Simple things...

I have been searching for stamps with snowflakes on for a long time (mainly for stamping wedding things, but also for stamping OH's forehead when he's asleep), then I came across these in Muji a couple of weeks back.



It was in fact - one of the highlights of my trip to London - having watched a crazy opera I didn't understand (talking dogs, Soviets and ermm... testicles?) and wandered aimlessly round Camden market looking for a dress.

I did my degree in London (and it wasn't even that long ago) but I remember Camden market being a bit more arty than it is now. I think I must have seen the same t-shirts on fifteen different stalls. Even the goth shops are full of plastic and shoelaces rather than the velvet and ribbons I remember. Noone uses nice fabric anymore.

So I spent a few minutes this afternoon decorating my folksy envelopes, because we don't have snow in Oxford - just coldness. It's a simple thing, but it made me smile.



Especially this one...



because it looks like a virus...

Build a baby burger

I love Japanese craft kits. These are my latest acquistions from Etsy. The red one is a fast food play dough moulding kit and the blue one is an ice-cream eraser kit, both of which are really quite fun and quite unlike anything you can find easily in the UK. Well, as I'm a bit too old for play dough, I figured that there must be some other use for these really lovely little moulds.



Recently I've been making large quantities of Christmas sugar cookies. The reciepe I use is a fairly simple one - just 100 g of icing sugar to 300 g of plain flour with 200 g of butter rubbed in, cling film the dough and bung it in the fridge for 30min - then baked for 10 min at 180 degrees after shaping.



I like this recipe as the cookies don't spread so they work well with tiny cutters and don't create the "one big sheet of cookie" problem.



I can press some of my cookie dough into the mould - it helps if you put a layer of clingfilm between the dough and the mould so you can flip the finished shape out easily. Burger bottoms...



I can knead a little bit of cocoa powder into some of the dough to colour it...



...and make the patties using the other part of the mould.



Buns, bottoms and patties all ready to bake.



They look a bit dull like this, so I've just coloured some marizipan yellow...



...and made a cheese slice.



Doing the same with green, to make some lettuce.



Building up to give the final product.



You're never too old for play dough!



With thanks to: ThisandthatfromJapan Please check out her store for some really cute fabrics, great books and wonderful craft kits.