I have been busy busy busy making christmas cards this week - it has felt gloriously christmassy sitting in front of a log fire cat sitting on a chair next to me (if he doesnt have his own chair pulled out so he can enjoy the fire he steals my one as soon as I move, and sometimes before I move) and lots of paper, glitter and ribbon.  I am about halfway through now,  I have already made my favourite card for this year, I keep putting it up on the shelf so I can admire it, now to work out who to send it to.

I will have to get in touch with Wingham wildlife park to see how they got on with the christmas cards I gave them and if they would like more.  We have some fantastic pictures of the tigers now that should make nice cards.  I hope the cards sold as they are fundraising for the lions at the moment.  .http://www.winghamwildlifepark.co.uk

I have been having a lovely time on ETSY making a treasury lists.  What a beautiful way to get noticed - admiring the talent and work of others.  I have had a lot more views for my items since I stared doing the treasury lists, got some more admirers for my work ( no sales as yet but it is coming up to christmas) and found some things to give as presents.  http://www.etsy.com/people/dreamtimemakes
  This is one of my treasury lists  http://www.etsy.com/treasury/MTUzMTc1OTV8MTIzMDU5NzI0NQ/purple-deep-and-rich?ref=pr_treasury     Nearly half the items on one of my earlier lists have vanished I suppose they have been sold.

Today I must carry on getting the cards made and carry on making my neices bag.  And there all the ideas that are bouncing around in my head that might work on Etsy.  (note to self do not go to PINTEREST till you have completed targets)  I had a very busy start to the day - making snickerdoodles, scones and lemonade before breakfast. 

Took advantage of yet another bright sunny day and unpacked the last of the wood we were given from a piece of local woodland, unfortuantly the wood had worm in it so we are burning it first so it doesn't spread to the rest of the stored wood.  I also cleared, sorted and then refilled the log rack by the fire so we don't have to go rushing out to get wood as soon as we get home from work.

 A new bangle..... its hard to see in the picture but there is a bronze like look to this bangle that means its lightness is a shock.


I have just got some red ribbon and black lace for the next one. 

Today I brought some felt flowers which with a few beads of buttons will work really well.  There were several different sizes in the pack.

DAYS OUT AND MORE CRAFTING

we arrived before the otters had been fed so lots of action in both enclosures

I got 15 cards made for Wingham Wildlife Park and we took them with us today when we went to see their latest cat.  I put my blog address on them so hopefully a few more people will find me. http://winghamwildlifepark.co.uk.  There are some lovely pictures of Binx the puma on their facebook page includding one of him stuggling to keep his balance on the ropes. https://www.facebook.com/WinghamWildlifePark  We spent ages watching him - he was being so playful and like all the animals at Wingham loves the attention.  This is where the animals mostly rush over to see who has come to see them, a big difference from standing by an enclosure thinking "it says theres something in here but I can't find it".  The animals still have there privacy if they want it but lets be honest you go to a zoo to see animals. 

Tigers at play

Got most of the things done yesterday that I wanted to, I am really enjoying this crafting/baking not vegetating in front of the TV or online.The mirror is ok I think that I am using the wrong sort of paper which is why I am getting a papery finish to my designs coating with mod podge does help but I am going to try using ordinary photocopy paper instead of photo paper. It was not very clear in the tutorial I watched, or Ididn't understand properly.
 Slowly rubbing off the backing paper to reveal the design. I used masking tape to centre the picture on the mirror.  At the moment I am not sure whether to leave the edges as the are or to decorate them.  I am still having a little bit of trouble with some of the picture lifting but I can sort that in the final stages.

Cards for Wingham

Today I really need to crack on with our Christmas cards, Gifts and Items for Etsy.

Cards for Wingham

 http://www.etsy.com/shop/dreamtimemakes

The latest item to be placed on Etsy.

A 1967 Mercury Cougar original photo tote bag.
http://www.etsy.com/listing/86536523/original-classic-caroriginal-photo-tote

I have just noticed how well the car fits in with its background.  I really enjoy making these bags and have a couple more in the pipeline - the design is sorted just need to print them off and make them up.  I have a stunning one of HOTRODS outside a diner.

 As I love being driven in this beautiful car I kinda sorta don't want to sell it - I will just have to make a similar one for myself.



I have been looking at recipes again and think that I will have to have another "lunch" again soon.  So many delious looking cakes, biscuits, and savouries to try.  Too few mouths in my house to put all the food into.  I made SMUNCHKINS last night.  There would have been a photo but they need to be eaten while they are hot.  The camera was in the basement and we ate all the cakes. Next time I make them I will take pictures and write the recipe out.






 I have another bangle nearly finished and one just started.  I am quite liking the fact that these bottles will not go to waste.  I think they look so pretty and when finished so hard to remember what they started from.

I have just got a bag of logs in ready to spend an evening crafting in front of the fire.  Young Bruce will make me pull out a chair for him and the two of us will have a cozy relaxing evening together.

Bruce thinks we had the stove installed for him

I have a lot I want to get done this evening :- I have a few more Christmas cards to make to give to Wingham Wildlife park ( an idea that came to me in the summer and I am doing now) as we are going there tomorrow and I wanted to give them to them.
http://www.winghamwildlifepark.co.uk
The bracelets that are nearly done finished so they can be listed on Etsy.
Get the mirror I am making through the next stage.
Paint the inside of cigar box purse.  Make some Christmas cards for us to send.
Finish the recipe books for my neice and nephew.
And anything else I have time for.

THE GREATNESS OF OTHERS

This is the start of my list of other blogs that I have enjoyed, found useful or that set me off on this current addiction.  Before I started my blog I had not really looked at blogs. Even after I had begun I did not really start.  But after finally realising that there were links to the recipes on peoples blogs attached to the pictures on Pinterest I started checking.  Now I have quite a lot of blogs that I read, enjoy, and learn from.         These are in the order I found them.....

The first one that I looked at was Bakergirl for her BLUEBERRY SNICKERDOODLE recipe. A recipe I have baked 5 times now. I have tried the original, with apple and plain - all were delicous.http://buddingbaketress.blogspot.com/

Also very good for recipes is http://cookinupnorth.blogspot.com/
Tomorrow I am (or rather by partner) is trying mircowave coffee cake in a mug - sounds perfect for one.

I love the pictures and images that can be found on http://polarbearstale.blogspot.com/
I make sure I look at them everytime there is a new blog posted.

http://simplylessismoore.blogspot.com/
Very good for cardmaking ideas, tips and tutorials, and challenges.

Other blogs that I like and follow ( and am quickly adding because I need to go to bed are:-
http://prettyshabbyuk.blogspot.com/
http://secret-sheep.blogspot.com
/http://rosiepink.typepad.co.uk/rosiepink/
They cover cardmaking, spinning and knitting, and feltmaking. Lastly a site I found for my mother who has been struggling with mircowave wattage and cooking times - it does conversion charts and is so easy to use.
ww.microwavecookingforone.com/Charts/

Homemade lemonade - not just for summer

Back in the spring on a trip to a garden centre I purchased another cookery book ( I am not sure why I brought it because the books I use most I have had for over 25 years and they are like trusted friends) but every so often I have to buy cookery books, it is a need I have.  This one is called
THE PERFECT AFTERNOON TEA BOOK 
its ISBN is 9780754819714

One of the recipes is for homemade lemonade,   we both   love lemonade and it can be quite expensive so I tried it.  We have spent the summer drinking fresh delicious lemonade that costs under £1.00 a litre.                                                

  3 UNWAXED LEMONS
100 - 115Grams caster Sugar
(1/2 cup superfine sugar)

pare the skin from the lemons with a vegtable peeler.  Put the lemon rind and sugar into a bowl, add 900ml (11/2 pints, 33/4 cups) of boiling water and stir well until the sugar disolves.
 Cover and allow to cool.  Squeeze the juice from the lemons.  Add it to the flavoured water, mix well and strain into a jug.
Chill and serve with ice.

BOTTLED AND READY TO DRINK

NOW that it is winter it is time to start drinking hot lemon and honey.  I remember having it as a child if I had a cold.

ONE of the tutorials I found on PINTEREST was for transfering photos to wood.
http://youtu.be/_NjYbAAQ4vw  
I thought it looked fairly simple and would give it a go.  
I used a small photo I had printed for a Christmas card and a small piece of firewood ( if it went to wrong I could burn all trace.  I got a bottle of Acrylic medium from Hobbycraft.  This morning I painted the wood  and pressed the photo unto it.
 

bit fuzzy but its a bit of paper on wood

When I got home from work I started to soak the paper off the wood with warm water and soap.

I don't think I have it quite right yet because some of the picture has rubbed off as you can see. After the picture had dried there seems to be a thin film of paper left. Maybe that is why the mod podge is important. 

I am quite pleased with my first go and will try again.

WATCH THIS SPACE!

PRINTING ON COTTON TAPE

Today I started to make the bag my niece said she would like for Christmas.  Her requests are:- a different colour to white because it would dirty ( she is right I have been using mine since the begining of August and even if you discount the teastains it is looking a bit grubby), A4 portrait not the landscape format that I have been using, and a picture of Bruce (my cat) - to start with she wanted him awake then changed her mind to asleep.

I am not convinced that she will find the portrait format as roomy as she thinks as a bag so I decided to make panels on the sides of the bag before putting the gusset in.  For the design both choices were possible - a sleeping cat dreaming of his waking moments.  Over the weekend I caught a snippet of the craft channel where they werer talking about inkjet tape.  A special cotton tape that you could put through an injet printer.  I tried doing this with the cotton tape that I had and even with my rather sulky printer it worked.  Now having used my JAYNE NETLEY MAYHEW COLLECTION CD-ROM I have several pieces of leopard print tape to edge the panels with. This opens up a whole world of possibilities to explore see link for Joanna Sheen stockist of the cd-rom. 


http://www.joannasheen.com/craft-supplies/joanna-sheen-cdrom-dvds/cdrom-jayne-netley-mayhew-collection-2-disk-set/
The bag design again I worked out using SERIF DIGITAL SCRAPBOOK.
http://www.daisytrail.com/scrapbook.html?uid=21043  one of my pages.

The other tip (from PINTREST) that I want to follow up is tranfering a photo or picture to wood or canvas or plastic.  I just need to get some acrilic gel medium.  Hopefully I can get this in hobbycraft tomorrow evening.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_NjYbAAQ4vw  It looks easy and effective.  Watch this space for the results.  I got some of those 8x8 wooden mirrors from Ikea while we were there which would be perfect for this technique.

My sister showed me some the things she has been working on to add to my Etsy shop - really different to things I have been doing.http://www.etsy.com/people/dreamtimemakes

IF WISHES WERE HORSES

 If wishes were horses beggars would ride..............some wishes and thoughts some reasonable and some completely senseless.
  http://www.lakeland.co.uk/15636/Colourworks-4-Measuring-Cups
This is a link to Lakeland Ltd and the set of measuring cups I got for making SNICKERDOODLES. I didn't really need them but they looked pretty and came with a set of measuring spoons (that I didn't need either).

 

 I have been told that the link to the biscuits hasn't worked so I will try again.  http://buddingbaketress.blogspot.com/2011/06/blueberry-snickerdoodles.html
There are lots of other recipes that look worth trying as well - need more hours in the day. Having said that whlie I was mooching around the internet I thought of SALTED CARAMELS I have reied the ones from Hotel Chocolate and liked them and some of the recipes use them, it would be hard to get them in England so a recipe was needed. http://bakedbree.com/salted-caramels-week-5-of-12-weeks-of-christmas
I haven't tried this yet as I need corn syrup. That is now on my shopping list so I can have a go.

This is HEMISPHERE the largest sailing catamaran (currently) in the world.  It looks sort of like a juggernaut in a carpark of smart cars.  I am not quite sure what I think/feel about it.  The inside is beautiful, its kitchen is bigger than the one I have in my house, I am just not sure.  Still as this is probably as close as I will get to it I dont really need to worry.  I would love to spend some time on a luxury yatch one day - some of them are really things of beauty.  

My current dreamhouse - not the most impressive from the outside but it has 9 acres of land that includes woodland, part of the cliff and foreshore, a stream and a log cabin.  Less than a mile from Lyme Regis it has nearly everything I want.  Unfortuantly it has been sold, but who knows by the time I can afford it it could be back on the market.  http://www.vebra.com/stagsnew/property/22401161

A leaflet for BROTHER SEWING MACHINES fell  out of a magazine this week and although I am happy with the machine I have and even if money was no object the machine I would choose would be part of the BERNINA range.  But looking through it I kept thinking like it, like it and where could I put it, especially when I got to the embroidery machines.

http://www.brother-usa.com/homesewing/ProductList.aspx?cat=multi-needle#.Tr7SoPKhJv9

I am getting more interest in the items I have for sale in my ETSY shop I still need to make that first breakthrough sale, fingers crossed. http://www.etsy.com/people/dreamtimemakes . I am having fun on ETSY now I have worked out how to get Treasury lists to work and how to start my own and join other peoples circles.

I am thinking that I would like to try doing BATIK.  Now I have started to make bags I think that batik would make for interesting designs.  I have never tried it before and I do like trying new crafts.  I may ask for some starter equipment for Christmas.

They went with songs to the battle, they were young

Straight of limb, true of eyes, steady and aglow.

They were staunch to the end against odds uncounted,

They fell with their faces to the foe.

They shall not grow old, as we who are left grow old:

Age shall not weary them, nor the years condem.

At the going down of the sun and in the morning,

We will remember them.