10 Days To Go - The Empty Stocking

If there's two things I love in this world (apart from knitting and dogs and cats and all that other stuff I love), it's Christmas and books! So when my Dad decided to write a Christmas book I was pretty excited! When I found out Rebecca Cobb was going to illustrate it I was just  a little bit more excited and when I found out it was my job to make a cake for the launch party I was pretty much over the moon. 

I may be a tiny bit bias what with it being written by my Dad and the fact that I would pretty much love any book if it had a sparkly Christmas tree on the front, but the book is very good! It's about two twins at Christmas and I'm not going to give away the ending up it does end very happily (can you imagine a kids book with a sad ending!). Anyway the story is very good, the illustrations are amazing and if you are buying a present for a child this Christmas I would most definitely recommend (or you could just pretend you were buying it for a child and buy it for yourself!)

I made the cake a few weeks ago when the book came out and we all carried it down to our lovely local book shop (Lutyens and Rubinstein) and ate the cake while reading the book! I would love to say I hand carved the cake myself but that would be a lie, I had a book shaped cake mould (please don't ask why, I honestly have no idea!) which you can buy here. I made a plain white cake and covered it with jam and white fondant icing. Then I used cake pens (if you don't own these already, please ask for some in your stocking!) to draw the illustrations and writing on the cake. My favourite bit was the pages on the sides I think, and the lopsided tree! You can see more pictures below. 

Here is the link to the book on amazon however if you do get the chance to buy it in a book shop please do! Because book shops are amazing and amazon isn't! 

I hope everyone is having a lovely Christmassy weekend and enjoying the weather. 

Lots of Love Scarly x

12 Days To Go - Baker Ross Christmas Activity Pack!

A few weeks ago the lovely people at Baker Ross (an awesome kids arts and craft supplies shop) got in touch with me and asked if I would like to create a recipe for their Christmas Activity Pack eBook. I, of course, said yes and after much pondering I decided to create an extremely easy but extremely tasty recipe for Celebration Chocolate Rocky Road. In case the title doesn't give it away it's basically rocky road with a whole box of chopped up celebrations thrown in, and it's very yummy!

The eBook is free and contains lots of other fun crafty activities and recipes. If you have kids, if you are a kid or if you still think your a kid I would definitely recommend downloading it!

You can download it by clicking HERE.

And in case you weren't already sold, here's a picture of the rocky road...

Lots of love Scarly!

15 Days To Go - Black Forest Gateau

Hello! I'm back. And I know I've missed a few days of my calendar. But apparently there's this thing called English coursework and it's just a tiny bit more important than knitting... and no where near as fun. But I did bake a black forest gateau, and it was pretty awesome and very easy to make and I think probably very alchoholic due to the mountain of kirche cherries. Unfortunately I didn't even get to try it because I made it for a dinner party of my mum's and when I came down stairs there was not a crumb left! So I'm guessing it was nice... or horrible... and they threw it in the bin. One can't be sure. 

I found the recipe here and it was very good and easy to follow, it was also good because you didn't need an electric mixer to make it! 

It's 15 days till Christmas and I'm more excited than I thought I'd be... and I thought I'd be pretty excited. I'm dressing up as Father Christmas tomorrow for the lower school which I feel may be my future career. 

I hope everyone else is getting Christmassy and remember to send me photos of your Twit-Knit's ! 

Love Scarlett x

3 DAYS TO GO - Posy's Stocking

One of the biggest things of my year has been my puppy Posy. Since getting her in June she has made me so happy that I couldn't not spoil her at Christmas :) I've bought her lots of little treats and toys but for her biggest present (which she wont care about AT ALL) I decided to make her a stocking!

I had no idea how easy and fun making a stocking would be. All I did was cut out 2 sock shapes, hem the top edges, sew a big P on one side and them sew them together. 

I have hung the stocking up on my (extremely messy) bunk bed and let's hope that Father Christmas remembers to fill it up. 

Posy got very bored while I was making it and decided to have a little nap. We are staying in the country for Christmas and you know how they always say don't buy a white jumper because you'll get it dirty, well the same applies for dogs. Posy is FILTHY! She keeps pawing at my legs wanting a cuddle but whenever I pick her up shes soaking wet and full of mud. 

I hope everyone is having a lovely Christmas Eve Eve Eve.

Merry Christmas.

Scarlett and Posy. 

6 DAYS TO GO - Twit-Knit Club Christmas Pattern

Gah okay so it's 1:30am which means it's technically tomorrow and there's only 5 days to go till Christmas but for the sake of stretching out this blog I'm gonna say there's still 6 days. 

This isn't really a proper pattern because it's so easy but even so here is my pattern for my very own Knitted Paper Chains! 

I made these a few days ago because I love knitting things that should be fragile but then you can knit them and make them last forever! So far I've made 2 and I'm going to try and make a lot more before Christmas. It's a really fun and easy project for even the most begginer of knitters and crocheters and if you like it please tell me.

I have written up the patterns for both knitting and crochet.

Ok so here's the pattern:

Crochet:
1. Chain 30.
2. Single Crochet 3 rows, cast off.
3. Make as many of these as you need for your paper chain.

Knitting:
1. Cast on 4 stitches.
2. Knit until your strip measures roughly 15 - 20cm, cast off.
3. Make as many of these as you need for your paper chain.

Once you have made the right amount (I made 10 for each paper chain), sew your paperchain up by sewing one into a circle and then linking them up and joining the ends together. I don't really know how to word this but it seems pretty self explanatory if you look at the picture! Just leave a comment if you have any questions.

Merry Christmas,
Love Scarlett.

13 DAYS TO GO - Yummy Scrummy Caramels

Ok I've probably said this before about recipes but this time I'm SERIOUS! This. is. the. best. recipe. ever. The recipe by Jamie Cooks It up! is for Rich and Buttery Caramels and you can find it HERE.  They are the single most delicious things ever invented and the easiest recipe!

Every year I make fudge but I always use condensed milk which means I don't need a sugar thermometer. The recipe for these just looked too yummy to resist so I decided to overcome my fears and try it! But it turned out it didn't even need a thermometer anyway! Jamie has a brilliant tip to work out when the caramels are ready and it worked perfectly. 

If you've ever been to Melt the chocolate shop, these buttery deliciousnesses (new word) taste almost exactly the same as there wrapped caramels and my little brother even said they were better (proudest moment of life)

                                       

I made them last night while watching X Factor and although the recipe is very quick it does take a while to cut them up and wrap them so Little Mix was a great distraction. Using a tip from Jamie I used a pizza cutter AND scissors to cut them into chunks and this was probably the hardest bit. But still not very hard!

These will make the best present for ANYONE and I would reccomend you make them now! 

Love Scarlett. 

14 DAYS TO GO - Mug Cosy

You know that point in your Chocolate Advent Calendar when you get really hungry and eat the next 5 days chocolates in one helping and then feel very sad and mournful for the rest of the week? Well I'm afraid that moment has come on the Teen Granny Advent Calendar. I apologise greatly for not having kept up with it but half way through my many Christmas crafts I realised I had coursework and christmas presents to deal with so now might not be the best time to be up at 3 in the morning making snowmen. But I am back! And although I may not be as regular as I was at the beginning I shall still be doing a countdown to the wonderful miracle that is Christmas. 

Todays post is about... MUG COSYS! 

(Check out the Christmas Pyjamas) 

Mug Cosys are the most brilliant things for many a reason:

- they keep your tea warm

- they make sure your hands don't get burnt (you need those hands for knitting and unwrapping presents)

- they look lovely

- instead of having to wait for your favourite mug to come out of the machine, you can just slip your cosy off and on and make every mug your favourite mug!

I've been making LOADS of these recently and once again, if your  a realation of a friend of mine PLEASE FORGET YOU EVER READ THIS! 

I found the crochet pattern here on ravelry but used a snazzy velvet button instead of a wooden one. 

I hope you like my mug cosys and are feeling very festive this lovely Sunday. 

May your tea forever stay cosy!

Love Scarlett. 

19 DAYS TO GO - Polaroid Christmas Ornament

Big confession! We actually put our tree up in November. Which is super early. But super fun. I found this cute D.I.Y on this amazing blog Katie Cupcake and decided to make some for my fam. You already know I love Polaroid’s so I love these! I’m not very good on my sewing machine yet so the sewing’s a little dodgy but hopefully I pulled them off. There are also some photos of us putting up our tree and my favorite decorations we have. You never think about your Christmas decorations throughout the year (because that would be a very strange thing to think about) but I love it when you get them all out in December and you suddenly remember them all!! 

I made this little angel last year and now it has joined our old regular like the fat angels!

Posy was super confused when we were decorating and she had no idea what was going on, but she wore her awesome new Christmas outfit, which was very exciting!

This was the tree pre-decoration! It's HUGE!

My mum made cheesy bacon sticks while we were decorating :D 

We are into the teens of days till Christmas now!! Which is REALLY EXCITING.

Happy December.

Love Scarlett.

20 DAYS TO GO - Click on This Gift List

This is an extremely special GIFT Click on This List. I'm trying to make all my presents this year, but there are some people who appreciate a nice homemade gift a lot less than others (I'm looking at you younger brothers) so it's always nice to have a few back up internet shopping places to go to.

But first of all Number 1 on my List is my brand new sponsor NOM CAKES! 

Tash, who runs Nom Cakes, is a brilliant baker and very much in Teen Granny style she is only 15! I'm still in shock from this picture of her rainbow cake and have to admit it slightly puts mine to shame. Not only is her blog full of her cakey creations, it's also full of her amazing writing is extremely entertaining! Except be warned! Reading Nom Cakes is guaranteed to make you very peckish. 

So, back to the list, these are my top gifts I have found during my hours and hours of internet browsing/pretending to do my homework.

1. The Sardine Duvet Cover. 

2. The Hunger Games Trilogy Box Set (because if you haven't read them you should be very ashamed of yourself)

3. 50 Words for Snow by Kate Bush and A Very She & Him Christmas  (my 2 new favourite albums)

4. The Dodo Book for Christmas (notebooks + christmas = Teen Granny heaven)

5. Christmas Pudding Egg Cosy Knitting Kit (for the beginner knitter this is just too cute!)

6. Christmas Dog Fancy Dress Costume (this is what Posy is asking for)

7. An Audible Account (this may sound lame but it is the best present ever!)

8. Etsy Jewelry (these are my two favourites)

Paper Aeroplane Necklace  

3 Peas in a Pod Necklace

Well those are all my suggestions so far, right now our parents are in New York so me and my brothers have been playing orphan for the past few days. Right now I'm making christmas presents with my brother while watching Nativity. It's such a brilliant film! 

Happy December!

Love Scarlett. 

21 DAYS TO GO - LEGO SNOWGLOBE D.I.Y

Lego is one of my absoulute favouritest things in the whole entire world, so when I decided it was time to make some Christmassy snowglobes what better to use as the figure than a Harry Potter Lego figure. I have most of the figures thanks to years of HP Lego sets but for my first one I decided to use angry Harry. It photographed awfully because of the water but trust me, it looks brilliant in real life! 

These are all the supplies you will need and if you choose you can use a dymo or label maker to make the MERRY CHRISTMAS label on the glass jar. 

Start by lining the feet of your figure with superglue and then gently stick it down inside the glass jar. Once your 100% sure it's dried fill the jar up to the top with water. 

Starting with only a small amount, keep adding glitter and testing by shaking until your snowglobe looks the way you want it to. I had a lot of fun by shouting LUMOS, then shaking and seeing all the gold glitter float around Harry. I just re-read that and it sounds super geeky but I don't care.

Good luck with you Christmas shopping this weekend and I hope your enjoying the Teen Granny advent calendar! It's more blogging than I've ever done so I'm very excited! I also have a very exciting new sponsor Nom Cakes who I will be doing a special blog on later today.

Happy December,

Love Scarlett. 

22 DAYS TO GO - Christmas Nails

For the definitive guide to Christmas Nails please read my piece on Hello Giggles. But for now here are a few pictures to get you into the mood...

23 DAYS TO GO - D.I.Y. Friendship Cards

Papercraft has never really been my thing, I much prefer making objects, but once Christmas comes along you simply can't avoid making a few Christmas cards. I decided to get started early and was looking around my bedroom and found a whole box of Friendship Bracelets I forgot all about. 

These cards are super simple to make and although they look pretty plain the friendship bracelet makes all the difference. All you need is a blank card, a hole punch and a friendship bracelet. I make my friendship bracelets by plaiting three bits of difference coloured yarns together but everyone makes them differently.

To make these cards just punch two holes in either side of your card and string your bracelet through the holes, then decorate the cards however you like. I made my friendship bracelets go through the front and back of the cards so my friends have to take the bracelet out and put it on before they can read the message inside.

I always find cards a little dissapointing as they usually end up in the bin so this is a great way of making a card that will last longer than Christmas and will show your friends just how much you love them. 

I hope everyone is relishing the Christmas Spirit, I think I may have gone a bit over the top yesterday. Me and my family watched Elf and then I decorated my room with 5 sets of fairy lights and 10 paper chains!!

HAPPY DECEMBER :) 

Love Scarlett