The Make Do and Mend Bag...

Another one of the crafts that I will be selling at the local craft fair is a handmade clutch bag. I got the pattern from a British Pathe film and decided to make it as it seemed quick and easy... So here is the original video on how to make a clutch bag and my updated guide. Enjoy!

BAGS (issue title - FOR GOODNESS SAKE !)

What to do:

1. So I pretty-much followed the video, I got a 1/4 of a metre of tweed style fabric from my local sewing shop for £3 and then cut out a rectangle 'pattern' from a newspaper.
2. I then cut out the material for the padding, (two pieces of thin wadding), the silk lining and the cardboard to stiffen it up.
3. I then sewed the lining to the tweed fabric, right sides facing together, but left one of the ends open. Turn the bag inside out to have the right sides facing out.
4. Now slip in the cardboard stiffing and the two pieces of padding either side of the cardboard.
5. Sew up the end and fold the bag over to create the bag pocket.
6. Now stitch two of the sides to secure the bag pocket.
7. Sew on two snap fasteners on each end of the top of the bag and where it should fasten to. Now it is finished!
8. As the film says if you want you can 'add the broach that he gave you', well as I don't have a he, I will search the charity shops for a suitable cheap vintage broach.

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Yet Another Christmas Craft...

So in a previous post I showed the result of my first attempt at making tea cup candles. Well for the craft fair I decided to make some Christmas smelling ones. I'm hoping to get seven or eight pounds for them (which I maintain is still considerably cheaper than on notonthehighstreet.com). So here is my quick guide to creating some Christmas tea cup candles.

Here is what you need:

• Tea cups - I have used 3 different types of tea cups and made 10 in total.
  
• Fragrance (I brought Blue Christmas and Hollidazzle)
• Wax
• Colouring
• Wicks

What I did:

1. Weigh out how much wax you need, to fill a tea cup with a candle it is the ratio of of a cup and a half of unmelted wax.
   
2. Once you know how much wax you need and have weighed it, choose your colour. The amount you will need about 1g of colour to every 100g of wax, but add more or less depending on how much colour you want.
   
3. No melt the wax, I did it in a old jug in the microwave. This took about 2 minutes, but I checked it regularly. If it is not totally melted then pop it in for another 30 seconds.
   
4. Now wait for the wax to cool until it is approx 55c. You need to let the wax cool before adding the fragrance otherwise it will evaporate. Add about a ratio of 5-10% fragrance to wax (e.g. 100g of wax 10ml of fragrance).
5. Once you have stirred this in well, dab the end of the wick in some of the wax and stick it onto the bottom of the tea cup.
   
6. Holding the wick, slowly pour the melted wax into the tea cup.
   
7. Hold the wick until it stands up by itself.
8. Now leave to cool for a day, trim the wick to 5cm and light your Christmas tea cup candle!

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Claire's Christmas Orange...

So I saw this idea in a garden centre the other day whilst I was wondering around the Christmas section in awe. Anyway, a bag of these orange slices/decorations cost £8.99! I maintain why buy something when you can make it much cheaper? So here is my cheaper version:

All you need is:

• Chopping board
• Knife
• Pastry brush
• A baking tray with a cooling rack on top of it
• Oranges
• Cinnamon

What to do:

1. Slice the oranges into 1/4 inch slices, discard the ends of the oranges.
   
2. Dab the oranges with kitchen towel to get rid of the excess juice.
3. Pour some of your Cinnamon powder onto the chopping board, then using the pastry brush, gently spread a small amount of Cinnamon over the front and back of each slice.
   
4. Then pop them on the cooling rack on a baking tray and place them in the oven at 120c.
5. Let them cook in the oven for at least 3hrs checking them occasionally.
6. Let them cool on the cooling rack then use them to decorate your tree (by threading ribbon through them) or arraigning them in a pot porri bowl.

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11/11/11

So today is the 11/11/11. As (hopefully) you all know, it is armistice day. So I decided to post a video of the armistice day in 1920 when the unknown solider was buried. Here is a British Pathe following the soldiers final journey.

ARMISTICE DAY

Read a extract from a woman's diary in 1941 on armistice day here.

A Crafty Little Air freshener...

As a quick and simple little stocking filler for the craft fair we decided to make these Christmas car air fresheners. Sew two pieces of fabric together on three edges, right sides facing in. Turn it out to make a small bag, and fill the bottom of the bag with three teaspoons of cloves. Then add a few scraps of wadding above the cloves. Cut the tops off the bags with crinkle craft scissors and tie them close with a piece of ribbon. Then, there you go, a quick and lovely smalling Christmas car air freshener!

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It's beginning to look a lot like chirstmas...

So this year (at the last minute) me and my mum have found out that we have a stall at our local Christmas craft fair in our village. It appears that in Norfolk this is a big deal and this fair gets a lot of people coming to it! Anyway with less than a month to go we are now on hyperdrive to try and make enough sell able items in time. So today I am going to make mincemeat! Not just any mincemeat though, Mrs Beeton's mincemeat.

Like with so many of my projects they start out with one thing in mind and often divert off the subject as my craft supplies/ingredients change, so instead of all the specified amount of raisins I am adding in 200g of dried cherries. So here is my sampled Mrs Beeton's recipe - please not that these quantities are for 18lbs as I am making lots of jars for the craft fair, so reduce the quantities for your mincemeat (as you probably don't want a dyslexic to do the maths)!

Ingredients:

• 6 large cooking apples
• 3 large lemons
• 2lb of raisins (but we did 200g of cherries, 500g of sultanas and 500g of raisins)
  
• 2lb currants
• 2lb of suet
• 4lb of soft light brown sugar
• 2oz of candied orange peel
• 2oz of candied lemon peel
• 4tbsp of orange marmalade
• 18 fl oz of brandy

What to do:

1. Core the apples, and put them in an oven at 200c and cook 50-60 minutes until tender. I put mine in the microwave for about 3 minutes (800w) and leave them to cool.
   
2. Wash, dry and grate the lemons, squeeze out the juice into a big mixing bowl.
3. Once the apple is cool, scoop out the flesh and add it to the mixing bowl.
4. Add all the remaining ingredients and give it a good mix.
   
5. Cover the bowl and leave it for two days, stirring occasionally.
6. Pot up the mincemeat and press it down well to avoid air pockets. Cover and store for two weeks before using.
   

*remember you must cook this before eating it*

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