Making a Titanic Birthday Cake

So back in July Blake turned 6. He didn't want a party as he had asked to visit the Train Museum in York instead. I decided however that I'd make him a cake regardless as we were having a few friends for tea and then he could share the rest at school.

 At this point I wasn't worried as I imagined he'd be asking for a Thomas the Tank Engine cake - my preferred option as this would entail no baking and a short trip to the supermarket to but a ready made one. I was however fully expecting him to ask for a Minecraft themed cake, I'd prepped it in my head and spent a good few hours on Pinterest scoping out other such themed cakes. I'd even sourced where to buy a square cutter and green icing from - I'm no cake decorator or baker but was happy to give it a go. 

Imagine my horror when two days BEFORE said birthday, small boy asked for a Titanic cake. I offered to correct his slip of the tongue and asked if he meant to say Minecraft. No Mummy, was his determined reply - I want a Titanic cake. Great I thought, can't see me grabbing one of those off the shelf in Tesco.

I somehow managed to create the scene shortly before Titanic hit the rather huge iceberg.  At one point however, I was going to present him with a blue cake with a lump of white icing on it and declare that Titanic had indeed already sunk. Figured this might disappoint small boy somewhat.

I panicked and set about re examining Pinterest for Titanic cakes, these were my two favourites for very different reasons:

 

I was still panicking however, one baking is not my strong point, two cake decorating is not my strong point. So I started Googling like a woman possessed and to my delight found a Titanic model kit at Hobbycraft for just £2.50 (life saver) and a ready to decorate chocolate cake from Asda.

Building the Titanic. For just £2.50 the kit instructions demanded a lot and said I'd need a hammer, glue, sand paper, nails and paint. Erm no, an emery board some glue and my kids paint did just fine thanks!

The cake and my ready coloured, ready to roll icing too:

I had some alphabet cutters from Zac's naming day cakes. All I added extra were candles and a sparkler. Job's a good 'un.

Luckily Blake loved it and was even happier as the Titanic hadn't sunk and he got to keep it as a toy to play with. Unexpected cake bonus.

I only have 4 more months to wait and see what Zac wants on his next Birthday Cake!

Hugs

Victoria

xxx

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My New Strawberry Planter

Hello

 

Gosh it's a miserable day out there today, the boys have requested a pyjama day and of course I said yes. We had a hectic day yesterday, trawling garden centres, outdoor crazy golf, gardening at Grandmas and all sorts so I guess I owe them a lazy day. Plus it gives me a bit of time to get things done in the house as I'm not half in half out trying to keep and eye on them.

Well yesterday I indulged in a spot of gardening - yes after we had done the full day out. You see, when we finally got home, both boys were a little over tired which generally equates to a few tantrums and generally grisly behaviour. So I left The Spark in charge and opted to duck outside and finally transfer my strawberry plants to their new home.

Here's how they were before I started:

Don't get me wrong, my plants were perfectly happy in here and they do hold some sentimental value too in that my Dad in law constructed this container and it used to live in his garden. My Dad in law was a hoarder, he refused to throw anything away he thought would be useful and often made stuff out of nothing. We will keep the container and use it for something else just as useful.

However, it is my mission to turn our garden into something we all love and for me that means bright colours and low maintenance. I saw some stacking pots at a local garden centre a while back which were fab but all pastel colours and I wanted loud and bright. I found them whilst trawling the web and LOVE them.

I opted for bright pink, blue and lime. The boys helped me bag up some soil from Grandmas garden today - she's re-done her garden and has loads we can help ourselves to which is a bonus. Stones in the base for drainage (thanks again Grandma) and then her soil and some posh bagged stuff from the garden centre - you can rate my gardening skills from the lingo eh?

My gardening 'tools' were in the garage which has a broken door and The Spark says I'm not allowed to open as I can't shut it by myself so I grabbed Blake's trowel and fork from the playroom and set about my task. Here is the finished stack, I adore it.

Still a few plants left to re-house and then the container to move, but I'll need The Spark for that as it's sooo heavy and I can only shudder as what festers beneath...spider, slugs....eeeew! 

So there you have it - the first post of, I hope many sharing my garden transformation!

If you like the pots and want to get some yourself, they are made by a company called Elho and here's one website where you can spend your lolly and get some too!!!

Hugs

Victoria

xxx

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LOVE letters and a spot of gardening

Happy bank Holiday Monday. Hope you are enjoying the sunshine? Nope me neither, cloudy as anything here. The Spark has taken the mini beasts to soft play for a couple of hours leaving me to my own devices - the crazy fool! He thinks I'm busying myself doing housework and chores - not a chance - I'm in the room of craft.

Want to see one of my latest creations? I've wandered into the world of creating free

standing or wall hanging fabric letters:

Not impressed with the photographer for the photo above, looks like the silly twit nudged the table as she took the photo and sent the letter 'O' for a tipple. That would be me by the way. I think they look more impressive from this angle though as you can see the contrasting fabric around the sides better:

 And of course a close up.

The letters stand approx 8" tall and come with hook on the back too to make hanging on the wall a bit of a doddle. They are made to order, each letter in your fabric style / colour choice etc for £6.50 per letter plus postage. There's fabric on the back too so they look pretty from any perspective.

You can order them by emailing me at:

bluejellystampin@sky.com or hop on over to my Facebook page for a gander.

Back to the chit chat, we decided to do a spot of gardening yesterday. OK that's putting it in really vague terms - our garden is over grown, neglected, old and pretty battered with a broken trampoline and old stuff that really needs clearing. So this year we are going to tackle it and hopefully transform it into something we love. Want to see the state of it now?

Fond gardeners, brace yourselves,it's not pretty:

It's kind of in three parts too as we are a corner plot part 1) the side of the house currently dead space occasionally used to BBQ part 2) the bit we see from the house - dead lawn, broken toys and huge overgrown trees and lots of weeds, part 3) the bit we can't see because some genius built an ugly garage in the middle of the garden before we bought the house - see - yuk!

Fear not, this hay fever suffering, arachnophobic, garden novice, runner awayer of wasps and bees is going to be brave this year and do stuff out there. And boy do I have plans so I shall keep you posted and up to date on progress, or lack of it.

I had some help yesterday from The Spark and of course Blake. We took down the old trampoline and built the new one, mowed the 'lawn'  (moss and weed ridden patch) and weeded the 'patio' (uneven area of dodgy slabs and more weeds). Below you can spot Blake with his gardening gear on going for it, whilst his older brother casually carries on playing Minecraft in the playroom!

 

Here is the helpful one, amidst the weeds and stuff:

And here enjoying his new trampoline!

 

I shall now depart the Room of Craft and quickly do the housewife thing of transforming downstairs to it's former clean and tidy self before The Spark and the Mini Beasts return to once more create chaos and mayhem.

Hugs

Victoria 

xxx

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Yoo-Hoo is anyone still here?

Blimey talk about blog neglect! How long?

So, I won't bore you to death with tales of woe, illness and holiday and stuff,  so instead:

GOOD MORNING, how are you today? I  missed you too xxx

Thought being as I'm here we could catch up, have a goss, maybe a cuppa and then I'd share some of the fun stuff I've been up to....sound like a plan? Right then, grab your cuppa, pull up a pew and pop your paws up, let's carry on.

So since we last chatted I have indeed been busy with all sorts of stuff, yes a bit off colour but all good now, family holiday - so sorry couldn't invite you along, would have been a bit pricey to squeeze you in with us and the boys, a bit of home DIY and re-arranging, much sewing, planning to change the garden and at last a craft fair this year.

Want to see what my stall looked like? Going to show you anyway:

It wasn't the busiest event but it was nice to get out and chat with other folks making their own stuff too and to see some happy familiar faces too. I had more fun as my Mum in Law came along to help, we looked a right pair in totally unplanned matching outfits. Cue selphie:

Shame neither of us could work out where to look. Still we had such a giggle and then afterwards we went out for a family tea with the dudes and The Spark (who sat in the small space in the back of the car between the booster seats, one coin toss I was more than delighted to win).

We ate at a pub with this view from our table:

The place has an indoor soft play centre so the boys had an hour of chaos and mayhem whilst we had a quiet glass of wine and then they came back!

Afterwards we felt we needed some fresh air and a walk to make up for the total over eating sesh we'd just had. We spotted these gorgeous cows and attempted to get Blake close enough to one for a photo, do you know it was as easy as pinning soup to the wall!

See, he's all blurred!

Maybe that could be blamed on the Pinot Grigio. Oh and that was me that drank that, Blake was good and stuck to fruit juice! 

On the drive home (I was NOT driving may I add) we were a little bit naughty and I think it was me that decided we should play the 'beep the horn and wave madly at strangers game'. You know the one where some poor soul is having an innocent walk and then some random drives by, beeps the horn and waves madly at you? 

Well I just love seeing how many people smile and wave back and I mean really enthusiastically, it's as if they actually know you and are thrilled you made the effort to beep and wave at them.

 After I've recovered from my wheezing, crying laughing fit I do wonder if even for a fleeting second that they thought they knew us. I mean what would be your natural reaction - would you wave back smiling and happy thinking someone you knew was waving a little love your way or would you scorn our efforts?

I can tell you - everyone smiled and waved.

I woke up this morning laughing thinking about it! So if you were one who waved back, thanks so much for making me laugh til I cried.

Hugs

Victoria

xxx

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Mother's Day Cards....vintage style

So this morning after spending much time transforming the boys ready for Crazy Hair Day at school in aid of Comic Relief I almost, and I say almost; thought I wouldn't have time to make any Mother's Day cards and that I'd have to nip out and buy some.

Then I remembered, I have loads of card making stuff - doh! Plus nipping out to buy cards would take more time than actually making them. So, I shoved gently moved the sewing machine out of the way and got my paper crafting mojo on.

Ta-dah....

I used some Kraft cards and envelopes I had lying around the place, dejected and ignored since my pre- Christmas rush (!) so figured they'd be a good start. Then I surfed over to one of my favourite digital image shops Pink Petticoat and popped a few items in The Sparks basket (the joys of having access to his paypal account). 

I got the very delicate Amelie paper collection and printed one of the designs onto white linen card. Then I used the Lovely Mum sentiments and printed on another sheet over the pretty floral design.

A bit of cutting and layering and additions of doilies, washi tape and too cute wooden domes and I was done. But then I felt the need to doodle so added some dots and dashes round the edges 'cos that's the way I roll.

I made three...Mum, Step Mum, Mum in Law. See - was worth popping things in The Spark's basket as now he doesn't need to buy a card for his Mum. One good turn and all that.

And just because I think these are so pretty here's another close up:

Did you want to see Zac and Blake with their crazy hair? Do you? Please say you do as I feel an overwhelming desire to blast you with them anyway...

Wonder what the bath water is going to look like later....

Hugs

Victoria

xxx

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Making Minecraft Inspired Costumes

Morning peeps, hope you're having a lovely Sunday?

 I'm relaxing in the room of craft whilst Blake sprawls on the floor next to me playing a game. I was up with him most of the night as he had a fever and of course just like a typical child he seems fine again now and full of beans! Zac is out with The Spark spending the pocket money he's been saving for a game he wanted so that's both boys content.

During teh school half term break a few weeks ago, I'd planned lots of activities to do with Masters' Sew n So and one of them was inspired by their favourite X-box game of the moment Minecraft. Wow, have you seen how expensive toys and accessories for this are and also how hard they are to get hold of? They had seen Minecraft cardboard dress up heads and there was no way I was paying £10 to £15 each for one so I had a good search on 'tinterweb and found a fantastic and free download and tutorial to make them ourselves.

Here's the finished result. I think the dudes look totally cool as Creeper and Steve!

The download and tutorial couldn't be simpler (although I printed onto UK A4 card and set printer to border-less or they would have been a bit small). All it took was five pieces of card per head and some glue.

Couldn't have been easier to piece together either.

Ta-dah!

Luckily for me the boys had matching tops in their wardrobe, although I did have to turn Zac's (the blue one) inside out as it had printed image on the front:

We made matching foam swords later on but that's for another day.

If you want to have a go you can find the downloads and tutorial HERE. He has about every Minecraft character going, great stuff.

Hugs

Victoria

xxx

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How to Make a Thomas the Tank Engine Costume - sort of

OK - I'm being brave, yesterday I showed you a photo of the Thomas the Tank Engine costume I made for Blake for World Book Day at school / dressing up in for the rest of his life.

I'm going to share with you some of how I made it, I'd love to do proper instructions for any of you with little Thomas fans in your house, but truth be known I totally winged this make and was fast running out of time so my photos along the way stopped. But I'll do my best. Here's the finished costume with Blake inside it in his train conductor costume which was an E bay bargain last year!

It's a little blurry as I robbed this photo off the school website as I thought he looked so please with himself! Here's mine from earlier in the day, posing with Zac as the Pirate Who Said Please:

Righto, a rough list of what you'll need:

• Blue cotton fabric
• Red cotton fabric
• Grey cotton fabric
• Black cotton fabric
• Red ribbon or tape
• Yellow, white and black felt pieces
• Blue, black, grey and red sewing thread
• Pieces of foam - the sort used to make seat pads on chairs

I can't give you quantities as I didn't measure - sorry!

Clearly I had no idea what I was doing as I made the back piece first. Blake was at school so I measured up against a coat he wears! I cut one of the foam pads and them cut a piece of blue fabric folded in half wide at the top, wide enough to leave space either side of the pad and a lot more at the bottom. I hand cut a number one in yellow felt and appliquéd it on with red thread in a zig zag stitch. I think my next trick was to sew a line of red ribbon across the top of the panel - through both sides so that the foam wouldn't go right to the top when I popped it in. Then I sewed down each side - right sides facing and turned out like I was making a bag or cushion cover.

then pop the foam piece in and totally make a mess hand sewing as close to the foam as possible to seal it in! Then because you didn't do it first - hem the edges and add red ribbon trim. See if I had done this with time and thought, I'd have done that bit first! 

 

Making the face was actually the easiest bit for me. I printed a black and white image of his face which I found on Google images and drew around the edge onto grey cotton Added about an inch for seam allowance and consequential sewing errors and then cut out.

First i cut the eyes and mouth out of the template and cut around white felt. To get them in the right place I popped the paper template over the cotton fabric and pinned them in place - it looked kinda creepy at this stage and very unlike Thomas! I used a zig zag stitch again in black cotton. Follow the same steps in black felt for his eyebrows and pupils.

I actually used a pencil to draw in the nose, cheeks etc and sewed over and then added a bit more details with grey thread. 

Then I got into difficulty! I don't like sewing round things, never have and never will. If you look at the first collage you'll see I drew four circles onto thick foam the same size as the first pencil line around Thomas' face. Cutting these out wasn't easy and I wasn't very precise either. I measured round the edge and added an inch to get the width of the black fabric for the tube. Then I piled the four circles on too of each other and measured the length and added 2 inches for seam allowance.

First sew down the long length to make a tube and leave inside out. Then carefully pins Thomas' face, also wrong side out to the tube as shown and then stitch slowly to avoid puckering.

Then hold your breath, cross your fingers and toes and turn right side out and relax, I only went slightly oval the the bottom left of his face, pretty sure Blake won't give a monkeys!

I literally shoved the four pieces of foam in and then set about making a front panel for Thomas the same way as I'd made the back. Next step, I pinned the stuffed tube to the front of the costume, turning the raw edge of the fabric in and then hand stitched it on as tight as I could.

You can see on the photo above I'd cut circles of felt in yellow and black and sewn them in place first.

The rest is hit and miss! I made two straps out of blue fabric and sewed them to the front and back to hold them in place - leaving enough space for Blake's head. then decided he needed side panels. I constructed them in the same way as the front and back but using much smaller pieces of foam and just sewed them straight onto the front and back pieces. 

I thought I was finished but Blake said it needed Number One sewing on the sides and of course a funnel. Grrrrrr. 

I made the funnel by grabbing a toilet roll tube, stuffing it with foam so a little popped out of the top. then I made a tube of black fabric, sewed gather stitch across the top by hand, pulled together and turned inside out. Then pop the cardboard tube inside and painstakingly sew to the top of the foam tube!!

My job was done, I could now have a glass of wine and consider clearing up the next day!

My joy came in seeing Blake wearing it, so far most of the time, in fact if you are in Tesco near here you may spot him wearing it right now as he is out with The Spark!!!

Hope this makes some kind of sense to you.

hugs

Victoria

xxx

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She finally makes a card

Yep, it's been a while since I made a card. My bad I know, I have to confess I even resorted to buying a few recently. I kinda lost my love for a it a little but have to confess making this one made me smile.

I love this super cute digital image and wanted to keep my card nice and clean looking so I added a sentiment (my own) and a button. The card is Stampin' Up! Naturals and the spotty designer paper is also Stampin' Up!

I made a hanging fabric heart to match the card - LOVE this and NEED to make a similar one for myself - quite clearly with a different sentiment!!

Here's a photo of my boys dressed up yesterday for World Book Day at school. Introducing Thomas the Tank Engine and the Pirate Who Said Please:

Blake insisted on going as Thomas, he went as the train driver last year (eBay £3.19 bargain costume) so making the actual Thomas costume was a challenge. Luckily I took plenty of photos so over the weekend I'll share how I created it with you and you too can share my pain!!!

Hugs

Victoria

xxx

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It's All About The cake

Aw - I have had an absolute blast over half term with my boys. We've had so much fun that I'm a little sad they are back at school today. On the bright side I've managed to tidy up without kneeling on any Lego or tripping over any Minecraft cubes. 

So today I'm going to share with you some baking. I know!

You know that feeling when you see something on Pinterest and you think - wow, how hard can it be and then pin to an appropriate board and forget you even put it there? No? Just me?

Well that's just what i did and then some time ago I found it and I had a go!

Here's what I made:

Ice Cream Cup Cakes, amazing. Here's the recipe I followed if you want to have a go:

Here they are in the quite tidy and organised 'making' process, note I used the recipe not a packet mix like I normally would. Must of been going through a  Great British Bake Off moment of madness.

Loving the flat bottomed ice cream cones - who knew?

I'll admit and confess to using pre -made topping although I did shove it in a piping bag and get all messy and stuff, seriously those of you who bake properly - how on earth do you cope with the clean up? It looked like Mary berry had been drinking way too much and collided with the entire contents of the baking isle in Sainsburys and left it in my kitchen for me to clear up.

Anyway - here are my finished lovelies - ooh I forgot to mention I amended the recipe and chucked in some powdered chocolate in place of some of the flour for fear of Blake not touching anything none chocklity!

And here are the Mini Beasts scoffing their way through the first batch.

Theirs is all the approval I need, if however you'd like to boost my baking confidence - please do leave a lovely comment and I shall love you forever for it.

Hugs

Victoria

xxx

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More Shabby Chic Fabric Hearts and a Fab Family Walk with Treasure

Today (so far) has been what I can only call a perfect family day.

 No plans were made, we've just made it up as we went along. A small sleep in - if you can call sleeping until 6.30am a sleep in but trust me with my kids that's a real treat! Followed by short cuddles on the sofa, light breakfast and oodles of coffee (don't panic the dudes had juice).

After grabbing some warm clothes it was a super quick nip to the supermarket to grab a few supplies and then off to The Hobbucks which is a local open space / wildlife haven. So muddy but so much fun, the dudes didn't complain once about achy legs or being tired, they just enjoyed exploring, especially when we came across a chap digging - my boys aren't in any way shy and rocked straight up to him to ask what he was doing. He gave just the reply they wanted to hear 'I'm digging for treasure boys'. He was too, digging for old bottles, antique glass medicine bottles and stuff. He took great joy in showing the boys what he'd found so far and then showed them how glass marbles were used to seal the lids. He really made their day when he handed them a glass marble each from some broken bottles, the boys felt they had their own treasure to bring home with them.

Talking of treasure, here are some more of my shabby chic style fabric hearts to share with you:

They are the same as yesterday but with different phrases on!

With the spotty dotty reverse. these make me happy!

They cost £4.50 each plus postage, to order please email me at:

 bluejellystampin@sky.com

Want to see some pics of our walk? Couldn't have wished for a better day, clear skies and the warmest temperature we've had in weeks. No snow although lots of frozen ground still.

When you reach the top of Hobbucks View there is a plaque showing you which Nottingham landmarks to look our for including Wollaton Hall (Batman's home if you watched the latest Batman films and even the Power Station - or the Steam factory as Blake prefers to call it!

These photos will be featuring in Week 6 of my Project life album! After our walk we called in at my Mum in Laws as she had some friends staying we hadn't seen for over a year and as a treat The Spark's brother in law was there too, he'd driven up from London this morning. Back home and we've had brunch, done the chores and everyone's doing their own thing now - perfect.

hugs

Victoria

xxx

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