Shopping and crafting: my favourite things!

I went into town this afternoon and found a few cute bargains which I thought I'd share.

Mum found this cute scallop border punch in a local craft shop for £3.99 which I thought was great considering the price of things like Fiskars border punches. I have a threading water one but not a scallop without the holes. I also found these puffy fish stickers which are shiny and very cute for only 99p in The Works. I thought they'd look cute on some kiddy cards especially with googly eyes etc. The bright buttons were cute for 99p too. Poundland had some great Jungle puffy strickers in too and with two sheets for £1, they were too good an opportunity to pass up. Knowing lots of children means I'm always on the look out for card toppers and these are great especially at that price. I also spent a little while yesterday making some cards which go into a box I have at the charity coffee morning I do. I'm not really into making cards but I'm hoping to get better.
These are the birthday ones I've made (that robot is one of those Poundland puffy stickers from a different sheet):

These are some new baby cards made using Paperchase stickers and some spare rub ons. I took inspiration from some of Helens cards over at 'It's all fiddle fart' (the link to her blog is on the side). These actually look better in the flesh than the photo- I'm gonna blame my rubbish photography!

Domestic Goddess?

The boy child is at nursery, the baby is asleep so I decided to get on with some baking in aid of a charity coffee morning that I run on Thursdays.

This weeks offerings have come from my kitchen bible- Nigella Lawsons 'How to be a Domestic Goddess' (love that book!) I had loads of ripe bananas hanging around so rather than waste them I've made her banana loaf (minus the rum as I didn't have any) and some chocolate brownies (which should have a disclaimer that you might as well rub them straight onto your thighs seeing as that's where they're heading anyway with all that butter, sugar, eggs and chocolate!!)

Banana bread

100g sultanas

175g plain flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/2tsp bicarb of soda

1/2tsp salt

125g unsalted melted butter

150g sugar

2 large eggs

4 small very ripe bananas mashed

1tsp vanilla extract

1.Preheat oven to gas mark 3/170 degrees c.

2. Put flour, baking powder, bicarb, and salt into a medium bowl and combine well.

3.In another bowl mix the butter and sugar until blended. Beat in eggs one at a time and then the mashed banana. Stir in the sultanas and vanilla extract.

4. Add the flour mixture a bit at a time, stirring well.

5.Scrape into a loaf tin and bake for an hour to an hour and 15 mins. (Mine was quite well cooked after 30 mins so I then covered it with foil for the rest of the time to stop the top burning)

Brownies

375g melted unsalted butter

375g best quality dark chocolate

6 large eggs

1 tbsp vanilla extract

500g caster sugar

225g plain flour

1 tsp salt

1. Preheat oven to gas 4/180 degrees

2. Line a brownie pan (approx 33 x 23 x 5.5cm tin)

3. Melt the butter and chocolate in a large pan.

4. In a bowl beat the eggs, sugar and vanilla extract. Measure the flour into another bowl and add the salt.

5. Let the chocolate mixture cool for a bit once it's melted then beat in the sugar and eggs mixture and then the flour and nuts. Beat to combine smoothly and then scrape into the lined pan.

6. Bake for about 25mins. When it's ready the top should be dried to a paler brown speckle but the middle should still be dense and gooey.

Enjoy! :)

Monopoly Cyber crop

I've been a bit AWOL on here for the past month as an attempt at potty training (unsuccessful!), Easter, veggie gardening and then chicken pox have taken a fair bit of my time. I have however, had time to scrap in preparation of, and for the UKScrappers cybercrop.

This was my pre crop challenge which was to scrap about someone who has made a difference in your life (or something like that!) I used my January kit with BoBunny papers to scraplift a Rachael Elliott layout about my grandparents. I wish they'd been around to see me graduate, buy homes, get married and have children etc but instead I have to continue their legacy through my own children who are named afterthem.



This was my winning Mystery Kit entry so I'm looking forward to recieving my prize. I made a minibook in the shape of a house with extra pages for journalling etc hidden in pockets. I also made a LO about my kids. The papers were American crafts: Abode.

This was the first class. Love the paint technique so i'll be trying that again.

For this class we had to handcut some frames which again was an interesting technique to learn.

TJ's class with hidden journalling. Not my best LO ever but met the criteria and used up some photos of my first home. I did a bit of stamping on here which I rarely do.

'Regent Street' challenge about shopping. I choose to document my love for costa caramel lattes. I also used my new crate paper stash.

'Water works challenge': a holiday photo and water theme.

Vine street (attempt one!) I did this using my Nov kit then realised the vines would look rubbish so I had a second attempt.

Vine street (attempt 2)

Marylebone street 'journey' challenge:

Pass GO! Include 4 specific elements.

The Strand- A sewing on LO's class:

Fleet street: using my April kit (gotta love those butterflies!) Lots of handmade flowers too.

Kings cross- 4 photos and a cross element (I stitched xxx on the bottom of a photo)

Phew! That's my not so quick summary. Thanks for looking.