Miss me?
Yeah, it’s been a while hasn’t it! Sorry I’ve been so crap, dear reader, life just got in the way a little bit. I hope everyone had a truly lovely Christmas and New Year and – if you had snow – it didn’t cause too many problems. Hopefully over the next few days I might get some time to myself to do some crafting! Between promotion at the day job (which is quite scary actually) and taking on a new job on the side AND Brownies starting back, I’ve barely had time to bless myself.
I had a crafty Christmas of sorts – as well as Kirsty’s Secret Santa, I made more sugar scrubs, a scarf for my dad, a necklace for my mum (which broke, so no pictures of that until I’ve fixed it) and an apron. The apron was courtesy of a fab tutorial by The Pickled Weasel – you can check it out here. It’s simplicity itself and my mum absolutely loved the finished product, which I of course failed to get a decent picture of!
I’ve also signed up to Meridian Ariel’s Alice in Wonderland swap – hello to Jessica, my swap partner way over in snowy Canada! Really looking forward to this and getting crafty again in 2010!
Secret Santa – Given and received
Well, last night was the Fab Five’s Christmas dinner. It began in a very civilised manner but quickly went downhill into screaming, cackling and my shoes being thrown into Von’s front garden. I love drunk Eileen! We always do a Secret Santa and we were rocking the handmade theme. I made this for Kirsty…
Cranberry vodka (recipe here) Sugar scrub (tutorial courtesy of Meridian Ariel) and a handmade picture featuring lyrics to one of her favourite songs.
In return – and courtesy of Eileen – I got this….
A funky star resin badge, a resin strawberry key ring and gorgeous wee charm bracelet. Eileen I love them so much – thank for them and all the entertainment you provided!
A new obsession
I have been sadly absent from here for far too long and it is the fault of this woman…..
For the uninitiated, that’s Stephenie Meyer, author of the Twilight series. Yes, I have succumbed to teen vampire romance. In the space of roughly 10 days I read all 4 novels and my God that woman knows how to write a 107 year old vamp you’ll fall in love with! Anyway, all of that has left little time to get much else done, but I’m mostly back in the land of the living now. Ish. Team Edward ftw!
I’ve sent off my swap for the lovely Eileen’s Bauble swap and mine arrived today! Jane, you’re a legend and I absolutely love it! I just need to put my tree up now.
I’ve also been beavering away on my Secret Santa gift for the Fab Five’s Christmas dinner, but you’ll just have to wait to see what that is, what with it being a secret and all 
I’d also like to say a big hello to Becca, who de-lurked to comment on my last entry. You have absolutely made my day as that’s the first name check I’ve had from someone who doesn’t actually know me!
I now need to get cracking on the various Christmas presents I need to make for friends and family, so hopefully much entertaining blog fodder will come from that over the next few days.
Falling at the final hurdle
So…….NaBloPoMo then. Oops! Totally lost the thread with it, what with my Mum being over and running around Glasgow like a loony. However, it proved to be a useful exercise as it made me think more about this blog and what I’d like to get out of it.
As we’re now in December it’s time for the Christmas crafting to step up a gear! I have Eileen’s bauble swap to work on, while there is some cranberry vodka doing……whatever it is cranberry vodka should do, in my hall cupboard. Very simple recipe, you can see it for yourself here. I also came across a fantastic thing on the BBC website – 25 different Victorian themed Christmas projects. You can check them out here – I think I’m going to give the marbled wrapping paper a try – possibly also the place mats!
Glasgow on my mind
Another brief post from me – I am in the ‘Weeg with my maw and very full of yummy Italian food! I shall be hitting the shops tomorrow, on the hunt for crafty goodness.
Coming to the end of NaBloPoMo, I’ve been reflecting on the fact that this blog has become quite personal, as well as being about craft. I’m still guarded about what I say here, because it is so public, but it’s been nice to have this outlet!
A quickie
Not got time to post much this evening, as I’ve got to finish off my laundry, pack and generally tidy the flat up a bit. Maw Paddymade is coming over for the weekend, so tomorrow I’m off to Glasgow! I’ve got £60 to spend in Borders and I cannot wait. I’ve also finally started reading Twilight. So far not completely gripped, but I’m only a few chapters in so I’ll see how it goes.
Lush as it will be to see my mum, being out on Thursday does mean I’ll miss the first episode of the final (sob) series of Gavin and Stacey. Thank God for the iplayer. If you’ve got no idea what I’m on about, check this out. Tidy.
Another day, still no crafting
I really am a useless article! However I have at least managed to nail down some ideas about who’s is getting what in a handmade stylee for Christmas….I’m not going to list that exactly since some of the recipients do read this, but we have sugar scrubs, a cute little mini scarf, aprons, and bead jewellery. Once I get paid next week it’s time for a massive shopping spree and to get cracking!
Since I have no pictures of lovely craft to show, I’ll leave you with a picture of a lovely man instead
Keira Knightly bugs the tits off me – but Matthew MacFadyen as Mr Darcy gets my vote!
Baubles!
I am all partnered up for Eileen’s Craft Neutral Bauble Swap and well excited! For those of you who didn’t click on the link when it was posted (and shame on you!) I have to make a Christmas Bauble using only materials I have in my stash or anything I can find from nature. I am paired up with Jane, so a big hello to her! I’ve also got another craft swap on the go – organised by the members of a Livejournal community I’m a member of – so I’ve got much to keep me occupied!
Today was another day with no crafting, since I had to go into work (despite it being my day off) but this turned out to be one of those days I can’t complain about. After all, how often do you get to hang out with luvvie royalty?
Count your blessings
Sunday’s seem to be my day for slightly more serious posts and today is no exception. It’s been a pretty rough week for me (I didn’t get the job, amongst other things) and I’ve been a bit down. However, I’m taking the time to recognise the good things in my life. I have a job and roof over my head, I have family and friends who love me and I have a lot of possibilities in front of me. I’ll admit a couple of drinks with a friend has helped me into this state of mind, but it does no harm to recognise these things from time to time. Hope everyone’s had a good weekend!
Cake and a card
In a break from tradition for me, it’s a Saturday night and I’m going out!! Admittedly it’s only to a house party and I’m driving because I’m working tomorrow but still! The party is actually for some friends who recently got married and I wanted to bring something with me to mark the occasion. Being me, this means a cake, but I didn’t want anything too heavy, so I decided on Rachel Allen’s Butter Free sponge. The recipe – which is from bake – is as follows….
3 eggs, separated
8oz caster sugar
3floz water
5oz plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
Preheat the over to 180c and grease and line two 8in sandwich tins.
Beat the egg yolks and sugar for two minutes, then add the water and beat for approx 10mins or until the mixture is firm and creamy. Sift in the flour and baking powder and fold in gently with a metal spoon or spatula.
In a separate bowl – which must be spotlessly clean – beat the egg whites until they just hold stiff peaks. Fold it into the cake mixture gently, again using a metal spoon or spatula.
Divide the mixture between the two tins and bake for 20mins or until the sponges are just set in the centre. Remove from their tins and leave to cool on a wire rack. The sponges will be quite puffy and sticky, so handle with care! Sandwich with whatever you fancy – Ms Allen suggest fresh fruit and cream – I went with lemon curd and cream. Dust with icing sugar.
Horrible pic, I hate my kitchen, but you get the idea!
I also made up a very simple card, using my ink stamps and a tea stained page – the glue isn’t quite dry in this picture – it’s not a stain!
