These babies went down so well at Pumpkinfest 2011 that I thought I'd use the same idea for a child-centric home-made Christmas gift: an ideal alternative to the hands-off-they-are-mine-Christmas-Pudding-Truffles that I shall soon be making. There are a lot of children in LBG's class so we'll need to start early. These snowballs are really just a reworked version of that party favourite, the rice crispie cake, for which you need: 3 Mars … [Read more...]
How to make saltdough Diwas for Diwali
Today is Diwali, the Hindu celebration of truth and light. Having time on our Half-term hands, LB and I thought we'd have a go at making some Diwas from salt-dough. I've been meaning to try Thinly Spread's super-white-cornflour dough for some time so was delighted when LBG decided she wanted to make pretty lights after watching them being made on CBeebies. Half an hour later, and we had a small 'dispute' about the shaping of the … [Read more...]
What is a Sensory Box?
If you had asked me a few months ago, I'd have been unable to tell you what a Sensory Box is. Now I know that it's a cat litter tray I bought for a bargain price in Poundland. At least that's what passes for a sensory box in our house. And that cat litter tray probably gets as much action as it would if we actually had a cat. When LBG was small and I needed to keep her occupied whilst I did some jobs in the kitchen, I would dig out a few … [Read more...]
A Britmums Vlog: Half-term
A few weeks ago, in addition to touching THE Colin Jackson (I'll say it again: he was robbed of a Strictly Come Dancing win!) I also got to meet THE BritMums Susanna and Jen who *ahem* persuaded me to give vlogging a try. They obviously missed my epic 1930's housewife challenge. And so, this morning, I braced myself to plunge into the chill waters of the vlogosphere to ramble inanely talk about Half Term. Up until recently, this has meant the … [Read more...]
Breakthrough Breast Cancer Biscuits with fondant icing ribbons
I spent a couple of hours with a big blob of sugar paste last week so that I can bring you these biscuits. So, first you will need a batch of your favourite biscuits. I tried an all butter recipe, but I wasn't all that impressed and tend to favour the biscuit recipe in The Biscuiteers book. Who wouldn't? Anyhow, make your biscuits and cut out circles, then bake and leave to cool. Once cool, then pipe a line of white royal icing around the … [Read more...]
The Gallery: Faces
The Dimpled Assassin is absurdly tuneful for her young age. She sings all the time (when she's not crying or eating, because that could be very messy). Her latest obsession is Baa Baa Black Sheep which DH made the mistake of showing her on youtube the other day. Now, whenever she spies his laptop, she screams Baa Baa Back Seep [sic] until one or other of us is foolish enough to put it on for … [Read more...]
Fall craft roundup
It's been a busy Pumpkin-filled couple of weeks as I've been making preparation for Pumpkinfest 2011, and I think I'm just about there. At least I hope I am: I'm not sure I can cope with any more orange!! Here's a rundown of what we've got: 1. Pumpkin wreath, made using neon handwarmers I picked up in the 99p store and a Sainsbury's shopping bag* 2. Awesome Autumn Sensory box: orange buttons left over from the Button Pumpkin, some fake rose … [Read more...]
