Birthday Party!

No-one told me that children's birthday parties were such hard work, and so stressful!
Caoimhe had her third birthday party on Saturday and of course I've been fretting about it for weeks. In the end it seemed to go well enough, and she certainly seemed to enjoy herself!

Thank you to all of our family and friends who came from near and far to help us celebrate, it was really appreciated and lovely to see so many loved ones under the same roof!¬ Caoimhe loved seeing everyone and of course loves all her presents!

I promised a picture of the cake. I finished it at about 9.45 on Friday night. It wasn't easy making and decorating it away from Caoimhe's prying eyes, so it had to be done at night after she went to bed.

It was made with a chocolate layer and a layer of vanilla with chocolate drops, sandwiched together with vanilla buttercream. I'd love to tell you how it tasted but I didn't get any!

Short and sweet this week, as my attention is being sought elsewhere. Small children make an awful lot of noise when they want you!

Don't forget to visit Wendy over on her blog for Handmade Monday and I'll see you next time.

Til then!

Happy Birthday Miss Flop!

Today my big girl is 3 years old.
I can't believe it. Not quite sure where the time has gone. It only seems like yesterday when I found out about her, and when I met her for the first time. The last few years have been quite surreal to say the least. From completely giving up on the idea of being a mummy, here I am today with two scrumptious daughters.

Caoimhe is such a lovely little (big!) girl, she's sweet natured, very loving and also quite cheeky! It's fair to say that everyone she knows loves her to pieces.

I am very proud to be her mummy.

I love you to the Sun and back, my Flip Flop!

A bit of a begging blog!

Here we are again, another week closer to Christmas! I hope you are getting yourselves organised for the Big Day?
Another week means another Handmade Monday over on Wendy's blog, and of course I am linking up with other lovely crafty bloggers again. Don't forget to have a wander over there, there are some really nice blogs showcased there, and you never know, you might find some great ideas for Christmas gifts for your loved ones.

Before I get on to this week's craftiness, I want to make a little request. As many of you know, I have polycystic ovary syndrome and I belong to a fantastic support network and charity, called Verity. I have blogged about PCOS before here so I shan't bore you with the details again. However those of you who are my Facebook friends will know that last week was PCOS Awareness week. In celebration of that, and to do my own little bit for awareness I wanted to dedicate a bit of my blog this week to Verity. I've told you about Verity before. They do a fantastic job of bringing information to the public domain, and offering advice and support to ladies with the condition. They are also involved in research into the disease.Unfortunately despite affecting millions of women it is not a well known condition, and receives little financial support. and there is a real threat that the website and forum will not be able to continue without donations. We are all too well aware of other charities out there and I'm sure that the majority of you will donate to one or more of these charities. All I'm asking is that you take a few minutes to read the Verity website and consider just for 1 month making a donation to Verity instead of your usual charity. They desperately need to raise £5000 by the end of the year. You can find the Verity blog here so you can see how they are getting on. Thank you.

On to crafty things and I was asked last week to make some Christmas cards for my mum and step dad to give to the sponsors of the brass band they are involved with. It was my first 'commission' and I was very excited! I was asked to make 11 cards, and the only remit was that I had to include a musical theme somewhere. It didn't take me long to find some vintage music on Ebay, and as soon as I had decided on that as my backing paper, the rest slotted together. I added some Christmas trees die cut from mulberry paper and some 'Merry Christmas' ribbon for the greeting. They were pleased with the end product, so job done I think! Can't exactly give up the day job, but it was very satisfying to make them.

This week I will be spending my time and creative energy making a cake for the Flop's third birthday. I can't believe she is 3 this week, I have no idea where that time has gone! All being well I should have a photo of a successful birthday cake to show you. If it doesn't work as planned, I know there's a Hungry Caterpillar cake in the supermarket she quite liked the look of...

Til next time!

Like mother, like daughter!

I love this picture. This is my mum baking raisin biscuits with the Flop last week. It reminds me so much of my Saturday afternoons with my grandma (my mum's mum actually) We would be pretty much doing the same thing - I would be standing on a stool, and she would be baking with me. Not biscuits though, my gran was the Queen of Cakes. I loved baking with my grandma, and it makes me really happy to see history repeating itself, with my daughter baking with her grandma.

I hope everyone had a good time with the fireworks over the weekend. We certainly did. We spent a lovely afternoon and evening with the family.The food consisted of home made french onion soup made by my sister in law Catherine (It truly is the best onion soup I have ever had, I love it!) lots of little cakes made by the children (Well, children is a loose description, since 2 of those children are 18 now!) and my contribution was an oven baked rice pudding, which certainly went down well. So well, in fact, that I didn't get any despite making double quantities!

I really don't think there are any better rice puddings out there than a home made, oven baked one. It beats those tinned ones hands down. My own version is not as soupy as most, in fact it is more like a slice of pudding than a spoonful! But that's the way I like it, and that's the way it is enjoyed in my family. Blame my mother!

So my contribution to Handmade Monday this week is a simple recipe for the best rice pudding you will ever taste.
You need a large ovenproof dish with a lid, a casserole dish is perfect, lightly grease the sides of the dish with butter (and none of this margarine rubbish, this is not a pud for the faint hearted, or those on diets!). Put the oven on at about 160 C.
In the dish put about 2oz of pudding rice - that's the small round rice, 1oz of sugar, 1 pint of full fat milk, and ground nutmeg. Give it a stir, put the lid on, put it in the oven and leave it alone for about 2 hours. You can leave it longer, just make sure it doesn't dry out or become too thick. if it does, add more milk
If, like me, you don't want a soupy pudding, add a little more rice (I add about a handful extra.) You can also add single cream, replacing some of the milk to make up to a pint. I usually finish it off with a bit more cream or milk just stirred in right at the end. Try it, I guarantee you won't be disappointed!

Don't forget to see what everyone else has been up to over on Wendy's blog!

Til next time!

First ATC challenge

I've made advantage of a long nap from the Bud this morning to make an ATC. I have entered it into the ATC Challenge Blog challenge which was for a vintage themed Anything Goes ATC.
I used a drying up bronze ink pad to wipe over the card first (knew there was a reason I kept it!) and then used some paper from my stash of distressed/old tatty style cardstock, and some old lace at the bottom. I stamped the quote on some cream textured paper. I have no idea where I got the stamp from, I've had it for years!The flower was cut using a die from my next catalogue, it was a photo of a vintage print style tea dress. I put mod podge over the top to stop the glare of the shiny paper. I finally added an old button from my button stash.

I've never entered a challenge before, and I will enjoy looking at the winning entries to see what they did! It was fun to challenge myself based on a given theme. 

Bit addictive this ATC malarkey!

Sweet Sixteen !

Today my little sister turns 16. I can't believe how quickly the last 16 years have gone, and I can still remember the first time I met her all those years ago! It has made me feel very old today, but also very proud, She is a now growing into a beautiful young woman and I feel very privileged to be her sister. I remember being very jealous of my friends who had sisters when I was growing up, even though I had a younger brother who I did actually spend a lot of time with. I did get my sister in the end, but it took 24 years!

In celebration of her birthday I made her card and a couple of her presents. I really didn't know what to buy her this year, so she got a few little things instead. A knitting bag with wool and needles (I have promised to teach her - what have I let myself in for with that one!) some funky jewellery (and a confession here, Cathy, you nearly didn't get the bracelet, I was tempted to keep it for myself! It was a lucky find on a market stall and I liked it straight away!) a brooch and a journal/notebook.

Cathy's birthday card

and an ATC made just for her.



I made the notebook from a plain notebook, with some card stock and embellishments. I glued a ribbon to it to fasten together, and inside I put two handmade and matching bookmarks too. I'm told the notebook is already in use, which I am pleased about!

You were wondering what I had done with my old jeans and my Big Shot, well here is the answer. My Tattered Florals die was put to use once again on a square of fabric from a pair of jeans that, thanks to my two gorgeous girls, I am unlikely to get back into again. I glued them together and added the button and a brooch back. I did consider adding some blue glitter glue I have but decided in the end that understated was better than bling. I might experiment with it however. There's still a fair bit of fabric left for me to use!

And yesterday saw another *first* for me, in the form of my first ever attempt at Yorkshire Puddings. I have no clue how I got to 40 and have never made them before, especially as I really do like them. I was most impressed with myself as I fully expected them not to rise at all. But here they are in all their glory:



I inherited the Yorkshire tin and it's been sitting in my cupboard for a long time. I thought it was time I actually used it!

As it's Monday, don't forget to head over to see Wendy for Handmade Monday, and see all the lovely blogs, and what other crafty type people have been up to this week. As soon as I get a few minutes to myself when the girls are in bed, and the hubby is packed off to work, that is exactly what I'll be doing!

And just before I sign off, I'd like to wish a Happy and Peaceful Samhain to all. Don't forget to remember your loved ones who have gone before you tonight as you enjoy your evening meal.

Til next time.

Misfits

My husband is always telling me that we don't fit in. I think he has a point. Watching Breakfast this morning, they are talking about kids as young as 10 carrying weapons in schools, and those of you who know me, follow me on twitter or are friends with me on Facebook, will know how I feel about certain aspects of this modern life. For all the benefits of living in the 21st century (and who now can live without their mobile phone, or the interweb?) there seems to be more reasons to despair, especially if, like us, you don't 'fit in' to the modern way of living and thinking.

It seems to all be about celebrity, vanity, money. We are inundated with 'talent(less)' shows, celebrity gossip, bling, keeping up with the Jones's to the nth degree. Crime and unemployment is sky high, people live on benefits, and some seem to like it that way! We are selfish as a society, putting number one first and who cares about anyone else? We gorge ourselves on junk food, junk telly, junk news. is this really civilised living? Somewhere along the line we have lost our identity as a society, and become dazzled by that false god that is bling.

Sometimes I think Tim is right. We don't fit in, we were born in the wrong decade (or even century!), the wrong place. My needs are simple, a roof over my head, food on the table, laughter in my house. i want my girls to grow up with respect for themselves and for others, and certainly not being encouraged to wear make up and become a mini adult at the age of 5! My one great fear is that our rich culture, thousands of years in the making, will continue to become diluted and our skills will be lost. The simple things in life: a roast dinner, making Christmas decorations, baking a cake. You get the idea.

Then sometimes I am reminded that we are not the only ones striving for that kind of lifestyle. All around you there are decent people trying to do the same things as us, thinking and feeling the same things, and there is the hope that actually there are still people out there who carry the torch for a simple life. Our British culture is not just being diluted, but being enriched by others as well, and people still make roast chicken on a Sunday, bake a cake for their children's birthdays, teach their kids that self respect is more important than having the latest Lelli Kelly slapper boots. People like Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and Kirstie Allsop show us this every week when you watch them on the telly box. So maybe there is hope for us after all.

I have been 'handmaking' this week, christmas decorations (thanks Ros!), Christmas presents, birthday cards, and my new found hobby of ATC's, which I'll share next time, but this week I just wanted to use my blog to share with you that you're not alone. If you're reading this blog, the chances are you think along the same lines as I do. Amd we can't all be misfits, can we?

Today I'm linking up with The Handmade by Me Bloghop, the link is in my side bar as I can't add links drom my ipad, so have a look at the other blogs taking part. Our handmade, domestic goddess skills are not completely at risk after all!

Til next time!