Landlocked Mermaid

Originally this was going to be a three part piece, but I have decided that it isn't really needful. The edible part of my gifts were fudge, of both the vegan and non-vegan variety. You'll be getting both recipes today. Both were found on Pinterest, aka my new favourite place for recipes and all things fun. (Seriously, I have sent my sister so many crochet squid hats, you wouldn't have thought there were that many!) My unofficial new year's resolution is to make more things. I say "unofficial" because I did not need January 1st to start this and was already doing it towards the end of 2018. What I am going to do is blog more about it. I want to get crafty and my bake on; all as a means of reducing my plastic intake and living sustainably. It's going to be a steep learning curve, and probably a lot of my brain going, "jsbdfekjbwrgouh." Are you ready for this? 😂😂 But back to Christmas. Fudge and bath bombs, packaged and ready for Sa...

Hello everyone! I hope we have all had a happy and healthy Christmas! We just have the weird not-quite-Christmas-not-quite-New-Year week to get through, then it is 2019! I am looking to re-jig some things, get my blog schedule under control again (can you tell I have been winging it, these last few weeks?), and hopefully try some new stuff for 2019.  As you are well aware, I got crafty for Christmas this year and now that everyone has had their presents I can finally share what I got up to! This is going to be in three parts, because I have three recipes to share. One is sort of a recipe, I don't know what else to call it. In any case, the odd one out is the one I'm sharing today. This was my first year making stuff, so I wanted to keep it simple. Between amateur craftiness and busy work schedule, I didn't want to over load my poor tiny brain. I wanted to make a couple things: one edible and one smelly. For some reason, growing up we always called bath sets "s...

This year I am hosting my first Christmas party. It's not going to be a traditional Christmas party, as it is with my Game Night group - so we will be playing board games a plenty while drinking copious amounts of beverages. So not massively different then. Well, the decorations are up, so that is the halls decked. One less thing to worry about. Our new living tree, electricals to be tidied. We always have more than enough games and drink, so that is not a worry either. Playing Tsuro of the Seas. So I guess my main worry is the food. The easy option would be to get any of the multitude of Christmas party nibbles. But they will be packaged in so much plastic, therefore making them a last resort. I like cooking, so I am going to make my own nibbles. I will end up having to buy a few things, but that is considerably better than buying all the things. What can I make? Chips and Dip. The chips will be one of the things I buy, but I make a pretty ta...

Me and my favourite shark experts have been making sharky Christmas arts and crafts all afternoon.  We made cards... Mum joined in. We made ornaments... We made paper shark aeroplanes... We made a mess... Merry Sharkmas Guys!

Today I have been busy making my advent calendar. I went to start it the other day and had a complete brain fail, so I called on the expert: my mum. She instantly saw what the probems were and suggested a much more practical way to construct the advent calendar. Best bit? We used the glue gun. No sewing involved! It ended up very different to the design, but I am extremely happy with it. And I cannot thank my mum enough for the help she gave me this afternoon. Turns out this project maybe was a little too much for me. But it is done now. Check out the making and project! Blocking it out A different and more practical background. Starting with a few patterns and pockets. Mapping out the final fifteen pockets. Lots of folding and gluing. Wonky donkey, but finished. The pockets are much smaller than planned; but this means I can get creative with what goes in them.  I could do foil wrapped chocolate lollies, little slips of paper with th...

The Hallowe'en decorations are down, the remaining goodies drastically reduced in supermarkets, and the festivities are a fond memory. Now, I am a massive fan of Hallowe'en, if you hadn't guessed already, and usually at this time of year I am aggressively pretending Christmas does not exisit. It starts in December, Novemeber 25th at the earliest. Honestly, I think it stems from working in retail and food service where Christmas starts in August. That's when the stuff goes on the shelves (seriously, Santa plushies on August Bank Holiday). That's when the Christmas menus are released. Christmas takes some planning, so people start early. Last year, we planned our Christmas day on December 23rd and it was wonderful - but there were only four of us to feed.  But this is my first Christmas trying to be plastic free and it is going to be hard. So I am going to have to be one of those grown ups I keep hearing so much about and actually try to plan Christmas. Well, may...