2012

A guid new year to ane an' a' 
An' mony may ye see, 
An' during a' the years to come, 
O happy may ye be. 
An' may ye ne'er hae cause to mourn, 
To sigh or shed a tear; 
To ane an'a baith great an' sma' 
A hearty guid New year.

Have a great Hogmanay everyone, and may your first-foot be tall, dark and handsome! xxx

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to all my friends.  If some of you are wondering why you did not get a card this year, my family decided to get back to the real meaning of Christmas so I decided to give the money I would have spent making cards to Charity this year, it went to Salt and Light an organisation who has managed to get ladies of the evening off the streets, clean and dry and living a good life, some are back with their families. 

So God bless you and have a wonderful Christmas full of Peace, Joy and Love.

Cheaters Christmas Cake

Cooking Time: About 2.5 hours

Preheat oven 120 degrees C (works out at 248 degrees F)

1Kg(2.2 lbs) Bag of Mixed Dried Fruit (Currents, Raisins, Mixed Citrus Peel etc)

600ml Chocolate Milk

2 Cups of Self Raising Flour (or use Plain Flour and add 2 Teaspoons of Baking Powder)

2 Tablespoons of Apricot Jam (melted)

Assorted Nuts and Dried Fruit (for decorating)

 

Mix dried fruit and choc milk put in fridge for 8 hours

Add flour and mix

Place in baking  tin (I use a round one)

 

 

Bake for 2 - 2.5 hours until skewer comes out clean

Cool cooked cake and apply warmed jam on top

Then decorate with nuts and dried fruit

Tuck in

Cutting equipment

OK here is the start of what does a crafter need and the first thing is cutting equipment.

There are some rules to follow:
(I may be telling folks what they know but several youngsters have asked for basic crafting info so please bear with me)

a) no blood allowed
b) when dealing with scissors point away and down is the best rule.
c) no walking or running whilst holding scissors with fingers in handles - ask me why I know that
    hmmmm - it is so easy to trip and stab yourself
d) when passing scissors to others pass with the handle to the person
e) store them safely when not in use even if you are working with them, close the scissors and put them
    in a box even when working with them - that means you can find them again
f) not to be used to pry things open

 OK what have I got that I needed:

1) small pair for cutting small areas out
2) paper scissors
3) ribbon scissors (I have found that my paper scissors after a while dont really cut ribbon cleanly)
4) general purpose scissors for cutting wire, card etc
4) craft knife and metal ruler - good for cutting things like chipboard and does not blunt your scissors
  under 16 get adult to supervise or even better get adult to do it for you

Be aware whilst Tim Holtz scissors are fab they have a tiny serrated edge to them and can leave this edge on the paper fine if you want that.

When I cut I turn the paper not the scissors to get a neat finish.
Also a good cutting machine. 
I use fiskars but there are loads on the market find one that suits how you work,  for me I love them as I cannot cut a straight line save myself and also if I need to cut several the same size it is excellent.  Get one that can take 12 x 12 paper length.

Some cutting machines also have scoring tools to put into them worth it to save you initially having to buy a scoring board.

Beginners stuff

I have been asked to do a sort of beginners bit in my blog what is the best things, how to do etc so if you have any ideas please let me know. TTFN

Chocolate Mug Cake

OK Lads and Lassies you asked for the recipe here it is

1 coffee Mug ng list

4 tablespoons flour (that's plain flour, not self-rising) shopping list

4 tablespoons sugarshopping list

2 tablespoons baking cocoashopping list

1 eggshopping list

3 tablespoons milkshopping list

3 tablespoons oilshopping list

3 tablespoons chocolate chips (optional) some nuts (optional) shopping list

Small splash of vanillashopping list

How to make it

Add dry ingredients to mug, and mix well
Add the egg and mix thoroughly.
Pour in the milk and oil and mix well.
Add the chocolate chips (if using) and vanilla, and mix again.
Put your mug in the microwave and cook for 3 minutes on high.
The cake will rise over the top of the mug, but don't be alarmed!
Allow to cool a little, and tip out onto a plate if desired.
EAT! (this can serve 2 if you want to share!)
And why is this the most dangerous cake recipe in the world?
Because now we are all only 5 minutes away from chocolate cake any time of the day or night