Day 360-Christmas Ham!

I normally wouldn't put cooking on the blog as a "craft"

 but my christmas ham is the exception to the rule!

This coming from a girl who RARELY ever cooks! 

Its not that I can't cook (in fact I am quite good at it) I just (A) think it is a massive chore and can't be bothered and (B) have an amazing fiancee who enjoys cooking, is an amazing cook and tends to not let me in the kitchen (Hallelujah!) bar this one event... The christmas ham below...

Start with a leg of ham (from the butcher or supermarket) these ham's are already cooked, so essentially what we are doing is marinating it and "double" baking it

 first step is to peel the skin off (but you must keep the layer of fat on) you can use a knife to get this started, but best to then use your hands and slowly rub the fat as you peel the skin back (I know sounds disgusting! but well worth the end result!)

 once the skin is removed you need to score the fat with a sharp knife, the distance between cuts need to be quite wide (approx 5cm)

 next step, using whole dried cloves position these in the centre of each square

 now add your pineapple, evenly spaced with the cloves at the centre of each

use tooth picks to hold these in place for the cooking process

 right the ham is ready, next step the marinade...

I tend to throw the ingredients roughly together based on the size of the ham

-1 cup of brown sugar

-1 cup of honey

-pineapple juice left over from 2 tins of sliced pineapple

-dijorn mustard (3 heaped teaspoons)

heat all these ingredients in a saucepan (do not bring to the boil, just lightly simmer for a few minutes)

you will notice the mustard will separate (see the saucepan below) it doesn't look the best, but it is fine.

 pre-heat the oven to 200degrees, baste the ham with the marinade every 15-20 minutes
I tend to like the outside slightly overcooked/caramelised, so I tend to continue basting the ham and turning the tray around for about 2 hours.

 Voila! christmas ham complete!! 

It also leaves the whole house smelling amazing (and our bellies feeling very full!)

We tend to end up eating ham for the next week or so, using it in various meals such as 

quiche, omelette, sandwiches, pasta carbonara or pea and ham soup.

To keep the ham fresh during this time the trick is to use a "HAMBAG" if you do not have a specific "hambag" then a plain pillowcase (that you do not want to use again as a pillowcase) will do the trick.

You need to soak the pillow case in a bowl of cold water with 2 teaspoons of white vinegar.

You then place the ham inside the hambag (inside the fridge). You will need to re-soak the ham bag in water and vinegar every 2 days to keep the ham fresh.

Craft out

xxoo

Day 356-polish craft

Hello crafters and blog followers!

Tonight my craft is dedicated to the Polish fans and family (Andee my fiancee is Polish hence the connection) my lovely mother and law suggested I whip up some Polish base craft before the end of the year, so here goes...

-first of all I printed out a little map off the internet with the polish eagle on it,

then I cut one out and traced around the map shape onto some MDF

 next I tested out my electric jigsaw skills!!

 and lightly sanded the edges

 to give the decoration an older feel I have used an oil based wood varnish on the top (this slightly stains the paper and makes it look older)

 it is still wet at the moment, tomorrow I will drill a hole thru the top so that I can hang it up

voila! personalised, one off, polish christmas ornament.

sending love to my mother in law, I am looking forward to the Polish feast on christmas eve (Wigilia)

Wesołych Świąt Bożego Narodzenia!

xxoo

craft out

P.S. 10 DAYS TO GO!!!

Day 355-handmade decorations

Tonight I have made another handmade christmas decoration

first I cut the shape out of chipboard with the electric jigsaw

 cut out some pictures from a magazine

 next I glued these pictures on and painted a few extra layers of PVA over the top as a varnish

 final step drill a hole in the centre so there is somewhere to hang the decorations by

I think these looks great!

 Its lovely to have something like this handmade rather than the millions of made in china christmas baubles available at the shops!

Craft out

xxoo

Day 275-Card garland

 Today I have continued with the christmas theme and used old christmas cards to make a paper garland

craft out

xxoo

Day 261-Home safe and sound

After a weekend away we have flown back into melbourne safe and sound... but very tired (and not looking forward to work tomorrow!) okay one more chrissy craft! and then i better get my creative juices flowing for something different tomorrow night, craft out....zzzzzz snore out xxoo

its a tree

 the branches are filling up! i will need plenty more for the christmas stall in december!

Day 260-another chrissy craft...again

sorry folks, I know, I know, its another chrissy craft! what can i say... there will be new and adventurous craft next week, I promise!

tonight's is a boot

boot out

xxoo

Day 259-another chrissy craft

Today we flew up to newcastle for a weekend with the folks.

Tonight's craft is another chrissy decoration for my craft stall later this year.

This one is a cute little birdy,

I decided to make some legs with pipe cleaners

 with 3 little spikes for the feet

the branch is starting to fill up

chirp out

xxoo

Day 258-christmas crafts

Hello crafty folks! You will have to bare with me the next few days as I post a few christmas decorations. I am flying to Newcastle tomorrow for my sister's engagement party so I had to pre make the weekends worth tonight. 

Have a great weekend everyone!

 tonight's creation, "mr snowball carrot nose man"

 me looking rather tired... it is 11.52pm!

craft out

xxoo

Day 234-another day another decoration!

In early prep for my chrissy market stall i have made another decoration

Today's is a heart

sketch your heart shape onto cardboard to use as a template

cut x2 out of felt

place a loop of ribbon between the two pieces and stitch together

use your glue gun to decorate

 at first i was planning to cover the whole heart with buttons

 and then i decided it looked better with just a few to one side

how much would you pay for a handmade decoration??

let me know your thoughts in the comments section below....

Craft out

xxoo

Day 231-Super Saturday's LIN-CRAFT

Hello friendly followers and fellow crafters!

It is super weather here today in Melbourne! and although my cold is still hanging on I am trying to ignore it!
Today I went on a drive to the Lincraft store in Nunawading (372-394 Whitehorse Road).
Usually I go to the same one near my work in Hawthorn, but I thought I'd go and check out a different one (Note; if you are driving there it is a little hard to find because it is actually inside the "Home HQ" centre on whitehorse rd, I kept driving back and forth looking for it!)

this is the building to look for

 Lincraft is upstairs

this store is great because it was super quiet and super neat, So I spent a good hour and a half looking and collecting supplies.

I love their selection of printed cotton's

and spied some super cute kids curtains with a bunting print on it

 these were really really long, so that you are able to cut the length you need and hem them yourself, I don't have kids yet myself but I think these would look great to decorate a nursery... one day!

I also really like the "plantation"range of blockout fabrics (below) these have extra thick backing which also make them perfect for curtains or furnishings

okay back to my project for today...

I was on the hunt for supplies to make christmas decorations (I know its a "tad" early!) but I have been given a stall spot at the Knox Community Carols by candlelight at the start of December and figured I should get onto it early.

I started by buying some felt off the roll, its much cheaper to buy by the metre

 I also found some great teeny tiny pom poms to decorate my creations

back at home I got started by sketching some template shapes onto cardboard

 lots of template shapes!

I will just show you one complete design today.

I started with a simple circle (cut 2 for extra thickness)

and a little heart for the centre

 pin a ribbon loop between the two layers and stitch together around the edge of the circle with a contrast thread

then I decided to add a second circle to the middle in a contrast colour, then the heart, some buttons and a ribben bow to finish (these were all attached with a glue gun)

 I have hung these from some branches I spray painted in silver (this was last year's tree)

 here is another one using the pom pom's

 okay I wasnt going to show you anymore... but here is a sneak peak... shhhhhhhhhh

They just look so good altogether! The key is to use the same colour palette for all of them

craft out!!

xxoo