All lilac today

Really busy here so I rustled up a card using one of the ready coloured LOTV Cute squares:

I used:

- 6" x 6" square white card stock, made tent style with the front bottom edge trimmed by about half an inch ready to add the lilac scalloped edging

- LOTV ready coloured Cute Square - matted onto purple card to pick up deeper shade in Little Miss Gardener's hat - then just a few dabs of Grape Ice Stickles and a gem on her hat. Well, a girl has to look smart when tending her plants - ha, I look more like a hobo, gardening in my oldest togs!

- tiny little butterflies punched from scraps, with their wings flicked up - using such a cute little Woodware punch

- scalloped half daisy border, using a Martha Stewart punch. I've drooled over this punch for ages on blogs, not least on Jules blog, so don't really know who to blame for me buying it. Could it be me maybe?!

- backing papers from both a Dovecraft 'Back to Basics Paper Pack' (the spotty one) and Wild Rose Studios 'Gorgeous Ginghams' Paper Pack

Still stamping and indexing - but, the Snippets Playground roll call will be ready ASAP tomorrow. There's gonna be some fingers flying over the keyboard here for sure :)

Have a great weekend!

Di
x

Friday Feast - Roasted Lamb Shanks

This recipe is one of the photos I lost the other week and haven't managed to recover - and I don't do roasted lamb shanks as a matter of course sadly :( My photo had roasted veggies and even some Yorkshire Puddings on but these look exactly the same as mine did and they were absolutely scrummy!

The recipe serves 6 people, I cut the lamb down to two shanks for the two of us but found that I still needed almost a full bottle of red wine for the marinade (ha, not even a sherry glass full left for the cook so I just threw it all in the pot in disgust) and I kept the rest of the ingredients at the quantity for 6 shanks. The marinade is an overnight thing so you have to plan ahead for these. But, they are totally gorgeous and worth the forward planning- trust your Auntie Di's word for it. I bought the lamb shanks in Sainsburys at their fresh meat counter - a decent butcher should be able to oblige but they're as rare as hen's teeth around here sadly :( Even our local Farm Shops seem to have gone all pre-packed and sort of clinical.

Roasted Lamb Shanks

6 lamb shanks, trimmed 

1 carrot, peeled, cut in half

1 onion, peeled, cut in half

a few whole peppercorns

2-3 garlic cloves, peeled, crushed lightly

bunch fresh thyme

small bunch fresh rosemary

750ml/1¼ pints red wine

6-10 tbsp redcurrant jelly, to taste

Place the shanks in a casserole pot and add the carrot, onion, peppercorns, garlic and herbs.

Pour over enough wine to cover the meat of the shanks - about a whole bottle - then set the casserole aside to cool. Chill in the fridge overnight. (This helps to tenderise the meat.)

The next day, preheat the oven to 160C/325F/Gas 3. Place the casserole, covered with a lid, into the oven and cook for 2-2½ hours, or until the meat is tender. Slightly uncover the pot for the last hour so that the liquid will start to reduce. If the simmering becomes too lively during cooking, reduce the temperature slightly.

Remove the casserole from the oven. Remove the shanks from the cooking liquid and place in a roasting dish. Spoon over a couple of ladles of the cooking liquid to keep the shanks moist. Reserve the remaining cooking liquid. Roast the shanks in the oven for 45-60 minutes, or until the meat is falling off the bone.

Remove the vegetables from the cooking liquid with a slotted spoon or strain the liquid through a sieve.

Heat the cooking liquid until boiling, then boil until the volume has reduced by half. Stir in the redcurrant jelly until melted.

Serve the lamb shanks with mashed potatoes, seasonal vegetables and the gravy.

Or be like us and make it like a 'proper roast' :)

Not a last minute dish to prepare - you have to chuck the lamb shanks and marinade into a pot the night before (difficult?) and it just cooks over a long time when in the oven - the smell is fabulous too :)

Enjoy!

Di

x

Quick make with Kraft card

Last Summer I got a bit stung in a shop in Spain when I bought some 45mm wide ribbon. The last 8" of it was sellotaped together - something that I think Kate (who lives in Spain) says has happened to her in Spain too. Bit naughty - what if it had been for something that needed a specific length of unjoined ribbon? Being a squirrel I still kept the little piece and yesterday rustled up a real quickie using it -  as a change from stamping and cataloguing stamps - which seem to be breeding on the quiet!

The mustard colour of the flower is a perfect match to the leaves on the ribbon in real life BTW.

I used:

- 6" x 6" square Kraft card stock

- length of patterned ribbon, gathered in the centre

- ready made flower embellishment from stash

- sentiment by Hero Arts from the 'Live Life' set, stamped using a Tuxedo Black Memento ink pad which was already out being used for the marathon stamping exercise

- A couple of topaz coloured gems to 'dot' the i and the j on the sentiment

Done!

Di
x

WOYWW - 140 - Stamp storage Part 2

This week has been busy here in Pixies Workshop, stamping images and carrying on with the cataloguing and setting up stamp storage. The wooden ones were pretty quick to do - they're now mainly in numbered boxes with a little pile of ready stamped cards in ready for the time that the card index box itself is finally set up. I saved almost a whole storage box purely by being able to do a 'best fit' of the wooden stamps rather than categorising them too much - that's the object of the little index card system :)

The unmounted rubber ones (ie. non-cling) had caused the most head scratching here until I had a little Eureka moment and this is what's on my desk right now:

It's a postcard album with four pockets per page and (for me) a totally 'perfick' solution :)

Thankfully I'd made sure that, as I bought unmounted LOTV rubber stamps for example, the image got stamped onto a piece of paper or card with the name of the stamp on and that had already kept with each stamp. Some other stamps like these ones:

arrived with ready stamped slips in  - and even better, some of them were coloured images so I wasn't about to throw those away and start over either! So, each pocket has an unmounted rubber stamp behind the stamped image.

Behind the album you can see the box of index cards that I've been stamping as I went along. The front of the card has the image on and the back has the manufacturer and the name of the stamp - plus, in pencil, I've written the number of the plastic wallet sheet in pencil (so I can change things round if ever needed), on the front as wisely suggested by Sarn! Figure it's not too hard to spot which stamp is needed from a page of just four of them :)

So far none of the index cards has been sorted into subject - that's a job to be saved for the end of this mahoosive project once I truly know what the categories will be - and for a day when I can spread them all over our bed in little piles, like a croupier dealing the cards :)

So far it's just been images - the next job is wooden and rubber unmounted sentiments. Christmas stamps will follow - and only then will it be time to tackle all the clear and cling rubber stamps, which will be stored differently. So, it's taking some time but, so far, it's working well for me - apart from permanently black inked paws. Despite using Memento ink, although the stamps clean beautifully with baby wipes, it's at that point of playtime that the 'Black Hand Gang' comes out to play - more ink seems to end up on me than the baby wipes! Duh, just remembered the big box of disposable gloves lurking in the 'general cleaning' trolley downstairs :)

Some facts that might help if you like this idea:

The index box takes 6" x 4" white cards - perfect for most images. One or two so far have been bigger stamps but you don't need the whole image really.

I got the Photo Album online from here. Really fast service too.

I reckon that an album will hold 15 pocket pages of unmounted rubber stamps comfortably ie. 60 stamps per album. If you use foam backing then that's going to reduce the number of pages that will fit as they're much thicker of course.

Sadly the plastic pocket sheets are just a bit too big both in height and width to fit into a normal A4 file so you'd be best to buy the proper postcard albums.

And, oh dear, I might need a second Index Box to maintain 'flickability' - not sure if that's a real word but you know that I mean. I'm one of those quite sad people who just loves filing! Perhaps a second box could contain index cards for sentiments and (say) Christmas stamps - I need to see the size of the problem first and that's why I'm waiting to do the final sort of the index cards right at this end of this marathon.

Phew, if you're still here I'm amazed!

Time for me to make a cup of coffee and catch up on some blog hopping after a day out yesterday. To see what everyone else is up to on WOYWW - hop over to Julia's here. Best to make yourself a cuppa as well!

Happy WOYWW.

Di
x

A Tuesday Tale - Driving Miss Daisy

As a child (due to being what was known as an 'Army brat') I spent three wonderful years living in Singapore. That's where we met Mary, who coerced me into experimenting with trying to put an egg into a bottle. She was, and still is, delightfully dizzy and quite exciteable whilst her husband Ken is a very calm and quiet person - a perfectly matched pair in fact.

Mary and Ken had two young children, and quite an old car:

Perhaps not as old as this one, but not dissimilar.

It was pretty normal practice about half way through a 'tour of duty' in Singapore to head for the Malayan Highlands for a week or so to sort of recharge your batteries - it actually got cool enough in the evenings to need a cardigan and the air seemed so fresh and sweet after the heat and stickiness of Singapore. At that time the Malayan Emergency had almost ended but you were still issued with warnings about the possibility of terrorists on the lonelier parts of the route which wound up into the Highlands.

Mary, Ken and the two kids were well en route for their trip to the Highlands - in fact going up what had been a notorious piece of road. The routine was that cars only went Northwards for a one or two hour time slot, being checked in and then out for safe arrival, before cars could travel Southwards for their one or two hour timeslot. The road was narrow with jungle on one side and sheer drops down the mountain on the other, and everyone embarking on that section of the journey was issued with dire warnings not to stop. It had been a perfect place for terrorist ambushes in the past so the scene was set.

I swear that Mary must have been sitting bolt upright like a meerkat in the front seat of the car beside Ken - waiting for any sign of trouble:)

Yup, you knew something was coming - sure enough there was suddenly a loud bang from beside the car. Being Mary, her life flashed before her as her choices were fight, or flee. Mary chose to flee but no way was she going to come to any harm in the process. No sirree, she immediately slid down into the foot well of the car and rolled into a ball - totally ignoring two young offspring bouncing round in the back seat squealing in excitement at the thought of being in the midst of a mini-war. Ken had stopped the car at the little explosion, much to Mary's horror. From the safety of her refuge in the foot well she managed to extend a hand with which she repeatedly slapped Ken's leg whilst screeching 'Drive on, drive on, we're all going to be killed!!!'.

Ken merely opened the drivers door and walked round the car to the passenger side then opened the front door. Mary unrolled a bit from her hedgehog position to peer at him, hair sticking in all directions and eyes bulging with terror - then screamed at Ken 'Why aren't you driving on?!'.

The quiet and very mild reply from Ken was 'I will drive on dear, just as soon as I change the tyre which just had a blow out'.

I don't think that Mary has ever been allowed to forget her moment of total lack of motherly instinct all those years ago :)

Di
x

Shake your tail feathers

This week's Challenge over at Less is More is to use the colour AQUA. In between writing up the Snippets Playground roll call and doing what seemed like a million and one other things over the weekend I managed to make this for the challenge:

 

I used:

- 5" x 5" white square card stock

- stamps from a Banana Frog set called 'Shake your tail feathers'. I stamped the sentiment straight onto the card as well as the birdie. The birdie was also stamped a couple of times onto aqua slightly marbled paper so I could get a bit of lighter shading on the tail feathers and the wing (which was added on top of the main body paper piecing)

- aqua coloured gems from stash (KanBan) plus a little black gem for the eye

Quick and easy, once I'd thought out what to make :)

Di
x

Pixie's Crafty Snippets - Challenge Number 6

Another week of fun and frolics in the snippets playground - at times it got so busy I truly thought of hiring a bouncy castle as the swings were taking a real beating :)

Another pre-loved stamp, having its first little inking up by yours truly:

 

It all started with a piece of bright green ribbon which was already nicely knotted, removed from a box of Christmas candy the other day. In the midst of trying to catalogue stamps here and sort stuff out that 'someone' was heaving down from the loft - I managed to make a little card on Thursday based round the ribbon lying forlornly on the desk in here.

Apart from the card itself, everything came from the snippets folder:

I used:

- 5" x 5" white square card stock

- Forever Friends 'Bear With Balloon' image stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black ink pad and coloured with Pro Markers. I later added Anita's glaze to the balloon but no way will it show up - when you don't want the light to bounce back it does and then when you do want some reflection it just won't play along

- a shaped card in pearlescent orange which was already damaged at the centre fold when it arrived in a goodie bag from a reputable supplier so it ended up in the snippets folder :( I just sliced off either end so it formed a mat to go underneath the layer of orange card, topped with a snippet of bright green and orange paper

- the piece of green ribbon that kicked it all off :)

I haven't added a sentiment, so this will go into the next box of cards for St. Luke's Hospice as they do like to have some cards without sentiments.

And, now onto this week's roll call - the most important bit of this posting :)

First into the playground was Beth, with both a hangover and a great card for a boy which you can see here - the card, not the hangover! She used a LOTV stamped image that's absolutely right for boys of most ages and stunning background papers from her snippets stash -  and, it was Beth's first ever visit so I let her have a double go on the swings :)

A few of you have also been making cards for Sarn's Rudolph Day Challenge and some of you have been even wiser and have combined both snippets and Rudolph Day. Our rebel Brenda, who is quite proud of sometimes hopping over the playground fence, arrived next with one such card in lovely shades of blue which you can see here. The lovely tissue flower caught everyone's eye and later in the week Brenda also published a little tutorial on how it was made - and that can be seen here. On her next visit, we were shown a lovely bright and cheerful hedgie card which is here, and then on another visit Brenda brought a Less Is More offering in her satchel. You can see it here - and it's very clever too, look for the finishing touch beside the sentiment when you hop over - perfect! Brenda's last card of the week is here - and it's a real stunner. A  Christmas card with a gorgeous Milton the Bear image and so much lovely detail on it, I love it!

Sandra H was our next playmate, with this really sweet card featuring the cutest hedgie and beautifully coloured. It's one of those images that just makes you go 'Aaaaah' and remember that the real ones are currently snoozing the Winter away. I like the touch that Sandra used by rounding the bottom right corner of her card too - very effective!

Then Jules hopped in with two totally gorgeous cards at once, one was for Rudolph Day and both used snippets :) I always feel dreadful commenting on the amazing makes that Jules brings with her - what can I say to do them justice! So you'll have to go here to check them out for yourselves - the first is another hedgie rushing along with flowers (it took me a while to spot the heart, duh) and the second card features a juggling penguin :))

Linby joined us next with this lovely card, in soft shades of blue and also showing us a very clever trick. When you go and look at Linby's snippets card (it's the first one in her posting, but the others are also worth a peek too) make sure you check out the flower she made using the offcuts from the punched border. That's certainly using your snippets well Linby :)

Then along came Hazel with a beautiful card  here which followed a sketch on Mojo Monday - all gorgeous blues and white, really elegant and clean so it's stunning in its simplicity. It's been a quiet week from Hazel in the playground but I've hopped over to her blog and she's OK - just tackling a big sort out of her craft room and we all know what a task that can be :)

Mary did make me laugh last week - she was proudly showing her friend how to link into the playground but when she arrived last week's roll call was in the process of being finished off and the playground gates were still locked. So she ran away with her card but thankfully she came back again later and her first card is here. Perfect for a dress maker too. Mary was another clever crafter who then used snippets to make her Rudolph Day card - to see the lovely easel card she produced go here. I have those gorgeous Bo Bunny Christmas papers and Mary has given me a few ideas for using some of the ones with larger images on, thank you Mary!!

Then Sarn trotted into the playground with a couple of 'shabby chic' cards - she'd even been flinging the Gesso around. Sarn's first card in mustard and purple had some lovely die cut flourishes on - stunning! But, here's the very clever bit, her second card made use of the leftovers as a stencilling mask - do go and check them both out here. I'll be hanging onto some of the leftovers from die cutting in future - a super tip Sarn!

Irene arrived with such a soft and gentle vintage card - using a stamp she 'd had since 1997, never even inked until now! To see the lovely result go here - what  lot we crafters are for hoarding but I think Irene could be going for the World Record in unused stamps :) Later in the week, we had another visit from Irene with this really sweet birthday card. I did smile at the little face peeking out of the box - and I also smiled when Irene entered it for An Oldie But A Goodie, thinking once again of her bid for the World Record in stamp hoarding :)

Next, for her first visit of the week, in came Elizabeth with such a happy sunflower card - you can't help but smile and feel that sometime we might have another Summer - to see it and be cheered up not end, hop over here. On Elizabeth's next visit she brought this cute little canvas - and also showed us how she made it - beautiful and perfect for Valentine's Day too! I do love to see how people make things :)

Andria strolled in with a card to take your breath away - I won't spoil it too much for you, just think Tilda, pink, a stepper card, fabulous colouring and beautiful embellishments - then go here to see for yourself. Every detail is just so gorgeous.

Then along came Sally H with a really super card in her satchel. Fantastic background papers and the most beautiful butterfly - plus the low down on how she did the butterfly too. Go and take a peek here - isn't it just super?!

Gilly arrived next with a dual purpose card, both using snippets and for Rudolph Day - to see what she brought, it's here. I love front doors on Christmas cards - they always look so welcoming, and another one for the Christmas card pile too. And now I'm going to tell a little tale, Gilly is getting married sometime soon and, as I follow, her I spied something later this week that isn't a snippet make but you truly ought to go and see. Gilly is experimenting with paper flowers for her wedding bouquet - I loved the first flowers in this post but do go over to Gilly's here and scroll down until you see the rose she made. What do you think of that then - isn't it just stunning!? For the life of me I can't understand how Gilly doesn't have more followers - I'm certainly going to be keeping a close eye on developments in the run up to her wedding as there are bound to be loads more amazing creations.

Tammy was a bit worried about coming to play a few times this week but don't fret Tammy - we always love to see what you're up to. First was this beauty - all red and white - and using some of Tammy's fabulous buttons too.Next was a lovely ice cream (and buttons) here - I did remark that right now that delicious ice cream wouldn't melt outside over here! A 'quick make' of a robot card was held out next time Tammy came to play on the swings - if this is a quick make then I must be the world's slowest card maker! Then, yesterday when we were sort of waiting for snow, Tammy returned with a real blaze of sunshine - it made me smile and instantly feel much warmer, really bright and cheerful and you can see it here.

Sam was next, scurrying in with a make for both Rudolph Day and using snippets. In fact, I can't imagine Sam ever scurrying anywhere - as a Scottish dancer I would expect her to leap in, little feet a-twinkling and arms above her head - sheesh, I need a lie down just thinking of the amount of energy she must have! To see Sam's lovely vintage style card - go here. Lots of lovely detail and a beautiful image too Sam. And, there was a surprise visit again from Sam yesterday with this beauty of a card - fantastic image and papers, plus some fantastic colouring - well worth hopping over to have a peek! I can't see a cat wearing a big bow frightening a mouse either :)

Our next offering was from Liz - and I think she gets the 'class swot' star this week. She's only gone and cracked how to use her brayer, to see the lovely result go here. Well done Liz - a lot of us would like the know the secret! I laughed out loud when Elizabeth (I think) commented on my blog ages ago that she approaches her brayer as if it's a live grenade :)) Liz called back again with a great Christmas card - paper pieced to perfection. Those baubles look absolutely great - to see what I mean, hop over and have a look here.

Sylvia-Anne then brought a card to really bring you up with a start - lots of delicious hearts which you can see here. The card was also made for Less Is More and I can certainly see how beautifully it qualified for the challenge. What with Valentine's Day coming and also using heart shaped punches to make flowers I can see a run on these in craft stores!

Next to arrive was Carol with a super Christmas card with a Kraft card as the basis - the colours are gorgeous shades of brown and cream. I love the snowman too. Correction, on closer inspection I'm sure it's a Mrs Snowman - to decide for yourself Carol's card can be found here. I also have some serious snippets envy Carol, beautiful papers!

Sandy whizzed in from Adelaide next. Sandy's got a lot going on in her life right now and it was especially good that she found time to come and play - bringing this really lovely card with her. Another one to make you feel cheerful. Sandy's next card is a baby card - reminding me that a new baby is due that I need to make a card for - it's a super card and beautifully decorated inside and out. So glad you came by Sandy and I know we all hope things look up for you soon.

Maggie then came in to show her beautiful Anniversary card which is perfect for  a Ruby Wedding celebration - to see for yourself, go here. If you love hearts, roses and butterflies then you'll just love this. I think that Maggie used some peel offs for the butterfly and some flowers. popped them onto acetate and then coloured them before trimming round them to add to the card - so, there are always lots of use for those peel offs girls! Great result.

So, that's it for another week - the swings have all been cleaned, the roundabout is oiled and if you look hard, there's a new pile of skipping ropes in the corner too:)) Ha, ha - you'll have to clear the snow away to get to anything first though :)

I have something else on my 'to do' list for this week - and that's to put a 'snippets button' on the sidebar for you to grab if you wish for your own blog (thank you Sam for the little prompt!). With luck it might appear during the week but I'll mention it at the next roll call anyhow.

It's just gone midnight so I'm going to press publish and then hop into bed - I hope that I've covered everyone's links. Please shout if I haven't :)

Mr Linky is below as usual - hope to see you again this week. I've loved hopping round seeing what you've been making, thank you all for joining in! Big hug!

Di
x

Lazy Days - Water Lilies and dragonfly

I love this stamp, which has been waiting patiently to be used, since my birthday almost 5 months ago - shame on me yet again! This stamp cataloguing business is doing me a power of good - up popped this stamp in perfect time for a challenge - Make My Monday, Nature, in which you must use butterflies and/or dragonflies this week.

Here's what I came up with, using some snippets so it was really meant to be for tomorrow but I'd miss the closing time of the challenge and a girl has to be selfish sometimes. I might have a go on the swings all alone once the playground is closed at midnight, and before it gets opened again on Sunday morning :)

Oh boy, I do so love this image - and I used some new toys here as well.

A week or so ago I bought some Flex Markers - sets I and 2 (courtesy of a small win from Ernie) as they are such lovely pastel colours with a nice 'brush action'. The jury is still out here about recommending them though, the brush pens are brilliant I have to say. The colours are truly delicate and they work fantastically with Pro Markers but, and it's a big but, I had to have 4 of the 12 markers replaced. On 3 markers the colour wouldn't come through the pointed nib end at all (just alcohol coming through) despite me scribbling - until I was blue in the face - as instructed to 'prime' the pens, even though it worked fine at the chisel end, the pointed end wasn't playing ball, and the fourth marker arrived with a split barrel. The up-side is that Joanna Sheen's customer service was amazing - and so were Letraset. Within 36 hours of me contacting JS, replacement pens arrived directly from Letraset. The sad thing is that the colours are so truly gentle - I used them for the ripples of water, the petals on the front lily and the dragonfly's wings......I totally love them when they work....... before I added Glamour Dust. Anyhow, back to the card:

I used:

- 6" x 6" white square card stock

- all other card and backing papers came from the snippets folder

- image is called 'Water Lilies' from the Joanna Sheen Favourite Flowers Collection - stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black ink pad and coloured with both Pro Markers and the more subtle Flexi Markers

- the Quickie Glue Pen and a sprinkling of Glamour Dust on the wings of the dragonfly

- white Josy Rose nail heads as a finishing touch :)

Another card, which I so loved making!

Di
x

Friday Feast - Rhubarb, Orange and Stem Ginger Crumble

This recipe was one of the photos I lost last week - but, I managed to find a free photo which is a very close illustration of how it turns out - after all, one crumble is much like another - I didn't think an image of a stick of rhubarb would be the same :)

Rhubarb, Orange and Stem Ginger Crumble

675g/1.5lb rhubarb, leaves discarded, washed and cut into pieces

Juice and zest of 1 large orange
50ml/4 tablespoons water
1 piece of stem ginger, diced into small pieces
2 tablespoons ginger syrup, from the jar of stem ginger
55g/20z sugar

For the crumble:
170g/6oz plain flour
Pinch of salt
110g/4oz butter
55g/2oz granulated sugar

Pre-heat oven to 200C/400F/ Gas Mark 6.

Put rhubarb into a heavy-based saucepan with the orange juice, zest and water. Simmer on a low heat for 15-20 minutes until soft. Strain and put rhubarb into an oven-proof dish.

Sprinkle over the stem ginger pieces and pour over the ginger syrup and sugar. Allow to cool. NB I didn't like the idea of these additions just sitting on top of quite tart rhubarb so I stirred them into the rhubarb in the dish.

Meanwhile, make the crumble mix. Sift the flour with the salt into a bowl. Rub in the butter and when the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs, mix in the sugar.

Sprinkle the crumble over the rhubarb and place the dish on a baking sheet. Bake in the oven for 30 minutes or until hot and slightly browned on top.

Serve immediately.

Had a bit of a laugh at the recipe (a Prue Leith one saved from The Mail newspaper many years ago and never used until now) - it said 16 oz of flour for the topping instead of 6 oz. Not thinking, I'd weighed the flour out and then common sense kicked in when I realised I was going to be up to the elbows in flour :)) Double checked with the metric weights and sure enough, someone hadn't done their proof reading before going to print had they!?

I cooked this for friends the other weekend - just did the rhubarb stage it all cooked and in the dish to one side with the crumble mix all ready done and in a poly bag in the fridge. Once the main course was almost cooked it was just a matter of sprinkling the topping onto the rhubarb and popping it into the oven.

Ah, in case anyone wonders where I got rhubarb from right now - we had some (homegrown too) still in the freezer from last Summer. Not quite enough so I bought a big can of rhubarb and drained it well then mixed it into the cooked rhubarb before adding the ginger etc.

This was yummy with custard/ice cream - and Leonardo, the two-legged mouse, polished the remainder off when our friends went home :)

Enjoy!

Di
x

Grey, red and white - just because

I was determined to enter a card for Enfys' first challenge - the theme of which is black, red and white or grey, red and white. I saw that a few entries had used black so I plumped for grey 'just because' - I sometimes do things 'just because' :)

 

I took umpteen photos of this flipping card because to me the image looks 'wonky' - I even got the ruler out again to double check but it's absolutely straight. So, I'm just gonna have to live with the best I can do - this camera is likely to take a trip into space with my toe behind it before long!

I used:

- 6" x 6" square white card stock

- backing paper from a Papermania Capsule Collection Mono Paper pack - which looked like lace to me so I punched one edge using a Martha Stewart deep lace edge punch

- the lovely heart stamp is by Penny Black, called 'Love Is the Message'. Shame on me, I've had this for ages and might have used it just once before :( inked it with a Brilliance Dewdrops Ink Pad called 'Pearlescent Poppy'

- the red backing card came from my stash of Core'dinations card stock

- grey ribbon from stash

- red pearls also from stash, bought in Hobbycraft

I've spotted a few challenges currently running that I'd like to enter this into, although usually I just go for one challenge at a time. They are:

Going Buggy challenge - Black or Grey plus Red and White

Penny Black Saturday Challenge - Floral Frenzy
For this challenge you had to use a PB stamp and have flowers somewhere on your creation, either the image itself or the card. I hope I covered that OK :)?

Oldie but a Goodies Challenge - Have a Heart
The stamp I used is well over six months old, yikes - as well as everything else on this card!!

Allsorts Challenge - One or more Hearts 


Edit: My watchful buddy Sarn has alerted me to the fact that this would also cover St. Luke's Hospice Challenge for this month which is Love and Lace


Di
x

WOYWW - 139

There's a bit of the OCD in me working here right now:

Having looked at what seems 101 ways to organise stamps, as well as watching crafters videos on the same subject until my eyes were popping out of my head, I've finally come up with a system (yay!). There are bound to be things I'll find out along the way but the beginnings are shown on my desk, as it was left late yesterday evening. File box to the rear, white cards in a little pile, heap of stamps awaiting cleaning and some already stamped cards to the right.

I wanted a system to cover several 'Really Useful' boxes of wood mounted stamps which reside stacked on shelves behind closed doors, wood mounted stamps that I think are pretty to look at which live on some small shelves where I can see them - plus a whole ton of unmounted stamps destined to be filed in binders. I can't be trusted to take the rubber off the wood blocks as some people have cleverly done without risking life and limb, plus the pictures on the stamps are often so pretty that they're almost a work of art as they are.

So, yesterday I tootled off out to Staples and bought some heavy duty punched pockets, a couple of rather smart lever arch files for starters and a box file, index cards and 200 white cards to get me going. Am also on the track of some postcard storage pockets which will hold , for example, four LOTV unmounted stamps per page  in their own pockets - gonna order those later on this morning. Acetate/laminated card will also feature in lever arch files.

On my desk there's the very beginnings of Phase 1. I'm starting on the wood mounted stamps to ease into the task so every one of those will be stamped onto a piece of plain card before moving onto unmounted stamps (I'm not too worried about the images being 100% perfect as they're just for reference). On the back of each card I'll write the make and name of the stamp (in pen) and its location (in pencil so I can juggle things round whenever it suits). S= the visible shelf, B1 to whatever = the boxes (only two layers in a box thankfully), F1 to whatever = the numbered file and which page in the file.

The idea of having file card with pencilled in locations is that it forms the basis of the system and will the the first place to look for images under subject headings and their location. As stamps come and go it'll be easy to add more, remove any I don't want any longer (ha, as IF!!) and also to change their location if (for example) I find that stamps in a box can be re-organised to get the optimum 'fit' in the two layers. The boxes won't be as they are now, in a semblance of subjects, it will be done on a 'best fit' basis' as there's a lot of wasted space at the moment in them there boxes. This means I still have flexibility in the actual storage of the stamps - the same will apply to the files themselves. The index system will be the key holding it all together.

The subject index cards are alphabetical but I've just turned the whole lot of them around in one go as the backs of the coloured tabs are blank but still in bright colours and a Fine Permanent Pen is great for writing the subject on - so far I've come up with things like Babies, Flowers, Mice, Teddies - that sort of stuff. Easy to buy more index card sets of course :)

If you want a closer nosey, you'll also see a duster brush awaiting a wash and a round piece of foam beside it. The foam was used to finish off some Distress inking earlier in the week - it's also awaiting a little wash - and it came from a bottle of vitamin pills that Len opened the other day. I've got sponge daubers but I nabbed the foam and really like the gentle touch of it with DIs :)

And, anyone calling in here who plays in the Snippets Playground each week will see the gate keys propped up at the back. Jules sent them to me and they're much too pretty to drop into a drawer so they're waiting there to remind me that they'll be coming on my next outing to Hobbycraft or The Range where they will be bought their very own frame - one of those box ones with a gap between the glass and the back so that the lovely ribbon doesn't get squished and the keys can dangle from a little hook :)

And, if I didn't lose you all about 10 minutes ago - you should now hop over to see what everyone else has on their desk, floor, dining table, ironing board etc. this week over at Julia's, the Queen of WOYWW, who started all this off! Ha, ha - bet she's the only one of us with a deck chair on her desk :)

Happy WOYWW - sounds of regular thumps of inking and stamping coming from North Hampshire will just be me :)

Di
x

A Tuesday Tale - collar, cuffs and crotch

Ha! I bet that caught your attention :)

The background, for eight years or more I worked a Saturday afternoon shift in our local charity (thrift) shop, which raises much needed funds for a nearby Hospice. I was still working full time during the week at the time but it sure beat doing housework for at least a few hours of the weekends :)

I found this free image above on the internet, but I can promise you that it was very rare for any clothing to cost as much as £10!

My first day was a bit of a baptism of fire, to say the least. The 'retail manager' who oversaw the groups of shops, he was called Gary, came along to give three of us 'newbies' the low down and the rules to be followed. He was a larger than life sort of guy - with a heart of gold I later found out - but, he knew what he wanted us to do. First action, with bags of donated clothing, was to do a quick sort  and check - quite often you'd open a bag and realise right away that it would only be fit for recycling. We got paid per tonne for recycled textiles, so the first sort was important to weed out the wheat from the chaff so to speak.

As a good little group of pretty innocent 'newbies' we gathered in front of Gary (yours truly at the back!) and he explained just how to check clothing and textiles over before they were priced, steamed (a job hated by everyone) and put out for sale. Curtains had to be checked for wear and tear, then measured before being put out for sale. No dirty underwear (trust me, we did get that too!), towels held up to the light for signs of light showing through - ones that didn't pass the test ended up in a big basket for doggy towels and they sold like hot cakes - were all buttons still on garments, did zips work, and so on and so forth.

Then came the real drama of the afternoon - checking men's suits. With a big flourish and a donated suit Gary demonstrated the actions 'Collar, to check there is no shine or grime, cuffs for no fraying' and then, with great drama 'Finally the crotch, which you have to sniff for no nasty smells''.

WHAT!!?? I was still standing at the back of our little group and I swear that it's the very moment I knew what was meant by a rictus grin. With a silly tight smile and eyes popping out on stalks like a frightened rabbit in the headlights of a car, I nodded dumbly, along with the other two poor little scared newbies. Then I thought, 'fight or flee?' and almost ran to my car and drove home, never to return.

But, I got cute and, once I could speak again I squeaked 'Err, so who operates the clothes steaming machine?'. Sensing an idiot, in his midst Gary took me under his wing and I soon became 'Mrs Steamer' - trust me, it had to be better than sniffing crotches!! Despite the scalds, from a rubbish machine which had a grudge against me, ANYTHING was preferable to the dreaded sniffing routine!

Sorry, hope you weren't trying to have a morning cuppa, or even worse eating your breakfast!

Bit of a change from a cocktail party at Number 11 Downing Street huh?!

More will follow :)

Di
x

Less Is More - A Happy Hello

This weeks challenge over at Less Is More is a sketch:

It has to be a rectangular card, in landscape orientation and you can't rotate the sketch - get that, I have enough problems following anything the right way up let alone twisting it round, so that's good for me!

I did toy with the idea of making a one-layer card but felt I had less chance of spoiling the result by making this:

 I used:

- 5" x 7" white rectangular card stock

- strip of white card brushed over with duster brush and TH 'Spun Sugar' Distress ink

- background lettering stamped using 'Happy' from the Hero Arts 'Dictionery Greetings' stamp set and Memento 'London Fog' ink pad

- flowers stamped using a KanBan set (which just says 06 on the packet but it came from Handy Hippo just recently) and Memento Tuxedo Black ink pad then embossed using clear embossing powder

- strip of black card to mount the pink image onto - it looked too washed out without the edging of black

- 'A Happy Hello' sentiment from Pink Gem Designs stamped in Memento Black Tuxedo 

- the original card had no pearl on the letter 'O' in the sentiment. When I showed it to my in-house critic he confirmed what I thought. The letter 'O' was filled in with a black centre and the result looked horribly like the word Hell - and it was his suggestion that a gem might improve it. So, I found a lovely soft pink pearl in my stash which made all the difference - thank you Len, now dubbed 'artistic director'!

In the process of making this one card the following happened:

1. I spilt the pot of clear EP - man, does that stuff travel!

2. After finishing the card and clearing up all the mess I noticed that the Dictionery stamp set also has a stamp with all the definitions of Hello too - would have been good to use both but, trust me, I was losing the will to live by then because......

3. Somehow I've lost all the images on the SD card I was using!! Most of them are either posted here or saved elsewhere. But, there are a few unsaved photos of things I've cooked ready to upload and post once I write up the recipes for future Friday Feasts! So, you might just have to starve this Friday :(

There are a couple of options - one is to use Recuva in the hope that the images can be retrieved from the SD card. That's currently doing a deep scan, fingers crossed as it has saved me before now. The other one is to quickly cook up something ready for Fridays recipe - egg and chips be OK?

Not my afternoon here yesterday for sure :(

Anyhow, I'm entering this card, which I swear has aged me by about 10 years, into the Less Is More Week 52 Challenge.

Di
x

Pixie's Crafty Snippets - Challenge Number 5

A whole bunch of you visited the playground this week - there was a 'right little flurry of activity' on Friday especially - for some reason :)

Firstly, let's get my own snippets offering over with:

It was such fun to photograph - not! So, you'll have to put up with some reflection - believe me I tried all ways to take a photo, including standing to one side madly waving camera in front of card, kneeling on the floor etc. All to no avail - and it seemed a bit OTT to dig out the mini tripod, set the camera to timer and then run away and hide.

The 'ingredients' are all from some leftovers I found whilst having a little bit of a sort out during the week, plus the snippets folder.

I used:

- 6" x 6" white square card stock

- lilac plain and patterned with silver card from leftovers that hadn't found their way into the snippets folder. These (including the sentiment) all originally came from a co-ordinating card pack from Hobbycraft

- silver mirri card and some lilac paper, used to punch a lacy strip (Martha Stewart punch used)  to go across the front of the card, from snippets folder

- flower made using heart punch and snippets

- clear gems from stash

The flower was fun to make and I'm not the only one who's been doing this - if you hop over to Elizabeth's you'll see that she also made a flower using a heart shaped punch on Thursday. It's different to how I'd already made mine and really worth a look, in fact it's much prettier the way Elizabeth did it and I can foresee a run on sales of little heart shaped punches:)

For the one I made, I punched out six little hearts (the punch is about three quarters of an inch across) from lilac pearlescent card and a little circle too. I drew an embossing tool down the centre of each heart and gently folded them before sticking them to the circle, three first and then the other three in a layer on top overlapping the first three (I hope you're still with me here?). I didn't feel the flower was quite right so I added another six 'petals' using silver mirri card in the same way behind the lilac ones before sticking a larger circle of card to the back for full stability. Then one large clear gem in the centre as the finishing touch. Finished!

OK, everyone please pull up your socks, stop pulling one another's pigtails and sit quietly - it's time for this week's roll call.

Jackie was first on the swings this week with a lovely card in red, black and white - so suitable for a Wedding Anniversary or a Wedding. She used a Stampin' Up wheel to create a flowered background on her card and it's gorgeous. Like so many of us, Jackie keeps forgetting that she's got it - I bet we can all relate to that one :) To see Jackie's card go here - and isn't the image she used elegant!

Next in, hot on Jackie's tail, came Mags B with such a cute card, using a LOTV Cute Squares image. You can see her card here and I'm sure you'll agree that it's so sweet. She said that the camera hadn't picked up the stickles she'd used but I can see it fine. If you click on an image and then hit F11 the screen is filled with the image, which seems to enlarge itself - quite spooky really. Once you close the image by clicking on the cross you just need to hit F11 again to restore your toolbars - a great way to have an even closer nosey.

Our founder and Patron Jules hopped in next a really lovely card (has anyone ever seen Jules make one that isn't totally gorgeous?!) - it's here and the pink and black work so, so well together. A double offering this week and if you look further down her posting there's a Christmas card with such a happy little snowman on. You'll find the hearts easily too - I often wonder how Jules finds so many heart embellishments as well as stamps with hearts on - or did she add the little heart bauble to the snowman I wonder. Go and see to make your own mind up :)

Carol followed with a real beauty of a card, made for her Aunt's 89th birthday - there's going to be one happy lady when she sees this for sure! And, the inside of the card is also decorated for good measure - plus it's pink which is always a hit with me! I love the sketch that Carol followed too.

Next was Heidi, having had a mega-panic over the temporary loss of her blog. Her card here is totally perfect for a boy (or a chap) into drumming - and I just bet that Heidi's heart was thumping pretty loudly during the 'blog-loss crisis too'!! I did smile as Heidi 'fessed up' that she'd pinched a snippets scrap from her friend to use on this great card - it's allowed though, share nicely girls :))

Sandra H followed with a beautiful, fresh Christmas card in white, red and gold with some stunning cut outs - perfect for the Less Is More challenge that she entered it for. Sandra's card is here and it's amazing how well the tree image (salvaged from a Christmas card received last year) fits perfectly inside the 'Nesties tree cut out' - brilliant!

Next was Gilly with a card shown here. It's Gilly's first ever easel card and such a lovely combinations of pink, white and chocolate with a cheeky touch of purple, brilliant and it also looks good enought to eat. Also, check out the lovely MS border she punched - another punch on the wish list here!!

For anyone who frets about folk knowing what to do when they receive their easel card - I have a file with lovely little labels that I showed here. Ha, ha - you'll see by the 'avalanche of comments' that I hadn't had this blog very long :) If you'd like the file, or even a sheet of them printed (65 per sheet which will last you for a while surely)  and popped into the post - just let me know here di_wray@hotmail.com and they will be yours ASAP - no charge, although you could be 'milk monitor' for two weeks running :)

Irene nipped in next with her gorgeous little girl card, sploshing round in the rain, here.  Irene had followed the same sketch as Carol and, like Carol, had totally done it proud. It does so remind me of the sentiment which goes something like 'anyone who only likes sunshine has never danced in the rain' - and the lovely fresh colours that Irene used are just perfect.

With a stunning card complete with a tassel for Chinese New Year, Beryl was next with this black and gold beauty here. I doubt if any of us have missed the fact that it's the year of the Dragon now - and Beryl really cracked it - one of those cards that makes you go 'Wow!' I love it.

Which reminds me of a comment that Jo (aka Twiglet) left on my blog during the week, too funny not to share :)

"I heard Ken Bruce say....lady didn't know which to celebrate - Chinese New Year or Burns Night - so she combined them and gave hubby a Chinese Burn!!!"

Hazel visited three times this week - her first jaunt into the playground was with a great Christmas card in vibrant pinks, white and black and it works so well. Another really cute snowman image (I just got dizzy hopping back and forward between this one made by Hazel here and the one Jules used - they are different ones) - with a super little blingy star embellishment as the finishing touch. Hazel's next card is here - for several challenges, one of which is the 'Willow challenge', making three of you this week following that sketch. Don't those purples look terrific?! Her last visit was made clutching this - sort of 'gentle steam punk' - and perfect for the man in your life.  I'm still amazed at the productivity of Hazel! No way could I keep up with her, else we'd starve and be living in a  house a bit like Miss Faversham's!

Next was The Crafty Elf, with a gorgeous white on white card which is here. Our elfin friend is in the throes of decorating right now so it's great that she found the time to make a card as lovely as this one and come into the playground for a little play with us this week. White on white is just so beautiful - and becoming very 'on trend' at the moment. See, I know some of the right expressions :))

Karen tootled in to play next with such a bright and cheerful card - as with a few of you, made to cover another challenge which she totally nailed! The criteria for the challenge was a real mix 1) Bunting, banners, pennants and/or flags. 2) Stripes and spots combined. 3) Use aqua and red. You could wonder how on earth this would all work - but it does, and brilliantly! To see Karen's card and just what I mean go here. 

Hettie (aka Sam) arrived next, kick starting a little flurry of activity. Our buddy Sarn has a Rudolph Day Challenge running right now (if you're really quick you could catch it as it runs until 31st January, and there's a small prize for the winner of a random draw too) - and Sam brought a couple of great Christmas cards. Sam's been a really good girl this week as well, I'm a bit worried 'cos we all know that when things are too quiet, trouble could be brewing :) Anyhow, here's Sam's cards - I love both of them, although the carol singing chickens with their very own lamp post are probably my favourite. I wonder what Tim Holtz would make of his lamp posts being used to embellish 'chooks singing carols' cards - very clever touch. Sam nipped back in on Burns Night with a further two Christmas cards here, those lovely chickens again, plus a great card with birds on and a photo of her pet haggis :) I did begin to think that things were livening up in the playground at that point!

Next came Linby with a delightfully fresh card using Spring colours and full of butterflies and flowers, shown here. Super use of snippets by Linby and the background worked great too, despite her misgivings. Housework was calling at the time so it was a real sacrifice for her to drop the vacuum cleaner and dusters in order to make up her lovely card - so glad you did Linby, great result!

Sally M arrived with a really striking card, using 'rounded tiles' (for want of a better description) of papers in a lovely co-ordinating range of colours and patterns - all snippets too. To see the result go here, a couple of small butterflies and a sentiment completed a perfect way to use up snippets - I bet a few of us will be following this idea Sally.

Then with something really different for a baby card - along came Andria. Wow what a stunner! I have this little LOTV stamp here ready for its first inking up - but would be playing safe probably. However, I'm now really torn and might go bold as I adore what Andria did, totally different and it works brilliantly. I'm saying no more - to find out go here and see what I'm raving on about!

Tammy visited us twice this week - firstly with a delightful 'shabby chic' birthday card shown here. I got so excited about this card I let Tammy have three goes on the swings - love the pink, white, cream, silver and blue here - all perfect colours for 'shabby'. Tammy's next visit was with a great Valentine's Day card which you can see here - red, pink and white are a lovely combination of colours. Running this challenge means I get to hop round a lot of blogs - have any of you noticed the fantastic buttons that Tammy often displays with her cards? Some serious button envy going on here Tammy!

We had two visits from Bernie this week - and you'll be pleased to know she isn't awaiting bail after hammering the snow plough driver over the head with her shovel. Things calmed down so she let him carry on playing at covering her freshly cleared drive with snow after all :) Bernie's first card is here - and it's a very special card, made for her daughter but also with a lot of loving memories of her grand daughter Shanna, who sadly died very young. Do go and see the absolutely beautiful card that Bernie made - I won't spoil it for you but I just know you'll realise that a whole load of love went into the making of it. So, so pretty. Bernie's next visit was with a stunning Valentine's Day card in pink, black and white, shown here. Do go and see her card, but also read her whole posting about the 'lost die' - I got into bed in the early hours of yesterday still shaking with laughter :))

Next, along came Maggie. Like many crafters, Maggie is full of different ideas and always lets us into the secrets of how she does things - this week she brought a really striking Christmas card with her - shown here. It's stunning in its simplicity - yet, to achieve a look like that can take a whole load more planning than you'd think. Great Maggie!

Next , running into the playground, flushed from running her Rudolph Day challenge, came Sarn with this beautiful card. The white and lilac, with just touches of brown for the teddy and where he's 'stood standing' make for such a fresh look. With Valentine's Day fast approaching, who couldn't fail to love such a cute image and the look of hope and almost sheepishness on the teddy's face. Aw - just perfect Sarn!

Elizabeth arrived next with a really gorgeous card, with a real vintage feel about it. You can see it here - all beautiful pinks and greens. A lot of work went into this card which Elizabeth made before becoming unwell so it had to wait for her to bring it to 'show and tell' in the playground this week . Hopefully you're up and running properly again now Elizabeth - mind you, if you're well enough to tackle dusting I guess you must be recovered. Err, or maybe not, you might still have a fever - 'crafting forever, housework whenever!!' Good to see you back :)
 
Then Liz came along with guess what, a white on white card! Oh wow, I totally adore this style of card and it's also a special card for her Mother's 90th Birthday next week. I've seen a few white on white cards recently, as I already said, and yet no two are the same, each one is really stunning - to go and see what Liz made for her Mum, go here, it's really beautiful. Happy Birthday from the playground playmates to your Mum Liz - hope she has a great day :)

Then last, but by no means least, Brenda nipped in with this lovely card. Beautiful and so right for this weeks Less Is More challenge. I can see the subtle meaning of Brenda's combination of a music background, teeny little butterflies and the sentiment 'Let The World Hear Your Song' - love it! Plus, the playground was empty when Brenda nipped in, so it must have been very quiet - we'd all gone home and were sitting up nicely at the table having tea before watching an hour's children's TV :)

So, that's this week's roll call. As usual, I hope I included everyone and it's been a total delight to see what you've been making with your snippets - everyone can now have a double turn on the swings! The gates are open again.

I have to say, that due to keeping up with the snippets posts  that you link in and making sure I always hop in ASAP to comment, as well as trying to write up the roll call and perhaps make a few cards of my own - I might not always get round to comment on your other postings. I do truly try really hard but am sure I must miss some. It doesn't mean I haven't been in for a peek and am always stunned at the lovely 'non-snippets' work you all produce. So much talent playing in our playground!

Mr Linky is below as always - trends may come and trends may go, but there's always going to be a million and one uses for your snippets!

Di
x

Friends are special treasures

Ah, I just love this sentiment set - by Hero Arts - spotted on Sandra's blog and it has so many terrific sentiments it's a great favourite here now. Apart from the time making the roses and leaves, this was a quick and easy card to put together, all things considered:

Firstly, I got the idea a good while ago from Bernie's blog for using the wispy feather - and the ribbon/lace/mesh stuff pinched together in the middle is an idea I got from Jules blog. Hmm, with the sentiment as an idea from Sandra - oops, plus the roses from Jules blog and also Sandra's - I ain't coming up with much originality in the components today - but I did pick the colours, design and stuck it all together all on my lonesome :))

I used:

- 6" x 6" square white card stock

- grey Core'dinations card for the background

- white 'lace' from stash (Hobbycraft) stuck across the grey backing card and tied in the centre with a piece of white cotton before sticking it onto the white card

- white marabou feather and little pearl stems from stash - both from Hobbycraft

- green leaves die cut and embossed using Marianne Creatables 'Roses' die set. The roses were also cut, using dies from the same set and pink two-tone marbled paper

- sentiment from the 'Live Life' stamp set by Hero Arts, stamped using Versacolor 'White' ink pad and then embossed using white embossing powder

Have to admit, I approached the Marianne roses with a lot of trepidation (eeek, a big word) as so many people had struggled with them. I need more practise to be able to wind them into shape properly but I did find a great tutorial which helped oodles, once again on Jules  blog - here's the link. I found it's not easy to wind them all to the same tension if that makes sense, even using a cocktail stick, but hey - roses aren't always uniform anyhow as folk have said. I used Crafter's Pick Incredibly Tacky glue for the first time and it's great stuff.

I'm entering this into the current Make My Monday Challenge 'Flowers and Leaves'. 

Hope you're having a super start to the weekend! The playground closes at midnight and I'll be back tomorrow with the week's roll call and the weekly jangling of the keys to reopen the gates :)

Di
x

Friday Feast - Chunky carrot, saffron and coriander soup

Hey, ho - I can already hear the patter of feet running in the opposite direction as coriander isn't to everyone's taste - no names mentioned. But, I guess you could leave the coriander out :)

1.2kg large carrots, trimmed and peeled
3 shallots, peeled and finely chopped
1 litre chicken or vegetable stock
60g unsalted butter, diced
pinch saffron filaments (about 30)
1 heaped teaspoonful sea salt (I left this out altogether)
1 heaped teaspoonful caster sugar
150g crème fraîche
6 tablespoonfuls chopped coriander, plus extra to serve

Quarter the carrots lengthwise and slice them finely (you can do this with the slicing attachment of a food processor). Place in a large pan with the shallots, 200ml of the stock, the butter, saffron, salt and sugar. 

Give everything a stir, bring to a simmer then cover and cook over a medium heat for 8 minutes. Stir again, turn the heat up and cook uncovered for 8-12 minutes, stirring towards the end, until all the stock evaporates and the carrots are meltingly tender and glossy, coated in a buttery emulsion.

Add the remaining stock and the crème fraîche and bring to the boil, then stir in the chopped coriander and season with more salt if necessary. Serve the soup in shallow bowls with the carrots piled in the centre and scatter over a little more coriander.

Serve with fresh crusty bread - yummy! 

Things I might change. The recipe uses a fair amount of butter so you could reduce it probably, just so long as the carrots don't burn.Also, I think because I left the salt out, the result was sweeter than when I used to make this with salt in so I think you could reduce the sugar to a level teaspoonful. Or you could try a carrot for sweetness like Bugs Bunny (What's up Doc?) before deciding on the sugar quantity - or, I guess add the salt.

Enjoy!

Di
x

Rudolph Day - January 2012

Every 25th of the month is Rudolph Day and your chance to make a Christmas card ready for next Christmas - more if you wish! More details at the end of this posting. I almost got caught out so rustled up three cards all the same yesterday:

Whilst tidying in here, making some room to craft without having to kneel on the floor, I found some stash that I hadn't put away from before Christmas so used that. Rubbish photo - by the time I'd finished the light was going :(

I used:

- 6" x 6" square white card

- image and backing papers from the Forever Friends Timeless paper pack (bought in Hobbycraft)

- pearlised mink and white card - also from Hobbycraft - for the backings

- sentiment from Craftwork Cards

- snowflakes from a pack made by KanBan

- a teensy little diamante gem at the top of the Christmas tree in front of the cottage - from a pack of nail art gems bought in the local Pound Shop ages ago (not for my nails either - I wondered if they'd come in handy one day for crafting)

Why not join in the fun, make a Christmas card and hop over to Sandra's blog, Stamping For Pleasure to see what she made and also to link in 'cos there's a prize too :))

Have fun!

Di
x 

WOYWW - 138

Just as I left it yesterday afternoon - nothing much going on, just a heap of stuff to put away before allowing those itchy fingers to do anything more in here today else I could end up buried in stash. Huh, it's not impossible sometimes either!

The usual cup of black coffee to kick-start the day. Cleaned rocker blocks and duster brushes, anti-static bag 'cos I've been embossing (a rare event for me but am getting more into it), white ink pad and embossing powder, box of bits, feathers, pearls and and papers. Plus a Marianne Creatables 'Rose' die. The 'rejects' are to the back right - in pink of course:) but I was amazed at how reasonably I managed after hearing other opinions. Mind you - the results do very a LOT in size 'cos I need to work on winding in a consistent way :( At least the glue gun wasn't brought out - I used Crafter's Pick Incredibly Tacky glue as recommended by Bev Rochester and it works a treat - so no burnt fingers!

It's Rudolph Day today (25th of the month and time to make a Christmas card) so, as soon as this mess is put away, out will come some Christmas stash (eek!) - in between hopping round to see what everyone else is up to on their desk, dining table, floor or wherever. To join in - follow me on this link over to Julia's - bring a cup of coffee and maybe even a sandwich 'cos you could be some time :)

Happy WOYWW - whatever you're up to!

Di

x

A Tuesday Tale - a cocktail party

A lot of years ago, whilst working in London, I wangled, obtained, received an invitation to a pre-Christmas cocktail party at Number 11 Downing Street. For overseas friends, this isn't the Prime Minister's London home, it's right next door to Number 10 though and is normally occupied by his 'mate' the Chancellor of the Exchequer.

I had no-one to take as an escort so I asked a work colleague (who I secretly liked, a LOT) if he would accompany me. We were both single at the time and whoop, whoop, he agreed - not in a huge rush of enthusiasm I should say. I think it was more because I was a bit like Cinderella who wanted so badly to go to the ball - or perhaps Bridget Jones who always lands in a pickle.

Our office was within easy walking distance and on the designated evening we worked late then I changed into a dark 'cocktail party suitable' dress and we left the office and wandered up to the venue - err, my escort strolled and I tottered (on impossibly high heels). Straight in through the gates to Downing Street and then into No. 11 - well, after almost being strip searched.

I do remember thinking they could do with a new stair carpet as we went up the stairs, the walls of which were lined with caricatures of past Chancellors. The reception room where the cocktail party was being held was very grand and, without giving any secrets away, I doubt if I'll ever stand right beside a Gainsborough again with a glass of I forget what in one hand and a sausage roll in the other! The nibbles were delicious and, not having had an evening meal I did feel a bit peckish - in between circulating and socialising  I managed to at least stop the tummy rumbling!

My escort had also been circulating but he arrived back at my side and said 'Can I have a quiet word' - ooer, I went all weak at the knees thinking that he was about to say something rather nice/how much he liked me/compliment my outfit or maybe even ask me on a date!! All ears, I coyly tilted my head to one side, he bent forward and whispered these magical words in my ear..........'I think you'd probably want to know this -  you've got flaky pastry crumbs all over your front'!!

Right there and then my glass coach turned back into a pumpkin :( But on hindsight it was probably better that I had the chance to brush the offending crumbs away - a bit like getting home after a dinner party, looking in the mirror and seeing a wedge of bright green spinach between your two front teeth!

Oh, I almost forgot to say - my escort from that evening is currently having his morning shave - yup, it was Len. So things did all turn romantic - eventually :))

Di
x