Oatmeal, Choc Raisin cookies - My Favourite Cookies...Ever!

This Christmas gone I made up some jars of cookies for family as gifts and one of the cookies included were Oatmeal, Choc Raisin Almond cookies and I have to say, they are my favourite cookie to bake...ever! I thought I would share the recipe here with you all for you to enjoy and if you need a lovely handmade gift that is quick to make why not make a batch up and put in a nice jar or gift box.

This recipe will yield around twenty five cookies depending on the size you make.

You are going to need:
1 1/3 cups of plain flour (all purpose flour)
1tsp baking powder
1tsp bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
1cup of cookie oats
3/4 cup raisins
3/4 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup flaked almonds (if you want nut free cookies, substitute the almonds with sultanas)
1tsp vanilla essence
1 egg
1/2 cup slightly melted butter

And this is what you need to do:
1. Combine all of the dry ingredients into a large bowl and stir well to combine,
2. Add the slightly beaten egg and stir,
3. Add the vanilla essence and the slightly melted butter and stir well into a dough,
4. Divide the dough into balls about 5cm in size and place on a parchment lined baking tray,
5. Bake in an 180c oven for ten-twelve minutes

Friday, 10 January 2014 | 0 Comments

Five Tips for Staying Organised

I like to think of myself as an organised person, the 'to do' list is my friend and I feel lost without a notepad in my bag and staying organised helps me feel in control when life spins out of control.

Life in the land of Butterfly-Crafts is a bit hectic at the moment, we are selling our flat, trying to find a house to buy, planning the wedding and me dealing with long term pain in my back and so it feels like we are having a lot going on, and when that happens it is easy to forget something important or feel lost with your aims. I am no expert on being organised but I thought I would share my five top tips.

1. Carry a notebook with you at all times - I do this to keep my to do list with me but it's also good for writing down things people say to you or if you need to brainstorm. I like to treat myself out to lunch at times and my notebook is a great way for me to brainstorm ideas.

2. Have a diary or calendar you can share - I have my beloved purple Filofax but also we have a shared calendar in the kitchen, I write down everything I need to remember on both along with phone numbers for appointments etc. Every so often we also sit down and "merge" diaries so we both know what we are each doing, and make plans as necessary. Keeping control of my diary is super important.

3. Birthdays and Anniversaries list - this is something I started last year and it helped! I like to send handmade cards to my friends and family and I don't like to suddenly have to make something so I found a printable birthday list on Pinterest and have it on my pin board, I can see immediately what birthdays are when and what cards I will need to be making, I then make them when I feel creative and keep them in a box for when needed. Even if you are not a crafter, keeping a box of birthday cards ready can be time saving, especially if you remember at the last minute.

4. A Place for Everything - When I get stressy I clean and tidy and I find it helps to know that there are places for all of the "things" and we don't just have a dumping ground area. Our possessions might not always be in their place, but its good to know where to put them back to rather than just moving things from one location to another. If you are finding that you are in a particular messy stage, it can help to tell yourself you can't leave a room without putting something away.

Image Source

5. Blog Planning - This is something that I tried (and failed) at last year but a business focus of mine for this (free) printable blog planner which is hopefully going to help keep me organised, if you are a blogger too then take a look.
year is better blog planning and so I found a great

I have a board for Organisation on Pinterest if you would like some more ideas. I would love to hear how you help keep organised?

Tuesday, 7 January 2014 | 0 Comments

Handmade Christmas Gifts

Last year I set the aim to make as many of the gifts I needed myself, or to buy handmade where possible and this extended to my Christmas gifts. I don't have a huge amount of gifts to send and so I thought making them would be a good challenge.

I didn't make everything, Barbies are rather difficult to hand make, as are picture books for my nieces, but aside from those and a couple of t-shirts, everything else was made by my own hands. You can see here what I got up to, I plan to write a few tutorials over the coming months for some of the gifts in case you would like to have a go yourself.