Let's Get Scrappy

Legally Blonde, Lola's and other adventures in London!

2012-02-22T13:24:00.000-08:00

So along with nail painting, baking cake pops (see previous post) and making a crazy valentines snack bar for the Belgian's return I also procrastinated my pile of marking with a little layout making post London.
My sister and I had a fab time in London and due to the wonder of Instax I could make a layout very quickly with some of our snaps. The pics showcase an Ella's Bakehouse cupcake (overated), Whole Foods Valentines display, Pinkberry delicious and low fat frozen yogurt from Selfridges and last but certainly not least LEGALLY BLONDE: The Musical! It was the highlight of our trip by far and we've both been avidly downloading the soundtrack and listening. My fav songs are So Much Better and Chip on my Shoulder. We checked out online and found if you go to the Savoy at 10am then the first ten customers get front row tickets for £10. What a bargain! The only drawback of the front row was that you sometimes couldn't see their feet and the little doggies (not a big deal as I'm not the biggest animal lover and they always got picked up too!) It was good as you felt part of the action - one of the super camp dancers even winked at me! Plus you can see the orchestra pit as well and so feel like you get a behind the scenes view of the show too!
I wanted this layout to be bright and use sweet, sugar encrusted girly hues. I used Shimelle's latest tutorial of creating bunting with paint swabs and am very pleased with the result. I stamped the title in bright shades so that it would pop and I like doing title in two lines now!

Anyone else seen the show?

Valentine Cake Pops: The Mystery Unravelled

2012-02-18T11:04:00.001-08:00

Recently these cuties have been popping up all over blogland. I was inspired by Elsie's how to over on her blog and always love to check out what Bakerella create. My husband has been away all week and so we missed out on celebrating valentines and I have been missing him lots. Last night on the phone I asked what he wanted for our reunion meal and he said a snack board with loads of little snacks. I immeadiately started pinning lots of little sweet and savory treats - check it out here.
He's never been the biggest cupcake fan (annoyingly) but always raved about my sister's cake pops and so I decided to try to make some. I wanted to use up some stuff i had left over from my wedding baking sesh last week. Here is a step by step of my improvised recipe:
1) I combined ten peanut butter chip cookies and half a tub of philadelphia in the mixer.
2) I icing sugared my hands and rolled it into balls and placed cling film on a dish and then put them in the freezer.
3) I melted dark chocolate over boiling water and then put some chocolate on a lolly stick (they sell them at Asda now - yay!) and then you squash it in and dunk the pop, being careful to cover it all - I used a teaspoon and a spatula for this.
4) I dunked them in a variety of sprinkles and then let them set in a vase filled with lentils. I didn't have any foam.
5) After an hour or so I transferred them to the fridge where they are waiting to be gobbled up tomorrow.
I have a whole valentines dessert bar to share with you tomorrow - I am super excited. It is helping to distract me from the loneliness and all this darn marking I have to do.

Let me know if you have had any cake pop success!
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Linking up with Inside BruCrew Life Trick or Treat Tuesday

London town...baby!

2012-02-16T15:15:00.000-08:00

So although yesterday my valentine was a whole ocean away he still left me a pretty cute card in my bag to find. But I am a having an amazing time in London town with my sis. I will share some pics of our indulgence very soon but till then I have this layout of our last mini trip in October last year. It was when we had freakish sunshine.
In the meantime here is a snapshot of my New Years 2012...

Even though we just had a little family gathering we still got all dressed up - including snazzy tights and funky nails. We also have fireworks now as it's our new fusion of traditions - all families have big fireworks displays on New Years Eve in Luxembourg and so we have started having our own show too. I ordered these pics off snapfish with a white border and then it makes a really simple and striking layout with minimum fuss and effort!

Storytelling Sunday: The One with A Bake-a-Date!

2012-02-05T10:56:00.000-08:00

So being a Latter Day Saint means there is a strong dating culture as they always want to get everyone married off nice and young. So when I moved to Leeds one of the activities they used to put on at Valentines was bake-a-date. Single guys and gals had to bake a cake anonymously and then the girls cakes would go first and guys would have to bid on them and then whatever they bid for the cake they had to take the girl for a date costing that much. They also got to eat the cake.

Things would get crazy out of hand and some 'cakes' went for as much as £80. Inevitably some fixing would go on and if you already liked someone you'd find out from their friends what they baked etc. As a rule guys would try to go for the less impressive cakes as they felt attractive girls wouldn't have time to bake (little did they know! I wasn't a baker in those days and just brought a co-op chocolate fudge one as pictured above!!)

So the funny experience was that this quite geeky guy (who from now I shall refer to as The Geek) brought my cake and so I wasn't that impressed. It wasn't the guy (who I will now call The Player) I was hoping and in the week leading up the dreaded date with The Geek, The Player who I liked asked me out. Eeek! So we started 'seeing' each other and I still had to go on the dreaded date.
The Geek took me to the theatre (score) and even brought me some chocolates and a rose (score) I wasn't such a nice person back then and kept escaping to text The Player (who of course was an idiot and not the one and he would NEVER have brought me chocolates or a rose!) I even met up with The Player afterwards and we scoffed the chocolates from The Geek.

A week later The Geek saw me out with The Player and he didn't seem very impressed (understandably so).

But a year later I baked again (I had seen the light and ended it with the player) and I had my eye on a very tasty Belgian and he also had his eye on me. My girls tried to help out by informing him none too subtley, but they were a bit trigger happy and so he ended up having quite an awkward date with another girl and a week later we had our first official date at the cinema. We even got told off halfway through for talking too much. Now we're the couple that tuts at people like that - I mean why go and see a film just to talk the whole way through!?

So it all worked out in the end!

It's gotta be you...

2012-02-04T08:54:00.000-08:00

At New Years my snap happy bro-in-law won serious brownie points by doing an inpromptu photo shoot of all of us. We all felt a bit self-concious at first but were pleased with the results. I wanted the title of this layout to be 'Simply Stunning' but it didn't quite fit and I wanted to use the yellow to make it pop. I misted my Martha Stewart punched out border and put a yellow chipboard circle round the word 'life' to make it stand out. I also misted and splodged in the background. Shimelle style - check out Glittergirls tutorial on this over at twopeas blog.

In other news it is snowing in England.

I have a big job interview on Wednesday and so brought posh new shoes today to wear with my power suit.

I also have a cute little android phone - a Song Ericson xpedia mini. I envisage more blogging, more picture taking as it has a very decent camera and more wed browsing on the go. Perfect...

Plus do any of you Brits LOVE cheesecake? Do you fancy some of these cheesecake minis for valentines?

Get on over to my sister Gem's blog to see how you could enter the giveaway.

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Linking up with Julie Kirk's a month of sunray's challenge to use yellow...yikes!

January in numbers...

2012-02-01T12:31:00.000-08:00

So January has scarily flown by and it's been a busy month with lots of difficult decision making to be made!

Number of sales bargains: 5 including this vintage jumper below (love it!) Excuse the moody pic!

Number of layouts completed: 18 (it's been a booster month! A lot of them have just been completed and were started ages ago!)

Hen do's attended and afternoon tea consummed: 1. A week after attending this cute tearoom is Ilkley I took my hubby to try the delicious homemade scones and sandwiches and the lady told us it would take 20 mins, which we didn't mind as we were chilling out anyways and having a lazy Saturday. But it was twenty minutes (at least) until the guy took our order and he went to ask her if she 'minded' making another afternoon tea as she seemed to be a bit stressed out with her six tables! He came back and said she 'didn't want' to make another one. How ridiculous is this? We found it hilarious how unprofessional they were! So we left...

Here is the hen enjoying her tea!


January has also marked the start of Thursday night pub quiz night. First week we lost of the tie breaker, second week we didn't fare so well and last week we WON! Woo hoo! Ten is the amount of drinks vouchers we won!

Since that's all I can really share for now (more on that another month)

I will leave it there...

How was your Janaury?

Recycling challenge...

2012-01-30T13:40:00.000-08:00

So back in Jan I set myself 8 challenges to push my scrapbooking to new levels.
Here is a layout I made to try to recycle some items.
Such as the two cupcake cases as a title mat - so easy and I will definitely try it again.
Plus the candy stripe wrapping paper mat was saved from Christmas day.

I must say I'm a little bit in love with this page! xx

Still Documenting 2011...

2012-01-27T15:46:00.000-08:00

So January has been a big catch up month and here I share my very blue, very exciting month of August.

The month was 'awesome' as you Californians say. It included self timer fun along the Big Sur, rides on Santa Cruz Boardwalk, human pyramids on Long Beach, San Diego Zoo and San Fran in the mist.
What I love about scrapbooking is that on this cold and rainy Friday night I can relive the magic of that holiday in the sunshine!
It really was the trip of a lifetime!

October Document 2011...

2012-01-24T10:55:00.000-08:00

So...ever playing catch-up it may look like I rushed these...but I wanted the emphasis to be on the colourful pics and I had so many exciting ones from October as it was a busy month with my birthday, a trip to London in half term and a Halloween party.
I don't know if I'll keep this project up for 2012 but it was good while it lasted..actually it's not over yet!

Scandinavian Saturday: The one with a scary detour...

2012-01-21T02:15:00.000-08:00

Well I've been plugging away at my scrapping resolutions and believe this here layout meets resolution 4 Scandinavian style and number 8 border boost.
I saw the Scandinavian Style in the latest scrapbook magazine (the name eludes me now!) and decided I liked the natural colours mixed with red and black and the 'white space.' I have a fair few Martha Stewart border punches and so I wanted to have some fun with these too.

Now onto the story...
My regular followers will know that we had an epic road trip holiday in California in the summer. We flew into LA and then drove up to a wedding north of San Fran. On the way I had noticed in the guidebook a John Steinbeck museum - now I have been teaching Of Mice and Men for six years and can practically recite the novel off by heart, so I was very keen to see his hometown and also the artifacts about him. I also wanted to create a slide show for my surly Year 11's to try to interest them in the subject - always a battle with teens! But pics do seem to help!
So we stopped off. After the salubrious areas of Santa Monica, Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo Salinas was a real 'culture shock.' Literally you could imagine the tumble weed - it was eerily quiet and people looked at you funny and everything just looked a little worse for wear.
Our hotel was straight out of a Hitchcock film and had a really scary list of safety notices on the door, featuring some gems like:

Don't answer the door to anyone claiming to be room service
Phone reception immediately if you hear any suspicious noises

I wish I had taken a picture but my travel companions were not finding the whole experience amusing. In fact my husband tried to push the chest of drawers in front of the door to barricade us in. The windows and the door were pretty drafty and so we were on red alert all night as any scuffle or noise! But clearly we lived to tell the tale and I felt it was worth it as the museum was informative, well laid out and really helped me to imagine the context of his literature.
I like the simplicity of this layout and am glad I challenged myself to try something a bit different. Has anyone else tried or heard of Scandinavian style scrapping? And no it doesn't involve a flat pack or meatballs...

Fun with my new fiskars...

2012-01-18T12:08:00.000-08:00

Picture the scene:
A cold, windy, miserable winter evening.
Bored, so you're trawling fb looking for some goss.
And a certain Shimelle post alerts me to some fiskars punches ending soon.
So I get involved in a bidding war..
And come out triumphant.
Now I am having fun creating layouts with my new toys.
I admit I had to youtube how to use it.
But now I am a pro.
Sort of.
I wish it didn't make holes in the shapes it punches out so you could use them too.
Here's what I made:

This is a thrifty layout and here is how to copy it:-

1) I used a leftover kraft envelope and just cut five squares out of it.

2) Then I backed each square in map cardstock and even some leftover Christmas wrapping paper.

3) I matted the middle pic and then doodled a border on the other two pics.

4)I used letter stickers for the title.

5) I stapled on some ribbon (also left over from Christmas)

6) I used a border sticker

7) I stepped back and admired it!

So have a go - get out that square cutter.

I will count this as my recycled layout and I also designed a sketch for it before hand.
I love that I am meeting my scrapping resolutions cos I certainly ain't meeting my healthy eating ones!

Making whoopee...

2012-01-16T10:00:00.000-08:00

Ever since I got the gorgeous new Hummingbird Bakery cook book I have been drooling over the whoopee pies and tried the Banoffe Pie ones here and so next up was the chocolate and peanut butter ones. I wanted to use my tasty new speculoos I got in Belgium - I even got a jar of it for one of my sixth form students who fell in love with it when I made my speculoos blondies here.
You can find the recipe for these babies here, I substituted peanut butter for Lotus Speculoos (available in Belgium and I think an equivalent is called Biscoff in America and Australia?)

Top tip: Actually follow the instructions and put the batter in the fridge for a good hour - it made it sooo much easier to mould perfect rounds with as it was the texture of cookies rather than a cake batter.
My sixth form also got to sample these as an impromtu treat for winning a quiz as otherwise i would have scoffed the lot myself!
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Linking up with BruCrew Life's trick or treat Tuesday

Everyday I'm shuffling...

2012-01-15T01:53:00.000-08:00

When you look back on a memory what do you recall?
Is it what you were wearing that day?
Do you remember the weather?
Do you remember what people said or did?
Do you remember what you ate?
Do you recall a smell from that event?
I remember songs. When listening to the radio songs often take me back to a moment.
So my Christmas works do will always be associated with the title post song.
Therefore it's the title for my layout.
It is also number two of my list of resolutions for January.
Since my instax mini is my new fav camera I wanted to find a different solution for using them on a layout.

A very simple layout to assemble.
1) Cut some wrapping paper as a photo mat
2) Use prit pads to give three instax pics some height
3) Trim a large craft envelope into a mini one and 'wrap' a picture in it with the top of the pic peeking out
4) Make a tab with washi tape and use mini letter stickers to indicate that another pic is in there
5) Fussy cut a Christmas tree from other wrapping paper and embellish envelope with one and have the other falling off the side
6) Make a title - use a 5 when you can't find another S on your thickers sheet!
7) Use pink jewells to embellish the pattern on the cardstock

Please share any of your instax layouts with me. I still have a little wad of them from Christmas. It always brings a big smile to peoples faces when I pull this little beast out!

Things I'm loving 2012!

2012-01-14T02:56:00.000-08:00

Hi there...
Here are a few things I am loving so far this year.
1) Hands down the BEST cupcakes I have ever baked and tasted. An explosion of blueberry and lemon - really moist and topped off with a delish cream cheese frosting. I am making them for my friends wedding in feb and she raved about them on the trial. I will post about them next month with pics and ideas for decorating them - think glitter and butterflies!

Recipe here

2) I got my nails done for my works do and then went and brought myself my own black opi shatter and recreated the look for New Years Eve. I love this stuff! It's so easy too!

3) My nod to a healthier new me in 2012 has been these bad boys. They are so delish and help up my fruit intake - the new one has acai berry and that is a superfood - more of that please!!

4) I am a little bit addicted to The Big Bang Theory and think all of the characters are so clever and hilarious, I have a few friends they remind me of and this makes it even funnier. It's very clever and Sheldon just cracks me up! Do you watch it too?

5) Being reunited with this man...he was away on a residential this week and at first I was really looking forward to it, but I did get quite lonely at night. I caught up with some of my girlie friends which was great, but I was *really* pleased to see him Friday afternoon!

What are you loving for 2012?
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Linking up with Paisley Jade

May Document 2011...

2012-01-09T12:32:00.000-08:00

Whilst the computer cable is still on the way...I found this fuzzy layout which I hadn't blogged yet. I am only up to August and this is the May 2011 layout, which has been completed for a while but I have been waiting for a photo delivery.
May was the month of family reunions, my mom's birthday, joining the gym and a meal at the steak house.

Now January has so far been the month of finishing off Christmas treats (not diets), lots of web surfing, some exciting scrapbooking, crap telly (like Don't Tell the Bride) and lots of marking and school work already!
Groan!

Spot the difference...

2012-01-06T10:24:00.000-08:00

The first three of my challenges are completed already, the only problem is...I left my camera cable in Brugges so have no way of getting them from the camera onto the laptop! I will share them soon though.
In the meantime a scraplift finished about a month ago. I was drooling over 'Miss Smith's' New Years layout (see below) and decided it would make a perfect design for one of our holiday pics. We met up with Arne's dad's piloting friends when we were in San Luis Obispo and had a great lunch with him on the coast.
I love. love, love the vibrant colours and the bunting - which I made myself.

Her original post is here.
Hope that you all have a creative weekend. We are off to Tampopo in Leeds tomorrow as they are doing a 40% off deal on their website - I love all these January sales!
xox

Month in numbers: For the love of board games...

2012-01-03T00:55:00.000-08:00

So December has been an epic month and one I wish to document in numbers.

Three is the number of Christmas 'do's' I attended...one of which involved carol singing at an old people's home with lots of nervous looking children, but 80 is about the number of pink wafer biscuits on a platter for them afterwards and 7 is about the average amount of biccies they woofed each!

Thirty was the amount of hours we spent on the below ferry heading to ZeBrugges. 15 was the amount of hours I felt sick. 15 was the amount of hours I spent debating whether or not to get the cute little Fiorelli handbag which was reduced to a bargain price of £14. I won't even list the amount of times I regretted not getting it since I arrived on land!

Board games are always a big part of Christmas time with the family. Pointless was the new game to our collection. £10 was the price which Debenhams was selling this game, 4 were the amount my sister purchased after spotting they were a top seller on ebay and £30 is the average amount she sold three of them for on ebay!
Five is the amount of times we played this game and 2 is the amount of times we won (the husband and wife team, he does sport and geography and I do lit and films!)

Wheras credit card Monopoly was the popular game in Brugges and we played it twice and I won none of those times. The first game went on for three hours till 1 a.m and I discovered the merciless side of my husband!

Three is the number of fricadelles I consummed in Brugges. They are very tasty.
One is the amount of cupcakes I had at this gorgeous new cupcakery in Brugges. Two are the amount of gingerbread cupcakes I took home for my three sisters. The math doesn't seem to work out!

Five is the number of matching presented these two brothers recieved for Christmas - albeit in different colours! They had to keep opening them at the same time so that the surprise wasn't ruined.

Whilst on the subject of presents - the numberI opened on Christmas day - big fat zero!
This cannot be right, I hear you cry! Well in Brugges they open them ALL on Christmas eve
and then I opened loads from my family on the 28th when we arrived back. Strange.

150 the number of essays I planned to mark over the Christmas hols...
21 the number I have managed so far!

Does anyone else think that this post has been about procrastinating?

In other news I have completed two of my challenges already and am very keen to share them with you all, but I left the camera cable in Brugges so there may be a slight delay!

Linking up with: notesonpaper

Scrapbooking resolutions...

2012-01-01T14:57:00.000-08:00

I decided to get 2012 off with a bang I would make 10 Scrapbooking Resolutions to challenge myself in my crafting. I planned them in the car driving back from New Years at my parents.
So here they are - I hope that you will join in too!

1) Button-it-up

2) Instax envelopes

3) Embossing

4) Scandanavian style

5) Chipboard chic

6) Design and use my own sketch

7) Clashing colours

8) Border boost

9) Recycled layout

10) Vocational scrapping

I am setting myself the month of January to complete this challenge.
What challenges are you setting yourself for the New Year?

TOP THREE OF 2011...

2011-12-31T05:14:00.000-08:00

So for the first time this year I am ill. It started day after boxing day and I just thought that I was sea sick as we were on the ferry, but now I'm bunged up and having a duvet day so thought I'd do a 2011 roundup - as is popular in blogland!

Top three layouts I made...

1) Santa Cruz in the sunshine - I love the colour, the paint splatters, the mosaic effect and the memories of a great day out.

2) Baby You're a Firework - great memories of a cracking New Year spent with my family. Great pics with some cool camera effects with the sparklers, bunting was very on trend for 2011 and I like the mix of colours and papers.

3) If the dress fits - my wedding layouts are always going to be favs of mine and this one was extra special as I was craving this overlay for a whole year or so till I found it in Santa Monica. Love the pink and the small little details.

Most popular posts...

1) The one about the zulus (I think this has more to do with people googling zulus than my amazing pics but oh well!)

2) Comic relief with my Where's Wally costume and a wedding layout

3) Frost Yourself - about lovely cupcakes at the Iron Cupcake contest and some Christmas scrapping

Fav scrapping techniques of 2011...

1) Bunting and banners - using number 2 mostly. Can be seen here, here and here.

2) Bakers twine - wrapped round everything!

3) Instax pics - see this post!

Best recipes tried from Pinterest...

1) Life changing mac 'n' cheese - we have made this sooo many times as a last minute supper and its always well recieved. I just love it!

2) Aubergine Parmigana - we love this meal and also have it often. Its so garlicy, cheesy and good!

3) Butternut squash macaroni - are you seeing a pattern emerge? Now butternut squash takes some chopping but its so worth it for this dish!

Best three cupcakes I made...

1) Gimme smore - my personal favs, these were seriously delish!

2) Star crossed lovers - these were placed second in IC. Malteaser cakes and malt frosting.

3) Last but not least - a real fail safe - peanut butter frosting and chocolate sponge.

Thanks to all my amazing followers - especially those who leave me lots of blog love (Gems, Tamara, Louise and Julie) Happy 2011! Hope you all have a safe and fun evening tonight!
I am thinking what turn to take for 2012 and my blog.
Do you want to see more scrapping? Some tutorials? Thrifting and thrifty tips for crafts and fashion? Baking? Cupcakes? Let me know...
I am considering a project a day but don't know if this is too much of an undertaking?!

Love and hugs and border punches,

Mel xxx

Having ourselves a merry little Christmas!

2011-12-26T01:58:00.000-08:00

In Brugges...

How did you spend yours?

O Christmas tree and intstax your house...

2011-12-22T03:24:00.000-08:00

So we are off to Brugges in a few hours and I am procrastinating packing - what a loathsome task!
I have just loaded my ipod up with a Christmas album, plenty of Glee and Rebecca Ferguson's new album ready for the road trip.
I had my hair done (again) yesterday and have the bottom half with blonde highlights and the top still dark with a few round the fringe - I quite like it and may actually stick with this style now.
I have got lots of scrapping to share with you, but I will just leave you with this Christmas layout. I used a prompt from ARTastic which was to use a tree, snowman and the word Christmas in you title, plus a wintery painting for inspiration.
I chose to scrap our first Christmas tree in 2009, the pic is a bit blurry but I am pleased with the layout.

Don't you love that lightbulb parcel tape? It's from Paris!

My other tip is what to do with your instax mini pics - if you don't already own one get it! It's always a crowd pleaser and people laugh at the retroness of it all but you get instant pics and could take a shot and scrap it in one day. So here's our home decor idea...

Although I love it - they're snapshots of our Christmas so far. I also think I would like to scrap these pics - so where is the happy medium?? I can't pass up good scrap fodder! Perhaps I should have taken two of each!
Happy Christmas Eve eve!! xxx

A glowing report...

2011-12-20T04:31:00.000-08:00

Day four of the Christmas holidays and I am holed up in my craft room (where else!) with some hot chocolate and am trawling blogs to look for exciting challenges. I have actually made a Christmas layout (shock horror!) of our first Christmas tree in 2009. The photo is really blurry, which is why I didn't scrap it before but I think its a moment that needs documenting (especially since we didn't bother to get a tree this year! Since we're spending Christmas in Brugges) I will post that last.

For now I am posting this little gem...

I tried a few new techniques like painting and glossy accenting chipboard letters and using a tempera background for a mask and journalling. My journalling is a poem of sorts expressing our feelings at the end of our amazing day at Universal Studios. We loved that place. I am glad I went with Mara and Arne as I was determined to go to Six Flags, but Universal is so much more LA!

The title came from the fact we seem to be rather dewy - I think its from the water rides like the Jurassic Park, but it was rather warm so it could be...

I am linking up with Scrap our Stash anything goes challenge.

Also totally loving Glee does Adele and James Vincent McMorrow's Higher Love and Someone like you. Check them out on youtube - great scrapping music!

No strings attached?

2011-12-18T07:55:00.000-08:00

I hope you're not rolling your eyes at ANOTHER California layout.
In L.A we too an open bus tour and my sister was very excited to spot the scene from the movie No String's Attached. We hadn't seen it, but obliged in recreating the pose from the film. I called this page Movie Magic in an ode to Hollywood being the place where movies come alive.
I dug out an old star stamp and enjoyed using this technique again.
I also like the monochrome title and how the white thickers stand out against the background due to their sparkle.

We saw Friends with Benefits whilst in America and we LOVED it. I have always been interested in whether or not girls and boys can be just good friends and I would conclude that they cannot. I know whenever I had a close guy friend one of us always liked the other at one stage or another.
What do you think bloggers? Can men and women truely be just good friends?

My bargain dress...

2011-12-17T02:48:00.000-08:00

I searched high and low for a dress for our summer wedding in California.
Online, in shops and all to no avail.
I wanted it to be bright, summery and cool but with sleeves.
A big ask on the British high street.
I was watching some on ebay and got outbid on one and then it showed other bids ending soon.
This floral number caught my eye and it was on 99p with a minute to go.
So I won it.
I got loads of compliments at the wedding and always felt smug about my little bargain.

Don't you love red and yellow as a colour combo?

Ain't no sunshine...

2011-12-13T09:33:00.000-08:00

As the blustery storms descend it's nice to think back to our sunny October half term. Happy times in London.
I made this a double as I had so many good pics of all our adventures.
I used an old Shimmelle sketch as I feel that a double needs some structure.
By doodling round the edges it brings it all together.

What do you think?
Off to do some Christmas baking.

Ten things I want for Christmas...

2011-12-11T13:36:00.000-08:00

Santa baby,
I've been such a good girl.
Please may I have one of each of these...

A vintage Christmas jumper

White glimmer mist for Christmas layouts

Funky headphones

Massage for a hot stone massage

Purple Kitchen aid - hello!

Maroon skinnies

Been sucked in by the ad campaign for the new Nikon 1 and it's pink!

Cosy owl pj's

Need I say more...?

What is on your wish list?
Linking up with Shimelle's ten on the tenth (I'm always late for the party!)

I wish it could be Christmas every day?

2011-12-10T10:47:00.000-08:00

I took on the Studio's lastest challenge of using Christmas papers to scrap everyday, non-Christmassy things. I have chosen to scrap some pics from our summer holiday at Santa Monica Pier.
We were suffering with jet lag and so woke ridiculously early and went for a wonder.
We found the bench from the movie Forest Gump.
And the rest as they say is history.

The pictures a bit wonky.
Happy holidays! As the Americans say!

GIrls night out...

2011-12-10T02:13:00.000-08:00

I wanted this page to be clashy and trashy.
We had girls night at Pizza Express, making the most of their two for one Orange Wednesday offer.
Such a bargain.
We had a fab night with lots of gossiping and giggling, but the highlight (for me!) was using my instax mini.
I won it on ebay last year and haven't used it that much.
I forgot how cool it is.
I let all the girls go home with a little snapshot of our night.

I had been dying to use a little washing line with bakers twine ever since I pinned it here.
I am pleased with the result, I didn't have mini pegs so I used buttons and pritt pads.
The tags are both from items of clothing - I love my magpie moments.
What do you think? Too much clashing or just right?

Slow dancing in a burning room...

2011-12-07T12:42:00.000-08:00

Title is inspired by Grease 2, which I am ashamed to say is my guilty pleasure!
Layering is the main technique here.

Showcases the blonde/ginger look I had during October half term. Wasn't intentional. The blonde was, but not the ginger.
We have a benchmark inspection on Friday and I have been selected for a two hour observation with my sixth form. Bad times and lots of planning ahead.

The boat that rocks...

2011-12-05T09:01:00.000-08:00

So turns out people weren't exaggerating when they said you had to book months in advance for Alcatraz. So my sister and I had a girly day together in San Fran and after shopping and posh lunch at Zuni we went for a boat tour which was advertised as a rocking tour with pumping rock music etc.
It was a good half hour and quite amusing. So even though the before pic isn't very flattering I decided to scrap it as a before and after layout. I used plenty of misting, tags and scraps from previous page.
This layout shows GIRL POWER as we were rocking out on a girly day out.

What does girl power mean to you? Other than platform trainers and THAT union jack mini dress!

Storytelling Sunday: The one with the llamas and the wimpy husband!

2011-12-04T06:55:00.000-08:00

Firstly it is important to note that although I am quite adventurous and love a challenge, I am NOT an animal lover.
In fact I am a bit *scared* of most animals, especially dogs.
So when I saw the llamas at this little county fair in Southern California, on our recent trip, I was hesitant.
However it was a good photo op.
So I paid the lady a dollar to take a few shots and my husband took a few shots for me.
Then I thought it would be nice to return the favour and asked him to pose with the lama.
My regular followers will know he is a reluctant model at the best of times...
So he starts freaking out and refusing point blank to go anywhere near this creature.
I wanted reasons - after all a dollar is a dollar.
He was muttering about them biting to which the burly lady says in a brash American accent,
"He has never bitten a tourist, thank-you very much."
She seemed a bit offended at the lurid accusation.
However he topped it off by saying there was no way he was going near a llama as they spit.
By this stage SHE was spitting and very shortly repeated the previous statement about how her llamas so not spit at tourists.
We stood for a while, me brandishing the camera ready to take a shot, but he never went anywhere near it.
I tried to take a picture of him shaking his head and looking very annoyed, but I missed it!
So my sister obliged and posed for me - just so that I had enough shots for the layout.
I wanted to play with some paint and I wanted to capture the story in a layout.
So my title is - "So I married a fraidy cat!"
I feel it is fitting for the occasion.

Linking up to Sian's storytelling Sunday.
Anyone else scared of llamas?

Things I'm loving on Thursday...

2011-12-01T12:32:00.000-08:00

Looking forward to making some of these this weekend -yum! Let the Christmas baking commence...

Last night we had girls night at the super cute Pizza Express in Ilkley. It used to be the old train station and so the building has a bit of character.

Ever awkward I asked for the four seasons pizza to be 'three seasons' without the anchovies and capers! The girls said it was typical Mel!

I suddenly found this old cutie sitting sadly in its box, I have only used it once since I got it on ebay. So we had fun taking some snaps and then arguing over who got the pics with our eyes open and us smiling nicely! I have just ordered some more films to snap some quick pics over Christmas - you could scrap the pic you took all on the same day!

I am lusting after a camera die cut, I love when Shimelle uses it on all her travel scrapping and so would love one of these babies.

Tonight after school I had a hot date of hot choc with my man. We don't often do this - we are usually just boring and go straight home after school so it was exciting and nice to just chat and enjoy one anothers company rather than wasting the afternoon away on the laptop (as I am now!!) Salts diner in Saltaire is such a fab little place and I love, love, love their home shop and want one of everything!

Above is our fabric advent calendar that we got at said home shop for a bargain price since it was already the 1st December! We are going to take it in turns of getting a little treat every other day - love it.

Linking up to the ever great Paisley Jade...

Shake it up baby now...

2011-11-28T12:22:00.000-08:00

With this post I will teach you a few budget scrapping tips.
In England a programme keeps being advertised about Penny Pinchers and although I do not qualify for this title I do love a good bargain. I love vouchers for meals out, bogof offers and a sale.
1) The title is done with my trusty black sharpee pen and then coloured in with a green felt tip pen.
2) I couldn't find the apt embellishment for this layout and so I printed off the picture of the cow and cartoon face of a cow, then I used my diamond glaze to beef it up and give it a sheen. I stuck them on with sticky pads.
3) To avoid the paper curling I squirted my glimmer mist onto a tissue and the wiped it over the layout and the white thickers to give it a sheen and a vintage tint.

So why don't you have a go at some of these techniques?
I challenge you.
Go on...

Six for Saturday...

2011-11-26T13:34:00.000-08:00

Things I am loving at the moment...

1) Christmas songs such as this Nat King Cole classic and Jack Johnson's Angel. Love, love, love and have had them on repeat all week!

2) These Christmas cards I brought at Paperchase today. I have vowed to be organised and actually send cards this year - especially to our foreign family and friends.

3) It was the boy's birthday this week and so we had a casual Nando's and cinema trip on Monday night. He also got a coupon for a third off at Yo Sushi for his birthday and so we went today and loads up on miso and sushi. We decided to splash out (well, we did have a coupon) and get some desserts. The chocolate mocho were the best things ever. They were like chocolate truffles with a rice outer layer (I know it sounds gross, but it was not!!) and filled with chocolate ganache. Delish!

4) On Wednesday I took the gothic cupcakes my Year 13's had 'ordered' for winning a quiz. My sister got me pumpkin moulds and chocolate orange chips to melt and make some pumpkins. They are Martha's choc cupcakes I have featured in previous posts and Hummingbird vanilla frosting with green dye and green edible glitter. They went down well. So well that they even made me a gothic background for the photoshoot.

5) Thanks to Gok Wan I have started wearing mainly dresses to work. I got some bargains from Next on ebay and also rediscovered some dresses I used to wear that were resigned to the back of my wardrobe. I have been getting lots of compliments and realise they are a lot better for my hour glass figure than trousers which make me look *chubby* such a funny little words.
I love this polka dot dress, but am sad as it's only available in America.

6) Babysitting for this cutie last night. She was all cute and snuggly in her sleeping suit and we snuggled together whilst watching American X-Factor till she started rubbing her eyes and making it clear it was past her bedtime and she wasn't going to be kept up just so I could play!

What are you loving at the moment bloggers?

linked up to Paisley Jade's Things i'm loving...

LIke warm apple pie...

2011-11-25T09:00:00.000-08:00

A simple page.
We loved the pies in Julian. They were worth the two hour detour and overpriced nights stay.
I stamped apples round the edge and doddled dots to make a page border.
I crumbled and stapled green tissue paper.
I also added a recipe from the Julian local paper.

Isn't that big sticker cool? I got it at a little antiques market in Julian.
I also got a cool bell for a dollar which says 'Georgia' with a rainbow.
I have it on my classroom desk and ring it when the chatter gets too loud.
It started as a joke, but now its quite effective!

Document 2011 July...

2011-11-23T12:30:00.000-08:00

So I am slowly making my way through the year. I am still stuck on May as my little sis is being slow with sharing the pics (hint, hint Gems get out that hard drive!) I decided since I had a good variety of colourful and fun pics to make them my focus and just have some fun with the title in the middle and some captions.
Two of the photos really amuse me - the first is my colleague in his cycling lycra with two of our ex-pupils. He just strolls round our department wearing his lycra onesie in the morning and freaks us all out! The second pic is Arne doing his baywatch cycle. I don't know why we found it so amusing - we just did. I think its his facial expression and the fact he is just flying by the baywatch boat on his bike. Is it just me or is it funny?

Please excuse the reflection, as the nights draw in it is difficult to get any decent light to take pictures in.
I have some more layouts coming later. Things I have been plugging away at over the last few weeks, also some gothic style cupcakes...

Thanksgiving Pumpkin Pie

2011-11-22T12:43:00.000-08:00

So we were all feeling a bit sad that two out of the four sisters are spending Christmas with the in-laws so we decided to have a fake Christmas this past weekend. Since it isn't even December we decided to call it thanksgiving (plus my sister Gems is obsessed with the US of A, she is also obsessed with dessert bars so we had a pie bar!)
My contribution was mini pumpkin pies. I luckily had the mini pie tins (brought for £6 each at TKMaxx) from our Come Dine with Me. I used the recipe on the Libby's pumpkin pie tins and it worked a treat, for once I avoided the urge to over spice the pies and they were very tasty served with a dollop of vanilla infused cream. For fellow Brits I sourced the Libby's pure pumpkin at Waitrose but they only stock it around this time of year.

LIBBY'S® Famous Pumpkin Pie

This is the traditional holiday pumpkin pie. This classic recipe has been on LIBBY'S® Pumpkin labels since 1950. This pie is easy to prepare and even easier to enjoy. Just mix, pour, bake for a delicious homemade tradition.

Ingredients

3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
2 large eggs
1 can (15 oz.) LIBBY'S® 100% Pure Pumpkin
1 can (12 fl. oz.) NESTLÉ® CARNATION® Evaporated Milk
1 unbaked 9-inch (4-cup volume) deep-dish pie shell
Whipped cream (optional)

Directions

MIX sugar, cinnamon, salt, ginger and cloves in small bowl. Beat eggs in large bowl. Stir in pumpkin and sugar-spice mixture. Gradually stir in evaporated milk.

POUR into pie shell.

BAKE in preheated 425° F oven for 15 minutes. Reduce temperature to 350° F; bake for 40 to 50 minutes or until knife inserted near center comes out clean. Cool on wire rack for 2 hours. Serve immediately or refrigerate. Top with whipped cream before serving.

To see more of the delicious pies and treats head over to my sister Gem's blog. In the meantime I will leave you with the full spread...

Happy thanksgiving to my American followers (for Thursday) and welcome to my new followers. I really do appreciate all the comments and all the hits - it gives me a buzz after a gruelling day at school!

P.S Do you like the new look? Gems pimped my blog over the weekend too!

Iron Cupcake marshmallow smores...

2011-11-16T11:31:00.000-08:00

Theme for November's Iron Cupcake was obviously Bonfire Night.
I tried to avoid the obvious toffee apples and parkin as I sometimes feel that if my cakes are different from the rest they will stand out more.
I went for smores flavour and ever a fan of the pun I came up with the name - gimme smore!
I used Martha Stewart's one bowl chocolate cupcakes mix for the sponge.
I will definately use this recipe again as it was moist and very tasty.
I adapted it by putting some homemade oat biscuit at the bottom of the liner, I also put a dollop of marshmallow fluff (from a jar I admit!) in the middle.
When it baked I thought it was a disaster as it exploded out - like an earthquake cake.
But then I decided it looked good and oozey and burnt like a real smore.
Here's a pic:

Then I whipped up some super easy marshmallow frosting. I had tried the hummingbird recipe before and it was quite tricky and very, very sticky and could not be piped. I wanted mine piped as I prefer the look. So I was so lucky to find this recipe. Some of the marshmallows I had were pink so I put a bit of red food colouring in to up the colour. It looks brown in this pic but the lighting at the venue is not the best for pics.

Here is my sign - I even brought my little easel from Ikea which I usually use to snap layouts with. I came third overall and was pleased with this as I did think they were quite good.

A close-up. I sprinkled biscuit crumbs on top.

These cuties came second...

These parkin cupcakes won the night. I tried them and they were very tasty - even though I am not a big fan of the stuff (not being a Yorkshire lass and all!)

Here is Sarah modelling one of her very own cupcakes - she was a first time baker.

Leanne helped her with the icing, but also did a bit of judging. She was voting for the other colour though!

Roll on December. Any good tips or recipes for Christmas cupcakes bloggers??

Falling in love again...

2011-11-12T06:33:00.000-08:00

I was stalling scrapping this picture as it is my fav from the trip.
I think cos it was quite impromtu and we both look happy.
We had just been to see LA Galaxy play and stopped off for a burger at our fav Five Guys Burger and Fries joint! Seriously we need this in England it's so good.
I have been very inspired by butterflies recently, I used my Martha Stewart punch and cut some from some old birthday paper that I kept for this purpose.

I hand stitched round the edge - not a technique I used a lot. It took a while but I liked the finished effect.
The reason for the title is that I always find with the stress of both of us teaching and lots of commitments with church we don't get to spend much quality time together so whenever we have a holiday or mini break we effectively fall in love again and rediscover the romance and enjoy one another again. Is it just me or does everyone find this??
I have been using purple recently as I was inspired by Julie's purple phase. I always loved scrapping with purple, but recently had gone off it. I enjoyed the challenge of using it with a new palette like beige, cream and green. So thanks Julie!
I have just been trawling the charity / thrift shops in my lovely little town. I always forget what a great resource they are, especially when it's a tight month! (which is every month!) I got some black skinny jeans for £3.50 you can't beat that can you? They fit like a glove!
What are you up to blogland?

Amazed at the sea lions along Big Sur

2011-11-10T09:17:00.000-08:00

Well I never would have thought of putting red and turquoise together.
I am too much matchy, matchy.
But it pops and that works for me.
Loving the sparkly thickers.
Do you like my new border stickers my little sis Gems gave me for my birthday?

The sea lions were fascinating to watch.
Funny to listen to.
And a bit smelly.

Well East Coast girls are hip...

2011-11-07T13:57:00.000-08:00

As the mist and rain descend. Dark evenings. Chilly. I wanted to hole myself in my scrap room on Saturday and relive our California memories.
I used an ancient overlay on the middle pic to make it pop. I used the colours of the American flag and lots of little journalling spots. Underneath I cut stamps from the some wrapping paper and sewed buttons in between.

The layout below is about our soundtrack - I just loved this bracket shaped cardstock and felt the lines were perfect for filling with the lyrics of some of the songs we listened to on our road trip. I used piano key patterned tape to frame the page. I am liking this page a lot.

Big Breakfast layout...

2011-11-06T10:00:00.000-08:00

At first we were drooling over the extensive breakfast menus in America.
I am a big pancake fan.
However by day 10 we were getting pretty fed up of all the stomach curdling options.
So I thought it would be good to scrap about this.
There is a hidden pic in the middle.

The journalling tag is from a jumper and I just stuck some plain cardstock on it to journal on.
I was inspired to use this black stripy baking paper from the True XoXo Girls Scrapbooking Blog. Thanks ladies!

Storytelling Sunday: The one with the ice-cream and the ketchup...

2011-11-06T09:39:00.000-08:00

All of my family love ice cream, but my dad was always the biggest fan. My mum is more Ben and Jerry's whilst he is that worryingly orange/golden cornish vanilla which was 99p a tub from the local supermarket.
My bonding times with my dad when I was younger were sat on our grubby and old fashioned, but very comfy, cream/biege corner sofa in the playroom eating ice cream straight from the tub whilst watching telly with my dad. He would have the newspaper under a rapidly melting tub of Neopolitan ice cream and I would at first be happy with the odd spoonful, but then would head off to the kitchen to get my own spoon.
I liked mixing the vanilla and strawberry, the chocolate and vanilla, but never the strawberry and chocolate and I still don't like chocolate mixed with fruit - yuk!
The came my older sister Mara who only enjoyed her dinner when it was doused in ketchup. So we dared her to put ketchup on her vanilla ice cream. She tentatively had a few spoonfuls and then left it to melt into an unbecoming pink gloop. But dad was relentless. No food could be wasted. He made her eat it.
So in relation to this a layout celebrating the simple pleasures of ice cream, picture is taken on Coronado Island in San Diego.
(Please excuse the photo - daylight is not very forthcoming in England and I over photoshopped it I think!)

Completed for High in the Sky's storytelling Sunday and inspired by Julie Kirk's purple phase using lilac, purple and stone.
What strange foods did you enjoy as a kid?

Banoffee whoopie pies...

2011-11-05T06:48:00.000-07:00

So last week it was half term at school and I had some time to get my bake on.
I got the new hummingbird bakery cook book for my birthday and I had been anxious to try one of the many whoopie recipes.
I saw the banoffee pie one and this seemed appealing as it's a fav dessert of mine to bake.
It was quite easy and I was pleased with the result, although they tasted best on the day.
Also I find it difficult to make them pretty and round and equal so I cute the ones into hearts to be photographed - it did waste a bit of the pie, but it looks so much better.

I was pleased with the staging on this pic until my sis tells me that (and she is married to a picture buff) for it to be a good picture the jars should be in the shot fully. Oh well.

And here's how they're made:

for the sponge:

1 large egg

150g Caster sugar

125g Plain yogurt

25ml milk

1/4 tsp vanilla essence

75g Unsalted butter, melted

275g Plain Flour

3/4 tsp Bicarbonate of soda

1/4 tsp Baking powder

1/2 tsp Ground cinnamon

2 bananas.

For the filling: - these are hummingbirds measurements and I found I had way to much (Only needed about 1/2 to 2/3rds of this)

170g Unsalted butter, softened

280g Icing sugar

220g Vanilla marshmallow fluff (this can be hard to source and expensive in the UK, so even though I used it this time next time I will experiment with melted marshmellow or just icing)

2tbsp Tinned caramel (dulce de leche)

Method:

Using an electric whisk, whisk the egg and sugar until pale and fluffy. Stir together the yogurt milk and vanilla in a jug, then add this gradually to the egg mixture mixing until combined. Add the melted butter and mix again.

Sift together the flour, bicarbonate of soda, baking powder and Cinnamon, then add this to the liquid ingredients in 2 batches, mixing well after each addition. Break up the bananas into small rough pieces, then stir into the batter by hand. Put the batter in the fridge and allow to cool and set for 20-30 minutes.

Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 170 deg C and line 2 baking sheets with greaseproof paper.

Remove the batter from the fridge and spoon onto the trays in 3-5cm diameter mounds, making 16-20 in total leaving space between each for expansion. Bake in the oven for 10 - 13 mins or until golden and springy to the touch. Allow to cool on a wire rack.

While the sponges are cooking make the filling. Using the electric whisk, mix together the butter and icing sugar, add the marshmellow fluff and continue to beat on a high speed until light and fluffy. Beat in the caramel and then place in the fridge for 30 mins to firm up slightly.

When the sponges are cold spread the flat side of one with a generous helping of filling and sandwich together with another sponge. Assemble the remaining sponges.

(Recipe copied from this blog)

So have a go and let me know what you think.

Reluctant model...

2011-11-04T14:22:00.000-07:00

I may have mentioned before that my husband hates my incessant and slight obsessive picture taking.
So I decided to make a layout about it.
I felt that his anger is brewing beneath this fake smile.
So I came up with title.
I decided that I wanted it to have layers.
It needed to have an orange colour scheme to make the yellow pop.
Then I found the cool black and white floral tape and the layout went from there.
I am happy with it.

And I am soooo happy it's Friday!

Halloween Party - cupcakes and game ideas!

2011-10-30T09:19:00.000-07:00

I planned a halloween party for church last night and have a few ideas and recipes to share with you.
Firstly our impromtu costumes:

The scrubs we had borrowed from our dentist friend - they are very comfy for lounging round the house in. We googled how to make fake blood and the answer is soy sauce (we only had Lea and Perrins but it seemed to work just as well) and red food colouring. It didn't smell so hot, but it looked very genuine.

I made these cupcakes using toppers I got from ebay. I used the hummingbird chocolate cupcake recipe:

Chocolate cupcakes (recipe from The Hummingbird Bakery)

Ingredients

100g plain flour

20g cocoa powder

140g caster sugar

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

a pinch of salt

40g soft unsalted butter

120ml whole milk

1 egg

1/4 tsp vanilla extract (although I probably used 3/4 tsp - slip of the hand!)

Chocolate frosting

3000g icing sugar, sifted

100g unsalted butter, very soft

30g cocoa powder sifted

45ml whole milk

Method
1) Preheat the oven to 170C/Gas 3. Line a 12 hole muffin tin with paper cases.
2) Put the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder, salt and butter in a large bowl and beat on a slow speed with an electric hand mixer until well combined and a sandy consistency. This is the messy part as the sugar flew all over the place!

3) Whisk the egg, milk and vanilla extract together in a jug and add half to the dry mixture.

4) Beat slowly to combine and then more quickly to beat out any lumps.
5) Add the remaining liquid mixture and beat slowly to combine. Do not overmix.
6) Transfer (I found semi-pouring/semi-spooning the best way to go as the mixture is quite slack) the mixture into the cake cases until 2/3 full and bake for 20-25 minutes in the preheated oven until they spring back to the touch. A skewer inserted should come out clean.
7) Remove from oven and allow to cool on a wire rack before frosting.

I used the perfect never fails me ever, vanilla frosting:

2 cups icing sugar

1 cup unsalted butter

2 teaspoons vanilla bean paste

1 tablespoon milk

(Makes enough to frost 12 cupcakes)

I added a few drops of green food colouring to make it more goolish. I also added a sprinkle of edible, gold glitter.

These babies below were pumpkin with cream cheese frosting. Excuse the pictures I was in a rush and had so much to organise and sort out before the party.

Here are some halloween games if you are planning a little party:

1) Pumpkin bowling was easy to organise and very cheap. We emptied six bottles of cheap lemonade (which we turned into witches brew with a little help from blackcurrant squash) and filled them with a handful of marbles. Then they had to bowl them over using a pumkin, it worked very successfully until one of the lads threw the pumkin too hard and it split and pumpkin guts spilt everywhere!

2) Another popular game around blogworld seems to be pin the heart on the skeleton. I painstakingly cut out each bone and laminated them and then we didn't even play it as there was so much going on and I'd lost the blue tac! The skeleton game pattern in available here.

3) We also played a game where they had to transfer a bowl full of gummy worms from one side of the hall to the other, using chopsticks. We started it with one at a time but then I said they could do two at a time. This was a good laugh.

Let me know if you had a halloween party or link up your halloween costume ideas!

Happy halloween (for tomorrow!!)

_______________________________________________________

Linked up to fingerprints on the fridge and 504 main

A winter warmer - Julia Child's Potatoe Soup

2011-10-27T13:47:00.000-07:00

So day 3 of the trip will be broadcast shortly in blogland.
However for now I thought I'd share this soup I made to stave off the winter chills - is anyone esle sick of all of the rain outside?? How can the weather have changed so dramatically? Or is it just the North * shudder!*

Here is the recipe from the great foodie blog Mouth of Wonder:

Seasonal Recipe of the Week
Hot soup and a cold winter day go together like nothing else. The smell of simmering onions in butter is like perfume to me. It's like culinary foreplay, if you will! This is a recipe from the queen herself, Julia Child, for the classic potato leek soup. Here’s an old joke my father told me a hundred times... “How do you make vichyssoise? First, you take a leek.”

Ingredients
3-4 cups of diced peeled potatoes (1 lb.)
3 cups thinly sliced leeks, including the tender greens
2 quarts water
1 Tablespoon salt
6 tablespoons heavy cream or 3 tablespoons softened butter
3 tablespoons minced chives or parsley

Procedure
Simmer vegetables, salt, and water together, partially covered for 40-50 minutes in a 3-4 quart saucepan. Mash the vegetables into the soup with a fork or pass through a food mill. Julia does not like the texture of soup pureed in a blender, your call. Adjust salt and pepper. You can stop at this point. When ready to serve, bring soup back to simmering. Then off the heat, stir in the cream or butter and top with chopped chives or parsley. It does not get much better than that! Makes 2 quarts of soup for 6-8 servings

***

So have a go. It was super easy and super tasty. Let me know how it goes...

Day 2 Notting Hill and Westbourne Grove - thrifting!

2011-10-27T05:02:00.000-07:00

My man had tickets for the NFL game in Wembley and so this was the girls day part of the trip and so obvs the best day!
The sun was shining down on us and we wandered around Notting Hill looking at the cute little boutique shops. I got a very cute purple owl print dress for a fiver at a bargain shop. Loving that! Will post it later as I plan to wear it to the next Iron Cupcake in a week.
So here is the pictorial overview of the day...

We stumbled upon this waffle eating contest at Wafflemeister. The guy in the hat (he called himself J.R) was Irish, very drunk (at 11 a.m) and great entertainment. He promised to eat every waffle on the table, but when the contest began he just daintily munched it, rather than going for it. They had to see how many they could eat in 3 mins. Guess what the record was? 2! How measly!!

Notting Hill Market - how cute are these?


Hummingbirds cupcake of the day - Strawberry donut. They were very tasty and even had a cute little donut on the top!

If you like thrift / charity shops and live near London, then I recommend Westbourne Grove. They had really high end charity shops with lots of designer gear at bargain prices. My sister brought this gorgeous dress above and the lady in the shop said it had only come in two hours earlier, but she knew someone would snap it up! I may do a post on my charity shop bargains later. Would that interest you?

We ended this perfect day at GBK. They do all sorts of offers and deals and we got two meals for a tenner, even though we didn't have the voucher with us! Mara ordered the kiwi burger and so she got a free drink as NZ had won the rugby at the weekend. She chose a lime milkshake - very much recommended. I had oreo which is always a great treat!
Phew what a day! When I am out with my family we always pack it in!
Day three coming later and some baking, including bannoffee whoopee pies!

Who loves London in the sunshine?

2011-10-26T12:19:00.000-07:00

Day 1 - London's Brick Lane
My sister Tamara and mum on the tube

Desert van - Mara said they make the best brownies. They do. Get yourselves to Brick Lane for one!

Halloween cake pops at the Experimental Food Exhibition

A photo of the London landscape made entirely of food

Food trucks on Brick Lane. So much choice.

Cheese!

I think these bikes are such a good idea - you just pay a pound and you can cycle it round London.

We went to check up on the progress of the Olympic stadium


I will post day 2 and 3 tomorrow!

Taking in the view...

2011-10-20T10:15:00.000-07:00

Some self-timer pics. A much needed pit stop from the sweaty car. Mara was asleep and feeling sorry for herself in the car. Check out those hills. Inland San Diego on the way to Julian was the hottest and most desert like weather we encountered.
Completed using Shimelle's sketch of the week. I like circles.

This week looked like...

2011-10-15T10:45:00.000-07:00

Searching and pinning lots of exciting halloween treats for the party I am organising in the half term holiday. It will involve a spook alley, trunk n treat and apple bobbing. Cannot wait! It seems the shops have got really into it this year.

Finally getting round to cooking some of the meals I have been pinning of pinterest. Our fav so far was this yummy macaroni and butternut squash bake. Also the no bake and no butter macaroni cheese worked really well when we made it.

Due to a mix up with dates I ended up being observed TWICE this week two days in row. You only have to be observed three times a year at my school and you get given a rating between 1 - 4, it then goes in your PDR folder and is considered for pay rises and stuff. I had put so much into planning the first lesson that I didn't want to cancel it and Thursdays observation was non-negotiable as a lady was in teaching another colleague how to observe - phew! But the outcome was a good one and I got a 1 - OUTSTANDING for both lessons overall. I was very pleased with myself. Now I am lying in bed drinking lucozade and reading Heat magazine and I only usually save those two activities for when I am ill so I think it has knocked the wind out of me.
Here is a very cheesy pic of me in action (teaching not convalescing) which went into our school mag (much to my delight!) It is on my to-scrap list as I don't have many layouts about teaching and it's a big part of who I am...

Then (ever the glutton for punishment) I took 18 students to see Dr.Faustus last night in York. It was a hilarious, odd and quirky performance but I think it would really help them to understand the story and the comic elements. It was interesting as last year we took the other group to see one in Manchester and it was very intense and serious - I preferred this one and the kids were in stitches throughout!

What has YOUR week looked like?

10 favourite presents...

2011-10-10T11:56:00.000-07:00

As a weekend filled with cake, shakes and pressies draws to a close I felt it a good time to share with you all my ten favourite birthday pressies (in no particular order!)...


1) So comfy pj's from my mom - with apples on and everything

2) A recipe book with one batter and 100 different variations for pancakes and waffles

The cupcake adorned water bottle in the middle to keep me hydrated at school from a fellow teacher

A fisheye lens for my SLR from the boy

Perfume from my mom I was very put off by the naff name - Womanality, but it actually smells lush

Flowers from my friend Sally

Some crafty goodness from little sis

How cute are these shimmer eyeshadows? Thanks mom!

I'm dotty about these! Wore them to work on Friday and got lots of compliments!

With this gorgeous book I plan to make some of these....

Red velvet whoopie pies

So there you have it, are you 'well jell'? I am linking this up to Shimelle's ten on the tenth. Come and join in!

Santa Cruz scrapping...

2011-10-09T12:53:00.000-07:00

As the rain drizzles down bleakly in West Yorkshire this colour pallet stood out to me. Summer beckoning from afar. It reminded me of lemon tops, candy floss and fun fairs. So perfect for scrapping our day out at Santa Cruz Pier.

The studio October challenge


My summer layout

Now play the spot the difference with the below layout from October Afternoon I pinterested it about month ago and have been gagging to scraplift it ever since. Just check out that cute patchwork grid and the splatters. I had to watch a youtube (I have lost the link) vid to learn how to do it. I ended up using paint and an eyeshadow brush then did the splatters with glimmer mist - just flicking the wand.
Before our holiday I swatted up on my slr reading mags, blogs etc to see how to get really good pics and I was really impressed with the composition, angle and colour of the above pic of the ferris wheel.

The October Afternoon inspiration layout

I hope you like it as much as I do.

My birthday week...

2011-10-08T05:42:00.000-07:00

So I have been super busy celebrating my birthday over three seperate nights. The boy really spoilt me and even organised a (not so surprise) surprise party.
So the week looked like this -

A one year old's birthday party
A girly night at the Cheerful Chilli in Otley (my fav place to eat)
A romantic birthday meal at the Prashad (my new fav place to eat) it was even featured on Gordon Ramsey's best restaurants
A surprise milkshake party (check out the cool cups below) we tried some pretty cool combos. My fav is nutella and peanut butter - like a Reese's peanut butter cup.

.
This is my fav picture from the week:

I got a new fish eye lens for my slr but we are having some problems using it, I need to have another play I think.
Some layouts will be coming later, they are photographed just need to blog it.

San Diego Zoo - going wild for photo love!

2011-10-02T12:49:00.000-07:00

How do you fit nine whole photos on one layout?
With a little (or rather a lot) of help from Shimelle I have accomplished it.
I will show you the steps towards it...

1) Pick a base cardstock and then staple, sew or double sided tape half a transparency


Then back up your photos so that you have two on each side and top them with some embellishment


These animal pics would have been too bland for a layout on their own

The finished page with the little pull outs peeking out...

The staged final layout. Don't you love the little monkeys?

I will definitely be using this idea for future layouts as I always take too many pics and needed a technique to include them, but still have the best shot as the main focal point.

P.S San Diego Zoo is a fab day out and I would totally recommend it if you find yourself with a free day in S.D!

Malibu! Or was that Santa Monica...?

2011-09-30T09:10:00.000-07:00

Today in our car it was 30 degrees. It was hot enough for shorts, a drink in the pub beer garden and a walk along the river. So it is the perfect day to showcase this layout from our California road trip. We loved Malibu and hired bikes for the day to explore it even more.

Okay, okay this was how the post was going to go a few days ago....then I had a skype convo with two of my sisters. Turns out this trip we never went to Malibu. I mean Santa Monica - ooopps! We all found this very amusing - my sisters like to laugh at me.

I tried to turn it back on Mara who asked as we left Santa Monica for Santa Barbara - "are we driving through Miami today?" It would have been a very long detour methinks.

So I will amend the title on this page. But for now I thought that I would share it for the amusement factor!

Tonight we are off to a murder mystery party.. My costume is very random...I will share pics this weekend.

Lastly, congrats to Jeannie she won my imromptu giveaway with this comment:

Oh, that's got to be (Santa)Barbara Ann by the Beach Boys! - love the Beach Boys, classic summer music! Great layout BTW!

So Jeannie send me an email on melide18@gmail.com to claim your prize.

Happy Friday blogland!

Went to the dance, looking for romance (giveaway)...

2011-09-24T11:44:00.000-07:00

So today has been a good day. A nice day. Nice weather. Some practical shopping (a shoe rack). A mini hair disaster (he says ginger, I say strawberry blonde.) A free burrito for lunch (due to a loyalty card all stamped up.) Plenty of trying on of suits for him (and a bit of a hissy fit!)

Last night saw the completion of a few projects I had been playing around with for a while. The first was a story I really wanted to tell. In fact I will tell you about it now:-

The first four days of our America road trip I had booked up the accomodation online. This turned out to be a very good move for Santa Barbara as it was a Saturday night and very popular with very pricey hotels. I had booked us into the hostel. The guy working on the desk (well I say guy more a boy) was very tanned and had his long brown hair all piled up on top of his head like a pineapple. He was very laid back and dare I say a little bit intellectually challenged. He took 40 minutes to check us in.

We were the only ones at the desk and had already booked in online. He kept getting calls from travellers who hadn't been as organised as us and were desperate for a bed for the night...but they were all full. He was getting very stressed out and frustrated and was even sweating. Every time he got a call he forgot where he was with us and started the whole process again. The funniest part was that it was $35 a night each and he had to use the calculator to work out the total for three of us.

Now I am no maths genius but even I could work that out in my head. And if that was always the price wouldn't you remember the different totals. My sister and I kept having to bite our lips or turn away to stop laughing in his face.

I even picked a magazine at one chance to disguise my giggles. It probably doesn't sound funny now, I think you'd have to be there. But it was a very funny moment.

He also kept dropping the bedding and then the keys and getting in a real tizz.

So that's the story and here is the layout:-

A closer look...

You can't read the journalling strips very well which is why I gave you the full version above. I was inspired by the cocoa daisy challenge to share a story on a layout and also used Shimelle's sketch of the week. I have had that heart paper, misted background and pics ready to scrap for weeks but it was never quite right and then I saw this sketch and realised I could work it well.
Our Lonely Planet guide book for California said that Santa Barbara was the best smelling town in the US and I can see why. They have so many gorgeous and fragrant flowers growing and so I used these pics too to give a full impression of my experience.
Can anyone recognise the song from my post title and work out the tenuous link? I might even send you a freebie...

Nectar of the God's...

2011-09-20T11:34:00.000-07:00

Best Belgian biscuit...

It's like Christmas in a biscuit, but also nutty with caramel overtones. All my fav flavours. So when the Belgian told me they make it in a spread I had to try some. Luckily he went home for a week in the holidays and brought me back two jars.

I was keen to get my bake on and so I scanned the net for recipes. I found this on The Tasty Retreat blog for some speculoos blondies. I am all brownied out as I often have to bake them for the kids at church and so I wanted to try something new. We were off to our friends house for family night with three other couples - yay for the new influx of young marrieds!! So I tried them. But was in such a rush I didn't take a pic so will nick the pic off the other blog...but I am crediting it to her.

I adjusted the recipe slightly and added chopped pecans. It was delicious. I overcooked it slightly and so the middle was fudgey and gooey and gorgeous and the edges were more like cake. It says 25 mins on the recipe but I would do it for 20.
So if any of you are planning a mini break (or maxi break for the American and Australian and other non-European bloggers) to Brussells or Brugges pick up a jar of this and let me know what you think.
Back later with more scrapping...

21 days of Summer...

2011-09-15T10:38:00.000-07:00

Completed for Show us your Stuff

Some of which were spent in Balboa park in San Diego. We loved this place. (See above)
The first layout resulted in lots of red prints around the house. Looked like there had been a murder. I didn't realise how difficult it was to shift acrylic paint. Must get thinners for next time. I do like the texture of stamping with paint. The stamps are a little care worn now!
Some were spent in the less salubrious Salinas and I even scrapped with out of focus pics, but it was a story I really wanted to tell. I also had a good title in mind. The portions really were xxxxl. Just check out my expression. (See above)

Wordless Wednesday...

2011-09-13T12:35:00.000-07:00

Missing the summer...

Summer scrappin' had me a blast....

2011-09-10T10:46:00.000-07:00

A lot of the sixth formers I teach tease me about my scrapbooking and some even follow my blog (hi guys!!) so I have started calling it art journalling as I think scrapbooking sounds geeky and amateur. I basically scrapbook so I can moon over all of my travels and relive the trip over again when I make the layout.
I have a California layout to share with you.
So the first thing....inspired by this weeks Sketchy Thursdays sketch... pictures of my sister, Mara, and I in Santa Cruz. We LOVED it here and found a delish bakery (layout to come later) and chilled on the beach and spent the evening on the Pier where they have a huge amusement park. I love this backing paper and the colours all came together really well. I love the sunset picture too - I think Mara is responsible for this!

In other news our good friends the Bensons have moved to our town after a year in Germany - whoop! She was my housemate for a year, the year I first met Arne and we got married two weeks apart from one another - to make sure that she didn't miss my wedding! We took them to the Yorkshire Dales Ice-cream farm today and had a delish lunch, the best part of which was the thick milkshakes - mine was chocolate fudge brownie - hello!

This is their cute daughter enjoying the milkshake too!

Here she is on the swing loving it too!

And we met another friend of ours from church who enjoyed pushing the baby on the swing. She is such a cutie!

So we are excited to have them around and to do lots of fun things with them!

Hello Big Sur!

2011-09-06T12:52:00.000-07:00

So the kids were back into school today - only Year 7 and Sixth Form. I was with my new year 7 form all day and they were asking so many questions and looking a little like rabbits in the headlights - bless! I am looking forward to actually teaching soon and meeting my new classes.
I made the most of a free evening as I don't have a busy day at school tomorrow and am still with my form doing admin things most of the day so I got my scrap on.
Please excuse the rubbish pics - light wasn't great but I was keen to blog it. Also we finally got our own laptop on Saturday - yay! To end all the squabbles over my school one and let him play Champ Manager in peace whilst I can use the laptop to watch DVDs and listen to music whilst I scrap in the scrap room - bliss! However, it doesn't seem to have photoshop so I couldn't crop or enhance them.

The pic was taken along the Big Sur and is a fav of mine as we both look nice and it's a good pose I think.
This layout is loosely based around Shimelle's Sketch of the week. I misted round the mat rather than doing the spray paint line.
Hope everyone elses back to school was stress free!

Sitting on a gold mine?

2011-09-03T02:30:00.000-07:00

This was the trickiest 4 by 6 yet, I cannot see how the next three months will go with even more pics!
I decided it was time to scrap my pics of our overnight stay at the cute little town of Julian. We were using Lonely Planet and whilst in San Deigo read about an inland detour we could take. We thought that this sounded like a good idea as we had mainly been staying on the coast. When we first arrived in Julian we thought it was a real one horse town and not worth the two hour detour , we also struggled to find accomodation for the night.
Luckily we found a cute inn called Apple Tree Inn and had al fresco stone baked pizzas across the road with a live country / blue grass band. It felt really authentic.
The next day after browsing the farmers market we found a cute little ranch that offered lots of activities. We went for gold panning and spent a few hours at it. This is what I have scrapped about.
We went to Ikea on Wednesday and I finally got me an easel for staging my layouts. I struggled to think of a colour scheme as we were all wearing different colours etc but went for green, gold and read. I stamped the title and bordered it in gold spotted ribbon. Then I matted the photo with gold acrylic paint. I rewrote my journalling three times - first on the original layout, then on a brown paper bag but it was only once it was written on white paper that it stood out enough. I was getting really bored of writing the same thing over again!

The first inside secret section. A close-up of the panning and a medium shot of me panning for gold. I painted the chipboard embellishments gold to go with the theme.

The inside page. I used more close-ups of the panning and cut the advert for the ranch out from a little booklet I picked up. I also journalled about the guy who taught us how to pan.

Overall I am *quite* pleased with this layout. I think I would use this idea again if I had lots of pictures of one event.

Happy weekend! Back to school Monday - boo!

Sugar dusted passion cake...

2011-09-01T02:05:00.000-07:00

Been doing a spot of baking.

At the weekend my sister Mara was set the task of going through all her old cooking mags and cutting out recipes she wanted to keep then getting rid of them. She still had them from Christmas 2005 and suchlike!

In Good Food Magazine I found this little gem and decided I wanted to have a go. However in this digital age I have just found it online.

I like the doilie style decoration and even cut my own heart mask out for the middle. It does start to melt though as you can see in the bottom left hand corner. So work quickly. And take a pic even quicker!

It's one of those cakes that is tastier when it has cooled down and even better the day after.

With all the fruit and veg in it, it is possibly saintly. So go try it and enjoy!

L.A Galaxy - the craziest supporters ever!

2011-08-31T02:48:00.000-07:00

Although the supporters were few at the L.A Galaxy match we went to see the volume was high. They had a small band in the supporters stand, a conductor to regulate the chants (how American is that?!) and a laminated song card with all of their chants. I am not the biggest footie fan but had promised the H that we could go and see a game in return for all the hours he spent in scrapbook stores and cupcakeries. Also my sister Mara, who was travelling with us, is a huge fan, but I did enjoy watching the crazy supporters jump around in the stands and singing.
Of course watching Beckham run around the pitch didn't hurt.
I know the staging for this layout is a bit cheesy and doesn't even co-ordinate. But I like it.
I love this starting point sketch from Shimelle and filled the envelope with more pics, my ticket and the laminated song sheet.

Half page challenge...Monterey style

2011-08-30T11:47:00.000-07:00

I have been an errant blogger but creative things have been happening every day. You may recall I was waiting on a bumper delivery from snapfish and was trying to scrap without the photos. It wasn't totally successful as some of the layouts didn't quite gel with the pics. One of the more successful attempts was completed (or started at least!) using Shimelle's half page challenge. I know I am too late for the prizes, she did a fab list of challenges but I was only just back from California when the challenges were due in. I may work backwards on a few more though as I am struggling to start my layouts at the mo.

Sorry the picture is a bit blurred - I think it would be better if you clicked on it. Quite a simple layout. I love map paper and got a bunch of it at Michael's in the US - my sister and I loved the scrap shops and found the funniest one where they have this section for husbands with television, car manuals and mags and big comfy chairs - Arne loved it in there!
How cute is my new lettering and mini doilies - also US purchases!

Wedding dress layout...

2011-08-30T11:33:00.000-07:00

This layout has been a long time coming, even since I saw this gorgeous layout I have wanted to get my hands on the hambly overlay. It took me a year, a trip across the Atlantic and I chanced upon it in a cute stationary boutiqe in Santa Monica. Then Shimelle decided it was wedding week and so I couldn't resist.

Here it is...

I love it. It's every bit as lovely as I envisaged. It captures a really special moment perfectly. The final dress fitting. I wanted to stitch the tissue paper on as Sharmaine did as it fits well with the dress making theme but the sewing machine was playing up. I think I need lessons.

California slideshow part two...

2011-08-24T14:17:00.000-07:00

Hey bloggers!

I have made some progress with my slideshow and have added my own music, pan and scan and a fade effect. It is roughly the last ten days of the trip - although some of the photos are a bit muddled.

Highlights of the second part of the trip:
* Monterey Aquarium
* San Diego zoo - such cute polar bears and pandas
* Balboa Park
* Lots of shopping
* A really tasty Italian meal at Guiseppe's on Pismo beach
* Driving along route 1 to our California soundtrack and snapping lots of pics of the gorgeous views
* Five Guys Burgers and Fries
* Seeing Beckham play for L.A Galaxy
* Eating some of Julian's famous apple pie
* Gold panning
* Eating delicious stone baked pizza outside whilst listening to a blue grass band
* Gayle's bakery in Santa Cruz

The scrapbooking stores were immense and I have been stroking my new papers all day. Lots of maps, stars and stripes and papers with California related pics and titles. I can't believe that you can even get local high schools and football teams cardstock and supplies - craziness!

It's pretty quiet on blogger - I think a lot of people must still be on holiday. I have been trying to catch up with visiting all your lovely blogs and seeing what projects you are busy with and where you've all been on holiday.

Thanks for looking!

California slideshow...

2011-08-24T04:09:00.000-07:00

Still struggling to kick the jet lag. Can't sleep till at least 2 a.m every morning, perhaps if I wasn't still on holidays I could shake it. Oh well, I won't complain!

So as promised I have made (and it's my first so don't laugh!) a slideshow of our first ten days in California to share some of our happy memories with you all. I have ordered a HUGE stack of pics from snapfish but am losing patience waiting for it to arrive. Think of all the scrapping I could be doing? I have made four pages ready for pics but have never worked this way before, do any of you guys scrap this way? I'm a tactile scrapper and always feel the need to see my photos on the layout and worry it won't work when they come.

So without further ado...I present our roadtrip...California 2011...the first ten days...

Highlights of the first ten days:

* Hiring bikes and exploring Santa Monica and Venice beach

* Mexican food - yum!

* The cool food courts

* Lots of root beer - love that stuff!

* Wodelicious in Santa Barbara the cutest cupcakerie ever, it was just like wonka land

* Steinbeck museum

* Monterey - such a cute little seaside town

* San Luis Obisbo and the infamous bubblegum alley

* The wedding of course (may do a seperate slide show on that!)

* San Fran (it was just as amazing second time round)

* Jelly Belly Factory FREE tour and sample bar - yum!

So fingers crossed it will work and if those darn pics turn up tomorrow you will have some layouts to see.
The last ten days will be up soon too.

Come Dine with Me Champions

2011-08-22T13:30:00.000-07:00

So you may remember my earlier post about our Gastro Pub night. Before that our friend Mike hosted a Greek food night and before that our friends the Flinn's hosted a tapas night where I forgot to take pics as there was so much good food distracting me!
We had soooo much fun and it was just like having a free posh restaurant meal out, I would totally recommend you guys have a go with some friends. We enjoyed it cos we're real foodies and were loving the chance to try lots of new and exciting recipes. We now make the bread used in our starter often and it's still as delicious and we have tried different variations like adding sun dried tomotoes too.
So Saturday night was the last evening and the one where we would add all the scores together. Esther and Jared put on a Thai feast and named their night - "Come Thai'n with me!" which I thought was a great name! The food was delish and they won for their starters. I didn't take any pics as we took so many on holiday and just wanted to enjoy the evening.
We were voted the overall winners with an average score of 8.7. Our dessert also won overall for that category. We were pleased, but also found it a bit awkward to have to score each other and place someone last when we had all tried so hard.

Guess whose back...?

2011-08-19T17:51:00.000-07:00

Well we are back and the house looks like a mess now I have exploded our bags and started on the laundry. Was an amazing trip but I will tell you ALL about it soon, I am trying to beat the jet lag so must head to bed. Will leave you with a pic...

A silly pose on the Big Sur!

California here we come...

2011-07-26T14:14:00.000-07:00

Excitement is at fever pitch. Tomorrow we head down to London on the train...then we board a plane to California.
Check out my new board on pinterest...love it!
So I will not be blogging for around 20 days, but then expect great things with all my sexy new stash and hot pics of the Sunshine state. I may even do a giveaway to thank you all for your loyal following!
Have a fabulous summer holidays fellow bloggers!

Two year anniversary...

2011-07-25T14:16:00.000-07:00

His present to me? A photoshoot with very scrappable pics! I even planned props too. We tried out our new tripod that we got at a car boot sale. A great find.

Dinner and a movie too. A relaxing and fun day.

Letters from the Inside

2011-07-22T02:42:00.000-07:00

In my teen years one of the books which really resonated with me was this one - Letters from the Inside. It was a series of letters between two pen friends, seemlingly two normal teenage girls, however one of them had a big secret. I loved it so much cos I was all about the pen friends and had them in Jordan, Hong Kong, America, Germany, France and the list goes on. My fav one was Jason from Hong Kong who used to write me on cool Garfield and Snoopy stationary. I think it was all about the excitement of happy mail and cute stationary. I do love good stationary - hence why I became a scrapper I guess.
My pen friends weren't only international two of them were in the very same town and school as me -Kim and Susannah. We used to write notes about boys, with illustrations and crazy schemes of how we were going to get them to notice us. On a recent visit home I discovered a box in the attic full of them and had a really amusing afternoon reading. So I decided to scrap about it...

I had to scan through all my old post to find stamps to work as a border. Of course most of these letters were hand delivered by bike or by hand in school, however I wanted the layout to reflect pen friends. I also stuck the envelope on to host all the little notes and show some of the pictures and handwriting.

Below is a close-up of the journalling, which is all about the contents of these letters.

I used bright and bold colours to reflect the silly glasses we are wearing in the pic. This layout is just about my letters with Suz and I may well complete one all about Kim too - soon! Perhaps post-California as this is creeping up on us. In fact - less than a week to go - ahhhh!

Post inspired by Julie Kirk's Going Postal project. Get on over to her blog and take part.

Do you have pinterest?

2011-07-21T08:26:00.000-07:00

Well I managed to avoid joining up till school was *almost* over as I can see how addictive and time consumming it could be, but I have joined up to pinterest. I am using it to pin recipes, scrap pages, pictures of my teenage crushes (hello Joshua Jackson!!) and of course to post pics of California (just one week to go - CANNOT WAIT!!!)

So follow me and I will follow you.

An actual layout to be posted later - yay!

MJ Remember the time...

2011-07-19T09:50:00.000-07:00

So I promised that I had scrapped a bit this month and here it is...

I produced it as a guest designer for Scrap it with a Song. The song prompt was Michael Jackson's Remember the time, I was inspired by the idea of remembering when we fell in love. On Monday it's our two month anniversary (yikes!) and so I always relish the chance to reminise about the past and how we fell in love and the early dating days etc. So this pic is from our frist trip to London together. He looks so young and sweet. Bless.

Come Dine with me - Gastro Pub Night

2011-07-17T09:20:00.000-07:00

So it was our turn to host the Come Dine with Me contest we are holding with five of our friends. We'd had tapas night, Greek night and so we chose Gastro Pub due to a convo we had at the last event about Britain lacking a specific cuisine. Although I must admit our menu was inspired by lots of French cooking, however they are the type of dishes you would find at a gastro pub (that was our disclaimer anyway!)

Here was the menu we sent out - we had a lot of fun thinking of creative names for the dishes:-

Aperitif: Ploughman’s crunch & Wimbledon cooler

Starter: Anglophile Avocado soup with hunky homemade pumpkin bread

Main: Frank Spencer’s Fruity pork steaks (ohhh Betty!)

Pesto and goats cheese summer tartlet

Romford’s own Ratatouille

Princely Potatoes’ Dauphinoise

Ministry of Mushy Peas

Dessert: Trio of summer treats…

Pink panther cupcakes

Luscious Lemon roulade

Yorkshire Raspberry Ripper ice-cream

Union Jack flowers

Parsnip Crisps - a real success

Homemade pumpkin bread was my fav

Minty mushy peas and tartlets

Potatoe Dauphinoise

Romford's own ratatoille

Fruity pork steaks

One of the trio of deserts - Pink Lemonade cupcakes

All of these recipes were so simple and really delicious. Some we had tried before and are becoming dinner party staples - such as the fruity pork steaks and the lemon roulade (I will post this recipe later as it is on paper.) Unfortunately due to being busy hosting I didn't get a picture of the trio of deserts - only the cupcake above. I added a slice of lemon roulade and a scoop of homemade raspberry ripple icecream. The ice-cream was so tasty and so easy as I borrowed an ice-cream maker from my friend Sally at work, but now we want one! I knew that would happen!
We don't know the outcome yet as everyone scored us for each course, but the scores will only be revealed on the last one in August. We are definately going to carry it on next year as it's really good to have an opportunity to try out some new recipes and it's a real feast to look forward to for foodies like us.
The parsnip crisps are a bit faffy as you have to cook them in batches, but they are so tasty and a lot cheaper than the ones you buy in shops.
I notice I have lost a follower and feel this may be related to the lack of scrap stuff recently - life has really just taken over and I keep thinking of all the pretty stash I will get in California and the great pics I will have to scrap - watch this space!!!

IRON Cupcake Summer Berries...

2011-07-12T13:34:00.000-07:00

My somewhat 'wilted' cupcakes with their straw hearts

With my scrapbooked sign - they used to do a prize for signage - wish they still did!

Wimbledon inspired Eaton Mess cupcakes - I was thinking of this kind of idea

Don't these look summery?

These rasberry cuties came second I think

These came third but were alcoholic so I didn't try them.

Well Iron Cupcake it had been too long. I enjoy meeting up with all my baking pals. I was even true to my diet and didn't indulge much. My recipe is from this blog. I can highly recommend it, it is very dense though and without the strawberry extract the curd was creamy rather than strawberryish. I was a little bit in love with the lemon cream cheese frosting and did lick the bowl!
How do you stop cream cheese frosting being so gloopy and unable to pipe??

Banana and Peanut Butter Muffins

2011-07-05T13:05:00.000-07:00

Lethargy has kicked in...I have managed to lose half a stone (yay!) with my militant gym routine and then this week it's gone downhill. Last night we both made our excuses and this afternoon he couldn't be bothered and then we both ended up napping. I have only left the sofa to make these bad boys....

Banana muffin recipe is found here but I added two tablespoons of peanut butter at the wet stage and a good sprinkling of cinammon with the dry ingredients. I can't seem to have banana without cinammon - it's surely a must? The worked well and I do believe they will be even better tomorrow for school - yum!
In other news...we are busy (last minute) planning our road trip to California. In 22 days we will be boarding our plane for LA. Cannot wait! Had a sudden urge to hire a camper van as felt this would save us on accomodation. I got really into the idea as I found cuties like this to travel in. However they were all booked out :( Gutted! Maybe next time...if there will be one.
So I came up with idea of making a little book of ideas, plans and places to see. I am planning to make it prettier by covering it in a collage of old maps and retro pics.

So guys, any tips, hints or ideas for places to see or things to do in California? Especially ideas for good cupcakeries, diners and scrapbook stores would be much appreciated.
Thanks!

Strawberry picking, retro tint and a sneak peek...

2011-07-04T11:03:00.000-07:00

So firstly proof that I DO scrapbook. My scraproom is very neglected with all this lush weather and gym going, but I have been working on this layout for Scrap it with a Song. I can't reveal the whole thing now though. See if you can guess the song?

Our family used to love going strawberry picking every summer and so I thought I'd educate the Belgian in this British tradition. I have played around with the colours and filters on photoshop to try to make the pics look retro.

We picked raspberries too and they were juicy, juicy and we enjoyed them with fluffy pancakes and natural yogurt.

The strawbs were so big and juicy. They had a sign telling you not to try before you buy and I heard this mum telling her kids exactly what to say when the owners asked if they had tried some!! How funny! Surely part of the fun is sneaking a few before they make the punnet??

What have YOU all been up to in this sunny weather??

Sat morning special - Ricotta and Mushroom Veggie Lasagne

2011-07-02T01:50:00.000-07:00

So what can you make using all these ingredients? Care of March Good Food 2011 I got this delish recipe...

And here is the finished dish - it might not look like an oil painting, but it tasted soooo good.

I don't really do measurements and just use whatevers in the cupboard.
So here are the steps:

1) Fry sliced mushrooms in olive oil. Transfer them to a new dish.

2) In same pan simmer at a gentle heat two cans of chopped tomatoes

3) In the meantime mix a tub of ricotta cheese with parmesan and seasoning.

4) Put a pinch of sugar, salt, pepper and oregano into the pan and cook for another.

5) Cut lasagne sheets into quarters (I used fresh) and place them in a shallow dish filled with cold water.

6) In a square dish put a layer of the tomatoe mix. Then put four noodles down with space inbetween, then pile some ricotta mix on each slice, then the mushrooms and then repeat the process again.

7) Then spoon a tablespoon full of the tomatoe mix over each bundle and sprinkle with plenty of parmesan. Place in a preheated oven at 200'c and bake for 25 mins (I did it for 20 as Arne was on in a rush to go to a meeting!!)

8) Serve up with a green salad and enjoy!

Try it this weekend and let me know what you think!
Mel x

Summer loving...

2011-06-22T11:12:00.000-07:00

Inspired by Nicole Pomeroy's layout in the latest Creating Keepsakes. I loved the borders on the photos and around the edge of the page, I forget about doodling sometimes. I used a muted background and then lots of circles. My fav feature (which is also inspired by her layout) is the 'waves' at the bottom created by curling and ripping the paper and distressing the edges. It makes the layout 3D and adds dimension.

Created using the summer prompt over on The Paper Variety.

P.S The cool little homemade embellishment in the top right hand corner was made by Homemade Hannah. I brought some gorgeous lettering from her and she made this cute little homemade card with the package, so I immeadiately recycled it onto my page!

A stitch in time...

2011-06-21T11:02:00.000-07:00

I just can't resist a bad pun - sorry! So Sketchy Thursday's it's been far too long and so I felt I would give you a whirl again.
Here is the sketch:

And here is what I created...

I am still getting good mileage out of my Saltburn-by-the-Sea pics and especially the sunset ones. What I liked about this sketch was that you could use little pics which may not be scrap worthy on their own, but help tell the story and add more interest.
A few things I did on this layout that I haven't tried or done for a while:
* Hand stitched all the way round the circle. This took quite a long time. Probably why I don't do it very often, and you can't really see it clearly in the pic but trust me it adds texture and interest to the circle.
* For the squares I just stamped a mini stamp pad down hard to create the gold and purple squares. An easy and effective little technique. I also inked the edges of the photos to make them pop.

All in all a pleasing layout and a great sketch - thanks!

In other news my husband was feeling left out of the blog action so we have made our own blog called Ide and Seek ('scuse the terrible pun! It was his idea!) We are including all sorts of features like funny pics, songs, videos and recipes to go on over and check it out.

Adventures with photoshop...

2011-06-18T12:56:00.000-07:00

Went to the West Yorkshire Sculpture Park today and was so glad the rain stayed away and the sun came out!
Here are some pics I played with in photoshop...
This shot was taken using self timer and was edited using the quick fix and then I applied the water blot mask (I think it was called this!)

This shot has a charcoal mask...

Colour boosted and shadow enhanced...

Nothing done to this, but my fav piece in the park - the Haha bridge. Can't help but smile!

Sky lightened and the blue colour boosted. I like the composition in this one.

A sneaky shot through the sculpture - often the only pic I will get!

The view from below.

So have a go yourselves and share any new tricks with me. I really want to know how to round the corners on the pics, I have looked at an online tutorial but still not too sure how to do it!

Sunset at Saltburn...

2011-06-16T14:59:00.000-07:00

Welcome new followers - I love to check out where all my followers are from and always thought that scrapbooking was a very American thing, but yet there are followers from all over the globe. It's great!
Here a couple of things I have been loving recently:-

Nesquik
My So Called Life (do you remember that programme?! And how cute Jared Leto is?!)
My cute little Ipod bargain off ebay
Actually having definition in my legs again
Photoshop
Crunchy red grapes

I finally got some scrapping time tonight and here is what I produced with my Kaiser Craft kit...

I think you need to click on the pic to see it clearer. I was using Shimelle's sketch as a guideline, although she had a blown up picture and I didn't have one so used a mat to fluff it out.
What are you loving right now?

200th Post - woo hoo! Seaside layouts!

2011-06-13T09:55:00.000-07:00

So as the sun was setting on Saturday night I suddenly decided I needed to photograph these layouts. It started as a single, inspired by this sketch from Shimelle (ta love!) but then I found another great piece of cardstock and decided to make a double. I thought that the picture below was quite arty, but actually it's not a very good view of the layout.
What I love about Shimelle's sketches is the clusters - they are a great stash buster. I just threw everything at it. The heart was made by one of my students and I kept it at the time and thought it would be a great embellie.

Thanks to Julie Kirk's latest series of advice for the DT curious I had a go at making my pictures look more professional and dressing them up a bit. (Sadly light was not on my side!)

Now the rather shady double layout. These layouts aren't necessarily my scrapping style but I feel they compliment the seaside feel.

This is my 200th post and I am keen to do a giveaway soon, however my followers have plateued at 39 and so if you could give me a mention on your blogs and tell your followers that I will be doing a giveaway soon, perhaps I can reach my desired 50 followers - thanks in advance. I will make it worth your while with a great giveaway.

P.S Sorry for the non-existent fit Friday - blogger hasn't been playing nice!

Just peachy!

2011-06-10T08:58:00.000-07:00

Another one of my photoshopped mini break to the coast pics makes it onto a layout...

Was saving this cardstock for pictures from the time I studied at UGA in America as it is the PEACHY STATE however I felt it would work well with this graphic print, since my floral top compliments the pattern.
It is now rainy, the husband is out playing footy (outside) I am under my fluffy purple throw and catching up on blogging etc. Hmmmm....

The lazy song...

2011-06-07T13:30:00.000-07:00

The concept I devised in the last post is born....and I likey a lotey!

We have got a new obsession in our lives.
Well not new, just rediscovered.

Ebay!!

Now we are avid gym goers (I will share my tally of workouts with you on what I am now calling Fit Friday - as opposed to Fat Friday when my colleagues and I would gorge on chips, dips and CAKE!!)
So, I digress, we decided we need a couple of these babies...

So, ever thrifty since I do live in Yorkshire, I suggested that we had to sell enough on ebay to cover two second hand ipods.
And now I am addicted to the thrill of seeing how many watchers and bidders we have.
The most unexpected amount so far is a fiver for our Ford KA manual which we got second hand in the first place! I only listed it for a quid and now there is a bidding war going on and about 8 followers.
Craziness huh?

Oh we do like to be beside the seaside...

2011-06-05T01:13:00.000-07:00

A little half term trip to the seaside in the gorgeous sunshine gave us the chance to finally try some of the fancy settings on my camera. I finally got round to reading the digital camera mag my husband lovingly purchased for me quite some time ago. First we experiemented with other settings (I usually use it on auto which defeats the object of an SLR!) and depth of field and blurring the background.

Then composition. I am planning to scrap this tonight with the lyrics from Lazy Bruno Mars new song. I usually take pics face on, but decided to try with some backdrop in there.

The Saltburn-by-the-sea speciality of a lemon top. I played around with the colours and settings of this photo on photoshop - also a first for me. I didn't even know I had it on the computer!

Not really an arty shot but I was pleased with my two-tone nails and so wanted a pic to show them off!

Now picture this - husband is lying flat out on the peir to get this shot. I was very worried about double chin but it working out fine. I also played with this in photoshop and put a charcoal sketch mask on it.

A rare photo of the two of us. Wasn't the sunset stunning? He hates asking people to take pics of us so we used the self timer and I think it worked quite well, although I was concerned as this was up a big hill and it was a bit precariously balanced! I tweaked the colours of the sunset and am looking forward to scrapping this shot.

Lastly - just for fun! I had to lighten this pic as he was in the shadow. I think his t.shirt is fitting for the pose.

All in all a fab little getaway - would totally recommend it for a day trip. We stayed overnight but moved on to Whitby on the Friday as it is quite a small place and there isn't that much to do. I am trying to really think about pictures now before I take them and will defo be using photoshop a whole lot more!
Any tips or tricks from you experienced photographers out there?

The king of the swingers baby...jungle V.I.P!

2011-06-01T13:49:00.000-07:00

What was your favourite childhood toy?

Did you collect cabbage patch dolls, Polly Pocket, barbies, beany babies or My Little Pony like me?

Well all these toys were fab, but I had no pics of them and when I think about mini Mel she was always on the swing - whether it be in the garden or at the park.

So here she is swinging away.

Reaching for the stars - hence...

This layout was stash lite as I used lots of my scraps. I got my trustee (and much negelected) Slice out to cut out various shaped stars. I then inked them to make them pop and pinned some down with brads. I must admit I did scraplift this idea from the latest Scrapbooksetc magazine.

This layout is more graphic than my usual style and I had to be very careful not to smudge the inks - I am usually a very messy scrapper!
I must admit I can't pass a swing to this day without having a go. Perhaps I should have joined the circus!

Completed for this gorgeous blog.

Double wedding layout with Shimelle...

2011-06-01T13:27:00.000-07:00

Shimmy to the left, oh double layout of mine. Using the photo love challenge over at Shimelle's fab blog.

Then tilt the hip and show your other side.

I must say I am impressed with this double layout.

I went for an unusual colour combo of brown, yellow, pink and turquoise.

A combo I will use again I think.

The animal inspired playing cards made an effective embellishment.

I then cut my brown border sticker in half - a good tip to make your stash stretch.

The journalling was tricky to line up and especially drawing the lines on with my trusty ruler.

Isn't my new congratulations stamp with bunting cute?? It was buy one get one free at this discount shop called Range in Shrewsbury. A steal at just 50p. I should have brought some to sell on ebay!

This sketch was so fab as it made me pay close attention to details and balance between both sides of the layout.

I added the middle journalling spot at the last minute when I felt it needed something more, plus a bit of bling!

Julie Kirk style my month of May in numbers...

2011-05-31T02:18:00.000-07:00

Twice we travelled to my parents to spend the first and last bank holiday of the month with them = a total of 560 whopping miles in the peugeot and a scary 40 minutes is how long the husband managed to knock off the second journey - eek! I will NOT share the top speeds with you.

At each of these family get together we enjoyed a dessert bar. That's a whopping choice of 14 different varieties of baked goods. I baked a total of 2 - chocolate malt cupcakes and easter flower biscuits.

Still on the topic of food my colleagues at work like to bring in treats every now and then.

Total amount of bites consummed by moi whilst "marking" in the English office = TEN.

Total calories per bite = 50.

Next big number (which links to the previous SHOCKING stat) number of gyms joint = 1.

Total bargain price of monthly membership = £24.99
Total times been since joining a week ago = 3.

Total amount of pressies my pregnant friend got at her baby shower = 33.

Total games I won at the baby shower = 1.

Eleven is the total number of kids, from church, I took on a day trip to the farm.
Total bags of grain we fed them - 8. (The animals not the kids!)

Fifteen is the amount I layouts I completed this month, in this very room...(I shall not calculate the amount of hours and Grey's episodes it took to make them!)

Three is the amount of American scrapbook mags I nicked off my sister, Mara, at the weekend.

Ninety is the amount of minutes the National Insurance men made my husband wait while they "checked" his passport which then got seized as they thought he spoke English too well for a Belgian . (How ridiculous!) So 0 is the shockingly boring amount of holidays we have been on when a trip to Brugges to see his grandparents is way overdue.

So June will probably see more trips home (and more miles) to celebrate two of my sister's birthdays. Plus parting with a lot of cash for a holiday to California in the summer to celebrate Arne's best friend's wedding.
Link up with Julie Kirk to share YOUR month in numbers.

Exploring Hodnet...

2011-05-26T13:30:00.000-07:00

So only one day till the holidays! Happy times! I will be gaining at least one or two hours free every day too, now that Year 11's are leaving for study leave. Good times! Husband out so I got some scrappy time AND Grey's time tonight. Happy days!

So here is the finished layout...

Using Shimelle as inspiration I went crazy on the border stickets. I also used pics of scenery - which I don't often do. I think this pic of my little sis Gem is soooo cute. We found this underground mine when we were last at my parents and had a good afternoon exploring in the sun.
I am currently aching all over after last nights body pump class. A friend recommended trying it out and boy did it work muscles I never even knew I had. But this has to be a good thing. Right?!
Friday tomorrow so we cannot help but be in a good mood. How is everyone planning to spend their weekend?

Wedding layout...

2011-05-24T11:51:00.000-07:00

Hey!!! Here is a little (wonky) page I completed earlier this week. Lots of butterflies, a sprinkling of bling. I think I used a sketch but (as usual) I can't find it now! Looking at in now I think I should have edged the thickers so that they stand out more. I cut off the journalling spot and used some embellishments I found in an old kit which I never used - a good find! I am still trying to come to terms with using my slr. Somehow the person in the foreground was in focus but the people in the background were blurred. I have been wanting to do that for ages - but can never manage it. Any ideas how I could do it again?! Lol! xxx

Slip 'n' slide...

2011-05-21T02:46:00.000-07:00

Aloha! Exciting news my man and I have joint a gym...they sent me a ridiculously cheap offer after I inquired online about six months ago. So we went for a trial on Thursday night with our preggers friend who is due on....Sunday! Ha! However, like many things it was too good to be true as they only wanted to give me the offer as I had recieved the email (don't you hate it when that happens?) Thankfully the lady at the club gave us a competetive deal on him and so we have our induction on Monday night. You had to tick which out of the following you were hoping for: * to trim * to get fit * to tone up * to train So I asked if I could tick all of the above! I am excited to get fit for summer...beach diet begins today!

Onto scrappier things. I initially made this layout for Shimelle's weekly challenge, but as usual it was only half way through when it was the deadline! So instead a challenge to make chunky pages over at The Studio caught my eye and so I went for it with the chipboard and the prit-pads. I went for orange again as I felt it was a great contrast to the blues and the white in the photo. It is of our easter activity on the slip 'n' slide. A really fun day in the sun, I was going to go for a big, bold and chunky title but in the end wanted the emphasis to be on the pics. Ahhh so now Saturday rolls out in front of me with no plans. Am a bit bunged up. Tired from a little cheeky night out last night with my colleagues. What are you up to, reader dear?!

Daddy's girl...

2011-05-17T13:52:00.001-07:00

Since I found this pic at my parents house I have wanted to scrap it. I like the dynamic between us and feel it captures a time when she idolised her older sister and I thought she was a daddy's girl. I found the perfect words on a vellum sheet. I cut out the houses from some new cardstock I got on sale at TKMaxx - gotta love that place! It's strange as I have been using orange in my layouts a lot recently. I journalled round the edge and didn't opt for a big title - another recent preference. It is quite simple, but I wanted the photo to be the main emphasise. Hope you like it Gemmy! x

Spectator sport...

2011-05-14T03:21:00.000-07:00

Blogger being down has actually boosted my creativity as I have been able to actually scrap, instead of just parousing all your pages! A shipment of new pics was on the way and I always love to scrap new pics, I was forced to make do and take a good look at the pics I already had. This was taken last month of my man on a walk in the park, he was very distracted by the oldies playing boules and so I decided to do a layout of him about his obsession with watching sports. Funnily enough I got inspired by the heather in the background and went for "girly" colours. I mixed gesso with turquoise mists to make a negative title, I like how its opaque and so you can still see the cool sporty paper. The journalling spot is another *magpie moment* a coaster painted with gesso and grey paint. It took a few layers to cover up the original design and then I inked it in pink. I used Shimelle's challenge of scrapping a photo that requires explanation.

Doing the wrong things...for all the right reasons!

2011-05-10T11:33:00.001-07:00

Welcome scrappers and bakers! Today I have something for everyone. Ha! Above is a layout using our one year anniversary pic (or rather pic from that weekend as we went away) This layout consists of two magpie moments - a coaster from a cafe in Bruges and a little booklet thing from the clothes shop Hollister that I used for an extra pic (of our wedding day a year ago from then) and the journalling. I used a triangle for the embellishments (thanks for the prompt Shimelle!) The second layout I completed in conjunction with National Scrapbooking day uses patterned paper for the backing paper. I blinged it up with plenty of buttons, brads and sequins. It didn't take long, but I think its quite effective. Lastly at the weekend I went to a baby shower. I made lemon cupcakes using the recipe from Hummingbird. They had lemon frosting which I tried to dye blue, but it looked more like grey. I prettied them up with homemade toppers and blue sprinkles. Any suggestions on good blue food colouring? An arial shot... That's all for now folks!

Document 2011 and happy scrapbook day!

2011-05-07T04:25:00.000-07:00

So I think making today National Scrapbooking Day gives me permission to put aside all the job stress with exams approaching and parents moaning and sleepless night and ignore all the piles of marking and just....SCRAP! I shall be playing along with some of Shimelle's yummy challenges. In fact I have a few (well lots) of stuff to share with you. Firstly her 4 by 6 challenge above is the layout and below shows the secret flap for journalling and an extra pic... The title 'Give a Little Brick' is inspired by the Goo Goo Dolls song - do you see what I did there?! I often used to do hidden journalling and pics so was glad of this chance to try it again. I like it a lot! Next my March Document 2011 layout. This has been the thorn in my side for weeks. I am still not pleased with the clash of colours and just the overall appearence of it. But it was all stuck down bit by bit and it was too late to change it. So here you go...March! The first of my April pages, with all the bank hols, a wedding, two family reunions, mothers day etc it's been an epic month. My camera has seen many a great pic and so I am going to do *at least* two pages. The first is showcasing the first part of the month...dessert bars, cupcakes, mother's day and Come Dine with Me Part Two. I like this one a lot more and moved away from the six box layout to fit more of the pics in. Lastly a cute little layout using two colours I rarely scrap with - orange and brown. It is in fact a scraplift from this lovely lady and I am rather pleased with it. It doesn't really have a title, just a couple of journalling cards. So...looking forward to seeing what all you lovely ladies create! M xxx

Springing to life...

2011-05-03T12:10:00.001-07:00

What is your favourite thing about spring? I have a whole list: * Prospect of summer in the air * Fields of daffodils * Walking in the woods (as pictured above) * Light evenings * Mother's day * Easter reunion with the family * Lots of treats * Days out with my man Completed for this My favourite things challenge blog.