Loving This Weather!

I don't like to speak too soon but it must be about a week since any rain fell from the sky here!  I've been out watering my pots religiously and I've even taken the chance to do some outdoor tasks like sprucing up my decking and cleaning my driveway! And the other day I got to have my first al fresco lunch of the year:

I really hope it won't be the only one - last year I managed to do it once and that was it!

Yesterday I felt inspired to do some baking and some juice-making, with pleasing results.

Chocolate brownies and pink lemonade (recipe for the drink here - it uses fresh raspberries - yumm!)

Very refreshing and yummy for an afternoon snack!

And craft-wise, I had lots of paper scraps to use up so I made these patchwork-style cards:

The tree stamp used is from this store:

https://www.etsy.com/shop/LillysDigitalGarden

She has a fab range and they're great stamps to work with so please take a look!

Enjoy the rest of the week, hope you're getting great weather too!

Berry Nice!

I hate to say it but the weather has been dry and warm here for a few days now - yay! In fact, the ground outside my house was looking a little dusty so I spent part of this morning sweeping it! Perhaps I have too much time on my hands! Time that would be better spent crafting! :)

Another good thing is that the shops are becoming full of lovely summer produce so I couldn't resist buying a selection of berries, they look so yummy! 

I have got vanilla ice cream to go with them. Do you prefer cream or ice cream?

Craft-wise I have been more productive than I expected to be this week; so much so that I have actually run out of double-sided tape! Oops! Luckily it didn't happen while I was having a production-line session making this lot...

...into these:

and I used every last millimetre to make these little notecards:

They have been made using a fab digital stamp from this shop - check out her other tree stamps!

I hope the weather is being good where you are, have a great weekend!

Collections

One of my most lovely customers, Mia, often sends me crafty things she thinks I'd like, such as papers, and when I recently asked her about the crafts she does, she told me she knits mitts. Next thing I know,a parcel had plopped through my door and inside were these gorgeous items:

They're soft and intricate and the most stunning colour. I was very touched at her kindness. Unfortunately Mia doesn't have a web page or a blog I can share with you. She really should because her work is lovely!

It took me a little while to get back into the swing of things after my whirlwind holiday, but I've had a couple of good crafty days with new products  making their way into my shops. I have been working with some stunning papers lately and have been so determined not to waste any that I've found myself making "collections" of items that all share the same papers! 

This is my first "collection"! And I'm now working on another which I'll share soon!

In daily life I've been getting back into the routine of the day job and evenings of crafting. Himself and I went to see the film Mud which was really good and then we had pizza!

And today I've been doing one of my favourite things, coffee with a friend and she'd made lovely cheese scones too - yum!

I took the Super Dad mug and let her use the Yummy Mummy one - I'm not sure which category I fit into least!!

Love the plate, don't you? She's as cat-mad as me!!

Adventures in Krakow

Whew, I'm just trying to get back into the swing of things after a whirlwind weekend trip to Krakow, Poland, and what a fab trip it was! We managed to fit loads into our 72 hours there, but I have to admit, now I'm back, I'm rather drained and could do with a holiday! :)

I did, of course, take lots of pics of our trip, and here's a selection:

Me, standing in front of the Wawel Cathedral and Castle complex, the most historic part of Krakow.

The huge courtyard within Wawel Castle.

Local speciality - Pierogi Dumplings

Rynek Glowny - the main market square and biggest in Europe - this is just one side of it!

Not our hotel, but I liked the old-fashioned sign!

Little notes left by visitors to a yummy cupcake cafe!

In the depths of Wielickza Salt Mine - an amazing subterranean labyrinth of tunnels and chambers, some containing statues and briney pools like this.

and others opening into huge cathedral-sized halls like this one, which was actually a cathedral!

Walking about the old town, I spied this colourful array of earrings and necklaces.

and this is at the other side of the big market square - the Town Hall tower and the Cloth Hall. Plus, lots of tourists!

We also visited Oskar Schindler's Factory and Auschwitz, but that's all a bit sombre for this blog. Very, very moving and interesting though, and the weather by then had turned suitable wet and chilly. Luckily we'd had sunshine and 25 degrees on our first day!

We did a LOT of walking, a lot of eating and a lot of hopping on and off trams, with very little sleep in between. Hence my slow return to normality! But I'm gradually getting back to Crafty Mushroomness so hopefully there will be some new items to show you next time!

Long Time No See

Oh dear, it really has been a while since I blogged, I'm very ashamed! But in the hustle and bustle of everyday crafty life it's the one aspect I seem to neglect. I've been working away on orders, preparing for my Poland trip, attending family events and doing my day job. The days have been flying by!

One of the items I received a flurry of orders for was my hanging memo pad holder.  This chipboard square has been covered in paper and a ribbon added for hanging. I've tried these with magnetic strips on the back but the clip that holds the notepad on was preventing the strips from making contact with the surface it was supposed to stick onto.  

I've also been working on more cards using the fab digi stamps by Lillys Altered Attic. I love the fact that they allow me to do paper piecing, just like you could with a rubber or clear stamp. All you need is tracing paper! Dawn, the shop owner, has written some fab blog posts  about the use of digi stamps for anyone who is new to the technique! 

And I finally bit the bullet and cut into the gorgeous Dovecraft New Bloom papers I had been stroking and admiring for ages! These colours make me so happy!

I really must go and catch up with everyone else's blogs now! It won't be too long until I post again - I promise! :)

A New Project!

It's a while since I "collaberated" with anyone in the crafty sense, so I was delighted when a lovely fellow Etsy seller approached to ask if I would consider making some sample cards to showcase the new digi stamps she had designed; well, I'm always on the lookout for a new project so I got to work on the first image and this is the result:

I'm not the best colourer-inner in the world and I was worried I wouldn't do the lovely image justice, so I decided to incorporate my fave technique of paper-piecing by tracing the larger background shapes onto patterned paper and then reprinting the image and colouring the fairy/swing with a mixture of felt-tips and pencils, before cutting out that part and layering it on top with foam pads for added dimension.

It was a great image to work with, it printed out well and was fun to colour. I look forward to using some of Dawn's other designs in cards very soon. 

You'll find her shop here:

https://www.etsy.com/shop/LillysAlteredAttic

A Weekend in Food

I don't know if any of you watch that programme, "Secret Eaters"? Well, there's nothing secret about the eating I've been doing this weekend! It seems to have been a main feature of the last couple of days and crafting has taken a backseat!!

We did take a mini microspule of exercise to burn off  000000000.1 of the excess calories consumed, by going for a canal walk, and were heartened to see the daffodils finally starting to open.  

We didn't eat said daffodils but they were about the only thing that DIDN'T get scoffed this weekend!!

Himself cooked me a fabulous veggie dish on Saturday night - Cauliflower cheese and spinach pasta bake:

I had second helpings, it was so delish!

And today we joined a queue of 30 000 people and stood in the rain for ever to obtain these:

A doughnut-making emporium has recently opened near us and it would seem that the novelty is nowhere near wearing off for the local population. They certainly were yummy (we didn't eat them all ourselves, they were shared with Himself's brother and family!!) but I don't know if I would be keen to experience the chaotic queue and Wacky Races car park ever again!!!

After this, it was a slightly more wholesome lunch with H's family at a local farm shop cafe, although we did finish the meal with more cake!!!!

This evening I experienced a slight tinge of "craft desk rage" when, after being enraged by some computer problems, I then spilt a tray, containing hundreds of paper scraps, all over the floor! I proceeded to kick the tray, in a temper, and hurt my toe!! Wah!! I was soooo tempted to reach for another doughnut, but I didn't. I'm so proud of myself! (not really)

Now, if you'll excuse me, I must heft my considerably enlarged rear portion out of my chair and fetch some paper so that I may continue to fulfil an order for lots of birdy cards - they are my favourite thing to make!

:)