could all share! It seems I'd have to organise some Audrey Hepburn films to watch while they dried too...


"A nail is driven out by another nail; habit is overcome by habit”
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