gifts

DIY Feather quills (for the Harry Potter fan or stationery-lover in your life)

Nov 12, 2018 By Kate in Uncategorized Tags: calligraphy, feather quill pens, gifts, harry potter, nibs

Harry is fascinated by the quill pens that the pupils of Hogwarts school use in their lessons…

…so for his birthday, I have made him a set of his own!

Two of these are made with calligraphy nibs and can be dipped into a bottle of ink for an authentic experience; for the third I unscrewed a ballpoint pen to extract the insert and fed it into the quill, for an altogether easier and less messy writing experience!

These are so simple to make, and so impressive to look at; a useful project to have on file for any Hogwarts fans or simply those who love to write and experiment… here’s what I used:

Feathers: I used duck/turkey feather from a craft store (about £2/pack of 10), but try ostrich, peacock and dyed feathers too. anything with a thick spine will do.
Inexpensive ballpoint pens; unscrew them to tip out the inner tube with the ballpoint.
Nibs; buy online in an assorted pack or individually from good art shops; mine were 3 for £5.
Glue gun, for bonding the nibs to the quill and holding the ballpoint tube in place
Ink! For the fun bit..
Optional: I used little pieces of gold-flecked washi tape to wrap around the nib join

How to make these:

For the nib quills, simply dab a spot of hot glue on the base of the quill and press the nib into place. The nib ends are naturally curved so the fit should be more or less perfect. Hold into place as the glue cools.

For the ballpoint quills (for the modern wizard!), snip the end off the feather to expose the hollow core of the quill, then gently push the ballpoint inner up inside. You’ll almost certainly have to cut it down, so use this to measure how much you need to snip off to make it fit snugly. Mine was about 2 inches long. When you’ve got the length right, feed it up into the quill and then dab some glue around the join to secure it into place (be careful not to get glue over the ballpoint tip). I wrapped washi tape around the join for added decoration, but you don’t need to do this.

Finally, to showcase the pens I made a simple holder by covering a piece of greyboard (cardboard) with faux leatherette – use white glue to stick it on and weigh it down with a book whilst it dries. I then cut a thin strip of gold leatherette to go across the front and used paper fasteners (split pins) to hold it in place and create 3 pockets to tuck the pens into. Job done!

Have a great week, wherever you are and whatever you’re doing.

p.s. I am resisting posting Christmas projects on the blog yet, but can’t quite resist starting them at home Look me up on Instagram if you haven’t yet and I will share some work-in-progress sneak-peeks of new ideas as I go..

A Literary Prescription

Sep 17, 2018 By Kate in Making, Paper Paper!, Uncategorized Tags: books, crafts, gifts, library, literary prescription

I love to give books as gifts. For birthdays and Christmas of course, but also in the moments where words are not enough; a book can give comfort, provide solace, create energy and hope. I decided at the weekend to create ‘prescription’ labels to give with some of my favourite book choices, thinking they’d also be great to give as a set (a book for everything!) as well as individually.

I started by swirling circles of acrylic paint to create mood colours to go with the different themes I’d chosen; Love, Joy and Drama were hot pinks and reds. Grief and Solace needed sombre choices, whereas a deep ocean blue seemed right for Adventure. Appetite is a rather random and gorgeous pea-green; perfect for the cookbooks I love to both give and receive.

For my friend Rachel’s birthday this weekend I wrapped this thriller in plain brown paper and attached an enticing prescription label…

Some work well as sets. For the immediacy of grief and the gradual comfort of solace;

Or the heady mixture of new love, joy and all the accompanying drama

If you like this idea and want to give it a whirl, I’ve attached my templates below for personal use. They also work beautifully as bookplates for the inside leaf if you prefer. I’d also love to know what books you like to give, and what the books are that you go back to time and again – I’ll share some of mine next week!

p.s. for the ultimate, aesthetically-pleasing package, try using double-sided tape to wrap your books; a minor fiddle but well worth the resulting clean lines. I also added a signature wax seal for added style (though the beauty of these is really in their simplicity, so this is entirely optional)

Have a great week!

Love_Drama Literary Prescription Template

Appetite_Belonging Literary Prescription Template

Laughter_Adventure Literary Prescription Template

Grief_Solace Literary Prescription Template

Suspense_Joy Literary Prescription labels

DIY luxe S’more kits for gifting!

Jul 5, 2018 By Kate in Uncategorized Tags: gifts, marshmallows, smores, summer

A few years ago when on holiday in Cape Cod, we discovered the magical tradition of S’mores.

Marshmallows toasted over a campfire to a hot, crispy, melty-inner deliciousness, then sandwiched with a square of Hershey’s chocolate between two Graham crackers. Perfection, and completely moreish.

Oddly enough, it never occurred to us to try to replicate this at home until June’s glorious heatwave brought a series of endless summer nights and the first seasonal invitations to barbecue parties with friends. I decided to put together a luxe DIY s’mores kit as a hostess gift that we could hand over and then fall upon as the sun set…

I layered cookies together into a small crate; you could bake homemade ones if you’re feeling truly committed. I bought luxe supermarket cookies instead, choosing stem ginger rounds and lavender shortbread hearts. Then Harry and I chose some interesting chocolate bars; salted caramel, white chocolate and raspberry and hazelnut. Then finally – of course – a bag of over-sized, cloud-like marshmallows.

For each of the kids we made takeaway-box kits containing a package of cookies, a small chocolate bar and a handful of marshmallows; enough for a few rounds of grilling, dropping, sandwiching and experimenting…

These are so easy to make and lovely to give (and receive!).

For those without a campfire to hand, we’ve also perfected our bake-at-home, grill version; take an individual pie or tartlet tin and crumble slabs of chocolate over the base. Place a layer of marshmallows over the top and either oven bake or place under the grill, watching carefully to check for browning. Once your marshmallows are crisp and golden, lift the tin out carefully, place on a plate and pass everyone a cookie and a spoon; then scoop away…

…Summer is here!

Summer Lollipop Cookies!

May 22, 2018 By Kate in Baking Tags: cookies, gifts, lollipop cookies, summer

This week’s project; a sugary, summery treat to welcome the sunshine; Fruit & Flower Lollipop Cookies!

Somehow putting things on a stick seems to give them an little extra pizazzle and wow, and I seem to be seeing cookie lollipops everywhere in glossy magazines – so I thought I’d give it a try.

I rolled and cut out a batch of round cookies using my, uh, favourite recipe – and then when they were lying on the baking tray I gently pushed a wooden skewer into the base of each (upto about an inch into the cookie). Chill for 20mins to ensure they keep their shape and don’t spread, and then bake as usual. My biggest learning; wait until they are completely cool and hence hard before you lift them off the tray. They’ll look a bit like this, only probably better because you will not get distracted by a dinosaur question and fail to hear the over timer going off;

I then used a tube of writing icing to outline different citrus shapes, daisies and flowers, and waited a couple of hours for the icing to properly harden before filling in the shapes with different colours of runnier icing (the ‘flooding’ technique, if you’re a pro..)

I used tiny sugar balls and dragees to look like pips and pollen, and then passed them to my handy assistant with the strict instructions not to eat them.

NOT to eat them, Harry!

With the cookies that were left, we slipped them into bags and tied with ribbon, giving them as fun going-home gifts to friends who came for lunch on Sunday.

Have a great week!

Holiday Gifting: DIY kids desk art calendar

Nov 20, 2016 By Kate in Uncategorized Tags: DIY calendar, gifts, holidays, Kids, making, paper craft

Each year at about this time I start to think in earnest about Christmas gifts, and Harry and I plan things that we can make for the biggest people in his life; grandparents, godparents… something homemade, for those who love him the most. This year, we’re making desk calendars made from his favourite drawings and paintings over the last year…

We chose the pictures together; some done at school, others at home. I cut a stack of lightweight card into A6-sized pieces and scanned the artwork, adding lovely month-by-month calendar details from here.

Some of my favourites; a still life of our coffee machine and toast rack, the fruit bowl and this year’s sunflowers…

…and the one that makes my heart melt, a smudgy drawing that arrived back from school crumpled in a backpack; Harry’s version of Roald Dahl’s BFG.

Some of the artwork is almost a year old, like Penguin Little here – but just too lovely to leave out…

I bought a handful of these mini-easels (£1 each!) and removed the canvas, so that the cards could be stacked on the easel and rotated as each month moves to the next…

And then we tucked the sets into glittery boxes with an instruction note and lots of festive kisses…

And now the calendar sets are ready to be gift-wrapped and posted;

all except for one.

Have a wonderful rest of the weekend!

A homemade Christmas

Dec 11, 2015 By Kate in Baking, Making, Paper Paper! Tags: christmas, craft, gifts, holidays

How was your week, has it been a good one? It’s been a crazy busy one here; a mix of work and play, of Christmas parties and Nativity plays, of late nights and early mornings (Harry’s latest trick; to slip into our bed at an ungodly hour and whisper hoarsely in my ear ‘I love you to infinity Mummy. Now can I stay?’). We’re looking forward to a relaxing weekend and some festive crafting and decorating.

If you’re feeling similarly inclined, here are a few ideas from the archives for homemade gifts for those you love…

Like pinecone firelighters, for everyone you know with an open fire or wood burner;

Bake-at-home cookies for the students in your life who eat you out of house and home but wouldn’t dream of making their own unless you made it this simple..

Or perhaps a tinful of these simple DIY bird-feeders, which are easy for small hands and will be a gift for the birds in your garden too…

You could make batches of these fun striped holiday candles and tie them up as stocking-filler gifts…

Or fill mason jars with their favourite sweets…

Three different types of cookies to make and take to your holiday parties..

Or why not make a 2015 mini photobook for grandparents or friends of some of the best photos from the year? They look beautiful on the mantle..

And one of my favourites; DIY personalised pencils, made by printing onto washi tape. If you haven’t tried this, you really should…

And finally if you’re choosing gifts for a book-lover, why not make them some of these whale-tail bookmarks to keep their place each night…

I’ll be back after the weekend; I hope you have a wonderful one!

The gift of…. Breakfast.

Apr 12, 2015 By Kate in Baking, Uncategorized Tags: Baking, family, food, gifts, sunday mornings

Back in January, we spent a lovely evening at my friend Anna’s house. Twelve of us squeezed around her dining table, talking to and over each other, eating and drinking into the wee small hours. The party continued after we all left, as Anna and her husband cranked up the stereo and threw some moves, ignoring the scene of culinary devastation in the kitchen. A perfect night, all told; but what of the morning after?

‘I have the hangover from hell‘ texted Anna gingerly the next morning, ‘And there’s no food in the house because I didn’t think beyond dinner. I would KILL for carbohydrates right now.’

It was a lightbulb moment for me; so now when we go to friends for dinner I generally take a bottle of wine – and breakfast. The kind of slightly decadent, Sunday-morning breakfast that you can indulge in whilst reliving tales of the night before and revelling in your marvellous hostessery (new word, but you know what I mean..), before the realities of cleaning up and entertaining the kids with a hangover properly kick in. I find croissants (butter, almond or chocolate; all divine), really good jam and fresh bread go down a treat, and also require no attention when you hand them over; they can be set down and forgotten, then rediscovered with joy & hunger the next day.

A couple of really good friends have recently had babies, and I take a similar approach on the first visit to see them too; whilst the new arrivals tend to get showered with lovely gifts, it’s easy to forget who actually did all the hard work and is finding it hard to remember unbroken nights and the phenomenon of being able to read a book from cover to cover. For the new mums, a magazine, some simple scented flowers and a loaf of sourdough go some way to restoring peace of mind and providing the maternal equivalent of a comfort blanket;

p.s. Hot, buttered toast would be my last meal of choice. No question. Perhaps not my desert island food of choice – that would be calamari and crayfish with a chilled glass of wine as I scan the horizon looking for passing ships – but toast would be the most evocative, comforting choice. And as my last meal, I wouldn’t even have to skimp on the butter…

Also,

41 rules for how to be a great dinner party guest

..and useful tips for the host (especially ones like me who tend to have a warm-up cocktail at 7pm and only then remember to vaguely start thinking about the cooking)

and finally, for anyone feeling tortured by the gratuitous photos of carbohydrates, try the gluten-free museum

Love Letter Cookies!

Feb 2, 2015 By Kate in Uncategorized Tags: Baking, cookies, gifts, valentines

February has begun so I think we’re now entitled to think romantic thoughts. Happily, this means that January – official month of gloomy abstinence and calorie-counting – is now finished, so what better way to celebrate these two things than with deliciously more-ish love letter cookies for Valentine’s day?

These have the advantage of looking quite accomplished, as if you have spent many hours slavishly finessing them as a sign of the depth and breadth of your passion, but in fact they’re very easy to whip up. Bonus. Love should not always be hard work, after all.

I made a batch of basic cookie dough (I use Nigella’s recipe ) and then cut out rectangle shapes using a matchbox as a guide. Whilst these baked and cooled, I rolled out ready-made fondant icing and cut same-size shapes to go on top. Spread a little apricot jam (or edible glue) on top of the cookie to secure the fondant in place, and then simply mark a cross on top of each one to look like the flaps of an envelope.

I made fondant monogram seals by rolling little balls of red fondant and pressing gently with a wax seal (remember the tutorial below from last year? Find it here).

I let the monograms dry out a little to firm up, before adding them to the centre of each cookie with another dab of jam, and slipping each cookie into a cellophane envelope, sealed with a faux rose petal and little peg..

You could choose to make a batch of these and then distribute them widely; spread-betting, one could say, to impress a range of potential suitors with your domestic skills and mastery of baking. Or you could box them up as I’ve done, so that the object of your affections can have one each day, if they can manage to restrain themselves…

Happy baking… and forgive the absence of a step-by-step photo guide on this one; I’ve been midnight baking again, which doesn’t result in good pics. Leave me a comment if you have any questions about how to make these sinful little treats!

Life is moving at a particularly frenzied pace these days, and the time to sit quietly with a cup of tea composing posts is harder to find. I’ll still be here once a week or so, fulfilling my creative urges and sharing thoughts and projects, but as an experiment I will also start to use my Facebook page for smaller, more frequent pics and posts, so do sign up there if you’d like a bit more of the in-between bits as well.

Have a wonderful week, wherever you are and whatever you’re doing!

The Longest Journey

Dec 17, 2014 By Kate in Making, Uncategorized Tags: animal parade, christmas, diy, gifts, interiors, Kids, toys

A few months ago, I saw a picture on Pinterest of a toy giraffe with a small gift tied on its back and it made me smile, and sparked my imagination; last week I raided Harry’s Ark and created a winter animal parade which is now weaving its way through the snowy log landscape of our dining table, carrying a myriad of heavy parcels and gifts as Christmas draws ever closer…

I used some leftover kiln-dried logs from when I filled in our fireplaces, and then wrapped up as many tiny boxes as I could find with brown paper (far less decorative are the little bowls of staples, matches and paperclips now cover every surface, emptied out temporarily whilst I borrow their boxes..). Once taped, I tied them with a mixture of butchers string and fine glittery thread, and then carefully secured them to each of the animals. Harry’s toy wagon also came in handy, and the smallest animals were allowed to perch on top and watch proceedings from above…

I added festive bells, bottle-brush trees and a handful of glittery stars for some additional festive sparkle…

…and a final scattering of fake snow, which rather caught the meerkat by surprise;

I used up all of the animals I could find, to make a procession which covers most of the length of our (2m) table, but just one or two would look equally lovely; perhaps as place-settings. Mine are elevated on logs which are just low enough for easy eye contact and conversation across the table, but again, you could simple set out a tableaux directly on the table itself.

I took these close-up photos above in the conservatory where the natural light is strongest in winter, but you can see here the parade as I began to lay it out in our kitchen, in readiness for throwing open our doors last Sunday to friends for an afternoon of food, drinks and Christmassy fun;

Alas, our festive parade will have to complete its journey soon, as the animals are being continuously depleted by Harry who needs them urgently for various daring missions and the ongoing battle with the Lego men, dinosaurs and Transformers; still, it gives me a reason to create something else for Christmas Day!

I finished work today for the holidays, with a mixture of exhaustion and elation; I’ve developed the hacking cough and bone-tired weariness that always seems to come whenever work abates, but it can’t distract from the smell of the mulled wine now warming, or the fact that two long, uninterrupted weeks of family time and celebration lie ahead; bring it on.

I’ll be back in a couple of days; have a great rest of the week…

3 Last-Minute Easter Crafts

Apr 17, 2014 By Kate in Homing Instinct, Paper Paper! Tags: bunny, crafts, diy, easter, easter eggs, family, gifts, hare, seeds, sunflowers

Welcome back! Easter is nearly upon us, so three quick projects this week in case you’re in need of inspiration and feeling crafty. Our long Easter weekend begins tonight and stretches luxuriantly until Tuesday – four days of uninterrupted family time and the promise of occasional sunshine; it’s certainly good enough for me.

Firstly, some simple but pretty paper hares I made by printing copies of this free-to-download colouring page and using the hare as a template to cut shapes from gift wrap to make these place cards for our Easter lunch table…

I printed out different sizes of the page and then positioned the hare against the paper to make the most interesting patterns and designs before cutting out. To reinforce the paper I glued it to a sheet of card stock first; you’ll only need to do this if you want your hares to be freestanding. I then snipped off the ears and reconnected them using a butterfly clip so that they can be waggled up and down and repositioned…

And finally, inspired by this beautiful Matthew mead table setting I added a sprig of apple blossom for a tail;

You could use the hares to mount on cards or hang as gift tags, or even just as a beautiful bookmark; a myriad of uses!

The second craft really is a five-minute job (hurrah); using old eggshells to make hanging vases which can be strung on spring branches. I took a handful of eggshells, washed them out and left to dry and then taped thread to the inside of each (Scotchguard invisible gift wrap tape works well as it has a matte finish).

Don’t try and make these if you’re feeling cross; you will smash your way through them all. Sip a glass of wine, think zen thoughts and the eggshells will prove surprisingly resilient and tough. Trust me. Once complete, they can be filled with spring blooms for an elegant grown-up look (but don’t try filling them with water; a risk too far I think)..

Or Easter chicks and hens if you’re in the mood…

And finally we’ve been preparing for Easter itself by creating gift packages for grandparents and Harry’s friends, who will be coming over the weekend for a garden egg hunt and plenty of games and a seasonal sugar-rush.

Regular followers will know that every year we have a sunflower race, so this week we packaged up supermarket seeds into vellum envelopes, added a picture on the front (from last year’s race), and sealed with tape measure washi tape from here;

I then wrapped simple easter eggs ( the 5 for £5 supermarket variety) in cellophane and tied with ribbon before placing in flowerpots with a pack of seeds. The mint green pot above is a Skurar pot from Ikea, and will appeal to our adult recipients. For Harry’s friends we found a stack of brightly coloured pots and saucers at the Pound Shop and will do the same…

And with that I will leave you in order to pace out the garden in the gathering dusk, in an advance mission to locate cunning nooks and crannies in which to secrete this year’s bounty of eggs and surprises. This might be the first year that there is a danger of them melting rather than freezing, though I’m sure our tribe of hawk-eyed 4yr olds will recover them before there is any serious risk of that..

Have a wonderful Easter weekend wherever you are and whatever you’re doing; here’s wishing you sunshine and relaxation!

ps More Easter ideas from the archive here and here, and a lesson in nest-building here…

3 Ways with Christmas Cookies

Dec 21, 2013 By Kate in Baking, Homing Instinct Tags: Baking, christmas, food, gifts, gingerbread, holiday cookies, hummingbird bakery, recipes

Cookies are a great last-minute gift; it’s lovely to arrive at other peoples’ houses bearing something homemade, and so Harry and I have been busy making cookies using the dough we froze earlier in the month. First up, deliciously festive oatmeal cookies with a holiday twist, which we’ve packaged up with bells, ribbon and candy canes.

I used the fruit & oat cookie recipe from the wonderful Hummingbird Bakery cookbook, and simply doubled the measures of spices for a holiday feel. Drizzled lemon icing and a scattering of white chocolate stars complete the cookie and raise them above the everyday… I’ve added the recipe at the bottom of the post; for the icing just mix together icing/powdered sugar with pure lemon juice until it drips off a fork, then drizzle lightly back and forth over the cooled cookies. Our white chocolate stars are from here.

And two other cookie ideas from our kitchen for inspiration, both using the basic no-spread gingerbread recipe which I posted here; firstly Twinkle-Toe Gingerbread Men; the buttons are tiny chocolate beans held in place with a dab of icing; bakers’ twine scarves and a dusting of rianbow glitter on the hands and feet make them suitably christmassy….

And secondly a forest of decorated Gingerbread Spruce Trees, made by dusting the tops with a blend of edible food colouring powder (seen below), plus a dab of silver food powder, followed by a drizzle of icing and some carefully placed white shimmer baubles. These were the first to disappear when we had friends and family over last weekend; a sure sign of their attractiveness!

We’ll be out and about this weekend, delivering cookies and celebrating the season with friends; the blustery wind and rain make it slightly less festive than we’d hoped for, but are a very good excuse to stay inside in the warm.

Have a wonderful weekend wherever you are and whatever you’re doing!

Basic oat & raisin cookie recipe from the Hummingbird Bakery;

(if you’re working in US cups & measures, try Martha’s gold-plated recipe here)

270g unsalted butter
160g caster sugar
160g soft dark brown sugar
2 eggs
0.5 tsp vanilla extract
380g plain flour
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
0.5 tsp of ground cinnamon (I doubled this, and also added a pinch of nutmeg and allspice)
110g rolled oats
220g raisins

To make, simply mix together the butter and sugars, before stirring in the eggs and vanilla extract. In a separate bowl, sieve together the flour, bicarb and cinnamon, then add the oats and stir together. Add the butter mixture to the dry ingredients and stir into a ball. Roll into small balls and place on a greased baking sheet, well-spaced as they will spread. Bake for around 10 minutes at 170C/325F 9slightly less for chewier cookies and longer for crispy ones).

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