The past month in photos

Phew, the past month has been a crazy one! So much happening, school holidays, the Jubilee, a heat wave, followed by torrential downpours. Craziness. So here's the month in photos, enjoy (Please note, blogger has uploaded these in the completely wrong order, but I dont have the energy to rearrange it all!):

Our Jubilee trifle & the girls dressed up for their Jubilee party at school.

A treat for myself :-)

Some painting time.

Some stitching time.

Some Wii time, boogeying away ;-)

The birthday girl, this was in the middle of her party.

Sewing a little something

Making pretties for my home <3

More sewing :-)

An empty ironing basket, this is momentus!!!

A little bit of crochet

Enjoying the sunshine & some baking

Finding a new place to explore :-)

More crochet, these are all WIP's, that I'll do a better post on soon.

My little 'garden' got flooded :-( 

I know nothing about gardening but was proud of how well everything was coming along, until the rains came & the snails & slugs had a feast on everything.

This isnt my garden, this was at the garden centre. I can only wish to one day have flowers like this!!

I attempted polka dotted nails, as polka dots make everything better :-)

A treat in the sunshine

Some painting

Setting up for the Jubilee (pre rain & slugs)

K's Jubilee Crown

Finishing WIP's. This one was started over a year ago, & its finally finished. Very fitting for the current weather.

& thats it!!

**I've become slightly addicted to Instagram, my username is lisapinke, feel free to follow me & let me know your username so I can follow you back!!**

Ok, its now absolutely hammering it down with rain, & I have to go out soon, so Im off to do my little dance to the Sun Gods to make it stop please!!!!

Happy Friday.

xxx

The one where we celebrated a birthday!

This weekend saw my lovely Miss K celebrating her 8th birthday. It was a manic weekend! She had 2 friends come for tea after school on Friday, then a family party on Saturday (which, to be honest, was very overwhelming for her, even though it was all people she knew well. She spent most of it in my bedroom playing on her guitar. This autism thing is so hard to predict, some things she copes so well with, others not so much) then yesterday we went to the zoo, which was fun but blooming freezing! Such a busy weekend, it was definitely hard work getting myself & the girls out of bed this morning & off to school in time.

Miss K is currently loving Lala Loopsy dolls, so that was the theme of her cake. It was a 2 layer Marble cake, with pink frosting. The buttons & flowers were made from white fondant, & the finishing touch was a Lala Loopsy doll (with 2 little friends) sitting on top.

Apologies for the poor photo, I have to admit I had a 'mare with making this, & so this final cake was made on Sat morning & finished about 10 minutes before the guests arrived! I had to snap a quick Iphone photo whilst I had the chance!

The birthday girl loved the cake, which made the stress worthwhile! In fact it was in her words 'the best birthday ever!'

***

Anyone for cake?

Guess what I spent today doing??

xxx

Autumn

It's half term here, & it's been a tough few weeks. Poorly children make for a sad Mummy. All motivation has left the building, & I need it to come back!

So, to cheer myself up, here's some recent photos of what we have been up to.

I love Autumn, it's definately my fave season :-)

Autumn walks.

Making new friends.

Waiting to be carved.

Autumnal cowl for me, in progress. Just loving the colours.

Boozy fruit for the xmas cake, to be prepared.

xxx

Chocolately Baking :-)

The week before last was 'Chocolate Week' & last week was 'National Baking Week', so in honour of this, I made an absolutely yummy Chocolate Marble Cake.

** To be honest, I'd finally treated myself to a cake stand (& a gorgeous pink girlie it is!) so I needed something to bake!**

I'm not sure where the recipe originated, I thought it might be the Rachel Allen recipe from the BBC web, but after just checking the site, it's not. The recipe I wrote down stated to cook the cake for 25-30 minutes, but when I checked the cake, the inside was completely uncooked. I let it bake for nearly an hour & it was perfect. I also treated myself to some Green & Blacks cocoa for this cake. I normally use whatever is in the cupboard, but the chocolate taste is normally very weak when done this way. Let me tell you that after using Green & Blacks, I will never go back to any old cocoa for baking. The chocolate taste (& colour) was absolutely lush & creamy.



Chocolate Marble Yumminess Cake (Original Recipe Author Unknown)

200g Butter
200g Caster Sugar
150g Self Raising Flour sifted
50g Plain Flour sifted
4 Eggs
3Tbsp Cocoa sifted (Preferably Green & Blacks!! it's definately worth it!!)

Preheat oven to 180.
Grease & line cake tin.
Cream together the butter & sugar.
Beat the eggs together, then add half the eggs to the butter, plus a spoonful of flour. Mix to combine, then add the rest of the eggs & combine.
Once all the eggs have been combined, add the flour & mix, but don't overmix, otherwise the cake's texture will be tough.
Seperate the cake mixture into two bowls. Add cocoa to one bowl & mix well.
Spoon large dollops of each mixture into the cake tin, until all the mixture is used, level the mixture, then using a knife, swirl the mixture to create the marble effect.
Bake the cake for 45-55 mins, until the cake is springy to touch, comes away from the sides of the tin & when a skewer is inserted, it somes out clean. Cool for 5 mintues, then turn out onto a baking rack to finish cooling.

The original recipe called for the cake to be dusted with icing sugar, but I was needed more of a chocolate fix so I made a batch of chocolate butter frosting (using the Hummingbird Bakery recipe) & added chocolate star decorations for an added touch.

Enjoy!! xxx


xxx

Blueberry Muffin Yumminess!!

Is Yumminess an actual word?

Who knows?

Anyway, today I made a batch of blueberry muffins, so thought I'd share the recipe with you. The recipe was given to me a few years ago by a friend, since then I have tweaked it a bit!!

Blueberry Muffins.

9oz Plain flour

3tsp (15ml) baking powder

half a teaspoon (2.5ml) salt

3oz Muscovado sugar (the original recipe uses white granulated sugar)

1 egg

8fl oz milk

3 oz butter, melted. 

Blueberries (I used 1 pack)

OPTIONAL- Cinnamon, porridge oats, brown sugar.

Preheat oven to 190-200C.

Prepare muffin tin with liners. This makes 12 muffins.

Sift together the flour, baking powder & salt in a large bowl. Stir in the sugar & make a well in the centre. (I usually add a tsp or 2 of cinnamon, but this is optional).

In a seperate bowl, beat the egg, then add the milk & melted butter.

Pour the wet ingredients into the dry & stir, until combined. The batter will be lumpy, but no dry flour should be visible. Do not overmix the mixture.

Add the blueberries & stir in quickly.

Fill the cake liners to 3/4 full. Sprinkle the tops of the muffins with porridge oats & brown sugar. This gives the muffins a crunchy top.

Cook in the centre of the oven for 20-25 mins, until the tops of the muffins are lightly browned.

Remove from oven & carefully take muffins out of the muffin tin & put them on a baking rack to cool. Be careful as the blueberries will be HOT!! I take them out of the tim straight away to stop them cooking in the hot tin.

When cooled, enjoy with a cuppa!!

                           xxx



To Do List Update.

Well unfortunately I only completed 4 of the things on my To Do List. But I did spend some lovely time with my family, which makes up for it. I guess my girls will only be little for a short time, & pretty soon wont want to spend time with me, so I'll take what I can!! But it is nice to have time for me, & a Happy Mum = Happy Family.

So here are the things I completed:

The Foxy Lady Stuffie, from Mollie Makes magazine. Am planning on making a large sized one as a cushion for Miss M.

Embroidered bunting for my friend Helen to use at her first craft fair. I really love how the letters stand out, so much so that I'm thinking of making some to sell :-)

& finally Snickerdoodles!! That did not last long, lol!

I thought I'd taken a photo of the Wobbly Granny, with the latest progress, but I cannot find trace of the photo, so you will have to take my word for it ;-)

xxx

Plans For The Weekend....

So, it's Friday afternoon, the girls have finished school, homework has been done, & once I know the Husband is on his way home, dinner will be underway. The girls have been back at school for just over 2 weeks, & we've all found it exhausting getting back into our routine to be honest. Especially Miss K, who is completely wiped out, therefore no major plans have been made for the weekend, except rest & time with the family.

However, I have noticed that even when we dont have plans, I dont seem to get any of my stuff done, is this a Mum thing? Everyone else in resting & doing their own thing, & I still cooking, cleaning etc. So, after having a lightbulb moment regarding this very subject today, I have decided to make a list of all the little crafty/baking things I have been wanting to get done & post it here as a motivational tool.

So, ta-dah!! Here is 'The List':

-Finish the 'Foxy Lady stuffie from the 2nd issue of Mollie Makes.
-Sew a vintage inspired table runner for my lovely friend Sarah.
-Finish the embroidery part of the bunting I am making for my other lovely friend Helen.
-Bake Snickerdoodles (& eat them whilst they are still warm from the oven!)
-Teach Miss M to cross stitch.
-Finish the Xmas cross stitch house decorations from Cross Stitcher magazine.
-Start a scarf for Me!!
-Complete 2 more rounds on the Wobbly Granny.
-Paint photoframes.
-Unravel the ball of wall that Miss L-R got hold of (this may take a while!!)

Hmmm, I'm not sure of my chances in getting the whole list done, but I'm going to do my best. I will still have cooking, cleaning & laundry to do, but I really want to concentrate on my stuff for once, instead of everyone elses. Im sure that will sound selfish to some,& maybe it is. But a Happy Mummy/Wife is so much better than a stressed, grumpy Mummy/Wife, LOL.

Edit: I was planning on writing this post just before collecting the girls from school, but instead managed to tick something off the list already!! Woo hoo!! Its worked out brilliantly as right now I'm stuck on the sofa, with a sleeping 2 yr old on my lap. It's actually quite akward to write a blog one handed!

Update:8:50am,Sunday. Well, we spent most of yesterday at the park, so have only managed to cross one more thing off my list! The Wobbly Granny has 2 more completed rounds, plus a 1/4 of the next round done.......Yay! Let's see how much more I can get done today (although the Husband is not feeling well & the kids are having one of those 'I Need Mummy For Everything' days!!)

xxx