Baking Day = Cancelled

Don't you just hate when you have the whole day planned, especially when it's a day of fun, & one silly little thing ruins all your plans? Today was meant to be baking day. On the weekend dearest hubbie bought a small box of bananas. Oh my it's been so long since I have had a banana, at at least $5 a kilo they are a luxury we can't afford, but this box was cheap! The only problem is now I have bananas coming out my ears! So I compiled a huge range of delicious recipes using bananas, so I was looking forward to all the delicious goodies I was going to make. So you can imagine my immense disappointment, when after getting all the ingredients ready for my first baked goodie (Banana Caramel cream slice *drool*) I realised I didn't have any butter. I always have butter in the fridge but apparently in the haze of moving house this week I had used it & forgotten to replace it. Of course it couldn't have been coconut or chocolate that I was missing, but rather the butter which I need for every single recipe. Now normally that wouldn't be a problem as I would walk to the shop but after the hideous heatwave we have been having today has been nothing but rain.

No way am I walking to the shop in that weather! Even if it is only 2 blocks away!

Weather like this also means that my house is filled with wet washing hanging in odd places in the vain hope that they will dry.

On another note, we moved house on the weekend. Cue happy dance! We lost one bedroom but gained a veranda & heaps more room. Plus we now back straight onto the bushland and right behind the bushland is the lake. Considering we only moved five houses up the street, it is so much more tranquil.

On that note I'm going to spend the rest of the afternoon working on some Christmas presents, after all it's only 31 days until Christmas ;)

Ribbon & Fabric Flowers

Ribbons & buttons, they are my weakness. They are the reason I love craft, homemade goodies & the world of DIY right up there with crocheting. Therefore right after I mastered the art of granny squares, I moved onto ribbon, fabric & button flowers. They are still one of my favourite things to make, especially when I've hit a creative block & have a dozen half finished projects laying around the house. So here are a few quick tutorials for my favourite flowers :)

YoYo Flowers 


To make your yoyo flower you will need:
 a piece of ribbon, lace or material. The length depends on how full you want your flower (I tend to start with a really long piece or the whole roll & cut it when I am happy with the flower).
 Needle and thread
Button or other embellishment
Hot glue gun or craft glue

To start your flower simply create a loose running stitch along one of the long edges of the ribbon (lace or material). The smaller your stitches the more ruffles your flower will have. Don't tie off either end of you thread as you will need both ends loose to finish you flower.

When you have stitched the length of the ribbon gently pull both ends of the thread to gather the ribbon and create a circle. Now simply tie the two ends of thread together securely, making sure both ends of the ribbon are touching, and it is gathered tightly. 

Lastly glue you embellishment into the centre using you hot glue gun or craft glue. Depending on what you wish to do with your flower, you may want to glue a small circle of material (or left over ribbon) onto the centre on the other side.

Fabric Rosette

To make your fabric rosette you will need:

A scrap of material or felt

Scissors

Hot glue gun or craft glue

Round object (lid, glass, compass, etc)

Pen

Firstly you need to trace around you round object. Then using the outline as a guide, cut out a circle with a wavy edge.

Now simple cut the circle into a spiral, the thicker your spiral the bigger the 'petals' will be.

Starting with the outer edge of the spiral, roll the fabric until you reach the centre. Using you hot glue gun or craft glue to glue the last piece of the spiral onto the bottom of the rosette, securing the rosette together.

Ta-da!!

Ribbon Flower

To make your ribbon flower you will need:

8 pieces of thin ribbon about 10cm long (you can use thicker ribbon but you will need less pieces)

Needle & thread

Button or embellishment

Hot glue gun or craft glue

Lighter - optional the melt the ends of the ribbon so it doesn't fray

Firstly you need to place each ribbon onto the needle, piercing in the middle of the ribbon. 

Next you need to take one end of the top ribbon, fold and place on needle. Do the same with the other end of the ribbon. Repeat until all ribbons are on the needle. It should look like this. (Sorry if that's confusing!! I can't think of how else to explain it!)

Pull the needle all the way through (so all ribbons are now on the thread). Carefully place a stitch through the centre of the flower. Both ends of the thread should now be on the under side of the flower. Tie thread together (I usually do about half a dozen knots) securing the flower together.

Using you hot glue gun or craft glue, glue you button or embellishment onto the centre of the flower & you are done!

These little flowers can be used for any range of things, from headbands or hair clips, to embellish bags, pillows, lampshades or whatever you're little heart desires! I hope you enjoy them :)

Christmas Wreath FTW!

Just FYI it's only 44 days until Christmas *cue jaw drops & scared facial expressions*
So what better time to move house? With only one weeks notice no less! (Yes we are slightly crazy). So what does one do when the house is a right off, we have a week to pack (lucky we are only moving 5 doors up the road! lol) & you have a list of jobs as long as your arm?? You do some Christmas craft of course!

Ok so it wasn't really a spur of the moment decision. I have been planning this creation (and tutorial) for just over a week now, I spent a few days collecting supplies and a few days looking at my supplies and mulling it all over. But here is the finished product. My very own Christmas Wreath :)

So here it is just for you!

Christmas Wreath Tutorial

Ok for your Christmas wreath you will need:
Pool noodle (you can use a foam ring or wreath form but the pool noodles are so much cheaper and work just as well! I got mine for $5 from our local discount shop)
Duct tape
Wool (I chose green but you can use any colour that takes your fancy!)
Scissors
Hot glue gun or craft glue
Materials for you flowers, ie, ribbon, lace, fabric, buttons, needle & thread. You can find the tutorials (& lists of materials) for the flowers I made here :)
Ribbon

The first thing you have to do is turn you pool noodle into a ring, so it looks more wreath like & less like a kids toy! Simply duct tape both ends of you noodle together as neatly as you can.

Ok here is the time consuming part, seriously I had no idea it would take me as long as it did. So be prepared, maybe have a good movie on & some snacks & drinks to keep your energy up...just kidding!! Kind of ;)
Using your wool, neatly wind it around your wreath form until you have covered the entire form.

When you get toward the end, you'll notice that it won't line up perfectly. That's ok, it'll all work out & I just made sure to add my embellishments over that section to cover any imperfections.

When you get to the end you can finish it off any way you like. I used a wool needle to tie the wool off (joining it with the beginning) & then weave the end in, but you might like to simply use your glue to secure then end. This seriously took me about 3 hrs (with several breaks) but if you aren't as ridiculously pedantic as me it probably won't take anywhere near as ling!

Now you have to make you flowers for the wreath. You can make as many or as few as you like, they can be any size or styles. I made a selection of different sized flowers like in our tutorial.
When you have finished making your flowers, simply lay them on your wreath until you are happy with the way it looks. Then simply use you hot glue gun or craft glue to secure the flowers to the wreath.

When I had finished that I looked at my wreath & felt that it was missing something. So using some thin ribbon & my hot glue gun I added some 'writing' to add a little something extra to the wreath.

Lastly I braided a length of wool and tied it around to top of the wreath to use as when hanging it.

And you are done! Hang it on your front door, in your house or anywhere that takes your fancy & admire your great work :)

Rainbow Cake

Now I'm not usually one to jump on the bandwagon (ok so I've gone a little Keep Calm poster crazy of late, and I'm a huge Harry Potter & Twilight fan but I fought those crazes for ages, I swear!). But seriously, Rainbow cakes? How could I resist? I am well & truly obsessed. I mean what's not to love. They taste great, they look great & that moment of 'WOW' when you cut it open is so worth all the hard work & mess that went into making it.

I've been asked several times for the recipe for my rainbow cake, so here goes. I personally make my own cake batter from scratch using the butter cake recipe from the Women's Weekly Birthday Cake book but you can also use the 69c packets from Woolworths or Coles (or any vanilla or butter cake I guess). I made a double batch of this recipe & used about 3/4 of it.

Ingredients
125g Butter
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup castor sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups self-raising flour
1/3 cup milk
Food colouring (I used the individual 99c bottles from Woolworths or Coles)

Method

Make sure butter is at room temperature (if it's not your life will be hell, trust me, I learnt this the hard way!). Beat butter with vanilla until light and fluffy; add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.
Stir in half the sifted flour with half the milk, stir until combined.
Add the remaining milk and flour, stir in lightly, then beat lightly until mixture is smooth.

Now you have to decide how many colours/layers you want in you cake. I baked 6 layers (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple) but you can have as many or as few as you like. When you have decided how many layers you need, evenly divide the batter into separate bowls. Add a dash of food colouring to each bowl and mix until you reach your desired colour. I found that my purple came out too dark, so be careful when adding your colouring!

Now you need to grease & flour you cake tin. Pour the first lot of batter into tin, smooth it evenly & bake until it springs back when lightly touched or skewer comes out clean. Let the cake cool in tin for a few minutes, then turn out onto cooling rack. Wipe out tin, then re-grease & flour. Repeat until all layers are baked. While the cakes are cooling you can make the icing, I used white chocolate cream cheese icing but you can also using buttercream icing.

Icing
455g cream cheese (not the low fat stuff)
170g white chocolate
10 tbsp. butter, softened
3 cups of icing sugar

Beat the cream cheese until soft & smooth. Add butter and icing sugar and continue beating until smooth. Melt white chocolate and add to cream cheese mixture.

Once the cakes have cooled, level the tops if needed. Now is the fun part (haha). Decide what order you want your layers to go in, then just start stacking them, with a thin layer of icing in between. Make sure you try to line the layers up neatly (otherwise you end up with the leaning tower of cakes, once again trust me I know!). When all the cakes are stacked you can ice the outside of the cake, you should probably start with a crumb coat, then I final layer, but I was naughty and just iced it all in one go (Shhhhh don't tell anyone!). Once that is done you can decorate it with sprinkles, or M&Ms or leave it plain, whatever takes you fancy!

Last but not least, cut & enjoy. Trust me the WOW factor is so worth it!

Something to always remember