Easy Treat: Eton Mess

Dessert on Friday night was a tribute to Eton old boys William and Harry.

1. Meringues 
They don't need to be pretty, so the kids can help. I was out of cornflour so just used 3 egg whites beaten stiff, then 3/4 cup of caster sugar added gradually + a splash of vanilla essence (12 palm-sized meringues cooked 1 hour @ 120 degrees C, then cooled in oven). Or just buy some!

2. Fruit

Strawberries are traditional, but any fruit or sauce will do. I had some frozen mixed berries so cooked them up with a tablespoon of sugar, strained them a bit to get a thick lumpy sauce, and left to cool. Tinned boysenberries would be good too - one day I will try rhubarb ( a la Sophie Dahl)

3. Whipped Cream

4. Mess!
Cover a whole meringue with cream, broken meringues and sauce. The messier the better (this pic is a bit tidy really, but didn't stay that way...)

p.s. added bonus of being gluten-free for those who need it   :)

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So tempted ...

It is that time of year again, when our local Blue Seal feed shop gets in all manner of cute baby farm animals for sale. And every year, I buy someone. This year, I simply can't. I must not give in to temptation. BUT they are so cuuuuute!

From my iphone ...

Anyone out there getting some sweet babies for their farm this year?

Love,

Jodi

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Big red heart

V051

Another combination from 2 different cards I've made sometime ago. The design of the card is from V046. The original is actually all dark red in color including the heart. But my customer wanted the card to be in black instead. So I did as per request. 

The pop up inside is from the card V014. I tried to do it exactly as the original as I can.  I did that design way back in 2009. I haven't done this design again in a long time :). So it took me a while to figure it out how to do it again...hehehe....but luckily I managed to remember how it's done.

I even made changes with the envelope......I used to make the envelopes for this size of card a little differently. But now I've made some alterations to it to make it more suitable for the card. I like how the big red heart looks on the black card. Love the contrast. :)

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Love themed birthday card

HB085

I got this order yesterday afternoon and I had to get it done and posted today. Wow...it's been a while since I took short notice orders from customers. Usually I wouldn't have done this. But since he gave me the freedom to do whatever I wanted, I excepted. Provided that the design must be a new one from me.....and it must not be something that is already available in my blog......so it had to be a fresh design from me. 

Honestly I didn't have a clue of how I was going to get it done. It's a birthday card with a love theme. He wanted it to be sweet and have lots of heart shapes in it. Of course, he also wanted a pop up inside it with the same theme.

After seriously brainstorming the ideas in my head, I finally decided to use my new heart shape craft punch set that I bought recently to do designs for the pop ups. I just love how it looks. This is the first time I've ever used a heart shape craft punch for my designs.......well, I mean a bigger size heart shape craft punch that is. Before this I would usually cut the heart shapes myself by hand. But I love using the craft punch now....coz it's so sharp and easy to use. Love playing with it. :) I was so happy that I managed to get the pop up done last night in such a short time. All thanks to the craft punches :)

I thought I was going to get inspired to do the design of the card itself in the morning but no great ideas came to my head until about 10.00am that I finally got something even though it's a simple idea but still, a simple idea is better than no idea at all hahahaha! :D So I proceeded with the idea and this is how it looks like in the end :). I've already posted the card even though my customer has not seen it yet! LOL!  He was too busy with work to check his email. He trusted me and gave me the permission to post it straight to his girlfriend.....awwww....he is so sweet! :) His girlfriend is a lucky gal! :)

Have a look at this photo above. He asked me to print this wording out in very small font and paste it at the back of the card below my logo. Isn't it sweet???? :) He must love her very very much. :)

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Love themed rubber stamps

I couldn't help myself! I just had to buy these! hehe! Another great bargain! :) I got them at the Popular Bookstore recently. Couldn't help but buy it because of the things they offered in this DIY set.

There's 4 cards, complete with it's embellishments and also of course, my favourite would be the love themed rubber stamps that comes together with it's ink :) Love them!

There were more rubber stamps collection there that I would like to buy but tried my level best to control myself and just pick the ones that I really would use for my card making experiments hehe. I just go crazy every time I go into these stores. Especially if there are good bargains around. It's just too irresistible! :D

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2011 Annual Pet Portrait Contest!

Studio 36
170 Park Street
Suite 3
Bangor ME 04401
Phone (207) 299-2869

Press Release
Contact: Jodi Renshaw
Phone: (207) 299-2869

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 25, 2011

2011 Pet Portrait contest to benefit the Bangor Humane Society.

Bangor, ME, April 25, 2011: Studio 36, a photography studio in downtown Bangor, is pleased to announce their second annual Pet Portrait Contest to benefit the Bangor Humane Society. All pets are welcome to participate – from cats and dogs to iguanas and guinea pigs.

To enter the contest, pet owners should make an appointment to have their pet photographed by Studio 36. In lieu of a session fee, participants will be asked to give a donation to the Bangor Humane Society of any amount greater than $5. The pet owner may then choose which picture from their pet portrait session that they would like to enter in to the contest. All portrait sessions must take place before Monday, May 27th. Please call 299-2869 to make an appointment.

The winners will be chosen by public voting via an Internet link as well as a public viewing at the studio. All pet photos will be on display throughout Studio 36 - at 170 Park Street - for public viewing beginning Wednesday, June 22nd through Sunday, June 26th from 12pm – 5pm. Winner will be announced on Sunday, Sunday, June 26th on www.studio36bangor.com. Each vote will cost the voter a .50 cent donation to the Bangor Humane Society. The pet photo with the most votes wins.

First prize is a portrait package from Studio 36 (to be used for people or pets) valued at $150, as well as a front window display dedicated to your pet for the month of July.

Second prize is a $75 Gift Card to Pet Quarters, 744 Stillwater Avenue in Bangor, ME.

Third prize is an original watercolor portrait of your pet by Tricia Kenny of Bangor, ME.

Last year’s contest was a huge success for the Bangor Humane Society. Over $2,000 was raised for the shelter. Studio 36 is hoping to exceed that amount this year.

Pet owners are able to purchase copies of their session photos from Studio 36, with a portion of the sales also going to the Bangor Humane Society. Thanks to all who choose to participate.

http://www.studio36bangor.com/ / 207-299-2869

Picture attached:
Kimbo the Dog
Shaggy the Cat

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Love birds and weaving hearts

 V050

:) what can I say....the love birds are a favourite right now and here is another request from a customer who wanted this design to be combined with one of my pop up design I did long ago. She wanted the card to be bigger and the pop up to be like the one I made for Mother's day. You can view the design at the link HERE.

As you can see....the difference in the pop up is the colors. I had to change the colors to match the color of the card. So there is a lot of red colors used for this design. Different shades of red. :)

The card looks so empty on the outside....a  lot of space. I was thinking of doing the design again for her but still thinking of how to go about it. I thought of making the birds bigger in size but, looks like it's not possible even though the card is bigger because it just doesn't seem right if I did. It won't be able to fit in anyways....unless it's arranged horizontally instead. 

Well...I'll just have to keep on trying...experimenting with this design.....hopefully I'll find a new idea to make it look complete :).

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Simple Easter.

As always (or at least usually), we keep our holidays simple. This Easter began with some fun gifts from the Easter Bunny, an egg hunt around the farm, and some delicious Grandma-made cake. The rest of the day was spent hanging out with farm animals, playing soccer, cleaning up the yard, napping, playing video games and reading. (I finished this book today and then began reading this one immediately after and am almost finished - love them both).

Here was our morning, in pictures ...

It was a laid-back, but lovely holiday. I hope your holiday (however you choose to spend it) was wonderful and love-filled.

Happy Easter! Happy Spring!

Love,

Jodi

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Royal Wedding - 4 sleeps to go...

elc.co.uk (via lilmagoolie.com)

I know not everyone is as excited as I am, but there is no escaping the Royal Wedding this week.

If you are interested, some of the better articles I have read lately are this one about Diana's influence on William, and this one in the New Zealand Herald recalling William's first trip to NZ, as a 10-month old.


Diana had broken with tradition by not leaving him at home during a Royal Tour, and so a nursery was set up at their New Zealand base, Government House in Auckland.

A photocall at Government House resulted in the famous pics of William crawling and playing with a Buzzy Bee, but I would have loved to see the handmade touches in the nursery inside:

"Lady Beattie, skilled at sewing, took me through the newly refurbished suite of rooms shortly before the royal couple arrived. She and other women had put in hundreds of hours sewing baby quilts, a "William's Book" of cloth animals and a ribbon-edged mosquito net decorated with hand-sewn miniature horses. It was a choice between that or corgis, Lady Beattie said.

Propped in William's sunny nursery - twice the size of his nanny's room next door - was a rabbit dressed in an All Blacks jersey and the Buzzy Bee, once pulled along by the Beatties' son Simon. And there was another handme- down, Simon's blue English pram which Lady Beattie restored after Doris, the family's Airedale terrier, had wrestled with the fringed canopy. Whether the highly active, crawling baby prince ever sat in this pram is doubtful." (Jane Phare, NZH, 24/4/11)

My sister and I are having a sleepover on Friday, some friends are doing High Tea at an Auckland hotel - are you doing anything special?

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Pink and blue love birds

V049

Gosh....I don't know how many times I've been making these love birds this month. Quite a lot actually hehe! The white ones....the red ones and now....the pink and blue ones :). This is actually a request from my customer who adored the wedding love birds card. She loved the design so much but she wanted the birds to be in soft pink and soft blue instead.....plus, she wanted me to add those quilled hearts at the top, just like the ones I did for the cupcakes card a while back. My customers do have their own ideas and love to combine some of my designs together.....like designs from card A combined with designs from card B for instance hehe. But I loved the idea otherwise I wouldn't have agreed to do it :).

It's a very simple design......no pop up inside at all.....just a paper inserted inside for my customer to write in her own wishes. I've actually done pink and blue love birds before but the pink and blue paper I used were a bit darker than this one. I think I prefer this soft colors compared to the darker ones I've used before. This is sweeter hehe. :)

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Lingerie Bra Apparel Cloth Body Paintings

Read-Lingerie Bra Apparel Cloth Body Paintings

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Little Miss Lily Pad's Fifth birthday....

Blue fishpond jelly; takeaway popcorn boxes; LouLou making mermaid gingerbreads; frothy wave cupcakes.

























Maddie in her costume; her Mermaid Barbie cake; making popcorn boxes.

Sunday was my first daughter Maddie's fifth birthday party, and it was chaos -but fantastic fun. In typical Lily Pad style, between the two of us we 'designed' a party made from a lot of homemade, handmade items - and had an absolute ball preparing together.

The theme was 'Under the Sea' - an idea which we stretched our imaginations a bit for, in order to make her original idea of a Barbie Mermaid party suit all our friends, boys included. Maddie hates to leave out her two best boy buddies, Tyler and Campbell, so she suggested the wider theme. We asked them if they'd like to come as pirates (they looked fantastic) - and lead the 'treasure hunt'. To make the treasure hunt, we hid gladwrap sandwich bags of small balls, packs of playing cards, gold chocolate coins, notebooks and pencils in the clam shell pit, then Maddie drew a map with "X marks the spot", and hubby traipsed the two pirates, Maddie, and all the other littlies on a wild goose chase all around the property and back to the clam shells. There they 'dug for treasure' with teaspoons til all the prizes were found.

The second game was 'pin the tail on the mermaid', which Maddie and I drew together earlier in the week, and she painted. Our decorating theme included giving each child a pair of paper 'googles' to wear under the sea (a ceiling full of blue balloons and green seaweed), a table of food sitting on top of a striped picnic rug, instead of a table cloth, bunting flags (another great excuse to use the free alphabet bunting downloads I love on ruffled) and an activity getting the kids to decorate gingerbread mermaid and starfish cookies with coloured icing and sprinkles.

Once all the welcome games and activities were over, the kids had a picnic on a blue beach towel, with 'takeaway popcorn' in boxes, 'fish 'n' chips' wrapped in takeaway packages of newspaper and wax paper, and 'goldfish bowl' blue jelly with fish lollies inside.

Instead of a loot bag, each child took home their googles, a balloon, and their own gingerbread cookies.

I have to admit I went all out for this party and made a mermaid outfit for Maddie, as well as a 'guppie' outfit (skirt and tail) for my little one year old. They looked so cute!

I also spent a lot of time thinking about her cake, which I made the night before, and kept a big secret. She was quite overwhelmed/excited/blown away and unfortunately cried when it was time to blow out the candles! Oops - too much for one small child!

It's quite wierd now, with the big party over, and the waiting game of two weeks of school holidays before she's off to school for her first day. Lots of time to write names on clothing and stationary, but also a big build up! I hope it goes well.

Love you HEAPs Maddie Moo, and I'm so proud of you

xxx

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Elephant sponge stickers

V048

Elephant sponge stickers! Yes! I got me another cute strip of sponge stickers! I couldn't help myself. It's just too cute for me not to buy it so I got me one for my card making experiments hehe. This one has a fabric like texture on it and it has glitters too. Love it! It's more to elephant theme.....as you can see most of the stickers are of elephants. 

I made one card.....just a simple card that can be made using this stickers. And then I wrote "I love you" to suit those cute elephants hehe. I just love playing with my new toys! :) They are so cute!

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Goat Herd: The Girls Are Out & About.

Hooray for Spring in Maine. Finally. It is now time for our girls to escape their barn a bit every day ... to enjoy the greens ... antagonize the chickens ... destroy some perennials ... and follow us all around the yard during our outings.

And here are last year's kids ... You and Sweetie Pie. My how they have grown! And so have their hooves. So, Meaghan and I spent the other morning cutting and filing their hooves down. Not our favorite chore. Or theirs. And sadly, there was some blood involved. Me (our Queen of the herd) is not easy to work with ... and I cut a bit too far by accident ... but all is well now. Well, except that she is WAY overweight ...

... as can be seen above. I am almost embarrassed by this. But my Dad thinks that loving the goats means giving them food every time they "bleat" (click here to hear a goat bleating). And so, I have to give my Dad some of the blame for my overweight goats. No matter how often I tell him to leave them be ... that I know how to care for them ... he doesn't listen ... and thinks I am starving them. Ugh. I think I may need to hide their food from him. But he would likely just buy them more.

But tis the season for less grain and more natural greens ... so here is hoping I can get their weight down a bit.

Sweetie Pie above. Named by Isaac. And totally lives up to her name. She is so very sweet. Except when she bites me for trimming her hooves. She was our replacement for the goat that died within 24 hours of coming to our farm. That sweet goat was named Mini-Me ... and was so very ill. She was Isaac's goat ... and he and I tried desperately to save her ... but she passed in our arms ... and he later picked this one out to replace her on the farm. This Sweetie Pie is all the more important to him because of the passing of Mini-Me. And she is doing very well.

You is above. And she may be my favorite. Such personality. Always hangs out right by my side. Always a bit comical. And never bites when I am trimming her hooves. Thank you, You.

We love our goats. They are way more work then we initially thought ... but their company is so worth it. We have yet to milk them ... or put them to "work" for the farm in any way ... but we do so enjoy them.

And who could possibly resist these faces ...


Or even THIS one. (Our dear Emily).

So there you have it - a quick update on our small goat herd. They made it through a looong winter ... and are so happy to be out and about in the spring mud. As are we :)

ENJOY!

Love,

Jodi

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