Wednesday 30 June 2010

WOYWW

Well ok it might be a little late in the day but the days sped by! NO idea where it's gone as I know I've been busy all day, but my to do list isn't any shorter. lol. So this is whats on my workdesk tonight.

As you can see it's not much. lol. I'm still working on the wedding album for my friend. Got another 8 or so pages to go. Then really need to catch up with the challenges I've missed.
So kinda a dull day today! Taking kids to an indoor playcenter tomorrow as Mark goes to his friends on thursday night and I like the kids to be in bed early. :) lol. Hope everyones well!

Monday 28 June 2010

Filled cupcake day

Well I wanted to try something different so decided to make some lemon curd cupcakes. While shopping I was assured by hubby there was a jar in the fridge. Getting home, there may have been a jar but it only contained 3 teaspoons of lemon curd. So they became peanut butter cupcakes. lol. However I guess you can use anyhing similar. My next one will be nuttella I think. :)
You will need:
- jar of peanut butter/lemon curd
- 100g margarine
- 100g caster sugar
- 1 medium eggs
- 100g self raising flour

1- Heat oven to gas mark 5. Put paper cases into tray.
2- cream margarine and sugar together. beat in eggs one at a time adding a little of the flour with each.
3- Fold in the rest of the flour.

4- Put a teaspoon of cake mixture into the bottom of each of the cases.
5- Put a teaspoon of peanut butter/lemon curd into the middle of the case, on top of the mixture.

6- Put some more mixture on top to cover the peanut butter

7- Bake for aprox 15 minutes or until firm.

8 - Enjoy!

I was going to make some butter cream for these but Mark says the filling is quite rich so doesn't need it. However I'll do a butter cream recipe later today in case you disagree. :)

Pizza day

Here we go Lisa, pizza recipe as promised. :)
You will need:
- 225g self raising flour
- tsp of dried basil
- pinch of salt
- pinch of freshly ground black pepper
- 5tbsp olive oil
- 2tbsp tomato puree (or tomato pasta sauce if you've ran out :) )
- 150g grated cheese
- toppings of your choice.

1 - Place flour, basil, salt and pepper into a bowl. Make a well in the center and add 3tbsp of olive oil and about 6tbsp of water.

2- Stir with a rounded blaced knife (like a palate knife) until the mixture forms large crumbs.

3- Bring together to form a dough. Add a little more water if you need to.

4- Knead lightly and roll out to fit into your frying pan. If its too thick for your taste make two. I prefer thin crust but thats just me. :)

5- Heat some oil in the frying pan and cool dough on a moderate heat for around 5 minutes turn pizza onto a plate and heat some more oil. Side pizza from plate back into pan to cook other side for around 5 minutes.

6- While cooking add tomato, cheese and toppings to pizza. Once base is cooked place under grill to cook cheese and toppings.

7- Enjoy!

yey its cooler today!

Sorry been awol. Been very sleepy and busy with crafting work. I've had very very first commision piece with a friend asking for a wedding album for her brother. have to admit its scary. Particually as the dress colour is a secret and the bride is very NOT girly so most wedding things are out! I think I'm doing ok though, very strange to scrap without photos. Done a few pages and so far good feedback so thgouht I'd show some here. (Note, the happy picture of Caitlin isnt stuck down, its just an idea of where the photo can go. lol)




And now the promised baby photos! Lillie was a star and cuddled up with her bottle and watched New moon and Twilight. :) Typical girl, lol, fell under Roberts spell. :)

How cute is this litte dress! Love shes so much more aware now.

Right well got to go pick the kids up from Nursery. I love the nursery my two are at. Took Cameron in this morning and they'd specifically printed out some Thomas pictures for him to colour and bought a Thomas book for him to read. :) The key worker in Caitlins room has also given us some Barney vidoes in the past as her kids had grown out of it and she knew Caitlin loved him. :)

Saturday 26 June 2010

Babysitting day!!

Well as you can see I messed about and changed my blog a bit. :) Need a new header but otherwise like it. I've started linking my recipes and tutorials on the left hand side so I (or anyone else) can look back on them easily. :)
So spent the day cleaning, but done some scrapbooking over the past few days I thought I'd share.
This was of Cameron at the fair last year. Used an old UKS CC kit for this one.

This is Caitlin at the same fair. At the time she was too small to go on anything so I bought her some candy floss. she wasn't impressed.

Both of these need journaling. Once I find my white pen. lol.



These are with the newest Sarahs cards kit. Loved the colours in this one so pretty much used it to death in one night. :) All are scraplifted from the dt booklet.
This is Caitlin at Butlins this year. She was just in awe at meeting Barney. lol.

Love this picture. Caitlin is not a usual girly girl. Any mud, football, dirt and shes in it. So love this picture of her picking flowers. :)

This was my fave lo form the booklet. Our garden is strictly a child play area. Swings, slides, the lot. Except for a small swing chair which is mine. MINE! And what do the kids love best? Yeah, annoying arnt they. lol

Well gotta run as babysitting my neice tonight. :) So expect some baby photos tomorrow. lol

Friday 25 June 2010

Thomas land day!

Well technically yesterday was Thomas land day but was too tired to share last night. We took loads of photos but heres a few of the best. Still a photo heavy post though so warning now! lol.
Well we started off at the shop. Thought we'd get it over and done with so Cameron didn't spend the whole day going 'I want this, I want that!' It was HUGE!!!!

There were 2 floors of this and everything was Thomas. It was a bit of an eyeopener though going around and Cameron saying 'I've got that. I've got that too' lol. Pretty much all of it was from car boot sales though. The prices were also mad. there was a stensil kit my gran had got for him the previous week for £1 from homebargins, £7 there! Ended up with a counting jigsaw, some stickers for scrapbooking with, a chocolate lolly and 2 flags. for nearly £20!!!!

Caitlin got bored while waiting for Cam to pick, so gave her her dummy to keep her quiet while she played on a Thomas model.
The main ride at Thomas land was a train which took you from one side of the park to the other. There was a percy and a Thomas. I loved the attention to detail as the carrages were the same as they are in the programe. :)

This is Caitlin after scaring the living daylights out of Mummy, they both insisted on going on the HUGE big wheel. I had to go on by myself with them as Marks terrified of heights. All was goign well untill Caitlin reailised if she jumped up and down in the seat the cage rocked and mummy panicked. This was apprently the best fun ever. Not sure if this is a cute or evil face. lol

caitlin feeding crisps to a huge t-rex. lol

In the park theres a zoo aswell. the kids wern't very impressed but I loved the peacocks. There was a big pen and rabbits too. mark said 'Look caitlin bunnies!' She looked at him with scorn only she can manage and said 'Daddy, Rabbits'

Yes cameron is wearing Thomas t-shirt, Thomas shorts, thomas socks, Thomas shoes, and Thomas pants but you cant see those. lol

Was amazed at this. In a building hid away at the back they actually have the set used in the old tv-shows. Was amazing to look at, with the level of detail. Hubby made me laugh, he said 'I'm just thinking about' I ubtted in before he could finish. I knew he was thinking about using it for warhammer. lol

Cameron finally got to go on Thomas. :)

He was SO excited!

As well as the trinas there were loads of Thomas themed rides. They were the same rides you usually get at a fair but based around Thomas. Harold helecopters, fat controllers cars etc. This was a carosel but it was Lady and her trains. Caitlin did like it but wasn't impressed with daddy taking pictures. lol

Cameron made a new friend. His name was Jeramy apprently. lol

Everyone on Bertie the bus, he span around in a circle.

This was Camerons faveourite ride. You can drive these around and bash them into walls. lol.

All in all a brill day was had by all. :) kids slept great last night. Cameorn actually fell asleep hugging the Thomas land map. Bless him! Did some scrapping last night and hope to continue tonight so will blog that tomorrow.
Oh, also having some blog candy later tonight if you want to keep an eye out for that. ;)

Thursday 24 June 2010

Late woyww

Well I'm dead on my feet after running around all day after the kids. :) We took them Thomas land as a treat and they LOVED it. I was worried as with Cameron being so weepy latly I didn't want him to go and be too overwhelmed and have the whole thing be a waste of time. He adored it! Was so excited when we got there he couldn't breathe. lol. But more on that tomorrow.
Last night after the England game I decided to chill and watch the Germany game in the bedroom (hubby was shooting things downstairs, lol) and use the time to sort all the photos I just got developed. I'm fussy about photos. I sort them into 'day they were taken' then 'order they were taken in the day' then 'order of day they were taken in' so everything ends up cronological. lol. So took a photo when I'd just ordered them into 'day there were taken'
So here they are

Got a lot of scrapping ahead of me I think!

Wednesday 23 June 2010

Match day!!!!!!!

Well I know some women hate it but ours is a world cup household. :) So come 3pm we sat down to watch the game. Told the kids the men in white were the 'bad men' and to tell them off whenever they came on screen. They were more than happy to do so. lol. Caitlin even shouted at one player to 'go on the naughty step' when he pushed one of our guys over! She'd make a great ref I think. Poor girl did jump out of her skin though when england scored and Daddy and me screamed. lol.
Was a brill result though, could have been better but it was enough. While dong my sisters ironing today I found an england shirt in thepile (guessing it belongs to one of her bfs sons) So cput it on cam for the game. Obviously hes going to have to wear it on every game now!

Football aside, did a few more los last night. This is about Cameron at christmas. He stole my camera and took a few photos, but when I took it back he flat out refused to smile in any for me. Saying it was his camera!

This is Cameron when we first arrived at disneyland. lol. Thought he'd be a bit more excited than he was.

Well spent most of the day doing housework so going to sort though some new photos and scrap a bit with my new kit tonight. Hope everyones celbrating. :)

Tuesday 22 June 2010

Budget day :(

Evening all. Well today was the day of the dreaded budget. It didn't turn out as bad as I thought, we hopefully shouldn't be affected too badly except on Marks disability living allowance. But I know others who are affected worse so can't complain. :)
Anyway, was a bit scrapped out after yesterday so decided to bake some caramel shortbread. :) Was really impressed with how it turned out so thought I'd share the recipe. :)
You will need:
- 200g butter
- 250g caster sugar
- 250g plain flour
- 2tsp cornflour
- Pinch of salt
- 4tbsp golden syrup
- 397g tin of condensed milk
- 150g dark chocolate

1 - Preheat Oven to gas mark 4 and grease a tin approx 8inches by 9 inches.
2 - Cream together 120g of the butter with 125g of the sugar until it is light and fluffy.
3 - Mix in the flour, cornflour and salt until it becomes a stiff dough. Add a little water if needed.
4 - Press the dough into a tin. (Now I admit at this point both kids were running around my legs, so I first put the dough into the tin then the oven without photographing it. So took it out, took a picture then put it back in. Then realised I hadn't greased the tray, so took it all out, greased tray, pressed dough back in and put in the oven. Which is why mine looks a mess. I'd lost the will to care. lol. Learn from my mistakes however, make sure ites pressed right into the corners. Turns out much better. :) )
5 - Bake at gas mark 4 for about 10 mins, then turn down heat to gas mark 3 and bake for a further 10-15 depending on your oven. (mine took 20)

6 - Have a cup of tea while base is baking. Takeout of oven and allow to cool. While cooling, pour remaining butter and sugar into a saucepan. Add the syrup and condensed milk. Bring to boil then boil for 10 mins stirring constantly until it is thick. It will also grow in size so make sure its a big saucepan! (again learn form my mistakes. lol)

7 - Pour over cooled shortbread and allow to set.

8 - Melt chocolate and pour over set fudge.

9 - Allow all to set, cut up (heated knife stops choc from breaking) and enjoy!!