Winners Post!!

Hi Ladies

Thanks so much for visiting my blog for the Hero Arts Hostess Picnic Blog Hop  this week and leaving all the

 lovely comments. 

My husband has randomly picked the winning comment for the HA stamps and the winner is!!!!  TONA The flower card is beautiful & the kite card is too fun! 

Congratulations Tona please can you email me your full postal address and I promise I will get them in the post as soon as I return from my holiday in two weeks time!!

I am off to France now for a well earned rest.

Hugs

 

Hero Hostess Summer Picnic Blog Hop!!!

Welcome to the Hero Hostess Summer Picnic Hop!

Today is the forth day of the hop, I hope you have enjoyed it so far!!

I was thrilled to be asked to be part of another Hero Hostess blog hop, as they say 'once a hostess always a hostess' and Hero Arts are such a great company that its always a fun to be part of these events!!

 Hero Arts will be awarding prizes from randomly drawn comments. For a chance to win, simply comment on ANY of the stops along the hop on ANY day, including each day’s starting post at the Hero Club Blog. The more comments you leave, the better your chance of winning!

 If you find a broken link, you'll find a master list of the hop links at the Hero Arts Club Blog. Also, please report broken links to: blog@heroarts.com.

• Your next stop on the Hero Arts Hostess Blog Hop is the very talented Marcy

at http://enpapillotearts.blogspot.co.uk/

My card is more about the beautiful countryside in the summer rather that a picnic design, I thought the Painted Flower (K5767) stamp looked so like a poppy that I used it to make this one layer card.  I kept thinking of the ripened corn fields with all the gorgeous poppies that we see in the UK.  The one layer also reflects this months HA challenge.  I used low tac masking tape round the edges then stamped the flower with distress inks, masked the flower and added the Silhouette Grass (S5316).  I am going to add a sentiment when I use the card.

I got a bit carried away and made a second card featuring the lovely 'Kite' stamp in the Picnic clear set (Cl599)



I have paper pieced the kites and layered onto a base made from the Postcard Stamp (S5665) and Tweed Background (S5654).

And now for my picnic recipe, its a vegetarian pie that can be eaten hot or cold so perfect for those summer days when you take the family out. 

Goats Cheese and Walnut Tarts

Serves 6.

Can be made ahead and frozen as a raw pie, just cook when needed.

Ingredients.

125g (4 ½oz) spinach leaves

150g ( 5oz) soft goats cheese

2 shallots chopped

50g (2oz) walnuts, roughly chopped

1 tbsp olive oil

1½ tsp honey

500g pack puff pastry

120g log rinded goats cheese

1egg beaten

You will need a 4¾ inch pastry cutter

1. Heat oven to 200C, 180C fan oven or Gas mark 6
2. Wilt the spinach in a pan, squeeze out water and chop.  Mix with the soft goats cheese and season.
3. In a pan cook shallots and walnuts in the oil until softened, season and add honey.
4. Roll out pastry and cut 12 rounds, place 6 rounds on a large oiled baking sheet.
5. Spoon on the spinach mixture followed by a round of the rind cheese and a spoon of the walnut mix.
6. Put on the other six pastry rounds as lids and seal, brush with beaten egg and cut a slit in the top. Bake for 10 t0 15 minutes until golden brown.
7. Serve hot or take on a picnic and serve with a salad.
8. The perfect vegetarian summer pie!!

Lastly I would like to do a little give away to celebrate summer and to thank you all for taking the time to visit my blog and leave me comments. I would love it if you came a follower of my blog but its not essential. I will make a drawing on Saturday but as I am going on holiday on Sunday morning I will not be able to post it out till I get back.

Summer Days!

We are having beautiful weather here in the UK at the moment and  I have noticed quite a few butterflies in my garden, so I have been inspired to pull out my Antique Engraving set again and make this card with paper pieced butterflies.  Here is a closeup of them attached by just the middle so I could lift the wings for more dimension.

At last I have found time for a little creating, life is so busy at work at the moment that crafting has taken a back seat, still School breaks for the summer in just over a week and I can't wait!!

Happy Birthday Rachel!

Two more weeks till the end of term here in the UK and its been so busy that I have been to tired to craft.  The only card I have made is this one for my cousins daughter Rachel.  She has her own business making celebration cakes and cup cakes, her company is called "Miss Pink Cupcakes" hence the card I made.  I got the idea from a card I saw on Pinterest.

We are heading for a sunny weekend here in the UK, hope it stays nice where you are.

No cards today!

I have been bust today, instead of card making I have made some Elderflower cordial, I love to make this in the summer, its such a refreshing drink, just dilute with water or lemonade add ice and relax!!

Its really easy to make as well, pick about 25 elder blooms when they are young and also dry.  Shake the blooms well to remove any small insects and place in bowl with the grated rind of 3 unwaxed lemons and 1 unwaxed orange. Pour over 1.5 litres of boiling water and leave to soak overnight.  Pour the liquid through a sterilised muslin into a large saucepan, add 1kg of sugar and the juice of the lemons and oranges (150ml).  Bring to the boil and simmer for a few minutes. Pour into sterilised bottles and seal.  Once opened store in the fridge, it should keep up to three months but never lasts that long in our house!!

GOOGLE READER!!

Have you all remembered that Google Reader will end on 1st July  :0(   I know I had forgotten!!  I didn't want to loose all my favourite blogs so have signed up to Bloglovin, it was really easy to do and I was able to add all the wonderful blogs that I follow, I would have hated to have to build my list again!! I am sure there are other similar sites out there but this worked for me!!

Have a great weekend.

Hugs

Two more cards and I will use a different stamp!

I couldn't resist playing again with this flower stamp, I promise tomorrow I will ink up a different one!!  This time I have used again the perfume sample cards that I got from the perfume department of my local department store.  This first is a tag for the current challenge at "A Blog Named Hero" I stamped the image with Distress Ink and then highlighted with white gel pen before spraying with a shimmer mist. (Hard tyo see in the photograph but it has a lovely shimmer. I am also adding them to the Hero Arts Challenge "stamp your story".

This second card is very simple and I haven't added a sentiment yet as I am waiting for the right occasion to use it.

I am looking forward to a quiet weekend, both Tristan and Francesca have gone to the Glastonbury Music Festival and it looks like its going to be great weather there for a change.  No mud baths this year!!

Hope you have a great weekend and the sun shines on you.

Its that stamp again!!!!

When I get a new stamp I have to keep using it and trying various ways to stamp and colour it, this new flower stamp is no exception, it sits on my desk and I have to ink it up!!!  I have made two cards for the challenge over at A Blog Named Hero, both are tag shaped but one I coloured with my Distress pens and ink the other I have just stamped with one colour. A very different look to them both, I love the top card but am not so sure about the second one!

We are having a very busy time at work the school inspectors (Ofsted) are in at the moment so its quite stressful, this is just the time for card making, perfect stress relief.

My new stamp!!

I have been playing with my new Painted Flower stamp again, after seeing all the lovely cards made with it over at the flickr group I just had to have it for my collection.  I have stamped the flower twice to create a small shadow and then cut with a circle die, leaving the leaf extending over the edge.  I shall add this card to the current challenge at the Hero Arts Blog.

We have had a beautiful day here today, the hottest of the year so far,  I was hoping it would last for the weekend but it looks like thunder storms are heading our way!

90 Minute Scramble

For the first time in ages I was able to take part in the  scramble over at the Hero Arts flickr site.  Lisa provided us with a sketch and we had to make a card in  90 minutes.  I have just received this flower stamp as part of a prize and I have been dying to ink it up so here was the perfect opportunity.  Its such a pretty image and I know it will become a real favourite.

Hope you are all having a great weekend.