DIY Easter decorations

I love Christmas. Yes, I know it's over, and yes, I know it won't come around again for about a year. As there isn't another Christmas (when I'm in charge...) during the year I've had to learn to take festivities whenever I can get them. This means stretching easter to its fullest. I'm planning a huge eater hunt this year, so fingers crossed, but a certainty is decorations. Here are a few ideas, and I'll post what I ended up doing when I've done it.

• Spray painted huge eggs

• Amazing fake bird nests.

http://www.hgtv.com/design/make-and-celebrate/handmade/how-to-craft-a-faux-birds-nest-with-robins-eggs

• Huge tissue pom poms hanging from the ceilling (I particularly like this one.) http://www.hgtv.com/design/make-and-celebrate/handmade/how-to-make-tissue-pom-poms

• String balloon eggs, with little chicks inside.

http://www.bhg.com/holidays/easter/decorating/quick-and-easy-easter-decorations/?socsrc=bhgpin020613umbrellaflowers&page=10&crlt.pid=camp.KwizTg3e6Nyk#page=2

• Little framed pictures. I thought that I could maybe make a whole load of these, and then change them around with the seasons. That, or just let them sit abandoned and crushed at the bottom of my huge and untidy cupboard. Like my dreams.

• An easter tree. I see absolutely no reason to make trees exclusive to Christmas, and I'm going to do my best to right this injustice, and free the trees.

I'm going to make a trip to the 99p store and some charity shops this weekend (I'm classy like that) to pick up the crafting necessities, so I'll post back when I've done so. Let me know if you're decorating or easter, and I'd love to hear any ideas you have. (Unless they're better than mine, obviously.)

Easy healthy spinach pasties

These are not entirely of my own invention, don't worry, but they are very yummy, very easy and pretty quick. You don't have to leave them to prove or anything fancy like that (is that something you do in baking?),  so even I made them successfully. They are even nice cold (packed lunch opportunity, hint hint...)

For the pastry:
350 plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
85g butter
3tbs olive or vegetable oil
1 egg yolk (keep the white!)
5tbs water

For the filling:
1 onion
1/2 tbs olive oil
1 pack of spinach
100g cheese
20g parmesan
2 large eggs
Pepper, salt and what ever the hell else you want. It's a free county.

Makey makey:

1. Put the onions in a pan with the olive oil from the filling list. Leave it till its soft, and slightly browned, or see through if you're using the onions that aren't red. This will probably take about 10 minutes, so meanwhile get some pastry going. PS. do not burn these onions. They basically have a death wish, and want to take all the rest with them - they go all carbony if you stop watching for even a second. Do not take your eyes off them, and watch those buttercups with a all of your death stare glare.
2. Pour the flour into a blender, along with the butter and baking powder. Switch it on till it looks like veeery fine bread crumbs, and then add the oil, egg yolk and water. Switch it on again until it goes doughy. Flour a work surface (this is very important, unless you enjoy using power tools to remove pastry mix from your work tops. I didn't have to do this of course - they're not my worktops, and therefore not my division*) and tip the dough out, making a ball. Leave it alone now, just step away, and get back to those onions.
3. Seriously, what the hell were you thinking, leaving those onions like that! They're probably burnt, the poor suicidal dears, and its no bodies fault but your own. Yes, you should feel ashamed. Anyway, filling. Put the spinach in the pan with the onions. The spinaches will look like it could feed all of Africa, but it will shrink, I swear.
4. Let the leaves 'wilt' - ie. go all floppy and squishy. Put the spinach and onions in a bowl and mix in the cheeses and eggs. You can also put in nutmeg and pinenuts, if you fancy.
5. Take your pastry and divide it into about 6 little balls. Roll out the balls, putting a large spoonful of filling in each one, and then sealing the top shut. Take your egg white (see - I hope you read the instructions. Don't throw it away, I said.) and brush the pasties with it, to make them go all golden and shiny in the oven.
6. Put them in the oven at 200c, and cook them for about 20 minutes, or however long they take. Use your common sense. 

These end up delicious, and you could even put mushrooms in. Like I said, it's a free county.

*brownie points if you recognised the Sherlock quote. If you did, you are the best bit of humanity.

My favourite things on the web this month

As per usual, I have perused the internet a lot this month. To make sure all that time hasn't entirely gone to waste I have compiled a list of the creme de la creme of the world wide web this month.

   1.  Of course, I love Harry Potter. Who doesn't? (No person certainly, because you're not quite human if you don't) This, though, will completely ruin your mind. I never knew JK Rowling was a genius, as well as fond of ruining people's lives, but she is.
http://www.buzzfeed.com/danieldalton/griffin-door#.xevbz3dVz

      2. Um. It seems like this is Harry Potter related too. Oops.

http://www.buzzfeed.com/tabathaleggett/charts-and-graphs-that-only-harry-potter-geeks-will-under#.co9mYz08Y

    3. Now, you may be aware of my current healthy lunch obsession. This would just make eating boiled spinach so much more enjoyable. I want it.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/NEW-JAPANESE-BENTO-LUNCH-BOX-2tier-500ml-Made-in-Japan-Blue-/331437017236

   4. I love healthy recipes, for some reason. Most of these look pretty easy - easy enough for even me to be able to cook them!
http://www.food.com/slideshow/favorite-weight-watcher-recipes-160?ic1=obnetwork

   5. Now, shoot me if it's wrong, but I would love to be able to control people with just my words, like some sort of creepy hypnotist person. In our boring, un magical society the best you can get to that is brainwashing, so I was delighted to find some very useful tips on how to steamroller freewill. Watch out world - I'm coming.
http://www.cracked.com/article_21309_6-incredible-ways-you-can-use-words-to-brainwash-people.html

    6. I, unlike my friend Bronwin (http://bronwynsbeautyblog.blogspot.co.uk/) , am no voodoo make-up expert. I find it difficult to deal with anything other than eyeliner, so I can use any help I can get. (I have green eyes, which is why this page was useful)

http://www.stylecraze.com/articles/makeup-tricks-for-green-eyes/

   
      7. Finally, something summery. It was bound to happen - summer is my favourite time of year, and I start feeling irrational urges to wear flip flops and a maxi dress around December sort of time. I may not be able to make the seasons turn faster, but I can certainly start preparing, and these ideas certainly make it feel a lot less like this awful wintry spring will never end.
https://hellosociety.com/blog/top-5-pins-summer-boho-chic/

I hope you enjoyed the post, and I've got a couple of DIY's coming up soon. Till then, stay safe and wear a seatbelt (sorry, I'm just not very good at *choked up* good - good ... byes *sob*).

All that glitters

Glitter gets way too much bad press. Maybe once it was only for hyper active reception kids with the attention spans of gnats, but now it is so, so much more. It is basically the last hope for humanity, the only shining light in a world of dullness, with the possible exception of the carrot cake cookie I'm eating right now, which is delicious. Plus, let's face it, even that could be improved by edible glitter. I reckon I'd be a great PR woman, and now it's time to put that to the test. Bring out your glitter, because here are 5 glitzy DIY's to get glitter's career back on track.

1. Glittery nails:

Isn't this fabulous? Ok, so it's more of a life hack than a diy, but seriously? Stuff like this makes me feel so stupid - just put clear nailpolish on, then dip your nail in some nail glitter. Perfeection darling. Wear your glitter on your nails; don't be afraid to hide the real you, and yea.

  2. Give nasty ornaments new life:

It goes without saying that you wouldn't use green, but covering things in silver or gold glitter makes even plastic rubbish look classy.

  3. Glitter candles:



Well, I'm not quiet sure what would happen when the candle started to melt, but never mind. It definitely looks stunning, so it's going on my list of DIY's to do.

http://indulgy.com/post/bzI96pIRJ1/super-easy-diy-christmas-valentine-weddin

  4.Glittery mason jars:

I love mason jars. I LOVE THEM! So this is the perfect combination, and would be so cute, not only for storage but also for giving little gifties in. Or giving them in (hint hint.)

  5. Glittery flower jars:

Yes folks. Another mason jar. I really can't help it if I just want mason jars everywhere now can I? Besides, a mason jar is another all too unappreciated thing, although glitter has now officially left the ranks. (If you want pr I'll take cash or cheques, whichevers easiest.)

How to make a Helena, the Stuffed Mouse Ballet Teacher

Last Sunday it was mothers day, as I'm sure everyone with a heart, or mother, knows. I mean, I forgive you if you don't actually have a mother, because that's pretty rough, but forgetting your mother on mothers day? Unacceptable. I am an unbelievably unorganised person, and yet I not only managed to do a breakfast (which was probably edible) but I also gave her flowers and this stuffed mouse. I reckon that pretty much exempts me from doing anything for the rest of the year, right?

                                            

Now, you may think that it's odd to give a grown woman a stuffed toy, but seriously, can you not see the appeal of a little stuffed mouse, full of character and wat not. No? Well, I can. So can my mum - she genuinly cried when I gave it to her (they were tears of joy, I think.)                  

Well, this is the pattern I made, which is pretty self explanatory. I just did it with hand sewing. Using white felt for the body, and gingam fabric for the inside of the ears. The leotard was a stretchy material, the skirt was a long piece of floral fabric, which I hemmed. The shoes are gingam fabric, and a hemp material, and they're a little more complicated, but not much.

That's my extremely proffesional design, by the way. Here's the pattern:

The shoes, which are just so adorable I want to die, are easily adapted from this tutorial :

http://www.purlbee.com/2011/12/06/mollys-sketchbook-felt-baby-shoes/

Aren't they just the cutest things?

Good luck, if you try to make something similar to this. Please post a picture or something if you do, and I'll let you guys know if I make any more of these little creatures, and soon I'll

5 Best Websites for Transforming Your Blog

Obviously, I mean transforming it in a positive way, silly. If you want to make it worse just take a look at the Daily Mail website, and copy their content. It could hardly be any worse. BUT, if you want it to look theeessss fabulous dahhlink, then toddle along to :
  1.  Pixlr:
http://apps.pixlr.com/editor/

This is brilliant for editing photos - I use it for everything! It's really easy to use, but is actually pretty good - I used it to adjust my new blog background (which I drew myself folks - a little round of applause perhaps?) Also, it's free and on-line, so enough said basically.

2.  Word mark:
http://wordmark.it/

This is really cool, because it shows you what a word would look like in any of the fonts that you have on your computer. It works pretty quickly, and can be handy, if you can bother to open it, instead of just deciding that the font you have will probably do.

  3.  Photography tips - On your Phone!

http://www.twotwentyone.net/2013/03/favorite-phone-camera-apps-tips/
                                                 
To be honest it's probably worth it just to pootle on over to this site purely to look at the fabulous photos she's taken. However, the tips are actually amazing, even though I don't use a phone, because that's too amateurish (I use an iPod touch. Which isn't even mine. Yeah...)

  4.   How to get more blog ideas
http://bloggingyourpassion.com/never-run-out-of-blog-post-ideas/

This website itself isn't the brilliant thing here, it's this single tip, which is coincidentally shown above. Fancy that, eh? In a nutshell, use google to come up with more ideas for posts. Kind of obvious, but I'd never thought of it before, for some strange reason.

5. How to make your Blogger blog not look like a Blogger blog
http://www.carrieloves.com/2014/03/how-to-make-your-blogger-blog-not-look-like-a-um-blogger-blog/
                                                
Yeah, catchy title I know. But seriously, there are some amazing tips and ideas on this website, and I shall be applying them when I have the time / can be bothered. Let me know if you see any difference.

Well, there we go. I shall be using all these tips and websites, and I hope it helps some young, energetic aspirational bloggers out there. Or, you know, old decrepit ones.

The Great British Comic Relief Bake Off

I love The Great British Bake Off. As the name suggests, it is so British that the Queen should just resign because, frankly, we don't need her to boost Britain any more. (Not really, I love the Queen.) But, really, The Great British Bake Off is, in a word, perfection. If you haven't ever watched it then crawl out from what ever hole you've been hiding in right now, because you're missing out. That said, there isn't actually the real thing on at the moment, although there is The Great British Comic Relief Bake Off. The picture at the top is of the first, and definitely funniest of the series. That one, you must watch. I laughed hysterically the whole time, and obviously you can trust my fabulous sense of humour. Dame Edna should be the Queen, and her incredible creations should be framed - they are absolutely unique.

I have to say though, in the second of the series it all took a dramatic turn for the worse. A mistake was made, a medium sized, extremely annoying mistake from Brighton. No, it wasn't a colossal stick of rock, smashing the gorgeous baking tent in and crushing the lovely Marie Berry. Even worse than that. It was Zoella.

Uggh. That sickeningly sweet smile, her annoying voice and self depreciating ways. She infuriates me, that's for sure, but I suppose that's good telly. On the upside, she didn't win (spoilers, sorry) and her cake failed. I felt just a little smug as the roof caved in, but then she probably gained 3000 followers during that moment of sadness, so I guess she's even. Still, apart from her, you must watch this. You must.