Santa and his rabbit.

Now that Christmas is over, it’s time to watch less telly, eat less chocolate, and write some essays. I’d much rather be eating nut roast and not writing essays!  I was lucky enough to get lots of lovely presents for Christmas, but my favourite has to be my new camera. I have been taking lots of pictures, and here’s a few Christmas pictures of decorations and my bunny.

I can’t wait to keep practising taking pictures, and hopefully I’ll improve! I hope you all are in a relaxing post-christmas haze.

Christmas Cheer

Happy christmas eve everyone! I am SO excited about tomorrow. I’ve just finished watching the Tailor of Gloucester with my mum, which is one of my favourite christmas traditions, and I’ve wrapped all my presents and put them under the tree. Over the holidays, I’ve had lots of time with my family, and we made pancakes! This is a recipe that I’ve been using for a while. It’s vegan, but I swear I can’t tell the difference between these pancakes and pancakes made with dairy.

You will need: 1 cup of flour and one cup of soya milk per pancake (I use sweetend soya milk, which makes the pancakes sweet) and a little bit of vegetable oil. Also, add whatever topping you choose! I chopped up one apple, and drizzled on some golden syrup.

Step 1: Whisk together your flour and soya milk. Heat up the vegetable oil in a frying pan, and add a dollop of the pancake mixture.

Step 2: Once the bottom is browned, use a spatula to flip it over and cook the other side. Then add your topping.

And enjoy! One of the things I love about using such a simple pancake recipe is that’s it’s really easy to adjust. Like you pancakes doughy? Add a little more flour. Like your pancakes really thin? Add more milk.

Happy christmas for tomorrow everyone 🙂

The best hot chocolate ever

A friend and I have come up with the best hot chocolate recipe over these cold wintry months. Everyone who’s tried it says that it’s the best hot chocolate they’ve ever had! I am here to share it with you, no need to thank me! 🙂

You will need: Milk, hot chocolate powder, sugar, squirty cream, cinnamon, mixed spice, and a bar of milk chocolate. Makes 1 mug,

Step 1: Warm up one mug of milk on a low heat.  Add 2 heaped spoonfuls of hot chocolate powder, one spoonful of sugar, a spoonful of whipped cream, a shake of mixed spices, and a shake of cinnamon. Keep on stirring until everything has dissolved.

Step 2: Put a square of galaxy in the bottom of your mug. If you’re making this hot chocolate for someone else, it’ll be a nice melty surprise when they get to the bottom. Pour in your hot chocolate mixture, squirt some more cream on top, and add a sprinkle of cinnamon.

Now go forth, and be cosy 🙂 I hope you’re having a good run up to christmas!

Fur lined mittens

If, like me, you’ve realised that Christmas is really soon and you have no money but haven’t bought any presents yet, don’t worry, I have a solution! You can handmake presents! I made these mittens for a friend . Not only are they cheap and easy to make (even though they look fancy) but hand making presents is such a nice gesture.

You will need: Fabric for mittens (I used 30cm), lining for mittens (again, 30cm), needle and thread, scissors, and a pencil and paper. (Sewing machine optional.)

Step 1: Draw around your hand, with your thumb outstretched and your fingers together, so that you have a mitten shape! Make sure you leave room around the outside of the shape for the seam. To do this, I made my outline an inch wider all the way around the shape that I actually wanted the mittens to be. Also, make sure thet the hole at the bottom is plenty big enough to fit your hands in. If you get this wrong it is a nightmare to fix.

Step 2: Cut out 4 mitten shapes from the lining and 4 mitten shapes from the outer fabric. Half of each should be the opposite way round. The outer fabric should be about half an inch longer at the bottom than the lining. You should have a set of cut outs that look like this:

Step 3: Sew the each half of a mitten to its lining, making sure that you have the right side of the fabric on the outside! This step isn’t strictly necessary, but I find it easier to do it this way. Next, fold the bottom of the outer fabric over the lining and sew together. You should end up with something that looks like this:
Step 4: The final step is to sew each half of the mitten to the other half! Then unpick any threads that you used to tack the fabric together, and trim any excess fabric. Then turn the mittens inside out, and you are finished. Yay!

Are you hand making any gifts this year?

Hang a stocking on the wall

This week, I’ve been volunteering to help decorate for a charity christmas event “Winter Wonderland.” It’s been hard work, but really fun! My main task has been to make some christmassy stockings to hang on the wall. I’ve definitely been getting into the christmas spirit 🙂

Christmas stockings are super simple to make, and here’s how to do it! Cheesy background christmas music is necessary.

You will need: Fabric for the main bit of the stocking (the ones I made are quite large, I used 1/4 of a metre per stocking), fabric for the trim of the stocking (you only need a teeny bit), scissors, needle and thread, and a sewing machine (optional.)

Step 1: Cut out your stocking shape twice. The shape I used is below. Sew them together, remembering to leave the top open!

Step 2: Turn your stocking inside out (so the seams are on the inside.) Cut a strip of trim 3 inches wide, and sew it onto the top of the stocking. I only sewed it along the top line, and not the bottom, since it hangs better this way.

Yay, your stocking is finished. Now, go out and make everything look like Christmas!