Annual Leave

I have been taking a short break from blogging; I think I had set myself a few too many deadlines that I couldn't keep to so rebelled against myself and gave up posting altogether.  Every time I sat down to type I just couldn't find inspiration and instead of writing rubbish I thought it better not to write at all.  Over the past few weeks struggling to keep to my diet, spending far too many hours watching TV or playing computer games and generally being tired from a long day at work I have felt very lazy and it's time for things to change.

Where do I start?

It seems like ages ago we planned a trip back to Munich to visit my friend Scott and the time is finally here, we set off tomorrow and I can't wait.  I'm going with Erik again which will be such a laugh and Graeme is coming too this time, he can't wait to have his first proper Maß.  So my next post is likely to be filled with lots of photographs from my travels, it will be good to get the camera out again, sometimes I think I don't take enough photographs (I'm not sure my friends would agree?).

See you soon!

Pineapple Plant

I found a fantastic article on Stumble from Tickled Red about growing your own pineapples.  How could I not try this out!!

Now I don't know if we have quite the right climate for growing pineapples so I did a bit more research from the UK and found this article from Gardeners World saying all you need is a bright windowsill; which we have as all our windows and balcony face South (lucky us!).  So I'm going to give it a go, now this is not a quick process it can take 3 years to grow a pineapple, but I will try to keep you updated of all the exciting progress :oP

Here is my happy little pineapple before I start, all I need to do is cut the top off and trim all of the fruit away as we are not a hot country and it might go mouldy.  Sit it in a jar of water until it starts to grow roots, then plant it up in a fairly large pot as they can grow up to 1 meter wide.  I'm very excited but I won't hold my breath just yet.

Pinned

My best purchase so far this year has to be the Zuko Quick Pop Maker. This small contraption sits in the freezer until we are feeling peckish and then in under 10 minutes transforms a Muller light yoghurt, a splash of milk and squirt of agave into some very yummy ice lollies.  It is great for us, as we are both trying to loose weight so when we need something sweet and light quickly, we just make an ice pop.  So here are some pins of other recipes I have found to try out.

Homemade Fresh Fruit Pops from Dandy Sugar

Made from fruit, just fruit, from a bender, such a quick and easy pop!!

Rainbow Popsicles from The Family Kitchen on Babble

I love Rainbows, this would be easy with our Zuko!!

Zoku Quick Pop Character Toolkit from Apartment Theropy

This is not a recipe but a toolkit to make fruit pictures in your pops, so much fun!!

Frosty Margaritas Ice Pops from Hostess with the Mostess

Mmmm Margaritas!!

Layered Cheesecake Popsicle from Cutest Food

Cheesecake in a popsicle... WIN!!

Dirty Pirate Popsicles from Endless Simmer

All the 'Poptails' on this website are awesome, but rum and coke has to be my favourite.

Check out the rest here.

The Cheesecake Factory

Now I love cosplay, I really admire the people who go all out and dress up as their favourite characters from television, books, games and film.  My friend Sarah Jane and I have intended for last couple of years to dress up for the MCM Expo in London but either I don't have the nerve or we run out of time to come up with anything.  We did make awesome Lego Star Wars t-shirts last year but this year we decided to go one step further and actually dress up.  Now we haven't gone crazy but I'm really excited about our idea as I have been wanting to do it for a while.  We are going as cheesecake factory waitress' from The Big Bang Theory.

We are currently preparing everything we need to get; it is surprisingly hard to find a mustard V-neck sweater vest so if any of you see one on your travels please let us know.  We also have a little extra surprise along with the basic costume, which I am so excited about and have already started making so watch this space.

Do you think we can convince the boys to dress as Howard, Leonard and Sheldon??

Lego Minifgures Series 1

I have obtained quite few Lego Minifigures to date and would like to share some of my favourite characters.  We started our collection at Series 4 when I bought Graeme his first character the Footballer to cheer him up whilst studying for exams at University.  Ever since we have been hooked and my latest edition is the complete Series 1 minifigures.  These were quite hard to get hold of as they were first published in 2010 and are now no longer made.  I had to search for quite a while and eventually found the set on Ebay for not much more than the original cost; that's my story and I'm sticking to it!!

Here are our favourite characters and their bio's from the lego minifgure website.  I love how the designers have created complete back stories for their characters it makes each one very unique.
My favourite character from this series is the Cheerleader, she has the best pom poms:
“Gimmie an L! Gimmie an E! Gimmie a G! Gimmie an O! Yaaay!”

The Cheerleader is perpetually filled to bursting with energy, excitement and enthusiasm. She prefers cartwheels and handsprings to plain old ordinary walking, and she waves her pom-poms around wildly whenever she talks, which is pretty much all of the time.

The Cheerleader loves to cheer people on, no matter what they’re doing. Whether they’re changing a light bulb, building a wall or just crossing the street, she’s always there with a peppy cheerleading routine to encourage them to do their best and never give up. It can actually get kind of annoying sometimes, but her perpetual good mood and sunny smile are so contagious that it’s hard to really mind.

Graeme's is the Ninja:
“Like a shadow in the night, I – oops!”

Stealthy. Sneaky. A cunning master of martial arts. None of these things describes the Ninja, although he sure wishes they did. He tries his best to dramatically blend into the shadows or hide in plain sight like all the other ninjas can, but no matter what he does, he always seems to mess things up. The truth is that he’s just plain clumsy, and no matter how gracefully he may start a back-flip, creep along the rafters or launch himself into an epic sword battle, he always manages to trip over his own feet, fall off the ceiling, or bonk himself on the head with his ancient and mystical blade. Also, he’s afraid of the dark.

No one is quite sure how the Ninja ever managed to graduate from ninja school. But no matter how bad he may be at his chosen profession, he always keeps trying and never gives up, convinced after each blunder that the next time, he will prove himself a true ninja warrior for the ages.

No.100

I feel a sense of achievement today as I have reached my 100th post.  I have been writing my blog for over a year now, it really doesn't feel that long, and have had over 11,000 pageviews which I also feel is a great accomplishment.  Thank you to those who follow me and those who drop in from time to time, your continued support is what keeps this blog going.  Every time I get another pageview, new follower or friendly comment it really spurs me on to write more.

So as it is a day of numbers I feel I should give you some statistics from the past year:

Top 5 most visited months

• November 2011
• January 2012 
• May 2011 
• December 2011
• June 2011 

Top 10 most visited posts

• Fabric Flower Head Band Tutorial
• Valentine's Weekend Continued...
• Back to Crafting; Peacock Style...
• Cake Pops
• Lego Jewellery
• A Royal Fascinator
• Flower Accessories
• Carried Away with Flowers
• Cushion Crafting Weekend
• MCM Expo Spring 2011 - part 1

Top 5 traffic sources

• http://www.google.com/search
• http://knitsallyknit.blogspot.com/ (My friend from work, thank you for all the hits Sally)
• http://pinterest.com/pin/21323328/
• http://pinterest.com/pin/147352219027645223/
• http://images.search.yahoo.com/images/view;_ylt=A0

Top 5 google searches

• duck cake pops
• rag basket
• peacock colours
• star wars valentines
• peacock room ideas

Top 10 pageviews by country

• United Kingdom
• United States
• Germany (Is this all you Scott??)
• Canada
• Romania
• India
• Australia
• Indonesia
• Mexico
• Brazil

It's quite amazing to think that my blog has been all over the world.  Here's to the next 100 posts!!

Stumbled

For this month's Stumbled I have been trawling through some of my older favourite stumbles, a lot of them seemed to be about illusions so here are my top 5 of the past year.  Some are natural, others hand made and some are just a bit of fun!!  Hope you enjoy.

Heaven on Earth from Daily Random Facts

These salt flats in Bolivia are covered in a thin film of water during the rainy season, which creates the world's largest mirror and the illusion of walking in the air.

Carved Book Landscapes by Guy Laramee from Colossal

These books are beyond belief, the landscapes are so relistic and detailed, isn't it amazing what you can do with your old books!

Tree Line by Zander Olsen from Illusion

I'm not sure why these images appeal to me so much but I love how the artist brings the background landscape into the foreground just by creating a continuous line.  I remember studying similar styles in my A level Photography so it brings back the memories.

3D Goldfish by Riusuke Fukahori from Colossal

These goldfish are not real, can you believe it?? They have been carefully painted onto layers of resin to build up the shape of the 3D fish, perfect from any angle.  They absolutely unbelievable!

Ski Jump Bathroom from Coloribus

Yet another great idea from Japan. These toilets were decorated to promote a new coffee, I don't get the link, but what an exciting way to go to the toilet.

Practical Valentine

This is what I got Graeme for Valentine's Day, yes you are correct that is a saucepan stuffed with marshmallows, pink&whites and pink wafers yum!! I thought I should be practical this year as our budget is quite tight and last week the handle fell off our current sauce pan so this was an excellent excuse to get a new one.  The sweet treats were pink, for Valentine's, and also fat free so slightly healthier than a box of chocolates!!

A friend shared these awesome Skyrim valentine's cards from Jemma Salume at Oxboxer which are just  fantastic.  I understand they make no sense if you don't play Skyrim but they are pretty funny if you do and I know Graeme will love it so that is what is important.  This is the one I chose for Graeme:

Here are some other greats!!

Cookie Jars

For Christmas my mum bought me these make your own cookie jars, they are such a good idea for gifts, and much more fun than cake mix from the supermarket.  They have been sitting in my cupboard for a while now, so inspired by my Pinned post I decided to get them out and make some heart cookies for Graeme. I chose the oatmeal and raisin cookies and all I needed was the Jar full of dry ingredients (oatmeal, flour, cinnamon, baking powder, sugar and raisins) 85g butter and 1 egg.  (I don't know the exact measurements of the other ingredients, but I will find out because these cookies were good!).

The instructions were sellotaped to the side of the jar, but all I really needed to do was mix everything together in a bowl.  As I didn't have any baking paper I lightly sprayed an oven tray with Frylight before carefully spooning the mixture into the heart moulds. They were popped into into the oven for 20 minutes and out came the best cookies yum! These don't help my diet at all but we all need sweet treats occasionally, lets just hope we don't eat them all at once.

UPDATE: We already finished the cookies whoops!!

Pinned

Today was the first day I have been on Pinterest in a while.  I had to wean myself off it as I was getting far too addicted and spending (wasting) far to much time on it.  It seems as though everyone is in full swing for Valentines day so here are some ideas I have been pinning lately. My mind seems to have been on food a lot recently, the one problem with being on a diet, so these are my favourite Valentine food ideas.

Breakfast

Eggs in Toast from Say Yes To Hoboken

All you need is a heart shaped cutter so simple!

Heart Bacon from The Paper Mama

There can not possibly be a simpler way to man's heart than bacon, well maybe cookies...

Dinner

Hearty Ravioli from Vegalicious Recipes
Another way to give a basic meal a valentine's twist.

Roast Heart Potatos from Haniela's Food & Photography
Now I can't be the only person who saw these and straight away bought a heart shaped cookie cutter, can I?

Dessert

Hidden Heart Cake from i am baker

I love every cake on this blog but this one is quite fantastic!

Heart Cinnamon Rolls from cake & allie

I was gutted when Cinnabon closed down at Legoland, those rolls were just too good!! At least I can learn to make my own now.

Little Lego Men... and Women

Over the past year I have rekindled my love for Lego.  It started when I found some beautiful pieces of jewellery made out of lego here and here.  I was hooked and it wasn't just for jewellery it was anything Lego.  Fortunately I have a very understanding partner who also has a passion for Lego, so at least I am not alone.  Even better at the weekend he bought me a couple of little men for my collection, a Bandit and a Minotaur.  These characters both come from the Series 6 Minifigure set.  Each Minfigure collection is made up of 16 individual characters and the aim of the game is to find them all!!
I started collecting these characters a while ago so I have quite a few.  They don't make it easy to find them all, as the packets are sealed so you can't tell which is inside.  I recall Graeme and I once spent an hour in Tesco Direct hunting through about 3 boxes trying to figure out which characters were in the packets.  This may have become a bit of an obsession but I love how my collection is growing and slowly taking over the flat, I can't wait to get more!!

With the aim to get a little more organised I've added a Lego button to my side bar and hope to make Lego a regular feature on my blog.  I know there are a lot of closest Lego fans out there, so I'm spreading the word that Lego is back in fashion!!

Customised Herb Pots

My first project using the Silhouette printer was to make some customised plant pots to cover the boring plain herb pots we have in the kitchen.  I had looked around for a while for indoor plant pots but they are so expensive!! So instead decided to start from scratch and bought some cheapy (50p) outdoor ceramic plant pots and trays (because outdoor pots have a hole in the bottom) from the garden centre.  For paint I bought a tester pot of wall paint from Homebase which was more than enough and thick enough to cover in a couple of coats.  Note to self: Open paint on a table so you don't spill it all over your favourite new jumper FAIL!  I downloaded a lovely handwritten font from the internet and cut out a template using the Silhouette from adhesive vinyl to stick on the side of the pot.  After painting and drying, the vinyl was peeled off and the end result was better than I could ever imagine, reaffirming my love for the Silhouette.  To finish I dropped in the herb pots and put on a sunny window for them to enjoy.

Update: If you do spill paint over yourself, wash straight away in warm water, I missed a huge patch on my sleeve so it dried, hard! but managed to get it off with acrylic nail varnish remover and a cotton bud, it's very strong so make sure you rinse immediately afterwards so it doesn't stain.  Good as new!!

Stumbled

This post is a tad too late for last year but I found the best Star Wars Snowflakes on Stumble this week which I have to try out on my new Silhouette printer.  Therefore I'm dedicating this months Stumbled post to Star Wars at Christmas so that next year I can have a spectacularly geeky christmas!!

Star Wars Snowflakes from Anthony Herrera Designs

How amazing are these you can download the cutting patterns from his blog, you'll need a good craft knife.

Snow AT-AT from Mexican Viking

I wish we had enough snow to make one of these!!

Jawa Vegan Cookie-Cupcakes from Just JENN Recipes

These are made using Star Wars cookie cutters I'm definitey going to have to get them!!

Star Wars Ornaments from hearts4ever on Etsy

Lego, Star Wars and Christmas total win!!

Reindeer Darth Vader Christmas Card from Crap Apple Designs on Etsy

and finally the best christmas cards I've seen, hope these are still being printed next year.