Oh well...

...this cold has obviously decided to get a lot worse before it gets better. I look myself in the mirror and my eyes are so red and watery from the cold that I look like I have been crying for hours! LOL!

Hoping I'll feel better tomorrow as it's the first day of the "My Word" class and I'm really excited about it. Journaling is something I would love to improve. I just wish my "trigger photos" would arrive. Ordered them a few days ago, but used a company I'd never used before because of a good offer. But they are not here yet and I now wished I had used somewhere where I could be sure to get my photos in 1-2 days. Oh well... I really, really, really hope they arrive with the post tomorrow.

Off to wrap myself up in a fleece blanket. I'm sooo cold and shivery...

***Edited - I seem to have got this confused. Always thought that the "MyWord" class started on the 1st...only to just discover that it's not until the 4th. LOL! Oh well, at least that should give my photos time to arrive...I hope!! ***

100 posts...

...that's what Blogger said I had made when I logged in to make this post. 100 posts and I only started my blog in November. Not bad LOL! Though I do try really, really hard to update everyday possible...

For a while now I have been wanting to make a layout with the background consisting only of photos. And today I decided to give it a go. I wasn't sure if the photos I picked were "too busy"when I started...but I think it worked out well in the end. Photos are taken in a "famous" little fishing village called Smögen on the west coast of Sweden. (So happy when I discovered two little dots on my Heidi Swapp chipboard alphabet sheet so I could create the Swedish letter "ö"!!)

...only 2 days left before the Big Picture "My Word" class starts. I'm ready...I have got my journal and my pen. My "trigger photos" are ordered (though I'm a little concerned if I will get them in time!) and I'm looking forward to the class very much!

Stash delivery...

Woke up this morning with stomach ache, headache, a sore throat and a blocked nose. Just wanted to put the covers over my head and stay in bed for the day. But I didn't. I forced myself to get up, get dressed etc and was "rewarded" two hours later with a stash delivery from AMLT :)

Finally I got the "Notepad" stamp by Fontwerks that I had been after for a long time. In fact I was so inspired by my stash that, despite freezing so much I needed several layers of clothes, I started cutting papers and making a layout straight away.

Papers are from the new Metropolis range by Scenic Route, the words are glittery rub-ons by Li'l Davies, then my very much loved new "Notepad" stamp, some buttons and a chipboard arrow (by Heidi Swapp I think...). Photos are taken at the beach just a few hundred metres from my parents' summer house in Sweden.

Memories...

Finished my layout and here it is as promised. LOL! Chipboard title so it can be for the Product Playground class. Papers are by Imaginisce and cardstock is Bazzill as usual.

Cooking boeuf bourguignon at the moment and the whole house is smelling like heaven! Really can't wait! It's a recipe that mum and dad sent to me last week and a recipe which I'm used to dad making on Sundays when I was little. So lots of nice memories! Haven't had it for years...

Happy girl...

What do you need for a green iPod Nano?

Matching green speakers!! Thought a lot about getting these speakers (thanks Gill for the recommendation!), found a good price at Amazon and went for it...

Working on a layout which I will share tomorrow...

What a bargain...

We went food shopping in ASDA last night and just as we were leaving, Ross spotted a stand of reduced computer games at....wait for it....50 pence (!!) each!! Silly price really! And there were lots of puzzle games (love puzzle games) so we bought six games for the incredible total of £3! So if you love your puzzle games and have an ASDA nearby, it might be worth seeing if they do them too...

Here's another layout for the Product Playground class using chipboard as part of the title. Cardstock is Bazzill and papers are Chatterbox. Sorry, layout looks horrible in this photo and not straight at all. To be honest I couldn't be bothered to re-take the photo...LOL!

Not too many days until the "My Word" journaling class on Big Picture Scrapbooking starts. I really can not wait!

Hoping you all are having a great Friday...

Chipboard...

First of all I want to share the recipe I came up with for making nice pancakes that are dairy, gluten, wheat and egg free since Dale Anne asked for it. Here you go (this makes about 7-8 small pancakes):

50 grams of rice flour
50 grams of potato flour
2 teaspoons of eggreplacer (I used the brand: Ener-G)
300 millilitres (=o,3 litres) of unsweetened soya milk
pinch of salt

Whisk everything together until you have a smooth batter. Let stand in the fridge for at least one hour (this is important for it to thicken to a good consistency!) Fry as normal. After some testing I would recommend doing your frying in oil. Soyabutter/margarine burns (and smells disgusting!) in the high temperature you need to fry good pancakes. Would love to hear how it goes for anyone trying this. :) Enjoy!!

...and today is a new week for the Product Playground class I'm taking. This week it's all about chipboard. I really, really loved last week and the buttons!! I do love working with chipboard too...but I still wonder if it can beat last week...

Anyway, here's a layout which I just made (see...I couldn't help sneaking in a few buttons too! LOL!) Papers are by Chatterbox. I can't make my mind up if it's a bit too bare and I should have added something more or not...in the end I decided not to. Still not sure though...LOL!

Well, I never thought it was possible...

Can I ask you what this is please...?

Does it contain dairy products?

No!

Does it contain eggs?

No!!

Does it contain wheatflour?

No!!!

Is it a pancake???

Yes, yeeees, YEEEEES!!!! *dances around the house in happiness* I really honestly never ever thought you could make pancakes without dairy products, eggs AND wheatflour. Swapping out one of the ingredients...yes, maybe you'd end up with something half decent. But all? Not a chance I would have said last week! However it took use three attempts and two days to reach this.

We started on Monday. The first batch of batter didn't smell very nice. We made one pancake and tasted it as the second one was cooking. OMG I thought it was horrible! So did Ross. In the bin it went with the rest of the batter. We washed the bowl and whisk and started on another batch. Now we were getting somewhere. It looked like a pancake (though slightly pale), it tasted like a pancake (though only a bit) and the texture was pretty okay...but quite chewy.

So yesterday we gave it another go. And guess what? It tasted sooooo nice!!! If you had served them to anyone and not said anything, I can guarantee they would not have thought anything about it and believed they ate "real" pancakes!!! That is incredible!!! I feel like the almost impossible has been achieved and I'm sooooo happy that I can eat pancakes again...

And before I go, for Michelle that asked: the clear buttons are by Hero Arts and I bought them from Happy Stampers. Hope that helps :)

Nice post delivery...

...and it's that day when my Scrap-Room kit decided to arrive - best post delivery of the month! :) As usual, some nice kits! I soooo love the fact that it's a four-in-one kit. And also I got the stamps which are cool. Next month I will start getting the extra embellishment kit too - something that I have been thinking about for a while. I really, really love this kit you know...it's so varied, you really don't need to buy any other stash (if you don't want that is...LOL!)

And talking about Scarp-Room, I have done another layout with an old SR kit this morning. All part of the Product Playground class again (ie doing something using buttons). I have been covering (well, backing really!) clear buttons with patterned paper again and I really love this technique. Makes them so unique and original. Layout features my brother and the papers are by Chatterbox. Sorry about the light...the background looks really strange. It's just a textured sheet of Bazzill cardstock with charcoal chalking around the edges in real life. LOL!

Buttons...

I'm still really enjoying this week of the Product Playground class. I don't know why I love playing with buttons so much - but I do. In fact I don't want it to become Thursday so we get a new supply to work with LOL!

We have a totally grey and boring day here today (but at least no rain so far!) so what better thing to do than making another button layout. I decided to pick some older photos to scrap and these are from Christmas 2005. I picked an old Scrap-Room kit and used papers by Paper Salon. I had 6 (!) photos that I wanted to fit on the layout so it took some time before I came up with a design that worked.

Why...

...when we finally have a craft shop within walking distance, does it have to shut down?!? It's not fair! I'm trying to think when it opened and I think it's only managed to be there about a year. Very sad! Maybe I didn't spend a fortune in there, but I was still in there quite often when I needed little bits of stash urgently. Typical! Guess it's back to mail-order only again... Oh well...

On a happier note, I have just made another layout for the Product Playground class featuring buttons. Had lots of fun making this page and I was very pleased that I managed to use three 15x10 cm (6x4 inches) photos on an A4 page (yes I scrap true A4 - not 11x8,5 inches). Papers are Chatterbox and chipboard letters are by Heidi Swapp.

This is fun...

I have discovered I really love backing clear buttons with patterned paper!! (So if you have any clear buttons you don't use, you know where to send them please....only joking! LOL!)

This is a scraplift from an old issue of Scrapbooks Etc. A layout which I really loved and put a post-it note on at the time as something I must try. The blue patterned paper is by Scenic Route, the others are backs of Chatterbox papers and then just lots of random little embellishments, including my made buttons.

Buttons and brads...

It's a new week for the BPS Product Playground class and this week's items are "buttons and brads". This will sooo suit me!! I think I use either or both on most layouts I make at the moment anyway. So I will just make a point of being a bit more creative with them and P-L-A-Y a bit more...

Just created this card. Which will probably be my sister's birthday card. The centre buttons of the flowers are clear buttons backed with patterned papers. The stem is made using Banana Frog stamps and the whole card (paper and card) is made from scraps. Makes you feel soooo great when you do that. I challenge you to try just that (making something just using scraps) today and then let me know how you get on...

Happy Valentine's Day...

Wanting to wish you all a Happy Valentine's Day. Whether you're spending it alone or together with someone you love, I hope you all have a very special day and evening today!

I got a gorgeous card with the cutest puppies on it and some amazing flowers this morning! And not only that, but I have been told I have a present to come too which has been a bit delayed - so something more (secret!) to look forward to in a few days! Exciting...

Guess what? The water people have decided to turn our water off for 6 (!) hours today. Isn't that nice of them? So I'm hoping it will come back tonight before it's time to cook. We've got the largest tigerprawns I have ever seen which I'm going to cook in white wine, chilli and garlic... served with (gluten-free) spagetti! Yummy!!

...and now I can share the Valentine's card I made for Ross last weekend. I asked him what colour card he wanted and he said "green"...so I made him a quite green one. The phrase is something I loved which I saw on a card in a cardmaking magazine the other week, so I borrowed that for my card.

This morning I have made another layout for the Product Playground class. It's the last day for "frames and corners" - tomorrow it will be something new. This layout is a scraplift from a Scrapbooks Etc issue from last year and features my brother and his girlfriend. And I managed a frame - a drawn one around the journaling, but still a frame...

Happy day...

My magazine finally arrived!! I almost thought it was lost in the post. I really love Scrapbooks Etc!! I discovered it about a year ago and now I think it's gone past Creating Keepsakes (which I still get) as my favourite magazine. I just suddenly found one day, kinda to my surprise, that I marked (post-it notes at the top of the pages) more pages in an average Scrapbooks Etc than a Creating Keepsakes magazine.

To Pauline who recently commented on an older post: that sounds very interesting thanks. Looking forward to hearing from you. Really appreciate it!

Looks like we might be going to IKEA tonight - very excited! Love the shop and love it even more to go in the "Sweden food shop" at the end - feels like home! LOL!

Okay back to cutting out flowers for my latest layout idea...

I want my magazine...

Managed to use both a frame and corners on the layout I made today for the Product Playground class! I used Bazzill cardstock and Chloe's Closet papers, Li'l Davies chipboard letter and Chatterbox frame.

And having a bit of a sulk as my Scrapbooks Etc magazine hasn't turned up yet. Everyone else seemed to get theirs on Saturday. So I had big hopes for today. Did the postman bring my magazine? Nooooo...

Yummy...

Well the chocolate and coconut cake that I did turned out very yummy!! We had one piece each yesterday and will have one each tonight. (It was only a very small and thin cake!) I think next time I might do a double batch of mixture to make it a little taller. It turned out....how do you explain is...like somewhere between chewy biscuits and candy. But very nice!! ("Julie S" who commented yesterday, if you see this, would you mind adding your e-mail address in the comments section please. I'd love to contact you regarding the recipes you mentioned please).

And I have been doing a little something for the Product Playground class using a frame and at the same time it's suitable for Valentine's Day (or indeed any other occasion if you swap the papers). Just a little something that you can hang up somewhere and fill with something nice (stash? candy? chocolates?) for someone you love "just because"...

Snow...

We had a bit of a snowstorm last night. It snowed nonstop from about six until midnight. I can't help it, but I really love it when it's snowing. Soooo cosy!! You just can't help getting excited by it when you see how pretty it is outside.

Unfortunately today it's not minus degrees anymore so the snow is rapidly disappearing and turning into slush - yuck!

This afternoon I have been making a Valentine's card for Ross. But since I know he reads my blog, I'd better not put up a picture of it!!

...and right now I'm experimenting by making a chocolate cake from a book I got for Christmas. It will be totally dairy, gluten, wheat, barley, rye and egg free (!!). When you cook like that, you kinda learn not to have too high hopes on things. However I can report that the cake mixture tasted incredibly yummy (YESSS!!!)...sweet and chocolatey and no-one could guess it's a bit "different". Let's see how the cake turns out...

A little box for my stamps...

Recently the Scrap-Room kit that I subscribe to have started having an add-on of clear acrylic stamps. Which I of course couldn't resist. WHo can? Only I know me and if I don't have the stamps to hand, they won't be used. So I have thought of a good way of storing these little packets for a while now. And I decided to join my mission with my Product Playground class and do something with a frame...

The only suitable and quite small thing I could find was one of those standard ugly cardboardboxes (should have taken a "before" photo really, it was that ugly and full of brown tape too )...that when you cut in half you see a wavy middle. That was what I had that would be suitable, so that was what it had to be. After a little paper (Basic Grey and Imagination Project), a lot of double-sided tape and quite a few buttons (there---> I have my frame - a frame of buttons!! LOL!) I ended up with my little box to hold my stamp packets.

I chose the Basic Grey paper for the outside as it's "cheery and happy" and it makes me smile. And when you're going to have something on display it's nice if it makes you smile...

Excited...

I have been thinking about it for a few days and I'm so excited as I finally signed up for the My Word Big Picture Scrapbooking class last night!!! I really can't wait and it now feels so right - like I definitely made the right decision. I guess journaling is something we can all do with improving on and for me it really seems like a good thing to do. So often I find myself thinking about how on earth to write something without it sounding "silly" or "stupid" (or at least worrying that it will do). So I feel really, really excited about this class and I can honestly say ---> I can't wait for it to start!!

We've been recommended either the "Uni Power Tank" or the "Pilot Permaball" pen for the "My Word" class. Anyone know if you can get these in the UK please? Or something similar? I've been doing some searches but I'm pretty much stuck at the moment - so I'd really appreciate some help and advice here please.

...and talking about classes. Today was the second week of Product Playground, so it was time for a new item (or in this case itemS!) to play with. This week it's "frames and corners". Corners will be lots of fun! I like making my own corners from matching cardstock etc so I will have lots of fun playing with that. Now frames is something else...something I don't use very much...and indeed, quite often not really like either. But then I started thinking that a frame doesn't have to be the "typical rectangular" ones we normally associate it with. As long as it's FRAMING something, it has to be a frame no matter what shape it is. And once I thought of this, I really liked the idea. Especially since I discovered how much I enjoyed using my circles yesterday - they can be frames!!

Anyway, I have been sitting here in the snow (well not literally, but it's been snowing outside since nine this morning and still is - sooo cosy!!) working on my first layout for the class using corners. I used Basic Grey and Fancy Pants papers and well...it's pretty much a scraplift from a layout in the "Top Ten" Creating Keepsakes.

Last day...

Today (I believe?) is the last day for the bookplates section of the Product Playground class I'm taking over at Big Picture Scrapbooking. So I figured my goal for today was to make at least one layout using a bookplate...

This is made using Scenic Route papers and I got the idea for the circles from a recent copy of Creating Keepsakes. I'm starting to really get to like working with circles so I can see myself using a bit more of those in the future.

Exciting, exciting, exciting...what will tomorrow's new item be for Product Playground I wonder...

Okay I'm off to do some boring, but necessary, stuff like sorting out some washing, putting the machine on etc...

I took the challenge...

You know when you have one of those days...Your wake up and feel generally unmotivated, your head hurts and you feel like you're coming down with something and creativity is as far away from your brain as possible? That was my morning today.

I really wanted to scrap, I had made sure I had the time to do it, but still it just wasn't happening. I couldn't find any energy and ideas for it. Yet I really wanted to do another layout for the Product Playground class. So I want to thank Carin for setting me the following challenge, which got me scrapping:

At least 70% has to be covered with patterned paper. Use a colour you won't often use (even if it's on a tiny embellishment) and put some of your title in a bookplate.

And this is what I came up with. (The background cardstock is actually white - even though on the photo it looks blue at the bottom!) I definitely passed on the 70% patterned paper (Chatterbox - both the striped and the blue) and using a colour I don't normally use (BRIGHT red on the title). As for the "part of title in bookplate" I guess you could argue if I really did that or not. I figured that putting some of the title in the bookplate would mean the title had to be very small. And it didn't really work for what I wanted. So I compromised and put the date in the bookplate instead.

More cards...

Been playing around with my bookplates again. Managed another two cards today which I have just finished. First one is a "Thank You" card. Not my normal colours at all (pink, purple and baby blue) so I'm not sure what I think of it yet LOL! But still, I had fun making it and I enjoyed making the base card a bit different by making the back larger than the front (see the two-toned lilac/purple card, which you can see is darker on the inside).

I also make a "Happy Birthday" card using several squares with rounded corners to make the "background". Again, I set myself the challenge to only use scraps of paper and card to make these cards. It's soooo rewarding when you succeed and you see how much use you can actually get out of scraps (that is IF you use them in the first place, and not just keep saving them! LOL!) I decided to use a black pen and "dot" the bookplate to make it a bit more different and hopefully give it a more "designed" look.

By the way: Blogger seem to have had an ongoing problem for a week or so with showing photos (I know it's not only my blog that's affected). If a photo doesn't get displayed, RIGHT-click on it and choose "Show Picture" and it should appear. Hope that helps :)

Don't you just hate it...

...when you have no internet connection?!! Our internet has been down almost all day and has just come back up. So this will be a very quick update (in case it goes again) showing you my latest layout (can't decide whether I like this or not) using bookplates for the Product Playground class...

Bookplate mania...

Well my Sizzix oval bookplates die did arrive about 30 minutes after I posted on here yesterday. And I love it. I have now got another pile of bookplates painted and cut. A whole 56 (!!) of them. Someone better get creative...

I also finished my first layout for the Product Playground class yesterday. And I managed to use four bookplates on it so I felt pretty pleased that the goal had been achieved. Papers are by Scenic Route and bookplates are cut with my Sizzix, painted with acrylics and then Glossy Accents on top. Still trying to finish off my second layout...

Quick bookplates project...

Waiting, waiting, waiting... For the postman that is. Told you we get our post late!! Still have hopes that my oval bookplates die will arrive today though...

Managed a quick bookplates project yesterday. (For those wondering: "grattis" is Swedish for "congratulations"). But I set myself a double challenge. Not only to use the bookplates (which was part of the Product Playground class I'm taking this month), but also to use nothing but scraps. Paper is by Chatterbox and everything is scraps...even down to the ribbon and the Bazzill that makes up the base of the card. Just shows you how useful scraps can be...!

I'm currently working on my first layout for Product Playground. Well I'm actually working on two layouts. One is nearly done. The other one I'm having problems with at the moment, I keep moving things around on the cardstock and I just can't seem to find anything I like (that's why I started on the second one). Time to browse some scrapping magazines for inspiration me thinks...

Time to play...

First of all I want to answer a question yesterday from Toni-Ann about the title on my chipboard book and whether it was done using a printer or stamps. It was all done using my printer. I just played around with different fonts on my computer until I found something that I liked. Hope that helps :)

And now it's ---> time to play! The Product Playground class has officially started!! I really didn't expect to find any info until in the afternoon our time (thinking: morning-ish in the US), but there it was all ready when I turned the computer on this morning. How exciting!

I have spent all morning cutting bookplates (which this week is about) with my Sizzix machine (I'm expecting the oval bookplates die too - which will hopefully arrive tomorrow!) and then painting them with different acrylic paints.

Now it's time to play and see what I can come up with using them...