Kanban cupcakes, yum, yum!

Here are some cards that I made recently, now Im not a Kanban friend, but just recently there are been a few nice kits around and I have to say, cupcakes are my fav's! So thank you to Dawn Bibby for these, i do like them even if im not keen on her!

Yay!!!!

Thank you soooooo much Karen it worked, I dont feel like a total internet freek now, I can link!!!!!

Yabbbbbaaaaaadddddaaaabbbbbbaaaaadoooooooooooooooooooooo!

Linky things!

Well just to prove how rubbish I am I have had to ask for a helping hand in sorting out how to link so here goes, Karen on UKS has given me step by steps to link to another page so here goes, pray it works for me!

So here is a link to Karens blog

Lets hope it has worked!

A blog award!

This lovely award was given to me from one of my Docrafting buddies Alma, thank you Alma. As Im no good at doing those linky things here is her blog address http://www.tasselstagsandteabags.blogspot.com/ check out her work!

So the conditions of this award are:that I need to pass this on to 3 more blogs, so here are my 3

1. Karen - http://www.karensupermum.blogspot.com/ - and trust me she really is a supermum!
2. Helen - http://www.aconleyfamily.blogspot.com/ - one of my fellow UKS teamies
3. Tracy - http://www.craftytracy.blogspot.com/ - both she and bubba can
enjoy this one!

I also have to give three things that I would never do!

1. I would never let Charley loose with the pink paint again!
2. I would never stop buying my crafting stuff, there will always be space for something somewhere!
3. I would never intentionally hurt someone, physically or emotionally.

By the way if anyone wants to give me a crash course in how to put proper links in please feel free to leave me a message about how to!!!!!lol!

Anyway, thank you again Alma!

I will be back later with some crafty makes that I have busy with!

cake anyone.....?

Mmmmmmmmmmmmm, forgive me whilst I tuck in to some yummy treats I made for the family yesterday. My victoria sponge packed with strawberry jam and buttercream, mmmmmmmmm.

And here is the yummiest, gooeist, most delicious chocolate brownie, packed with dark, white and milk chocolate and walnuts (oh and I have another of these without nuts for those of you who are allergy sufferers!)

so if your passing pop in for a cuppa and a piece of cake, your more than welcome!

Cricut serenade

Ok so this was my naughtyness the other day, I saw this over on Karens blog and fell in love, well who wouldnt, cutesy little birdie cages, flutterby's and pretty things...

so I had to have it, I scoured the net looking for it, and believe me it took hous, no one had it in stock, then I found it cute and crafty had it £44.99, so it whipped itself into my cart and paypal did its thing! So off I went surfing some more looking for the sweet treats cart - yes am into anything sweet at the mo. When alas I went to cutting edge crafts to find this little baby £10.00 cheaper, so I rang cute and crafty - thank you so much nice man - and cancelled my order and purchased from cutting egde, which left me with a handy £10 extra to spend on other bits!!!!!

So here it is in all its glory, had to hide it from hubby though, pain in the neck that they sent it recorded, couldnt really hide that, I am however a little miffed with QVC Im still waiting for my Martha Stewart punches, if they arrive sometime in the next hour I will be laughing, if not then Im in trouble as hubby will be home! please, please please let them arrive while he is out!

Gramps is still in hopsital so I made him a card to send to nan for valentines day, hope you like it.

We have found out that the hospital wants to release him but that he will have to go into some form of care home, not a problem you would think, but of course there is my nan too, she really needs more care than she gets, so we are ready to fight, we want them to go into the same home, we arent convinced though that they both need the same type of care, let battle commence - us against HCC!!!!!

Thanks for reading!

Are you ready for valentines day????

I am finally, I was blog hopping earlier and saw a similar card, but Im sorry I can't remember the blog I was on!!! Anyway I love using buttons so thought that this was perfect, I used some Jillibeans cold raspberry paper - fresh mint as the background as Im loving kraft papers at the moment and some glittery black thickers for the' be mine'. Buttons are from my stash!



I hope that he likes it, we have decided that we arent buying any pressies etc as we need to conserve our cash incase he doesnt find a job soon, however I decided to treat myself and am now awaiting my martha stewart punch set that was this weeks tsv and a rather scrummy new cricut cart, oh and some new dies for my cuttlebug, but shhhhhhhhhh dont tell him that!

A fantastic week...

well in the life of a trainee teacher anyhow, have had the most amazing lessons and the kids have been fantastic this week! Which makes a change as after last week I was beginning to think that I should change career completely!

Last week wasnt a good week anyway, Steve was made redundant and that in itself has been a shock! Who know what he will do until he finds something, we shall see!

Anyhow here is a little card I made for a colleague at work who turns 50 on monday, she has seen it so its ok to post it on here! Happy Birthday Helen!

Claires Weekly Challenge - Docrafts

I decided that this week I would have a go at Claires challenge, thought that Id get ahead and think of some for Easter!

Here is my card, made using the Papermania Hugs and Honey paper collection.

Another goody bag card!

So here is another casuple collection card and again I used my scrummy new stamps! This is my fav out of the 3 I've made from the goody bag so far! Hope you like it!

Papermania, capsule collection goody bag!

So I was having a go with that fab new goody bag from docrafts and my new stamps and came up with these few cards - there is one more that I need to add so will get around to that later! Hope you like them!

Using my yummy new hero arts heart flourish stamp, colorbox chalk inks, bazzill cardstock, anitas card blanks, and everything else from the goody bag!

This were made using my new inkadinkadoo cat stamps, they are so lovely! The yellow cardstock is bazzill, colorbox chalk inkpads and the rest is all from the goody bag!

Stash Haul update!!!!!

Ok, so I have stopped scrapping for a while, just because I get so little time to scrap and cardmaking has sort of come to the forefront as I can generally make a card in 15/20 mins and thats about all the spare time I ever! So what I should also have added to the stash haul last night was:

Brenda Pinnick scrap keeper album
Brenda Pinnick card keeper
QVC's multi technique kit - bit I got mine from readicut for £19.99 - bargain - QVC want about £35.00 for it!
A pack of 50 square cards
Black PM adhesive stone
Subscription to crafts beautiful magazine - which if you do subscribe to you will recieve a PM hugs and honey kit, which is worthwhile even if you only decide to subscribe to for the 3 months direct debit - £8.45!

So I admit, Im a stash-o-holic and that stash ban I put on my spending at the beginning of the month has made my spending worse, so I now have no stash ban and hopefully will stop buying cos I dont feel that I need to! Lol! SO here are some of the cards that I have made with the qvc kit aready, just some simple decoupage but effective nonetheless.

New stash, yum, yum, yum!

Hellooooooooooooo out there, its been a whole week, and the week has been tough but fun! I started my 60% teaching placement, which Im loving!!!! Can't wait to get back to work on monday, if it wasnt for all the paperwor and planning that went with it I would have my idea of a dream job!

So this week to cheer myself up Ive been bashing the credit card, and now am wondering whether that was the right thing to do, Im sure the ladies over on DoCrafts will agree it was!

So my stash haul for this week includes:

Inkadinado stamps - the cutest cats and some loverly birdie werdie stamps!
Mr Men and Little Miss Paper and Embellies - yes I know these came out last year, but Im desperate for some man stuff, and Mr Men are right up my street!
Bam pop hello bot and bonjour bot stamps
Kaisercraft seals stamps - fabby stamps that are just perfect on the back of a mini album or in a scrapbook!
A very expensive set of hero arts card message stamps - which were more than I would normally dream of paying for stamps!!!
Some disney mickey mouse clear stamps - my ebay bargain!
Hero Arts wooden heart flourish stamp that I saw in crafts beautiful magazine and fell in love with!
2 glitter pot exclusive forever friends stamps
Stamps Away owl stamp
Cuttlebug scallop nesting squares dies

So here is just some of my new haul!

and then today I went and got even more....
I bought the Docrafts goody bag, which has the papermania capsule selection in it, now for me this was strange, I do not like yellow one bit, and sooooooo rarely craft with it, but I was intriuged, so bought it, have to say some of the papers, not my style, but I have sat and made several cards with it already and Im loving it!

So what do you get then?????
A pack of A4 yellow capsule paper
2 packs of the cutest, dinkiest buttons one in plain colours and the other in spots (I want more of these gorg little things, yes Suebubbles your button crush has worn off onto me!)
a pack of ribbon bows that co-ordinate with~
A pack of 4 ribbon spools each with 1m of delish ribbons on
A little flower box filled with flowers, brads of differing sizes, gems and other bits and bobs
Pack of flowers,
Square gem stones - love these!
An exclusive daisy and dandelion stamp - little rabbit holding flowers, perfect for easter cards
A scrapbook 12x12 wallet to hold page kits

I think thats about it, sorry if I have missed anything out!

Will be back later with some pics of the gorg cards I have made using my new cat and flourish stamp and capsule collection!

3 more days...

till my baby hits the big '5' years old! How old do I feel now then! Tonight we went party bag shopping, so Im feeling a bit more relaxed, I was getting panicky that I had nothing ready, but now I at least have fillers for birthday bags, we have paper plates and pink napkins too!

Lottie has a horse in a stable cake, from tesco, she is sooooooooooo horse mad its unbelieveable, but we have bought a very pink sparkly fairy cake from M&S for her to have at the nursing home with my her great nan on sunday after the party, we thought that it would be a treat for Great Granny to share a slice of cake with her!

Hopefully we will get to see great grandad too if there is a chance and take him a piece, however he isnt doing too well, we really need him out of there, but to be honest, even if he does come out, we arent sure whether he will go home, he has given up, isnt interested in life at all which is such a shame as he was always such a proud man, shirt and tie man, and now he is a slip of his old self.

Work is tiring, Im shattered at the moment and all I have done is lovingly opened and stroked my card keeper and my scrap keeper albums, Im really pleased with them ,but just havent the time to play. Monday sees the start of my 60% placement and although I know Im going to enjoy it, the thought of all those detailed lesson plans fills me with dread! Ive completed 2 out of 10! Need to make sure that i get the topic planned for monday, thats the most important! So friday night will be spent writing lesson plans and more lesson plans! Am going to try and make sure that I do not do any owkr on sunday though, as thats Lotties special day!

Anyhows Im off for the night, prob be asleep in about 20 mins Im that exhausted, being back at work and the emotional strain is knocking me for six, still they do say, what doesnt kill you will make you stronger, so I guess thats what is happening here!

Thanks for stopping by and reading!

Glad to be back...

at work! Well why wouldnt I, I have the best job ever, Im a trainee teacher, getting paid to train, in a fab school, with some fab kids!

Yesterday was a bad day for me, and too for my local hospital, they received the wrath of me and my folks. I got very upset when I went to see gramps yesterday, slumped in his chair,with no falsies, no glasses and no hearing aid in. He couldnt even talk to me without his teeth in. They had been left on his tray and looked disgusting! The fact that he is incontinent (he wasnt before he went in there!) was my biggest issue though. I couldnt believe how undignified he was sitting there in something he shouldnt have been sitting in. If its no good for a baby, then its certainly no good for a 90 year old man!

Degrading and humiliating I call it. Anyway I had stroppy words with the staff and walked off crying in dispare at their treatment of him. Needless to say my mum rang and complained, and lo and behold when my other half went back in the evening, he was clean and fresh. I felt so bad for him. My gramps is a proud man, a shirt and tie man, even at 90 and he was sitting there in horrid peach hospital issue pj's that werent even done up properly. Disgraceful. Doesn't surprise me really after the awful treatment I recieved when i had Lottie, but not a comfort either.

Mum has spoken to nan's social worker who confirmed that the ward he is on, she isnt surprised that my grandad is in that condition, we have asked for him to be moved to another hospital when he goes into rehab.

That aside, I got my new photo printer software uploaded this morning so Im hoping that I can have a play in a bit and print me off some pics to scrap - no snowy ones for me though, I havent taken any, I hate the cold!!!!!

My brenda Pinnick scrap keeper album and card keeper albums came yesterday so have been busily unpacking them and hiding them so hubby doesnt see!!!!!!! Shhhhhhh dont tell him!

Isn't this so cute....

Its the new hugs and honey range from docrafts, isnt it gorg! What a perfect way to start out usinng it on a new baby card, congrats to Katie and Chris and their new arrival Holly!

Ive used the 8x8 paper stack, and the owl stamps for the sentiment. Flowers, ribbons and button from stash.

Sorting out

Finally I have gotten round to organising my crafting space, been a while since I said I was going to do it and I was hoping that Steve would sort me some shelves out for xmas, bt alas no avail! So I went to argos and bought some pine shelves and here they are, laiden with all my goodies!


So I bought 2 sets, one to sit on top of the desk and the other sits at the side!

So on the desk I have my clear stamps and pads in the totes on the top shelves and my adhesives in the other. On the next shelf are my card blanks for card making and flower box as well as my odd bits and bobs that I dont really know what to do with! The next shelf down has my tins of primas I got in the states, love them! My tubs of buttons and all of my cats eye queue ink pads, which I have totally fallen in love with recently! The bottom shelf baskets house my basket of beloved pro markers, 6x6 pads and basket of tools!

My second set of shelves is my punching/die cutting shelves, it has all of my nesting punches on the top shelf, next down my cricut carts, the next shelf my manual die cutters and on the bottom shelf my cricut!

Finally, my paper store and bits and bobs rack still sit on top of my dolls house, I never use this doll house, but I cant get rid of it for some reason, I guess having lovingly built it and decorated it I see it as my first home! Probably the least tidiest part of the room now! Am awaiting some more cropper hopper paper stores though to put the rest of my scrapagogo kits into!

Good job you cant see the rest of the room cos there is still loads more stuff under the bed and all around the room, but it does look tidier now!

Another snow day!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Or for me, a sitting around in the warm day. Steve is back today, but Lottie is not, so no peace and quite there then!

Not much to tell really, have been looking at wedding invites for a colleague at work, she now has a few ideas which is good so I can get cracking on producing some samples for her so Im scouring the net now for bits and peices that I might be able to use!

Anyway off to make some breckie and hopefully today Ill get my photo printer set up too!

Snow day!!!!

Well for the kids it was, for me it was uni work, now where is the fairness in that!!!!!!!!! Anyhow we are meant to be doing a group presentation thingy, which is very hard over the internet, but we are slowly putting stuff together.

So yesterday the snow did a fall, well it started tuesday evening while we were out visiting grandad, who by the way looks a lot worse than when he went into hospital - our NHS does our proud doesnt it! Well you have to feel sorry for him, he is in a bay on his own, and there is no tv or anything about for him to do, no wonder he is looking fed up and with still no sign of coming out Im surprised he hasnt gone stir crazy in there!

Last night I did a bit of crafting, I found some freebie papers from scrapbook magazine - must have been last easters edition - and made some cards, used some papermania elements sticker and lots of glitter and flock - which made bucket loads of mess, but hey ho! Felt a bit more human by doing that, I need to add some sentiments to them and inserts then I can pop them in my card box which is looking very empty!

Right off to find my new photo printer (my xmas pressie) and try and set it up, only had it nearly 2 weeks, but never mind!

Happy New Year!

The new year always sees double celebrations, as its my mum's birthday, this year she was 60! Despite gramps still being in hosptial and they still dont really know whats happening with him we did have mum's 60th birthday. We all dressed up (yes even me!) in some fabby 60's gear - pics to follow and had a pretty good night!

I was the one that wrecked it by saying, 'they spelt your name wrong on your cake mum are you gonna complain' to which I was told to shut up and it didnt matter! Im just someone that likes it all fine and dandy, thats all.

Anyhow not much more to tell except that its back to work tomorrow, so Im busy getting sorting that out, am hoping to take down the tree tonight, but not sure that it is going to happen, I did do the xmas card recycling today though!

When can I go back to work?????

Christmas this year hasnt been much fun, Gramps was rushed into hopsital xmas day, making xmas dinner and presents fade into insignificance and feel like it never even happened.

Now we ae spending time babysitting nan and none of the family are ever together at the same time. My dad has practically moved in, only coming home if there is someone to stay with my nan when he isnt, and its ripping us all apart. After a completely messed up xmas day (I know, its no ones fault) all I want is a bit of time with my folks, but no, nope, not a chance at the moment.

this weekend hasnt felt like xmas at all, I might as well have bypassed it completely and not spent any money on presents cos none of it was worth it. Lottie keeps asking me when christmas actually is, and I keep replying 'we have had it'. Somewhere along the line.

So Im hoping all of you that read my blog had a better xmas than I did and are enjoying your breaks from work, all I want is to go back to work and forget about the huge mess that wasn't xmas in our family! Selfish arent I?

It's here...

and I am the only one up! Its lovely and peaceful, sitting here with the tree lights on and the darkness. Thats the thing I love the most about Christmas, the tree lights in the dark, they give a warm glow, that is so relaxing.

Im wishing everyone out there a fabulous xmas day, filled with laughter and Christmas spirit.

Santa Claus is coming, Santa Claus is coming, he's not very far away...

and Billy and Barbara the elves are hiding out in Lotties tinsel in her bedroom (well thats the game that we are playing anyway!) They are watching for good Lotties and Bad Lotties to see whether its pressies or coal this year!

Have been and done a quick trip to sainsburys and at 7am this morning it was quite a respectable visit too, hardly anyone there so we could dawdle to our hearts content and just chill, still forgot the marie rose sauce for the prawn cocktails though!!!!! Bless mother she sorted it for me.

Right have a few more pressies to wrap and mince pies to make but Im almost on top of xmas, Steve is happily jetwashing all the snow and ice off the drive and is going to salt it too, just so we dont fall flat on our bums in the morning when we trek up to mums for dinner!

Right baking calls me, have done my cleaning and ironing and even put it away so the kitchen is saying 'make me mince pies. make mince pies!'

Things can only get better....

and they sort of did, by lunchtime Lottie had stopped being sick and then grandad babysat so grandma and I could brave Tescos, and brave is the word!!!! I had to leave my mobile for my dad in case he needed us as our home phone doesnt allow you to make calls to mobiles, so I was phoneless and believe me that was not good! Try as we may we stayed together for the first 25 minutes, then I turned round and mum was gone, I felt like a little lost kid in the middle of Disney (yes it was that bad!!!!) Eventually about 20 minutes I could stop crying and found her!!!!

The queues were about 10 deep so I raced mum and changed lanes - Yay!!!! I won!!!! through the checkout 20 minutes before her and I got to sit down the other end after I had paid as there was a seat waiting for me!

So thats it, xmas food shop done, no more, not at all, no way, anything we dont have is tough, not that I think there is anything missing the fridge is full to bursting, the freezer is stuffed full and we have more than enough booze for 10 xmas's put together, so my tasks now, to put away the 4 baskets of ironing I have just done, hoover and wash all my floors and then wrap the last remaining presents, I am also going to make some mince pies as it wouldnt be xmas without home made ones, even if steve doesnt like them!

By the way he is at the docs with suspected tonsilitus...... wonder where he got that from..... La La La La La!!!!

Oh and the cat... i think she has round worms after lots of googling!!! Have bought some tablets and if still not sorted after xmas will take her to the vets!

Merry Christmas everyone!

Oh what a night..... (not a nice way to start the morning

no was not cheery and fun, like the song! Started with the snowfall, took Steve till 9pm to get home from work, Ill grant you he did go into the pub to eat cos he couldnt get anywhere, but that wasnt good seeing as he left at 4pm!

Then Lottie was complaining of a bad tummy all evening, at 8pm finally was sick, fortunatly in the bathroom sink, so I was chuffed, nothing really to clean. However at 1.40am I had a rude awakening and at that point had plenty to wash and clean, trust me! Bleary eyed I finally got back to sleep at about 4.30am.

So this morning when everyone was up, I went to put the bedding in the tumber. The lock jammed and I was locked in! So Steve trundles round the front of the house in a foul mood, swearing and cursing that I always let the door slam so no wonder its broken, opens the garage door, lets me out then shuts it with tools inside and everything. Not a problem most of you would think wouldnt you????? Well it is for us, as you can't actually open the garage door from the outside as the dimwits who lived her before us decided to paint over the handle and paint it shut so it can't be opened! So there we were stranded outside the garage with no tools or anything. Could my day get any worse - bear in mind its only about 6.45am at this point! Eventually he got it opend but now there is no handle or anything on the door, he went to work took the lock with him and now I cant go down the road and get a new on cos he has it.

Now if you feeling a bit squeamish dont read on.....

Then I walk into the kitchen and instead of using the litter tray the cat has used the floor, but not only that inside whatever she left on the floor were these very strange flat white ribbony things, which means now there is something woring with the cat too, anyone any ideas!!!!

So right now, my bed seems like a good option, only I cant because I have a sick year old. So I guess Ill just sit around waiting for the next bad thing to happen. Anyone want to swap with me for the rest of the day????? No takers, Im not surprised!

Turns out...

that the reason that I didnt make itto my crop, and felt awful on sunday is that I once again have tonsilitus, the only problem here is that I keep forgetting to take the penicillin, its the same horrible stuff as last time that tastes wickedly foul and gives me raging heartburn. However I only have 3 more days of it so why am I moaning!

Yahooooooooooooooooooooooooo! School has finished, my 2nd 1/2 terms review is complete and emailed tomy tutor, the only job left to do is send my mentor report in, which was fine, satisfactory all the way, wasn't expecting anymore in the first term, and Like I said, next time it will be good and the final term will be outstanding!!!!!!

I am officially now 1/3rd of the course through!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I have survived and next term Im working with year 3, how cool!!!!! I can't wait!

My spare room is covered in mountains of presents to wrap, my JYC is severly behind and you know what, I don't care!!!!!!!! Im just enjoying chilling out, the chillin started at 2.30pm when I walked through the door!

Im planning on a chill out day tomorrow, as it snowed last night its too cold and icy to go anywhere so I intend to spend tomorrow wrapped up warm and snuggly indoors until 5pm when we are going out for a meal to celebrate the fact it is xmas!!!!!!! Yay!!!!!!!!!!

Anyway Im off to bed, yes I know its only 9pm but I love being in my bed all cosy and warm and snuggled!

I don't like mondays....

well except for today, I have the day off as study leave (hmmmmm, now I wonder how much study I will actually do!) I am going to meet my mum for lunch and visit the shops for a little light xmas shopping and may get round to some studying if Im lucky about 2pm an hour before I collect Lottie from school!

Had a busy day yesterday, was supposed to be at a crop but felt rough so decided to stay home instead and I managed to get 3 mini books done, all acryllic albums, sparsly decorated at the moment but I know that I will end up adding lots, lots more throughout the day today!

I also did a quick 6x6 album of our disney holiday for Lotties godfather who came with us, just need to put a few more disney embellies on that and its done!

Got my bargains yesterday in sainsburys, 2 new pinifore for Lottie for school with 25% off so they cost me less than £6 and will fit well into next year cos they are the next size up! Ive been trying to get new pinnis since a week into sept and nowhere has had any, so im now a happy mummy!!!!!

Best go check what she is up to have left her writing xmas cards!!!!

Lovin it!

My pogo, its so cool!!!!

Its so cute and fits right inside my handbag so I can print and go! Everyone should have one! I got it weeks ago and have finally gotten around to charging it up and putting it to use, Ive taken pics of charlotte and printed them out to go inside a keyring for peeps for pressies (not telling which peeps though!)You tube them and you'll see how easy they are to use!

Im beginning to feel slightly more human today although I am in quite a bit of pain still. Ive spent the day baking, prob not the best use of my time but I have enjoyed it, Im off to get my camera in a bit and show you all the cakies we made for the xmas fayre, the little snowmen ones are sooooooo lovely!

Hooray!!!

Ok so an update, One thing that I didnt say this morning when I wrote my post was how ill I felt today. I struggled in knowing that my assessment was due and that I had prepared for it so needed to do it!

Well it turns out (after I stuggled through the assessments - where I forgot which child I was talking to each time I spoke to them and whose turn it was to read!!!!) that I have tonsillitus, so am now cram packed full of horrible anitbiotics, tucked into the spare room bed with my laptop playing iplayer episodes of eastenders that I havent seen for weeks, and guess what, I have 2 more whole days where I can sit like this and chill out, may even take friday if I fancy it too!!!! YAY!!! well not yay Im ill, but yay I can be lazy, perfect time to find my mojo I feel!

Anyhow I have been told (despite being completely off the planet with tonsilitus) that I have the potential to be a grade 1 outstanding teacher, and to pull my socks up, stop worrying that Im not good enough and get on with it! So I can now believe what Im good at and get even more stuck into it than I was, but I am lovin what IM doing and Im happy in my job for the first time in a long time!!!

If you see my mojo

Please can you send her home.She has gone away and I don't know where she is :(I miss my little crafting inner self and I am sitting here surrounded by lovely things and nothing ........ not a thing is being created!

Perhaps Im stressing over my assessment today, I have a very nasty sore throat and temperature which is giving me the shakes and the shivers, Steve almost walloped me to death last night because I was snoring soooooo badly, he always knows when Im ill cos I snore when my throat is poorly. Fortunatly I am only teaching a 20 minute lesson for my assessment - that was well timed, I dont think that I could have done much more esp. the way Im feeling! I just hope my children perform, its gonna be pants because Im ill,, why didnt my tutor come 2 weeks ago when she was first scheduled and then lesson would have been perfect!

Marzipan muffins anyone?????

Here is the recipe for the marzipan muffins I made the other night, totally addictive for those that love marzipan and there is a hidden layer of it half way through the muffin, complete indulgence I believe!!!! and oh so Christmassy! Will upload piccies at some point!

INGREDIENTS:
250g mixed dried fruits
grated zest and juice 1 medium orange
175g softened butter 175g golden caster sugar
3 eggs , beaten 300g self-raising flour
1 tsp mixed spice
½ tsp freshly grated nutmeg
5 tbsp milk
175g marzipan

Tip the fruit into a bowl, add the zest and juice and microwave on medium for 2 minutes (or leave to soak for 1 hour).

Line 12 deep muffin tins with paper muffin cases.

Preheat the oven to fan 180C/ 160C/gas 4.

Beat together the butter, sugar, eggs, flour, spices and milk until light and fluffy (about 3-5 minutes) - use a wooden spoon or hand held mixer. Stir the fruit in well.

Half fill the muffin cases with the mixture.

Divide the marzipan into 12 equal pieces, roll into balls, then flatten with your thumb to the size of the muffin cases. Put one into each muffin case and spoon the rest of the mixture over it.

Top each muffin with another peice of marzipan, I usually use a star cutter for this in then brush with beaten egg or milk.

Bake for 25-30 minutes, until risen, golden and firm to the touch. Leave to cool.

I always find that these are best the next day!

And some more cards!

Even more snowman cards!

Two in one day...

posts that is, here are some of the Snowman cards that I have made, loved this decoupage set, have to say!

Yes they are slightly different!!!!

One of my fav's!

Have to have lots of him flying thats what makes him the snowman!

Doesn't he look daper!

Mmmmmmm I smell muffins.......

Had a baking session last night and the whole house was full of christmassy smells, from marzipan muffins to mincemeat muffins, note the xmas feel, im getting into the spirit already, thansk to the huge amounts of xmas songs being played on the radio at the mo! Who can fail to fall into the christmas spirit. Am disappointed though as last year I had a lovely recipe for mincemeat muffins and can i find it anywhere this year, the one I used last night isnt as nice, so might have to turn the house upside down till I find it I feel!

Will photograph them in a sec to make your mouths water!!!! Karen(one of my teamies over on UKS) has sent me a yummy scrummy recipe for jam doughnut muffins, will be trying that one out later this week!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Here is the recipe for mincemeat muffins if you want to have a go! I always add loads more mincemeat, but thats my personal taste!

Mincemeat Sultana Muffins
Makes 11-12 standard size
10oz (280g) plain flour
2 teaspoons (10ml) baking powder
1/2 teaspoon (2.5ml) bicarbonate of soda
1/2 teaspoon (2.5ml) salt
3oz (85g) caster sugar ( use golden caster, for fairly dark coloured muffins)
1 egg
8fl oz (240ml) milk
12oz (350g) ready-made mincemeat
3oz (85g) butter, melted 3oz (85g) sultanas
Icing sugar for dusting the tops, optional

Prepare muffin tins (either grease or line with paper cases). Preheat oven to 190-200C or Gas Mark 5-6.

In a large bowl, sift together: flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, salt and sugar.

In a separate bowl, beat egg with a fork. Stir in milk, mincemeat and oil/melted butter.

Pour all of liquid ingredients into dry mixture. Stir until just combined, adding the sultanas in the final few strokes. The batter will be lumpy but no dry flour will be visible. Do not overstir.

Fill muffin cups three-quarters full. Bake for 20=25 minutes until tops are lightly browned and spring back when pressed gently. Allow muffins to cool for several minutes to make removal easier. Sieve icing sugar over the top.

Eat and enjoy!

Another year older...

at 9.50pm tonight Ill be another year older, Ive had some lovely pressies including some flowers from my very good friend Em, yellow and orange roses, mmmm and they smell lovely too!

Im now the proud owner of a new pair of boots, a lovely new necklace from my beautiful baby girl (she will always be my baby no matter how old she is), some lovely new ribbons as my stock has dwindled beyond belief, a lovely rubber stamp that isnt a cute bear or rabbit or penny black! and a very annoying satnav, I hate those voices on them! useful, but annoying!

I also have a lovely cake with butterflys on too, so im very lucky today! Anyway off to get myself dressed and ready to go to my nan's and give her, her cards and pressies as its her birthday too!

Here is my yummy scrummy birthday cake!

UKS CYBER CROP

The cc has started over on UKS, I don't think there has been much hype over this one, normally there is loads of excitment about them, but I haven't felt that this year, maybe Im too busy with other things to notice!

This was the first class that I completed last night - twister and shout, lots of rolling paper and trying to get it to stick, but I enjoyed it!

This was the first challenge that I did 'We're off to see the wizard' all about a journey you have taken, may want to take etc, we took a ride in a helicopter when we were in Florida, what a way to travel!

Here is the second class called over the rainbow, I liked this one as I wasnt quite sure how to scrap this pic that we took in Florida but now it has all come together.

Not sure whether I will get much more done this weekend as there are lots of other things to do, like get another year old tomorrow!!!!! You never know I might even get treated to lunch out!

I passed!!!!

Im in total shock at the moment, I have passed my Numeracy Skills Tests for QTS, I passed my Literacy and ICT during half term, which was fab, but I was soooooooo worried about the maths one, maths has to be my worst subject and I hardly have had time to revise!

I walked into the test centre and was about 1/2 hour early, I said to the lady at the desk, 'Im here to fail my maths QTS test' she looked at me and laughed, my reply was...'no, Im deadly serious, Im going to fail!'

Anyway they let me jump the queue of driving test takers and put me straight on to computer No7 - seven has now become my lucky number!!! I panicked and stressed all the way through the first 6/7 mental maths questions but finally got into the swing of them, (did help that the last few were easy, even by my standards!)

Then the normal q's which you had a reasonable time to go through and work out, Im so glad I revised percentages and a bit of data handling the night before as loads came up on those, I did spend lots of time playing around with those answers to make sure that they were right though!

Anyway, I came out convinced that because the mental maths was terrible, I had failed, she had my print out right there, on the side and wouldnt let me look until I had collected all my stuff my locker (you even have to take your watch off incase it has some kind of supery dupery computer in it to give you the answers!!!!) I just pulled everything out quick and chucked it on the floor beside me and went back over and said, 'ok everything sorted!' and there was this huge pile of coat, bag and umbrella just dumped in the middle of the floor and me thinking 'GIVE ME IT NOW!!!'

I opened up the paper and it said 'Dear Joanne, Congratulations you have passed your Numeracy Skills Test' My goodness my jaw dropped about 2 meters (which is impossible for those of you that have me me as im a shortarse!) Anyway I ran like crazy out of the test centre in case they had the worong person! No one is making me take that again!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Anyhow here are some cards I have made for my bro's anniversary and his birthday, they arent fab but heyho!

Here is the card that I made for Rob's birthday, thanks Claire Im still using those little robot stamps!!!

Here is my latest project, stamping on candles, Im loving this, Ive made this one for Charleys teacher, for xmas and it cost a whole £1.39 including a glass base to stand it on, bargain in my opinion!!!! Have more to do now though!

Bad, bad, bad Blogger

Gosh when I look at last years posts and see how many there were I begin to realise how busy my life has gotten. Last week was half term, we did very little which is always the best way I feel. Lots of lunches out and a swimming trip made it an interesting week. I did no work for uni which now makes me worry because I really should have and over the weekend whilst I could have worked I chose to scrapbook!

I really do have my priorities sorted dont i! Well I have lessons to plan for tomorrow, but I can't get my head around them at all, prob best if I just leave them tonight and get on with the brignht and early in the morning!

Not much to tell really, I have ordered lots of new cropper hopper storage and some other stuff too to keep all my old scrapagogo kits in that are partially or not even used, I need to have a complete blitz at them and start using them, but as we secret stash strokers know, it isnt easy cutting into a lush sheet of paper, or use one of thos yummy prima petaloos!

I have signed up for the cybercrop over on UKS but doubt Ill get much done, inbetween lesson planning and evaluations its also my birthday that weekend, and yes I know everyone of my birthday pressies from my hubby and mum and not one is a scrappy one!!!!!! NOT ON!!!!

Some piccies at last!

My little monkey, would she give me a serious pic on the first day of school, nope of course not! But if she had I would have worried!!!

Been a month!

Can't believe how long its been since I blogged, well I guess I can, knowing how busy I have been the last few weeks! Charlotte is loving school, Steve has a nasty tummy bug (here is hoping that I dont get it!) adn me, well Im busy with lesson planing, lesson planning, lesson planning and marking! I ahve never had so little time in my life!

Have done very little crafting, an album for my mother in law for her birthday at the beginning of the month is about all I have had time for, oh and some decoupage ready for xmas cards, but still need to pop them onto some cards! The world keeps turning, and I keep getting bogged down, but is it fun.

Yesterday was a bit of light relief, we fed the ducks, took some wax crayons and paper to the park and did some rubbings, I dont think Charley has ever done that before, she seemed to enjoy it! Then we topped it off with lunch in the pub, not sure why I do this as its always sooooooo dissapointing, its never as good as a home cooked lunch and always costs a fortune, ah well never mind eh!

So this week is busier than normal, no uni today, an extra day in work, parents evening that I have to stay for tomorrow night, and thursday and friday uni for me and a pirate party for charley, we had to make a treasure box this week for it, not funny, I still have splashes of pink paint around my kitchen - NEVER AGAIN! Will have to post some pics at some point soon, esp as I havent even put any USA ones up yet!

As promised some pics of the mini book, this is the one that I made for steves mum I think! I also made one for Steve for his birthday! So actually thats 2 mini books this month so far! If you look carefully you may even see some of the florida pics I took on holiday!

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Second week of teaching and my baby is all grown up!

Well my second week went far better than my first and Im hoping that this week is going to be even better, Im being observed on wednesday, so that should be interesting!!!!!! I only hope i dont do too badly!

My bubba is all grown up now, she has started school and looks so grown up!!!! Photos to follow and I cant find the lead for my camera - nothing changes does it!

Ive had a productive day today, manage to get a whole lesson planned and half of another, Im trying to make my lessons a bit more interactive so have planned some simple games into my maths lesson as Im finding them a littlle bit dry at the moment!!!!!

Anyhow, as you prob all know charley is still into dummies and at 4 its just not funny anymore! So we have told her, no more during the day, every morning she has to put them in the dum bag and they are hidden, its working so far! So next saturday the dummy fairies will be visiting us, on saturday morning we will be popping them all into a pretty bag and just before we go to bed we will hang them on the tree in the garden (please pray it doesnt rain!!!!!) then in the morning they will be gone and the fairies will distribute them to all the babies and maybe leave a little gift! Bless!!!!

A whole week...

of being a GTP student and I have survived. In this week I have been told how HARD it will be, how i will never have time to be a FRIEND, how my family will be lucky if I get 10 minutes will be lucky. So... Ive asked my mum to be my cleaner, have decided that ironing will only be done if absolutely necessary (and am hoping if I leave it out the cleaner will do a bit too!) and that I will only change the beds during school holidays! LOL, that will save me about 2.5 hours a week!

I have been teacher this week too, for a whole horrible afternoon, and it went completely wrong, maybe I have chosen the wrong career!!!!!!!!!!!!

No crafting this week although I did treat myself to some new christmassy bits and I am a bit tempted to order some of the snowman papers and embellies too as the snowman is soooo cute I cant resist!

Lovin it. lovin it, lovin it!

Thats how I am at work at the mo! That could be cos Im no longer teacher in charge, and all Im doing all day is observing other teachers and chatting with children and keeping them on track!

Thats all set to change in about 2 weeks time when I HAVE to start real teaching! LOL! Im working in Year 2 which is a bit of a step up from nursery, but its great fun!

So today Charleys teacher is visiting, a 'home visit' as they call it, basically its an excuse to come and nose round your house, so I havent done loads of cleaning, or tidying, I like the 'this is what we are like, this is how you find us!' kind of attitude. Ive been on so many home visits where you can just smell the cleaning products that have been used to disinfect every surface and make you feel like a good parent, even if its the first time the house has seen a duster in 6 weeks! But that is not my house today, my house comes with 6 weeks of dust, the crumbs of toast on the kitchen floor from breakfast and the washing machine, dishwasher and tumbler running at great noise, cos thats what always happens on a friday morning! Only benefit today is that I get more time to do it all! Hooray, hope I get that second load of washing on before the visit is over!!!!

Learn Something New Every Day

Ok, so today I started Shimelles class LSNED, yes, yes, yes, ok I started it last year and didnt really get round to doing it, so Im making a promise to myself that I will this year! So today, I learnt, that being a mummy is flippin hard work, but I wouldnt have it any other way!

It was the last day of the school hols for me, not for charley mind she still has 2 weeks to go before she starts school!

I treated myself to 3 new tops, well I am going to be a trainee teacher, so I have to look smart, well thats my excuse and Im sticking to it, so there!

Ok, so new term, new challenges, new things, I have the new clothes, challenges, well charley starting school is a big challenge and starting my GTP is a heck of challenge, so there we go, but besides that I have also joined a new team on UKS, the Bitty Blossoms, unfortunatly my Fruitloops have disbanded, leaving just a couple of us chatters on there so I decided a new team mught be what I need to get back my scrapping mojo! We shall see!!!!!

Well off to read some more and do more prep work for my course, am I fed up with maths and science yet, ermmmmmmmmmmmmmm wellllllllllllllllllllll YES!!!!!!

Back!!!

Well its been ages since I blogged, thats cos I was preparing for my Florida holiday where I got to cuddle mickey mouse, stay up very late, and eat loads of yummy foods! Esp the fudge from Busch Gardens, highly recommended - the maple walnut is to die for.

We Im back with lots of new scrapping stuff which I lovingly look at each day but do not dare to cut into as I cant decide what to use first! Michaels was fabby, spent a near fortune in there on prima flowers - well it would have been if I hadnt of had 40% off vouchers! Joann's was even better as all the cricuts carts were on $39.99, although a few did slip into my cart as I was wandering around walmart too! and at $30.00 they were even better value! SO apart from cricut I have lots of Mickey/universal/seaworld stuff too having spet $118.34 in Mouse Memories, well worth a visit and a lovely man in there too! - thank you for my roll of sellotape, it came in very useful at the airport! Don't ask questions, just trust me!

Anyhow so home I am and between us we took over 2500 photos and several video tapes too! We had a fantastic helicopter ride over the disney parks, and a fabulous apartment. So all in all wasn't too bad. Charley found it hard to adjust to the time zone difference and that caused a few problems but we ironed them out and at the end of the 2 weeks none of us wanted to go home! We wish we were still there, Id be ok in the scrapping shops at least!

Wil load some pics tomorrow, Im just too tired now!