Brayergirl's Book of Banter

Guilty Pleasures

 

These arrived today - my first set of very expensive Copic Markers. Looks like I'll need a blender pen too, so I'll have to wait until I manage to order one of those before I can use these properly! I wish I'd know that before I had bought them. I did have a quick play with them, but it became clear very quickly that these need the blender pen to achieve the results that other people get with them.

I'm thinking of buying this.......

 

I've been looking at chimneas for a while now as I want one for my garden, and then I came across this. It's actually a 'Pizza Oven' but like a Chimnea you can use it as a Patio Heater, and, if you take the top off, it converts to a barbeque. So, in other words, this has 3 functions, whereas a chimnea only has 2 and the price is not really that different from some of the chimneas available.

So.... do you think I should buy this? Does anyone out there have a chimnea or a pizza oven and what do they think of it? Do you use it a lot? I'd be interested in your opinions, so leave a comment below! :o)    

My Garden in July

Crushed Pineapple & Carrot Muffins

These were pretty quick to make and contain no fat at all, just vegetable oil so they are pretty healthy! Taste great too!

Makes 12 muffins

INGREDIENTS:

100g/4oz plain flour
100g/4oz plain wholemeal flour
1 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
200 ml/7fl oz vegetable oil
90g / 3 1/2oz caster sugar
2 eggs
120g / 4 1/2oz finely grated carrots
225g / 8oz tinned crushed pineapple, semi-drained
100g / 4oz raisins

METHOD:

1. Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4

2. Sift together flours, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, cinnamon & salt and mix well. Beat the oil, sugar and eggs until well blended. Add the grated carrots, crushed pineapple and raisins. gradually ass the flour mixture, beating just enough to combine all the ingredients.

3. Pur the batter into muffin trays lined with paper cases (I used silicone cases) and bake for 25 mins. If you are using a fan assisted oven then 20 mins should be enough. Cool on a wire rack.

Aubergine Salad with Fennel & Orange

I'm trying some new recipes in order to expand my repertoire and so I thought I would share them here. This one was very tasty, but did take quite a lot of preparation.

Serves 6

INGREDIENTS:
1/2 a bulb of fennel, sliced very thinly on a mandoline
2 Oranges, 1 segmented, 1 zest & juice
50ml/2fl oz sherry vinegar
175ml/6fl oz extra virgin olive oil
salt & freshly ground black pepper
1 tbsp chopped fresh tarragon
2 Aubergines, cut into wedges
4-5 tbsp vegetable oil
2 large naan breads, cut into 6 discs 10cm/4in in diameter
small bunch of fresh watercress leaves

METHOD:

1. In a bowl, mix together the fennel slices, orange segments, orange juice, orange zest, sherry vinegar and olive oil until well combined. Season, to taste, with salt and freshly ground black pepper, then add the chopped tarragon and stir well.

2. Rub the aubergine wedges all over with 2-3 tablespoons of the vegetable oil. Heat a griddle pan (I used my George Foreman grill) over a medium heat. When the pan is hot, add the aubergine wedges and grill for about 1-1 1/2 minutes on each side, or until golden-brown griddle marks appear on both sides and the Aubergine is tender. Set aside on a warm plate.

3. Brush the naan bread discs all over with the remaining vegetable oil. Add the naan bread to the griddle pan the aubergine is tender. Set aside on a warm plate.

4. To serve, place one griddled naan bread disc in the middle of each of six serving plates. Place a pinch of watercress leaves into the centre of each naan bread, then a portion of aubergine wedges on top. Spoon over some of the sherry vinegar dressing. Arrange small piles of the marinated fennel and orange around the naan bread and drizzlr over the remaining dressing.

Little Rabbit Baby Card

Some friends of mine have just had a baby daughter (Isla Claire) and so I made this card to send to them.

Stamps: Magnolia (Label) Sugar Nellie (Little Cotton rabbit), Prima Marketing (Flower)  

Inks: Staz-On in Timber Brown, Colorbox Chalk Ink in Creamy Brown.

Other Media: Derwent pencils, Zest-it Pencil Blend, K & Company Background paper from the Charlotte range, Swiss Dots Cuttlebug Embossing Folder, Quickutz Leaf Die, Border punch, Quickutz Olivia Font, Silicon Glue  

Rose Birthday Card

A Birthday card for a friend

Stamps: Magnolia (Large rose, small rose, Label & Little Girl) Hero Arts (sentiment) 

Inks: Staz-On in Timber Brown, Colorbox Chalk ink in Creamy Brown.

Other Media: Derwent pencils, Zest-it Pencil Blend, K & Company Background paper from the Charlotte range, Swiss Dots Cuttlebug Embossing Folder, Ribbon, Border punch, Quickutz Olivia Font, Silicon Glue  

Clicketty Clack...Clicketty Clack

I know that it has been a very long time since I posted last.... and as for actually making anything, it's also been quite a while! However, there are going to be at least 3 posts in the coming week, as I have had some reasons to make some cards. 

Work has been terrible this year, I have been travelling a lot to Spain and Argentina, but also because I am running the project which covers three timezones (four, if you actually include my own) I actually don't often get any free time in the evenings either. By the time I finish my conference calls, I'm usually only able to make something to eat and watch a bit of TV. This is why I have taken up knitting again, because I can knit and watch TV at the same time, card making and crafts take a lot more concentration.

The Cardigan I show here was completed just a week or so ago and was knitted in Twilley's Freedom wook in the Spirit colourway. It took me about three months to knit in my spare time in front of the TV when I was actually at home. The felt brooch use to fasten it was bought at a street market in Madrid (How's that for glamour!)  I love this wool range.  I've also nearly completed another cardigan in the same wool but in the Nature colourway (greens). 

My health has also not been great - I don't mean illness, I just mean my level of fitness, so I have desperately been trying to improve my health by taking long walks (with my camera of course!) every dry weekend that we have in Scotland, and I've even managed to do a walk in Madrid too! I use books, to provide the routes, this is because I don't actually know my local area very well, even though I have lived here for 10 years. This is because I have spent the last 5 years working abroad, and in the first 5 years, I was busy at work and was also doing up my house in my spare time.

Anyway, my  new 'Walking' hobby has inspired me to start a new blog which you can read here: The Critical Walker. I take the walks from books, try them out and then provide feedback on them. I have accumulated quite a few books now, and I am working my way through them, I've even bought a book that contains walks in Majorca which is where I am heading for my holiday in just over a weeks time...    

Hope you had a Happy Easter!

Vintage Pictures from San Telmo Market

 

When I was at San Telmo Market, I purchased a few old photos from a stall there. Unfortunately it looked as though all the 'Tango' photos had gone, but I managed to find a few photos to grab my interest. Please feel free to use these in your artwork but please post a link back to this post so that I can see what you create!