Monthly Archives: January 2012

Ode to the Giant Cupcake Cake (an amateur’s guide)

January 28, 2012 By in Baking Tags: Leave a comment

The Giant Cupcake Cake.  It sounds so simple; a big, nay HUGE version of the failsafe My-First-Bake, everyone’s-a-winner cupcake.

So I thought as I contemplated the cake mould in the store last week, in anticipation of my best friend’s birthday brunch.  The double cup tin looked not so much like a cake mould as a cast-off from one of Madonna’s stage shows, glinting in its conical glory.  In fact like most great bras, it promised so much at first glance.  So I purchased the beast and brought it home.  Today my sous chefs and I poured vats of cake batter into the damn things and still managed to only fill them to half-way.  After an hour of trembling in the oven (an hour!),  I lost patience and extracted them, by now heavily punctured with skewers and displaying a jaunty tilt – impressively each seemed to tilt at a different angle.

Having deployed kilos of sugar and butter in the assembly of the two halves (look away, my healthy friends…), I discovered that giant cupcake cakes of course require giant nozzles through which to pipe the frosting; my dainty array were just not going to cut it.  In the end we all slathered the frosting on in handfuls, and prayed that a touch of Martha Stewart ribbon would mask the heavy labour and give a misleading air of lightness and chic to the cake, which by now resembled nothing more than a squat cottage loaf and yet still stands an impressive 12 inches tall.  Judge for yourself; I’d suggest waiting 3-4 days after tasting before one ventures to take a blood cholesterol test….

Shoebox beds for mice (and dolls, and bears…)

January 27, 2012 By in Reinvention & Renovation Leave a comment

My son is the proud owner of a grown-up proper bed, and insists on taking all visitors upstairs to admire it, and to admire also his technique in getting in and out and generally demonstrating the art of Taking To One’s Bed.  Every night, a new toy is invited under the covers to accompany him, and no-one is ever turfed out, meaning that after a week there is barely enough room for Harry and we are generally woken in the wee smalls by the sound of sleepy arguments and turf wars as H wrestles with his toys for pillow space.  Action was called for, so now Marvin (mouse) and Digby (dog) have their own bed, which was as close as I could make to being a replica of Harry’s own.  Using a cutdown shoebox, clip-art tongue and groove panelling and a remnant of batting covered in gingham, we now have a bed, pillow and duvet to rival Harry’s own.

The only risky moment was when Harry turfed them both out and claimed that HE wanted to sleep in Digby’s bed….  A compromise was reached and Marvin and Digby now sleep alongside Harry with this bed carefully positioned next to his.  Let’s see how long it lasts….

Continue reading →

5 Minute Makes: Placemats

January 26, 2012 By in Paper Paper! Tags: , Leave a comment

I’m always looking for ways to keep my toddler distracted in restaurants in the time it takes between ordering his spaghetti (and it’s always spaghetti if he’s choosing), and it arriving at the table.  These table mats take 5 minutes to design and print-off onto A3 paper using simple clip art frames, and I’ve taken to keeping a stash in the car ready to whip out whenever life slows to an unpalatable pace for a 2yr old. The surprising news is that these are even more popular with grown-ups, particularly as a post-prandial activity when inhibitions have been dampened by alcohol and everyone fancies themselves an artist.  We keep the best – or the most irreverent – and hang them in the kitchen. For older kids the following suggestions also work well:

  • Draw your favourite outfit
  • Draw the Christmas / birthday present you want most in the world
  • Draw your favourite meal (though this can be a dangerous game, particularly if what you’re actually serving is considered a real let-down in comparison, and/or contains an inappropriately high level of vegetables…

 

 

And whilst we’re talking cardboard….

January 23, 2012 By in Reinvention & Renovation Tags: , , , 6 Comments

The wonderful and dangerous thing about moving house is that without warning you become drawn to homewares catalogues like a moth to a flame.  John Lewis suddenly makes a stealth entry into your ‘most visited’ sites lists and ne’er a day goes by without an interestingly large package arriving on the doorstep… or so my husband complains.  Still, a happy upside of this retail incontinence is that I find myself with a wealth of large empty boxes, just waiting to be recycled into fetching play equipment.  ’Think how much we’ve saved!’ I cry, to an unconvinced marital audience. In this case, a large box (formerly housing a vacuum cleaner, since you ask) has been painted and appended with some mouth-watering clip art to make a simple play shop, through which much money has changed hands in the last 24 hours in exchange for a variety of dented plastic vegetables.

As you can see from the pictures below, the actual cardboard box with just a door and a serving hatch cut into it were just as exciting to the 2yr old in question – the paint and decor just makes it a slightly more attractive addition to the playroom…

Continue reading →

Simple cardboard train

January 22, 2012 By in Reinvention & Renovation Tags: 3 Comments

In our new house we have a huge open hallway adjoining a large room  which is currently empty (the new kitchen arrives in two weeks and counting…).  It’s a space just begging for play, and my toddler has spent the last week careering from one to the next, dragging balloons, toys and numerous random household items in his wake.  A pull-along train is definitely called for, if only to ensure safe passage for Wilberforce, Leo and Rabbit.  Here I painted two leftover packing boxes, joined them with a length of rope and added one for pulling along.  The wheels are silver paper plates (bounty from Poundsaver, my retail guilty pleasure), and for the rear I printed up a simple backplate with the driver’s name; I’m discovering that ownership is very important when you’re two.

\

As you can see from the pictures below, Harry’s train was a hit, and it’s uncertain whether the passengers will ever be allowed to disembark….

Continue reading →

Experiments in art clay

January 12, 2012 By in Making, Uncategorized Tags: , , Leave a comment

Having uncovered a dusty pack of FIMO Air Microwave clay, I today set about rolling, cutting, stamping and experimenting, with a vague notion of making gift tags or hanging ornaments (the Christmas spirit is taking a while to wear off).  Initially pliable like clay, the alchemy of microwave and steam rapidly turns each piece into a light-as-air tag or pendant with the rough, organic feel of porcelain but a density similar to cardboard.  Definitely a great discovery.  Here’s my first attempt at chic gift tags for wine bottles (or anything, in fact…).  I love the contrast with the black but taupe or plain brown paper would also look great as a complementary wrap colour.  Accessorised here with simple black ribbon and a tiny silver bell – and a piece of heavyweight paper strung underneath for the gift message (it’s hard to write on the finished clay itself, though not impossible).

The good thing is you get masses of cut-outs from one pack, and can cram a surprisingly large number into the microwave at any one time for finishing, so I have enough to hang one on my pinboard as well as a boxful to actually use.  Now I just need a party to go to this weekend…

 

 

Equipment used:

1 pack of FIMO air modelling clay

Black ribbon, bells, heavyweight linen paper

Rubber stamps (I used an italic text block) and beads for embellishment and surface printing

 



Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 2,647 other followers