It's Me, Sarah

Cupcake Time

I have been baking today and I thought I would try out the Red Velvet cupcakes in the Hummingbird Bakery cookbook.  The cakes came out really nice and cooked perfectly but I didn't use the recommended Dr Oekter colouring and they weren't as red as I would have liked so next time I will definitely get that.  I just used what was in the cupboard this time.  They look and taste delicious though.  It was my first time playing with the piping bag for frosting.  We had cottage pie for tea so the potatoes got piped on top in beautiful little flowers whilst I practiced with the piping bag in preparation for icing the cakes.  Actually, it turned out to be really easy to ice a cupcake swirl (and the cottage pie looked a bit fancy too!).

The little red heart sprinkle just finishes it off, definitely a case of 'less is more'.  The kids can't wait to taste one but they were a bit naughty today so they have to wait until tomorrow to try them.

I am truly in love with my Kenwood KM010 mixer that Mark bought for me last month!  Making cakes is so easy now and I always use it to mash my potato (tonights cottage pie topping was cheesy mash compliments of the Kenwood).  The food processor attachment is also amazing.  I own a Magimix which I use daily but the kenwood food processor attachment works every bit as good as the Magimix and is great when I just want small quantities as the bowl is smaller.  I find the grater attachment produces a much nicer grated cheese than the grating attachment I have for my Magimix.  Saying that, I need both of them for different applications. 

The kids go back to school tomorrow and I am looking forward to a day of peace.  I am going to go driving around in my new car and I can't wait.  I have wanted one of these cars since I was about 14 and my Mum had one, they have changed shape a bit but they have great retro styling.  I can't believe how lucky I am that I have finally got one and I am so excited.  I only waited for about 26 years!  Can you guess what type of car it is?

The Buffalo Layout

Obviously the conversation in this post needed to be recorded on a layout so whilst I was at the crop last week I used the January kit from Scrapagogo to do just that.

The only things that were not in the kit are the ribbon and the 'Story' ticket.  I used some white seam binding ribbon which I coloured with distress inks and the ticket is a Tim Holtz one.

The wooden stars are lovely too, I just punched a hole in the centre with my cropadile and added a brad.  The little wooden number 8 denotes Ben's age and the butterflies were created with a Martha Stewart punch.

Granny Stripe Blanket

As soon as I finished making my crochet bag I ordered some Stylecraft DK to make the granny stripe blanket that is also on the Attic 24 blog.  I love crocheting this, it is so easy and now that I have done a fair bit of it it is really cosy and keeps me warm whilst I am crocheting it so much so that I actually fell asleep on the sofa last night crochet hook in hand!  Mark thought I was pretending, we were half way through watching a film so, like I said, it's relaxing!

I want to make this blanket really big, bigger than the one Lucy made so I am not even half way there yet but I have made a good start.

I am beginning to see stripes everywhere I go.

I can't wait to finish this and snuggle up on the sofa with it.

Colourful Crochet Bag

The other day I showed you the little crochet bag that I made for Amy but I didn't show you the original version that I made for myself.  I love this bag for keeping my current knitting or crochet project in.  The pattern was from the Attic 24 blog.

I love the little flowers with the crochet leaves poking out on the end of the handles.

I lined the bag with some calico because a) it's cheap! and b) I didn't want anything too colourful inside the bag because I thought it would be too much with all those stripes.

I made the lining on my sewing machine and then handstitched it into the bag along the top edge using a ladder stitch.  You can see my current knitting project inside the bag which is going to be a vintage style lacy cardigan :)

I love it, almost as much as I love Amy's cute little one!

Always Smiling

Here is a layout I created at the Plymouth crop last weekend.  It was a lovely day with old friends and new :)

The most exciting part of my day was making the cute little flowers on the layout using Tim Holtz tattered florals die with some beautiful wool felt.  They are gorgeous!  I will definitely be making some more of those and not only for scrapbooking, they would look great on bags, hats and headbands as well!

The lovely embossed heart on the layout was part of a prize I won at the crop's raffle.  I haven't got a clue who the manufacturer is but there are loads of these (and other designs) in the pack.