Tuesday 26 May 2009

Bubbly Scrumptious - Birthday Card

Here is the card I have made for my MIL's birthday. It is based on a card design by Kathy Black for Bubbly Scrumptious and features the K&Co papers from the May Bubbly Funk Kit.
The card insert is made from a digital download from Heartwarming Vintage which I altered digitally.

The Next Level

There is a new challenge blog called 'The Next Level' and they are offering all this candy, why not visit and see what it is all about.

Monday 25 May 2009

The Simple Woman's Day Book

For Today...Monday 25th May

Outside my window...hurrah, the sun has been shining all day!

I am thinking... about my holiday in Italy, not long now!

I am thankful for... being in Dumfries today because at lunchtime I was able to walk in the beautiful gardens that surround my work.

From the kitchen... pork tenderloin rolled with herbs and garlic.

I am wearing...cotton sweater, cotton boarding pants, no socks!

I am reading... Still reading 'The Other Queen' this is not a good sign because if it had been good I would have finished it by now.

I am hoping... that the weather stays dry, but it doesn't seem likely.

I am creating... no time to create tonight, did a lot of creating at the Non-Retreaters Crop on Bubbly Funk Forum over the weekend. It was fun.

Around the house... everything is quite clean after my clean up weekend.

One of my favorite things... coffee and cake - oh that's two, lol

A few plans for the rest of the week... not quite as hectic this week, hoping to get caught up on some work stuff tomorrow.

Here is a picture thought I am sharing with you..
The summer weather made me think of holidays, this is me and my Mum at Mullion Cove in Cornwall.

Sunday 24 May 2009

Bubbly Funk Non Retreaters Crop - Mini Book

You may remember that last weekend the poor souls who hadn't been able to attend the Retreat, had their own Non-Retreaters Crop and I made this little 10 minute mini book. One of the other crop challenges was a photo challenge featuring prompts that spelled out the letters BUBBLY FUNK! I decided to use my mini book to display these photos.
Prompt 1 - Blue, so here are some very BLUE bells, all the papers are K&Co from a monster bargain pack I got about two years ago from Arty Miss, the floral stickers also came in that pack. The large letters are Basic Grey and the rest of the word was done on the computer.
Prompt 2 - Underneath, this is not easy to see in the photograph unless you know what it is! And what it is, is a Swallow's nest, in our garden shed, I went in there for my watering can and saw the two swallows swooping out, so looked around and saw the nest UNDERNEATH the tin roof.
Prompt 3 - Beauty, and what a beauty this Highland Cow is! Not one of ours, but it was in the field right next to a cottage in the Lake District that I stayed at with some friends last year.
Prompt 4: Bottle, I was making a card for my DS1, as he had got a new job, so used that as my 'bottle'.
Prompt 5: Leather, I took a photo of the tassels on my suede boots, the black bit at the bottom of the page is a leather fringe I created from some off cuts of leather.
Prompt 6 - Young, this is me camping at York with my parents and my sister. We didn't have proper camping chairs so my dad used to take the seats out of the car and we had lovely comfy leather chairs!
Prompt 7 - Faces, you may have seen this photo before as it is one of my favourites of my family, taken in Dublin just before they flew the nest!
Prompt 8 - Up Above, I wasn't sure what to use for this so searched through some of my photo files and found this chandelier at Peterhof near St Petersburg. The photograph didn't look all that promising, but I am really pleased by the way it has come together on this page.
Prompt 9 - Nature, I have many, many nature photographs and this was taken last spring. The rotting log with moss and dead leaves is typical of the kind of habitat in the wood close to our home.
Prompt 10 - Knit, I had a bit of fun with this one, I did knit the beanie had, but probably about 15 years ago at least. It is Aran wool and has been one of the most enduring knitted items I have, I wear it when doing farming tasks and on winter walks. I did a little bit of knitting using a cotton bud with the ends cut off and some tapestry wool.
The back of the mini album gives the details of the dates of the NRC, these elements came from digital kits by Faith True and MAELIA Design France for Digiscrapaddicts, the little tag is actually a digital element that I printed and cut out, the brad is real! The 2009 is stamped.

I hope you have enjoyed my mini-book, I certainly enjoyed making it :)

Saturday 23 May 2009

Artarazzi Challenge 24 - Sisters

Here is the image provided for Artarazzi Challenge 24.
And this is my interpretation of it, the Sisters image was blended into the rusty manhole cover using blending modes, the 'accessories' for the girls come from the Itikupilli 'Girls, Girls,Girls' collage sheet and I used some stitching and buttons by Jess Bolton and a swirly thing from Anna BV Designs, both from Digiscrapaddicts. Even remembered to do my journal page, hope it is easier to read this time.

Tuesday 19 May 2009

Artarazzi Challenge 23 - Teatime

I was so busy with the BF crop that I forgot all about the Aratarazzi challenge. I've been waiting for a good opportunity to use this fab Kit by MLECard called Tealicious, it's one of the kits in the Digiscrapaddicts search for new designers. I extracted two of the little girls and took them to a tea party!

Bubbly Funk Non Retreaters Crop

I know I posted my Twinchie before, but it was also part of the BF-NRC as Joanne set a challenge to use Distress inks and I used mine on the background.

My challenge was a digital one, I created this quick page and challenged everyone to add some pictures to it.
Kathy gave us a link to a tutorial for a 10 minute mini-book, this is mine. I am going to put the photos in it that were part of Hazel's photo prompt challenge. I'll show it again when that is done.
This was another video tutorial that Kathy found for us. The pop up card was remarkably easy to make and I managed to include the Twinchie .

Thanks to everyone for all the lovely challenges and fun chat on Bubbly Funk XXX

Monday 18 May 2009

The Simple Woman's Day Book




For Today...
Monday 17th May

Outside my window...pouring with rain

I am thinking... about the busy week I have ahead of me

I am thankful for... my DS1 getting the job that he wanted and the nice time we had with him, his girlfriend and her parents when we went out for dinner to celebrate.

From the kitchen... a very late supper after working late, I did get some canapes at the do I was at, they were very tasty, but I was still very hungry.

I am wearing...cotton sweater, cords - it's cold again

I am reading... I've read Claire Macdonald's Suppers, I love reading cook books and now am back to Phillipa Gregory's The Other Queen.

I am hoping... that I can get everything done that needs done

I am creating... no time to create tonight, did a lot of creating at the Non-Retreaters Crop on Bubbly Funk Forum over the weekend. It was fun.

Around the house... it's freezing, the oil stove went out at the weekend and the temperature has dropped.

One of my favorite things... laughing with my friends

A few plans for the rest of the week... off to Paisley tomorrow, Hamilton on Wednesday, Paisley on Thursday, Glasgow on Friday - oh boy, it's going to be a tiring week!

Here is a picture thought I am sharing with you... These are the ingredients for the foot scrub that was a project for the Bubbly Funk Non-retreaters Crop at the weekend - instructions are HERE



Sunday 17 May 2009

Something Completely Different - Twinchie


There's a new challenge blog called 'Something Completely Different' you can visit HERE

The challenge for this week is a Twinchie with the theme of 'Wings', I combined this challenge with one of the ideas on the Bubbly Funk Non-retreaters Crop, some of the members of BF are off on a lovely retreat, crafting together, but those of us left behind have been having a ball with some really fun challenges. The background of the this Twinchie was inspired by Tim Holtz's video tutorial on Distress Inks. Unfortunately, I only have two so far so I had to use some glimmer mists as well. The stamp is by Crafty Individuals and I also used some 'old paper' distress ink to age the stamped card.

Thursday 14 May 2009

Show and Tell Friday - Moss

Not much time to prepare for this tonight, so I am showing you the moss growing in our yard. I love the patterns that the moss makes, but it is getting to the point that it is encroaching into areas where it shouldn't be and will have to be removed.

Monday 11 May 2009

The Simple Woman's Day Book


For Today...

Outside my window... blue skies and sunshine - hurrah!

I am thinking... about organising the family to get together for my MIL's 85th birthday

I am thankful for...my DS1 for coming round unannounced and whitewashing some of the farm buildings.

From the kitchen... Braised Pork with Prunes, some of the Butterscotch Cake (see previous post) with coffee later.

I am wearing... coral coloured cotton sweater, turquoise cords

I am reading... Still reading 'The Other Queen' but also 'Suppers' by Claire MacDonald - lovely foodie read.

I am hoping... that the sun will still be out tomorrow.

I am creating...some felt cuffs for friends who admired the ones I put on my blog (thanks girls XXX)

Around the house...trying NOT to be around the house with the nice weather

One of my favorite things... coffee

A few plans for the rest of the week... Planning Day at work tomorrow, late night working on Wednesday but I'm going to try to go straight from work to Pilates class, no other real plans.

Here is a picture thought I am sharing with you... I took this out of the window on Saturday night!

Sunday 10 May 2009

Butterscotch Cake

Sorry about the poor photo of the iced cake, I think I was in too much of a hurry to eat it, lol!

I was in the mood to bake something yesterday, so made this simple Butterscotch Cake, it doubled up as dessert as we had some with custard, it was delicious.


Butterscotch Cake (Janet Cooke’s)

Recipe from Easy Cook Issue 25

Cuts into 8 according to the recipe, but I got a lot more out of it.


Ready in 45 minutes

Suitable for freezing un-iced sponge only

225g soft butter

175g soft brown sugar, plus 5 tbsp extra

175g self-raising flour

3 eggs, beaten

1 tsp baking powder

5 tbsp evaporated milk

Handful of toasted almonds, chopped (I used pecan nuts)

1. Bake the Cake: Turn the oven to fan 160C/conventional 180C/gas 4. Butter and line a 28 x 18 x 5cm tin. Put 175g of the butter, the sugar, flour, eggs and baking powder into a bowl and beat until well combined and smooth. Pour into the prepared tin and level out. Bake for 30 minutes until well risen and golden brown. Leave to cool in the tin.


2. Make the icing: Put the remaining 50g butter, extra 5 tbsp sugar and the evaporated milk in a saucepan and heat until the butter and sugar have melted. Boil for 4 minutes, or until thickened. Pour over cake and decorate with the nuts.



Saturday 9 May 2009

Artarazzi Challenge 22

Here is my Artarazzi Challenge for this week. I've borrowed the 'digital art journal' idea, below, from another blog, as a way of showing the images that I have used to create the final piece.

It seems that my Art Journal is too small to read the text, I'll bear that in mind next time so here are the details. The stone plaque image is the one provided by Artarazzi for altering, the other photographs are mind, taken at the side of our hedges and in the fields. The Fairies are by Itkuppilli and the 'grass' graphics are by Studio mgl at Scrapbookgraphics. The Background paper is Maelia Designs also for Scrapbookgraphics.

Bubbly Scruptious Challenge No 3

This months challenge at Bubbly Scrumptious is to make a piece of JEWELLERY. It can be anything you like and made in any way you like!!!
Anyone who has been following my blog will know just how much I loved the K&Co Wild Saffron papers and elements. In the Bubbly Funk Kit, we got four brads and even though I have pretty much used up everything else (not quite though) I still had the brads because I couldn't bear to use them on a card and give it away! So this is my solution - create earrings from them. These were my two favourites, I simply cut off the prongs and used silicon glue to glue them onto a pair of flat earrings that I never wear now, you could buy proper earring bases, but these worked in just the same way.


Here they are in my ears, I think it is quite cool how they are both different.
I also wanted to show you two 'cuffs' that I have made. These are made using my embellisher machine, which is an easier way to needlefelt. The base of the cuff is organza and I used the machine to felt merino wool fibre into the chiffon and then added some silk fibres over the top.
This blue one also had thick embroidery threads embellished onto it and some bugle beads sewn in.

Friday 8 May 2009

Show and Tell - Clock

I nearly forgot about Show and Tell Friday, so here is a quick post showing the clock in my dining room. This clock was the inspiration for the colour scheme for the dining room and kitchen, so although it is not a great timekeeper, I love the way it looks.

Tuesday 5 May 2009

Bubbly Scrumptious - Birthday Book

My DS1 can never remember any family birthdays and I'm fed up having to remind him, so I decided to make him a birthday book like the one that Kathy made on Bubbly Scrumptious blog using the Simply Stated papers that were in the Bubbly Funk Kit.
Inside front covers

I had a bit of difficulty with my BIA as I haven't tried to make a book that needed more than one punch and I just couldn't get it to line up. I spoke to Karen in chat later and she has offered to give me a phone tutorial - hee hee, I think I need it. Thanks Karen :-D
Calendar pages

These are the inside back pages.

Back cover