Autumn is here!

Summer is now well and truly behind us (well, it is in England at least!) and to get into the autumn spirit I have made another tutorial for this month's The Dolls' House magazine (October 2015) with a mini food project for apple and blackberry pie.

 

Where I grew up in England as a little girl, the half term holiday from school in October was always known as 'blackberry week'.  This was the week when all the wild blackberries in hedgerows and bramble bushes would ripen and everyone would bring out their Tupperware bowls, buckets and plastic carrier bags to pick them to make into pies, crumbles and jams.  This yearly tradition became  one of my favourite things to do in autumn as a child so when I was asked by the magazine to make something 'autumnal', I instantly knew I had to make a blackberry pie!

    

 

My inspiration for this tutorial was my nana who used to make the most amazing blackberry and apple pies! Each October school holiday me and my brother would help my nana and my granddad pick the biggest, juiciest blackberries to help her make into a delicious pie.

 

Once we had picked enough blackberries we would go back to their house and help to make the pie.  We would begin by making the shortcrust pastry, rolling it out and lined it over the bottom of a large deep plate; in the meantime the apples would be stewing and bubbling away in some water and sugar in a saucepan.  Once the apples had softened we put the apple mixture onto the pastry lined plate along with some of the blackberries and sprinkled them with sugar. 

 

To finish the pie we rolled out enough pastry to cover the top of the plate, crimped the edges, and made a hole in the top to let the steam escape.  We then brushed the pastry with a beaten egg, sprinkled some more sugar over the top and baked in the oven till the pastry was golden and the thick blackberry juices started to ooze out of the top.

 

 

 

We used to enjoy eating the pie fresh out of the oven and served with either cream or custard.  It was equally tasty just eaten on it's own.  It is the ultimate in comfort food! Just the thing to cheer you up when the weather outside is cold, dark and miserable! I must get my nana to make this again for old time's sake! 

This issue is currently available in branches of WH Smith or alternatively you can order a copy from here.

My first article in Dolls House and Miniature Scene

It's been a wee while since I last posted on here but since then I've had my first mini food tutorial published in Dolls House and Miniature Scene! In this article I wrote a tutorial on how to make 1:12 scale barbecue chicken kebab skewers and photographed my finished items in a miniature back garden scene.  It was a bit fiddly but I was so happy how my skewers turned out and the lovely people at DHMS made such a great job of my article and pictures! I'm really enjoying writing about how I make my miniatures...I'd be interested to know if anyone has tried my project and what they thought of it? I'd love to see some photo's of your items too if you have any and I'll share them on my page!

If you would like a copy of this issue (September 2015) it is currently on sale in WH Smith or alternatively you can follow this link.

Happy 150th Birthday Alice!

This year marks 150 years since Lewis Carroll's book 'Alice's Adventures in Wonderland' was first published.  I have wanted to create a Mad Hatter's Tea Party scene for a while and thought of no better excuse than to make one in the year which marks the anniversary! Most of us will be familiar with the Disney version and also Tim Burton's reimagining of the story, but I wanted to create something a little bit different in my own style so here is my very own Alice in Wonderland inspired Mad Hatter's Tea Party table!

My first miniature tutorial!

I've been a busy girl lately and have a few tutorials and articles coming out in a few different miniature magazines.  The first one is a techniques guide I wrote for the September 2015 issue of The Dolls' House Magazine.  In this tutorial I showed how I create texture in my own miniature food, specifically bread, meat and cake.  The tutorial also shows readers how to make sliced white bread, a chicken crown with sliced breast pieces and a chocolate Swiss Roll.  It's my very first tutorial and hopefully one of many! I hope you all like it!

My first magazine feature

I was very happy and excited recently to be featured in July's issue of American Miniaturist magazine for their Meet the Maker profile.   I've been a reader of dolls house magazines for a number of years so it was amazing to appear in the pages of one myself! I have another article coming up later in the year with AM magazine where I'm going to write my first article about Autumn foods as well as making themed miniature food to go with the article...I can't wait!

                           

Blog feature

A friend of mine writes a blog about crafty things and I was very pleased to have a piece about me and my miniatures featured in it recently.  Here's a link to the blog: https://northeastcraftyblogger.wordpress.com/2015/03/27/meet-the-maker-dinky-diner-miniatures/

Afternoon Tea

Who doesn't love a little indulgence sometimes? The tradition of Afternoon tea was first introduced to England in 1840 by Anna, the 7th Duchess of Bedford.  The evening meal in her household was served at 8pm and Anna would often feel hungry by about 4pm so asked her servants to bring her some tea, sandwiches and cakes at this time to keep her hunger at bay.  Anna would later ask her friends to join her and this soon became a social occasion adopted by many others.  The Earl of Sandwich famously popularised the sandwich in 1760.  During a poker game, he did not wish to leave the gambling game for a traditional meal so asked for a meal of convenience to be made of meat between two slices of bread.  Miniature finger sandwiches are often included in traditional afternoon tea sets.

Afternoon tea is becoming popular again here in the UK with many cafes and hotels offering a delicious selection of scones and cream cakes to go with your tea.   This gave me the inspiration to make an afternoon tea themed set.   This set consists of a tea pot containing freshly brewed tea; a milk jug with milk; a sugar pot with realistic white cane sugar; four cups containing tea with milk and four matching saucers; a plate of fruit scones; a plate of hot buttered crumpets; a plate of cinnamon swirl pastries and a plate of strawberry cream tarts.  This set is currently on sale in my Etsy shop www.dinkydinerminis.etsy.com