Patterned Paper Princess

We're Off...

...to Brighton this weekend, for the FUTURE CHEER CHAMPIONSHIP. This will be Rebecca's first professional competition and although she's really nervous she's also looking forward to it. Her uniform arrived this week and she looks so, well, cool, in it (I daren't say cute, she'll tell me off, lol!). There's no flash photography allowed at the venue, so I'm hoping it will be lit enough (and that we'll be seated close enough) to get some good photos. I'm guessing it will be fish and chips along the promenade for dinner. There's something about being near the sea that makes salty chips and fish irresistible, yum, I can practically taste it now!

Of course, that will probably undo all the work I've done on the Wii fit this week. I reached gold status upon completing 40 hours of exercise, yipee! Half an hour of free jogging and half of stepping most days. I have lost half a stone and managed to keep it off for over a month now, so I'm confident that's gone for good. Now for the next stone. It never sounds like a lot, one stone, but it's so hard to get rid of. You reach a certain weight and then nothing else seems to happen. I've set myself two months to do this, so let's see.

I think I have been bitten by the scrapping bug again. I've actually wanted to scrap this week, in fact, I rushed to get up and get things done yesterday so I could have some scrapping time. That's got to be a good sign! My tally so far this month is 5, more than I did all last month. Here's one of Benjamin, I can't believe how grown up he's looking now!  I used up some ribbon that had been lurking for at least a year here:)

He's returning to 'proper' school on Monday.  We felt it was the right time to do this and the school have been so helpful.  A fresh start that | hope he will take full advantage of.  Now I just need to get Mark back to work so the house will be mine again, rofl!  Oh, and thanks for asking about Mark, Gina.  He's still not officially unemployed until August as he was on a 3 month notice period, but he's already put the wheels in motion with recruitment agents for his profession and he just has to wait and see.  He's already been told that the market has taken a definite downturn and it may not be that easy to find full-time work in his area, so please keep your fingers crossed for him (and me, he's messing up the house being here all day!)

I hope everyone has a great weekend whatever you're up to.  Send some good wishes Brighton way if you canxx

Breakfast Baguette

Another really easy 'thing' to do with bread.  This is great if you're really in the mood for an English breakfast but can't be bothered with all the cooking and washing up:)

Halve a baguette and tear out the bread from the middle to leave a hollow.  Place the baguette on a baking tray and smear it with tomato ketchup or mustard (or both).  Crack an egg into the hollow and add slices of bacon to the tray.  Place in the oven (carefully) and cook until the egg is set and the bacon is crispy.  Add the top of the baguette for the last few minutes of cooking.  Add the bacon on top of the egg and finish with the baguette top.

I wish it was breakfast time....again!

Happy eating:)  Scrapping and other stuff coming soon!xx

Cucumber and Onion Pickle

This is such a tasty pickle, and so so easy to make!  Grab yourself some PRESERVING JARS and give it a go:)

CUCUMBER AND ONION PICKLE

• 2 cucumbers, unpeeled and sliced thinly
• 2 onions, sliced thinly
• 12oz sugar
• 8 fl oz white wine vinegar
• 1 tbsp salt

Add all the ingredients to a bowl and mix together well.  Spoon into preserving jars and let the flavours marry for a week before using.  It will keep for months in the fridge and is perfect with homemade bread, ham and cheese!

Happy eating!xx

Making bread

I do it all the time now.  I stopped buying loaves from the supermarket when the price shot up, and I felt I was getting a tasteless loaf, full of weird ingredients (have you looked at the list?), for an extortionate amount.

Bread really isn't hard to make, and it takes hardly any work, unless you're trying for a fancier loaf, when there are probably a few more steps involved.  Here though, is your basic white loaf:-

WHITE BREAD 

• 1 1/2 lb strong white flour (bread flour)
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 400ml warm water
• 1 sachet of fast acting dried yeast

Place all of the ingredients in a large bowl and stir together with a wooden spoon. 

When you can stir no more, it's time to get kneading with your hands!  Place the mixture on a clean work surface and push and pull the dough back using the heel of your hand for around 10 minutes.  Personally, I don't find there is any right way to do this, although everyone will tell you their way is the best!  All you need to worry about is ending up with a smooth ball of dough that is elastic like and not sticky.

When you have achieved this, place the dough back into the bowl and cover with a tea towel.  Place the bowl somewhere warm and draught free and allow the dough to double in size.  The time this takes really depends on how hot it is, but on average, it's around an hour.

When the dough has finished rising, you need to take it from the bowl and knead it for a few minutes more.  You can then form the dough to your required shape.  I use a Jamie Oliver silicone loaf mould, which is fantastic, but I also use a large round silicone cake tin and cut the resulting bread into chunky triangles - great for sandwiches (rubbish for toast, lol)!   Rolls are another favourite, easily made by dividing the dough into equal pieces, rolling into balls or sausage shapes and placing on a baking tray.  Whatever option you choose, you need to leave the dough again now (in a cold oven) for a second rising.  You will probably find it is quicker this time, maybe around half an hour.  When the dough has risen, turn on the oven to a medium setting and bake a loaf for around 35 minutes and rolls for around 20 minutes.

Scrumptious!xx

Some layouts

to share...at last!  Again, I haven't scrapped for a whole week, but I have these mojo ones to show you:-

And this one that I did a few weeks back:-

I'm really hoping to get some scrapping time (and inclination) this week.

We went to see the Chronicles of Narnia:Prince Caspian at the weekend, which we thoroughly enjoyed, despite the fact I had to keep going outside every so often due to my cough.  The cough is the tail end of my flu (yes, my flu, it was all mine!), and is so annoying.  I recommend the movie to adults and children alike:) 

Just a quickie today to catch up, I'll be back with more soonxx

Normal service

will resume next week.  I've been in bed with the flu since Wednesday.  Aching bones, bunged up nose, sore chest, earache - the works!  My internet connection is still playing up as well:(  I've lots to share with you next week though.  Have a great weekend allxx

Third Time Lucky!

I hope anyway, because that will be how many times I've typed up this post!  All due to a combination of losing my internet connection with Virgin and Typepad being so incredibly slow, aarrgghh!

Anyway, where was I, oh yes.  I've been buried under a pile of paperwork this last couple of days.  We decided it was a good time to do some shredding and filing.  Everything is now neatly organised in 3 box files, except some of the most important things, like Mark's payslips and p60's.  Come out come out wherever you are!  We know they haven't grown legs and walked, so they've got to be here, but where?  We've had every cupboard, drawer and file turned inside out.  Why is it always the most important documents you lose?!  You just know we're going to need one or the other of them soon, it's always the way! 

Today, I've mostly been in the garden.  Just when I convince myself there's nothing left to do out there, I manage to find a task to occupy me for a few hours.  I'd been rooting some rosemary and sedum cuttings on the windowsill and it was time to pot them up, and before i knew it, I'd been out there for three hours!

Remember those tomato plants I grew from seed?  Well, this is what some of them look like now.  I decided to do my own little experiment, and have planted them in growbags, open ground, small pots, big pots and even baskets to see which ones grow the best.  So far, they all seem to be doing well and most are on their second truss.

My Step-Dad told me off for not pinching out any of their sideshoots, well, what can I say, I'm a lazy gardener and I let nature get on with it where possible.  He also said I'd probably lose the plants (or the wall!) once the ones in the first photo start fruiting.  They'll be too heavy he said:(

We've had a few strawberries from the patch already, and we might even get a decent sized handful from this current batch.  They are sweet and juicy:D  I'll definitely be looking to plant more next year!

The runner beans are up to the top of their canes, but no flowers yet, so a bit boring to photograph.  The potatoes have flowers though and are springing up all over!  I'm guessing I must have left some behind from last year as I only put them in one place this spring.

The beastly snails ate my lettuce and basil, so I've just sewn some more.  I'm keeping them in the coldframe though, out of harms way.  Oh, radishes, that's the other 'food' thing that's done really well.  Shame I don't like them, lol!

The wellies, both mine, when one lot is dirty I start on the other pair, lol - so lazy!

I can't resist a teapot!  I've run out of room for anymore in the kitchen, so I've started on the garden:D

I love lavatera, one minute it's just this gangly green bush, then pow, all these beautiful flowers.  In another week they should all be out causing a pink explosion!

 I've added these and some additional photos to my album down the left if you'd like to see.  For now, I'll leave you with this one of Milo.  He has a habit of following me everywhere I go, I go up the garden he goes up, I come down, he comes down, I go in the shed, well, you get the picture.  He got quite upset today as I think he just wanted to sit down with me, hence the grumpy meowing, lol!  He's a big softie really.

Hopefully (connection and Typepad prevailing!), I'll be back tomorrowxx

More scrapping!

Two more layouts today, yeah!!! 

Here are a couple with Rebecca.  This one was my first MOJOHOLDER layout from last week (new one up tomorrow!)

And this set of photos just had to be scrapped, even though she was sad and her face was tear stained!

Some of Benjamin coming up soon:)xx

I hope...

...that the person who designed YouTube is jolly happy with themselves!  I go on there for one thing and hours later, I might just surface having trawled through dozens upon dozens of video clips that I never for one minute thought I'd see again!

I asked Benjamin to do something this morning and his reply was "Oakey Dokey", I said, "Do you remember that programme called Oakey Doke you used to watch when you were little?", "No" says Benjamin.  So, off we trundle to the pc to see if it's on YouTube.  It is, of course, together with clips from not only Benjamin and Rebecca's favourite programmes when they were tots, but all of mine and Marks too!  Talk about nostalgia, we were wallowing in it. 

Some of my favourite programmes from my youth:-

• Chorlton and the Wheelies
• Willow the Wysp
• Jamie and his Magic Torch
• Rentaghost
• The Flumps
• Michael Bentines Potty Time
• Fingerbobs
• Button Moon
• Mr Benn
• Hartley Hare
• Worzel Gummidge
• The Smurfs
• Rainbow

And this one, oh, I'd completely forgotten about Follyfoot Farm until I clicked on the link.  The music had barely started before I was singing away like I'd only watched it yesterday, not, errr, well, lots of years ago!

As for Benjamin and Rebecca, well, these were their favourites:-

• Tots Tv
• Playdays
• Rosie and Jim
• Brum
• The Lampies
• Bodger and Badger
• Chucklevision
• Little Bear
• Franklin

To name but a few of course, I could go on forever.  Here's the clip that started the nostalgia trip off:-

Such a great theme tune.  I dare you to go on YouTube and start looking up your old favourites, I promise, you'll still be there this time tomorrow!xx

Rebeccas Room

Now that it's finished, I thought you might like a little peep:)

This says it all, lol!

I made this noticeboard by stretching some felt over a piece of solid board and tacking it at the back.  It comes in handy!

Ragdolls, ragdolls EVERYWHERE!  Rebecca used to collect them, but she's "11 now don't you know" - too old for ragdolls now:(  She let these ones stay:-

But these poor softies are consigned to the attic:(

 

Oh, Mabel is allowed to stay too!

She guards the safe!

Ted and the Bratz pillow sit at the head of the bed.  I love that Bratz pillow, its legs dangle off:D

 

There are various pink things everywhere:-

 

There are also bits and pieces of Rebecca's art around.  This windchime she made in Lower School is still one of my favourites:-

Although this mannequin she decorated a couple of years ago is a close second:)

But my favourite thing has to be the desk.  This was the piece of furniture I was renovating.  It has moved house with us and been passed from room to room over the years.  It is solid pine and too good to throw away!  Here are some befores and afters:-

 

I'm really pleased with how it turned out, despite it taking 4 coats of paint and 1 of varnish!  The mirror was revamped too, it was originally a bright blue Ikea jobby for your bathroom, now pink with an added layer of glitter, which doesn't photograph too well, but looks so pretty in real life:-

And the little lady herself enjoying her space:-

Until she catches on to what I'm photographing, lol:-

I'd love to know what you think of the room.  Night!xx