Gingerbread Sports People for the Olympics

The Olympic opening ceremony was amazing!  Some of my favourites parts were the cycling doves, the transition from green countryside to industrial revolution and of course the Queen and James Bond!  It's been hard to resist watching the sport on tv all day - so many exciting sports to watch but I need to do some work too!

On the weekend I had fun making these gingerbread sportsmen with my sister (iced while watching the swimming).

We made gingerbread people for sports from swimming to cycling and equestrian to tennis.  Unfortunately there were a few accidents after they left the oven (the horse's tail fell off, the cyclist has a broken back wheel and the tennis player now has a bit of a dodgy shoulder!)


This is the recipe we used for the gingerbread sports people:
10oz (300g) self-raising flour
pinch of salt
3 tsp ground ginger
4 oz (100g) caster sugar
2oz (50g) margarine
3 tbsp golden syrup
4 tbsp milk

Heat the oven to 160C / 325F / Gas Mark 3 and grease a baking tray.

Mix the flour, salt and ginger in a bowl.  Warm the sugar, margarine and syrup and stir together then add to the dry ingredients and stir well.  Add milk and mix to make a firm dough.

Lightly knead the dough then roll out and cut out the people.  I used a little man cutter to cut a basic person shape before adapting to make different sports people.  You can experiment with the cutters you have - my horse was made from a cat shaped cutter!  I pushed one of its ears in to make a bigger head and pushed the tail down to look more horse like.  Other things like the tennis racket, bicycle etc were all moulded by hand.

Bake for about 10-15 minutes.  Allow to cool slightly before carefully lifting onto a wire rack. 

The biscuits were decorated with glace icing (we used yellow, red, blue and green food colouring - as we didn't have any black we mixed a dark purple for one of the rings from red and blue).

Ball Games

I'm looking forward to an evening in front of the tv tonight watching the Olympic opening ceremony - will you be watching too?  From some of the video clips I saw this morning it looks like it's going to be a great show!

There are strict rules about using words and images associated with the games.  I can understand that sponsors would want to protect their logos etc, but when we have been told how the whole country will benefit from the games it seems a bit harsh to be telling small businesses to take down their window displays when all they want to do is show their support for their country.  So I will be careful not to mention anything I shouldn't here!

With so much sport around at the moment I was inspired to draw some ball game themed illustrations and turn them into scrapbooking papers (a printable party set is in progress and should be finished soon!).  This set of 8 papers features balls and rackets from a range of sports: football, basketball, tennis, badminton (I know it's not really a ball game but thought it would go in anyway), cricket, baseball, table tennis and squash.

These printable papers are available to buy from my Etsy shop here: https://www.etsy.com/listing/105406943/ball-games-sport-themed-printable

Etsy Shop - About Page

Last month Etsy launched a new 'About' page for shops - a place for shop owners to share a little more about their business.  I've been thinking about doing mine for a while but found it was harder than I thought to make.  Etsy has made it really easy to add your photos and text - I just couldn't decide what to write and which pictures to use!

Both of my shops now have an About page - what do you think?

For my craft supplies shop hfcSupplies...

For my art shop Hazel Fisher Creations...

If you have an Etsy shop but are yet to make your About page you might find these links useful...
www.etsy.com/blog/news/2012/introducing-an-about-page-for-your-shop/
www.etsy.com/blog/en/2012/tips-for-your-shops-about-page/
www.etsy.com/blog/en/2012/photo-ideas-for-your-shops-about-page/

Monday Make - 3 Ideas for Upcycling Jars

I've been collecting lots of old jars to decorate - there are so many fun ways to upcyle them!  I've started with 3 simple ideas... 

1. Lace Flower Vase

I turned this jar into a pretty flower vase for the sweet peas that I've been picking from my garden.

The jar is wrapped in cotton lace trim with a crochet flower and button decoration.  Measure the lace around the jar, stitch the ends together with the flower and button on top and then push onto the jar.  As the lace will stretch you get a nice tight fit.

2. Fabric jar tops

These little jars are perfect for displaying my button collection.  I don't have lids for the jars though so made fabric ones using printed cotton - the red is a new fabric and the flowery ones are vintage fabrics.  First make a circle template on paper - the diameter of my circle was approximately twice the size of the top of the jar's diameter.  Use the template to cut fabric circles with pinking shears.  The fabric tops are held on with elastic.

3. Painted desk tidy


This jar has been sitting on my desk for a while - but it was a plain old jar in need of some colour!  Looking through my crafty stash I found some little sample pots of emulsion wall paint (completely forgot I had some of them!).  I swirled a little paint mixed with water around the inside of the jar and left it to dry for a couple of hours.  The outside of the jar is decorated with some circle peel-off stickers.  I was a little unsure if the paint would stick properly to the glass but it's worked really well - keeping sharp things like scissors might eventually wear it off but I can always repaint it - in a different colour too when I fancy a change!

New printables

I seem to have a lot of half finished things on the go at the moment.  The last two weeks have been quite busy so it's been really nice to have a whole day in my studio today and I've actually managed to get something finished!

This set of scrapbooking papers is newly completed today...

I was enjoying playing around with the colours and patterns in this set so much that I ended up making way to many papers and it was hard to cut them down to just 8 designs!  I think the geometic and chevron patterns in airforce blue / grey and mustard would be good for men's cards.

I also finished off this 'Rule Britannia' themed printable party set by adding new invitation, name place card and straw flag designs to the existing Rule Britannia printables which were already in my shop...

Colour Inspiration #5 - Sunset

It's another wet day today :(  I'm hoping we'll get some sunny days soon - it is supposed to be summer!  Until the sun appears again I'll have to make do with sunny photos -  I took this photo of a beautiful sunset when I was on holiday...

Buttons galore!

I've been having a sort through my button collection... I have some lovely vintage glass buttons - I spotted some just like these in the latest issue of Homes and Antiques magazine...

They are art deco Scottie dog buttons - I have two brown ones and never realised that they came in other colours until I saw red, green and blue ones in the magazine.  I like these ones too much to part with though - sorry they won't be appearing in the shop!
I do have lots of buttons which I will be selling though - like these metal picture buttons which I think are of the Egyptian Queen Nefertiti...

These yellow and orange ones are in the shop now too.  The little orange ones are so thin and light weight, I think they are made of metal wrapped with plastic.

I'm determined to get through my button stash so that I can have more room for my favourite ones - hopefully there will be a lot more in the shop over the next few  days.  One day I might even get around to displaying the special ones properly - it seems a shame to just keep them hidden in a box all the time.

Custard Tart

I enjoy baking but don't always get a lot of time for it.  Recently my sister Sarah has had more free time than me so has been treating us to lots of yummy things!  On the weekend we had this custard tart - and Sarah wanted to share the recipe...

Make 4oz of short pastry...

4oz /112g  plain flour

pinch salt

1oz / 25g lard

1oz / 25g hard margarine

1 tbsp cold water

Mix the flour and salt in a bowl then rub in the fat.  Mix the cold water in to form a stiff dough.

Turn the dough onto a floured suface and knead lightly.  Roll out and line a 7 inch (18cm) flan dish with the pastry, trimming away any excess.  Prick the base lightly with a fork to prevent air bubbles from forming.  Blind bake the case - line the base with baking paper and cover with rice or baking beads.

Cook for 15 minutes at 190C / 375F / Gas mark 5

Remove the paper and rice or beads and return to the oven for a further 5 minutes.



For the custard filling...

2 medium eggs

1/2 pint / 300ml milk

2 tbsp sugar

grated nutmeg

Whisk the eggs in a heat proof bowl.  Bring the milk and sugar to the boil then pour over the eggs and cool.

Strain the custard mixture into a pastry case and sprinkle with grated nutmeg.  If you do this while the case is still on the oven shelf it's easier and you're less likely to spill the custard over the sides of the pastry!

Bake for about 20 minutes until set at 180C / 350F / Gas mark 4

London Party!

I was just going to use my new London themed illustrations for scrapbooking paper and a collage sheet but thought they'd make a nice, unusual party set too - what do you think?
They'll be available to buy from my Etsy shop either as a full collection (invitation, cupcake toppers, bunting, name place cards, tent cards and straw flags) or individually...

 

 

 

 

 

 

Doing the photo shoot for my Rule Britannia set was fun before so I think I'll have a go at a photo shoot for this one too - I might have to hold a un-birthday party so I can try them all out! :)

Holiday Shopping

When I was on holiday a couple of weeks ago I bought these two little cards featuring Art Nouveau Majolica tiles (each card is only about 8cm square)...

The top one is from a tile made in 1906 and the other is from 1908.  I really liked the colours and shapes of the designs and they got me interested in finding out a bit more.

Majolica tiles made in the Victorian era and early 20th century were white clay with embossed relief and decorated with brightly coloured lead glazes.  Green, brown and yellow glazes were more common because they were cheaper and more stable in the kiln.

I found a website called 'Tile Heaven' full of different tile designs - so many beautiful Art Nouveau tiles but a bit out of my budget at over £100 each! So these cards are the next best thing to owning originals :)

London Calling!

I loved designing these London papers and have just finished making them today :)

There's a set of 8 scrapbooking papers (12x12 inch) featuring my illustrations of famous London landmarks, the Queen's guard, Beefeaters, black taxis, red buses, phone boxes, post boxes, pigeons, umbrellas and a few simpler patterns to mix and match with the more detailed ones.

It was quite tricky working out how to put all the landmarks together - Tower Bridge, the Tower of London, Big Ben, the London Eye as well as a few others.  I decided to put them together as a sort of collaged skyline.

The skyline also appears in this coordinating collage sheet...

I think these printables would be great for London themed scrapbook pages!

The papers and collage sheet are available to buy from my Etsy shop: www.hfcSupplies.etsy.com

London sketchbook

My new London themed printables are almost finished now - I thought I'd share a peak at my sketchbook with you before the finished designs are ready to post...