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About Me

Married to my soulmate with 2 beautiful girls,and our English Springer Spaniel, Suki. Living a country life in Cambridgeshire, whilst baking, gardening, and photographing our daily lifes, where they find a place on my scrapbook pages.

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My little place on the web

This blog is just that, my little place on the web.You will find my daily (or not so daily, hehe)life, my love for my new vegetable garden, baking, photography and my scrapbooking!

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My Scrapbooking

Scrapbooking is a way of life for me now.It has been for over 4 years. I love journaling, taking photos of my family and love colour and texture, these are all part of my everyday life and scrapbooking.

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Yikes.....thursday already!

blogged by me domestic goddess On 10/02/2008 12:58:00 PM 9 lovely comments
Where in the world have I been?. Nowhere to be honest, just busy creating in the kitchen and my studio. I am teaching next week at Swindon and have been finalizing my classes, as well as putting the finishing touches to my Bad Girls projects, which is now live.... go quick, as alot of the kits are already sold out!!





I am very excited that I have actually made my first jam and my first chutney. Its a giggle in this house, that when we moved I was going to go green and organic. Well I hav'nt quite made it completely but we are still giving it a good go. Earlier in the week we went blackberry picking to make crumble and jam to go with all the Bramley apples we picked. I made a gorgeous blackberry and apple jam, and am also pleased with it, I have actually given some jars away!. I also made the most delicious green tomato and apple chutney. My poor toms never turned red, but they made an awfully good chutney. I shall share...

Green Tomato and Apple Chutney




Ingredients:
2 pounds (1 kg) green tomatoes, chopped
2 pounds (1 kg) tart apples, peeled and chopped
1/2 pound (250 g) onions, chopped
1 pound (500 g) raisins
3-3/4 cups (750 g) light brown sugar
2 teaspoons ground ginger
2 teaspoons black peppercorns, crushed
2 Tablespoons coarse salt
2 garlic cloves
3 cups (700 ml) white wine vinegar




Chop all the ingredients and place in a large stainless steel pan, add 6 tblspoons of the vinegar, cook on a low heat. keep adding the vinegar slowly during cooking. Simmer for a bout 45mins - 1hour until you have a nice thick consistency.

When thick transfer to sterilized jars.

This chutney is gorgeous served with mature cheese, like my lunch yesterday, mmmm or with good thick cut ham!



Enjoy!

As I mentioned earlier, Bad Girls Studio 54 October kit, is live. I am always blown away by Wendy's mix of papers, and this month is no exemption. You would never believe all these layouts came from the same kit!










Here is a sneak of my dimension class for the Swindon workshop next Saturday. I hope you enjoy ladies!


By the way, is anyone watching "The Family" on channel 4? I am sooo hooked. I am loving the Dad, and the girls dancing last night, looks like a episode from our house!
And I cannot believe that Jane has just turned 40!!!!! I would be glad to look half as good as her at 40, which is next year, if anyone is wondering!

Off to grab some lunch, cheese and chutney, hehehe, and go create!
Thanks for stopping by

Hugs
Anna x

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Hectic Weekend

blogged by me domestic goddess On 9/29/2008 11:59:00 AM 9 lovely comments
but it's all been good! I spent the day on Friday painting and sprucing up the village hall with a fellow committee member. And it is looking mighty fine! We have an AGM meeting tonight, and we cannot wait to see the look on the committees faces when they see what we have done!.
I picked the girls up from school and we went blackberry picking, all in the name of jam and crumble making, hehehe. My jars arrived from Lakeland so I am all ready to go......






Saturday we all went shopping, to help Izzy spend her birthday money, and when we arrived at Next they had a sale on..... well Izzy kindly helped me pick up a few bargains, and they all fitted a treat. I was so chuffed and it was the confidence boost I needed to keep on the right track with the healthy eating.

Saturday evening the girls had a Guides camp fire to attend. Izzy couldn't make up her mind whether to stick with the Rainbows or be a Brownie, so we nicknamed her a Brownbow! The girls enjoyed themselves.
Sunday I was teaching at my local crop, and enjoyed a day with all the ladies.



Sunday Pencil Lines went live with our guest, Dawn Inskip. This sketch was perfect for me, as I have been wanting to do a layout of Izzy over the years. I will journal on the back about Izzy at ecah of the years I scrapped. I cannot believe how much my baby girl has grown!
I used October Afternoon, Cosmo Cricket, AC thickers and some embroidery thread. All papers were from A Million Memories September kit.


Finally, my Bad Girl Dt duties are all finished for another month. As always I really enjoy playing with Wendy's eclectic tastes, and am always surprised how different all my layouts look, considering they are all made form the same kit! The kit goes live on the 30th September so make a date in your dairies NOW!!!





I am off to do some dreaded housework and ironing and then start making some jam and chutneys!!... If you are reading this darling you can have a chuckle now, i know you have been waiting 3 years to actually see make some.......

Before I sign off, thanks to everyone you has send positive vibes from my last post. Hopefully it has made, if not all of you, at least one person do a breast examination. Don't be shy, its important. I know I will be OK, I am one of the lucky ones. It has made me be much more aware of doing weekly examinations now

Hugs and thanks for stopping by

Anna x

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The dreaded "C" word

blogged by me domestic goddess On 9/26/2008 08:44:00 AM 20 lovely comments
Statistics show that 1 in 4 of us will have cancer. Breast cancer is a common disease. One in nine women in the UK will develop it at some point in their lifetime, so it is not unusual to have one or two members of your family who have had breast cancer by chance.



Yesterday I had to see the "breast" doctor at the hospital with regard to a lump, and the dreaded "C" word was mentioned several times when referring to family history, etc. At the end of my examination, the conclusion was it is most likely to be a benign lump, but to be cautious, a biopsy has been suggested and an ultra scan. So I am off again within the fortnight to be prodded one more time before i have an operation to remove it!

There is a huge sense of relief, but I still feel a little apprehensive...............Like us all, we don't expect to have to deal with even the slightest thought that one of us may have cancer. I don't have "it", but for the best part of this week, I did wonder what if? Its a scary thought.....


So enough of my doom and gloom. When I got home from the hospital there was a message from my dearest friend up North, Karen. I rang her back, she was on her way back from work. She rang me a few minutes later to ask me to do a huge favour for her. Not a problem, what did she need em to so? Could I collect some goods from Peterborough for her on the 20th October. Checked my diary, i was free, so no problem. "Where do i need to go?", I asked. I had to go to the train station............................it then dawned on me......................."Are you coming to visit?" a fit of giggles on the other end of the phone. I cannot tell you I happy I am. Karen thinks I can keep a secret, er not likely! I was on the phone to peter within seconds of putting the phone down to tell him. The girls still don't know..............yet!




And finally, I have been busy this week looking after my poorly Lilly, who is well and at school now I am pleased to report, as well as playing with my Bad Girls kit. Look away now if you don't want to see any sneaky peeks!!



More to come over the weekend.....

We have a busy weekend ahead. Izzy wants to head of to Next to spend her birthday money, we have Brownie and Rainbow camp fire night on Saturday and Sunday I am teaching and cropping!Looking forward also to a bit of a lie in tomorrow.



Hugs all and thanks for stopping by

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She's a BIG Girl now.....

blogged by me domestic goddess On 9/22/2008 05:35:00 PM 12 lovely comments
Izzy turned 8 yesterday, where do those years go. You know the ones that everyone says, enjoy them as they don't last long. I thought i had enjoyed every year, until I turned round and my little girl suddenly one day turned into an independent 8 year old, whom i hardly saw on her birthday. Why? you may ask, she was too busy being independent and playing with friends!





One of her presents from us was a secret room make over. I painted her room in a couple of hours. Peter put her desk together , put up a new pole, and I dressed her room. Not quite a 60 minute make over, but none the less a pretty quick one! Thankfully she loves it!. I filled her room with pink and purple balloons and piled all her presents onto her desk. She raced through the front door today, straight upstairs to sit at her desk and do her homework! A first! Then proceeded to decide which of her many lovely new outfits to wear, LOL, and she is only 8!!


Her party was Hannah Montana themed, and most of the girls had either a Miley or Hannah wig on at one time!


Before her big day, it was the premier of Camp Rock on Friday night. Izzy had some friends round and I did quesedinas (?), chips and dips, pop corn and Krispy Kreme donuts. Oh boy the diet went well and truly up the garden path after i scoffed 3 in a row, yikes!



During the day, I had met up with Sue for a belated birthday lunch and some last minute shopping for Izzy's party.

The girls had spent the Saturday at Nanas for a sleepover and Peter and I were invited to a neighbours for dinner. Sunday morning I rang Nan's to find out Lilly was a poorly little girl. I waited for a double batch of brownies to come out of the oven, that went to pick Lilly and Izzy up. poor Lilly spent most of yesterday with a fever in bed. Today she is a bit brighter, but complaining of neck and back ache as well as a sore throat. Sounds like flu to me, what do you think?
My weekend was a busy and hectic one and Pencil Lines also went live yesterday!



I did a layout about my first "harvest". I am pleased i have documenting this very "momentous" occasion, LOL. Used Basic Grey mellow, garden twine and Scenic Route chipboard alphas.
Hope you all had a lovely weekend. i have a very busy week completing deadlines, and tomorrow I AM playing with my Bad Girls kit!!!!
Hugs and thanks for stopping by

Anna x

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Green Fried tomatoes.....

blogged by me domestic goddess On 9/18/2008 03:05:00 PM 9 lovely comments
well not quite, but i do have lots of green tomatoes and cooking apples. Waiting for a delivery from Lakeland so i can get chutney and jam making :)



Have had a quiet week at home, pottering and such. Yesterday I went out to the garden to pick the fruits of my labour...... Lots of green tomatoes and some mini carrots, lol, and spring onions which smell so good..... The peppers are not ready yet. Hopefully form our small crop this year, peter will get to work on my raised beds so that we can take this veggie growing malarky a tad more serious! And maybe add some fruit to our list.


I have lots of scrummy recipes to try , and yesterday made the most amazing apple sauce, not diet friendly i will admit, and an apple pie for Peter, which was pretty scrummy too!


Here's the recipe for the apple sauce, its so easy peasy!


Apple Sauce

6 - 8 cooking apples
100g butter
2 cinnamon sticks
65g brown sugar
salt and pepper to season

Place the peeled and thinly sliced apples with the butter and cinnamon sticks in a saucepan and gently simmer for 45 mins, until you have mush! Add the sugar, salt and pepper. Remove the sticks and serve with pork chops! Yummy......

Isn't it just wonderful when you can pick your dinner from the garden, i so hope to be there next year. I picked some lavender to start drying and making some little lavender pillows. I so love the smell of lavender, always makes me smile :)



Tomorrow I am heading down to see Sue for a belated birthday lunch and shopping spree. I have a list of last minute things to pick up for Izzy's party and then a mad dash home as Izzy has invited a couple of Friends over to watch the premier of Camp Rock tomorrow afternoon!!

My Bad Girls October DT Kit arrived this week, I am in scrappers heaven! I will have some sneaks to share by the end of the weekend.

Thanks for stopping by

Hugs
Anna x

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2 years ago today....

blogged by me domestic goddess On 9/15/2008 04:06:00 PM 13 lovely comments
I lost my Dad to Multiple Sclerosis. He suffered for 15 years with this dreadful disease, that has no cure. Its amazing, since I have been so public about the struggle with my dad and my fundraising, I have "met" many people who also suffer, or had relatives that too died of MS.





Today as been a day to do nothing, to sit curled up on the sofa watching TV. I am still so sad, but its not as raw and painful as it was 2 years ago, or even 1 year ago. I still miss my dad, I still wish he was here, telling me how much he loves me and how proud he is of me. I know he still thinks all these things, as that white butterfly is around more than ever at the moment! He was there when i was running last week, he was there this morning when i had a little tear, he is here now as I write this post. So just in case you have forgotten dad, I LOVE YOU..........



A little something for my studio


I was reading my post from last year, and I was doing pretty much the same. I have been scrapping lots this past week as a from of therapy,the same as last year, funny isn't it! I was preparing for Izzy's party, which I know will always be the same, which is a good thing. This year HSM has been put to one side for Hannah Montana and the hope that the Jonas Brothers will turn up to sing. OK I know this sounds crazy, but Izzy emailed them and they have been in London promoting their new album and the release of Camp Rock, and Izzy cannot understand why they will not turn up! Bless her......

Her main birthday present this year is going to be a room makeover. I am painting her room this week and then on Saturday a trip to nans for the day whilst i add all the finishing touches. I cannot wait to see her face, She has no idea. I have been getting some ideas of what she would like, and she has eye spied some bedlinen thats he loves. Very Bad Girls, black, pink and bling!!!!




I did manage to finish Lilly's room this weekend. When i say finish, I have been waiting for Peter to pop some shelves on a wall. That all done i was able to do my faffing! You know, placing pretty pictures, putting books up and the odd cuddly toy that sits perfectly next to the perfect picture and book, to give that perfect magazine look, LOL. Lilly on the other hand is not so impressed with my placement! We shall see how long it will last, before she moves things.


Pencil Lines sketch 102 went live last night, with one of my favourite artist, Christine Middlecamp. Love this woman's layouts, and admire her strength as a person. I used Jenni Bowlin August kit, which I must admit to be slightly obssesed with! Do pop on over and check this weeks design team layouts, all stunning, as usual. And then please check out this write up about Pencil Lines by Mary Chong at Craft Critique.








This is layout 30 from my 365 challenge. Used pretty Heather Bailey papers.

Jenni Bowlin cards


The week leaves me cooking with apples, so far on the list we have:

Spiced Apple Chutney
Apple Sauce
Apple Pie
Apple and Pork sausage rolls
Apple Tart

Wish me luck!
Hugs and thanks as always for stopping by

Anna x

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