Cas-ual Fridays 103 Congratulations

Here is a card I made for my old uni housemate who took part in this weekends Edinburgh Marathon. Whilst I was trudging out 10km, she was doing more than 4x that distance. Unfortunately her leg gave way and she had to be taken to hospital, but I wanted to send her a card to show what an amazing thing she's been part of.

As I love rainbows I used a variety of different style of wallpaper from some old pattern books in a rainbow colour selection and trimmed them with my wavy blade on my guillotine.

I know I've said this before, but I just love my Silhouette Portrait. I'd ummed and aahhed for ages before deciding to get it, but am so glad I did. I didn't have a stamp sentiment that I thought suited this card, so I just got my silhouette out and made my own custom sentiment! The star is cut from holographic silver card (which I'll admit I normally hate, but here it looked great!).

I hope you like this card which is being entered into this weeked CAS-ual friday challenge, Congratulations.

OLW142

I was so excited to see that this weeks OLW was to make a card in the style of the lovely Ardyth. Why would I be so pleased? Because her cards are CAS (and I didn't have a lot of time to make this), geometrically pleasing, and mostly RAINBOW!!!!

I wanted to make a card for a friends baby shower, and knew a simple pastel rainbow of little duckies would do the trick. Since most of my baby sentiments are for when the baby has arrived I wasn't sure what to use, so went with "It's a girl" and " It's a boy" and just added some question marks in pen!!!

The colours of promarkers I used where Pale Pink, Soft Peach, Vanilla, Meadow Green, Cool Aqua and Blue Pearl.

I hope you like it!

Alice in Wonderland Playing Card Card!

I really enjoyed making this card for one of my husbands work friend who is moving jobs. I know she's a Disney fan, and I had these amazing White Rabbit charms I got from a craft fair in February. So with those two things in mind I decided to do an Alice in Wonderland inspired card. I also had a pack of mini playing cards I got a few years ago in a Christmas cracker. 

I found a quote from Alice in Wonderland which I felt was relevant to moving jobs.

"Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?"

"That depends a good deal on where you want to get to."

"I don't much care where-"

"Then it doesn't matter which way you go."

I then realised I needed some kind of background for them to be on, and as my Silhouette was already out I thought I'd play around with a playing card suit theme. I created a file of small repeating hearts, spades, diamonds and clubs and sized it to my card. I even cut diagonal strips of red paper to go behind the hearts and diamonds.

I stuck down the mini cards and the charm with double sided tape, and the charm can easily be removed to be added to a charm bracelet or keyring.

When my husband gave her the card she loved it, and said it was the best card she'd ever had. I must say I was so really pleased :)

I've gone through a phase of making cards/gifts for people and not getting much response. The worst thing when you put time and love into creating something is for them to never mention it! They either a) didn't like it or b) don't appreciate it. Either of which pretty much sucks. Its nice to get good feedback when people really like what you've made.
Have you ever had anyone just not acknowledge something you've made for them?

Exciting Times - Baptism cards

Yesterday was a really important day for our Church. Since it was formed last year this was our first baptism service, and so exciting to see 5 people publicly declare their faith. I made cards for everyone and designed  it to be cut on my Silhouette. I incorporated a cross, dove, Ichthus, waves and our church logo into  the design. 

There were 4 girls and one guy being baptised, so I did a turquoise card for the guy, and mainly pinks for the girls, but there was a mother and daughter being baptised, and I wanted them slightly different, so the purple one was for the mum.

Got to love my Silhouette!

Fantastic Ribbon Spring Flower Card Including tutorial

This month the Fantastic Ribbons design team are making ribbon flowers for your inspiration!

So here is my card, showcasing some beautiful polka dot satin 10mm ribbon and some green polka dot washi tape.
After I made this card a few months ago people were keen to see a tutorial on how to make the ribbon flower, so here's what you'll need:

A circle cut from card and covered in double sided tape and some ribbon.

Now for the finer details!

I used a 1.5inch circle punch, 1m of 10mm ribbon (there was enough left over for my card, but its good to have a bit extra). The double sided tape should be as strong as possible, I recommend the red backed tape. The ribbon can be pretty much anything, but organza doesn't work very well.

So you start by attaching the ribbon 1/2 on, 1/2 off the circle and lay down about 1cm, then fold back a small overlap. Continue around the outside adding 1cm folds until you completely cover it, and then when you get back to the start you can move in a layer. Continue doing this until it is completely covered.

I did a pink one too.

You could use a button as a centre (Left), or a large brad (Right)

I stamped some leaves (Waltzingmouse Folk Medallions), a stalk and sentiment (Stampendous Ribbon builder) and added some washi tape and ribbon to a 5" white card which I'd sponged with green ink round the edge and added it to a 5 1/2 " card base.

I hope you like my spring flower, and do have a go at making your own ribbon flowers, they make a great embellishment, and are really easy to make.

Please check out all the beautiful ribbons over at Fantastic Ribbons for your inspiration!

Art Deco Eiffel Tower Card

Here is the card I made for my mother in law. It is perfect for her, because she loves the art deco style ladies and we're going to Paris together in a month! I used some of my lovely Waltzingmouse Paris Nouveau stamps: the lovely art deco border stamped in Peacock Feather Distress ink, the Eiffel tower stamped in Archival Black, and the Paris word. The art deco lady and the Best Wishes sentiment are from a free set by Claire Coxon that came with a Docrafts magazine this winter. I stamped the art deco lady onto some Stix2 masking paper and cut her out so I could stamp the Eiffel tower behind her.

I stamped some more Peacock feather distress ink onto my craft mat and then painted with it like a water colour. I also mixed some Antique linen with some Barn door distress ink to make her skin tone. Peacock feathers tie in with her hair piece and dress really well. I sponged around the outside with more distress ink.

Finally I added some Fantastic Ribbons Aqua Organza. A little white tag and some nice pins, and a little turquoise gem on her headpiece finished it off.

90th Birthday Wine Bottle card

I can't imagine that many people will ever need to make a 90th birthday card, but I wanted to make one for one of my husband relatives,

He used to run a pub, so wine seemed a good theme (plus I wanted to get the year of his birth on the card, and a vintage bottle of wine seemed perfect!).

His last name is Lock, so that got on there too. 

The background paper is wallpaper from the lovely Galeria Memories.

I cut the numbers and wine bottle on my Silhouette. I bought the bottle template from the Silhouette store, which for 33p I thought was worth it.

I even did the print and cut for the label which was cool. 

I finished it off with some gold embossing on the bottle label and the numbers.

I think this makes a great masculine card, or for anyone who likes red wine!

Live Below the Line- Day 5

Todays Menu

Breakfast
Banana - 11p

Lunch
Soup 13p
3 slices bread 8p
Crisps 6p

Dinner
Spagetti Bolognese 50p
Bread Pudding 12p

Total 100p!

Bread Pudding Recipe - serves 4

3 slices bread                    7p
2x mini boxes of raisins     11p
1 egg                               17p
250ml milk                       10p
40g sugar                          3p
Total                                48p
Portion                             12p

Instructions
1.Slice bread into triangles
2. Mix egg and milk with half the sugar.
3. Layer the bread into a shallow baking dish and pour over the liquid.
4. Scatter the raisins over the bread. Leave for 15 minutes for bread to soak up liquid
5. Spinkle remaining sugar and place in 180 oven for 30-35 mins

So here we are, at the end of the challenge!It's been 5 strange days, and I'm so looking forward to a cup of tea tomorrow morning! I'm also looking forward to a breakfast other than porridge, and to choose what I want to eat for lunch (although we still have a couple of portions of lentil soup in the fridge, and I can't let them go to waste!).
Choice has been one of the things I've found has been the biggest challenge to me this week, or lack thereof. I'm thankful that we've done this as a family, as buying for one on a £5 budget would have been even more limiting.
James has been really understanding as well. I've had numerous people say to me that they wouldn't have been able to get their other halves to take part, and the truth is I just told James we were taking part! He has a reputation for how much he likes food, so for him this has been a much bigger challenge. Tonight he's had his biggest challenge, one of his best friends from work was having a leaving do, and he had to go and sit with them and not eat, and also not have anything to drink other than water.

What have I learned this week?
1. I like water more than I realised.
2. Joey loves apples, he's asked for one every day.
3. I take for granted all the food we buy.
4. There are 1.4 billion people in the world who can't find even £1 a day for not only food, but all their essentials, and that''s not fair.

If you haven't yet sponsored us I'd really ask you to consider if you could just spare a couple of pounds to help Tearfund in their work to help those in extreme poverty.
To sponsor us just click here

Live Below the Line Day 4

Todays Menu

Breakfast
Porridge - 9p

Lunch
Leftover fried rice 25p
3 Custard creams 3p

Dinner
Spagetti Bolognese 50p
Bread Pudding 12p

Total 99p

 Spagetti Bolognese Recipe - serves 5

500g Spagetti                       20p
2x red onions                        20p
2x 500g Passata                    58p
250g Frozen mixed veg         19p
400g mince                         124p
2 garlic cloves                         2p
3 Beef stock cubes                   5p
Total                                      248p
Portion                                  50p

Instructions
1.Dry fry the mince with the crumbled beef stock cubes.
2. Finely chop the red onions and add to the mince once it has browned.
3. Once the onions have softened, mince the garlic and add to the mince and onions.
4. Add the frozen vegetables, passata and 200ml of extra water.
5. Bring to the boil and then simmer for at least 30 minutes.
6. 10 minutes before serving cook the spagetti to your liking and serve together.

Today was interesting. We normally go to a toddler group on a thursday, but they have snack time, where everyone brings along a snack, and inevitably lots of swapping goes on (or in Joeys case he just accepts other peoples food!). Because I didn't think it fair to stop him from swapping, even though its not within the rules, I decided to just avoid the situation and go to the park and library with him instead! I think there is an element of peer pressure. If I had taken him to the group I could have given him a pack of Smart price crisps and asked him not to accept others sweets, and he probably wouldn't have been embarassed by his crisps, as he knows no better. Come school he may feel differently. Children can be cruel, and I can just imagine some kids making comments to those who have 'Smart' or 'Value' things in their lunch box, calling them poor or something. I hate just thinking about it. For those who don't come under the Free School Meals umbrella, feeding children for school can be really expensive. By the time you have a sandwich, crisps, yogurt, fruit, and drink you're probably well over a pound, probably more if you buy named brands.

The other problem I found was that we had to go out this afternoon, and it was over lunch time. My cheap lunch would either be fried rice, or soup. Both of which required heating up, which I was able to do. Instead I had to just wait and have lunch at 3pm when we got home. I made Joey a jam sandwich to take with us, and a drink and some crisps. Being mobile when you have little money is really hard as the temptation to buy stuff when you're out is high. I was also silly and forgot to take a drink for myself, so was so thirsty. I did consider buying a bottle of water and just pretending it didn't count towards my budget, but realised that some people have no choice and just have to wait til they get home, or in some countries till they can go and get their own water.
This week is making me realise how much we take for granted, and I don't just mean in terms of food.

Tonight's dinner was actually much nicer than I was anticipating. Its the only recipe I've muddled together and never cooked before, so I wasn't expecting a great deal. My usual bolognese sauce has much more meat, mushrooms, courgettes and herbs, but this was surprisingly good. Even James commented on it! I also realised we'd have some left over raisins and bread, and one egg, so I made a Bread (no butter) pudding, which went down well (although some cream or icecream would have been nice!)

If you haven't yet sponsored us I'd really ask you to consider if you could just spare a couple of pounds to help Tearfund in their work to help those in extreme poverty.
To sponsor us just click here

Vintage 30th Butterfly Card

Here is a card I made for one of my housemates from uni. She is the most lovely person you could care to meet, and I thought this delicate and beautiful card was so suited for her.

I cut the numbers on my silhouette, and the background paper and the purple 30 are some papers I got free with Cardmaking and Papercraft magazine (Issue 115) a few weeks ago called Floral Fantasy.

The sentiment is a very old wooden stamp which was stamped onto a labels 4 shape I cut from cream card with my cuttlebug and inked with Walnut Stain distress ink. I also inked the edges of everything with this too!!! The butterfly is a punch I borrowed from a friend, and I think its a Tonic Studios punch and I inked it up with some new distress ink Seedless preserve.

The ribbon is ivory senorita ribbon, and finishes it off :)

Living Below the Line - Day 3

Today has been interesting. It started with porridge for me (as usual) and the usual soup for lunch. James has decided not to continue with the porridge as he said it was horrible, and had 2 slices of toast with jam instead. Thankfully Joey is still loving the 'jammy porridge' though! When Joey got home from preschool he asked for an apple. I had to say no. We can't afford apples this week. The cheapest apples I could find worked out about 20p each, so we got bananas instead (roughly 10p each). I ended up giving him a packet of crisps instead, they're only 6p. In what sense is it acceptable that basic fruit like apples are approx 4 times as expensive as a pack of crisps? Custard creams are only 1p each, so he could have had 20 of those for the price of an apple.
It really annoys me that I had to tell my 3 year old he couldn't have an apple, but he could have a packet of crisps. Its normally the other way round. Living on a low income severely restricts your choice, but not only that, it also restricts your nutrition. I've done everything I can to give us a nutritious diet this week, but its not the kind of diet that you could maintain long term.
I look forward to Saturday when I can let Joey have an apple, an orange, and whatever else he asks for. Unfortunately for thousands of parents around the world they can't give their children what they want, or need, and that's why we're taking part this week, to raise the profile of poverty, for those 1.4 billion people who live on less than £1 a day, 365 days a year.
To sponsor us just click here

Todays Menu

Breakfast
Porridge - 9p

Lunch
Soup 13p
2 slices bread 5p

Dinner
Fried Rice 33p
Pancakes 14p

Total 74p

Fried Rice Recipe - serves 4
500g Rice                       20p
Tin sweetcorn                 32p
200g Frozen mixed veg    15p
100g mince                     21p
2 eggs                             33p
Total                               132p
Portion                              33p

Instructions
1. Boil rice in advance or use leftovers. Fries best when cold.
2. Dry fry the mince until brown.
3. Heat the frozen vegetables in a pan or in the microwave and drain.
4. Add the cold rice and stir fry.
5. Drain sweetcorn and add to pan with the vegetables.
6. In a separate pan make an omelette and then chop into small pieces and add to the fried rice.