MollyLuck

This year I joined Goodreads. I set myself a reading challenge of reading 60 books within the year. Unfortunately I haven't been able to read that. 54. I'm going to set myself the same challenge for 2017. 

Here is a list of books I read this year; I am a member of 4 book clubs - two online. There was only two books I only read 1/2 of. I would like to try and read them again with more time. 

• Before We Met - Lucie Whitehouse (Book Club)
• Snowflakes on Silver Cove - Holly Martin.
• A Diamond from Tiffany's - Melissa Hill.
• Untouched - Melody Grace.
• No - one ever has sex on a Tuesday - Tracy Bloom. (Book Club)
• Disclaimer - Renee Knight. (Book Club)
• Behind Closed Doors - B A Paris. (Book Club)
• The Silent Cry - Cathy Glass.
• The Wild Child - Casey Watson.
• Still Alice - Lisa Genova.
• A Girl's Best Friend - Lindsey Kelk.
• The Birthday That Changed Everything - Debbie Johnson.
• Saving Grace - Jane Green.
• Summer Secrets - Jane Green.
• The Girl on The Train - Paula Hawkins.
• What Alice Forgot - Liane Moriarty.
• A Vintage Wedding - Katie Fforde.
• Between You and Me - Lisa Hall.
• The Accidental Life of Jessie Jefferson - Paige Toon.
• I Knew You Were Trouble - Paige Toon.
• The One We Fell In Love With - Paige Toon.
• Between Shades of Gray - Ruta Sepetys. (Book Club).
• Three and half heartbeats - Amanda Prowse.
• Little Girl Gone - Alexandra Burt. (Book Club).
• Tanya Bakes - Tanya Burr.
• A Mother's Story - Amanda Prowse.
• The Girls - Lisa Jewell. (Book Club).
• Oh Dear Silvia - Dawn French.
• A Man Called Ove - Fredrik Backman (only 1/2). (Book Club).
• After You - Jo Jo Moyes.
• All About The Hype - Paige Toon.
• Always With Love - Giovanna Fletcher.
• Splinter the Silence - Val McDermid. (Book Club). 
• The Hidden Cottage - Erica James.
• Beautiful Broken Things - Sara Barnard. 
• One Night in Italy - Lucy Diamond.
• According to Yes - Dawn French.
• The Perks of Being A Wallflower - Stephen Chbosky.
• Lord of The Flies - William Golding.
• Quentins - Maeve Binchy. (Book Club).
• Can I Let You Go - Cathy Glass.
• The Widow - Fiona Barton. (Book Club).
• The Light Between Oceans - M.L. Stedman (1/2). (Book Club).
• The Passenger - Lisa Lutz. (Book Club).
• The Crossing - Andrew Miller. (Book Club).
• Our Song - Dani Atkins.
• Moving - Jenny Eclair. (Book Club).
• Second Life - SJ Watson.
• The Sister - Louise Jensen. (Book Club).
• Christmas at Lilac Cottage - Holly Martin
• Winter's Wish - Alice Rose
• A Cornish Christmas - Lily Graham
• The Christmas Project - Maxine Morrey. 

Did you set yourself any reading goals this year? My goodreads account name is mollyluck. 

xxx

Do you create a gingerbread house? I would love to see yours.  One year I would love to make it from scratch. When I have more time and my own house probably!

• 1 tin of Condensed Milk.
• 400g plain milk chocolate.
• 2 x Chocolate Oranges (100g for fudge, remainder for decoration).

Once it was cool, I cut it up and bagged it into cellophane bags with homemade tags. 


I'd love to know if you've made any homemade gifts.

xxx

• Chocolate - I used 200g bars of Dairy Milk & 100g of Lindt - this wasn't enough. 
• Toppings - I used Maltesers and Chocolate Orange. You can use anything (marshmallows, sprinkles etc).

2. Once the chocolate has melted, place it into a lined baking tray/dish. Add your toppings. I crushed the malteasers for one and chocolate orange for the other. 

3. Place it in the fridge for a couple of hours to let it set. 

4. Once set, break it up and place into bags. 




Have you ever made any homemade gifts? What toppings would you choose? 

xxx

• 350g plain flour, plus extra for rolling.
• 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda.
• 2 tsp ground ginger.
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon.
• 125g butter.
• 175g light soft brown sugar.
• 1 egg.
• 4 tbsp golden syrup. 

1. Sift together the flour, bicarbonate of soda, ginger and cinnamon and pour into a bowl or food processor. Add the butter and blend until the mix looks like breadcrumbs, then add the sugar.

2. Line baking trays with baking paper to stop the gingerbread sticking. 


3. Lightly beat the egg and golden syrup together, add to the bowl and mix until the mixture clumps together. Tip the dough out, knead until smooth, then wrap in clingfilm and place in the fridge for 15 minutes. 


4. Preheat the oven to 180C. Roll the dough out, make sure it's not too thick (0.5cm) on a lightly floured surface. 

5. Using cutters, cut out your gingerbread, place on the baking tray, leaving gaps. 



6. Place in the oven for 10-12 minutes or until lightly golden brown. Leave to cool on a wire rack. 

7. When they have cooled completely, decorate with icing. 




8. Once the icing had dried completely, I put them into a cellophane bag, with a tag and tied twinning to make them look presentable. 

xxx

How do you wrap your presents? I'd love to see some ideas. 

xxx

Is your tree up yet? Where do you go? Do you only decorate in certain colours? I can't wait to see some of your Christmas trees! 

For the Second Design;
1. I used the snowflakes I had and placed a 3D pad on the back and placed in the correct place to create like 'decorations'.
2. I added colour coded string to the card to create the decoration style.
3. I added a 'Merry Christmas' sticker to this. 



For the Third Design; 
1. I took the kraft brown card and drew lines in pencil where I would sit the trees.
2. I went over this line with a black sharpie pen. 
3. I then glued each green sequin tree onto the line to create a forest look.
4. I added a silver 'Merry Christmas' sticker. 


For the Fourth and Final Design;
1. I used brown kraft card, stuck to white buttons onto the card (one small and one slightly bigger) I was hoping to use buttons with only two holes to create the eyes and buttons on the snowman but this wasn't possible but I still think it works well.
2. I added a red bow as the scarf.
3. I used a double sided sticky foam square to create the 3D look of the snowflake.
4. I added a 'Merry Christmas' sticker underneath and that was it. 



After making all the cards, I printed off the inserts from last year, cut them down, stuck the inserts in. 

I really enjoyed making the cards and would love to try something a bit harder next year or so. Definitely something I will think about. I am slowly building up my collection but this does take time as a lot of the crafts are expensive.