Machinations of a creative mind

Great news

2011-04-19T04:35:00.000-07:00

After being told last June that my job was going to be cut, and having been through a 90 day consultation process, changes, missed launch dates for revised plans, the new consultation was issued yesterday and my post is safe! I know with the current state of the NHS this is a minor win in the battle rather than a major victory but it feels so good. It was very unexpected, the message about my job had been consistent all the way through - there would be no Programme Manager post in any of the scenarios they were considering.

I drove home last night with my music blaring in the car (Florence and the Machine - Dog Days are over seemed very apt) and the windows down, and, after a bit of celebratory tea and toast - I know how to live, started doing a layout for the first time in ages.

And I can't wait to get home tonight to finish it off! It's taking a while to sink in about the job, hoping it does soon and I can get a good night's sleep.

Long weekend coming, dinner with the family on Monday, then a short week and then Claire's house warming party on the 29th. Things are looking shiny :)

Happy Birthday Sharon

2011-04-05T02:15:00.001-07:00

It's my Sister in Law's birthday this week, and I'm ahead of the game for a change. This is the card I've made for her:

Lots and lots of textures and layers in there - it was great fun to make. With a bit of luck I'll even post it in time.

I spent last Sunday with my Mum, watching films and relaxing with some lunch and cake. I used

my new camera to take these, I'm pleased with the results, they're nice and clear and sharp, though I've found indoors I've had to turn off the automatic flash as it's just too much.

The cake was scrummy, filled with fresh strawberries, cream and strawberry jam, using Deb's recipe (and Dove's Farm Self Raising Gluten Free flour).

Shame the weather's gone all grey again but it does feel like spring is here. I'm hoping to get out and take some pictures of a big patch of crocuses after work to do a scrap booking page, light permitting.

Excuses

2011-04-04T05:01:00.000-07:00

We all do it, make excuses for things we don't want to do, or more likely, fear. For me and scrapping my stumbling block has always been the quality of photos I take, I never seem to get the right shot - it's badly lit, blurry, too small. But the thing with excuses is generally people can see right through them. We let ourselves off whatever it is we find difficult or challenging by finding ways that indicate it's not our fault. In this case, it's the camera's fault. Honest. You're not fooled, right? In part this isn't completely untrue, my little Samsung Digital 10Mp compact does a pretty good job, but it's a bit unpredictable in low light - sometimes good, sometimes awful, and the zoom isn't much to write home about. Photos taken of artists on a stage could be of anyone from from Abba to Led Zeppellin. Though anyone who knows me would realise that my attendance of a Led Zep concert is just a teensy bit unlikely. So, I've gone for an upgrade, to another member of the Samsung famiy, a WB600 Bridge camera. A bridge is somewhere between a compact and a fancy schmansy SLR (see why it's called a bridge huh?). So, you can point and click but once you get a bit more adept you can mess with the manual settings. Having the tools is all very well, of course, but I'm aware that the camera isn't really the whole and entire cause of my failure to reach the David Baileyesque levels of image capture. So I'm signed up to one of Cheryl's online workshops - which can be found here: http://feelgoodphotos.com/ to learn some basic techniques. I'm really looking forward to it. I'm never going to be one of those people with a hulking great DSLR and a trunk full of lenses, though all power to you if you are. I just want to look at my pictures and not feel myself making excuses for them. Even if it's just to myself.

Crafting juices flowing

2011-03-06T09:27:00.001-08:00

I've had a minor rediscovery of my crafting mojo over the last few weeks so here goes some of the bits I've created.

There are a few more cards to add up once I've taken the photos. I'm also making a start on this year's Christmas cars after seeing a fabulous DIY Snowman punch by Martha Stewart. I love 'production line' card making, you have to concentrate but it doesn't stretch you too much mentally and you end up with a nice output of stuff to show for it.

I had my birthday last week, and it was a really nice day. I got taken to lunch by Phil at the Magic Mushroom. Had a gorgeous lunch starting with squid in a sweet chili and coconut sauce which was divine. We both then had the pork steak with apple veloute, red cabbage and I had dauphinoise, my current favourite way to eat potatoes. We'd mentioned it was my birthday and they brought this gorgeous plate out for my dessert. Then I went to Sugar and Spice and treated myself to a bag full of crafting loveliness and a great chat with Marion and Rick. Loads of fun.

Lots of birthdays this week, best get on and make some cards!

Gaby returns

2011-02-11T01:56:00.000-08:00

At 3am on Tuesday morning I was woken up by Gaby, jumping on the bed and letting out a constant stream of meows. He was thinner, but uninjured by his expedition to who knows where. Since then he's been quite clingy, wanting to be around me lots and very, very vocal though that's now settling down a bit as he gets over his scare.

It's great having him back, this morning he was playing with his brothers who really seemed to miss him. Whilst he was gone Luce, the most unsociable one of my ginger boys had been looking for cuddles and spent much more time with me. Now I'm getting ignored as per (except when I have the bag of chicken and cheese cat treats in my hand) and all is right with the world :)

This weekend I'm off to see a friend's new home and we're going out for lunch, can't wait. I've been making lots of cards lately, I must post them up here sometime soon.

Only one more week to go before a fortnight's break. Only thing formally booked so far is a day trip to France with Caroline who will be staying for a couple of days. Excellent! Will also be doing some crafting with Michelle, who's a complete virgin so I'm hoping to turn her to the dark side. It would be great to have a local friend to scrap and cardmake with.

Happy Friday everyone.

Missing Kitten

2011-02-06T03:03:00.000-08:00

My 7 month old kitten Gaby has now been absent since Thursday. For those who don't do the whole pet thing this probably won't seem like a big deal. For those who do see their furry friends as loved and cherished members of the family, you'll know how I'm feeling right now. Today I'm going to drive round again, and then I'm going to distribute some posters to my neighbors in the hope he's just gotten stuck in someone's garage or shed.

This is Gaby.

If you live in the Thurrock/Grays/Tilbury area, please keep an eye out for him?

Crafting and Cake

2011-01-29T10:12:00.001-08:00

I bought this new mould from Ebay, not sure what inspired it but I think it was needing to perk myself up with a small but fun purchase. Knowing I had a crafting weekend coming up with two classes at Sugar and Spice that seemed like the best time to give the new mould an airing. The company who produce them, the originally named Silicone Moulds very helpfully provide recipes to fit so I gave their Spiced Apple Cake a go and I was really pleased with the result:

I swapped out the flour for Dove's Farm GF and it worked a treat, the cake was spicy without being over powering, and lovely and moist. Three people asked for the recipe, so I'm guessing they liked it! The mould performed excellently, and I'm now lusting after these two

Cathedral Mould

Castle Mould

I've also done some papercrafting, feeling creative again, and I'm really pleased about that too. Lots of annual leave coming up in which to do said crafting following the change in rules at work about carrying over holiday.

Happy crafting everyone. x

Review - My Gluten Free Christmas

2011-01-01T14:13:00.000-08:00

I'm normally the only Christmas Fairy in the Village, the one carrying the flag for the festive season and all things jolly. But not this year. With work problems and uncertainty on my mind and some confusion with a close friend it was a very quiet Yuletide for me this year. Next year I will do better.

Anyway, I thought as an aide memoire to myself and perhaps of interest to others, I thought I'd sum up my experience of gluten free products this Christmas.

Once again my thanks go out to Marks and Spencers for making much of their Christmas stuff gluten free, including cocktail sausages, ALL their stuffings and also this year going that further step and using GF stuffing in things like their turkey crowns. Rock on. They also had Christmas cake and mince pies available, and have significantly extended their range of everyday GF products to include brownies, toffee pecan squares, rolls and bread.

Whilst this is all fabulous, the products themselves aren't exactly great. I don't mean the stuffings etc which aren't specifically aimed at use Coeliacs and wheat intolerants. I mean the specific niche products. The rolls are horribly crumbly and dry, the toffee pecan square use polenta as the base and it's gritty. The brownies are nice enough, but as most GF peeps will tell you it's very easy to make a wheat free brownie, hard to get wrong and usually our only offered option in cafes etc. The pastry on the mince pies is tough and not very tasty, there's not much filling and it feels like you get a couple of raisins/sultanas and very little else. It's a real shame because their stance on GF products is one to be applauded and encouraged. I hope they continue on and improve the recipes. My biggest disappointment - their slow cooked pork belly squares in the party range had wheat in them. My favourite item - the Gammon Stuffed Turkey Crown with a bacon lattice. Wow. Fabulous. Moist, easy to carve, and a joy to look at.

Tesco's had the usual Christmas cake, mince pies and christmas puddings in their range and from what I could see, not much else. They did have packs of two individual puddings, which is very handy. They did finally have some of their party range as wheat free recipes, which is great. Party food in supermarkets is historically heavy on the wheat so I feel like I miss out. I had some chinese chicken skewers and stuffed potato skins which were ok. I do have to seriously recommend their new, fresh bread and baps. They are amazing, moist, don't need toasting, don't crumble to bits when you cut into them. Consistent supply appears to be a bit of an issue.

Sainsburys had similar stock to Tesco's in the Christmas range but the quality of their mince pies is fantastic. A complete revelation and highly yummy. I knew in the back of my mind that Sainsbury's baked GF goods are the best around, somehow I just didn't manage to get there and thought M&S would have to be at least as good. Next time I'll know better.

So, there you go. My small window onto the Supermarket offerings for us gluten free'rs this year - Sainsburys for pastry, Tescos for bread and some party foods and M&S for meat products.

I'd love to hear if you've got any opinions on GF products you've tried over the festive season.

The best laid plans

2010-12-18T13:17:00.001-08:00

So, I'm all ready. Family lunch on Sunday to celebrate Christmas, the menu's set, the shopping's done and been delivered. I took Friday off so I could cook and tidy at my leisure and today the heavens opened and it snowed. And it snowed. And then it snowed some more. The roads round me are treacherous but we've only had about 5 cm, where my brother lives they've had more like 18". So, lunch tomorrow is postponed and the freezer is now bulging with things intended for tomorrow. Never mind, worse things happen at sea!

The good news is a stay of execution on the job front. My department has been taken out of the general restructure and a decision on redundancies will be made in 30 days. Given that my post was marked to be 'disestablished' things can't get worse for me, better possibly though. At least now I can chill about it over Christmas. Yay.

Post musings

2010-12-14T05:26:00.001-08:00

Well, the cards are in the post. This year I did two main designs. The first one is more complex, the second is much smaller and simpler.

I started off with this one, embossing some blue cardstock with a white core through the cuttlebug which I then exposed using a large emery board. The trees were cut using the cricut and decorated with globs of glossy accents and glamour dust, and Woodware's fluffy stuff. I stamped and punched the greeting - this one is all white but others I did mounted on a scalloped blue glitter disk for more emphasis. Then I put it all together with some silver ribbon and more glamour dust round the edges.

The second is a gorgeous Christmas tree stamp made up of ornaments, which I then embossed with silver. I finished them off with a stamped greeting and tied with a little stretchy silver cord. The overall design was inspired by card we made in one of Marion Emberson's Sugar and Spice classes. I'm hoping it gives a 'less is more' effect rather than a 'I'm too lazy to bother' one :)

I'm still waiting though for the delivery companies to catch up with the changing market. With people now ordering more and more from the web they still don't appear to have grasped that most people work, and aren't there during the day to accept delivery. Especially when you add in that normally people don't know what the date or time of delivery is for small value items. This either means the companies wasting resources (and therefore increasing the prices we pay) or compelling people to collect their parcels from depots.

Depots, I have found, don't tend to be located in easy to reach, central locations. So even with a car they're a pain to get to, and if you don't have one (which is a good reason for using the net to do your Christmas shopping) a real inconvenience.

When are they going to realise they have to focus on evening/weekend deliveries as standard? Minor rant over...

Holidays are coming

2010-12-04T07:21:00.000-08:00

Afternoon all. Well last Sunday I put a big batch of braised red cabbage in the oven for a slow, 2 hour cook. This is my first bit of Christmas cooking. it's based on a recipe my friend Lynne shared with me after a dinner at her house. It was fabulous, and I've cooked it every Christmas since, as well as for a few general roasts. It's really good, and freezes brilliantly which makes it an ace side dish for your big celebrations. All you have to do for the day is get it out of the freezer and allow it to defrost, then either reheat in a pan for 10 mins or stick it in the microwave.

The recipe is here and it's easy to adjust to your taste, more sweetness, less, more spices etc.

Friday night was the office do, and it was fabulous. Huge laughs, and you always know if a night was good when you get to the end and wonder how that went so quickly. Saturday then was a bit of a right off - and was spent on the sofa with some comfort bolognese courtesy of some previous batch cooking. Today I've managed a little more oompf, and the stuffing for the stuffed pork loin is done and in the freezer, and a batch of brownies is just cooling on top of the hob. Plan is to wrap and freeze those too so I can bring them out one at a time for desserts etc.

Had meant to do lots more, the sponge for the trifle, some fudge for gifts but it seems that's going to have to wait :)

Stuff.... and some things

2010-11-25T10:39:00.001-08:00

Well I didn't do too badly last weekend. The granola got made, as did the stuffing but the pate fell by the wayside as I realised I didn't have any cream. I did make roasted root vegetable soup though and roasted the pork loin though it was stuffingless, as I didn't have the nerve to hack it up. Sometimes I'm really useless at trying new things.

I need to make space in my freezer for Christmas stuff, and basically just to use things I've squirreled away in there. There's a lot of stuff. So this weekend I'm going to experiment. I've got some venison steaks which I'm going to put in the slow cooker with shallots, button mushrooms, stock, port, bay leaves and some thyme. Sounds good, at least in theory.

The labels are done for Christmas card writing though I have a fairly busy Saturday with an early hair appointment then lunch with a friend on the far side of London. This is dependant of course on not getting a vast amount of snow between now and then. I confess to a certain childlike excitement at the prospect, even though it's not at all practical. The weather is only predicting a smattering though tonight so there's only a 30% chance of waking up to a winter wonderland. Here's hoping though!

And finally a quick 'Happy Thanksgiving' greeting to anyone reading from the US of A, especially my cousins David and Kathleen and their lovely children, David and Isla.

A busy day ... or not?

2010-11-21T06:00:00.000-08:00

I have big plans for today. Making granola, dishes, laundry, bins, making pate, stuffing and then a trial run of a stuffed pork loin roast which I'm planning for the family Christmas lunch. I should point out though, it's already 2pm here and so far all I've managed is mixing the granola, the bins and unloading/reloading the dishwasher, the granola is not even in the oven yet. Hmm. It doesn't bode very well for the rest of the list.

What I have also promised myself to do this weekend is start writing the Christmas cards, that's looking fairly promising as I've recovered the labels from the conservatory. You might wonder what they were doing in there... well. After the decorating spurt in my office and the new carpet everything from those two rooms got moved into there. It's taking a fair bit of time to put everything back where it should be but I am getting there. Honest.

As an aside on the work front. I did get my comments in on the removal of my post in the proposed new structure before the closing deadline. I feel very good about that, even if it has no effect it was the right thing to do. Now we wait for the Exec to read through everyone's responses, come up with the final structures and then get the line managers to tell people individually whether they are now formally at risk. From the documentation it seems that the formal letters won't go out for people at my level until the beginning of January. At that point there will be 3 months for me to be redeployed or at the end of that I'll be redundant, so around April.

Fingers crossed my post will stay, or I'll be redeployed, it's not a good job market out there right now.

Catching up

2010-11-15T13:16:00.000-08:00

Hello all

It's been a while. Life's been a bit busy, but the most fun news is I've finally taken the plunge and replaced the carpet in the front room (it was SO grotty), the laminate in the office (completely knackered where my chair went over it) and in the kitchen. Whilst that was being done I had the office space decorated and new Expedit units built and installed with a new desk. I love it, and I finally have somewhere to properly put my scrapbooking stash. This will not only mean I know what I have and where it is, but that the front room will be reclaimed from the clutter. It's fantastic. Photos to follow soon.

I'll also be posting this year's main Christmas card designs on Saturday too. By then I hope to have broken the back of the stash stashing and tidying and having all my computer kit back in place after the decant. I have to tell you, the kitty cats were not at all happy with the disruption or the decorators being around, I think they've just about forgiven me now though.

Spent today with the lovely Lynne Lidster at Nirvana Spa. Oh it was heaven. Lots of lovely pools, a full facial, a bit of Clarins treat shopping and a great lunch. I feel all chilled and relaxed now and looking forward to that lovely feeling of falling into bed sleepy, warm and contented.

My first exploding box

2010-06-30T11:16:00.000-07:00

Ok well, technically the title is in some way a bit of a fib. This isn't the first one I've made but it is the first one I've managed to finish, the other is nearly there just needs it's photos putting in which should happen fairly soon I hope.

I made this for my Dad for a belated fathers day gift, or card, depending on your perspective.

The design is deliberately kept simple, my Dad's not one for fuss so I wanted to keep it feeling uncluttered.

Hope you like it....

And finally... the pictures

2010-06-19T07:37:00.001-07:00

I've finally gotten around to finishing off the album from the party. I struggled to get started on this, I knew the colour scheme that would work but it's not in my normal comfort zone and I had difficulty finding papers that were just right. In the end I di

scovered Lime Rickey from the Basic Grey range. The album is actually made from two different precut sets, I had the chipboard version from ages ago, thought, house party, excellent, that

'll be perfect. But there weren't nearly enough pages for the number of great photos my friend Jane had taken. Another bout of serious googling brought forth an acrylic album, exactly the same shape and size but from a completely different manufacturer and it was full steam ahead.

So, sorry, there are lots of photos here but I hope you like it.

Party Planning

2010-02-21T13:34:00.000-08:00

Not much going on in the way of crafting right now as my focus is on getting the house ready for the Fabulous Forty Fiesta. I did manage to have a go at making Granola this weekend though. Coeliacs really struggle with breakfast cereals, almost everything but Cornflakes and Rice crispies are wheat based, and those that are oat based contain gluten from the oats being grown and processed in the neighbourhood of wheat.

I bought a huge bag of oats from Spoff, who seem now to have been taken over and the new link for products isn't available. Hopefully this will be sorted soon. Their oats are grown too far north for wheat to grow, and processed in a completely wheat free plant.

So, anyway. Granola is one of those fantastic things to make that you don't really need a recipe for, and you can completely customise it to suit your own tastes. I made mine with oats, some honey, maple syrup, a little sunflower oil, almonds, pecans and a handful of mixed seeds that I've used in the past to top bread. Mix it all together and bake in a low oven, stirring a couple of times til it's fairly uniformly golden brown. Allow to cool completely and store in an airtight container for up to two weeks. You can then mix it in with dried fruits to taste, like raisins, apricot, mango, anything really but be aware that these aren't completely dry and will reduce the storage life of your granola if you store it mixed.

Ah, but the party. Mexican theme, shopping is going well, the housework less so. I have three days off and some lovely people who've offered to assist so hopefully it won't be too bad.

The menu:

Nachos with tomato salsa, corn salsa, guacamole, grated cheese, jalapenos, sour cream

Beef chili made with braising steak, ancho and poblano chilis and 100% pure chocolate

Three been chili as above

Chicken fajita strips

Corn tortillas

Basmati and wild basmati rice

Giant Cupcake and regular cupcakes (flavours yet to be decided)

Just working on the playlists, getting a mix of some latin themed numbers but mostly really fun dance stuff from the 80s/90s.

Have a friend who's going to do the photography for me..... there will be comedy moustaches involved!

Right, best get on, Monday looms, bleugh!

It's the season of love...

2010-02-09T06:13:00.000-08:00

This week I have volunteered to provide the UKScrappers Weekly Challenge and my theme, not surprisingly given the time of year, is Love. If you get a chance, have a look, or even better, have a go.

That's my layout, which was originally created for the Sugar and Spice blog. My next posting will be on Thursday if you're interested, it's always a good source of inspiration anyway.

The party plans for my 40th are well under way. Thought, to be fair, this mostly consists of shopping for fun stuff and a very small amount of tidying up. I do have three days off before the party and some willing helpers which is ace.

Wishing you all the best, and hoping you have a lovely valentines day, and remember, even if you're a Bridget Jones like me and don't have anyone to share the day with - take the time to pamper yourself. Be lovely to you, you're worth it! And if you are fortunate enough to have someone in your life, I hope you take the time to make them feel special.

Giant Cupcake

2010-01-31T14:13:00.001-08:00

Hello people

I brought back a giant cupcake silicon mould from my trip to the USA recently. I'm having a party in March for my 40th birthday and thought it would be great to serve a couple of these up as dessert. The recipes that came with it talked about american boxes of cake mix, not available here and certainly not available gluten free so it was time to experiment.

Using a recipe given to me by the lovely Debs at Homerton Hospital, I tried a four egg sponge with the addition of a little coconut. I've made this before with a straight swap of Doves Farm GF plain for the wheat flour, adding in baking powder to 'self raisingise' it. Yeah, that's not really a word but I'm fairly sure it makes sense.

So the recipe:

Debs Sponge

8oz Doves Farm GF flour

8oz of softened butter or marg

8oz caster sugar

2oz dessicated coconut

4 eggs

1 tblsp milk

3 tsps GF baking powder (generous ones)

Cream the butter and sugar together.

Add the eggs in one at a time until well incorporated

Sift the flour and baking powder into the mix

Add in the coconut and enough milk to get a soft dropping consistency.

Then I sprayed the insides of the mould with lots of PAM (it's a buttery flavoured non sticking spray - alternatives would be to brush the interior with a flavourless oil or melted butter). It's worth taking some time doing this because of all the nooks and crannies.

I estimated the fill levels and also got four muffin sized buns out of this mix. In the end, it wasn't quite enough to fill the mould when it baked and I'd up it to a 5 egg ratio next time but I think it looks ok. It certainly tasted good and didn't last long when I took it into work.

I filled the cavity with a low sugar strawberry jam and a basic vanilla butter cream.

Please note the dip in the base is created with a sort of lid on the base of the mould rather than it sinking :) Honest.

So, this is what it looks like before it's iced. I'm not an experienced cake decorator but if you're so inclined, you can do all sorts of things with this including make it look like a cat, pig or dog.

This link has some good instructions and ideas. You can now buy the metal version of this mould in Lakeland, it's by a company called Wilton.

No longer dreaming of a White Christmas

2009-12-26T13:42:00.000-08:00

This blog comes to you from the snowy lands of Colorado, Broomfield to be precise just outside of Denver where I've just had my first white Christmas in recent memory. It's been lovely just chilling out here, spending time with family, having a much greater choice of gluten free foods and fantastic shopping.

I also picked up my Cricut which I got in the Black Friday sales here. For anyone who doesn't know, Black Friday is the day after Thanksgiving, when Christmas shopping starts in earnest and there are huge sales on, probably bigger than the UK New Years sales. I was lucky and managed to get it for only $75, about £50, and this is my first, very simple project created with it.

I did bring some scrapping tools with me, but it's never the same as having your full stash and I've found I'm not really good at planning in advance what I'm going to need, which meant this had to be very simple.

This is my favourite picture so far:

But will post more of the drive up into the Rocky Mountains soon, especially the ones of the Elk herd we saw.

Unfortunately I had some very sad news. My lovely friend Jill, wife of Phil, lost her battle with cancer a few days after Christmas. It was very quick, which meant she didn't suffer any more than she had already, and also meant she died with dignity, at home, in the arms of the man she loved with all her heart with her Sister present. She is missed.

Hoping you've all had a fabulous Christmas and New Year. Remember to cherish your loved ones, tell them you adore them, hold them and don't waste a moment of your time with them.

Mixed media blog

2009-10-11T05:06:00.001-07:00

And by that I mean this is going to be a cooking and scrapping blog. I'm a bit of a slow scrapper, particularly at the moment but I am really pleased with how this one has turned out. I love blue, it's my favourite colour so I have a lot of blue patterend papers in my stash. I have a terrible habbit of defaulting to plain papers as the basis for my pages, then regretting it later on so I bit the bullet and started this layout with the paper.

My kittens loved this old paper tray when they first came to me and both cuddled up in it frequently. Bee's just a tad big for it now but still manages, somehow, to get comfortable enough to sleep in it. They really can sleep anywhere.

Last weekend I stayed with my lovely friend Alan, who always pushes the boat out for my in a culinary sense by finding and making gluten free recipes. This time it was a tart with caramelised onions and goats cheese, scrummy! So having had some GF ready made pastry in the freezer for a while made by Dietary Specials, I thought I'd recreate it. I made it into more of a quiche by adding an egg/milk custard to it and this is the outcome.

I made it up as I went along but essentially the recipe goes like this.

I sliced three large onions and cooked them slowly in a knob of butter over a low flame til they were gently browning and sweet, then allowed them to cool. I lined a pie tin with pastry - with gluten free pastry it works best to press into the tin rather than trying to roll it out due to the fragile nature of the dough. I then filled it with the cooled onions and two rounds of goats cheese which I cut in half. In a small bowl I beat together two eggs with a splash of cream and milk, and some fresh thyme leaves and pepper and poured this over the filling. I then topped it off with a small amount of grated cheddar and baked at 200c for 25 mins. I'd probably do it at 190c (or 170c in my fan oven) but it wasn't by any means burnt.

My Sugar and Spice blog is also up today. Please take a peek if you can :)

I've also now booked by Christmas trip to Family in the USA. This now means of course that I can start planning and preshopping my crafting bits :) Can't wait! My passport renewal also came through in double quick time, I posted it on Monday and got it back on Friday. How's that for service?!

2009-09-27T03:27:00.001-07:00

Last weekend was a kitchen one, rather than papercrafting. Over the two days I managed to make a batch of gluten free almond butter chocolate chip cookies. And very yummy they were too. I did a lasagne for dinner, cream of mushroom soup with white wine for the week, braised lamb shanks with a redcurrant and mint gravy with mashed potatoes and parsnips and a batch of peach chutney.

With peaches being in season they are lovely and ripe, large and firm, and very cheap! There was a bit more liquid in the chutney than I'd like but I wanted to retain firm chunks of peaches rather than have a soupy mess, I kind of made up the recipe as I went along but it contained:

1 cup of champagne vinegar

0.75 of a cup of brown sugar

1 tsp of mustard seeds

1 finely chopped small onion

1 cinnamon stick

8 skinned and chopped peaches - firm ones are better

Handful of raisins

I just put all ingredients into a non stick saucepan, brought to the boiled and simmered for about an hour. Now the jar will sit in the fridge for about 5 weeks to mature before I can tell you how it turned out. Next time I'd either add more peaches or reduce the vinegar down to two thirds of a cup with half a cup of sugar.

The cookie recipe is exceedingly easy, and probably a good one to make with kids.

1 cup of almond butter

1 cup of granulated sugar

1 egg

2tsps of baking powder

Mix the almond butter and the sugar, add the egg and blend in. Next add the baking powder. You can also throw in some chocolate chips to taste as I did.

Next take about a walnut sized lump of dough and roll it into a ball. Place on greased proof paper on a baking tray, flatten with a fork to give a tines pattern and bake at 180c (160c fan oven) for about 11 mins. Allow to cool slightly on the tray before cooling completely on a wire rack.

Minor disaster was the oven element blowing up again as I started the weekend off, meaning I had to bake the cookies in the small convection oven in batches which took a while. I will be taking delivery of a lovely new oven tomorrow, as my old one sounded like an airplane taking off I'm looking forward to a bit more tranquility as the smells of baking cakes and roasting meats wafts through the house on the impending Wintery afternoons.

Only one day off this weekend as I'm working today (Sunday) on office moves. Yesterday was dedicated to getting my layout for the Sugar and Spice blog done. You can see it here. There's another layout on it's way of one of the kittens sleeping in what appears to be a very uncomfortable place, but he looks happy.

I also finished my friend's having a baby card which is doing the rounds at work, photo of that to follow.

Cats, cookies and cards

2009-09-13T06:28:00.000-07:00

I'm finally coming out of the other side of a flare up of what's probably arthritis. I can now walk without the crutch and I'm not in screaming agony all the time, and it's amazing at how much more energised I am because of it.

Woke up invigorated yesterday and started on my first batch of Almond butter, the prime ingredient in some cookies I want to make. You can buy it in Health Food shops but there isn't one conveniently placed and I'm all for having a go myself. A bit of research on the net showed it was pretty straight forward. So, one 800g bag of almonds and some serious food processing brought me to this. No additives, just the almond butter, though I think if I was making this for straight eating purposes, like peanut butter, I might add a small amount of sugar and salt. Or use more expensive almonds. In the cookies though they only need to provide a nutty flavour and the bulk of the biscuits themselves. And frankly, it's still pretty good as is. Off a spoon. If I get round to making the cookies today I'll post pictures in a later blog.

Two cards also need to be made this weekend, my brother's birthday is Tuesday. I find it more difficult to make masculine cards, but think the trick is to just keep it simple. Picking the right colours right at the start makes it a lot easier. This is made from scraps from a class by Bananafrog owner Bev, and stamps from Sugar and Spice.

I punched out lots of circles from scraps, stamped and punched the Happy Birthday and the lettering inside. My next card is for a friend at work who'll be leaving soon to have a baby girl. That one I suspect is going to be a whole lot girlier!

My boys also had a bit of trauma on Friday courtesy of a trip to the vets for their neutering. I'm very relieved to say that they came through it ok, stressed out by being around the other animals, particularly the dogs, but recovering nicely. I love this picture of them, taken pre the chop.

And now, as I was still awake with PMT induced sleeplessness at 3.30am this morning I'm off for a nap.

Oooh, an award. How exciting!

2009-09-09T09:20:00.000-07:00

The lovely Louise aka FairyQueen has given me my first blog award. Thank you ever so much!

The rules are simple, you need to pass on the award to five other people. So I nominate:

and to list five things I'm addicted to:

Shopping - no big surprise here
Geisha
Scrapping/creating
Cooking
Amish Culture

I'm now off to indulge at least two of those this evening :)

The Mojo is Back

2009-09-08T05:38:00.000-07:00

The mojo has returned and I'm in a creative mood. I didn't get round to baking cookies last weekend, my local supermarkets don't stock almond butter and my legs were too achy to head into Lakeside to Holland & Barrett, so I'm going to have a go at making my own which appears to be relatively easy with a food processor.

I'm just waiting for some pink vellum to come so I can finish the first of this month's design team postings, which is due on Friday so I'm actually ahead. I also got the new cuttlebug out of it's box last night and attached the handle so it's time to play around with that and my new sizzix dies. I'm feeling the need to play with my stash, and have an idea focused around Bee, one of my kittens, snoozing in what looks like a very uncomfortable position, and another one around one of my loves, Geisha. I hope this drive lasts til the weekend, which seems a long, long way off.

Friday I'm taking the boys for the cruelest cut of all at the vets. I feel very guilty, I'm reliably informed that this is the best thing for them and for the local cat population. It still feels like it's better for me than for them.

Stampin Up! Madness and Shopping

2009-09-02T01:45:00.000-07:00

If you follow Craft Critique on twitter this won't be news to you, but for those who haven't Stampin Up! have issued a new contract to their Demonstrators in the US. They all have to sign this or effectively they'll be cut off from all SU services.

It essentially includes clauses to control all SU Demo's forms of internet presence, from Twitter and Facebook through to blogs and websites, not just those used for SU business but those strictly for personal use. It even specifies that links to other sites, including personal friends, who mention or link to competing products are now forbidden. So, for example, if you're an SU Demo with a facebook account, and your best friend owns a stamp company or sells stamps of another brand and mentions this on their facebook account, you can't have them as a friend on Facebook. You can't link to their website or blog.

I've never heard the like. It's draconionan, 1984'esque, unreasonable and unworkable. I hope many Demo's vote with their feet, I certainly won't be buying from.

On a more positive note, what was supposed to be a quick in and out trip on Saturday to pick up a pair of crutches the lovely Polly had left for me at Sugar and Spice turned into a very lovely chatty afternoon with the gorgeous Marion. She valiantly tried to debate the nature of need versus want when it came to the Cuttlebugs she had on special offer. I've been debating getting a bigger die cutting machine for a while, I love my Sizzix Sidekick and use it quite a lot but I want to be able to cut chipboard and I love the Cuttlebug embossing texture folders. She then very kindly helped carry it to the car :D

I haven't had a chance to even unpack it yet as Saturday night was spent cooking - GF cheesecake, Chicken and Pork Terrine with a cranberry and orange sauce and tomato and pepper salsa for a party in Chester on Sunday. Which was brilliant, and a fab night was had by all, but 430 miles of driving in 48 hours was exhausting. I met some lovely people who I'd ony chatted to online before, one of whom is also gluten intolerant and she brought along the most gorgeous Almond butter cookies, which I'm going to be doing a batch of this weekend.

Results will be posted here!

Heresy

2009-08-27T07:04:00.000-07:00

More confessions.

Yes, it's true, I'm a heretic. I don't like Summer. I hate the heat and the flies, I like clear blue days but I prefer those of Spring and Autumn. Autumn is by far my favourite season of the year, bounteous with produce, Halloween, Guy Fawkes, cold crisp nights, planning for Christmas and cuddling up on cold afternoons with a good film and a hot chocolate.

However this weekend I got a layout finished that screams Spring and Summer, so I'm not a complete grump about it all :)

Another layout of my gorgeous neice. Hope you like it. I love the daisies and my new Catslife Press stamps.

Design team postings

2009-08-21T10:09:00.001-07:00

I'm very fortunate to have a place on the Sugar and Spice design team, so if you haven't seen that blog already - and I do recommend it, here's some of my work for them so far. Marion has designed some really lovely and versatile stamps some of which have recently been featured on QVC.

My kittens make layouts easy, I'm completely biased but I think they're very photogenic.

A friend's wedding provided the inspiration for this card.

I really wanted to try something different for my third project, I'd had some of these frames at home for ages and had a couple of ideas in mind, one of which was this:

I hope you like them.

Confessions of a lapsed blogger

2009-08-11T08:16:00.001-07:00

I've just realised how long it's been since last I blogged. Shame on me!

It has been a very busy time, a time of decorating the front room, dinners out with friends, a concert in the rain soaked to my undergrundies but fab music, and a hectic work schedule.

I have found some time to do some crafting, good job really as my friend's wedding is next weekend and I've still got stuff to do for her. The orders of service I've shown you already, they now have their inserts all done. The table plan is almost complete and as it's my first go I'm inordinately pleased with how it's come out. And, more to the point, the Bride and Groom are pretty pleased too.

So, tonight it's continuing on with the place cards - thankfully it's a simple design to do but it still takes a long while to get 60 odd done. Then, 8 table numbers and I'm done. Woo hoo. You've already seen the wedding card in another posting, now, the next big step? Remembering to take everything and keeping the kittens and their very dirty paws off of it all. Today was also my day for the Sugar and Spice Design Blog, take a look if you have a mo.

Interesting Times

2009-07-20T00:59:00.000-07:00

There's an old chinese curse,

"May you Live in Interesting Times".

And last week really qualifies as that, it was pretty lousy as weeks go with all sorts of work shenanigans and issues, and it culminated on Friday with getting rear ended at a T junction on the way home from the office. No major damage, just a cracked rear bumper but I felt pretty shocked and very rough all evening, with lovely friends concerned that I might have a concussion. A good night's sleep sorted all but the headache fortunately.

So Saturday had an unsurprisingly slow start, with an enormous reluctance on my part to do much of anything. Plans to decorate had to be changed as my Brother who was going to come over and help was in quarantine, his wife has suspected swine flu. With only four weeks to go to Irene and Mike's wedding it was a great opportunity to get the supplies in. So, off to Hobbycraft for A0 sized card for a table plan, coordinately place cards and table numbers and other sundries. Well it'd have been rude to go and just buy the essentials wouldn't it?

Another drive onto my scrapping home, Sugar and Spice for some personal fun bits and then to another local place for the peel offs. Followed up by a quick trip to Waitrose and by now my feet were in full on protest, so I dropped into some friends for tea and cake.

Sunday saw the welcome return of an old friend. My get up and go! I dd three loads of laundry, made a wedding card which will also double as my next Design Team post, and the first Order of Service card. Just waiting for the boss' approval on this one before I do the next 19. She wanted something plan and simple along the lines of her invites which were done by someone else. I hope she likes it.

Big News - Cats Purr when they want something!!! Grumpy old woman speaks.

2009-07-14T03:49:00.000-07:00

It's true, some people are paid to do research that is just, well, excuse the pun, BARKING. According to research, which some highly intelligent people have been paid to do cats use purring to get what they want. Wow. Who knew? Well apparently we did....

"Cat owners may have suspected as much, but it seems our feline friends have found a way to manipulate us humans."

The full article is here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/8147566.stm

As the proud owner of these two very naughty boys , I can tell you this is no surprise. In fact it's no suprise to anyone who's even met a cat, let alone owned one. Really, is this a good use of time and money? What's next? I can see the headlines now.....

BREAKING NEWS - Research shows that the sun rises in the morning and sets at night, although the time of these two events varies through the year, scientists confidently predict this will continue happening for the foreseable future, with one quoted as saying "we believe this phenomenon might even go on for as long as the earth continues to turn. Next we want to study if traffic slows down people's journies and if people actually do get wet when they stand out in the rain".

Speaking of cats, mine brought home their first trophy last night, in the shape of a pterodactyl. Ok, that might be a tiny exageration but it was a very large flying insect, with a wing span of around 5-6", and a thick body measuring 4". When I first saw it flapping about at the edge of the conservatory I thought they'd got hold of a bat. Of course, it had to come in the house, still flapping in a vain attempt to get away, and it's at times like those when you really need a big strong bloke about to rescue you! Instead I slunk upstairs and ignored it. Corpse clear up job tonight. Lovely.

Mrs Crimbles/Genius Gluten Free Bread Reviews

2009-07-13T01:49:00.000-07:00

Fantastic, now, not only do coeliacs finally have the option of fresh GF bread available to buy in normal supermarkets, there are actually two to choose from.

I've now tried both, so wanted to write down my views on both the options.

Genius Bread
Available from: Tescos
Price: around £2.50 mark

this was the first one I tried, and it says to squeeze it on the side of the bag. Because it's the holy grail of gluten free bread, a loaf that doesn't disintigrate when you look at it the wrong way. It's a good size, comparable to a small, standard sized loaf.

It cuts well, it's squishy. The taste is ok uncooked and it doesn't need refreshing. Toasted it really comes into it's own though.

I've noticed problems with the supply though, they've moved the bread from the fresh aisle to the Free from section, and like other products there it suffers from the sections not being maintained properly, this meant last time I tried to get it there were a load of green loaves that were well out of date, and the freshest stuff had a very short shelf life.

Mrs Crimbles Gluten Free Loaf
Available from: Sainsburys
Price: currently on special at around £1.50 a loaf

Again, nice and squishy. Cuts well, though a little crumblier than the Genius version still a respectable slice. The loaf itself is a slightly odd shape, long and short, giving small slices. The loaf I had also had a collapsed end and lots of large air pockets, as if it hadn't been properly knocked back. It was the last loaf on the shelf though, perhaps for these reasons, so it wouldn't be entirely fair to judge it on that basis.

On balance I think I prefer the Genius bread, however Sainsburys still has a much better GF bread selection overall so I think Mrs Crimbles will be a regular guest chez moi.

Happy munching.

Easy like Sunday morning

2009-07-12T04:02:00.000-07:00

It's a beautiful day, the sun is out but it's not excrutiatingly hot. Brunch, of eggs, bacon and gf muffins has been consumed and the rest of the day stretches out before me, with nothing more than a few housework chores, scrapping and catching up on my sky plus'd series to do. How lovely.

My first Sugar and Spice design team posting went up yesterday, http://sugarandspicecrafts.blogspot.com, please have a look if you have the time. I'd had a safe option to post, something I'd done for the entry competition, but decided in the end to do something new whilst I had the time and the mojo going. It's always good to have a fall back option in the future for those moments when I feel lacking. Crafting for me isn't a business, it's something I do when I feel the mood, when I feel creative, a little like baking. I know I don't produce as much as lots of other people, I know if I used sketches and kits I could get a lot more done, and there's a lot to do in my mental queue, and whilst both are completely valid ways of crafting it's just not me.

I'm going to make a start today on my friend's table plan for her wedding in August. And I've got an Ikea set of drawers that need labelling up, got a great bookplate die to use, so it's sizzix time here.

Enjoy your Sunday, hope it's easy too.

Stampaholic

2009-07-06T05:15:00.000-07:00

I had a lovely weekend over in Bracknell with my scrapping partner in crime, Lynne, and her lovely two little girls. We had a barbecue, my first of the year, and it was lovely being able to have everything that was on offer. Hats off to Tesco's for having some gluten free stuff in their BBQ range, the ribs were particularly good and the lamb kebabs (organic only GF) are probably my favourite. Lynne made burgers, so no junk there, and I had some Genius bread to go with. In an exciting development, Mrs Crimbles have brought out their own range of fresh gluten free bread, available from Sainsbury's. I'll be giving that a go and reporting back on my next shopping trip.

Having a 7 and 4 year old running about doesn't leave much time for getting out the papers and the glitter, so we only got some scrapping done after their bedtimes, but it has put both of us in the mood to get on with more. So last night I set to work on my first Design Team blog, due next weekend. I'm really pleased with progress so far, it's got a lovely, summery feel to it but won't say too much about it at the moment or Marion will tell me off, she's small but fierce :)

I'm really enjoying my stamping, there are some gorgeous designs about and I particularly love both the Sugar and Spice stamps and the Bananafrog ones. I'm a big fan of stamps you can use again and again, patterns, shapes, flourishes all work well on both cards and layouts. I suggested to Bev of Bananafrog that they have a 'pick and mix' option, pay one price, pick as many stamps as will fit on an A5 acetate. She said they're considering it, I think that would be an excellent way to buy just the ones you like.

Busy week coming up, and friend's Hen Night on Friday - dinner and a Bjorn Again concert. Should be ace!

A crafty weekend

2009-06-28T12:15:00.001-07:00

Yesterday was the interactive album class organised by Sugar and Spice with Bev from the Bananafrog company. I had a fantastic time learning new stamping techniques, and whilst the papers we used weren't our thing the final album was. So thanks to Marion and Bev for a brilliant day, it's amazing we didn't all melt in the heat! We got a set of Bananafrog stamps, and of course, it would have been rude not to purchase a few more from the shop. After a gorgeous cream tea with friends using a gluten free scone from Waitrose which was surprisingly good, it was home in the pouring rain.

My inner librarian was filled with glee today then when I had all these new stamps to organise in my favourite Tim Holtz stamp binder. Mmmmmm. Then, I spent the rest of the day in idle pleasure, watching the last three episodes of Greys Anatomy and the first Private Practice, whilst doing my entry for the Delectables Circle Journal for this month. This month's theme was favourite recipes, a subject close to my heart and I'm quite pleased with the results:

You can see Bev's inspiration in the photo on a flap. There wasn't room for all the pictures I wanted to use so that worked well and provided additional interest to the layout.

And now, the worst evening of the week, Sunday. When next weekend seems an eternity away and the weekend all done. I think this week I shall be opting to work in the building that has aircon as much as possible, it's going to be a scorcher apparently.

2009-06-25T01:04:00.000-07:00

Good morning all. Today I'm working from home (yay), so I can do a repeat fasting blood test (boo). I do like working from home, I can get lots done both for my job, and little house work things in between. You know the sort of thing, making a cup of tea? Empty the dishwasher or washing machine. And of course the best bit, no commute!

I had some clothes delivered yesterday, an outfit for a wedding/tea at the Ritz and some general tops from Evans who have taken the hint this year and brought out a lot of longer tops. I'm still not sure about the dress, it looks a bit 'old lady' though the shrug changes the look a lot and the designer, Sixteen47 is anything but crusty.

Best get on. No breakfast for me until the blood test is done.

2009-06-22T13:27:00.001-07:00

My subscription copy of Scrapbook Inspirations arrived today, and I've got a layout in it in the Sketch Challenge section. This one in fact.

I think I probably played it too safe, in sticking so closely to the sketch but I love the effect of the paw prints and the ribbons. The only thing I'd have done differently is to get over my sewing machine 'thang' and have stitched along the ribbons. It really is time I had a go at that.

Thankfully I'm feeling physically more energetic, and I've got more done in the front garden, and finished off the first layout from an amazing 80's weekend away with some of my oldest friends. It was a huge giggle, I can't believe they convinced me to dress up but I'm very glad I did, I'd have stuck out more if I hadn't of done. I've collected together photos and embellishments for a mini book of the weekend but had scrappers block, and decided to do this to get me going. I love altering chipboard, I tend to buy chipboard on sale and not worry about the colour, as i know I can and probably will paint, ink, glitter or cover it in paper to suit the design. It does make things more time consuming but I really enjoy the preparation. And I love the sizzix font (baby says yeah), which gives the illusion of welded letters.

Have a CJ that needs to be sent on the 3rd July, and my first Sugar and Spice designs to be ready for the 11th, so plenty of time. As long as I don't procrastinate too much :)

Stamptastic and Pasta Disasters

2009-06-14T13:14:00.000-07:00

I've had a busy weekend. Firstly, I can now officially say I won a place on the Sugar and Spice Design Team, thanks to Marion and the crew for your faith in me, I'm looking forward to using all the lovely stamps over the next year.

This meant a trip down to Billericay to pick up my goodies (and, of course, a few more bits and bobs, well, you have to really don't you?). As it was also the Essex Garden Show it was heaving both in the car parks and surrounding roads, which meant my plan to meet up with lovely Phil and Jill didn't come off, but, with a bit of scrapping shopping, it was off to the farm shop, then Sainsbury's then to a friend's Gran in Aveley to drop off some flowers, pop in on a friend on the way home and back to my place to unpack and collapse. Amongst all this I also managed to have a go at making gluten free pasta.

It started out promisingly enough, a fair bit of research on the web brought me to a flour/egg ratio. One US sized cup of Doves Farm GF flour, two eggs and a splash of olive oil brought me to this - which looked right. I gave it a couple of hours to rest before kneading it again and passing it for the first time through the pasta roller. The results were less than impressive, the dough was far too weak and disintegrated the second I tried to move it in anyway. So, this lot sadly ended binwards and I used my normal glutafin instead. Ravioli continues to be a distant dream but at least the pasta machine's cherry got popped. Thanks again to Lynne for giving it to me.

Sunday was a house day, I made another 8 christmas cards and finished off my Dad's Father's Day card for next weekend, along with some more boring tasks but my inner librarian really enjoyed adding the new stamps to my Tim Holtz binder. One day I will customise that, when I'm feeling brave enough. There's an easy to follow guide how to on you tube, where Tim makes it look easy peasy lemon squeezy.

With a short week ahead (I've got a day off on Friday just because), it should be a good one.

Renewed energy

2009-06-11T12:40:00.000-07:00

I'm having a very welcome burst of energy and drive, both at work and at home. My Mother reminded me it's my Step Father's 50 Years of Service presentation this weekend. I'd started a card but it had got left by the way side, so, this evening I got on and finished it, and worked out what was wrong with my Dad's father's day card.

This is my first foray into using vellum on cards, it's difficult finding glue that won't show through, even the specialist velum tape I have sometimes does.

I attached the vellum using star shaped brads to an additional layer of bazzill. The numbers are hand cut from grey board, and the letters are sizzix.

I really hope this improvement lasts into the weekend, I have so much I would like to get done.

The Gluten Free McChicken Burger

2009-06-09T11:57:00.000-07:00

I was never a huge McDonalds fan pre diagnosis, nothing wrong with them but I just had other preferences... chinese food for example. Since being told that I can't eat gluten again, the chinese takeaways are a dim and distant memory and I've had to change my approach. Believe it or not, McDonalds food quality is good, and their nutritional information excellent. Now if stuck for a meal when out, a Big Mac sans the bun goes down very well thank you, and the staff are rarely phased by my request.

But, I had a hankering for a chicken burger. As these almost always come breaded there was no way to get one. Then, Sainsbury's come to the rescue. Sainsbury's have by far the best range of Gluten Free products going, including white rolls and 'breaded' chicken burgers. So, here is tonights unhealthy but very satisfying adventure into gluten free junk eating.

It's fun to play with your food.

Fierce Creatures

2009-06-08T12:07:00.000-07:00

In a mad fit of energy this evening (and where was THAT all day), I did a bit more hacking and slashing of the front garden. I swear, it grows everytime I turn round. Plastic plants are beginning to look exceedingly appealing as an option.

The kittens are now three months old, and just discovering the outside world in the form of my back garden. It's taken them four days to get more than two foot from the back door - but they've now breached that border and are running around like, well, kittens. I love the way they fluff themselves up to look all scary and big, it's just a tiny bit unconvincing when you weigh less than two kilos and can be picked up in one hand.

The earlier exercise is beginning to tell, and I can see a hot bath and an early night on my horizon. No crafting for me tonight....

Oh, the weather outside is frightful...

2009-06-07T07:55:00.000-07:00

But it wasn't actually cold enough for a fire. It was grim enough outside to make my plan for some Christmas card making well suited. I managed to make 22 in total, so probably half of my requirement for the festive season. And only six months to go, how WILL I manage to find the time to get the rest done? So, here are the fruits of my labour so far...

I also managed to get a small amount of gardening done. Which has only made me realise how much more there is to do. Good job I have selective eyesight, and can ignore it for a bit longer as I chip away at it bit by bit.

Looks like the gluten free pasta will have to wait til another weekend. Now there's a shocker.

TFI Friday

2009-06-05T05:09:00.000-07:00

And now, the end is near.... Don't think Sinatra was referring to the end of the working week on that one, but then I suspect his experience of the 9-5, Monday to Friday routine was limited. You don't have to hate your job to crave the freedom of the weekend, you just have to have a life outside of it.

Had some very good news last night, but can't share it just yet.... Stay tuned for updates.

This weekend is going to be a quiet one, as I nurse yet another virus. Really, it's time they found another victim and left me alone. Blood test results back, some problems with sugar levels and a need to repeat in a couple of weeks.

So, the plan this weekend is for a bit of light housework and garden duties, the latter because the front shrubbery is shocking and about to take over the house, like some bad sci fi B-movie. And Christmas Card making. Yes, I'm aware it's only June. No, I'm not barking. Well, ok I am a bit but again it all goes to my theory that if you leave such things til they have to be done they become a chore. I shall stick on a good movie or two and start a production line going. Results to be published later.

If I manage to work up the wherewithall, the long planned home made pasta/ravioli may finally come to fruition. I should point out though that I've been planning that for about two years, so, I wouldn't advise any breath holding on that subject.

Time, slow clock of the heart

2009-06-03T07:03:00.000-07:00

Today in the office I've entered another dimension, where time in my little corner of the universe is running at at least half the rate as it is every where else. I suspect it may have something to do with using another door into the building today, clearly that was a portal. Which also means when I exit work tonight time will return to it's usual brisk pace and there won't be enough of it. Still, tomorrow is working from home which tends to be highly productive.

I have managed to get my Mum's Birthday card made, early I might add, she's not 60 until July but I've got a lot of birthdays and events all within a period of a week. I find if I leave this sort of thing to the last minute it feels pressured and much harder work.

2009-06-02T09:49:00.000-07:00

My favourite place for scrapbooking classes, Sugar and Spice, had a competition running to join their new design team. It was predominantly about stamping, which I'm still fairly new to but I thought I'd have a go. This is in the spirit of "you miss 100% of the shots you never take" approach. To apply they wanted a card, a layout and another project of your choice showing your stamping design skills.

These are my submissions:

I'm not that confident about them - but then to be honest I rarely am about my designs even though I've been published twice, and am about to get a third layout in next month's Scrapbook Inspirations. I should really just shut the hell up about it all and stop worrying so much, life would be so much more serene ;) Given I'm an inveterate worrier from a long line of worriers, though that's not likely any time soon.

Wavey!

2009-06-02T05:17:00.000-07:00

I thought it was about time I got into this blogging lark, and pretend that I'm the geek I'm actually employed to be.

The plan is to use this blog for stuff I've made, am considering making or am generally plotting, along with any other musings from the morass I call my mind. I'm a papercrafter - I like doing scrapbooking and card making, but I'm also a complete foodie and a coeliac, so recipes and layouts are probably what you're going to see most here. Possibly even layouts of recipes. It's a crazy world and anything can happen, and probably will. Although not necessarily in the next half hour.