Lovely lip balms

I am so glad this blog exists as I can't tell anyone about my adventures last night without ruining the surprise for my friends/family.

Last night I went to the Make Lounge in Islington and did a natural bath and body course. I made over a page of detailed notes and think I now have the know-how to make some lovely little gifts. I have never been to the Make Lounge before, but it was really nice and fun - would definitely consider going to another course there.

We made (from left to right) sugar scrub, massage bars, lip balm and bath bombs with lots of essential oils to choose from. They were easier to make than I expected, just melting and mixing, and the hardest part was choosing the scents.

I am definitely going to make lots of lipbalms as little stocking fillers, and some sets of everything as bigger gifts (am imagining all the different ways I can wrap them up in ribbons :-) or little make-up bags), but I can't decide on what essential oils to buy. There were quite a few oils last night that half of us loved and half of us hated (some very reminiscent of cough syrup to me!)
I don't want to buy too many (I know what I am like with hoarding) and would prefer to only make a couple of 'flavours' - any suggestions what scents would be loved by all?

A Little Christmas Baking

So, I've done the first bit of Christmas baking - the cake!  I always forget just how much volume there is to christmas cake batter.  It only just fits into the bowl.  It then took 4hrs 15minutes to cook and came out of the oven at 3pm yesterday.  At midnight it was still warm!  I finally put it (double wrapped in foil and having been fed generously) in the cake storer at about 8am this morning.  Phew!

I used the Nigella Lawson recipe from her Christmas book.  It gives a beautiful dark, rich and moist cake every time.  It should be moist really as the fruit is soaked for 24hrs before making the cake in 600ml of alcohol for a 25.5cm diameter circular cake tin.  This year I used a half and half mix of Madeira and Brandy.  If I could have tracked down Pedro Ximenez sherry I'd have used that, but alas Sainsburys and Tescos didn't have any.

The kitchen smelt wonderful yesterday!

Next on the baking list is the Christmas pudding, another Nigella recipe.  The fruit has been soaking since Saturday...  I just need to be around for the 5 hours of steaming!

Christmas to do list from The Crafter's Apprentice

Hello, me again!  I've finally finished my Christmas present to do list, so here it is (items in orange are already made:

Mum - CRM cross stitch cushion - I've been working on this for a while
        - glasses case from this tutorial
        - slippers
        - mani pedi kit (can't find the link, I'll publish it when I've made it)
        - amigurumi pig
        - tea cup candle
         - pocket tissue pouch
        - Christmas decoration
I'll probably need a few more items for my mum, she'll also get homemade biscuits/sweets

Dad - glasses case
       - Flash drive keyrings
       - Keyboard duster
Arghhh!  Really stuck, dad's so hard and he has a birthday in November.  He's diabetic so maybe some diabetic biscuits and diabetic cookies in a jar

Mother in law - mani pedi kit
                      - Frilly apron
                      - Spa kit (I'll publish a tute when I've made it)
                      - tea cup candle
                        - glasses case
                      - pocket tissue pouch
                      - Christmas decoration

Father in law - glasses case
                     - non-frilly apron
Think I'll need more for FIL too, sweets and biscuits probably.  I was considering trying jam or chutney, but I'm not sure I'll have the time

Brother - Flash drive keyrings
             - Yoda amigurumi
             - crochet R2D2
I need some more things for my brother but I'm really stuck!  He'll be getting about 10 jars of "cookies in a jar" as I made him some last year and he loved them. 

Sister in law - mani pedi kit
                      - spa kit
                      - pocket tissue pouch

Niece 1 - mani pedi kit
              - Spa kit

Nephew to be (not born yet!)  - linen bunny

Sister and brother in law - table runner
                                        - matching tea towels

Niece 2 - Handbag

Nephew - shop bought

Grandma-in-law - embroidered cushion
                             - cross stitch book mark
                            - tea cup candle

Best friend - mani pedi kit
                  - Spa kit
                  - cross stitch frog pouch
                   - pocket tissue pouch
                 - fold up shopping bag

God daughter - alphabet chart
                        - crayon roll
                        - cross stitch bag

Friend 2 - mani pedi kit
              - Spa kit
              - tea cup candle
              - pocket tissue pouch

Friend's 3 year old son - crayon roll

Friend 3 - mani pedi kit
              - Spa kit
              - tea cup candle
            - pocket tissue pouch 

Friend's 9 month old son - I have no idea - help!

Aunty 1 - glasses case
             - patchwork pouch
               - pocket tissue pouch
               - fold up shopping bag

Uncle - Baked goods

Aunties 2 and 3 - fold up shopping bag
                           - pouch

Cousin's 2 boys - crayon rolls

Having been all organised and made a list, I'm now panicking!

Getting Started on Two of my Homemade Gifts

  Two of my proposed food gifts both take more time than effort.  And by time I mean time sitting and developing flavor time not labor time.
  This weekend I started a quart of homemade vanilla.  This was actually a little late to start on it as vanilla should sit for at least two months prior to using.  It only takes two ingredients:  vanilla beans and vodka.  I read lots off different homemade vanilla recipes on the web (I'll include links to some of them on my blog posting at toomanypastimes).  I ended up taking the middle road as far as ratio of beans to vodka.  I used two kinds of beans:  Tahitian and Planifolia.
          The steps are easy.  Slice almost to the top of each vanilla bean.

        Put them in a clean canning jar, fill with vodka and cover with a lid.

       Pint jars were already on hand so I used those and smooshed (technical term) the beans down to fit.
I put four of each type of bean in each jar for a total of eight per pint. After a few minutes the vodka was already starting to darken.

  Just store in a dark cool space for two months, give an occasional shake and voila! vanilla.  It took maybe 5 minutes to do this.  Bonus - my kitchen smelled like vanilla for the rest of the weekend.  Right before Christmas I'll pour it into four ounce bottles and give as gifts to my co-workers.
    I also started homemade limoncello but will wait to talk more about that til after the second step next weekend.

   
 

Two months away!

Hello! My name is Erin and I blog over at Miss Crayola Creepy. Can you believe Christmas is two months away? I need to get started on my projects now! Luckily, all you ladies have made some of my decisions easier by posting amazing tutorials and inspiring photos. Thank you!

TO DO LIST

• I was going to use this to make a makeup bag for my sister, but now I am thinking she might like it for an iPad cover instead.

• Making this cat bed was one of my first sewing projects and my cats are ready for a new one. Originally, I had used stuffing for the inside, but the other day I started thinking about using fabric scraps instead of stuffing. I have saved all my selvages and tiny pieces of fabric over the past year or so. This will be a perfect way to use up the odds and ends!

• I started working on this quilt for my mother in law in July! It's my second quilt, so it's taking me a while to do, but now there is light at the end of the tunnel. I sandwiched the quilt yesterday and will start quilting it this week. Next I will put on the binding and ship it to her in England.

• My sister is spoiled because she is on this list twice. I am making her a cape and told her to pick out whatever fabric she wanted for the lining. That was a mistake! I didn't look at the fabric or the price before buying it. It ended up being imported from Japan ($$$) and it's a lightweight canvas. She is insisting that she "needs" this for the lining. I'm not sure how this is going to work out...

• I wanted to make my husband a bow tie with a retro look to it, but wasn't sure which pattern to use. Does anyone have any recommendations for a beginner friendly bow tie pattern?

If you would like to read more about my sewing adventures or share sewing tips and tricks with me then check out my blog. I need all the advice and ideas from you creative ladies that I can get! :)

Happy Monday

Hi all!  I'm Valerie, and I blog over at Sew Cranky.  I'm super excited to be part of this project as I'm going to try to make most of my holiday presents this year.  Here's my list:

• Mom - Crepe dress from Colette Patterns and a couple of Sorbettos
• Dad - Long sleeve Negroni shirt
• Brother - Corduroy jacket
• Sister - Handbag
• BIL - Chef's jacket (purchased) with his name embroidered on the front
• Nephew - Baby Chef's ensemble with his name embroidered on the front
• Friend 1 - Suede Steampunk-esque Fascinator
• Friend 2 - Denim lap throw pieced together from old jeans

This may sound like a lot, but I've already made a Crepe for mom and know what adjustemnts I want to make to this one and a couple of Negronis for dad and brother.  My brother was up for a few months and I think I've got the basic fit worked out on the jacket as well.  The corduroy is a wearable toile for the $90/yard wool I got at Mood 2 years ago.  Once I'm happy with the toile, I'll hold my breath and cut into the (amazing Italian) wool. 

I'm also hoping to make a few small things, like evening clutches and such for the girls in my (occasional) knitting group.  We'll see if I run out of time :)

I can't wait to see everyone's progress!

- V

Miscellany table runner update!

Hi everyone! I wanted to share an update on the table runner I'm making for my mum for Christmas (but giving to her at Thanksgiving). I put in a lot of time over the weekend on these improvisational blocks.

Here's a look at the blocks laid out and numbered. Our table is a unique size because my dad made it years and years ago, so it's going to be a bit wider than the Purl Bee version I'm using as inspiration.

I've never pieced like this and it's so much fun. I started building the blocks by cutting strips and then it became a game to see how I could use up scraps. After I lined up what I had I did a lot of math to see what I needed to do to get to the finished size I wanted and added to some of them as needed. I decided to put a border around each of them because I felt the combination of scrappy piecing and the eclectic collection of prints needed some consistency.

Here are a couple of blocks up close. Taking these gave me a chance to use our new tripod!

I just love this fabric collection!