Fund Raising Event at Work

A group of us got together at work and decided we would have a fund raising event. We decided on a Pink Day in aid of Breast Cancer Awareness. It was an opportunity for the cooks among us to get baking and a couple of the girls made cards. Here are a couple of pictures of what was made. I purchased three of the cards and I think they are beautiful. Despite there not being many people in the office as there usually would be we managed to raise around £111.00, which we were all pleased with.

Iced Lemon Sponge Cake

As most of you know my main craft is baking. I am still trying to find my way with my new Cricut Cake, I have a lot to learn still! So recently in between trying to master this machine, i have gone back to making sponges and am taking orders for Christmas at the moment after having put a poster up at work designed by one of my friends there. I now have a number of orders for the traditional Christmas cake and some sponges all to be decorated. So, I think i am going to be fairly busy over the next few weeks. However another friend of mine celebrated her birthday this week at work and normally my work mates would go to the local supermarket and buy a selection. I was asked to make to sponge cakes once of which was the one in the picture which was a Lemon Iced sponge cake. I think it went down well and I have an order for a smaller one for another work friend who is buying it for her Gran who loves lemon sponge. I will also be making some more goodies over the next week as we are holding a fund raising event at work, so will tell you morenext weekend.

Eureka! Or perhaps not!

Well those of you who have been following my projects will know that I got a new toy a few weeks ago, since then I have been trying to get the hang of things. Have a look at the photo's, they are by no means perfect but I have managed to get some shapes cut out of the fondant from my Cricut Cake. There is still a long way to go but I am not as frustrated with it as I was at first. It seems to be a case of trial and error at the moment, but I am quite please with my afternoons work.

For my God Daughter

Well, apart from having my new toy, I have also been trying to finish off a few things, one in particular. This is a baby shawl for my niece and god daughter who is expecting her first baby at the end of the year. I am pleased with the way it has turned out and it was an easy pattern to do. Julie, I hope Jo will like it when she sees it.

Julie, I saw your comment on my last post and I am sure Mum would be proud and very interested in what we are doing, in fact she would probably join in.

Must dash off now, I need to get to grips with the Cricut Cake, it chewed up the last piece of icing I was cutting out, not quite got the hang of it yet.

Oh how lucky am I!

Today has been the best ever, since I have go back into crafting and concentrating more on my baking, a seed was sewn a while ago and now it has come to light. My friends are into card making and one in particular owns the Cricut for card making, and had shown me what was coming up. Both friends have encouraged me to go that bit further and with their encouragement and an understanding hubby I am now the proud owner of the new Cricut Cake, I can't wait to get stuck in tomorrow and play with it properly for now I am content to take a few pictures to share with you all.

Finally

Well, here we are, finally finished dressed and ready for action. I cooked a meal last night for four. It was a breeze. The menu was Carrot and Coriander soup with a black pepper sliced French stick. Slow roasted Lamb shoulder with roasted Butternut Squash, Sweet Potatoes, Sweet Red Peppers, Shallotts coated in olive oil and whole garlic bulbs and rosemary. I also made a mint and Greek yoghurt dressing (the mint was from my herb garden) to go with it. For afters I did a cheese platter with grapes and crackers and a few bottles of wine to wash it all down. I was in heaven, who would have thought that when we started my kitchen/diner and conservatory were an absolute tip and now we have this fantastic living space. Here are some pictures of when we started (some of you may have already seen them sorry for that).

We have been busy

Hi everyone its been a while since I updated my blog, but we have been busy. Hubby and I are on two weeks leave and we have used the time to get a few things done, mainly the jobs in the house. Here are a couple of pictures to keep you interested. I will be putting others on later once we have everything put away. The dresser is nearly "dressed", I have been able to get a couple of things out of the loft and I couldn't resist putting flowers in the vase which belonged to mum, but was her mums before that. Julie if you are looking do you recognise the set that I have placed on there? I am please to say that this dresser will not be moving again it is so heavy, but it had to be moved so we could decorate. We have just gone for the good old magnolia effect which I think has worked quite well and has given a bit of warmth to that side of the room as the other side where my kitchen is is as most of you know white and black theme. I just need to tidy the conservatory and hang a few of my pictures up and I thing we are all done in there. The next challenge is the rest of the house.

Ta Ta for now x.