CSN Store Ceramic Review!

You may remember me mentioning that I was offered the opportunity to become a preferred blogger for the CSN family of online stores. This meant I was given another chance to review an item. It took me ages to decide what to review, if you take a look at the family of stores there is a huge variety to choose from. But I finally settled on reviewing the:

Kyocera Ceramic Bladed Peeler with Rotating Head and
Let's Make Animal Chocolate Moulds (sert of 2)

Delivery and Packaging

Delivery was fairly quick and arrived by UPS. I was out at the time but they left the parcel with my neighbour, I prefer this to trudging down to wait in a line at the Post Office. The packaging can be seen in the picture, not over the top and easily recycled (which is always a bonus).

Did the peeler work?

There has recently been a lot of interest in the use of ceramic knives but they are rather expensive. So this peeler appears to offer the benefits without the cost. But does it work? In a word, yes! Both Anne and I put the peeler through it's paces and it's hard to believe that a peeler could get two people so excited. It literally glid across carrots, potatoes and even a squash! Hardly any pressure was required, infact if you applied pressure you lost a chunk of vegetable. You'd think a peeler might be dull, but this one is so quick and effort free you can't help but love it. The rotating head also means you can adjust it perfectly depending on the job.

Did the chocolate moulds work?

Yes they worked very well. They are quite deep moulds and we filled them with milk chocolate, but as you can see from the following pic I think they came out quite well. The children were certainly impressed!


Would I recommend both items?

I would indeed recommend them both. I was particularly impressed with the peeler. I think it would make a very thoughtful gift for someone older or perhaps suffering from reduced hand strength, this would make life that little bit easier. But in truth everyone can appreciate how easy and quick this makes the job of peeling.

Both items came from the www.cookwarebycsn.co.uk store, just like last time I was not paid to write this review, but I did receive the items.

Little Felted Animals! Book Review.

Time for a book review! Trends often seem to come and go in the craft world, but one that is steadily growing and not dying out is needle felting. The process of creating an object using unspun wool can seem like a rather daunting prospect. I had often thought this myself, I have several felted pieces that I have bought from other artists and I often found myself wondering how on earth they were made. Enter Little Felted Animals by Mariie-Noelle Horvath!

This book was very kindly sent to me by the publishers GMC Publications and at first glance I loved it, as you can see from the cover image the book is beautifully photographed. I think the final presentation of a book is very important, this book looks and feels expensive and special (although the RRP is quite low). It is definitely the kind of book worthy of a place on your coffee table. After an initial read through I bought the relevant supplies and set about making the first animal (a little black bird).

I found the instructions a little confusing at first, I think this is largely due to the fact that needle felting is in it's most basic form very simple. But when you see the end results it's hard to believe there is so little to it, so you can't help but imagine you've missed a step. The key seemed to be to follow both the text and images exactly.

The end result... well I am well and truly addicted to felting! Jabbing away at balls of wool is both theraputic and satisfying (although be careful not to prick yourself like I did, the needles are very sharp). Here is my favourite little animal I have created so far, with my own twist of creativity.

I really cannot enthuse enough about needle felting, it's so simple and addictive, I even have my family getting in on the act (my husband made an owl).

Would I recommend this book? This book made felting less mysterious and more accessible and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it. It's also beautiful to look through. If the book alone wasn't a good Christmas present, then how about gifting one of the creations it teaches you to make!

Could it be improved in any way? The book lists several places to buy supplies from but unfortunately they are all in America. For a British reader like myself this wasn't particularly helpful, an international listing or two would have been nice. I also think it could have been written a little more basically for a novice like myself. Although once you catch the idea the pictures alone are enough instruction.

Book Details

Title: Little Felted Animals
Author: Marie-Noelle Horvath
ISBN: 9780823015047
RRP: £7.99
Publisher: Watson-Guptill
Publication Date: Autumn 2008.

Peanut Butter Cookies Recipe

It feels like I haven't posted a recipe for quite sometime, so true to form today I am bringing you a childhood favourite Peanut Butter Cookies! These are so quick and simple and very moreish.

What You'll Need

5 oz S.R. flour
4 oz caster sugar
4 oz soft margarine
1 tablespoon liquid coffee
1 desert spoon crunchy peanut butter

Oven 350F, 180C (or adjust for a fan oven), Gas 4.

Step 1
Cream the margarine and sugar thoroughly.

Step 2
Mix in the liquid coffee and peanut butter.

Step 3

Add the flour and roll handfuls of the mixture into walnut sized balls and place on a greased backing tray. I prefer to use baking parchment so that you do not need to put grease on the tray but either works. I flatten the balls with my fingertips.

Step 4
Bake in a moderate oven for about 20 mins.

Note. My picture of ingredients show Morrisons but I am not being paid by them it is my nearest supermarket.

Mumpreneur 2010

I've been a bit quiet this week. This has been largely due to preparing for Anne and my trip to Mumpreneur 2010. As you may or may not know our webstore selling handmade silver jewellery and accessories was nominated for Best Online Business. Unfortunately it didn't win, but there was no reason to be downhearted.

This beautiful notebook and lolly was given to every Mum (or the odd Dad) that attended. We also received a huge pink goodie bag with lots of lovely samples.

As for the actual conference, there were several seminars throughout the day. These were quite interesting and I think would be invaluable to a new business or one about to launch.

There was also two very interesting speakers, I felt very much in awe of all the successful women around me. Some are very wealthy thanks to their ingenuity and business sense.

Lunch was provided, but here I have to admit a bit of disappointment on my part. There was a serious lack of pudding. If you read my blog and recipes regularly I'm sure you'll understand that I do indeed like my desserts but there was none to be had :(

I felt incredibly tired when I got home and was very happy to see my children, apparently they all behaved beautifully for Daddy so that was a bonus. We genuinely didn't think we would win the award so there was no real disappointment on that part, although of course it would have been lovely. Anyway big things are on the horizon for Angel Eden and I hope the next few months leading up to Christmas will see us finalise some new products and designs, so keep your eyes peeled here and on the website.

Fantastic Fairies! Book Review.

I'm probably not alone when I say that I have always loved the magic of fairies. When I was little I had a fold out pop up book about Flower Fairies that I loved and carried on many trips. So when I had the opportunity to review a book teaching how to make your own I jumped at the chance. The book was Fantastic Fairies and their friends by Julie Sharp.

The book is filled with gorgeous pictures of fairies, mice, toadstools and bugs. But I'll admit I found the prospect of making the fairies slightly daunting. They are made from surprisingly simple components such as pipe cleaners, but in a funny sort of way that made them seem harder (my experience of pipe cleaners is limited to the basic twisting required in primary school).

I would love to claim a huge success here, but this little lady is all down to my husband (who is a bit of a whizz when it comes to wire).

She took one evening (and a bit) to make. I think she is adorable (and have plans for him to make me many more).

Was she a success? You can judge from the pictures yourself, but I think she was very much a success!

Was there any issues or problems during her construction? The book requires you to reference techniques laid out at the back of the book. This means a lot of page turning and can become a little confusing after awhile. We also found that the tutorial told you to make one set of arms when another was featured in the picture.

Would I recommend this book? Yes I would, but it does require a fair amount of patience which I hadn't expected. It's more indepth and definitely more skilled than you might imagine. This doesn't mean it isn't worth having a go at though.

Could the book be improved? As I said earlier the instructions do jump around a bit which is a bit annoying, especially when your trying to master the basic techniques. The book would also benefit from giving you alternatives for some of the materials. We had to improvise with our fairies eyes because we could not for love nor money find any stores that sold ready made pom poms small enough.

I think the fairies and creatures would make wonderful Christmas presents. Perhaps attaching some ribbon to their heads so they could be given as decorations. I am particularly excited to make Bud The Mouse and a fairy toodstool.

Book Details

Title: Fantastic Fairies and Their Friends.
Author: Julie Sharp
ISBN: 9781861084620
RRP: £12.99
Publisher: GMC
Publication Date: Spring 2006.

Hidden Giants, Jungles & Birds!

The summer seems to have flown by this year and I barely had time to notice it. Thankfully we did manage to squeeze in a short holiday to Cornwall. I have always loved this area since I was a child. One of my favourite places to visit is the Lost Garden's Of Heligan, it has a fantastic history and even more fantastic plants. I'm not sure the photos completely do it justice but I really wanted to try and show you the amazing scenes.

Here is a living sculture called the Sleeping Lady. There is also a Giant's head that seems to be emerging from the ground.

There are many different areas to explore but I am particularly partial to the jungle. It's set in a valley with lots of tropical plants. It definitely has an ancient feel to it, I wouldn't have been completely surprised if a lizard had crossed my path, or better yet a dinosaur!

We even made friends with this young Robin, although I suspect he was after our sandwiches really. The birds in particular seem very used to people, which allows for unusual closeness. We even spied a Nuthatch!

I was rather envious of their vegetable gardens, they were growing everything from Pumpkins to Pineapples. It reminded me of Mr McGregors garden in Peter Rabbit, big piles of terracotta pots everywhere and plenty of vegetables to munch.

I never leave Heligan without buying some of their honey produced by their very own bees. It's absolutely delicious, but with such varieties of flowers it's easy to see why they have such happy insects. If you ever find yourself in this area of Cornwall (it's near to St. Austell) be sure to check it out.

Stupid Sock Creatures!? Book Review

Time for a book review! If like me you have noticed the recent popularity of creatures made from socks then you might be wondering how you too can get in on the fun. I have been keen to have a go for quite sometime, but despite being fairly experienced at sewing; cutting up and reforming a pair of socks seemed quite daunting. Enter Stupid Sock Creatures by John Murphy!

This book was very kindly sent to me by the publishers GMC Publications and I have to say I love it! For a start the author is very funny which makes the book very easy to read. He freely admits that his creatures came about because he failed at his attempts to make a sock monkey. So I chose a pair of socks and set about making a creature called Owlsley.

The end result? Well... he is very creature/monster like, but he isn't such a great copy of Owlsley.

Do I consider him a failure? No, not at all. He is much adored by my daughter and I think this is rather the point the book is trying to make, that there are no hard and fast rules when it comes to creature making.

Why did he turn out looking more like a donkey than Owlsey? I think it's probably to do with several things, firstly I was using womens socks, the author uses mens so they would be wider. Secondly I was using very very cheap socks with a huge amount of stretch so my stuffing technique may have elongated his head slightly.

Finally the pattern is more of an explanation, it doesn't give exact measurements, so I probably didn't cut far enough down the sock to make his head, thus he got a longer one.

Would I recommend this book? Yes I would, it's quirky and genuinely amusing to read. It also offers something completely different from the standard fare. I think my children could probably master sock creatures, I'm fairly confident my husband could too. Infact I wonder if they would be better at it than me.

Could the book be any better? Perhaps, I did find the instructions slightly difficult to follow, but I have a feeling this is because I am used to detailed patterns and this comes more from the angle of a person with no sewing experience. The huge benefit though is that the pictures are very clear. The part I most stuggled with was the mouth, thankfully the picture helped me work it out and now I understand what the author was saying in the first place.

I think this book plus some socks, scissors and thread would make a fantastic Christmas gift (I know, I know, there's months to go yet, but we Mums have to think ahead!) It is also currently available at Amazon for a very good price.

Book Details

Title: Stupid Sock Creatures
Author: John Murphy
ISBN: 9781579906108
RRP: £8.99
Publisher: Lark
Publication Date: Autumn 2005.

Terry Pratchett, Discworld & Food!!

In honour of the release of Going Postal on DVD we recently made an effort to use our somewhat dusty copy of Nanny Ogg's Cookbook: A Useful and Improving Almanack of Information including Astonishing Recipes and made a Discworld meal.

If your not familiar with the Discworld let me enlighten you. Discworld is a fantasy book series written by Terry Pratchett. It's rather silly, intelligent, hilarious and addictive. In recent years Sky One has adapted three of the books, with the most recent being Going Postal.

We decided to make Howondaland Curry with Clooty Dumplings Followed by Sticky Toffee Rat On A Stick! Perhaps surprisingly (considering the names) it was all delicious!

The Howondaland Curry was gorgeous and the Clooty Dumplings worked really well as a side dish. It was enjoyed by adult and child alike so definitely worth a try and we will be making it again.

Next I set to Rat making, I should probably mention at this stage that no rats were harmed in the making of this blog post, rather I fashioned some slightly dodgy copies from Marzipan.

The next stages were rather fiddly and I got in a terrible mess (but surely that's half the fun!?). I couldn't find any black colouring to use to make the icing eyes so they received instead red eyes (it seemed like a ratty sort of colour)

To finish I also made Wizard cupcakes, these were made up on the spot and not from the book.

Have any of you tried out this weird and wonderful cookery book?