lookalike : long pom pom necklace

If you love your beanie topped with a pom pom, adorn you neck with the same sense of fluffyness. Cue this string of fluffballs on ASOS by Les Nereides for RRP $182.38.... or get your hands on some pom poms, wool and ribbon renmants, and a long chain and fluff up your own for around $10. Add a few stitches here, tie a bow there, string some wool together and you'll be set to pom pom all the way.

chocolate lava puddings

Excuse my blurry photo which I quickly snapped with my phone - but I couldn't wait to dig into my pudding because it looked and smelt sooooo good! And tasted even better!

Chocolate Lava Puddings

Serves 4

125g dark cooking chocolate
125g butter
3 eggs
1 cup sugar
35g plain flour
Pouring cream to serve

Pre-heat oven to 220° and grease four 1-cup ramekins with butter. Add a tiny spoonful of flour to each ramekin and shake the flour around to cover the butter on the base and sides. Tap out any excess flour, then place ramekins on a baking tray.

Melt the chocolate and butter in a microwave safe bowl, stopping to stir every 20 seconds until the chocolate and butter have thoroughly melted and blended together.

In another bowl, whisk together eggs, sugar and flour until blended. Gradually whisk in the melted chocolate mixture.

Pour pudding mixture into the remakins and bake for 10-12 minutes or until the tops are firm and just starting to crack and the edges are set.

Serve immediately with a splash of cream. Yum!

woolly scarf

Pick up a pair of knitting needles and get knitting. Knitting is relatively easy to learn - there are great tutorial videos on YouTube on how to knit, or I'm sure your Grandma would love to show you how!

Once you've learnt to knit you can produce a scarf like this one! This pattern used 2 different knitting needle sizes and basic knit and purl stitches for a nice drapey scarf. You will also need to know the knit-2-together and knit-front-and-back techniques.

I used 3 skeins of Chantilly.
9mm and 4.5mm needles.

Using your 9mm needles, cast on 24 stitches.
Knit one row.
Then follow this sequence:
9mm - Purl
9mm - Knit
9mm - Purl
9mm - Knit
9mm - Purl
4.5mm - K2T (You'll end up with 14 stitches on your needles)
4.5mm - Knit
4.5mm - Knit
4.5mm - Knit
4.5mm - Knit
4.5mm - Knit
9mm - KFB (You'll increase back to 24 stitches)

Cast off when you have reached your desired length.
I added tassles to finish it off.
You'll be nice and snug with this woolly scarf wrapped around your neck!

This is my interpretation of the original pattern posted on monster-yarn

inspiration reel : many many ways to keep that neck warm

Who knew there was so many ways to tie a scarf? The clever girls over at Scarves Dot Net share many many ways to keep that neck warm - perfect since winter decided to make an early appearance this week.

Now to buy/make scarves to try out all these styles!

spots and stripes and bunnies

A perfect distraction from all that chocolate is decking out your fingernails with easter inspired nail art!

Dotting your nails is an easy way to start trying out nail art - a great way to make your own dotting tool is with an eraser ended pencil and bobby pins or pin heads. The knobs on a bobby pin are the perfect size for dotting - just cut in half with some pliers and literally shove into the eraser end of a pencil. Then dip and dot away.

Here I have used:
Baby blue : Very, very old, the label has been worn off!
White : Rimmel I Love Lasting Finish
Mellow Yellow : Sally Hansen
Baby Pink : Revlon
Black : Kiss Nail Art

TECHNIQUE
Dots : baby blue base, dotted with white - used the dotting tool I created (see above)
Stripes : white base, yellow stripes - luckily I have a very steady hand and just using the very edge of the brush, swiped some stripes. Otherwise you can mask off with some tape then paint.
Bunny : pink base, white bunny, black details - painted a circle for the bunny, two little strokes for the ears and a couple dots for eyes, nose and mouth.

vest of furryness

FOUND: one unloved black vest tucked away in the corner of my wardrobe... or pick one up from your local op shop (for the template). FOUND: one piece of multi-coloured fur - only $20 from Spotlight. TOGETHER: equal new fur vest. yes yes.

I checked out the seams on my vest and traced the sections onto some butchers paper (TIP: fold the back in half to get it even). I then cut this out and pinned on to the back of my fur. Cut the fur, being very, very careful only to cut the backing of the fur, not the actual fur itself - using only the tips of my fabric scissors worked best for me. Then tug the pieces apart so as not to lose any of your fur. Sew together all the bits - you may want to line it with satin or something similar depending on the fur's backing material. I did mine by hand as the fur was pretty thick. Didn't know how my sewing machine would cope with such furryness!