Scrummy recipe

I have just read Mels post here at I Speak Melsh which led me to googling the recipe for potato & carrot rosti. The result was this page from Brian Turner on the BBC Food website!
I dare you to read this recipe & not drool ......... its just too scrummy & its going to be cooked one night this week for sure :) I've never cooked rosti but its always something that I've wanted to have a go at.
Thanks Mel for the idea xx

A mini-book for Jake

2 posts in one day! Whats the matter with me?? lol :)

I have had this plastic wallet for a while. It was a little catalogue from a supplier we have at work & when I took their pages out of the sleeves I thought it would make a lovely little book about Jake. There are 12 sleeves so that gives me 24 pages (less the 2 for front & back covers) which is a good number for making it a book for just this year. Thats why I have titled it "Jake in '10"

I used chipboard alphas stuck to the outside of the front with a piece of plain paper inside. I will post some more pics as it progresses through the year - hopefully!!

See you soon xx

Not one but two new LO's!!

Oh my!
I have been struggling with finding inspiration for months now & I was beginning to wonder if I would ever scrap again.
I was messing around lastnight on Picasa & printing a couple of photos for a mini-book for Jake when I chose these two pics but printed them 5 x 7 by mistake! When I saw them I was horrified at wasting the photo paper & ink but soon calmed down when I realised I could do a couple of quick 12 x 12 layouts ;-)

The first one is of Jake at the poolside. The tag reads "April 2010 - Jake loves to laugh at the geese & ducks. We are so lucky to have these pools at the end of our road"
The pair of geese don't have any babies this year but they were being very protective of a family of Coots instead!

The second LO is of my greatniece Ella who is now 3 years old (going on 23!!). We had a lovely day last Sunday at my parents house & Ella and Jake played together in the little paddling pool for hours. We haven't seen much sunshine since so to see this picture brings back lovely memories!!

So hopefully my creative block has shifted at last & I can get happy with my paper & glue again :)

Hoping you are enjoying the Bank Holiday Weekend xx

Purple boxes

Hello again! I don't know about you but I have had a lovely trip round the world on todays bloghop!! Its been great to see everyones projects & how differently they have all turned out. Its also been lovely to recieve some wonderful comments about my own effort - thankyou so much!!

Now. I would like some help. I keep 'rescuing' these box lids from work as I can't bear for them to be thrown away!! But I'm getting quite a pile now & I know that there will always be more coming (they come as part of a christening gift to protect the plastic until its out on display)....so...... I need some ideas as to what I could do with them! I know I could do something like a pen/pencil pot but is there anything else?

Some measure 8.5cm all round & others are slightly bigger at 9cms all round & they are all open at the top as you can see from the photo!

I look forward to hearing your suggestions (keep it clean though lol)

Bye for now xx

All About Me blog-hop

Oh boy its 2.20am & I've finally put my project together ...... its due to go live at 6am ....eeek!! I have suffered this week with a stomach virus from hell & its taken me till today to even consider thinking about doing anything let alone summing up any energy to get anything done!! lol.

Fortunately I had already decorated the box that contains the concertina mini-book otherwise I might have had to throw in the towel & lose my place on the 'hop'.

The plan is that we all get linked up by including a link on our own blog that connects with the next participating 'blogger' & so on until we get to Mel who started all this. We all followed the design idea of the minibook but there are no rules as to how we stick to the suggestions or if we come up with something completely different.

Mine hasn't turned out as I imagined as I literally ran out of time but maybe I can spend some more time on it tomorrow.

Check out the rest of the bloghoppers & see what different creations have been made.

Here's Nancy to get you on your way (if the link doesn't work click here to get to Mels blog)


Have fun!!

A sombre one

I came across an idea on one of the blogs I was flicking through tonight but unfortunately I forgot to take note of the blog title ... oops sorry :( If anyone recognises the idea as theirs I do hope you don't mind me carrying it on!!
Its a simple idea.
Go to the 8th folder where you keep your photos & in that folder chose the 8th photo.
Describe what the photo is about.

The above photo was taken in March of this year whan we had an unexpected gloriously sunny day & I decided to walk to my sons school the long way round via the local church. As always I wandered through the churchyard reading some of the gravestones. I love churches but the people who were buried in the churchyards need to be remembered whether they died this year or 200 years ago. Maybe its because I have traced a lot of family history that I feel this affinity with those who have passed on.

Told you it was a sombre post didn't I!!

Anyway back to the photo. The names on this particular gravestone always moves me as there are 5 children from one family. It reads

In loving memory of

Emma Selina died July 12 1920 aged 14 months

Victoria Maria died July 15 1925 aged 7 weeks

Ronald Noah died Oct 29 1926 aged 19 days

Mabel Sarah died Aug 4 1929 aged 2 years

Harry Edward died May 20 1930 aged 8 years

The children of John & Victoria Stephens

I don't know about you but reading these names & their age at death makes me so sad for their poor parents. But also glad for my beautiful son.

One of my favourite websites is Scrapbook Crazy About Mini Albums as they have some amazing ideas for making mini albums from all kinds of materials. The latest blog reveals they have a competition running for making a mini album/book from toilet roll tubes. The competition is open until the end of June so that gives plenty of time to collect some supplies!!
You can find the tutorial for making the album here mini album.
Take a look & see what you think.

All About Me

I'm taking part in a challenge suggested by Mel who found the 'All About Me' project on the Big Picture Scrapbooking website when she was searching for something different to do.


This project is pretty self explanatory though as always you are free to change anything that doesn't suit you or even use different materials to what is listed on the project page. Its an easy going project with no set deadlines though Mel has asked all who are interested in joining her to make sure they are finished & ready to blog it on May 22nd (phew I still have 11 days! lol).


My project finally got under way when I stopped prevaricating & actually just got on with it!! I have taken a quick sneaky photo to tantalise you with - can you believe I used pink ........ I'm a bit taken aback because I've never been one for pink lol :))

I can't wait to see the end product on my blog on the 22nd & everyone elses too

Thanks for looking x