Homemade Puffy Paint

I  recently saw an idea on the Internet for making your own puffy paint at home and just had to give it a go with the kiddies.

We tried two recipes out and found this one from Play at Home Mom worked best.

You need:
1/2 cup of flour
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp salt
food colouring or coloured paint

Put the flour, baking powder and salt into a container and then add some water to make them into a paste.  Then add your colouring.

Now get your brushes and have fun - it works well on cardboard :-) Pop it in the microwave for 10 - 30 seconds and voila, puffy paint !

The kiddies loved this and spent ages creating puffy paintings.

Other art that has been happening here which is quite interesting is little Sweetpea's drawings.  She has been drawing little people for some time now in quite some detail but she always creates them upside down.

I am not sure how she does it really as it is quite hard to do when you are used to creating them the right way up :-)  I am not telling her to create things any differently as this is the way she does it and is happy doing it but it is rather unusual.

This piccy is of her Auntie and Uncle, Mr Sweetpea asked if I had looked in detail at this piccy then I realised she had added some personal anatomy down below lol.  When I asked how I knew which was her Uncle she exclaimed 'he has a willy!' - well really :-)  They have sad faces because Eldest Sweetpea said she was drawing them the wrong way round and moved the paper round for her - hence smiley faces are showing as sad faces as she draws up-side-down.

Thanks for all your lovely comments, I have been trying to message each of you back personally unless you have no e-mail attached to your bloggedy blog. x

Truly Scrumptious Cupcakes!

I thought I would share a recipe that I tried recently for some very scrummy cupcakes.  Not only do they have strawberries, cream and sponge but there is also a hidden area of strawberry jam in it :-)

A friend of mine gave me one she had made recently and after getting home and eating it I NEEDED the recipe :-)   Luckily it was in the local Summer Spark mag that is given out at schools at the end of term which I had at home so I gave it a whirl.
 
Ingredients:
110g softened butter
110g caster sugar
110g self raising flour
1 tsp baking powder
2 large free range eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract

Topping:
300ml double cream
1 tsp to 1tbs icing sugar to taste
Strawberries
Strawberry jam

Pre-heat the oven to 160 deg C fan oven/Gas mark 3/180 conventional oven or 350 degf.   Pop 12 cupcake cases in a 12 hole tin.

Put the butter in a mixing bowl and beat until smooth then sift in the sugar, flour and baking powder.

Add eggs and vanilla extract and beat until smooth.

Pop the ingredients into 12 cupcake cases, they suggest using an ice cream scoop so they are all the same amount.

Bake in oven for 20 mins or until golden and springy.

Whilst you let them cool start on the topping.  With a whisk whip the cream and icing sugar (I think less icing sugar is more with this recipe otherwise they become a big sickly) until the soft peak stage.  Be careful not to over whip.

Now your cupcakes are cool get a knife to cut a little scoop out of the top of them (as you would with fairy cakes), pop some jam in the hole and then pop the sponge back on to hide it.

Take your cream topping and spoon some on your cake, then top with a strawberry.

Get a cup of tea, a fav mag and a quiet spot and enjoy your scrummy cupcake :-) x

Tandem Reveal ........

Thanks for all your lovely comments regarding little Sweetpeas skirt, if any of you have any good book or website recommendations for learning to sew I would greatly appreciate them.  Oh and also any recommendations for equipment like scissors etc (I used kitchen scissors for the skirt, not the best for cutting).  We have one problem with it however, it is now day 4 of the new skirt and she won't take it off!  I think I will have to make another just so I can wash that one lol.

Now back to this post's title, some time ago some of you may remember that I was given a lovely 1964 Hercules tandem by my Nan and Grandad.  When we got it it looked like this, not the cleanest of bikes but in great working order.

Well we sent it over to a lovely chap across the road who loves restoring and doing up bikes.  Whilst it was there I rummaged about on the internet to find its original colour and I also looked in family albums for the photo of my parents sitting on the bike on their wedding day, my Mum was only 18 in this photo :-)  I am loving the fact that their wedding reception was in my Nan & Grandads garden along with tents put up for the party and guests to stay in afterwards.

Well a few weeks later here is my gorgeous grandparents with their done up bike!  My Grandad was particularly chuffed, he was like a kid at Christmas, his face just lite up and he couldn't stop looking at it.  I was a bit worried that they may be upset that I took it to do it up as it has been used a lot by them and all of us in the past so they have many happy memories of it.   As I walking them over to see it I found out that they didn't have it from new but had swapped it many years ago for a record player :-)  They then used it to cycle to France with all their camping gear on the back and all our Aunties and cousins also remember the bike very fondly.

This photo was taken in our neighbours garden (the chap who did the bike up for us) - what a fab garden and just look at those smiles!

There is a little speedo on it but it gets stuck at 7mph - I am sure we go faster than that lol.

These photos are back in our garden again,  the bike looks great now and certainly makes people smile as we bike past them.  Mind you they may be smiling as my socks are tucked into my trousers and Mr Sweetpea and I are giggling away whilst peddling around the village on it - this bike just makes you have a huge grin on your face :-)  I still have to master starting off without wobbling around on the back for a few seconds and Mr Sweetpea telling me to stay still but I am sure that will come with time.

We have only managed two bike rides on it so far as obviously we can't leave little Sweetpea on her own (or the other two as they may kill each other lol) but here is to many more years on this fab bike :-) x