If I'd known you were coming I'd have baked a cake

If I have visitors for dinner and have had a busy day and I know that I won't have time to make anything fancy, rather than pop down to Tesco for a fruit flan I make this quick and tasty one.



You will need:

1 packet of desert pastry

1 tub marscapone cheese

icing sugar

fruit (fresh or tinned)

jelly glaze



Roll out the pastry and line a flan case. Bake blind (i.e. prick the base cover with greaseproof and fill with baking beans)

Cook until the pastry is set and then remove the greaseproof and baking beans. Cook until golden.

Put the marscapone into a bowl and add a little icing sugar to sweeten. (Not too much as the fruit will add sweetness.

Spread into the cooled flan case.

Cover with fruit. I usually use fresh fruit but often add some tinned fruit as the syrup makes a mix with water for the jellly glaze

Make up the jelly glaze and spoon over the fruit.

Simple eh!!!

Then serve and watch it disappear. The compliments will follow

Spotlight on Giselle

We have a fantastic Design Team and I hope that each of them will do an introduction about themselves. This week our newest member, Giselle Homer, tells us a bit about herself

I live in the South West overlooking the river Severn, with my long suffering husband Jim who has generously let me take over a whole room, complete with a 9ft purpose built scrapping desk. I suppose he thought it'd keep all the stash in one place.

We run our own business and have lived here for 10 years. Before then we were in Madrid for 5 years and I can still speak Spanish only now with lots of mistakes!

We have 2 daughters - one is a teacher and the mum of my two gorgeous grandsons. The other is a professional photographer - that's lucky for a scrapper! When I'm not scrapping you'll find me with my nose in a book or watching movies. I occasionally do a bit of housework but only when I really have to.I started scrapbooking about 5 years ago having seen it in the huge craft stores whilst on holiday in America. As my 1st grandson had recently been born I knew instantly that this would be the best way to document his life and the rest, as they say, is history! I now have 2 little grandsons and to date I have completed nearly eight 12 x 12 albums featuring everything from their first baths to losing a front tooth.

I studied graphics at college a long time ago but still stick to the design rules I learnt there - balance, straight lines and cohesion. My style is very clean and simple, though I have been known to tear and ink a piece of cardstock now and again! I've taught myself the basics of Photoshop, enjoy retouching my pix and using b/w photos in my layouts. I am huge fan of iMacs and love experimenting with typography. There are over 1,000 typefaces on my iMac though I tend to stick to a trusted dozen as most of them are illegible!I'm fortunate to have been published in all the UK scrapbooking magazines at one time or another, was one of the winners of the first Best of British Scrapbooking competition and more recently I was chosen to be on the American Crafts Design Team which is a huge thrill. I teach layout classes at my local crop and have taught at weekend events as well.I'm looking forward to doing lots of layouts for Jilly Beans and to being part of their Design Team :)Giselle (aka Queen of Straight Lines - as named by my fellow croppers!!)This is one of my favourite LOs:

Friends

This is a simple digital layout that I did using iStockphoto's free image of the week by Michael Kemter. I have no small children in my immediate family so it was a treat to use this beautiful image. The background and flower elements are my own artwork then I just played with layer blends.

Llandrindod Wells - faded elegance

When we moved to Mid-Wales it was not only the beauty of the surrounding countryside that attracted us to the area but also the unexpected architecture of Llandrindod Wells. As you drive through this Spa-town the eye is drawn by a succession of multi-storeyed buildings with grand entrances, turrets, towers, tall windows, decorative ironwork and weather-vanes.

Postcard from 1913.

The town was a Victorian creation and it grew around the fashionable obsession with health spas and taking the water. The railway brought people to the area in their thousands and as a result Llandrindod Wells effectively became a town of hotels.

Rock Park became the main centre after mineral springs were discovered there, one of them being the Chalybeate Spring which remains today. Apparently the health-restoring waters had a very strong purgative effect and I can only wonder quite why the Victorians would queue up to drink it on a daily basis!
Sadly, this elegant town is today more like a distressed gentlewoman. Many of the hotels are gone, some are in a sad state of repair and others are in use as council buildings. The good news is that refurbishment is under way for some and tourism is once again restoring pride in the town's eccentric splendour.

Postcard from 1917

I have some postcards of the town and wanted to get some up-to-date images of the same scenes. This proved trickier than I thought, as trees have grown up since the originals were taken and I couldn't get the same elevated viewpoint. I hope you can get some idea of the 'then and now' though!

Postcard from 1908. >>>

Mid-Life Crises Are Us!

Hello everyone,

I’m so pleased to have been asked to contribute to this blog.

I’m a single Mum to a twelve year old (almost thirteen actually Mum!) diva princess, and an 8 year old WWF Wrestling Champion so as you can imagine, life gets a little lairy sometimes!

I’ve written creatively for a good few years now and subjects include anything from irreverent observations on everyday life to a bit of silly poetry, which I hope won’t mind me sharing with you from time to time.

As I’m careering towards age forty without the aid of brakes or a safety net, then some of the observations will be made with that in mind. I will warn you however that I have a sense of the ridiculous and this may come to the fore now and again!

I’d like to share with you a poem I had published in the Daily Mail earlier this year. Out of the list of things to do within that poem, I’ve managed the nose piercing – the task of bedding of the whole of Take That is currently being pursued!

Mid Life Crisis

I think I might be having a crisis

A mid-life crisis at that

I’ve developed an overwhelming desire

To bed all the guys in Take That.

I want a tattoo on my shoulder

My kids’ names inked in hearts and swirls

My nose pierced with a single diamond

To sparkle when I go out with the girls.

I need an I-pod, a lap-top and a boom-box

A credit card with no charge to me!

And I hear that sat-nav comes as standard

In a brand new silver Audi TT.

I need over-the-knee boots and a hand-bag

From Dolce Gabanna , no less.

The waiting list for the new Nintendo DS

Has been causing me no END of stress

I think I might be having an epiphany

A dawning that something’s not right

When you’re my age you’re supposed to know better

Than to hang around on street corners at night

But the Nike trainers are great on me bunions

And my hoody top keeps out the chills

I’ve been down to the shops on my skateboard

Hey I know how to get my cheap thrills.

Don’t ‘diss’ me man, I’m still growin' up

I’m still allowed to be a little bit naughty

I’ve got a whole five months worth of playing to do

Until I reach adulthood at forty!

Circle Journals

Along with Scrapbooking another great love of mine is Circle Journals. I have taken part in many Circle Journal groups and have the most beautiful collection of completed Journals. Each one is a unique work of art in it's own right. I love them because they are original, there is only one of each in the entire world and they belong to me. Each entry has been made with love and is a part of the person who created it, and to me, that is something special. I also love the fact that somewhere out there, there are little pieces of me and my artwork in other people's journals. I often wonder if some time in the very far off future, someone might discover my journals and what they would make of them. I am hoping they will be treasured by my family and passed down the generations. I would love to show you every entry in each journal, but I don't think that would ever be possible!

I know a lot of people reading this blog will know all about Circle Journals already, but I'm sure there are people wondering what I'm talking about, so I'll give a brief explanation.

A Circle Journal is a book that is passed along a group of people, usually of 10 or more. The most common way to pass the book is via the mail, so it is important to choose a sturdy book that will withstand being posted numerous times. A very popular book to use for Circle Journals is the Pink Pig sketch book. A lot of people take the spirals off, cover the journal with their own patterned paper, rebind the book with ribbons, fibres or book rings and decorate the cover however they like.

There are a few important things to include in your Journal. The first is an introduction page just inside the front of the book. This is used to introduce yourself to the rest of the group, to tell them about the theme of your journal and what you would like them to do. You could choose to theme your Circle Journal around absolutely anything you want. There are various websites that give you lists of themes to choose from. Some popular ones are 'Quotes to live by', 'What's in your handbag', 'Fairies', 'My Favourite Things' and many more. I have done entries in journals on many, many topics, including some very unusual ones!

The next thing to include in your journal is a 'sign in' page. This can be made in a number of ways. A popular way is to have a pocket with little tags inside it for people to decorate, sign their name, the date and perhaps include a photo of themselves. Other times, people will just leave a blank page for people to sign their name and the date on.

You would then create an entry yourself on your chosen theme to start the journal off. This usually gives people a good idea of what you would like to see in your journal. The rest of the book is left blank so that the other people in the group can create their entries in it. Each person would usually take 2 consecutive pages to create their entry on and usually holds the book for 2 or 3 weeks, giving them enough time to do their entry. It's a long process, but once you get your journal back, it is definately worth the wait!

There is also a variation to Circle Journals, which is the Circle Album. It is the same basic idea, except you send around a small album, say 8x8 or 6x6. You choose a selection of your own photos for each person (say 2 - 4 photos each) and seperate them in envelopes and number them so that each person in the group knows which envelope is theirs. They then take the photos and create a double layout in your album for you, using your photos. I've joined 2 Circle Album groups so far, and I loved it. It was great fun scrapping other peoples photos, it really made a change to scrapping my own. It was lovely having a complete album back as well. It can be helpful for when you have photos you just can't scrap yourself for one reason or another!

I keep all of my completed journals in a wooden trunk. I love opening the trunk and seeing them all there, looking fat, full and gorgeous!

Hello, a little introduction!

Hi there everyone! My name is Sarah, I'm 27 and I've been scrapping for about 4 years now. I first discovered Scrapbooking through my older sister, who started scrapping not long after the birth of her first daughter. I thought it would be a nice idea to have a go at making a few layouts for the album myself. 1 trip to a scrapbook shop, £90 and four layouts later, I was hooked and haven't looked back since! I suppose you could say I've been scrapbooking all of my life though, as I used to keep holiday diaries as a child. Along with my journaling I would stick in photos, postcards, leaflets, serviettes, tickets - you name it! I still have the diaries and it's wonderful to look back on them. Before Scrapbooking, I dabbled in other various arty, crafty things such as card making, glass painting, encaustic art, jewellery making, drawing, painting and quilling, but never felt that any one of them was for me. I finally feel like I've found the hobby for me now though, and have also made many wonderful friends, who I am truly grateful for.


Since starting Scrapbooking, I have been on various design teams over the years, and am currently on the Jillybeans Scrapyard Design Team. I also design the bi-monthly kits for Jillybeans Scrapyard, along with various one off kits for different events on UKScrappers. I've been published several times in UK Scrapbooking magazines, which was amazing as I never thought I'd see my work in print.


I'm really looking forward to sharing my thoughts, inspiration, work and life with you over the coming months. I hope you're enjoying this blog so far, I know I am!

ATC'S

I have been collecting atcs for about 3 years now and my collection must be well over 3000, so I decided to show a few of my favourites.
The only important thing for ATC'S is the size which is 2 and a half inches by 3 and a half inches.


ATC's I have recieved as swaps.





















Here is a display I did at the library.


























Local library.

I have a group of friends and we meet once a week in our local library to Craft and Chat.
Our library has a hall and lets us hire it very cheaply so each week we decide on a project for the next week and then everyone who wants to can bring the items required and join in.
Some prefer to sew or knit or just watch and we all chat.

Next week we are doing a simple tag accordian book.

Instructions.

Needed
4 tags
Sheet A4
paperglue or ds tape
hole punch
ribbon or fibres
quotes
embellishments

1.Stick the 4 tags along the bottom of the paper leaving a small gap for folding between each tag.

2.Score between each tag and fold.
3.Trim the paper around each tag.
4.Make holes in the paper in the same place as on the tags.
5.Put ribbon or fibre in each hole if wanted.
6.Decorate the inside with quotes or pictures if preferred.
7.Decorate the cover.

I will show some pictures of the results next week but here is one I did a while ago but I added a pocket to the bottom and put an atc on each tag.

BRADS, BRADS AND MORE BRADS

I have a confession to make . . . . . . I am a bradaholic. I am actually quite obsessive about other things too but this admission is enough for now. I just love how each one is a little shiny shape of perfection and so versatile! They can be used as punctuation, centres of flowers, accents, photo corners, and designs in their own right to name just a few uses. They are easy to place too - anywhere on a scrapbook page or card, without the need for special equipment. They can be customised, if desired, with paint or nail varnish, embossed, decorated with rub-ons or glitter - just let your imagination fly!

I got my latest fix last week when these little sweeties arrived from Jillybeans Scrapyard.



By Queen and Co., they are just so cute – teeny little
plain and patterned hearts and flowers in three scrummy
colour ways - purples, greens and black/white.

I had to treat myself to their bigger cousins too.












These are about the size of a 10p. The flower ones come in the same range of colours as the mini brads. The round ones come in a choice of 8 colours and you can also buy cute, matching
heart and flower shaped buttons too.

While you’re checking out the brads at Jillybeans have a look at this felt ribbon, also by Queen and Co.

Isn't is great! ! It comes in 6 lovely colours and is about 3" wide. It could be used just as it is or individual flowers could be snipped out. Careful snipping a little way in from the edge will produce a thinner ribbon with a more indented design, a bit like a funky daisy chain.

I love the way this undulates and it makes a great border. Further snipping will produce gentle swathes of flowers that look lovely as photo corners or general embellishments. That’s not all! The felt is thick enough to take glue and glitter or coloured pens and inks without warping so you can really go to town and customise it. Or just jazz up the centre of the flowers with a few strategically placed gems, buttons . . . . . . or brads.

Here's . . Margot!

Hello everyone and welcome. I’m Margot and I look forward to chatting with you over the coming weeks. Like Jilly, I am a new kid on the blog so please be gentle with me.

I have been married for more years than I care to admit and have two adult sons who live away from home, a 17 month old alsatian who thinks he’s the Tasmanian Devil and an 11 year old cat who acts like Zsa Zsa Gabor. I left the ranks of the gainfully employed about 18 months ago and became self employed a year ago this Saturday. That time has really flown!

Having been crafty most of my life I now find I have very little time to indulge my creative side but I hope to start rectifying that soon. Currently, scrapbooking is my favourite craft and I am really looking forward to scaling the mountain of photos I have and start turning them into lovely albums. I came to scrapbooking about 4 years ago via QVC when I realised this would be an ideal way to display my family tree – genealogy being a passion of mine.

I think I must fall into the category “others too who have a sparkling wit and so much to offer us” to quote from Jilly’s introduction. That remains to be seen, LOL, but I am definitely in Madge’s Grumpy Old Woman category.

An Introduction to Collage

Collage is from the French word “colle”, meaning, “to glue”. and is a form of visual arts, whereby assorted “found” objects are assembled to form a three dimensional artwork. “Found” objects are thus described because they exist to provide a function other than act as artistic decoration. An artistic collage work may include many things, the most common of which are newspaper, ribbons, bits of colored or hand-made papers, portions of other artwork, and photographs. Mixed media collage refers to the incorporation of distinct and traditionally separate visual art media like paint, textiles, beads, pieces of glass and so on.

Collage became a distinctive part of modern art by Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque and is often referred to as the art form of the 20th century.

I love to use non-traditional craft elements that remain acid and lignin free on my scrapbooking collage pages, but anything goes with cardmaking or making altered art. Size and weight of the material prohibits totally free reign, but I have included such diverse elements as pot pourri and moulding resin, and most elements from jewellery making, beading and assorted craft work.

Let me show you a couple of my most recent examples:

This male card involved direct to paper inking with fluid chalks, embossing, using metallic copper Stewart Gill embossing powder, the Montagerie clock cube stamp, and then some stuff that I had lying around. I layered some Tim Holtz alcohol ink over the vintage buttons and metal bits, to give the impression of age stains. Layers add to the visual weight. My "Joie de Vivre" stamp is part of the Tin Can Mail collection by Inkadinkado - both of these stamps were half price when I bought them - I love to think I am getting a bargain!

I used my Heidi Swapp daisy mask here, and with a stippling brush, laid over that different colours of Jo Sonja acrylic paint to form the background page - these paints are of a beautiful quality and rich in pigment. All the embellishments I've used were bits and bobs I've had laying around, including the felt, but by using my friend's Big Shot, I've cut loads of lovely daisy shapes in various colours. My friend Val recently sent me some large gold sequins, red beads, the glass mosaic tiles and the small gold beads, and I've used an assortment of them all here. I've added some foam shapes that have been lying around in my button tin for years - these are now very fashionable, being that American Crafts have just brought out a new range of embellishments in various mediums such as felt, chipboard and plastic. I get a great deal of satisfaction of using bits of "junk" in an up-to-date way and making a cohesive art piece that just "gels" for me - eventually. Probably not collage in the strictest sense of the word, but I've incorporated mixed media and lots of layers - so who is going to argue the point?

Meet Alison

My name is Alison – Ali to my scrapbooking friends, or Alibri on UK Scrappers – and – here comes the confession part – I am addicted to all things even loosely related to scrapbooking. I have been scrapbooking now for just over three years, even though I have been “cutting and sticking” into my photograph albums for many years. I love learning anything new that might, in any way, shape or form, appear at some time on a scrapbooking page, however vague it’s association!

In order to support my addiction to buying stash, I have become involved in the industry on a different level. I started teaching scrapbooking classes at local craft shops two years ago, and taught at my first retreat very recently – the lead-up was a bit hairy, but I thoroughly enjoyed it and learnt so much about myself in the process - a wonderful learning experience, hopefully for all concerned!

I have been published in many UK publications, and until recently was part of the Design Team for Creative Scrapbooking, which sadly published its last issue in January 2007. My interest now also extends beyond scrapbooking to mixed-media collage, painting, photography, digital art and papercrafts in general. Though I think it could be difficult to define my style, common elements include lots of colour and dimension. I guess you could call me an “altered” scrapbooker, which more aptly may also describe my mental state!

I love the social aspect of scrapbooking, and this wonderful hobby has also blessed me with many friends, both on-line and local. There is nothing I love more than getting together with like minded crafty people to scrap, talk, eat and shuffle paper around, however much I may dislike the packing and unpacking! I am currently engaged in the journey to live life more creatively, however that may unfold.

A Visit to the Zoo

I have never been much of a photographer, point and click and hope that something is worth looking at, but since I have been scrapbooking and seen some of the outstanding photographs in layouts, I have become more aware of the subjects that I am photographing.

I love animals and my ideal day out is a visit to a zoo, and this has encouraged me to think more about taking a good photograph. We are very lucky in as much as we have a small zoo locally. It is more of a pet zoo as it doesn't have the larger animals but makes for a great day out for both adults and children

Drusillas nestles at the base of the South Downs, near Lewes in East Sussex, and has penguins, flamingos, monkeys, meerkats and otters to name a few. There is also a fantastic childrens playground and a small railwway where Thomas the Tank Engine, Annie and Clarabel will take you for train rides around the zoo. If you are ever this way it is well worth the visit and will occupy most of your day. I have a membership ticket which allows me to visit at anytime and I popped in last week and took these photos

My first ever blog posting

Hello everyone. Allow me to introduce myself. I am the Jilly in Jillybeans and in true Oscar style I would like to thank Madge for setting up this Blog and Miss Sarah Jane for her techie expertise. We just say Sarah can we have.... and she says 'No problem - I can sort that'

I hope that this blog will become addictive as we have many talented bloggers, from Madge with her fantastic photographic and cardmaking skills, Lindy who will alter anything that isn't nailed down ( and things that are), Alison the teacher, Sue with her poems and short stories and Miss Sarah Jane with her eye for colour and techie skills. There are the others too who have a sparkling wit and so much to offer us.

Simply blue

I love simple flowers like poppies and daisies. I also have a soft spot for Forget-me-nots and allow them to self-seed in my garden along with Love-in-a-mist. Somehow nature always manages a far better floral display than anything I've achieved with planting plans. I wonder who first gave those flowers their common names - so much nicer than Myosotis or Nigella.Each tiny flower is so perfect in close-up and the recent warm weather has faded them quickly into soft shades of lilac and pink. True shabby chic!

Twinkling H2Os

I adore using paints of all types and I suppose I've tried them all - even oil paints. However a new type of watercolour paint hit the market a couple of years ago and when a friend gave me some as a birthday gift it was love at first sight.

Twinkling H2Os. A quirky name, but very apt. These tiny pots of irridescent watercolours are like shimmering jewels and actually ought to be edible they look so good.

You need to add a little water to the pot by spritzing or with a loaded brush, then wait a few minutes for the paint to soften into a creamy consistency. When the paint dries out again the surface often has fascinating air-bubbles - this is normal. It can be used on a variety of surfaces - I've even used it on shrink plastic. It's a shame that photos don't show up the rich shimmer. This is a painted ATC :-

Many of us have suffered from 'blank page syndrome' when starting a journal. I find it useful to brush H2Os onto my pages before doing any work on them and that way I'm less inhibited about doing any real work. The creamy consistency means you're less likely to warp the paper with too much water and the lush colours really make the pages sing. This is a page from a collaborative journal on which I used this technique. The subject was metals and the background paints were in shades of copper, bronze and gold.

On black card or paper the irridescence really sings and the new generation of chipboard shapes would make the perfect canvas. Highly recommended.

Welcome!

Welcome to the Jelly Journals - a magazine style blog created by friends of Jillybeans and devoted to all things scrapping, cardmaking, journalling, art, photography, food, literature and life.
There will be regular contributors and also occasional interlopers. We hope to share our ideas, thoughts and projects with you all and maybe own up to a few disasters too.
Some of us fall into the Grumpy Old Women category so expect moans along the way!
I hope you'll drop in from time to time - the kettle's always hot.

A bit about me:-
I'm a life-long crafter, digital artist and stock photographer. I enjoy scrapbooking, paper or digital, and also cardmaking. I am fascinated by design and love contemporary visual art - apart from anything that might reasonably qualify for the Turner Prize, that is. I hope to share with you some of my favourite art sites over the coming months.
Madge.