D.I.Y: Easy Christmas Door Wreath

Now that the Thorndon Fair is over, I feel like I can join the land of the living! I also want to do anything but yarn crafts! I've have a few ideas for Christmas projects that I wanted to do this year, but they've been on the back burner until the fair was over. I am hurriedly trying to do something so I can enjoy them while we are still in the Christmas season. This particular project has to be one of the quickest and easiest I've done all year!

I've always wanted to hang a wreath on my front door. Something about a door wreath is super Christmassy to me! While I admit I probably didn't look very hard, over the years I hadn't found one that I liked enough to buy. I also thought I could probably easily make my own, and I was right! Armed with my glue gun and a few other bits and pieces I literally made this wreath in less than half an hour! I chose natural neutral colours to go with the green and silver theme that we have going on in our house. 

Cheese Twist Scones

Here's another recipe from the archives of my Mum's Little Red Recipe Book. My mum grew up on a farm, and I'm sure there would have been a lot of home baking done, along with ingredients being readily available. I would categorise this recipe as farm style baking as it's not particularly healthy, but a comforting, tasty treat. Especially on a cold, wet, windy (Wellington) day with a nice hot cup of tea! 

Baby Boots Parade!

I have written before about how much I love this Baby Bootie pattern, but seeing as I am making so many for the Thorndon Fair, I thought I would do a post showing all the different combinations I have knitted to date.  

If you want this pattern you will need to buy it here. Buying the pattern gives you permission to sell your finished items, provided you credit the pattern designer, Judy Nemish of Double Diamond Knits. The pattern is called "Oh Baby! Baby Boots".

Cinnamon & Raisin Scrolls

When I was in America in 2010, one thing I ate changed my life forever! One of the great things about the USA is the ability to make the most shockingly bad for you junk food taste unbelievably amazing! On a day trip down to San Diego from Los Angeles, we stopped for a snack in a mall. It was one of those places with heaps of options for food. I picked out a Cinnabon. I was sold. I couldn't stop thinking about this gooey, sticky, warm, melt-in-your-mouth cinnamon bun. My memories of cinnamon buns are of a somewhat dry scone. A Cinnabon is anything but! I only ate one more in the three weeks we were travelling around the States. The second was during a stopover in Delaware in transit from NYC to Washington DC on the world's dodgiest bus (Only $20 a ticket- we were certain there was some illegal cargo on board....!) We couldn't eat on the bus, so I save my little Cinnabon until we got to our hotel in Georgetown. Even after 4 hours travel, it was still amazing! 

DIY: Easy Name Canvases

I love it when you are just going about your day to day life, and suddenly you're struck by amazing inspiration! The other day I was in Pete's Emporium, trying to find some sequins for my Christmas Stocking, and I came across these wooden letters. Instantly I loved them and knew they would look cute as names on something. I got letters for my son's name and also for my nephew. I have a thing about named stuff! My Lucas has lots of things with his name on: a cup, a bowl, a train, a mini numberplate, an artwork and quite a few initials. I have no idea why I like having so many things with his name on but I think it's really cute! 

Recipe: Honey Jumbles aka Rice Krispie Treats

Once upon a time, someone gave my sister a Kid's Microwave cookbook. It had some great recipes in it, for example, how to make scrambled eggs (!) And like most of the other cookbooks we had at home growing up, we only ever used the sweet section! I kept the book for awhile but really only so I could have this recipe. We gave the book to the Salvation Army store awhile ago, but I tore out the page with this recipe on it! (Incidentally there is a good recipe for meringues on the other side!!)

Finished Projects: Neutrals Crochet Baby Granny Blanket

I thought I would share with you a blanket I made as a gift for a friend who is having a baby. 

Granny Square Scrap Blanket: Part One- The Squares

After finishing my Granny Stripe Crochet Blanket I am totally hooked (excuse the pun) on crochet, and in particular, the granny stitch. I can't believe how easy it is (once you know how). I had heard this before but I wasn't sure until I decided to have a go at making granny squares myself. I found it a bit tricky to find instructions that were confusing until I came across this tutorial with PHOTOS (Hallelujah- you know how much I LOVE photo tutorials!) by Little Tin Bird. It was so straight forward and simple, before you know it I had knocked out four granny squares just like *that* (bearing in mind I had to read the instructions three times and redo my first square three times because I didn't follow the pattern correctly the first time!). I used a few scrap yarns I had lying around from last years hat and bootie projects (check out here, here and here). I am notoriously bad at buying one ball of yarn for a small project, and so I had quite a build up of bits and pieces. Then I remembered these stupid kits I had lying around. 

Completed Project: Granny Stripe Crochet Blanket

I am so proud of myself for persevering with this blanket and finishing it off (See previous post here about my failed attempts!) While it may not be perfect, it's still very usable and (I think) looks pretty great!

If you would like to have a go at this blanket, visit Maybe Matilda and check out the pattern here. The very BEST thing about this pattern is that there are step by step photos.  I don't know how many times I had to go back and refer to the pictures to see if I was doing it right. So helpful. I really don't think I would have attempted it without the pictures (so Rachel if you read this, here is one very grateful fan!)

Double Chocolate Sour Cream Brownie

I used to be a terrible brownie baker. I think I've mentioned this before! I avoided making brownies as a rule because I couldn't guarantee if I made one, that it would turn out as a delicious as it should. People always say brownie is so easy, but somehow I just couldn't seem to get it right. 

Either I over baked it, and I have a slightly burnt, dry, crumby chocolate cake, or I under cook it, and have a gooey, sticky chocolately mess!

One Step Peanut Butter Cookies

A lot of people have been asking and sharing on Facebook and Instagram what they are making for school lunches this year. As I have a toddler, this doesn't really affect me! But, he does go to in-home care twice a week while I'm working I send him along with a packed lunch, usually exactly the same thing every time! So I am always looking for recipes or ideas of things I could put in his lunch box or for when we're at home. At the moment he's pretty fussy, so the menu is fairly limited!
Everyone knows this recipe, it's so easy, I think will freeze well and takes minutes to make. It's also a great one for kids to do themselves as there's barely any measuring either. Not one of the healthiest ones, but sometimes you just need something quick and easy to fill the gap right?!

How to: Simple Beaded Earrings Part 2

This tutorial will show you how to make another pair of beaded earrings using slightly different materials. Hopefully you had a look at this post on basic technique and materials. If you haven't, click here to review. 

For these earrings I recycled some beads from a green necklace. I didn't like the necklace, it was too short and not really my colour, but the green glass beads individually are really beautiful!

How to: Simple Beaded Earrings

Here's a tutorial on how to make some gorgeous but deceptively simple earrings! The key is having all the materials and tools you need to create them. The other important factor is having some beautiful beads to work with! This will hide any imperfections in the finished result. You don't need to be an expert to create these, and they make really good gifts!
All the supplies can be found at The Warehouse, Spotlight or your local craft store. There are also numerous specialist bead shops around, however I have not found them to be the most cost effective way of getting beads. 

How to: Make a T-Shirt Yarn Necklace

In my last post, I showed you a picture of a giant ball of stripy yarn. Just to refresh your memory, look below:

Would you believe I have TWO of these?? Each skein is approximately 200 metres! It's a stretchy type of fabric known as t-shirt yarn or "tarn". (You can google how to make t-shirt yarn and there are lots of intructionals about how to make it from old t-shirts. I'm more of a ready-made kind of girl!) 

I've been wanting to make SOMETHING with it for ages, but the only patterns and projects I've seen have been for crochet. So I decided to bite the bullet and teach myself to crochet, I didn't think it would be too hard, given I more or less taught myself to knit. I found this pattern for a fabulous chunky knit basket which I thought would be perfect for this type of yarn. Also, it is fairly large so I figured a I would use up most of the yarn. 

Knitting Madness: Hats, Boots and Headbands

This past week I've been inspired to get back into a bit of knitting. I haven't done any the past couple of months mainly because it's been too hot for wearing wool, and we've had nice weather so I'd rather be outdoors!

It started because I wanted a gift to give a friend who is pregnant & was feeding our cat for a few days while we were away. I've got a pattern booklet from the Australian Women's Weekly (Great Winter Knits circa 2012- I bought at our local hospice shop) and a lot of the colour ways are grey with a bright contrasting colour. As I have a whole bunch of grey wool scraps, I thought I could do "something" and just get a couple new colours of wool. At Spotlight they didn't have a light, buttery yellow that I was imagining, so I settled for bright Orange and Turquoise blue. 

The pattern I always use for my hats is from Ravelry and available for free here. I just adapt it to whatever colour or size I want. Most of my wool is DK 8ply so I use 4.0mm or 4.5mm straight needles. 

Chelsea Winter Gluten Free Chocolate Cheesecake

One of my favourite things about Christmas is all the delicious food that you get to make. I have a sweet tooth so I'm always drawn to desserts and treats! Because of this, I usually get the task of making dessert for Christmas day, so I begin trawling through Pinterest for recipes and inspiration! (Seriously what did we do before we had Pinterest??!!) 

Triple Berry Blondie (Brownie)

Here's an easy recipe when you want something sweet for an afternoon tea or dessert, but don't want to go to the effort of making a cake. 

This recipe I made up as an adaption from the Edmonds Illustrated Cookbook. If you love the regular Edmonds book, then you really need this one! 

Super Easy White Chocolate Russian Fudge

When I was growing up, my sister and I spent a lot of time in the kitchen. We pretty much only ever made cakes and sweets! One of our favourite "sweets" to make was Russian Fudge. We used a recipe from the Rally Cookbook which you had to boil for 30 minutes until it was ready to beat and set. Usually when you're making sweets you want to make and eat as soon as possible! Although the waiting does make it taste sweeter don't you think?!

Mini Sweet Pecan Pies

This is one of those recipes that I've had for aaaaages but never done because I thought it would be too hard or fiddly. I got the recipe from a colleague at work who is a brilliant cook and baker, and whips up all kinds of things at the drop of a hat. She sometimes makes these for special morning teas at work and we all "ooh" and "ahh" about them because they look so fancy and special. They also taste delicious and are the perfect type of thing when you want "just a mouthful". So now I have discovered that they are deceptively simple!

The only ingredient I needed to buy was the Pecan Nuts. I already had some frozen sweet short pastry (yes I know, a cooks cheat), and everything else is pantry staples. 

You could make your own pastry, it's included in the recipe, and it looks pretty easy too. 

Midweek Meal: Chinese Chow Mein Rice

I would like to preempt this post by saying that 1. I am definitely not a food photographer (I took all these pics on my phone while I was cooking!) and 2. I realise this is probably the furtherest recipe away you can get for an authentic Chow Mein, but this is the name I made up, so I'm going with it!