WOYWW ~ The 6th Anniversary Crop

This time last week I was on my way to spend the day with these lovely ladies.

From L to R, standing: Dolores, Julia, Helen, Me, Kyla, Morti, Mary Anne, Sam, Fiona, Lisa, Cindy, Debbie, Chris, Jan, Margaret. Front row: Lisa-Jane and Zoe

I travelled light. Taking only my hexies kit.

Well I needed room for all the cake.

Zoe was celebrating her 40th birthday weekend with us. Her football team were on the verge of promotion and she’d coloured her hair, ready for Wembley the following day. All proceeds from the crop went to the charity she is fundraising for.

There was fun and laughter, a fabulous lunch, more cake…..

…..and even some crafting.

Thanks go to Jan for all her hard work in organising the day, cooking up a storm and serving that lunch. To Julia for bringing us all together in the first place, keeping us in drinks and being such a charming host. To everyone that came along and made it the wonderful day it was. A special mention to Shaz and Janet who weren’t able to stay for the whole day and didn’t make an appearance in the group photo.

Some images shamelessly stolen borrowed from Jan and Zoe. Thank you.

Coffee and a Catch Up ~ June 2014

Come in, come in. Your timing is perfect. I have an unexpected hour or two to myself, while The Mechanic is visiting his parents with the children. I’m taking advantage of it to get back to my dress, at long last. A bit of hand stitching and an episode of Mad Men on a Sunday afternoon. Bliss.

Do you sew? Perhaps you were put off by Domestic Science (I’m probably showing my age by calling them that!) lessons at school, like me, or did you have a positive experience? Maybe there was somebody in your family who encouraged you or whose example you followed. My Gran was a talented seamstress, which meant my Mum didn’t ever need to sew herself. Gran made me some beautiful dresses when I was a little girl. I must dig out one of the little outfits I made for my girl, to show you another day.

Can I offer you a slice of fridge cake with your cuppa? I’ve been meaning to try Mel’s recipe for ages. When I was sorting out the larder cupboard during the week, I found a box of Maltesers, which had been languishing there since Christmas. Luckily I had everything else needed on hand and I could whip up a batch. Melt, stir and pop in the fridge to set. Super simple. Leave it there as long as you can bear! I left the topping off as we’re not fans of white chocolate around here.

Would you like to see what we made in class last week? I was really happy with how my first attempt at a ‘flip’ card turned out. There are lots of special dies available now, that cut and score in one go, but they are quite expensive and I’m not sure how often I would make this style of card. There’s usually an alternative way to do it. Not quite as straight forward of course, but not that tricky either.

We’ve got a busy week coming up, with my girl starting her work experience and having her bi-annual appointment with the consultant. Two classes in two different towns for me and a follow up appointment for my Mum. My boy has begun phase two of his A Level studies, now that the Year 12 exams are over, and needs to narrow down his choices for further study so that we can visit some universities. A few more weeks of school left for us. How about you? The summer holidays can’t come soon enough for me.

I’m linking up with Abi’s little tea party today and looking forward to catching up with everyone else. I’ve visited a few of you already as you’ve popped up in Feedly. That seems to be behaving itself again at the moment. Are you a fan or do you prefer Bloglovin’? I couldn’t get on with it myself and find Feedly much more user friendly.

See it, Pin it, Do it! ~ June Edition

Another month has almost gotten away from me and I haven’t made anything at all from my Pinterest boards during June. Never fear, when I came to write the May edition of SIPIDI! I completely forgot what I was going to talk about. I got all excited about my vintage sheets and told you about them instead. Now, back to the cake.

When it comes to Birthday cake, my girl is very fussy. It must have no sugar based icing, of the buttercream or roll out fondant variety, and definitely no jam anywhere near it. Chocolate is always her first choice for the cakey part. I hesitate to call it sponge because she favours more of a brownie texture.

Over the years, I’ve tried many different recipes in a quest for her perfect chocolate cake. The one we settled upon, about 3 years ago, came from a very old Be-Ro cook book and involved evaporated milk. It was a good cake. Light and moist and very easy to knock up in the food processor. I didn’t use the suggested icing, but topped and filled it with a simple chocolate ganache and it was a winner.

This year I tried something new and apparently it was, “The best Birthday cake ever!”

I particularly enjoyed the slice I had, the day after her Birthday, with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Rich and moist *and* easy to make. What’s not to like?

Over to you, lovely readers. What have you been pinning this month? Did something inspire you enough that you had a go yourself? Please share. We’d love to see.

All the SIPIDI! info can be found here and the Pinterest board is here.

Friday Finds ~ Summer Scavenger Hunt 2013 #3

There was only ever one item on the list that would feature today.

17. Candles

Happy Birthday to my boy. Sixteen today. Where did those years go?

Find the complete Scavenger Hunt list on Rinda’s blog.

PS I realised too late that my camera was still set to macro!

What’s On Your Workdesk Wednesday #207

I’m late, I’m late and there’s nothing on my kitchen table to share today. Well that’s not strictly true, just nothing crafty and I don’t think my girl would be up for sharing the very last slice of her birthday cake with you.

I’ve spent the day motivating my boy to study for the last of his English Lit. papers tomorrow and to that end we’ve had a date with the weaver of Raveloe this afternoon. The production is somewhat dated but it did the job.

Talking of my boy, I do have something crafty to share. This card that he drew, for his sister, on her birthday.

Short and sweet again, Julia will be so pleased. I’ll do my best to get round a few desks later. Right now I have Paprika Chicken, a la The Hairy Bikers, to cook.

What’s On Your Workdesk Wednesday ~ 176

I didn’t work at my own desk today. This was what my kitchen table looked like this morning, before I packed everything into the car.

I went to the local Arts Centre and taught my first ever paper craft class. We made two different card designs and two gift boxes, in different colours, to match them.

My sweet girl made this cute Good Luck card for me, before she went off to school…

…and my lovely friend brought this delicious cake along for us to share.

I got to bring the leftover portion home. All in all a very good day.

To see what everyone else has been up to head over to Julia’s place.

Friday Find ~ Hamburger Cakes?!

I’ve been looking around for birthday food ideas, for my soon to be 15 year old son and came across these inspired cakes at The Idea Room.

They might be a fun thing to make for Father’s Day too. If you don’t have a card yet and would like a quick printable, that will give you a great result, then check out my find from last week. We’ll be making ours tomorrow, while The Mechanic is at work.

Wishing you all a lovely weekend, no matter what the weather is doing in your part of the world. I’ll be back tomorrow with a new blog feature, that I’m going to trial for a few weeks. Maybe I’ll see you there?