Belated Sunday Scrapping and Strawberry Spongecake

I know, I know...it's Monday today...yep I am a little late blogging this.
I hope you all had a lovely weekend? I know I did. I spent a lovely day out in Lewes on Saturday with 2 lovely friends of mine. It was really nice to just mooch about, grab lunch, mooch a little more and then sit by the riverside in a Brasserie for a lovely cuppa,chat and put the world to rights!

Yesterday I went to a booty in the morning and then came home and ironed a mountain of the dreaded crumpled stuff before sitting down to finish this layout.
I can't believe how simple and plain this page is for me....no tonnage of flowers, or Stickles or ripping or scrunching.....but I quite like it!
Its all about Lauren and 2 awards she won last year ( yes I i know I have boobed on the layout and put 2009....I have since changed it to 2010 LOL)
The journalling is tiny and is printed onto transparency and laid across the bottom of the page. I spritzed the background white bazzill with some Cosmic Shimmer Mist from Cardinal Colours
and then using a variety of colours of acrylic paint I then used some star shaped cookie cutters to stamp some stars onto the background.

I also used just a thin strip of bright paper and ran it through my MS deep edge punch and used various stickers to make the title and add the date ( albeit it the wrong one in this photo !!!LOL)

After scrapping I thought we all needed a slice of cake, so I whipped up this spongecake and filled it with yummy strawberry jam and butter cream.....and very tasty it was too!


Unfortunately after being in bed for only a very short time I was struck down with very violent sickness and bad tummy :( , thankfully it seems confined to only me...so it can't have been my home made cake!) so I have spent today feeling very empty,uncomfy and sorry for myself. Hope tonight is better.
TTFN..xxx

Happy Birthday to My Mum and happy halloween to you all!

Hello there....Happy Halloween to you all, I hope you have all had a suitably spooky evening so far.
Today also happens to be my dear Mum's Birthday....so HAPPY BIRTHDAY to you, you very special and much loved lady...you mean the world to me, Dale and the girls and obviously also to Donna,Ian and the little ones xxxxxxxxx

Well yesterday Donna and Ian held a wicked halloween Birthday party, so i thought I would share a few....actually LOTS of photos with you....so be prepared to be scared....be shocked...be horrified lol, but also be prepared to laugh....cos I think you will...I just hope you won;t be bored with them all......you have been warned!!!

so first of all let me set the scene with Lauren and Chloe's Pumpkins.....

Doesn't this make just the most divine family portrait?

The cutest little witch at the party, brewing up some magic for us all...

I was strangely attracted to this fella, i just wished he would clean his teeth a bit better....made me feel a bit queasy!

He even scared the young un's!

Here is Big Bones and his sidekick Lil Bones....

Me and my girly....she really needs to learn to apply her make up better don't you think?

My Sister made thia super birthday cake for our Mum....and all the little pumpkin biscuits round the bottom too.....delicious!!

Lauren and the birthday girly....love her necklace that she made from the little ones Hama beads.

the *Other* family Portrait! As you can see, they are a fine looking bunch too ( especially the teeniest,tiniest one!)


Good looks ( and teeth!) run in the family....who could resist a pair of hotties like these eh???

Right, thats it ( are you still awake or have your eyeballs dripped into the keyboard lol)....I need to climb the wooden hill and get some sleep....after having a lovely week of lay ins I have to revert to getting up at 3.30am in the morning....booooooooohooooo! But only for one day...then I have the rest of the week to enjoy again he!he!he!

Catch you soon

warmest wishes Anita..xxxx

Now THAT'S what I call a Flutterby Cake!

BEWARE!!!!!!! Major sugar overload to alert!!!!!
Yes, that really is a gigantic flutterby cake! On Sunday it is one of Lauren's friends birthday....and she absolutely LOVED the flutterby cakes I made the other day, lauren too some into school to share), anyway, Lauren decided she would like to make a mega one, so I had a practice today....and this is the result!!!! This is what 4 eggs, 8ozs of SR Flour, 8ozs Caster Sugar and Stork Marg PLUS a tbsp of hot water looks like!!!!


Add to that the piles of icing sugar and marg that made the buttercream and you have a positive time bomb LOL. Lauren wasn't about for a piccy so Chloe posed with the cake....and didn't even take a sneaky nibble lol.

It tastes pretty darned good too, we all had a little bit, quality testing and all that LOL. Well, Chloe is now asleep, Lauren is about to go up and me....well I amm STILL buzzing lol. I have a few more bits to sort out for tomorrows crop.....and then, if I can peel myself down from the ceiling I will be off to bed too.

Have a wonderful weekend everyone, whatever you are up to...xxxxxxxx

Flutterby Cakes and a card that's charmed.

I hope you are all having a lovely Sunday? I have had quite a busy one so far, but plan to sit and chill this evening. I fancied doing a little baking earlier and anyone who REALLY knows me knows I am no Delia Smith! So I thought I would make some Flutterby Cakes after Lauren was talking about them earlier on in the week.

Now I am not one to normally read and follow instructions properly he!he!he! and these buns were no exception!!! I guess I should really call them 'Chuck it all in and hope for the best cakes'!!! I know I was *supposed* to cream the marg and sugar together first....and I know I was *supposed* to sift the flour to make it 'light and airy' and beat the eggs before adding.....but I didn't do any of that! Oh no! I just chucked all the ingrediants and a spoon full of hot water into a bowl and mixed it till it looked ok. Well I don't know about you, but, I think they came out just fine....and more to the point they ARE delish and they are light and fluffy.....and nearly ALL GONE!!!!Dale and the girls thought they were pretty delish too, so its not just me being biased! I didn't measure for the butter icing properly either, just mixed till it looked ok....to be honest it was a little soft, but hey, the wings stayed stuck!
I thought i would share this card too, I actually made her on thursday but haven't had chance to upload her.

I pulled out my jewellery making bag and made the little charm to hang below the ribbon, I thought it finished off the card nicely.

I hope you all have a nice evening.....me....I am going to go and serve up dinner and then chill for the evening....and hopefully watch Being Human later....have you seen it? Its fab!..xxxxxxxx

Domestic Goddess in training!

I did a first for me today! I actually made pastry!!! By hand, from start to finish....none of this ready to roll stuff, oh no! Yep, its true, after having been around for **!$! years on this earth and being married for just over 17 of them I have at last made pastry lol.





I had some chicken left from last nights dinner and thought a home made pie would be nice and with the spare pastry I even made some jam tarts too! It reminded me of when I was little and my Mum used to make pies and tarts ( I even made a pastry flower and popped on top of the pie, my Mum's was always a rose, but I made a clematis/triffid! LOL)









Well they both seemed a success as there were empty plates all round, so I guess I shall be making some more another time.

Breakfasting on Banana Loaf.......Yummy!

Bit late in the day for blogging about breakfast, but that's what I am going to do LOL!

This morning Dale thought it would be a nice idea to bake us girls some scrumptious Banana Loaf for our brekkie, unfortunately we were out of eggs and so her had to wait for Tesco to open and then up he went, shopping list at the ready.

It wasn't long before the delicious aroma of Banana Loaf was floating throughout the house. Both Chloe and myself were in the lounge watching tv and Dale thought he would surprise Lauren by waking her up with a nice glass of milk and some warm buttered loaf, but her nostrils alerted her to the fact that something good was in the oven and she staggered downstairs before he could surprise her.

We all love Banana Loaf and we stand there wishing for it cool down enough quickly so we can have some, Chloe likes her bit as it is, but the rest of us are rather naughty and like it spread with butter...MMmmmmm! So here it is in all its glory.

If anybody else fancies the recipe to have a try yourself here it is for you. This is a recipe that my Mum has used for years and was a firm favourite at home when we were children and I love the fact that now my girls love it too.

You will need

4oz Caster Sugar

3oz Marg

1 egg well beaten

2 large ripe bananas, peeled and mashed or sliced ( we prefer mashed)

8oz Self Raising flour

pinch of salt

Cream together the sugar and marg, add the egg and then fold in the flour and salt.

Stir in the banana and then pour into a loaf tin and cook for between 40 and 50 mins in a fan oven at 150.

thats it....yummy! Go on , try it....you might like it :)

On another note, I have been rather busy today making something for my sister for tomorrow. Her friends are throwing her a baby shower ( for her 3rd baby due beginning of Dec :D ) and Me and my Mum are popping along about lunchtime, so I have been working on a gift today, hope to post some pics tomorrow after she has been given it :)

Totally Inspired...............

Totally Inspired .........

by the incredible Gabrielle Pollaco. She has long been a favourite of mine and never fails to inspire and make me want to scrap better. I have been working on this page on and off for a

couple of days now and I am really thrilled with the result.

After going away with my best friends, who are all very talented ladies, in April to a scrapping retreat I came home to a wonderful welcome from Dale and the girls.

But Chloe had made a special welcome home present for me. She had spent a long time with a pair of scissors and some leaves from the garden and made me this Welcome Home message. What a little treasure eh! And I thought it deserved a page. I have used Basic Grey,AC Glitter thickers, MM Mini Alpha Stickers, Prima Bling and other pearls and crystals, Stickles and mettallic thread.

What a welcome home!

Today has been a really busy one for us all. I spent most of this morning ironing, hairwashing and scrapping, then went for a stroll to find Dale and Chloe who were out skating ( well Chloe was anyway!) Then I came home and made 2 cards!! Yes me....who is so NOT a card maker! And I am really chuffed to bits with them, hope to upload some pics tomorrow.

Whilst I was busy scrapping with Chloe in the lounge, Dale and Lauren were busy in the kitchen. Dale fancied having a try at making some shortbread....and I have to say it was truly scrumptious and I can definitely say I look forward to the next batch they make!

Ingredients
125g/4oz butter55g/2oz caster sugar180g/6oz plain flour
Method
1. Heat the oven to 190C/375F/Gas 5.2. Beat the butter and the sugar together until pale.3. Stir in the flour to get a smooth paste. Turn on to a work surface and gently roll out until the paste is 1cm/½in thick.4. Cut into rounds or fingers and sprinkle with a little extra caster sugar. Put on a baking sheet and chill for 20 minutes. Bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes until pale golden. Cool on a wire rack.

And that was our sunday......so I guess its back to work in the morning!

Warmest wishes

Anita..xx