Merry Christmas!

I would just like to wish all of my followers and readers a Happy Christmas. 

Sweet Mincemeat Christmas Cake Recipe

 

I made some lovely Sweet Mincemeat Christmas Cakes a few weeks back and said I would share the recipe if they came out nice - well they were delicious and all eaten up now!!  You can find the recipe here!!

Happy baking!!!!

 

 

Another year nearly over!!

I know it's been quite a while since I last posted but I've been busy working on orders for Christmas!!!

I cannot believe another year is nearly over - where has the time gone!!!

Sadly, a few friends have passed away over the last couple of weeks so they won't be here to see the New Year but will always be remembered.  It's never a good time for anyone to die, but I think when it happens around Christmas it always feel worse and I think that is because a new year is looming and we know they won't be here to share it.

Anyway - onto happier thoughts.  I've not finished my shopping for this year and I have been trying to fit it in around my orders so this week I think need to finish that up and get my gifts wrapped!! 

This year my beaded memory bracelets have been quite popular so I've made up a few of those.  Here are some for you to see.  I use good quality glass beads and try to use a mix of lampwork and other glass beads.  I never use tiny seed beads to fill the bracelet either.  I think the bracelets look better for it and you get a nicer selection of beads.

 

I have also made more tealight jars as gifts for friendsand filled them with Christmas Spice tealights.
 

Shelly over at Ginger Melon very kindly gave a free pattern of a cute felt santa ornament.  I decided that he'd be perfect for my santa keys.  I love Ginger Melon patterns and have bought a few of them!!

I was also asked to make a little felt panda and a lion.  I looked around the web but didn't see any patterns that were right for what I wanted to do so I made up my own!!!

I've decided that I am not going to make any more sock monkeys as they take too long to make by hand and I no longer enjoy making them.  I have done one last one for someone so here it is!!

The last thing to show you for now is the felt stocking I have made for my niece.  I will fill it with chocolate and a few other bits for her!!

 

Thanks for looking!!

 

 

Buy Local!!

Saw this over on Facebook and thought that it is a great thing to promote so I'm posting it here as well!!!

 

Feel free to post it on your own blog!!

 

 

Cakes, Cakes and More Cakes!!!!!

Hope everyone is ok today.  I've spent the day at home in the kitchen today and have chicken bubbling away in the Slow Cooker for dinner and I've baked 2 cakes and they are cooking nicely as I type!!  I saw an alternative Christmas Cake recipe in a store magazine where you use 2 jars of sweet mincemeat - to any of my American readers this is not meat at all but a mixure of spices and fruits in a jar usually used to make little tarts at Christmas!!  If the cakes come out nice then I will share the recipe tomorrow with you!!  Recipe here!!

On the subject of cakes, I wanted to tell you about my sister Hayley who makes custom celebration cakes and decorative cupcakes.  She has made some fantastic cakes and they taste delicious!!  She is known as The Sugar Plum Fairy and you can find her over on Facebook here.  She is based in Bristol and is always eager to try out new designs and ideas so feel free to contact her via Facebook or through my blog.

Here are some of here lovely cakes

 

You can see more of Hayley's fab creations over on her facebook page.

Happy Thanksgiving!

 

 

Happy Thanksgiving to all of my followers and readers celebrating today.

 



Another Tealight Holder!!

Hello to you all again!! 

We've had some really miserable weather this week in my part of the UK.  My city, Bristol has seen flooding in places where it's not been seen before.  Of course our flooding does not compare to floods that other parts of the world have experienced in the past and more recently the devastation caused by Hurricane Sandy.  It does make you wonder what on earth is happening with the weather these days though.

Anyway onto jam jars - after seeing my little jam jar tealight holder, my sister decided she also wanted one so I made her one last night!!  I made hers slightly different as individuality is a good thing!!  Here it is

I used twine and buttons on her one and I quite like it!  I avoided using glue as if the jar gets hot, glue may go sticky and get messy!  Even if your sewing is not the best, it won't matter on these as none of your stitches will show!!  They get hidden under the lace flowers!

 

My 11 year old niece wants one as well but my mum is not keen on her having candles in her bedroom so looks like nanny's word will be final.  Maybe I can make her one to be used as a pen pot or something!!!

 



Vintage Style Tealight Holder

Good morning - it's very cold this morning.  I'm finding it very hard to get out of my warm bed each day now the cold weather is upon us.  I hate the cold and I used to spend the entire winter in India to avod it as it was lovely and sunny there.  I think my blood has thinned though over the years of doing that and I am no longer able to cope well in cold conditions.

Anyway - I've had my eye on an empty jar for a few weeks now and forgot to claim it so it went in the bin so yesterday I had to retrieve it before the bin men came and took it.  I wanted to make a tealight holder with it.  Initially I was going to use wire around the top and make a handle but that didn't work out as the wire was not flexible enough!!

Last night, whilst sat watching the Walking Dead, I came up with this vintage style holder. 

 

I think it's pretty and it looks lovely when it's lit up with a tealight inside of it.

 

 



Very simple to do, just get an empty jar and tightly pull some wide width lace around the jar.  I overstitched where the lace meets to hold it onto the jar. 

 

Next I made some simple ribbon flowers by just doing a running stitch along the edge of the ribbon and then pulled the thread to gather it and stitched the edges together. 

 

I then stitched the flowers onto the lace on the jar to cover the stitches I had made earlier.  I popped a ribbon around the neck of the jar and made a bow.  Voila, one pretty vintage style tealight holder!!

 



 

 

 

 

Slow Cooked Pulled Pork

Today I tried out a recipe in my slow cooker.  The cooker has been in the cupboard for years and I have decided that it's time to get it out and start using it again!!

I joined a group over on Facebook that has recently been set up by a fellow crafter for people to swap and share their slow cooker recipes and tips.

A recipe for pulled pork was shared in the group by a lady called Jan and it sounded great and also easy to make.  Even better that the recipe used a shoulder of pork which I already had in the freezer.  The pork had been reduced at Sainsbury to £1.09 and I picked it up and popped it in the freezer until I'd decided what to make with it!  So this was the idea way to use it and test the recipe.

I cooked it in the slow cooker for around 7 hours until the meat fell away, then shredded it and mixed in a BBQ sauce I'd made.  Now you can leave it for 30mins in the marinade and then put it into your conventional oven for another 30 mins but I left mine overnight in the fridge to get more flavour and then cooked it the next morning.  I also made up some more BBQ sauce and mixed it in just in case it had got abit dry overnight.  During cooking I also stirred it several times to prevent it burning on the top.

The result was delicious and I will definately be making this again.  I froze some of it also for another meal!

Now for the recipe!!



Slow Cooked Pulled Pork serves 2

 

750g-1kg Pork shoulder
 

BBQ Sauce:

                     140g tomato ketchup

                     4 tbsp red wine vinegar

                     1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce

                     3 tbsp soft dark brown sugar

          1 French stick, sliced into rolls, and coleslaw, to serve

 METHOD 

1.      Place pork shoulder in slow cooker with cup of water and cook 5-7 hours

2.      Shred pork meat using 2 forks and place in roasting dish

3.      Mix together sauce ingredients and pour over the meat and mix well

4.      Marinade for minimum of 30 mins

5.      Cook in oven 200C for 20-30 mins and serve with bread. Alternatively, serve with chips or rice

 

 

If you make it, let me know what you think of it!!

 

 

**UPDATE**

 

 

Just thought I would add that I froze a bag of this in a ziplock bag after letting it cool down completely.  About a week later I defrosted it overnight and then popped it into an ovenproof dish and put it into the oven on about 160 C for just 10-15 mins stirring it in between so it didn't burn on top.  It still tasted lovely and was nice and moist so freezing works well with this recipe!!  Great if you have a party or BBQ coming up and you need to cook alot of it as you can prepare it a week earlier than you need it!!

 



 

 

Felt Christmas Decoratons

It's nearly that time of year again!!  I've ben busy making up some cute felt Christmas decorations which I thought I'd share with you.

Felt is such a lovely thing to work with and I just love love love Blanket Stitch - it is such a satisfying stitch to sew!!  It really brings and item to life!

Here are the decorations that I've made so far

Reindeer

 



Christmas Pudding

Christmas Tree

 



Treat Holder Stockings

 



Gingerbread Men

 



 

Robin

 



 

 

I stuffed them all this year, so they are abit different to last years and I've done a few ones that I haven't made before as well.  The little stockings I have not stuffed and I have left the top open so that a chocolate or candy cane can be put into them and then hung on the tree.

 

 

They are all available to buy over on my Facebook page which you can find here.  I only post to UK addresses at present though.  If you aren't on Facebook but would be interested in purchasing some, they are priced at £3.50 each except for the stockings which are £3.00 each.  Postage will be calculated on your order and added to this.  You can email me bumblebeescraftden@gmail.com

 

 

 



Subway Art and Posters!

I just love the Subway art style posters that are so popular at the moment. There are lots of great once available to download free if you search and I intend to have a go myself at making one for my hometown of Bristol.

Whilst out shopping today I came across this fab canvas which although not strictly a Subway print, it is of a similar sort of style!  Anyway - I had to have it!!  This one is London themed with a vintage touch to it!

Here it is

I got it from Dunelm Mill and the price was marked £6.99 but when I got to the till I found it was reduced so cost only £4.89 what a nice surprise!!!  It's quite big as well so really quite a bargain!!!

I love the colours in this print and of course it has a very Brit feel to it as well!!!

Tomorrow I will get it up onto my wall but thought I'd share it with you first!!

Angie

Lovely Holidays!!

Oooh it's been a little while since I last blogged.  I was on holiday for 2 weeks in September.  We went to Malaysia and spent 8 nights in Penang at the Golden Sands Shangri La and then 4 nights in Kuala Lumpur in a serviced apartment.  We had a fantastic time although the weather was very hit and miss.

The shopping in Malaysia is fabulous especially in KL where the shopping malls are the biggest and best I have ever seen anywhere in the world.  They are never ending and you could get lost in one for hours!!  This was my 4th time in Kuala Lumpur and it has changed so much since my last visit.

Malaysia is very interesting - as well as the Malaysians, there are also huge Chinese and Indian communites there so you have a mixture of faiths and places of worship. 

I love all of the colours and the detail in the temples.

We ate lots of lovely food but did so much walking that we managed to walk it all off!!  Food prices are very reasonable especially for street food of which there is an abundance!!!

The beach was at the bottom of our hotel which was nice as we could use the loungers in the hotel garden whilst looking out at the sea!!

We had a fabulous view from our apartment in KL - we were on the 17th floor!!

The view by night was even better....





Managed to do some craft shopping as well and my sister stocked up on cake decorating supplies!

A lovely place to escape the bustle of the city is the Butterfly Farm - it is like a little oasis in a huge humid city.

 

If you haven't been to Malaysia then it is worth a visit.  The people there are very easygoing and friendly and go out of their way to help you.  It's very safe to walk around in most places and I can honestly say that in all of my 4 visits there I have never had any problems.  It is very modern but also still has old charm.

Saw this plaque at the Butterfly Farm and loved the sentiment on it.