Easter 'Cake' Hamper for a girly!

I have been busy making up some Easter 'cake' Hampers for my next fair which is a week on Saturday. They are quite simple but quite pretty and, I think, a good gift for Easter as it is not all about the chocolate.

This 'cake' is made from a large fleece blanket, rolled up ever so neatly and tied with a pink organza bow. I have included a Cadburys mini egg egg, a sock cupcake and a set of bath fizzers in this one! I think it looks cute and extremely girly!

Giant Chess!

Both of my boys are well into their chess and as I had such a huge amount of recycling that I had been saving for in the hols..( always something to do then)...we had better get busy and use some of it to make a giant chess board.

After the 3 monkeys had finished sorting out different shapes, ( all we needed really were the loo rolls and the kitchen towel rolls) we set to work cutting the rolls to various shapes as becomes a chess set....the kitchen towel rolls were obviously the kings and queens, then they were cut a bit further and to shape for the bishops, knights and rooks. Loo rolls were just left as they were for the pawns.

Then came the messy job of the kids choosing their colours and painting their sets....as you can see they chose red and yellow.

I cut squares of coloured paper and taped them together to make the board and ......HEY PRESTO a homemade chess set and a couple of hours of fun!

It's my birthday...

Well, I decided to attempt to make my old favourite hungarian six slice cake for my birthday this year....I have never made it but I am inspired by the memories of chocolate yumminess that my mum always sighed but produced for my birthdays.
I dreaded starting....6 very thin (ie 1mm thick) layers of pastry not to be broken!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!EEEEKKKK!!!!!!!!!!!

Here is a pic of the layers all cooked! ....I hope they don;t break up but if they do they will be glued together with yummy gooey chocolate sauce!

Ok...so the chocolate sauce was fun to make.....huge amount of sugar to be caramelised!!!! then add milk to it!!! This is where it got fun...I don't have a pic but as soon as I added the milk it frothed up and almost out of the saucepan....the melted sugar went solid and stuck to the saucepan...but I kept stirring and eventually it turned out ok! All the layers were put on top of each other ( the broken ones hidden in the middle!) and sandwiched with chocolate....

ok...icing.......

It took a while to make the icing ....and it still has not set properly....apparently I did not whisk for long enough......maybe I should invest in an electric mixer instead of using my hand one. The icing does not contain icing sugar, but caster sugar, egg white and a couple of spoons of water! Still it is yummy!!! Will mix for longer next time I try this one....my dad has asked me to make for him one time, and my neighbour too!

Another Raised Bed!

Have managed to have another few hours in the garden making and digging the second of my 2 raised beds for the year...

I am the first to admit that they are certainly NOT brilliant, but as I have never done proper growing of veg, as long as they work it will be good.....if I decide in a couple of years that I want to do more I can buy better quality wood and make it a lot better. So, still just got to fill them with mud! All the seedlings that I have are starting to grow, have to get some more growing too.
                                  I am planning to have one veggie bed and one flower bed.
                                    Husband actually said they were ok too!!!! BONUS!

A Day in the Garden!

Well....don't my arms ache! A day spent in the garden with the Little Princess, with the warm sun out (finally)...and we managed to do a whole lot of digging! I say a day...it was actually a half day! First we went to B&Q and brought a couple of their rustic raised beds at 1.8mx 1m. I even managed to build them myself qiute quickly!!!!

The little Princess kept me topped up with pink tea AKA squash! She was running around in a green skirt calling herself Tinkerbell....she had a lovely time.

The digging up of the lawn was so tiring though....I took the top layer of turf up first and relocated it to the other side of the garden that needs grass, then double dug the mud underneath...all I need to do is put a load of compost into the mix and top it off with some brought mud, then I will be ready to start planting in that one! I actually brought 2 of these raised bed things, so am going to have to do the other one before the ground hardens too much ( one advantage of all the wet weather we have been having...the soil is so much easier to dig!) Will have to see when my husband realises what I have done too! I generally just get straight stuck into projects like this rather than spending hours measuring as he would!

                                               Think it will look great once its filled with veg!

Chelwood Gate Fair

First Fair of the season! In Chelwood Gate, East Sussex.....I ALWAYS get lost trying to find it! Probably because we refuse to get SatNav at all....we do carry maps of east and west Sussex in the car though! Which I do tend to refer to at least 2 times a week...

Anyhow, I got there after leaving with plenty of time and managed to park fairly close so that it was easy to unload. I have so many boxes atm because I am trying to do everything, the trouble with me is I WANT to do everything and cannot understand that it is not possible! If I was to bring all of my makes I would need the entire hall to myself! Hey, maybe I could hire a hall and do a Gifts-by-catherine fair sometime and invite a charity to come to do the drinks and cakes! (Maybe not...there I go again....want to do it all!)

Finally i managed to get all set up....

Was a lovely little hall and there were stalls set up in a marquee outside too....lovely event but not that well attended unfortunately....and not for lack of advertising either! Was a lovely day, sun was shining....I have a feeling this year will be a hard year fairwise!!!! 

I am trying to branch out and do more of my glass painting again as this is even more profitable than the baby gifts....we shall have to see.....trouble is...space to store it all when not selling!!!!

Latch Hook Rug

Well, as I have said previously I have started a latch hook rug for my little girl! I am re-doing her bedroom this year and with the planned cream walls we need to inject some of her favourite colour into the room- PINK!!!!! What little princess does not like pink?

I have previously made one of these rugs for my eldest son...while I was pregnant with him, but the two youngest have not yet had one....I know the little princess would have to have a pink one...so...here it is ....work in progress
 

It is one with a pre-printed guide to just fill over with the wool so it is quite simple once you get used to how to use the latch hook!

For my middle son, I am still looking for a reasonably priced Eeyore designed one...they are all so expensive though, so if I don't find one before the summer hols I think I may try and design my own...mmmm...might have to think on that one!

The Garden is aflowering!

All the daffodils in the garden are coming out with the sunshine!

They look gorgeous in the long bed that we have on one side of the garden! We have recently halved the size of this bed as it was over 1.5meters deep....I was really worried that there would not be any bulbs left in it! Luckily there were hundreds of them to begin with though! I think I have also spotted some poppy plants growing!!!

At the back of the garden there are even more! They look lovely against the dark brown of the back fence! However the back fence does need more colour on it...I am thinking about buying a Clematis Montana as that would quickly cover it up! So much to do!!!!!!

More seed trays

Well...planted up some more plastic containers with various seeds....lots of chives (yumyum), some more flowers and some sweet peas! need to do more veg too!

More runner beans as well....can never have too many runner beans with 3 kids who truly believe that they make you run faster! I got the blue plastic containers from the fruit and veg man at the market....they are sooo handy for things like this. Lets hope all my seeds grow and we should have a lovely summer.

Chocolate Ladybirds!

Well....I follow a blog,as I am sure many people do, called itsallfiddlefart. Helen, the lady the writes it, is always so inspiring and full of great ideas! Last year she made some lovely gifts out of ladybird chocolates that she found in various shops and this year I found some in our local 99p shop, so I thought I would try and create something with spring in mind!

These were the ladybirds in their bag....there were approx 12 to a bag, although I brought 3 bags and 2 of them had 13!
I set to work and stuck them onto some yellow card which I decorated with some leaves and dots, then put them into a cello bag and taped them up with a header...Just for You... this way they can be a gift for anyone at anytime!

I think they have turned out quite well! I used the same type of faux stitching that Helen uses as I think it is so pretty....I found some lovely ladybird stickers that I have had stashed away for a while too....perfect use!
Hopefully these will sell at my next fair on Saturday!

Hard Work!

Well....this blog IS entitled So Much To Do!....and there certainly is....I have just realised that I have not posted anything in over a week... maybe will have to say that I will post 3 posts a week and see how I go....the trouble is there is just SO much to do!