Allsorts Part 2!

D O U B L E . C H O C O L A T E . B A I L E Y S . B U N N Y . M U F F I N S

YOU WILL NEED:

275 g Plain Flour

25g Cocoa Powder

3 Teaspoon's Baking Powder

150g Sugar

75g Butter (Melted)

150ml Bailey's

3 eggs (Beaten)Vanilla Essence

200g White Chocolate (Chopped)

200g Milk or Dark Chocolate (I used Cadbury's Wholenut)

Optional: 5 Hobnob biscuits, Pinch of Cinnamon, 

[★] Preheat Oven to 200C. Sift the Flour, Cocoa Powder & Baking Powder together in a bowl. Add the Sugar and stir together.

[★]  Add the Melted Butter, beaten Eggs, Vanilla Essence, Bailey's and Optional: Ingredients and mix together. Stir in the Chopped White Chocolate.

[★]  Spoon into cake cases (I made 15 with this recipe!) and bake for 18-20 minutes until well risen. 

[★] Melt the Brown Chocolate in a bowl over a pan of boiling water and drizzle over the cooled cakes.

[★]  I drizzled some leftover White Chocolate over the Brown for contrast and added Mini Eggs and little rabbits I'd made from Ready-to-Roll white icing ^.^

M E R M A I D S !

I had a Splat day last week with Sue being away and took a break to adorn my sketchbook with some funky colours! I quite like the one above, and gave her opaque fins and suckers down the front of her tail to contrast with her rainbow hair and black eyes. She's probably the most tropical one that's jumped out of my head so far ^.^

A Selkie! She's plainer, chunkier and much less colourful than the Mermaids but is more good-natured, practical and modest.

An Orca Mermaid! I had Killer Whales and polar icebergs on the brain when I started her.

 

This one got scarier as I started colouring her in. 

She's a Plague Mermaid - lives in the Dark and see's nothing but the Future and can't speak to tell it. 

When I eventually (Ha-haaa!) finish the Romance Story I've been working on for three years, I'd like to illustrate each new Chapter with a full-page plate before the Story resumes.

E L I S S A B A T

I treated myself to an Elissabat a few weeks ago and only got the chance to unbox her properly last night. She is bloody gorgeous! It's lovely that Monster High have released Dolls already in their ambitions rather than not quite getting there yet, plus I've been waiting a while for a Gothic-Lolita styled one ;) If they release a Monster High Wrestler Doll, I'll be over the Moon :D

Shelf is getting a bit full again...no? ;)

S E S S I O N S . I N . T H E . S U N

Put together Twylla's outdoor run this morning and had her out for a few hours in the Sun this afternoon whilst I drew for a few hours. Gonna take some tunes out next time and maybe have a spare Bunny-sitter so I don't need to pack up everytime I need the loo - haha!

She doesn't look impressed, Bless her!

Phew - That's all for now!

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Phwoar - Allsorts!

M A D E . W I T H . L O V E

After the Happy Hamster Cupcakes I made last month in my Valentine's Day Cupcake haul, I wanted something a bit more challenging in my next Baking spree! I made this Yorkshire Terrier Birthday cake for Sue - the other half of Sukiwear - a few days ago modeled after her pet Yorkie cross - Bart!



A mooch online for 'Marzipan Dog' didn't bring up any of the shapes I wanted (Although there were a few awesome lifelike ones that made my piping bag droop in shame!), so I rolled up my sleeves, popped some Orange food coloring onto a handful of Marzipan and used my imagination!
I mixed a lot of icing sugar with a tiny bit of water and black food coloring to get the thick paste I wanted, and painted the back markings on with a clean paintbrush (Wiping it vigorously with kitchen roll to remove any loose bristles!) and the eyes are chocolate drops with the points facing inwards. I made Bart's green ball and placed it in the middle before decorating with cream and Smarties.



The actual cake is Devil's food with Cinnamon, a few drops of vanilla bean and two handfuls of muesli to keep things interesting, and has a chocolate butter-cream filling and coating.
Feedback was really good - I took a cheeky slice home and went halfies on it with my friend from work who says I should make a career of it - Haha! :)

C O L O U R . M E . H A P P Y

My Happy Scrapbook remains a constant enjoyment and a work in progress. I cut out all of my daft little illustrations, cut out and stick them in and do them up in the pages. The girl above is my newest one and is littered on the right amongst the mermaid and the cuddling girls I drew in biro a few years ago - I'm really diggin' drawing Goth Girls at the moment, and I'll be so chuffed when the book is full!

G O O D . M O R N I N G

This is one of the many feline friends I have around my Flat. I usually see them on my way home from a Nightshift. This one loves cuddles, she'll have a few minutes stroke from me, then rub up against a Post, and then roll around on her back for a bit on the path before going on her way.

Silly Kitty - She's such a sweetie! ♥

C H A R I T Y . S H O P . H A U L S

SCOPE: The Scope in Peterlee sells books at four Paperbacks for £1 or Two Hardbacks for £1. This is partially the reason my Monster High Dolls had to upgrade to their own space recently! All of the above are a 4-for-1 deal, and I got the Crimes & Criminals book to make up the 4 - I'll probably donate it back without having a flick through as I've read hundreds of books of the same nature. I'm making an effort this year to get through Classic Novels so we're starting with two Jane Austen ones :)
I actually had a copy of the Vagina Monologues from the now defunct Musiczone when I first started College but this was confiscated (and probably burned) along with my "Dip me in Chocolate and throw me to the Lesbians" Tee that I bought with my Paper route money for being 'Inappropriate' (There's a reason I don't talk about my Child/TeenageHood folks!)
It was wonderful flicking through the pages and questioning my feelings on it 10 years later and how they'd changed - maturity is a responsible and more empathetic perspective.
I can't believe someone actually gave away a copy of a Studio Ghibli film! I first saw 'Princess Mononoke' at Christmas just gone, and it was mine for a mere £1 :D

BHF: BHF is excellent for Bric-a-Brac, and I've had many an exciting find there over the years. Part of me questions whether they're all about image and quality, and scrutinize every donation bag they get - giving the faded worn jeans and the net curtains to the other shops.
Anyway, the Harry Potter book was a brilliant find - explaining the daft little Easter Eggs within the HP Series, giving out extra info about the fandom and explaining a good bit of behind-the-scenes information about myths, legends, histories, Latin derivatives and gives a nice literature understanding of the Series. It was only written halfway through the release of the entire Series, but nice nonetheless.
The Twits continues to be my favourite Roald Dahl book. I laughed out loud whilst reading it in Costa and startled astonished fellow patrons but I didn't care one bit ;)
I'm a bit late getting into Avril Lavigne - being greatly apposed to the popularity of her music at the time it came out, but I wanted "Under My Skin" after being impressed with "Let Go" which I bought down South at Christmas. I haven't listened to it properly all the way through yet, but I've always loved "Nobody's Home".
I really dig fans at the moment - must be a channeling an Inner Geisha!

PDSA: I got this sensibly-priced Claire's necklace (ie £1 instead of RRP: £4.50!) as it reminded me of the Smartie Cookies I made a while ago, and a good wodge of Indian Jingly bangles. I love the way they slide up and down your wrist and have that awesome tinkly sound :D

Phew! That's all for now ♥

Stuff!

This Year...? THIS YEAR?? ;)

We're celebrating Christmas a little early this year, as Becky & I are (Hopefully - Work permitting!) heading down South to spend it with our Mam and her partner. Becky chose the tinsel on my first Christmas Tree of Singledom - I only bothered with one set of Fairy Lights on the wall last year with the Parent's splitting up after 33 years together, and was 'Saving' the Tree at their House so my Dad wouldn't be on his own - (I think she modeled the colours on her hair!) and it's glowing away quite cheerily of an evening, combined with a million tealight candles and a Disney movie ♥

I got a slight case of the pre-festive Single's Blues whilst nipping into town yesterday, so nicking Jennifer's wig and arseing about for a while... ("SLAM YA BODY DOWN AND WIND IT ALL AROUND! SLAM YA BODY DOWN AND ZIG-A-ZAY AHHH!") ...seemed like the best antidote ^.^

 

Watched "13 Wishes" very recently, and treated myself to a Ghoul's Night Out Lagoona to celebrate the release - She could do with a good party after becoming and then retracting from being a Freshwater creature to please Gil's Parents - Don't change for any Man, Ladies!

Me Girls ♥

Experimental Bailey's & Chocolate Cheesecake. Baking & giving it away is good for the Soul. Less Landslide-y next time, add Gelatin & maybe not-so-much Bailey's :D

Allie makes another appearance in the Scrapbook!

Closure

 

I finally finished a Collage project the other day that I'd started last year about a very intense and very spurned affection, and why you should keep a ring of barbed wire around yourself at all times.

Text reads:  

"I've been trying to find the way to tell you that I love you all year.  

Happiness is a thousand stars exploding in a glass universe when she appears to him. He is a dense and isolated Forest in Winter and she, a black butterfly in a pleochroic box. Her kaleidoscope gently touches his ice and they become twin suns which meet as equals at Dawn and part at Dusk. Their mould only produced one complimentary pair.  

Autumn's fierce rainstorms made her wilt and fade with the waning light. She sought comfort and oblivion and sank to the bottom of every bottle she tried to escape in. He surrounded himself in cinereal clouds until he could bear it no longer and pattered out that very irst gentle word. Her rainbow flickered and sparked after being left outside too long. He took his bright key and set her free.  
Trading their friendship at the instant he unlocked her. 
 His white flames destroyed her prison and engulfed her black butterfly wings. She disappeared with the flowers.  

Silence afterwards across a desolate plane as the stormclouds rolled ahead to blanket everything in sadness. She held her heart in her mouth and banished all interest, saving her lock for his key only. He was cruel - in his selfishness and sexual arrogance, he put his key elsewhere and kissed other girls as her devoted, heart-shaped cloud decended on him. A coward is the Man who invokes a Woman's love without acting upon it.

She burst into flames, her heart amputated, and grew long teeth and claws to bite ad scratch all who came near. Her chest an open wound that refused to heal.

 A year since he left. No flowers. No Sun and No Smiles. She heals anyway - he'd have only skull-fucked and screamed at her anyway - wanting her body instead of her mind. He is undeserving of the butterflies love and the abundance in which it was given, and he was certainly too selfish to love her back. Because he neither loves himself nor allows himself to love. She wasted many tears, but will never again. She places her heart in a box guarded by thorns and snakes - secure that it will be broken no more."

 

Danger - 10,000ft Drop

 

Intimacy is touching the water inside a goldfish bowl - fresh, clear, comfort liquid sharply becoming stale, cold, invasive and tainted with the presence of things or people we can neither understand or come to Love. A flash of bright promise from the side of a Goldfish in a ray of Sunlight to suddenly become a blunt and burned Orange shying safely into the dark, away from all contact.
Leave me be, for I adore my bubble of Silence & Isolation.

Scrapbooking

I've always had a bit of a thing for Ragdolls since picking up Korn's 'Issues' album as a teenager, and always pondered why they never released an accompanying female in the Doll version - until I realised what it actually was and therefore didn't have a gender in the first place. Oops :/
Here's my little versions - digging through the crude pencil loose sheets I've kept for years, finishing them off and giving them all a home together. I actually stitched a few as a young girl - maybe I'll pick my sewing box up again one of these days...

Ragdolls are perfect Microcosms of people. One careless rip and all of the stuffing falls out, despite our Facebook Immortality Complexes.



 I fancied a walk through the Park on the way home from Work yesterday, and walked alongside it after finding it prematurely locked against the annual Pre-Guy Fawkes's Night mischief. Under a Streetlight that didn't work, a very fast, very bright and very streamlined creature that looked like a Hare crossed my path in a blur. It was barely there for a second.

You need to get yourself to bed, I thought, but googled the meaning of seeing a Hare, as I've been dabbling in Spiritualism and symbols for a while, and Reception is up now that I'm not living in a haze of Booze.

Hare's are quite different from Rabbits, acting as Messengers from different realms and are considered both Welcome and a Warning as they portray many things. They're considered to represent Intuition, Adaptability, Transformation, Lucky Coincidences, having the accurate feeling about something and New Beginnings but also warn of delusions, deceptions and of bad habits or fears that hold us back and make us unable to move forward. In my case, it's probably a reminder to stay away from Alcohol and the carnage that occurs afterwards.
 I'm having a Spiritual Reading on Saturday, so I'll let you know how that goes ;)

Don't let the Rainbow fool you

As part of this Life Coaching type of carry on, one of the many things breaking the negative repetitive behaviours, the degenerate dependencies (People & Substances), keeping me away from the inside of the bottle and (hopefully) rewiring me into a mature, responsible, sophisticated model citizen is picking up the Happy Scrapbook again!

I put this together last night, using two drawings in the long-abandoned WIP pile and lost three hours finishing it after "Oh, I'll have a faff for half an hour..." ;)

 

Scrapbook page detailing substance abuse and escapism.
Mixed Media includes a Lambrini bottle top, a Joint containing Parsley, a Baggie containing more Parsley, heart confetti & iridescent glitter. Band-aid displays some questionable fragments I found under the Couch. Everything drawn, coloured, cut, glued and sellotaped by me!

This little character is a glorified & prettier representation based on what I used to look like.

Here's me, a little over two years ago at size 18-20 - At my heaviest, my most miserable and probably the furthest into the Void I've ever been:

That Shirt is like a dress on me now, I wear it as a Nightie these days :)

Me now, a trim size 12-14:

And probably the Happiest I've ever been!