Warming it Up!

This week on Cute Card Thursday we are asking you to warm things up a little - it's certainly been rather chilly in the Northern climes just recently!  Our sponsor for this challenge is Whimsy Stamps who are offering 5 digis as a prize this week - stop by the blog to read the details and see the rest of the DTs inspiring work.

Well, with my own life being rather topsy turvey again just at the moment, I didn't think I was going to join in this week as colouring just isn't working for me.  But when tidying up I found the base of this card already cut, distressed and stuck down (originally planned for a manly design), and as I hadn't yet used one of my Christmas pressie dies, the bird on a branch, I started playing .. .. .. this is the result - a card to remind me that Spring is just around the corner.  All the die cuts are by Marianne Design and I have either distressed the embossed areas with an emery board, or inked them as on the ivy circlet.  The text is also from a MD set of dies and stamps, then to finish off I've simply stuck tiny pearls to the centres of my flowers. It's another flat card with just the bigger bird lifted on 1mm foam pads that will squish down and the little pearls that I should be able to get away with through the narrow slot at the post office.

Here's the list of Marianne Design dies I used:
ivy circlet - CR1213
bird on branch - LR0137
bird with bird house - LR0205
tiny flowers and itty bitty leaves - CR1210
text stamp from COL1333

The Die Cuttin' Divas challenge is for old and new stash, mine's mostly old but with the new bird and branch die.

And here is what's left of a chocolate cake I made, another recipe from the DK Gluten Free cook book.  It's actually the Devil's Food Cake recipe but made with lighter muscavado sugar as I didn't have any dark, and without the sickly topping and filling.  I've added cherry jam and vanilla butter cream to the middle and just dusted the top with icing sugar.  In my opinion there is too much cocoa powder as there is that overpowering bitter cocoa taste .. .. I had the same with some chocolate fairy cakes I made a while back.  Again it's crumbly, not too much of a problem though!  Without cutting back, eating what and when I like, I've dropped a dress size since starting the GF and Lactose free eating plan .. .. I occasionally slip up on the lacto but then suffer for it with bloating and indigestion so it seems that's more of an issue for me than perhaps the gluten, but I'm not ready to jump back yet!  I feel better in myself and don't crave the sweet stuff as much.  I'm sleeping better most nights, although still feeling terribly tired all the time - but hopefully that is just the SAD that tends to kick in around now and will lift once I can get out in the garden, and get some St John's Wort from the health food shop.  I'm off to get ready to go shopping now so will go get my sunshine pills and report back in a couple of days!