Recycled Christmas

Well earlier in the year i did a blog hop and the theme was recycling and it's kinda stuck so when i planned on doing my Christmas cards for this year i knew i would be recycling the cards I've had from previous years. The theme over at Christmas Cards all Year Round was to

'The September challenge is going to be a card that is any shape other than the standard 4 1/4 X 5 1/2. It can be square, rectangular, circular, big, small, whatever, but not the standard size. You card must also have gold, silver, crystal or pearl on it somewhere as well!'

So i set to it with some inspiration from this book which i borrowed alot last year and equally this so far lol

Here are my five cards for the challenge at CCAYR

A minute here and a minute there

Today is my second Monday with my son in full time school. Monday is unofficially a housework day but i got so hot this morning that when I'd finished the bit of housework i planned to get done i moved onto some baking. I had been browsing Nigellas Christmas and found a recipe for Christmas morning muffins and wanted to have a go. I swapped the cranberries for orange and lemon peel and with the exception of changing the demerera sprinkles on top for golden caster sugar i popped them in the oven and left them too it. 

Here they are, i enjoyed one after lunch with a nice cup of coffee. I think i may swap the orange and lemon peel purely because orange juice and zest goes in the mix and maybe something less citrussy may contrast better plus the ingredients required specific spices and i used mixed spice and was a bit wary so next time i will add more spice :)

So before i go pick my son up this is a card i whipped up using some bought downloadable papers found here

Simple but effective i think :)

Not a bad day so far, i like the days when i get to do a bit of everything i enjoy, and yes i don't mind housework when i'm in the mood and that's negotiable right now lol!

Great British Bake Off

So did you get caught up in the GBBO, i so enjoyed following this series of amateur bakers showing their skills and giving us early learners inspiration to try new things. Today i did just that, i baked scones. Using the recipe found here at the BBC Good Food site. Now in true GGBO style i almost forgot the caster sugar so added it just before i took the dough out. Didn't have a brush to paint the top with egg so dunked the tops in it before putting them on the baking tray. Mixture might have been a bit thick so they were mostly big scones and the largest of them which was the first one i went for was slightly doughy near the top so i think they could have done with a little longer in the oven but apart from that quite pleased. One of the nicest scones I've had in a long time and it didn't leave that feeling in my  mouth :)

Check out Ruth from GBBO over at her blog The Pink Whisk  and go online to see how you could raise money for Children in Need  or check out the GBBO recipes here :)

Hive Creative Challenge - Autumn playtime

Well here is today's piece of creativity inspired by the Creative Challenge over at the Hive


Yesterday i was inspired by Art Attack, a children's art programme where Neil blew paint with a straw, then i added the leaves by splashing carefully some lovely colours. I'm sure we've all done it as children. I had a go yesterday and then today i knuckled down and did an Autumn tree complete with it's Autumn gown of many colours. I really enjoyed this technique and will definitely be using it again. There is alot to be said for child's play. I remember my son bringing home a funky painting he'd done using marbles. Drop the marbles in the paint and then onto the paper in a tray of some sort and wiggle it around, such fun, I've done that too. Go on unleash your inner child :)

The Great Owl Challenge

Recently i joined the Hive, it's a mine of creative information from all walks of creative life. Dennis threw out a challenge to make an Owl, not sure he was expecting quite the interest that followed but just goes to show how popular they are. I know i love them but I'm obviously not on my own. Anyway i was thinking, dangerous i know, how or what would i do and yo and behold i thought oh yes I'll make a paper mache Owl, never done paper mache before, or atleast not for many many years but the gauntlet got thrown down and the wheels in motion and here we are under a week later.

Whootah!

I used a balloon as the base for my owl, layer upon layer of newspaper followed by some recycled paper bags. The eyes are a mixture of bottle tops with googly eyes in with a bit of string for decorative effect and a bit of purple mesh behind. I added a bit more purple mesh for his belly and then used my sons hands on the wings and part of my hands for his feet, these shapes were also covered with recycled paper bags and additional colour added with an orange ink pad. I have glittered his wings and feet so he has a bit of gold sparkle. I think hes not bad considering I've never done it before. Hope you like him :)

Chapters

As one door closes another one opens,

but i want to stay inside.

It's here i bought my ticket

for a special kind of ride.

No idea where this journey would take us,

or what we would see along  the way.

No sat nav or AA to guide us,

to lead us to this day.

Time flies when you're having fun

but it wasn't always this way.

This journey had it's ups and downs

as any parent will say.

No umbilical cord to join us 

but by my side is where you'd be.

My shadow would never be lonely

with you for company.

So this chapter is nearly complete,

A blank page stares back at me.

Ready to put pen to paper

to fill with love and memories.

Dedicated to Brett Niner on nearly the eve of school.

Written with love and tears!

Lets get cutting

So today i told my son that we were having a lazy day which basically means we're staying in. I wanted to do some baking so he watched telly, played in his room and generally kept himself amused while i baked. I thought i would have a go at some no bake cookies and then wanted to make some cookie dough to roll out and cut out. Anyway i had a go at my friends No Bake cookie recipe  but changed some of the ingredients. I'm not a big fan of cocoa so missed that out, i also skipped the peanut butter as my hubby and son don't like it either. The recipe is as follows


1/2 cup of butter
4 tablespoons of cocoa
2 cups of sugar
1/2 cup of milk
1/2 cup of peanut butter
2 cups of rolled oats
1/4 teaspoon of vanilla
Pinch of salt (which i forgot)


So melt the butter, cocoa, sugar and milk in a pan and then bring to the boil, the important bit, for one minute.This bit worries me a bit but i think it did it for a minute, then add the remaining ingredients. So in went the oats, coconut (50g), 4tbsp of lemon curd. Much like the frogs last week i ended up with a runny mixture, i added more and more oats to try and thicken, dry it up. I'm not sure whether this is down to converting cups to our measurements but at this point i knew spooning some onto baking paper that they weren't going to set. I'm no master baker so having dropped a tray full some of which were more oaty and spread less and one or two kinda melted i decided to put the rest of the mixture in a rectangular baking tray and into the oven for 15 mins or so. So hopefully a bit flapjacky. Feel free to suggest where i am going wrong with these types of cookies, not the full boil, not enough oats, not getting the quantities right?


Any i move on...next was to find some roll out cookie dough which i did here i followed the ingredients again, converting some and using my cups where the packets were accessible. I mixed everything together and added 150g of choc chips then rolled it up put it in a tub and into the fridge. It stayed in the fridge while i completed above. I got it out and rolled it out as best i could, it was slightly crumbly but i got by. There were no cooking instructions with this recipe, helpful! so i cooked them at gas mark 5 for round about 15ish minutes.The are solid and very tasty and look great but i do need to make the dough a little more pliable and then it will spread more easily and the dough will go further. We have nice thick heart and choc chip men, I've eaten one and finished my sons as he apparently doesn't like them, shame. So that's me all cooked out for one morning. Could do with a sleep now lol.

In the eye of the beholder

It's an age old saying that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, personally i think beauty is there for all of us to see just some need to open their eyes more than others. 

There are all sorts of beauty all around us, we don't need to travel far to see them or pay charges to see them, this was in my friends garden standing proud and being maintained by the bee's during their industrious process of collecting pollen and there must be pollen a-plenty on a big sunflower, it must be like pollen heaven :)

These beautiful lillies were in the same friends garden, aren't they just beautiful, like a work of art with their frilly petals and beautiful spray painted colours and their wonderful scent wafts the air.

This i took in my garden, it's been a while waiting for the deep red to bloom and in the mean time the ladybirds have taken up residence. This morning i popped out to see if there was any progress and this has opened up enough for me to see a glimmer of autumn colour. There are many heads on this sunflower so it's late performance will bring about a splash of beauty and colour now that many blooms are on their final curtain.

It's there, can you feel it, Autumn is coming, more beauty to follow, keep your eyes peeled :)