~ Special Edition Chocolate Swap ~

Well its almost Monopoly time over on UKScrappers! I joined in the Special Edition Chocolate Swap where we had to spend £5 on chocolate products to sent to our swapee. I decided to decorate the box containing my selection of chocolates.

Hope my Swapee likes it! So why not come and join us for all the board game fun on 23-25th April?

~ Monopoly CC Precrop Challenge ~

This is my attempt at the Precrop challnge over on UKScrappers. It was a layout challenge to use at least 2 techniques and 4 colours. This was also part of Shimelle Laine's Blog Party that she has been having this weekend. Why not hop over for a look!

~ A Mini (ish) Book ~

This is a mini book made like one I did from Rebekah's Blog Hop a few weeks ago. I did it the correct size this time (12"x6"). The Acetate overlay is a Fancy Pants one I picked up at Ally Pally.

I used some of my kit from Cleo Crafts - this was the one with the lush Webster's papers in! The card stock was fromt he add-on I purchased with it.

The Above embelishments were all included in the kit apart from the Jillybean Soup Journalling Sprout and the metal butterfly which was actually part of a necklace from Primark.

I think I'm going to add photos from both my Graduation Ball and Graduation Ceremony to this little book. Well now I'm off to do my Mystery Kit for the UKScrappers Cyber Crop next weekend. Was supposed to be doing uni work this afternoon but I have too many crafty ideas bouncing round my head!

~ Another DT creation...~

... but a little different as this one was a card sketch. Hop over to Sketches: Creatively Yours to see the other girls amazing work.

This card was made with My Mind's Eye 'Bloom and Grow' papers and the stamped image is a Sugar Nellie stamp designed by Sarah Kay coloured with Promarkers.

~ Weekend Fun!~

So this weekend Mum and I headed off to London for a girly weekend. We had great fun and quite a few laughs!

Friday night we went to see Priscilla Queen of the Desert, starring Jason Donovan. It was brilliant! So funny although very rude at points! Luckily it takes alot for me to be offended!

These were our interval drinks - 2 Priscilla cocktails (Frock on the Rocks and Queen of the Desert Appletini). Although they were nice, £17.50 for 2 cocktails is quite steep!

Saturday was taken up by Ally Pally and a meal at Zayna Indian Restaurant.

Sunday we went to Oxford St to Dinosaurs Unleashed and to do abit of shopping!

~ WARNING! Stash overload! ~

Well as most of you are well aware it was the Big Stamp and Scrapbooking Show at Alexandra Palace, London. Mum and I had a weekend trip booked to include the saturday spent wandering around the show. Here is what I bought:

As I said to my dad on the phone, Tim Holtz is moving in to our house! Rather a few of his products seemed to fall in to my shopping baskets.

These are the stamps I bought from the Rubbernecker Stamp Company. Can't wait to mount them and get playing. Most of them are from the Travel sets and the Autumn/Wildflowers sets.

Last but no means least a few more stamps. The wood mounted ones were only £2.50 each - a bargain!

Hope you enjoyed looking at all my stash, I am pleased to say though that I managed not to buy any patterned paper, although I was looking for 2 collections but didn't find them.

~ Altered Frames ~

These started out life as 2 5x7 inch Papermania Bare Basics Photo Frames. We badgered our friends to find out their living room colour scheme plans so I could co-ordinate them. The paper is Bo Bunny Flutter Butter and is stuck to the frames using minimal amounts of PVA glue spread thinly using a child's glue spreader from Hobby Craft.

The flowers were made using Teal Bazzill Cardstock and the Flutter Butter Paper, can't remember where I found the tutorial for the flowers now but I used Hobbycraft's 2 inch 6 petal flower punch. The flowers were stuck on using Silicon Glue and then both the flowers and frame were covered in Sarah's Cards Dead Flat Varnish, which appears invisible.

 

The butterfly embellishments are from a necklace I bought to dismantle from Primark, these were also stuck on with silicon glue. With the wonders of facebook I managed to download and print 2 photos of them in black and white to complete the frames. I am really pleased with how they have turned out, so much so that I have bought 3 more frames ready to decorate for when I have my own house.

~ A New Home ~

This card is for some friends of ours who have moved in to their first house together. I am also going to make them some decorated photo frames using the same range from Bo Bunny. These are left over from a previous Cleocrafts kit. I absolutely love the colour of the papers. I cut out and decopaged the butterflys. I added some of my own swirls using 'waterfall' stickles. The pearl brads on the flowers are by papermania. Flat back gems from Hobbycraft. I hope they like them.

~ A Posh meal for a posh occasion ~

This is my 2nd Entry for the Sketches: Creatively Yours Design Team. Hop over to see the sketch used to creat this layout of a fabulous meal at the Criterion Restaurant in Picadilly Circus before goingt o the theatre to see Les Miserables. Have a look at the other DT entries and let us know what you think!

~ Will you miss me in these? ~

Ok so today there is no crafty post, but as you read this I will be on my way, if not already in London for a girly weekend with mum (which included tomorrow at Ally Pally!).

I am helping to plan and run the Brownie sleepover at Girlguiding UK's Centenary Camp at Harewood House in August and we have a camp meeting on 24th April which said "Remember waterproofs and wellies!" So since I couldn't find mine I treated myself to a brand new pair.

What do you think? Hopefully I shouldn't lose them.

I have a couple of posts scheduled for Saturday and Sunday as I couldn't post them earlier due to it possibly being seen by a certain couple of people. So be sure to check back to see some crafty projects which I am really quite proud of. Mondays Post will include a LOT of new stash!

~ WOYWW ~

Well last week my boyfriend complained about my WOYWW post as he said that it didn't show what my desk was like when I wasn't using it. So here it is! Basically what happens is this pile gets put on my bed in order for me to use it. The pile is mainly my cleocrafts kits fromt he last few months that I plan to use.

This pile of pizza boxes is what inhabits my chair when I'm not sitting on it. Off to Ally Pally on Saturday so am sure there will be extra stash to add to these piles!

~ Minced Beef Wellington ~

~ Minced Beef Wellington by Jamie Oliver and adapted by me! ~

Ingredients

1 Onion

1 Carrot

1 Stick of Celery

1 Potato

2 Cloves of garlic (I don't put this in!)

2 large flat mushrooms

Olive oil

4 spris of fresh rosemary (I only use 1 sprig!)

a big handful of frozen peas

1 large egg

500g lean mince beef ( I used 400g, plenty for 4-5 people)

sea salt and black pepper

Plain flour, for dusting

500g puff pastry, chilled ( I used Jus-rol pre bought pastry)

Method

1. Heat oven at 180C/350F/gas 4.

2. Peel & chop onion, carrot, celery, potato and mushrooms in to 1cm pieces.

3.Grate garlic and add all to a frying pan with some olive oil on a low/medium heat.

4. Chop rosemary leaves and add to pan, fry for 8 minutes. Add frozen peas and fry for another minute.

5. Remove from heat and allow to cool completely.

6.Beat egg in a bowl.

7. Combine the verg, mince and half egg in a large bowl and scrunch/ mix up until combined well.

8. Roll out pastry in to the size and shape of a rectangular tea towel.

9. Add the mince mixture to the pastry by moulding it in to an even sausage shape.

10. Egg the edges of the pastry then roll the pastry until the mince is completely covered.

11. Squeeze the ends together so it looks like a christmas cracker and brush with the rest of the beaten egg.

12. Put on a dusted baking tray and bake for 1 hour.

I hope you enjoy having a go at this recipe, very easy to make but a very satisfying meal. Something a bit different with mince beef. I really must recommend Jamie's Ministry of Food Recipe Book, as a inhabitant of Rotherham - the town where jamie based his 'Ministry of Food' because much of the population cannot or do not cook this book is brilliant for giving you healthy, hearty everyday meals which aren't close to novelle cuisine.

Happy Easter!

~ I Love Promarkers Challenge ~

The gorgeous brown paper had a flocked flourish running all over it which gives it great dimension - not really seen with the photo. The other patterned paper is Bo Bunny Flutter Butter. The Sugar Nellie Image is stamped with Memento Black ink and coloured with Promarkers. The photo corners are metal from making memories and swirls were added to the blue paper using waterfall stickles.

~ My First Design Team Layout! ~

Well this is my first layout for the Sketches: Creatively Yours Design Team. Hop over to their blog to see the sketch that inspired this layout. I look forward to seeing your interpretations.

This layout was made with an old Cleocrafts kit that I had left over.

Cardstock - Bazzill

Patterned Paper - BasicGrey

Journal spot - Jillybean Soup

Embellishments and Letters - Making Memories (Great Escape)

Postcards - Tattered Angels

~ April Sketch Designer ~

Hop on over to Sketches: Creatively Yours to meet April's Guest Sketch Designer Noella Arsenault. Not long til the first sketch challenge goes up! Hope you'll all have a go!

Mojo Monday ~ with Prima Flights of Fancy

This is the completed card as seen on yesterdays WOYWW. However, I'm not sure its one of my favourites. I used Mojo Mondays Sketch 132 but just feel like there's something missing. However I am really pleased with how the stamp, coloured with Promarkers, has turned out. This card was made using the left overs of my cleocrafts monthly kit. April's arrived yesterday and it is full of yummy American Crafts Letterbox goodies, can't wait to play with it.

Some of you may be aware that I have recently had a splurge of crafting activity, well more than normal! I have been off sick for the last 3 weeks due to having a minor op. Well, I am going to be having another 3 weeks off due to the drain having to stay in. Am going to Ally Pally in a week so am praying for a comfortable journey and taking loads of pain killers. So lots more crafting to be done to keep me sane! Never thought I would miss work!