A star is born ... ...

Instead of buying a load of new christmas decorations this year we have been making our own, we have made them out of paper,pine cones,card and for the stars below wire and string, much more fun than fighting through shops looking for decorations that probably won't last half as long, it's good for the kids to do some christmas crafts as well.

Here's the stars -

They may not be to every one's taste.

The colour of the silver spray didn't really come out in the picture, they are easy enough to make, all you need is some wire (I used gardening wire) and some string, any string will do, or wool. You can also make them from string instead of wire, but it's a little harder to keep it altogether, you can spray them what ever colour you like, we used silver and some glitter spray, you can use gold as well.

Making them doesn't take long, although if you spray them you will need to wait a short while for the paint to dry. If you use wire you will need a jig (no fiddles involved) to make the basic star shape, unless of course you feel like making them free hand.

To make the jig you'll need some nails, a piece of wood, a hammer and a template, which you can either print out from your pc or draw on a bit of paper, then all you do is place the paper onto the wood and hammer nails into it at all the angles of your shape.

The jig with nails already hammered in - 

It should look something like this.

It makes it a lot easier to bend the wire into shape using a jig. Next take a piece of string and wind it round all the nails to make a star, basically you use the string to measure how much wire you will need, you want to leave a little extra wire so you can twist it together.

Using the string to measure - 

Measuring done.

Time to get some wire, you can see that I've used slightly more string than is needed, this will make it easier to fix the wire together. Next get your wire and use the string to measure out a length of it, then cut it (I should have mentioned that you may need wire cutters, or pliers) then all you need to do is wind the wire around the nails in the same way you did the string, thinner wire will bend easier, I got ours from the garden section at b&q.

Once that's done twist the wire together where the two ends join, again pliers will do the job, depending on how thick the wire is, then all that's left is to wind your string of choice around the wire frame, when you are happy with it, either tie the string to the frame and cut off any extra, or you can use a spot of glue to fix it. 

You don't have to spray them, you could use paints from a pot, get the kids to do it or you could just cover them in glue and glitter or anything else that you feel like really, it's up to you.

A close up - 

Still didn't manage to get the glitter to show, it's there I promise.

And that's it, they may not be flashy shiny plastic type shop bought ones, but to be honest I think they look better, and they'll last for a while, and even if you don't want to hang them on your tree if you got the kids to decorate them they will have had a great time, and that's what it's all about, and you don't have to make stars, why not try different shapes ? like snowmen or christmas trees ?

Thanks for reading.

Grrrrr ! Man biscuits, well sort of ... ...

I'm not ashamed to admit I like to dabble in the kitchen, I cook the Sunday roast (although not as well as my wife) we have recently been foraging for stuff, and have made blackberry jam, and I'm in the process of making blackberry wine (should be fun)

So when the weather is bad and the kids are driving you nuts (as mine frequently do) why not venture into the kitchen and do some baking, go on it's okay, men are allowed to do kitchen stuff :-)

I'm not talking about large scale baking, massive cakes and such like, I'm talking biscuits, they are great, and easy to make, the kids will love them, and you can feel pleased that you made them from scratch, and that they aren't full of preservatives and such like, believe me if your kids like this kind of thing you don't need preservatives, the biscuits won't last long enough to go mouldy.

So to the biscuit making, I use a recipe that my wife showed me, it's easy to do, and you can use it as a base for loads of different types of biscuit.

The ingredients.

Baking marge (the stork stuff is good)

Sugar, you can use caster sugar, but I tend to go for muscovado sugar, it adds a nice flavour to the biscuits.

Self raising flour.

A tablespoon of golden syrup (this helps keep the biscuits moist)

What ever you want as a flavouring, chocolate chips,coconut, raisins, peanuts.

Grease proof paper and a couple of flat baking trays.

I will give you amounts of stuff to make about 20 or so biscuits, depending on how big you want them.

100grams of baking marge

100 grams of sugar

150 grams of self raising flour

As for the flavouring, then this is up to you, but around 50 grams of what ever is a good start.

To make the biscuits.

First clean your hands and the kids if they are helping.

Add your sugar and marge together in a bowl and mix them together well, you want a creamy paste.

You can add the syrup here.

Next add the flour and mix again, until it's all mixed together.

Then you can add your choice of flavouring and mix again.

Once it's all mixed together you then need to get 2 flat trays and either grease them or cut a couple of sheets of grease proof paper.

Then grab small amounts and roll into a small ball and flatten out and then place on the tray, you should get about 12 or so on each tray, leave space around each one for them to expand.

Chuck them in the oven, you want to cook them for around 6 - 8 minutes on about 200°C keep checking them as they cook, when they are a golden brown colour take them out and let them sit for a few minutes, it's easier to get them off the trays once they have cooled a little, then you can put them onto a cooling rack.

When they are cool enough to eat..... eat them (always the best bit)

Here's some pictures of some I made the other day -

White chocolate and coconut.

And these - 

Peanut cookies.

These I made today, coconut with smarties (I know sweets aren't that good for kids, but there's only a couple on each cookie) as decoration, I found sticking the smarties on while the biscuits/cookies are hot helps them stick. 

With sweets.

And there you go, man biscuits, well sort of, but who cares they taste great, and when it's raining outside this will easily kill and hour or two of time, and kids love doing this sort of thing.

Thanks for reading.