Secret Easter Bunny

Well last weekend saw that time of year again when members of the Craft Forum join together to do a Secret Easter Bunny swap.
I had had a long day at work on Sunday so it was lovely to sit down at night and open my secret gift. Or should i say 4 gifts!! Indri, from the crafts forum, had knitted me a cute chick and an egg cosy as well as decorating 2 eggs with some pretty quilled designs.
And as an added treat the chick was hiding a lovely chocolate egg inside.

As for my recipient i was given Jennaodie.
After a little research i found that Jenna was mother to a small boy and created childrens clocks.
She obviously likes cute items so i decided my gift would be one of my teddies.



My full time job has taken over my life somewhat the past 4 months and it was good to get my machine out again and create something new.
It was hard to know what colour to do but i found this very pretty rose printed cotton fabric and thought a teddy would look lovely made out of it.
And so ROSIE was born!





I was really pleased with how she turned out and Jenna put a lovely grateful response on the crafts forum so am hopeful that she was pleased too.

If you want to see any more of Jennas clocks and other items you can visit her Etsy Shop HERE or follow her blog HERE.

Many thanks for stopping by.

Until next time

xxx

New Job, New Blog.

Been a bit busy in my world lately and i have a new personal challenge, a new job!
It's a job that is going to take me on a journey of personal challenge and development so i have created a new blog where i intend to document everything i learn and achieve.
Interested?
Come visit me at http://chefatskylarkfarmhousecafe.blogspot.com/

Until next time
xxx

Halloween Cupcakes

I have a new job!!
I will be revealing more on that front next week but for now one task at my new job was to make some food for halloween.
Now i have been in catering for 25 years but never really done any baking in my workplace so cakes for halloween were quite a challenge.
The internet is a fantastic place for research and boy have i done research!! I have searched for recipes, toppings,designs and everything else i could possibly think of.
Finally i had a bash at trying to create something and below is my first attempt. Because i wasnt sure how long buttercream would last on the shelves of my new shop i used fondant icing to decorate these first cakes. I piped the fondant but it was really hard work and took ages.

This was a batch my son took to school and the kids all loved them.

The thing with fondant is when i packaged the cakes up in the cellophane they went soft and wet looking. So i researched buttercream again and it seems if i put them in airtight packaging they will last on the shop shelves for Halloween weekend.

And so here is todays result and i'm soooo pleased with how they have turned out.

I iced the top of the cakes with buttercream and then moulded fondant icing into ghosts, spiders and pumpkins.

So what are you doing for Halloween?

Until next time

xxx

Surviving A Self Catering Holiday In Yorkshire With Teenagers! PART 3 - FREE DAYS OUT

TESCO CLUBCARD DEALS
Again with a family of 6, days out can be really expensive so, to us, the Tesco Clubcard Deals are a godsend.We have used them for 5 years now.
It works on a points system. Points can be gained via several outlets. We save all our vouchers that we receive throughout the year then exchange them for participating organisations in the area that we are holidaying in.
This year we found 3 such places and had 2 fantastic FREE days out.

Our first day out was at LIGHTWATER VALLEY THEME PARK in Ripon.

A great day out for teenagers. The clubcard vouchers saved us £108! What a bargain!

And what was even better was that the sun also shone!! Take a look at their website for more park details.

Our other FREE day out thanks to TESCO was in the characteristic town of York.

From Maple Cottage it took us about 50 minutes to York. We parked in the Park And Ride. Great value. Free to park then only a bus charge for adults and the kids travelled free.

On arriving in the city center we immediately boarded the CITYSIGHTSEEING bus and handed over our TESCO vouchers. We took the full hour tour so we could establish what we wanted to see in the town. It's a great way to see everything and a ticket can be used for 48hrs and you can hop on and off as you wish.

Without the vouchers a family ticket for the 6 of us would have cost £24.

We "hopped" off of the CITYSIGHTSEEING bus to enter THE YORK DUNGEON .

Again we had ordered our tickets through Tesco before our holiday so the attraction cost nothing, and what a fab attraction it was.
During your visit you will see 11 scary shows with 7 of them led by actors, and sometimes you will be chosen to join in with the show! I was chosen to sit in a torture chair while the torturer demonstrated a device used to wrench out tongues! My tongue is still very much in place after the experience though so do not panic!!

These are just some of the attractions that tesco clubcard offers vouchers for and definately a brilliant idea for a budget holiday. Take a look at the website for more ideas.

Thanks for popping by.

Until next time

xxx

Surviving Self Catering Holiday In Yorkshire with Teenagers! PART 2 - CATERING

So it's your holiday and who wants to be spending their time in the kitchen! As much as we try not to be controlled by food on our holiday it is hard when teenagers get so hungry all the time and you are on a basic budget.
For us, as a family of 6, to eat out at night you are looking at £70-£80 including desserts and drinks and even if we could afford it i would much prefer to have that extra money for days out.
So forward planning is the answer!

1. MAKE A LIST
Choose 6 basic meals that all 6 like.
Ours were: Bolognaise
Boiled Ham
Curry
Sausages
Roast Chicken
Noodles
2. PACK SOME ESSENTIAL EQUIPMENT
Think of what equipment you use at home that your holiday accommodation possibly wont have but will make life easier for you.
I took: 2Large Saucepans
Wok
Slow Cooker
Frying Pan
3. PLAN A SHOPPING LIST
Write a list for all dry foods, breakfast cereals and lunchtime pack up items to buy before you leave so that you dont have to shop as soon as you get on holiday and also so you can shop without children, (my shopping trips are always so much more expensive when i take kids with me!)
4.SHOP THE DAY BEFORE.
I now go shopping the night before at my local tesco and pack my items very neatly in their bags and straight into the car. No hassle and totally organised!!

This year, for me, was so much more relaxed planning my catering in this fashion.
Until next time
xxx

Surviving A Self Catering Holiday in Yorkshire with Teenage Children! Part 1 - ACCOMMODATION

For most of us we spend all year working hard just to be able to spend one or two weeks of the summer on holiday. It's a large expense each year for such a short amount of time so it has to be just right.



My partner and i have 4 children between us and have never been able to afford a holiday abroad for the 6 of us so each year we spend our free time on a different type of English holiday.

We have done Butlins and Haven, Camping and Caravaning, Chalets and Apartments.


This year, as our 4 children reach different stages of teen years, and for me a possibility of it being a final holiday with my almost 17 year old son, we spent our time in a beautiful cottage in Yorkshire.


As our children get older it has become a worry each year about how the holiday will go and what we can do to keep them entertained on a low budget.




This year i think we got it just right so i decided to write 4 or 5 blog posts on what we did and how we survived our week in the hope that it may give tips or inspiration to others in the same situation in the future.

ACCOMMODATION


So after deciding on our destination we searched for accommodation in Yorkshire and our search led us to Maple Cottage (below).

This gorgeous 3 bedroomed 4* cottage situated on the A170 between Pickering and Scarborough awaited our arrival last Saturday after a long drive and rather torrential rain! Immediately on entering there was a real warmth to the cottage and a satisfaction that we had made the correct choice.

Maple Cottage has been converted from stables and groom's cottage, it's beautiful and , in my opinion, the owners have set it up just right with the inclusion of a dishwasher and washing machine for mum; barbeque in the courtyard for Dad to cook on a hot evening; and free wifi
for the teenagers so that they can still keep in touch with their friends on Facebook!!

Also included were a selection of family games, a variety of books,dvd and cd player and storage facility for bikes.

If you would like to see more of Maple Cottage you can find their website HERE .

During our stay we found no faults whatsoever and would highly recommend it for any family holiday.

And so this ticked the first box on our survival holiday plan for this year!

My next blog post will be about the catering!Many thanks for popping by and please feel free to leave a comment below if you found this interesting of have any suggestions to make.

Until next time

xxxx

Summer

How to express Summer for Handmade Monday.
Summer is a time for pretty flowers. For butterflies.

For holidays in Campervans.

And Beach Huts by the sea.

Pop by 1stuniquegifts blog to see how other crafters are spending their time this summer.

Thanks for popping by

Until next time

xxx