Beading and Baking

Hello!  Over the last couple of weeks I have been collecting coloured workable clay that can be baked in the oven to harden such as Fimo and Sculpey.

I wanted to test both of them to see how they were in ease of use, colour retainment and outcome.  With my clay I only attempted making beads which required a bit of kneading, some rolling in the palms, making a hole with a skewer and baking.  It was that easy.  I found the Fimo a little harder to kneed but the finish was great, no finger print marks and it was smooth.  While the Sculpey was easier to kneed but because it was so soft I found I left little finger prints in the clay.  Both clays were baked at the Fimo instructions (Sculpey had no instructions on the packaging) 110 degrees Celsius for 30 mins.  I loved the outcome, the colours were retained after baking and the beads were hard and set.  This would also be a great activity to get the kids involved.  The websites both offer some cool ideas on what else you can do with the clay such as jewelry, homewares and figurines.   I ended up making a necklace with some of my beads and will probably use the rest as decorations for presents etc.

This week I also made a variation on the Raspberry Blissmas cake I made for Mother's Day a month or so back.   It was my sister's birthday in the first week of June and I made her a Cherry Blissmas cake, involving a chocolate sponge and cherry/cream/marshmallow centre.  Yum, I definitely think this cake is very versatile and can be made with other berries.

I also baked some raspberry friands this week and thought I would share my favourite recipe by Margaret Fulton.

• 175g butter
• grated rind of 1 orange
• 1 cup ground almonds
• 1 2/3 cup sifted icing sugar
• 1/3 cup & 1 tbs of plain flour
• 5 egg whites
• 200g fresh or frozen raspberries

Preheat oven to 230 degrees Celsius.  Grease friand or cupcake moulds with butter.  Put the butter in a small saucepan and cook gently until the butter is pale gold - set aside.  Place the ground almonds in a bowl with the orange rind, icing sugar and flour - mix well until combined.  Add egg whites and pour in butter carefully holding back browned solids.  Mix well.  Bake for 5 minutes, reduce oven temperature to 200 degrees Celsius and bake for a further 12-15 minutes  Turn off oven and leave in oven for 5 minutes.  Remove and turn out onto cooling rack.

I always forget how tasty and easy these little delights are.  They are such a pleasure to make :)

How has your week been?

Kimberlee xx:)xx

Creative outlets

Hi! These past couple of weeks I have been extremely grateful for creative outlets.  How nice to get together with a like-minded person and talk craft, inspirations and ideas.  My major creative outlet has always been my mum.  Mum is a keen crafter,  with many a skill up her sleeve (folk art, sewing, patch working to name a few).   She is the 'go-to' for my sewing mishaps or design disasters! 
And for the past 8 months another outlet has been work!  I work with a wonderful lady who is absolutely crafty and talented.  All that comes out of our mouths is craft, food, and craft!  Her wonderful talent definitely runs in the family because her daughter is the lovely Moose & Bird.  Denise has spent a few lunch hours being very patient and teaching me how to knit.  At first I felt like I was learning to tie my shoelaces for the first time.  Being used to one hook when crocheting to multitasking two needles was hard!  But I fumbled through and learnt the basic knit stitch.  Now I am challenged to try purl.
Another creative outlet I am grateful for is Brisstyle.  Brisstyle is an association which brings together artists and crafters through markets, workshops and events which is of course in Brisbane!  I checked out the Brisstyle Indie Markets back in May, and through my visit and on instagram have connected with some ultra talented people. 

My bookspirations these last couple of weeks have been...

I have been doing a cross stitch from the Storyland Cross Stitch, the book contains gorgeous patterns to follow.  The pattern I chose was the Jackalope.

Do you have any books/mags that get your creative ideas flowing?


Kimberlee xx:)xx