Crafting On A Budget

Crafting on a budget is the subject I challenged Jane from Onions and Paper to do , I have to be honest nothing is a challenge for Jane when it comes to crafting or cooking. Thanks Jane for writing this awe inspiring blog post for me !



Crafting needn’t be expensive! Look around the house and you’ll find all kinds of things that can be used. Scraps of ribbon and lace from gift boxes or old garments, odd buttons, sweet wrappers and even envelopes. In just a few minutes of hunting I found all these

A couple of Italian sweet wrappers that were too pretty to throw away, the ribbon from a gift box of smellies and the holder that a gift card had arrived in. My “useful bits” box was already well supplied with lace scraps, odd buttons and some purple corrugated cardboard from a box of chocolates. But what about the envelopes?

Well, if you cut envelopes open, you will often find pretty patterned papers on the inside. You can use them as background papers or cut them into shapes and even stamp on them!

Armed with these odds and ends, plus a little stamping and glue, I came up with these cards.

Some other ideas you could use:

Cut small “stained glass window” holes in black card and stick the coloured cellophane or foil wrappers from chocolates behind them.

Open out empty tomato purée tubes, wash them, flatten them (a rolling pin will do the trick) then use them for stamping or embossing.

Clear acetate box lids (I hate to harp on about chocolate again but chocolate boxes often have acetate lids) can be used in place of craft acetate for things like glass painting and  window cards, but you can’t usually heat emboss it.

Wrapping paper and glossy magazines often have images you can cut out and use, and cheap brown paper can make a good substitute for fashionable “Kraft” paper.

Paper doyleys are very popular in crafting. Buy them from a corner shop or a bargain store and they cost a tiny fraction of those in a craft store. You m

Rainy Lanes And Sunshine

Zippo Hand Warmer

I am relived that even on the coldest day I  can quickly warm my hands with a Zippo hand warmer.I use it when I am out walking

 , watching my son play rugby or football.

 also useful if you want to take it fishing, skiing, sledging or hiking. I really benefited from the amount of heat generated by this small and compact heater. I suffer from Raynaulds which is poor circulation and as a result my hands can get very cold. The Zippo hand warmer brings me the warm relief that I need!

Just fill the handwarmer with lighter fluid using, the measuring jug, ignite it and the burner will radiate heat for up to 12 hours. There is no flame and the burner is replaceable. A cover is provided with the Zippo hand warmer and a filling cup.

The Zippo hand warmer produces over 10 times as much heat as most disposable warmers and we find it more cost effective as we are not getting through copious amounts of disposable hand warmers any more.

• Up to 12 hours of warmth with one filling
• Produces over 10 times as much heat as most disposable warmers
• Includes hand warmer, warmer bag and filling cup

I was send the deluxe black coated hand warmer for the purpose of the review , we have a silver version of the hand warmer already but I found the black coating of the deluxe version holds the heat more. This is not a product for children .

Detox With TASSIMO Green Tea

Recently I was sent a box of Twinings Green Tea and Mint as part of the TASSIMO blogger challenge , I was highly surprised as I had been using my Tassimo for coffee and especially hot chocolates over the Christmas period ; we got through more squirty cream than you can shake a cinnamon stick at.

It is refreshing to know that your Tassimo can be used for more than coffee and hot chocolate especially good for me to help with a detoxing after the excesses of Christmas. Green tea is well known for it's antixotant qualities and is supposed to be good for cleansing .

The mint taste is not as you might suspect over powering,  it is wonderfully subtle and refreshing and I normally heave at tea without milk but I liked the simple cleansing taste of this. Mr T was a bit more resistant but I won him over eventually "if you don't try then you don't know " is my motto.

I even managed to get green tea into a chocolate cake recipe  whilst I agree cake isn't quite in keeping with getting over the mountain of food I consumed at Christmas . It was jolly nice with a cup of the Twinings Green tea and Mint.

Marshmallow Rescue Me Fridge Cake

You see this should have been a Bundt cake , I knew I should have follow The Boy and Me's recipe . My Mary Berry senses were tingling with that "ooooooh " sound that Mary Berry makes. I could hear Paul Hollywood saying to me " I can't wait to get my mouth around your moist sponge"

Before this sounds very much like the "Bakes of Grey" the erotic cake novel that never was, I will let you know how you can create your own fridge cake be it from shop brought ones or fairy cakes that have been sat on or Victoria Sponge with as much lift as a wonder bra in your 40's.

Ingredients

Two shop bought Madeira cakes or any disaster you happen to have laying around.

Tin of oranges.

4 handfuls of marshmallows.

1 -2 tablespoons  golden syrup





Method

 The first thing you do is break your cake up it helps if you are quite , quite cross from your Bundt recipe failing or failing that ask your kids to tidy their room ( and when they don't you'll be cross)

Add in a tin of drained orange .

Stir madly.

Add a couple table spoons of fresh orange juice or the liquid from the tinned oranges.


Add 4 handfuls of marshmallows through 3 in you would have eaten the 4th handful due to cake stress.

Add 1 - 2 tablespoons of golden syrup.

Sir again.



Thinking of the musketeers is optional.


Put the magical mixture in a 1LB light greased load tin.


Place in the fridge for a couple of hours.


Whilst you are waiting for this ; you'll probably be tidying your child's bedroom.