Singed Flower Hair Accessory Tutorial

What you need -

• Candle
• Scissors
• Tweezers
• Organza or Chiffon or other synthetic fabric
• Needle and thread
• Beads or brads
• Matching felt
• Elastic, bobby pins or clips

Step 1. Cut circles of fabric. About 4 or 5 pieces depending on how full you want your flower to be. My pieces start from about 2.5cm(1inch) and the biggest is about 9cm(3.5in).

Step 2. Light your candle and singe the edges of each piece of fabric. You won't need to put your fabric IN the flame, just hold it above and the heat will make it curl. This can take some practice. Don't hold it over for too long or it will melt completely. You need to be quick and move it around.
These are all the pieces done. The bigger ones i've singed in the middle of the petal so it's not so bowl shaped.
Step 3. Assemble. Just lay the pieces on top of each other.

Step 4. Sew together. Get some matching thread or you can use invisible thread and sew them together in the middle. Just a couple of stitches and then you can thread on some beads and secrure them with a couple more stitches. DONE! almost..... Step 5. Cut 2 pieces of felt - one circle and one rectangle that will fit inside the circle. Sew down two sides as shown to make a little 'tunnel'. That's for elastic or clip to go in.

Step 6. Hot glue it to the back of your flower.

Step 7. Insert elastic or clips.

VOILA!!

And if you are feeling adventurous you can even make baby ones and do something like this -

Try it with different fabrics and colours. You can also use them to accessorize your clothes if you want.

I made this one out of ribbon for my 6yr old niece and used brads in the middle instead of beads.

Homemade Cleaning Products

I've been experimenting with homemade cleaning products. I LOVE that i make my own baby wipes. And they cost me $2.77 instead of the $4-5 i was paying. But as much as they are great for wiping bottoms and messy mouths i didn't really want to use them for cleaning other things. I love kitchen wipes. So easy but also pricey. So i found a recipe for homemade cleaner. Who knew it was so easy!? I know lots of people already know about the excellentness that is vinegar but i'm a little slow on the uptake. But that's ok, i've now 'discovered' it. I made my own Spray Cleaner and it is fabulous.

For a while now i've been buying Earth Choice products. They are grey water safe and cheap! So i have incorporated the Floor and Surface Cleaner into my own.

So for the recipe you need-

A spray bottle

1/8 cup Earth Choice Floor and Surface Cleaner

1/4 cup white vinegar (Homebrand. It's so cheap it's like you never bought it.)

And then top the bottle up with water. Give it a shake and away you go! I like to label my stuff too so i know what it is. Total cost per bottle - 11cents. Not including the bottle. Cost of shop bought spray of the same quantity - $3.87

Then came the Cleaning Wipes. You will need -

1 roll of Viva Paper Towel (i recommend this brand because it is the only one that doesn't fall apart when wet)

1/8 cup Earth Choice Floor and Surface Cleaner or cleaner of your choice

1/4 cup white vinegar

1 1/4 cup of water

a cylinder container with lid (cost me $4 at Woolies)

First off remove the cardboard roll out of the middle of the paper towel. You will be pulling from the centre so you don't need it in there.

In the container mix all your liquid ingredients. Then place the paper towel in there pushing down if you need too so it fits inside. Pop the lid on and wait for it all to absorb and for no reason other then my own quirkiness i turn the container upside down while it's absorbing. Total cost for this is $2.10 per roll - 60 sheets per roll. I use it in my kitchen or for wet dusting of furniture. Cost of shop bought kitchen wipes - $4.85 for 40 wipes.

I also made my own Laundry Powder. It so easy!

You will need for 1 batch (32 loads)-

1 cup Borax ( you can find it at Bunnings)

1 cup Washing Soda (in the laundry aisle at Woolies)

2 bars of laundry soap (i use Woolies brand)

A container to put it in (The Reject Shop has cheap jars)

A 1/8 cup scoop (which i already had in my kitchen)

First off cut up your soap, just roughly chop it with a sharp knife. I then wizzed it in my hand blender. You want it to be like a powder. Place the Soap, Borax and Washing Soda in the jar, put the lid on and shake it around to mix it. And that's it. Use 1/8 cup(or 2 tablespoons) scoop per load of washing. The cost of this is $3.44 per batch. That's 10 cents per load!! I compared that with the Aldi brand of laundry liquid that i usually buy and it is $5.99 per 2L bottle - 37 cents per load. Over 3 TIMES the cost.

Homemade Stain Remover

This was a bit of an experiment. And i am pleased with the results.

What you need -

750ml Spray bottle (i recycled one that i had)

1/4 cup bleach( I used White King)

1/4 cup vinegar

1 tablespoon of your homemade laundry powder(i made a seperate batch just for using for stain remover)

water

Put the first 3 ingredients in and then top up the bottle with water. Just mix it all up in your bottle.

I experimented with one of Lachlan's outfits. These are fresh 'stains'of chocolate, warm milo and baby drool. I first washed it in my laundry powder and most of the stains came out. I just wanted to see how much it cleans. There were a few dots of brown still left up near the collar which was the messiest spot.

I sprayed it with the stain remover and left it for 5-10 minutes and washed it again. It came out pretty clean!

In future of course i will spray the stains first and then wash. I just wanted to see how much came out in the regular wash. If you wanted a strong stain remover i'd try experimenting with the quantity of bleach.

The cost of my 750ml bottle of Spray Stain Remover was 22 cents. See if you can find a stain remover that cheap in the shops.

Fingerless Mittens

It's almost winter and so that puts me in the mood for knitting! So i whipped up these cute fingerless handwarmers. I bought this yarn for $1 a ball at LifeLine. It's so gorgeous. 100% Australian wool too. Love the colour! And i have 3 more balls of it left.

I got the pattern here. Now i just need the right buttons to put on as a feature. :)

Baby Shirts

So i'm always trying to find ways of saving money. I also love baby clothes AND sewing. I found a great way to combine all of these. Courtesy of this blog. The 90 minute shirt! Why didn't I think of that?! I raided my drawers for unwanted t-shirts and i scoured the op-shops.

This is what i came up with -

The cutest rock star off all time.

One of my new favourite craft blogs is U Create. LOVE it. I found a cute tutorial for headbands. I am always on the lookout for grown up girly things since i haven't be blessed with baby girls as yet. So i was super exited to find something that I could wear!

The tutorial is here and this is my results -

Hot Cross Buns!

Ahhhhhhhh i love hearing that song played on the recorder. It just reminds me of my childhood. :) Hot Cross Buns are just the perfect comfort food don't you think? Last night was our Easter FHE lesson so i figured i'd make them for the treat. We had the lesson complete with paper cut outs about how Jesus died and was placed in the tomb and on the 3rd day he was resurrected. Then we discussed the symbols of Easter. And how we eat Hot Cross Buns on Good Friday because they have the cross on them that symbolises the crucifixion. Then we, well Graham and I ate a hot cross bun that i made from scratch in my breadmaker. Ethan was opposed to homemade ones for some reason. *rolls eyes* I have to say they were delishious! So good. Here's the recipe -

In your breakmaker place these ingredients in this order -

1 egg
2 tablespoons unsweetened applesauce
60g brown sugar ( i'm wondering if i can replace this with honey...something to experiment with next time)
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
520g whole wheat plain flour
2.5 teaspoons dry yeast
310ml warm water

Select your dough cycle. 15 minutes into the cycle add 3/4 cup mixed dried fruit or just sultanas if you don't like fruit peel.

At the end of your dough cycle it will be REALLY puffy. Mine was almost spilling over. lol Take it out and gently kneed on a floured surface for a couple of minutes. Just until it's not sticky. Divide into balls however big you want them and place them on a greased tray. Cover and let rise in a warm place for 30 minutes.

In a small bowl mix together -

80g plain flour
80ml water
1 teaspoon sugar

Put into a piping bag and pipe on the crosses on top of your buns.

Put them in a preheated 180C oven and cook for 25 minutes. When they come out of the oven you can put a glaze on them or leave them.

Glaze -
2 tablespoons water
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon gelatin

Combine and heat on Medium for 1-2 minutes in the microwave. Brush over hot buns.

I didn't do the glaze because i was lazy.

Serve your buns cut in half and spread with real butter. *drool* try not to eat them all at once.

Fondant Cake

My second fondant cake! I was asked to make a cake for the Relief Society Birthday Dinner. The theme was "If friends were flowers, i'd pick you" I thought straight away that i'd use fondant since i've been wanting to experiment with it more. I googled cake photos and tutorials and figured i could make roses. Looked easy enough. I decided to make the Pioneer Woman's chocolate sheet cake but in a round tin. Unfortunately that didn't work out. For some reason the bottom of the cake didn't cook. So it was back to the old faithful recipe that i've been using for years for birthday cakes - Chocolate Fudge Cake. It's the yummiest chocolate cake ever! I made the marshmellow fondant and put a little passionfruit flavouring in it. It's so yum. I have some left over which i may or may not get to eat. My kids like it too! I found a tutorial for fondant flowers and the woman doing it suggested putting bits of toilet paper in mini muffin tins. I did paper towel though in case you were wondering. I didn't think toilet paper was all that hygenic since the toilet paper is stored BESIDE the toilet and my boys can't aim that well all the time.
Anyways it worked so well at propping up the flowers while they dried. Here's a pic -

I made a vanilla buttercream to put between the layers of cake (2 layers) and over the entire cake so that the fondant had something to stick too. And then i layed the main pink fondant over, put the flowers on and voila! oh and i did add some sheer purple ribbon around the bottom.

And it was yum. super yum!

Recent Projects

Crocheted Necklace - you can find the pattern here. I think it's really cute! And it's so easy.

Memory Wire Bracelet
Earrings - the little blue beads match the ones on the bracelet - i LOVE drop earrings.

Hot Cross Bun and Butter Pudding

My dish arrived!!! It came yesterday and i was so excited. I am seriously impressed and in love with the dish. It's HUGE. Alot bigger then i was expecting. I'm going to have some fun cooking in it! It would be really good for a large family or for a potluck dinner.

The recipe had great potential but it didn't turn out as good as i'd hoped. But before i turn you all off lets get going with it and see what we can do to improve it.

Read the recipe here - http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/3729/chocolate+hot+cross+bun+and+butter+pudding

The dish - as you can see it fits right across my stovetop!

The ingredients-6 chocolate hot cross buns. (I used regular fruit ones. And i used 8 instead of 6).

-30g unsalted butter

- 125g roughly chopped chocolate. (I used Club 70% cocoa. The darker the better in my opinion.)

- 1 vanilla bean. (I used a 1/2 teaspoon of imitation vanilla.)

- 600ml thin cream

- 600ml thickened cream

- zest of 1 orange. (I used a seville orange)

- 4 eggs

- 170g castor sugar

- 1/4 cup brandy(optional) I used orange juice because i don't consume alcohol.

First up cut your hot cross buns in half and butter one side. Place them in the dish.

Next scatter over roughly chopped chocolate. Taste it just in case the chocolate is poisoned.

Replace the lids.
Next start making the custard. In a bowl put your eggs, sugar and juice.

Mix until just combined.

On the stove in a saucepan put your cream and orange zest. Heat slowly on low heat until it just starts to simmer.

Remove from heat and add the egg mixture. Stir well.

Pour in and around your hot cross buns. mmmmmmm. Then leave them for 30minutes so that they can soak up the custard a bit.

Preheat your oven to 170C.

Place your buns in a large roaster or something else big enough. Fill half way up with boiling water. If you've ever made baked custard then you know what i'm talking about.

Bake for 45 minutes.....or an hour....or however long it takes to cook that custard. Recipe says 45minutes...i found i cooked mine for an hour and it STILL wasn't cooked.

Finshed product! Looks yum huh? It IS yum but the custard is so 'creamy' that it made me feel ill. The actual hot cross bun was divine though. I am not sure why the custard didn't set. I used the exact quantities for the custard. Some was set around the actual buns and a little on top but underneath was just runny like cream. And there was a heap of custard. Maybe it was too much? Maybe half the custard would be better. I'd like to try and make a healthier version of this so that it can be eaten and enjoyed for Easter. If anyone has any suggestions let me know!!!

Recipe and product Review

I love cooking. I love trying new recipes and making people happy with food. I guess you could say that I ‘love’ with food. Sometimes that’s good and sometimes that’s not so good. Not so good for my waistline…or lack thereof. Nevertheless I am excited for Easter. One of the best parts of Easter is Hot Cross Buns. That and the massive amounts of chocolate I am ‘allowed’ to consume because hey, it’s EASTER! And whoever invented chocolate hot cross buns should be given some sort of award.

Thanks to the awesome people at Buyster I get to preview a little something for the kitchen. They don’t just sell kitchen stuff however they sell all sorts of things – Furniture, Home Decor, RUGS! I didn’t even know you could buy rugs online. But you can! Right here - http://www.buysterrugs.com.au

What I am going to be doing is reviewing a baking dish. See it here. Looks awesome. And the recipe I will be attempting is Chocolate Hot Cross Bun and Butter Pudding. You’ll get to see me make this step by step and hopefully it will taste good! Not that you will be able to taste it. But I’ll tell you all about it. ;) And then maybe you can make one too.

Stay tuned!!

I've got a shop!

www.madeit.com.au/justjewell