Showing posts with label cupcakes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cupcakes. Show all posts

Monday, March 28, 2016

How I Made Easter Special







Usually, my perfectionist's head kicks in, and I find myself planning special holidays like Christmas and Easter down to a fine line.  This year for Easter there was no rushing about, no organising (well, other than the food shop for Sunday Easter lunch) I just relaxed, I didn't make any plans and I went with the flow.  It felt odd, but when you organise and work with little one's every day in an education setting sometimes it's okay to take a step back and breath...right?

So, where did this take me?  Well, I woke up at the crack of dawn (so much for a long lie, my body clock had other ideas) on Friday morning did a bit of cleaning and tidying and then I declared to my other half that I wanted my portapuzzle case brought down from the loft. Don't ask me why I suddenly wanted this, I was into jigsaws in a big way about four years ago, but this request just came out of the blue. I then went out to potter about in the garden while Paul took to the loft.  This is really the first time I've been out in my garden this year and boy, it's been hit very hard by the lousy weather; high winds and thrashing rain, the garden wall has no rough casting left as most of it is lying on the ground, and quite a few of the plants are gone (died off) or are in need of some serious TLC, sigh!  Four hours later my garden started to look a little more respectable; no rough casting on the ground, plants pruned, fed and watered and wall assessed for repair. I then headed back into the house and found Paul had located my puzzle case from the loft but there was no jigsaw box. On opening the case I found 450 pieces (I counted them) of a 1000 piece puzzle. Yip! You guessed it the other 550 pieces are still in the loft and Paul won't go back up for them.

By Saturday, I had forgotten all about the jigsaw and spent a wonderful day with my mum. We went for lunch and I presented her with an Easter pamper gift and then we had a wander round the shops. We got caught being silly by two male members of staff in our local craft shop (I'm sitting chuckling to myself as I write this post). My mum and I were caught making faces at each other through a large crafting magnifying glass, you know, big eyes and lips (easily amused) We were so embarrassed that we slunk down an aisle sniggering and nudging each other like little school girls, with my mum declaring that I'm a bad influence. Eh! What! You're the adult, I'm the kid, it had nothing to do with me. All joking aside, I think my mum was quite impressed that I didn't buy anything from Hobbycraft , I usually come away with a piece of stationary, a sewing or knitting item. In fact, looking back I didn't spend any money that day as I bought my makeup treats through my Boots points card and Paul's Easter Egg using a voucher (I was very thrifty).

I'm sad to say my thriftiness didn't last, though, as yesterday (Easter Sunday) I decided to have a browse on Amazon (always lethal) whilst watching King of Kings and eating an Easter Egg.  I ended up buying not one but three books.  I've been having withdrawal symptoms after finishing all my Mark Haddon novels and I've been eager to find an author with a similar writing style. I found the Alan Bradley series of books through Good Reads.  I must have been destined to buy the authors books as on picking up the first novel and turning the pages to read, I was faced with this:


 My Christian name printed on the second page.  Now I know this read is going to be awesome.

Happy Easter holidays everyone

xoxoxo

(This post is dedicated to my beautiful orange boy 'Cheivo' who we lost on this day two years ago)

Forever in my heart
little man xx





Sunday, April 08, 2012

HaPpY eAsTeR!


Happy Easter

Everyone

I hope you all have a lovely day

xxx
                                           

Sunday, September 11, 2011

What a week!

Thank Crunchy it's not just Friday but it's finally the weekend, what a week it's been.  I can't go into too much detail yet but let's just say it involved a trip to the Citizens Advice Bureau.  Never had to use their services before but I can tell you I will definitely be using them again in the future.  I left their offices full of confidence, I felt reassured and the biggest plus I have a contact who is more than willing to help me sort out my problems (yes plural).  I'm now able to sleep properly at night and eat a full meal without feeling I'm going to vomit everywhere.  More information to follow.

Baking

The Great British Bake off started..... ohhhh! A couple of weeks ago, I think.  Love this series,  the only drawback,  I want to bake  and bake.  Fine if you have a large family to feed but there's only Paul and the dog.  Does this stop me from messing up the kitchen with flour, eggs, sugar and what ever else I can fit in a bowl?  Not a chance, queue photos-

yummy cupcakes


Flower Cupcakes
Flower Cupcakes

Vanilla cupcakes decorated with green icing and sugar paste flowers.  I placed these into clear presentation bags and shared them with my family.  I couldn't have possibly eaten them all by myself.  Unlike the little treats below.

Strawberry Velvet Truffles
 These guys are so moreish and to be honest I didn't give very much away.  Yes I did eat more than my fair share and I'm not scared to admit it.  Lol!  Plus their a secret recipe, so I'm not going to share. Sorry!

Banana Loaf Mixture

Banana and Sultana Loaf

Brilliant recipe for using ripened bananas, easy and quick to make, very moist.  I have also substituted the raisins for sultanas (juicier) and I have also used chocolate buttons before too.  Loaf is very much a comfort food recipe, you know the type, shut the world out, put feet up with a tea/coffee in one hand and a huge slice/wedge in the other, bliss.

Chocolate Chip Muffins
And finally Chocolate Chip Muffins.  Sugar is added to the top of these before baking to give then a crunchier, crispier top.

Some Sewing


Margaret Sherry Cross Stitch

The Robin and the Mouse outline

A kiss
Christmas Card
 I don't know what has happened to my knitting mojo I haven't picked up the pins for weeks.  It seems to have flown straight out of the window, however cross stitch has appeared in it's place.  In the form of a freebie sewing kit by Margaret Sherry.  I was so obsessed with it that I managed to finish it in one day.  I only stopped for food  and toilet breaks and nothing much else.  Doesn't it look cute?  I've advised Paul if he wants to perhaps  buy me a small gift at anytime, then I would love another Margaret Sherry kit.  Don't think he was listening as I haven't received anything yet. Sigh!

Pyramid Bag Update


In my previous post I announced that I would be adding some new stock to my Folksy account.  After losing the battery to my camera and then the lead, I have now found both and stashed them in a safe place,  the update will now take place on Thursday evening (15/09/11) at 8pm GMT.