• crafts - gingerbread - handmade

    How do you celebrate Valentine’s Day?

    February 14, 2012 - By 

    Before children Valentine’s Day was spent in bed or on a romantic break in a European city. Now the day starts early and ends early with no hope of a romantic meal for two. This year we decided on cards only, no gifts. We decorated with an origami heart garland. The children gave daddy a homemade Valentine card which I blogged about earlier. I also made a card from an old book. I cut out a heart shape and sewed it onto a plain card with red thread. Finally we iced some gingerbread hearts which we had bought from Morrisons…

  • baking - gingerbread - gingerbread house - Valentines Day crafts

    Valentine’s Day gingerbread house (Ikea Pepparkaka Hus)

    February 11, 2012 - By 

    Last year it was all about the felt, this year it’s all about the edible gingerbread house! I had an Ikea Pepparkaka Hus which I had bought to make over Christmas and never got round to building so it seemed like a good time to make it and decorate it for Valentine’s Day. The kit contains ready baked and stamped house pieces – front and back, two sides, two roof pieces, four small pieces to make a chimney and printed instructions. It doesn’t contain any icing or sweets to decorate but the instructions helpfully contain a recipe for icing. The…

  • baking - gingerbread

    Gingerbread for your valentine

    February 10, 2012 - By 

    A couple of weeks ago I came across a great challenge – the PinAddicts Pinterest Challenge. The idea is to choose something from your Pinterest boards to create and link up each month. As I am addicted to Pinterest I just knew I had to join in, the only choice was what to make? I searched my boards and decided upon something for Valentines Day. I couldn’t resist baking some gingerbread men and decorating them as a Valentine treat for my husband. Love is not lost in our household (despite a 2 and 23 month old trying their very best!).…

  • baking - gingerbread

    Home-baked treats for your Valentine

    February 2, 2012 - By 

    I don’t normally go overboard with Valentine’s Day but this year I haven’t been able to stop baking. I’ve been whipping up batches of cakes and biscuits and working on improving my decorating skills. They say the way to a man’s heart is via his stomach so I baked some heart shaped gingerbread for my husband, and decorated them with Renshaw’s Ready to Roll coloured icing in red for the ultimate home-baked treat. The icing was simple to use, just roll out and cut the required shape with a cookie cutter. I kept the icing in place with a brush…

  • baking - gingerbread

    Stained glass biscuits

    February 1, 2012 - By 

    I’ve wanted to try baking stained glass biscuits for a while and with Valentine’s Day fast approaching I thought I would have a practice run! Big Brother loves to bake with me so we made a simple gingerbread dough and cut out the biscuits using a heart shaped cutter. We then cut a smaller star shape out of the centre of each biscuit and baked the biscuits for about 5 minutes, until the edges went brown. To make the stained glass you simply put a couple of boiled sweets (I used red sweets) in a freezer bag and bash with…

  • baking

    Limited edition love?

    January 31, 2012 - By 

    Roses are red, violets are blue, give your partner a Love Heart tin that says ‘I love you.’ Swizzels Matlow, the makers of Love Hearts, are launching a new Valentine’s Day collection including a limited edition heart-shaped retro tin full of Mini Love Hearts and an ‘I Love You’ tube of sweets. The British confectionery giant has produced just 100,000 vintage style tins that are destined to become a collector’s item. The tins are available nationwide at a recommended retail of £1.99 while stocks lasts. Sarah-Louise Heslop, Marketing Manager at Swizzels Matlow, said: “Valentine’s Day excitement is building and we’ve…

  • crafts - playing - toddler

    Handmade Valentine cards

    January 25, 2012 - By 

    I really want to encourage Big Brother to be crafty and get over my fear of mess by planning a couple of messy craft sessions a week. Today we made our own Valentine Day cards with some help from a potato. First I cut a potato in half and cut a heart into one half using a cookie cutter. I put a generous dollop of red paint onto an old plate and let BB have a go at printing heart shapes on a piece of paper which he loved. Then I folded a piece of A4 paper in half and…

  • A Monthly Make 2011 - handmade - sewing

    A monthly make – January

    January 31, 2011 - By 

    This year I wanted to try something different for my Valentine’s Day card and I decided to make an early start on something handmade.   The envelope is made from felt but lined with cotton and holds a special Valentine message from Edward to his daddy.     I’ve signed up to The Felt Fairy’s A Monthly Make 2011 challenge – this is for January.