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.

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!

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.

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.

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.

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