Felt Toadstool Decoration

My project for today it this little felt toadstool decoration. I hope to make more of these before Christmas.

Winter Wilderness

My project for the last two days was a design for the latest Spoonflower contest, Winter Wilderness.

My original illustration.

This is the colourway I entered. My son said there needed to be a fox so one was added, as well a few other little changes to add contrast.

Photo Books, Nutcrackers and Zipper Pouches

My project for Monday the 8th were photo books which will be Christmas gifts for family. Each year I get them done at Snapfish for the grandparents, this year I also made a special Christmas book from Christmas 2013 at Torquay for each of my brothers.

 Here are a few other things that were made recently and will be soon wrapped as gifts for family and friends.

These zipper pouches are made from my Toadstools and Tiny Creatures collection available at Spoonflower.

These nutcrackers are part of the Festive Cut and Sew panel also available in my Spoonflower shop.

Paper Houses

Paper Sweets Houses are my project for December 7th. These are based on my Scandinavian Cut and Sew Festive patterns. I thought it would be fun to make a little house and fill it with chocolate truffles or gingerbread as gifts, they can also hang on the tree.

Pumpkin the Cat

Pumpkin the cat was my project for December 6th. A while ago I designed a few animals that fit on a swatch of faux suede, Pumpkin is based on the cut and sew pattern for Scary Kitty which fits on a yard with My Little Zombie Dolly. As the pattern for this kitty is quite small I decided to use blanket stitch so that I didn't have to turn the arms and legs through.

Gift Tags and Cards

For a creative project on Friday the 5th of December I decided to make some cards and tags from my Scandinavian style cut and sew designs.

Chocolate Gingerbread Cookies

For the 4th of December we did some creative cooking and made chocolate gingerbread cookies. The boys had visitors after school and this was a fun thing to do and eat.

CHOCOLATE GINGERBREAD

300g plain flour

50g cocoa powder

1 teaspoon ground ginger

120g butter

120g brown sugar

140g golden syrup

Combine everything and process in a food processor. When it comes together take out in portions and place between two sheets of baking paper and roll out to approximately 3 mm thick. Cut with cookie cutters (we used a bell for the reindeer's face) then remove excess cookie dough and slide the baking paper onto a tray.

Bake approximately 12 minutes at 180 degrees Celsius.

We used a mini m&m for the nose and pretzels for the antlers.

This is a great tasting recipe for adults and older children but little ones may not find it sweet enough, maybe because of the high quantity of cocoa.