It's been all of a Go Go! So here are a collaboration of pictures to make up for the time absent...

Here is a little D.I.F.M (Do It For Myself) creation I made. It is a little letter to my auntie Vikki to reveal to her a recipe which I had wanted to share with her which involves using Butternut squash. I used too a template I had found whilst browsing various blog pages from the lovely 'Love Vs Design'

Here was a picture I really wanted to take when I had returned for a second time to visit my very lovely, dear friend, Sally. This was a canvas art piece she had obtained when visiting South Africa and is made up of all the things the children living in the village could find which was rubbish; producing this beautiful touching wall art masterpiece which although made up of rubbish to me seems to be any but rubbish. 

CHRISTMAS EVE! I thought that tonight I would be allowed to treat myself to a little pamper session by painting my nails. 

My Christmas eve nails. Used my new 'TATE nails inc varnish and borrowed my mums BARRY M CONFETTI nail varnish. On the third finger I did a simple dot design using GOLD and WHITE.

I can sing a RAINBOW! My view from my bedroom window on boxing day. It was a double rainbow too! =]

My decorated Christmas fruit cake made for my Nan. After decorating all of my Christmas cookies it was time to ice my Nan's fruit cake. I went a tad elaborate with the design but I have learnt a lot in terms of time and what is the best way of doing things. I wanted to try constructing a Santa sleigh out of icing but proved to be too fragile. I did manage to save it by 'gluing' it with the royal icing.  Finished off with a spray of edible gold glitter to give the cake a lovely sheen =] Very happy and I hope my Nan liked it.

Top Free Printable Gift Tags I am loving for Christmas 2013:

1. 2013 Holiday Tags; animals - Sanaeishida 

2. Cute Christmas Gift Tags - Kelli Murray's Blog

3. Woodland Christmas Gift Tags and Labels - Lia Griffith Blog

4. Calligraphy Gift Tags - Sweet Muffin Suite

5. Hand drawn Gift Tags - Oanabefort Flikr

CHRISTMAS DAY at HOME. My mum wanted to have Christmas dinner at ours so it gave me the excuse to decorate and make the table look really pretty =] My Auntie Vikki, Uncle Richard and Baby Rupert came down to join us this year which was the first time. I decided to try out some DIY inventions of my own which included 'cake' stands using plastic cocktail glasses (bought from a closing down sale of'What?') and super glued the bottoms onto a plastic plate. Looked good but I think I should have bought a more sturdy plate as it was quite precarious. I placed the starters onto the plates so that the family could pick whilst the main dinner was being served up in the kitchen. 

My baby cousin Rupert the Bear! It was lovely to have him around our house on Christmas Day as he is now at that age where they are just able to say a couple of words and show their true personalities! He was truly adorable and he never fails to make me smile when I see him =] The Blue 'Rocker' shirt was bought for him by my mum which I think looks lovely and really brings out the blue in his eyes. Then the little 'Rocker' hat was bought by me and my brother however it was a tad literally on the 'little' size and did't fit his head as snugly as I would have liked considering it was marked as 'one size'. I wrapped up his present in some DIY paper I had made from plain kraft paper bought from Ikea; using acrylic paints and un-used potatoes to create my own veg stamps using my cookie cutters and stamped various illustrations (Bear, Balloons, his name, Snowmen, reindeers...).

Boxing day Lunch. I changed my lunch a smidging from what I would often not allow myself to have but for Christmas day I made a starter of Grape and Melon on sticks; as there were some leftover I incorporated them into my traditional Apple and Orange fruit salad. In addition!...As my boxing day challenge I had made my previous creation of 'Lemon and Blueberry Oat bars' and changed it to 'Lemon and Apple'. Hoping that my mother may be able to join me in eating what I would consider as an 'okay' recipe for my mum who is quite fussy, but no luck =[ The miniature bars were left all to me and so I decided that I might as well try them out.

LEMON & BLUEBERRY OAT BARS - adapted recipe from the previous blog post

For Crumble:

1 cup quick oats (make your own by quickly pulsing rolled oats in a blender or food processor)

1/4 cup oat flour

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 cup applesauce

half a 1/4 cup agave nectar

1 tbsp lemon juice

1/2 tbsp lemon zest

1/2 tsp vanilla

For Filling:

1 cup Bramley apple puree

1.5 tbsp lemon juice

1 tbsp cornstarch

1 tbsp maples syrup

1/2 tbsp lemon juice

Method

1. Preheat oven to 190'C.  Line a mini muffin tin with baking paper strips (to ease them out of the tin).
2. Combine oats, oat flour, and cinnamon in a large bowl.  Add applesauce, maple syrup, lemon juice and zest, and vanilla to bowl.  Mix until a thick dough forms.
3. Press about a teaspoon of crumble dough into each of the muffin holes and press down firmly.  Make sure the dough covers the entire bottom.
4. Set aside.

For Filling:

1. Place all ingredients in a small saucepan.  Bring to a boil over high heat.  Reduce heat and let simmer a couple minutes until a sort of jelly has formed.  Remove from heat and let mixture cool.
2. Once cooled, pour over prepared crust, and spread into an even layer. 
3. Bake in preheated oven for 10 minutes.  Let cool completely before cutting in bars and serving.
4. Made 16 muffins. Store in fridge.

The day after boxing day was the families 'new' boxing day as after Christmas we spent the day chilling in the comfort of home. Again it seemed to be a day of smiles as Rupert the Bear continued his life of exploration! It was lovely for him to remember my name, even if it is pronounced as 'Bee-Kah!' - I could correct him to pronounce it the correct way, but it just sounds too cute! I saw my cousins Keela and Josh with their partners Abby and Rick. I tend to say quite quiet when I am around them as I feel too shy to speak - so I sat next to my Nan's friend from weymouth 'Wendy'. Shes lovely and I think likes to also stay out of the way of any commotion in the kitchen ect. =] It was nice as Vikki did a buffet table and was thoughtful enough to cook me some boiled potatoes which I could nibble on whilst everyone had finished their picking.

Sneeky little Man!
This is meant to be night nights!
Can not resist the Crisps!
I won't tell mummy if you wont!!