Friday 14 December 2012

Gluten and Dairy Free Snickerdoodles

I discovered these delicious cookies while on holiday in Canada last year, then again at Mrs Fields. They are heavenly, like a doughnut cookie. Mmmmm. I have been meaning to try out a gluten free version for a while now and last night I finally did it! They had to be dairy free as well and they turned out quite well :)

My recipe is based on Sweet Anna's - you can find it here. I had to modify it a bit as I had no plain flour and needed them to be gf/df. So here it is with the modifications:

Ingredients
1 cup Nuttelex (or other dairy free butter substitute)
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs
2tsp vanilla
2 3/4 cups self-raising gluten free flour (I used Orgran brand)
1tsp cinnamon
 
To coat cookies:
1/4 cup sugar
1tbs cinnamon

Directions
  • Preheat the oven to 200ÂșC.  Line trays with baking paper
  • Cream together the butter and sugar (just the first lot of 1 1/2 cups) with electric mixer until it's light and fluffy - it will start to go white quite quickly
  • Add the eggs one at a time and mix well
  • Add the vanilla
  • Sift the flour and cinnamon (just the 1 teaspoon) together into the butter mix and mix well (still with the electric mixer)
Now for the fun part :)
  • In a small bowl, mix together the cookie coating
  • Roll a small amount of dough into a ball and place on the tray, leaving some space. The cookies will spread, but maybe not as much as the non-gf version.
  • Bake for 10 minutes, take out of the oven, but leave the cookies in the tray for 5 minutes. Then place on a rack to cool.

  • Try not to eat too many at one time! These actually tasted better the next day, though it is hard to resist fresh-baked cookies.

Tuesday 11 December 2012

Crocheted Doily Rug

It has now been over a year since I started on my crochet craze and I haven't got sick of it. Just the opposite in fact, I am loving crocheting and I am always looking out for new and different things to try. I am so happy with my waxed Irish linen line - so far I have just made rings and bracelets, but who knows what will come next?!?

Mint, Pale Blue and Natural Crocheted Waxed Irish Linen Bracelet
Mint, Sky Blue and Cream waxed Irish linen bracelet
Swallow and Blossom Crocheted Blue Waxed Irish Linen Ring
Swallow and Blossom Crocheted Ring using waxed Irish linen
While checking out crochet magazines and patterns I came across crocheted rugs and loved them. Then of course thought that I had to try them....so, based on this doily pattern

Spiderweb Crocheted Pink Doily/Placemat
Spiderweb doily - made from this vintage pattern

I made this



It needed to be laid out a little better, but as soon as I put it on the floor, the curious one came over to check it out. She seemed to quite like it! I made a mistake with this one, which I didn't realise until I had finished it. I was really upset, but then figured it was my first attempt and now I love it! My husband said it would also make a great Christmas tree skirt. I used a Panda chunky wool for this and I have some in pink - I can't wait to try another one!

Thursday 29 November 2012

Ideas for my Craft Room

I am redecorating my spare room (i.e. my craft room!) and here are some gorgeous products I would love to have. The colour scheme is supposed to be pink, green and white, but the blue is just so pretty :) 
A Tilda ribbon holder from Panduro Hobby I have so many spools of ribbon. It would be nice to put them on pretty spools and then keep them organised on this stand.

In fact, the whole Tilda website is just gorgeous! Check it out here. Beautiful fabrics, tins and craft ideas. I especially love this one:

Photo
Fabric covered glasses
Also from Panduro Hobby

Tilda Winterbird Tin

       I bought these and they look so pretty on my table.
They are all from Ikea - here & here


Love the colour, but is a little darker than the colours I want. Also from Ikea



New for the next BrisStyle Indie Designer Market

Some new items that will be available for the first time at the BrisStyle Indie Designer Market on Saturday 8 December. The market is at St. Augustine's Church in Hamilton and goes from 9am to 4pm. I'm really looking forward to this one - it is a lovely market with so many amazingly talented people!

Gingerbread House Christmas Decoration - not quite finished yet. Based on a pattern from Lion



I'm planning on adding fabric strips and buttons so all of the above can be hung

Wednesday 14 November 2012

Tuesday 13 November 2012

Dress Shopping

I did a little online shopping yesterday. I nearly bought some dresses from ModCloth, but they were more work dresses, so I ended up getting these from New Look. They look super cute - I'm really hoping they'll be as cute when they are on me! I was only going to get 2, but then if I spent a little more I got free postage, so of course, I just had to get another one :)

Black Pattern (Black) Red Label Black Floral Dress | 262975209 | New Look
Floral dress

Navy (Blue) Tenki Navy Cat Print Peter Pan Collar Dress | 270364041 | New Look
Cat dress

Brown (Brown) Mela Brown Heart Print Dress | 266625320 | New Look
Heart dress

Monday 5 November 2012

Eye Candy

Pretty accessories and homewares - the store catalogues are gorgeous!


Boxes and bag from Rie Elise Larsen

The 2 images above are from Lisbeth Dahl - gorgeous homewares, accessories and jewellery
Daisy Rose Check Flour Shaker

 
The above 2 images are from Cath Kidston

Tuesday 30 October 2012

Gluten Free Baked Doughnuts

Here is my weekend baking experiment from Torie Jayne's recipe


Yep, I realise they look nothing like doughnuts! But I don't have a doughnut pan, so I just made them in a patty cake pan. My mix was a bit thicker than I think it was supposed to be, so next time I will weigh the ingredients, instead of being lazy and just using the cups :) They were still pretty delicious though!

Monday 29 October 2012

A Few Good Books

I love to read - it's how I relax. I hated reading until I was about 9 years old, then my mum gave me a book
I had no idea it was first published in 1948! I used to spend my pocket money on Trixie Belden books :)
and I have been reading ever since. I sometimes think she may have regretted giving me that book because I used to spend the entire day just lying on my bed reading book after book.

Here are some more recent books that I have enjoyed.
Pinned Image


also called The House at Riverton. I can't wait to read her latest book, the Secret Keeper.


Wednesday 24 October 2012

Pretty in Mint


 

 5. Forever 21 6. H&M 7. Mmmm 8. Retro cool! 9. So pretty









Monday 22 October 2012

Waxed Irish Linen Crochet Jewellery

Last year I bought some waxed Irish linen. I couldn't decide on what colours to buy, so I got a sample pack - 10 yards of 34 different colours. I made a few bracelets and necklaces and then stopped using it, I'm not quite sure why. There is a gorgeous range of colours in waxed linen and I recently rediscovered my package of it and started using it in my crocheting. So far I love it! I just listed this bracelet today and I'm really happy with how it turned out.

In my Etsy and Madeit stores

These are all the colours I got last year

All 34 Colors Of Irish Waxed Linen Thread (340 Yards)
from White Clover Kiln on Etsy

The colours are so pretty I just had to include some pictures :)


from The Caning Shop

A colour chart on Ettika. The colours are gorgeous!

Sunday 21 October 2012

Mint Treasury on front page!

Yay, my Mint Treasury made it to the front page of Etsy Au! Check it out here :)