Something Completely Different - Houses 2 & 3

Here are my two houses for the last two weeks challenges on Something Completely Different The first theme was 'Words' and when I looked up 'house/home' on an online quote site, this one caught my eye and immediately reminded me of a stamp I got in a swap some time ago. I know it is not strictly a house, but it is a house roof!
When I saw the title Birdhouse for the second house, my mind went to Charlie Parker, known as 'Bird' which gave me a chance to use my saxophone stamp (Dimension Fourth) again lol! So here is 'Bird' in da house.

Daring Card Makers - Inchies

Sue has set the dare this week, here is what she asked the Daring Cardmakers to do:

"So my dare this week is to make inchies and put just five of them on your card.
There’s no set theme, colour or shape, I’m just intrigued to see how many different ways you can arrange the five tiny squares."

I used the K&Co Verbena kit from Bubbly Funk. The inchies are stamped with an Elusive Images stamp and heat embossed with holographic embossing powder. Some teeny weeny Anita's gems in the centre. The lace is 'tatting' from the big bag of vintage lace that I got from my Mum last week. 'Thanks' stamp is Studio G.

Blackcurrant Swirl Cheesecake - Sneaky Peek!

Here is a little peek at the Blackcurrant Swirl Cheesecake I made last weekend. Click on the picture to go to Farmersgirl Kitchen to find out more!

Birthday Blogging No.2 - Seafood Restaurant

For the second part of my birthday celebrations I went to visit my Mum for a few days. As you can see she had made me a birthday cake, we took it to my Great Aunt's house on Monday afternoon and had tea and cake in the afternoon.
My birthday present from my great-aunt (this title is rather deceiving as she is only 10 years older than my Dad was!) was to take me, mum and my sister to The Seafood Restaurant at St Andrews. The restaurant is on the Scores, just behind the 18th green of the famous Old Course (golf - for the uninitiated). It is glass all around and sits out over the sea.
It was a beautiful sunny night, very bright, hence the squinting! And, just so you don't get the wrong idea, only one of those glasses of wine was mine!

This is Phyllis, my great aunt.

and this is my Mum

and my sister, Shirley.

The food was spectacular, so I had to take pictures! We started with an 'amuse bouche', a little something from the chef while you wait for your main course, it was Gravadlax and very tasty, but I didn't get a picture. The photograph above is my starter of Pittenweem Crab, it was delicious, Phyllis also had the crab.

My Mum had a terrine.

and Shirley had a Smoked Haddock Rarebit.

Here is my main course of Monkfish, it was on a bed of something green (can't remember what) and wild mushrooms, it doesn't look like much food, but it was actually quite filling.

Phyllis had Sea Trout.

and Shirley had Roasted Cod.

Mum had Halibut which was served in an oriental style.

The we had the 'Pre-Dessert' a little shot glass full of Eton Mess! I forgot to take a photo, sorry!

I just had to have the Chocolate Fondant for dessert, the thing in the middle is a marshmallow and it was served with Pistachio Icecream - yummy. Mum had the same.

Shirley is on a diet and doing really well, so she asked for a Fruit Salad.

Phyllis had the Strawberry Cheesecake served with strawberry sorbet.

This was followed by coffee and Petit Fours, we had eaten two of them before I remembered to take the picture lol!

It was getting dark when we left the restaurant, what an amazing place, I will definitely have to go back!

50th Birthday Card Slideshow

Here are some of the fantastic cards I received for my birthday.

Birthday Blogging No. 1 - Dalton Pottery

Firstly can I say a very BIG thank you to all of my crafting friends who sent me birthday cards. I hope to get them all photographed later and post them here.

The cake was made by the pottery/art cafe owner - very, very chocolatey- yum!

I may be 50 but I can still move pretty fast - that's me blowing out the candles.

Cutting the cake.

Andrew's girlfriend, Hazel with the plate she painted - she is an art student and paints in miniature, very slowly. This is her doing her 'Shopping Channel' pose!

Here are the teeny tiny feathers she painted.

Andrew doing a manic shopping channel pose with his plate, he also paints in detail, but much more abstract.

Close up of Andrew's plate.

Steven painted a teapot with a colourful lid and spout and musical notes going round it.

This is Shona, Steven's girlfriend and 'Jeremy' as she named her super-bright cow money bank.

Brian's sister Isabel made a Scottish themed dish with thistles and a hint of a Saltire flag inthe centre.

Margaret, my MIL decorated a Sundae dish which she plans to use as a vase.

Brian chose a butterfly because it had defined lines and used the marker pens rather than paint.

Here is the pot I painted, it can be used as a pencil pot or a vase.

We also did spin art, where you spray paint at a board which is rotating - that was a lot of fun, this is mine.

More Birthday Blogging tomorrow.

Katiecakes Cook Book Giveaway!

Would you like to own this cookbook? Well if you go and visit Katiecakes you can enter her first giveaway, a kind of Cake Candy lol!

Merry and Bright - Bubbly Scrumptious Challenge

Here is my entry for the Bubbly Scrumptious Weekly Challenge.

DRY EMBOSSING

Whether you use a lightbox or a 'machine' for this you can make some really lovely patterns & there is so much you can do with the embossed card/paper.

I am beginning to think I need to start making some Christmas cards so as I have the snowflake embossing folder for my Cuttlebug, I decided to use this for the challenge. The card owes a lot to Kaz at Slightly Wonky Crafts in style, the papers were left over from last year and are by Dream Street, the stamped image was one I got in a stamped image swap, so I can't give you any details, I'm afraid.

DCM - Lacy Days of Summer

Kathy's turn to dare us on Daring Card makers -here is what she said:

My challenge consists of just one word really and that word is;

LACE

You're free to interpret "Lace" in whatever way you like; you could use the actual word on your card, stamp or cut a lacy design or maybe use one of these dictionary definitions to inspire you:
1. a net-like ornamental fabric made of threads by hand or machine.
2. a cord or string for holding or drawing together, as when passed through holes in opposite edges.
3. ornamental cord or braid, esp. of gold or silver, used to decorate uniforms, hats, etc.
4. a small amount of alcoholic liquor or other substance added to food or drink.

I was very tempted to go with the alcoholic liquor - ha ha! But decided to drink that and go with the 'straight-laced' approach of definition #2. I used a sketch from Becky Fleck's Page Maps - Card no. 30, papers are K&Co, vintage photograph from Gaby Braun at gaby cajubrasil, Thank You stamp, My Mind's Eye.

Moussaka

Recipe and step-by-step photos at Farmersgirl Kitchen.

Something Completely Different - Houses 1 & 2

I just didn't get around to last week's SCD, but I had this idea in my head and it just had to come out! Why I was thinking 'Love Shack' I just don't know, but there you are, there is nowt as queer as folk lol! I used the Cornish Heritage Farms Woodgrain backgrounder and cut it into strips to make my 'shack', the heart is an Elusive Images stamp, the digital sign comes from Digital Craft Cottage and there is one of those pins again.

This week the theme for SCD is 'Flowers' so here is my little house with some gigantic flowers, they are all stamped on either purple or yellow card and I used Sakura pens, glitter glue and Glossy accents. Papers are Verbena from the Bubbly Funk Kit for July.

Birkenstocks

I don't like slippers! I like to wear some kind of open sandal around the house. The last ones I had were from Next and lasted a couple of years, but last week the sole fell off one of them. And, despite trying to stick them first with silicone glue and next with 'No more nails' the sole would not stay on. So I decided I needed a new pair, however the summer sales are nearly over and, apparently it is autumn :o I went all round the shops today, and finally in D&E I found these sandals, and lo and behold, they are genuine Birkenstocks! Full price £34.99, sale price £18 and with extra 20% discount, they were.....£13.50!!! They are lovely and that is real patent leather, not plastic. I do love a bargain.

Hay Bales

We had a few dry days at the end of last week and managed to make our hay.

Looking back from the field to the house.

The bales were moved up to the top field to sit for a while in case any of them overheated as they can spontaneously combust if they are put in a shed while they are still a bit green!

Bubbly Scrumptious - Monogram

The Bubbly Scrumptious monthly challenge is to create a Monogram. I've made this letter K for a friend and colleague called Kathleen with a special birthday coming up. It was inspired by Karen's Monogram from the Design Team at Bubbly Scrumptious and the letter is 24cm tall.

Papers are K&Co Madeleine, chipboard, ribbons & flowers from general stash.