Beauty in the Making!

I was recently asked to do an example page for a friend who has set the weekly challenge today over on UKScrappers.

Her challenge is to scrap using a colour you wouldn't normally use, to dive into your scrap basket and to get arty, great challenge.

Well Maddie turned 18 back in June and on the evening before her birthday we decided to do some girlie things and have a relaxing time with face packs!


Every time we looked at each other we got the giggles!


I even laughed when she tried to pull scary faces.

I knew this had to go in the albums so decided to scrap one of the photos for the challenge.


I used green because it's not normally my 'go to' colour, everything came from my scrap basket and I painted some bubble wrap and used it like a stamp to make the background.

Hope you had a lovely weekend and feel refreshed for the week ahead.

Thanks for stopping by
Jo xx


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And Now For Something Completely Different!

All of this year Shimelle has been running a class/challenge over on UKScrappers called And Now For Something Completely Different.  On the 10th of the month she posts a list of materials and on the 20th of the month she posts a list of instructions along with photos of the different stages.  I was very late to the party and only just got round to joining in.

I had a look at the list of contents, which you can find here.  I liked what I saw so thought I would join in this time.  The instructions were put up here but this month they were just a little bit different, there were no photos! This made me want to join in even more because I love a blind challenge :)

This is how my layout has turned out:

I used papers from Authentique, Dear Lizzy and Echo Park along with some Thickers, gems and twine. The photos are of Maddie on her 18th birthday and I just love the expressions on her face in these photos.

Today is the big reveal for everyone who took part this month so I have no idea what everyone else has come up with for their layouts, I really can't wait to see them.

I don't know how this layout compares to the others but I really am pleased with it:

I will enjoy looking at all the other layouts later on today.

Thank you for stopping by
Jo xx

Fall Back

Well the clocks have gone back an hour and I love it.  I love how the nights are drawing in now, how I come home from work, close the curtains on the world and cosy up on the sofa with  the dogs and some crafting.

It also means that Halloween is nearly here.  I love Halloween and look at all the pictures of the decorated American houses with pure envy, it all looks great and so much fun.

When I lived in a flat we didn't get any trick or treaters knocking at the door so, six years ago, when I moved to my current home I really went to town on Halloween.  I had ghosts and ghouls lighting up the windows, pumpkins on the door step and a pumpkin head full of not one but two tins of sweets!  How many people knocked on my door? Zero, zilch, none!

Me and Maddie have a tradition of watching Hocus Pocus on Halloween and that's exactly what we'll be doing this Wednesday.

Before I go I'll share this layout of my own little witch when she dressed up way back in 2002:

She was such a pretty little witch.

I hope you all had a good weekend and have an equally good week.

Thanks for stopping by
Jo xx

Just Dessert!

I've been sharing lots of recipes for main meals and I thought it was about time I shared something we love to have for pudding.  All of the recipes I've shared are SYN free on Slimming World and this one is no different.

You will need:

Two sachets of Hartley's Sugar Free Jelly and two Muller Light Yogurts, I used raspberry jelly and vanilla yogurt but you can mix it up however you please :)

Make the first sachet up as per the instructions on the packet.

Once it's made up then half fill your dishes with the jelly, I used these little ramekin dishes but you can use whatever you have.  Put the jelly in the fridge to set.

With the second sachet of jelly you make it with half a pint of boiling water and then leave to cool.

Once it's cooled stir in the two yogurts.

Pour the jelly and yogurt mix over the top of the set jellies then place the dishes back in the fridge for the top layer to set.

Finally, enjoy!

I hope you like this little dessert.  If you're pushed for time you can just make the jelly and yogurt mix and leave that to set.

Thanks for stopping by
Jo xx

Another Hobby

Well I've started another hobby, it's one I've wanted to do for years but I've never managed to conquer. Finally, fingers crossed, I've got the hang of it. What is this new hobby of mine? Crochet!

When I was a small girl my aunt used to crochet dresses and cardigans for me. I used to watch her fingers flying like shuttles hooking the wool and I was fascinated.

Years later I asked her to teach me and, bless her, she tried. She showed me how to make doilies but mine always ended up looking like bowls! My tension was to tight and I couldn't really work out where to do the stitches. I think the problem was I wanted to be as fast as she was, trying to run before I could walk.

Since then, every few years, I've gone out and bought a hook and some wool thinking I'd be able to master this craft. I never could and just ended up with quite a collection of hooks!

Last year I turned up at my aunt's and asked her to show me again. She looked at the wool, then looked at the hook, then looked at me and laughed. "I've forgotten how to do it" she said! My chance had gone, the master of crochet had lost her skills.

I'm not a quitter though, I knew I'd learn one day, then I saw this post on Katherine's blog. Time to buy another hook and some more wool and try, try, try again!

This time, though, it clicked! I was crocheting, slowly at first but speeding up the more I did it. I started on the Wednesday and by Friday I had made this:


I had managed to crochet something I could wear, something I was proud to wear:


Now I'm just a little bit addicted. So I've made one cowl, I've nearly finished another and I want to do a Granny Stripe blanket. I've done a practice piece for the blanket:


Just needs a little more practice. But…I finally feel I've cracked the art of crochet.

Now that's something crossed off my bucket so what next? :)

I hope you're having a good week.

Thanks for stopping by
Jo xx

A Dreary Day

Today is dark, foggy and downright dreary!  I love when the weather is like this but only if I don't have to venture outdoors, I love to snuggle :)

I had a great weekend because I managed to spend a day in London with Paul on Saturday.  I haven't seen him for a month so it was lovely to spend a few hours with him.  On Sunday I scrapped and I really enjoyed myself.

The weekly challenge over at UKScrappers had a baking theme so I thought it was perfect for my pictures from Frieda's.  Part of the challenge was to use this sketch which was great because I had a lot of pictures to scrap!  The other elements to use were washi tape (not that I need an excuse to use washi tape!) and numbers.

The dreary weather has no consideration for the fact I have layouts to photograph, I guess I'll have to get used to that over the coming months. Maybe I need to get a daylight bulb for my lamp.

Tonight I plan to snuggle on the sofa with my new hobby, I'll be sharing that soon :)

I hope life is being kind to you
Thanks for stopping by
Jo xx

Colourful Carbonara

I'm back with another low fat, easy recipe for you...carbonara.

You will need:

11oz dried pasta, 6oz smoked back bacon, 2 garlic cloves, 1 green chilli, 3.5oz closed cup mushrooms, 7oz frozen peas (defrosted), 2 medium tomatoes (I left these out because Maddie doesn't like them), 3 large eggs, 3.5oz quark.

Roughly chop the bacon, finely chop the garlic, deseed and finely chop the chilli and slice the mushrooms.

Boil the pasta as per the packet instructions.  While that's doing dry fry the bacon for 3-4 minutes then add the garlic, chilli and mushrooms and cook for a further 3 minutes before adding the peas and tomatoes.

Separate the eggs and discard the whites.

Then combine the quark with the yolks.

Reserve some of the water from the pasta before draining it.  Put the pasta in with the bacon and vegetable mixture and give it a good stir.  Remove from the heat and add the egg and quark mixture, adding some of the reserved pasta water to loosen the sauce a little.

Then serve!

I always take any leftovers to work with me the next day and they always taste great.

I hope you enjoy this recipe, next week I have an super easy dessert to share.

Thanks for stopping by
Jo xx