Etsy Shop update

Hi, just wanted to let you know I am finally getting around to putting some things into my Etsy shop. Hopefully more will go in next week. 

My little girl will be going to school for the whole day as of next week. Think of all that time I'll have to start doing things once again. 9 o'clock until 3 o'clock. I am sure the time will fly by though, so I need to get myself a bit organised. 

You wouldn't believe the amount of time I waste just hunting for things for a project. I wish I had a special room only for my craft stuff. 

On that note, we have someone coming to view the house tomorrow. I am not holding out a huge amount of hope as they are still in the position of having to sell their property first, but at least we have some interest, so thank you Lord!


PS. Don't forget to enter my giveaway for a cute birdy paper punch. 

times they are a changing...

My precious little 5 year old is now a schoolgirl. Here she is concentrating hard on her very first homework ever! 
There have been more than a few tears...and all of them have been from me! She is settling in fine. 
I have been keeping myself busy. One thing I did was to repair a bad chip in a beautiful very large blue and white china bowl I bought recently at my local auction.

 It cost me £10 with a lovely delftware plate that I have hanging in my bathroom. I repaired the chip with an epoxy product called Milliput. It goes really hard.

 Then I used my acrylic paints to disguise the white patch. Unless you stare at it really hard, it looks fine. It's probably not the way a proper china restorer would do it, but it worked for me :-) 

Time for a Giveaway

Hi !
Some of you might remember that I designed this little birdy paper punch for Tonic Studios.

Well good news...I now have a couple of these to give away. The punch is one of their Simplicity Geared Punches which makes using it a breeze. 
Hardly any effort is required to punch through paper or card. 


Would you like to get your paws on one?


I have two to giveaway. 
This giveaway is open to everyone.


Here's what you need to do...


1.Leave me a comment telling me how you would use your Birdy Punch for one entry...


2.Become a follower and leave me a comment to let me know for a second entry.


3.For a third entry you could post about it on your facebook or twitter or blog...leave me a comment letting me know where.


Please make sure I have some way of contacting you if you win!


The time of the draw is noon on 1st September 2011

Drawing is closed now...winners have been announced :-)

Angel Delight Cake Frosting

Apologies to all my international readers, but this little handy tip might only be of use to you if you are in the UK. 

It happened out of necessity. I had a cake to ice but had no butter or anything else to make butter icing, all I had was a packet of Angel Delight butterscotch flavour. I mixed it with half the quantity of milk advised and then added icing sugar until it was cake frosting consistency. If you add even more icing sugar to make a stiffer paste you could use a piping bag, so I may do this next time. If you use skimmed milk, then this is a much much lower fat option than regular butter icing, and I have to tell you...it was DELICIOUS ! 

Really finger lickingly delicious! I had enough to top and fill a regular sponge cake and some left over for a batch of cupcakes. It kept fine in the fridge for a week. 
Now I can't wait to try this with the other flavours available!!!

Hello!

Hi there,well, looks like I'll be waiting a long while for something to happen regarding selling our home. The one couple who were very interested  found somewhere else, and we've not had so much as a peep since then. I have placed an advert in the local papers to go out later this week, so I shall see if anything happens from that. 

It's a  bit disappointing, but in today's current economic climate I guess I can't be too surprised. 

The summer holidays are fast drawing to a close and I can't believe the time has flown by so fast. My little girl starts school in just a couple of weeks. Gasp! My baby girl!

(funny self portrait taken in the back of the car)

waiting...

Feverfew in the garden by Naomi

It's been a week or so since our house has gone on the market, and we've had one very interested viewer so far. We're just waiting to see what happens next. Watch this space.

oh I do like to be beside the seaside!

On Monday it was the first time it has been warm enough in a LONG time! 

So we headed for Chanonry beach.

 We all enjoyed a paddle. And my girls had great fun making cool shadows.

I love my little girls hat. It is from the 1940s.  It belonged to my mother when she was little and I am sure I must have worn it too. It is still in perfect condition and is completely reversible. I should try to make a pattern from it and make a few more.

Naomi took some cool pictures. You might want to check out her latest blog.

I really like these photos she took...