Pinterest Project - Socktopus

I saw these cuties on Pinterest and just had to! I mean, how could you not when they are so simple?

Source

All you do is hunt out those old/odd socks, long ones work better, snip the foot part of the sock off (unless you are using tube socks or even old tights), turn it inside out and sew a running stitch along the top and pull closed (secure it with a few stitches through the middle). Stuff with scrap fabric, toy stuffing or even carrier bags. Sew closed and snip the rest of the sock into 8 strips for the legs! Add facial features and any other embellishments and you are good to go!
Took about 20 minutes each (I was not hurrying, you could probably do them quicker) and now I want to cut up all of my socks!
You could take it further with the embellishments and use a plain sock to decorate.

Not bad hey?!

Chocolate Cupcakes

Everyone needs a chocolate cupcake hit every once in a while, especially when the chocolate cupcake is from the ultimate chocolate cake recipe! I have made many recipes for chocolate cake but this one wins for me hands down EVERY FRICKIN' TIME! Sourced from the Good Housekeeping Simple and Stunning Cakes book by Greg and Max. For some unknown reason this is the only recipe I have made from this book, maybe I subconsciously thought it was the magnificent octopus (Magnus opus for those who don't get the Blackadder reference!) of the book and the rest would pale in comparison, who knows?

They were decorated with chocolate fudge icing, marshmallows dipped in the coloured sugar I previously posted about and a few store bought sugar butterflies.

I prefer to use chocolate ganache to frost my chocolate cupcakes with but as I stupidly delayed making these the bloody cream went out of date and it was too late to go get some more.

Anyway, these tasted awesome and maybe one day I will share my recipe.... when I have a better one to remain the supreme chocolate cake maker of the universe mwahahaha!

Dessert...

Looks pretty healthy here... Bananas and juicy strawbs....

But hidden in the bowl are marshmallows, chocolate, and a waffle....
...Which means STRAWBERRY AND BANANA S'MORE WAFFLES!!!!!

Yeah, I was pretty pleased with this invention ;)

Where did the time go?!

Apologies to anyone who actually reads the blog, I think I must have fallen down a rabbit hole and ended up almost in July! Posting will recommence shortly!

Pinterest Project - Coloured Sugar

Who doesn't love the virtual crack that is Pinterest?!
It is a fantastic way of keeping track of future projects, design ideas, recipes etc etc. However, it is all to easy to get carried away with the whole pinning part and never get around to the doing part.
I started my Pinterest account to try and organise my ever growing bookmarked web pages, then I got addicted!
So to try to keep up with the doing part of pinning ideas, I will post up things I have pinned that I have got around to. And let you know if, in the words of a blog I read somewhere amongst the ether, did I pin a win?!

First up, DIY coloured sugar.
I found this by random from a blog party link and it hit me as a great money saver and a cute project.

Source: http://www.momontimeout.com/2011/11/how-to-make-your-own-colored-sugar_18.html

It is pretty easy to do, put a few tablespoons of sugar (I used both caster and granulated in my experiment, as well as some dessicated coconut) into a jar, add 2 or 3 drops of food colouring, screw the lid on and shake. Shake and shake and shake until the sugar magically has turned a cute colour!
Easy as that folks! Excuse the rubbish photo, you know the drill with my photography equipment/skills!

So overall, did I pin a win? Yes, yes I did! This would be a fun activity to do with children and will save you money if you are into the cake decorating game, not to mention the bingo wing toning from all the shaking!

Enjoy!

Get A Life!

Just a quickie here ;) I found what I like to call "Mario green" wool and whipped up a 1up mushroom to add to the growing collection of Mario crochet. Pattern is the same as the one used here.

Zombie Pin-up Embroidery - Work In Progress!

Hey folks! I have started my embroidery now, having got hold of the hoop to stretch the canvas.
I have to confess I'm a little late in posting this up and am almost finished with this part! I am really pleased with how it is turning out, I'm mostly using satin stitch here so it is a lot like colouring in the lines!
I hope to embroider more than just the zombie as I feel it will look a little bare when turned into a fancy lined and partitioned tote for summer usage.
I might try some other embroidering techniques as well to help achieve a good understanding of all the basics.
You can refresh your memory of the original drawing here.

It goes to show that you should never worry about trying something new, just jump in and give it a go - you might just surprise yourself!