Wednesday, January 31, 2018
Tuesday, January 23, 2018
Have you come across box cards before? They fold flat to go into an envelope, but when they are opened, pop out into a three-dimensional box that stands up, and often has other elements 'exploding' out. They take a little while to make but are really worth it as they are impressive and really unusual. I made this one for my husband's 40th birthday last year and he was really pleased with itI'd heard of these cards but didn't know how to make them so looked for a video on You Tube.It's a bit too difficult to describe each step and easier to direct you towards a video like this one or this one - I can't actually remember which tutorial I used now!
You need a fairly large piece of card to start with, roughly A4, and score lines at certain widths apart so you can later fold along them.
Make cuts part way up where you have scored
You'll find the card then folds into a box shape.
To decorate, I cut squares of patterned paper the same size as the sides of the box and used a different paper on each side (but in the same colour scheme).
Stick two strips of acetate inside, folding them at the ends so you can glue to the sides of the box; these create cross strips that you will then stick things to.
To make an element stand up out of the card, stick it onto another strip of acetate as shown, then stick this acetate strip vertically to the horizontal ones running across the box. Glue dots are good to use for this.
This is the effect you are going for! You can add as many of these as you like.
You can see that here I've got three elements sticking up inside the box; two are glued onto acetate strips running horizontally through the box and one is stuck to the front and the back of the box itself. Make sure the elements aren't aligned with each other either in position or height, otherwise you won't be able to see them all when you look at the card from the front.
Here's a better view of the box so you can see the elements sticking out - a 'happy birthday' die cut, a 40 I cut from silver card, and a 'with love' heart. I also used a 40th birthday message topper on the front of the card.
And here the card is from the front; it's better in real life as you can take in all the elements at once. I think my husband liked it and seemed pleased with the amount of effort I'd put in to make him something special!
I'm sharing this with Cardz 4 Guyz as the theme is 'January blues' and the Make My Monday challenge where the theme is 'fancy folds'.
Monday, January 22, 2018
Monday, January 15, 2018
I'm working from home twice this week as I have an appointment with the diabetes midwife on Tuesday and a growth scan on Friday, so a bit more time hopefully to cook some nice meals!
Monday
Breakfast porridge
Lunch tuna sandwich
Dinner fish pie for me (frozen a while back pre-GD but only has a little mashed potato on top) and chicken kiev for him
Tuesday - working from home
Breakfast smoked salmon and poached egg
Lunch ham and cheese toasted sandwich
Dinner spicy chicken escalopes I was going to do last week but didn't, with potato wedges/ sweet potato wedges
Wednesday
Breakfast yogurt and oats
Lunch chicken soup
Dinner tuna steak with vegetables and quinoa for me, my husband is out at a work event
Thursday
Breakfast yogurt and oats
Lunch tuna or ham sandwich
Dinner out
Friday working from home
Breakfast - porridge
Lunch ryvita with cream cheese and smoked salmon
Dinner salmon en croute for me, chicken in breadcrumbs for him
Saturday
Breakfast toast with peanut butter
Lunch tortilla wrap 'pizza'
Dinner steak and chips/ sweet potato fries
Sunday
Breakfast toast with peanut butter
Lunch baked sweet potato
Dinner pork chop and roast potatoes for me
Join in the blog hop!
Monday
Breakfast porridge
Lunch tuna sandwich
Dinner fish pie for me (frozen a while back pre-GD but only has a little mashed potato on top) and chicken kiev for him
Tuesday - working from home
Breakfast smoked salmon and poached egg
Lunch ham and cheese toasted sandwich
Dinner spicy chicken escalopes I was going to do last week but didn't, with potato wedges/ sweet potato wedges
Wednesday
Breakfast yogurt and oats
Lunch chicken soup
Dinner tuna steak with vegetables and quinoa for me, my husband is out at a work event
Thursday
Breakfast yogurt and oats
Lunch tuna or ham sandwich
Dinner out
Friday working from home
Breakfast - porridge
Lunch ryvita with cream cheese and smoked salmon
Dinner salmon en croute for me, chicken in breadcrumbs for him
Saturday
Breakfast toast with peanut butter
Lunch tortilla wrap 'pizza'
Dinner steak and chips/ sweet potato fries
Sunday
Breakfast toast with peanut butter
Lunch baked sweet potato
Dinner pork chop and roast potatoes for me
Join in the blog hop!
Thursday, January 11, 2018
While this blog usually focuses on food and drink for humans, I have written a few posts before about meals I've made for Tilly - my gorgeous tabby cat.
I was asked if I wanted to review some cat food and since there is a link (albeit small) with what I've covered before, I said yes. The product itself is interesting I think to foodies anyway as it's freeze-dried - you just add water - making me wonder if there is any food for humans (other than what astronauts eat in space!) that is prepared in this way. I have a feeling that herbs are sometimes freeze-dried as a way of keeping them tasting fresh - if you know of any other freeze-dried food let me know in the comments!
So on to the cat food. Made by a brand called Pure Pet Food, a company founded by two friends who wanted their dogs to eat food as good as they did, rather than highly processed food made with low quality ingredients. After developing the business and seeing it start to take off, they appeared on TV's Dragon's Den (the equivalent show in the US is called Shark Tank if you're an American reader!) and were offered investment but decided to turn it down to go it alone.
They started off with dehydrated food in 2012 and only last year moved into freeze-dried. The company says its freeze-drying technique keeps the texture of the meat which did look to be the case from appearance (I drew the line at tasting it myself) and it doesn't need preservatives added. There's plenty of nutritional information on their website which I won't repeat here but I am impressed at the list of ingredients and their benefits, and that it contains nothing 'bad'.
I was sent finger-lickin' chicken and surf and turf flavours; here's what you get inside the box:
Mix with the recommended amount of water and leave for a few minutes to rehydrate, mixing well.
Tilly (my cat) really enjoyed this - she does like to switch up her brands and flavours every so often - and seemed to prefer it when I added a little more water to the mixture.
Here she is posing for a photo!
It does take slightly longer to mix this up in the mornings, and I'm always in a hurry before work, though you can do it the night before and keep it in the fridge. You can buy online from their site and the products are also stocked in Pets At Home.
A 200g bag costs £11.99 but this is equivalent to 800g of fresh food, Pure says.
Thanks to Pure for the pet food for review. All opinions are my own.
So on to the cat food. Made by a brand called Pure Pet Food, a company founded by two friends who wanted their dogs to eat food as good as they did, rather than highly processed food made with low quality ingredients. After developing the business and seeing it start to take off, they appeared on TV's Dragon's Den (the equivalent show in the US is called Shark Tank if you're an American reader!) and were offered investment but decided to turn it down to go it alone.
They started off with dehydrated food in 2012 and only last year moved into freeze-dried. The company says its freeze-drying technique keeps the texture of the meat which did look to be the case from appearance (I drew the line at tasting it myself) and it doesn't need preservatives added. There's plenty of nutritional information on their website which I won't repeat here but I am impressed at the list of ingredients and their benefits, and that it contains nothing 'bad'.
I was sent finger-lickin' chicken and surf and turf flavours; here's what you get inside the box:
Mix with the recommended amount of water and leave for a few minutes to rehydrate, mixing well.
Tilly (my cat) really enjoyed this - she does like to switch up her brands and flavours every so often - and seemed to prefer it when I added a little more water to the mixture.
Here she is posing for a photo!
It does take slightly longer to mix this up in the mornings, and I'm always in a hurry before work, though you can do it the night before and keep it in the fridge. You can buy online from their site and the products are also stocked in Pets At Home.
A 200g bag costs £11.99 but this is equivalent to 800g of fresh food, Pure says.
Thanks to Pure for the pet food for review. All opinions are my own.
Monday, January 8, 2018
Sunday, January 7, 2018
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