Strawberry Panna Cotta

I loved how the Eton Mess dessert was served in mini glass jars at the Next press event, which gave me the idea of making mini desserts for Christmas that I could use to fill my cupcake stand. I want an array of desserts, in a selection of colours, to match my dessert bar. For a pretty pink I am going for strawberry panna cotta! Now I just need to work out how I will decorate the jars?!?

Strawberry Panna Cotta (makes 4 mini jars)

Ingredients

• 300g double cream
• 30g sugar
• 1 gelatine leaf soaked in water
• 1 tbsp vanilla essence
• 90g strawberry puree
• 30g sugar
• 1 gelatine leaf soaked in water

Cooking instructions

• Place cream and sugar in a small saucepan and gently bring to the boil
• Remove from heat and stir in vanilla paste
• Add the gelatin leaf into cream mixture and stir until gelatine dissolves
• Pour mixture into jars and leave to set in the fridge

• Place strawberry puree and sugar in a small saucepan and gently bring to the boil
• Remove from heat and add just the gelatin leaf into strawberry mixture and stir until gelatine dissolves
• Pour over the top of the chilled panna cotta and leave in fridge to set

Have a sweet day!

Gingerbread Crayons

I made lots of pretty hair bobbles and hair bands to put in my advent house for cute Molly, and lip balm for my sisters. I also wanted to make some cute gifts for my adorable nephew, Samuel, so I decided to make some chunky gingerbread shaped crayons. I did not have any old crayons so I bought a new pack but you can use old bits too.

Gingerbread Crayons
Tools and Materials

• Crayons
• Gingerbread mould (pg 4)

Gingerbread Crayons, How-to step by step

Preheat oven to 250 degrees. Start by removing all the paper from the crayons and chop them into small bits. Fill your mould with the crayon pieces and place in the oven for 15-20 mins until wax is melted (you can add more bits of crayon through the melting process so the moulds are completely full). Remove from the oven and leave to cool. Then push out the crayons and they are ready to use.


I think they look a bit like jelly babies?!?

Have a sweet day!

Delicate...

This week on Flickr Faves Sunday, I bring you some gorgeous delicate details from prouaPolkovnik, whose gorgeous photo stream I discovered this week whilst looking for gingerbread cookie photos. To see more of Kadri's beautiful photos and crafts visit her blog Polkovniku Butiik.

Some beautiful shots from my Flickr favourites:

• The pretty wrapped candles and cute crochet flowers in Romance
• The adorable piped cookies in Homemade Gingerbreads
• The pretty iced Homemade Gingerbreads
• The gorgeous buttons in Romance

Have a sweet day!

Decorated Gingerbread by Annie Rigg

This week I'm reviewing Decorated Gingerbread by Annie Rigg, from illustrated lifestyle publishers Ryland Peters & Small and CICO Books. Annie Rigg has been baking since her early childhood and has spent the past seven years as a freelance food stylist and writer. She currently has five books in print and her work has featured in numerous bestselling magazines. Before this, she cooked for Paul McCartney, Pink Floyd and the Rolling Stones, to name a few, whilst on tour. I chose to review this book as I love making gingerbread houses for Christmas!

The book is split into four main chapters, starting with the basics which includes spiced gingerbread and chocolate gingerbread recipes. How to make, tint, pipe and flood fill cookies with royal icing.

Next up is Cute, which is full of cookie ideas children will love, like the shaped teddy bears, kooky clowns and scotty dogs. Then there is the Pretty section, which includes the scattered sprinkle cupcake cookies, pink love hearts and autumn leaves.

Last up is Festive, which shows you how to make my favourite snowy village scene with candy glass windows. Decorative stars, ornaments and the prettiest snowflake cookies.

The Decorated Gingerbread by Annie Rigg is a cute hard back book book full of sweet gingerbread cookies. At a recommended price of £9.99, I think this hardback book is a good buy as it is has some great tips and sweet cookie ideas.

Some of my favourite shots:

Snowflake cookies

Snowy village

Christmas wreath cookies

Cupcake cookies

Please note that my opinions are my own and I am not paid for these reviews (apart from receiving a free book, of course!).

I really must go and start this year's gingerbread bird house!

Have a sweet day!

Snowflake soaps

I wanted all my gifts in my Advent house to be hand-made so after making sparkly strawberry lip balm, cool mint lip balm, snowflake hair bobbles and clips, reindeer hair clips and gingerbread crayons I only had a few drawers left to fill. I went for peppermint, snowflake-shaped, glittery soaps and made a few extra snowflake soaps for my Christmas crackers!

Snowflake soaps
Tools and Materials

• Soap base white
• Cosmetic grade silver glitter
• Peppermint fragrance oil
• Snowflake mould
• Cling film / plastic wrap
• Washi tape

Snowflake soaps, How-to step by step

Start by chopping up the soap base into small pieces and placing them in a microwavable jug. Place the jug in the microwave and heat for two minutes on medium heat, the soap will start to melt. Continue heating the soap, checking on it frequently until it has all melted. You can now carefully add any fragrance, colour, or glitter you require. Stir carefully so as not to make bubbles. When you are happy with the colour/fragrance etc., carefully pour into the moulds and leave to set. Push the soap out of the moulds and wrap in cling film to keep fragrance in.

*Please note that if you make a mistake or it sets too quickly you can re-melt at any time.





After wrapping my soaps in cling film I wrapped a strip of washi tape around the outside to add prettiness.

Have a sweet day!

Mini glittered bird cages

I have had my white wooden bird cage pendants for over a year now, sulking at the bottom of my craft trim box. So, as I rifled through my trims looking for bits and bobs I could use in my Winter Wonderland crafts I rediscovered them. I gave them an overhaul with some paint and glitter in my Winter Wonderland colour palette and threaded my favourite crush, bakers twine, through them so I can hang them on my Christmas Tree.

Mini glittered bird cages
Tools and Materials

• Wooden white bird with cage pendant
• Pink Clematis tester pot of paint
• Proud Peacock tester pot of paint
• Water tester pot of paint
• PVA glue, tacky glue
• Pink, teal, mint and white glitter
• Pink bakers twine

How-to, step by step


Carefully paint the bird in duck egg blue, the leaves and branches in teal, and the flower in pink on both sides and leave to dry. Then carefully paint the duck egg blue painted areas of the bird in a thin layer of glue and sprinkle liberally with mint glitter, tap gently to remove excess glitter and leave to dry. Repeat for each of the other colours, choosing a glitter colour to match the paint colour underneath. Make sure to leave each coat to dry before continuing with the next colour. Cut a length of bakers twine and thread through hole at top, knot ends and trim off any excess from the ends.

Have a sweet day!

North Rock Gallery

From left to right:
Jewellery storage tree, sparrow key ring, oak tree tray, mushroom shaped sponge, fairytale bird soft toy , ceramic bird, toadstool pen, apple blossom and wild berry candle, owl beaker, red hare print, twig colouring pencils

Today on label love I am sharing with you North Rock Gallery, which I was recently introduced to. It's a great online boutique full of gorgeous Scandi-chic interior pretties, Nordic inspired art and a host of gorgeous woodland inspired decorations.

Northrock Gallery was opened in May 2009 by textile designer maker Suzanne and her landscape and architecture photographer boyfriend Mark. Located in the Shetland Isles, Scotland, they sell well known Scandinavian brands such as Sagaform, ISAK, Rice DK, Blafre, Pluto Produkter, and Maileg, as well as some stylish British brands such as Orla Kiely, Mini Moderns and Bold and Noble.

In 2010 they launched their web shop to help them reach a wider audience, where they sell a large selection of the products available in store online and are currently expanding the artwork available to buy online, selling the work of several of the artists who's work they exhibit in their gallery.

Have a sweet day!