Victoria Sponge Cake

Hello Everyone,

I hope your all having a great Friday and looking forward to hopefully a sunny weekend it looks promising at the moment but we all know that can change with a blink of an eye.
Today I come to share something a little different. As some of you know I love to cook and bake with my children so I thought I would start to share some of the recipes we enjoy.

This afternoon we decide to make a Victoria Sponge which is an old time favourite and one I remember making with my Nan when I was little.
The recipe we used can be found in this book which is pictured below.

Here is a quick summary of the recipe;

INGREDIENTS NEEDED,

175 g/6 oz/1 1/2 cups self-raising flour,sifted.
175 g/6 oz/3/4 cup caster sugar.
175 g/6 oz/3/4 cup soft margarine.
3 large Free-range eggs.
1 tsp vanilla extract.
1 tbsp strawberry jam. ( BUT YOU CAN USE ANY FILLING THAT YOU WISH)
icing ( confectioners) sugar for dusting.

First start by preheating your oven to 160 C/325 F/Gas mark 3. Grease and line two 20 cm/8 in round sandwich tins. Then add the flour, eggs, margarine,caster sugar and vanilla extract to a large bowl and mix like mad,until you have a pale and fluffy mixture.Then divide this mixture between the two tins and smooth out.
Bake for 20 Mins. The cakes should be springy to touch and a knife when poked into the sponge should come out clean.
Cool both cakes on a wirer rake. When cold sandwich together with the jam or filling you have chosen and dust the top with the icing sugar.

 We chose to add some Buttercream too.

I hope you give it a go and if so would love to here how it turned out.
Have love creating guys in more ways then one.
Hugs Emjay x

StickPin Holder

Hi Everyone,
I hope you're all having a great bank holiday and enjoying the warmer weather.
Today I have a stickpin holder to share which I made a while ago out of a old watch box that my eldest daughter no longer wanted.

I first started by placing the lid of the box at the bottom and glued the bottom inside. I then stuffed the box with stuffing and glued the cushion that the watch was displayed on inside.

I have used some mesh bling and handmade flowers on top. The papers I have used on this project is Almanac by Prima which is one of my favourites.

On one side I have made a dressform out of the some paper collection and used Tim Holtz feet.

To the front I have added some chains from an old necklace and a beautiful charm that my Hubby had got me.

I hope you like my project and have a beautiful weekend.

Hugs Emjay

Recipe Junk Journal

Hi Guys,

I hope you are all having a great week?  A few projects I did a while ago but hadn't the time until now to share on here.

I made the covers for this album out of an old box that I had lying around the house. I took the top layer off and then painted with white paint,I then used my bind-it-all to bind the album.

Though out this album I have used left over papers from various different collections.Which was a great way to use up your scraps.

I have added a few of my favourite recipes to this album but there is plenty of room to grow.

Thanks for stopping by, Hugs Emjay

Exciting News! And first projects

Hello sweet friends,I have some exciting news to share with you today. I have been asked to be on the design team for Little Blue Button Stamps

I would like to start by saying a big thank you to Olga for asking me to be a  designer and I am looking forward to playing with her beautiful images.

I have two projects to share with you today. My first one is a set of four cards, using the Miss Lilly Cutie image on a 2 1/2 x 3 inch white card (I printed the image out at 2 1/2 x 1 inch).

The layered papers used on each card are by First Edition "Spring Drop". I coloured each image with my Spectrum Noir pens.

These were so easy and quick to make and will be great as thank you cards. I have left the inside blank and can be added to as and when needed.

For my second card I decided to make a shadow box card, which measures 6 x 5 inches by 1 inch deep. I have cut an oval window to the front, where I have used the Miss Lilly Cutie image again, and this time she is 4 1/2 x 2 1/4 inches. I used my Spectrum Noir pens to colour her in. The papers  I used are "Sun Kiss" collection by Prima, the blue flower and the rolled flower on the top left hand corner I made by hand, the cream one is by W.O.C. I then stamped Happy Birthday on pop dots and added two metal roses.

I will be doing a video on these projects, which you can check out on my YouTube channel at Emjay2307