Domesticali

Spring creativity

Oh that was a good Saturday. Even if it did mean leaping out of bed at normal midweek hour to scamper off to pick up Monica and then drive towards the big smoke. See, we had a special day at Kristina's organized. A day with Val and Tracy too, learning new crafty tricks from Emma of Silverpebble. 

I've always loved the things Emma makes (especially this one), but I had no idea that she was such a jewellery making tutor extrordinaire. She allowed us to rifle through all her treasures (housed in the cutest little patty pan tins) and showed us how to bend wire and headpins and then let us run riot.

Having never tried beading before, I didn't know what to expect, but I think I might be investing in some teeny pliers and cutters. Because it was seriously good fun. The quirkier items called to me most.

The little bone bead reminds me of a tooth. And the twirly squirly wire pin just called to me.

Who could resist the teeniest of tiny silver keys and a bead with words (especially one which spells out 'very bad word')

And continuing along the key theme, a pendant with button, key and the most beautifully subtle Egyptian faience beads.

Difficult to remember when I was last so thrilled with the results of a morning's work. And there was more fun to be had as we headed off to lunch at Petersham.

Yummy food and much chatter and hooting laughter. It honestly doesn't really get any better. How lucky I am to count these women as friends.

Collage Talker Tutorial

Mark is a big fan of the Post-it note. I often find little messages scattered around the house, asking me not to turn off the DVD player (so he doesn't loose his place in a movie) or reminding himself to take something to school for a friend. But his bedroom door was becoming a war zone of sticky notes. Mainly banning his brother from doing various things in there.

Clearly, the door needed a more elegant solution. One using a simple collage of picture and speech bubble with a plastic coating, which means it can act as a write-on wipe-off message board. And it's a great project for kids to tackle all by themselves.

How d'you do it?

• Choose a picture (from a catalogue or magazine or a photograph) and trim it to an appropriate size.
  
  
• Cut a speech bubble from plain paper.
  
  
• Layer them together and either run them through a laminating machine, or place them in a clear contact paper sandwich.
  
  
• Trim the plastic, making sure you leave a border round the paper elements.
  
  
• You can now write on your Talker with a felt tip or a dry erase pen. And just wipe it off when you have something new to say.

Somehow, when the Queen's Corgi gives a reminder, it seems a little bit less like nagging.

Kids Crafternoon: Papercraft

Sometimes things don't seem real until you can see them. But seeing this cover has made me all excited all over again.

Kids Crafternoon: Papercraft is coming out at the beginning of July and I have a couple of projects in it. 

And it is just KILLING me not to have seen the book in the flesh as yet. Patience has never been my strongest point - perhaps that's why I like making things with paper. Speedy results.

Pitching ideas for the projects in the book was one of the most fun things I've done in ages. I came up with a big long list of possibilities - some of which didn't make the editorial cut. So I'm going to share a couple of those with you as tutorials instead - just in time to keep the kids busy over the Easter holidays. 

 

For Japan With Love - a day of silence

A day of blog silence seems a small way to pay my respects to the victims of what has been going on in Japan over the past few days. And an appropriate one.

We lived in Japan when we were first married and while we were there, witnessed the country cope with the Kobe Earthquake and the Sarin attack on the Tokyo subway. And the thing that struck me most was the quiet dignity with which these were borne. No manufactured drama, no hysterical reporting. So silence seems a fitting gesture.

If you'd like to join in, here's a link to the information. 

Back to black

Today was set aside for dyeing. I've been collecting fabric to make into scarves  - some jersey, some cotton voile. Lovely colours, but all very bright. I thought I might overdye some of each to tone down the colours a smidgen and give me a little scarf variety - I had plenty of yardage, after all. So last time I was in town, I picked up some Dylon. Read the instructions, weighed the fabric, popped it in the machine.

Waited with excitement. There is no after photo. I seem to have dyed the whole lot jet black. Along with the rubber seal on my washing machine. Not my finest crafting day.

Nice cold, ice cold

My relationship with milk is a checkered one. Having grown up abroad, milk tended to be the UHT variety, unless you were really unlucky and had to have the powdered stuff. So you used it when you had to, rather than for pleasure. Coming back to the UK to real fresh white stuff was a pleasure, until enrolled in a local primary school I was met with one of those third-of-a-pint glass bottles with a straw. They were theoretically a good idea, at least until you let them sit outside in the sun until morning break. Even the wrath of the fierce nuns couldn't get me to choke one down.

But there are some occasions that demand a glass of the white stuff. When I played hockey at University, standard post-match refuelling involved a pint of milk in the bar. Nothing is more perfect with a PB&J sandwich on brown bread and then there are these brownies.

Lorraine Pascale's oreo brownies (recipe here) which are even better the day after you make them. And even more so with a cold glass of milk.

Licked

Stumbling into the dark bathroom this morning, my toes encountered something odd something making a sticky slurping sound as my bare feet met it. Once my eyes had adjusted to the light I could see the floor was shiny - as if someone had spilled a sugary drink. Ewww, was it slugs? And then, behind the cat's water bowl, I discovered the source.

One of the cats must have liberated the dayglo lollipop from a party bag secreted in my offspring's lairs. Though exactly who decided they might take a little lick and then proceed to enjoy the spoils all over my bathroom floor remains a mystery. 

In an effort to flush out the criminal, I have held the offending lolly in front of both cats and not one tongue has appeared. Clearly they are smart enough not to incriminate themselves. Either that or they have already consumed quite enough sugar for one day.

A quick google shows perhaps this behaviour is not as odd as I might have thought. Who knew?

Life affirming baking

You guys are the greatest cheer squad imaginable - thanks so much for all the kind thoughts on my baking exploits! So I just had to stop by this evening and share all the gossip with you - it was such fun - I had completed all the baking yesterday, so there was no pressure at all and I was determined to enjoy the experience.

And it was fantastic. I got to plate up my chicken, sage and pancetta palm pies and slice my marmalade loaf cake, served with greek yoghurt, candied peel and blood oranges in caramel. And then my food was whisked off, with me trailing in it's wake, to meet Mary Berry and Paul Hollywood.

And they were lovely - so amiable and keen to put me at ease (quite important, given the somewhat daunting presence of a film crew in the room). Mary had the air of the health visitor about her - immediately friendly, but you get a sense that she knows her stuff and wouldn't hesitate to tell you in the nicest possible way, if you were not doing things right. Or perhaps it's just that she told me twice that I was doing a good job bringing up my children. And Paul - well, quite frankly he could say whatever he liked as long as I could enjoy his twinkly blue eyes - swoon.

They said my pastry was very good (hooray!) although Paul thought I could have added cream to my pie filling to bring all the flavours together - I'm going to try that next time. And Mary said I had done an excellent job with the cake as it is apparently very hard to bake with marmalade without the cake sinking in the middle (good thing I didn't know that or I may have worried). Paul thought the cake was a bit on the dry side but Mary lept to my defence, disagreeing with him and saying it had a perfect Madeira texture. I get the impression those two quite like to disagree!

And then we had a bit of a chat about choux pastry followed by me shooting myself in the foot by admitting that I do not bake a great deal of bread. The simple truth is, I can buy excellent bread from an artisan baker made less than 5 miles from my front door and it has made me lazy. I'd rather spend my kitchen time making something that I couldn't buy as good a version of. 

Which is truthful, but perhaps not a terribly well judged admission when you are auditioning for a place in a baking competition, when one of the judges owns an artisan bread company and believes baking is synonymous with bread.

But as I waited for the verdict, contemplating the challenges of the next phase of the competition, I have to admit, I was daunted. So when they told me I hadn't made it through to the last 60, I wasn't surprised and, if truth be told, a teeny bit relieved. Because it's pretty high pressure, this competitive cooking business.

And tomorrow, when I am back to the day job of being CEO of my own kitchen, I will smile to myself a little bit. Because I am still really glad to have applied - today  goes down as one of my very finest cooking adventures. And if ever I am asked the question again "What is your greatest baking achievement?" I can reply that Mary Berry and Paul Hollywood say my pastry is very good.

And perhaps I might invest in that Artisan Bread book Rebecca was recommending...