Tag: diy

April 7, 2014

A little box of joy

In case you hadn’t noticed, Easter is fast approaching. I’m a big fan of Easter, and Spring in general. This year I’m heading to Germany to see some very wonderful people and I can’t wait.

In the meantime though, I’m busy covering everything in mini eggs and thinking up yummy Easter treats for you to get chubby eating. You’re welcome.

This one is great for kids and would make a lovely little present for the relatives or anyone else you might be seeing over the next few weeks.

You will need

An egg box

Coloured paper/paints

PVA glue

For the cakes

4.5 oz/125g Self raising flour

4.5 oz/125g Butter/margarine (I use stork for most cakes)

4.5 oz/125g Caster sugar

2 eggs

1tsp Vanilla extract

For the decoration

4.5 oz/125g Unsalted butter (room temperature)

2 tbsp Full fat milk

12 oz/350g Icing sugar

Food colouring

1 tsp Vanilla extract

Mini eggs

Mini cupcake/muffin cases

Makes 24

Step one

Decorate your egg box. This post is just a suggestion, you can paint it, or cover it in glitter, or stick cotton wool balls all over to make it look like a sheep. Your only limit is your imagination, and the fact it’s an egg box…

Rip paper into strips. The thinner the paper the better with this really, as egg boxes, I discovered, are rather lumpy, so thicker papers don’t mould around them so well.

Mix PVA and water together in a bowl that you don’t mind getting temporarily covered in glue. You want about 3 parts PVA to 1 part water (otherwise the egg box will get soggy).

Paint the glue mix onto the surface of the box and stick paper on top. Cover each strip of paper with more glue mix as you go. This is where it all gets very Art Attack. Neil Buchanan made it look so easy…

Keep going until the whole outside is covered and leave somewhere to dry. Make sure you do the box bit a good few hours in advance of using it, ideally the day before.

At this stage mine looked like the above, and I still thought it was a bit messy.

Step two

Line the edges with washi tape. I did this to neaten mine up mainly, you possibly won’t have the same issue.

You might notice the purple box in the background…thought I would include a cheats option. That’s the box from those Cadbury’s Egg n’ Spoon things. They are amazing in case you were wondering, and now you have an excuse to buy a pack.

Cut the central doo-dahs so they are level with the rest of the sides.

Line the lid either using the same technique as before, or with cut paper and double sided tape.

Step three

Time to start on the cakes. I use an electric whisk to make cakes but a wooden spoon and some elbow grease is just as good.

Cream together the margarine and caster sugar. If you’re using butter bring it to room temperature before doing this. You want it to be fluffy and light like the image on the right. Honestly, Stork is the way forward for this. Cheaper too.

Step four

Quickly whisk/beat in the eggs and vanilla extract and then add the flour.

Stir until you have a smooth thick batter.

Heat oven to gas mark 4/180 C/350 F

Step five

Fill cake cases with mixture. You want them to be about two thirds full, a few of mine were too full, so if in doubt look at the above and go for a bit less!

Step six

Bake for about 30 mins on gas mark 4/180 C/350 F. My oven is a touch special so keep an eye on yours, timings may vary.

Leave to cool completely before icing.

Step seven

Whisk together the unsalted butter, icing sugar, milk, and vanilla extract. Add food colouring of your choice.

Now, I don’t usually use a recipe for this so don’t shy away from adding a bit more icing sugar if your icing is too wet or a splash more milk if too dry.

Step eight

Ice your cakes and pop two mini eggs on top.

I won’t give too many piping tips as I’m still getting the hang of things myself. The general rule though is to keep the piping bag at quite an upright angle and apply even pressure.

Step nine

Put them in the egg box and make someone’s day that little bit more joyful.

March 31, 2014

Chick-chick-chick-chick-chicken

Last Monday night I found myself in Sainsbury’s lending a hand with the food shopping. Whilst queuing behind five of the most ridiculous locals in the bakery line, I happened to spot a something in the display case. Now, I don’t know whether I was more amused or horrified to see these little things. There was no way to describe them, so I bought some to show you. See below.

Now, I wouldn’t blame you for wondering what on earth they are. That, my dear friends is one of the ways Sainsbury’s is ringing in the Easter season this year. They’re chicks! I know right? Wow.

So in my slightly obsessive way I hit the chocolate aisle with plans to improve on Sainsbury’s rather bizarre little contribution to Spring.

You will need

A half batch of the fudge from last week’s post. See step one for more info.

(You may prefer to use a favourite truffle or cake pop recipe instead, I just really like fudge)

300g White chocolate

White chocolate buttons

200-300g Candy coating

(optional – substitute with more white chocolate if you prefer/don’t want to buy)

A tub of chocolate beans

(mine were from Dr Oetker)

A couple of squares of dark chocolate

Step one

Make up the fudge as seen in last week’s post. You don’t want to heat it to quite the same temperature though, or you won’t be able to roll it. Go with around 112 degrees C. The white stuff you can see on the board is icing sugar – the fudge was a touch sticky.

Apologies both for skipping the ‘making of’ in this post, and for using the same recipe twice in two weeks. This is just a suggestion, you can use any kind of filling as long as you can roll it into balls.

Step two

Cut buttons into halves for the little wings, and sort your beans out so you’ve just got the yellow and orange ones for their little beaks.

Step three

Now, this stage was all a bit too much to try and document all on my own, even with the help of self timer, so excuse the jump in photos.

You want to melt the candy coating and white chocolate in the microwave in heat-proof bowls (do one colour in full first then the other).

After my first and bad experience with candy coating I wasn’t thrilled with the idea of take two, but I really wanted yellow chicks and had plenty left over. So I did a little google, only to discover that Wilton’s Candy Coating (the one I have) is pretty much universally hated by all home bakers. Wish I’d known before I forked out £3…still, never mind.

The forum mums and bloggers informed me that this cement mix can be thinned out with some melted shortening (Trex is the best UK substitute), or oil. I didn’t want a whole tub of Trex with no other plans for it on the horizon, so I just used veg oil. It worked fairly well, and at least made the candy dipp-able. I will probably try to source an alternative next time though.

Anyway, you should check out my dipping technique, documented in this post if you’re not sure where to start. You need to dip your fudge, place on greaseproof paper, and straight away stick on the little beak and wings. Feel free to experiment with different positions for the wings and beak so that all your tiny chickens are unique.

Leave to dry.

NB: I also added little swirls and lines for hair with a cocktail stick to give my chicks a bit of extra character, not that they needed any…they’re a little bit bumpy and odd as it is but it all adds to the charm eh?!

Step four

Use a small sharp knife to trim off any chocolate that has pooled to form a base on the greaseproof around the bottom of your chicks. I wish I’d been a little more careful about this, so take your time. If you do it while the chocolate is still a little soft you will get a cleaner cut.

Step five

Melt a couple of squares of dark chocolate and use a cocktail stick to dot on eyes. I made a number of mine sleep with little semi circles and the wonkiest looking one was given glasses…mainly for my sister’s benefit as I knew she would find him endearing.

Step six

Put them on a plate and serve them up to your Easter guests!

They are a bit too cute to eat though. Even if they aren’t quite the polished product I had in mind when I turned my nose up at the Sainsbury’s ones, I hope they bring a little smile to your face.

Happy making!

February 12, 2014

Last minute lolly

When making the maple truffles I ended up with a decent amount of left over chocolate from the dipping stage. So I decided to create another little Valentine’s treat. There’s still time to dash to the shop and whip one up tomorrow evening for a yummy treat that’s more heartfelt than hallmark.

This is a little bit of a cheat post (hence the mid-weekness of it all). I’m afraid there are no photographs of the stages, just the final product. But all is not lost…I do go through making homemade chocolate lollies here.

To create the heart shape you just need to create two circles next to each other and then sort of pipe down and drag to make the point. More info can be found on the Christmas Lollies post (link above). Once the outside is touch dry you can melt a couple of squares of white chocolate and drizzle over the top. Feel free to experiment with different decorations, types of chocolate, or just chuck a load of sweets on top while it’s still drying. You might even want to try piping a message to your beloved?

Wishing you a wonderful rest of the week, see you on Monday!

February 11, 2014

Truffles – The making of the bag

So, I missed Monday blog day. Apologies, but there was some urgent badge making to see to, for a very special nearly 8 year old who’s mum was tearing her hair out looking for an 8th birthday pin. Katie and her dusty old badge-it to the rescue.

Now to business…I know you spent your weekend making those lovely truffles and need something to gift them in. Here’s how to make a little bag. I warn you, it’s not really the industry approved method (I’ll do a tutorial for that another time) but it does the trick and is super quick and easy.

Step one

Choose your paper, I’m a sucker for a bit of brown parcel paper, but as long as it’s relatively thick you’re good to go with whatever takes your fancy.

Find a box whose dimensions match the rough size and shape you want your bag to be.

Cut paper to size as if you are wrapping a gift, but leave a little extra on the long side so you have some to fold down to close the bag.

Step two

Wrap the long side first. Fold over the edge that will appear on top so that it’s nice and neat and stick down with glue or double sided tape.

Step three

I don’t really want to patronise you and tell you how to wrap a parcel particularly when the above isn’t even the best. But wrap the bottom of the box, but make sure you leave the other end open!

Step four

Pull box out of the wrapping so you have the basic bag shape. You can go ahead and use it now (see I told you it was quick and easy) but I prefer to make it look a bit more authentic.

Pinch the edges to make crisper folds.

Step five

This step was a little difficult to photograph, but basically you want to create a fold in the centre of the long side. Put your index finger in between your two folds and use your thumb and middle finger to sort of pinch it together.

Step six

Fold the bottom under as shown above. This will give you the little triangular type bits, and also means that you can make a few and store them flat until you need them.

Step eight

Unfold, and fill with yummy truffles.

(note triangle bit I was talking about above – I’m not mad)

Step nine

For Valentine’s day decoration I used a wooden BBQ skewer. Chop with a pair of garden clippers to about the width of the bag.

Step ten

Use a bit of washi tape to create the feather of cupid’s arrow. Stick a bit on both sides and trim as above.

Step eleven

Fold down the opening of the bag and cut two slits through all layers of paper. Push arrow through to secure.

Step twelve

Use washi tape to make an arrowhead and secure to the end.

Step thirteen

Stick a heart over the centre.

In all honesty I am not a huge fan of this, but I think it’s probably partly because the woods don’t match. You could cut one out of coloured paper or card if you don’t have a little wooden heart in your supplies. Just make sure you don’t do what I did; hold it up first to see if you like the look of it rather than sticking it on and wishing you hadn’t.

Voila!

January 27, 2014

Getting in a bind

This weekend I decided to make a book. It was pretty satisfying holding the finished product, so I definitely encourage you to have a go, even if you never write in it, just put it on a shelf and admire it, that’s what I’m doing at the moment. It was pretty cheap too and will keep you busy for a while (January budget strikes again – you might even have all the ingredients!)

You will need:

A sheet of thick card (this will be your cover)

Good quality paper/thin card (at least 28 sheets)

PVA glue

Fabric/Adhesive fabric roll

Nice quality paper for inside cover

Craft knife and cutting mat (ideally, but scissors will work too)

Needle and thread

Step one

Depending on the size of your thick piece of card you may need to trim your paper sheets. I bought my card from The Range, and it’s artists’ backing board so it came in standard sizes. I got A4, and then realised once I got home that the inside paper was A4 too. Error. You need to cut a spine from your cardboard, so whatever goes inside needs to be smaller to begin with.

Fortunately I have a paper trimmer left over from my A level Art days. So I cut my inside sheets to 25cm x 19cm.

Then you need to score all your sheets in the middle so you get a clean fold. Don’t use the craft knife for this or chances are you’ll slice straight through. Regular scissors are good.

Stick a bit of music on, you’ll be here a little while.

Step two

Fold fold fold.

Put your folded paper into four or more equal size booklets, you need at least four. The number of sheets of paper you need will depend on the thickness of it and the number of pages you want. I’ll let you figure that out. As you can see, I used different pastel coloured papers; take advantage of it being made from scratch and mix it up a little. You could do each booklet in a different colour or alternate them more regularly like I did.

Step three

Poke at least five holes through the fold of each booklet with a needle. Make sure you do this over a blob of blu-tac in true Blue Peter style.

Sew each booklet together using a double threaded needle. You will need a big knot at the end of your thread to stop it from pulling through on your first stitch. I used backstitch and went over mine twice to make it super strong. (If you aren’t sure how to back stitch then have a little google, don’t shy away now…you can do it)

Step four

You will see that the non-fold edges of your booklet don’t line up because they are tucked inside each other. Now, you can leave it like that and just have a jagged (whatever the word is for the opposite to spine), but mine was fairly bad, as I used really thick paper – it was basically card.

So, top tip for you if you don’t own a guollutine (99% of people in the world)…use a bread knife! I know it sounds silly, but after hacking away for ages at the first one with a craft knife to the point where I just couldn’t get a straight edge for the life of me, I was beginning to wish I hadn’t bothered.

Then, eureka moment! Got myself set up on the chopping board with a ruler as the guide and it all ended happily ever after…well…still not quite perfect, but a heck of a lot better than the first one.

Step five

Once your booklets are all sewn and trimmed, hold together with a bulldog clip at the top and bottom, ensuring the spines are level.

Step six

Use the PVA to glue to a scrap of fabric as shown above. If you don’t have spare fabric (I cut up an old pillow case) then a piece of paper will work too, it just won’t be quite so strong.

I used some double sided tape to hem the edges of the fabric at the top and bottom. Leave enough scrap on either side to secure it to the cover well later. There’s no need to hem the long edges as they will be completely covered.

Set aside to dry thoroughly. Overnight if you can.

Step seven

Time to make the cover!

Measure the width of your booklet spines, mark out a strip of card the same width for the spine of the cover.

Then mark out larger pieces for the front and back covers. These should be a centimetre wider than your booklet width and 2cm longer than the height.

Step eight

Using a craft knife and ruler for best results, carefully trim cover pieces and discard any excess card.

Step nine

Size up the fabric allowing for at least 2-3cm around the edges of the whole height and width when laid out as above. Add a little space either side of your spine as shown above.

Now, a note about the material. I got this roll of adhesive fabric that just made this bit so wonderfully easy. It’s like sticky back plastic without the angst, you just peel off the white bit and it sticks really nicely to the card. It was £4.50 for a roll in HobbyCraft, and will cover two books this size with some left over to cover a set of matching pencils or something.

If you are using regular fabric you just need to give it a generous covering in PVA and be more patient waiting for it to dry before moving on.

Step ten

Trim the corners to avoid excess bulk, use fairly wide angles so that all the corners get properly covered. There’s no need for a huge amount of precision here.

Step eleven

Stick the edges down, being sure to pull tight for a nice sharp finish. If you’re using PVA leave to dry.

Step twelve

Line up the spine of your booklet with the cover spine. Stick the paper or fabric flaps to the cover. DO NOT stick the spine itself down or you won’t be able to open the pages properly.

I used double sided tape for this, and that seems to hold really well and eliminates drying time. Again, PVA will work for this too, so just go with what you’ve got available.

Step thirteen

Cut two pieces of card or heavy paper for the inside covers. If this is nice and thick it will cover a world of sins! Also, it’s worth getting hold of something attractive as it adds that little extra when you open it.

This should basically be the same size as one of your folded pages from earlier, so mine was 25cm x 19cm.

Score and fold (score on the outside of the fold so you won’t see it on the end product).

Step fourteen

Stick the inside covers to the book. Again I used double sided tape, if you use PVA for this be careful not to overdo it as your paper will bubble.

Stick to the booklet first, lining it up perfectly with the outside page. Then lift your cover to a 45 degree angle and attach there as well. Close the book and press down. If using PVA leave cover open to dry.

A little close up of the paper I used.

Step fifteen

Give yourself a pat on the back, you just made a BOOK.

January 20, 2014

Cow’s it going?!

Let me take you on a journey. It all starts back in 2006 when Pa and I first went to the Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition at the Natural History Museum. This becomes an annual event.

Fast forward to 2013, and I visit a marvellous German zoo. The Germans sure know how to do a zoo. I walk into a dark room and floor to ceiling there’s all these manatees just gazing back through the glass, floating and grinning. (I’m sure they were grinning). And I just stand there super impressed by how insane they are, so friendly looking that they are both the ugliest and cutest thing in the world. I could have stayed there all day (and not just because it was 36C outside and my skin is almost see-through) That tank of manatees was like a giant lava lamp. I mean, what?

December rolls round and we hit the exhibit, and behold, this glorious photo by Douglas Seifert. By now I’m in love. (officially this is a dugong not a manatee, but I’m no marine biologist, these things are just as wonderful)

Travelling Companions by Douglas Seifert (USA)

And now to the present day. I’ve started a blog and I’m planning projects. I think about potential subjects. I have to say, if any animals are owning the craft scene right now it’s whales and foxes. If you don’t believe me just search Pinterest for DIY whale/fox. They are in VOGUE. But I’m not the only one who watched Black Fish right? And I’m even more sure I’m not the only one with a conspiracy theory about the urban takeover being planned by our furry orange friends.

Manatees would never.

So I present to you Sea Cow Stamps. We’re setting a new trend here folks go with me on this.

Along with the above justifications, it’s no secret January is rough on the financials. So this little postlet is a little something you can do for about £3, or 50p if you already have a pad of ink somewhere in the recesses of your crafting supplies.

You will need:

A sheet of craft foam

An ink pad

Glue

Something to stick your stamp to

Craft knife and cutting mat/Scissors

Step one

Draw your design onto the foam with a pencil, try not to press too hard or you will alter the texture of your stamp.

Just draw it how you want to see it stamped in the end…don’t worry if you have a few tries, just remember which line you want to cut. I modelled mine on this snap I found on google images, I find it sometimes helps to have a reference point.

If you’re doing this with kids try to encourage them to avoid fiddly lines etc, as you’re going to end up being the guy carving the foam all afternoon not them…

Step two

Cut out your design with a craft knife or scissors. Either is fine.

Step three

Pop your shape out of the foam and flip over. This is your chance to neaten up, I used nail scissors for accuracy. If you’re doing lines and facial features spend a little time on this bit. The pencil free side is the one you will be applying ink to.

I discovered that everything I had cut was a lot more obvious when I stamped, so don’t worry if your lines look a bit thin, you can always take more away, but you can’t put it back. It’s sort of like a haircut in that way…

Step four

Stick your shapes onto something, pencil side down (remember they need to be back to front because you’re going to flip it over).

The more solid a base the better really. I decided to do this a couple of days after bin day and there was only newspaper and toilet roll in the recycling bin. So I pinched the box from my dad’s muesli (you’re welcome dad). Honestly? This was less than ideal. The flatter and firmer your base is, the less ink you will get transferring that isn’t part of your picture, and the better force you will have to stamp with.

If you know someone handy, ask them to chop you some wood pieces. I plan on migrating these chaps over to wood at some point, I just need to get myself a saw, which I’m sure will be music to boyfriend’s ears…I’m not clumsy AT ALL.

Step five

STAMP!

This is fun. My advice – cover the table in newspaper and have a few practice goes before you go for the real thing. You’ll find if your stamps are as big as mine you need to put the stamp on some newspaper, turn the pad over and sort of dab it on, quite liberally.

Use the side of your fist to rub the stamp onto your card. Sometimes they come out better than others, I’m still yet to get exactly what I want, so just enjoy it.

If you want to do lots of different colours start with the lightest first and wipe off any excess ink with a baby wipe between colours.

I made cards with mine, see below, but I also have plans to put the whole scene together on some brown paper for gift wrap at some point, and I’m sure there’s a whole load of other things to decorate too.

I also plan to digitise my little buddies so you can print them and use them for your own. But I need to be waaay better than I am at graphics software before that happens, so I’m afraid it may take a little while.

The best thing about this project is that you can make a full set of your own stationary. Check out the envelope below. I made a speech bubble for the address, and popped the little guy on the back.

If anyone is curious about the text on the cards above, and is UK based, I got the alphabet stamps from The Range. They do loads of little alphabet blocks with different fonts and THEY ARE ONLY 99p EACH. They are my Pokemon. Literally, never go to HobbyCraft again.

Have a wonderful week chaps.

DISCLAIMER: I reserve the right to make fox or whale themed crafts in the future.