Perfect Baked Ham Recipe

I'm not the best cook in the world, I'll be the first to admit it! but I guarantee that every week someone, whether it's B, my Dad, Lisa or one of my friends, will ask me to bake them a ham (B has actually started bringing them home for me now from work like some men do flowers! lol) So today I'm sharing my recipe for the perfect Baked Ham...

What you will need:

A small smoked or unsmoked (depending on your preference, I always go for smoked!) gammon joint (these cost around £4-5 in Waitrose / Sainsburys or Morrisons)

2 litres of Dr Pepper

Marmalade (with peel)

Brown Sugar

Colmans English Mustard

A jug (pint) of water

To Make (approximately 2 hours)

Start by unwrapping your gammon joint (make sure to remove the plastic bit around the side too (done that!) and place in a very large pan (it should be almost twice as deep with space all around the edge

Pour over around half of the Dr Pepper and add a jug of water, if needed add more Dr Pepper (the liquid should be just above the surface of the ham, put the lid on your pan (I've experimented without the lid, it still tastes lovely but a little drier - keeping the lid on seals in all the moisture and makes for a tastier ham!)

Simmer slowly to a rolling boil and leave for approximately 20 minutes (this should take around an hour in total - I use the very lowest setting on my hob)

Once done, remove from the boil and pour away the liquid, place the ham into a pyrex (or similar) ovenproof dish, score the top with a sharp knife in two directions to make a checkerboard pattern across the top of your ham. 

Spread some mustard (around a level tablespoonful) across the top of the ham, get into all the little cut areas you've just made

Add a heaped tablespoonful of marmalade and and spread over the top of the mustard and ham and into all the cut areas (I know marmalade and mustard sounds gross, but trust me, its awesome!) Sprinkle on a pinch or two of brown sugar

Bake on a medium heat for around 45 minutes or until the marmalade starts to bubble (I like mine to caramelise and go a little bit almost burnt at the edges)

Leave to cool for around half an hour (supervise if you have little piggies in the house - not mentioning any names!!) before cutting and serving with some lovely fresh bread (sourdough is my fave, tiger bread for B) or mash potato and pickles (Lisa's favourite)

I hope you enjoy it as much as we all do!

Thank you for dropping by today

Sarah x

A Change is Coming...

Today I want to tell you all about some exciting changes coming soon!

Last year I was offered a fabulous opportunity, something that had me think very seriously about the direction of my business and how seriously I wanted to take it. This little brand that I started just to keep me out of mischief had already been growing faster than I ever imagined, than I ever dared hope for. I had to decide, quite quickly, if I would treat it as a little venture for me to earn a living or if I wanted to see how far I could go, how big I could build it, how good it could really be. It wasn't an easy decision, I fretted over it for days, I've never set out to be the biggest, the richest, the loudest, just the best I could, the best I could create, the best I could share with you all. I talked it over with a few people I really trust, one of them said to me 'don't you realise, this is what you do, you can't settle, if it's not this, it will be something else!' I realised she was absolutely right, I always strive for more, for better, always have done since I decided as a little girl that I would never have to live in a tower block again, never have to worry about how I would pay the bills, never have to struggle as my mum had had to when we were little, whether I was working on a market stall (yup, done that!) or in a marketing company, or building my own company, I never stopped trying to make things better (that market stall had the neatest signs and most organised racks you've ever seen!)

This is my dream job, what I want to do forever, I knew I had to grab it, I took that opportunity with both hands, I threw everything at it, I took on Lisa as my assistant, I spoke to B about working with me more and more, I delegated more and more to the lovely ladies that help me (my design team, mine and B's mums, my sisters) I worked 20 hour days, I fell asleep on my keyboard more than once! it wasn't easy, there were a lot of hiccups, I had a tough time handing over my work, my stuff (my baby!) to other people, trusting them to do it as I would do it.

Since then, it's continued to grow, at a crazy rapid pace that even I can't believe - every week is something new, a new product, a new opportunity, a new client. It's been FANTASTIC! I'm giddy, literally giddy.

So, that brings me on to the changes, you may already notice a few tweaks to the blog, there will be more over the next days and weeks, there will be more content on more things (don't worry, there will still be a ton of craft, more than ever before actually!!) but also more on other lovely things - DIY projects, home and... well, I'll surprise you with the rest! lol, you'll also see changes over on the SarahHurley365 blog where my team post and we have a brand new swishy website coming very soon!

On top of all that, you'll be seeing more products and ranges than ever before, more sharing, more freebies (in fact every week as from next week there will be a regular 'Freebie Friday' post!) more collaborations and just generally MORE stuff! I have some lovely sponsors on board (I'll be posting up some advertising and sponsor info soon, in the meantime, please email me directly if this is something you'd like to get involved in)

I hope you're as excited for these changes as we are, we have lots and lots in store for you, a lot of which I can't even tell you about yet (it took me 4 hours to brief my team the other night! and I didn't even get to tell them everything, lol) but I will just as soon as I can - promise!

Thank you for bearing with me for this epic post, I'm off for dinner with B now :o)

Love
Sarah x

A Few of My Favourite Things... March Kit Reveal

This months kits have now been revealed! Here is a little peek at what the March kits contain...

Main Kit

 and some close ups...

 

Add On Kit 

Documented365 Kit

and a couple of close ups...

 

 Documented365 Printable Kit

I also filmed a video run through of all the kits in more details again, I know it was very popular last month giving you all a closer look! you can view it on my new YouTube channel here, or click below

I will have another video soon showing what I make with my kit as well as some others on other topics that have been requested (if you have any video requests, please leave them in the comments below and I'll do my very best to work on it soon!) There just a couple of kits left here in my shop and subscriptions are open for Aprils kit here if you miss them.

Thank you for dropping by today!

Sarah x

Behind the Scenes at Hurley HQ - The Tour!

I know lots of you have been asking for a long time, so we have finally filmed a tour behind the scenes here at Hurley HQ! (it does include a little blooper reel at the end as well, lol) Here you go...

I hope you've enjoyed a little sneak peek at our daily life

Thank you for dropping by today!

Sarah x

Can You Help? Just 6 Days Left!

Today, we are asking you for a teeny bit of help, we have decided to be very brave and try our hand at our first Kickstarter campaign to try and raise money to buy our very own badge making machine for Hurley HQ, we want to bring you more great products like this...

We also want to start a new range of cards and gifts that have been in my head for a while (you know how busy it gets in there!) to get us on our way we are asking for your help, we've just a few days to go and every little helps and we have some fab freebies for our lovely helpers (of course you get that warm fuzzy glow of doing something nice too - thats just a bonus!) You can see all the details over on Kickstarter here.

Thank you for dropping by today!

Sarah x

A Few of My Favourite Things... Kit Grab Bags

Here at Hurley HQ we've had some changes in the office this last week, we've had the last of our furniture put in, purged tons of craft supplies and organised everything as best we can! We plan on doing a tour for you this week, so keep your eyes peeled for a behind the scenes look at Hurley HQ! 

While Tidying, we found a massive box of things from previous 'A Few of My Favourite Things...' kits including papers, journaling cards, stamps and embellishments. 

The good news is, if you've missed out on previous kits, we've made everything up into grab bags - a total bargain at just £5 or £10 which you can get hold of here on my website right now!

Here is a little peek at some that went out a few days ago...

Grab them while they last, stocks are limited! 

Thank you for dropping by today!
Sarah x