Samphire....it's salty!

Every once in a while I get the urge to poison my family  try out something new.
This time the NEW thing was samphire. A salty plant that grows on the seashore. I made a barley stew with red onions home-grown courgettes and cashew nuts and it was served with samphire and mozzarella. Let's just say it filled a hole, but I won't be buying it again in a hurry. It was all a bit weird. That salty crunch ....I don't think the texture of barley really helped with the whole experience. I'm sure Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's samphire creations taste delicious but I have to say, so far, I am not a fan.

My little munchkin

Here's my little flower just before heading off to school. She has a very wobbly tooth right now,  I think it will be coming out very soon!  I guess this will be her "gap year!"

Routine has returned

Hello! Things are getting back to routine around here.
My little girl went back to school yesterday, ( Scotland goes back earlier than England), so I have finally managed a little card-making time. Just the Tonic!

I have been wanting to get my watercolours out for a long, long while now and get back to painting, so I thought the perfect introduction to using my brush again would be to colour some of Tonic Studio's lovely pick of the bunch stamps. It felt so good to be using my paints again - very therapeutic.

This is the first card I have done for a while. I have used some flowers from the Chrysanthemum set. Then I have cut them out with decoupage scissors and raised them on the card using foam squares from Scrapbook adhesives by 3L.

If you haven't tried watercolour, you should give it a go. Just don't skimp on getting a decent brush. If you are unsure about drawing your own images, using stamps is a great way to get a feel for painting.

Finally made something

Well, strictly speaking I didn't just make it,  I only finally got around to finishing this brooch that has sat in pieces in a box since last year waiting for me to get around to it. It is for a friend, so I hope she likes it.

It is hand drawn on a scrap of vintage linen and then bonded to two layers of felt. The body is copper wire and seed beads.

Still busy...

a picture of one of my neighbours

Hello, and thanks for visiting today. Life is still pretty busy here and I am aware I haven't blogged much lately. Hopefully when the school holidays are over I will get back to routine. My fingers are eager to get some crafting and artwork done but every time I plan to get busy, something else comes up. Never mind, it is good to have my husband, son and little girl home for the holidays. My little girl is actually missing school, but then she is only 6.

Hope that you are having some decent weather where you are. Have a wonderful day.