First Challenge

What do you think I did with these supplies?

Well the pre crop Challenge over at UKS was to make a planner and an exploding box. I thought the planner would be a great idea as I could not live witout my lists, and the exploding box I made for one of my friends Birthdays. The supplies I used came from my abundant stash and the ribbons are from Angel Crafts.

Thankyou

Guess what came inn my post this afternoon.

My blogg hop prize from the lovely Deb. Thanks Deb looking forward to using them and thanks for the added little gorgeous sweest and measuring spoons. I am going to make the cookies as soon as I can get to the shops to get some eggs.Thanks again it is a lovely surprise.

UKS CC Christmas 2010

Well it started on the 3rd and I have just not had chance to upload any pictures yet. Just have to say it was so much fun thank you girls, there are so many talented ladies out there. If you get chance pop along to UKS and have a look

Blogg Award - Normal blogging is resumed

Hi I hope this works this time. Thanks to Rachel 5 hours of patience, 2 restarts and a full CP clean and a full AVG scan. Never mind it is done now. What I was trying to say is I have received a blog award by the lovely Rachel. I have never been given an reward before so felt so honoured. The object is to:

1. Link back to the kind person who gave you the award - check

2. Share 8 things - check (see below)

3. Give the award to 8 bloggers - check (see below)

4. Contact those bloggers and tell them about their awards - just about to do this!

Now to chose 8 bloggers this is the hard bit as I have met so many lovely peeps lately so here goes.

Debs
Clair
Deb
Anne
Gez
Denise
Linda
S
Helen

Blogg Award

Sorry all details to follow so anyone, I sent this to I apologise now, but my computer is not playing tonight but here is the picture of the award. Normal service will be resumed shortly x

Sarah Kay Copic Markers

This is a card I made for my lovely blogging friend from the Birthday List 14 girls over on the Craftswap The image is a Sarah Kay stamp and I have coloured her in with copic markers. The ribbon, flowers, and pearls are from Angel Crafts blinged up a bit with glimmer mists and the punch I have used is a Martha Stewart.

P1100069, originally uploaded by craftandstash.

P1100068, originally uploaded by craftandstash.

The Hand Of Friendship

This is a page I made a while ago but due to not being able to blog on time lately it is very very late. It is a picture which we have in a frame in my mum's lounge and I thought it would look great just blinged up a bit. This is my Niece and Nephew in Scotland we don't see them very often but get pictures of their mum all the time. Like the tile says the hand of friendship, the thing with these two is they are more than brother and sister they definitely are more like best friends. The ribbons, flowers and prima pearls are from Angel Crafts. The title is made using my foam stamps and the flower is made by myself by punching various sizes of circles, spritzing them with water then scrunching them up and sticking together. Don't they look pretty.

The photographs are not fantastic the light here at the moment is just awful if I get chance to photograph again I will upload.

Anyway are we all in the full swing now? presents bought and wrapped special food prepared etc, or are you like me and thinking Ahhh! when will I get a chance to do it all?. Why do we panic we always manage it don't we?. So how ever far you are on preparing your festivities just enjoy the process x

Autumn Birthday Card

Hi all I nearly forgot this one it is an Autumnal Birthday card for my very good friend who lives in Spain, so definately needs to go in the post tomorrow. The papers are Kay and co, rafia from my stash and the the sweet little pearls, ribbons, and flowers are Angel Crafts . The main gorgeous image is from the a Whiff of Joy Fall stamp kit 2009 and coloured in with one of my favourite markers copics.

Cyber Crop - UKS

Hi all hope you all had a good week end, just wanted to tell you I am officialy a fairy

well over at UKS that is, they are holding their christmas cyber crop on the 3rd December through to the 5th December. A cyber crop is the same as a crop you attend but you do it all online. You are put in a team and you can all chat on the threads and hopefully acquire points for your team. I always try to join in the cyber crops as they are such fun and you meet loads of lovely nice new like minded people. Go and check it out.

Postage surprise

Wow I am so happy, I have been at hospital all day today having my treatment and when I arrived home imagine my surprise and delight to be met with this little parcel off Snaps and Snippets from the friendship blog hop. My delight did not stop there when I opened it it was crammed full of gorgeous crafting goodies, which I have already thought of project for including JYC.

Christmas Cake

Yay I am so happy I have made my first Christmas cake today, and if even if I say so myself it looks good. The recipe is from one of my mum's old recipe books, she is now 84 and I am doing a book recording all my mum's old recipes to record them so they will always be a record. The cook book is The Art of Home Cooking by Stork Margarine Cookery Service from the 1950's Stork club.

Recipe

10 oz currants

10 oz sultanas

7 oz raisins

5 oz cherries

4 oz mixed peel

4 oz whole sweet almonds

10 oz plain flower

pinch of salt

1 level tsp grated nutmeg

1/2 tsp mixed spice

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

10 oz stork margarine

10 oz Castor sugar

finely grated of 1 lemon

6 eggs

-Fold in mixed fruit and the flower mixture, half at a time, gently and thoroughly until well mixed.

-Turn into the prepared cake tin and smooth the top. Use a 9" cake tin.

-Bake on the middle shelf for 150c or 315F - 31/2 - 4 hrs

-Remove cake from oven. Leave in the tin for 10 mins, Turn out, remove the paper and cool on a wire    rack.

I have now been told by my mum to leave it wrapped in foil for a week before making a few wholes in the top with a skewer then adding a tbsp 3 times over a period of 3 weeks of Brandy.

Then put on marzipan. make Royal icing, then decorate to preferred choice.

Birthday Card Copic

This is a card I made for my sister in law for her Birthday using a lovely Magnolia image and coloured in with copic markers. I can not remember what colours I used. I did jot them down but silly me I have lost the note, so if I find the note I will let you know. I added Prima jewels, ribbon and flowers from Angel Crafts and to make it just that extra special I have added a little extra bling with some spray glitter from Crafters Companion and some stardust stickles.

Then I made a handmade box and decorated a little bag and made a handmade box and filled it with some gorgeous yankee candles.

I win again

I must be on a winning streak after the week end as I am so lucky thanks to Deb I have won a set of measuring cups from the "Celebrating Blog Friendships" blog hop. I am so glad to of won these as I watch Ina Garten (The Barefoot Contessa) all the time on Sky amongst many others and she uses them. I always try and do her recipes and with the aid  of these cups it will make it mush easier.

I just thought I woukd share one of her recipes that I do all the time. My Gary is a meat eater but he loves this and it is so easy.

Portobello mushroom lasagne

Salt

Olive Oil

340g Lasagne sheets

1L Milk

170g unsalted butter

70g Plain Flour

1tsp ground black pepper

1tsp ground nutmeg

625g portabello mushrooms

100g freshly grated parmesan

 Method

1) Preheat the oven to 190°C/Gas 5.

2) Bring a large pot of water to a boil with 1 tbsp salt and a splash of oil. Add the lasagne sheets and cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Drain and set aside.

3) For the white sauce, bring the milk to a simmer in a saucepan. Set aside.

4) Melt 110g of the butter in a large saucepan. Add the flour and cook for 1 minute over low heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon. Pour the hot milk into the butter-flour mixture all at once. Add 1 tbsp salt, the pepper, and nutmeg, and cook over medium-low heat, stirring first with the wooden spoon and then with a whisk, for 3 to 5 minutes, until thick. Set aside off the heat.

5) Separate the mushroom stems from the caps and discard the stems. Slice the caps 1cm thick. Heat 2 tbsps of oil and 2 tbsps of the butter in a large saute pan. When the butter melts, add half the mushrooms, sprinkle with salt, and cook over medium heat for about 5 minutes, until the mushrooms are tender and they release some of their juices. If they become too dry, add a little more oil. Toss occasionally to make sure the mushrooms cook evenly. Repeat with the remaining mushrooms and set all the mushrooms aside.

6) To assemble the lasagne, spread some of the sauce in the bottom of a baking dish. Arrange a layer of sheets on top, then more sauce, then ⅓ of the mushrooms, and 50g grated Parmesan. Repeat 2 more times, layering sheets, sauce, mushrooms, and Parmesan. Top with a final layer of sheets and sauce, and sprinkle with the remaining Parmesan.

7) Bake the lasagna for 45 minutes, or until the top is browned the sauce is bubbly and hot. Allow to sit at room temperature for 15 minutes and serve hot.

If you want to give the meat a break for the night this is an ideal choice.

New Albums

Just had to show you these they are by American Crafts and I have been after them for years. So thanks to my lovely blogging friend Rachel I am now the proud owner of 2, a little wooden easel and some page protectors. to display my work on, so I have no excuses any more I can get on with my 2010 album. I could not make up my mind whether to go for the plain or the patterned so ended up getting them both. Are they not scrummy. They came from a company called Sarah's Cards and when they  arrived they also came with a little extra of a small tube of sweets lovely.

I'm a Winner!

Yay I am so happy I have just found out that I am a winner from the "Celebrating Friends" Blog Hop at the week end.

I have been lucky to win a surprise package from the lovely Snaps and Snippets so I am excited about receiving the post now. Thank you x

Happy Birthday Pete

It was Gary's Dad's Birthday Pete,the other day he is now in a home as he is unsafe to be left on his own after falling and breaking his shoulder then a week later falling and breaking the other. He is too old to operate but he is doing fine. Gary sees him every day but with his Birthday the whole family were there and the home had decorated his room with decorations and a balloon so nice of them.

This is the card I made for him with a Whiff of  Joy image and coloured with copic markers, the flowers and ribbons I used were from Angel Crafts,

Not to forget our little Susie dog who just had to get in on the action too, sitting with our youngest niece Natasha don't they look cute together. 

It was also our other nieces Birthday Nattalie on the same day so they always celebrate together every year.

For Nattalie's card I used one of my trusted Mo Manning digital images as it reminds me so much of Nattalie and her friends. I have coloured this in with copic markers and the ribbons and flowers are from my own supplies.

Copic Birthday card

This is a Birthday card I made for a very dear friend, first of all I need to apologise about the photograph it is not one of my best as I had to take it on my camera phone and very quickly. I used a cute Just Magnolia image, and coloured her in with Copic markers. The ribbon and flowers are from Angel Crafts and I have added stickles and spray sparkle.

My Birthday '21 again'

Ok guys are you ready for this, anyone that know's me knows my health has not been that great of late but I am getting there slowly, my head has stopped spinning for a little while lol so I thought I would let you see all the lovely cards I received for my Birthday off my gorgeous friends and family and my amazing talented crafty friends over at Craftswap they are such a talented lot and cheered me up no end.

Back Again

Do you ever get the feeling that things are passing you buy too quickly. Well that is how I feel at the moment due to a multitude of reasons including health, personal  and to top that doing a degree in Psycholgy what am I mad ? I think I must be. I have not been able to do any crafting or talking to my lovely crafting blogging buddies for such a long time, so for this I apologise . I will in the next few days be trying to catch up on you all so I hope that you will all bear with me. So for now here is a card I made for one of my close friends and a bag that I filled with a lovely scented Yankee candle I love all of them, and the all important thing some chocolates see what you think

The image was from Mo Manning a lovely digital image of a girl just relaxing reading her favourite book, the flowers and ribbon were from Angel Crafts and the papers were from stash

49 Things

A while back a list of 99 things did the rounds. Sian has come up with a new list, just 49 things this time - how many have YOU done? :-)

Seen The Terracotta Army in China - No but never say never

Cross stitched a sampler - Yes but with not much success

Kept a friend for more than 20 years - Yes quite a few and they are all very good ones.

Made your own jam - Not jam but lemon curd does that count?

Seen the Crown Jewels in The Tower Of London No but hope to either late this year or early next.

Attended a school reunion and enjoyed it - No not yet.

Kissed the Blarney Stone - No never even been to Ireland

Learned how to tap dance- sort of when I was a kid

Seen one of the Wonders Of The Ancient World - No but never say never

Ridden a tandem bicycle - No

Commissioned a piece of furniture - No but sounds cool

Sold for profit something you made yourself - Yes I sell handmade cards

Seen Sydney Opera House - No but visiting family next year and hope to see a lot of sight seeing

Walked up the outside of a volcano - No too hot lol

Met an idol - Does a waxwork count in madame Tussuad's
Found or sent a message in a bottle - No but sounds romantic, my brother did bury a memory tin in our old house in Scotland under the floorboards. Wander if it is still there?

Held a stranger's hand, just because they needed you - Yes years ago I was out with a friend in a local pub and a girl took an asthma attack and I held her hand until the ambulance arrived. Another time I was in a local pub having a meal with family when a guy I new was playing pool and the guy he was playing against glassed him.I held not his head together to stop the bleeding as no one else would I know not his not his
hand but his head to say thank you when he cam out of hospital he sent me some Roses.

Thought you might have seen a ghost - no but I am open minded.

Been caught speeding - No not caught.

Won a bet - yes the grand national years ago when I worked in hotels and we had a sweep on with the Grand National. I won but my reward was to take everyone in the sweep out for a meal at the Road Chef.

Visited a pen pal- No but had plenty when I was younger.

Published a poem - no but I did win a contest at school for a speech.

Had your appendix removed - yes when I was 21 and a good job as it had ruptured.

Pierced an interesting part of your body - if you count your ears would not do anything else too squeamish.

Seen your name in lights - No but here's hoping.
Had a handsome man buy you Champagne - yes on a few occasions and enjoyed it every time.

Had tea at The Ritz - No
Found a peacock feather - No
Made a collection of more than 50 objects - I have so many collections from dolls from around the world to my favourite my collection of Sindy dolls outfits from the 60's onwards.

Crossed The Equator - No not yet.
Partied through til breakfast - frequently I told you I worked in hotels lol.

Found a fossil - no but plenty of shells old coins and stones,

Seen The Northern Lights - No

Built your own house - No and don't intend too my brother built me a shed in my old house.
Started a Mexican Wave - Not started but involved in, at the first concert Paul McCartney performed back in Liverpool after the Beattles

Judged a competition - no but been in plenty.

Flown in a hot air balloon - No do not like heights.

Spent too much money on something you've only worn once - Frequently according to my tolerant other half.
Scored an own goal. Figuratively or otherwise - No

Appeared on live tv - No have not got the guts.

Asked for your money back - No.

Had your photo taken with someone famous - If you count the England manager last year then yes.

Grown your hair long enough to sit on - Nearly but not quite.

Been locked in somewhere overnight, or long enough for it to start getting scary - No only playing sardines when I was younger.

Found something valuable and made sure it was returned to its rightful owner. yes found a purse on a train between Liverpool and Manchester and the owner emailed me with a thank you.

Taken part in some kind of endurance event or attempt - The only thing I can think of is when I was in Primary school. I did a sponsored silence for Stoke Manderville Hospital, set up by Jimmy Saville in the 70's. Where a selection of us had to keep quiet from the morning until home time that was a tall order I can tell you.

Driven from one end of your country to the other - No but have been in long rides over time.

Been publicly recognised for bravery or special community service - No not yet.

Gone out on the town in an outfit you've made entirely on your own - No really but my best friend got married and she wanted to go all 70's like Abba for her hen night so we all had to make up our own outfits including platforms and everything.

So let me know if you decide to take part so I can pop over to your blog a have a laugh sorry did I say that out load/

I win a prize yay !

These is one of the layouts I made for my scrapbook club, and I am pleased to say I won a prize see what you think?

This is a class I took with the very talented Cheryl Johnson great name don't you think! and this is the prize I won I picked it up tonight. I have other layouts from this day and will show them very soon.

Flowers Flowers Everywhere !

Photo assignment two for LYPLYP involves your choice of floral setting,preferably outdoors if possible.and to snap plenty of photos of the same flowers. So I had to think about this one and decided as I am no way green fingered I had to snap my first attempt at a hanging basket which the Gaz man has put outside my front door. I used macro setting throughout just varied the angle and position taking.

Inanimate Objects

Ok Prompt one is late I am just starting today, but will get their. The first photo assignment is to find something in the home that is very much you. Something you love or something that says something about your personality. Then take that item and your camera around your home looking for different lighting options. What does it look like near a window? for example, so what I snapped was my Blackberry mobile phone and my sunglasses 2 items I could not live without according to the Gaz man. I have taken all my pictures on Automatic I am afraid no fancy photography yet but fingers crossed I will get better as time goes on, it is more of a confidence thing. 

New Blog Candy!

Create4fun are aiming to acquire a 1000 followers and when they reach the magic number they are offering to one lucky follower some amazing blog candy go and check it out.

Yay Challenge 1!

The first challenge for LYPLYP is to use a photograph that makes you smile. I just had to use our Susie, as when we were away in our caravan she was so tired that she just took her self of to bed. Later on in the night when I checked on her I was surprised to find that she had company. You will see what I mean Aww Bless!

Ladybug Crafts

This is a card I made for one of my crafting friends on BL14 CSF I used a stamp that I received in my ribbon kit from Angel Crafts and the stamp is from Ladybug Crafts. I used my promarkers to colour her in and loads of glitter of course !

Starts Tomorrow !

Shimelle's new class starts tomorrow, 4 weeks of crafting with loads of lovely like minded friends! I've done lots of classes with Shimelle and they are all fab, if you have not ventured into her classes before go have a wee peek you might just like it!

 

Whiff Of Joy 7 day Blog candy - A stamp per Day.

Morning everyone, The weather is gorgeous outside again here, but thought I would just pop on to let you know about this fantastic giveaway.Go to Katharinas blog if you have not scene these stamps before or you are hooked like me go and have a peek they are gorgeous.

Bye for now x