Soup for the Soul

I have not been making many cards at the moment, after Christmas I just decided to take a break, do more scrapbooking and photography and most of all concentrate on getting better at cooking!


I have never really loved cooking, I cook because I have to, but I am beginning to enjoy it and the more I make, the more confident I get to try something else.


With the cold weather I have been making soups, this is pea soup, simmering on the hob.

The recipe can be found here on BBC Good Food. 

I also made Tomato and Basil soup which my boys love.

I also made some really easy breadsticks which I saw on Lorraine Pascale's Baking Made Easy programme.

My husband is the master at making Risotto's and kindly showed me how to make this Butternut Squash Risotto which is delicious!

It's a small start but seems to be going down well with the family. 

Enjoy your week!

Tracey xxx

Eat Cake!

I have a special birthday coming up and my dear friend Jennifer came round to make me a cake. We used this delicious chocolate cake recipe from here but Jennifer added much more icing sugar to the ganache frosting which made it taste even better!

It was huge! So huge that I could not fit the dome over it on my cake stand!  

My youngest made me leave the room while he decorated the cake with glitter and chocolate sprinkles.

  Then it was time to taste the cake! 

It was soooooo yummy and moist and chocolatey and heavenly! 

It wasn't long before half of the cake had been consumed by us all. The other half is in the freezer to share with Jennifer next time we have a cuppa!  Thanks my lovely!

I hope you are all having a great week and staying warm!

Tracey xxxx

A Last Few Christmas Cards

I love this stamp by Hannah Davies/Impression Obsession and used it to make our cards to our family this year.

 I stamped the stocking twice onto linen card stock and layered it on 3d foam pads.

 I added lots of bling to this card and coloured a little silver in on some parts using Smooch.

I tried it in different colour combos. Red on black.  And black on red.

And a bit of pink too.

Not long till the big day now!

Tracey x

Our Christmas Cards for this year.

Hi all, I hope you are well. Well the presents are wrapped and the food shopping has arrived so I am ready! I was really late in starting our christmas cards this year. We send a lot and I wanted to make them all so they had to be relatively quick and easy to do.

I printed the sentiment on the computer as well as the greeting on the inside of the card.

I added lots of bling and some glamour dust. The stamp is from Penny Black.

The bow is from Papermania.

They are all sent now! Hope your christmas plans are going well.

Tracey x

Magazine Christmas Trees

I have seen these trees over the web and thought I would have a go at making one. All you need is a magazine and a bone folder.

A tutorial can be found on good old Martha's blog here.

I added some gold spray and finished. A great way to recycle your mags.

Tracey x

Inspired by My Son

I hope all your christmas plans are going well! My youngest son made this wonderful Christmas card for our family at school.

I was so wowed by it that he kindly taught me how to make one so we got out our papers and had a crafty afternoon.

This was soo relaxing to make, just folding paper!

We added some glamour dust to the edges and tried different colours too.

We made ornaments, tags, cards, such fun!

But best of all was my son's creation when I let him loose on the bradlet draw!

Fantastic! Can't top that one, lots of christmas sparkle!

Have a wonderful run up to christmas.

Tracey x

Final Card for the Challenge, Let it Snow!

This is my final card for the Less is More challenge this week. It's a card that I have made for my son to give to a special little girl that he has a soft spot for at school. If you look closely there is a heart in the middle of the snow flake on the little mouse's nose.

The image is a digi download that I got from the Digi Stamp Boutique a few years ago, I can't find it on there now. I glamour dusted the outside of the mouse to add an extra bit of bling.


I have almost finished my christmas cards now, I started a bit late this year!


I hope you are all enjoying the run up to Christmas!


Tracey x