Oh My - AWOL for 12 months!

For those of you who have stuck around over the last year, waiting for another post, I applaud you. I can only apologise for the lack of input on my part. It's been a funny 12 months.

Whilst a rather long and mostly dull story, I'll try and condense it into a few basic facts.

We've spent the last year trying to get a diagnosis for our eldest daughter after she was having some 'settling in' issues at school (now in year 1) and finally happy to report we have one. Turns out she has Aspergers Syndrome which is on the Autistic Spectrum. I don't think it came as a shock to me or my better half but it will take a while for a lot of the family to get their heads round it. As I keep telling everyone, she's still our little blondie no matter what the label says. At least they don't mind so much at school now that she spends most of her day drawing pictures (when she's supposed to be writing or reading!)

So, in other news... well, not much else really. I've started doing some craft fairs to keep me busy (because looking after a 4 & 5 year old and keeping house just don't take up enough of my time)

oh, I have a new Facebook page to show my wares.... MumsABitCrafty please do visit and like if you should happen to enjoy it :)

This years batch of wine is on the go (didnt think much to last years, too much like rose for my liking)

Jam making and whatnot has been a success so far...

...and the kids made some cracking Halloween biscuits....

 

Hope everyone is all good and crafty :)

Star Biscuits - Gift Ideas

I admit, I like cheating, whenever possible. If it saves me time, effort or mess, count me in. I've noticed cheating can also save you some pennies sometimes too. The recipe for these biscuits involved going to Asda (or wherever you choose to do your shopping!) and buying a packet of shortbread biscuit mix. Easy. Simply add butter and mix until a dough is formed. The kids followed these simple steps with ease and with no mess at all. Fantastic. I very kindly rolled out the dough for them, they then set to work with their pastry cutters. Obviously you can cut the biscuits to any shape you like but I quite like the star shape for presents, I dont know why but I think they look nicer. Once they'd been in the oven for about 30 minutes and cooled on the rack we then set about making them into lovely gifts. We made these for all the teaching staff where my children currently attend nursery / pre-school as a parting thank you gift. As there are 11 staff I decided to make up two packets of mix on the basis that I thought 4 biscuits each would be enough.

We decided we'd make up pretty little parcels with cellophane (which can be bought from most craft shops or florist suppliers). We cut a square of card a fraction larger than the stars and then piled them on top. Wrap in larger square of cellophane to make a tube and then secure the side and bottom to make a bag. Tie the top with a pretty bit of ribbon. If you've used a see through cellophane you can write a message on the back of each piece of card so it can be seen through the plastic.

 The leftover dough got made into more biscuits for a jar for Grandad's Birthday. Recycling at it's best - Jar (washed out coffee jar) Ribbon (those annoying bits of ribbon that are used to hang tops onto coathangers, when you snip them off don't throw them away - keep them for making gift tags!) Card Tag (an old birthday card that had a nice star design on the front so I chopped it out and kept it for such an occassion)