I love them because they make me smile!

So this week's challenge is all about smiles, and because of that I want to share a shop with you that never fails to make me smile. Mixed Species is made up of a group of friends that design amazing, fun, silly, sometimes irreverent, wonderful creations. I've featured items of theirs before on this blog, but I think it needs to be said, all of you people that have never had the good fortune to stumble upon their shop or website, go take a look. Something, if not everything, will make you smile!

This has to be one of my all time favourites of theirs. The colon plushy! Sheer genius!

Congratulations on hitting the big 700 sales mark guys! Your designs are brilliant and you deserve every last one of those sales. Thank you for making me smile and laugh so many times. Oh and you do know I'm only being nice about you so you don't send Elephant power saw man after me don't you...

... hehehe

Naughty me!

Well Jon didn't get around to making one, so I South Parked him.

I guess I should add a photo of him to prove he doesn't look like that. Ermmmm... thats not so helpful either is it. the strange thing it I can't remember why he is dressed like that or what I have in my cheek (I'm the one walking through the back of the shot).

Now if this one of him spinning flags doesn't make you smile nothing will... well it makes me smile. He's just sooooo buff! Phwoar!

Smile some more!

So I've not slept too well, and I get up at 6 am, after hours of staring at the ceiling, I make myself a pot of tea and some toast and sign into my blog. Who should be waiting there for me to see?

This gorgeous smiley lion from Rachel of Red Thread Plushies and

This smiley South Park picture of the ever so fabulous Baldylocks

So life's not so bad after all, even though I'm running on 3 1/2 hours sleep, you fabulous online buddies can still get me to raise a smile. Thank you!

Ok so here is me as a South Park pirate. I'm very sleepy now, hence the eyes. I couldn't find the old one I had of me so I made this one. Jon says he will make one later to post. He didn't like the one I made... hehehehe I wonder why? *evil grin*

The Smile Challenge

So last week I was very slack and only managed a doodle for the spider challenge. I promise this week I will try harder. The topic is "Smile". So all you need to do is create /write /document /photograph something that will make the readers smile. Either put it on your blog and put a link in the comments in this post or send it to me via the etsy mail to user name Skully and I will post it up here on this blog for you. It's all just for fun, so join in if you feel able.

For starters I'd like to share a recipe with you that should, once made and eaten, make you smile a lot.

Chocolate Truffles

1 lb (450g) Good dark chocolate.
6 fl oz (175ml) Double cream.
1 oz (28.35g) Ground almonds.
1 oz (28.35g) Cocoa powder.
Small amount of flavourings of your choice. eg 2 tablespoons of rum/brandy or 3-4 drops of vanilla /lemon/orange flavouring.


1. Break chocolate into small pieces.
2. Gently heat Dbl Cream in a saucepan until it begins to come to the boil. (DO NOT BOIL)
3. Remove pan from the heat and stir in chocolate pieces until melted and smooth.
4. Now its time to flavour the mix. Split the mix into smaller amounts and flavour. Examples of flavourings, vanilla, rum, brandy, lemon, orange, mint, chopped nuts. Don't over do it when you add the flavour especially with the citrus as they can cause the mix to curdle.
5. Add the ground almonds and stir in.
6. chill in the refrigerator for 3 hours.
7. remove from the fridge and using a teaspoon scoop out a small amount of the mix. Dust your palms with the cocoa powder and roll the truffle into a ball. place in a paper truffle case or onto a tray.
8. Decorate the tops of the truffles with curls of chocolate , chopped nuts or citrus zest.
9. Store the truffles in the refrigerator and eat within 7 days.

If they last 7 days you and yours must have more will power than me and mine :)


Parallaxphotography has added a beautiful picture to her blog that defiantly made me smile as did Debs, such a pretty smile! High Desert Diva has written a great blog entry for the smile challenge. MissFire has also added some really lovely photos to her blog today that made me smile a lot. Thank you for joining in!