Crazy busy

I'm trying not to panic and trying to laugh about these things but, well, you know me, anxiety is my middle name.

I'm about 5 weeks behind on my Open University writing course.  The room where I do my writing is about to have a bit of wall taken out so everything has had to come out.  My craft room, where I like to write too, is awash with Sylvanian Families, Lego and beads that need to be made into Christmas presents.  I can't get to my table and I have several craft deadlines to complete and a retreat to prepare for.

After the leak a few weeks ago, we have had to move most of the stuff out of the utility room / children's art room so the floor can dry out and the cupboards can be replaced at some point.  The downstairs bathroom is being ripped out and replaced, hence the bit of wall being taken out in the spare room (for some reason the bath was recessed into that room!)

I wanted to show you lots of photos of the work going on but now I am having blogger issues because I am over the upload space and I have no idea how to fix it.  Any ideas?

I've been using a new recipe for my Christmas cakes but I burned one of the many I need to make so Management (who has been VERY poorly indeed) cut off all the edges.  I think I shall make a cup of tea and do a taste test on said cake.  Anyone else want a cup?

Bye for now
xx

Teacher Presents

I worked for a while as a Teaching Assistant and I was amazed by the amount of gifts I received at the end of term and at Christmas.  I don't remember giving presents to my teachers when I was at school so it was quite a pleasant surprise.  I experienced a range of gifts and cards but I have noticed each year that there are more and more things available in the shops especially for such occasions.  I thought back to my gifts and the ones I remembered were not the bunches of flowers or the epic amounts of alcohol and chocolate (although they were VERY welcome), but the slightly obscure, the really odd, and the ones that were home-made.  I decided that I would avoid the really odd and try for something a little out of the ordinary and most definitely home-made.  I had an idea for spraying a gorgeous design onto the 99p Hobbycraft canvas totes and it started really well but the final butterfly messed up big time and I had to have a rather swift rethink.  I was making a Dundee cake for my Dad and I thought it might be a good option for the teachers as it keeps well and isn't chocolate :-)

Obviously I wanted to make the thank you cards as well.  I've been waiting for the right time to use this little owl and now seemed very appropriate.  All the papers are My Mind's Eye and both the owl and the bunting punches are by Stampin Up.  I punched out the scallop circle before I adhered the background card to the card blank and the little owl fits right in the negative space - perfect!

I needed to stick the baking paper down with something and I literally squealed when I remembered my newly purchased Smash tape.  It had just perfect wording on it for edible loveliness.

I wanted the finished gift to be wrapped in brown paper and twine and then prettied up with a tag that they could keep.  

Here's a close up of the tag using papers from Echo Park's Everyday Eclectic range in 6x6 (more on that very soon!)

I will go back to the canvas bags but I need to do a bit more experimenting with the spray inks to try and stop them bleeding but either way, one won't be going to Louis' next teacher as it is a man.  No pretty trinket boxes or notebooks, no floral bookmarks, I need to get my thinking cap on for this one!

Bye for now

xx

Down on the Farm

Don't worry, we were not eaten by cows on holiday, it has just taken us a while to get back into the swing of normal life.  Louis turned 6 on the day after we got home and then there were various Jubilee activities and social occasions to attend and host - all good stuff!

We had a totally superb holiday down in Devon.  We were about 6 miles from Axminster in the Blackdown Hills staying at Aller Farm with Featherdown Farm Days.  We were glamping for the first time and we all agreed it was one of the best holidays ever.  Obviously I have lots of photos but many of them don't do justice to our experience.  Here are a handful of treasured memories from that week.

Ice-cream at West Bay

Inside our "home".

Bringing the luggage down the track.

The first egg from our own little hen coop.

Deer at Powderham Castle.

Bella helping Farmer Nigel at milking time.

Fantastic pizza in the bread oven.

Bella busy with her bucket at Lyme Regis.

My babies at the end of a cross country walk.

The village scarecrow competition.

Delicious stew cooked by hanging over an open fire.

Pudding.

One of the tent views.

As you can see, the children were in their element.  They were free to come and go around the fields with the other children and we often had either no children or 7 children in our tent!  They had a den building kit which they set up across the stream tucked away in the woods and they loved getting up every morning to check on the chickens.  Louis was able to run to the farm honesty shop for provisions and he loved the freedom and importance of his tasks.  Nigel and Emma were fantastic hosts and I put on WAY too much weight with Emma's fantastic baking.  We bottle fed a calf, cuddled a 5 week old puppy and narrowly missed a calf actually being born.  We were so blessed with the weather and we were able to go down to the various beaches and go rock pooling, dig in the sand or hunt for fossils.  We may have had a cream tea or two.  Or three...

It was wonderful to be without electricity and I was surprised how little I missed my instant cups of tea as it took about 45 minutes to make one from scratch on the wood burning stove!  Just sitting with a book, looking out onto the fields of cows, hearing only the sounds of them chewing and the birds singing, was glorious indeed.  We were all wonderfully relaxed and more than one of us cried when it was time to come home (can you guess who?  Yes okay, you got me, of course one of those people was me!)

We came back slightly pinker (me) or browner (the others), clear skinned, rosy cheeked, inspired, happy, relaxed, chubby and absolutely desperate to go back again some day.

Bye for now
xx

A last minute card

So much for my scissor-break!  

On Thursday morning, L says to me "I'm a bit sad today because Miss L is leaving".  Miss L is a student teacher who has been working on placement in L's class for 6 weeks.  "When's that hun?" I ask.  "Today" he says.  Thanks L!  I had to get my skates on, despite my virus, because I also had to make an Easter Bonnet for the next day.  I grabbed my new favourite punch and some new papers that I have dying for an excuse to break open and set about a speedy card and book mark.

The Portobello Road collection is perfect for this coming Summer with the Jubilee celebrations and the Olympics.  I'm tempted to hold a party just so that I can use this collection to make appropriate invites and cupcake decorations!  I used the coordinating stamps to make the little postcard greeting.

The bookmark didn't come out quite the way I wanted but that point I was already hyperventilating over the hat (more on that in another post) and I was wishing I had gone to the shop and bought a card and an Easter egg.

I'm happy that the children are on Spring break / Easter hols now as we could all do with a few slow days.  Not much chance of that for a few more days yet though as it is a certain young lady's 3rd birthday on Monday.  In an effort to help me, Management has bought a cake.  I am in pieces.  I have never bought a cake for any of the 7 birthdays my children have had so far.  They have always been baked and decorated with fondant in an age appropriate design by my own fair hands (with much mess, stress and swearing!)  Hey ho, its all downhill from here.  I did make her card though, I'll share that in my next post.

Bye for now
x

10 Birthday Things on the Tenth

Happy Birthday to me!

I thought in celebration of my birthday, that I would share 10 wonderful presents that I have had in adulthood.

This little piece of beached glass in the middle of the photo, was given to me this morning by my wonderful boy.  He found it at the weekend when they went out for a walk while I did some spring cleaning and he knew I would love it and managed to keep it a secret.  He was so proud of his find as he knew I didn't have any in my collections of shells and stone.  I love it.

My locket and chain is one of my very favourite possessions.  My Dad came shopping with Management and I to look for something perfect for my 21st birthday many moons ago and one of them bought the locket and the other the chain.  There is disagreement about who bought which piece and I can't remember and I don't care, I just love it.  I wear it most days.

My passport.  Strange present you might think but it was one of the best birthdays ever.  Management wanted to give me an early birthday present, the evening before my birthday, to cheer me up after a pants day at work.  It was tiny and I duly opened what I thought would be a small in value present.  I was SO cross with him for ruining my birthday by giving me such a big present early!  Then he revealed that I wouldn't be going to work for the next 2 days as we would heading to Paris VERY early the next morning and coming back at the end of the weekend.  But there was more...  He had originally planned to take me to Paris to see France V England in the what was then, 5 Nations, but he hadn't received conformation of tickets (thousands apply and some people are lucky).  He booked this alternative trip for my birthday instead but then got conformation of tickets for the match so we went back to Paris 5 weeks later!

These Promarkers appeared in my previous post. They were the ones sent to me by a fellow QVC Craft Forum member and we had originally planned to swap something but she said she would give them to me as an early birthday present.  It never fails to amaze me, the kindness of the on-line community.

I received this cheque from my Mother-In-Law this morning.  Money is always nice obviously but you can see from the note that it is specifically for crafting supplies!  In the past she has given me tokens for Hobbycraft as it is the shop that she knows.  However, we were talking over Christmas about how I like to shop in various places on-line and from 2Peas in America etc and so she thought money would be better.  She telephoned just now to remind me NOT to spend it on the children or the house.

I love amber, it reminds me of tigers and matches my red hair.  These earrings are the first amber items Management ever bought me.

I was blown away when I got this ticket for Scrap-a-Mia in 2010.  Management had overheard a scrapping buddy and I talking about it and went off to find out more and bought it.  He was a bit worried as he didn't know anything about it or if I would like it etc but he chose so very very well and I had a total blast.  And again in 2011.  Really hoping they run it again this year too.

My cake stand is technically not a present from someone else but bought with birthday money so it counts right?  I love this style and it was just right for my craft room.  It houses my special ribbons and lace offcuts and washy tapes etc.  Shame about the shocking photo.

My favourite thing to make in my Kenwood is Delia Smith's Little Sticky Toffee puddings so I must really find some more low fat recipes to make.  I love baking but I love cake mix too.  Another shocking photo.

My Nikon was a present from Management with some Christmas money added in.  It is now 2 years old and I still don't know how to work it properly (clearly!) but it is on my list of things to do now that B has started pre-school (first morning today and she ran all the way there!)  I did an OU Digitial Photography course but didn't really make the most of it and I've forgotten it all so I will go back through it.  I love digital - the ability to get instant feedback on your shots is something I will never tire of.

And that blurry teal pattern there?  That is the most wonderful card made for me by Jaki - thank you Jaki!  I'm looking forward to a day of pampering tomorrow when Management is off and I'll be opening my presents when he gets home tonight so there is yet more of this birthday to come.

10 on the tenth is brought to you by Shimelle and this month she is sharing her fave layouts from 2011, which are all fabulous, obvs.

Bye for now

xx

Sugar overload!

Whoosh!  That was the weekend whizzing past.

Do you ever feel like that?  You blink and suddenly its Monday again?  This weekend has been crazy with B's birthday tea party and making cakes etc.  We found time for a walk around Southampton Common though as she is a big fan of ducks and sticks etc.  Its a great place to go for L to ride his bike too as he is still getting used to riding without stabilisers.  I'm looking forward to scrapping his first ride - any ideas?

With birthdays, its a chance for me to get my baking head on.  I miss making cakes so much, especially with the children so I really indulged this weekend.  I made some chocolate cup cakes with a meringue style frosted icing, courtesy of this blog which I made into bears.  And of course, I made a birthday cake.  I started making novelty cakes for my son's first birthday and now it has become a tradition.  I use a book by Debbie Brown mostly but last year I bravely invented my own.  With my baby girl's love of ducks, there could only be one candidate for her tea party.

He's sort of a chick / duck as nobody could agree on what the picture looked more like!  I'm way short of competent and its certainly not a cheap way to make a cake but it tasted okay (I'm told) and it made people smile (or snigger?)

B had a lovely time and ate so much cake that I was surprised she slept that night.  It was like a comedy sketch with her walking back and forth past the gap in the trees with a different piece of cake each time and everyone else paying no attention.  She really got the hang of opening presents and ignoring the cards and shouted "Mine!" at anyone who tried to help her.  The day after the party she woke up and said "Cake?" with a very sweet smile.  Oh my goodness she is going to give us trouble with a face like that.

I had to quality control most of the cakes and I've still been suffering with this darned headache so its now been 2 whole weeks without exercise.  I don't think I'll be betting on a loss for my weigh in tonight!

Bye for now xx