Ramblers Card.

Evening all, I won't say "good" because it's peeing down here in Chester.I managed to get back from town before it started though.

A friend of mine rang the other night to ask me to make a card for someone who has just completed the Wainwrigh'ts walks across the Pennines. I remember my dad doing this years ago. He used to walk for miles.In the days of using just wooden stamps, I'd have had to say no but I searched Google images and came up with a nice map to use as background paper and found a great image from Artur's Clipart  HERE.

And here's the result. I even managed to find some walking boots. I resized them, coloured them, then coated them with glossy accents.

The card base is 6"x6".

Well, I need to get myself into the kitchen now. Speedy is still not managing to eat properly and being quite picky, so I've put a chicken in the oven hoping the smell when he comes home will make him want to eat it.

RSPCC. Look away now!

I was printing out some jars and was looking in my saved images for something to go inside the jars when something caught my wicked eye. Well how could I resist, lol. I just had to make up a quickie card.

How cool is that! I wonder if anyone will buy it if I put it on sale?! The jar image is from Scrapping Turtle.

I can't find the original source for the baby but while I was looking at google images I found THESE and was well chuffed.The baby at the bottom is the one I used for this card and couldn't find it again. I printed the caption in "thread fun" font. There is a link to the cute buttons in my side bar.

Todays weight 9st 2lb (target weight).

Another spice gift and some measurements.

Here's another little stocking filler for the cooks in our lives. Again, a bargain from Tesco on special offer. Not sure how much but around the £1.50 mark.

The image is from  ( oh no! I left a space here to add a link later only to find it was one of those 24 hour freebies but you may find something suitable HERE, another useful site)   and the caption is by Meljens Designs HERE. 

The instructions on the packet says " rub into poultry, meat, fish or anything else you can get your hands on " so look out speedy, lol.. I peeled the use by date off the back and stuck it onto the card so people can see it without pulling the packet off as it's stuck on with double sided tape. The piece of card is 11.5 cm x 24cm,  Score at 2cm, 13cm and 14cm.As you can see I've put some staples close to the bottom fold so the flap stays in better.

 I've also worked out the measurements for my little box on my last post;
The lid is 17.3cm x 20.3 cm and scored at 4cm on all sides.
The bottom ( slightly taller) is 21cm x 18cm and scored at 4.5 cm on all sides.
 Happy gift making.

Another spice box.

Well, here we go again, back to trying to take decent photos in electric light. This is the best I can get these to their true colours.

I know I've posted this type of box before but I'm showing you this one because the spices are on special offer at Tesco, 2 for £2.50 at the moment so it makes an even cheaper stocking filler.The links for the free image is on this post along with some slightly better photos.

I've got quite a few of them made ready as they come in handy for work mates and little extras for people who are hard to buy for.

Remember me telling you about my boss with his packet of oats last week? Well, speedy has had to go one better. He fancied nachos with a bit of chilli last night so I decided to have chilli with rice for myself. He wanted to watch the end of the film so I dished mine up and left his chilli in a dish and grated some cheese for him. I told him the chilli was under the grill on low keeping warm and all he needed to do was put half of the cheese on top, grill it for a couple of minutes, put the nachos and the rest of the cheese on top and grill it again. Easy??? No!! He goes into the kitchen and comes back with a plate with a layer of grated cheese on it, lol. nothing else, just cheese. He said "do I put it under the grill like this then?" He hadn't listened to a word I'd said. What he was planning to do with the plate of grilled cheese, I just don't know. As you've guessed, I normally do all the cooking. Useless men!

An emotional occasion.

Well, what a week I've had. Speedy had his third Hepatitis B injection last week as part of prep for a possible kidney transplant. He had a really bad reaction, partly because they gave him a flu injection at the same time. Sickness, trots, stomach pains, you name it he had it. On Monday he went to the doctor's and collapsed when trying to convince the receptionist that he needed to be seen.He doesn't usually go to the doctors without me hounding him, so he must have felt bad. He rang me to say he was on his way to A&E in an ambulance!! I managed to get there about an hour later ( on the train as I don't drive), and was taken to an isolation room.He looked so pale, he had his eyes closed, and for all the world he looked dead.I just stood there rooted to the spot. Then he woke up and saw me and he cried his eyes out. We both thought his kidneys were packing up. He was on a drip as he was dehydrated and there was also a paracetamol drip. He had been waiting for a doctor to see him. To cut a long story short it was the jabs that did it and blood tests showed his kidneys hadn't been made worse. It was very scary. He's OK now though, 9lb lighter but starting to eat again.

But that's not the emotional occasion that this post is about. We've been invited to an anniversary party on Saturday, which we will go to for an hour or so as it's only a short walk away. Sometimes I go to Google images/ line drawings and type in things such as fruit, cookies, toys etc and save free images for future use.This card uses one of them.

It was from a colouring page HERE.  The caption which came along just in time is from Create with TLC. The backing paper is Papermania. The little hearts were from the Papermill Shop before it closed down and the little tag is from the bowels of my stash. I used liquid pearls on the icing and decided I'll never make a confectioner, lol. Sorry about the photo, it's a bit blurred.

As a result of speedy not eating much, I've been taking advantage of not having to cook renal friendly food and made a big vat of bolognese ( tomatoes are a big no no) and have been scoffing it all week, so.....
Target weight 9st 2lb. Today, 9st 3lb. I did expect it to be worse.....................it will probably hit me tomorrow.

Oats so Hilarious.

No cards today but a bit of a giggle instead. Now, no way am I about to take the wee wee out of my boss as I respect his position as proprietor and besides, he pays my rent,lol. No, I love him to bits, partly because he's such a sweetie pie, but not least, because he makes me laugh. He doesn't tell jokes or funny stories. He doesn't need to. He makes me laugh just by being Patrick. On Friday morning he arrives on the shop floor with a sachet of Oat so Simple which his girlfriend had given him for his morning break as he usually skips breakfast due to the 6am start.

I'm tittering to myself now before I've even told the story, lol. It was fairly busy in the shop so I couldn't give him my full attention, but he was basically trying to figure out what to do with the sachet. I glanced at it  ( I've never had one of these either as I don't like porridge) and said well have you got a bowl ? He said  "no, I'll make it in my mug", which is quite large.  Then he said,  " oh come one Di, it can't be as hard as it looks on the packet" (!!) and went downstairs.  2 minutes later he went back to check on his gorgeous smelling brekkie. I heard a load of expletives and he was standing there with a microwave turntable covered in oats. "What happened", I said. "I dunno, it's a load of s**t ",  he said. It was only half an hour later after a load of questions, I realised what he'd done. He'd stood the packet of oats in the mug,  filled it to the mark with milk and switched the microwave on!! Well we laughed our heads off. At least the shop smelled of lovely syrup for ages. I told him he was going on my blog  which he doesn't look at anyway. Love him to bits , he's so funny, much better than working with a load of  boring women talking about bleaching and cleaning..................

Naff Christmas Gifts, lol.

Let's face it, I'd be gutted if someone gave me tea towels for Christmas but some one's going to get one of these jokey gifts in their stocking this year.

I found a pack of 4 micro fibre tea towels for £1.79 while browsing at B&M and I thought they would be perfect for this image and caption from Create with TLC. The link to both is at the bottom of THIS POST.  Lesson learned here is to use strong glue in vertical stripes then it will be easier to curve the image around. I used glue all over and it set quite hard so it was a bit tricky not to end up creasing it up. I think double sided tape might not stay put with it being curved unless you've got super strong stuff.

Today's weight. 9st 2lb. ( still at target ).

Ghostly Smut!

Back again as promised with the result of yesterdays shopping. These little gifts are for grown ups! Why should the kids have all the fun?

I've smudged the naughty word with picasa tools so Mr Blogger won't shout at me.

I got the idea when i was mooching on Pinterest and found a much tamer version. I googled Halloween in google images/clipart to find the house. There's loads of ghosts, spiders etc. I printed the poem in Hoola boola font.

Off to mother's now. when i get back I'll see if i can find the clean version from Pinterest and do a link. Meanwhile I found a great site for printable tags, journaling pages and labels etc. Its called Sweetly Scrapped . Make sure the kids are in bed and hubby is bound and gagged and spend a couple of hours browsing as it's quite a big site.

EDIT. The original treat bags with printable topper can be found HERE at Glorious Treats. I couldn't find all white marshmallows or little red sweets so I had to improvise with craisins and popcorn.

Sneak peek.

How lazy is this? All you'e getting today is a peak at my shopping. These were bought from Tesco along with a bag of white popcorn. CLUE..............Ssmmmuuuttttttttttttt.

Yes the seasonal smut is back. I need to print and bag up. See you tomorrow. xx

Cookie tin gifts.

I think it's time I got my skates on with my Christmas gift making while there's still a fairly decent amount of daylight left. I was mooching around what I call the naughty aisle ( biscuits and sweets ) in Tesco and came across these tins of cookies.

There were 5 or 6 different types and all were priced at between £1.60 and £1.99. Not a bargain for a few cookies by any means but with a bit of paper and ribbon, I made them into nice little stocking fillers.

The main background paper was already there so all they needed was a contrasting band.

Here's the double chocolate version. I got the free image from Arthur's Clip Art HERE. There are a few more useful images in the "food" pages. The caption is from Create with TLC HERE.

I didn't like the sticker on the top with the scruffy black tape so I cut around the circle and stuck it onto a punched scalloped circle.
I learned a couple of things when making these so I'll pass them on. First of all make sure there are no dents in the tins. Secondly apply all layers separately. With the tin being a curved surface the papers crinkle if you mat them up and then apply.

I cheated and drafted this post last night as it is a fairly longish one. So all i need to do then is...................

Today's weight 9st 2lb ( target weight ). Going out for a big scoff tonight for stepsons 30th birthday so that will soon change.

An older cutting and sticking habit.

I was sorting through my enormous cookery book collection the other day trying to decide which ones to give away and which ones to keep. I had far too many and my shelves were bursting at the seems. I ended up wondering which one i would keep if I was only allowed to keep one. No contest. It was one I started compiling 14 years ago. It started life as a hardback " day to a page " diary. I decided to give it the respect it deserved and here's how it turned out.

12 x 12 paper wasn't wide enough to fold inside at the top and bottom but that's OK as I'm going to cover it with some clear adhesive plastic. It took 2 sheets, one for the front and one for the back.

I've spent years cutting recipes out of magazines and copying ones from library books.

I've used each month for a different category eg chicken, beef, cheese , desserts, food gifts, preserving, etc.

And another page. I'm looking at it now and wondering how on earth chicken soup ended up in the fish chapter, lol.

And if you're not drooling enough already here's a page from the desserts chapter. Unlike the rest of my cookery books, there is nothing in this book that I wouldn't like to make and eat.
If I've inspired you to start one of these yourself make sure you buy a decent quality diary and reinforce the spine with tape before covering it as it will end up bulging quite a bit.

I'll hit the publish button now but I'll find the links to the images which were freebies and add them later.

LINKS. CHEF by TLC. HERE
              VENDING MACHINES CAPTION by TLC  HERE
              LADY BAKING by TLC    HERE
              LADY WASHING UP by TLC  HERE.
              BON APPETITE by TLC  HERE.