30th Birthday Violet & Cream Cupcakes

It was my sisters 30th birthday yesterday, so rather than buy a cake I decided to make her a batch of flower cupcakes.  These were vanilla sponges which were decorated with large cream and violet buttercream swirls (using my trusty old M1 nozzle!), topped with hand crafted sugar flowers, and finished with a sprinkling of silver glitter dust.

The sugar flowers were made using roll out icing which I tinted with Wiltons 'violet' colouring paste, and were cut with a daisy flower cutters set. They were left to dry overnight, some on a flat surface, others I put into little truffle cases to create curved shaped petals.

Pink Mallow Cupcakes

I made these pink sparkly cupcakes for my little girls birthday tea... delicious!!!!

Daisy Cupcakes

My sister held a garden party on Easter Sunday and my contribution was.... yep, you guessed it, cupcakes!!!

I chose a simple design and cheated a little by using shop bought flowers. I used a classic vanilla sponge topped with large swirls of vanilla buttercream (using an M1 nozzle) and finished them off with delicate white, lemon, and candy pink daisies.

Easter Egg Cupcakes

My daughter and I made this yummy cupcakes as Easter gifts for our family.  We used vanilla sponge topped with chocolate buttercream (we used part butter and part melted milk chocolate with the icing sugar to ensure the mixture wasn't too dark!) and finished off with mini eggs :0)

Lemon Meringue Pie Cupcakes

It was my Mums birthday on Monday, so I decided to make some cupcakes. My mum loves lemon flavoured cakes so I created a batch of light and fluffy cupcakes, and while still hot I drizzled each cake with a lemon and icing sugar mix - the flavour was absolutely gorgeous!!!

Once cool I topped with vanilla buttercream which had crushed meringue pieces mixed in to it. The meringue did make it hard to pipe... some of the pieces were not crushed small enough which partialy blocked the M1 nozzle I was using!!! This did result in a really pretty effect as the frosting came out in several little ribbons which piled up. I finished off with a light dusting of silver glitter.

Vanilla & Nutella Polka Dot Glitter-Dust Cupcakes

I just love making and decorating cupcakes, so when my new nozzles arrived in the post I just HAD to use them!!!  I used a basic sponge mix and added a little vanilla flavouring, before filling muffin cakes and baking.  Once cooled I filled each cupcake with nutella using a #230 nozzle, then using an M1 nozzle I pipped large vanilla buttercream swirls on top, sprinkled with silver edible glitter, and finally topped with mini choco beans. 

Delicious!!!

Butterflies and Bows

I am now the proud owner of a Brother sewing machine!!!  I've not used a machine in over 10 years, so thought I'd start of with something simple - I have altered a cute pair of curtains for my little girls room. I bought the plain voile panels a while ago from an online store. I have altered the length, created a row of cute bows to attach the panel to the curtain pole, and finally attached 2 strings of gorgeous white and pink glittery fairy wings (purchased from one of my favourite stores in Covent Garden, Sass and Belle).  My little girl loves them!!!

A Big Adventure!

This weekend was spent at Avon Tyrrell in the beautiful New Forest - it was a weekend for families of children with autism and aspergers.

The whole family had the most wonderful time, with both of my children amazing me with their ability to throw themselves into everything that was on offer and push themselves far beyond all our expections!!!

My little girl, who's only 3, was the youngest person to take part in the treetop assault course.... at 30ft up that's no small feet!!!  My son really came out of his shell and took part in everything, including flying down the 40ft zip-wire at 15 mph, scaling the 30ft climbing wall, and hitting the bullseye during the archery lesson. His 'Piese de resistance' was the fishing lesson where he caught a huge bream - the look on his face was priceless :0)

 

'My Name is Charlie' by Brian Webb

My name is Charlie; I'm different to you
I don't see the world the same as you do.
You see a classroom and I see a chair
I don't always notice what else is in there.

...Too much information keeps coming my way
It's so hard to cope with, day after day.
You show me so much that I don't always see
One step at a time is the best thing for me.

Bright lights and loud noises upset me so much
An unusual smell, or somebody's touch.
When you look in my eyes and I'm looking away
I'm not being rude if I don't hear what you say.

I'm not being awkward; I'm just doing my best
I'm striving so hard to be just like the rest.
The times when you think I've not really tried
If only you knew how that hurts me inside.

I want you to like me the way I like you
If only you saw things from my point of view.
Your life and my life both run parallel
Yours seems like heaven, mine's sometimes hell.

Whenever you're frustrated at the things that I do Remember
You could have been me and I could have been you.

© B.J. Webb. 2007



Egg Overload!!!

My lovely girls have been producing delicious fresh eggs for me daily (even during the cold and frosty weather we've had recently) which is great!  The problem is that I just don't seem to be eating them quick enough!  I now have 42 eggs stockpiled in my kitchen... it's beginning to take over! Fresh eggs last up to 6 months (unlike the chemically treated eggs you find in the shops which only last a couple of weeks due to the 'bloom' being removed from the shells) so they've still got a long shelf life left - I've ordered some recycled egg boxes and plan to sell some to raise funds to rescue some battery hens in the summer :0)

A Tiny Touch

This heart charm bracelet is one of the few pieces I've made for myself - the charms have the imprints of my childrens pinky finger along with their names.  The charms were hand crafted and fired from silverclay, the bracelet is a shop bought sterling silver link chain.

With Love...

Here's another silver piece I've created incorporating a fingerprint. This time the charm was added to a long sterling silver chain along with a selection of crystal beads and twisted wire loops.

Survival....

On Saturday my family and I took part in another Bushcraft Survival Day run by Sunrise Bushcraft (http://www.sunrisebushcraft.com/) for disabled children and their families.  It was a a fun packed day which saw us building a woodland shelter, making bread (and eating bacon butties!), and lighting a fire.  My son had a fantastic time constructing the shelter which looked brilliant when it was finished!!!

Joshua putting up the 'frame'

Me and my little monkeys in the completed shelter :0)

Hubby cooking the bread and bacon on our fire... the bread was so delicious!!!

Hubby and daughter lighting the fire with flint, steel and cotton wool

Shining Star - Silver Fingerprint Charm

In genuine star sapphires there are tiny imperfections and inclusions that reflect light perfectly to form a star in the stone. Every child with Aspergers is like this precious gem, unique in every way. Without the tiny inclusions, there would be no star. My wonderful son is my shining star...

This charm was created using 9g of silverclay. I cut and hand sanded it roughly, hand fired it with a torch, and tumbled it with steel shot for 15 minutes. I wanted it to look more 'rustic' than some of the other pieces I've made, so instead of polishing it to a high shine I just gave it a quick rub over with a silver cloth.

Fruit Cake/Malt Loaf

Ingredients:

1 cup shreddies (any brand)

1 cup raisins (or dried mixed fruit)

1/2 cup soft brown sugar

1 cup milk

1 cup self raising flour

In a bowl mix the shreddies, raisins, sugar and milk.

Stir and place in the fridge overnight

(or for approx 8 hours, until the shreddies have soaked up the milk and are soft).

When you're ready to bake add the flour to the mixture and stir in - it will become very thick and stodgy. 

Pour into a loaf tin and bake for 1 hour 15 minutes on 180 degrees (Gas mark 4).

Can be kept for approx a week if wrapped/sealed.

Flower Cupcakes

Today my daughter and I made cupcakes and I took the opportunity to practice my decorating technique (I'll be making flower fairy cupcakes for my little girls 4th birthday). The buttercream wasn't stiff enough, but I got to try out my new M1 nozzle :0) I sprinkled with lemon sparkle dust and topped with handmade icing flowers.

Eggs are on the Up!

Well it seems that after the initial upset of bringing the chickens home and getting them used to their new surroundings they are now feeling happy and settled as egg production is up to 3 or 4 a day!!!  I'm so pleased as it means that they're well, healthy, and comfy in coop.... it also means we get a delicious supply of fresh, tasty eggs :0)

Some say there's a birthday coming up

It's my sons 9th birthday in March and whilst it seems like ages away right now, it'll suddenly be upon me and I'll be totally unprepared  :0) so I've made a start on some of my makes our little family get together. We won't be having a big party with friends as the anxiety is too much for him (he has Aspergers Syndrome) but I still want to create something special for him - we're going with a Top Gear/Stig theme (he LOVES the programme!). Here are the invitations I've created:

now on to the straw toppers, bunting, cupcake toppers, banner........!!!

Our Girls

We got our second fresh egg today!!!  It seems that the weather is too cold for the girls and as such they've slowed right up on laying (only 2 eggs over 4 days, from 4 hens).  Hopefully as it gets warmer they'll get back into their rthym and we'll be getting 3 or 4 a day :0)

I'm really enjoying having them, even though it means going out into the cold (in my PJ's!) to let them into the garden and give them breakfast, and my little girl just can't get enough - she spent most of today outside with them!

Teddy Bears Picnic

As the weather's been too cold to go out we decided to do something indoors today - a Teddy Bears Picnic.  My little girl and I baked lemon cupcakes decorated with vanilla frosting, topped with mini marshmallows and parma violets :0)

We invited my sister, newphews, and Mum for sandwiches, cakes and strawberry milk (yummy!), and the kids seemed to have a lovely time!

Fresh Egg!!!

The chickens arrived Thursday evening and dispite the weather and the stress of the move to their new home we already have a fresh egg!!!  We've not eaten it yet... it's sitting in the egg rack on the kitchen worktop like a trophy :0)

The children just love them; my little girl has adopted the white hen as hers and named her Lilly, my son has adopted the slate coloured hen which he's named 'Locco'.  We also have Mabel (brown) and PP3 (black), and the 4 of them seem very settled and happy in their new home.

I can't wait for the drier weather to come so we can get out into the garden more with them.

A Touch of Love

I'm really enjoying working with metals at the moment so I made this silver heart shaped charm for my sister.  It has the imprint from her sons finger (I printed directly into the silver) and then I engraved his name. I used PMC Silver which I fired, cut, and finished by hand.  I added a small 16gsm silver jump ring so she can attach it to a bracelet.

I just need to make another now for her newborn...... :0)

Artwork

Today's post is a crafty one, but it's not something I've created myself - I commissioned the artwork for my lounge (red poppy) and my bathroom (blue 'splash')...luckily on I'm on very good terms with the gentleman who created them so I got them for an absolute bargain!!!

New Shoes!

I'm in the market for a new pair of shoes (although I'm sure my husband would tell you that I have more than enough already!) so I need to get my thinking cap on for a way to make a little extra cash from my crafting..... not sure just yet what I should do, but I DO know exactly which pair is top of my list :0)

Celebrate Different, Not Indifference

Today's is not a crafty post, but a post to say how fantastic NAS and Parent Voice have been in supporting myself and the many other parents of children with disabilities in Hampshire and the UK.  The events, seminars, groups, and respite care they promote, organise, and fund are invaluable to so many and shouldn't be underestimated.

Silver Keepsakes

There's nothing like recieving a gift from your little ones which they've made, the problem is what to do with it. We store our kids 'makes' in memory boxes, but it always seems such a shame that it's all tucked away from view.  With this in mind I decided to expand my range of silver makes to include impressions of my daughters handprints and my sons writing (my son has autism and rarely puts pen to paper, so I wanted to capture it!!!).  I will be trying out one of my sons drawings too when I get some more silver!!

This silver keyring is a gift for my husband.

The silver oval will be secured to the bottom corner of a photo frame I have - it contains a photo of my little girl just hours after she was born.

The handprint and writing were scaned onto my PC, scaled down to size and turned into stamps using photopolymer plates.  I used PMC3 Silver to craft the pieces, hand fired them, then tumbled and polished them to a high shine (with both tripoli and rouge).  I'm really pleased with the results :0)