“Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn, and cauldron bubble.

Fillet of a fenny snake,
In the cauldron boil and bake;

Eye of newt and toe of frog,
Wool of bat and tongue of dog,
Adder’s fork and blind-worm’s sting,
Lizard’s leg and owlet’s wing,

For a charm of powerful trouble,

                               Like a hell-broth boil and bubble.

                               Double, double toil and trouble;
                               Fire burn, and caldron bubble.”

In the words of Shakespeare, to cackle up a witch’s brew or gruesome recipe this Halloween it means finding a store that sells toe of frog or wool of bat; which quite obviously, is not going to happen.

So why not get your apron and oven gloves on and stir up some spooky spider webs or yucky scary snacks for your little goblins instead?

Halloween Witches Brew

A must everyone this Halloween – a recipe that looks gross but is great fun to make!

Put a fake hand in the freezer in a rubber glove and then present it in a bucket or glass punch bowl. Dress the hand up with a few Halloween gimmicks like spiders and you’ll be sure to give everyone a scream.

Full Recipe

Haunted Graveyard Cake

The perfect centrepiece for a Halloween celebration party, this cake is guaranteed to make your party extra spooky.  Easy to make and thoroughly enjoyable, make for how many people necessary and your party will be a ghostly ball.

Full Recipe

Pumpkin Pie

It’s not just for Thanksgiving anymore. What better treat for Halloween than a pumpkin pie? Pick up a special pan that’s shaped like a pumpkin in an arts and crafts store and decorate with spider and bat extras to add that special something!

Full Recipe

Halloween Cookies

Your kids will have a spook-tacular time decorating and baking these bunch of Halloween cookies. Design them to whatever you want and enjoy gobbling them down from bat and black cat cut-out cookies, they will definitely be yummy in your tummy!

Full Recipe

Decorate your house for Halloween

Whether it is your home you are hosting a party at, or a friend’s house that you’re going to, this Halloween is sure to be a holiday full of scary encounters, family fun and party antics.     

Get the kids excited and involved this Halloween by decorating the home full of pumpkins, plastic spiders and cobwebs to make your house stand out in the neighbourhood.     

Invite the whole family round and have fun carving pumpkins into weird and wacky faces. Light some candles inside the pumpkin and leave by the front door window ledge to create that menacing face and creepy aura.     

But remember to extinguish all candles when leaving the room or going to sleep. Keep them away from items that can catch on fire such as clothing, curtains, books, paper or flammable decorations and always remind your children the dangers of flames.     

Make sure your party is the most ghoulish, ghastly, ghostly party of Halloween to remember! Have Halloween Balloons, decorations, life size gravestones, coffins, fog machines, hanging ghosts, costumes, halloween masks and much more.     

To give you a few ideas this Halloween we have put together some decoration ideas that you can get creative with your family.      

Decorate the buffet table in spooky sprinklings of confetti; of bats, witches and pumpkins.      

 

Don’t forget to send everyone’s invites to your grueseome event, or otherwise how else are they going to know!      

Fill the house with balloons galore, giving children hours of fun and amusing any pets. Why not get this eery black and orange cat style.     

Why not buy these Ulster Weaver delightful items to spruce up the decorative theme when baking or carving your pumpkins…    

Black Plain Dyed Pot Mitt

Curious Cat Black Unbleached Linen Tea Towel

Halloween is a spooky holiday time in the year. Filled with superstitions about witches and cauldrons and things that go bump in the night, most people celebrate it on October 31^st by dressing up in a scary costume and trick-or-treating round the neighbourhood.

Ever since childhood, it was the one time of the year you could get all excited about putting on a witches hat and broom and ‘flying’ around the house or cutting up that spare duvet sheet and pretending to be a ghost; and more traditionally carving pumpkins out into menacing faces and lighting them up in the hallway window with a candle inside.

Many play practical pranks, go apple bopping, visit ghost tours, tell ghost stories and watch horror films.

You would walk from house to house down your street, knocking on each door shouting ‘Trick or Treat’ and filling your Halloween pumpkin bowl with candies, chocolates and sweets.

But is this what it is about? What are its’ origins?

History of Halloween

Halloween, also called All Hallows’ Eve, is a mix of ancient Celtic practises, Catholic and Roman religious rituals and European folk traditions that blended together over time to create the holiday we know today.

The myth describes it as a day when the dead can return to the earth and ancient Celts would light bonfires and wear costumes and masks to ward off these roaming ghosts. The Celtic holiday of Samhain, the Catholic Hallowmas period of All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day and the Roman festival of Feralia, all influenced the modern holiday of Halloween. Nowadays, it has lost its religious connotation.

It was intended to give rest and peace to the departed. Participants made sacrifices in honour of the dead, offered up prayers for them, and made offerings to them.  The festival of Samhain celebrates the beginning of the ‘darker half’ of the year and is regarded as the “Celtic New Year”. It was also a time of the year to stock food supplies and slaughter livestock for the winter months.

Traditional images and symbols include; black cats, bats, werewolves, witches, skeletons, vampires and ghosts.  Black and orange are dominant colours representing the darkness, fire, autumn leaves, jack-o’-lanterns and pumpkins.

If you want to get into the spooky spirit for Halloween, why not check out the following items at Ulster Weavers to accessorize your kitchen when making witches brew & toffee apples.

Black Plain Dyed Tea Cosy

£8.99

Black Plain Dyed Pott Mitt

£5.99

Black Plain Dyed Cotton Apron

£13.99

Black Plain Dyed Double Glove

£10.99

All this month has been the official Breast Cancer Awareness Month, with major public state buildings and towns being lit up or painted in pink to create global publicity. 

And the purpose of the campaign? To raise awareness of breast cancer, encourage women to be breast aware and be a crucial fundraising opportunity for charities, such as Breast Cancer Campaign.  

People have worn pink ribbons and dyed their hair pink, but the official Wear it Pink Day is on Friday 29th October 2010. Team up everyone in your office or classroom, wear something pink and make a donation of £2. 

Many stores and companies are jumping on the band wagon, with all proceeds going to research for the charity. Debenhams are selling pink candles and breastfeeding covers; Pink Jelly Belly Sport Beans can be purchased online and designer Barbara Hulanicki has created  four stunning pink t-shirts for Asda’s Tickled Pink campaign. 

Facts about Breast Cancer 

-  Breast cancer is the most common cancer and accounts for nearly one in three of all cancers in women in the UK. 

- One woman in nine will be diagnosed with breast cancer in her lifetime. 

- Every year around 12,000 women will die from breast cancer. 

- Men can also suffer from breast cancer. Although it is rare, almost 300 men are diagnosed each year in the UK. 

- The survival rate, in recent figures, show around 80 per cent of women in the UK diagnosed today will be alive in five years time. 

How to be breast aware? 

To be breast aware means becoming familiar with how your breasts look and feel, whatever your age. Understand how your breasts may change at different times during the month (when you’re having your period) and as you get older. 

These are the changes to look for and if you are in any doubt, visit your doctor: 

•  A lump or thickening which is different to the rest of the breast tissue
• Continuous pain in one part of the breast or armpit
• One breast becomes larger or lower
• A nipple becomes inverted or changes shape or position
• Skin changes including puckering or dimpling
• Swelling under the armpit or around the collarbone
• A rash on or around the nipple
• Discharge from one or both nipples

Remember the breast awareness five-point code: 

1. Know what is normal for you
2. Look and feel
3. Know what changes to look for
4. Report any changes without delay
5. Attend routine breast screening if you are aged 50 and over

How to raise money? 

You can donate several ways;  

Donate by post
Corporate donations
Payroll giving
Trusts and foundations
Donate shares
Pink Ribbon Tribute Funds 

How will your money help? 

Money raised will help the charity fund ground-breaking research, campaign for better services and treatments and promote the importance of breast awareness. Ultimately you are saving lives. 

Here are Ulster Weavers we are supporting this next week and all wearing something pink and have some fun suggestions for getting pink around the home to support the cause. 

Domestic Goddess Shaped Apron 

£14.99 

Charlotte Muff Tea Cosy 

                          £10.99 

Visit the official Breast Cancer Awareness website here. 

It’s not the first time this trend has dominated the season but it seems this winter’s high street has gone wild once again for Leopard Print.

Stylish celebs have been spotted out and about in head-to-toe leopard print Faux coats, leopard print scarfs, leopard print dresses…they’re all the puuurrrfect rage.

Fearne Cotton was photographed wearing a casual print dress whilst out shopping.

Rachel Bilson oozed sophistication in a floor- length gown at Roberto Cavalli’s fashion house-party in Paris.

And style newcomer Pixie Lott was papped wearing a short-sleeved fashion faux coat.

Why not stay bang on trend and accessorise your outfit in leopard print with an Ulster Weavers cotton shopping bag?

Buying a canvas or PVC bag to take shopping with you is the easiest way of being environmentally friendly and our wide variety of designs will leave you spoilt for choice and remember… a girl can never have enough bags!

 Olive Sandwiches Born Free Cotton Bag

Olive Sandwiches Being Fabulous Cotton Bag

Olive Sandwiches Viva La Diva Cotton Bag

All Canvas Shopping Bags at £8.99

Winter has definitely arrived with Christmas closely around the corner. You can always tell  when people have to start de-iceing their windows on their cars to clear the frost first thing in the morning and when ‘ Frosty the Snowman’  bellows out of the radio.

So this means one thing, Christmas shopping. But what do you get that office employee who you annoyingly picked as your secret Santa but who you really do not know anything about?

A great gift idea for everyone this winter time would be a nice Bone China Mug for their hot chocolate, that they can curl up on the sofa with next to the fire or to kick start their winter mornings with a nice strong coffee.

Here at Ulster Weavers we have these fine bone china mugs that will elegantly finish off crockery collections or homeware ranges and are of high quality with attention to detail. New exciting designs in these mugs for 2011.

And they come in matching kitchen tiles to seal the deal on that extra special present to possibly gain browny points.

Victoria Bone China Mug

A more classical option with matching Apron, Gauntlett and Muff Tea Cosy.

Domestic Goddess Bone China Mug

An Ann Edwards Design with matching Tea Cosy, PVC Apron and Linen Tea Towel.

All Bone China mugs at £8.99 each.

You’ve probably been stuffing your face with chocolate all week and have had every excuse to do so with it being the official Chocolate Week 11^th-17^th October. From chocolate cake, chocolate bars, hot chocolate drinks and chocolate flavoured cereals, you are probably feeling a little over indulged and not looking forward to stepping on the scales first thing Monday morning.

Or it may have been the case that Chocolate Week totally slipped your mind and you need to catch up on all the chocolate eating days you have missed during the week. Well luckily the weekend is here giving you a bit of time to indulge in these fabulous choc-tastic recipes that you can try out for your family and friends.

There never needs to be an excuse for chocolate but in this instance you have one, so get your apron and oven gloves on and get baking!

Chocolate Chip Brownies Recipe

Everyone loves chocolate chip brownies and they truly are very simple to bake. Make a batch and pop them in the fridge so you can keep tucking into them all weekend, although they probably won’t last long as this brownie recipe is super tasty.

Full Recipe

Sticky Chocolate Cake

If you are fancying a major indulgence and don’t care about calories, have a go at this rich sticky chocolate cake, which is sure to feed your chocolate fix for the whole week.

Full Recipe

Mint Chocolate Chip Muffins

These mint chocolate chip muffins are fantastic if you are not a big fan of rich chocolate desserts and enjoy it much more with an additional ingredient. The mint and fluffy texture of the sponge makes it the perfect light snack to sit down and enjoy with a cup of tea.

Full Recipe

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Chocolate chip cookies are a fantastic idea for the little ones to get involved with when baking. These delightful treats are exceedingly tasty and are sure to be gobbled down in seconds. Make sure that you keep the little ones away from the hot oven when cooking teaching them the health and safety aspects of cooking in the kitchen.

Full Recipe

Christmas is the perfect time of the year to get the kids started on fun and festive kids’ crafts. The weather is getting colder outside, the fire roars in the living room and the house needs to be decorated with festive decorations to get everyone into the Christmas spirit.

And what better way to do this than through homemade decorations that you can keep year after year to hang on the tree, prop up on the fireplace and hang over the doors. Getting your little one’s involved will allow them to get excited about the Christmas season and allow you to enjoy spending some quality time with your children before they all grow up.

To give you a few ideas this Christmas we have put together some creative arts and craft ideas that you can get involved in with your family.

Christmas Ornaments

During the Christmas period, children will be practicing their role for the school Nativity plays, so will especially enjoy recreating their characters they are making.

They will need:

1.       Paper Plates

2.       Polystyrene Balls (about the size of a ping-pong ball)

3.       Paper Doily

4.       Scraps of fabric

5.       PVA Glue

6.       Pipe Cleaners

7.       Wool or Cotton Wool

8.       Paints.

The basic design of each figure starts with half a paper plate. Bring the ends together so a cone shape is formed and secure with sticky tape.

Attach the head to the figure by pushing a pipe cleaner through the polystyrene ball and twisting a small knot at the top of the head. Push the other end through the hole into the top of the cone. Twist the end inside the cone to make the head sit firmly on the body. You could anchor it with sticky tape for extra strength.

For an angel, colour the cone gold or silver and attach two wedge shaped wings cut from a paper doily. Decorate the angel’s gown with sparkly foil and plastic jewels. Finish by edging the bottom with a piece of sparkling tinsel.

Draw the angel’s face on the ball and glue a mop of hair using the wool onto her scalp. Finally add a tiny coronet of tinsel for her halo.

When making Mary, colour the cone blue and add a scrap of white fabric to her head. The same principle applies to Joseph and the shepherds. You can really go to town on the three kings, making elaborate gowns for them and tiny gold crowns.

Christmas Cookies

Fill your home with the smell of baking by making some delicious and easy Christmas cookies. Whether they scoff their faces straight after making them, share them with family or friends or hang them up on the tree, baking Christmas cookies is just another fabulous way to get your kids involved in crafts in the festive season.

You will need:

250g/8oz of butter

125g/4oz of caster sugar

350g/12oz plain flour

Salt

1.       Mix the butter together with sugar until reasonably smooth.

2.       Sift the flour and add a pinch of salt into the mixture.

3.       Bring all the ingredients together into a ball and lightly knead to finish. Roll out the cookie dough and used Christmas cutters for shapes and make holes at the top with a skewer if you are wishing to hang the cookies after they have been baked.

4.       Bake the cookies on a greased baking tray in a pre-heated oven at 180C for about 10-15 mins.

MAKE SURE THAT YOU TEACH YOUR CHILDREN ABOUT SAFETY IN THE KITCHEN BY USING AN OVEN GLOVE OR GAUNTLETT TO TAKE THE COOKIES IN AND OUT OF THE OVEN.

5.       Once the cookies are cool, decorate with simple glace icing, edible silver baubles and attach a ribbon for hanging if you wish.

Christmas Cards

Creative homemade cards are a fabulous idea for you and your family to get involved in. Not only will you save money, you will find that the recipients will appreciate the little homemade touch from your little ones during the festive season.

Start out with a pile of blank cards or coloured card, lots of different materials, PVA glue, glitter, stickers and paints.

Try out these ideas on a Christmas card:

1.       A stuck on Christmas tree shape, decorated with silver foil baubles and dots of tinsel for a 3-D effect.

2.       A snowman shape against a black card. Paste his body with glue and balls of fluffy cotton wool and add bright card for his hat and a little bit of fabric for the scarf.

3.       Make a simple Christmas collage created from a wide range of Christmas cards that you have left over from last year.

4.       You could even print off some pictures of you and the family, and stick them to the card adding your own fancy decorations as you go along.

There are a wide range of ideas when it comes to kids and crafts but it can often all get a little messy, so why not buy your little an apron from one of the wide range of childrens aprons at Ulster Weavers. That way you can keep them super clean while at the same time keeping them out of trouble for hours! These two delightful children’s aprons below are all featured on the Ulster Weavers website and will be the perfect gift for little ones this Christmas.

Robot Rows Child's PVC Apron by Ulster Weavers

Geisha Child's Chef Hat by Ulster Weavers

Knitted Smartcar Tea Cosy

Twenty grannies have come together over two months knitting nearly 70lbs of wool into a trendy tea cosy for a Smart car.

The mastermind behind the whacky design was Zurich based company, the Swiss Senior Design Factory, who wanted young designers and older crafts people to join forces to create a masterpiece in knitting.

The giant car cover depicts a lace-up trainer and exposes the car wheel’s, making it into a giant roller skate.

The designers have now contacted the Guinness Book of Records to claim the official world record for the biggest hand knitted car cover.

If you have knitted any whacky tea cosy designs or any other crazy knitted accessories for that matter then let us know about it by leaving a comment below.

We at Ulster Weavers have some beautifully designed tea cosies covering a wide range of styles and shapes for your home. More of a practical product than a novelty design, our wide range of tea cosies can make the perfect finishing accessories for your kitchen.

You can view our complete range of kitchen tea cosies by clicking the link.

World's Largest Cup of Tea

And speaking of the world’s largest items, this weekend saw Sri Lanka brew the world’s largest cup of tea. A giant red mug was filled with 1,000 gallons (4,546l) of water, 141lb (64kg) of tea, 1,929lb (200l) of malted milk powder and 353lb (160kg) sugar.

The cup of tea is 33% bigger than the previous record last year.

The kitchen is the hub for food preparation, cooking and catching up with family and friends after a long day at work. Equipped with the latest kitchen appliances, including dishwashers, fridge freezers, ovens and microwaves, tables and chairs, all the food you want and often a radio or television; the kitchen pretty much has everything you need to settle in for the night with your friends and loved ones.

Kitchens have been around for a long time, however before the civil war period many of the kitchen appliances that we know of were not invented. This is because most people had their own servants or housewives working constantly in the kitchen.

So a little history lesson from Ulster Weavers tells the tale of many of the kitchen appliances in your home and where their life span started out.

Dishwasher: In 1850 Joel Houghton patented a wooden machine which featured a hand-turned wheel that splashed water on dishes. It was hardly the dishwasher we have today however it was the first patent for a product of this kind.

Garbage Disposer: In 1927, architect inventor John W. Hammes built his wife the world’s first kitchen garbage disposer. After ten years of design improvement, Hammes went into business selling his appliance to the public, with his company called the ‘In-Sink –Erator Manufacturing Company.’

Ovens or Stoves: 1490 was the first historical record of a stove being built in Alsace, France.

Microwave Ovens: The microwave oven was invented in 1946 by engineer Percy L. Spencer.

This model was made by BTH (General Electric) in 1934 and supplied by the International Refrigerator Company of London.

Refrigerator: The refrigerator was first spoke of in the 18^th Century and culminated from the work of German engineer Carl von Linden in 1876. Christian Steenstrup of General Electric was responsibile for the widespread introduction of domestic refridgeration, when in 1927 he designed the first all-steel refridgerator with a hermetically-sealed compressor mounted in a circular unit on top.

Blender: The blender was created in 1922 by Stephen Poplawski

Cheese Slicer: The cheese slicer is a Norwegian invention developed by carpenter, Thor Bjorklund in 1925.

Eating Utensils: Knives were used 2.5 million years ago during the Oldowon period, spoons date back to the 5,000 years and were used by ancient Egyptians and forks were common 4,000 years ago in the Qijia culture.

Electric Kettle: Arthur Leslie Large invented the electric kettle in 1922.