Mince pies are a Christmas treat that you really shouldn't miss out on.

 Christmas is almost with us and here in the UK one of the traditional treats that most people tuck into is the much loved mince pie. Not made with mince meat but with a delicious mix of dried and fresh fruit. The fresh fruit comes in the form of apples and lemons while the dried comes from currants, raisins, sultanas etc. All will be revealed in the recipe. I use Delia Smith's recipe for my mince meat but I do make a couple of tweaks. I don't like mince meat to be too sweet so I up the lemon juice to give it a sharper edge. I also peel the apples. Who wants to eat thought apple skins. Not me for sure. 

Pop over to Delia's page for the recipe and the method.

https://www.deliaonline.com/recipes/books/delias-happy-christmas/home-made-christmas-mincemeat

You will need to start by making your mince meat. you can do this well in advance or, if you are short of time, buy a large jar. 

The pastry used for these pies is usually shortcrust but I prefer a richer crumbly pastry so I make a pasta frolla, which is an Italian version of pat sucre. It really is yummy so please give it a go.

Ingredients for Pasta Frolla 

200g plain flour. If you can get ‘00’ flour this is the best. 

120g butter I used salted. If you use unsalted you will need to add a big pinch of salt.

90g sugar The finer the sugar, the crispier the pastry.

2 egg yolks

Grated rind of half a lemon or a teaspoon of vanilla essence.

Start by creaming the butter, lemon rind and the sugar.

When you have creamed the mixture for about 5 minutes, beat in the egg. 

Mix in the flour until the mixture comes together and forms a soft dough. Put in the fridge for 30 minutes. The butter will firm up and make it easier to roll out the pastry.

Working with about a third of the dough at a time cut out rounds that will fit your pie tin. Remember to keep enough pastry back to cut out the lids.

Fill each pie with mince meat and top with a lid. brush with milk and cook at approx 180C until a golden brown. Remove from the oven and cool a little before removing from the tin. Dust with powdered sugar and enjoy warm with the breath of the oven still on them.

Felt Christmas Trees

 It’s the beginning of October and as all good crafter know, Christmas preparations need to be well underway. In the last few years I have concentrated on making beautifully decorated felt hearts to hang in my Christmas home. I have not walked away from my beautiful hearts but I have just bought a new die to cut out trees that can be easily stitched into Christmas decorations. 

What I aim to do is to design a set of trees that compliment each other. These die cur felt trees are currently available on my eBay shop. I have lots of colours so goodness knows what I will come up with.

For this first tree I decides to use the scarlet wool blend felt. If you like this colour combination I have the ready cut tree shapes here on my ebay shop. It's current this month and next but I will remove it shortly so don't delay if you want to buy some

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/164417738333

As we are in a lockdown area and I have an almost enforced plenty of time on my hands, I've decided to play around with these tree designs and try out anything that comes to mind.  

So, here is another using the light stone felt and the same colour decorations as the scarlet.

Now what about a blue scandi themed tree? 

See you all soon,

How to make chiffon ribbon flowers with stamens.

I've decided to make a few very quick and very easy videos on making ribbon flowers. Please watch the video until the end and add a comment on Youtube rather than on the blog.

Easy Flower Drawing

Many of you will know that years ago I used to sell ribbon and other pretty things at the big craft shows around the country. I also spent a lot of time drawing flowers and became known as the flower drawing lady. I not longer have a stand at the shows but my love of drawing flowers has not gone away. So I have decided to film a series of short videos in which I show you how to draw flowers. the technique is rather like one stroke painting. So watch the video and please be inspired.

If you want to buy the pens then they are for sale here on ebay:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/163371548355

Beautiful Puffy Vintage Style Ribbon Roses

I have intended to make a video tutorial on making a new style of ribbon rose for quite some time. Something always got in the way. Yesterday the sun was shining her in Wales. A rare occurrence her in Wales, so the light was good and I got on with it. No prevaricating was allowed. 

So, with many retakes and a fight with Photoshop Premier under my belt I finally got theirs baby up and running on Youtube.

In fact I published it 3 times. How did I do that?

Watch and create.

Have Apricots, Make Jam

The apricot season is here and nothing can be better than home made apricot jam. it is just on the right side of tart and the colour alone will bring a smile to everyone who sees it. Even in the depths of  winter this spoonful of sunshine will bring a smile to your tastebuds.

There is even a speechless tester at the end. 

Enjoy.

Blue two tone flower - Tutorial

Just had to make this video tutorial as I worked out how to replicate the flowers that I draw with Kuretake pens.

If only I could work out how to put the video further down the page I would be really happy. I am not too bad with technology but things like this really annoy me. GRRRR!