Sparkle Christmas Biscuits

I made these for the children's teachers last week, and they looked really pretty when all wrapped up - the sparkles made them feel very Christmassy!

Ingredients
90g butter (soft)
100g caster sugar
1 egg
200g plain flour
1/2tsp ground ginger
1/2tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp fine salt
Edible rainbow dust (or any kind of sparkles)

Method
Cream the butter & sugar until fluffy, then beat in the egg.  Mix the flour with the ginger, cinnamon, baking powder & salt then sift through a sieve to remove any lumps.  Add the flour mix and the egg to the butter & sugar mix and combine thoroughly.

Mould into a ball and place it in a bowl, covered with clingfilm, and pop it into the fridge for half an hour.

When you are ready to cut the biscuits, take a piece of the dough and roll onto a floured surface - don't roll it too thin or the biscuits will be crunchy.  Cut your desired shapes (I did trees and reindeers) and place them on a lined baking tray.  Bake at 180 for around 10 mins.

Allow them to cool on a wire rack and sprinkle with the edible glitter when they are cool and firm (it sticks regardless).  I stored mine in a tupperware overnight to keep the fresh and bagged them up the following morning to take into school.

Cinnamon Body Scrub

I needed something for the mother-in-law's birthday last week so after a bit of researching on the net, I came up with this Cinnamon Body Scrub.  It was super easy to make, and smelt delicious.  

I had an excess left over after filling the jar so used it myself this weekend, and can report that my skin was wonderfully smooth afterwards!

All you need is:

1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup of sweet almond oil 
12 drops of cinnamon essential oil

Mix the essential oil into your carrier oil, and add it to the sugar until you have the consistency of wet sand.  Mix well and store in a jar.

Obviously you could use any essential oil for whatever is your favourite smell (or that of the person it is for).  

I found some very useful info here on making your own body scrubs, including salt and sugar scrubs, and then just adapted it for my own recipe.

I prettied the jar up with a label and a ribbon and it looked great - a personalised gift that anybody would be glad to receive!

I used a tea-cup for measuring purposes.

Valentine Love Heart Crayons

This is an easy cute gift for little ones to give to the friends they *love*.  

Gather up all the broken / old crayons...any colours will do although the more red there are, the more like love hearts they will be.  Put the pieces in a food bag and smash with a rolling pin until all the large pieces are broken up, and you are left with crumb-like crayons (this is the fun part!)

Divide the "crumbs" between the hearts in a silicon mould like this one.  Bake at 150 degrees for 15 mins...open the windows when you do this, as the smell is quite strong!

Allow to cool slightly, then turn out of the mould to cool further.

Present in a cellophane bag and tie up with some red ribbon and cute tag for a lovely homemade Valentine :)

Handprint Bag

I wanted something that the kids could help make for nanny's birthday last month so we came up with this.  I bought a bunch of plain canvas bags last summer for us to use for arty things but we hadn't really gotten around to using them.  

Using a suitable fabric paint, I painted DD's right foot and hand before printing them onto the bag.  I did the same with DS but used his left hand and foot - I had hoped to put them side by side to make a pair but it didn't work out, as DD splodged her hand down before I could direct it!  So we ended up making it a bit more free form ;)

With a fabric sparkly pen, I wrote Nanny at the top and then the date at the bottom of the bag.

When the paint was dry, I cut two "flower / scalloped" shapes out of different coloured felt, after drawing round a biscuit cutter to help guide me (oh yes, I'm all about using household items for craft when I can!)  I used fabric glue to stick one on top of the other, at different angles.  When the glue was dry, I sewed on two buttons, one on top of the other, and then sewed it onto the bag.

The kids were very proud of themselves for their part in helping make it, and I'm pretty sure Nanny loved it too!

Tutu

Since I took DD to her first ballet class a few weeks ago, she has decided she wants to be a ballerina.  That, naturally, requires a tutu.  So I set to work...after DD informed me that she wanted one in "pink, blue AND purple".  Right then.

I found this easy tutorial at The Ribbon Retreat, and after ordering some tulle in the decided colours, I sat down on Wednesday evening and made this in 40 mins...from start to finish!  

You'll need some elastic for the waistband - I measured mine around DD's waist then made it a bit smaller, as I figured she'll be pulling it on and off and it will get stretched over time.  Sew the ends of the elastic together to make a band...then you can put the needle & cotton away!

Next, you need to cut lengths of tulle to tie onto the band - again, I got DD to hold the band on her waist and measured a strip to her knee, looped over the band (i.e. double that length).   I then cut a few lengths at a time, and cut more as I went along.

Its easiest if you have something to hold the elastic in place so I used this little chair.  Loop the tulle over the elastic and tie a knot one way, and then the other way.

I used two pieces of tulle at once, to get the colour effect, varying the colour combinations as I went round - pink & purple, blue & purple, pink & blue then repeated.  Carry on tying on the lengths as you move round the band.

You may need to shift the knots round at the end so don't tie them too tight!

DD was delighted when I showed her the next morning - here she is prancing round the house in it the next day...

...and the following day, wearing it again to go shopping...why wouldn't you wear a tutu to pick up your groceries if you could?!