Oreo Cupcakes

This is a ridiculously easy recipe and even more ridiculously tasty. It simply takes your basic cupcake recipe, and just adds a whole packet of Oreos. Everyone knows the ancient formula: cupcake + Oreos = delicious.

If you ever need to make a quick treat, these are perfect. I'll show you why...

Ingredients (Makes 12):

6oz sugar

6oz butter

6oz self raising flour

3 eggs

1 tsp vanilla essence

150g packet of Oreos

Betty Crocker vanilla buttercream icing

Method:

1. Preheat oven to Gas Mark 5. Mix the butter and sugar together in a mixing bowl until fluffy, then add the eggs & stir.

2. Gradually add the flour, ensuring all ingredients are mixed well. Add the vanilla essence.

3. Crush half the Oreos finely, and pour them into the cake mixture.

4. Distribute the mixture into cake cases and bake at the top of the oven for about 25 minutes, or until golden brown.

5. Remove from the oven and allow to cool. While doing this, finely crush the remaining Oreos and add two thirds to the buttercream icing (I cheated and used ready made, but you can make your own by mixing icing sugar with butter)

6. When cakes are cool, spread the buttercream icing over the top and sprinkle with the remaining crushed Oreos.

And the best part is that they actually taste of Oreos. I would brag about inventing this recipe, but I'm sure it's been done by thousands of others before, plus it's not like it's particularly creative, in fact it's probably one of the easiest things you could make! But still, its yummy. Go make some :)

I'm off to go eat mine now, Josh and I are spending the evening with his sister and her fiancé and I'm going to be losing my Prairie Pie virginity (pretty excited!). Have a lovely weekend,

Amy x

Christmas Presence

Spot the first pun of the blog.

So I work in an office on Saturdays, and each year, Becky (my work buddy) and I try to spruce ;) up the office at Christmas time, just to inject a bit of fun into it. Last year boasted quite an impressive show - toilet roll carol singers, snow on the windows and of course the obligatory paper snowflakes hanging off everything. But this year we have decided to turn it up a notch, and we have begun the preparations already. Starting with these cheeky origami bows.

I wish I could take credit for designing these, but I actually got the pattern from Tweety Atelier (http://sjrenoir.com/). It's Korean so I wouldn't stand a chance at understanding it, but there's a really easy video to follow, and the outcomes are always amazing!

Being an origami fan it's always nice to find patterns you can use for decoration, and that aren't too fiddly to make, and the computers at work are already looking lovely and festive. In fact I'm planning on taking inspiration from her pictures and make my own bow garland to hang at home.

You can find the video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vB-USkWxas&feature=player_embedded. The paper I used for mine is just Cath Kidston samples copied, pasted, printed off and cut into squares, but you can use any pretty patterned paper you can get yours hands on.

Anyway, it's about time I brought this blog entry to a fold ;) have lots of origami fun,

Amy x

Charity shops 4 lyf

I flippin' love charity shops. My boyfriend Josh hates them with a passion, dreading that every time I enter one, I will exit having acquired a new grandad jumper or massive cardigan or something else along those lines. Which probably just makes me love them even more!

And this is why he was relieved when I assured him my newest second hand purchase was in fact not an item of clothing, but a work of art to add to my growing 'home' collection. Well, I say relieved... he was until he found out it contained cross stitch, at which point I was reprimanded for reverting back to my granny-ish ways :)

Isn't it beautiful?! Someone has spent a long time making that, and I will spend a long time admiring it. It has definitely rekindled my love of cross stitch too, I am currently trying to find a pattern so I can start making some of my own.

And who knows, in years to come it might be appreciated by someone like me who finds it in a charity shop (probably after Josh has secretly given it away!), and decides they too want to take up cross stitching, and theirs ends up in a charity shop, where someone like them finds it, and decides to make their own... and so on and so on.

And that my friends is why cross stitching will never go extinct, because it is beautiful and it will always continue to be. The dinosaurs could learn a lot from it.

That is all for today. Happy Friday!

Amy x

I ♥ bunting

So far my Halloween resolution is doing well, which is more than can be said of the wrinkling mouldy mess that was my pumpkin. Today I'm going to show you the lovely bunting I recently made for my room, because I love bunting and I think it can make literally everything look good.

Think of something rubbish. Now add bunting to it.....Instantly better.

I've added some instructions as well just in case any of you keen beans want to have a go at it yourselves, although I didn't take pictures whilst I was making it, so the explaining might be a bit hap-hazard.

Firstly, I'm a student so all the material was either scraps I had lying around, or bought cheaply in a quilting bundle from Ebay. I was lucky enough to find a bundle of Cath Kidston and Laura Ashley swatches on there the other day, which is what was mainly used in the bunting.

Here's roughly how to make it:

1. Cut your triangle template out of card or the back of a cereal box. I used this template from 'House-to-home', but adjusted it to make the triangles slightly longer and slimmer.

http://www.housetohome.co.uk/fileBank/housetohome/PDF/bunting_template.pdf

2. Use the template to cut the triangles out of your fabric, either by pinning them together or drawing around the edge with a pencil. As I backed the bunting, I also cut out the same number of triangles in white cotton, you can do the same or you might like to back them with the same material.

3. Pin the triangles together with the outsides facing inwards.

4. Sew down the two longer sides of each triangle, NOT the top side as you then need to turn them the right way round again! I gave mine a quick iron after this as well to help them keep their shape & keep the seams flat.

5. Find a piece of ribbon and pin over the tops of each triangle, leaving about 5cm between each one. I simply turned the ribbon over the top so that the scruffy edge was covered.

6. Sew along the ribbon so that there is an equal amount both sides of the bunting, and to keep the triangles in place.

7. Finished!

It's so easy to make (although my instructions probably didn't make it seem that way!), and it automatically looks good. For outdoors bunting it's easier just to cut the edges with pinking shears; that way you don't even have to worry about backing it.

Hope you've enjoyed today's post, I'll be back soon :)

Amy x

Happy Halloween!

I am obsessed with trying to become organised, I've tried lists, tick boxs, post-its, you name it I've most probably tried it, but I think the truth is I'm too laid back! And this is why I've been very bad at keeping this blog up to date. At even getting it up and running to be honest.

So this is why I am making a Halloween resolution to get better at posting on here, starting from today.

Being a Christian I don't really celebrate Halloween, but the date itself holds a personal significance to me, plus I can't help but get sucked in by all the beautiful pumpkins! It might just be the way they remind me of my favourite season, but they also look amazing, so bright and interesting, and I love seeing the different ways people choose to decorate them - some are real works of art. Which is why I spent a ridiculous amount of time creating this beauty. My masterpiece.

I'd never carved a pumpkin before, so I used this youtube video which is pretty funny as well as useful: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BuXZFMeomQw. Nothing could have prepared me for the smell, but the final outcome was definitely worth it.

So goodbye for now, I'll post again soon with some of the yummy treats I've got up my sleeve, not to mention the exciting Christmas project I can hopefully begin soon!

Merry Halloween,

Amy x

Cheese and Leek Scones

Nothing says autumn like a good old cheese scone, eaten with lashings of butter and a mug of tea as the days draw in. And given my excessive excitement for the approaching season and general love of all things green, it seemed the perfect idea to add a generous helping of leeks to the mix. I was not disappointed - these bad boys are divine.

Recipe (Makes 12):

1 large leek, finely chopped

2 oz butter

8 oz self raising flour

1 egg

150 ml milk

4 oz cheese

2 tsp baking powder

1. Preheat oven to gas mark 7, grease a baking tray and add a knob of butter to a frying pan and use to fry the leek for 10 minutes.

2. Gently mix the butter, flour and baking powder to form breadcrumbs.

3. Grate the cheese and add to the mixture. Also add the cooled leeks.

4. Whisk the egg in a measuring jug, then use the milk to make it up to 150 ml. Pour in with the rest of the ingredients and mix well to form dough.

5. Knead well for 5 minutes, adding a little more flour if needed, then roll out until about 1 cm thick. Cut out scones using a cutter of your preferred shape, and place on baking tray at a fair distance apart.

6. Use the remaining milk to brush over the top of the scones, then add a small sprinkling of cheese to finish them off.

7. Bake in the oven for 10 minutes, or until the tops of the scones are a golden brown.

8. Remove from the oven and place on a wire tray. I also recommend sampling one of them at this stage (it's when they're at their best!)

9. Share with family and friends, gloating that you were the creator and bathing in the praise and compliments.

Happy September, and happy baking!

Amy x