Baby Cakes....and a ramble round the Reservoir!

Hello there :)
I hope you have had a super weekend? We have had a lovely time here....and some of it was even child free!!!!

Friday evening whilst Chloe was staying with her Nanna and Grandad and Lauren was out partying with friends, we took the opportunity for a lovely walk....just the 2 of us :)....but more of that in a moment!

Yesterday, Lauren and I made Rainbow Babycakes! We used the tiniest of paper cases that I found in Sainsbury's....they really are weeny. Made up a standard sponge mixture and split it into 4 bowls, then added some mega bright food colouring lol. After baking them we made the topping using melted white choclate, icing sugar and cream cheese.....OMG! We have now found a NEW favourite frosting lol.

The larger cupcake is just in a standard sized cupcake case, so you see just how teeny the baby cakes are.....soooo sweet! Lauren snaffled 6 of them to take to her boyfriend's house lol and the rest didn't last very long.

Now....back to friday 'child free' evening. We decided to go for a romantic stroll and headed up to Arlington Reservoir . It was a beautiful, sunny, clear evening and the reservoir looked gorgeous. You can see The Long Man of Wilmington in the background here, nestled on the side of the South Downs....if you squint.....and click on the photo to make it bigger lol.( he is there...i promise. Look for the 2 long sticks he is holding up.)

I for one, am very guilty of taking the beautiful area we live in for granted. And its on an evening like this that we really see the true beauty of our country side.
However, we also see things that are not quite so beautiful....well in my eyes anyway! We were just strolling along when we saw this monstrous creation! I tell you it was huuuuge...even Dale was taken aback at its size.....and the size of the furry beasts that had eaten their way out of the skillfully woven contraption.....uggggghhhhh!!! Shudder!

I just LOVED these daisies....now why can't I get them to grow like this in MY garden?????


We strolled through the woodland walk area and came out in the open.....when we went round the first little corner we found these little...or should I say BIG, furry critters! There were loads of them....everywhere....and it was so funny to see their white, fluffy little 'bobtail's bobbing up and down when they scarpered for the hedges

When the sun started to drop it fell rather quickly, but the colour change was magnificent. this photo was taken on the opposite side of the Reservoir to where we started....there is almost a little beach area.
So we knew we needed to get a move on before the sun dropped right down......a little further along we saw some more of these......it made me think.....it's YEARS since I ate a rabbit pie....MMMmmmmmmmmm! he!he!he!


This was the last photo that i took that evening and I love it....it was a really lovely evening out and only cost the fuel to get there.......we shall be doing more of those visits i think for sure!

Happy 40th to the best Little Sister ever!

Yep, she has hit the biiiiiig 40! So, wishing you the happiest and most special of birthdays Donna and hoping it was a fabsulous day ( I know the evening was ;) LOL!)

This is the card I made for her, I have used the CC Designs Swiss Pixie Cupcake Birgitta , coloured with Promarkers and finished with various blossoms, stamped sentiment using an SU stamp ( thank you Zoe xx) AC Thickers, die cut shapes and some free papers from a mag...oh yes and a sprinkling of Stickles!

See, she really IS a wonderful little Sister....always has been.

She was lovely even way back then.......even with a wonky fringe he!he!he!

So, on Sunday night she had a big party so we could all share in the celebrations. It was really lovely to see so many of our rellies and her friends all in one place, but such a shame that our parents couldn't join us due to illness ( maybe we should do it all again next week? What do ya think??)

He is me and my lovely gang ( Sharon, recognise the shirt? ;) )

Donna and my Hubby....well part of him!

Donna and my lovely Brother-In-Law and Neice and Nephews ( before the alcohol lol)

Hope you had the most wonderful day Hun, you so totally deserve it ((((hugs))))

Chocolate Nests and Layouts!

Happy Easter Everyone!

I hope you are having a really lovely day today, it's certainly another corker isn't it!

I made some Devils Food Cake choccy nests and took some to our picnic with friends the other day...and we have finished the rest today ;), they were rather yummy.
This morning we went to a huuuuuuuge boot sale. i got a lovely skirt, brand new with the tags still on for Lauren....for the pricely sum of £1!!!!!! I bought 4 rolls of pretty wallpaper for......wait for it.........£1 for all of them!!!!!!! And I bought 2 punnets of strawbs, a bag of grapes and 3 mangoes for....yep....£1!!!!!!! So a lovely fresh fruit bowl will be on the menu later.



I had forgotten that I hadn't posted a couple of my layouts that I made at our Blossoms retreat last month. This first one was made using a paper from Websters pages and is really simple and basic, but i really like it. It shows Chloe picking Blueberries, Loganberries and Strawberries in my Aunt and Uncle's lovely garden in Devon where we were lucky enough to spend a weeks holiday last year.
Here is the other page....another basic one. I used some of the lush papers from Echo Park collection, which i purchased at Cardinal Colours, along with the cardstock. The yellow letters are AC Thickers and the larger doily of the 2 was made by cutting a circle then clipping round the edge with a MS punch, the small doily was made with a MS punch and I also used a MS punch to create the yellow strips down both sides. The photo is of our 2 girlies and their cousins when they were ready to go to my youngest nephews Christening last year....check out that car!!!

Right, thats me done I think, just off to nibble some chocolate.....enjoy the rest of the Easter Weekend everyone

Warmest wishes

Anita..xxx

A Birthday Bouquet with a difference!

Yesterday(21st) was my Birthday( yes that's right...I was 30!he!he!he!)and after having the most wonderful weekend away with my lovely crafty friends( which I shall blog another day) and being given the most beautiful cards and wonderful gifts, I came home to my lovely family and was presented with this!
Can you imagine being given something that looks this good AND tastes divine!!!!
Once again my amazingly talented Sister has excelled herself ( thank you so much Hun (((hugs))) ) . This bouquet was all wrapped in pink tissue and cellophane and stood in a vase....and its all sparkly and glittery too!

The cakes are on long stems and some are vanilla sponge and some are strawberry flavour ( apologies for the difference in colour between the photos)
Aren't they absolutely fabulous? And don't they just look too flipping good to eat! Thank you sooooooo much Dooey, you are such an inspiration to me....aswell as the bestest kid Sister in the world ;)

And aswell as giving me something that was sweet.....she also gave me something savoury too!!!!!!

My absolute FAVOURITE things........ SPROUTS!

Love em!.......xxxxxxxxxxxx

Heartstrings, cupcakes and poorly fingers!

Hello there :)
I can show you a piccy now of what I made out of some bazill cardstock from Jill ( I didn't want to blog it until I had given it to her lol). I was totally inspired by this blog post
when I stumbled across it whilst bouncing around different blogs. Although it was easy to make it was quite time consuming, but i am happy with the results :). I made 2 different length garlands for Jill and when I left the shop today she was hanging them in her window :) ( which,by the way, looks totally fabulous with lots of lovely reds, pinks and shiny things and lovely hand made cards, layouts, jewellery and other goodness)

Some of the hearts were straight cut and others I used fancy edge scissors :)

My uber talented and very lovely Sister popped round for a visit on tuesday and bought along some more of her cupcakes for me to sample( its a tough job, but someone has to do it lol) Just feast your eyes on these little beauties....and I can assure you they tasted every bit as scrumptious as they looked. I suggested she try a cake recipe called Red Velvet....and she did!

AND i thought I had died and gone to heaven!!!! They should be made ILLEGAL, they are just utterly evil and tempting and fanblinking tastic!!!!!

She had sprinkled some edible glitter on the top, it really sparkled beautifully, but its always hard to catch a sparkle on camera isn't it.

The rose formation itself is really stunning isn't it...that is really made from just butter cream through a thin ribbon nozzle, she is so amazingly clever....I am in awe of her. It almost seemed a crime to bite into one and ruin it....but like i said...almost a crime but not quite so I totally devoured every last little morsel ( thanks Hun :) )

Monday and tuesday were quite eventful days.....Monday saw a trip to A & E with Lauren ! She was playing footie at school....with the boys....and she was in goal.....the good news is she stopped the goal going in....the bad news is.....she dislocated her thumb in the process!

So 3 hrs in A & E and in Xray and then a visit on tuesday to the fracture clinic and she is now sporting this rather slinky little black number....complete with steel rod to keep her thumb where it is supposed to be * rolls eyes*.

tuesday evening she was playing ok in a tournament though....she captains the girls team and was playing midfield, so was safe to play......

Kids eh!!!!! What can you do??????

Wamrest wishes Anita..xxxx

Lovely friends, cropping and colourful cupcakes!

Today has been our monthly crop at our much loved friend Jill's studio at Cardinal Colours
I just love our monthly crops, the group of girls that always come along are such lovely friends and we always have a giggle, a good old natter and its so inspiring to see what beautiful creations they all make. Its not just scrapping either, they are card makers too and today has also seen some stunning jewellery created and also some fab knitted items too.

Today was also a birthday celebration for these 2 lovely ladies below :)

Wendy and Liz are both celebrating their birthdays in the middle of this month so we gave them cards and pressies today and I made them some cupcakes instead of a raspberryoffee( after seeing the colours they would probably have preferred the raspberryoffee lol)

Here is Liz with her cupcake broken in half to see the colours inside....kind of a rainbow surprise ( or more like a drug induced 'trip' lol)

And here is Wendy, hers looks a bit like a target inside doesn't it LOL. check out her funky arm plaster cast too, poor thing bless her.....super colour though Wendy....does it come in Teal ? if so I may well consider having a trip to A & E ;)

This was my cake when I broke it open....I just love these new food gel colours I have just bought, the normal liquid ones from the supermarket seem so pale and pasty in comparison. I am surprised we weren't all bouncing off the ceiling though with all those food colourings( i think I was probably a little over generous with the amount i added to the mix).

All the left over cake mix was poured into a loaf tin and I made a slab cake to leave at home for dale and the girls......

when I got home from the crop there were literally just crumbs left.....so I guess I did something right :)

Right, thats me done for the evening, just going for a cuppa and a catch up. Enjoy the rest of the weekend :)

Warmest wishes Anita..xxx

Cupcakes...a card AND a sneak peek!

Hello there :), I hope you have had a lovely weekend? I know I have....it started with Lauren's Birthday on Friday....then onto our monthly crop yesterday with a lovely bunch of talented ladies who are also very special friends....and then today I have had a lovely lie in and a generally lazy day( having said that, I have ignored my ironing pile that HAS to be done tonight...you know...the school and work uniforms....that grow overnight!!)
Anyway, I thought I would share some pics with you. This first one is Lauren with one her cupcakes that my lovely and multi-talented Sister made. Lauren had asked if she could have cupcakes instead of a normal birthday cake....all she said was she wanted something bright....and would also love a VW badge maybe if poss.
So, here she is with her very own cupcake....VW badge and all! Nice and shiny silver....and all edible too.


And here are the cakes altogether on their stand. My sister also had rice paper toppers printed with Lauren on them....how cool is that!!! Donna, if you read this, thank you soooo much Hun, you are so flipping lovely (((hugs)))
Because Lauren is a girl after my own heart I just knew she would *need* a cupcake card too LOL, so I set too and made her this easel card...its not perfect so please don't look too close lol, I freehand cut the cupcake and then coloured in a Magnolia with my Promarkers ( I think she is Cowberry Muffin, but could be wrong)
I added a small paper doily, some AC thickers

, crochet mesh netting , Prima blossoms and bling.....and I was really pleased with it...and Lauren likes it too, so that's good!

So, now I have a little sneaky peek to show you.....tomorrow heralds the October Scrapology Challenge

......and its an absolutely gorgeous layout that we had the pleasure of lifting for this month....so pop along, have a looky and hopefully you will want to join in the fun.

Right, I am going to finish my dinner...and then do the ironing :(....catch you soon

Warmest wishes Anita..xxxx

Carnival Capers.....and Cupcakes!

Today has been Carnival day in Hailsham and Chloe joined in with her school float which was themed as Alice in Wonderland, she had the choice of being a playing card, a flower or a butterfly....and so the obvious was to choose the butterfly lol. As it was so cold she had to wrap up in a lilac velvet hoody aswell.

I delivered her to the start of the procession and then returned home to watch the Carnival with Dale, my Mum, Sister, Brother in Law and their little ones.

Now if you get bored easily looking at photos i would suggest you run away now as fast as you can LOL as there are a few to follow, although I didn't actually get photos of all the groups taking part.!

The Mad Hatter himself! Although you can't see it in the photo he even has the bright green contact lenses in....he looked VERY eerie up close I can tell you.

The front end of the float, this is where the Queen of Hearts sat on her throne, all the committee made such an amazing job of decorating the float, such a lot of work involved. And I am delighted to say that they earned 1st Prize in the float competition......

The Mad Hatters Tea Party ( watched over by Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee)

A very tall man came strolling along next!

And every tall guy need a tall girl to walk next to him.

We have a new charity shop in Hailsham, its called Thank the Forces...and this was their float.

Ug!Ug!Ug! He hads his spinach for breakfast me thinks!!!

Joshua watched the procession sporting his England strip ( I don;t think even he was impressed with their performance so far, lets hope the next match sees them get their act together eh!) just look at those gorgeous little chubbychunk leggies he has, all squishy and lovely.

After watching the procession we followed it down to the playing fields where there was a fun fair and various stalls and arena events....unfortunately a few mins after arriving there the heavens opened and we got soaked in just a few moments........such a shame.

Before trying to escape home wet and cold we saw a gorgeous cupcake stall....and it would have been rude to have run past without stopping to buy some wouldn't it. Mine is the lime green one, it was Elderflower...and delicious!




I just knew Chloe would choose one of the chocolate orange cupcakes, she can devour nearly a whole chocolate orange in just one sitting!!!
,

Lauren LOVES cupcakes, she is a girl after my own heart. Check out her nails! She loves painting them in various designs and wanted to use the England colours, but didn;t want just a Geaorge cross like lots of others have done.....so she made leopard print instead....I tell you that girl IS talented!


After being at home for a while the skies cleared and I took Chloe back to spend some pennies on the various tombola stalls. We met up with Lauren and she bought herself a hog roast roll( which looked and smelt fantastic!)




So that was our Saturday....hope you have all had a lovely one too. Tomorrow is Joshua's Christening, both Dale and myself feel very honoured as we are going to be Godparents to him :) ( we are also Godparents to his brother and sister), so I hope to maybe have some pics to blog soon. Have a lovely sunday everyone..xxxx Warmest wishes Anita..xxx

Cookie Monster!

thought these little beasties deserved a post of their own! Lauren wanted to have a play with some buns and decided on making some Cookie Monster ones, so up to the shops she went and came back with some bright blue food colouring! He should really have got mini cookies in his mouth, but whats a cookie size between friends.

And i must say they were very yummy indeed. I was looking forwards to having one the day after, but I opened up the fridge door, picked up the plate with the cookies on and.....it slipped out my hand, hit the glass shelf and shattered the shelf and hundreds of shards of glass sprayed everywhere! So had to chuck them away as i really didn't fancy anyone chewing on little bits of the sharp stuff! Maybe we will find Big bird visits the kitchen this weekend lol.