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Welcome to my blog!


If you ask me what my very favourite thing is I would not hesitate to say my family. I came into motherhood quite late on, and was immediately overwhelmed with how amazing it is. Now I would like nothing more than to be a Domestic Goddess, and surround my family in love, good food, beautiful things and lots of happy memories. And like the majority of families these days, we need to do it on a budget!

I firmly believe we all have a little bit of the Domestic Goddess inside us, just waiting to break out. Whether that is knowing how to make a roast chicken feed a family of 4 for a week, being able to make, repair or recycle clothes, hunting down a bargain, or simply turning everyday, simple things into pretty or useful items, with a little bit of imagination we can all dip in to the Goddess inside and make our lives that little bit more interesting.



I hope you enjoy reading my blog as much as I enjoy sharing my (challenging) journey into Domestic Goddessness!



Sunday, March 11, 2012

Finding my mojo!

Here we are again, another week gone! And it's been a busy one, with some making and baking going on in the Gallery house. So I have a few things to share with you this week, as I link up as usual with Wendy for Handmade Monday and the Bath Bomb Creations team for their I made This! Sunday Linky.
Don't forget to have a wander over there to see what other people have been filling their week with this week!

The making has involved both fabric and paper crafting this week, although only one was completed. I am currently involved in a fabric tag swap over on UK Scrappers so I spent some time this week trying to sort out what I wanted to do. I wasn't able to actually complete any of them as things just didn't go to plan. In order to avoid sewing as much as I could, I bought some wonder web to glue the two pieces of fabric I'd chosen to use for the main body of the tag together but it just didn't work out as I wanted. Instead I decided to sew them, but was thwarted by the search for the thread box, and then the wakage of a certain Tilly Bud from her morning nap!

But I did manage to complete one crafting project, which was to make a fairy door for Caoimhe.



The door is actually a purply pink colour, unfortunately the photo doesn't quite show that! I made it with the offcuts of a picture mounting board, which I got from an Artist's shop in town. It's thanks to my friend, Sharon, that I came across the shop and knew that the owner sells the offcuts of board he doesn't need for his picture framing service. I know I promised not to buy any more stash, but at a handful of boards for a quid, I'm sure you'll forgive me!

I made the door whilst Caoimhe was at nursery and put it on the wall outside her bedroom door before she came home. We have been talking about fairies for a while, ever since Violet the elf came to stay, and she has become increasingly interested in them. She has recently discovered Peter Pan and Tinkerbell too, and enjoyed dressing up as Tinkerbell for World Book Day at the beginning of March


So you can imagine the excitement when she discovered that her very own fairy had come to stay, too! I'm sure we'll all have lots of fun with Daisy and Buttercup (who is Teaghan's fairy!) in the house!

I have also well and truly rediscovered my baking mojo this week. I love baking and cooking with Caoimhe as you know, but recently I have been more than happy to let Grandma take over the baking . I'm not sure why this is, other than the fact that with Caoimhe now at nursery 3 times a week we don't seem to have much time. But this week I have made a concerted effort. It all started with Hermann, who has continued to bubble and grow for the last couple of weeks, and we are now onto our 3rd batch. This week we made 2 lots of Hermann cake, some muffins and a couple of loaf sized cakes, one of which was given away. Once again they were delicious!




I've bravely made a sourdough bread starter, too, and today I made my first loaf from it. Well, I say 'made', but it is currently on it's second proving. I started it off this morning before breakfast and I'm hoping to get it in the oven some time before midnight! This slow rise seems to be the norm, and should apparently get quicker as the starter develops with age. we have decided to call our starter Hetty, for no particular reason, and she is now in her tub in the fridge waiting for the next time I decide to make bread. I will let you know how it all turns out, triumph or disaster!

And of course we had Sunday Dinner leftovers last week, so me and The Flop made veg, and chicken and veg pasties. A huge hit with both my girls for tea and dinner the next day!

Right, that's your lot this week! I'm off to read all the lovely blogs on Handmade Monday, and I Made This!
Til next time!

21 comments:

Highland Monkey's said...

That's a cute little door and a very cute little princess. By the way hand some of your cooking over to me!!

Jam Dalory said...

What a cute little fairy door I bet you'll have them all over the house before too long. Muffins look delicious too. x

Jan said...

Well done on the fairy door, it looks really sweet I'm sure she loves it. They can get quite addictive when you start them, I'm sure you will end up with lots more, it's a great way to use off cuts. I'm jealous of your baking, it looks delicious.
Wishing you a great week

Jan x

Helen said...

You gave me the idea, Jan! Yours is still up, btw! Caoimhe goes and peers at it and talks about Violet all the time. Oh to be a child again!

Unknown said...

Your daughter makes a fabulous fairy friend... wish my mum had let me have a pair of wings!

The muffins look fantastic...am getting hungry and I have only just had my supper! :)

Wendy said...

What a gorgeous little fairy door. How magical!

fatmonica said...

The fairy door turned out fabulous!

Christmas Pie Crafts said...

A lovely fairy door - I think they are such a nice idea. Hermann sounds great fun - a nice tradition to keep. Hope you have a good week.

Carolee Crafts said...

The door is so pretty and you are never too old for fairies big girls as well as small

Adaliza said...

I love fairy doors - what a lucky little girl and so pretty in her fairy outfit. Your baking looks yummy too!

Unknown said...

I think she looks adorable and love the fairy door. I still have a magical imagination lol!!!

Unknown said...

And a huge thanks for joining our linky lol!!!

Kat Shenton said...

You've been busy. So much so you've tired me out... I need one of those cakes now please :)

Handbags by Helen said...

I love sourdough starters. They're kind of like having pet to take care of aren't they?

Rachel said...

Wow Helen, you have been busy. I am especially loving the sound of the pasties, could you courier me some please? Oh and on the subject of food, do I remember you putting up the recipe for your potato cakes from leftovers somewhere on this blog. Can you remember which post it was? I am sure thay are probably simple as can be, but you know what I am like ;-)

Oh and as for Caoimhe; she just looks so precious all dressed up and pleased as punch with herself. Just beautiful xx

Anonymous said...

What a beautiful fairy door, such a unique idea. I have a niece who's four that loves all the fairies from the tinkerbell films, Caoimhe looks beautiful in her costume. It's really good that you managed to get all those mount board offcuts for only a pound. Your muffins look delicious hope the sourdough turned out well too!

Samantha x

Mrs Pink said...

I've always been too scared to do Hermann or a proper sour dough starter! Maybe one day I'll take the plunge.

Martha said...

wow, so much going on at your end :) fairies, crafting and baking! all the girly fun!

i like the fairy door idea :) how cute!

Helen said...

Rach i posted it up in the aug/sept11 thread on V but if you want me to i can pm it to you x

Rachel said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Rachel said...

Would you mind PMing me with it hun? I can save it somewhere then. Am thinking I need to get back into batch cooking and freezing once I finish work so that I have things to warm up when Teeny arrives! If you have any other nice simple recipes which freeze well they would be greatly appreciated too!