Cookie Heaven

I have THE best recipe for chocolate chip cookies, and i think that it should be shared with as many people as possible. It's not from a book that's available commercially, so that makes the recipe itself all the more special. It makes about 28 cookies per batch, but I've found that they don't last very long so it's better to double the batch. Even better, triple it if you're planning to share them with your mates! To make One-Bowl Chocolate Chip Cookies you'll need:

• 125g melted butter
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence
• 1 and 3/4 cups S/R flour
• 125g choc chips

Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees, or 160 degrees on a fan forced oven.

Melt the butter in the microwave in a large mixing bowl (not metal or plastic). Add brown and white sugar, egg and vanilla essence and stir with a wooden spoon to combine. Stir in (sifted) flour and chocolate chips. It's best to put the flour in gradually, and this decreases the chance of getting flour lumps. Arrange little balls of the mixture on a greased pan. Make sure they're spread far apart because they expand a lot during baking. Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until they've gone golden-brown.

Hope you enjoy them! For a single batch you'll probably need two pans, and you'll probably fit sixteen (4 by 4) per square pan.

Happy baking!

P.S. Check down the bottom to see a new photo of Polly in 'A Slice of Picture Pie'

Go for a Picnik

Picnik is the best website I know for editing photos. This isn't just because of its fabulous format and basic web-design, or what amazing effect you can use. It's because it's FREE! You get pretty much everything for free, just make an account, and if you want all the extra you can sign up for Picnik Premium.

When you sign in, instead of saying 'Loading' it says things like 'floating kites, blooming blossoms' and just fully preping to make sure your Picnik is perfect!

To the left are the before and after shots of my bag that i took in my backyard. Turn any picture from drab to fab with a huge amount of effects and colour alterations.

Like the sound of it? The head to www.picnik.com.

Well what are you waiting for? Get Picniking!

I achieved the impossible: I sewed a handbag

It may not sound that hard to many, but making a bag was a real challenge. As you can see from the picture to the left it was a bag where its main design was pleats. Let me tell you, pleats are not easy or fun to do. I lost count how may times I'd pinned and unpinned each pleat, poked myself with pins many times in the process, ironed until my hands went wrinkly from the the steam and yime lost all meaning when i realised that I'd completely stuffed up and i had to unpick everything and start again. I have much more respect for proffessional seamstresses and anyone who has the tenacity to take on a large sewing operation. Even though this was incredibly hard to make, there's nothing like the feeling of finally achieving something that's been at the back of your mind for weeks. It is a very beautiful design of bag called the 'Estelle Handbag', and the fabulous thing is that the pattern and instructions are yours for free on http://www.burdastyle.com/patterns?filter=117&sortby=mostrecent. You will need rather a lot of material for the outer bag, the pleats take up a fair bit. And I warn you now, the pattern is straightforward but the assembly instructions are rather incomprehensible, to me at least. I believe that the pattern and instructions were originally written in German and that many deatails were 'lost in translation'. Hopefully you'll be able to soldier on if you attempt this bag, but feel free to ask questions if you need a hand. I can't guarantee that I'll be able to answer them but I'll give it a shot. Hope you find the pattern easier than I did.

For something a little different

This Friday, which happens to be Friday the Thirteenth in my corner of the globe, My friends and i are having a Friday the Thirteenth party!

While i know that it isn't a very original title, the concept is a stroke of pure genius I must say. A good way to combat the supersticious fear that the day brings. Did you know that the day is a recognised day of which evil reigns because it was then that many of the Knights Templar (which some of you may know, especially if you've read 'The Da Vinci Code) were rounded up and burnt at the stake. I believe, if my memory serves me correctly, it was for acts against the Christian God. Heresy was indeed a very common reason for barbecuing in that era.

Anyway, if you also wish to have a bit of dark fun the most important thing to remember is decorations. For those that are brave and don't mind flying in the face of centuries of folk lore and old wives tales, which we paid no thought to, then use any old superstition as a base to your celebration. Place a ladder above the door, a black cat in the hallway, spill some salt over the coffee table, hang some open umbrellas from the ceiling or if you're feeling especially lucky find an old and unwanted mirror and whack with a hammer until you reach the desired effect. For those that are a little more safety conscious perhaps leave that one and research some other more obscure superstitions over the internet.

Costumes can be whatever you desire. Anything from a simple all-black ensemble to an all out costume party depending on your budget and and energy levels.

If you are superstitious yourself, then hold a Good Luck party. Plenty of four-leave clover cut-outs and right-side-up horse-shoes over doorways and anything else that is meant to make the day easier. I don't know much about good luck traditions though. Isn't it odd how we know so much of the bad and little of the good?

Well, whatever your inclination enjoy the day and stay safe and happy!

Sparkler Art

This is a little bit different, but a very good idea for those who like photography. I'm not sure about you, but i've always loved drawing shapes with sparklers, but have wanted to be able to get a proper look at what i'm doing. Well, for those of you with certain settings on your cameras, this is possible! I have a FujiFilm camera that has a firework setting which works perfectly, but if you don't have that then just use a slow shutter speed. Experiment yourself for the best results. The pictures come out fabulous, a mess of glowing light and shape. The main problems are timing and your lack of vision when it comes to what you're creating. To solve the timing issue it's best to get a friend (or yourself if you'd rather) to signal them when you hit the shutter button while the other writes as quickly as they can with the sparkler.

The lack of vision problem is much harder to solve. I found that the only solution was trial, error, and a few packets of sparklers.

A few sparkler tips before you start though. The first and the most obvious: DON"T use sparklers when camping in the bush or if the nearby area has a lot of dry leaves or branches. That's how a recent bushfire was started, and we wouldn't want another repeat. Another safety thing you may find useful is to put all the spent sparklers in a glass bottle. This way they aren't accidentally stepped on or picked up while they're still painfully warm. The last is a tip that'll help with the overall photo. If possible, don't have any street lights in the camera view because they also show up in the end product. If you have a look at the top of the picture you'll see a few little wavy, glowing lines and while in that position they're not too noticeable it's still better to cut them out all together if possible.

Happy Sparklering!

Get the Right Fabrics

Getting the necessary fabrics can be hard, and even when you know where to look it can still be insanely difficult. At certain stores, Spotlight for example, you can find some really good materials amidst the completely cruddy. Spotlight is a fabulous store for most of your other craft and homeware needs, but many of the fabrics leave much to be desired. In the large stores you really have to exercise your patience and be in a good frame of mind if you're hoping to leave with your sanity intact. Another store which is much smaller than Spotlight but a much better percentage of good fabrics is Calico and Ivy. I believe that it's originally a Brittish store but we're lucky enough to have a few south of the equator. Calico and Ivy not only sells fabby materials, but also many how-to sewing and knitting books, a selection of buttons, essential tools-of-the-trade and even some ready-made scarves, quilts and little sewn critters. While i'm sure that there are a large amount of other good stores to find fabrics, these are the only ones i use. Another option that I'd like to explore though is the internet. If you go into eBay there're limitless amounts of secondhand, new, and even commercially sold materials for very reasonable prices. Before you go buying heaps of fabrics, make sure you have a pattern. That way you won't buy materials that end up getting lost amidst the other materials only to be recovered years later and finding that your tastes have completely changed and what you once loved is now completely ugly. Wish you luck.

The Softies Book

This book is the one that i've been referring to earlier (to those who don't normally look at blogs, the earliest post is at the bottom). It is easily the best book that I've ever seen if you like having little sewing projects on the go, and has some way-out and different patterns that you won't find easily anywhere else. For a good example of this, there's a pattern for a cute, smiley little house that would be a great house-warming present, or in another Softies book (there's more than one, but i'm not sure how many) you can even make a felt tree, which i must say is incredibly adorable. I'll admit, not everything in there is completely amazing, it does have two or three patterns that are just too weird and incredibly ugly, but the rest more than make up for the minority.

On the left of the above pic is the 'Cosmonaut Devil' which is one of the many quirky characters you can create, and you already know Polly on the right. My little sister made the little devil, but she shortened the legs on the pattern giving it a much cuter appearance.

For completely personal gifts find a pattern that you love or relates to the occassion you need a gift for and alter it slightly. That migth just mean changing fabrics to suit the taste of the person recieving the gift, or as my little sister did, adding, taking or altering to get the perfect little softie.

Great book to try if you need a holiday project to entertain you during the weather extremeties (hot or cold depending where you're reading this from)

Enjoy!