raisin cupcakes

The children wanted to make some cupcakes tonight. Im on a strict diet so i can't tell you what they tasted like but they turned out very well, I love this cupcake recipe it always works out its never failed me yet! the cake turns out quite muffin like.

Ingredients

• 2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
• 1 1/3 cups sugar
• 3 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 large eggs
• 1/2 - 1 cup of milk (making the mixture not to sloppy)

Then add whatever else you like raisins, chocolate chips (if you are adding wet ingredients like banana then i would lower the volume of milk)

 They went down well.

 

Some things we made at christmas

Our house now :)

Well, i have come quite far in the past 8 months. I will add the old photos to compare rooms, Personally im quite proud that i have managed to do this all by myself with looking after the three children.

Then

Hallway.

Now

 I need a new light shade and to paint the unit, thats at the top of the 'to do' list.

Then

Front room

Now

I painted the walls white after emptying the room, painted the 1920's fireplace with tile paint. had the chimney swept (best thing i ever did).

I absoutly love this room! would really like to strip the paper and paint the walls. maybe next year.

Then

Back room

There is still a large sofa in this room but it is used as the dining room/play room. I am obsessed with russian dolls the plastic floor covering is russian dool, and i have a small doll collection too ( I will be getting floating shelves for this room asap for my collection) The table and chairs are ikea (meltorp table the outer chairs are actually office chairs and cant remember what these are called and the middle one is ikea hermes. The mirror and curtains are also ikea. I decorated a plain white shade to make the russian doll and button light shade.

I didn't take a before photo of my bedroom but here is the after.

I will update the childrens rooms next week.

I LOVE it! it was so bad before, the wardrobes were that terrible 70's dark orangey wood and the walls were textured paper that was sort or beige and pastel coloured. Im looking for some gorgeous curtains, i haven't seen any that i love yet.

Upcycled sideboard

This sideboard was donated to us by a family member. As you can see its pretty horrid, so i decided i would paint it and perhaps decoupage the doors, My mum donated a tin of tapestry green craig and rose paint that she didn't like, And to save money i decided that i would use this it.

It took two coats of the green.

 Helped by my son.

I used the tesco cath kidson type shabby chic napkins that i used to upcycle the round table to decoupage the sliding doors. I think they worked quite well, they went translucent so showed the green paint underneath. (they are still wet here, but look better now they are dry) Let me know what you think. This upcycle must have cost around £2 and only took 4 hours (including paint drying time)

Its been a very long time.

Life has got in the way of me blogging recently. But i am back! i have a few completed a few projects over the past 8 months and will be posting them shortly. I have lots and lots to finish, But the house is coming along really well.

upcycled table

sanded and ready for a coat of white

white leggies

almost there

I decided to recover the table with some shabbychic napkins from tesco, they worked so well.

This is it varnished (also tesco satin clear varnish which goes on white and doesn't dry yellowy but clear)

1st Very hungry caterpillar quilt

The topper middle and bottom sandwiched ready for quilting :)

the finished article!

Decoupage

 This little owl and mushroom orniment were found at my local charity shop so charlotte and i decided we fancied decoupaging them so this is the top of the owls head ( i left charlotte do most of it and it ended up a bit of a mess so we are going to re-d her)

and here it is finished

Charlottes bedroom post

This is our idea post for Charlottes shabby chic bedroom. there are some more floral squares to be added and re-arranged on this design

The wallpaper is either side of the fabric in the center

easter SIL bunting

My sister in law is 7 so for easter instead of an egg i try to make her something, This year (as they moved to a new house she has quite a cute fresh contemp/shabby chic bedroom) I thought i would make her some lovely bunting to either hang on her wall or her gorgeous double bed.

Excuse my hubbys feet lol and how creased the bunting is as the girls were using it for their magic show with the bunting up the arms of their jumpers.

mothers day gifts

Trying to be a little thrifty this year made me think of what gifts my mum might fancy.. so here goes :)

homemade dark chocolate brazil nuts in a handmade parcel

home made choux pastry chocolate and coffee buns with the handmade box behind it.

this is a hand made quilted bread basket :) it turned out a little shorter than i would want but it will still work :)

upcycled mirror

i found this stunning mirror at the charity shop and have decided to paint it deep purple to go with the living room

goookies according to eddie

my son has become obsessed with cookies. so we made some white chocolate and raspberry cookies today

 

Recipe

1/2 cup of caster sugar

1/4 cup of brown sugar

1 egg

2 1/2 cups of flour

a drop of milk (or untill it binds better)

white chocolate chunks

half a punnet of raspberrys

mix together in a large bowl, 

spoon a mound onto a greased baking tray

bake for 20-30 mins (untill browned but not hard they must still be squidgy in the middle)

cool and serve!

we usually make a tray full which is usually about 20 cookies and have a sandwich bag of cookie dough left in the fridge to make another 12-15 

happy munching!

moving

Well, we moved almost 2 weeks ago and i love our new house!

Im sure you will see my progress in the up-do of the place and upcycle of furniture that i have plans for so here goes :)

Life on the move

2 years ago i bought Lottiesbotties.co.uk i ran the business by myself for a year then we moved and i kept lb's closed. my domain is due to expire at the end of the month and i have been having a really hard think about if i want to carry on LB's. I made everything myself including cloth nappies and covers, wrap slings, childrens clothes, personalised blankets and cozytoes, bibs etc etc. the domain of lottiesbotties was very very limited and i didnt really think of that when i bought it. the domain didnt suit the shop when i decided to start making other things, so im giving it up.

last year i bought the domain totsandteds.co.uk thinking i could start a different shop perhaps selling other peoples things, but never got round to it.

ive been thinking hard about where im going to go now. When we move, the baby is still to small for me to really open up again yet but i think perhaps in the summer we may launch again. so i have just bought www.slingthatbaby.co.uk im trying to source some material for woven wraps, im going to create my own babywearing bag and maybe some other stuff.. perhaps stock someone elses meitais.. i dunno.. i need to think a whole lot. but there we go.. i feel sad that im giving up lottiesbotties. but im not interested in putting a lot of effort in for hardly any money. so nappies arnt going to work for us anymore.

Mrs munch.. the spoilt friend

Sarah and i have become good friends over the past few months. She spoilt me the other day so in return Eloise is getting a meitai for her birthday and Georgie is getting a phant... His favorite of all things i just need to give it some eyes and its finished.

Sarah is also getting a gift.. but it went squiff while i was sewing it so im not talking to it at the moment.

Anyway here we go.