Make: A Simple Card

It was a family birthday yesterday, so at the weekend I created this quick card. I used a square kraft card by Woodware, purple washi tape, flowery deco tape, and Stampin Up card. The cake and candle stamps are from Studio Calico, and the sentiment and punch used to cut it are both Stampin Up also. I used a fine glue pen to stick the super fine glitter to the cupcake case and candle flame.
I hope that you like it!

Sunday Lovin' - My Silhouette Cameo picks

I love my Silhouette Cameo, and think that the Silhouette Store is pretty darned awesome! I was looking through the newest designs (I usually do this every week) and thought I'd share some of my current favourites on my 'wish list' with you!

Silhouette have just released a fabric cutting blade (as pictured above), which I cannot wait to get - I hope that it'll help me to get more into sewing by pre-cutting the fabric and then all I will need to do is learn how to use my sewing machine! I love the fox and owl sewing patterns :)

You can download some svg, gsd and dxf files for free from Daniela Angelova's blog, but she also has some awesome files in the Silhouette Store, my favourites are:

Girl dress card
Ice cream card
and the Hello card as illustrated in the picture above

I love some of the KI Memories designs, my favourite of theirs right now include:

Retro clocks
Travel Labels
Citrus slice

Other favourites include the hibiscus card by Loni Stevens, and I cannot leave out this Union flag bunting by Elizabeth Mayne... come on Team GB!!


Do you have a cutting machine? What are your favourite cutting files for it?

Bake Time - Pig Cupcakes!

I love a good cupcake, but haven't had the opportunity to bake for a while. However, just recently I invested in some new baking bits, and thought that it was worth giving them a try out!

I usually don't like using mixes, but I picked up a couple in the US last year as the baking stuff over there is so different! A strawberry cake mix, and a red velvet one. They were heading towards their use by date, so I thought I'd use the strawberry one first after I bought a bag of Marks and Spencer Percy Pig Rosy Noses and had a brain wave! I know - I'll make piggy cupcakes!

I'm not the most artistic baker, but my cakes usually turn out pretty tasty. I started coming up with the idea of what else I'd do to it.... what I'd use for the eyes, ears, and filling them with jam. The ingredients were gathered, and I started to assemble my piggy plan.....

The whole process

They were very delicious and although they haven't all been eaten yet, it won't be long until they will! Some might say that these look a bit immature or childish, but I am very proud of them.

Now, which animal shall I do next?!

11 Questions

I was tagged by the lovely Another Goldfish to answer 11 challenging questions, with the aim for us all to get to know one another better.


1.   We should always start with our strengths, so what is your best attribute?

I am persistant. I know what I want and I go for it! 

2.   What is your favourite UK city to visit?

I haven't travelled much around the UK personally. I live near Brighton, and I've wanted to live here since I was 10 years old, so perhaps that.

3. What's the best bargain you've ever found?

I like to think that I haven't yet found my best bargain. I don't keep tabs on the savings I make, but any bargain is good with me. I love to save money on things which you'll see from a blog post in a not-too-distant future

4.  Everyone has a secret talent even if it's silly or inconsequential - what's yours?

I have a great  talent with directions. Unless you've travelled somewhere with me you may not have experienced it, but once I've been somewhere once, I can pretty much get there without a sat nav or anything like that.

5.  What's you favourite type of cheese?

I like hard cheese... like Cheddar and Cheshire. I also like cream cheese as I use it when I bake cheesecakes. Jarlsberg is good in sandwiches.... I don't have a favourite as I like to think that every function has its own suited cheese.

6.  Where is your internet home?

I guess my email. Or Twitter. One of those :) I'm pretty simple. I'm also a Livejournaller, and I love reading blogs on my Google Reader. Hm.

7.  What is your preferred craft or skill (knitting, embroidery, organising, fashion)?

Scrapbooking! I love to scrapbook.

8.  If you were a food, what would you be?

Chocolate. I don't know why, I'm just a chocaholic.

9.  Give us one random fact about yourself

My eyes change colour dependant on my mood and heath. They can be anything between a grey-blue, blue, green and jade green.

10.  When you need a break or a treat, what is your favourite indulgence?

A cup of tea or latte, and a chocolate bar or a cake.

11. If you were given £500 right now what would you do with it?

Put it in a savings account. Cause I'm sensible.

Here are my questions, followed by the bloggers I would love to answer them for me (pretty please!)


1.  What are two of your worst habits?2.  If you had one day to live, what would you do?3.  What is the thing you most wish you were great at?4.  If you could have dinner with anyone in history, who would it be and what would you eat?5.  What did you do last night?6.  What is your earliest memory?7.  What is your favourite breakfast and would you have it for dinner?8.  Did you make any resolutions this year? Have you kept any of them so far?9.  What did you want to do when you 'grow up' when you were a child?10.  Would you be willing to reduce your life expectancy by 10 years to become extremely attractive or famous?11.  Are you more worried about doing things right, or doing the right things?


I tag: Skye, SJ, Lauren, Lilla, Sarah, Sophie, Emma and anyone else-if you choose to do this please link me to your entry in the comments to this post!

Sunday Lovin'--New (to me) Favourite Craft Magazines

It's not an uncommon fact that I love to read. I have a Kindle, but also like books. I never really read magazines much though, only really for the free gifts they'd have every so often.

Just recently, however, I've gotten into 2 magazines that are new to me. They aren't brand new magazines or anything, but I think they are fab and have me yearning to make almost everything in them!

They are both from the same publisher and you can get some really good discounts on subscriptions for them (which I've taken advantage of) complete with an additional free gift! I'll add sub links underneath each of the magazine descriptions.

The first is Mollie Makes, which is a pretty cool and trendy magazine, covering many different types of craft. There are some features with blog links, lifestyle photos, tutorials and patterns, and they give away some fab free gifts. You can subscribe here and you can get a free gift of a jelly roll of Amy Butler fabric.

The second is Cross Stitcher, which from the title you can tell that it is a more specialist magazine, and it features some really cool and younger style of magazine approach. Similar to Mollie Makes, if you will. It contains many a pattern to create some less old-lady style cross stitches, and you can subscribe here-free gift is a selection of cross stitching threads.

Do you read any craft magazines or specialist hobby magazines? Leave me a comment below if you do!

Where scrapbooking and clothing fashions collide--CHA Trendwatch

CHA is upon us, and Scrapbookupdate has been compiling a list of all of the sneaks of new releases. Looking at them, it made me wonder how product designers get their ideas-obviously papercrafts is somewhat different to fashion, but the scrapbooking industry in particular seem to follow clothing fashions very closely.


Beg to differ? Check out these new releases compared to fashion trends and tell me otherwise.


Here are the top fashion trends this current season:

Mint

Coral

Tropical

Sheer

Chevron

Source: Shimelle.com

Look at October Afternoon combining both mint green and chevron trends with their lovely new 'Make It Merry' range!


Trends spotted: mint green, chevron

Source: Dear Lizzy blog

I love the colours in this new Dear Lizzy line, and the sheer pink ruffle paper is incredibly pretty.


Trends spotted: sheer, mint green

Source: Echo Park blog

The 'Everyday Eclectic' range by Echo Park covers so many fashion and craft trends, I think I might want it all!


Trends spotted: mint green, coral, chevron, tropical colours

Source: Cosmo Cricket blog

I absolutely adore the cute 'S'more Love', 'Art Angel', and 'Jolly Days' ranges by Cosmo Cricket. There aren't many times when I've disliked anything by Cosmo Cricket, they are one of my favourite scrapbooking brands for sure. You should check out Debbie Olson's gorgeous creations with the new ranges here.


Trends spotted: mint green, coral, chevron




Have you seen any of this season's fashion trends in scrapbook companies new releases for summer CHA? Please share anything you've seen, and link me up too!


A special thanks to my lovely friend Mrs BeBe for helping out with whittling down this season's fashion trends!

Tea Review- Twinings Rose Garden Tea

I've been a fan of this tea for a good while now, and wanted to share with you how yummy it is. If you like Turkish delight, you're in for a treat, as I think that this tea tastes just like it. The Twinings Rose Garden tea is a black tea blended with rose petals and rose flavouring and was initially launched as a limited edition. I was pleased to see that the high demand for this line caused it to be made a more permanent product in the Twinings range, and you can buy this tea in many supermarkets as well as from the Twinings shop-where it can be bought as a regular box of 20 envelopes, or in a tin that matches the packaging as featured in the image above.


Those of you who like to save money will be pleased to know that you can get 10% all Twinings tea through Quidco, or if you fancy buying this from your local supermarket it's available from Tesco (£1.67), Asda (£1.96), Sainsburys (£2.09 but on a 2 for £3.50 deal) or you can get the tin from Waitrose for £6 (including 20 envelopes of tea).

Ten on 10--July Jewellery

For this month's ten on 10 I thought I'd show you 10 pieces of jewellery that have caught my eye lately. They aren't in any order and I can't wear necklaces, so I will just hope and dream that one day I can again....




I love Tiffany jewellery and this bracelet is pretty darned timeless.

Look at this adorable bear necklace designed by Veronica De Arriba. Her designs are available on a multitude of other mediums, and are so cute.


Forever 21 is one of my new favourite shops, and I love their jewellery-I now have my eyes on this rather cute pastel pink faceted bracelet, sweet.


This bee ring is super cute! I already have a bee ring, but I think that the button style of this ring makes it even cuter.

I really like this necklace. The colours and the design, and if you take a peek at the maker's Etsy shop, there are plenty of other lovely things to buy!

I think bright colours are brilliant, and this bracelet makes me think of fruity cocktails, yum!

A pair of these earrings would go with so much of my summer wardrobe right now, love the colours.

OK, so this is listed as an 'engagement ring' (not something I want right now!!), but this white topaz ring is lovely.

Lisa Leonard designs and makes the most gorgeous pieces, and the new 'Flutter By' necklace caught my eye.

Most of my friends know that I love a good brooch, and this plush fox one is rather adorable.

And if there was a dress I'd wear if I had the money right now, it'd be this one, how gorgeous is it?!

Have you seen any nice jewellery lately? Maybe you've written a 'ten on 10' post too... if so, leave your link in the comments below, won't you?

Sunday Lovin'... things I like right now!

Happy Sunday. I thought I'd share a few things that I think are pretty darned brill right now, things that I love and all that jazz!

Here's what has been making me happy this week:

• This adorable set of photos of an elephant at the beach
• The new edition of Mollie Makes magazine. I love it so much that I finally subscribed!

• Delicious Kinder delights from the Polish shop in the town where I'm working
• This blog (in particular the organising bits)
• This rather funkily designed infographic-have you seen any good infographics lately?!
• The rather fab Lilla's blog (I am lucky enough to call her my colleague, woot)
• This selection of nail art ideas using sticky tape

And now I'm going to spend the day relaxing as I've not had a Sunday where I've done quite almost nothing for a good while.

What's floating your boat this week?

Tea Review-Twinings Black Tea With Apple, Cinnamon, and Raisin

I have a confession to make- I am a total cinnamon lover. I'm not sure how it started, but just the smell of it makes me feel so happy. And the taste is even better. Whether it's in soup (Don't knock it 'til you try it! Give it   a go in something 'cabbagey'), or on French Toast, there's something about cinnamon that I cannot keep away from. And it's the same with this tea. It was purchased at the same time as the Queen's Diamond Jubilee Blend tea, and the lady gave me a little ceramic cup full of it to try. I was hooked. The raisin taste is delicate too, polishes it off with a sweetness that means that you do not have to add any sugar or sweetener.

This tea is even more special since you can only buy it in the UK through the Twinings shop (online or at a few locations)... I guess I'm going to have to ration it out to myself, haha.

Silhouette Cameo Back in Action! A few fave new cutting files

I have my Silhouette Cameo back in my grubby little hands and although I’ve had a few teething problems, I am happy to confirm that I can use it again!

To celebrate having it back in my life again, I thought I’d share with you a few of the cutting files that I’ve been eyeing up in the Silhouette Store recently:

• This ‘So Happy Together’ by Echo Park
• A cute vintage camera
• An awesome T Rex
• My 3-year-old nephew is totally into puzzles right now and I think I shall use this file to make him a few puzzles of his own 
• I love The Wizard of Oz, so this cutting file is something I may have to use!
• I’ve finally flung myself onto the Project Life bandwagon (fashionably late, yo) and thought these cute flower designs would look awesome in my album

Have you seen any fab cutting files for the Silhouette Cameo lately? Link me up!

Tea Review-- Twinings Queen's Diamond Jubilee Blend

I bought this tea from the Twinings stall at Westfield Stratford and it is described on the Twinings site as a 'perfect blend of loose whole leaf tea combines the rich malty second flush Assam from the Brahmaputra Valley in North Eastern Assam with the smooth, mellow Yunnan from South Western China'


I usually don't take my tea with milk (due to having a slight dairy sensitivity) and I also don't take sugar. However, I found this tea quite bitter. I'm not sure if it is meant to be, but I now have a little bit of sugar when I do drink this as I find I can taste the leaves better.


I chose the green tin as I'm all about green right now, pretty huh?