Morning campers! ahh now this is more like it, my room has been far too tidy of late...well now there is all kinds of shit everywhere lol
I can't even get to my desk so i have been crafting on the bed.



On there, if you could get near...and i couldn't so I had to take the photo from the doorway.... you will find some half done projects. Firstly these are pages for a book using the papers that Alix sent to me, they will eventually be decorated with all the other bits she sent too and then bound using the BIA.




Here is another book, made the same way, that I am going to fill with photos from a party we went to last year.



Each page comprises of 4 tags, there are 3 on the front of each page and 1 on the back. ( 2 large and small)

here you can see where the 3 pull out from on the front.



and again here...

on the left here you can see the back of the page, where another large tag(in green) pulls out completely . It is held in place with the flap at the top and the scalloped edge at the bottom.

Would you like to make one? all the destructions are on this lovely lady's blog. I found her blog several months ago, bookmarked it and then promptly forgot about it, lately I have been drooling over her lovely books, and thought i would make some of them. I think I have a crafting crush on her work lol

Here is another, the inside pages are made using her instructions, but my cover is different. I punched holes through the pages and the covers, then threaded elastic loops through all the layers and popped a candy cane (made from craft straws) through the elastic loops each side, thus holding the whole thing together.

here you can see the pages, made from envelopes, each has a flap that folds out for extra journalling space..

each page/envelope also has 2 file folders that pull out again for extra photo matting or journalling.

Here is another, made with long envelopes this time, folded in half and layered up then stitched through to hold them together.

Basic Grey papers with fabric over the spine.

and again you can see the flaps that open out, I have yet to cut the file folders for inside. This was going to be a gift, but I really like it so i am keeping it lol I do have an awful lot of photos that need scrapping/putting into mini books so it will def get used.

Last night I realised it is my aunties birthday this week, so I quickly drew this picture. I will colour it in with promarkers and make it into a card, maybe add a poem inside and send it off. I will try and remember to take a photo of it finished.

I am thinking of doing a give away, not sure what yet..maybe a small bag..watch this space, maybe when I get to 100 followers.

Have a great day people....oh and last week Coheed and Cambria were awesome.

Recipe for you today...

Orange and Raspberry cupcakes.

1 plain greek yoghurt
2 pots of SR Flour
2 oz ground almonds
1 pot of sugar
1/2 pot oil
zest of 1 orange
2 eggs
1 tspns baking powder
punnet of raspberries
orange water (available in baking section in supermarkets)
5 oz icing sugar

Mix the yoghurt,flour,sugar,almonds and baking powder. (use the yoghurt pot to measure ingredients)

Beat the eggs,oil,orange zest and orange water

Add liquids to the dry ingredients and mix well. Add a little milk if the mixture seems too stiff, otherwise carry on.

Line a muffin tin, and 1/4 fill with mixture. Roll some of the raspberries in flour and add 3 to each cake.





Top up with mixture to about 3/4 full.



Bake Gas 4 for around 20 minutes until firm but spongy.




Once cool, top with glace icing..

5oz icing sugar
2 tspns warm water
2 tspns orange water

Mix well, add more icing sugar if needed to get a thick dropping consistency.

Drop a spoonful onto each cake, swirl the spoon around to get a circle of icing. Top with a raspberry.





EDITED TO ADD... OVEN TEMPERATURE CONVERSIONS.

Helloooooo, so a little while ago Alix had a *guess what I am making* competition on her blog. I randomly guessed 'lampshade', imagine my astonishment to be right lol anyhoo just look at this gorgeous kit that arrived in the post from Alix. Totally perfect for me in style and colour, I absolutely love it. Huge thanks.x



As you have seen in previous posts I have my promarkers stored in a DVD rack from Ikea, now when I went to get one from Gateshead they were out of stock...as it happened I was going to Manchester to a gig and was able to pick one up there. Then the other week I decided I would quite like the matching cd racks to put my unmounted stamps in, so off I go to Gateshead...and would you believe it they had the dvd racks but NOT the cd racks...even worse they said they were discontinued and not getting them back in! I was gutted, so much so I didn't even buy my fave cake from the Swedish supermarket!

My friend sue came to the rescue, as her store still had some and she went along and got some for me. I originally wanted 2 but as they will no longer be available I asked her to get 3. Then another friend who was working near Sue for the day, did me a favour and picked them up and brought them back here...Awesome friends eh?!

So here they are , 2 of them full of stamps, the third spare for the time being.




On top you can see Flori and Viktor, hard at work. I was asked what is in the drawers that they sit on...

The weekend saw my little boy turn 22....crikies that makes me feel old. I made him this card. Kirsty Wiseman papers and stampotique stamp.

He asked me to make some bookmarks with bones on, as he is studying osteo-archaeology at uni.

White card, with a file folder cut on the sizzix added to the top. Coloured with distress inks.

7 gypsies papers and stamps added...

and finally run thru the laminator.

I also stamped some bones onto black shrink plastic.

to make a keyring.

He did get a 'real' present too lol and a day out and picnic at Fountains Abbey. It was an utterly glorious day.

Here he is with his girlfriend..

Just look at that ceiling...

I take photos of signs, it amuses me.

it was waaay too hot, I found this little niche to rest in.

As for my desk....well it is covered with the contents of my crop trolley, I needed it for picnic stuff, so its all dumped on my desk. Off to a late night crop on Friday so it will get sorted out then.

I will try and get around as many blogs as possible today , but I am off to see Coheed and Cambria tonight, so I will catch up on any missed blogs tomorrow.

So yummy scone recipe today. I made these a few days ago, they are lovely and light and all gone!



Rose water and Passion fruit scones.

8oz SR flour

2oz sugar...( I always use golden caster sugar, in everything)

1tsp baking powder

2oz butter...( I always use real butter, never marge)

1 large egg

3 oz milk

2 tsps rosewater...(available in supermarkets)

2 passion fruits

clotted cream

strawberries


Sift the flour,baking powder then rub in the butter, add the sugar.

In a jug beat the egg and milk.Take out 2 tablespoons and reserve for later.


Scoop out the insides of the 2 passion fruits, you can leave the seeds in but they are crunchy, do you want crunchy scones? if not sieve the seeds out and have them on your breakfast tomorrow, as they are excellent sources of fibre.

Add pulp and rosewater to flour , then add egg/milk and mix well to a dough

Add a touch more milk if needed, but do not let mixture get sticky.

Turn out onto a floured board, knead slightly and form into a ball then flatten down with your hands, you do not need a rolling pin...but be gentle, don't thump the dough lol

I flattened mine to about 2cms deep, any deeper and I find they are too dense/dry to eat.

Cut out with a medium cutter and pop onto baking trays. I line my trays with those £1 silicone sheets from poundland. Brush with the reserved egg/milk.

Bake Gas 6 for 12 minutes or until golden

Cool on a rack, then slice open. Put a dollop of clotted cream on each half and top with 2 halves of strawberry.



perfect size, not dry, topped with juicy strawberries...the passion fruit and rosewater give a very light,fresh taste.



Adapted from a BBC recipe.

This week I was given a box of 1,000 square,brown envelopes...now what can I make with those?



TodayI thought I would show you some cards made in the past using promarkers , as they are all the rage at the moment. For anyone thinking all you can do is colour in Magnolia stamps, think again. They are fabulous pens, and once you have had a go you will be hooked.

This one also has prisma pencils on the arms and legs, for a softer shading. combining the 2 mediums works really well. I sometimes layer pencils over pens, to add a nice finish. This was hand drawn on bleed proof paper then cut out and stuck down over some strips of patterned paper.



This was a really simple one, again hand drawn. I copied from a gardening magazine, and just did a quick doodle round the edge to finish it.



This one took a bit longer and i wasn't happy with the shading on the leaves, but it was done just before the new 56 colours came out, so now there are more choices of colour.




I drew the dog first,cut him out and stuck him to the card, then thought it looked plain so added the flower, only it was a bit big for the card and hangs over the edge at the top, meaning I had to use a bigger envelope...no forward planning here guys!

This one took ages, but I do like it, I drew an image from a manga book. The background is just doodling with lines and dots.

These 3 are from a set I sent off to soldiers serving abroad, they have no access to notepaper, so these are just blank notecards for them to send to their families.

Again , one drawn from a gardening book.

I love the way the wings turned out on this but don't like her arms and legs. I never did art at school or college, so every picture is a learning curve for me. ...and again the picture didn't fit on the card lol

This was drawn last year for a friend's birthday card.

Finally here are 2 cards made this week using the papers and images from Kirsty Wiseman's cd ROM, Colour Me Crazy. There will be a new cd launched at the end of this month so watch out for that.

That's all, see you on Sunday with a yummy scone recipe.

First a big thankyou to Julia who sent me an awesome little package this week.

Check out THIS BLOGEROO for a fabulous blog candy giveaway!


On Sunday I decided to make myself a new bag, I am getting a bit sick of this pattern now, but have given them all away so far, so I wanted one for me before putting the pattern away. I made this...and as you can see it is beautifully modelled by my giraffe 'Trafford'



In my surprise birthday box last week there was a giraffe button....



and the giraffe fabric was given to me for my birthday last year, I've been saving it to make something lovely for myself.



At the recent Whitby goth fest I popped into a fabric shop and found giraffe print fabric, that I knew would be great as a lining.



With the tiny bits left over I made this 'sour cream carton' shaped purse.

So me and my new bag, went off to York for the day. I also took this bag from Friday's blog post. Scroll down for a close up view.

Best buy this week are these ginormous buttons, from the awesome Duttons for Buttons shop in York. Every time I go in there I look at them, pick them up, stroke them and put them back. The reason being they are £5 each!!!! But when we got the new coffee table I knew I wanted the giant buttons as coasters. So we had a day trip to York on Monday to meet friends and I got 2 buttons/coasters. I would like 6 but as they are so spendie I only got 2. Next time we go I will get another 2. They are slightly wider than a large mug.

Other best buy was this little lot from Rafi's Spice Box also from York. They do fabby pouches of Indian spices that are put together while you wait to whatever level of 'heat' that you like, we always get medium. I use the pouches to make up sauces which I then freeze, each pouch makes 3 tubs of sauce. So this lot will keep us going for months.We also picked up the little chutney servers, at the back is some rose water and some ginger and garlic paste, just need to figure out how to use those now lol

On my desk this week, is a bit of a mess. leftover from the giraffe bag, but also some Union Jack Flags, my one concession to football fever. I would never have England football flags on the house or car, but I do love a Union Jack...so these may well end up as cushions or bags, I haven't decided yet.

You can also see lucozade and bourbons....no explanation needed really lol

In the background there is a zentangle perched on the easel. usually I only do them in black and white but decided to do a coloured one.

I used a compass to get my basic circles and arcs, sketched in the filling shapes with pencil, then went over it all with a black fineliner. Next I coloured all the shapes with promarkers, adding bits of shading. Finally I started filling the shapes with dooodles in black fineliner.

I haven't decided if it's finished yet, I keep adding bits to it.

Have a great day folks.x