Flying South

I haven't been able to get on the internet much lately because we have some problem with our computer - the screen keeps going black.  It's getting very annoying!  I'm quickly typing this entry because I want to post this little purple deer I finished some time ago:

He was a WIP for such along time, and in the end I was a bit disappointed with how his little muzzle/nose-part didn't turn out quite right but the body, which I inserted wire into, came out really nicely!  He's about 18cm tall and made from a pattern in 想い出マスコットアルバム by  あゆみ宇山  (ISBN: 4277552056). 

Tomorrow I have a job interview so I'm feeling nervous and probably should be preparing for that.  Also I had better click the post button before the screen goes again, so sorry this is very brief!

So this is the lovely package I got for being the winner on Meshell's little giveaway! Some fabrics, buttons and postcards and one of her ornaments she was sending out to her swap partners for this year's ornament swap, thanks Meshell!

On the same day I received a very cute Christmas card from Kat - thank you too! So in my excitement upon receiving all this mail goodness, I made a last minute effort to send out a few little hand-printed cards myself, most of which should have arrived by now - I hope! Next year I plan to get on to that sooner and send out a few more ;)

Besides nice mail, I'm actually having a pretty bad lead up to Christmas. None of the presents I'm making seem to be working out, that's right, I haven't even finished them yet. Well, I've finished one, and so nearly there on two others. Luckily I'm only making four but I think there'll be some serious last-minute sewing tomorrow. And I did spend a bit of time trying out these Christmas ornaments (found via Meshell's blog). They turned out quite well, and I have made a red one too, but true to how things have been going for me craft-wise lately, I cut my finger pretty bad making it.

Anyway, I hope you all are having better luck than me and have everything organised and ready! And thanks to everyone who replied to my last post and said hello. It's nice to know who's out there and so anyone reading, I hope you have a happy Christmas and/or holidays!

Look who I found in the vegetable patch!

(No actually, I made this little guy from a pattern in あみぐるみの本)

Here's another batch of cupcakes and these are my second attempt at making mini cupcakes.  The first I made a few weeks ago and I'm afraid didn't yield very photogenic results and so didn't make an appearance here but these ones turned out much better.

They were for a Christmas party for all the volunteer English tutors, like me, and their students, who are migrants and refugees, and of course everyone's family & friends.  So my little cupcakes were among an amazing array of food from all the different cultures represented.

Oh and can you believe it, I was lucky enough to be the winner in MissMeshell's little blog give-away!  Thanks  so much Meshell, I will keeping an eye out for a little package!  I will also be checking my PO Box for my first order from YesAsia which has been shipped, and I'm hopeful it will arrive just in time for Christmas!

Here's a cupcake I baked yesterday - chocolate with coffee flavoured buttercream icing.  I don't like coffee, well I've never actually tried it so I suppose I can't say that, but I wanted to try a new flavour that would go with the chocolate and in both taste and colour, so I made up a new recipe based on other buttcream recipes I have used.

Coffee Buttercream Icing

200g butter, chopped & softened
1 ¾ cups icing sugar
3 tablespoons milk
½ tablespoon instant coffee, dissolved in ½ teaspoon hot water

Beat butter in bowl with electric mixer until as white as possible, then gradually add icing sugar and milk while beating until you reach the consistency you want.  Add dissolved coffee.  Beat until combined and colour has spread  evenly through the icing.


I have also finally made a new layout for my journal because I hadn't changed it since I began my little blog here.  If you're reading this through your LJ friends page then clicky here to see.  It's a bit plain I think but at I made a header and I see if I can do anything else...

Oh and of course in much more important news, we got a new Prime Minister - how exciting!  Only this blog isn't about politics so I won't say anything else, I'm just interested to see how things go from here ;)

Anyway, that's all for now.  Sorry about my lack of posting lately, I'm feeling a bit aimless finishing uni and waiting to hear about this job... but it's cupcakes ahoy tomorrow!