Sunday 4 December 2016

Advent 2016 - four

I enjoyed painting the gift tags so much that I decided to design some of my own. I had just as much fun painting these ones, although my calligraphy skills leave a lot to be desired. I'm tempted to sign up to Lindsey's online workshops in an attempt to improve my skills.


But I think the labels look okay and serve their purpose adorning these bottles of very Christmassy flavoured vodka.


I missed out on picking sloes or damsons for gin this year but this liqueur is just as good and only takes a few days before it's ready... Which means there is still time to make some for Christmas:

Christmas Pudding Vodka
Mix together 2 teaspoons mixed spice, 1 teaspoon mace and two cinnamon sticks and warm together in a dry pan over a low heat for about 5 minutes, stirring so they don't catch.  In a large bowl combine the zest from  an orange and a lemon plus 2 tablespoons each of freshly squeezed lemon and orange juice, together with 300g currants and 750g of light soft brown sugar. Stir in the warm spices and then pour in 1 litre of vodka. Give it all a good stir and then keep in the fridge for about five days. Stir it every day to dissolve the sugar. When the five days is up, strain through a muslin cloth or a jelly bag and decant into sterilised bottles.
I found it filled five 250ml bottles and left a small glass over for sampling... well I wouldn't want to give it away without making sure it was okay first!

Plus the left over currants got mixed into the fruit for the Christmas cakes.

11 comments:

  1. Lovely gifts, lovely labels, and there is nothing at all wrong with your calligraphy - you perfectionist, you!!x

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  2. Sounds lovely. It's got me thinking now if it would work with some berries instead - a nice warming blackcurrant drink. Hmmmm! :)

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  3. I think the character of your handwriting is much nicer than a perfect calligraphy style. from someone who learnt calligraphy at school where we scraped the fat from vellum before we carefully penned our best work. Can not believe we worked with old fashioned razor blades that were not even in any sort of holder.

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  4. It looks fine to me Gina and they look like mighty fine gifts too!!!

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  5. I like your tags and also the idea of the vodka!

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  6. Love your tags and the gifts full of festive cheer. Thanks for the link to Lindsey's website I found it very interesting and inspiring.

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  7. I was going to ask what you might use if doing something similar but non-alcoholic...you are good with flavours. Joanna mentioned berries/blackcurrents above. Not a big blackcurrent fan, but if it is a gift, that would be okay. But I am not sure how I might add it.
    Anyway, I am sure your recipients will really enjoy it!
    Sandy in Bracknell

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  8. Yay, the advent countdown is back! Love those cute little tags Gina -- you're so clever!

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  9. I love this, it's such a great idea. I included it in a round-up I made today.

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  10. I need some of this. I decided to do the fingerless gloves you showed for my daughter for Christmas. FOUR attempts it took for me to actually keep to garter stitch! Stocking stitch is ingrained in my needles obviously. I blame you you totally of course. 😉

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