Ten things to do when you turn thirty...

1) Play around with your new lens in Shoreditch - I need more practice with it I think!

2) Take pictures of your The Belgian looking excited for the weekend ahead!

3) Stay in the Hilton at Canada Water and take the free boat across the Thames to 

Canary Wharfe

4) Have yummy pizzas at Fire and Ice in Spittlefields

5) Enjoy a yummy maple and pecan cupcake from Spittlefields market

6) Wander round London Bridge in the sunshine

7) Get some useful and funky pressies - liek the Wahaca recipe book

8) Have a bite to eat at the Bukowski grill and spot Gok Wan with his boyfriend and little doggy but didn't get a picture quick enough!

9) Have delicious ice-cream at Oddano's in Selfidges

10) And the highlight and reason for the weekend go and see a West End show - more specifically Matilda. I loved it all - the staging, the cute little kids, the character of the dad, the songs - especially When I Grow Up.

Admire the sunset on the day you get the train back up to Leeds....phew what a great birthday weekend!
How did you all celebrate your thirtieth birthdays? If you are the big 3-0 yet, that is!

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Linking up (a bit late to the party!) to Shimelle's 10 on the 10th

Messy Mondays: Masking and misting

So back on the messy Mondays trail...I will probably be squeezed into the stands at the Olympics as you read this post. I'm glad that the Belgian persisted and signed us up for a ridiculous amount of events so that we secured at leats two in the end. I'm not the biggest sports spectator - but I do love an occassion and chance to take pics and scrapbook them afterwards!

Today I want to share a few techniques I have been using with misting.
I have a love / hate relationship with misting.
Sometimes it is the perfect thing to finish off my page.
Sometimes it destroys my page.

Here are some tips that I have learnt the hard way:

• always try to mist FIRST before you lay down your pictures - or if you can't then cover all photos with scrap paper
• if you are using stickers as a mask stick them onto your jeans or a jumper first so that they get wooly and less sticky and then don't pull your page up with them
• you can dilute and mix colours with mists if you use a spare bottle with a spray lid
• always practice first on scrap paper as different mists have different opaqueness and some can crumple your paper so its best to try to use cardstock

My first layout:

I loved this picture of the three of us outside this quaint little B&B in Julian, Calfornia. I had visions of using lots of apples on the layout but then I got my new Maya Road bronze mist and I decided to play around with vintage papers and misting to create a shabby chic layout.
I used the mist ot create a mat for my photo mat and then layered lots of bits of paper and ribbon on the top of it. The mist is quite thick and heavy and I should have diluted it or tried it out first as it was a bit heavy in parts and not as 'fluid' as I would have like - but hey ho! You all benefit from my mistake! I was happy with the overall layout and could have always added more layering at the top to cover it up!

My second layout:

A tribute to the yumminess that is Hummingbird bakery and their special cupcake of the day - Jame Donut. I was very impressed with the technique which I used for this layout and it was a bit of a fluke and a bit of an experiment so I was pleased when it proved successful.
I am a hoarder. Which scrapbooker is not? You always think 'oohh this could look nice on a layout' and so I have boxes and bags of random little tidbits just wating for their moment to shine on a layout! I had these merit stickers that I had used up at school - being the encouraging teacher that I am and all!
So I kept the negatives and I made sure that I got the stickiness out of it by sticking onto my duvet cover (comforter to my friends across the pond) and then stuck it on a plain piece of white card and got busy with the mists. I created a graduation of colour from turquoise to purple to pink and some shimmery silver on top for good measure. I decided that it reminded me of the circular pattern on the Hummingbird bakery walls and so I dug out these photos from last October.
I used lots of cutsey embellishments like my purple heart ribbon and I cut up a layout that was covered in cupcakes and sweet treats - I don't know which make it was.
Overall I was pretty pleased with the effect and now want to get my hands on some other coloured mists to try this out again. The mask was really only good for one use - so my eyes are peeled for a replacement.
I guess next term I'll have to keep being trigger happy with the merit stickers.
Surely it's a win/win situation all round?!

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

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?

Things I'm loving 2012!

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

Iron Cupcake marshmallow smores...

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??

Halloween Party - cupcakes and game ideas!

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!!)

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Linked up to fingerprints on the fridge and 504 main

Day 2 Notting Hill and Westbourne Grove - thrifting!

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!

Come Dine with me - Gastro Pub Night

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!!!