Piano Cake

Hey Kids, 

Satch here. On friday, it was Mummy Satch's birthday and I was in charge of the organising/food etc. (I would say Daddy Satch was also in charge, but as he spent the majority of Friday afternoon in the pub, I'm gonna go ahead and say Cobb and I take full credit!) 

Obviously, a birthday is a fantastic reason to get creative with cake, and as my Mum is a pianist, I gave myself a bit of a structural challenge and decided to make a piano cake.

Apologies for the camerawork, I'm taking photos on my phone until I can get a nice new camera!

It's a little smaller than I would have liked - I think if I used 4 eggs and 8oz of everything it would have stood up on its own without the box, so you may want to change the quantities of ingredients. However, I'm not sure about this, so I'll write it how I made it. 

To make this cake you will need:

6oz Caster Sugar 
6oz Butter (I used dairy-free) 
3 Eggs 
1-2oz Cocoa Powder
4-5oz Self-Raising Flower (With these last two ingredients you need to make it up to 6oz, so it depends how chocolatey you want it. I think I just did 1oz cocoa and the rest flour). 
A Lined Square Cake Tin 

To decorate:
Butter
Icing Sugar
Cocoa Powder 
Dark Chocolate
Marshmallows
Chocolate Fingers
Toothpicks
Possibly a cardboard box covered in greaseproof paper to stand it against!

It's your basic chocolate sponge recipe so I won't go into too fine a detail. Cream together the butter and sugar, mix in the eggs (I don't bother whisking them first) and add in the flour and cocoa powder. Then, pour your mixutre into your cake tin and place it in a 180 degree oven for 18-20 minutes. 

When your cake is done, leave it to cool on a wire rack while you make your chocolate buttercream. I don't really have a recipe for this, I just mix together butter, cocoa powder and icing sugar and keep adding different components in until it tastes good! Also, I used dairy free butter which is why the icing looks a bit speckled, as soya butter doesn't mix in as thoroughly. Meh, it still tastes the same! 

You basically want to divide your cake into thirds, and trim a little off the top of one of them so that it's thinner than the other two (Hence the random extra bit of cake in the photo) This section will form the bit with the keys on, so you don't want it so thick that it makes the cake topple over. 

Cover your sections with the icing, making sure to cover the sections where the cake will connect. On the keys section, you're obviously going to need keys so add a line of marshmallows along the bottom edge. To make the black keys I melted dark chocolate and piped it on using a really thin nozzle, and I also piped "Squire Ealing" on the top section, as this is what it says on my Mum's piano.

Then it's time to assemble your piano! You may need an extra pair of hands for this (Cobb came in very handy at this moment!) Stand the bottom section against the back of your box (or on its own if you're feeling confident!) and stick four toothpicks into the top, spread out evenly. I tried to do this without toothpicks and it all just fell over, so don't try to be a hero. 

Then, pick up your middle section - the one with the keys - and push it down so the back joins on at the toothpicks. Here's where you need a second pair of hands: while someone holds the middle section in place, slide two chocolate fingers underneath either end of the keys, to make the piano legs. I found that the fingers were slightly too high, so I chopped the ends off. 

With the other person still holding the middle section, slide two toothpicks up underneath the middle of the piano, making sure they cross at the centre. This stops the cake from collapsing in the middle. Then, insert four toothpicks along the back of this section - in a slightly different place to where the bottom toothpicks are - and slide on the top part. 

Here it is close up.

It's a little messy when you examine it closely, but it's so delicate I didn't want to touch it once it was together! Plus, this isn't the Great British Bake Off or anything, so I'll take that. I chose buttercream because it tastes better, and makes it look more like my mum's piano, but using fondant icing might give you a better finish, especially if you did a grand piano version. Just remember to warn everyone about the toothpicks before they eat it! 

Until next time, 
Satch x


 

Cute Jam Jars for Any Emergency

Hello children, 

Satch here. It was recently our friend Anna's birthday, which made for a perfect craft-pportunity! To understand this present, you have to understand three things about Anna Jacklin: 

1. She can never say no to a challenge. 
2. She will never admit when she's ill. 
3. She would rather wear old clothes with holes in/patch things up than buy loads of new stuff. 

With this in mind, I thought I'd give Miss Jacklin everything she needs to cope with her ridiculous lifestyle. Enter, Anna's Supplies for Any Little Emergency: 

I got the idea from another blog, which turned a jam jar into a mini sewing box and made a little pin cushion for the lid. There are different things in each one, so I'll go through them individually. 

For your "Sewing Emergencies" Jam Jar you will need: 

A jar (I keep calling these jam jars but actually the ones I used are mini jars of Dolmio sauce!) 

Cotton wool 

Superglue
 
Material slightly bigger than the lid

A ribbon/piece of lace 

Cream Paint

A label - make it pretty!

Supplies (These can be personalised to fit the sewer in question. Anna has a lot of basic sewing stuff anyway so I just threw in fun things, and a couple of pins, needles and spools of thread. On the right you can see a few different pretty ribbons - wrapped around an old wine cork and a bobbin - buttons and scraps of material). 

If you're using an old sauce jar like me, you'll need to soak it in warm water to get the label off. I stuck mine in the dishwasher, because I'm lazy. 

Start by painting your lid cream. I had to do two coats to cover up the dark green Dolmio logo.

To make the pin cushion, glue your cotton wool balls to the top of the lid (I used cotton pads and it didn't work as well, so go for the balls). Then, cover the wool with your material and glue it down. To hide any messy glue bits, tie your piece of ribbon/lace round the edge of the pin cushion.

Once you've done that, fill the jar with your supplies and stick the pins in the cushion, so the recipient knows what the hell it is! Finish it off by glueing your label on the side, preferably over any sticky residue left by the original label! 



The other jars are a lot easier than the sewing one! The next one I did is full of medical supplies, as Anna can't admit she's ill and so will not have any of this stuff in her house. When she wakes up in the middle of the night with the runs, she'll thank me! 

For your "Medical Emergencies" jar you will need: 

A jar 

A Label (Preferably in the same style as the others) 

Green paint 

Medical supplies (Just make sure you're not giving out dangerous drugs or anything like that!) I used
- Lemsip
- Three kinds of plasters (Plain ones, peppa pig ones and ones with tigers on - plasters should always be fun!)
- Immodium 
- Fybogel (which is the opposite of an immodium!) 
- Paracetemol
- Ibuprofen
- Feminax 
- Antacids
- Soothers  

The process for this one is much the same as the last, just paint your lid, fill you jar and stick on your label!




















The last jar is loosely termed "DIY Emergencies" mainly because Anna has been known to do silly challenges in the past, and so will need general build-it fix-it supplies for when she breaks something in the process! 

For this one, you will need: 

A jar

A label 

Blue paint

DIY Supplies. I went with
- Post its
- Elastic bands
- Paper clips
- Tooth picks
- Batteries
- A pencil
- String
- Matches 
- Super glue
- Blu tak
- No more nails strips
- You can't see this, as I ordered it on Ebay and it didn't arive in time, but I also got her a multi-tool thing, kind of like a pen knife, which makes this look a lot more DIY-esque! 

You know what to do! Lid, label and fill her up! 





















After I had my jars I decided to put them in a nice box, which I made out of a piece of cardboard and covered with tissue paper. Et Voila!

What do you think? The thing I love about these jars is that they're so cheap to make. The only thing I spent money on was the mutli-tool thing that didn't arrive on time, and the rest I just got from around my house! Ok, so this may not have been a cheap present for my parents...

Plus, there are so many things you could fill them with. If you have a friend who likes to make cupcakes, you could make a jar of little decorations and writing icing pens. Or you could fill jars with someone's favourite sweets or different kinds of tea bags. I also thought of doing ones of hair things/make up, but that would up the price tag a bit! What would you fill yours with? 

Until next time, 
Satch x

In the Words of Julie Andrews: Brown Paper Wrapping Ideas

Hi Kids, 

Satch here. I've recently become really into recycling and upcycling stuff - much to the annoyance of my mother who is much grieved by the fact that I won't throw anything away in case I can use it later! One thing I have discovered the joys of is, to paraphrase The Sound of Music, brown paper with string.

I've seen blogs that take the brown paper and string wrapping a bit further, so I decided to give it a try for my Grandma's birthday (who, incidentally, did not really care either way). 

For this one, you will need: 

Brown paper (preferably recycled, as I've done with the bag that mum's Jamie Oliver order came in!)
Cellotape
Scissors
String
A Flower
A Leaf
A Black Pen

and, obviously, a present!






Start, as you would expect, by wrapping the present in the brown paper. Leave it face up.

Then it's time for the string (please keep up this is very challenging stuff!) Cut a piece a string about three times the length of your present, and lay it across the middle, lengthways, with an equal amount of string on either side. Then, turn the present upside down, pull both ends of the string to the middle, cross them, and pull them taught so that the ends are now going along the width in either direction. (It's at this point that I wish I had more pictures!) Then, turn the present rightside up, and thread each end under the original line of string, like so: 

Then it's time for your leaf! Write the recipient's name on the leaf with your black pen (who, by the way, did not notice this detail!) 

Pierce a small hole at the stalk end of the leaf, thread it on your string, and tie it in place. 

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All that remains is to tie the string in a nice bow, and thread the flower behind. My apologies for the terrible fuzzy photo! 

I'm enjoying experimenting with different things for ribbons and labels. Using lace instead of string looks really cool, or I did this for Bridey's birthday: 

For this I used a brown card tag, and nicked a few bits out of my mum's bowl of pot pouris to make it pretty! There were four string ends to deal with (two from the tag and two from the present) so I plaited them which looked cool, but took ages for the Wife to open! 

What do you think? Got any new twists on old classics like this? We'd love to hear them. 

Until next time,
Satch x

Clapper Board Cards

Hey kids, Satch here. 

On Tuesday, it was our friend Nathy Nath's birthday. I spent the afternoon making his present (a mix CD of the Perks of Being a Wallflower songs, if you're interested) and was getting ready to leave the house and go see him when I realised I hadn't got him a card - shock! Horror! 

To be honest, he probably wouldn't have cared, but it was the principle! (I'd like to point out that Salt totally didn't make him one :P) I had like ten minutes before I had to leave so, if you've got a bunch of craft stuff knocking about your house - as I do - this may be a good quick card to have up your sleeve in case of a card-mergency. That's totally a thing. Also, it helps if the person you're making the card for likes films...but who doesn't?!

You will need: 
Black Card
A Ruler
A White Pencil (I considered chalk but figured it would rub off. If you have more time, paint would show up better.) 

To be honest, this doesn't need a whole lot of explaining. I copied a google image of a clapper board, and then filled in the spaces with personal details. (If you care, I put James and Naomi on the camera slot because they have cameras - and were the other two people there on Tuesday - the date is Nathan's birthday, it's scene 1 because we're going out on saturday and take 23 because he turned - you guessed it - 23.) 

There you have it! 

Until next time, 
Satch. 

Sketch Cards

Hey Kids, 

Satch here. For our bestie bucket list, one of the things we have to do it learn to draw three new things. This one was actually my idea when Jacklin and I were originally writing the list for Salt, because I had spent that evening learning how to draw Winnie-the-Pooh, because, you know, I'm just so rock and roll. 

Therefore this one was a bit easy for me because I can already draw a pretty cracking Pooh bear, and pretty much any superhero because you don't have to do the eyes, but I thought I'd challenge myself to do three new things. I've still got one thing to do but I have learnt to draw a scruffy dog, and the back of Ryan Gosling! Even better, I've turned them into crafts! 

 I don't know if you've seen Drive, but Ryan Gosling (among doing a cracking acting performance) is HOT in that film! When a group of us were watching it a few weeks ago, my cousin Nimz got particularly excited about this 10 seconds of footage where you see Ryan's lovely back as he's carrying a cute little kid. Needless to say, we all fell in love with him a bit more after this film, and so I thought I'd recreate the moment for Nimz's birthday card.

Here's a close-up. The spanish kid went a bit gammy, so we're not counting that as one of my learning to draw things, but let's be honest, that's not the bit we care about, is it?  

The other one I've done since bucket-listing was Cobb's Valentines Day card. Neither of us are particularly gushy and you just can't find a good joke card these days so I thought I'd draw him a picture of something he loves more than me: shaggy dogs! 

As you can see, I made my dog a bit more smiley and he ended up with a slightly disproportionate head than the original, but I still like it.

Drawing a picture on a home-made birthday card, or as a present, is a great idea because it's cheap and has that personal touch, especially if you have friends who are a bit unusual and difficult to shop for. The personal touch also means you don't worry about writing a personal message so much inside, because the person can see the effort you've gone to already (which is great because I never know what to write!) 

Here are some other of my sketch cards/presents from days gone by for inspiration: 

This one was for my Mum's birthday, it's her favourite things; tea, books and piano.

This one was for my Dad, who is a big Donald fan.

This was for my friend Kay who is a little bit obsessed with Alice in Wonderland!

Even if you're not the best sketcher in the world (is sketcher a word?) if you get your image of choice up on your laptop, the lit-up screen makes things very easy to trace (which, I'll admit, I did do on the Donald Duck card - but only becasue I was in a terrible hurry!) Apart from Alice, I copied mine from other pictures which can help with details and proportions and stuff.

In terms of what to draw, I'm not so good on faces and hands so I tend to go for objects, cartoon characters or superheroes, and lots of websites give you instructions of how to draw them, if you're not too keen on just making it up from memory or copying it from a picture. But really, the sky's the limit, so get sketching!

Until next time, Kids. 
Satch
x

Tissue Paper Cards

Hola Kiddiewinks, 

Satch here. I thought I'd actually written this blog post but it turns out I only planned what I was gonna say in my head while I was in the bath...whoops. 

About a month ago, I was sitting in my room when I suddenly realised that the next day was a) the last time I'd see Sophie Davis for a year and b) my and Cobb's 4 year anniversary. That, my friends, is a desparate card-making situation! Luckily, I have crap-loads of card making supplies in case of just such a crisis, and tissue paper is my go-to, no-time-at-all medium of choice. 

Let's start with my card for Cobb. You will need: 

Card
Two different colours of tissue paper (preferably left over from something else so the planet will like you more and bake you cookies)
PVA glue (or just pritt-stick if you're not weird like me) 

Start by slathering (great word!) your card with glue, and rip up your tissue paper into strips. 

Then layer the strips over each other. It doesn't have to be super neat, as the ripped-up thing is part of the look. (And if you're wondering, yes, that is wrapping paper left over from Christmas, but Cobb likes Christmas, and snow, so deal with it!)  

When I finished the vertical stripes, I was going to just write 'Happy Anniversary' but there just wasn't a good focal point on the card. I looked down at my left-over paper, and noticed that one of the grey chucks was vaguely in the shape of a '4'. Luckily, we've been together 4 years, so this was perfect. I whacked the grey bit in the corner, and rolled up a few strips of red to make a 3D 4, which gave the card a bit more depth.

For Sophie Davis' "Don't leave me or the Cupcake gets it" card - which you just cannot find in shops these days - you will need: 

Card
Pretty tissue paper
A picture of something cool (preferably from old wrapping paper) 
Glue
Permanent Marker

 Start the same way you would for the other card, but as for this one I only used one colour of paper, it doesn't really matter what size/shape the tissue paper strips are. 

Then, crack on with the pasting until the whole thing is covered. You might need to add more glue to places where the tissue overlaps. I decided half-way through that I didn't like the polkadots being so shiny, so I went for an extra layer of glue at the end to calm it down a bit. Then stick on your picture of a cupcake, and outline it with permanent marker to make it stand out from the paper.

 They turned out pretty well, and 'Sorry you're leaving to go live in a commune' and 'yeah, we're in love but we don't bang on about it' are quite difficult occasions to get a card for, so these were perfect. 

There's a whole bunch of designs you could try. I once made our friend Reb one using strips of various shades of pink, and then cut out the letters of her name from wrapping paper to give it a bit of texture. I also did this one for my friend Gillet, and stuck a picture of the inside of the tardis in the card. 

If you're thinking 'Yeah, Satch, that's great but what about all that left over tissue paper?' I found a use for that too. I wrapped Cobb's pressie up but decided it was a bit bland, so used some of the left over strips and glued on some 'ribbon' and a make-shift bow.

And with Sophie Davis' card I re-used an envelope, so tissue-papered over where my name was so I could replace it with hers. However, if you are going to do this, don't be a plum (like me) and write on it before the glue dries!

 

Tissue paper - who knew, right? 

Until next time,
Satch x

Festive Table Bundles

Hi everybody! Salt here :)

For anyone that knows me, and I'm assuming most of you readers do, you'll know how much I love Christmas!
Yes, Christmas is the reason I live off of Bulgar (more like 'Vulgar') wheat and carrot sticks throughout January, and yes, Christmas is the reason that I continually whinge about how many days it is until payday.
But how can you not love the decorations, the excitement, the presents, the carols...the list could go on.

I have a fair amount of spare time on my hands at the moment, and so this Christmas, I've done a lot of crafting. There will be posts on all of this to follow, but some involve presents - so they'll have to wait until after the big day.

One thing I can post now though, are these table decorations....

Simple to make, and you can make them as budget or elaborate as you like!

I think the grand total for the ones I made came to about £7, and I made ten of them...so not too bad really.

What you'll need is:
- Material (I bought pillowcases from Asda. They were £1.96 so easily the cheapest way to buy lots of material.
- Candy Canes and other sweets
- Gift Labels
- Ribbon (preferably with some wire trimming to help it keep its shape)
- Cardboard (I used an old pizza box)

First, I arranged the sweets into little individual piles (and ate all the spares...)

Then, I cut the material into a big square, and cut little cardboard circles to pop in the bottom to make the stable.
I stuck the cardboard to the middle of the material and piled all the sweets inside.

Finally, you pull all the corners up to the center and tie the ribbon around once to secure it in place. The slide on the gift label with the message and name, and pop the candy cane in place. Tie the ribbon once more to secure it all, and voila....

 (Yes, that is a letter from Professor Green you can see in the background...)

Simple to make, but I think they're really quite cute!
I like to think these are quite festive because of the red and white material and the candy canes.

But they could be used for any occasion, just alter the material and contents!

As always, let us know your thoughts, or if you've made anything similar!

Rumour has it there might be a cheeky joint post coming up, so keep your eyes peeled!