Florentine Christmas Cake

Wow I loved making this - my first Christmas cake and totally Dairy free (did use eggs). I had debated icing the cake but came across this recipe for Florentine Topping http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/2180/festive-fruit-and-nut-cake and I love nuts so seemed perfect. I did substitute the hazelnuts for pistachios. The cherries and the subtle green of the pistachios make for a really festive feel. Smelled absolutely scrummy and am looking forward to sharing it with my family (and possibly half the street!) with a warm glass of mulled wine/apple juice.

Chocolate Winter Cupcakes

We decorated the leftover cakes this morning - chocolate buttercream instead - the boys loved it. Sam was really good with the piping bag! I think one snowball worked better and reminded me of winter bobblehats. The green glitter looks much better on the chocolate background too. We had enough to give 2 to their Great Grandad too as an early birthday gift.

Definitely going to invest in some deeper cupcake bases in the future.

Snowy Christmas Cupcakes

My first effort at piped cupcakes for my eldest's Christmas Fayre. Decorated with vanilla buttercream, chocolate dusted snowballs, dessicated coconut, silver balls and some gorgeous edible glitter. The easter look was completely unintentional as they are supposed to be snowballs on top!

I think I may have been bitten by the cupcake bug - I have more than a dozen cakes left over which I'm gonna ice when I get a chance. Looking forward to trying something different!

I nearly went for a light cream and brown fabric but decided that wasn't very practical and chose this. I had thought it was lilies in the shop but was very happy to discover it's actually Clematis.

I finally finished the curtain for the front door and am really pleased with it. Heathcoats had a sale on curtain fabric so I made the whole thing for only £14. It's lined with a flat bedsheet so should keep out any draughts the excluders miss. This is the first curtain I've made and it was harder going than I thought - mainly because of the lining - it involved a lot of ironing and pinning!

And Jack is loving having a new hiding place.

Operation Welcome

Operation Welcome has finally been started. I have been waiting 3 years to get the front of the house sorted. It's so nice to come home to a gorgeous blue door not the peeling factory grey! We took the extra time to strip and restore the original knocker too and I'm really glad we did. Just the gas box, windows and gutters to do!!

Eco (and purse)- friendly Christmas Gift Wrap

We made Christmas wrapping paper! The pic doesn't do it justice as the stars are metallic. I bought a foam star stamp and we stamped to our hearts content. Jack loved it too although had to be really careful as we used acrylic paint! Used up all my copper acrylic so will be heading for the shops tmw for some more.

I decided to make my Christmas wrapping as eco-friendly as I could this year so I have also banned cellotape.

Better Daytime pic of the cuddle cups