Wait a Miniature

 Hey guys, I know it has been a while again, and I'm hoping to resolve this.

I have always been fascinated by anything miniature.

Ever since I was a little girl, I've loved all things small.

I used to love Barbie's, as most young girls did, and would sit making doll sized food for mine, mainly from a similar substance as play dough.

As I grew up, the joy I found in a tiny world got lost for a while, as real life held most of my attention.

Back in July this year, I under went a total hysterectomy, and found myself bored during my recovery. So as usual, I turned to my good friend YouTube to fill in the dull hours.

I cannot tell you what I was watching on there, but it was something to do with polymer clay.

I soon became obsessed with the likes of Sugar Charm Shop, Akameru Kawaii, The Nerdy Crafter and Maive Ferrando.

 

Watching them create these tiny food items, and other fantastic creations, left me in Awe. Their creations could only be classed as tiny pieces of art.

 

As the weeks of my recovery passed, I decided to have a go myself, and purchased a few items via ebay to get me started.

 

My first creations were very basic, and my food item skills need 'polishing' but I'm hoping to improve as time passes.

 

These four ladies awoke the memories from my childhood, and instilled a new fired up passion for anything miniature.

 

I'm now three months post op, recovered well, and now happy to call myself a miniaturist-is that even a word or term?-

 

 

 

 

 

 

So this all leads me to this post...To introduce you all to my new love of life, and hopefully maybe even convert a few people into the wonderful mini life.

 

These were my first attempts at polymer clay miniature food. I would like to think I've improved somewhat.

 (French baguette, Christmas cake and various doughnuts.)


 
 





Mince Pies and Pizza










making these few pieces only increased my appetite, and I started building up my collection of clay tools. I even fashioned my oven small clay oven.
 




I couldn't stop making things, and I loved every minute of it

 

 

 

 

Then I started thinking bigger!

I bought lollypop (popsickle) sticks, in Jumbo, regular and skinny varieties.

I started making my own miniature furniture.  





My first attempt was my attempt at making a full, miniature, Christmas dinner.


There really was no hope for me then, I was hooked, and started wanting to make little scenes.

I knew straight away that I wanted to do some kind of wizard scene, but that seemed too big of a task to start with.

So I decided on a little Autumnal scene, you know, a pumpkin, apples, a nice picnic blanket in shades of red, green and gold.

 I pictured it in my head, with a stack of books...

I also wanted to incorporate a chair I started to make...but the scene didn't work.

One odd chair at a picnic?

It wouldn't do, so then I started thinking of a little corner of a room, and I ran with it.


I was so pleased with the results of my efforts.












My mum took one look at it, and fell in love, so it now resides in her house, along with the whole bakery items, that also, inevitably, became it's own kind of scene.

 

After finishing the autumn scene, I decided to take the plunge, and start my wizard'y world.



I am exceptionally proud of this piece.


I spent about 20 hours working on all the little bits and pieces, as well as the whole structure.

 

So, this is where I'm at. I have a new passion, that will last me a lifetime,

 

thanks for stopping by, and please check out the links to the four fabulous youtuber's. You won't be disappointed.

 

I'm also going to be doing tutorials of the things I make, so don't forget to stop by, and give my channel a like, and subscribe.

 

XOXO

 

Inky Fingers

 

Hey all, been a while again...I know...I SUCK! lol.

 

Ok, so todays post is based on making your own ink pad storage.

 

 

I decided to make this today, following a really good sort out of the cove, which was seriously over due...Not even pigs would want to wallow around on my desk, as it was this morning!

 

 

I will refrain from showing you the before and after pictures...I do not want that evidence, of my messy nature out there, for all and sundry to see.

 

 

Ok, so let me get started in showing you how I made my ink pad storage.

 

 

Things you'll need:

A narrow, strong, carboard box, that is slightly wider than your ink pads.

Extra, strong, clean cardboard for shelves

A good, strong glue; I used both acrylic, and hot glue.

Some lovely background papers of your choice, or you can just paint your unit.

 

 

 

I've had the box from one of those 'satnav' holders, from Poundworld, stuck on a shelf for a while now, as I have an aversion to throwing good cardboard away, when I know I can make something useful with it. So I decided to make use of it, seeing as it was kind of the perfect size for my, somewhat small, collection of ink pads.

 

 

 

I started off by sticking down any and all tabs that were on the box

 

 

I used Dovecraft Clear Acrylic Glue for this step, but you could use your own preference of glue.

 

 

 

Once they had dried and stuck well, I took one of my larger craft/Stanley knives and carefully cut away the front side of the box

 

 

I may have carried on a little bit too much and nicked my finger...OUCH...please don't do that!

 

Once I had removed the front, I cut about an extra 1cm from the depth of the box, making it the perfect size for my ink pads.

 

 

Once This was done, I then chose some papers to cover it with.

 

 

 

 

 

Once the box was covered, I started making the internal shelves. This was done by taking the front piece, that had been discarded, and cutting it to the depth of the storage part. This was then used as a template for the shelves.

 

 

For the shelves, I took some, un-creased, clean cardboard, and drew around my template, adding 3cm at either side, to allow for the shelf depth, making sure I was working with the lines within the cardboard. This adds stability to the finished product.

 

 

 

 

 

Once done, you should have something that looks like this...

 

 

Carefully score the line with the craft knife, being careful not to go all the way though it.

 

 

Check that your shelf fits, with the two flappy parts facing downwards. See below.

 

 

Also check that your ink pad fits, trim the shelve if needed to fit.

 

Once you are happy with the fit, cut out more shelves in the same way, to fill your storage space.

 

 

Apply hot glue to the sides of your main unit, and stick your shelves in place, lining up the flaps of each shelve, to allow you the correct depth for your ink pads to sit.

 

 

When all this is done, you should wind up with a usable storage unit like the one below.

 

 

As I left the top flap on my unit, it meant I could pierce a new hole through the top, allowing me to hang my unit up, to help save space.

 

 

This was the unit hanging from one of my shelf fronts.

 

 

Of course you don't have to hang it, it should be completely free standing as displayed below.

 

 

And that's it...Easy, right? You can adapt this unit to house a multitude of lovely crafty stash.

 

 

Well, I will TRY and not leave it so long before I post again.

 

I hope you enjoyed this little DIY post, and that you will give this, or something similar a go yourself.

 

Thanks for stopping by.

 

XOXO

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

BBQ Dry Rub- a dub dub

Hi guys, I decided to make a batch of Slimming World Friendly, Syn free dry rub mix. It's such an easy process, and can lift any of your pulled meat choices to the next level. I started off with a nice clean, and dry bowl. to which I added a multitude of herbs and spices, of which, I will add at the bottom of this post.

       

It's so easy to make, and I'm sure most of you will already have their ingredients in your store cupboard. 

You can use it to coat meat in, or used to liven up a lasagne or just a general marinade. If not using it straight away, decant it into a sterilised jar, and add a sterilised, tight fitting lid. You can also add a jar cover, and matching label, to make it special, maybe to give as a gift. It should keep for about 4 weeks, if stored in a cool dry place

This stuff is soooo good, and can be used fir so many tasty treats, and it doesn't have to be counted, so go ahead, know your selves out with how much you want to use, and what for.

This is the how to video

You will need:

A clean, dry bowl

A sterilised jar and tightly fitting lid for storing the mix one made.

1/4 cup of smoked paprika

2 tablespoons of cumin

1 slightly heaped tbsp of granulated sweetener

1 level teaspoon of chilli powder ( reduce for less spice, or add more to your taste, if you like plenty of spice)

a good twist of ground black pepper

2 table spoons of garlic powder

1 teasppon of coriander, dried or ground works

1 table spoon of onion powder

1 level Tea spoon of salt

and one vegetable stock cube, crumbled.  

Method:

add all the ingredients onto the bowl, and mix well,

then decant into a sterilised, clean, dry jar and keep the sterilised lid o the side, then screw on, once the jar is full.

if you like, you can add a nice lid cover, and a pretty, matching label.

you can keep this for yourself, or maybe give it as a gift.

The calculation of syns works out at zero, due to the fact that all the ingredients used, falls into the syn free store cupboard basics.                      

Thanks for stopping by again

Love Lindsi

 XOXO               

 

 

 

 

 

Healthy Chinese Salt and Pepper chicken

Hi there everyone,

It's been a while I know,

and I'm hoping to gain your forgiveness by posting this scrummy recipe for Salt and Pepper Chicken.

I've been trying to get my head in the right place, to get me back on track with trying to lose some weight. At the start of last week, it finally clicked, and I have been eating healthily since then, which is just coming up two weeks since I started.

Now the whole house is on the weight-loss wagon.

As a mum, of two, and the wife of a very hungry man, I sometimes struggle to come up with healthy, hearty meals, that suit us all, seeing as my husband is almost like having an extra child, and a fussy one at that.

He gets bored really easily, and soon loses interest in trying to lose weight, so my efforts this time, to help keep him on the wagon, have had to increase.

He has two main weaknesses with food. The first is gravy, he likes it thick, and he likes it in great quantities!

And the second, is Chinese food. He has a food love affair with salt and pepper chips, and salt and pepper chicken.

so the latter will be the main body for this post, with another, for another day, and will deal with his gravy needs.

I'd heard people talking about using instant potato flakes as a kind of breadcrumb coating, and pulled a face, as I couldn't see how it could possibly work, and thought it would just turn to potato flavoured mush.

I was sooo wrong. My first attempts started as a popular slimming word recipe, for KFC style chicken. I adapted this, and made homemade, chicken nuggets, and they were LUSH! they went down a storm, and I, for once had clean plates, with a chorus of requests, asking when I could make it again.

the instant mash, was an instant smash!

I then started to try and think out of the box, and how I could keep my husband interested in his diet, but so he could have what he fancied, and so came up with the idea of doing Salt and Pepper chicken.

It too was a roaring success, so I thought I would share my recipe with you all.

Here's how to make it.

THINGS YOU'LL NEED:

~1/2 cup instant potato flakes

a pinch of chilli powder

~1/4 tsp garlic salt

~1/4 tsp celery salt

~~a good pinch of pepper

2 chicken stock cubes, the bouillon kind

3 cloves of garlic

1 de-seeded fresh red chilli

4 good sized skinless,

chicken breasts,

with all visible fat removed.

1 thinly sliced onion.

fry light

1/2 cup of boiling water

Method

Preheat your oven to 190degrees Celsius/ 375 degrees

Fahrenheit/gas mark 5~in a clean shallow container, add 1/2 a cup of instant mashed potato flakes. add all the herbs and spices and mix well.

add the two stock cubes to the boiling water, and mix well, to create a loose paste.

 prepare the chicken, by trimming it of any visible fat, and cut it into roughly one inch chunks.

spray a baking sheet with the fry light and set up a little production line of the paste mix, the seasoned flakes, the chicken and the baking sheet.

dip the chicken into the stock paste,

then roll in the instant potato flakes mix, and then place on the tray, carry on this process until all the chicken has been coated, and spaced evenly

on the tray.

Then pop in the oven for 20-25 minutes, and cook until piping hot all the way through, and golden brown.

While the chicken cooks, chop up the chilli and the garlic, then chop up the onion.

Once the chicken is cooked, heat a frying pan, and spray it with frylight.

throw in the onion, chili and garlic, and stir-fry until the onion just starts to soften.

add in the chicken, and stir-fry for a few minutes longer, to make sure the chicken has been well coated with the onion, chilli and garlic. try a piece to test the seasoning, and add extra salt and pepper should you wish.

then serve it up for a Syn Free version of this takeaway classic

This recipe is a tweak in the eyes of Slimming World, but they say it is down to personal choice. I class it as syn free, as I deduct the potato ratio of my meal to balance out what has been used for the coating, and this 1/2 cup amount is plenty for 4 portions.

and that's it, simple salt and pepper chicken

Here's the YouTube video accompaniment for this post

Disclaimer: Please be mindful though, if you do decide to tweak, and remember that if your weight-loss slows right down, or stops, tweaks should be the first thing that you revive and take out of your meal.

If you would like to try this recipe, but don't want to tweak, then you can always use breadcrumbs from your healthy b choice, using wholemeal bread crumbs. Failing that, eave off the coating if you are at all worried. It will still taste great

 Meals like this are now helping me and my husband on our weight-loss journey, as he still feels like he's had a real treat.

until next time...

XOXO