Shortbread

Hello Blog World,

 

3 DAYS TO CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Are we ready yet?? I nearly am. It was also my second last day of work before a 10 day break, which I cannot wait for, and tomorrow is only half a day and then we are off to a lovely lunch so excited.

Today has been a great day all round, quiet times at work, officially finished my Christmas Shopping and received a fantastic email from Trish @ Mom on a Timeout

She hosts a fantastic Link Party every Thursday and this week she has featured one of my links from last week.  My gift card box tutorial.

It’s my first feature ever so I am very excited!!!!!! Thanks so much Trish.  Go check her out and she has posted this weeks link party, so check out all the other talent out there while you’re going.

 

Now onto today’s proper post, I mentioned that I was going to make some shortbread, well last night I finally did it.  I wanted to make some for a few close friends at work as a little thank you present for all their help and support throughout the year, and there’s no better way than to say it with sweet yummy crumbly shortbread.

So off I went gathering my ingredients, mixed together, rolled out and cut some beautiful Christmas shapes.

Baked in the oven, walked away forgot I was doing shaped instead of the classic round that you later cut up into triangles, smelt the goodness came back when the timer was just about to go off and OOOOOPS cooking FAIL!!!

In no world should shortbread look like this!!!!!

Ok so I had half the dough left, rolled it back out, cut more shapes and only put it in for half the normal cooking time at a lower temperature and wah lah, much better looking shortbread.

Nice yellow golden colour, cooked to perfection.

So I then wrapped them in celophane with a bit of icing sugar, tied a bow and popped them in a paper bag I made (that’s tomorrow people), so now I have the perfect hand made thankyou gift for a few close friends.

Anyway you know you want the recipe, so here it is.

Michelle’s Shortbread (adapted from my grandmother)

You will need the following

 

250g butter or one stick

3/4 Cup Caster Sugar

1tsp vanilla extract

2 1/3 cups of all purpose flour

 

Preheat oven to 175degrees celcius (350f)

 

Cream together butter, sugar and vanilla then knead in flour until all combined and smooth velvety dough forms.  I then wrap in cling wrap and let sit in the fridge for about 1/2 an hour.

 

If making in rounds, grease your 9” round tins (you will need 2) press in dough, and prick with fork if you like for a decorative pattern.  Bake for about 30 minutes until golden.

 

If making smaller shapes, change temperature to about 150 C and bake on lined baking tray for about 15-20 minutes or until golden.

 

Remove from pans or tray and let cool on rack. Store in an air tight container and they last forever or in my house 1-2 days because everyone eats them up quickly!

 

I dust mine with icing sugar, or you could use raw sugar added on top before baking for something different.

 

So I have done all my Christmas shopping as mentioned earlier, I still have one more gift card box to make and Oreo truffles and then some rest before the big day.

 

I hope everyone’s plans are going to schedule, remember 3 days left.

 

Until then Happy Crafting

 

 

 

 

---

I often link up at these parties

Long Gift Box

Hello Blog World,

With only 5 Days to go I am still in full Christmas mode, making gifts, tags, boxes, cards and I even went to spotlight today and bought some food dye so I can make some Christmassy coloured sweet stuffs soon!!

You did see a sneak peak of the box I am showing you today on Saturday in this post.




But here today I have the close up version.  Firstly one of my close friends is a smoker and she has been wanting one of those long cigarette holders you see in the old black and white movies, well when I was out shopping the other night I was passing a tobacconist and thought hmm I wonder.  I went in and asked and yes they had one.  (sorry no photo, it’s already wrapped)



You get the picture though right? Well it only came in plastic so I didn’t want to wrap it like that, so I made a box.

Thanks to this old website for the posted tutorial way back in 2008, I made this beatiful box with red papers as it’s her favourite colour.



Doesn’t the paper scream Christmas and make your eyes go funny looking at it.



So this is the box almost complete, looking good so far.


So wah lah one completed pen box, which is the perfect size for the cigarette holder, it’s about 8” x 1" 1/2” and the lid just slides off and on.  I even made another gift tag, similar to my purple tags to attach to the box.  Now I just hope she likes it.



So I have one more present to make and it’s already half done, just waiting on the paint to dry, then tomorrow shortbread and if I get time oreo truffles, mmmmmmmm yummy.

Until then Happy Crafting.

---

I often link up to these parties

Christmas Gift Tags

Hello Blog World,

Just a quick post today, no healthy lifestyle challenge life has just been too chaotic to record anything at the moment, but it is slightly back on track and good news I haven’t put on any more weight!!

As I said in my last post I had a very busy busy weekend making stuffs and also shopping!  Hubby took me to a shopping centre I had never been to on the other side of town and WOWEEEEEEEEEE was it a shopping centre, so huge and great stores, I could have spent an entire weekend there.

So besides my boxes I made I had been wanting to make my own gift tags for the pressies this year and I looked at my stuff and thought a bit and finally decided with a light purple paper and these fab epoxy stickers I picked up for $1 last year after Christmas.



Ain’t they pretty?  I also thought I would put my cuttlebug to good use and use the little stamp die hubby bought me also last year and cut out heaps of these.



So instead of putting the whole piece in I cut some rectangles a bit bigger than needed, folded in half and when putting through the cuttlebug lined it up so that the die didn’t cover the whole sheet.

Then quite simply stuck the little square stickers on the front of the tags, punched a hole on the back and threaded some string through them.


I personally love the simplicity of them and I am very happy with how they turned out.

Now I am off to make another gift card box and make some pressies. Only have 3 crafty things left on my to do list, after that it’s the cooking side of Christmas I need to concentrate on. 
How is everyone’s Christmas plans going, I hope everyone is on schedule there is only 6 Days to go!!!!!!!!!
Until then Happy Crafting

---

I often link up to these parties

Gift Card Box Tutorial

Hello Blog World,

What a busy Saturday, haven’t done any more Christmas shopping that will have to be tomorrow.  Today I have been a busy little beaver making gift boxes and gift tags (that will be later)



The two boxes are for gift cards, I wanted something different  to an envelope and then I found this perfect box tutorial from Heather Bailey



Unfortunately the PDF instructions wouldn’t work (error not found) and I couldn’t find anything else like it so I winged it and made it up as a I went along so I thought I would share how to do it with everyone else.

Please forgive me as this is my first how to so if I mess it up or forget anything please let me know, oh also I did this in inches for my American friends but as I am not good with that system I am just saying what I saw on my ruler, but I did take a few pictures so hopefully that helps. If you need anything clarified please do not hesitate to contact me.

So based on the photo above from Heather Bailey I did some measuring around my gift card, which also happened to be an iTunes card.




You will need for the bottom tray
A 4” x 5” piece of cardstock

Score cardstock at 11/16’s of an inch on all 4 sides and fold on all folds.
Cut vertical score lines to create flaps like below




Put double sided adhesive on what would be the top of cardstock on the flap you’ve just made.



Flip up score lines and glue on the inside of the tray.  That is you tray complete.


Pretty easy hey?

For the outside sleeve take a piece of cardstock 7 7/16” x 3 3/4” on landscape score at the following intervals

3/4”
3 1/2”
4 3/16”
6 7/8”

Fold on all score lines.
Once you have done this you will see it forming together.  Use double sided adhesive on what would be the top of your cardstock in the first score space at 3/4”, fold the cardstock around and form your sleeve and glue the flap to the inside.

^{ignore the second score line from the tape (that was when I was measuring and testing)}

Now slip the tray into the sleeve and embellish as you like!





Wah Lah little gift card boxes completed!!

So you could use this for jewellery, gift cards, any other little thing really. You could use patterned paper and really pretty it up but as mine if for a boy, I left it pretty simple.  Or you could go even plainer and wrap it if you want.

I did find my first one a bit loose so when I was embellishing I decided to make a belly band to stop the tray from sliding out and then I added a monogram gift tag that I made using the same card stock and tied it on to the belly band with some twine. 

I also have another nephew who we are giving a gift card to so I made another one in different colours, just to test my measurements out.




His name also starts with B, believe it or not, and because I used a dark cardstock I added a square of white cardstock on the inside of the gift tag so we could write in it.

Here they are together




All in all I am very proud of myself so I even went and made a box for my friend’s gift.   That’s for tomorrow (hehe evil grin)

I hope this all made sense, if anyone has suggestions on how to do it better let me know.  Also if anyone out there does use these instructions let me know I would love to see it!!!

Well now I need to go finish some more gift tags and make a start on some hand made gifts. Until then Happy Crafting.

---

I often link up at these parties

Rolled Paper Tree Cards

Hello Blog World,

I have seen a few rolled paper trees out there in blog land this year and thought what a nifty idea. 

Here are some of my favourites

Source: leslieashe.blogspot.com via Michelle on Pinterest

Source: http://thesimplylivingblog.blogspot.com/2011/11/paper-tree.html

Source”:http://adventuresofadiymom.blogspot.com/2011/12/rolled-paper-christmas-tree.html

Go Check them out they are awesome, the second one even has a tutorial. 

Isn’t that bunting just darling!!

So ever since I saw my first one a few months back I knew I wanted to do something similar this Christmas.   All these creations are in frames or on canvases and used for decorations.   I didn’t want to do that, so I needed to make some extra Christmas Cards and thought hey why not??

So here is my take on the rolled paper trees in card form.



And then I wanted to change the colours up a bit and use up some scraps, so this one came about also



I can’t decide which one I like better, they are both different in their own little way, so they both appeal to me on different levels, and they were very simple to make!  I could definitely roll out a few of these in a day (pun intended sorry)

So I am going to enter these in the following card challenge -  Check them out there are some great cards out there.

Dream Valley Challenges – Christmas
Now I need to make some gift card holders (slowly ticking everything off the list), until then happy crafting.

---

I often link up a these parties

Oh Christmas Trees

Hello Blog World,



Christmas is in full swing everywhere and I got some more decorations out of the way last night.  Three little Christmas Trees to accompany my doily wreath in my entry way.

Cone trees are everywhere, made with ribbon, fabric, yarn, scrapbook paper, feathers even glass balls, you name it and they are out there.   I even found one made out the junk in your junk drawer.  Isn’t it just fantastic?

Source: craftyladylindsay.blogspot.com via Michelle on Pinterest

I would love to say that this is mine but no, Lindsay over at Diary of a Crafty Lady came up with this wonderful and unique idea.

However I did find some foam cones at spotlight on sale for $1.00 for three the other day and they are only about 4" inches tall but I had to have them and had to decorate them.

First up Blingy Glitter Tree



This was easy as to do, just stuck the tree on my base painted with glue and rolled in my snowy chunky glitter.  I still like how it came out. 

Next Wooly Tree




I think this one is my favourite and also very easy.  Just wrapped some yarn around the foam cone, stuck some blingy pastel brads I had in my stash and hot glued a bead on top.  I just love the colour of the yarn, this is from the one ball, it’s a graduating colour change and I am very pleased with the effect.

Last but not least, Ruffled Ribbon Tree



This one took the longest and had me fighting with my hot glue gun again, just grabbed some ribbon, ruffled, glued, ruffled, glued and ruffled and glued  a bit more, and to top it off another bead hot glued on top.

All in all I am pretty happy with how these have turned out, however I am not happy with the bases but it’s all I had on hand, it’s old ribbon spools spray painted silver, and then I got some old branches from the yard, stuck it in the bottom of the foam cone and then made a hole and stuck them in the ribbon spool.  They will come out easily enough, so if I find some nice candle holders or something I may just change them around.

This is now the entry way completed (I think)



I am thinking I need some twigs or something at the back, if anyone has some ideas let me know. 

Now I have to get to the serious business of some gift making as well as some last minute Christmas Cards, until then Happy Crafting.

---

I often link up to these parties