I made this

I made this, before I started my craft blog. A stuffed monkey for my nephews birthday. I had never made anything like this before, and was nicely surprised at how easy it really was to make.

I got the pattern from the lovely, and very helpful, Pauline at Funky Friends Factory.

Here is a photo of the monkey, flat, before he was stuffed, and before I put on his face.

Now Abbey wants one.....and of course, it has to be in pink, her favourite colour.

Gingerbread

Last week Abbey and I made gingerbread biscuits. She had so much fun, and kept insisting "I do it myself" at every step.

They were very yummy, and only lasted a few days in our house, although we were very generous and gave many away to friends and family.

I love gingerbread. But not really crunchy gingerbread, I like it a little soft.

This is the best recipe I have ever found. By adjusting the cooking time, you can make soft or harder gingerbread to suit every ones tastes. This recipe makes about 40-50 biscuits, depending on the size of the cookie cutter used.

100g butter

200g (1 cup, firmly packed) brown sugar

250mls (1 cup) treacle or golden syrup

2 eggs, lightly whisked

600g (4 cups) plain flour (I used 2 cups wholemeal plain flour/2 cups plain flour)

150g (1 cup) self-raising flour

1 tbs ground ginger

1 tbs ground cinnamon

1.5 tsp ground cloves

1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

1. Place the butter, sugar and treacle/golden syrup in a small saucepan over low heat. Stir until the butter melts and the sugar dissolves. Set aside for 10 minutes to cool slightly.

2. Combine the butter mixture and eggs in a large bowl. Sift the combined flours, ginger, cinnamon, cloves and bicarbonate of soda over the butter and egg mixture. Stir until well combined.

Turn onto a lightly floured surface (or a large sheet of baking paper) and gently knead until smooth. Shape into a ball, cover with plastic wrap and place in the fridge for 1 hour to rest.

3. Pre-heat oven to 180C and line your tray/s with non-stick baking paper.

4. Divide the dough into 2 even portions, roll out one portion on a lightly floured surface (or a large sheet of baking paper) until approximately 5mm thick. Use cookie cutters to cut out your shapes. Decorate with small chocolate buttons at this point, or with icing after they have been cooked and cooled down.

5. Bake for 5 minutes or until golden. Allow to cool on the tray for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool.

Enjoy!

Applique

Last week I added the blue dinosaur applique to a baby singlet for dear friend Nell's baby Patrick.

Abbey liked it so much, she wanted one too. I let her choose which dinosaur she wanted, and was lucky to find a brand new, spare white t-shirt, in her size, in my sewing cupboard (hoarding can be a good thing!)

Now what can I make next?