Wednesday 17 October 2012

WOYWW

Here we are again!
Straight in with my very dull desk this week:
Too busy to craft today but we have evidence of previous activity! An ATG refill  why does it always run out when you're in the middle of something? My cute little reindeer stamp which I have had for years but I love it's simplicity, it suits my style. There is also a jar of orange card and a thank you card. On Sunday a friend came round and placed a large order from me! Whoop I am so excited. She said it's the sort of thing she would usually go to the shops for and she would rather spend it with me and get something different! One of the things she wants is 8 bottles of herb oil! My Mum's friend gave me the herbs last time so I have asked her for some more, the orange curd and thank you card is for her, to say, well thanks! I'm leaving the card blank so she can use it.
The orange curd was an experiment with left overs from another experiment:
This experiment is Orangecello as an alternative to Limoncello. I already have a customer for this as she has finished the blackberry vodka!
Right I'm off to visit a few desks before I have to go out.
Join me at Julia's, won't you?

Friday 12 October 2012

Fiddly Friday

I have managed to post a few more times this week under my made up titles!

Thrifty Thursday

We have the most amazing charity shop in Worthing, it raises money for DEBRA a little known charity. The reason why it is so amazing is that they style it so beautifully. The guy studied art and design and has done window dressing. I will be stealing one of his ideas for Christmas. He had naked umbrellas, if you understand what I mean, and strung fairy lights through them. He then hung them from the ceiling to create the most beautiful effect.
I always like to pop in there to see what they have. This week I managed to buy these little beauties for the princely sum of 50p
The hanky will make the most beautiful lavender bag as it is made of crepe rather than cotton. The glass jar is just perfect for my raspberry vinegar that I made in the summer. When I make jams, vinegars, oils, chutneys and flavoured alcohols there is always a quantity left which I put into random pots and jars for myself. I keep the new jars and bottles to sell but I like to be able to say that I have tried all of my produce so I can tell my customers the truth about it.
Another bargain buy recently was from a jumble sale,, my first ever adult experience of one
Tiny little jars which were formerly spice jars but now hold my small buttons, all colour coded. My husband couldn't understand why I spent so long sorting them out! I told him that when somebody asks me to make a blue button heart, I'll be able to do it a lot quicker. His reply? 'How often do you get asked that?' 'Oh, you'd be surprised!'

Finally, Fiddly Friday
I started off the day thinking I would make lavender bags and bunting, however I made the fatal mistake of checking Facebook before I started and ended up making this:

It started off we me trying to make my own bags out of paper as I'd seen on a blog but decided it was better to use pre-made kraft bags. I have ordered 50 bags at 12p each so watch this space for more!
These are the rejects

Take care and have a great weekend, I managed to phone my Mum to ask her a favour and ended up with an invite for Sunday dinner. Excellent!

Wednesday 10 October 2012

WOYWW

I did intend to post yesterday for my made up 'Tasty Tips Tuesday' so if you can be bothered to read through to the end, you will get two for the price of one!

So here is my surface today:
What can we see apart from my huge pile of washing to go away?
The boxes to the left are two shoe boxes which I covered using one sheet of 12x12 per box. In them are my Christmas cards which I have been making for an upcoming craft fair. They also contain some matching tags. In the middle of the shot are two bottles of Limoncello one of which is spoken for, the other is set for market too. The pile of books are quite contradictory! The top one is The Hairy Dieters book, amazing recipes. Last night we all had Spanish chicken, so easy and delicious. In the middle is a cookery book from The Great British Bake Off as I need to make a lemon drizzle cake with the left over lemon juice from making the Limoncello.


These are some of the tags I've made to go with the Christmas cards and thank you cards I've made. I rather like the stars, especially the pink ones. The paper is from Tilda and I'm just using scraps so it's economical too.
If you want to duck out now and visit Julia's, please do so!

WARNING: Photo Overload Follows

Tasty Tip Tuesday
On Sunday I made Jamie Oliver's Six Hour Slow Roast Pork, delicious it was too. But what to do with the left overs?
Because it was slow roasted the pork was shredded rather than slices so I didn't fancy it in a sandwich so I did a take on Coronation Chicken!
Here goes:
 Gather your ingredients, mayo,natural yoghurt sweet chilli jam and cold pork. (recipe for chilli jam is here)
 Chop the pork finely
 Mix the pork with a teaspoon of mayo and a teaspoon of yoghurt and as much chilli jam as you desire.
I'm on a diet so I had mine on crispbreads! I promise you it tastes better than it looks.
Right hop over to Julia's and see what you can find

Monday 8 October 2012

Make it Monday

On Wednesday I said I needed to find more reasons to post as I seem to only blog on a Wednesday!
So, last week, when I was rearranging the spare room for some overnight guests, I found a naked Christmas tree. So I thought to myself,'I know what I'll do. I'll make a ribbon tree'

I took a few photos along the way and I promise you it is so easy to make.
You will need:

  • A polystyrene cone (I bought mine from Pinflair)
  • Some pins, short ones are best
  • A variety of ribbons
  • A small circle of material (for the top)
Just to give credit for the original idea, it was from Kirsty Wiseman
She even helped me out via Skype when I couldn't get it!
So, here's the step by step:
 First you need to cut 2 inch pieces of ribbon. I used a piece of cardboard as a guide

Then you simply fold each piece of ribbon in half and pin to the cone. I put it on top of a jar so that I could see how the ribbons were lying.
As you go on to the next layer ensure that each ribbon covers the join of the ribbon below.
Before you get to the top you need to cover the tip of the cone. The easiest way is to colour it with a Promarker! Alternatively, cut a small circle of fabric and then cut a line up to the centre point. This will enable you to make a cone shape. Then either glue it in place or use pins.To hide the pins at the top you just tie a ribbon around the join.
Hope this is as clear as mud!
Any problems just leave me a comment and I'll try to help.
This tree is winging its way to Bristol to a lady on Facebook who liked it so much she wanted to buy it from me!
I am off now to order some more polystyrene cones! After the housework of course!

Wednesday 3 October 2012

WOYWW

I really must post more often! Here we are at WOYWW again and I haven't posted since last week. I've decided I need to find:

  • Make It Monday
  • Tasty Tips Tuesday
  • WOYWW
  • Thrifty Thursday
  • Found on the Floor Friday
  • Stories on Saturday
  • Sport on Sunday
So if anyone knows the links.......

Here goes with my mess desk today:
Top right as you look is the pile of stuff from a kitchen cupboard because the boiler man was returning to give me a full service and change my gasket! In the middle is my Martha Scoreboard, which was bought for me in America as I couldn't find one here. See that BIG bundle of twine? That's from Ally Pally from this amazing Dutch company, such good value at just over a fiver. On the to do list was cards. I ended up making 17 and a mess.




Last week some people seemed bemused and interested in equal measure by the mention of chilli jam. It's more of a relish than a jam to spread on toast. And, in the interests of public interest, I had to open a jar and eat some just to show you the finished result and a serving suggestion:

Ok, I'm off to visit some desks and so should you!