Kool Kitty Musings

One week on...

And you'd think we'd travelled back a few months!

This time last week I'd got home from a thoroughly lovely Bank Holiday crafty weekend in Whitby - we'd had a thoroughly glorious time and the weather had been excellent too.

This was our home for the weekend, the beautiful grounds of Sneaton Castle:

After dropping our bags and crafty goods off a few of us set off down to the centre in search of coffee and cake, or in my case the largest Lemon Merringue Pie in the world!

I had a couple of bites but couldn't finish it so took the waitress up on the offer of a doggy bag - delish! It was just my luck that the dessert for that evening with our full-board menu was lemon merringue pie. ;o)

It was a bit cloudy Friday...

But the sun was out in full force Saturday - a very nice way to spend your down time, sitting out in the sun in the beautiful grounds:

Sunday morning we managed a quick jaunt down before the BH crowds descended:

Wandering around the shops again...

Along to the pier...

In search of a true lemon top, only to find it wasn't a proper "lemon top" - but any excuse for an ice cream in the sunshine and sea air!

A lovely last view of Whitby before heading back to get some more scrapping done before having to pack up and go home.

Yesterday after the rain we finally had sunshine in these parts again, which was jolly good as we were off out to celebrate my mum and dad's anniversary:

Lovely meal out, despite my taste buds still not being quite right and everyone enjoyed a nice dash of champers x 2!

Today I have been working away to finally get my Whitby Weekend project finished - and it is done!

Here are some snaps of the inside, I will try and share better shots soon - it's so rare I actually have scrapping projects to share on my blog these days that I might as well make a song and dance of it. ;o)

Behold - the album from start to finish:

...and on that note I'd best tidy up a little and get my tea made. ;o)

52 Christmas Crackers 2013 - Week 16

Well, better late than never!

I've been rather busy every evening this week so not managed to share the Christmas card I made for this week's negative die-cutting prompt.

But the time has arrived!

It wasn't really worth the wait, since it is ultra-simple and plain, but I rather like how it looks in real life. ;o)

Paper: Crate Paper
Die and stamp: PTI
Other: bling, 3D foam

Very simple no? But I really wanted to have a red and white stripe behind whatever word I ended up using this week. hehe

So, just what is it that has been keeping me so busy and off the blog?

Well, my lovely house guest Lola and I spent a lot of time out on walks, including a 5-miler to my mum and dad's which was totally spur of the moment!

The rest of the time Lola enjoyed recuperating by the fire:

She also "assisted" me in cleaning the house ready for a family visit for cake and tea:

Yes, how exactly are you supposed to make the bed when someone is enjoying it so much...

And speaking of bed hogging... she was caught in the act the next day trying to get under the covers in the afternoon:

I had to use the Meerkat toy to tempt her out of the kitchen Sunday morning when I baked muffins, tried out the Hazelnut Praline nutella muffins from the Hummingbird Cake Days book:

Don't worry, we all took Lola for a walk in the park after those!

I said bye-bye to Lola Monday evening, then Tuesday afternoon went up to see miss Anja ahead of her Christening this weekend. And she was very much looking forward to her tea:

And from then onwards I have been trying to get a certain crafty project done, with little success...

But I have managed to sort another thing on my to-do list - get my phone changed at long last since it is now out of contract:

Bye, bye htc and hello (hopefully) a much better phone for my needs! :)

The porting doo-dah should be done tomorrow and I hopefully won't be left without a phone this weekend, as I will definitely need one on sunday! Anyway, I suppose I should start back on the crafty task I need to get done this evening.

I do have a DVD to watch, but it's not clear whether it will be a help or a complete distraction:

I'll let you know!

Saturday snaps

Well, I am nearing the end of my to-do list and waiting for a few things to happen of their own accord before I can complete it.... So thought I'd pop on the blog and share a few snaps.

Despite the cold weather this Easter weekend, there has actually been - gasp! - sunshine!

And although I've not had time to sit in the conservatory and enjoy it all day, I managed a bit of reading session while my weekend bake was in the oven.

I have had some fun playing with some papers that I ordered along with the Echo Park Sweetest Day kit for an upcoming project. The papers were just add-ons to my order from the latest Crate release as I wasn't feeling the love for the entire release and had nothing in mind for those other patterns, but I liked these a lot:

I even got down to getting my card for this Monday's prompt sorted... I wonder if you can guess what the theme will be...

Then once I got my project photographed and ready to blog I turned my attention to the big item I needed to do today.

The all-important Easter bake for tomorrow's Polish Easter celebrations. I'd been umming and ahhing over trying this recipe from Mary Berry a while, as I love Yorkshire curd tart and Polish baked cheesecake is very similar to this recipe but I wanted to bake something that was aimed at the British baker (and my temperamental oven) rather than a seasoned Polish domestic goddess - which I am not!

It is currently on its second hour cooling in the oven and while that is happening I cannot put my last minute zesty flapjack hodge podge traybake in.

I ended up raiding the cupboards trying to work out if there was something else I could "bake" to use up the rest of the butter and unwaxed lemons I'd had to buy for the above recipe (since no one sells them loose around here and you have to buy a bag of 5 and I don't use lemons all that much except for baking) plus the porridge oats I had left-over from some other bakes... and well, a lemon ginger flapjack recipe was found online but unmercilessly doctored to also include dessicated coconut (since I ran out of loose oats and had to resort to plain oats so simple packets and some other dry goods to make up the measures...) and mixed chopped nuts (needed using up...) in addition to the sultanas in the recipe.

We shall see whether it is fit for human consumption later this evening when the oven is finally free or whether the birds in my area will have their work cut out trying to find nourishment!

In the meantime, I'd best get some tea...

Weekend antics

Well, it has been a rather nice spring weekend in my household despite the poor weather this afternoon.

I got down to some crafty business yesterday with a mind to getting some Easter cards made:

I also managed to get caught up on the crafty stuff I needed to do, and I may get some more playtime in today before dinner:

I started off today reading this from start to finish as it's been on my book pile a while and I thought there was no time like the present:

I still have a weakness for Regency romance... but my next two reads on the pile are Chicklit. :)

Then by the time I was up for breakfast it was almost brunch time and I was rather craving one of these, as there's nothing better on a Sunday:

But as I didn't have muffins or bacon in the house, I had some toasted hot cross bun loaf instead. Mmmmmm.

Then I got the washing done and the washing up and decided it was the prefect time to get some Sunday baking done:

I haven't baked anything since Christmas and I was also in the mood for comfort baking rather than faffy baking so I made...

Fruity flapjacks! :)

I have managed to scoff one already and they are decidedly delicious.

Now I'm going to sit down and watch Moulin Rouge on Lovefilm Instant (can you believe I've never seen it all the way through?) and perhaps do a bit of stamping at the same time. ;o)

A few snaps

So it's been a while since I shared some non-card pics.

Last weekend I went up for a visit to and some lazy time with little Miss Anja:

She was a bit of a tricky customer when it came to the camera. Every time I hit the shutter she totally changed her expression from a wide smile or laugh to a glum or confused expression. LOL But we spent a lot of time playing peek-a-boo over the top of the jungle gym and she has discovered how to roll over but isn't so keen on ending up stuck on her front after having rolled over.

We had a couple of walks out in the pram including a nice late breakfast on Sunday:

Then it was back to work Monday - I've been working from home this week on a few projects that needed some extra hours putting in. But it did mean I managed to actually see my lovely spring bulbs in daylight and notice how quickly they've changed:

Yesterday brought with it some rather nice surprises in the post.

Firstly a lovely Easter surprise from Angela over at http://paperandribbons.blogspot.co.uk:

Such a gorgeous card but also an egg box filled with a surprise I don't want to discover until Easter weekend. :) It's almost too nice to unwrap, but the suspense will win out by the end of March!

The other package that arrived was my PTI order. And best of all - no customs charge!

I really like the way dies are all packaged together in a dedicated envelope now so they don't fly about the inside of your box:

Here's a snap of what I ordered:

Lots of fun playtime ahead - well, time permitting!

I have also recently bought the pictapgo app designed for the iPhone but being used on the iPad. I really like the filters but wish it was more compatible with Instagram and would allow you to crop the image to Instagram size and save it that size. I think more playing is required, but would be great if they could make it possible to enlarge the app just like Instagram can be enlarged on the iPad so you can see everything better.

Oh well I am sure feedback from users will lead to lots of new updates and improvements, but it's rather nice to have RadLab on your smart device. ;o)

On my desk this weekend...

Well, it's time to get down to something crafty today.

Yesterday I spent most of the day on the sofa with the fire on reading the latest Nora Roberts book from her Boonsboro Inn trilogy. It was a bit of a slog as I've not totally enjoyed this latest series with the exception of the middle book in the trilogy.

However, it needed reading and will be returned to the library soon. :)

Today is another matter, today I need to not end up on the sofa enjoying the heat of the fire and reading yet another book that needs to be back at the library (although I am half way through the one I started this morning! Ooops).

Today, I need to get something made with this little pile of loveliness:

It includes the makings and theme for this week's 52 Cards challenge prompt. ;o)

It's been a bit of a funny week - I have worked from home all week due to the weather playing havoc with how long it would take me to get to work vs. just getting on with it at home.

I have had to ration myself to 1 hot chocolate a day or every other day:

There has been plenty of opportunity for winter warmer evening meals including my favourite comfort food - a tuna melt jacket potato:

Toad in the hole that miraculously came out very well and made for 3 nice meals:

There has been a lot of loitering by the fire in the evenings to warm the bum:

And in the mornings there has been some interesting weather - the ominous red sky indicating more snow:

Then a morning that was just fog and ice:

Followed 10 minutes by the appearance of the sun that made for an eerie sky:

Our snow is sort of melting now, but who knows what the afternoon will bring. There's still plenty of ice about! I'm just happy to say it will be a nice day spent indoors with the crafty stash, a DVD or two, a nice soak in the bath (with my book) and some good telly tonight.

Ahh the Frill of it all...

Hello Friday!

And hello a brand new dare on the Daring Cardmakers blog! :D

Leo is back again to challenge us with a new theme and as the title would suggest, it's all about adding a frill to your card.

I had something immediately in mind, but it kind of meant CASE-ing one of my own cards from last year....

So it may look rather familiar, but the frill is definitely there!

Embossing folder: Cuttlebug
Stamps: PTI
Dies: PTI, Spellbinders
Other: cupcake wrappers, 3D foam, white chalk ink

It's not so easy to spot, but I used a white chalk ink pad around the edges of the yellow background and to bring out the embossed dots more - just to soften things up a little.

It's also nice to use cake cases on something other than baking since I am not going to be baking for a while now that I have stepped back onto the post-Christmas diet.

However this has been made slightly more difficult now that the Percy Pigs I won on the M&S Facebook pass the parcel game have arrived in the post and are concealed somewhere about the house so that I don't succumb!

We shall see how long I can hold out! 

Don't forget to stop by my Design-teamies' blogs to see their lovely frilly cards! :)

It wouldn't be a Jubilee without a right royal sponge would it?

It was my brother's birthday yesterday and the perfect reason to make a full-sized cake.

The Victoria Sponge from this lovely book - in fact the first recipe I have tried from the Peyton and Byrne baking book though I have had it and looked through it regularly for a while:

A great traditional recipe and one based on weighing your eggs and then adding each of the the other ingredients in the corresponding weight. So a good one to do if you have a larger tin you need to bake in, like I did. ;)

It was a bit of a monster sponge, but it was just perfect for the occasion and for displaying my lovely Royal cake topper set!

Best enjoyed out in the garden with a nice cup of tea. And the jam inside had to of course be Tiptree strawberry conserve. :D

It got demolished rather well, and was deliciously moist inside.

Oh and I have to say, I was pleasantly surprised with how evenly it baked and rose - love my oven thermometer so much now, it has really proved its worth with recent baking efforts. :)

How's your Jubilee weekend shaping up?

Despite the freezing temperatures and gloomy weather in these parts, we are trying our best to keep the celebrations going.

I finally got my bunting up at home, although the pound shop bunting for outside has had an epic fail after 2 days and has come down round the other side of the window.

However, at least my DIY Blue Peter-stylee tissue paper fan decorations are up:

Excuse the lack of paint on the window sill there, the old paint has peeled off rather badly after all the rain.

Inside I have the lounge decked out with more bunting.

It's lovely stuff - you can never have too much. The one reflected in the mirror was from Sainsbury's and was very nice for just £2!

Love this M&S calico bunting, great for the mantelpiece. :)

And I had to add my jubliee-inspired card as the centre piece!

Yesterday ma and I braved the cold weather and rain for walk down into town to see if anything was decorated and basically, we fancied a nice lunch!

Loved this retro chic bunting in one of the windows. It's navy blue and white and really pretty.

I am amazed people were sat outside eating!

Even though it was cold, it didn't stop us having dessert at the new ice cream parlour that has opened. I had an almost patriotic sundae - no blue bubblegum ice cream to complete the tricolour homage.

Today attention was focussed on our jubilee afternoon tea.

I started early by doing some baking:

Red velvet cupcakes...

With cream cheese frosting, of course.

Then headed over for family get together and ended up combing the sideboard for items to use on the table (there are lots of items in there that my grandma had had passed on from further up the family tree). Earlier in the week my dad had been looking for the fabric bunting that had originally been used in my great-great-great uncle's saddler's shop in Wakefield for Queen Victoria's diamond jubilee - not in our possession, but residing safely with my uncle in Cornwall instead. :) Too fragile to use these days, but how amazing for it still to be around and kept all these years eh?

Anyway, back to this afternoon...

First of all I had to get my cupcakes finished with their toppers.

They looked fab on the cake stand.

It wouldn't be afternoon tea without a few Mr Kipling fancies. ;)

Continuing on the sweet theme I tipped those lovely limited edition M&Ms into the commemorative teacup and saucer I bought ma... she didn't mind. ;)

The sideboard yielded some wonderful items that were most apt:

The King George VIth coronation mug for our cutlery.

The Queen's silver jubilee mug for the dessert forks...

And of course lots of nice white and blue tableware for the savoury section:

Was rather happy with how my knock-off M&S roast beef, horseradish mayo, and yorkshire pudding sarnies came out. Thanks to Aunt Bessie on that one! Also afternoon tea wouldn't be complete without some scones (cheese in the case - my fave!) and a good cup of tea afterwards.

We were well and truly stuffed and there are plenty of left-overs to enjoy tomorrow.

Mind you I need to bake my brother's birthday cake in the morning and use my final Jubilee decoration on it, can't wait!

Good Friday = good mood

Well, it has certainly been a challenging week for my nerves, and I have been really looking forward to the 4 day weekend, I can tell you!

But first, something crafty and cheery. :D

This being the first Friday of the month we have a new colour challenge to enjoy on the DCM blog this week.

Leo chose some lovely sorbet fresh colours:

And seeing these colours the first time I knew exactly which stash to use - yep, my dwindling MME Howdy Doody 6x6 pad came out to play!

Paper: MME
Stamp: WMS
Flower: The Ribbon Girl
Dies: Sizzix, Cheery Lynn, PTI
Felt: PTI
Other: Buttons, ribbon, Distress Stickles, cotton thread, chalk ink

This card started out very differently but I'm quite happy with how it ended up - will definitely have to use bitty buttons more on things, they are very sweet. :)

On the non-crafty front I had a nice break from the stress of this week with a day out in Newcastle with Zoe getting some shopping done followed in the evening by a very delicious meal out at our usual Indian - with our usual pickles of course!

Here are my lovely purchases:

Rather uninteresting to some...

But I finally have an oven thermometer which will get tried out this weekend when I attempt to make Easter Malteaser cupcakes.

There had to be at least one Easter decoration - and I loved that little bowl from John Lewis.

Had to have this when I saw it - even if I don't use all the toppers on cupcakes, I could add a few to craft projects. But I just love Meri Meri design and Lakeland had lots of tempting sets, but I could only go for one and this was it!

Fenwick's foodhall is always a must stop place - and how nice to see them have packets of coconut M&Ms at last... and my fave white PB cups!

The main reason for visiting is always to stock up on Kolos rye bread, basically the best rye bread in the world! I bought a little loaf for myself, and two big loaves for the Easter weekend at my mum and dad's - Polish Easter breakfast of course wouldn't be complete without this bread! In fact once I finish up here I will be having some for my breakfast. :D

And finally the last thing I was expecting to buy was some new perfume, but when I saw the new additions to the Be Delicious range (I have quite a few...) I had to try them and to my extreme delight this creamy meringue perfume has a lovely fresh lemon zing to it without being overly sweet and sickly. And for once in the many years I have bought perfume I had a load of free samples dropped into the bag with my purchase. So look forward to trying those out, hopefully they are nice!

Right, I had best get my breakfast and get dressed - later on the menu it's a traditional Good Friday visit to the fish and chip shop plus Hot Cross buns somewhere in there as well. :D

This and that

Just a couple of pics to share this evening.

I made a simple card at the weekend that was still in line with pastel colours of the card I posted yesterday:

Paper: Echo Park, American Crafts, MME
Stamps: MFT, PTI
Dies: MFT, Sizzix
Button: Basic Grey
Other: Twine

I know... that typewriter set does get used a lot, but just goes to show it was such a good investment! hehe

This weekend I got back into some baking for Mother's Day, and made a batch of key lime butterfly cakes:

I added a few handfuls of heart-shaped sprinkles into the batter before baking. Next time I will definitely make half the quantity of buttercream, sorry Mary Berry, but there was a heck of a lot of buttercream for 12 cakes!

Also, I definitely need an oven thermometer if anyone has any good recommendations. They reviews are inconclusive on amazon and I definitely want one that isn't going to stop working after a few uses.

This evening I polished off my current read:

Fantastic!

I need some more horsey chicklit recommendations along the lines of French Relations, Well Groomed and Kiss and Tell by Fiona Walker. So please feel free to supply me with a list of books to try! ;)

Two words

Haribo Eggstras!

My favourite Starmix in a bag all of their own.

Sweet! Literally!

Sweetest festive treats...

Wow, my oven has had a bit of a work out this weekend.

Yesterday afternoon ma and I got a few baking tasks completed/prepped.

This primarily involved baking up 1 loaf, 6 mini-bunts and 4 heart-shaped pierniki (Polish gingerbread cake):

The heart-shaped ones were left in my care as the chocolate glaze was still setting by the time ma had to get home and well... I have no idea how I am to transport these back to her in one piece!

We also made the dough for sugar biscuits:

They will need icing one evening this week, but I have half the dough in the freezer and a small ball still in the fridge to do another tray now that I know to take them out before there are any signs of golden-browning! I really think I need an oven thermometer as although I reduce the temp by 20 to 40 degrees from the recipe we still had some volcanic action with the gingerbread. And the biscuits were done almost instantly... :o\

But today I have been trying out some of my new flavourings to do some festive cupcakes:

My IKEA cake stand has also been drafted into use.

Red and green, doesn't get much more festive than that eh?

And under the dome are 6 red cherry cupcakes, and 6 green pistachio cupcakes. The frosting is vanilla for both and I have to say the cherry flavouring is fab.

Now I wonder if you can guess what flavour these mini and full-sized cupcakes are?

Bubblegum blue....

Finished off with bubblegum pink flavoured icing and...

bubblegum glitter, I had a fair bit of frosting left over so decorated one of the almond sugar biscuits for someone who really likes bubblegum flavour!

This week I have mostly been shopping...

So like I said the other day, my Christmas shopping has so far been a bit of a failure. For other people.

But not for myself and the house.

I finally got my little Sheep-deer from TK Maxx. The first time I saw him I thought he was a reindeer, but on closer inspection when I went back to TK Maxx this week, he is in fact... more of a sheep. I may yet make him antlers...

 

I managed to stock up on some nice baking items. Some fab baking cases plus accessories, including mini cases which needed a mini muffin tin. Some silicone jelly like baking moulds in Ikea, some nice sized silicone hearts that can either make 4 separate heart cakes, or 2 heart sandwich cakes... festive jelly beans for decrating, and some Christmas sprinkles in Lidl that looked just perfect.

I also finally have a domed cake stand - for £9.99 from IKEA. Hurrah.

More seasonal tableware was purchased in M&S with these red felt coasters and matching placemat.

Keeping on the red theme, I now have a lovely little slow cooker to get me through the winter months and free up the hob and soup pan for other things. :)

I finally managed to find a long and wide scarf in Zara... and didn't break the bank on it. To date all others were too short for wrapping round a few times and creative knotting...

Yesterday the delight that was Boundary Mills yielded a nice shoe shopping experience - so many pretty Hush Puppy shoes in one place. I bought the above in purple, plus:

...in dark brown, and these:

Which are a little bigger than the others, but I think will be fine with an insole or even thicker winter tights. :)

And finally, thanks to Jean, I have been reunited with a good-sized bag of Candy Corn M&Ms:

In addition to the shopping, there has been some making:

It started last weekend with our "annual" gingerbread house-making afternoon... which included an emergency dash for new gingerbread cabins when the IKEA gingerbread houses were opened up and all broken, but will make great cheesecake bases! So as we got to work on these little houses, complete with the white gunky icing included, it was a real fight to keep all the walls and roofs attached...

Lola just watched on hoping to hoover up any victims of the gingerbread house collapse...

Wednesday night I went with Becky to a craft night at her church and we made:

This lovely little flowerpot snowman, who I am sure will appear in many upcoming Christmas-themed snaps.

And this lovely felt heart ornament, in which I finally learnt to blanket stitch - it could have been tidier, but I am sure I could make some more of these with different felts, especially in nordic colours... and cut the hearts with my nestabilities. :)

And although not made by me, had a lovely lunch out in Tynemouth yesterday with my friend Kel, hot chocolate dessert for her:

And the most delicious cherry and almond scone for me:

I loved the chintzy decor in the shop and it was like a real Christmas shabby glam grotto. :D

And speaking of making, I had best get on and get a few projects done while we still have daylight available!

In a festive mood

Last week I trialled a recipe to see what it'd be like for Christmas:

I made mint choc cupcakes for our crop using the Hummingbird bakery chocolate cupcake recipe and just switching out vanilla extract for a drop or two of peppermint flavouring in the frosting. The end result looks a bit like mint choc chip ice cream! I need to perfect my colouring skills with colour paste that's for sure!

The end result was quite nice, but I am not totally sold on Dr Oetker mint flavouring, the Silverspoon one that Becky has smelled a lot nicer.

So dilemma, I am wanting to make some of those red and white swirl peppermint cupcakes for Christmas: 

Source: flickr.com via Andrea on Pinterest

 

But not sure whether get the Silverspoon flavouring instead.

Also I tried out this technique recently (another Pinterest find): 

It works great, just NOT with Tesco cling film, you really need something stronger so not sure what to use... is there industrial strength cling film in the supermarket? LOL

Anyway, off gingerbread house decorating this afternoon. Yes, a tad early - but the last 2 years we have had to cancel due to snow, this year the gingerbread house will be made! 

No doubt with a lot of mess! lol

A taste of summer...

Admittedly it comes from a bottle of flavouring... but I made strawberry cupcakes last night from my Mary Berry handbook. Well, my fan oven has managed to flummox even Queen Mary as the temp was definitely too high and result in a few exploding cupcakes and next time I will need to use regular-sized cases not the larger "Hummingbird-friendly" ones.

But the recipe is a chuck all the ingredients in and mix job - which I like!

I decided to mix it up a bit and try my new Silverspoon strawberry flavouring and my Wilton gel colours:

The icing didn't quite go far enough for the whole batch, so the poor little cake that was left uniced was my test cupcake. Must say it tasted very good and was nice and pink inside.

Hope the girls enjoy them this afternoon!

A TK Maxx bargain at last...

Managed to snag this little beauty in TK Maxx today just as I went in for a mooch at lunch time. It's a nice long wallet and is from their key-per line like my shopper bag:

 

Yummy teal colours and bird cages:

 

And a zingy orange inside with more teal:

 

And lots of space for cards as well as coins:

 

And all for just £9.99. Hard to resist that kind of temptation!

And speaking of orange things...

 

The guilty pleasure shelf in my kitchen cupboard is nicely stocked again, just in time for cold rainy evenings.

And in case you are after papercraft inspiration... fear not - my wish list has a new addition just from the sneaky peek I saw yesterday:

 

From the die cuts alone, I am already in love! I hope the papers are just as gorgeous. With lots of grey, teal, coral and red.

Three apples down...

So after being gifted a bag of apples by my mum on Friday I have had to try out another recipe to use up some of the vast stockpile.

Last Sunday the apple tree was labouring under the weight of all those lovely ripe apples. Monday after the winds struck there were approximately 3 apples still on the tree with at least a hundred on the ground.

I have a feeling there will be many apple recipes to try over the coming months.

This weekend it has been the Apple Walnut Cupcakes from Hummingbird's Cake Days book. Now, I mixed it up a little and used 3 apples instead of 2, and swapped half the walnuts for pecans, but my oh my the recipe goes a long way!

 

Even without frosting they looked very delicious - like little muffins.

 

Once cooled they got the cream cheese frosting treatment. I even managed to swirl for once!

 

Then once the frosting had set a few hours I added a walnut to the top and dusted with cinnamon.

 

The recipe made 6 red polka dot cupcakes, 6 plain muffin cupcakes, and...

 

4 huge muffin-sized cupcakes that I just baked on a baking sheet and they spread out a bit... And there was still extra frosting left over.

So, next time I am considering just pouring the batter into an 8" spring-form tin, or splitting it between two or three sandwich tins.

But I had some of the cake that exploded from the middle of one of them and it was very delicious. I swapped out butter and caster sugar for Stork and granulated and you cannot tell the difference at all. In fact the sponge tastes nice and light.

Now I will need to find a new recipe to try for the next apple batch!

Sunday snapshots

I haven't really managed to be productive today - despite good intentions. Instead I got lost in a book and trying to pin down my washing in the gusty winds we are currently encountering - how different the weather is compared to yesterday.

So nothing papercrafty to share just yet, but here are a few random snaps...

The best French film I have had the pleasure of seeing this year is now back with Lovefilm and I cannot wait for the next edition in the trilogy, the first film is Les aventures extraordinaires d'Adèle Blanc-Sec:

 

Here's the Hollywood-ised trailer: 

 

Really enjoyed it witty, charming... and entertaining!

I also cannot get enough of my current fave album:

 

My current favourite track is this one:

Come next week, I'm sure I'll have another favourite track... so many good tracks to choose from!

I also got my first Christmas stash delivery this week - I know seems like it's too soon to even think about Christmas cards, but well... if the weather keeps cold and as the nights draw in I may have to fire up the Christmas CDs and get started making something with these lovely additions:

 

MME 12 days of Christmas collection pack, plus the chipboard and some assorted papers from Crate Peppermint.

I will try to resist using them on my next card... but who knows? ;o)

Soon I am going to have to start applying my new concealer purchase (for the pasty winter pallor):

 

Industrial strength apparently, I have Erase Paste in shade 2 (for summer) but needed a lighter shade for winter so here's hoping industrial strength is right!

Also a new lipstick for the limited Benefit collection - which until this purchase only contained all 3 of the Color Plump lip pencils - alas retired - big mistake Benefit! Big mistake! Huge! {sigh}

But this new one is a lovely shade. :)

And finally, the baking bug hit again yesterday.

As soon as I got in I got down to baking a couple of recipes. First up a way to use up some of the delicious apples from the tree in my mum and dad's garden - wish we knew the variety as they are completely unlike any apples you can buy in the shops, lovely and tart and so fresh.

It's apple streusel cake from Hummingbird's cake days - slightly flatter than  it should be as I had to bake it in a 9" spring-form tin as I didn't have an 8" one.

 

We'll be enjoying it for dessert after the Sunday roast this evening.

I also tried out Leon's Scones in the Bake-a-boo cookbook.

 

At least I could try one of these before the temptation was too much! Naturally combined with my favourite raspberry jam and some clotted cream.

And now I think I shall put the kettle on for a nice cup of tea and get down to making something - or maybe starting my next book? Hm...



The afternoon after the night before...

Had a fantastic "last ever" crop at the shop last night. So sad that it was the end of a cropping era, but we are hopefully relocating to a new crop location or two - fingers crossed!

For the occasion I tried my hand at a red velvet cake... now... this is a cake I have heard much about, but never tasted, let alone made!

 

The end result hid many a minor disaster (aesthetically-speaking)....

And here's what was left in the box I toted home:

 

If anyone wants a slice, you're more than welcome! :oP

It was very nice if a little well done in places, but I think I am going to stick to the cupcake serving option in future! Less stressful!

After my late night out (didn't get to sleep until around 3 a.m.) I feel like I am 5 hours behind everyone else... and the weather is very depressing. But since I didn't make anything last night really, I'd best start unpacking and maybe playing with a few of the new purchases from this week.

Sweet Saturday

Had a lovely day out cropping today - progress on my mini album continues but the desire is waning, if I complete it before the end of this year I will be amazed! I also have returned home much lighter after donating a load of stash to those who will use and enjoy it, and a basket of loads of cards I've made to be sold for a good cause. Now I just need to fill my basket up again with new makes. ;o)

In addition to the crafty-time, there were some sweet treats to be had.

 

I baked Hummingbird Blondies last night for the crop. Another recipe tried and tested and may add a few tweaks next time, not sure...

On the way home Angela and I stopped off for something truly scrumptious at the sweet shop that has opened round the corner from me.

 

Alphabet candy.

 

Candy sticks.

 

And fizzy bubblegum bottles.

Plenty more in the shop to choose from but I had a bit of a craving for these! It's too hot for white mice and well, I was oddly not bothered about having foam bananas. Usually my fave...

Anyway, off to dive into a new book and enjoy my Razberri Stoli and lemonade. Ah, lazy summer evenings, don't you love them? :o)

A picture is worth...

A few words at least!

I have been a bit awol from the PC of late but here's how my week has looked.

 

My blueberries started ripening at the weekend, I'm afraid I ate the best before realising I should have taken a photo! Oops.

 

Finally one of my lavender plants has flowered again - the others are still recovering from the snow we had this winter I think.

 

I have a little helper in the garden munching its way through the aphid population, I hope.

 

Saturday I was a busy baking bee - I tried out Nigella's lemon syrup loaf. It was very good indeed! But I am still after a nice crunchy tart glaze for my lemon loaves rather than syrup.

 

In case the lemon loaf wasn't enough for afternoon tea, I also made strawberry cheesecake cupcakes.

 

I needed to borrow a teapot of all things, still haven't bought one, but it was a nice spread with lots of catching up.

 

Afternoon tea also included some Razberri Stolli mixed in with my posh raspberry lemon pressé!

 

The weather was still stunning so we headed over to the park to walk off some of the calories.

 

Sunday was the day for an outing... down the coast.

 

A quick stop at Sandsend before heading onto...

 

Whitby!

Where everyone seemed to have descended. It was heaving but lovely nonetheless.

 

The weather was perfect, well perhaps a bit too hot, there wasn't much of a breeze and I ended up with quite a rosy complexion!

 

We managed to enjoy our fish and chips for lunch without too much interference from these guys. Although that was shortly after one had swooped down and taken a whole burger from someone's hands just as they were about to take their first bite!

 

We even went up to the abbey, where there was thankfully more of a breeze then hopped back in the car for the next stop.

 

Robin Hood's Bay - where I am sure we burnt off the fish and chips from the climb back to the car. We were there just as the tide was coming in but my oh my, I was actually pretty surprised that I made it back up the steep hill considering the trek down seemed so long. LOL

Alas no pics of the sheep on the drive home through the moors but it was a lovely day out, and I just needed a few days to recover! LOL Here's hoping the weather of last weekend makes another appearance - who knows Sunday could be bbq day!?

This and that...

I know I've been a bit quiet this week - well I've not had much to report. The weather has been ghastly but I have taken a few snaps of various things and have been rummaging away in my photo folder today trying to delete the naff snaps and play with the decent ones.

First up, it's Father's Day and I baked a batch of coffee and walnut cupcakes to take round:

 

They're from the Baking Magic book and will hopefully be the perfect post-Sunday-roast treat.

 

Although he professes to having no "favourite" cake, coffee and walnut is apparently on my dad's top ten list... although he seems to have liked all the cupcakes supplied to date! This recipe used glacé icing instead of buttercream so will see how that works overall as I've not made glacé since I was little.

In the garden it's been really easy to miss the changes in my roses (which I totally love).

 

Here's one of the Evelyn rosebuds opening one night, by the next evening they looked like this:

Indoors my mini peppers have finally started to turn red:

 

Wednesday night we were meant to be out and about for photography class shooting at the beach.

Well, 3 of us were there before the weather turned and it was called off and we had to return back to the classroom.

Managed to get some post-fish and chips shots though while the clouds rolled in:

 

The surf was up and a lot of folks were out enjoying the waves.

 

This is my favourite shot of the pier, it's so atmospheric and I love the little raindrops in the corner too.

 

And there are some of those mad surfers, although to be fair they were dressed for the weather better than us!

Anyway, I'd best get the cupcakes boxed up and be on my way. ;o)

Sleepy Saturday...

The result of insomnia that kicked in at 3 a.m. and really dull weather has left me feeling a bit tired today. I managed to tick a few things off on my to-do list, but one of these items was catching up on all the tv stuff I'd recorded and failed to watch. So I am now up-to-date with The Chicago Code, still annoying that it got cancelled, a couple of episodes of Human Planet, some other random stuff and then I tidied up my craft space and got down to catching up with this week's 52 Cards Challenge prompt. Better late than never! ;o)

The elements were pale colours, vellum and stamping, perfect for indulging in my current obsession with peachy colours, plus I ended up having a PTI fest on this one:

Cardstock: PTI
Stamps: PTI
Dies: PTI, Spellbinders
Felt: PTI
Brads: Lasting Impressions
Other: Vellum, sewing machine, white embossing powder

 

I used a scallop circle die to make the flower - it's rather lumpy so this is one card to deliver in person I think!

Also love my Memento New Sprout ink pad, it's a lovely shade of light green.

Also have some other pics to share from last weekend when I made the Hummingbird Grasshopper pie from Cake Days for my brother's birthday:

 

I added almost twice as much green food colouring than directed in the recipe as it just didn't look green enough to me, plus next time I will definitely reduce the amount of butter in the biscuit base as it was too solid for my taste and I prefer it a bit more crunchy and crumbly. Oh and probably will add a few more drops of peppermint too as we like it minty fresh in our family!

But the birthday boy was happy and my John Lewis pie dish finally got an outing!

 

There was even champers to go with it. However birthday boy didn't want any photos taking of him... sigh

Next time I make grasshopper pie I will probably halve the recipe too, it was a big hit, but there certainly was a lot of it! ;o)

 

It was yummy mind!

Also the garden has been looking nice - lots more roses to enjoy from my old-timers that were planted last year, and now waiting for the new roses planted after Christmas to bloom.

But I am rather liking this allium:

 

And in a rare bit of dusky sunlight:

 

Well, here's hoping tomorrow brings some actual sunshine. ;o)

Rediscoveries, new discoveries, who knew?

Well, I can't believe it's already after 3 in the afternoon... I think my delayed time clock has a lot to do with staying up until 2 in the morning after getting in from the late night crop and being too awake for bed.

Had a crop - I didn't exactly make progress with my current mini album. But I am now armed with a new trimmer:

 

Over the years my Making Memories trimmer has been cutting wonkier and wonkier, I can never get a true straight cut out of it any more and the numbers and grid are starting to rub off rather badly in the area I use the most for cardmaking. It's a real shame as it was a really expensive trimmer at the time, and it has always cut beautifully (just not necessarily perfectly straight!). These trimmers are supposed to last a lifetime if I remember correctly so it's more than a bit disappointing.

But I had a go of the Cutterpede last night on Gill's recommendation - if anyone knows their trimmers it'll be Gill, and the one I tried cut perfectly straight and I liked the mini foldable swing out arm, and well, it's more portable for crops that's for sure. It doesn't have the same whoosh cut that I loved about my MM trimmer, but I was desperate for a trimmer that cuts true.

So here's hoping my latest trimmer investment is The One.

I also treated myself to the usual cardstock restock - the shades I seem to be running out of between crops:

  

I can't seem to get enough of Bazzill OP Wheat cardstock at the moment, I know it's sad... but I just love it with lots of things, plus I always worry that I'll run out of that Bazzill Turquoise Mist cardstock. Next time I'm at the shop I am probably going to have a good stock up on my favourite OP colours. Thankfully I have a little stash of Real Teal and Splash to keep me going, not to mention my 25 pcs. pack of Tanner!

One of the highlights of last night was trying to convince Lynda of the superior power of Paula Cole's music and lyrics through the medium of her best ever song - Feelin' Love... 

I originally "discovered" this track when I bought the City of Angels soundtrack when the movie came out, not that I saw it at the cinema... but it's a fine soundtrack indeed. And the album, This Fire, that the track originates from is my favourite Paula Cole album, however I have been rediscovering her most recent studio album again today:

 
It's been on loop a few hours now. ;o)

And speaking of rediscoveries... I finally, finally started using this set of Acrylic blocks from Fiskars that I bought in Florida a few years back.

 

They seemed like such a bargain at the time and for one reason or another I never actually used them.

Well this past week I finally permanently unpacked them from their box and they live in my ink drawer and I have been using them a lot, especially with my Papertrey stamps. The three square blocks are a really handy size for me and they do have a bevelled edge after all on the grid size, so are easier to hold than I remembered for positioning. And the foam packaging is very handy as a pricking mat/stamping cushion.

And new bizzaro discovery... well I have always been curious just what it is that people who shop at a 24 hr Tesco buy in the late/early hours... Instead of driving right past on the way home last night, we stopped off (I was in search of the Ben and Jerry's Coconutterly Fair new flavour and Tesco still has their £2 offer on B&J's - it seemed like a good time/petrol-saving idea at the time!) and discovered that people buy weird stuff after midnight - ice cream not withstanding...

One woman left with a pair of flip-flops, a bottle of hair dye and a bag of veg. Another bloke bought some pillows... and there was another lady going in as we were coming out who looked like she meant business and was off to do her weekly shop - who knew right?

I left with a small pot of Coconutterly Fair for £1.50 grrr! They didn't have it in the full size (even at the largest Tesco in my area), and Cookie Dough in the full size for future enjoyment.

So yes, it all sounds rather barking doesn't it - but hey-ho even the small tub of Coconutterly Fair was worth the little stop-off.

I suppose I'd best get testing out my trimmer eh? ;o)

So I took a few photos...

Apparently I took too many photos yesterday...

Well, according to my brother and his stern look (which incidentally meant he needed to stick his forehead in the camera to get his point across)...

 

In fact my mother proved how dangerous taking photos can be when she fell backwards down the garden steps... thankfully no major injuries - but blimey it was a shock and a half.

Miraculously she only has a few bruises today including her pride, but has been laughing it off since the arnica gel started working and there will forever be a joke in there somewhere... 

But there were photos...

And they all started with breakfast.

 

The eggs, including my latest additions from last year's stay in Poland.

 

While I was retrieving items from the sideboard, I unearthed this fish plate which used to be my grandma's, acquired by someone in sunny Spain and brought back to the wilds of Yorkshire... thought it was time for a bit of nostalgia and somewhere to put the egg shells when we cracked our eggs!

My brother's contribution to the table - we had a designated driver at the table and in fact after just two shots my brother and I admitted defeat.... I fear we're getting too old to keep up. ;o)

 

There was plenty of food on hand to assist in soaking up the vodka though.

After breakfast there was time to mellow out and enjoy the morning...

 

Including soaking up some rays in the garden. I think I may have had a teeny nap whilst reading my book... but can't be sure. Whatever happened, the morning passed rather quickly!

 

But it was just so sunny and warm...

 

Even the honey bees were out en masse making the most of the weather.

 

By mid-afternoon it was time for some chocolate - seriously, we lasted until the afternoon before there was any chocolate eaten.

My malted chocolate cupcakes that were a real pain in the proverbial to make due to exploding batter and then ultra-gloopy frosting in the hot weather of Saturday afternoon/evening at least tasted nice.

 

I must say though, this was my favourite sweet treat of the day. The raspberry brownie cheesecake I made. Again the cream went a bit runny in the heat when I served up, but it tasted delish. Next time though, I will halve the recipe as it's a huge pan and then when you have the cheesecake layer and cream. Well.... there was just loads of it!

 

We had a persistent visitor throughout the day. Kizia's nemesis... The Gimzo.

 

Poor Kizia, she was not nearly as impressed to see him around...

And that's about it. Needless to say, no one had much of an appetite today!

I've not even opened my chocolate Easter egg yet.

I think I might be off chocolate for a bit longer. hehe

Roll on the next Bank Holiday is all I can say - rather happy there are only 3 days until my next day off. ;o) I haven't had a lie in at all during my week off, yet today was the day where I really felt like I could have slept the morning away, if it wasn't for the fact I was wide awake at 6.30 a.m. and totally knackered by 8.30...

I suppose some of that was down to staying up until 2 a.m. in order to finish this:

 

What can I say... I am one of these people that when they get into something they just have to finish it! If there are any more of her books I deffo need to read, give me a shout, I added a few new chicklit titles to my reserves list at the library - there's plenty of room for more!

Anyway, no doubt tomorrow, when I need to be up for work, I shall need the alarm to wake me. But in the meantime, I'm off to chill-ax for what remains of my hols.

Good Friday Treats - Part 2

So here are the results of trying the Marshmallow and Butterscotch Bar recipe from Cake Days.

Set in the tray since this morning:

 

Successfully turned out of the tray for slicing - yay for non-stick bakeware:

 

And then cut up and on the plate ready to be served:

 

I tried a piece, for quality control purposes of course, and they are very gooey and über-sweet. Think best served with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. :o)

Saturday sweets...

Ahhh, lazy Saturdays are always the best.

I attempted to do some scrapping this afternoon, but have had trimmer trauma with my MM trimmer... fingers crossed I managed to fix and reassemble it ok as it's now cutting a lot cleaner, but I was really worried for a moment there! Eeek... it's still my most reliable trimmer of all the trimmers I own. Which is a few.

While the weather was nice I snapped a few photos in the garden.

 

The lovely rhododendron.

Blue pansies - my favourite kind.

 

My gorgeous frilly pink tulips are out and enjoying the sun.

 

The border is looking very lush - such a difference compared to how it was a year ago when still covered in gravel with a few planters of conifers for decoration...

 

I just love these seriously tiny daffodils.

 

And my yellow dwarf rhododendron - will be great to see how this spreads out.

Also I got down to some baking this afternoon as well.

 

I made a batch of coconut and pineapple cupcakes for tomorrow's dessert.

 

And while the oven was on, I thought I'd make a half batch of oatmeal and raisin cookies... I only had one, promise!

So, now that those are out of the way I think it's a quiet evening in and I may just start the next book on my to be read pile.

 

Giving Cecelia Ahern another go - I loved her first two books, but didn't really like "If You Could See Me Now" and gave up after that.

Fingers crossed I'll like this one! A break from the hist-ro marathon. ;o)

Disappearing blog posts

Last night I wrote a nice not-exactly short blog post, and just at the last stage when spellchecking with iespellcheck it crashed my browser... Ever since I upgraded my browser iespellcheck has been crashing it, so now I have to remember to save a draft before I hit spellcheck, and well as you can see remembering to do that isn't really happening!

So last night I enjoyed some luminous orange classic Kraft Mac & Cheese for tea - thanks to Becky.

Yes, it is definitely a comfort food treat and I can't remember the last time I had some. I have another pack in the depths of my cupboard for emergency purposes!

After my glowing tea I got down to make my card for this week's DCM dare...

Well, while I was doing that I put on this...

...and promptly got engrossed watching it. So much so my foot almost had a rather painful encounter with my Making Memories trimmer when I managed to knock it off my desk.

But it was an extremely good movie, all the better because I didn't have to stick too closely to reading the subtitles for a change!

Yes it is gory, etc. but I really recommend it as it's well worth seeing.

Today my lovely new baking book arrived in the post:

And I have been contemplating my options for Easter... I think when it comes to The Return to Chocolate I shall have to give these a whirl, but with some teeny chocie eggs I picked up in Tesco on top!

But before that happens I need to stay off the chocolate for one more week... it can be done!

Calling all baking addicts...

I had a fruitless search in Newcastle yesterday for a brownie pan that doubles up as traybake carry case thingy with lid.

Something like this:

 

But doesn't have to have the dividers... I really wanted the Lakeland traybake tin/carrier that Gillie had at Gibside for her most delicious traybake offering... but they have discontinued it.

Sooo... in order to make the Hummingbird raspberry cheesecake brownies and all other brownie/blondie/traybake concoctions in that and my new book...

 

I am looking for recommendations from the experts or at least the dab-hand bakers out there.

I have just seen this on the Lakeland website, but it's rather pricey!

 

All other bog standard brownie pans I have seen have been too shallow/small for the dimensions specified in the recipes - not that I want to stick to the rules exactly, it'd just rather be nearer the mark.

In other news.... I am happy to report that Marble Slab Creamery is still in Newcastle and was doing a roaring trade yesterday - I had my all time favourite Marble Slab flavours: Birthday Cake, Cotton Candy and of course Bubblegum!

Next time we're up we shall also be checking out the new Pierogi takeaway we spotted on Pilgrim street - Pierogi Place (I know of a certain person who I am sure will be visiting within the week!). If anyone is looking for a more varied Polish dining experience, Gospoda is the place to go - extremely reasonable and delicious Polish food. The weather being what it was yesterday - i.e. glorious - we stuck to ice cream!

One sweet weekend...

Had a great time cropping Friday night (even managed to bag myself a corner chomper...) and a wonderful time out Saturday afternoon and evening with Zoe and her girls and then when Zoe and I went out for a curry in the evening - will definitely have to do that again soon!

Yesterday my mum and I were originally planning to hit Newcastle for some prime shopping action, but she wasn't feeling up to it and I am quite glad we didn't go as we'd have both been flagging.

Instead we decided on a relaxed Mother's Day so I promised to make desert for a family take away evening...

My little baking project started out looking like this...

 

And ended up looking like this....

Yep, Hummingbird Bakery Strawberry Cheesecake cupcakes.

My mum was so impressed, she got the cake stand out!

 

And I am happy to report they were a real hit.... most delicious, and have been requested again for Easter weekend... we'll see... I might have something chocolaty up my sleeve for Easter weekend since I'll have had no chocolate since that dollop of Nutella on my Shrove Tuesday pancake!

Also this weekend, my collage frame went up... loving it!

 

My little patch of garden is looking very lush and is soaking up every drop of sun available:

 

And after buying tulips for my mum, I am rather wishing I'd bought some for myself...

 

Very nice indeed...

 

I also had some nice post today...

 

Something tells me I'll be using those on my next card project!

Oh and finally... I finished this:

 

As predicted by Zoe, I did cry... quite a bit, but it was a very good read. :o)

Can't beat it!

 

When that wad of photos arrives from Photobox... ready to go into a new home, whether an album, in a frame, on the wall... or some other creative place...

 

I've had this frame from TK Maxx a number of months and just couldn't decide what to do with it - but I thought this scanned photo of my grandma was perfect. I've already scrapped the photo, but think it deserved to be in a frame too. ;o)

 

The Next frame is looking good with all the pics in - let's hope it looks just as good over my dining room table and the wall it'll be hanging on won't need repainting when the Lion picture that has been hanging there since before I got the house comes down...

 

And tonight's smoothie was a surprise winner... Black forest frozen fruits from Sainsbury's, a couple of fresh strawberries, and a teeny hit of Coke Zero which pulled it all together nicely and gave it a slight tingly fizz and made it not too tart or too sweet... I think this is one I shall be revisiting in the summer months a lot!

But since tomorrow is a green day and I should have more syns to spare, I might try the Banana Strawberry smoothie that calls for a tablespoon of peanut butter... ;o)

Mission accomplished!

Photos sorted for my next project, plus my collage frame, another frame I've had some time, and yet another little project I'm hoping to start working on using these fab digi papers and elements - let's just hope my printer is up to the job:

 

There are 3 sets of paper, a freebie basics set, and 2 sets of elements that I went for by Crystal Wilkerson - and the good news is if you order them this month you can still use the 50% off coupon! Just follow the link here.

So those were what I decided on for my little baking album (yet another Paperchase binder that hopefully won't be outgrown this time!).

 

And speaking of baking, here's a slice of the lemon loaf. Very nice it was for breakfast too... plenty more left for pudding tonight.

 

It's just lovely out in the garden at the moment. My dad was round earlier with some new acquisitions to plant... the washing is out drying on the line, and the bumble bees are buzzing around. Not a bad start to the British summer! ;o)

Guilty pleasures

Yesterday I finally got my mitts on the latest In Death book...

 

And can happily report that it didn't disappoint... so nice to be back on track in this series as the last couple I haven't found as memorable.

But I spent most of the day reading it cover to cover and was really sad to turn the last page... no new book in this series until November now. :o(

But as to my other guilty pleasure....

 

My mum popped round this afternoon so we could try out another Hummingbird recipe.

This time it was something to use up some of my lemon stockpile, so we tried the lemon loaf cake. Will try and take pics tomorrow as it's currently soaking up the syrup glaze...

But it's scheduled to be dessert for Sunday dinner tomorrow. Let's hope it's good!

And speaking of tomorrow, I really need to get a Photobox order sorted out. 18+ photos to track down on my computer and prep plus need to, at long last, decide what's going in my red Next collage frame.

 

I know, I'm so rubbish - it's still waiting to be filled and go on a wall - one of my resolutions for this year along with getting the glass top cut for my Hemnes chest:
 

It's almost April and neither are done!

We were lucky...

 

The rain held off, in fact the weather was really mild and we managed a long walk down the beach and through the sea mist...

 

Then we headed off for our prize, a lovely ice cream. Or in my case a rather delish bubblegum sundae.

 

Most delicious, I have a real soft spot for bubblegum flavoured ice cream. But next time I will definitely be trying the lemon meringue sundae!

Today I have finished off watching Emma - it has to be my favourite BBC adaptation of any period book... I just love, love, love it! Perfectly cast, the costumes are exquisite, the photography so rich, and the music just wraps it all up nicely. Even the opening credits are fab!

I also watched Iron Man 2 whilst making a few cards, one of which is for a special request from a family friend, so I can't share it until I know the recipient has seen it.

But here is a sneak:

 

The perfect excuse to use some of my new seam binding from The Ribbon Girl. :o)

And now, I'd best go get an envelope sorted for this creation so that I can drop it off with my mum and dad when go round for Sunday dinner.

She lives...

Well, I was a little late to the DCM par-tay on Friday what with one thing and another.... I absolutely loved making my card for this week's dare as it was on the theme of "All about me!" and making a card you yourself would love to receive featuring your fave stash, etc.

 

Papers: MME, SEI
Stamp: Waltzing Mouse
Dies: Nestabilities
Ribbon: The Ribbon Girl
Pearls: Prima
Other: Distress Stickles, Mulberry flowers, 3D foam

 

That clear-out from last weekend did some good, as I found that lovely black paper from SEI in a scraps bag and thought it would work very nicely on this card.

I also wanted to try the ribbon ruffle look after seeing a video tutorial of how easy it was to do. And the perfect excuse to finally open up those Waltzing Mouse stamps I bought last year just for such an occasion... Also no card of mine wouldn't be complete without some pearls and Stickles!

Oh, and it's a good job I remembered my mum and dad had got me some little display easels at The Range - so much easier to photograph projects with them and I just couldn't wait any longer for IKEA to get them back in stock.

I think I need another day to recover from my weekend... Was up until 4 a.m. Saturday morning reading a book (one that I started as soon as I got in from the library then couldn't put down until I'd finished it).

Yesterday morning Becky came round for a good catch-up and sort through the stash which was lovely, plus I managed to foist a couple of Jill Mansells on her!

My mum came round in the afternoon and we put my new Bosch mixer through its paces first getting the dough made for the Magnolia white chocolate and pecan cookies. And while that was setting in the freezer, we tested out the finest grating disc for the food processor attachment to see how it would rate on making Polish potato pancakes (you need a very fine grater to get the right results) and the proof was in the eating. Delish (and I finished the rest off for dinner today).

After tea we got a batch of cookies baked:

 

Not bad at all - I am still not 100% my oven is at the right setting or whether I have the cookies too low in the oven when baking. As the bottoms and edges started to brown a lot faster than the tops were baking. Any hints/suggestions?

I still have half the dough in the oven - who knows might have time to bake a batch up Thursday night for the Friday crop. ;o)

In the meantime, I'd best get a few things tidied here, and start a new book. Already finished one this morning, but feel the need to start another!

Been busy...

And not in a creative way!

Well, aside from this batch of lemon cupcakes I made Monday evening as soon as I got in from work:

I tried another Magnolia recipe - and of course had to try one Monday night before boxing them up to take to work and hand over some after dinner out with a friend.

The one cupcake I had was rather delicious.... ;)

So tonight has been the first evening where I've had a little time to spare, so I have finally written all my cards to post tomorrow, and I'm just having a browse through some photos I took at the weekend of my mum and dad's tree.

 

Here's my mum's crystal scene bauble with an angel inside - very difficult to photograph but it looks just lovely on the tree.

 

The holly bauble - I love how the needles on the tree have come out on this photo too - you forget how nice a real tree is when you're used to having a silver sparkly one!

 

One of the leafy baubles we got in the set from Poland this summer.

 

And I love the viney pattern on this bauble...

Hopefully will get some better shots over Christmas, impossible to get a full length shot of the tree as I would need to be through the wall into next door's to get it all in even on wide angle!

Hopefully to get some more photos sorted for my Christmas journal before the weekend and play catch up a bit...

Feeling mallow

Last night I set about de-stressing after a tidy-up by trying a new baking recipe.

Namely the Magnolia Bakery Marshmallow cupcakes...

 

The whole melting marshmallows bit was a bit hit and miss with these snowman marshmallows:

 

But the end result was rather tasty - and extravagant!

 

Think these will make a good addition to the building Christmas party at work. :o)

Escaping the house

So finally the weekend and a very good excuse to escape the house was meeting up with my mum for lunch out on her name day.

But first I needed to get a bunch of photos printed for my Christmas journal.

No problem, I thought. I could try out the little shop at the end of my street that does instant photos.

Ha! Unfortunately plans had to change when the lady looking after the shop couldn't find the key to the Kodak machine and asked if I could come back Monday. The reason companies like Kodak invented instant photo machines was probably because people wanted their photos... instantly.

So I hopped on the bus toward town to meet up with my mum and do some window shopping (and hope that the tiny Boots there would have an instant photo machine).

We did some seasonal browsing:

 

 

 

 

Then hunger prevailed and we went for lunch, which included some very nice desserts!

 

Ma had Crème Brûlée, while I had sticky toffee pud!

 

After more browsing around the shops I hopped back on the bus and went homeward bound but carried on further to the next big town so that I could see if the Boots there had a Kodak instant photo machine which was up and running and waiting to print my photos!

And, thank the lord, it did.

So now I have at least seven days of my Christmas Journal that I can be getting on with. ;o)

On a side note, can I just take a moment to say that I never thought having a cat flap (even though I don't have a cat) would ever be a blessing.

Well, when my back doors got jammed by snow and ice, the cat flap provided the only means with which to remove the ice block (with the aid of a stainless steel soup ladle and a screwdriver). MacGyver would be impressed... Who'd have thought it, escape by cat flap! But at least my outdoor lights are strung up along the back wall now. Just wondering where we'll find my kitchen scissors that my dad put down somewhere, and which promptly disappeared into the snow. Will have to wait for the big thaw I expect!

Off to a late start

I don't know what it was about this weekend, but both yesterday and today I was wide awake before 6 a.m. {sigh}

So yet again today I started my day by filling the dark hours with a new book.

And well, the book I ready today (Mystique by Amanda Quick) was such an enjoyable read I had to read it cover to cover.

This meant I didn't really get out of the house until 1 p.m. to get in the ingredients for this evening's dessert at my mum and dad's.

I need to pick my brother up (typically I am the designated driver) in 15 mins or so, so better make this quick...

Anyway, I made Black Forest cupcakes from "Baking Magic"... behold the wonder of the chocolate cupcakes:

 

I used those cute little cupcake cases from IKEA. They are truly fantastic and aren't all greasy after baking like the Dr Oetker ones I bought are.

 

If I make these again I need to use a less sweet Black Cherry jam/filling. This was the only option in Tesco's (I usually love Bonne Maman but need a more tart jam for these cupcakes).

 

I filled the insides with a Bismarck nozzle and spread a little jam on top - the full cherries played havoc with the Bismarck filling and I had a few explosions, but nothing major! LOL

 

Then I whipped up some cream, piped it on (I still totally struggle with consistent estimates of how much is needed so all 12 cupcakes are sufficiently covered), grated some dark chocolate on (the recipe called for 60 g of dark chocolate, I just grated as I saw fit), and a nice uncoloured glacé cherry to finish - I had hoped for some Kirsch-soaked cherries to be available, but no...

 

And here they all are ready to go pre-transportation... I am going to need to go a route that doesn't involve any level crossings or many roundabouts... which will be a struggle as there are at least 3 on my brother's estate that I'll have to negotiate!

Well, we'll just have to see what state they arrive in at my mum and dad's. Looking forward to a nice lamb roast, but after making these I am not feeling all that peckish for cake. I think baking could be a sure fire way to going off cake once you've made it! LOL

Hm, I hope this could prove true! hehe

All gone...

This week's baking project came a little early... It wasn't all that long since my batch of Anzac biscuits and serious mocha cupcakes...

But since it was our monthly crop last night, I thought it only right to come armed with some sweet stuff!

So I made butterscotch and chocolate chunk cookies that looked nothing like the picture but tasted yummy - like diam bars in biscuit form:

 

I know where I went wrong in failing to achieve the look from the book - will let the butterscotch cool down more next time.

And I also tried the ever so easy lemon cupcake recipe and I must say... they tasted rather wonderful and very lemony which I like!

 

The piping skills still leave a lot to be desired - I think my astigmatism is to cupcake icing as it is to clagging paper down straight on cards and layouts. Not perfect!

But behold the buttercream mountain:

 

You can only just make out the ivory tint to the icing and the bubblegum rainbow sparkle dust (which would make for a very nice shade of embossing powder!).

And thankfully all cookies and cupcakes have now been eaten and I no longer have anything in the house to tempt me. Hurrah! :D

Well, that is until the next crop. :o)

Oh and as for actual scrapping, I managed to get a few more pages prepped for my December/Christmas journal so am in a bit of a festive stash mood again... I wonder if it's time for some new Christmas cards. <g>

Wrapped up...

I have a Lilypad Lesson over on the Frog blog showing how to make cupcake wrappers à la....

 

Check it out if you're so inclined... ;o)

The Apprentice tonight and I have a few things I want to tick off my to-do list once I've had my tea. Oh and Nikita tomorrow night on Living, I really liked the season opener so hope this series will get a full season as it only started in the US in September.

Also it is not a good time for the battery to die in your kitchen scale when you are midway through weighing stuff ready for a recipe! {sigh}

Something for coffee lovers...

Something which, I am not.

It is strange I know. I don't drink coffee, because I don't like the taste of coffee.

But I love the smell of freshly ground or brewing coffee, and I really like coffee flavour... hm.

It's tough to explain, but anyway... since I rather like coffee cake. And I like chocolate... the first cupcake recipe I've tried is one that combines those two magic ingredients.

"Mocha cupcakes for grown-ups"

And a first attempt with the disposable icing bag set-up - definitely need a much larger star nozzle so will have to add that to the list of things I'll be needing for definite.

The recipe also called for chocolate-coated coffee beans as an optional extra... Well, coffee beans are not for me!

So instead...

 

I put a giant Cadbury's button inside the mix before baking, for a little extra chocolate...

And the result is rather good. Not sickly at all with the bitter coffee and dark chocolate mix and one is definitely enough to keep you satisfied for a bit. :o)

Anyway, no baking for a bit now, as there's enough made to stock the biscuit tin for a while and it's time to get back to some playing with paper stash.

Baking 101

So, Friday I went on a little shopping spree for the essentials that needed to be added to my kitchen cupboards in order to try a few recipes from my Baking Magic book...

TK Maxx turned out to be a very useful place indeed. Especially if looking for cookie cutters. I bought a great deep set of cutters for scones, a set of stars, some hearts and...

 

Something seasonal to try!

Also went to Big Tesco, and they had a 3 for 2 on their vintage cupcake kitchen line:

 

So I got a couple of canisters for sugar, etc.

 

And a new workspace saver for rolling on, my Joseph Joseph glass workspace saver that I love isn't a smooth glass finish, but this one is just right for cutting biscuits on and kneading dough.

And the first recipe to be tried last night?

Anzac biscuits!

 

I am finding the fan oven still difficult to judge - have always used a gas oven and just cannot get used to the tweaks I need to make when assessing oven temperature and timings for recipes.

Usually its 10 degrees lower than what is called for in the recipe (190 degrees in this case), but the instructions for the oven say to bake biscuits at 160 to 170 degrees...

I think I will need to try 160 next time as the biscuits browned too quickly, a few very dark edges as you can see. Also next time I will make them less chunky and mush them down a bit more...

But all that aside, they taste very, very good!

Now off to try the next recipe which calls for some piping...

Sharing the pretties...

 
So my bedtime read last night was this:

 

Ok, well maybe there wasn't as much reading done as drooling while flicking through pages.

But what am I still most wanting to try?

 

Why, the Battenburg style cupcakes that made me buy the book... however I think that's a bit too advanced as my first foray into trying the recipes on offer...

I'm much more likely to go with:

Need I say more??

Hm...

Also non-edible pretties I hope to be playing with soon...

 

All in search of the elusive perfect cream white mulberry rose... But I really couldn't resist the lilac cherry blossom pack:

 

And the pale pink roses, gorgeous:

 

So there we go, am out shopping for real flowers Saturday (bulbs) but with any luck will have time to play with the new stuff. :o)

Baking Book Bargain

 

I picked up this fab book in Sainsbury's today for just £4.99 (cheaper than amazon at the mo).

Baking Magic certainly looks to live up to the title and it is packed full with recipes, not loads of life story blah blah blah writing that hides the main recipe event. And is really friendly for the novice baker who hasn't any gadgets or mechanical robotic assistance in the kitchen - namely me! I don't yet have any essentials but I've read the intro and found it so informative and down to earth on what you really need to get the right results (i.e. not a lot as it happens).

While out at dinner tonight with a friend we flicked through it and ooohed and ahhhed over so many of the recipes and photos, including homemade chocolate bourbons and even chocolate digestives!

There are cakes, cupcakes, muffins, cookies, biscuits and even some yummy looking savoury treats.

Once I am equipped with a few essentials I will be trying something out - for the fun decorative bits and pieces I think I am going to need some recs for online sugarcraft suppliers (gel food colouring, edible glitter, cute muffin/cupcake cases, cute colours of sprinkles), a place I can get unwaxed lemons???

I am back on SW (well with a slight exception for part of tonight's meal) but I think it would be nice to make something fun now and again and share the joy so I don't scoff it all on my own! hehe

Post-holiday catch-up and back to real life!

So here we are in September, my fab holiday to Poland via the Baltic coast seems a dim and distant memory now... but I've actually transferred pics from my little camera to the PC and am hoping the pics on the SLR are much better as I didn't take that many with my little Lumix! Oops.

So here is a snapshot of how my holiday looked:

 

A stop off in Bremen centre to see the sights, including the very famous statue of the Bremer Stadtmusikanten (The Town Musicians of Bremen) - I remember this tale from the book of fairy tales I had as a child, it was full of fairy tales that aren't that commonly known in Britain but were great none the less!

 

Next up the view from the lake of our hotel in Schwerin, complete with hot air balloon. Really wish we'd had time to venture into Schwerin itself and its amazing castle - maybe next year as this hotel was definitely a highlight and one to revisit!

 

The reason we didn't stay long in Schwerin was so that we could get to the island of Rügen and in particular Sellin and it's wonderful pier! Another blistering hot day....

 

At the Amber Palace in Poland they had all manner of photo-worthy sights, including a lovely lily pond where at long last I managed to catch a lily pad in full bloom!

 

It was so hot at the hotel when we arrived, the sky was really hazy so no blue sky pics that day... but it was sweltering!

 

After a brief stop by the sea we got to Gdansk - the hotel was perfectly positioned on the river - amazing views, never had anything quite like it. But when we went out for our evening meal I totally fell in love with this lampshade at the restaurant. They had photo transferred imaging on the chairs, walls, etc. of traditional Polish/Gdansk artwork/sights - including Kashubian needlework, I really think Ikea needs to get producing this lamp shade, it would look perfect over the dining table.

 

Gdansk at night - an amazing place, the city doesn't seem to stop, lots of street musicians, lots of looking up at architecture, lots of yummy smells - the sights just go on, and on...

 

One of the views from outside our hotel from a tour boat, that former warehouse is now a nice hotel over the river, not sure they had air con. like ours did (a total blessing when the temperatures were in the mid 30s!).

 

Oh and how could I forget the cake? Many cake-tasting exploits this holiday... yumyum.

 

Quite fittingly for this year we made a visit to Chopin's birthplace in Żelazowa Wola. Beautiful grounds and thankfully it was the perfect weather for wandering - not too hot for a change, only the high 20s!

And there we are... back in the UK...

 

Back to my garden where my Italian beans had finally appeared and were ready for harvesting (they tasted most delicious on Sunday and I had some tonight with my tea).

 

Room made on my dining table for a couple of new purchases - I love the blue and dot pattern of Boleslawiec pottery... I also have a little milk jug and salad/fruit bowl to match. But I am still holding out for the huge vase we saw last year but didn't buy!

 

Also that jug is the perfect excuse to take advantage of buy 1 get 1 free offers on flowers. Nothing quite like some glads to make an impression!

 

And it looks like I'll be on a watermelon diet this week... not that I'm complaining. I bought a small one in Sainsbury's yesterday (nothing compared to the 5.3 kg one I lugged from the shop to my auntie's in Poland!) and chopped it all up ready to eat at home and work. Best enjoy it now while it's still seasonal. :o)

And aside from that?

I managed to read 15 or so books - yes still in regency romance land... and speaking of, I'd best get back to the current one. ;o) I am sure the obsession will end soon!

Looky here...

Something other than micro tomatoes have ripened in my garden.... after weeks of just ignoring my blueberry bush and only going so far as to water it, yesterday hidden away, I discovered that there were some berries ready for picking!

In fact there were at least a dozen:

(photo taken after scoffing a good handful in the garden in my excitement!)

Already more have ripened this morning, but will leave them there for now...

On the creative front, here's the card I made for this week's Layered dare over at the Daring Cardmakers Blog.

Papers: Crate Paper
Stamps: My Cute Stamps
Alpha: Prima
Bling: Prima
Other: Stickles, 3D foam

Feels odd to have made something after such a long time!

Anyway, now the sunscreen has sunk in, I'm off to sit out on the beanbag and do some reading. ;o)

July...

Where has it gone??

I can't say I've done much momentous this month judging by my photos... for the last week plus it has been work-work-work (including the weekend)... a few trips to the gym and some reading to relax before nodding off. Boring eh?

However I have managed to eat a lot of these:

Because I...

strawberries!

There's been minimal outdoor beanbag time because well... it's been like this or threatening to be like this whenever I've had time to read:

Instead the beanbag lives in the conservatory - my favoured reading spot.

There has been a new addition to the garden decor - not that there are any visitors to it...

Picked this up at TK Maxx yesterday for £7 I think it was. Very sweet and loads to choose from.

But this is the one that appealed the most.

So when I've not been working I have got through these books...

Simply Unforgettable by Mary Balogh - First in the series and rather enjoyable, so I shall be happy to read the rest in this series. :o)

Secrets of a Summer Night by Lisa Kleypas - First in the Wallflower Series, shame the library hasn't got the next one yet as the titles in the series are currently being reprinted. Grrrr... but I look forward to continuing this one!

A Matter of Class by Mary Balogh - A nice little stand-alone novella, an easy evening read. :o)

Can you tell my addition to historical romance shows no sign of abating any time soon. However... I did have a little foray back into Nora Land with her newest title:

 
The Search by Nora Roberts - I found the last two stand-alone books by Nora a bit unexciting compared to her previous ones, but this one was totally back on form. Really enjoyable and great characters... makes me wish I could have a dog of my own, have been fancying life with a well-behaved Boston terrier for quite some time... but it ain't gonna happen!

And the current read... I am trying to give Stephanie Laurens a go again, but not sure I'm ever going to LOVE her books...

The Lady Chosen is the first in the Bastian Club series... I'm keeping an open mind, honest!

Tomorrow night it's a trip to the cinema which will be a nice break, time to see whether it's Team Jacob or Edward this time round... ;o)

If you are a fan of these...

Get yourself to Aldi!

They are selling multi-packs of peanut butter cups, nutrageous, Reese's Pieces, and Hershey's cookie and cream bars (white and regular "chocolate").

I stocked up the cupboard for emergencies... and have some peanut butter cups chilling in the fridge for optimum enjoyment later.

I bought some of the white cookie and cream bars to try... erm.

Think I will be sticking to just Reese's stuff from Hershey, I'm afraid I can't give up Milkybar as my favourite white chocolate! ;o)

Also Blue Cross sale in Debenhams today - was rather successful in purchasing a few items!