Gifts for Your Stocking All Under £10

Bakes Box Unicorn Slabb Chocolate  //  Rabbit Portal Keyboard Sticker  //  Suede and Co Diamond Leather Keyring  //  Puptart Mini Sparkle Party Purse  //  Eclectic Eccentricity Arrow Ring  //  Ember Candle Co Skull Candle   //  Oh No Rachio Good Vibes Pin   //  Woah There Pickle Geek Badge  //  Love Me Not Shop Sugar Scrub  //  Finest Imaginary Pineapple Earrings

Our last gift guide may be the best one yet and all the handmade items on it are under £10. Aside from it making them all a complete bargain, they are all perfect stocking stuffers. They would also make your partner the happiest Secret Santa in the land! I don't know about you but this is one stocking I would LOVE to receive.

I really hope you have enjoyed our guides and that it has helped you with your handmade shopping this year. We would love to see if you have bought any of the gifts on our guides, do let us know by tagging us on social media #livelovemake

Sammy and H xxx

Check out the rest of this year's guides here:
Gifts for your Little Ones
Gifts for your Pets
Gifts for your Parents
Gifts for your Lady
Gifts for your Man
Gifts for your Best Friend


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Make it: Easy Easter Treats for Grown-ups with Thorntons

Easter and chocolate go hand in hand, but not all chocolatey treats need to be for the youngsters. When Thorntons got in touch recently and challenged us to create an Easter treat with one of their Chocolate eggs I imagined creating something that the grown-ups could enjoy. When this amazing White Chocolate Lemon Meringue egg arrived, I knew right away what I wanted to make as the centrepiece of my Easter celebrations. 

Two of my favourite desserts are Pavlova and Eton mess, so I decided to make a twist on those classics to include some chocolate lemony goodness! 

To make a White chocolate, Lemon and Raspberry Mess you will need: A Thorntons Lemon Meringue Easter egg, Meringue nests, Double cream, Raspberries, Lemon curd and to add an adult twist a little Gin (optional)

I started by.... breaking up the egg! I know, I know it will be worth it I promise. I kept the pretty centrepiece to use later and broke up the rest of the chocolate into small pieces. 

I also crushed up one large strawberry meringue, mine came in a pack of two, but if you want to use regular nests, two or three nests for the base would work. I settled the meringue over the base of my serving dish.   

Next whip up the double cream and spread it gently over the bed of meringue, mix a little Gin (if you are including it) with the lemon curd and layer that over the cream. Then add some fresh raspberries or strawberries if you prefer before sprinkling the white chocolate pieces over that layer.

Finish off by adding another layer of crushed meringue, you can add any left over cream, lemon curd and fruit as garnish to the top.

I also added some freeze dried strawberry sprinkles to make it look extra special, but you could sprinkle some extra chocolate over the top if you have some left over. How spectacular does it look as a dessert centrepiece for the Easter table. So simple to make, pretty to look at and super tasty. 

If you want to make a smaller version for a fun dessert why not layer up the same ingredients into a jar, everything looks good in a jar!

To add to your party treats why not mix up some zesty cocktails. I made a couple to compliment the sweetness of the meringue. Above you can see my version of a Tom Collins.
To make a TC Fizz mix-
50ml of Gin
25ml of lemon juice
25ml of agarve
top off with bitter lemon
garnish with ice and lemon.

And this is my version of a Moscow Mule, I am calling it a Lemon Meringue Mule!
Mix 25ml of vodka
25ml lemon juice
25ml of  honey, lemon and ginger cordail
50ml of raspberry lemonade
then top off with ginger beer
Garnish with ice, fresh raspberries and mint with a sprinkle of crushed meringue, just for fun!

These treats would also make great menu additions to a Mothers day lunch, which is this weekend if you're in the UK.  Or save them for Easter weekend at the end of the month. I don't know about you but I want a virgin Lemon Meringue Mule every Wednesday! Thanks to Thorntons for setting us the challenge and supplying the Easter egg for this post.

Sammy xxx


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Make it: Dairy Free Cookies

It's just about typical for me that I have developed a Dairy intolerance, to be fair, it has been around for a while, but I actually just went and got myself tested and found out what it was all about.  So, I have been trying some good old recipes using dairy free spread to see whether I can still eat the things I already love!

I thought I would have a go at Chocolate and Oat cookies as you can have 50% and above dark chocolate if you are going dairy free and just replace the butter with dairy free spread.

They tasted pretty damn good too, the only difference I could tell is that they spread a little more in the oven.

You will need: 113g dairy free spread ( I use Vitalite or Pure Soya), 110g brown sugar, 100g caster sugar, 128g plain flour, 106g oats, 1 egg, 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda, 100g dark chocolate (50% and above) and 1 tsp vanilla extract.

This recipe is relatively easy, put all the ingredients together in a bowl and mix well, then add a desert spoon sized dollop onto baking sheets and put in the oven at 180 degrees for 8-10 minutes.

That is literally all you need to do.  This recipe makes about 15 cookies, I doubled up my batch to make loads for a friends birthday and they seemed to go down very well.  I don't think they even knew!

What's your favourite recipe, whether dairy free or not, let me know in the comments below.  If you do have any great recipes for dairy free though, I would love to hear about them as I am trying to find more all the time.

It does make me very hungry doing these posts, but as they are so quick I could probably just make up a a batch after work, right? 

H

Make it: Left-Over Easter Chocolate Ideas

If you are anything like me, you have about three tonnes of the good stuff left over from the Easter weekend. In order to stop my bathroom scales from telling me things I don't like to hear, I have come up with some ways to make my chocolate stash last until... well maybe... May? I thought some of you might like to join me in trying to not eat it all in one sitting and you could also share it around as it changes from Easter treats to general chocolatey goodness.

I started by making chocolate bark, I have made this a few times before, inspired by the Hotel Chocolat slabs, I took a few of the larger eggs and melted them down. 

I lined a baking tray with grease proof paper...

Then pored the melted chocolate in...

Added some white chocolate and swirled it around....

smashed up some mini eggs...

Sprinkled them on top and popped it in the fridge.

Next the fun bit, smash it to bits!

The key to this is to smash it into small pieces and put it in separate packages or sandwich bags. Better still, pack it up into cellophane bags and give it away as gifts to your friends.

I had a little bit of chocolate left over so I tried a couple of other ideas too. I filled some mini ice-cube trays to make some bite size treats.

Then of course my favourite chocolate covered strawberries, these count as one of your five a day right?

Check out some of these other brilliant ideas for all those chocolate leftovers.
Chocolate mousse, Orange and white chocolate muffins, Mini egg cookies and my favourite, Chocolate Mousse Pie! YUM!

I hope these ideas have been of some use in making all that sweet stuff last a little longer and that you are having a lovely long weekend whatever you are up to.

Sammy xxx

Getting Personal Gift Guide

1. Name Banner Kinder Kraft via Etsy / 2. 3D Name pen Any Name Pen via Etsy / 3. Christmas Baubal Miss Cake via Not on the High Street / 4. Wood phone case Sophia Victoria Joy via Etsy / 5. Chocolate letter The Letter Room via Not on the High Street / 6. Initial necklace J&S Jewellery via Not on the High Street / 7. Giant Photo Strip The Drifting Bear Co via Not on the High Street / 8. Christmas Stocking Snapdragon via Not on the High Street / 9. Wine Glass Becky Broome via Not on the High Street / 10. Slate print via More than Words

There is nothing better than finding the perfect gift for a loved one, making that gift totally unique is easy when you opt for something personalised. Today's Favourite Friday is my pick of the top ten personalised gifts from some talented folk via my favourite gift sites on the web, Etsy.com and Not on the High Street.

I have a few friends who that personalised wine glass would be just perfect for, and I have already bought one of those awesome 3D pens for Steve, they offer one for gamers that you can have made as their gamer tag. I am making a stocking for my Niece but this personal message one would be fab if your short on time. The Giant Photo strip is pricey, but a great gift for anyone, at any time of the year!

Keep in mind that personalised gifts often have a Christmas order deadline, so get your orders in ASAP. 

I hope this was a help for some of you who are struggling for those tricky gifts for those loved ones who have everything. Have you done all your gift shopping yet? 

Have a fab weekend 

Sammy xxx

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Michelle Makes: Honeycomb

Everyone is already talking about Christmas, so I thought I would share with you a super fun and easy treat that you can adapt for the children or the grown-ups in your life, for sharing over the holidays or packaging up and giving as gifts.

This really is such a fun easy treat to make that you might never buy another Crunchie in your life!

The ingredients are simple, all you need is caster sugar, golden syrup and bicarbonate of soda.

You could also do with a sugar thermometer for this one, but it’s not essential.

So start by weighing out 100g of caster sugar in your pan and add 4 tablespoons of golden syrup.  My that stuffs sticky!!

Mix it together to form a paste.

Then on a very low heat, bring the mixture to the boil slowly.

Let it bubble away gently like this for about 3–4 minutes until the mixture reaches the soft boil stage (112-115c on a sugar thermometer) or drop a tiny amount in a bowl of cold water, (if you can squish it flat, then it’s ready).

At this stage add 1.5 tsp of bicarbonate of soda to the mixture, take it off the heat and give it a couple of stirs. It will froth up pretty quickly so don’t get scared!

I am glad that I got this in shot because it was a pretty quick frothing moment!

Pour the mixture into your prepared tin and leave it to set for a couple of hours.

At this stage I wanted to make my honeycomb for the children a bit more fun and playful so I added some marshmallows and jelly tots to it straight away so that they set in the mixture and poured a little chocolate over it.

When the mixture has hardened, you can just break it up into pieces with your hands.

This is where I decorated my pieces for the grown-ups! I did some covered in a drizzle of chocolate like this:

Quite pretty.

And for the ones below, I wanted a nice sophisticated look, so I dipped the thin pieces in chocolate and playing with the gold packaging of a Crunchie, I added a few little edible gold balls for a nice ‘posh afternoon tea’ effect.

What do you think ?

You can add anything you like at this stage – be creative! I tried some edible glitter on a few of mine.

So if you have any left, (I had eaten about 5 by now) then why not package them up in clear cellophane bag, add some Christmas ribbon and voila, some lovely Christmas Handmade Honeycomb !

I really hope you enjoyed this post and do give it a go, it’s a lot easier than you think and really quite addictive to make and even more so to eat!

Thank you so much for reading xxx

Link for the week: Choccywoocydoodah

photo courtesy of www.choccywoccydoodah.com

Yes, you really did read that right, there is a place called Choccywoccydoodah and it's amazing!

Sammy and I have been to the shop in Brighton and London and we love all the amazing Chocolate sculptures they have.  Yes, because these are just not cakes, they are sculptures in their own right!

The original store was in Brighton and it gave us a great excuse to visit, but the London store does make it a little easier for us.  I am not sure whether that is a good thing or not! he, he.

The London Store

So, I thought it only right to make it the link of the week this week.  We are hoping to go to the cafe in the London store, as they only added it late last year.  The trouble is there are too many things on offer, how are we meant to choose!

http://www.choccywoccydoodah.com/

Back, to the store.  You can buy some of the cakes on offer or have your own made - for a fee of course.  There are also lots of chocolates on offer, for those who prefer a bit of chocolate to cake. There are giant jazzies, right through to chocolate blocks.  See, there really are no excuses not to go.

When we do go, of course there will be a post about it, so don't you worry about that.

Have you been, let us know what you think in the comments below.

Love it

H

Favourite Friday: Sweet Treats

1. Fox's Viennese melts  /  2. Choccy Woccy Doo Dah Mixed Giant Jazzies  /  3. Salted Popcorn  /  

4. Peanut M&M's  /  5. Lemon Drizzle cake  /  6. Reese's Peanut butter cups  /  7. Marks and Spencer's Chocolate Coated Pretzels  /  8. Bounty Ice cream

It is ridiculously hot here in the UK this week, and we have just come back from Greece! I can barely think of eating anything that's not straight out of the freezer, but having just started a post holiday diet all I can think about is all the things that I shouldn't be eating. I thought if I shared them here I might be able to stop thinking about them quite so constantly!

I'm off to tuck into another bowl of salad and a bottle of water.

Have a lovely weekend and have an Ice cream for me wont you <3

Sammy xxx

Fathers Day Gift Ideas with Not on the High Street

Dad's Cabs key ring  /  Funky Veg Kit  /  Cricket match T-shirt  /  Personalised Destination print  /  Personalised Quote chocolate bar  /   TV fan Mug  /  Silly Walks T-shirt  /   Funny wash bag  /  Biscuit I-phone case.

Aaaggghh Dad's can be so hard to buy for!! It's Fathers Day on Sunday (hands up who forgot...or gave up because it was too hard to find a gift and resorted to a chocolate orange!)

A place I have always found to have very speedy delivery times is Not on the High Street.com they have saved my butt on more than one occasion for last minuet unique gifts. I headed over yesterday and had a surf of their manly offerings, here are my picks of gifts for all those Daddy's girls out there. 

If you haven't got time to order anything, why not use these ideas to make something simple. A personalised print can be created on your computer with Word, Publisher or Photoshop with some fancy fonts, I like dafont.com  for free funky fonts. You can use a Sharpie to decorate mugs with your Dad's initial or a cute phrase. Use manly colours and DIY a phone case. Again use your computer to make a simple wrapper to go around his favourite bar of chocolate.

I'm off to create a print for My Dad, which says something other than 'I'm a Grumpy Old Man'

I hope you all have a lovely weekend.

Sammy xxx

Make it: Quick and Easy Valentines Crafts

My Husband and I have never really been fussed about Valentines day. For us it falls smack between Christmas and our Birthday (we have the same birthday) and the thought of going out to a restaurant surrounded by lots other couples is not our idea of a good time. However I do always try and make a special effort to cook a nice meal and make Steve a little something. I thought I would share a couple of ideas for little last minute gifts that are super easy to make for your boy/girl or to decorate your dinner table with a few supplies from home or your local store.  If, like me you haven't really thought about Valentines until today!

I made Steve this little Valentines dessert platter. As well as making some treats I bought some Valentines sweets from M&S and put them in little heart shaped cupcake cases. Presentation can make a little look like a lot. What I made him includes.....Valentines chocolate bark

recipe found here

Peppermint Creams & Peanut Butter Hearts

Peppermint creams from my mums recipe, there are lots out there, some use egg, I use double cream, icing sugar, peppermint essence and food colouring, and peanut butter hearts  recipe found here

Basically any of your partners favourite treats or biscuits cut into heart shapes are always a winner.

Eton Mess Milkshake, my hubby loves Milkshakes and they look cute too! I made these with fresh strawberries, milk, double cream, meringue, strawberry syrup, squirt cream and fresh strawberry to decorate. I am a bit obsessed with serving drinks in jars lately.

Quick easy cards, I made the heart one by using my hole punch to punch a heart shape and then threading ribbon through the holes and tying it in a bow to finish. The pink one was super easy, I just used my computer to lay out the word love in different typefaces, made the background pink and the words white and printed onto white paper, cut it out and stuck it to a card blank. Easy peasy!

Then at the top of the stairs I hung this magazine heart garland. I went through my Heat and Look mags and tore out any pages that had reds and pinks on and cut out heart shapes. Punched a hole in the top of each one and tied them on to pieces of red cord. I blue-tac'ed them to the wall underneath a picture {ironically hanging down under Steve's Darth Vader print that is hung on the landing} I adapted the original idea found here

Here are some more ideas for quick last minute gifts I found around the web

Coupon booklet

Sweet topper printable

Felt Hand warmers

Wishing you a Happy Valentines Day!

Sammy xxx

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