DIY Galaxy Shoes

I decided to make a pair of galaxy shoes for my best friend for Christmas (and a pair for me too!). I used this nebula image as inspiration. A quick image search for 'nebula' on Google will give you some great ideas.

Materials:

Shoes, preferably black or dark blue
Acrylic paint - I chose dark blue, purple and white but you can pick any nebula-like colours
Sponge
Paintbrush
Waterproof spray

Start off by removing the laces from the shoes to keep them nice and clean. You can also tape over the eyelets and rubber to keep the paint off, but I decided to just go for it and clean off the excess paint with acetone at the end.

With your sponge, dab your first colour paint onto your shoe in a nebula like shape. Do this all over the shoe and try to keep your nebulas all different shapes and sizes. Do this with the rest of your colours, gently layering them. You can't really mess up this step. Just keep going until you think they look nebula like.

Next, dip your paintbrush into the white paint. Hold your brush horizontally over your shoe and gently tap the brush close to the bristles. This creates a splatter effect that looks like stars. Do this all over your shoe with as many or as little stars as you like. I think the more the better.

Once this is dry, we can create bigger stars to make your shoes really pop. I'm not very artistic, so for my stars I painted a thin + and lightly dabbed paint around its middle to make it look like a glowing star. Randomly scatter a few of these over your shoes.

Once your shoes are dry, gently remove unwanted paint from the eyelets and rubber using acetone.

Give your shoes a good coating of waterproof spray. Wait for this to dry and give it another 1-2 sprays. Your shoes will be splash proof, but I don't recommend jumping in any puddles. 

Once dry, rethread your laces and you're done!

All that's left is to slip on these bad boys and enjoy your one of a kind shoes. 

Chocolate, caramel and hazelnut slice

My favourite recipe as a kid was Mum's chocolate and caramel slice. After recently digging out the recipe, I decided to give it my own twist by adding hazelnuts. If you're not a fan of hazelnuts, you can leave out the nuts and replace the hazelnut meal with more coconut instead.

What makes this recipe so simple is the caramel Top' n' Fill. There are plenty of recipes out there for your own caramel, but this stuff is just as yummy and saves time on making the caramel, which can be a bit fiddly.

Ingredients

Base
130g butter
1 cup plain flour (I used wholemeal, but you can also use white)
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup desiccated coconut
1/2 cup hazelnut meal

Filling
1 - 2 x 100g can Top' n' Fill

Topping
300g dark chocolate, roughly chopped (you can also use milk chocolate)
A handful of hazelnuts, chopped



To make the base, preheat your oven to 180°c and line your baking tin/dish with baking paper. I like my slice quite thin, but if you'd like yours thicker, just use a smaller baking dish.

In a bowl, melt your butter in the microwave. Add all of your dry ingredients and combine until the mix resembles breadcrumbs. The mix smells delicious!

Press the mix into your baking dish. Use the back of your spoon to ensure the mix is packed down firmly and evenly.

Pop the dish into the oven for 15-20mins or until it's golden brown. Remove from the oven and allow to cool.

Once cool, spread the caramel over the base using the back of your spoon. I only used one can but if you're a caramel fiend, you can use two.

Roughly chop your chocolate and melt. I melted mine in the microwave, stirring every 10-15secs. Make sure you use a metal spoon and keep any moisture away to stop the chocolate from seizing.

Working quickly, use your spoon to spread the melted chocolate over the caramel. This part can be a bit tricky and messy! Be careful not to let too much of the caramel mix with the chocolate, otherwise your chocolate will start to go lumpy and will not spread well.

Sprinkle with your chopped hazelnuts and pop the slice into the fridge to set.

Once the chocolate has set, remove the slice from your dish and, using a warmed knife, gently cut your slice into squares.

Your slice is now ready to eat! Make yourself a cuppa and enjoy one (or two, or three...).