The Vintage Magpie

It's that time again ...

Oh how I love this time of year when the Christmas Fairs are upon us!  And I especially love the local village fairs - they have such a wonderful air of excitement about them.

This one in Scoriton, just past Buckfastleigh in Devon, is a great one to start with, so if you don't live far away ... make it a must!

xx

New Beginnings

We have just returned home from a wonderful few days at a family wedding in Cambridgeshire.

Such a wonderful, romantic day shared with so many loved ones old and new.

Have a great week everyone x

Scrumptious Brownies ..

Fancy some absolutely gorgeous, fudgey chocolate brownies?  Look no further - we copied Alicia's recipe and my oh my, these are amazingly good:

Here is the recipe using english measurements:

4 oz butter

4 oz plain flour

8 oz granulated sugar

4oz plain chocolate

1/2 tspn salt

2 cold eggs

Pre heat over to 325 degrees/gas mark 3

Melt the butter in a high sided saucepan over medium heat.  When it is hot remove the pan from the heat and add the chopped chocolate.  Stir once and set aside to finish melting.

Line an 8 inch square pan with foil of greaseproof paper, letting several inches hang over two opposite sides to create handles.

Now stir the chocolate and butter mixture until it is smooth and the chocolate is completely melted.  With a wooden spoon or with an eletric mixer, beat in the sugar and salt, and then beat in the eggs, one at a time. Beat in the flour until the batter is smooth.  Pour into prepared tin.

Bake for approximately 30 minutes and test with a toothpick inserted into the middle of the pan.  It should come out with moist crumbs, not raw batter.  Leave to cool on a rack and then remove from pan using handles.  Sprinkle with icing sugar and cut into squares.

Make a brew, sit back and enjoy!! 

x

Hello..

I have been kept rather busy of late making some bears which are heading off to some bear shops namely Bears Of Witney in Oxfordshire and One More Bear in Staffordshire.

Then I took a couple of days off to tidy up!

Hope you have had a good week!

xx

Cowslip Workshop

I have just returned from a wonderful weekend spent at Cowslip Workshops in Launceston Cornwall.

The working farm where the workshops are held is just stunning.  Surrounded by green fields, the most wonderful farmhouse, cafe, shop and workrooms.

It was enchanting at every turn...

Jo, who owns Cowslip couldn't have been more welcoming or helpful.

and the cafe/restaurant served the most delicious food!

My friend and I enrolled on a weekend workshop with Julie Arkell - maker of all things wonderful!

She brought along a few Julie  Arkell friends to show us and then gave us some basic instructions on how to start with dry papier mache.

So the first step was to make the basic design of your chosen creation in papier mache, and lots of creatures were born!

Have a guess what I tried to do!

After two days of hard but wonderful days of work the table was full of wonderful papier mache creations..

and I came home with another bear to add to the collection!