Rain and Resin

Bonjour everybody!

Today it has been truly horrible weather. The kind that means you never want to leave your bed, or makes you long to be in front of a fire, or go to Fiji or something. This is odd for December, but I think that despite the fact that it has been a rather wet day we shouldn't let the weather get us down. Here is a lovely flower plant thingy to cheer everyone up.

Now, as is expected on rainy days, much eating is to be done. To get everyone into the right frame of mind I have some photos from a pasta date I had with a friend last week. She had bought me this amazingly beautiful coloured pasta and sauce for my birthday and so I invited her around so that we could both enjoy it's magnificence.

YUM! It was honestly the coolest meal I have ever eaten in my life! Except for maybe the time me and a friend made pacman pudding out of a lemon and a bag of icing sugar..... But then again that probably couldn't be classified as a 'meal' as such. Anyway, while we are on the topic of food (as I always seem to be) I have a life saving piece of information for you all! Now, I think that it is a widely known fact that a large percentage of the population relies on Betty Crocker's ready mixed mixes when it comes to baking. BUT! Fret no more, because I have for you the easiest, most mouth wateringly tasty vanilla cake recipe ever. And..... photos! I used it to make a cake for my friend's birthday yesterday and it was mixed and whisked and in the oven in no time at all!

Tasty Vanilla Cake Recipe  - unknown source

Ingredients:

-1 Cup of Sugar

-100g butter

-2 eggs (free range are the best!)

-2 tsp vanilla essence

-1,1/2 cups all purpose flour

-1, 3/4 tsp baking powder

-1/2 cup milk

1.Preheat oven to 170'C (350'F) and grease a 9x9 inch cake tin. NOTE: this recipe can be used as muffins or cupcakes too! Obviously though the cake tin is substituted here for a muffin tray...

2. In a large bowl cream together the butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in the eggs one at a time and then add the vanilla essence.

3. Using a sieve add the butter and baking powder together and mix well. Finally stir in the milk and stir until you have a smooth mixture.

4. Bake for 30-40 minutes, or for cupcakes for 20-25 minutes. Cake is ready when it springs back when touched. Leave to cool on a tray and then decorate to your heart's content!

Ta-da! A cake! 

Today me and mum had a bit of a play around with some resin jewellry stuff which we ordered off trademe, and so far they appear to be a success. It is so rewarding being able to make your own stuff to wear and the options are infinite! This time around it was dried rose buds and buttons for me, with lace and fabric from the vast ever exciting fabric box, hopefully they turn out ok! I shall have to post pictures later on of the finished products as they are left overnight to dry.

They are so much fun to make, although my hands are still sticky from the process! The past few days I have been addicted to a song by a band called the Fleet Foxes. It is incredibly hard not to dance to it...

Oh and here are some clown faces I made out of polymer baking clay. I intend to turn them into earrings at some point in the near future.. 

That's it for now really, I hope you all enjoy lazing about and watching the rain, according to the weather forecast it's going to last a while! Oh and if you actually are in Fiji then please try not to get too sunburnt.

Cheerio x

Break Time

Hello hello hello!
I have been the most lazy blogger ever and so I apologize profusely for my absence from the internet. You will all be delighted to hear that my party was a triumph darling, an absolute triumph! But unfortunately due to the stress and pressure of organizing an Oscar worthy Medieval Extravaganza (if they had Oscars for that sort of thing that is) I have had to spend the last few weeks lazing about like the sloth that I appear to be, and consuming vast amounts of chocolate and carbohydrates... However, good news is that I am back and I have lovely things to share with you. Now, as we all know, children can often be extraordinarily cute and caring and I am pleased to tell you that I am the neighbour to two such children, except... wait for it.... better! My mother has warned their mum (Kate - check her blog here-it's amazing, like her!) that I may actually kidnap Archie and Hugo  (the children in question) at some point in the near future. She has been warned. Anyway more to the point, on my birthday which seems like years ago now, they arrived unexpectedly at the door to my bedroom, having tackled forests and climbed mountains to reach it (they cut through the paddock basically) with arms of flowers, and in Hugo's case an actual plant 'so that I could plant it and it will never die'-too cute! The roses were wrapped lovingly in tin foil and handed to my by a shy Archie along with Hugo's card, a masterpiece of self portraits, collage and cut outs. These two never fail to brighten my day..

You will be happy to find out that I finished the book cover for my friend's birthday, he seemed to like it which is always a plus! I decorated the edging with red thread and slipped it onto the book with a message inside. You can see the hand painted print on the front - Florence and The Machine - in more detail in my previous post.

I have also been a busy bee making some earrings for another friend's birthday tomorrow. She is exceptionally stylish and fashionable so they needed a bit of thought, but I reckon they have a certain Aztec feel about them which I think she will like!

So that's it on the creative front really, hopefully this week will provide an opportunity for more arty endeavors, but for now here is some glittery tinsely stuff to get everyone into the Christmas spirit! 

Oh and of course a song (although it is anything but Christmasy) because music makes the world go round! -and gravity and the sun and moon and stuff but those aren't as fun to dance to.... This is one of my favourites of Florence's new album 'Ceremonials', although they are all so fantastic it is impossible to really pick a favourite as it is constantly changing! Anyway, enjoy!

I hope you all have a lovely evening!

Ciao x