So, it's the first of October and it's the start of Blogtoberfest :)

If you don't know, then the idea of Blogtoberfest is to blog something every day for the whole month of October. I managed it last year so fingers crossed I will this year too! I will have to do a bit of scheduling as my sister is getting married on Friday (eeeek!!) and we will be away for a few days but I'm sure I can manage that. I've actually planned out some things to share with you which is very unlike me as I usually like to wing it!

Today the girls decided that they would like to help me cook tea so Tara is stirring the chicken and Anya is chopping cucumber, radishes and tomatoes for the salad. Anya did all of it herself (except cutting the chicken) and has decided that she wants to make more meals all by herself - and I'm obviously going to let her!

And this is what we ate - chicken thighs cooked with spring onions with a little bit of mayo added at the end on top of a jacket potato with salad on the side :) It was delicious!

If you want to join in with Blogtoberfest then you can by visiting the sign up page here and you don't even have to start today - you can join in at any time during the month!

Soda Bread - yum!

So the other day I was reading The Really Good Life and read about a quick and easy recipe for soda bread so I decided to make it! It's an unleavened bread so is really quick (40 mins) to make and it is really delicious - Matt and the girls thought so too! Go try it out!

My very rustic looking bread

 

Buns and a picture

Just strawberry buns I'm afraid - no buns of steel around here!

They look yummy but don't taste quite as yummy! I don't think I cooked them for long enough and maybe strawberries aren't meant to go into buns. The plate is from the jumble sale but from 2009.

This picture above is from the sale this year - a lovely watercolour painted in 1965. We have no idea where but it look like an Italian scene to me (having never been to Italy!)

This is my favourite bit - I would love to live in that house peeking over the tops of the trees to look down at the sea.

And in breaking news - the bags at the sale have gone up. It now costs £3 to fill a black bag! Still a great bargain though :) I am taking photographs of my bric a brac items this morning so I should be back soon with some more goodies!

Research

Yesterday was spent doing some research (i.e sorting through my stash and photographs) to find things for a custom order.

From my photo archives

From my stash.

I also juggled a still not quite right Tara and tried to stop her bouncing all over the furniture when she had a good moment, and to stop her whining when she didn't have a good moment. Luckily she is back at nursery today!

I also got creative with the girl's tea last night (we normally eat together but we were meant to be having a meal that was heavy on the cheese and I didn't want to give that to Tara so the girls ate separately last night) It's inspired (a little) by Jojoebi who makes fabulous Muffin Tin Dinners for her son. Mine looks nothing like hers but the vague idea was there and the girls were thrilled with it - lots of ooohing and wows!

I'll be back later with a Creative Thursday post!

What to do at 4am

Yep - I am stupid and was wide awake at 3.30am this morning and decided to give up trying to go back to sleep at 4am. It's Tara's party today and I didn't want to start cooking anything as I know what my family are like and would wake at the smell of food so I decided to ice the shortbread creams I made yesterday. Looking mighty fine I think!

This one was all mine - yep I have just eaten it at 5.30am. It was delicious too :)

The recipe is here if you want to try it out.

Charity shop goodies!

My 100% thifted outfit yesterday paid off and I found lots in the charity shops of Accrington! The first shop we went into (I went with Alex of Daisie Days) is a cross between a second hand shop and a charity shop. I spotted these fabulously retro cake tins (my mum had a similar set when I was small) but they didn't have a price on. Imagine how pleased I was when she said the whole set of 5 was £2!!!

I have been baking this morning and two of the tins are now full of jam tarts and cakes :)

This picnic rug just shouted at me to be bought - at first I wasn't sure what it was but it is a zipped up picnic rug - perfect for when we go camping! And of course the girls had to test it out. £2

I collect magnets and this one was perfect for 30p!

This skirt is gorgeous and really quite heavy - it also looks like it hasn't been worn! I love the detail around the waist and on the belt too - £2.95

I'm not sure if this dress will suit me as it has a dropped waist and I am a pear shape but if not then Alex has said she will help me turn it into a skirt - well it was her idea so I'm sure she will help :) £3.95

The kids weren't totally left out either and they got 2 new books a a set of pick up sticks.

Now you may recall that April is Use What you Have month and that is why none of the things that follow are craft supplies (honestly!) but look exactly like craft supplies :) *

Imagine this said in my best Marks and Spencers ad voice (for those of you in the UK). This is not fabric but a very long scarf for Anya.

A very, very long scarf - it's about 10ft long!

These are not buttons but sweets carefully constructed to look exactly like buttons! See they are so clever that they have put them on cards just like real buttons!

And these aren't pattens but a cleverly constructed doubled sized book!

And this most definitely isn't a a pair of fabulous retro pillowcases that are crying out to be turned into chicken doorstops - oh no. They might actually get used as pillowcases!

*OK so I totally failed at use what you have month but with goodies like these, would you have been able to resist??

This is...a recipe I would like to share

Well it's more guidelines than a recipe for vegetable soup!

You will need

an onion,
some potatoes,
water,
a variety of vegetables
salt and pepper
milk

1.Chop up your onions and potatoes and boil them in some water until tender. Ensure that your water just covers the potatoes.

2.Chop up the rest of your veg and add it to the water. I tend to leave things that don't need as much cooking until later to go in - things like mushrooms, peppers, tomatoes etc. I tend to boil root veggies for longer.

3. At this stage you will probably need to add some milk - be careful as it tends to like to boil over so keep an eye on it. After about 20 mins your potatoes and other root veggies should be cooked so add your softer veggies for about 10 mins.

4. Get a hand whisk and whisk it all down so it is smooth. You will be able to tell if it needs more milk/water by the thickness. Personally I prefer thicker soups but add liquid until it is the consistency you want it.

5. Add salt and pepper to taste. That's it!!

You will have noticed that I haven't given any specific weights for the ingredients mainly because I tend to use leftovers or things that are hanging about at the bottom of the fridge nearly past their best! Experiment with ingredients too - lettuce added to potato, onion and peppers makes a very good soup. Basically as long as you have potatoes and onions as a base then you can make really nice soups - they are cheap, nutritious and served with nice bread and maybe some cheese on the top, delicious!

For other delicious recipes and more This is players check out Angela at Three Buttons.

The Blackberry (and organised) Fairy

My berries cluster black and thick
For rich and poor alike to pick.

I'll tear your dress, and cling and tease,
And scratch your hands and arms and knees.

I'll stain your fingers and your face,
And then I'll laugh at your disgrace.

But when the bramble-jelly's made,
You'll find your trouble well repaid.

- The Song of the Blackberry Fairy!

This was left in my comments yesterday by the lovely Natalie of Roseberry Crafts and it's so true! Anya's nails still have juice under them and her face was stained yesterday when we got back. She loved it though, despite being stung by nettles numerous times, and managed to walk 2 and a half miles. We made 4lbs of jam this morning and had just enough left over to make a blackberry crumble for our tea tonight - yum!

I've been super organised this morning! There's nothing like talking to potential stockists and having numerous orders rolling in to get you motivated! I've sewn 10 chickens, some of which are duplicates so not all 10 are pictured here. Some are custom orders and some are because they had been pinned together for months and sitting in my to do pile and I got sick of seeing them there!!

They just need zips and button eyes and they are ready to roll. I also made 2 dozen business cards and they just need the ends tying off and cutting out properly.

I've also done a load of washing and hung it out to dry, changed the beds, made some bread, washed up (yes proper washing up Alex!) and sorted some clothes out. I'm now heading upstairs to put some clothes away and then I'm going to cut some fabric out for peg bags! May as well go with the organised Lynsey while she is here!

The easiest way to make jam - ever!

This recipe came from my lovely mother in law and she now uses it to make all her jam - which is delicious by the way :) It takes about 15 minutes and at the end you have lovely jars of jam.

You will need

Berries (I used blackberries which had been picked when camping)
Sugar
Microwavable bowl
Microwave
Electric hand whisk (optional)
Jars for your jam

1. Firstly wash your berries - I do this as ours come straight from the bush and I need to make sure that the bugs have gone!

2. Weigh your berries. You should ideally have 1lb of berries to 1lb of sugar but if you have more or less then just adjust your sugar - just make sure you have a ratio of 1:1

3. Pop your berries and sugar into the microwavable bowl and microwave on full for 4 minutes. They will look a bit like this.

4. Stir your berries and then microwave for a further 4 minutes.

5. Stir the berries again and pop back in for another 3 minutes.

6. I now whizz the jam to get rid of the lumps of berries that are left but this is a personal thing (remember that your jam is boiling at this stage so be careful!) You can also push the jam through a sieve if you want to remove the pips/seeds. Again this is a personal preference.

7. Once I've whizzed the jam I normally put it back in the microwave for another 2 minutes to ensure that it has boiled enough to make it set. It will still appear runny at this stage so if you aren't sure if it needs boiling again you can leave it to cool for a bit and if it still doesn't look like it is going to set then you can pop it back in the microwave.

8. Pour your jam into jars and let it cool - I would place your jars into some warm water first to ensure that they don't crack when the hot jam goes into the cooler jars.

9. Ta da - you have lovely jam without all the fuss of thermometers and great big jam pans!

If anything doesn't make sense then just leave a comment :)

Views in my kitchen

Sorry it's not a crafty post today but I am going to try and list some more of my re-purposed stickers today so tomorrow's post will be abut those! Instead you are treated to some things that caught my attention this morning at breakfast time.

Freshly baked bread! I put this on overnight and we woke up to the smell of it cooking - yummy.

Tara deicded to help me sort out my fruity teabags yesterday and this is the result. Good job I love her!

Some seeds that were given to me by the lovely ladies at Sams (my local scrapstore). I'm not sure what they are but we are going to try some later in our egg sarnies.

My breakfast this morning. Organic bran flakes and blueberries - yum yum. Right I'm off to do another Cuteable post before picking Anya up from nursery. See you tomorrow.

Delicious lunch and my glass!!!

Matt made a lovely lunch today of things we bought at the continental market yesterday - olives, olive bread, mozzarella, sundried tomatoes, brie and some gorgeous raspberry dressing. The dressing came from a different market though but we just haven't had it until now!

It was delicious and I was impressed that the girls tried most of the things too. Sophisticated tastes!

Here are the pair of coasters I made on the workshop last weekend with Phil of Glass Kanvas. I think these are my favourite things I made. They are already in use!

If you look at this next one you can see the glittery layer of glass on the bottom.

And these are two of the suncatchers I made - the other is still up in the window and I couldn't be bothered to climb up and get it down!

I know I promised business cards but I still have part of the wholesale order to make up and other bits and bob to do so that will have to be tomorrow's post. I'll show you the new and fabulous business card holder I bought too!

Yucky snow

I think it's well documented that I don't like snow. It's pretty to look at if I am inside, snuggly warm under a blanket but I don't like having to go out in it. Luckily the sun keeps coming out nice and bright in between snow flurries so it is melting - yeah!!

This is the beautiful lady that Anya made for me for Mother's Day. It's gorgeous and I think I'm going to use it as a bookmark. I also got some daffodils from Tara and a Gerbera from Anya. They were a nice suprise as Matt took Anya out to get some shopping and he came back with those - so thanks darlings!

On Friday Anya has to dress up as a nursery rhyme character as it is book week so I have had lots of ideas. I haven't got time to make a costume though so we raided the dressing up boxes. This is what we came up with!

Tara is Peter Peter Pumpkin Eater, Anya is the cat from Hey Diddle Diddle and I am the Ladybird from Ladybird, Ladybird, Fly Away Home! Obviously only Anya will be dressing up on Friday but we all had to try costumes on for fun!

And I'll leave you with a photograph of what we had on Friday night for tea. Smiley face pizza!

Whoooo hoooo!!

I've got 200 hearts in my Etsy shop! Yeah 200 people who like me and my work. Ooooh it feels good I tell you! Thanks to Janice of Clip Clop Horseshoes for my 200th heart. Something nice will be winging it's way to her soon. I also 'know' Janice through the forum too.


Please ignore the slightly dodgy photo with the black block over mod chicken - paint shop pro was playing up this morning!

Today is shaping up to be a good day - Matt cooked bacon, sausages, eggs, beans and mushrooms for us for breakfast and a roast dinner is set for later. I don't do roasts so it looks like I'll only have to sort lunch today - yeah!! I've also sorted out the mess under my kitchen sink - I'm sure I don't need 11 (yes 11) bottles of cleaning liquid! Most was on special offer and the cupboard was such a mess I couldn't see what we already had. At least I know I don't need any more ecover multi surface cleaner (which is by the way, fabulous for cleaning floors) and has a wonderful lemon smell.

Anyway I am off now to finish off the Mothers day cards I started the other day.

Drowning in apples

But in a good way! Here's one pot of apple starting to bubble on the hob to turn magically into stewed apples perfect for pies and crumbles that Matt is very good at making. He added some Weetabix to the crumble topping last weekend and it tasted delicious.


The top photo is one of the boxes of apples that arrived at the weekend from Matt's dad. We got two and the bubbling pot is one of them!! I'm trying to hunt out some recipes for apple chutney/jam/pickle etc so if you know of any then let me know.

I was busy on the computer this morning and Tara was very quiet in the corner - this is why!!

Luckily it was a Crayola brand pen and it washed off very easily - the lesson there is to make sure you have cleared away all the pens - check under the front of the sofa, behind the toy box etc because wherever there is a pen Tara will find it!

And I promised a photo of me dancing at Anya's party so here you go! I'm doing musical statues with Emily but I didn't win :( I was enjoying myself though!