Easy Peasy Baking

I love to bake with my six year old son, but to keep his attention recipes need to be short and easy to follow. So I thought I'd share with you my three favourite bakes for people with little time and a sweet tooth!

Marshmallow Fudge
These take hardly any time to prepare and you can add your own extra flavours. Try replacing the milk with Baileys, mix in some cocoa powder, or add a dollop or two of peanut butter.

450g icing sugar
100g marshmallows
100g butter
2 tbsp milk
1/2 tsp vanilla essence

• Grease a baking tin or line with baking paper
• Cut marshmallows in half and put in a saucepan with butter, milk and vanilla.
• Gently heat until everything has melted.
• Sift icing sugar into the warm mix, stir well and then pour into baking tin.
• Leave to harden in the fridge.

Cookie Monster Bites
These are literally the simpliest cakes to make with the minimalist of effort. Kudos to my friend Kelly for the idea.

100g softened butter
200g icing sugar
Desiccated coconut
Blue food colouring
Chocolate buttons
Chocolate chip cookies

• Cream the butter and icing sugar to make butter icing.
• Add the coconut and food colouring and mix together well.
• Roll into golf ball sized balls, pressing in a dent or the mouth and leave to set in the fridge.
• Then decorate with chocolate buttons as eyes and chocolate chip cookies in the mouth.

Mini Truffles
225g choloclate
4tbsp double cream
1 tsp vanilla essence
Hundreds and thousands/ Cocoa powder

• Melt chocolate in a bowl over a saucepan of boiling water.
• Add cream and stir well.
• Leave to cool for 20minutes then add the vanilla essence.
• Put the mixture in the fridge for an hour and a half.
• When cool roll into small balls and decorate by either dipping into hundreds and thousands or dusting with cocoa powder

Handmade 2012: A Mouse House

Goodnight Mrs Mouse. Goodnight baby Mouse... Ok ok, so they're not mice. Clearly they are some kind of dog/ bear Sylvanian Family. Regardless, this a simple homemade present to melt the heart of any little girl.

To start with, you need a box. I used a small (about 4" x 4") gift box I found in my craft trunk. I then lined the box with some pretty wrapping paper.

For the duvet, I used two pieces of scrap material, sandwiched a small amount of wadding in the middle and sewed it shut. The same method was used for the pillow, in a co-ordinating fabric.

 All that is needed now is the mouse (or other animal) to live in the house. The result? A simple, thrifty gift.

Recent Thrifty Puchases

I spend most Sunday's browsing car boot sales, I check out the charity shops at least once a week and I try as much as possible to peruse flea markets and street markets.

As a result, our house is filling up nicely with quirky pieces, I'm finding many items to upcycle and gift to friends and family, and after summer I shall be launching into a new business venture concerning all things Thrifty. Watch this space....

Some of my recent purchases include:

Pretty plates - £2

Picnic hamper - £5

Old map - £1.50

Gorgeous lace doilies - £4 for 12

Adidas bag - £1

Selection of glassware - £1.80

Wooden cutlery tray - £1

 

Not So Silly String

String, wondrous string, has many a use and is a Thrift-Queen firm favourite... Attach bacon on the end for crabbing; Use it for tying up parcels; Take it out for a fly attached to a kite, Handy for holding back weeds and unruly plants, Play cats cradle and French skipping; Use it as a plumb line or to plant straight rows of vegetables; Or a ball of it makes a perfect cat toy.

Bring back string!

Handmade 2012: Dinosaur Tail

the finished dino tail - modelled by my six year old

Roooaaaarrr! Fancy a change from giving tacky plastic toys? A dinosaur tail makes the perfect handmade present for toddlers to race around the house wearing!

the materials

I got the idea to make this from my new favourite website tipjunkie.com - which is where you'll find all the instructions. It took about half an hour to make, and I drafted my mum in to help me (thanks mum). The fabric cost approximately £10, but that's because I chose really thick material so I didn't have to 'double up' as tipjunkie suggests.

You could easily modify the tail. Why not use an old fleece for the spikes to give it some texture, or make it for a girl and sew with pretty Cath Kidston fabrics.

10 Things I Tell Myself Everyday

I am a big fan of lists and even keep an internal list of Things I Tell Myself Everyday:

1.  I may be two sizes bigger than when I was 16, but I am happier now.
2. Always wear matching underwear NO MATTER WHAT - I might get hit by a bus.
3. I will be a better mum tomorrow.
4. Write it down, then it will get done.
5. You may call it scruffy, I call it shabby chic.
6. I am lucky to have such a wonderful family.
7. It doesn't matter that I only have time to put on eyeliner before stepping out the front door, I am blessed to have such good skin.
8. Remember Paul McKenna's four golden rules to eating.
9. Shopping on eBay isn't real shopping.
10. It's ok that I dress better than other mummies. I'm only 29 and they're just jealous.

What would be on your list?