Tag Archives: quick

How to make Pompom Animals

Posted on by Abi

how to make pompom animals

Whew it’s been while since I managed to get anything up on here. Between the summer holidays and technology failing it’s all been against me. But I’m back today with a tutorial that’s perfect to keep you and the kids occupied as the light draws in and the days get increasingly cold. Learn how to make pompom animals and you have hours of activities at your fingertips. They can be themed (robins & snowmen are great for Christmas) made large or small and the range of possibilities is limited only by your imagination! Today we’ll be making a bird pompom animal (actually inspired by our Quail).

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What You’ll Need

Pompom maker – of course you can make these the old fashioned way with circles of cardboard but these little machines are super cheap and easy to use, I’ve even seen them in the pound-shop.

Wool

Scissors

Glue

Felt

Googly eyes

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Step 1

Take your pompom maker and open up the sides completely. Begin winding your wool around one of the arms until it’s nice and thickly covered. Do the same with the other arm, for our bird we used a lighter coloured wool on the second side.

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Step 2

Fold both arms back into the centre of the pompom maker. Cut between the gaps in the arms (see pic) do this for both sides. Using some extra wool tie all the way around the pompom through the same gap where you just cut with the scissors. Tie up tightly.

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Step 3

Open up both arms again, your pompom should stay put. Pull the pompom maker apart and you should have a lovely squishy pompom. Trim off any excess wool until you’re happy with the shape.

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Step 4

Cut out felt shapes for the feet, if you’re making a bird a small square folded in half makes a great beak. Glue into place on the pompom (fabric glue works very well). Then stick on a pair of googly eyes and you have one happy little pompom creature.pompomanimal5

 

 

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Easy Blackberry Pie Recipe

Posted on by Abi

blackberry pieThis year our Blackberry bush has decided to produce fruit rather early and my children picked a bumper crop over the weekend. As much as I love a good pudding the weather was so hot and muggy that baking didn’t feel very appealing, so we needed a super quick and easy recipe to use up the berries. Therefore in today’s blog I’m going to share the most quick and easy blackberry pie recipe that I know!

What You’ll Need

1 block of shop bought Puff Pastry (I keep some in the freezer for just this kind of occasion)

550g Fresh Blackberries

125g Soft brown sugar

 

Preheat your oven to 180C/ 350F/ Gas Mark 4

IMG_9871Start by preparing your Blackberries. If they are shop bought then they will just need a quick wash, however hand picked garden berries need to be soaked in cold water for awhile to make sure any resident bugs etc. float up to the surface. After removing any bugs give your berries a final rinse under the tap.

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Next you need to roll out the pastry. Dust your worktop with plain flour and roll out thinly. It needs to cover the bottom and sides of your pie dish, but as it’s puff pastry don’t worry about a fold here or there, you wont notice it once baked.

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Cut any excess from the sides.

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In a large bowl mix together the brown sugar and blackberries. Tip the berries into the bottom of the lined pie dish.

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Using the remaining pastry roll out a top for your pie and lay across the dish, pushing the edges together with your fingers to seal. Cut a couple of steam holes into the centre of your pie.

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Bake in the oven for approximately 25 minutes or until golden and risen.

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Eat warm with oodles of custard and/or cream and ice cream.

Tip. This pie is full of juice, if you would rather have a firmer filling then the berries will need to be precooked or a little thickening added (such as cornflour).

 

 

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