Friday 29 December 2017

DIY Drawstring Bag

Assalamu Alaikum everyone!
Today we will be showing you how to make this drawstring bag. This is a simple craft and only took us about half an hour to make.

For this project you will need:-
fabric
pins
needle and thread
fabric scissors
a ruler
a pen
wool or thin ribbon

Begin by cutting your fabric into two rectangles. They should be 20cm by 15cm.
Then pin them together.
Next sew down the lengths of the rectangles using a blanket stitch. Make sure you leave about two inches off the bottom like so.
Then you can cut the end of the rectangle into even-sized strips. Make sure to cut through both of the rectangles.
Turn the fabric inside out. Take a strip from each rectangle and tie them together into a knot. Repeat until all the strips are knotted. There should be an even number.
Now, using the wool, do a simple running stitch along the top of the bag. Remember to start from the centre (where you want your bow to be tied off at the end).
Now your drawstring bag is complete!
We hope you enjoyed the tutorial. Have fun recreating this project!

Love and Wassalam,




Friday 22 December 2017

Rock Buns Recipe

Assalamu Alaykum!
Maryam here! Today I would like to share with you this delicious rock buns recipe. This recipe makes around 9-10 rock buns.

Ingredients:-
200g (8 oz) self-raising flour
100g (4 oz) butter
100g (4 oz) mixed dried fruit
50g (2 oz) caster sugar
1 egg (beaten)
2 Tbsp milk (if needed)

Method:-
1. Preheat oven to 220 degrees Celsius, 425 degrees Fahrenheit, Gas Mark 7.
2. Sift the flour into a mixing bowl. Cut the butter into small cubes and rub it with your fingertips into the flour until it resembles fine breadcrumbs.
3. Stir in the fruit and sugar.
4. Make a well in the centre and add the beaten egg and milk. Mix it all together.
5. Shape into balls and flatten gently. They don't need to be perfect because they are meant to resemble rocks!
6. Place balls onto a lined baking tray and bake for 10-15 minutes.
7. Allow to cool before serving. Enjoy!
I hope you like this recipe and try making it yourself.
Until next week!

Wassalam,

Maryam


Friday 15 December 2017

Homemade Vegan and Non-Vegan Ginger Biscuits Recipes

Assalamu Alaikum!
Hanifah here! Today I thought I'd do something a little different by altering my ginger biscuits recipe to make it vegan. I thought it would be a fun challenge to substitute the non-vegan ingredients and compare both biscuits.

Here is my regular non-vegan recipe:
350g self-raising flour
200g caster sugar
1 tbsp. ground ginger
1 tsp. bicarbonate of soda
pinch of salt
125g butter
5 tbsp. golden syrup
1 egg (beaten)
Crystallised ginger pieces (optional)


And here are my vegan substitutes:
125g coconut oil (instead of butter)
¼ cup applesauce (instead of egg)

1. Sift flour, sugar, ground ginger, bicarbonate of soda and pinch of salt into a large mixing bowl and mix together.
2. Next heat the butter (or coconut oil) and golden syrup in a saucepan over a low heat until melted.
3. Remove pan from heat and cool for a while before pouring contents onto the dry ingredients.
4. Stir gently with a wooden spoon until combined.
5. Add the beaten egg (or applesauce) and mix thoroughly until it forms a dough.
6. Preheat oven to 160 degrees Celsius,  325 degrees Fahrenheit, Gas Mark 3.
7. Shape the dough into 30 even-sized balls adding pieces of crystallised ginger to them. Try to handle the dough as little as possible.
8. Place onto lined baking trays and flatten slightly.
9. Bake for 15-20 minutes until golden brown.
10. Allow to cool on a wire rack and then enjoy!

Final results!


Comparison

I found that the vegan ginger biscuits were softer than the regular (non-vegan) ones. They were also ever so slightly oily probably due to the coconut oil. When forming the dough it felt softer than the regular dough so I put it in the fridge for a bit to help it firm up.

On the whole however both biscuits were very similar. They tasted the same and looked the same too. Honestly, you could hardly tell the difference which was interesting to learn. I had fun baking and comparing the two, and also enjoyed making my own applesauce to use in the vegan biscuits! Who knew that you could substitute eggs with applesauce or mashed bananas!

Homemade ginger biscuits are so much better than shop bought ones so you should definitely give either or both of these recipes a try!
Until next Friday!

Love and Wassalam,

Hanifah




Friday 8 December 2017

5 Read-Aloud Book Recommendations

Assalamu Alaykum!

Sumayyah here! I'm going to do a book recommendation post today. I'm going to do read aloud books; some which I use to like to listen to when I was younger, and I still like reading them now.

1. PEEPO
I'd first like to start with a favourite of all the family: PEEPO.
What I like about this book is that it's very nice for a mother or a father to read to their little child. It's a lovely, calm book about a baby who looks around and the book says what he sees. I like the fact that it's a rhyming book, and the fact that it's set in wartime. It's set in World War 2. The drawings are lovely, Mashallah!


2.The Selfish Crocodile
A lovely book{ Even if the crocodile is mean! But he turns good!}It's a nice book because it's about a crocodile who learns to share and not be selfish and makes a friend! It's about sharing and not being selfish to other people. I like the illustrations as well! 

3. Lost and Found Cat
I like this book because it's about a family that was being smuggled out of Mosul in Iraq. They didn't want to leave their cat, Kunkush, behind so they took him with them, but on the way he got separated from them. Many people tried to help find this cat and reunite him with his family. I think the title goes well with the story because Kunkush is lost and then found. It is also nice because this was a true story. Kunkush reminds me of our cat, but if she ever got lost, I tell you she would not come looking for us!

4. The King in the Forest
I like The King in the Forest because it's a nice short book but enjoyable at the same time. I like the drawings in the book, and the plot is very good. It's about a boy who finds a white fawn, and then he saves it and they grow up together. But then the stag gets in danger again and the man has to help save him from the king and his soldiers.


5. Julia Donaldson's Books
I like Julia Donaldson's books because they have very nice drawings in them, and they are a big collection. I also like them because they are rhyming stories. I'll only be talking about my favourite one: Room on the Broom.
I like this book because it's about this witch and all her stuff gets lost, but she makes friends with some animals that find her stuff. But one creature is bad and tries to eat her! The illustrations are great, and I like the cover. Julia Donaldson has also made activity books of some of her story books.

So, that's it! I hope you have enjoyed yourselves.

Wassalam,

Sumayyah (aged 10)

Friday 1 December 2017

DIY Card Décor

Assalamu Alaykum!

Zainab here. Today I would like to show you how I decorate some of my cards. I like to make origami dresses to put on them. This is the card I made today:

If you would like to know how to make your own origami dress you can click here.

To make a similar card you will need:
an origami dress
glue
a ruler
scissors or a Stanley knife
a plain card
patterned paper

First select a pattern that goes with your dress's colour. I chose a pattern that had a lot of purple in it.
Cut a rectangle out of the patterned paper so you can use the border like this:
Make sure that the border is smaller than your card. Now you can move your border and dress around on your card and roughly decide how you want it to look.
Once you've decided you can now think of other designs to put on your card. I cut out two strips of patterned card...
...and snipped and trimmed them to make them look like strips of ribbon.
Then I glued everything down.
The card still looked a little plain, so I added a few embellishments...
And now it looks like this, Masha'Allah!
Here are some other cards I made:
I hope you liked this post and that it inspires you to make your own cards too!


Wassalam,
Zainab