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Showing posts from December, 2016

Crayola & Cake Angels Wildlife Friends Gingerbread Kit

Christmas Baking is well under way in our house, how about yours? As I write this the Christmas cake has been iced and decorated, and the first batch of mince pies are in the freezer. I thought it would be the perfect time to put up a post about this gingerbread kit my nephew and I tried out a while ago. It's not festive, but I am sure you could decorate to be Christmassy if you wanted. This kit jumped out at me because it was Crayola branded, and I liked the biscuit icing designs on the front. I don't buy kits that often because I find there's way more icing than biscuit/cake mix and they are not always great value for money, but I love gingerbread so thought I would give this a go. The kit came with the gingerbread mix, 2 different coloured icing sugars (yellow and red), 2 writing icing tubes (black and white), a plastic cutter and a decoration leaflet. You just need to add syrup, vegetable oil, and water, plus flour when you roll it out. First impressions were

Bark Star Tealight Holders

Hi everyone, How is your Christmas prep going? I feel quite behind, mainly because of my up and down freelance income, and I've still got shopping to do. I'm also stuck on what to buy some people, and have yet to make my family cards. There's still plenty of time to craft though, and I did have the chance to make a couple of tealight table decorations, using some bark stars, and a few other items from my Baker Ross blogger box, and stash. Layered Flower Tealight Holder  Copyright These City Days 2016. No copying or reproduction Thank you.  For this I experimented until I found 3 stars that would sit on top of each other fairly well flat, using the one with the flattest surface for the bottom of the flower. I arranged them on top of each other, twisting the top flowers around so the points filled the gaps, then stuck them together with a glue gum, and added some glitter and a tealight (which I stuck together with a glue gun as well. I wasn't sure how well it

On My Doorstep - Sandford Mill, Chelmsford

Hi everyone, A while ago I decided to do another 'On The Doorstep' and went off to visit Sandford Mill which is in the Chelmer Village area Sorry it's taken so long to get up, but this is a review of an annual event so maybe it'll help you plan for next year. Waste not want not, with local content!! The Mill is a place that I've always heard of, but never been in before, or really knew where it was, so this was a little bit of an adventure. The mill buildings are used as a museum housing a lot of industrial material and science related content. One main thing, is it's rarely opened to the public, and you can only get access on their open days. The rest of the year the buildings are used for educational visits. Most of the work there is done by volunteers, and I think they have done a great job setting up and maintaining the displays, in what must have been a big, abandoned, and perhaps not ideal space at one stage. There were displays on Marconi, T

Hessian Christmas Bauble Project / Baker Ross Craft Baubles

This is a project using Craft Baubles from a recent Baker Ross blogger box. They are an easy, effective, and pretty quick make to do, and there's plenty of time to make a few - they would look great on the Christmas Tree, or you could use them to decorate gift wrapping/bags, or even just as a gift as they are quite different. To make them you will need: Craft Baubles - Pack Of 6  for £3.49 Ribbon Stick On Gems Stick On Pearls To make just follow these steps below: Unroll the hessian and place a craft bauble on the material, lifting up the sides around it. Move the bauble until you have a good amount of material around each side of the bauble, leaving room for the hanging loop to peek through. Cut the hessian to size, then place the bauble in the centre again and wrap and fold it around. Tie several knots with the ribbon of your choice round the top, and then tie in a bow and cut to length. Next gently fold back the piece of material at the top to give it more sha

Beyond The Point - Local History Project In Essex

Sometimes, things don't go to plan, but that's okay, because I recently had the chance to catch up with one  of the guys behind 'Beyond The Point' and had to give the content a new home on my blog. I really enjoyed their website, and some of their documentaries that I've been able to view. Maybe it's because a lot of their content is Essex related, or they just present things in an engaging way, but this is what I wanted history lessons to be like when I was at school. BTP at Dover Castle “Never leave the camera at home” that’s the message from Joe Mander, co-founder of ‘Beyond The Point’, a website bringing the history of South Essex to life. If you take the time to look through the photos and documentaries Joe and Liam have made, you’ll realise how true that message is! This is a blog on what 2 young men, their cameras, and their passion, have created. When I was at school you could have divided our year quite easily into the history or