This is a quick and easy gift idea to make, well put together! All you need is a beer glass and two pairs of socks, a black pair and a white pair. For the white pair I bought sports socks, turned inside out, the texture resembles bubbles perfect for the beer's frothy head. Now all you do is roll and manipulate the socks into the glass until you are happy they look like a pint of Guinness.

*To avoid disappointment, for the recipient, include a bottle of beer as part of the gift too!

Christmas preparations have got the better of me, where has the time gone? My friend Sue suggested, for one night only, we turn her son's games room, at the bottom of their garden, into a 'Winter Wonderland'. We would invite friends for mulled wine, mince pies, a get together and a chance to buy unique gifts. We planned it, made and baked things and It all went extremely well, quite overwhelming really!

This is a gift idea you might like to try, Alice and I made some small but perfectly formed christmas cakes. We took a traditional cake recipe, Alice made gluten free, and where in the recipe it said 'pour your mixture into a 7" cake tin, cook for 4 hours' we poured ours into ten tin cans and reduced the cooking time to 1 1/2 hours. We decorated them with marzipan and royal icing topped off with my attempt at a simplistic christmas tree.

With lots of animal hats in the shops I thought I would create one like a bear. I could have knitted one but I decided it would be interesting to try and customise a plain shop bought beanie. I bought a hat from a discount store for a £1, and with a couple of buttons, oddments of wool and scraps of felt I fashioned me a bear hat. I made three pom poms, two for the ears and a smaller one for the nose. I cut two circles from the scraps of felt, these go behind the buttons so need to be slightly bigger than the buttons. When I was happy with the position of the features I sewed them on. It didn't take long to make and it would be an easy project for children to try.

I have a tutorial on how to make a pom pom here 

Ingredients

1. 2.5 kg (5 lb 8 oz) pumpkin cut into wedges, scoop out the seeds and fibres from the middle and discard. Butternut squash works well too
2. 1 chopped onion 
3. Olive oil
4. 1 tsp of curry powder or more depending on your taste 
5. 1 tbs skimmed milk powder 
6. 0.5 litre (1 pint) of chicken stock 
7. Salt and pepper to taste 

Slow roast the pumpkin wedges in the oven with a drizzle of olive oil. When soft and slightly brown take out of the oven, separate the soft flesh from the skin.

In a pan heat a little olive oil. Add onions and cook, until softened. Add curry powder, to your taste, stir for a minute more.

Add pumpkin flesh, chicken stock, skimmed milk powder, salt and pepper to taste. Bring to a boil and reduce heat, simmer for 15 to 20 minutes.

Remove from the heat. Blend the soup until smooth

And the finishing touch .......dress your dog as a pumpkin! 

What you will need to make a lantern

1. Tin can
2. Hammer and nail 
3. Sand, water and a freezer 
4. Paper for pattern 
5. Towel or soft cloth 

While searching in our garden shed for something (mosaic nippers to be precise), for a friend, I found some mosaic pieces. I have to brace myself for this task, the shed is full of garden furniture and old toys, you get the picture a general dumping ground. Well right at the back, along with the nippers, I found mosaic pieces I had totally forgotten about. My friend Susie and I use to teach mosaic and so needed to have examples to show students. Finding the pieces made me want to dabble in mosaic again, but as they say be careful what you wish for! I got a call from my friend Susie asking if I would like to go along to the school she teachers at and help finish off a large garden urn the children had been working on. I really enjoyed doing the mosaic but we worked outside in a biting cold wind, last weeks heatwave but a distant memory. We both agreed in the spring, when the weather is warmer, we would think about doing mosaic again, can't wait.

Picking up a few windfalls in the garden and having bought a tub of stem ginger 'shavings' from the local market I thought the two ingredients would compliment each other in a crumble.

APPLE AND GINGER CRUMBLE

900 g/2lbs  dessert apples + 1tbs water + 1tbs sugar

1tbs or more chopped stem ginger

225 g/8 oz plain flour

115 g/4 oz butter

115 g/4 oz caster sugar

1tsp ground ginger

Preheat the oven to 190 C/375 F/Gas Mark 5.

Peel, core and chop, into chunky pieces, apples. Put in a pan with 1tbs of sugar and a 1tbs of water. Cook gently until apples look soft. Put in a dish. Add about 1tbs of chopped stem ginger, add more if you want it really 'gingery'.

To make the crumble topping 

Place flour, sieved, into a bowl. Rub in butter until the mixture resembles bread crumbs. stir in sugar and ground ginger.

Bake in the centre of the oven for 25-30 minutes.

Serve with cream or ice-cream

It was a weekday but with this glorious late september weather and everyone at home a family trip was on the cards. We decided to go to Butterfly World for the afternoon, only a ten minute drive from where we live. The final Phase and main structure, the Biome, has yet to be built but don't let that put you off going there's still lots to see and do especially for children. My children as big as they are enjoyed the afternoon and I can honestly say no small children were pushed off the slide in the taking of photographs, as it was a school day! We are all enthusiastic photographers and Butterfly World is full of photo opportunities not just the butterflies but the gardens and planting.

"As part of phase I of the project, Butterfly World last year hosted a designer gardens exhibition called Future Gardens. This involved inviting talented garden designers from around the world to contribute thought-provoking designs for individual gardens which fit into the segments of a caterpillar. Each of the 12 gardens makes a design statement with no shortage of inspiration for visitors to take home and try for themselves.  These gardens look fabulous in their second year of development and continue to offer fun for the children and great ideas for garden lovers."

In the tropical butterfly house the butterflies are the stars of the show, photogenic poseurs showing off their finery, it's really difficult not to take a good picture. The verdict from Ashley and Alice, as it was their first visit, was they would like to go again.