Belated Birthday.

Ooops, I’ve been a bit slow at sharing my husband’s Birthday pictures with you, his Birthday was on 24th February so it was a while ago!

I made him a chocolate cake with chocolate icing – I used the classic chocolate cake recipe from the Be-Ro book though instead of putting the mixture in 2 x sandwich tins I added it to a smaller cake tin and left it in the oven a bit longer but not so long that it was dry, the result was a deliciously moist cake which was even better served warm with double cream! (lets avoid counting calories for this one!)

We went out for a lovely lunch together and my husband enjoyed slow cooked pork belly on a wholegrain mustard mash which her enjoyed a lot. Hope you had a lovely day gorgeous husband x

First lace attempt

Here’s my first attempt at a bit of lace – I got the pattern from ravelry here and it’s a really great first pattern, I have got this far but decided that I don’t think that the yarn is right for this pattern so I won’t be doing anymore of this one but thought I’d show you my first lace attempt anyway!

I have been reading these beautiful baking books, I’ve been trying to find a lovely cake recipe for my daughter’s second Birthday at the end of the month. There are some beautiful cakes in these books – even some that look exactly like Russian Dolls! I think I have settled on a cake that I found on Pinterest, I’ll let you know if it worked out at the end of the month!

Hope you’re all having a lovely week xxx

A cardigan for dolly…

Here’s the start of what may hopefully turn into something that will resemble a cardigan for the Dolly fot T’s Birthday, I have a stash of small amounts of wool and thought a dolly pattern would be good practice for something a bit more taxing than hat. So far so good, though there is PLENTY of time for mistakes yet!

I have started reading Anita Shreve’s ‘Rescue’ this week, I’m finding it less easy to absorb than her last book (‘Let It Snow’) though I think that may have something to do with the amount of concentration I am left with when I get around to picking up my book.

Joining in with this weeks ‘Yarn Along’ from Small Things and ‘Crafting On’ from Frontier Dreams x

Handmade doll and felt food swap

Do you remember a while I go I did a post about a swap I was going to be doing with Laura from Under Rainbows? In November I noticed that Laura ‘liked’ some of the felt fruit and veg in my Etsy store, so I contacted her and thanked her and had a look at her shop too and noticed that she made the most beautiful Waldorf dolls, I left a note saying I would like one some day for ‘T’ though couldn’t afford one at the moment and then she wrote back with the fantastic idea of doing a swap. I was delighted!!!

I quickly got to work making the food for Laura’s children for their Christmas present. I made:

• a fish
• a pumpkin
• a carrot
• 2 x mushrooms
• 2 x strawberries
• a pepper
• an onion
• an apple half
• an egg
• a lemon
• an apple
• a tomato
• a turnip
• 

to swap with THIS beautiful doll! :

I am SO pleased wih her, I cannot wait to give her to ‘T’ for her Birthday at the end of March – I think she fits in well at home don’t you?! Laura was so kind as she even made an extra dress out of the same material that I made ‘T”s first Birthday dress from as well as her little dungarees, blouse, knitted cardigan, hat and socks.

It has been so nice to take part in this swap, it feels much nicer to trade in this way and to really make something and think of other children opening them on Christmas day – has anyone else taken part in a swap? Oh and we need a name for dolly too – so if anyone has any names then do let me know!

Thank-you Laura for your amazing talent and for making such a beautiful dolly, it will be treasured, looked after and cared for for years to come. x

(PS – I’m hosting 2 x FAB giveaways at the moment – the one here is to win some adorable Japanese fabric and the other one here is to win some Japanese craft books of your choice!)

……………and of course, don’t forget to head over to another week of ‘Handmade Monday’ over at 1st Unique Gifts xx

Happy Birthday Mum!!!

It’s been party time here this weekend, I arranged a surprise party for my Mum’s 60th, she really had no clue at all! Her best friends and family travelled from Scotland to London to come and some stayed all weekend too. I told a bit of a white lie and said that we were going into town for a meal and suggested popping into a nice pub on the way for a drink – she had such a shock when she saw everyone there and burst into tears!

I made some cupcakes and got the idea for a bunting cake from Pinterest – I photocopied the bunting that used to be up in T’s room to make it and also used her old bunting for decoration. It was SO nice to see my Mum so happy – she didn;t stop smiling all weekend. Love you Mum – Happy Birthday! xx

(Once again I’ve slacked a bit on the creative side – apart from these cakes all I have done creatively is a bit more knitting but pop over to Handmade Monday at 1st Unique Gifts to catch up with some less lazy creative-types!)