Base 200g biscuit crumbs 1/4 cup brown sugar 70g butter, melted Filling 500g cream cheese, softened 3/4 cup caster sugar 1 large lemon, rind finely grated, juiced 3 tsp powdered gelatine 300ml cream, lightly whipped 375g small strawberries, hulled 1/2 cup strawberry jam
Grease and line the base and sides of a springform cake pan. Mix biscuit crumbs, brown sugar and melted butter together. Press into base of pan and place in the fridge. Heat lemon juice and gelatine in a small saucepan over medium heat, stirring with a for until dissolved. Set aside to cool (this mixture needs to be the same temperature as the cream cheese mixture before combining.) Using an electric mixer, beat cream cheese, sugar and lemon rind until smooth. Beat gelatine into cream cheese mixture. Fold in cream, mixing until combined. Spoon filling over base and smooth surface. Refrigerate cheesecake for at least 4 hours or overnight until set. Arrange strawberries, pointed end up, over cheesecake. Warm jam in a heatproof, microwave-safe bowl for 45-60 seconds. Drizzle warm jam over strawberries. Chill for 30 minutes or until jam sets. Another version of the same cheesecake…this time using buttersnap biscuits as the base. I put them in patty pan trays and into the oven for 5 minutes to soften. As soon as they come out of the oven and are still hot and soft, press the biscuits in the pan with the back of a soup spoon to make them turn into a little cup shape. They will cool in this shape. I used half the filing mix above and it made enough to fill almost 2 packets buttersnap biscuits.
For the last few years I have been wanting to make a cool advent calendar with fun activities or events for us to do every day leading up to Christmas. I just haven’t got it together in time though. The 1st December rolls around and I curse myself for leaving it too late and promise that I will have one made by the next Christmas. Still didn’t happen this year.
At 9:30pm on Friday night I was thinking again about how I really wanted to have an advent calendar and decided that I would make one THAT night! It had to be finished before I went to bed so that I could work out the activities over the weekend and be ready to start on Monday morning.
So, I am a week late, but we still have three fun weeks to take part in the family Christmas Countdown!!
It was actually good that I challenged myself to get it finished in the evening because it meant that I didn’t spend any money on extra supplies and had to use what I had on hand already around the house. The scrapbook paper box was dusted off and I found quick and easy instructions online to make little envelopes out of a square of paper and used bits and pieces from my scrapbooking stash to number each envelope. I really, really like the look of this advent calendar, but didn’t have the time to go to that much effort or detail. I LOVE the wooden frame and all of the funky bits and pieces (how cool is the crocheted number 3?) – maybe next year 😉 Then I had to decide how to hang it all together…I thought about attaching some string to the walls with blutac but had visions of the kids pulling it down, or it falling down all the time. Then Mum suggested attaching them to a canvas – cool! Instead of buying a new canvas I grabbed a painting from the garage and covered it in fabric. (Nothing permanent, just used sticky tape on the back!) Some wool strung across the canvas and attached to the sides with drawing pins and then I used paper clips to hang the envelopes off the wool! DONE!!! Today I took a look at my diary and worked out what activities we are going to do each day, wrote them down on slips of paper and stuck on in each envelope. The good thing about this is that I wanted to do a lot of the activities already but now I am sharing them with the kids and helping them to feel the Christmas spirit and hype! I’ll try and blog about some of the activities as we go along…for now, this is the list (the other good thing is that the kids don’t know what is coming up next so I can change it the night before if I need to!)
Day 7: Tree up and decorated Day 8: Make and post Christmas cards to friends Day 9: Make snickers rocky road Day 10: Make paper chain decorations Day 11: Hang candy canes on tree Day 12: Go to the Cherry Shed for a milkshake Day 13: Go for a walk along the beach Day 14: Dance to Christmas songs and read Christmas stories under the tree before bed Day 15: Family games night Day 16: Bake Christmas treats Day 17: Wrap and deliver Christmas treats to teachers Day 18: Have breakfast for dinner (pancakes) and make Reindeer food Day 19: Go to church Christmas party Day 20: Make gingerbread houses Day 21: Watch a Christmas movie with popcorn Day 22: Make mini lolly wreaths Day 23: Go to the Hawley Beach Shop after dinner for an icecream Day 24: Open one present each early (Mum and Dad choose which one) Day 25: Christmas!!! Have a FUN day!
SUPPLIES: Envelope instructions from here Envelopes made from various scrapbook papers (mostly Basic Grey) cut into 6″ squares Envelopes decorated with various scrapbook supplies from “the stash” Canvas covered with Prints Charming fabric – Starburst in Charatruese Scrap wool, draw pins and paperclips
My scrap box is getting WAY too big. Trouble is, I have a really hard time throwing scraps away…but I need to start doing something with them!
Fabric Scrap Cards! They are all over the internet, but I haven’t been able to find instructions or a tutorial that is really quick and simple (i.e. NOT using fusible webbing, that’s a bit too much fuss for a card!) – so, I had a play around and this is how I do it…would be fun to make Christmas cards or gift tags to go on your presents this time of the year!
A selection of Sandi Henderson’s new range “Meadow Sweet” arrived on my doorstep this morning (actually it was shoved in my meter box as we weren’t home…the posty and I have an arrangement…) It is DIVINE! A bit of a retro/vintage feel mixed up with happy prints and rich colours. What to sew…
He is getting too big. Not so long ago it was all trains and train tracks. Now we are building, building, building. It is mostly just him, but sometimes I get conned into studying the thick instruction booklets and hundreds of little blocks to make cars and trucks for him. It is HARD and frustrating, but once I start I have to admit I get a little bit hooked! Today I spent 1 1/2 hours making a cool red racing car and launcher (from Lego Tecnhic – that is tricky stuff…used to belong to my brothers). After about half an hour of playing with it, Oscar decided to make some modifications – everything “transforms” at the moment. I was horrified! After all that hard work!!! I keep reminding myself that he is learning and being creative and all of that other important stuff!
