Hide & Sleep scrapbook page

With the help of this sketch over at Scrapology & the DTs interpretations for inspiration I came up with this page.....

I used a cloudy background sheet to try & give a feeling of dreaming, then the rest of the papers/embellishments were clothing related. I dry embossed the stitching on the denim paper to give texture. Instead of using a strip of paper down the right side of the page I decided to use a photo to give a different perspective/view.
The clothes are made using origami, I also added shoe shaped eyelets & stickers as well as a button T-shirt.

Hill Top Picnic scrapbook page

Jen designed this sketch for Sarah's cards ltd's September Challenge

From this I came up with........

The background sheet had pretty flowers on so I carefully cut round the edge of some of them so I could slip the circle & photos underneath them. I've had to hide a couple of details for privacy reasons, I'm sure you understand :-)

Graduating Pre-school Scrapbook page

Sue over at Creative Craft World designed this layout for Septembers Scrap challenge

I rotated it & came up with Kai's graduation page - I matched the colours to his mortar board & tried to mix a graduation, pre-school feel to it, hence the alphabet coming down the page.
The scroll is made out of a bit of scrap paper & ribbon, the mortar board from black card & a piece of wool from his actual mortar board.

Rocking MY world Friday

So yet again its friday, a day I look forward to every school day as it means the hope of a lie in the next day... or at least a morning not spent rushing around at silly oclock.

This week I have refound my mojo, I have been able to craft as you shall see when I shop you next week, not only craft but enjoy crafting.

I found money in my wallet that I'd forgotten was there :-)

We've managed to get both the kiddies main presents at bargainous prices, woohooooooooo!

I've started jogging again &, though starting for step 1 again I am really enjoying it.

I have that christmassy feeling starting to grow inside, that warm snuggly feeling, that tinge of excitement. The looking forward to early, cold nights with a warm cup of hot chocolate & crafting on my lap, or a good programme on tv, talking about programmes I've discovered some really great ones. I am loving both Haven & Alphas, I'm also catching up on Chuck (I'm 2 seasons behind). Supernatural season 7 starts tonight in america, & the new season of big bang theory has recently started - fab shows to watch while crafting. Can you tell I like my sci-fi?

So what have been your highlights of the week, how about sharing them with us, popping over to Celtic House to link up so we can come visit :-)

The A-Z of Me

I have seen LOADS of these around the crafty blog land today so thought I'd join in...

A. Age: 31

B. Bed size: Double, though I REALLY want a European queen size as with an OH who sleeps like he's about to go diving & 3 cats sharing it with me it feels way too small

C. Chore that you hate: All of them! But top of the list is cleaning the toilets, with 3 males in the house including a 4year old whose easily distracted I'm sure you can understand.

D. Dogs: Love dogs but havent got the patience to house train so we have 3 cats instead.


E. Essential start to your day: A quick look on facebook & twitter to wake me up before I have to crawl out of bed, makes me feel like I'm starting the day a little bit more prepared.

F. Favorite color: Black, but my regulars all knew that though didnt they ;-)

G. Gold or Silver: I detest the modern yellowy gold, it looks cheap & tacky to me I much prefer old gold, pink or white gold. I mainly wear silver, it goes with everything :-)

H. Height: 5’4" on a good day

I. Instruments you play: I can play my chords on a guitar, make noise with a Jewish harp, play a couple of tunes on a piano but thats as far as I can get.

J. Job title: I'm a domestic engineer

K. Kids:  2 lads age 4 & 12, & the OH

L. Live: In my own little world.

M. Must haves:  Pepsi, computer/laptop, my dressing gown, photos


N. Nicknames: Well as most of you know I'm usually known as K, my Mom & OH call me KT due to my first & middle initials, my OH also calls me "Woman" to which I normally respond "what, Man."
A good friend of mine calls me Kirsty-Lirsty, & to everyone else I'm either Kirst or Kirsty.


O. Overnight hospital stays: I was in hospital over night when I had both my kiddies (well, for several nights really), & also for 2 operations on my neck at about the age of 4 having infected Lymph Nodes removed.

P. Pet peeves: Whats the maximum number of letters Blogger will hold, lol. Ok top of the list are people making noises while eating, I dont mean crunching when eating cornflakes etc, they cant be helped, its things like slurping noises. People yelling LOUDLY at their kids, especially when right in their faces, for gods sake, they're children, they will play up, do things wrong etc, its part of growing up, tell them off by all means so that they learn its wrong but not in a way that could mentally scar them. People not emailing me back/replying within a couple of days unless theres a damn good excuse, even if its just to acknowledge its been received, its called politeness people! Saying your broke when you clearly are not, now I realise everyone has a different definition to "I'm broke" but to me it means "after bills go out, or even before then, I have no money left to spend on anything except essentials (& I mean essentials to actually continue living)". If you say your broke & then go buy a luxury item such as a new game then you were not broke, you might have been saving but you were definately not broke. Oh dear, think I better stop now.

Q. Quote from a movie:  I never remember quotes from movies, I dont know if its because my memory is so bad or that movies dont matter enough to me, probably both.

R. Rhubarb or Custard: Both, in sweetie form :-D

S. Save or spend: I would like to save but at the moment its not an option, well, except for things like right now I'm saving for Christmas (spending it as & when I see a great deal on the xmassy things I need to get), then it'll be saving for Birthdays, then Summer Hols, etc etc etc

T. Tea or Coffee:  Coffee, slightly milky with 2 sugars please. I have been known to drink fruity teas, & if its the only think on offer then strong black tea - it almost doesnt taste like dish water when like this.

U. Underwear: Sports bra are a MUST when out jogging, otherwise its pretty black bra's with boxer style knickers, or even better, comfy boxer style ones that go over my tum - they make me feel comfy & secure.

V. Vegetable you hate: Courgettes, Marrow, Turnips & Swede, bleughhhhhhh, though the first 2 I can hide the flavour of normally in a tomatoy sauce.

W. What makes you run late: when ~I put something down or "safe" then cant find it.

X. X-Rays you’ve had: I think I've only ever had an X-ray on my teeth.

Y. Yummy food that you make: All of it, how dare anyone suggest other wise :-O lol.

Z. Zoo animal:  Bats, I love the bat cave at Chester Zoo & my dream job would be to work somewhere like that & be able to handle the bats (only when necessary ofc but if one wants to come hang off me then who would I be to stop it!)

Feel free to copy the titles onto your own blog but PLEASE leave a link in the comments so I can come have a nosey :-)

Lemon Souffle

The "Everlasting" part of Delia's "Everlasting" Souffles actually means that they remain light & fluffy after they have cooled ... not that they remain puffed up. I didnt find this out for a while after I had baked them, and after I had already felt a bit down that mine had gone down.

Having found that out I felt a lot better about my lemon souffles & can tell you that for a lemon lover they are DELICIOUS

Mmmmm, a light lemony souffle over a heavier, stronger tasting lemon curd.

I recommend you give it a go, simple to make, & tastes delicious. You can find the recipe HERE.

Dragon Light Shade

Lilac light shade with a red room, as churchill says "oh no no no no no no no", a change was needed.

So I took the material off to leave the hoop that fastens to the bulb socket, and made another hoop the same size out of florist wire and masking tape.

I then took 4 sticks of florist wire and hooked the ends, making sure they were all the same size.

And attached them to the hoops with masking tape

Get some large sheets of tissue paper, cover it with a solution made up of 50% water, 50% white glue. Now, carefully, cover the sides of the "lampshade" with it. Repeat 3 or 4 times.

If you want a design on the light do it at this stage. I traced some chinese dragons onto a sheet of tracing paper and coloured them in before attaching them to the lamp.

I tried using spray glue, thinking it wouldnt be as wet as normal glue so the colours wouldn't run. My spray glue was awful, not only wouldnt it spray properly, but the gloopy mess that did come out coloured the tissue paper yellow & made the picture run.
Having finished attaching my dragons I then discovered I had stuck them on upside down, aghhhhhhhhh! So I cut all the tissue paper off & attached it with masking tape.

I then hid the masking tape with thick black tape - its not what I wanted to do but it did work.

Tada, one light shade

Chicken Curry

Curry is one of my favourite meals, and I've been hunting, and playing around with recipes to find one that my family will enjoy. It can't be too dry, or too runny, its got to have plenty of both sauce & meat, full of flavour but not too much, have a kick but not too hot ... see what I have to work with!!!

But I think I've found it! Everyone eats it, enjoys it, its healthy and easy to make. I've just got to work out for myself how much chilli pepper to put in to make it the right temp for them .... a bite without leaving the after burn.

So here it is.....

Ingredients:-
1 whole chicken
3 large onions
2tbsp oil
4 cloves of garlic, chopped finely
3 large tomatoes, chopped
400g tomato sauce mix
1 medium chilli, chopped
1/2 tsp chilli powder
1/2 tsp corriander powder
1 tsp coriander powder
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
yogurt (to taste)
pepper (to taste

Portion off the chicken, remove all the bone & cut into cubes. Of course you could just buy ready cubed chicken, or chicken portions but this is the cheapest way. Its easy, even I can do it!! Theres plenty of tutorials on youtube such as THIS one to help you out.

Fry onions in oil until soft, add garlic, tomato, and spices and cook for a few minutes and then add 4tbsp (60ml) water & allow to reduce until soft.

Add chicken and cook for 10 - 15 mins on a medium heat, then add yogurt stirring slowly, simmer for a further 5-10mins..

Serve. I normally serve mine with rice thats been cooked in the stock from the chicken bones (cover with water, bring to the boil & then simmer for an hour or two before sieving) & a pinch of corriander.

Tree of Life Necklace

I've seen quite a few tree of life necklaces around the blogesphere & etsy for a while now & kept thinking "My big bro used to make BIIIIIG tree's of life (or rather wire trees as we called them), I'm sure I could make a pendant one". So I did.

I'm not sure of the chain I've put it on, maybe I should try a black one, & maybe it should be a pendant rather than at the side of the necklace. I shall look it on occassion for a few days to see if I either grown to love it or have a blast of inspiration.

Rainbow Salad

I loooooooooove cous cous, but I'm far more likely to pick up a packet of ready flavoured cous cous & just add water than try flavouring it myself, so its time to start experimenting.

My first try is Rainbow Salad, served with Quiche Lorraine

Ingredients:
250ml vegetable stock
200g cous cous
1/2 red pepper
1/4 green pepper
1/4 orange pepper
2 tomatoes
4 spring onions
200g canned sweetcorn
2tbsp olive oil
1tbsp lemon juice
1tbsp fresh coriander or parsley
Pinch of black pepper
1 clove of garlic (optional)

Pour the stock over the cous cous in a mixing bowl, fluff up with a fork before leaving to stand for 5 mins
Slice the peppers thinly having previously removed the stalk & seeds.
Cut the tomatoes into 1/4s
Slice the spring onions
Drain the sweetcorn & add all the veg to the cous cous.
Put the olive oil, lemon juice, coriander/parsley, black pepper & garlic into a jar & shake to mix it well.
Pour the dressing over the cous cous & stir everything together.
Serve.
I enjoyed it, it was fresh and clean ... next time I wont use Olive oil though, I REALLY dont like the taste of virgin oil
Ryan didnt like it, but it cant have been too bad as he did finish it, if things really dont taste nice he wont finish it, if it isnt to his taste he'll finish it but wont try it again.
Zack didnt like the spring onion in it, so thats easily fixed
Kai fell asleep early, missing out on his tea (He slept straight through till morning, I'm not a mean Mummy who restricts meals to certain times & if you sleep through then tough)

The next day I spread the tiniest amount of mayonnaise onto a tortilla wrap, added a slice of ham, 2 thin slices of cheese & what was left of the rainbow salad.

This made a delicious lunch for myself & the kids, not even a crumb was left.