Rice krispie cakes

Nom nom nom - how i love these :)

The pink ones are rice crispies in melted marshmallow and the others are choccie ones. They didnt last long thats for sure!

Life just gets in the way...

Sorry for my mini absence recently, life has just got in the way of blogging! Moving house, various illnesses for various family members and a leak in the (brand new!) kitchen mean i havent had much time for making stuff recently. Hopefully that will change this weekend as i have no plans except relaxing and making stuff for the two new babies that have also arrived in the last few weeks - the baby boom continues through house moves, illness and leaks!

Lovely things I found in Ikea!

You never just buy whats on your list in Ikea, you always find something else you ‘need’!

Gorgeous washi tape

Lovely (cheap) stripey fabric

Fabulous paper decorations

All I went in for was a lamp….

Homemade Shower Spray

Since lovely BM and I bought a brand new house im trying very hard to keep it new looking! We live in an extremely hard water area so limescale and water marks are a regular issue. But im not keen on using abrasive cleaning products at the best of time, let alone on my precious new house, so I decided to make some home made shower spray. Its just lemon juice and water, 3 parts water, 1 part lemon and I found these perfect little spray bottles for £1 in Tesco.

So after we’ve had a shower we spray the lemon juice mix onto the shower door and the tiles to stop the limescale build up – and make it smell nice!

Seems to be working so far, this door would be covered in water marks by now if we weren’t using it :)

Wire basket liner

Well lovely BM and I have moved house, it all went smoothly but there's obviously not been much time for making stuff. My life revolves around what drawers to use for what stuff and what time the next delivery man/ work man is due! I hope to rectify that this weekend once ive got my new crafting table set up :)

However just prior to moving i decided that i need to sort out my toiletries drawer. As you can see it isnt very well organised, everything is just shoved in there. And knowing that the removal men would just take everything out and shove it in a box i decided it wasnt worth my effort organsing it but it might be worth putting a liner in it, to keep all those stray items together.


So heres the tray itself, its just an ikea jobby that fits in their Pax wardrobes.


And i made a (very quick) lining for it with some black stretch fabric that i bought far too much of once and have been try to use up for years!

All i did was cut out 5 pieces, one for the base and 4 for the sides, slightly larger than the actual area. Then i taped them together with double sided sticky tape. I dont like using pins at the best of times and certainly not for slippy fabrics. I checked the fit, made a few adjustment and trimmed some excess fabric and then just sewed all the sides together.
I was really easy and although i wasnt after a perfect fit or finish it actually turned out pretty well



The drawer is probably only slightly less messy but at least its all contained and that was my main aim after all!

Babybel people

These just make me laugh!

I saw some on Pinterest (cant find the source sorry) and i knew i had to try them. Theyre just cheddar Babybel cheeses with the wax coating cut away to look like hair and peppercorns added for eyes - simple yet super cute!

Doilie cupcake wrappers

I love cupcake wrappers but i can never justify the cost of them, not when they'll only get ripped off to get at the cakey goodness underneath! So i thought i'd have a try at making my own from doilies

I just cut off the outer edge of a doilie, wrapped it around the cupcake and secured it with a bit of tape.
Its certainly not my finest work but i think its an interesting start.
The way i cut the doilie left it vulnerable to ripping, i should have left some of the solid paper attached at the bottom, this would have reduced the chance of the lacey part ripping
The doilie being curved made it difficult to wrap it around the quite straight sided cupcake. Not sure how to fix this - less straight sided cupcakes, fold or pleat the doilie to accomodate the curve, wrap multiple doilies around then they wouldnt all have to be precise as long as together they looked good....
A few more attempts required i think!

Music paper/sheet music envelope

My mum is very muscial, theres not many instruments she cant play, so there was always sheet music in the house as a kid. Sadly i didnt inherit her musical abilities but i do have a huge fondness for sheet music. As theres (still) a massive surplus of it at my mums house i though i could make use of it and decided to make envelopes from it.


All you need is an envelope (to use as a template), sheet music, pencil, scissors and some glue


Open out your envelope, lay it on the sheet music and trace around it.


Cut out your envelope shape from the sheet music and then fold it up. Fold in the sides first, then the bottom and glue the bottom flap on top of the side flaps
 

Fold the top down and either tuck or glue into place
 

Isnt is cute! I esepcially love that it still has my mum's pencil notes on it :)

 

 

 

 

Nutella french toast with raspberries

 

Just plain delicious... Not much else to say really, follow this recipe (i used raspberries not strawberries) and eat heaven!

Crockpot No Knead Bread

I l-o-v-e bread. I could live on it (with butter of course). My dad has always made it in the family and while his is amazing i do like to try and make my own. But i hate kneading... and i dont have space for a bread maker, which probably means no home made bread :(

So when i saw this no knead recipe i thought i owed it to myself to a least give it a try

 

The recipe is easy to follow, except for the second proove step. They recommend wrapping the dough in a floured cloth or cling film. I couldnt get along with that at all and ruined 2 batches before this one. So i gave up on that bit and just did my second proove in an oiled bowl - so much easier!

And this bread is amazing :)

 

 

Really full of flavour and so airy, a real winner! The crust on mine is a bit thick but thats just because i left it in too long (new cooker teething trouble!)

 

 

It being round is slightly awkward if you want to make sandwiches from it but if i buy a lidded loaf tin then that problem would be solved...