Golden oldies......

We have a team dare this week, and we were thinking.....with so many new things /latest papers/ trendy stuff constantly coming on the market, we thought it would be nice to have a look back, and dig out some of our 'old' papers and embellishments and make a card with our 'preloved' treasures. I think the tendency these days is to get on the 'latest must have' band wagon, sometimes, its nice to recognise what we already have- even if it isn't the 'latest' embellishment/paper.


Luckily no pictures have survived of my first forays into the world of cardmaking but.... there was a time that everything that I made came complete with a little bear.... so I have revisited the past and made a 'beary special' card for this week's dare.

Paper is Crate paper, Cuttlebug embossed Core'dinations cardstock, Docraft brad, Hobbycraft ribbon, Prima flowets and hand cut bear.

TFL :)

I do ... with a twist!

A huge thank you to Jozza and Becks who have given me this very fabulous award...
Here followeth the rules for this award:
The winner can put the logo on their blog.
Link to the person you received your award from.
Nominate at least 7 other blogs.
Put links of those blogs on yours.
Leave a message on the blogs you've nominated.
Wear a posh frock if you like, lots of bling and make a speech, but - sorry - no red carpet

Need to go and purchase a posh frock, me thinks. As usual, I am copping out, there are just so many fabulous blogs, please consider yourself tagged if you are perusing here :)

This week's little extra is a weddingy type card - with no white/cream/ivory...
(I may have temporarily forgotten and added a little white pen)


Paper is from here American crafts stickers, Prima flowers, brads, buttons and beads, Doodlebug paper frill (I ran it through the printer to change the colour), Docrafts ribbon.

TFL :)

Fudge - The Nigella way

Both boys finish school today - and in the what will become time honoured tradition, we made fudge (again) for the 9 teachers and teaching assistants that they have between them :)

Both boys were actually amazingly good at helping in the kitchen and only ate a few cherries in the production process although there was much spoon licking afterwards....

The recipe...

12oz dark chocolate - prolly best to use one with lots of cocoa solids but turns out just as well with 'normal' chocolate.
1 x 14oz can condensed milk
1oz butter
pinch salt
5¼oz unsalted pistachios, shells removed - we added this to one batch and substitiuted cherries for the other...

Method
1. Place the chopped chocolate, condensed milk, butter and salt into a heavy-based pan over a low heat and stir until melted and well combined.
2. Place the nuts into a freezer bag and bash them with a rolling pin, until broken up into some large and some small pieces.
3. Add the nuts to the melted chocolate mixture and stir well.
4. Pour the mixture into a 23cm/9in square tray, smoothing the top with a wet palette knife.
5. Let the fudge cool, then refrigerate until set.
6. Cut into small pieces approximately 3cm x 2cm/1¼in x ¾in. Cutting 7 x 7 lines in the tin to give 64 pieces best achieves this.
7. Once cut, the fudge can be kept in the freezer - there's no need to thaw, just eat straight away.

All was carefully wrapped and labelled...





Thank you tags made...



And all was placed in paper bags...




Credits....
Background from Petit Moineaux
Staples and tag from Miss Mint @ Peppermint Creative
Hugh images from Tigerfrogg
Fudge recipe by Nigella (The Goddess of all things Domesticated)

CPS #73

We braved Next sale yesterday - not at the wee early hours of the morning but at a far more normal time of the afternoon and actually it was not busy - far more girl clothes as usual than boys but did pick up a few bits and bobs :) Had to chuckle at the signs in the girlie section entitled 'Big Girl's Bottoms'.....

Another of Jared's friends turned 4 yesterday, I used the CPS sketch #73 to make this for her....


I used Basic Grey Euphoria, Bazzil scallops and a 7gypsies stamp, I cut the circle with an x-cut shape cutter, hand cut butterfly, inking and a little bit of doodling.

And a little bit of garden tidying, they boys were allowed to stay up late for a little bonfire....




:)

A few cards....

A couple of cards made with the new Papermania Naughty & Nice papers they are Christmas papers but work fantastically well for lots of other occasions...


and a card made for one of Jared's little friends using Rock star digi kit by Dani Mogstad


TFL :)

Spot the Difference

The most brilliant Rhi's turn to dare this week....

Hi, it's Rhi here this week to dare you, and it's...Journalling spots. They're used all the time in scrapbooking where it's extra personal to read someone's words and memories in their own hand. Use a journalling spot, be it stamped, premade, handcut, digital or doodled, to frame your handwritten message on your card. Have a look at the cards we've made, then share your creations by leaving a link, I dare you!

And fantastically we have Jozza, Rein and Vanessa joining us as Daring Cardmakers :)

Mine is a hybrid card this week using a free 'Be Merry' digi kit from 2peas....



TFL :)

Cards with a certain a-Peel (off)

Lythan's dare this week....

So go on, rummage around in your craft stash and....

Make a card with Peel Offs

(!)

So my (slightly) tongue in cheek card.....



Basic grey everything I think apart from the peel offs and the text which was printed.

Exterminieren!

lol!

Birthday cards...

A couple of cards that I made for 2 Birthday Girls who share the same birthday...


(The letters (I hope!) look a little less stark than they do the photograph...)

and...


(Sentiment totally 'borrowed' from Mr Moffat...) The 'Ruby' image is from here


Tonight 6:40pm (65 mins) BBC One.....

TFL :)

Brrrrrr..........Freezing

Another Wintry dare this week from Keryn....

In New Zealand at the moment it's winter and cold and dark. No snow here as temperatures don't get that low but still low enough that that's all anyone thinks about and anyone talks about. So this dare should be easy for those in the colder climes of the Southern Hemisphere but in the North it may be a little trickier. Use images, use colour, use embellishments that make you feel cold and remind you of winter.

It does feel a tad odd making Wintry cards here when it is supposed to be Summer but then I did set a Christmas dare last week lol!

I made a Snowflake card....


Slightly cheating as I based it upon a card that I made for Papercraft Inspirations...



TFL :)

Birthday Girl

Made a card for Jase's niece....

Basic Grey papers, brads and rub ons, spotty ribbon is (I think!) from Hobbycraft.
TFL :)