14 Pictures of 2014

Blog meet goodies from #ccbloggers meet up. Brad got in my yarn stash!

Vintage -spired brooch making with 1940's rug making techniques

Daffodils corsages from a Spring Crafternoon tea

Embroidery project for a Crafternoon

Pretty Snowdrops from my vintage garden

Handmade rings made by old buttons and jewellery findings

China ready for a glamping Crafternoon tea

Dabbling with papercraft and silk flowers for a friend's birthday

Yummy classic sponge cake in icing and sprinkles

My love of vintage patterns for the #vintagepledge challenge

Summer roses and gift wrapping for Father's Day

Salt dough crafting at home

My very first Summer Wedding fair

A lovely photo shoot Christmas present to our family and friends captured by Marie-Louise Hall Photography

What are you top pictures of 2014? Drop me a link in the comments box and I'll pop over for a look.

Happy New Year!

Samantha

Looking Back At My Christmas Week 2014

Pretty silver wreaths around the home with ivy and holly from the local castle grounds. The greenery from early December is starting to fade, so we wrapped up warm and went to find some more to freshen up the home.

My favourite Christmas recipe I use year after year is from the amazing chef Dan Lepard. It's a panettone recipe (isn't fresh panettone amazing?), I keep this cutting in with all my recipe tears from magazines. Am I the only one to do this?

We made a gingerbread house using the Ikea cutter set and then took it apart and ate it! It was really satisfying to use and fitted together with just four pieces. Our first attempt at a house construction! It took 12 minutes in the oven on the special heat proof mat in the kit. I would really recommend this for a Valentine's cake. 

The house smelt of NEXT festive spice candles as I wound down the Crafternoon tea parties for 2014.

I've been chatting to other bloggers about how special handmade mince pies are? The bought pastry ones are just like cardboard. On Sunday I held a family fuddle (party) and made these very cute pies for our celebration with a Christmas tree and snowflake cutter. On vintage glass stands they looked very festive.

On Saturday it was the monthly farmers market in the local town. We bought a selection of yummy treats from this stall. Buying local is always good and supporting small businesses in the area.

I realised this week that I hadn't handmade any Christmas gifts. Just bakes for parties and friends this year. So I use looked through the Docrafts Christmas magazine and found some lovely upcycling craft ideas. This tea light holder took just fifteen minutes to make using the Docraft's festive charms and buttons, fabric scraps and ribbons. The upcycled jars were filled with scented tea lights to give as gifts.

And my last photo is of our ginger kitty, all wrapped up by Little L for bed.

What did you get up to last week? Was it super chillled or crazy partying and festive fun? Leave me a comment below!

Happy Holidays!

Samantha

Merry Christmas!

Cheaty Handmade Christmas Party Bakes

Shhh!

Christmas tree mince pies

I love celebrating at Christmas and after a super weekend of partying, I wanted to share some of my cheaty handmade party bakes. Make them ahead so you can enjoy the party season. Handmade is so much better than from the frozen party section of the supermarket!

I always make ahead and freeze or store in an glass jars in the fridge.

Mince Pies

Handmade mince pies are just yum, they taste handmade. I make my pastry ahead, chill in the freezer and work with it quickly. This weekend's mince pies had whisky brushed on the pastry and orange grated on the mincemeat just before the lids went on. Once cooled they were frozen straight away to keep them fresh.

My pastry tips are from Nigella's Christmas book and freeze it to rest before rolling out. The best pastry tip I know.

Other cheaty makes include  -

Canapes

Using puff pastry for pretty canapes. Here we used roasted peppers and mushrooms with Italian herbs. The vegetables were roasted ahead and stored in the 'fridge in oils. Make the day before and part bake.

Star canapes

Cupcakes

...freeze ahead just after cooling and decorate just before the party. I usually make mine the week before. Less mess and washing up when you want to get the home ready to stage the party.

cupcakes can freeze for up to 3 months but I usually turn freeze for 2 weeks so I can keep note of stock rotation

Bruschetta

 Roasted garlic is great for bruschetta, canapes and dips. I make it a few days before. Blend roasted garlic with olive oil and store in Kilner jars.

And finally...

Look out for quirky festive cutters. The best place is the magazine rack in the supermarket! These beauties are from Essential magazine.

These lovely cutters and 201 calender came with Essential Magazine

Happy baking,

Samantha