Candy Corn

Happy Halloween! I have been knee deep in DIY this week so only managed to squeeze in one Halloween treat...

When I lived in New York I discovered candy corn and loved it! It can be bought in the UK but only from stores that specialize in American candy. So this year I decided to make my own in colours to match my Halloween theme of pink, black & white. As well as the traditional triangle shape I also made a few pumpkins, bones, skulls and roses.

Candy Corn (makes about 80 pieces)

Ingredients
280g icing sugar ( confectioners sugar)
225g caster sugar
20g (1/4 cup) dry powdered milk
1/4 teaspoon salt
242g (3/4 cup) glucose syrup or golden syrup (corn syrup)
76g (1/3 cup ) unsalted butter
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
Hot pink food colouring
Black food colouring

Cooking instructions

1. Place icing sugar, powdered milk and salt in a separate bowl and set to one side.
   
2. Place caster sugar, syrup and butter into a heavy based saucepan and bring to boil over high heat continually stirring.
3. Reduce heat to medium and cook for a further 5 mins.
4. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla essence.
5. Add powdered milk mixture to saucepan and stir till combined. Leave till mixture is warm to the touch
   
6. Separate mixture into three bowls
7. Add pink food colouring to one portion of dough and knead till colour is even.
8. Add black food colouring to one portion of dough and knead till colour is even.
9. Roll each piece into a thin rope.
10. Push the three ropes together to create a long rectangle.
11. Gently press them together with a rolling pin.
12. Cut into small triangle pieces and in your fingers roll into desired shape.
13. Leave to dry for one hour on sheets of baking paper.
14. Store in an airtight container, in layers separated with baking paper.
    

To make the tiny roses I used my rose mould from Nabby

Happy Halloween!

Vintage white Christmas

Christmas dining



Metallic vintage ornaments



Mini Heart Baubles



Glitter diamond wrapping paper



Sweet display



Mercurised glass decorations



Mercury Glass Acorn Decorations from Graham & Green.



Handmade Glass Cake Stand



Pear & Apple Christmas Decorations


I am going for a bright fifties vintage Christmas this year but I do love all the silver and white vintage Christmas decorations I keep seeing.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Winter Cream

This week on Flickr Faves Sunday, I bring you a Winter Cream palette with these gorgeous pics. Check back soon for some more of the most inspirational photographers on Flickr.

Some beautiful shots from my Flickr favourites (clockwise from top left):

• The adorable hand stitched The Guardian (Palomino) by What Delilah Did
  
• The delicate flea market treasures by Suzanne Duda
  
• The cute deer and embroidery in anabela! by simple tess
• The calming colours in more finds by skblanks
  

Have a great day!

Christmas Inspiration - bright vintage

Above two photos from Yvestown.

I love the freshness of these pics with the bright green and pink accents. I must get a pink bucket for my tree this year!




Above photos by Daisy Pink Cupcake.

I am so in love with these pics. I love the old wooden sign, the pretty pattern used to line the cupboard and the adorable cake stands.



Above photo from Department 56.



Above photo from Cath Kidston.



Top row: Cath Kidston fabric.
Bottom row: Tilda fabric.

I love making things from the Tilda range of books by Tone Finnanger so have ordered some of the fabrics from her to make reindeer heads, as well as some from Cath Kidston to make stockings.



Photo from Department 56.

Department 56 does, in my opinion, some of the loveliest decorations around. I have a few from the gummy drop range a few years ago and would love to get a few more this year.

This Christmas I want to go for a bright 50's inspired Christmas in a palette of pastel pink, pale blue, lime, green and bright pink, with lots of polka dots and candy!

Have a sweet day!

Black crows

I made and decorated a tree for Easter with hand made birds, so I thought for Halloween I would do the same. Initially I used the same pattern to make a bird but it looked too sweet. As I could not find a pattern for a crow or raven I decided to make my own.

I used a black fabric with subtle black lurex running through it to give them a sparkly touch. I used pink wire and beads to make the feet and black diamantes for the eyes.

Halloween Fabric Crows

You will need:
Black fabric
Black thread
Needle
Crow pattern (below)
Pink wire
Pink beads
Silver rings
5mm Ribbon
White pencil or pen
Pins
Black diamante
Fabric Glue
Toy filling

1. Print and cut out the crow pattern below.
2. Fold your fabric into two, with the right side of the fabric facing inwards, to give the two sides of your crow.
3. Draw around the pattern using a white pencil or pen if using dark fabric (don't forget to mark the opening points).
4. Pin the two pieces of fabric together and cut around the lines leaving a 5mm border round the edge.
5. Hand stitch along the lines, leaving the opening unstitched.
6. Turn crow inside out (I use a chopstick to to fully open the beak, tail and legs).
7. Hand press the seams open.
8. Insert pink wire up through one leg hole and down the other.
9. Stuff with toy filling (again I use a chopstick to get the stuffing into the beak, tail and legs)
10. Hand stitch the opening closed, pushing the needle and thread up through the top of the neck to create hanging loop.
11. Sew small silver loop onto base of neck, thread ribbon through ring and tie in bow.
12. To create the feet, thread 6 pink beads onto the leg wire. Then for each 'toe' bend the wire back on itself and thread 3 more beads. Repeat for each toe. Tie round base of feet to finish.
13. Glue diamantes in place for the eyes.

I will blog about the Halloween tree as soon as I finish it!

Have a sweet day!

Halloween research ideas

Eerie entryway



Table of treats


Cobweb cookies



Spider stencil cake


Frightening foyer


Spell binding


Black and white painted pumpkins


Halloween dessert table


Halloween dessert table


Halloween dessert table


In my search for ideas for Halloween decorations this year I found the above which I love for their simplicity and stylishness. I will be starting my Halloween craft posts on Monday, but don't forget to check out a Halloween-themed Flickr faves tomorrow!

Easter tree

I finished making fifteen of the Easter felt birds today. Having already gathered twigs in a nearby wood, I arranged them into a cluster and then wrapped silver wire around them to hold them together. To hide the wire, I covered it with a pretty striped ribbon. The 'tree' sits in a white enamel bucket, filled with pebbles to counterbalance the top-heavy tree. Green straw and chocolate foil-covered eggs hide the pebbles to complete the look!

Easter table runner

I had been looking for a pretty white table runner for a while now, but all the ones I found were out of my budget. Instead, I bought a plain linen one and hand stitched broderie anglaise down each side using embroidery threads. To finish off, I threaded some of my leftover ribbon from the felt birds through the broderie anglaise trim on each side. Now I have a table runner that matches the rest of my Easter decorations!

Easter door

With Easter just a week away, I hung my Easter egg wreath from John Lewis on our front door today.

Easter birds

After making the mushroom houses I had loads of felt left. So, having made Tilda birds at Christmas and liking the results, I decided to make some Easter versions. I plan to hang them from twigs as a table centerpiece for Easter lunch.

The birds were made using a pattern from Sew Pretty Christmas Homestyle by Tone Finnanger (Author).


The components for the Easter birds. The sewing thread needles came in this cute pebble from John James. The ribbons and flowers are from VV Rouleaux (find similar ribbons at this gorgeous Etsy Shop). See below for details of the other components.


The body colour is V68, Lilac Rose, hand stitched using Coats duets polyester thread colour no.1542. The ribbon, from VV Rouleaux, is attached using a small silver jump ring.


The body colour is P33, Baby Love, hand stitched using Coats duets polyester thread colour no.3572. The two flowers at the neck of the bird are also from VV Rouleaux.


The body is colour G49, Just Grace, hand stitched using Coats duets polyester thread colour no.3060.


The body colour is a plain white felt that I already had.


The body colour is G50, Hush Green, hand stitched using Coats duets polyester thread colour no.3200.

Easter mushrooms

Having ordered the felt for Easter, I thought about what I could make. I'd been given a fantastic mushroom pin cushion made out of felt for Christmas and it inspired me to make my own version, in a more woodland/Easter bunny theme, to sit on the table at Easter.

The Easter mushrooms below were fabricated using an adapted version of a great pattern from thelittlehousebythesea.


The variously sized felt spots are glued on.


The individual components for the Easter mushrooms are shown above. The embroidery thread needles came in this cute pebble design from John James. See below for details of the other components.


The roof is colour G49, Just Grace, hand stitched using Coats duets polyester thread colour no.3060. The door is colour V68, Lilac Rose, attached using Anchor embroidery thread colour pale lilac no.108. The stalks of the flowers were embroidered using mint colour no.158.


The roof is colour P33, Baby Love, hand stitched using Coats duets polyester thread colour no.3572. The door is pale mint colour G49, Just Grace, attached using Anchor embroidery thread colour pale mint no.158. The stalks of the flowers were embroidered using pale lime green no.259.


The roof is colour V68, Lilac Rose, hand stitched using Coats duets polyester thread colour no.1542. The door is colour G50, Hush Green, attached using Anchor embroidery thread colour pale lime green no.259. The stalks of the flowers were embroidered using mint colour no.158.


The roof is colour G50, Hush Green, hand stitched using Coats duets polyester thread colour no.3200. The door is colour P33, Baby Love, attached using Anchor embroidery thread colour pale dusky pink no.36. The stalks of the flowers were embroidered using pale lime green no.259.