Cinnamon Swirl Recipe - Very Easy!

Once again, life has taken over and posts here just don't happen, but I thought I'd try and post a quick recipe that I made with Littlest W yesterday.

I love cinnamon swirls and this recipe was so quick and easy! It's slightly adapted from the BBC's Good Food website.

Ingredients:

• 50g butter or margarine
• 4 tablespoons brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• Raisins
• Sheet of puff pastry 320g (I used Jus-Rol)

Method:

• Mix the butter, sugar and cinnamon together until soft.
• Spread over the sheet of pastry.
• Sprinkle raisins over the top.

• Roll up into a sausage.

 

• Slice and place onto a greased baking tray.
• Sprinkle a little more sugar over the top.
• Bake for 15 - 20 minutes on 200C/180C fan/gas 6.

When I make them again (as I most definitely will!) I might make a bit more mixture. You can also add some chopped almonds if you like. Highly recommended as something the kids can help with!

My new small art shop

I finally opened my new Etsy shop a few weeks ago. After a number of years of selling online, both Folksy and Etsy mainly, I never really felt I had a focus. I started with photography then added polymer clay bits and bobs and some handbound books and French memo boards... and well, anything I felt like really!

I'm still offering a variety of media, but it's all small art (including ACEOs and inchies). So much easier to market and explain to people what I do!

At the moment, my shop is mostly photo transfers on watercolour paper, but I'll be adding more on wood soon, as well as encaustic art, more polymer clay and illustrations. I've spent so long experimenting with transfers and think I've finally cracked it:)

Trying to get going with the children's book publishing again, but there's so much going on with my non-business life, it's pretty hard to fit it all in!

Anyway, please take a look at my new shop:) Love to hear what you think, as always.

1st Trip in the Campervan!

OK, so in my mind, before we went away to Norfolk, I was thinking of a blog post detailing the lovely, relaxing time we had in our newly refurbished campervan with lots of accompanying photos of delicious campervan-cooked meals on our new posh camping plates, the kids running around outside in the sunshine and generally happy aren't we having lots of fun photos.

 

Mr W even forgot the VW badge!

Isn't the reality often quite different? I don't think I have ever been so cold in my entire life. Not even when we went to Greenland or a German Christmas market. Maybe they didn't seem as bad as I expected it to  be cold...

The photos had to be taken very quickly as I didn't want to remove my gloves, even in the van! Getting a shot of the van from the outside was also a challenge if I wanted to remain with my family, rather than being blown away over the cliff edge. Hmm, you get the idea!

It was challenging to say the least, but we learnt a lot about how to prepare for next time. Yep, there will be a next time, but I promised the little Ws that it will be a whole lot warmer...

A Peek into my Sketchbooks and Notebooks...

A while ago, Silver Moss Jewellery shared her notebook and I said I would do the same. I think a lot of crafty folk quite enjoy having a nose at how others work, be it their sketchbooks or work spaces.

My sketchbooks aren't all that interesting from the outside I'm afraid! Here they are:

The large grey one Mr W gave to me. Not as a present! I needed a notebook, he had one lying around... So, what's in this one exactly? Well, anything and everything to do with my art and craft business really. Sketches, website layouts, avatar and banner designs, craft fair table layouts, costings, tutorials, quotes, acetate images, photos, to do lists, business plans... You get the idea!

• Costings and Christmas ideas:

  

• Sketches for glass painting and an experiment from my Folk of the Forest range:

• Tasmanian Devil images for a polymer clay model someone commissioned, photo of polymer clay Christmas wine glass charms, some mini photos and a teddy bear ready for tracing onto acetate: 

• Book binding instructions, quotes and giraffe for glass painting:

The white one is actually rather lovely. It's from the White Collection, a present from my mum and dad. This one is mostly for polymer clay designs, usually in colour!

I always date everything. These pages are 5 years old already. Wow!

Then I have a few notebooks with little camera images all over them. An old colleague gave me a few of these. I think she'd been given a load and didn't quite know what to do with them! In here I write down camera techniques. Despite being an avid photographer for many years, I still find it hard to remember what buttons to press to get certain effects. I just don't have that sort of brain! The other one has blog ideas. I have a similar notebook for my children's book ideas as well.

The top notepad is one of my handmade books. The cover is a photo of a beautiful Canadian lake. My first ever Folksy sale was a set of these notebooks actually. This one contains mostly lists - swaps, blogs, shopping lists, to make...

What I realised when I looked through these books is just how many crafts I've tried over the years. There are notes on jewellery-making, Fimo, photography, glass painting, book binding, image transfers, illustrations, painting, French memo boards... all sorts!

I thought about starting a new book for The Small Art Company, which is now my focus, but rather than being a completely new venture, I feel it's more of a continuation of what I've always done. It's built on what I've learnt and the many failed experiments... My art and craft has been one long journey, so it makes more sense to just carry on in my old trusty books...

Anyone else want to share their sketchbooks??

My First Graze Box! And a free one for you...

I heard of graze boxes ages ago, but only got round to ordering one when I got a free code the other day. If something's free then why not?!

A graze box is basically a little box of healthy snacks. You can choose the snacks you want online (a very easy process) and then they deliver your box twice a week.


You get 4 snacks:

 We had The Firecracker: spicy paprika peanuts, salsa corn sticks and korean chilli rice crackers

Copacabana: milk chocolate buttons, dark chocolate buttons and brazil nuts

Summer Berry Compote: berry compote with wholemeal shortbread dippers

Apple Crumble: raisins, cinnamon and honey almonds and apple

 
I have to say, they were really yummy! They're just the right size for snacking at work, although being at home more than being at work, I could quite easily get through the whole box in one go...

Second box came today and in it is: Lemon and Poppy, Cookies and Cream, Tom Yum Yum and Eton Mess.

The usual cost is £3.89, including delivery and they send twice a week. They sent me this code to share with people and you'll get a free box: 5RQR5XMD (UK only). Just visit Graze here.

It's a really simple and straightforward site and you can cancel at any time. Give it a go and let me know what you think!

PS Next post is about my sketchbook and notepads that I promised someone ages ago!

Snowflake Tutorial and Christmas Cards

I don't know about you, but I find writing Christmas cards somewhat stressful! Don't get me wrong, I love sending and receiving cards, but I wish there was a way to make the organisation a little easier.

It's not possible to just sit down, write them, put them in envelopes and post. Oh no! This year I've had the following piles: cards to post (the least stressful pile), cards to put letters in, cards to put photos in, cards to check addresses, cards to give to others to pass on (to save on stamps!), cards to give to others when I see them, or through neighbours' doors, Little W's school friends, Toddler W's playgroup friends, both their teachers (quite a few of them!) and finally, Mr W's work pile. It's quite possible that I've missed a group there, but you get the idea.

Anyway, this is the card I made for family:

 

It's simply a snowflake template that I brayered over. I like the demin effect. And I used these lettering stamps for the inside:

I'd not found a use for them before, but think they look really Christmassy.

This year, the little W's made Christmas tree cards:

Last year was Rudolph and the year before was cotton wool snowmen. I love Christmas crafts with the kids! It was always my favourite time of the year when I was teaching as well.

So... if you want to make some snowflakes, either for a card like I did, or to hang up, then look no further...

Snowflakes are really simple to make and make very effective decorations. Here's a quick and easy guide to making your own pretty snowflakes!

1) Fold a square sheet of paper in half to make a triangle.

2) Fold in half again.

3) Bring the right side over and fold like so:

4) And the left side:

Both sides should be equal. You're just folding one over the other.

5) Now trim off the triangular ends so you're left with a straight edge:

6) The fun bit! Cut lots of shapes. The more paper you cut away, the better your snowflake will look, but make sure you don't cut all the way across, or it'll fall apart!

You get used to what cuts will look like on a finished snowflake.

7) Here are the finished cuts:

8) And here is the finished snowflake!

Frosty Morning Spider Webs

One of my favourite things to admire on a frosty morning is a spiderweb. They are so beautiful! I can't resist photographing them, so thought I'd share some pics I took this morning...

 

They make fantastic decorations for the garden, don't you think?!

I love a cold sunny day, with the sun peeping through the icy bare branches:

As we're on the subject of photography, I have just set up my new shop called The Small Art Company. I haven't done a great deal with it yet, as I've been so busy with personal stuff and Christmas of course, but hope to get working on it in the New Year. If you want original art but are short on space, then this will be for you! At the moment the focus is on photographic transfers, so each piece will be one of a kind.

Anyway, that's all for now. Keep warm!