Matryoshka Dolls Card

Adam bought me the Quick Cards craft magazine last week and it had a template in for Matryoshka Dolls.

There is also a free templete (slightly different design) Template1 or Template2

Since it was coming up to my niece's 2nd birthday party today and her little tea party at my parents was yesterday I made this card for her.

It was a little time consuming cutting out the little pieces to paper piece this together but for my first attempt it turned out pretty cute.

Papers used were from a free Garden Rose 6x6 paper pad a got free with a different magazine a month or two ago but I cant remember the name of the pad.Ill check and update this post tomorrow when I find where I put it.

I wasnt very good at drawing in the faces and the blush on the cheeks I stamped a rubber from the top of my pencil in and stamped them on faces , I should of really thought about it before I did that as the little doll has huge rosey cheeks!! I also put a number 2 mini peal off just above the trim on the big doll after I took this picture.

This is them all layed flat. Only problem as I used a 6x6 pad I had to cut the dresses separate so I didnt waste alot of paper I just traced the bottom half of the body so I only ended up using one 6x6 piece but I noticed as I folded them the paper on the hinge started to curl - argh!! Good job Amelia is only 2 and she wont really notice this :-)

Thanks for looking x

Bathroom Remodel - update

So this is what I have been upto!!

We gutted our bathroom and took out the bath as we only ever use the shower (which was over the bath).

Stupid me forgot to take a before photo!! But from the above picture you can sort of make out where the bath and toilet were.

And sink was were the new shower tray is. The back wall is new as it used to have huge window which we have blocked up as there is matching one on the other side. Yes you can see the lovely Blackpool beach yellow stripe paint i did!! LOL it was great as when in shower before when sun was shining in window it was lovely and bright but no one liked it but me :-)

New toilet was put where the old one was as was too big of job to be moving the soil pipe. Shower and towel radiator put on new wall. Creamy/beige tiles with mosaic boarder and tiled floor it looks lovely and modern.

This will be my new vanity when its finished and it will have mirror on wall behind sink and doors on cupboard. I think we are going to cut down worktop as you can rest elbow on when your on the loo and I dont really want that. And the pipes to side of the cupboard are being boxed in with a little tile shelf to hide them. Will take picture when its all finished which will be hopefully before the end of the week.

Thanks for looking :-)

Happy Valentines Day!

Happy Valentines Day all.

I was very busy this weekend and being as nice as I am I made lots of cupcakes and cookies for my work colleagues.

These are mini Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese frosting and mini chocolate hearts on top. I made about 50!! Yes this is a huge egg tray they are in they fit perfect and I put the lid on and it was perfect to transport them too work.

I had never tasted Red Velvet Cupcakes before and they were all over when I was in America in Nov but for some reason I never tried them. I bought a box of the cake mix and the tub of cream cheese frosting from wallmart as they were sealed Duncan Haines. Since I have only been on my new account for 2 months and not many people know me they were a bit wary of trying them!! (which upset me alittle as Id spent all weekend cooking! But my new manager had quite a few and told the rest of the team how nice they were and that I'm not going to poison them - long and short of it they didn't last much longer after that)

I also made some sugar heart cookies with marshmallow fondant on the top they were delicious!!!



Hope everyone is happy and feeling loved today even if your single :-)

Love Sam

Anniversary Card and Cake

30 years ago today my parents were married.

I made them the canvas which I posted last time I also made them a card and a cake (my first attempt at making and decorating a cake!)

This is the card I made for them using papers from Joanna Sheen Backing Paper Pad Victorian Calligraphy and a vintage decoupage picture by Search Press. I used some vintage cream lace, silk ribbon roses misted with Bronze Cosmic Shimmer Mist. I made some hat pins with plain white seamstress pins and glued pearls on and added white peal off numbers.

I made some roses and leaves from marshmallow fondant which I made by melting some marshmallows with a little water in the microwave and mixed with icing sugar until it forms a ball of fondant. You have to be very careful when melting the marshmallows and watch them like a hawk while they are in microwave (as I discovered! I was talking to my brother and forgot about them and they bubbled up and exploded in the microwave making it huge gluey mess!!!!)
I tried to make the roses like Ive saw the paper ones with a 5 petal flower cookie cutter but this didn't really work as the fondant gets too sticky the more you handle it. So i used the flower cutter and used one of the petals to cut out 8 or 9 individual petals and shaped them into a rose. it was very fiddly and time consuming but for my first attempt they turned out ok. For the leaves I used a round pastry cutter with the jagged edge and cut a half circle then cut it again to form a leave then used the back of a knife for the veins.

The cake was very lumpy and hard to cover with the rolled icing. I have been watching alot of "Cake Boss" on TV and I love the cakes they make. I am only a beginner when it comes to cake decorating but my mam was so pleased Id made the effort and it was a surprise. The cake was make from 2x 8" round cakes stacked with Jam and butter cream in each layer. I covered the full cake with cutter cream them covered the cake in rolled icing. It was very hard to get the icing to roll to the size of the cake so I did a bit of a bodge job and icied in panels. The pink trim is the marshmallow fondant. I used the left over butter cream with some red food die to to the shell border and the writing as you can tell I dont have a very steady hand.

All in all the cake was pretty tastey even tho it wasnt a master peice :-)

Updates

I have managed to get quite a few things ticked off on my to-do list below:

1 Start Weight Watchers - Im doing quite well I have lost about 4-5 pounds
2 Take down xmas stuff
3 Tidy front and backgarden
4 Finish Layla and Lindons Scrapbooks
5 Finish Charlize Ablum and May's pregs card - making scrapbook instead of card
6 Decorate Bedroom
7 Remodel Bathroom/Downstairs loo - Money permitting! Plumber coming out tomorrow to give us a price quote.
8 Decorate Craftroom
9 Decoarte Little Adams Bedroom
10 Decorate Passage/Loft hatch
11 Start Manila Approval Training at work
12 Start wedding organising - way me and Adam are at the minute this is on hold!!
13 Finish decoarting Kitchen
14 Finish NVQ course at work - Cancelled as work not willing to pay funding!!
15 Do grandads memorial Canvas for nan
16 Make a effort to get done up and go out with Adam
17 Make something special for mam and dads 30th wedding anniversary - will also be making them a cake nearer the time.
18 Get blog updated
19 Complete Family Tree Scrapbook
20 Keep on top of housework
21 Finish Birthday/Anniversary Card book
22 Exercise more
23 Bath Dog
24 Make 4 Birthday Cards for Feb
25 Get to Dentist



Pictures from decorating at the weekend:

Dad laying carpet in bedroom for me :-)

Buster taking to the new bedding already - I think he approves!!

I love the new carpet and bedding. I need to varnish the headboard to match the bedside tables and I dont know if I like the brown paint I think I will change this to a Mocha - what do you think?

Love to all x



Canvas Project & 31 Goal updates

Hope everyone is well.

I have been off work for a week on sick. Ive not been sleeping so wandering around like a zombie, having a few panic attacks and me and Adam are going through a bit of a rough patch.

I have taken all the Christmas stuff down, I went and ordered the carpet for my bedroom that comes on Monday, Adams dad is coming over tomorrow to plaster around the new loft hatch so we can paint. I spoke to the plumber about my bathroom today and he is going to give me a ring when he is free to come give me an estimate on how much its going to cost - probably not cheap :-(

Last night I was up till about 4am making a canvas for my mam and dads wedding anniversary.



I have also been sticking to my weight watchers and walking the dog more. I got weighed at the dietitian on Thursday and I have lost 2 pounds.

Hope everyone is well

Sam x

New Year Challenges

Hey All and Happy New Year!!

Marion Smith - APieceofCraftdotcom created a 31 days, 31 videos, 31 goals Challenge on YouTube I was mega tempted to take part but I am just too busy and dont have the time to make a video everyday - pathetic excuse I hear you all saying :-)

I will be challenging myself to get some things done but I dont think I would be able to get 31 done.

I started my list on New Years Eve and made a video yesterday but for some reason it wont upload and I am already 3 days behind everyone else I was supposed to start on the first so maybe next time.

1 Start Weight Watchers
2 Take down xmas stuff
3 Tidy front and backgarden
4 Finish Layla and Lindons Scrapbooks
5 Finish Charlize Ablum and May's pregs card
6 Decorate Bedroom
7 Remodel Bathroom/Downstairs loo - Money permitting!
8 Decorate Craftroom
9 Decoarte Little Adams Bedroom
10 Decorate Passage/Loft hatch
11 Start Manila Approval Training at work
12 Start wedding organising
13 Finish decoarting Kitchen
14 Finish NVQ course at work
15 Do grandads memorial Canvas for nan
16 Make a effort to get done up and go out with Adam
17 Make something special for mam and dads 30th wedding anniversary
18 Get blog updated
19 Complete Family Tree Scrapbook
20 Keep on top of housework
21 Finish Birthday/Anniversary Card book
22 Exercise more
23 Bath Dog
24 Make 4 Birthday Cards for Feb
25 Get to Dentist

 The ones in red I have done the tree down is the next task as its doing my head in the cats keep climbing it! I started Weight Watchers with old books I had from a few years back I am just going to do it myself as its too expensive for me at the minute to be going to the classes. So far I hate it lol because I love food and cant stand weighing out food! BUT I must do it this year!! Wish me luck!