This week..

..I've not had the time to do all the things I wanted. I've got a list of projects I want to do, I just need a few weeks off to do them all! I also just got a little promotion, so will be working a bit more. I think I'll be sticking to smaller projects for a while rather than larger ones, although the Great British Sewing Bee on BBC2 has made me want to have another try at making clothes!

 

I did buy a few cute flower stamps and some letters, which has resulted in many things around the house getting stamped... Just because. My boyfriend also seemed to enjoy stamping everything. I'm not sure how he is going to explain the butterflies stamped all over his revision notes though, if his friends should ask.

   

I attempted to make a card for the first time ever. After seeing so many beautiful efforts for PostCircle, I thought I'd have a go at creating something myself to send to those in my group. It isn't a brilliant effort, so I hope the person who receives this in the post isn't too disappointed! I'm really enjoying PostCircle so far, it is lovely to get to know people with shared interests, and beautiful post arriving always makes me happy. Although I haven't yet written to everyone in my group, so I really need to crack on with it! 

I've also made a couple of bookmarks, as I get frustrated that I'm always losing my page in books because there is never anything to hand to mark the page.

 

I made these cute little bow tie markers with some large paperclips, and some scraps of fabric. One large piece for the bow part, sewn down one side, turned inside out, ironed, and then the ends sewn up. Same again for the small part, which I then wrapped around large piece to make a bow, and around the clip to secure it. Really simple! The one on the left is the better of the two, as it is more of a sturdy fabric. Also, it reminds me of Dr Who's bow tie ;)

Crafty Creatives Box 10

Crafty Creatives box 10 has arrived!

This months theme - BLUE


Here's what was inside:

* A simple yet lovely art card designed by Catherine Moody.

* The CC Kit - My favourite kit so far, this is to make a felt bluebird mobile to hang up. I'm starting this RIGHT NOW and will show off as soon as I've finished :)

* A sort of second kit in the form of Jumping Clay and instructions to make a little keychain. My boyfriend picked it up and said, 'Can I make this?' What?!

* Several cute little felt balls in different shades of blue - all the way from Nepal!

* My other favourite item in the box - 2 beautiful bluebird pendants. I don't know what to use them for, but they have to be seen.

* A selection of goodies from Stix2 including glitter and seed beads.

* A miniature canvas with 3 large tubes of acrylic paints in different shades of blue.

* Some tiny glass beads from Musha Makes

* A fat quarter of beautiful blue floral print cotton. One word - BUNTING!

This is my 4th CC box, and my favourite so far. Absolutely everything in it will be used and it was the perfect Spring themed box. I can't wait to get stuck in!

Baking: Strawberry Swiss Roll

I decided to make this after seeing a recipe for a raspberry swiss roll on the BBC Food website, but increased the quantities and changed a couple of things to work with what I had - besides, you can't go wrong with strawberries and cream!

Ingredients:

5 Free-range Eggs
125g Caster Sugar
125g Self-raising Flour
Strawberry Jam - enough to spread over the sponge
300g Double Cream
4-5 Strawberries - and a couple more to decorate
Icing Sugar - a sprinkling to decorate

I whisked the eggs and the sugar, then folded in the flour. I poured the mixture into a large flat tin (although I forgot to grease it, as I discovered later - whoops!) I then baked it in the oven for 10 minutes.

Work in progress... surely this isn't going to work?!

For the filling, I whipped up some double cream - I'd forgotten how long this takes to do by hand, but if you do a tiny bit, then keep adding a tiny bit more cream each time it gets thicker, it is a much easier task! I spread on the strawberry jam first, then added the cream on top, and then tiny pieces of strawberries for some extra sweetness. In hindsight, I think it would have been easier to spread the jam on the cream instead of the other way around - putting the cream on top of the jam was messy and it didn't spread neatly, and I ended up with jammy cream as oppsed to two separate layers, as can be seen in the messy finished article! Another thing I learnt - don't be too generous with the filling, as otherwise it squidges out as the sponge is rolled... less is more! As long as it is rolled when still a bit warm and very carefully, the sponge shouldn't crack.

The finished product!

 Having just cut into it for a slice, it looks a bit neater on the inside, and I can confirm it's pretty tasty too ;)