76 sunflowers: #pinaddicts

9 June 2013

Summer Bucket List {#pinaddicts June}

Finally, we have had a whole week of good weather - A WHOLE WEEK! And as soon as that sun starts to shine for more than a day I like to make plans. Summer plans.

Today I asked the kiddies what they wanted to do this summer and instead of just talking about it we put our plans down on paper. So nobody would forget!

I pinned this image a while ago to my Pinterest For the kiddywinks board - and it has since been repinned to my #pinaddicts board.

Here's what we did.

Fishbone Bookmarks {#pinaddicts April}

Hey all. I hope you are having a lovely Easter weekend and you have seen some sunshine. We've been having a bit of a lazy school holiday here but I don't think there's anything wrong with that. I have managed to pay some attention to the blog and have got the sewing machine out again. The two have been combined for this month's #pinaddicts challenge.

Fishbone Bookmarks!

I have been desperately trying to read more books lately and occasionally have more than one on the go. I hate turning down corners of pages so thought I would make some more bookmarks.

I made these ones here for a previous challenge if you want to take a peek.

I pinned this image to my #pinaddicts board on Pinterest but the image didn't link to any tutorial so I went about having a go making them from scratch.

Here's how I did it.

Chai & Cinnamon Loaf {#pinaddicts March}

It's the Easter holidays and time to try something new in the baking department.

Edith has discovered a love of Hot Cross Buns so I am hoping she will love this loaf full of spices as much as I love how it sounds.

I pinned this to my Scrumdiddlyumptious Baking board yonks ago. I tend to do that a lot.

Drool over it, pin it, drool over it again, never actually bake it.

Today though was the day.

#pinaddicts challenge no. 9 - Fabric Bookmarks

It's the beginning of the month so it's time to link up to the Pinaddicts Challenge!

The #pinaddicts challenge works as follows:

Pin to your #pinaddicts board on Pinterest.

Choose something to make for the challenge.

In your post put the original image with original links.

Post your fantastic effort at recreating.

Link up and go and check out the other #pinaddicts at the NEW SITE!

My last blog post showed my Shabby Chic Rosette Flowers ...

...and today I'm going to show you what I used them for.

Here's my inspirational pin!

From www.tipjunkie.com

I used my flowers and a tutorial from the above to create my own bookmarks.

Here's my tutorial:

First cut out fabric pieces for each bookmark you wish to make measuring 4" x 8" and back each piece with slightly smaller interfacing:

Fold the fabric right sides together...

...and sew along one short side and the unfolded long side:

Turn the right way out, fold the opening in and iron flat:

Sew round each of the four sides:

Attach the flowers with fabric glue and you're done!

x x x

#pinaddicts challenge no. 8 - Tutu Style Wreath

It's Pinaddicts Challenge time again folks! If this is new to you here's the drill:

The #pinaddicts challenge works as follows:

Pin to your #pinaddicts board on Pinterest.

Choose something to make for the challenge.

In your post put the original image with original links.

Post your fantastic effort at recreating.

Link up and go and check out the other #pinaddicts at the NEW SITE!

I've been feeling rather Autumnal this month and have been looking ahead to - dare I say it?! - Christmas. I've even started a Christmas pin board. With this in mind I've been thinking about wreaths and have seen a variety of them being pinned.

I particularly liked this colourful fabric one and this Halloween themed one pictured below.

http://www.betweenuandme.com/2010/09/18/halloween-tulle-wreath-tutorial/

I wanted to have a trial run before splashing out on Christmas fabrics, and playing around with final ideas, so I hunted down my bag of netting - leftovers from tutu making for Camp Bestival two years ago - and not having any metal or foam rings improvised a bit!

Here's what to do:

Gather the colours of netting you prefer and a ribbon for hanging.

Cut out a card ring approximately 25cm across.

Cut out strips of net approximately 30cm x 3cm. Rolling up the netting first helps save time.

Loop the fabric under the ring, pull the ends through the loop and pull tight.

Continue doing this following your chosen pattern of colours until the ring is full.

I trimmed the straggly ends, added a fabric flower - made for an earlier pinaddicts challenge - and tied on a black ribbon.

Voila!

It is now hanging in my daughter's bedroom as she helped out a little bit to tie on the strips and she took a fancy to it!

If you've been doing any sort of Pinterest related crafting then come and join us and link up over at the Pinaddicts Challenge website on the first of the month. We would love to see you!

x x x

#pinaddicts challenge no. 7 - Twine & Bead Bracelet

We all know that summer is coming to a close but new things are around the corner.

Just peeking it's head out around that said corner is a gleaming new website hosting the brand new Pinaddicts Challenge UK. Yes, we had a summer holiday but now it is back!

The #pinaddicts challenge works as follows:

Pin to your #pinaddicts board on Pinterest.

Choose something to make for the challenge.

In your post put the original image with original links.

Post your fantastic effort at recreating.

Link up and go and check out the other #pinaddicts at the NEW SITE!

I've still been busy pinning my challenge inspirations here and decided to have a go at this creation.

http://www.thecraftyblogstalker.com/2011/11/twine-and-pearl-bracelet.html

I used a variety of twine and threads - available from any good craft store - and ordered different style clasps from eBay.

I knotted 3 pieces of twine or thread, measuring about 16" long, and threaded a bead onto each strand. I then knotted the three threads together and continued this. I played around a bit with the number of beads and also used thread twice as long which double wrapped itself around my wrist.

And this is how they turned out!

What do you think?

Now, go and get crafting and join us at the new website!

x x x

#pinaddicts challenge no. 6 - Pecans & Bananas

The #pinaddicts challenge works as follows:

Pin to your #pinaddicts board on Pinterest.

Choose something to make for the challenge.

In your post put the original image with original links.

Post your fantastic effort at recreating.

Link up and go and check out the other #pinaddicts!

This month we are linking up with Kerry at Life, As I Know It!

#pinaddicts challenge no. 6 - Pecans & Bananas

This month I have decided to go down the baking route. Partly because another project I have on the go is taking me way longer than I thought it would and partly because I have pinned so many scrummy treats to various Pinterest boards I thought it was about time I made some of them.

So, for your visual delight and to get your mouths drooling I have attempted the following...

http://www.justataste.com/2011/11/pecan-pie-bars/

Pecan Pie Bars

AND!....

http://www.the-girl-who-ate-everything.com/2011/04/banana-coconut-upside-down-cake.html

Banana and Coconut Upside Down Cake

Can you tell that sticky, caramelly, sweet, nutty things rock my tastebuds?!

I played around a bit with both recipes as the quantities didn't match my tin sizes, and also I had different ingredients in my cupboards, but the changes worked - phew.

For the Pecan Pie Bars I used...

125g butter and half a cup of dark brown sugar beaten together until smooth.

To this I mixed in 1 1/4 cups of plain flour and a pinch of salt until crumbly.

This mix was pressed into a 7" x 10" lined tin and baked at 180c for 20 minutes.

For the topping I melted about 100g butter, a cup of light brown sugar, about half a cup of maple syrup and half a cup of honey. My measures were approximate and I don't think it matters too much to be completely accurate for the sticky topping!

Once melted I stirred in about 120g of chopped pecans.

This mixture was poured over the base and baked for another 20 minutes.

Once it had stopped bubbling, cooled down and set it looked like this!....

*Drools*

The banana and coconut upside down cake was, erm, fun shall we say?!

There was a bit of stickage in the tin and rearrangement of bananas required so I would score it about 4 for presentation. But it was the taste that mattered and it was scrummy - especially warm with custard.

The original pin used a Betty Crocker mix (?!) but I know how to mix 4oz S R Flour, 4oz Stork, 4oz caster sugar and 2 eggs together so that's what I did.

In the bottom of a round cake tin I laid out 2 sliced bananas, poured over the syrup made from about 50g melted butter and half a cup of dark brown sugar. Over this I sprinkled a cup of dessicated coconut and then on went the cake batter.

This concoction was baked for about 35-40 minutes.

Once cool flip the tin and good luck getting it out.

Apologies for the mixes of measures but I was jumping from cups to scales to old fashioned cake mix recipes from my head.

Anyhows - ignoring the mess on top - this is how it came out...and look, it has been eaten so obviously tasted good.

So, are you drooling yet?!

x x x

Catch up: sewing and cake!

It's been a bit of a bad week and general all round diet fail. I blame the husband for turning 34 and picking chocolate fudge as his birthday cake choice.

It is a little known fact that I bake the best chocolate fudge cake.

I really should share the recipe with you all.

Here's a teaser though...

I also got round to making a flower to finish off the camera strap cover for Kerry @thelovebump.

Am still hoping it all fits!

I somehow managed to get back to the sewing machine today. I found this tutorial from Fabric and Flowers and promptly got on to eBay to order some clasps. They arrived yesterday and today I made myself this...

I love bracelets in all their different forms and having a fabric one is a little bit different.

I already have an order from Edith for one!

In other news I'm looking forward to working on the revamped #pinaddicts challenge with Kerry and co.

If you aren't already doing so, follow us on Twitter @pinaddictsuk.

Have a good rest of the week people!

x x x

#pinaddicts challenge no. 5 - Chai Tea Loveliness!

This month is hosted by Simply Outnumbered and this is how it works!

The #pinaddicts challenge works as follows:

Pin to your #pinaddicts board on Pinterest.

Choose something to make for the challenge.

In your post put the original image with original links.

Post your fantastic effort at recreating.

Link up and go and check out the other #pinaddicts!

#pinaddicts challenge no. 5 - Chai Tea Loveliness

This month I decided to put the sewing machine to one side and focus on Chai Tea having become recently addicted to the stuff.

The following pins on Pinterest inspired me to have a go at making my own.

http://acozykitchen.com/chai-iced-tea/

http://shopcookmake.blogspot.co.uk/2011/06/iced-chai-tea.html

The first version required spices and condensed milk so was more time consuming, fattening and expensive to produce. The second version used teabags, milk and a couple of cloves so was quicker, had fewer calories and was cheaper to put together!

I did, however, have a go at both.

I played around with a couple of recipes and used the above ingredients plus black peppercorns...and TEA!

Next time I will ditch the ginger - it didn't work for me.

Mistake - I should have added the tea at the end!

An hour later: Iced Chai Tea Latte!

The easier version just involved steeping the teabags and cloves, cooling off in the fridge and adding cold milk and ice.

I actually preferred the latter version as it was less sickly sweet. I do, however, plan to tinker around with using fresh spices to make it a more authentic chai tea taste.

I wasn't content with stopping with the tea though and wanted to have a go at these:-