Emma's Imagination

If you do one thing today, take a moment to listen to this song. Apparently it's a cover but I've never heard the original. I just think it's the most beautiful song.
She has a gorgeous voice and paired with the guitar it's a really lovely sound. If you like this song, listen to the rest of the album; it's just as lovely!

Enjoy and let me know your thoughts :-)

Killing Time With Transfer Paper

I've wanted to have a go at fabric transfer for a while. I come across a lot of awesome projects on various blogs and websites I visit that use this simple technique and I wanted to see how easy and effective it really is.
I'm sure lots of you crafty bloggers out there have done this before, but I'm sharing my experience anyhow!!

I used the Lesley Riley Transfer Artist Paper from Crafty Computer Paper.

First things first, I printed my images onto the white side of the transfer paper-NOTE: remember to set it to reverse or mirrored print!!

 Then I placed the paper image-side down onto my fabric. I just used plain Calico as I found a huge chunk of it while clearing out recently and I felt the images would show up well on it. I did have to iron the calico beforehand-it was pretty damn creased after being squished in a box for so long!

 With my iron set to it's hottest temperature (pre-heated) I placed a piece of baking paper underneath the iron to protect it from any stickness that might have come from the transfer paper. I then ironed the image as evenly as I could for about 40 seconds. Try and keep the whole piece hot all the time.

 With GREAT trepidation, I gently peeled back the paper. I could feel it was still attached towards the back so I ironed it again. The paper came straight off and even though I was expecting the result, I was so excited to see my lovely image transferred before my very eyes!! The image I used here was a french postcard graphic, one of my favourites, from The Graphics Fairy. Check her site out-she posts vintage graphics daily and they are really good quality :-)

 Here is the finished product! Not bad for my first attempt! The paper got slightly stuck on the right-hand corner-you can just about see a little crease but I think it adds to the vintage quality of the image (luckily!)

 Naturally, I had to have another go. This time, I used another vintage image from Agence Eureka.

 This one worked without any creasing or tearing :-D The quality of the colour was great!

 Here are the original images on the computer comapred with the final fabric prints. Not a whole lot of difference between them, is there?

The fabric was quite stiff after printing, as it warned on the packet, and it suggested washing it to remove some of the excess transfer glue. Apparently the images would be wash-proof. I couldn't be bothered to put two tiny pieces of fabric in the washing machine so I just hand-washed them.

 Some of the stiffness came out but it was a little scuffed after it's bath! Again, in this case, it just added the rustic effect. I think I might have been a bit vigorous with my scrubbing!

I still don't know what I'd like to do with this new found technique but I'm itching to do more fabric transferring! The great thing about this paper is that you can use photos or even draw straight on to it which is fab! 

So there you have it! For anyone that has used this technique before, how did it work out for you? I'd love to see some things you have all made with it!

Stamp of Approval

I came across this fabulous set of vintage postage stamps while browsing http://howaboutorange.blogspot.com/. Definitely visit this site if you love DIY and crafty projects because Jessica posts loads of wonderful and easy projects.

She used a few of the stamps to create these adorable coasters

Visit this link to get the full set of how-to instructions.

Going back to the stamps, check out Karen Horton at Flickr to see the full set which, I understand, were given to her by her mother. She has quite a selection from all around the world and they are great fun to look at.

  

A Lick of Paint!

I thought I'd share this little DIY project I finished today with all of you lovely readers :-)

There wasn't much required of me in this one-it's just a lick of paint-but it's really made a difference and brought these sad, rusty lanterns back to life.

Yes, more lanterns!

Before:

After:

So all I did was, clean the excess dirt and flakes of rust off with soapy water and an old cloth...

Then I used masking tape on all of the glass panels to keep the majority of the paint off...

The paint I used was black hammered metal-effect from Hammerite. It was oil-based, which I've learnt from previous experience is a pain in the behind to clean!! Even so, it left a lovely dimpled effect so it was worth the anguish!



This was the lantern after painting and removing the masking tape. I then went on to cut a small moon stencil, to go with the stars already on the lantern...

 ...and I used gold acrylic paint to stencil the moons in between each star cut-out on the top.

I love how they turned out! Even though it was a simple job (if we ignore how long it took to clean the brushes and my hands!!) it just goes to show how much difference a lick of paint can make!

For A Good Cause

I was browsing the British Heart Foundation's website earlier and came across these two lovely little plant pots. They really are quite sweet, especially if you're a fan of anything quintessentially London or British :-)

Plus, buying them would be for a good cause. Sadly, I have not a penny to my name :-( And certainly no surfaces left in my room to house them!

Who will be the lucky buyer?

Visit the British Heart Foundation  site for more information.

Horsham gets a taste of Morocco!

Last night was Moroccan night in my house. I was given a tagine for Christmas last year and have only just got around to trying it out. I went through the trouble of buying a heat diffuser since apparently it's not a good idea to cook in a tagine without one, only to find realise the tagine itself is too small for a 3 or 4 person meal!

Never mind. I just used it to serve my meal in :-)

So I've included the recipe I used but I should point out something which I forgot to write down.
I marinated the lamb before cooking in a mixture of honey, salt, pepper, cinnamon, ginger and coriander. I left it in the fridge until I was ready to use it, but the longer you can leave it, the more flavour you will get :-)

Marinating the lamb in the honey and spices.

I've scanned in the recipe to save me the job of re-typing the whole thing out. I hope you can read my writing!!

Step 6 should also include adding the tin of chick peas

Yum!! It tasted wonderful and had a slight kick to it which was a nice surprise! I can handle a bit of spice but nothing over-the-top :-)

Let me know if you use this recipe and how it turned out, or if you have any other Moroccan recipes you've tried in the past. I'd love to hear your culinary stories!!

I shall call him Percy and he will be mine and he will be my Percy!

I couldn't resist the "Finding Nemo" reference there!

Yesterday was a good day in the world of home-baking. It's my brother's birthday today but we had a meal for him yesterday. My mum and I baked him a cake based around the super scrummy "Percy Pig" sweets from Marks and Spencers. Alex (my brother) is a big fan of the Percys and since we didn't have any other food colouring but pink in the cupboard, it seemed the ideal thing to do!!

The cake itself is just a simple victoria sponge with jam in the centre. The recipe didn't ask for it, but we added a little vanilla essence and I think it's that which has given it such a lovely taste.

Victoria sponge is the easiest cake in the world to bake! Cream butter and sugar...

...add the eggs...

...a couple of drops of vanilla essence (secret ingredient!)...

...sift self-raising flour and fold together...

...throw into two greased cake tins and voila!!

I think it took about 25 minutes in a fan oven at 180, something like that. Any sponge recipe will do. It's all about the decorating!

We carved a rough triangular shape by skimming the edges off with a blunt knife.

Then mixed up some pink buttercream using butter, icing sugar, pink food colouring and a little dash of milk.

We built some of the icing up for his nose...

...and used jam for his jelly-like ears! Yumm!

Finally, I used a black icing pen to draw on his facial details :-)

I think he's adorable!! Below is the original Percy Pig sweet we worked from (I think ours is cuter!)

Coming soon: My attempt at a Moroccan Lamb Tagine. Stay tuned!!