Animal jars

This set of animal-themed jars are perfect for presenting homemade preserves or filling with shop bought sweets. You can paint them all the same colour or alternatively use two or three complimenting shades. Give away as a set or individually as stocking fillers.

Materials- Makes 6

·      6 jam jars and lids

·      6 small plastic animals toys of your choice

·      Hot glue gun

·      1 can of spray paint in a colour of your choice (we used Liquitex acrylic paint spray)

1.  Wash your jam jars and lids in a dishwasher at a high temperature to sterilise them before starting. Next decide which plastic animals you want to glue to your lids.

2. Using a hot glue gun dab the underside of an animal with glue. Try to only glue its feet or base so the glue can’t be seen. Before the glue dries place the toy on top of a jam jar lid in the centre. Hold down for a few seconds then leave to dry. Don’t worry if the glue stretches and leaves a few hair-like strands as these can be easily picked of when dry.

3. Once all your animals are securely glued it’s time to paint them. You will need to do this outside. Place your lids on a table lined with newspaper. Follow the instructions on the can. The key to getting an even coat is to spray the lids a little at a time, leaving the paint to dry for a few seconds before spraying again. Gradually build the colour with short, even sprays. Once evenly covered with paint leave to dry outside for at least an hour.

4. Once dry you can fill your jars with homemade jam, chutney, sweets or chocolates. 

A guide to making sloe gin

I've made sloe gin for the first time this year. We're abandoning the hell that is Christmas shopping in favour of homemade hampers. As well as sloe gin I'm doing flavoured oils, jam, biscuits and fudge!

The best time to pick sloes is after the first frosts. So I was unusually pleased when I had to scrape the ice off my car one late November morning. The next day I armed myself with a bag and headed to my local country park in search of blackthorn- the twiggy shrub that sloes grow on.

Sloes are easy to identify, their plump berries look like juicy purple grapes. Try to pick around 400g to make one 1litre of gin.

Wash your foraged sloes well and remove any twigs or leaves. Next, sterilise a needle by holding it over a flame and prick your berries all over. Place them in a large airtight jar.

Next add 225g of caster sugar.

Then pour over 1 litre of good quality gin. Secure the lid and shake well.

Store in a cool, dark cupboard and shake every other day for a week. Then shake once a week for at least two months. Once ready strain the sloe gin through muslin square and pour into a sterilised bottle. Serve your gin with ice, soda water or to make it even sweeter a splash of lemonade.

Dream Outfit

I know it's bloody freezing outside. As I write this I'm snuggled up in bed under three blankets and a hairy dog! But try to forget the wintery weather when looking at this outfit. I'm imagining myself wearing this on a warm summer's evening, accessorised with a sunkissed tan and sun bleach blonde curly locks. The spotty dress is from Topshop and the orange shoes are from Urban Outfitters. I love the colour combo of navy and orange and in my head would wear this with a light brown leather bag. Hurry up summer!

Apologies for my absence...

Apologies for being rubbish and not posting for ages! I have a good excuse, for my 30th birthday I got the best present ever – a puppy! He is a Border Terrier and he’s amazing. He’s the cutest and sweetest natured dog I’ve ever known. He is adored by us and all our friends and family, so is thoroughly spoilt. Here is a picture of him.

So Baxter has been keeping me pretty busy, but I’ve also been working on the launch of a brand new national magazine. I can’t reveal anything yet but will do in the Spring- as you can imagine it does feature some CRAFTING! It’s been a lot of hard work getting this launched but it’s very exciting and I hope to share the results with you soon...

Nicest biscuits in the world..ever!!

I have delevoped a strange craving lately of things that are both sweet and salty at the same time. Think honey roasted peanuts and sea salt flavored chocolate, hmmm! I think it's probably down to the fact that I'm getting older and sadly I can't eat as many sweet things as I used to.
I discovered these amazing rosemary shortread biscuits after a friend kindly made me up a batch. I think they're delicious and they make great presents when displayed in a vintage glass cookie jar.

Gordon Ramsey's Rosemary Shortbread

Usually associated with savoury dishes, rosemary is a great, robust winter herb that can give shortbread a different dimension. I find that it makes the biscuits taste a little less sweet.

340g plain flour, plus extra for rolling
1/4 tsp fine sea salt
225g unsalted butter, softened
140g caster sugar, plus extra to sprinkle
2 tbsp chopped rosemary leaves

1 Sift the flour with the salt. Put the butter and sugar in a mixing bowl and beat with an electric mixer until smooth and creamy.

2 Turn the mixer to its lowest setting and add the rosemary then the flour, a little at a time. Stop mixing as soon as the dough comes together. Shape the dough into a flattened ball, wrap in clingfilm and chill for at least 20 minutes.

3 Preheat the oven to 180C/Gas 4. For bars, gently pack the dough into a lightly buttered Swiss roll tin. Score the surface to mark out bars and prick all over with a fork. For biscuits, roll out the dough on a lightly floured board to 5-7mm thick. Stamp out the biscuits using a cookie cutter, then transfer to two lightly buttered baking sheets, leaving a little space between each biscuit. Prick each biscuit with a fork.

4 Bake for 15-20 minutes until pale golden. Let the shortbread cool on the tray for 10 minutes until firm, then transfer to a wire rack for them to cool completely.

5 Sprinkle with caster sugar, if you like. Keep in an airtight container.

I'm loving Instagram!

Instagram is basically a toally free app that transforms a fairly average picture into a beautifully retro polaroid snap. There are various effects that you can put on your pics and it's just as easy as pressing a button. Here are just some of the snaps I took on my crapy iphone camera..look how lovely they are once I instagrammed them!

One sexy boyfriend!

Feet and half eaten fish

Gorgeous baby Ava

Our shoes on Brighton beach

I love yellow roses

Get an Effiel of this

Excuse the bad pun, and take a look at these Parisan style necklaces. These are my own creations, a choice of two different coloured Effiel Tower necklaces. If you want to rock 'le French chic' then there's no need to hang garlic round your neck, just buy one yourself one of these! They cost just £6 in my Etsy shop. Click here to purchase...