Left over ...

Christmas day lunch pudding (well something like that!)

Like every family at Christmas we all like something different for our Christmas lunch. 

 My family came for the day as they do every year and we have lots of this and that so that we all get something that we like and enjoy on this special day.

Each year I end up making lots of cranberry sauce and only a few teaspoons of it are eaten. Some of us also like apple sauce so this year Mum brought 4 jars with her which she had made on Christmas Eve.  

When it comes to the pudding some of us love custard, some love cream, some brandy cream and Mr P. loves brandy butter but he will only have one spoonful out of the pot and no one else eats it. We had so much brandy butter left this year that I thought that I would try cooking with it.

 I used all of our left over cranberry sauce, apple sauce as well as the butter and brandy butter and you can see the result above which we had for Sunday Lunch today.  

Very nice too, everyone came back for seconds!  

Ingredients

Left over Cranberry Sauce

Left over Apple Sauce

1-2 extra eating apples

10oz Porride Oats

5oz Flour 

(I really don't think that it matters whether it is S/R or Plain - I have used both in the past)

8oz Butter 

(I used all of the Brandy Butter and Butter that we had left and then topped it up with Benecol hoping that this would offset all the the cholesterol in the rest of the pudding!)

{4oz Dark sugar or sugar to taste}

1-2tsp Cinnamon

Method

Empty all of the cranberry & apple sauce into an oven proof dish.  

Core the apples and cut into small pieces (so that they will cook quickly) and add into the sauce.  

Sprinkle the cinnamon over the top of the fruit.

Mix the oats and flour in mixing bowl.

Add the sugar at this stage if you want it but I do not add any extra sugar as the fruit is sweet enough.

Add the butter and rub together (as if making breadcrumbs for pastry).

Sprinkle the mix over the fruit and sprinkle some extra dark sugar on top so that it will go crispy in the oven.

Bake on 180 degrees Celsius for approx 20-30 minutes.

  I would have added sultanas or some raisins but the littlest Miss P. does not like them and to be quite honest it was rich and delicious enough. 

Enjoy!

We would like to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

Thank you for all of your support and custom this past year!

Best Wishes

Philpotts

Die Cut Christmas Projects ...

I don't know about you but Christmas Crackers are an essential part of the celebrations in the Philpott household at Christmas.  We love them and not only have them on the Christmas table but have them in the Christmas tree and have even been known to wrap presents to look like a cracker to disguise it before giving it to the lucky recipient.

I even try to find crackers at other times of the year as I would love to have them on the Easter table as well as on the table at Birthday Parties.  That all said, you can imagine how excited I was to try the new cracker die from Tonic Studios which came in a few weeks ago.

December is approaching fast and so yesterday Little Miss P and I enjoyed an afternoon playing with ideas for the Christmas table as well as making a few gift tags as I need to think about wrapping presents very soon.

I made a traditional cracker using some lovely papers from Authentique Paper.  I wanted to keep more of a vintage feel to my crackers so I added an extra piece of paper at either end of my crackers (shown in red on the photo above).  This was really easy to do.  I just used my Dotty Border Punch from Tonic Studios to create 2 border strips which I stuck to the two ends of the cracker before rolling up and securing into place.

The gold edges on both sides of the cracker were created using a Krylon Gold Leaf Pen for that extra special bit of detail.

This time the doily ends were created by punching strips of computer/copier paper with my Dotty Punch.  The vintage effect blue paper is from the Winter Tortellini range from Jilli Bean Soup.  The glitter chipboard snowflakes are from Pink Paislee and make a simple embellishment on the front of the cracker.

A little bit of red gingham ribbon adds to the vintage effect.  Finally I used my new Funky Pattern Tape  to add a sentiment to a piece of brown card, trimmed and added to the front of the cracker.

If you have not seen our new Funky Pattern Tape check it out on our website.  You get 6 meters of printed tape with 'Merry Christmas' written in several different fonts.  Since trying it I have not been able to put it down and so you will see it lots throughout this post.  It gives an effect very similar to a rub on but in my opinion is much easier to use.  You simply run it along your card as you would any other tape runner but instead of adhesive you will be left with the sentiment.

Little Miss P. enjoyed watching me make the crackers so much that she wanted to have a go at making her own and this is the result ...

 Not bad at all for an eight year old.  She spent lots of time making sure that it looked exactly as she wanted it to.  She even used the little diamond offcuts that come away when you have cut the cracker using the die to make the star on the front of the cracker.  

I used up my waste bits as well to make a flower/star gift tag ...

Once I had started I just could not stop so here are a few of the other projects that I created:

I created this gift tag using the Build a Wreath  from Spellbinders and some more of the Authentique Paper Festive Range  (Spot the Funky tape runner again!)

I wanted to add a little more depth to the wreath so I cut the wreath from 2 coordinating papers and used bits of both to build the wreath by slipping the individual branches into the pre determined slits on the base.

As I had cut the wreath twice I had a couple of little bits left over so I used them as holly on the Christmas pudding gift tag below:

The tag was created by punching a circle out of brown cardstock and using the Tonic Studios Dairy Circle die to cut a patterned circle from white computer paper.  I stuck this to the top of the circle, trimmed and edged with a little Peanut Brittle Memento ink and a sponge.  I punched a hole in the top to add some bakers twine, added the holly and a button and added a sentiment using the Funky Tape Runner.

The Funky Tape runner, glittered snowflakes, twine and a button were used to create this simple but effective gift tag.  Adding Ice Stickles Glitter Glue around the edge keeps the design simple yet festive.  I actually used the same pot of glitter glue on all of the projects even through I have not mentioned it!  

Finally I made a couple of projects using my new Holiday Trees die from Spellbinders  ...

The first is a simple gift tag using the die, the tape runner and some glitter paper from My Minds Eye ...

Glitter Snowdomes add a little bit of festive bling!

... and then a couple of 3d place settings ...

To make these cut all of the trees from the set from strong paper (I used the Festive Range again for a traditional feel)

Ink the edges of each with a sponge and Peanut Brittle Memento ink ...

Add foam to the back of each piece and build up the tree using all of the pieces so that the smallest is on the top.  Stick to a small place setting card and add the sentiment from the tape runner.  The baubles are created using some Orange Glass Dots.

I hope that you have enjoyed these projects.  I am off to make our Dairy Free Philpott Family Cheesecake recipe now as we have guests for Sunday lunch tomorrow.   It might sound a little odd but I promise you it is the most delicious cheese cake ever.  I'll post the recipe when I get chance.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

*****

Candy Canes ...

The girls and I are well and truly into the spirit of Christmas here at Philpotts now. 

We spend our days picking and packing orders most of which include Christmas designs so I know that you are also thinking about your Christmas cards and craft projects as well.  

Mr P. is joining in the Christmas spirit but has banned Christmas music until at least the first week in December ...  I have not told him yet that the Christmas tree is going up next week ....

 only joking ...  ... or am I?

I finally managed to find some time to sort through a few Christmas cards from past workshops today and came across this simple little card which could easily be made with the new Spellbinders D-lites that we have received in this week (see the link below)

For those of you who subscribe to the newsletter you will have already seen the link and the code 'freebrads' for this weeks freebie Christmas Epoxy Brads when you spend £20 on craft items over at www.philpotts.com

If you have not had the newsletter and would like to see the freebie codes each week you can sign up over on our home page.  In the meantime you can use the code above this week to get your free gift.

I'm back off to sing some more Christmas carols now so I will say goodbye and wish you all a lovely weekend!

****************************

Creations with Apertures #2

Where has the time gone to?  

I had planned to post lots of aperture projects this week and once again the time has just run away with me .  I am not sure what happens round here.  I get to the warehouse each morning with so many good intentions to craft and Blog and within the first 10 minutes they have all gone out the window!

So ... today I am making an extra special effort to share several projects with you all in one post!

PROJECT TIME 

{you can see the products used by clicking on the coloured title links}

PROJECT 1

This ship project uses the Labels Eleven die from Spellbinders

After cutting the aperture from the front of the card trim small triangles of coordinating paper and stick onto a scrap piece of card in a 'curve' shape.  The curved bunting is then trimmed leaving a white edge.  

Age with a little brown ink and stick to the bottom of the aperture as shown.

Creating your bunting in this way - by sticking onto cardstock first and then trimming - allows you to place bunting across an aperture and it will stay supported!

You can see from the picture below that we created a second bunting and attached this over the aperture on the inside of the card to make everything look nice and neat!

The ship stamp came from a stamp set called  'All Aboard' from Technique Tuesday.  This is stamped on the inside of the card (I stamped the image through the front of the card when closed - this will help to position the card in the correct place).

Light and dark blue papers have been added to the bottom of the card for decoration and to give the suggestion of sea.  The white label at the bottom of the card is created by using the cut out piece of cardstock (left over from cutting the aperture on the front of the card).  This has been trimmed with a paper trimmer and added to the bottom of the card so that you have space to write a message.

PROJECT 2

This nostalgic Penny Farthing card has been created using the Spellbinders Standard Circle - Large die

We have also used the papers from the Boy Crazy range from MME

The large circle aperture (the front wheel of the bike) has been cut using the 6cm die from the set.

 The inside of the card has been covered with the reverse of the Stitched Paper from the range 

(the grey stars)

Using the 'Geared Up' paper from MME trim one of the circles and position so that it sits behind the circle aperture (it may be easier to do this with the card closed.  Alternatively you can use a pencil to make the aperture through the circle onto the inside of the card so that you know where to stick the circle)

Once the circle is in place edge around it with a black gel pen .  This circle will create the front wheel of the Penny Farthing on the outside of the card and the wheel of the Uni Cycle on the inside of the card.

Use the picture as a guide to draw some simple shapes to represent the Uni Cycle.

On the front of the card another smaller circle was trimmed from the Gear paper and stuck to the front of the card to create the second wheel of the Penny Farthing.  Use the black gel pen again to edge around the wheel and to draw simple shapes (as shown) to create the shape of the bike.

More papers from the Boy Crazy range were used for the bunting and the sentiments were added.

The Sopwith Camel used in the photographs can be found here

PROJECT 3

This Strawberry card uses the Classic Heart die from Spellbinders.  

Use the die to cut a heart shape from the front of a square card.  

Once the heart aperture has been cut draw and cut a 'strawberry top' from spotty green paper.  This was then mounted onto thicker card stock for support, edged with a pale brown ink pad and attached to the top of the aperture {Tip: create a second strawberry top and attach to the back of the heart aperture to neaten the inside of the card}

 The inside of the card was created by tearing coordinating paper into strips.  These have been stuck to the base card in horizontal strips to create a vintage paper effect.

The lip on the right hand side is important for this design!

Cut a piece of card approx 2cm wide and cover it with coordinating paper.  I edged it with ink again and doodled a black stitched effect along one edge.

Adhere this to the right hand side of the card with foam tape.  

 When the card is closed the front of the card is pushed so that it is held by the lip which creates a dome to the front of the card and dimension on the strawberry.

*******************

I hope that you enjoy having a go at the projects or using one or two of the techniques used.


I am off to get the Newsletter out now (before something else comes up!).  If you don't already get the Newsletter you can receive this and all of our special offers by subscribing on the home page at www.philpotts.com

This week we have a FREE set of Black and White gel pens for you when you spend £20 over at www.philpotts.com

Check out the Newsletter for more details including the CODE required for the offer.  If you do not know how to get the Newsletter or have subscribed but have not received this just send us an e-mail at teresa@philpotts.com and we will send you a copy of the Newsletter with the code.


Happy Crafting!