Afternoon Tea

This afternoon, we invited our friends over for afternoon tea which we had outside in the garden. This morning, I baked a batch of carrot cupcakes with orange cream cheese frosting, and Alex baked a batch of chocolate chip cookies. Both went down very well!!!


The only crafting I am managing to do at the moment is my cross stitching, and it is coming on quite well -


(well done Alma for guessing what it is!)

The reason for my lack of crafting is "Glee"!!! Having Alex at home with me permanently means that she doesn't want me disappearing off into my Crafty Corner for hours on end. Add to that, her friend has lent her the box set of the first series of "Glee" and she wanted company to watch them ... we are currently on episode 10 of 13. Tomorrow Alex should hear if she got the job that she had an interview for last weekend ..... (!)

Carole x

New Dies

I wanted to have a little go with my new dies - on the edge Tim Holtz one and a little ebay purchase of the Quickutz Daisy, so I came up with these cards, again using up some of my purple/lilac papers (notice how I've done it again, only this time three cards of a very similar nature because I had to cut out three layers of petals for the daisy out of my Core'dinations card!!!)



Carole x

p.s. Dinner party went really well :o) Duck was delicious and the pudding was to die for - both definitely recipes to keep and do again! Thought you might like to see the table - sadly however, the lanterns were less than impressive. This was the first time we had used them, and we followed the instructions and left them in the sunshine all day to charge up the solar panel, then hung them in the umbrellas. Three didn't work at all, two only dimly but one red one was quite bright (not enough to divert the planes landing at Hurn airport but fairly bright none the less!)

As predicted, I forgot to take photos of the food. I got the starter then forgot the rest - D'oh!

Creative in the kitchen

Today I have been creative in a different way - in the kitchen! We have our lovely friends Natalie and Steve coming over for dinner tonight, so I have chosen three totally new dishes to try out! Scary! We go to each other's homes for dinner every other month or so, and so all my trusted dinner party recipes have long since been used! Natalie and Steve are also real foodies so the pressure is on!

Tonight (Matthew!!!) I am cooking

* Asparagus and crab salad
* Roasted duck breast with plum sauce on creamed potatoes with buttered spinach, and
* Chocolate mousse cake with poached whisky pears and ginger mascarpone

I am all prepared as much as I can be, so fingers crossed that everything goes according to plan. Since it is so warm, we are planning to eat outside - I have bought citronella tealights and will put loads out round the table in jam jars, and we have hung little chinese lanterns under the umbrella for extra ambience.

I will try and remember to take photos, but might well forget in the heat of the moment!

Didn't get much stitching done last night - too much talking about crafting instead! However, the little that I did do will probably give away what it is! I'm loving your guesses!


Carole x

Cards for Girls and Boys

Sadly, I don't have any more cross stitch to show you - and tease you with! - as I haven't managed to do any more since my last post. I can't believe that none of you have guessed what it is yet - I thought you would easily guess it (but then I suppose I have got the chart in front of me!!!)

So, the other day I made these two cards (I told you I couldn't just make one didn't I?!) using a sizzix die that I bought on Boxing Day and that I hadn't yet played with.


Then it occured to me that the design would also be perfect for a male birthday/greeting card - and let's be honest about how we all struggle with those(!) - if only I used blue/more masculine papers. So that's what I did! And it is! The die itself is a little fiddly to disassemble and then reassemble, so I just stuck it all down onto card then cut them out again, but I think the effort is worthwhile.


Alex had a great day today! She loved the new sixth form so fingers crossed that she gets the grades to get in there, and when we got home there was a message inviting her for an interview at the Restaurant in Moors Valley Country Park - tomorrow!

Carole x

More Birdies

Here are another couple of birdie cards that I made yesterday. Is it only me or do you all feel the need to make at least two cards when you find a design that you are happy with? (I realise that it could be just me!) I am also trying to use up colours that I might not normally - I'm loving my Core'dinations card pack in Nostalgia for example but there are colours in there that I'm not so keen on - like the orange and the purples/lilacs (hence the colour of the bird cage yesterday). Maybe I need to find some papers that I like that feature those colours to coordinate with the colours I'm not so keen on - hmmmm.

A couple of you have also asked about the new cross stitch project that I have now started, so here it is so far:


[in best Rolf Harris voice] Can you tell what it is yet?!!! It is going to be a lot harder than my Dog Lessons due to the subtle colour variations, and I think that I might change the pattern a bit, but hopefully it will turn out OK.

Alex finished her GCSEs this morning, so has now officially finished school (scary thought - my baby is growing up!) and she has eleven weeks before starting her new sixth form. Tomorrow she has to go into the new school for a Sixth Form Induction day, and she is waiting to hear from our local Forestry Commission Country Park where she has applied for a part time job, so fingers crossed for both of these please!

Hope you have had a lovely day!

Carole x

Belated Birthday Gift

Guess what I got as a belated birthday gift? Yep, the new Tim Holtz bird cage die!!! How exciting! Just had to have a little play this afternoon, and I love, love, love it! I also got a couple of the edge ones but haven't opened them yet and am still hoping for the floral one when it is back in stock! Can see me using this cage die rather a lot ...

Also been enjoying the weather by staying inside in the cool and looking out! My morning dog walk has been lovely the past few days, although I can't get late for any reason or it will be too hot for Ollie who suffers in the heat and puffs his way round the forest even when we choose the shadiest paths to walk along.

I didn't get my cross stitch project started last night although I did get everything ready to do so this evening - the aida fabric is cut ready and all the colours are sorted out - just need to thread the needle and make the first stitch!

Hope you have had a lovely day too.

Carole x

Flower Power

I made this first card about a week ago, and was really pleased with it (so was Alex, she wants me to give it to her as her birthday card in August!)

Then I had another little play and made some more along the same lines but with the Papermania capsule collection in purple. I quite like them, but not as much as the pink!


Might have to have another go with another colour, it's funny how different the same card turns out with different colours/papers!

Hope you have managed to stay cool today - what a beautiful day it's been.

Hoping to start a new cross stitch this evening - however it's the starting that I find the most difficult! Once I have made the first stitch then I'm off, it's just getting to that point!

Carole x