Not everyone Believes

It's challenge time again on Merly Impressions and this month is to use punches, dies or diecuts.  I'm not a great user of die cuts but I do have a Kaisercraft 6 1/2" paper pad that contains a good selection of die cuts.  I also have some punches so finally set about meeting this challenge.  While at it I thought I might as well try and fit it into another CSI challenge, this time combined with Scrap 365.  

I recently took some photos of my sister and each one I showed her she disliked.  She would not allow me to 'tag' her in them on social networks ... and yet the photos she has posted herself are, in my mind, not as good or flattering as those that I have taken.  She thinks she looks dreadful and finds fault in everything.  She cannot see herself as everyone else does.  I was determined to take a photo that she would not object to so decided on a profile shot ... this didn't work as well as I had hoped but she will be happy that her face can't be seen.  We have very few photos of the two of us but there is one taken recently. As she was wearing a very bright jumper I decided to converted it to black and white. This may have helped her jumper but did nothing for my complexion, but I refuse to be as critical as she is!  This layout is entitled 'Believe' as she really should believe that she is beautiful.  She should learn to see herself as others see her and believe that the photos really are OK.  Let's hope she doesn't actually read my blog or I shall be in trouble!

I am currently trying to experiment with inks and splattering. My first experiments were foolishly undertaken one evening while sipping wine.  May I advise that this is not a good idea.  Once again I seem unable to wash it off!

I created this layout in record time for me as the closing deadline is approaching fast.  I did not have time to take photos to document my creative process (which is not particularly creative).  I was proud of my stenciling with gesso and I formed a variety of ink splatters.  Unfortunately the most effective splats and drips were later hidden behind my photos and paper strips. I still don't know how to get the ink to properly splatter and not just be a spot, but I am pleased that I have made a start.  I am also annoyed that it was not until after I had splattered that I realised the paper was upside down, possibly not that noticeable but there is solid text over the entire page and I suddenly realised it was upside down ... hey ho anything goes in scrapping!  Other scrappers have a definite style and this is not something that I can say.  I am still exploring new ideas and techniques and enjoying different styles.  Often I feel that something is missing but am never sure what.  I recently saw a quote that stated: If all else fails add another embellishment.  I'm often afraid that adding something else may just be too much, I am not good at shabby chic as I never add quite enough to layer.

A few close ups to show a little more detail and the journaling:

I chose to use butterflies as an embellishment as they signify the transformation from a caterpillar that nobody finds very appealing to the full blown beauty and colour of a butterfly. If only my sister would believe she has transformed into a butterfly, she is not the caterpillar she thinks she is.

Thanks for looking and offering any crafty suggestions

Making Time for Cake

As I sit down with a cuppa I would really like a piece of cake to go with it.  I'm fed up with my chores and am taking a breather.  I want to find time to scrap but am not sure if I'll manage it today.  The ideas are swirling around in my head but I'm not sure that they'll get out today.  In the meantime though I shall share a recipe. If I can't actually eat it now I can at least tell you all how to make it.  I am not really a baker ... I cook but I rarely bake. I'm not into all this fiddly presentation stuff that seems so fashionable at present. I can convince myself that this is not really cake, and certainly not 'bad' to eat.  It is called a 'honey breakfast fruit cake' and therefore counts as a meal. I'm not a breakfast person but can quite easily tuck into this mid morning when I feel peckish. It is full of goodness and is perfect those days when you feel the need to eat but can't wait until the next meal, and is so much better than a chocolate bar to keep you going.  It takes a little while to prepare with the chopping and grating but I use a food processor which saves a lot of time.  It is certainly worth the effort.  

Not a good photo but I wanted to show the density of fruit and nuts

Ingredients:

Vegetable oil for greasing                                       3 medium eggs               

100g / 4oz plain flour                                             1tsp almond extract

120g / 4½ oz ground almonds                                  finely grated zest 1 lemon

¼ tsp salt                                                              100g / 4oz golden raisins

1tsp baking powder                                                100g / 4oz dried cranberries

1tsp bicarbonate of soda                                        100g / 4oz blanched almonds

200g / 7oz runny honey

250g/9oz peeled, deseeded and finely grated butternut squash

Method:

Preheat oven to 180ºC, Gas 5. Brush a 22cm / 8” square x 5cm/2” deep brownie tin with a little vegetable oil. Line the tin with parchment paper brushed with a little more oil.

In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour with the ground almonds, salt, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda.  Make a well in the centre.

Warm the honey in a small saucepan until it is hot and runny.  Combine this in another bowl with the eggs and beat together using a balloon whisk.  Add the grated squash, almond extract and lemon zest and mix to combine.

Pour the honey, eggs and squash mix into the well in the dry ingredients, gradually combining everything with a balloon whisk until you have a loose wet dough.  Fold in the raisins, cranberries and almonds then tip into the prepared tin and cook in the middle of the prepared oven for 35 minutes until risen and golden.  Rest and cool before serving.

I apologise to any American readers that I have not got the measurements in 'cups' but I cannot work in cups, and this will make up for all the recipes that I have had to struggle with from the internet!  

One word of warning: this cake is very filling.

Cut a piece smaller than you think you want and then go back for seconds 15 minutes later if you still want more.  Both I and my friend have felt quite queasy because we didn't realise how rich and nourishing this cake is.  Be warned ... and enjoy!

I can't credit the original creator of this recipe as it is a cutting from a magazine that I found buried in a file after 10 years.

Once familiar with the recipe you can make adjustments.  Last time I didn't have enough butternut squash so added carrot and it was just as tasty.  I've also used pecans to substitute the almonds, and personally I like to cut the blanched almonds rather than keep them whole.  

I'd love to know if you try this and enjoy it.

All about Me

I have a friend who is always telling me that 'it's not all about you!'  Well thanks to CSI challenge 118  it is all about me this week.  

To make things even more challenging this week I have to use a sketch in addition to all the other criteria.  The colour scheme was more problematic than I first thought.  My interpretation of 'canteloupe' was perhaps more peach and I struggled to differentiate with the aqua shade of green and the teal.  The papers I chose from Kaisercraft look different when photographed than in the flesh but whether it meets the case file or not I like it.  It's interesting how my layouts evolve and rarely end up as I originally envisage. When thinking about this layout I decided to use a white background ... well that worked well!  I also intended to use beads and hearts as my main feature.  

What I have actually used is jewels, feathers, fibres, stamped arrows and one heart craftily disguised as a key.  I also made a pocket for the journaling out of a clothes tag which I did a little hand sewing around.  As I didn't have embroidery thread the right colour I used natural twine that I found in my grandmothers sewing box and coloured it with an ink pad.  I knew there was a reason that I never throw anything away ... she would be proud of me to think that even though she is no longer with us I am still using her materials.  Even the sentiment on the tag is appropriate to the topic "life is out there".

The feathers are both red and yellow so that ticked two boxes.  It is not so easy to see the machine sewing that I used as a border ... zigzag in peachy colour and then inner layer of teal.  I really liked the mesh that was reminiscent of beach debris.  The small round embellies seemed to fit the theme well and were punched out from patterned paper with inked edges and the addition of 3D gloss ... hey presto!  By using punched shapes and a couple of die cuts I could almost make this layout suitable for the Merly Impressions challenge.  That might be stretching it a bit though.

It could be said that I met the testimony by putting journaling in a pocket but in fact I met it through the all about me prompt.  This was an amazing site that has inspired me to journal my life more thoroughly, this is just the start.  The prompt that most inspired me was 'Isn't this moment the most important thing'  and 'What is your idea of a perfect day?'  For those of you who can't be bothered to plough any further through my mind then look away now ... or go off and make a cuppa because it may take some time!  I made a concertina of my journaling as there was so much of it and then inked the edges in green and yellow just to make sure there was plenty of evidence and attached a nice wispy organza ribbon.  This is the journaling:

It’s all about me … and sometimes it is. These photos were taken on my 50th birthday when we had a whale watching trip in Victoria, Canada.  The day dawned foggy and dismal and  despite 3 hours out at sea there were no whales.  I was devastated and so miserable. 

I cried while being aware of how childish this reaction was. I sobbed that this was my birthday and I wanted to see whales.  I didn’t want to cheer up and nothing could make me feel better. As we headed back to the ship the sun came out and the area near the berth was strewn with drift wood.  I love the sea, I love rocks, I love driftwood. What’s not to love? 

Just a little time to clamber over rocks, balance on wood, listen to the waves and I felt at peace.  Nature has the power to heal, we don’t need money or extravagant gestures; 

just the sun on our face, the wind in our hair and God’s ground beneath our feet.

During childhood I spent many happy days at the beach,  listening to the waves, playing in the water and feeling the sand between my toes.  All these things are healing.  At heart I am still a child and I still want to behave like one.  I recognise and nurture the child within because often she  has more wisdom and knowledge than I. She knows just what I need. This was in fact a perfect day and I love these photos.  I am still a child!

Thank you for taking the time to read and I am grateful for any comments.

Absolutely astounded to be featured as the Star Witness for this layout, I loved creating it and am so pleased that others enjoyed it too. Thank You CSI!

Proud to be Quirky

I have always intended to scrap about spoons and the  latest challenge from CSI gave me the perfect opportunity.

The testimony was to document a quirk. My blog profile clearly states that I am quirky. Now where to begin?  It is only recently I have realised that I am eccentric, I previously thought that this is just me and that I was no different from others. People have called me funny and mad and at first this bothered me. 

Is it so unusual to use particular spoons to eat specific foods?  Is it normal to have specific mugs for certain drinks?  Do other people not use a different apron depending on what they are cooking?  In fact do other people use an apron at all?  Do you appreciate wood grain and revel in the feel of carved spoons and spatulas?  Do you 'try out' a new spatula before buying it?  Apparently the answer to all these questions is:  No!

I enjoyed solving this case file and particularly loved the Prima paper that incorporated flowers, butterflies and a bicycle.  I loved the paper so much I almost didn't want to deface it with mixed media but was determined to continue my experimentation with inks and stencils.  A Tim Holtz spot stencil and Dylusion inks worked well even if the finished effect wasn't what I had originally intended.  I used Cosmo Cricket stickers to create the title and thanks to Kaisercraft I had a great selection of roses, rub-ons, die cuts and mini alphas and rhinestones.  

I'm really pleased with the finished effect and met the evidence using metal brads, flowers, butterflies which I both punched and fussy cut and also a platinum painted button. The title uses Ransom style lettering. Testimony was to journal a quirk ... I certainly did that and I also used the random word generator which gave me 'eccentric' ... yep that fits me!  Using a rub-on journal spot meant I met this in several ways.

A few close ups to give more detail:

Journaling reads: Spoons are just one aspect of my quirkiness.  I like to use different spoons with specific foods.  I also have aprons for cooking savoury food or baking, or special event cakes.  This is just the tip of the ice-berg ... I also love woodgrain and have a collection of wooden spoons and spatulas which I choose to use depending on my mood.  Journal spot: I used to be embarrassed but now I embrace my eccentricities!

Thanks for dropping by ... 

Honey, Mustard Roasted Beetroot

When I first decided to be a blogger I thought long and hard about my title.  A Crafty Glimpse allowed for a glimpse into the world of craft but also a sneaky glimpse into my life.  To date, my entries have all been craft related but I am now branching out into a culinary aspect of my life.  I love to eat and therefore I enjoy cooking. Several years ago I challenged myself to cook a new recipe every week for a year, and in the course of a year I tried 52 new recipes.  It was not hard to do and we enjoyed many new flavours.  Last week I decided to share some well loved recipes with our niece and challenged her to cook one new recipe a month.  I determined to send her a recipe in the first week of every month.  

As I now have a blog, what better way to share than on the world wide web.  So for any of you who are interested I shall be posting a new recipe in the first week of every month.  All recipes will be ones I have tried and loved and we start with 'Ruby Red Stunner'.  I originally found this recipe in a Somerfield magazine many years ago.  When I lost the original cutting I attempted to Google it but discovered that entering the recipe title in the search engine led to many undesirable results.  Therefore I shall call this recipe 

'Honey Mustard Roasted Beetroot'

This is not the best photo but I was getting hungry and the steam was rising and the camera found it hard to focus.  The recipe occasionally deviates a little from the original but that's evolution.

Cut the contents of a 250g vacpack beetroot  into wedges (I use fresh beetroot that I then cook in any quantity I fancy either steaming or boiling and then rub off the skins)  Place in an ovenproof dish with 3 halved shallots (I use onions if I haven’t got shallots), 2 thinly sliced garlic cloves and 2 bay leaves.  Season with salt and pepper and pour over 15ml (1Tbs) olive oil, stirring to coat evenly.  Roast at 180 degrees C, 350F, gas mark 4 for 30 minutes.  Combine 30ml (2Tbs) honey with 15ml (1Tbs) Dijon mustard and stir into the vegetables.  Roast for a further 10 mins until golden.

We enjoy this most with roast chicken but last night had it with grilled moose and it was just as tasty.  Enjoy!

Thanks for taking the time to drop by ... bon appetite!

One of Many

With so many amazing layouts entered into challenges I'm thrilled to feature as a 'Top Act'.

Merly Impressions give me inspiration and support in this crafty world in which we live and now I have another reason to create a blog entry, to show off my new badge:

I'm not enough of a techno wizard to know how to make it small and neat along the border of my page so here it is in full glory!  Now I just need to get busy with paper and scissors to make my name badge for the retreat in June.