Easter bunnies - a little sewing project

Happy Easter y'all!  Hope you're having fun whatever you're up to...
This week, I decided to sew up a couple of little bunnies for my Niece and Nephew to go with their Easter eggs. 

First, I gathered supplies and cut some simple templates...

cut out all the parts and made some little pompoms.... 
I used this technique for the first time (I'm usually a cardboard circle kind of girl) but this worked really well)...

sewed on the face, hearts and pompom tails.... 

whiled away some time hand sewing the two halves together using blanket stitch.... 

and the little characters were finished....  

 

 

I know the chocolate eggs won't last very long but hopefully they will enjoy the rabbits for a little longer!  

Happy Easter, Jo x

Sunday snippets

This week has been about.... 

Little helpers whilst papercutting... 

An impromptu date with my lovely husband...

Endless white emulsion to cover bare plaster walls!

Simple pleasures... 

...and finishing off the weekend with Mr Magorium's wonder emporium on ITV2!  Love that film! 
Hope you've all had a good week 
Jo x

Book review - A tiny wife by Andrew Kaufman

I'm a big fan of Andrew Kaufman, having loved 'All my friends are superheroes' and heard wonderful things about 'The waterproof bible' too, which I am yet to read.  

So what is it about?  An armed robber walks into a bank one day, demanding not money, but an item of sentimental value from each of the thirteen people there.

"Your soul is a living, breathing, organic thing.  No different from your heart or your legs.  And just like your heart keeps your blood oxygenated and your legs keep you moving around, your soul gives you the ability to do amazing, beautiful things......  
When I leave here, I will take 51 per cent of your souls with me.  This will have strange and bizarre consequences in your lives.  But more importantly... learn how to grow them back, or you will die"
    
There are very strange consequences in store for the victims including a tattoo which comes to life, a man that turns into a snowman and of course a lady that shrinks a little more each day!

It's difficult to say much more without giving too much away. It's a very short book, at only 88 pages but it packs a large punch.  It has just the right balance between playfulness and the macabre as with all good fairy tales! 

Tom Percival's shadow puppet style illustrations throughout were wonderful and certainly appealed to
the papercutter in me! 

I really enjoyed this book and would give it 8/10.  If you've read it, I'd love to know what you thought!  
Jo x

Free as a bird...

I've had the idea for this papercut buzzing around my head for some time now so it was good to finally get my scalpel to it!  
Motivated by the sunny weather of late, here is my little ode to Spring, birdsong, freedom and everything just being a little bit more lovely than before!  

Have a lovely sunny day!
Jo x

A taste of my childhood

Today it was grey and gloomy.  Today was the perfect day to make Banty Bisuits.  
I have no idea why these little beauties are called Banty Biscuits.  You can call them 'Cornflake biscuits' if you want to but these were a regular in my house growing up and Banty Biscuits is what my Mum calls them and it's what her Mum before her called them....  So, to me, that will forever be their name! 

They are so quick and easy to make and once they're in the oven, the delicious nutty smell of them transports me back instantly to being little... the monotonous drone of the football results while anxiously waiting for Worzel Gummidge to start...  playing Space Invaders on my Grandad's Atari... curling up on my bed reading Charlie and the Chocolate factory over and over again and wishing that one day, one day, I may just find my very own golden ticket!  

Ahem, anyway, so, to make these wonderous things, here's the knowhow.... 


Makes 16 biscuits

115g butter or margarine
55g caster sugar
115g plain flour
75g crushed cornflakes (plus an extra 25g crushed cornflakes to coat the biscuits)
1 tsp golden syrup
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp bicarbinate of soda
1 tsp vanilla extract

Cream the butter or margarine with the sugar until it is light and fluffy

Add the rest of the ingredients and mix well to form a stiff dough

Form into small balls, about the size of a golf ball and roll in the extra cornflakes before placing on a baking tray.  Make sure they are spaced well apart as they spread while they bake.  

Bake for 14-16 minutes at 180 degrees celcius.
Enjoy with your favourite pot of tea!

  
 Jo x