16

The flashing lights above made me think about how to make my own. I drew a simple picture of lights, then added three colours. I made three different pictures by moving the colours along. Then I used the three pictures for the animation. The second one is just two pictures with alternating smiley and sad faces. I can't wait to try more drawn animations.

15

Glad Tidings of Great Things I Bring

First Great Thing-The Crucifixion rendered in toast-sounds silly but is actually beautifully done. It is by an artist called Adam Sheldon and is at a church in Lincolnshire until the end of January.
Rebecca's virgin made from wooden eggs reminded me of it-another great thing.

Second Great thing-this video from youtube-it was posted by Mrs Nesbitt and I watched it at lunchtime. It brought tears to my eyes-I love this kind of thing!

It is being very slow to load but I think it is my computer-but give it a chance as it is lovely!

The next thing is this cake by Torie Jayne. It is so pretty and wintery and took a lot of skill to make. She even made the mould for the deer on top, then made the deer out of something called 'petal paste'. So clever! Cake decorating is a mysterious world to me!

In complete contrast to the above cake are these pathetic cookie houses by Aimee and her family. Easy, messy, sticky and delicious fun!

My last great thing today is this blog-Mouses Houses. If you haven't ever seen it then do go and have a look as it is brilliant. Maggie Rudy is the artist and she creates the most amazing tiny scenes with sweet little mice that she makes. I think they are felt and wire but I can't be sure. So good!

Door 13

" The air was filled with phantoms, wandering hither and thither in restless haste, and moaning as they went. Every one of them wore chains like Marley's ghost; some few (they might be guilty governments) were linked together; None were free." . . . . .
"Whether these creatures faded into mist or mist enshrouded them, he could not tell. But they and their spirit voices faded together; and the night became as it had been when he walked home."

I was enshrouded by fog this morning on the drive to work. Fog is my second favourite dramatic weather condition after snow. So creepy and mysterious the way it changes your surroundings or obliterates them altogether. My advent door has consequently taken a darker turn today with the ghost of Jacob Marley, on his visit to Scrooge to warn him of the events to come. As he leaves, Scrooge sees the air outside seething with miserable phantoms, regretting their lack of ability to do the good deeds they didn't do in life.

As a contrast to the drama and angst above, I have added these little flowers, a present from Aliya this morning. They are only tiny, but after an hour in their little vase in the kitchen, the room had the scent of honey.

Another quick and easy thing to make-tracing paper circles, roughly stapled together, to soften the glow from nightlights. (LED ones-safety first!)

Shadow Shot Sunday, Pan Forte and Door 12

My colourful Artful Blogging and Where Women Create magazines made a shadow this morning. The sun comes through the front window for about ten minutes in the morning at a low slanting angle and dramatically lights the everyday things in the bedroom. For more shadows from around the world, visit HeyHarriet here.

Here is the Pan Forte as promised! I cooked it just before we went out last night, so when I got to it this morning to take it out of the tin and cut it up, it was very difficult. It is basically a kind of toffee recipe, as the main ingredients apart from the fruit, nuts and spices are sugar and honey. I think I slightly overcooked it (followed the recipe but would do less time if I do it again)
so it was very hard to cut. It is tasty though-very rich, chewy and nutty, and goes very well with coffee.

Here is the recipe-with my provisos!

edible wafer paper

75g blanched almonds

75g blanched hazelnuts

50g unsalted shelled pistachios

225g mixed dried fruit-dates, figs, apricots, candied peel

(roughly 55g each)

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon each of ground ginger, ground cloves, ground nutmeg (I just grated some), freshly ground black pepper

75g plain flour sifted

1 tbsp cocoa

200g clear honey

200g caster sugar

icing sugar to serve

The recipe says about 10 minutes preparation time and 1hour 10 minutes to cook-preparation took me about half an hour.

1. Preheat oven to 180C, 160C fan oven, Gas 4. Toast almonds and hazelnuts for 5-7 minutes-till golden.

2. Oil an 18cm square loose bottomed tin (did not have this-just used a square tin) and line with edible paper.

3. Once nuts done, lower oven temp to 150C, 130C fan (I misread this and did 150-may explain over cooking!) Gas 2

4. Cool nuts, chop roughly. (Not good at nut chopping-they spring away, so didn't bother too much!)

5. Chop all fruit.

6. Mix fruit and nuts.

7. Mix spices, flour and cocoa in another bowl.

8. Mix spices etc with fruit and nuts.

9. Medium pan-mix sugar and honey, heat until sugar dissolved, bring slowly to boil, bubble for two minutes. (Do not put your finger into the pan you think has cooled to try the delicious sugary mixture. If you do, run swiftly under cold water) Seriously, it is very hot and dangerous!

10. Mix quickly with fruit and nuts-otherwise it is very difficult! Pour into tin. Press flat with spoon. (I couldn't do this-too solid a mixture and too sticky-but it flattens out in the oven as it cooks)

11. Cook for 1 hour ten minutes-or possibly slightly less considering overcooking.

12. When cool, cut into small squares and dust with icing sugar. It was a two handed job cutting mine!

I think if I do it again, I would try adding orange zest, and slightly less cloves as I think they dominate a bit.

The recipe was from Sainsbury's Magazine though not the issue shown here.

Today's door is Christmas stamps.

I have posted the photo so you can see the little idyllic Christmas snow scene. Sweet!

Thanks to Kim Klassen for yet another lovely texture! I have bought quite a few, but she also sends out free textures very generously, if you join her texture lovin' list. This one is called lyrical.

Make gif

Door 11

Today's door is my hastily constructed gift tags. The snowflake shape cutter is great-when it works-the paper kept getting stuck in it. I am making a pan forte cake at the moment, as a practice for going to someone's house the week after next and taking a desert. It is another interesting recipe, different to the normal sort of cake. If it works I will share it. It is full of fruit and nuts, so if you forget the vast amount of sugar, it is almost a healthy option!

Door number 10 is a genuine door, created without the aid of photoshop. It is Cassie in one of her favourite places-the airing cupboard-though not the kind of airing cupboard with a heating source, but Cassie is not fussy! She gets in there in the morning mainly, so she can observe goings on in the shower. You can see how I have accommodated her by stuffing far too many towels on the top shelf, so I can maintain her little space. Not easy in a house full of too many things such as ours!
So glad it is Friday. This week has gone by in a kind of blur, filled with playdough, Christmas songs, freezing weather and an annoying cold. It has been fun but a bit manic. The weekend will be good I hope, though I have a lot of things to do tomorrow, before going out in the evening. Resolve and a list will get me through-hopefully!
Have a lovely weekend!