Warming the House this Winter.... Date & Walnut Slice

Hello Crafty Ladies and fellow readers

It is a pleasure to have been asked to ‘guest blog’ on the Stylise site!

Creating extends to all levels in our homes, even to the point where you can creatively clean.  Don’t ask me how but some use creativity just to get through the vacuuming and the dusting.  I think it involves music and the concept of exercising as you go.  Why not, I say??  So long as you are seeing results, that's all that counts.

As a foodie, my creative outlet extends to the kitchen and the creation of a range of tasty morsels for every meal of the day, and a few in between.  Goodness, I'm sounding a bit like Nigella Lawson eating my way through the day.  However, I can assure you that I have NEVER felt the need for a midnight snack of freshly made bread and butter pudding as I saw her do on an episode not so long ago.  I mean, puhlease, really????

Warming the house with a warm oven combined with the fresh smells of baked cakes, slices, scones, and puddings is my ideal way of spending a Sunday afternoon in winter.  And doing it the simplest and tastiest way is what I'd like the share with you now.  As I write these words, the lingering smell of caramelised butter and brown sugar hangs in the air and I know that what I've just cooked took such little time yet will give so much pleasure, served with a cup of tea of coffee and some good, easy conversation.

It's a recipe from my Mother's kitchen, and being a home economics teacher by profession, I know that it's tried and true.  I've chosen this recipe for a number of reasons - it's easy (one saucepan wonder!), it has SIX ingredients and its seasonal, something that I continually promote as my preferred way of eating.  

 

Walnuts are an autumn/winter crop therefore supply is fresh and plentiful at the moment.  

I wrote a blog about berries in the Summer and the abundant supply I found when visiting the High Country of Victoria.  In the cooler months, the walnuts become the staple harvest of the farmers in this region and we are lucky to be able to source these here in Melbourne and further afield.

Date & Walnut Slice

125g butter

100g brown sugar

3/4 cup fresh walnuts, chopped

3/4 cup fresh dates, pitted and chopped

1 egg, well beaten

1 cup self raising flour

Preheat your oven to 180 degrees and grease and line a lamington tin (28cm x 18cm)

In a medium sized saucepan, heat butter and brown sugar

Stir continuously once the butter starts to melt to ensure the two ingredients mix well together and not stick or burn to the bottom of the saucepan

Remove from heat once well combined and add dates. 

Add walnuts and mix well again.

Let it stand for around 2 minutes before adding the egg (adding an egg to a hot mixture will cook the egg!! - nobody wants scrambled slice!!)

Add the flour and mix til all ingredients are well combined.

 

Spread across the lamington tin - I find that I prefer to not fill the entire tin so end up leaving one of the ends short by around an inch (make sense??)

Cook in the oven for around 20 minutes - check after 15 minutes as the time can vary according to ovens.  You should know by the delicious aroma wafting through your house and the lovely golden brown colour of the finished product.

Fresh out of the oven, the slice will be soft to touch but will firm up as it cools

Once cool, spread with either lemon or orange icing

So, I hope I have inspired you.  If only I could provide you with a 'scratch and sniff' piece of patchwork quilt that could tempt you further to get baking this coming weekend.  I hope my words alone can inspire you enough.

Come join me on www.foodfossicker.blogspot.com and read more about my simple and easy recipes for seasonal produce through the year.  Happy cooking...and happy eating!

Crafty Classes?

Observing a new world is a fascinating job.  I debated whether to write this blog or not, but as I continue to observe my new surroundings I did feel a little curious to see if there were any thoughts around this.  

I've always found the craft community welcoming and supportive, which is amazing but my question is ~ Is there a class system in the world of craft?

When I attend markets, whether it be MARKit at Fed Square, Magnolia square, Mornington/Flemington markets, Mathilda or local markets, I at times see that same stall holders and a certain 'type' of craft.  I also see this when I go into handmade stores around Melbourne.   

So are there 'in' suppliers that everyone works with, that everyone knows and that's what craft should look like.  Vintage, Frankie-esk.  It was interesting when I went to the Brunswick Library to hear a talk by Frankie Editor, Jo Walker, a comment that she made stood out and that is, when she talks at schools, you'll have the "CLEO girls" and the "Frankie girls" and the Frankie girls like to be identified as such.  Is it a Northcote image that the craft community strives towards or do you think everyone dances to the beat of their own drum? When I look at craft blogs, there are similar looks, feel, content, pictures but then maybe that is the same for all fashion blogger or foodie bloggers.

When you think craft...are there Aussie craft Don's that immediately come to mind as the leaders of the pack, who are idolised and revered and is that the way it should be as they have been the pioneers of the handmade movement?

As an outsider coming in just this year, I've found it a fascinating world to watch around me.  I'm loving it, but it is an interesting dynamic that I think whether you live in the world of designer outfits and sports cars or you live in the world of 'make it & mend it', there is a bit of a class system that goes on whether you like it or not.  There will always be the cool kids.

Would love to know your thoughts whether you agree or disagree.

Finding Balham

When you travel through life there are places and people that will leave a permanent impression on your life.   There are some places that feel more like home than others and there are events that occur that build your connection with a place whether you like it or not.


Finding Balham for me means, finding my happy place.  Finding that place that I will always remember as my carefree, wild, exciting and fun days one day when I'm old or to be honest even now when I'm still young but just at a different stage in my life.  Balham is a suburb of London where I lived for 7 out of 8 years in the UK.  It is south of the river next to Clapham (for any of you that know South London).  It has great bars and restaurants, some lovely little shops and deli's and it's where I grew up from an adolescent to an adult.  It's where I fell in love with my husband, its where my mates live and if they didn't live in Balham they sure did on the weekends in my 2 bedroom house.  With a great summer garden; a rarity in London and my large lounge great for both sophisticated dinner parties and massive house parties it was a place of long talks and tears with friends and a place where I cried with laughter very, very often!


'Finding Balham' is now an active and deliberate pursuit every single day.  It means finding the things that I love in everyday life, creating friendships that will last me the next 10-20 years, ensuring that spontaneity and the nicer things in life still occur on a regular basis, now that we have a family, and to never forget what those fantastic things are like. 

Finding Balham is also my business dream, that in 5 or so years I will be able to open a fabulous and gorgeous little shop with wooden floor boards, big woolly rugs and a cafe in the back, that stocks Stylise products as well as other amazing brands that I have spotted along the way {and have started collecting business cards for!}.  Finding Balham challenges me to think big, dream even bigger and try to make those dreams a reality. 

Where is your 'Balham'?

Is customer experience king for business sustainability?

Everything that we do, we do for the customer.  Even if you are building your business for your own purpose, whether that be financial independence, creative outlet, pure enjoyment or hobby the only way that you can continue to do that is to have happy customers that continue to purchase your products. As creatives, the customer matters because we are making products for their enjoyment, therefore creating a customer experience that is memorable is ideally what we should be aiming for ~ after all differentiation will always help your customer remember you!

I recently was fortunate enough to connect to a live stream that ETSY was conducting in Brooklyn, New York with Ducktape marketing founder, John Janstch who is a small business marketing expert.  Even though a few of the ideas I had implemented already, there were many more great tips and I thought I would share them with you if you are a business or hobby seller.

One of the key questions was ~ If you love what you do then the money will come? Right?
Unfortunately it's not always just about passion and the ability to create.  If you want to build a sustainable business then there are tips, tricks, plans, strategies that need to be put into place.
 

1) Repeat Business & Referrals

The majority of businesses focus on new customers. Where we will find the? How we can advertise to attract them and build, build, build on numbers?

One of John's key points is to focus on your existing customers.  Repeat business will always pay off more than spending your time focusing on gaining new customers.  if you create a happy customer base then their word of mouth will bring new customers to you.

Some ideas included:

• Email your existing customers to find out if they have any feedback on how you can improve on the customer service they experienced or the product.  Ensure that they were happy.  Sometime we have an order, post it out and that's it.
• Send them a discount voucher for their next purchase as a thank you.
• Send a few business cards and let them know that if their friend/colleague purchases something and lets you know that they were referred by "miss referrer" then they will get a X discount.   Encourage them to share your information!  People love to provide others with discount opportunities and share great experiences that they have had.

2) Customer Experience

• Do you send thank you cards with every order you send out?
• Do you know who your regular customers are and refer to previous purchases when interacting with them?
• Do you gift wrap your packages that go to your customers or ensure that the packaging is professional?
• Do you send business cards to customers so that they can refer you to their friends?
• Is your branding obvious so that once all of the packaging is gone there is still a brand on your product? (not always easy for small items such as jewellery)

All of these things are worth investing in as it improves on the customer's experience and the longevity of your brand on the product.

3) Blogging

Gain your customers trust, share things with them that show them that you are willing to share.  Great tutorials, recipes, some personal information, sharing business ideas and resources may help you connect more with your customers ~ obviously each customer base is different so ideally try and find out what it is they want to know about or read about.  Think outside the box if you can!

4) Testimonials & Reviews
If possible testimonials and customer reviews always support your social networking site and show new customers that the quality of your work is great and worth buying!

5) Pricing
This one can be a tough one.  A comment  that John made during his talk was "someone is always willing to go out of business quicker that you are when you complete on price".
Work out what the item cost you to make:

• raw materials
• manufacturing/creation time
• packaging

This should be your minimum price.  There are so many blog posts out there on pricing at the moment and the fact that people in the creative space don't price for sustainability of their business.  It can also be difficult as it's not always possible to buy wholesale due to the quantity of materials such as fabrics that you buy.  This is where you need to decide if you can price your goods high enough to cover this and the fact that your product is unique, handmade and one of a kind.  Ensure that if you are asking your friend opinion on pricing ie: "would you pay this price for this item?"  that they are your target audience. 

These were just a few of the great tips that given during the talk.  A huge thank you to ETSY for providing such great business resources to their community.

What are your tips for great business sustainability?

A family Fav ~ Mexican Nachos

Some of my favorite memories of childhood is my mums fab cooking.  I come from a South African background so the food that we ate was along the lines of curries, stews, bryani and then really anything else from around the world.  It could have been Mexican, Thai, British, Chinese, pretty much whatever my mum could think of and all of it was delicious.  So I thought I would share a few of these fab recipes with you. 

Her Mexican Nachos are one of my favs.  It a brilliant recipe if you have loads of people over as it goes so far, it's always a fav with kids and basically the adults love it because its delish as well.  If you're not really into eating with your hands or having loads of bits and pieces with your dinner then this may not be for you but if you like a bit of fun with your food this is fab! 

Mexican

500g mince                                2 celery stalks (sliced)

1 large onion                              1 Tsp brown sugar

1 large can baked beans               3 bayleaves

1 large can tomatoes.                  1 T worches. sauce

1 green pepper                            

oregano, cayenne pepper, paprika, chillie powder

Salt to taste                               1tsp garlic

Fry onions – add mince- use fork to mix. Add salt, bay leaves, worches. sauce, garlic,

Oregano, cayenne, paprika, chillie powder – cook until mixture is dry.

Add green pepper and celery. Add tomato (liquidized) and sugar.  Simmer for about

¾ hour, then add kidney beans+ baked beans (wash off most of the liquid).

Serve hot with:

CORN CHIPS, GRATED CHEESE, SPRING ONION, (SLICED FINE)

SOUR CREAM, OLIVES, LETTUCE, (SLICED FINE)

AVOCADO,(MASH AVOCADO WITH SALT TO TASTE AND VINEGAR – USE FOOD PROCESSOR FOR PERFECTION)  ~ I just mash it with a fork when it's just us as its less washing up and it taste just as good.  If you're doing a lot of avocado for a large number of people then process it.

Tutorial: How to make a fitted sheet (Any size!)

Morning!

I do love custom orders, they are fun and take you away from the everyday items, even though I love making all of those as well!  So when I had a recent custom order for a cot fitted sheet in a gorgeous flannel owl fabric I thought, well this isn't something that I usually make so why don't I share with you how it was done and then you can give it a go yourself if the mood takes you!

Supplies:  
Fabric
scissors or rotary cutters
tape measure or ruler
pins
3mm or 5mm elastic (2.9m for cot sheet)
sewing machine (overlocking is optional)
fabric pencil


Step 1 - choose your fabric.  As it's coming into winter I am lover of flannel sheets.  Now depending on what size bed you want to cover will obviously determine how much fabric you need.  This tutorial will be showing you how to make a cot sized fitted sheet but if you apply the same measurement principles then you could really make it for any sized bed!


So measure the surface length & width of the mattress.  With a cot sized mattress you can then add 9 inches to both of those measurements.  So for my cot it was 130cm x 69cm. So my material measurement were 174cm long and the width of the material was 114cm.


Step 2
Once you have cut your rectangle the length & width that is required then you need to cut out a 9" by 9" square out of the corners.


Step 3
You can choose to do this step or not depending if you have an overlocker or not..... If you do have an overlocker then overlock all sides including the cut out square section.

Step 4
With the rights sides of the fabric facing each other, sew the sides of the cut out section together.  This will make the corners of your fitted sheet.



Step 5
Now turn up the edge of your sheet approximately 1.5 cm and pin around the whole hem line.

Step 6
Stitch the hem leaving a 5cm gap between where you start stitching and where you finish

Step 7
pierce your elastic twice through with a safety pin and then put sticky tape around the head of the safety pin so that it doesn't come undone when you're weaving the elastic through.  Make sure that the you have the right size safety pin that will fit in the stitch that you've just created.

Step 8
push the safety pin in the opening of the hem and caterpillar it through until you are able to bring it out the opening. (this takes some time so you might want to do this in front of the TV!)

Step 9 
Once you're done this, then tie it off securly (2-3 knots) and then sew up your gap and make sure you sew the elastic as well.

Step 10 
Cut all loose threads and your done! :)