Happy (Almost) New Year!

Before I start......

**insert usual 'I am sorry, I can't believe I am so crap at keeping up with my blog, I promise to do better and try harder blah blah blahity blah' diatribe**

Actually, just thinking about the above, I am sure at least half of all bloggers everwhere post something similar once every three months or so. So I figure flailing myself with a big stick probably isn't going to do anyone any real good - particularly me.

But I digress, because the funny thing about this is I have had no time to blog lately because .....I have been off doing many a crafty thing! Yay for me!

However the downside to this is that while I have been engaged in all things 'Small Pleasurish' my camera also decided to have a brain fade. So unfortunately the photographic evidence is not up to scratch. So you are just going to have to take my word for it.

(That said, it did suddenly decide to come good two days before Christmas so I can't really complain can I?)

Ok, after all that, here is what I have been up to for December.

The Wonderful World of Baking
I made Ham and Cheese Croissants and biscotti for morning tea with the girls. The croissants were a version of Nigellas' - super simple and oh so yummy. The biscotti recipe was the same one I have used before, but unfortunately I didn't cook these quite long enough so they weren't as good as last time. Lesson learnt.

I also made a yummy double chocolate cake for my darling best friend's birthday. It was one of Bill Granger's recipes and wasn't too hard to make (gotta love that about good old Bill!) and everyone really seemed to like it.

And then it was onto Christmas cooking which took me the best part of a week but was oh so much fun. We didn't have Christmas at our house this year so we didn't need to do anything for the actual day but I made all sorts of goodies to give as presents including iced gingerbread and homemade Fererro Rochers, Rocky Road and white chocolate christmas trees.

Crafty Goodness
I also excersised my creativity by making personalised ornaments for the Christmas tree, designs that I had printed on mugs and homemade reindeer cards using the monkey's hand and foot prints as a base which were a hit.

And something so unbelievable that it actually needs its own category - Sewing!!
Okay, for a little context here, the last time I did any sewing - stray buttons included- was in Year 10. But I was shown a super cute tutorial for a ruffle sleeve top and thought I would give it a go. I did it in a reindeer fabric so the Monkey could use it for Christmas and I must admit I was very proud of the results! So much so, I have ordered more material and am actually going shopping for a dress pattern this week which is something I never considered really doing.


So yes it's been a busy month, and here we are, almost at the end of 2009. I have been thinking of a few changes I can make to Small Pleasures for the new year, and will update soon with recipes for the above and the few photos I managed to take.