My craft room

I'm just so happy.

No, I didn't win the lottery. And no, the Other Half didn't propose...

Last week, I finally got round to creating my craft room. Well, my craft corner at least.

For years and years I've cluttered up our home with beautiful scraps of paper, pens an pencils, jars of jewels and buttons and finished (and half finished!) pieces of (what I call) art. And for years I've also seen a million different craft rooms on the web, full of gorgeous old furniture and clever kit to store materials.

Well, I was never really going to get that, but I was determined to have my own little craft sanctuary.

Last week, I trawled the shops to find a table or desk - it was way harder than I thought. Everything was either too small or too expensive. Until I went back to the good old favourite - Argos. Where I found this simple but perfectly sized table - for a bargain at £24.99

Nothing special, but now I have somewhere to sit comfortably (my decoupaged stool has made an appearance) instead of sprawled on the floor making a mess, or hogging the dining table.

                                        

I found an old notice board where I've pinned a few of my favourite clippings, I've filled a small white desk cupboard I received as a gift full of buttons and nic nacs, I dug out a candle and some ornaments from unpacked boxes and all my string art projects have been pulled out of storage and displayed in the corner.

I absolutely love my little craft corner. It cost me £24.99 (as I already had everything else) but now I have somewhere comfortable to make a mess - without necessarily having to clear up before having dinner.

Cake pops

Oh I do love a good cake pop. They're oh so fattening, take ages (for me anyway!) to make but I still love them.

I've only ever made them once before, after travelling for 9 months, and when I was supposed to be looking for a job...

I loved how they tasted - so indulgent and moreish, but they were a bit of a faff.

Since then, I've been baking a lot more and so thought I'd give them another go. This time, I thoroughly enjoyed the few hours I spent in the kitchen - and the results were pretty good as well.



I used a variety of different recipes from the web, but just went for it on my own really - they turned out alright!

To start off, make a basic sponge cake - this can be one big cake or a few smaller ones - whatever you feel like - you'll be crumbling all this up in a bit anyway. And let it (or them) cool.

Make some butter icing. A lot of the recipes, mainly the ones from America, used "cream cheese frosting" but I looove butter icing so used this instead.

When your cake has cooled, crumble it all into a big bowl - you should have very soft crumbs. I cut off the edges of my cake as they were a bit tougher - but don't throw them out - they're still cake!

Mix in a bit of the icing - better to use too little at this point. Then comes the messy bit, get your hands in there and squish it all together. Add a bit more icing as you go - you should end up with a big ball of cake and icing that's firm but not sticky. Throw it in the fridge to harden up - anything from half an hour to half a day is fine.

When you're ready, you can start to make the cake pops. Break off small pieces of the dough and roll them into balls - small balls. This is where my greed caused a few mistakes. A big ball will be too heavy for the lollipop sticks and they'll just slide slowly down the stick. You'll have a delicious cake ball, but not a cake pop. I aimed to make them a bit smaller than a ping pong ball.

Whack them in the fridge again and while they're in there, melt some chocolate. I opted for my favourite - white chocolate. And to make it easier to work with, I added a few drops of vegetable oil into the mix - to add shine and so that the chocolate is a little looser when you're dipping the cakes. Don't worry - you won't taste it!

One more thing before the dipping begins - pop the lollipop sticks into the chocolate and push the chocolate covered end into the balls - not too deep but not too shallow. Too deep and the ball will slide down the stick after dipping. Too shallow, and you'll end up with cake pops stuck in your melted chocolate. There's no exact science I'm afraid, just a bit of common sense. Leave them for 5 minutes so that the chocolate has hardened - this will act as your glue.

Now comes the best or worst bit - you either end up with gorgeous cake pops or a big pile of cake and chocolate mess - I had a bit of both.

So, holding the sticks, dip the cake pops into the chocolate and carefully cover them all with chocolate. I used a spoon to drizzle as well, as I was terrified that too much weight would cause the ball to drop into the melted chocolate.

Carefully place your chocolate covered cake pop in a stand. Now, you can either buy one or make one. I'd just bought some furniture and so had some polystyrene in the house - perfect for sticking cake pops in. I've also seen people use egg boxes, so you could also give that a go.

Once you've dipped your cakes, sprinkle with any cake toppings you have. You could go all out at this point - some of the designs online are so impressive...

But after all my hard work of making sponge, making icing, making a dough, chilling and dipping - I threw some hundreds and thousands over them and ate them all. Yum!

                                            

They're super rich, but so good. I hope you enjoy!

Photos: Myself and TheVeryBestTop10

Learning to knit, sort of

I've always wanted to be able to knit. I love the thought of sitting in front of a fire (we don't have a fireplace) knitting my self a long scarf with beautiful soft wool.

 

Hmm, I'm not quite there yet.

 

But I've started knitting, which is a good start.

 

I started knitting a few months ago when the Other Half's mum showed me how. But, once she left and I was left to do it myself, I'd end up with big gaping holes and eventually (not too long into my knitting...) I'd end up with a terrible mess of knots, and give up.

 

However, this time has been better.

 

I'm not a very patient person, and knitting (for beginners anyway!) requires a lot of it.

 

I had a go, and I kept going and going - without any horrible knots - I was so damn proud of myself.

 

My piece of knitting is in a horrible yellow wool so I'll probably never wear it or use it for anything, I have one big hole in the middle of it, and I'm adding stitches as I go - I've googled that this is a common problem for beginners, but haven't quite figured out what I'm meant to be doing.

 



 

 

 

Ah well, I'm enjoying myself too much to wory about gaping holes and extra stitches.

 

At least I'm having a go, ay?

 

P.S. A glass of wine whilst you're knitting doesn't harm either...

 

 



A yellow cushion

A yellow cushion. Thats' all I really want. And I can't bloody find one.

Admittedly, I'm very picky. But there seems to be a lack of yellow cushions on the market. Granted, I could click a few buttons and get one delivered to my door by tomorrow morning, but with things like curtains, cushions and duvet covers, I like to get a feel for them before I buy them. But I'm running out of options.

Our new bedroom is basically grey and white, with a hint of yellow in the curtains, and I managed to find a gorgeous yellow chunky knit throw (which was £30 when I bought it - damn it!) to put at the end of the bed. But it needs more. A yellow cushion.

I've been to Ikea, Dunelm, Range, Matalan, Wilkinson's, Sainsbury's and Tesco - most of the big shops I have locally. My next step will be the dreaded busy high street. I can't say I'm looking forward to it.

Ah well, to give you an idea, this is the sort of thing I'm looking for. No wool effect one as it would be too "matchy-matchy" with the throw, no huge patterns as it wouldn't go with the flowery bedding and no words or writing...it's just not my thing! Really, I'm not that fussy...

If you find something, anything similar - pleeease let me know!

Photos:

Houzz
Etsy
Etsy

The experiment continues

I recently started an experiment to watch less television.

Last week, I managed to get my usual 25-30 hours down to 17 hours and my next goal was 12 hours.

I managed an impressive 11 hours. However, I don't feel all that happy with this.

I had family over for 3 days and I watched no television whatsoever, while they were here which means, I watched 11 hours in 4 days. I blame The Walking Dead.

I have to admit, I'm a little obsessed. I watched the first season a few years ago and then spotted the second and third series on Sky Box Sets this year. Last weekend, the fourth series was added and the Other Half and I have already made our way through a decent amount of episodes.




Ah well. I've enjoyed them - that's the main thing.


I tuned in to the Bakeoff final last night, but otherwise I'm going to make a real effort to read or do something besides watch television - I'll feel better for it. Zombie killing action can wait until the weekend.

Anyone else tried the no television - ahem, less television, experiment?

Picture from ZanyBao

Home renovation

This weekend, my dad and uncle came to stay for the weekend. My dad was running the Cardiff Half Marathon for charity and finished in an impressive 1:45:54 - Go Dad!

It was also the first time he'd seen our new little home - he loved it but also did hid 'dad' thing of finding work to be done - that doesn't really need doing.

And now these are my stairs:

Thanks Dad! ;-)

But actually, I love the way it looks, and how I hope it will look in the end. We'd been thinking of doing it but never really got round to it. But after a very enjoyable trip to B&Q to buy a triangle shavehook (I had to keep the label to know that!), a sand paper block and my very first power tool - a sander - I was ready to face the DIY world.

I'll keep you posted with some more pics.

No television

This week (beginning last Tuesday) I decided to do an experiment. I'm always moaning that I have no time for 'me'. No time do some crafts. No time to call my parents. No time to do housework.

But actually, I have a lot of spare time. But I waste it. Watching television.

 

I'm sure a large proportion of the population has felt like this at one point or another. You come home from work, have food and watch television. And before you know it, it's time for bed.

This really started to annoy me recently and so I decided to change things. I really didn't need to watch a re-run of an episode of Friends I've seen several times before. Why was I watching an hour long science programme with the Other Half, bored out of my mind, but too lazy to do anything else. Or God forbid, asking to change the channel to something else. ;-)

So, this week I decided that enough was enough and I would try to watch less television.

It was difficult.

Even though I wanted to do more after work, I still enjoyed having a cuddle on the sofa. Whilst watching television. I needed a plan.

I estimated that I watched between 25 and 30 hours (gasp!) a week of television - and even though I never set out to remove this pastime completely, I really did want to cut down the hours - ideally to 10-15 hours a week - that's still a decent sized boxset a week!

So, I cut out all 'unneccessary' television - mainly, anything the Other Half watched that I had no real interest in, and the half an hour, or even an hour straight after work I'd spend slumped on the sofa before deciding to make some food.

I still wanted my time with the Other Half (who would watch television 24/7 if possible - It. Drives. Me. Mad) but still wanted a productive evening, so I ended up doing some reading or cross-stitching on the sofa - so still able to have a chat but not really taking any notice of the television.

To tackle my habit straight after work, I'd plan during the day what I'd like to do with my 'extra' hour - instead of watching television. I spent my time well - doing some exercise, cooking a more substantial meal, calling my parents and reading some more. Oh it was good.

My evenings felt longer and I didn't go to bed annoyed with myself for wasting time. And another added benefit I didn't expect - I had more energy (after doing more!) and I lost weight - result! I tend to snack whilst watching television, but not when reading. And also, I did a few jobs around the house, which meant I was moving more.

I still managed to clock up an impressive 17 hours of television this week - way more than I wanted, but I never set out to get rid of television from my life. I've basically gained 10 hours a week. Nobody would say no to that.

So, all in all, a very useful experiment. Next week, my goal will be to get the 17 hours down to around 12 hours - then I'd be thrilled. I'll let you know how it goes.


Photos:
Family
Read Instead
Stop Watching Start Living