Today's theme: the home

This morning I felt a bit like this in my brain.. squashed. So, despite planning today as being a 'uni work' day, I decided it had to at least start off being a tidying day. This morning I hoovered and mopped and ciffed and fixed and washed and shook and plumped and folded and rearranged... and finally I was satisfied. The clutter has become neat piles, most notably the fabric which was previously stuffed into a bag - it now has a shelf to itself! All my creative things now have a space for themselves rather than being strewn about the room and after a cup of tea I felt my brain relax a little :] Then I remembered receiving a change of address note from a relative - so, feeling happier, I decided to make her a new home card. I'm quite chuffed with it - I almost want to keep it and frame it I like it so much - my best creations are often the most spontaneous ones! For the photograph as reference I may make another to sell in my etsy shop (click here to visit!) when I finally get round to buying more posh card.

Happy New Year.. and I'm already a month ahead of myself!

Happy New Year to you all, I hope everyone had an enjoyable festive period. Despite urgently needing to do more revision for forthcoming exams I'm taking a wee time out to post on here. Just as I took a wee time out the other afternoon to play with some tea and paper and make some cards.

Etsy had been sending me e-mails about Valentines related things (already?!) so I had a go at making some cards. I've only made three cards to put on Etsy before and non of them have sold. However, after putting two new ones up online last night.. one of them has sold!

Here it is, an 'I Love You Forever' Valentine (or just because) card, made using tea stained paper and some stamps I got given last Christmas. I faffed about with the printer and normal paper to get the 'i' and 'you' printing aligned properly and eventually this was the result! Don't tell the buyer, but under the 'Love' there is also an 'i' and there is a 'you' under the 'Forever'... Don't look at me like that - ok, ok, it was meant to read 'I Love You' but I got the printing wrong so edited it slightly. It was my last card and I didn't want to waste it - these things are expensive you know! In total I received £3.11 (including money towards postage) after all the various fees (PayPal charge currency conversion fees don't you know.. I didn't, boo) and postage and packing costs I'm left with .. wait for it .. 29p. In fact, minus that because that probably doesn't cover the cost of ink, the card, envelope and the cellophane envelope.

Aaaaaannyway. It was fun to make and I liked the finished result. For me it was all about seeing if I could make a card that someone else would want to pay for - and I did! So I'm happy. And I upped my postage prices :]

Mulled Cranberry and Apple Jelly

Good evening everyone. I've spent a busy afternoon making some 'Mulled Cranberry and Apple Jelly'. I've never made jam or jelly before but when I found this recipe I decided to give making a few jars a go.

I halved the ingredient quantities as I only wanted to make a few jars as Christmas gifts, and having never made it or anything like it before I was doubtful of if it would work.

The kitchen is very messy now but I think it was worth it. I enjoyed the process, the smells and the delight when it looked like it was doing the right thing!

Here is one of the jars with its Christmassy hat on, ready to give as a gift when I go home for the festive time. I tried some on toast just now and it was really very nice. I had worried it was perhaps too sweet when I tasted after I put it in the jars, but on toast I did enjoy it and really didn't need much at all.

So.. what should I try making next? Once this creation has been eaten and I have all the posh jars back that is.. :]

Happy Creative Christmas!

Homemade tree decorations including
Harris Tweed stocking, by mother, for me, with love ♥

This year's addition to the Creative Christmas Collection - my garland.
Felt, gold thread, seed beads, red embroidery thread, blanket stitch, ribbon ♥

Getting Creative in the Kitchen

I've been away from Glasgow recently staying with Gregor as his folks are away for a month. I think it has been good for us both, I certainly am enjoying having his company :) On days when Gregor is working its been my job to make lunches and dinner. The other day I made some Butternut Squash, Sweet Potato and Chilli soup - yuuuummmy! It really was delicious. I used a recipe from the Covent Garden A Soup For Every Day of the Year book, only making one substitution which was using dried chilli flakes instead of fresh chilli.

The finished soup looked scrummy in the green bowls! It didn't last long. I'll have to make some more next week.

My favourite soup has always been (chunky!) leek and potato, but maybe I'll be converted to something else if I practice more recipes from the soup book. What's your favourite soup and how do you make it?

'Thank you' cards

Last night I made some thank-you cards to send to the lovely people who gave me such lovely presents for my birthday. The original idea I'd had was to use some material in the middle of the card then stamp 'Thank you' over the top of it. This didn't happen, simply because my potato-cutting-to-make-a-stamp skills are utterly non-existent. Does anyone make stamps out of potatoes or similar at home? If so how?! :) I will have a look for a ready made stamp for future use online today but it would still be nice to be able to make my own if need be. So, due to lack of stamp I decided to use one I already had - I felt the leaves, particularly in the orange ink, were rather seasonal so it didn't matter it was un-birthday related. On each card I glittered around one stamp and then glued some wee buttons over the acorns on another. The gluing was tricky for the glittery stamp as I used glue then glittered over the top as I didn't have any glitter glue. I used Uhu but it came out rather thick and made it look messy - can you think of a better glue I could use next time? I popped the cards in the post this morning but I still wish I'd managed to get them in earlier. Perhaps for Christmas I'll make cards before present opening then can just fill them all in at once later.. or I could just buy some nice cards I suppose but that defeats the purpose for me really - it's so much nicer to make my own!

Crafty birthday presents

After a good feel of this particular parcel ('it's squishy.. oh no! not another scarf! .. phew, I can feel a hard bit - it isn't a scarf after all..') I finally opened it to discover a pretty bag filled with lots of lovely crafty things from mums own collections. Its bits and pieces like this - trimmings and cuttings and odds and ends that one collects over time - that I really rather wanted for making cards and other things. Thank you mummy :o) I had a lovely time back home for my birthday (we had a bonfire and lots of yummy things to eat and drink!).

When I got back to my flat I had some more parcels to open - an absolutely scrummy big button keyring that went straight on my keys, a matching button purse, and the new Hummingbird Bakery cook book. I cannot wait to try some of the recipes - there is one called 'Grasshopper Pie' and the filling is made from melted marshmallows flavoured with peppermint - ooo its a dream come true. Maybe I'd better save it for dreaming about just now though or a little tubby will soon become a big tubby what with all the other sweets and chocolate I was given at the weekend! Has anyone made anything from this book? Do you have a favourite you'd like to recommend?