Spring Time Challenge

This month's challenge on Merly Impresssions is to feature spring.  Spring is my favourite season and I love everything about it.  It's hard to know where to begin and impossible to capture in just one photo.  This is a layout that I created some time ago but it still captures all the magic of spring.  Blossoms are delightful, lambs are adorable, and spring green is greener than it seems to be at any other time of year.

The main photo was taken at Casa Lomas in Toronto, Canada.  The other photos were taken in our garden and in local parks.  I spend endless time trying to capture photos of the birds nest building and I'm entranced by the unfurling of ferns.  Perhaps I ought to do separate layouts on each aspect of spring ... maybe a goal for the long winter months ahead, to keep the magic of Spring in our hearts.

I'm thrilled to find out that this layout has been featured as a Top Act ... Whoopee!

Dreams do Come True

This week's challenge at CSI inspired me in theme but I struggled with the colours.  They were not colours I would naturally put together and my limited collection did not provide me with much variety in blues.  I could have managed it using papers but I wanted to try mixed media.  Unfortunately I didn't have enough inks and sprays to allow a foray into much mixing!

Having scoured my supplies I decided that the Kaisercraft Chapter One collection would fit the colour scheme.  It is one of my favourite collections; in fact so much my favourite that I haven't wanted to use it ... I did manage not to cut it!  Hopefully some fellow scrappers will understand this.

I'd chosen my photo and theme before starting anything else.  My husband had often said that I had a wall around my heart when we first met.  I had been hurt too many times to want to let anybody in.  Many years ago we stayed in a gothic folly in North Wales and to be in keeping I dressed in my medieval fancy dress outfit and posed for some photos in the tower.  The photo I chose implies that I am locking myself in ... or everyone else out.

To solve the 'case' I managed the colours the best I could.  The evidence used flowers and rub ons.  Creatures were butterflies and birds and both had wings.  I added sparkly stars to the title which aren't quite jewels but make a good substitute. For Testimony I applied my journaling directly on the photo using photo editing and it reads as a fairy tale:

Once upon a time there was a girl who built a wall around her heart.  It took a special man to scale the wall and break it down. He freed her brick by brick, disguised as a friend.  When she saw his armour shining through she recognised her knight and they lived happily ever after.

I wanted to continue the idea of bricks and towers on the page so used the Crafters Workshop stencil.  Some sections I used modelling paste and in others ink to add a variety of texture.  This is not so easy to see in a photo.

I love the Kaisercraft roses and have a passion for keys at the moment.  The key is particularly relevant for this as my knight gained the key to my heart as well as to my home.  Kaisercraft products were perfect for this layout and I used a mix of collections.  In addition to Chapter one the die cuts beneath the photo were from the Secret Bird Society and the rub-ons and mini blooms were also kaisercraft.  

I have had these bird rub-ons hiding in my stash for years and this seemed the perfect occasion to use them.

Thank you for looking and commenting

Thrilled to know that I'm being watched ... so many inspiring artists and layouts it's an honour to be included among them.

Swiss Chard and Potato Gratin

The first time I ever saw Swiss Chard I thought it was just large spinach.  I had no idea what to do with it but luckily my Riverford vegetable box came with a recipe card.  I am so glad that I followed this recipe because it has now become one of our favourite meals. If I cannot get chard I do use spinach, and now I no longer measure all amounts so accurately and it is just as tasty.  Sometimes we have it as a complete vegetarian meal and sometimes we serve it with sausages ... tasty however it's served.

 serves 4

Ingredients:
500g Swiss chard                                 75g butter
750g potatoes                                     4 garlic cloves
600ml milk                                         100g cheddar cheese
2 Tbsp plain flour                                salt and pepper

Method:

• Remove and roughly chop the green part of the chard leaves.  Cut the stalks into 2cm lengths and steam for 10 minutes.  Stir in the green leaves and continue to cook for a few minutes.
• Wash the potatoes and cut into 1cm slices.  Boil for 5 minutes until just tender. Drain.
• Grease a shallow baking dish and layer with half of the potatoes, the chard and then the remaining potatoes.
• To make the sauce, melt the butter and fry the crushed garlic for 2 minutes. Stir in the flour and continue stirring for 1 minute.  Gradually add the milk, stirring continuously until the sauce thickens.
• Add half the grated cheese and season with salt and pepper.
• Pour the sauce over the vegetables and top with the remaining cheese.  Bake at 180 degrees C  / Gas Mark 4 for 35 minutes

Happy Cooking ... Enjoy.  Thanks for looking and thank you for any comments

Using Kaisercraft Roses

Last year we needed special dresses for my little granddaughters to go to a couple of weddings.  As identical twins it can be challenging to tell them apart but they do look so cute when wearing the same outfits.  We have become ingenious at finding little ways to tell them apart while still using the same outfits.  One occasion they had identical cardigans with crochet flowers ... and then I sewed tiny buttons into the centre of the flowers.  Green for Georgina and Orange for Isabelle.  This time we needed a different technique for these pretty dresses:

As a keen scrapper I turned to my craft supplies and Kaisercraft came up trumps.  What better than ribbon roses?  There are so many colours to choose from and we went for just a subtle difference.  Teemed with a coloured beaded necklace we could tell our gorgeous girls apart.  Whatever you want to do with your ribbon roses you can get them from Merly Impressions  and the only limit is your imagination.

Thanks for looking and happy crafting!

DIY Banana Bread

As much as I like bananas there is a very small window of opportunity that they are just right.   Either under ripe or too ripe they are perfect for only a day or two.  What can I do with over ripe bananas?  I searched the internet for banana bread recipes only to discover that there are too many.  They are all similar with minor variations but how do I know which one to try?  Why is one better than another and how do I know which will be best? I came to the conclusion that there is no right way and why not just do it my way? So I amalgamated all of the six recipes that I looked at and this is how it turned out.

One thing I learned from reading so many recipes is that it doesn't really matter exactly what ingredients you put in.  However if you want to follow the rules rather than make up your own, this is what I did:
Ingredients:
225g self raising flour
150g sugar
100g butter
2 eggs
3 ripe bananas
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
grated rind 1/2 orange
140g sultanas
almond essence

Method:
Having read a variety of methods I made up my own as I had not been organised enough to soften the butter and I couldn't be bothered to 'cream' the fat and sugar.  I also didn't have enough caster sugar so I mixed some caster with some soft brown.  I had intended to add vanilla essence but didn't have any so used almond.  The only reason I added orange rind was so that I could then squeeze the juice to add it to a glass of Amaretto! Preparation included lining and greasing a loaf tin and pre-heating the oven to 180 degrees C. 

I melted the butter and added the sugar mixing thoroughly with a whisk.  I then added the lightly beaten eggs and mashed banana, and then folded in the flour and bicarbonate of soda.  I gently added the sultanas, orange rind and almond essence and mixed it all with  a metal spoon.  I poured it into the loaf tin and cooked in the oven for 1 hour.  Having checked it I returned it for a further 10 minutes.  Cooled on a wire rack before turning out to cool completely.  Rather than have this as a piece of cake I served it for dessert with a mix of frozen summer berries which I simmered gently in blueberry liqueur and then liquidised. The final touch was a little vanilla yoghurt and hey presto ... a delicious new dessert created:

I would say don't be afraid to put your own stamp on a recipe ... or even create your own. This is the first time I have truly baked without following the rules.  Now I've created my own rules!  Thanks for looking and I hope you have a go.

Come on Deer, it's time for dinner

This recipe is one from my current favourite cook book from Abel and Cole.  Like all things, once I've followed a recipe to the letter I adjust it to suit our tastes or store cupboard contents.  I never used to like olives or stilton and I find it hard to believe how much I love them now ... and this recipe combines both.  We have cooked it for people who aren't so keen on the individual ingredients but still like the finished article, so give it a go:

Venison Fillet with Black Kale and Port, Stilton and Olive sauce  (serves 4)
Ingredients:
knob of butter for sauce and a couple of knobs for the kale
1/2 mug of shallots, peeled and thinly sliced, or onion, peeled and chopped
1/2 mug port
1 mug of beef stock
glug of olive oil
enough venison fillet for four people
a bag of black kale, or any other variety will do, washed and chopped
salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/2 - 3/4 mug of crumbled stilton - add more or less to your liking
1/3 mug of pitted black olives, chopped
1 Tbsp fresh, chopped thyme

I love the quantities because they are so flexible.  How big is a mug? It doesn't matter as it will all be proportionate to your personal mug.  How much is a glug?  now that's a good one and you may need to buy their book for a glossary of glug versus dollop versus splash. The answer is that it really doesn't matter ... do whatever feels right!  This is my type of cooking.  I have substituted cavolo nero and greens on different occasions and even substitued venison for kangaroo or reindeer depending on what's in the freezer at the time.  If you are game this is a game dish to cook (excuse the pun!)

Method:

Heat a knob of butter in a heavy based saucepan over a medium heat and saute the shallots or onions for a couple of minutes.  Add the port and stock, bring it to the boil and then turn down to a simmer for about 20 minutes or until it has reduced by about half the amount.

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees C, 400 degrees F, Gas 6

While the sauce is reducing, heat a little oil in a very hot pan and sear the venison fillets on all sides to give them some good colour, then transfer to an ovenproof dish.  Cook for about 5-10 minutes in the oven until medium rare (overcooking will make them tough). Remove from the oven and let them rest on a warm plate for 5-10 minutes - the longer the better.

While the venison is resting, steam or boil the kale for 5 minutes until tender, drain it and put it back into the pot. Stir through the butter and give it a good seasoning before piling in stacks on warm plates. 

Drain any juice from the resting venison into the sauce. Remove from the heat, add the stilton, olives and thyme and stir through. Slice the venison fillets into finger width coins and plate up over the kale.  Spoon the sauce over and serve.

On this occasion we did not have kale so I substituted purple sprouting broccoli.  I also served it with potato mashed with wet garlic but you can do anything you fancy!  Make this your own, my deer! (sorry, just can't help myself)