Welsh Bara Brith (Speckled Bread)

Thought I better take a photo quickly before it disappears and there are only a few crumbs left on the plate

 

Whilst we are talking about all things Welsh ( see previous post re Welsh Rugby Card) I had a sudden urge to bake some Bara Brith (Welsh Speckled Bread) after seeing it being done on the British Bake Off program. The version the young lady baked there was a proper yeast based recipe where you have to knead and prove as with any other loaf ... this recipe is an easier version some would say a cheat ... but it still tastes like the Bara Brith that my mum used to give us :) .

Ingredients:
300ml/ 1/2pt cold tea                                             450g / 1lb mixed dried fruit     
450g / 1lb self raising flour                                      1tsp mixed spice
175g / 6ozs dark Muscavado sugar                          1 medium free range egg
1tbsp orange zest                                                      2 tbsp. orange juice
1 tbsp. honey                                                             extra honey for glazing

Pour the cold tea over the mixed dried fruit in a large mixing bowl and cover and leave to soak overnight.
Following day : mix the egg, honey orange zest & juice and the sugar and add to the soaked fruit.
Sift in the flour and the mixed spice and mix really well
Butter a 2pt loaf tin and pour in the mixture
Bake in preheated oven  160c/ 325f / 3 gas for approx. 1&3/4 hrs
Check that it is firm to the touch and golden brown
Brush with honey whilst still warm
Allow to cool then store in a tin

Lovely .... spread with butter and enjoy
Bye for now Annie xxxx

Welsh Clarity Card for my Son

 

Todays card is one I made for my younger son who is a keen follower of Welsh rugby. I must firstly give credit to Lynne Hammond & Barbara Gray for this one and thank Barbara from the bottom of my heart for creating this set of stamps. I hadn't got a clue what sort of card to make and then I saw these and knew I had to have them, Barbara demoed a similar card and Lynne use the letterbox  letters on her sample...so thanks ladies. The wording on mine reads Happy Birthday Son, the tiles have been triple embossed. I gave him the card yesterday ... his birthday, he loved it but the best was yet to come .. because here is a sneaky peek at what's inside...

 

 

 

These pics were taken at the Wales v Scotland match earlier in the year, David borrowed the daffy hat because it was so cold ... well that's what he's telling me... I think he rather liked it :). The sentiment inside is in Welsh again and  reads 'Happy Birthday to the best son in the world '...it applies to both my sons of course and every other mother's son. :)

 

Bye for now ... Annie xxx

 

F&F Challenge 99 ..One for the boyz

 

This is a card made for my nephew's birthday, he loves travelling and is a brilliant photographer so when I saw this Marianne camera die I just knew I had to have it... there are several other photographers amongst my family & friends so it will be very useful.

 

 

The background was made using Stampendous stamp, travel stickers, map and bakers twine are from Docraft 'All Aboard collection.

Here is a closeup of the detail on the Marianne camera die, cut in Kraftcard and given the gilding wax treatment and a couple of screw head brads added. 

This closeup is of the tag, the text is another Stampendous stamp, Eiffel tower & Statue of Liberty are Clarity stamps.

I know many of us dread having to make cards for the Men in our lives but I hope you will get out your crafty stash and give this Challenge a go.

Bye for now
Annie
xxxxxxxxxxx

Clarity Challenge... Vintage

Hello Clarity Stampers, It seems ages since I last blogged a Clarity Challenge card because we have been doing some renovations on the house, I was determined to enter this month's challenge so here I am puffin' and panting  last minute to get my card entered.

The background was made using my new gelli plate , I used Barbara's scrunched copier paper technique. I  really puzzled over which of my Clarity stamps was vintage and I finally settled for this  wild dogrose stamp which I stamped twice to make a frame for one of my favourite sentiment stamps. I gave my topper a torn edge which I inked and then I matted & layered onto some distressed card.

Phew there are still a few hours to go till the challenge closes tonight to I better nip over and try and get linked up. Looking forward to seeing what the next challenge is

Bye Annie xx

Fussy & Fancy Challenge #97 Sport

When I saw the theme for this month's challenge was sport I thought of some cute Lili of the Valley stamps I had bought recently. It was going to be something different for me because I am not very confident about my colouring in compared to the amazing work that we are used to seeing on F&F.

 I played about with some papers that were a freebie with a magazine and some spellbinders dies.... then I remembered I had some scrabble type letters amongst my stash, a bit of bakers twine and I was done.

So now all I have to do is wait to find a footie mad little birthday boy to give it to, I must say I really enjoyed colouring in this cute little image,  ... I am definitely going to get some more practice in.

Hope you will give this challenge a go and that you enjoy it as much I did, bye for now xxx Annie

Clarity August Challenge ...Animals

 

This is my entry for Clarity August Challenge which just happens to be Animals this month, since May I haven't had much Crafty time with having the builders in so after 3 months I was having withdrawal symptoms, as it is Bank Holiday weekend I have allowed myself some ME time.

 

 

This card came about by accident. This morning the postie delivered 2 letters one was an early birthday card from my lovely sister Sue the other was 2 clarity stencils from C& C.

The birthday card is really beautiful but I will save it for a blog entry on my birthday.... but I rang my sister to say the card had arrived safely and admitted I had opened it and how had she made the background .... so after lunch I came up here to the attic and using the dove stencil I tried to recreate what she had explained . Three attempts later I had a background I could use, so then I went on to make this card.

The background was made using Clarity coated card which I splodged with Worn Lipstick & Peacock Feather distress ink, while I was waiting for it to dry I coated the dove stencil with Perfect Medium and laid it face up on the base plate of my Grand Calibur and then carefully laid the clarity card face down onto the stencil, using my cutting mat to make the sandwich, because I only wanted to transfer the perfect medium evenly onto the card not emboss it. I undid the sandwich and sprinkled with clear embossing powder which I heated up, then I smeared it lightly with Black Soot distress ink and once dry I buffed it up with a soft cloth to reveal the pink and blue colour.

Anyway having spent a couple of hours making this background I thought I had better use it ... out came the Clarity Dove of Peace & Peace stamps and my card made. I realised that by using the doves and the decoupaged dove topper  I could enter it into the Clarity August Challenge 'Animals'. So I'm off to the Clarity Challenge page to enter .... bye for now xx Annie

F&F challenge #95 Bingo card

I love the idea of this challenge and my first instinct was to go for the 'Full House' and make what I laughingly call my 'Pizza style' cards with loads of embellies on, but this time I thought 'No' I would try to restrict myself to a few items and see what happened! so here it is:

 

I know the old saying is ' blue & green should never be seen' but I do like certain shades of green with blue. I found some coredinations card in a midnight colour which I ran through with garden trellis embossing folder when I sanded it back it was just a paler blue reveal so I swiped peacock feather distress ink over it and then that gave me my colour scheme - blue and teal.

The topper was made using Poppy stencils Fantasy Willow with dimensional paste ... a new technique for me .. it took several goes to get a result because I was being too heavy handed and squishing the paste under the stencil. I do love the effect which is much more dimensional than this photo shows, when the paste had dried I used my new fave thing ..gilding wax in fabulous patina colour this made the tree look even more pearly. The rest was just matting and layering which I die cut with spellbinders grand rectangles which are an absolute 'must have' for someone like me who can't cut a straight edge freehand. A piece of ribbon and a button and a stamped sentiment and I was done.

So my Bingo card line is Blue, Diecut and Ribbon ... not quite as minimal as I hoped as I did use a button and (teal) green from the other lines ... but I really did enjoy this challenge, I find doing these challenges really makes me think outside my comfort zone and  sometimes I like the end result! hope you have a go and enjoy yourself as much as I did.. Bye for now till next time xxx Annie