Animated GIFS

Skipping rocks by jenl on WeGIF


Kayaking by jenl on WeGIF




What a great way to put some life into old photos! It's probably better (read smoother) if you take the pictures in quick succession with this in mind, but it still works if you've got photos somewhat in order as you can see above.

Crafternoons 2: Braided t-shirt necklace

(Photo credit: Pink and Blue Blog)

This is a super easy, fun project with great results. Here is the easy to follow tutorial on Melissa's blog: I still love you. It can't get any simpler, supplies are minimal - all you need:

• t-shirt (this can be one an old one you've got or you can buy a cheap one. preferably a solid colour, and if you are buying one go for XL or XXL so the necklace is long enough to double up. I used a couple old shirts and tank tops and they are slightly shorter)
• scissors
• needle and thread

That's it! And in 15 minutes you'll have a great fashion accessory. You'll love it, your friends will love it, and they'll probably ask you to make them one!

 

Ice cream never tasted so good.

I've always loved ice cream, enough to confidently say it's my favourite food. I love the variety of flavours, the cool refreshment on a hot day, and I'm a purist - I go for cup over cone. So when I got my ice cream maker, I was pretty much in heaven. I finally had the chance to experiment with flavours and mix-ins. And I'll tell you what, store bought (and even some ice cream shop) ice cream doesn't even compare to homemade! So creamy and fresh. Plus, when making it you can keep an eye on the ingredients going in, putting in less sugar, etc as you see fit.

I've made: Bailey's, coconut chocolate chip, pomegranate mint frozen yoghurt, lemon frozen yoghurt, and some traditional chocolate and (above) cookie dough. 

I am working my way up to try savory ones like avocado(!)

I tend to use the sweet cream base #1 (eggs, milk, whipping cream, sugar) recipe from Ben & Jerry's book and substitute the milk for whatever other flavours I want (coconut milk, Bailey's, chocolate milk, etc). Then chuck in whatever add-ins I want, in the last couple minutes of churning. You don't need to cook the base on the stove first with this one, which makes it quicker, but if you're weary of raw eggs than cook it or go for the egg-less option, base #2.

Tip: Once you've made the mix, let it sit in the fridge for a good few hours before putting it in the ice cream machine, otherwise it won't stiffen up enough when churning.

For the Frozen yoghurt I use this recipe from 101cookbooks. It's simple (greek yoghurt, sugar, vanilla extract) and delicious, again I just add the extra flavours I want straight to it.

I would take more pics of my ice cream, but I usually only have on thing on my mind as soon as a batch is ready and that is spoon-to-face.

Two sides to baking: healthy(ish) to downright indulgent

Who doesn't love a spot of baking now and again. I love finding recipes that I can't wait to try, and often don't wait very long to test it out. I actually try not to bake sweets too often because with just me and my partner in the house, it's a lot to get through. Nice when having company though, or bringing into work to share. 

Anyway, I just wanted to share a few recipes I made lately, along the spectrum of somewhat healthy to downright sinful.

My courgette/zucchini loaf (above) with cream cheese frosting is a bit of both. The loaf itself is chocked full of goodness with whole wheat flour, coconut and grated courgette - and you could easily forgo the frosting, but I happened to have leftover from a cake I made for work. Most recipes I found yielded two loaves, but I only wanted one, so I halved everything.

The Healthy Side

Guilt-free cookies:

(from 101cookbooks, called Nikki's healthy cookies RECIPE)

They were delicious, great bite size morsels and were a really big hit at home and in the office. In Heidi's cookbook (super natural every day) she calls them carnival cookies and they are pretty much the same but with the inclusion of popcorn! I will need to try that version asap.

The Sinful Side

Cookie dough stuffed cupcakes:

(to be honest I can't quite remember what recipe I used for these, but it was close enough to THIS RECIPE)

 Who doesn't love cookie dough? Why not pop some into a cupcake, no brainer! I made these for some kind of get together, and while they were rich, they were great treats. If you're going to indulge, go big or go home. Use your favourite cookie dough recipe, and whatever flavour cake or frosting you want, you can't really go wrong. I baked my cupcakes until almost done, then popped the cookie dough on top and finished baking, but I have seen recipes where they put the raw cookie dough in after baking, so whatever you'd prefer really!

 

Pinterest ideas

A great way to get inspiration is via pinterest (whether it's for cooking, crafts, the next birthday gift to give your sister, what to wear on the weekend, etc).

You can check out my boards here: Pinterest Inspiration

Triple lemon & coconut cupcakes

Triple lemon & coconut cupcakes

[lemon cake, lemon curd stuffed, and lemon & coconut frosting]

I made these for C's birthday last year, he liked them so much he requested them again for this year! 

I mismatched a couple recipes I found online, one from Ina Garten (coconut lemon cupcakes) and one from Taste of Home (lemon coconut cupcakes), along with the idea of filling the cupcakes with a dollop of lemon curd before frosting.

 The resulting cupcakes were delicious, just sweet enough with the frosting and coconut, with the tart lemon coming through from the zest and the lemon curd. Doesn't take long to put together either, I used store bought lemon curd, but you can always make your own. I also used the leftover lemon curd to make a mousse the next week, just by whipping the lemon curd up with some cream and sugar and leaving it in the fridge to set.

 

The resulting recipe looked something like this: 

CUPCAKES:

1 stick unsalted butter at room temperature

2 cups sugar 

3 teaspoons grated lemon peel

5 eggs at room temperature

1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup buttermilk

14 ounces sweetened shredded coconut

 

FILLING: 

1 cup of Lemon curd

FROSTING:  

4 ounces cream cheese, softened 

2 tablespoons butter, softened 

1 teaspoon grated lemon peel 

1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract 

1/4 teaspoon lemon juice 

1-1/4 cups confectioners' sugar 

3/4 cup flaked coconut, divided

1) Preheat oven to 325F. With an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugar together in a large bowl until light and fluffy, about five minutes. Add the eggs one at a time, mix in vanilla extract.

2) Mix flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl. In three parts, alternately add the dry ingredients and the buttermilk to the batter, beginning and ending with the dry. Mix until just combined. Fold in 7 ounces of coconut.

3) Fill your cupcake liners with batter. Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until the tops are golden and a toothpick comes out clean.

4) FROSTING: while the cupcakes are baking, beat the cream cheese, butter, grated lemon peel, vanilla and lemon juice until fluffy. Gradually beat in confectioners' sugar until smooth; stir in 1/4 cup coconut.

5) Allow cupcakes to cool for 15-20 minutes

6) Cut out small holes in the top of the cupcakes (you can use a paring knife) and fill with a teaspoon or so of lemon curd.

7) Frost by putting frosting in a freezer bag with a hole cut out of the corner. Top with coconut flakes for garnish.

Crafternoons 1: Pinwheel and Silhouette wall art

When C & I moved into our flat, it was pretty bare. It was furnished, but didn't have much for decor, other than a hideous print of an old farmhouse, which I have since upcycled (more to come on this later!). 

Growing up doing crafts of all kinds, and having a ridiculously talented artsy-crafty sister with an eye for interior design, I have a love for most anything homemade and crafty.

So, while considering ways to put our own stamp on the new flat, I came across a few DIY projects on various blogs. Granted, some of these blogs are wedding/event related but they are chock full of great projects. I figure, why do you have to wait until some special occasion to get crafty. Most of the projects would work just as well adding special homemade touches around the house - which is just what I did.

PINWHEELS

[Need: paper, glue gun]

I've got a mad stash of scrapbooking paper: all different sizes, colours, patterns and textures. Anything you have on hand though really would work well for these. I made the pinwheels into various sizes using this tutorial over at Style Me Pretty: How to make paper pinwheels

The tutorial says to use glue dots and leave them to flatten out, but I found using a glue gun worked really well and you can flatten and glue them on the back and they are ready to go! I then just used blue tac to stick them to the wall, which makes for easy removal or rearranging.

On the front I used buttons and also on some I cut little circles out of coordinating paper. You can see I made the biggest one out of a few different pieces of paper, you can make them as big or as small as you want, and they look great displayed in various sizes and colours on the wall. The possibilities are endless here. 

SILHOUETTES on canvas

[Need: paint, canvas, printer]

The pinwheels sat on the wall for quite a while on their own, and looked very sweet. But for C's birthday I came across another craft that I really wanted to do and that looked simple enough. I found this on Pearls & Cotton blog: Silhouette art portrait 

I really liked the blue and white colours, so I stuck with that. In the tutorial she uses big square canvases but I opted for oval because I liked how they looked like those old fashioned brooches. The tutorial on her site is a bit more involved (with shining a flashlight and tracing the image onto the canvas that way) whereas I simply took profile pictures with my camera, put them on the computer and then printed them 'whole page' sized, so they came out already the size I wanted them to be on the canvas and it was just a matter of cutting them out and tracing around them onto the canvas before painting. It took quite a few coats of the white and the blue (maybe 5 each), but I think they turned out really well!

I hope this gives people some inspiration for easy and fun ways to put a personal touch on what to display on your walls at home!