Categories
Art Inspiration

Des Contes De Grimm at L’Art De Rien – Rue D’Orsel, Paris

On a recent trip to Paris with the husband, I stumbled across L’Art De Rien and instantly fell in love. It helped that they had a “Contes de Grimm” exhibition on at the time, celebrating the bicentenary of the first Brothers Grimm stories.

The inside of the shop was just fabulous- fake grass on the floor and a creepy (in a good way!) woodland feel. And I just loved everything in there! I highly recommend you go to their online shop and check out some of these artists:

And if you’re ever in Paris, stop by, because it’s a great space to look round. Here’s a shot of their window display, when they had an Alice In Wonderland thing going on:

It’s in Montmartre, on rue D’Orsel.

Categories
Craft Notebooks Paper Stationery

Knitted and paper craft stall

Categories
Craft Inspiration

Weekly Inspiration- Halloween makes and bakes

Last year I made these wonderful origami bats to grace the front porch for our Halloween party:

Sadly, this year we’re too busy to do anything other than maybe carve an obligatory pumpkin for the garden, so I thought I’d round up some of the best makes and bakes I’ve found online.

  • Eeek! Mini pumpkins


This is so simple but I think it looks great! Check out the how-to here.

  • Spider cupcakes

You can easily turn cupcakes into spooky spiders with the help of some liquorice for the legs and candy for the eyes! There are loads of different ideas out there, here are a few of my favourite pictures to help you decorate your own:

  • Halloween Up-cycled

Out of all of these great eco-friendly spooky craft projects, I think this plastic skull is my favourite:


There’s a simpler version here using milk cartons. I’m sure you don’t need that fancy schmancy machine.

  • Monster Brownies


Something else simple, effective and adaptable! Sometimes all you need is an idea and it can get you going. Check out monster brownies and out here.

Categories
Craft

Newly Knitted- craft stall creations

We’ve been hard at it knitting lots of cosy things for the November 4th craft fair!

Arm warmers:

Boot cuffs:

Headbands:

Categories
Inspiration

National Chocolate Week(ly) Inspiration

Note that we need one, but now everyone has the perfect excuse to buy and eat chocolate. It’s National Chocolate Week! It’s even listed on a website of National Awareness Days. Which means it’s important.

You can visit the Chocolate Week website here for any events happening in your area- there are some good ones!

If you’re feeling in an adventurous mood, why not check out some chocolaty recipes? I’ve picked out some of my favourites to inspire you:

  • Chilli Hot Chocolate

A really simple thing to do and totally delicious! Just heat chilli with the milk, so it infuses and you get a nice kick. Here’s a good simple recipe from Waitrose that can easily be adapted to taste.

  • Chocolate Fridge Cake

I remember making this a lot at Uni! Melt chocolate, mix with stuff, bung it in the fridge. Job done. Try this one out for size; again, it’s very easy to adapt.

  • Classic Chocolate Cake

An essential in any baker’s repertoire- and what better place to start than with this Old Fashioned Chocolate Cake recipe from Nigella.

  • Chocolate marshmallow slab

Not got the time or patience to do fancy things like tempering chocolate? Check out this cheaty trick from the fantabulous Choccywoccydodah.

  • Chocolate Truffles

The first time I made truffles, I used this recipe from Waitrose- I’ve been hooked on chocolate making ever since!


Categories
Craft Notebooks Paper Stationery

Craft stall – November 4th, Northampton Saints Grounds

Come along! We have the usual paper goods, plus lots of snuggly knitted things for winter and some Christmas stock, too.

Categories
General

It was the cover that caught my eye… #9

For the first time, Amazon sent me a recommendation that was appropriate. Even though I’ve never purchased a Philip Pullman book from the site, they emailed me to let me know he had a new book out- Grimm Tales: For Old And Young. The hardback cover is just perfect:

I’ve put it on my Christmas list, but I’m not sure I can wait that long!

Categories
Craft

Weekly Inspiration- The MK Handmade & Vintage fair

A couple of friends, the husband and I took a trip to Milton Keynes shopping centre last weekend to check out the handmade and vintage fair.

Packed with the kitsch, the cute and the unconventional, it was a veritable feast of inspiration for someone like me! The stalls all looked fabulous and there were some really great examples of homemade fare on offer. Looking around just made me want to go home and make things!

One of the best things was that there wasn’t a stall in direct competition with the products I make and wandering around I kept thinking how well they would fit in with the whole feel of things.

The team aboard The Craft Fantastic sadly found out about this fair too late to bag a stall, but we’re super hopeful to get one next year!

Categories
Craft Paper Stationery

More on Folksy!

I’ve added more festive Christmas gift tags to the Craft Fantastic Folksy shop!

I’ve also added some knitted hair bows:

You can check out the shop here.

Categories
Tutorial

Weekend Baking- “Florentines”

A hot, sticky September afternoon is perhaps not the best time to try making these, but I’d got it into my head that I wanted to try. So I did. I know these aren’t proper Florentines, but I couldn’t think what else to call them!

I started by tracing some circles on a sheet of baking paper. I used what I thought was a suitably sized cookie cutter:

This went onto a baking tray. I melted some chocolate and used my teeny ladle to scoop it inside the circles. If you’re careful, you should be able to dollop in a nice circle- let it stop about half a centimeter from the edge of the circle. Doing it this way meant there was room for the mixture to spread a little when I gently ‘dropped’ the tray a few times onto the work surface, to get rid of the air bubbles.

I was worried about putting too much on, but I think I got it about right! They were thin, but still substantial enough to be satisfying to bite into.

After they’d set a little but the chocolate was still nice and soft, I sprinkled on a nice mix of dried fruit and seeds. I found a little bag in Asda that had a good mix of tiny seeds, bigger seeds and different coloured dried fruits:

I left these to set in the fridge; I’d let to say it was until they were nice and firm, but I’m afraid we just couldn’t resist and tried them while they were still a little melty!