Thrifty But Glam

When we first moved into our flat, I gave Chris the run of the spare room.  Fast forward to 3 years later and we have a disused games room, and a very stressed person trying to run two businesses from home (one heavily craft based) with another fledgling paper craft business on the way.  The cry of; "I need more space" is a very common one in our home, and tantrums over losing paper work during the office to dining table shuffle is an almost daily occurrence.  With me trying to focus more on expanding my businesses to realize the dream of working from home full time, I finally decided my need for a permanent office was greater then my need for an under-used games room. Although very small, the jewelry business takes up a lot of space.  The supplies are numerous and difficult to keep track of, and it is not unusual to have to wrestle one of the dogs to prize a lovely Amethyst stone from their jaws - not a cheap snack!  To safe...

Yesterday I saw not one, but two different Christmas adverts!  Sadly the coke advert wasn't one of them, but as it's my all time favourite Christmas advert, I just had to get my first fix of the year!  All of this Christmas talk has definitely got me in the mood to start my Christmas crafting.  Technically I started months ago, but admittedly I have done very little.  I swore that this year I would be successful, and come hell or high water, I will be! I have almost finished the knitted pair of baby converse booties for our newest family member, and I am very  pleased with how they have turned out.  I was planning on making dozens of other hand made gifts, but I am very conscious that most seem to need to be done last minute - not sure how well that will work out!  I was tempted to the last two weeks of December off, but I seem to have found myself very booked up with work, definitely can't complain about that! I am officially off work...

For those of you that aren't sure of what a Silhouette Cameo is, I can sum it up in this short sentence; The Ultimate Crafting Tool . Okay, so that may not be very descriptive, but it is pretty accurate ;) The Cameo is a machine has software that you load onto a PC or mac and can then make your own designs, or purchase them direct from the cameo store or online.  You can then use the actual machine to cut out these designs. Silhouette Cameo When I told my husband about this nifty tool, he just didn't understand it.  He thought that it was basically for cutting out a bunch of images that could be done with scissors, and although he encouraged me to get it (he's such a sweetie!) he didn't follow why I was so excited. If you trawl the internet, you will soon see just why many crafters would sell their own Mother for one.  This little baby doesn't just cut out scrap booking shapes. (although that is what a lot of crafters use it for) it also boasts the...

On a fairly regular basis, I will get a huge craving for these glorious little beasts!  I can't help but lust after the creamy, chewy caramel and sweet, smooth chocolate.  Now that I have finally found a wonderful recipe for a buttery biscuit base (insert favourite masterchef mash up here ) I am once again in heaven! Ingredients Base 250g Plain White Flour (Doves farm is the best) 150g Butter 75g Caster Sugar Caramel 100ml Double Cream 50g Caster Sugar 400g Condensed Milk Topping 200g Milk Chocolate 100g Dark Chocolate - Optional Step One Mix all the base ingredients together until it resembles a soft crumbly dough.  Don't worry if some of the butter stays in lumps, this will break down during baking. Step Two Oil a 23-25cm square pan and place the mixture into it.  Because this dough is so crumbly, you may find it difficult to spread in the pan.  I found that the easiest way to do this, was to use my finger tips t...

For those of you that would like to enjoy a none gluten free banoffe pie, the recipe can be found here Ingredients Base 250g Plain White Flour (Doves farm is the best) 150g Butter 75g Caster Sugar Caramel 100ml Double Cream 50g Caster Sugar 400g Condensed Milk Topping 1 Banana 200ml Double/Whipping Cream 1 small bag chocolate buttons Step One Mix all the base ingredients together until it resembles a soft crumbly dough.  Don't worry if some of the butter stays in lumps, this will break down during baking. Step Two Oil a 23-25cm pan and place the mixture into it.  Because this dough is so crumbly, you may find it difficult to spread in the pan.  I found that the easiest way to do this, was to use my finger tips to squidge it along (just make sure they're spotlessly clean!).  To level off the surface, I used the back on a large spoon - to stop it sticking, run some oil over it.  Prick the surface of the mixture with...

In 2010 my husband was diagnosed as a coeliac.  Since then our daily routines have had to be adapted to accommodate his dietary requirements.  As we both like to cook, this isn't really too much of an issue.  Meaning that we can no longer depend on convenience foods is somewhat of a pain, but slowly and surely, we are compiling a large repertoire of recipes. I have always loved to bake, and one of the biggest struggles with gluten free baking is the flour.  For those not in the know, gluten free flour tends to produce denser, crumblier and drier textured bakes.  This can be somewhat disheartening at first, but trying to find recipes that balance this texture with other moist ingredients is the key!  My husbands favourite bake recipe of mine has always been banoffee pie.  After trying to replicate my creations with ready made gluten free biscuits, I soon realised that this was not going to work. After trialing many different gluten free sh...

Last Sunday, a friend and I were due to set off to pick some lovely Sloes.  The plan had been to pick as many as possible, and then add them to gin to make glorious Sloe Gin, a perfect tipple for the festive season.  Just before we were due to meet, I happened to stumble across a post about someone enquiring as to why their Sloe Gin had turned out bitter and terrible.  Apparently picking Sloes before October, was a big no, no.  September Sloe's are supposedly notorious for being under-ripe and fit for nothing.  It would have made the lovely gin undrinkable! So here we both were, all armed to forage; with nothing to forage for.  With a bit of an epiphany (and a desire not to waste the glorious Sunday sunshine) I suggested blackberry picking! Fairly close to us both, is a large heathland, which I suspected would be full of Blackberries; I was right. Canford Heath is notorious for bush fires, but this year it seems to have escaped unsca...