Final Preparations

Well, I think I'm as ready for Crimble as I'll ever be! 99% of cards and presents have been given out, a few threadbare decorations are up and all pre-Christmas papercraft orders are completed! (Will show pics after the festive period) 

I have unfortunately, like a lot of other people, been suffering with a yucky lurgy this last week or so. It's left  me with a smaller-than-usual appetite so I hope it recovers sufficiently for me to enjoy a couple of nights out that are coming up, and of course, the big day itself!!

I have been nibbling bits here and there, including a few bites of this giant pretzel that we just had to have when we visited Edinburgh's festive German Market last weekend:

I didn't manage any pics of the market itself as it's always popular and there were about 3005 people packed into every square inch of space so there wasn't room to move let alone start taking snaps!

I did, however, grab a quick sneaky pic of the festive lights and tree in Jenner's department store:

It was nice to be able to appreciate them without needing to be one of the frantic Christmas shoppers that were milling all around us!!

Today I have been doing my final bits and pieces, dropping pressies off and meeting with a friend for a bit of this:

I'm not sure how much crafting I'll be doing or if I'll manage another blog post before Christmas, so, just in case, I'd like to wish you all a lovely Christmas and thank you for all your support this year, hope you'll stick with me into the next!

Byeee! xxx

Shrinking and Worrying!

Hello, I hope you're all ready for Christmas! I'm getting there. My shopping is pretty much done, my cards are at the posting stage...but I've not put my tree or decorations up yet! Shame on me! I'm never in a rush to do this but this is the latest I've ever left it! My tree is only three feet tall as well! There's really no excuse....

Craftwise I've been experimenting with that childhood favourite, shrink plastic. I'm hoping to use my designs to make keyrings and bag charms and the like. This was my first attempt:

There's a bit of fine-tuning required, I need to find the best way of colouring them and the marker I used for the outline has bled slightly onto the colour.  But I shall keep trying!

And for the new year I'm thinking of resurrecting my "Worry Book" idea. I used my little characters on an address book I decorated for my dad, but I'm thinking that the worry books might catch on! The ancient Mayans believed if you wrote your anxieties down in a tome adorned with little dolls they would do the worrying for you and take your troubles away!

Do you think these chaps look nervous enough to do the job??

My Cat Is Possessed!

I just had to show this photo that Himself took this morning; it's an impromptu shot of my cat but look at his freaky Death Ray eyes! We all think our cats are cute and cuddly but this is not the case! They are actually trying to kill us!!! Eeeeeek!

Meanwhile, I have put on about 200006789 stone after attending a pre-Christmas meal with Himself's family. As usual his mum surpassed herself in making me a special veggie version - this year it was Mushroom and Cranberry Nut Roast - yummmm!

I'm now going to head to bed and hope that my cat doesn't murder me in the night!!!!

Need a Wee Snooze

It's been all go around here as is typical for the time of year. I'm rather tired this evening and am looking forward to settling down on the couch with a wee glass of mulled wine and the cat, but I thought I'd better check in as it's nearly been a week since I was last here! I apologise for not keeping up-to-date with all your blogs either, I plan to sit down for a really good catch-up very soon! Hope you'll bear with me!

Last week was my busiest month ever for sales what with the various events I attended and quite a few online buyers popped up. So far this month is shaping up quite well too as I have several custom orders to complete before Christmas. 

And I've already begun work on some items for next year, which has meant various components being put-together in little piles (my fave thing to do!!):

No, don't worry, I'm not going to mention the V-Day word just yet! :)

OK, the sofa is calling me, hope you all have a great weekend!

Festive Feelings...

So it's December and I'm officially feeling Christmassy! I've marked the occasion with a festive gingerbread latte and mince tart!

And although I recently told myself I'd made my last Christmas item, these little birds were fluttering around my craft desk with nowhere to go so I just had to add them to something:

So THIS is definitely my last Christmassy creation....I think!!

Elsewhere, it was my Dad's birthday and so a little sketch was in order for his card:

I had quite a busy week at the day job which didn't leave much time for crafting, but, as I've mentioned, I'm kind of winding down my Christmas productivity and am already thinking of next year! I've got a few new product ideas to play with so watch this space!!

Craft Fairs Over :(

Well, that's the second of my Christmas Craft Fairs over with now and, like the last one, I really enjoyed it. Attendance wasn't bad at all and I had a few wee sales and nattered with other crafters (and had lots of coffee and biscuits to ward off the chill in the hall!) I think next year, if I do more sales (and I'm hoping to!!) I will need to work on the layout of my stall as I feel it looks a little "flat":

This pic was taken by my Dad - he did well getting it to come out considering that half the lights in the hall weren't switched on for the first part of the day - ooops! It was a little crepuscular - my fave word! - until someone thought to switch them on, then we were dazzled by the brightness!!

Today I have been kicking back and relaxing - well, if you call spending most of the day in the kitchen "relaxing", I have! I made tomato relish for my cheese sandwiches, stuffed aubergines and rice for my dinner and jammy oaty flapjacks to, er, feed my face with whenever I feel peckish!!

Flapjacks fresh from the oven!!

I must also share with you this prize I won on the tombola at last week's fair. I'm not entirely sure who made it but it's a bottle cover and it's sooo cute!

Adorable!!

Social Crafting

Today combined three of my favourite things - Crafting, Pizza and Chat with friends!!! Kim hosted the occasion and provided a fabulous spread. We gorged on Doritos and the pizza and cake, so much so that I don't think I'll need to have any tea tonight!! 

It has rained all day but, cosied up in our little crafty haven, we were quite happy!

My main focus was the Christmas cards and tags that I'm hoping will sell well at the next craft fair!

Nothing promotes creativity quite so much as good food and good conversation I find!!

Sales and Sushi!

I feel as if I've been away for ages again but I'm pleased to report that the first of the craft fair events was a resounding success! The Well-Being and Gift Fair was held to support the Canine Partners charity and over £700 was raised in total.  My wee stall did not too badly; in fact my stock is now somewhat depleted but I'm not complaining!!

The wee snowman with the hollow tummy was "borrowed" from the Christmas decorations box at work but I think he held my matchbook notepads quite efficiently!  

I was helped on the day by my long-suffering Dad, and supported by my friend Angela and of course Himself.  I'm always filled with nervous energy for the duration of these events which means I'm shattered afterwards but it's so worth it!!

We were even given a wee demo, by a gorgeous pup called Kelty, of some of the things the assistance dogs can do for their owners.  It was amazing and brought a tear to my eye (I'm so soppy when it comes to animals!!).  Elsewhere the tombola was a big draw and it seemed that Himself and Angela won half the contents of the table!! And the home baking at the coffee and tea area was just yummsville!

I was too tired to cook when we got home so it was chips for tea, tut tut.  Well, never mind, we'd been out the night before, partaking of sushi so at least one meal this weekend was vaguely healthy! (Well apart from the deep-fried tofu rolls!!!)

Slurp!!

Sporadic!

I'm so sorry I'm being such a sporadic blogger at the moment, please bear with me! I've been very busy making stock for my craft fairs but haven't any photos to show just now.  I really hope the fairs are a success, not just for the charities involved but for all the crafters who work so hard on their products. I haven't started my Christmas shopping yet (shame on me!) but I hope to begin at the fairs as I'm determined that all gifts this year shall be hand-crafted by talented artisans!!

Today I went to a friend's for a crafting session; it's been a while since I had a sociable craft sesh and it was really enjoyable, I got lots made and the cupcakes she provided really helped with motivation, hee hee!

I'm quite liking the autumnal colours of these little bird bookmarks I've made, just the thing when you're snuggling under a throw on the sofa to read a favourite book during the cold, dark evenings! :)

Every Cloud....

It was production-line central round here a couple of days ago, when I made a load of tealight packs and tissue boxes for my friend's home shopping event:

I went along to help at the event - unfortunately it was very quiet and only three people turned up in seven hours, which was disappointing but she is running it again today and tomorrow so hopefully that means two more chances for it to be busy! And if nothing of mine sells at least I'll have loads of stock for my other craft fairs! (Every cloud has a silver lining and all that!)

Today I've been baking again, rock cakes this time:

I've also revamped my wee calendars as I discovered the magnetic part was being prevented from sticking to anything metal by the wee binder clip I'd put at the top.  So I've replaced it with ribbon which means the calendar has the option of being hung up if preferred and the magnets will stick fine to fridges/filing cabinets, etc now! 

I'd thought the binder clips looked pretty but they can always be used for something else.  It's all part of the design process!

Bah Halloween Humbug!!

I'm not one for celebrating Halloween so I don't have any pics of carved pumpkins or fabulous fancy dress or anything like that. In fact I didn't even stay at home to welcome any would-be trick or treaters - Himself and I went to see the latest Bond movie (fantastic, would recommend!) and then went for pizza afterwards, it was a really great evening.  I hope all of you who do celebrate All Hallows Eve had a good one, we certainly saw some interesting costumes when we were out and about.  Edinburgh's Old Town is a spooky place to be on such a night! :)

I have been busy making loads of tissue boxes and tealight packs for an upcoming shopping event, but no pics of those.  I did however, introduce a new card into my repertoire, this one's for chocolate-lovers!

Talking of the brown stuff, I had a notion to do some baking this morning.  It's not usually my forte to bake successfully, but I was quite pleased at how yummy these Peanut Butter Chocolate Brownies were when they came out:

I'd scribbled the recipe down from somewhere on a scrap of paper but I can't for the life of me remember where I originally found it.  I've a feeling it might have been on a blog, so if it was yours please let me know and I'll give you credit for it!  Wherever it came from I will be eternally grateful that I actually managed to bake something edible!!!

Sunbathing and Soup!

Brrr, it's a bit chilly today but at least the sun is out, so someone has made the most of the fact that it's shining directly onto my bed! (BTW I know he's a bit fat just now, I think I've been a bit too generous with his food ever since he got over his last illness!! Naughty me! :-O ) 

Today's autumnal recipe is one I made up myself (I don't really measure

 things out, I just guess so the following recipe is approximately what I put in it!) - Butternut, Butterbean and Tomato soup! Serves four people.

You will need:

1 tbsp olive oil

1 large butternut squash, peeled and diced into bite-sized chunks

1 onion, finely chopped

1 clove garlic, finely chopped

1 400g tin chopped tomatoes

1 250g tin butterbeans

1 tbsp tomato puree

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp dried mixed herbs

1 tbsp fresh chopped parsley

2 pints vegetable stock

salt and pepper to taste

Method:

Heat the olive oil in a large pan and gently sweat the garlic and onion for five minutes until soft but not browned.

Add the butternut squash cubes and cook one minute.

Add the tomatoes, puree, cumin, herbs, stock and seasoning.

Bring to boil and simmer gently for 20-25 minutes until the squash has softened.

Take the soup off the heat and blend it which will cause it to thicken. You can leave it a little chunky if you prefer.

Add the butterbeans and return to a gentle heat for 5 minutes.  Add fresh parsley and more seasoning if required.

Enjoy with granary bread and butter!

It's nice and comforting on a chiily day like this!

This afternoon I have been doing a little gentle crafting and my Christmas robin has made a reappearance!

See you soon!

Productivity and Slurpability!

I had another great session of embellishment-making this morning:

My plan is for them to end up on tissue boxes, tealight packs and bookmarks, a bit like these:

And I semi-prepped a whole load of tealight packs (I can't finish them until I have tealights!):

I really enjoyed my dinner tonight - Sausage and black bean pot

Made with veggie sausages, it was delish!!

Autumn Wanderings

We had some gorgeous weather this weekend and the sunshine brought out all the lovely colours of autumn! Himself and I took a couple of walks, including one at Beecraigs where there is a deer park.

This fellow (or fellowess!) looked at us a bit suspiciously!

I do like a sun-dappled path:

The lake was very still:

This looks like a leaf falling to the ground but it was actually suspended by a single strand of cobweb, swaying in the breeze!

We wished we'd brought something to sit on, the view was so gorgeous:

Some very slimy fungi -yeuch!

After our walk we came home to have a home-made chickpea and sweet potato curry, the leftovers of which I blended the next day to make a lovely soup!

And I've felt inspired by the autumn colours for this latest set of notecards:

See you soon!

Perfect Weather For Crafting!

It was so wet and cold and miserable outside this morning that I almost didn't want to get out of bed!

But in the end I'm glad I did because it was the perfect weather for crafting!

And I soon had a production line going...

Which I then turned into these embellishments:

Which then became these mini notecards:

I love a crafty day!

Doggy Day Out

Much as the weather has been distinctly soggy and unpleasant over the last couple of days I still like Autumn.     

I like snuggling at home with my big slippers on, drinking coffee and wearing lots of layers! We have had a couple of "proper" autumn days recently, which was nice: chilly, bright and crisp, leaves crunching underfoot.  It'll soon be time to start burning my fall-scented candles - yay!

I've booked into a couple of events next month, one of which I'm particularly looking forward to.  It's a Well Being and Gift Fair in aid of Canine Partners who provide assistance dogs for people with disabilities. As well as being a nice day out in a very worthy cause I'm excited because it means I can take along lots of my doggy-themed items, the newest of which are my magnetic calendar holders:

and my doggy notecards:

So I'd better get into production-line mode to build up stock because time will fly!

To keep me fuelled up for the task I will turn to my latest craft desk nibble- strawberry bonbons!!

Mmm!

Sew What's The Answer?

I was looking at this this lady's latest blog post and was interested to read her query as to the correct noun to use when referring to someone who sews.  Funnily enough, I had this same quandary a day or two ago when listing a new notepad for sale:

Is this suitable for a sewer (ratty, smelly-sounding word!) or a sewist (quite like this one!!)??

Which should it be? Answers on a postcard please!!

My Little "Helper"!

When I'm at my craft desk of an evening, working away, I often become aware of a furry presence appearing quietly by my side.  He waits patiently until I can ignore him no longer and then I allow him to jump (sometimes I have to help him, he's fifteen!) onto my lap, whereupon I must then reach round his bulk to type at my keyboard (the resulting typos are a wee bot anniying!) and any attempts at continuing with my crafting projects are a forlorn hope!

But when he's this cute who can refuse him?!

Meow!