DIY Christmas: Quick Edible Gifts!

With Christmas almost on top of us now, my last installment of DIY Christmas is all about edible gifts. I love making people food gifts as you know the recipient will enjoy it and it's so much more personal than buying a box of chocolates or tin of biscuits. I must confess, none of these recipes are of my own doing! But, I will link to all recipes so you can make them yourselves. :)

I do like to go to town on my decoration, so I bought cute little treat bags from amazon and various ribbons and bells from Hobbycraft and Tiger. I also made little tags out of brown paper and made labels out of wrapping paper. I enjoyed this part far too much!

So first up is my personal favourite! Vanilla Salted Caramels! Yum yum yum. I was literally obsessed with eating the leftovers! I found this recipe on Shutterbean, see here. It was super easy, although you do need a food thermometer for this. I bought mine relatively cheaply from Lakeland, but you can buy cheaper versions from amazon. The recipe didn't take long to make and set in about an hour in the fridge. Definitely a recipe you can quickly whip up. Do be careful though, making caramel means heating your ingredients to around 120C, and you don't want that mixture to drip onto your hand as I found out. It HURTS. Once my caramels were cool, I cut them into little rectangles and wrapped them up in baking paper to stop them sticking together. I think they look really cute. :)

Gingerbread Men have become ubiquitous at Christmas time, and for good reason. The lovely warming taste reminds me of cosy nights in and decorating them as a child. I just had to include them in my treat packages. I like quite a strong ginger flavour and the recipe by Edd Kimber that I found is great for this. You can find it here, it is actually for gingerbread houses, but you can make them into any shape you like. I finished them off with piped fondant icing around the edges, to give them a sweet kick.

Thirdly is classic Chocolate Fudge. I'm a big fudge lover, but not of the supermarket kind. I find it way too crumbly and sickly sweet. I love a rich, decadent creamy fudge and this recipe did not disappoint. Its really simple to make, although again does require a food thermometer. There are plenty of simpler fudge recipes out there that don't require a food thermometer though, so don't worry! The recipe stated to leave this to set for 30 minutes, I assumed this meant at room temperature. However, mine was still too gooey to cut at this stage, after 30 minutes in the fridge however it was fine. I dusted my pieces in cocoa powder, to give them a lovely finish and so they wouldn't stick together in the bag. You can find the recipe here.

Fourthly, is less of an edible gift and more of a drinkable one. Is that a word?? I saw this cute personalised tea tutorial on the treasure trove of a website that is A Beautiful Mess. The original idea (here) is to also make your own teabags, but as I'm not much of a sewer I decided to simply make the cute heart tags. It was so easy to do, and I think it'll look so cute hanging out of someones tea cup. :)

Finally, is another less edible and more drinkable treat. The Vanilla Syrup from the again, brilliant A Beautiful Mess website and the Gingerbread Syrup from Annie-Eats. Flavoured coffees are such a delicious treat, but they can become an expensive habit so why not make your own? The Vanilla Syrup was literally the easiest thing to make ever. I thought I'd done it wrong! But it tasted amazing with my morning coffee. The Gingerbread syrup was slightly trickier, but purely as because this requires spices it needs to be strained through a cheesecloth or similar. I had nothing to hand, but finally found that two tissues placed over a small sieve works brilliantly. It just requires quite a lot of patience. I decanted the syrup into small empty wine bottles, you can usually get them quite cheaply in big supermarkets, and made pretty labels. You don't have to just use these in coffee either, you can use them in hot chocolates aswell! :)

So there we have it, my final DIY Christmas. I hope you liked this little series and that it gave you a few ideas this Christmas! :) Here are all the posts in the series:

DIY Christmas: The Christmas Eve Box 

DIY Christmas: Christmas Jumper Cards

DIY Christmas: Map Coasters 

DIY Christmas: Personalised Map Artwork

DIY Christmas: Christmas Pudding Bauble

Merry Christmas! :)

Aimée
Xxxx

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DIY Christmas: The Christmas Eve Box

This weeks craft is Pinterest inspired. I saw the idea of a Christmas Eve Box quite a few times and thought it was such a sweet idea! You can give this to anyone and put anything you want in it, so it can be really personal. Obviously the idea is that the recipient opens this on Christmas Eve as a kind of 'run up' to Christmas. With that in mind, you could add things like new pajamas to wear that night, a festive activity to do or a christmas film to watch. I decided to make this box for my sister, which I'm hoping might become a little tradition for us both!

For Katie I included a very festive Snowman hat which I know she'll appreciate for comedic value. Some amazing Brussel Sprout shaped chocolates from M&S. The Golden Wonder bath bomb from Lush, for a relaxing treat which is making the box smell AMAZING. I just hope it doesn't also make the chocolates taste like a bath bomb! The Charades and Trivia box is for a bit of fun in the evening, and the Christmas Tree Foam Clay Kit is to while away the time while the turkey cooks. Katie is totally into crafts like me, so I'm sure she'll enjoy a bit of crafty fun!

I also included this little note to explain the idea behind the box, which I tucked into the top of the package after burying everything inside.

I then decorated it, and added a few candy canes to make a heart. I think it looks rather festive indeed! I really like this idea and think it could be really great for kids if it was filled with lots of fun activities to keep them busy.

I can't wait to give this to Katie on Christmas Eve! I hope you liked this DIY, there's only one post left now before Christmas! Crazy! So here's all the DIY Christmas posts in my little series up to now! :)

DIY Christmas: Christmas Pudding Bauble

DIY Christmas: Personalised Map Artwork

DIY Christmas: Map Coasters

DIY Christmas: Christmas Jumper Cards

Aimée
Xxxx

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DIY Christmas: Personalised Map Artwork

Firstly, I do apologise for the awful quality of this photo!! I actually made this present last Christmas and this was the only photo I could find of it. That aside, I really wanted to share this idea with you as I think its a really easy but thoughtful gift.

I originally saw this idea on the treasure trove of a website 'Not on the High Street' which is full of personalised gits. You can look at the original idea here, which while lovely and professional looking is a whopping £85. Aside from the fact that I didn't have £85 to spend on the artwork, I also thought making it myself would be easier and a lot more thoughtful.

As I already had a piece of plain card all I needed to buy was a photo frame. I bought mine from Urban Outfitters as they always do really lovely frames and they're never too pricey either! They don't do this frame any longer, but realistically any frame you like will do. A bigger frame is an advantage however as the map hearts will look better. You could even buy a frame that has three different sections, its up to you, which is the beauty of this DIY.

Next you'll need to decide on three locations to use that are personal to whoever you're gifting. As I made this frame for my best friend, I chose London, Lancaster and Wollongong in Australia. I made London the biggest heart as that is where she was born, Lancaster was where she went to University and Wollongong was where she spent a year studying. I did want to have vintage looking maps for this but it was really hard to find maps that were clear enough to print. You can find the maps however you like, though obviously google is the easiest option.

Finally you are ready to assemble! You want to draw a heart on the map around the area that you want, then cut them out. Then stick these onto your backing card in any pattern you like, and voila! You're done!

This DIY really is so simple, but I think its a really sweet idea and will definitely show that you've put a lot of thought into the gift. I hope you liked it! I'll be back next Sunday with another Christmas DIY.

Aimée
Xxxx

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DIY Christmas: Christmas Pudding Bauble

Me and my best friend have our own Christmas tradition that we've kept up for a few years now. We exchange a Christmas decoration and this year I decided to make mine from scratch! I did actually make the decoration last year too, but it was nothing on the scale of this DIY. I'm so happy with how it turned out, so I thought I'd share the process with you in time for any Christmas crafting of your own! :)

First up you'll need to cut a square out of the brown felt, big enough to make a make-shift parcel (1). Next, you'll need to find a capable crafting partner (2) who can then help you do the hard bits! ...well that is, if you struggle with crafting like I do! ;) The technique for moulding the brown felt to the polystyrene ball is essentially cutting off the pleats (3) and then a lot of smoothing upwards whilst pinning down with small-headed pins (4).

After a bit of maneuvering you'll be left with the bottom half of your Christmas pudding (5). Then you need to start making the 'icing' using the sheet of white felt. The shape that you make your 'icing' is all dependent on where the pleats are on the bottom half of your bauble. To create the nicest finish, you can create longer 'icing' drips to hide the bigger pleats. I found creating a template first from paper helped as you can work out which shape is best for you (6). Once you've found the best shape, cut it out of the white felt ready to use. For added decoration you can then sew the white beads onto the edges of the white felt in any pattern you like (7). I think randomly dotting them works well though, as it gives it more of a home-made feel.

So the bauble can hang, you will then need to attach some string, or ribbon if you want it to look extra pretty through the middle of the white felt (8). I attached it by making a knot in the ribbon, creating a small hole in the felt and then poking the ribbon through. I then super-glued this into place. The next step is the most time consuming, as you need to attach the white felt to the top of the polystyrene ball. I affixed the upper part of the white felt with super glue, and then sewed around the edges to make pleats in the felt (9).

Next you will need to cut out three leaves from the green felt, again I made a template first so they were all symmetrical (10). I then attached these to the top of the bauble with super glue (11), and finally added on the fuzzy red pom poms again with super glue.

Voila! One super cute handmade Christmas Pudding Bauble! I think these make such a lovely gift and are a lot cheaper than buying one ready made! Also, who doesn't enjoy receiving something handmade? :)

I hope you liked this Christmassy DIY tutorial! I'm going to be posting a different Christmas craft post every Sunday in the build up to Christmas. :)

Aimée
Xxxx

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DIY Friend/Family Voucher

My mother likes to pester. In fact, she loves to pester and being the only daughter still living at home means I'm her prime target. So when I'm trying to quietly watch TV, she's constantly trying to get my attention by any means possible! Anyone else noticed that the older people get the more they revert into being a child?

Anyway, as it was my mum's birthday recently I thought as a bit of a joke I'd give her a 'voucher' to pester me - a bit like those friend voucher/cheque books you could get as a kid. Anyone remember those? I clearly didn't think this through though as I didn't include any Terms and Conditions and now my mum thinks she has the right to pester me all the time, rather than just on her birthday! Damn it!

The voucher was really easy to make, I just used Picmonkey and Paint and ended up with this template!

I then printed this onto blue card, and cut out the grey edges to leave a 'voucher' shape and wrote on the dotted line.

You could write literally anything on the voucher and use it for any occasion! So with that in mind I've attached a download link of a plain voucher for you to customise. Just open the download in any photo editing software (or use Picmonkey online!) and add your own text.

Download here.

I hope you enjoy using this little craft!

Aimée
Xxxx

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Recipe | Salted Caramel Hot Chocolate

 Way back in January, I posted about a handmade birthday box I made for my best friend, (check it out HERE) and I included some home-made Salted Caramel Hot Chocolate. I promised to post the recipe on here, and its taken me till April to do so! I'm such a good blogger, clearly. But, seeing as its still hardly summer weather I think hot chocolate is still called for. :)

Firstly ingredients wise you need -

2 1/2 cups granulated sugar
3 tablespoons vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups cocoa powder
1/3 tablespoons sea salt
1 cup dry milk powder
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar (I realise I used dark - I can't read okay..)
10oz dark chocolate

The recipe I used is American, hence the measurements being in cups but there are lots of conversion tables on the interweb. Or if you're lucky enough to have measuring cups like me, you're winning!

Firstly line a rimmed (very important!) baking tray with baking paper and set aside. Then you need to make the caramel, prepare for really pretty swirly colours and an amazing smell! Heat the sugar in a large pan over a medium heat, without stirring. Be patient with it and when the sugar begins to melt, slowly swirl the pan around to melt it without burning. Keep your eye on the pan, as it can burn in an instant! As soon as its melted to a deep amber colour remove the pan from the heat and carefully add the vanilla. It will spit, so wear an apron just in case! Whisk the caramel until smooth again and immediately pour onto the lined baking tray. You then leave it  to cool for around an hour and the hard part is over!

If you find that some caramel gets stuck to your pan, pour in some water and put it over a gentle heat. Once its warmed a little, the caramel should come off easily and melt in to the water meaning you can just pour it away and be left with a shiny pan. :)

Once its completely cooled, you need to snap it all into tiny pieces. I found the best way to do it was to jab at it with a knife - its quite a good stress reliever actually! You then need to turn a food processor on, and while running feed the caramel pieces in so they are ground into a fine powder. The food processor starts to ooze a caramel smoke at this point and makes a god awful racket, so you might want to warn anyone in the vicinity beforehand. Once its completely pulverised, it should look a bit like this:

You then need to add the rest of the ingredients, aside from the chocolate, to the food processor and whizz until smooth. Finally, add the chocolate to the mix and process until the mixture is a fine powder.

And, voila! You've made your own salted caramel hot chocolate powder! Which sounds mega impressive, but as you've just witnessed, is ridiculously easy! I hope you enjoy it :) The original recipe states to use three tablespoons mixed with milk - but I find that wayyy too much. So, I'd say its just up to personal preference. Also, side note - this recipe makes LOADS. Like LOADS. So make sure you have enough jars :)

Aimée
Xxxx

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Source: Adapted from Seeded At The Table.

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DIY Craft | Tiny Polaroid Magnets.

For the more crafty DIY minded of you, this is a brief 'how-to', if you wanted to make the tiny polaroid magnets that I mentioned in my Sunday Catch Up post towards the end of January. I made these as part of a Birthday present for my best friend, and although I had a few issues with them I'm really proud of how they turned out! I think they make such a cute addition to a fridge/magne tboard/radiator...anything you want to stick them on to!

They are actually really simple to make; I first saw how to make them here and then slightly adapted the instructions to fit what I envisioned in my head. First off, you need some thick cardstock (or a few pieces of thin card stuck together), a craft knife, magnetic tape, glue strips (if you're sticking the card together - which is what I did - although spray mount is infinitely better if you can stretch to it!), paper glaze, a polaroid frame template (which you can download free from here) and photo paper to print off your pictures.

Once you've chosen your pictures, printed them and stuck the photo paper to the card, you need to cut them out. Use a craft knife, so you get a really straight edge - its also so much easier and faster! Once you've cut them all out, cut the magnet tape to the size of the picture and stick it onto all the backs.

You could leave it here and keep them as they are, or you can add a paper glaze to give the magnets a raised glass-like finish. The glaze is quite temperamental and you need to make sure there aren't any bubbles that'll ruin the finish. It needs quite a lot of patience (not my virtue! so mine didn't turn out amazingly well!), and they then need to be left to dry overnight if you can, or for at least a few hours. Also, don't worry that the glaze looks cloudy when you first apply it, it will clear when its dry.

And, voila! You're done, pop them in a box and tie up with a ribbon and you've got a really cute personal gift :) Or, just keep them for yourself, I'm definitely going to make some for myself soon.

Let me know if any of you attempt this, or have made something similar. I love finding new crafty things to make :)

Aimée
Xxxx

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A Sunday Catch-Up.

Sundays are one of my favourite days; lunch always seems a very long and delicious affair, there's always time to complete to-do lists and with the sun peeking out today it really did feel like Spring was on its way. (I'm dis-regarding the fact that a thunderstorm has started as I type this....)

This week I've been pretty busy, and consequently I haven't posted at all! I have lots of posts in the pipeline, but haven't gotten around to typing them up. I do want to try and post twice a week, so hopefully this won't be too regular an occurrence. :)

So this week was my best friends 22nd Birthday, being limited in cash as I am at the moment I decided to create a 'Home-made treat box' for her to keep on the cheap side! I thought I'd share a few pictures of it and the Birthday cake I made with you now, to tide you over until I've finished writing a beauty related post :)

In the treat box I made Salted Caramel Hot Chocolate Powder, Houmous, Button Cookies and Tiny Polaroid Magnets. I did take pictures whilst I was making the magnets and hot chocolate which I'll be writing posts about for the more baking/DIY-minded of you :)

I hope this post gave you some home-made ideas or at least whiled away a few lazy Sunday minutes :) 

Aimée

Xxxx

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