WOYWW 178 - Happy Halloween!

And that's as spooky as my desk gets this week! 

Just for a change, I'm not going to show you my usual desk.  This here is my other "other" desk.  Not my proper work desk, at work. No.  This is the "desk" in the lounge, next to the chair where I crochet and cross-stitch.  You'll see there's a bauble lurking, waiting for me to start beading.  And a couple of crocheted squares in funky colours....I'm using a random dyed wool at the moment.  My coffee cup, empty at time of shot.

Just for good measure, here is an update on the cross-stitch.  Slow progress, I'm afraid, but progress nonetheless.

The reason for not showing my normal desk?  Trial runs of wedding stationery are on it and I'm keeping them under wraps.... heheheheh

As for the lack of spookiness - Lil Miss B is in Turkey with Real-Mum, and we're off to see Fields of the Nephilim tomorrow night, so won't be in for the trick or treaters..... mwahahahahahahah... instead, spookiness is provided by Carl McCoy!

Have a good week y'all....

WOYWW 177....

Hello!

Here we are again, another round of WOYWW  courtesy of Mrs JD, and oh my the weeks are flying fast....

Short and sweet for me this week (literally, if you look at the end of this post!).

Here's my desk:

You can see the remnants of post-crop-challenge makings, including the ludicrously pink bag (think that was more the flash than the actual colour of the bag!) we got with goodies in....

As you've seen on other blogs of late, at the Big Crop 10 days ago, we were given a challenge card kit, with the mission of creating something (didn't have to be a card!) with the bits and pieces we were given.  For some reason, unusually for me, I felt the need to go BIG.  Oh, OK, not so much BIG as BIGGER than I normally make....

So here's what I made....

Mr B's reaction was "is it staying here?".  When I said yes, he replied "Oh good..."  I think that means he likes it!

I was asked by Karen T for the flapjack recipe last week, so here it is.  Another really difficult recipe, as you can see.  I do well at the "mix it all together and bung it in a tin" kind of recipes which don't require copious amounts of faffing.

Flapjacks

350-400g rolled oats

Add a quantity (to taste) of seeds/nuts/chocolate

Add 150g plain flour (sieved)

Mix well.

Melt 200g unsalted butter in a pan TOGETHER with half a small tin of golden syrup and 2 tablespoons of brown sugar.  Add honey or maple syrup if you like - don't let the syrup burn!

Pour thoroughly melted ingredients into bowl contain the oats mixture.

Mix thoroughly - should be stodgy/sticky

Spread onto a baking tray - at least 1 1/2 inches deep - compress flat.

Bake on the middle shelf for 20-25 mins @ 180 deg. C

When golden all over, turn out, and cut into squares once half cooled.

Dip in chocolate/decorate if required! 

WOYWW 176 - post Crop-fest....

I'm a bit late to the party this week - everyone else who went has already blogged or Facebooked their photos. I didn't actually get that many pictures - I certainly did a STOOPID thing and didn't take any pics at my house in the evening, when we played "see how many WOYWWers you can get round Morti's table....". It was 6 plus satellite family members, in fact.... I think Jan and Donna might have got a couple of pics of that though. I'll just have to beg a sneaky snaffle of those!

I expect by the time you've got here, you're fed up to the back teeth with "wasn't it a wonderful day" kind of remarks. I'll do my version later on in this post, but as we're here for WOYWW, I'll start with my desk... (scroll to the end if you're only here for the tiffin recipe).

Absolute mayhem - I've not yet had the opportunity to put everything away from the weekend.  There is however a new resident.  Perturbius Strop has come to live with me from Doone's house, and she's just ADORABLE!  Thank you, Donna!

I took part in the beaded tassel workshop with Janet (Fairy Thoughts), and finished mine off over the last couple of days.  Such fun!  I have always loved beading, and it's nice to try something new occasionally.

And so, onto the Crop....

Jan directing traffic in her able manner.... or telling one of us off maybe?  Heheheh

Fergus takes pride of place, dead centre of the photo between Helen (H) and Sam (Hettiecraft).  All of us beavering away at something or other.



Queuing for the amazing lunch you've already heard about!

And just to really upset you, gratuitous close up shots of the cupcakes - top one is the Physalis cupcake (like marmite, you either love it or hate it!), bottom one is the Black Forest cupcake.  To my mind, chocolate is always a winner, and these had black cherry sauce in the middle and the icing was fresh cream...... Yum!

As for the tiffin - here is the recipe as promised to many of you....

Fridge Tiffin

Put 225g of Plain chocolate, and 100g of butter in a large saucepan.
Heat gently until melted, and remove from the heat.
Quickly add a 397g can of Nestle Sweetened Condensed milk first, then 275g crushed digestive biscuits, and 25g raisins (optional). You can also add 25g halved glace cherries if you wish, or cranberries and nuts (whatever you fancy!).
Stir well until fully mixed.
Press the mixture into an 18cm x 28cm baking tin lined with greaseproof paper.
Chill until firm.
Cut into triangles and decorate with white chocolate (optional).

Yes, it really IS that easy to make.  Enjoy!  If you want the flapjack recipe, let me know.   See you on the bloghop!

WOYWW 175 - The Big Crop Week....

Woooooooooo...... it's here.....  The Big WOYWW Crop.  Can you imagine a 40 year old woman running around her lounge with her t-shirt pulled up over her head like an over-excited footballer?  No?  Me either.... LOL.... but that's about how excited I am.  I have Doone and Jozart coming to stay which is a scary prospect.  No, that sounds wrong.  It's a daunting prospect, as they are both such amazingly creative people..... will I measure up?  LOL.  I have a secret weapon or two, in the vague shapes of Mr B and Hamish.... hehehehe....


Anyway, you're no doubt here to see my desk, not read my witterings, so without further ado....

Ta dah!

One desk.  Not looking an awful lot different to last week, but I can assure you that Stuff has happened.  And also not happened.  The domino I was working on last week hasn't actually been finished yet, though it will by Saturday.  Providing my screw-eyes turn up.  Funny how you don't always know what you need until the very last minute.

See, we have a finished Christmas card!  I took Janet's recommendation to put in some dark card, and also surmised that I did NOT like the medallion in a base of white, so did it in cream instead.  Added some distress ink to...um...distress it a bit...  and there you have it.

It's also Mr & Mrs B Senior's wedding anniversary this week, so I took advantage of the current Sketch Saturday sketch to make them a card.  Here is the card and there are just a few more deets here.

The quantity of crocheted squares is gradually increasing.  I'm hoping to add a few more colours at some point!  That green, whilst pretty, is a bit dull...

And that's your lot for this week.  By the time we do all this again, we will have had The Crop and eaten lots of yummy things like this....

  

See you in a comments box (or a village hall!) near you....

Sketch Saturday #228

WELL, I needed an Anniversary card, and there was the Sketch Saturday sketch.... so here it is!  I am NOT going to be late entering this week, that's for sure.

So, here's the sketch...

 And here's my card:

What's involved:

Some DP, matting & layering, some embossing using a Cuttlebug folder, a little stamping, some DTP work with chalk inks (to get the plain coloured card to match), a little bling et Voila!  With the quantity of words on this card, I figured I could get away with skipping the sentiment!

Hope you like it!

WOYWW 174 - Happy October!

Wow – where IS the year going? 4 weeks to Halloween..... I’m not even going to count down to Christmas, it would scare me too much!

Well, the reason I’m here, and you’re here, is because it’s a Wednesday and it’s WOYWW.  If you don’t know about it – head here to the Great JD’s desk, where you will find all the deets and Mr Linky.

Once again, not a lot of change from me.  You can the domino I've been working on for The Big Crop, and also a Christmas card.  Yup, a Christmas card.  I'm partly doing it for the Sketch Saturday challenge, and partly because I need to pull my finger out and get making some cards to sell at work.  Yay.  I also did two more squares for the pile this week. This blanket is going to take me a while..... 

None of the bits on the card are stuck down yet (hence the wonkiness) as I'm not sure I'm happy with it.  In fact I'll go so far as to say I'm NOT happy with it and don't know what to do to put it right.  Watch this space...

 Here’s an update on the cross-stitch, for those that are interested...

 And a gratuitous shot of Mr B out with the dogs and me on Saturday...

So, there you, brief as brief can be, or at least my version of it!  Catch you in a comments box near you!