Tuesday, 27 January 2009

Gift box tutorial :)

I had a couple of emails asking how i made the window gift box so i thought it best to make another and do a little tutorial :)

This fits perfectly onto a sheet of 12x12 patterned papr or cardstock. It needs to be thick card so that the sides are stable and it will retain its box shape.I now have one of the shapes that i keep as a template to save working out the measurements each time, i simply draw around that. I forgot to leave little flaps on the sides where they are glued to the front so remember to leave approx .5cm extra to reinforce the folds.Cut it out. Then score down each of the fold marks - these are easy to work out.
Punch a shape into one of the sides of your box (this isnt necessary and you can leave it as a little windowless box if you prefer) Place double sided tape (dst) on the reverse of the hole and attach either accetate or vellum.Fold all of the sides up on themselves and attach dst to the 2 small flaps and the 2 larger side reinforcements. These are then folded in and stuck down.Fill the box with the goodies you are wanting to give and then pinch the top 2 sections together. Punch 2 holes and thread with ribbon.
Attach a tag and some embellishments if required and voila its done!Not rocket science but i was pleased i worked it out - feel free to use it as you wish :)

Monday, 26 January 2009

Almost a stone!!

If i lose 3lb i will hit the 1stone mark!! :D *does a little more energetic dance than i could do last month* I will upload the tutorial for the gift box tomorrow and some things that i make today but i just had to shout about my weight for now (and my size 12 trousers!!) as im so pleased my willpower is working for me instead of against for a change! LOL

Friday, 23 January 2009

Peek a boo pressie box

Its only taken me 2 days but i have managed to figure out a template for these cute little peek a boo boxes :) (i know there are other templates out there but theres nothing like the satisfaction of working them out yourself!) :)Ive filled this one with mini marshmallows and attached a tag thats been stamped with the All in the Family Stampin up stamps :)These will be ideal to hold cupcakes as gifts :D

Thursday, 22 January 2009

and so it goes...

Well, i wasnt going to get weighed until the end of March but after stepping on the Wii Fit yesterday it told me my weight! LOL I have lost 8lb!! *happy dance* I still have some to go in order to be in the BMI range but im loving this Wii Fit - any games you would recommend??

Here is the layout done for my diary of this year - its entitled Fairytale? and the journalling reads...

Im sure Snow White didnt eat the apple because of a diet! This slimming is hard going, all those yummy things i cant eat. If im wanting the Happy Ever After though i will persevere!

Its raining here so im stuck indoors :(

Tuesday, 20 January 2009

Camomile, croissants and cute box!

Do you stock up on things when they are half price or on sale?? I am terrible for stocking up on things when they are a bargain (we havent had to buy toiletries for over 2 years as i had that big a supply!) Well, Tesco have the camomile and fruit teas at 60p!! Which is almost half of some stores so i stocked up - and doesnt it look like im running a cafe! LOL
Since Jake was a superstar this past week he was taken to Cafe Rouge (everyone else has been except him and hes been dying to go!). Needless to say one croissant and apple juice later and Jake has a new favourite hang out! :)
I made this cute little box after blog hopping and seeing one similar. It all kind of came together really easy (ginger showed me the other day how to make the fold boxes), it was a simple case of measure cut and punch :) The sentiment is from the curvy verse set from Stampin Up.

Monday, 19 January 2009

Monday monday..

You know when you start reading a book and its just not the right time? Thats what happened with me and Eat Pray Love. You may remember i said a while ago that after seeing Elizabeth Gilbert on Oprah i had to buy her book. I struggled to read it as, at the same time, i was reading A New Earth and both books needed full attention. I picked E L P back up again 4 days ago and finished it today - i love it! I cant recommend it highly enough - Elizabeth Gilbert is an inspirational woman who goes on a journey to Italy, India and Bali to Eat Pray and Love. Go check it out :)

I am off on my own journey in March. Dhanakosa is a budhist retreat in Scotland that provides weekends of yoga and meditation! A whole weekend of silence, thankful prayer and meditation - bliss! Im too excited!

No layouts to share just yet and because of the diet i havent been baking but thats all going to change tomorrow as the kids have requested chocolate cake so im making a Falling in Love Chocolate Pie!!

Friday, 16 January 2009

Playing Catchup!

I have been so busy this past week! There was the Boots sale, mum staying over all week, Ginger staying over Wednesday, Aunts birthday party, scrapbooking, sale shopping, kiddy playing and dieting!
Here are a few snapshots of the cakes and a couple of the new layouts while i get my breath and come back tomorrow with a new recipe for you all! :D

Sunday, 11 January 2009

Its all about the frosting....

This is delicious and because youre not using butter icing its a lot better for you too (ok im not saying healthy but you get what i mean!) lol
INGREDIENTS
  • 200 g white sugar
  • 80 ml water
  • 0.8 g cream of tartar
  • 2 egg whites
  • 5 ml vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS

  1. In a saucepan, stir together the sugar, water and cream of tartar. Cook over medium-high heat until the sugar is dissolved and the mixture is bubbly.
  2. In a medium mixing bowl, whip the egg whites and vanilla to soft peaks. Gradually add the sugar mixture while whipping constantly until stiff peaks form, about 7 to 10 minutes. Frost the cake of your choice.

Dont skimp on the whisking or the boiling - it is well worth it and well worth waiting just that little bit longer! :) These are now ready for my aunts birthday tea along with the marshmallow mermaid pie :D

Saturday, 10 January 2009

Mmmmmm!

Marshmallow Mermaid Pie - recipe at the bottom of this post! I didnt make the base, i went for a M&S own bake pastry shell....cop out i know but i have too much to do! LOLI have made this for my Aunts birthday tea tomorrow, she doesnt know im taking cake so im hoping this one (which none have had before) will go down well :) Ive also made a huge batch of cupcakes to take too which will be decorated tomorrow so unfortunately no pics right now!

Here is one of the new layouts ive been working on :)Thanks for all the recommendations for The Secret Life of Bees, i started it last night and i love it so far!

Marshmallow Mermaid Pie

9 graham crackers
1/2 C. sweetened, flaked coconut, toasted
5 Tbs. butter or margarine, melted
34 lg. marshmallows (8 oz.)
1/2 C. whole milk
1 1/2 C. heavy or whipping cream
1 oz. unsweetened chocolate, grated

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Combine coconut and graham crackers in food processor until coarse crumbs form.
2. Combine crumbs and butter with fork. Press to bottom and side of 9-inch pie plate. Bake 10 minutes and cool on wire rack.
3. Heat marshmallows and milk in 3-qt. saucepan over low heat until smooth, stirring constantly. Remove saucepan from heat. Cool completely (30 minutes.)
4. In large bowl with mixer at medium speed, beat cream until stiff peaks form. Fold marshmallow mixture into whipped cream with grated chocolate. Spoon filling into cooled crust. Refrigerate pie at least 3 hours or overnight.
5. Top with mini marshmallows, maraschino cherries and rainbow sprinkles.

Serves 8.

Thursday, 8 January 2009

Birthday Boy!!

Its my hubbys birthday today.....( love you honey!!)
We took him into our favourite hangout.....Cafe Rouge. Its where me and Ethan go for coffee and chats - putting the kiddy world to rights over a basket of pastries and 2 cups of tea :) Anyways, we had breakfast there this morning with dh and wandered around for a little while (too cold to stay for too long and Ethan just wanted to find the busker so he could give him his pennies - how adorable is he!)
This afternoon i have made a batch of cupcakes and a huge chocolate cake for dh's birthday tea - they seriously think they can skip lasagne and go for the overdose of chocolate first! LOL
I started reading Out of the Blue by Belinda Jones but cant get into it - i did pick up Marshmallows for Breakfast and The Secret Life of Bees from the charity shops, has anyone read those and what did you think? Or if you have read Out of the Blue - should i stick with it??

Sorry i have only just gotten round to picking someone for the rak set at New Year :D

Random Integer Generator

Here are your random numbers:

2

Timestamp: 2009-01-08 20:01:35 UTC

Yayy, Sue can you send me your addy please and i will get a goodies bag on its way to you :)

Wednesday, 7 January 2009

Stay away rain!

We got a little wet this morning as we went for our daily walk! 2 and a half mile round trip to the shops and it started raining half way home! pah! Picked up some goodies from the charity shops (glass cake stand and a couple of books) and got todays fruit and veg from the supermarket, wish we had a local farm i could buy fresh from!
3rd day of detox has gone well and i have brown bread etc in for tomorrow so i can have some toast for breakfast etc :)
Yesterdays layout..... not sure on what to do for todays as im so tired (i know its the not eating properly thats knocking me out!) - will give it a think and work on something once the kids are in bed :D

Tuesday, 6 January 2009

What was that i said about 21 days??

Erm im thinking i might switch to a 3 day detox and then just extreme healthy eating for the rest of the month. Then eek things (like cranberry and white chocolate cookies yumm!) back into my eating as treats. There has been so much stuff published and talked about lately about how much damage and unnecessary detoxs are that it kinda made me feel as though maybe 21 days was a little excessive.....3 days sounds better, that way im still doing it but i dont feel so guilty! LOL
I am still however cutting out meat, caffine and alcohol for the 21 days. - im now onto day 5 of no caffine and besides a headache again last night i feel so much better and i dont wake up with that yack taste anymore!
Alcohol - well i dont drink much anyways so thats not a problem.
Meat - now heres the deal...we are a meat eating family, always have been probably always will be . We like stews and broths, casseroles and sunday dinners. I think 21 days of no meat will maybe make me think a little more on using free range and organic animal products as its mainly the ethics that bother me if that makes sense.
OK Enough waffling.
I thought i would give Julian Graves another go after the poisonous pinenut disaster and went in today with plans of buying a couple of bags of nuts etc and i wander out with 7, yes SEVEN bags of various fruits and nuts later (had to buy more storage too!!) A lot of them were half price in the sale so well worth stocking up on when they have long dates! :) Bargain shopping too - this set of drawer will hold all my baking trays, moulds etc in the kitchen and it was only £19.99 in the sale! :DCurrently reading Shopaholic and Baby - so cool, so funny, so Becky!! Anyone who likes chick-lit has to read the shopaholic series of books.

Monday, 5 January 2009

Detox Day 1...

So far so good, about 15 hot camomile/fruit/mix teas during today and a bowl of fruit for lunch.... salad for tea and more water/tea later and thats almost day 1 complete! Me and little one even walked to the local shops which we are going to do each day for exercise. Im sure that if im out and about buying fresh stuff each day i will be more inclined to stick to it :)

Here is yesterdays layout - i cant share todays as it includes the before pics of my diet - not a pretty site and thats fully clothed!! LOL

Sunday, 4 January 2009

Family Sunday :)

DH has been flying today and my mum, sister and niece came to visit. Five noisy kids, one very long game of trivial pursuits and some baking this afternoon (chocolate cookies for the boys packed lunches tomorrow - cranberry and white chocolate cookies for dh - hes addicted!) Detox starts tomorrow so i have bowls of healthy snacks incase i want to pick - fruit, veg, nuts, pulses etc......im onto my 3rd day without caffine and after a whopping headache yesterday i feel so much better today. All im drinking is camomile and fruit teas. After 21 days of the detox and no meat or alcohol i am hoping to maybe carry on after that and turn vegetarian. ( notice how i didnt say tee-total! LOL) I cant promise anything as ive always been a meat fan but im trying concious eating and will see how i get on! Oprah has a lot to answer for! LOL

I have loved having the boys off school but boy are we all ready for tomorrow! The novelty of being off has worn off for them and im looking forward to having a routine back. Uniforms are ready, packed lunches are planned and the alarm clock is set :)

Oh and arent these stamps just the cutest ever!!

Saturday, 3 January 2009

Chocolate overload!

Today i made Nigellas Chestnut Chocolate pots - wow are they rich!! May seem silly but i think you actually have to eat them with cream to cut the sweetness! LOL
Unsweetened chestnut puree ready to mix with sugarsweet chestnut pureeCrushed chocolateFinal mix of all the ingredients, milk, cream, chestnut puree, egg, rum and chocolate.Pour into cups and chill for up to 2 days or freeze for up to a week.I managed to source a seller for the cooking lavender!! The Spice Cellar These fab little jars arrived this morning and i cant wait to try some Vanilla Cupcakes with Lavender Frosting!!
So far im managing to keep up with the layout a day for 2009 - i have finished 3 already! The boys have so many games and toys to play with i hardly see them unless its feeding time or they want to help me bake! LOL

Lazy Saturday......

I went bargain hunting yesterday whilst out on the hunt for printer ink. It wasnt intentional though but when i was in M&S i spotted the chocolate cups my mum has mentioned before and im sure she paid around £2/£3 for a pack......2 packs left......never had them before....oh no what do i do theres no price on the shelf!! EEK!! OK, pick up both packs as someone else is eyeing them, wander over to the checkout and ask if she can check the price........ 96p!!! I almost took her hand off! LOL *i promise the diet is still starting monday as these have until 05/09 date on them so no hurry* haha
While i was at the checkout though there was little box that someone had obviously changed their mind about then just dumped. It looked like a sweet little jam box and it wasnt until i got outside i saw what it actually was....so happy, simple things n all that!! :DThen a visit to Accessorize saw me bagging a new ring (its HUGE), a fab new locket necklace and a lovely little sweet thoughts book (plain inside to record things) - all for £6! The ring was meant to be £10 before the sale so i was rather impressed! :)I got back just after lunch and I finished my first layout of 2009 (bearing in mind i hardly scrapped at all in the latter half of 2008)Chatterbox papers
butterfly button embellishments
Rub ons
chalk ink
Gems

Claire gave my blog a lovely award :D I have to post a piccie of the award here and list 5 obsessions (im not going to go down the family and friends route as there arent enough numbers so i will do a purely selfish pleasure obsession list!) i have then pass the blog on to 5 more fab bloggers :D

My five obsessions are:-

Baking
Scrapbooking
Cardmaking
Sewing
Reading

This is hard as i love so many blogs its hard to choose just 5 so I pass this award on to the first 5 people who comment on this blog - i visit all of your blogs after you have left comments and although i may not comment myself, i often wander back over to see how things are going and love catching up :D

Friday, 2 January 2009

A new scrapping start!

Over at Its a Creative World we are doing project 2009 which consists of 12 projects, 1 for each month of the year. I have made the front cover for my book so thought i would share a couple of snippits before the whole things is unveiled on Sunday!I really enjoyed getting back into the swing of scrapping and making things again and even used some of my little butterflies on the cover :) After finishing the book i was still in full scrap mode so made a little thank you card too:)

I really need to head out and get some printer ink - the coloured is well out and the black is now turning blue! Why is it when the mojo returns things start running out! LOL

Thursday, 1 January 2009

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

A huge hug and a massive Happy New Year to everyone who visits my blog :) I have a stat counter and it amazes me how many people visit every day - yesterday i had 187 original hits (more than 200 return visits!) and did you know if you search for nigella christmas rocky road my blog is the first link on google! MAD!! LOL
I am determined to make 2009 a better year than the last - we had so many problems and heartache last year i really want to take this year out to make my mark. Not sure what that is yet but its all part of the fun isnt it! :)
I also have some fab news on the creative front! The girls over at Its a Creative World invited me to join their team and i jumped at the chance. I have featured on their blog in the past doing renovations on furniture so i am more than happy to now be able to share a little more of my time and creativeness with them....Thank you girls!! xxx
This year im determined to keep a full diary too - ive started with the first pic of 365 for this year, Anna did this challenge last year and i always meant to join in but never got round to it. She isnt doing it this year but i will join in with the next challenge she sets - check out her blog for details.
Since this year is going to be a good one lets start it off by giving out a present - please leave a message in the comment section and i will send a little rak to the first name picked :D