British Cream Tea : Delicious British Felt Food Sculpture

Today's daybook 29 Oct 2008

Outside My Window...

is the River Mersey, choppy and dark in the low Autumn sun.

I am thinking...
of completely turning out the bedroom and remaking the bed in fresh white linen with lavender.

I am thankful for...
my baby son. I could not even begin to Put into words how much he means to me.

From the kitchen...
wafts the smell of vanilla extract I made last week, slowly developing in a jam jar in my baking cupboard.

I am wearing...
pyjamas and thick pink woolly socks. It is cold!

I am creating...
a set of conkers to replace the pair I sold last night.

I am going...
to baby yoga in a couple of hours...unless it is heaving down with rain in which case we may stay in and cuddle under a blanket.

I am reading...
"That is not my tractor" for the 3rd time today. I really need to buy him "That is not my bunny"! He loves the touchy bits on the pages ;)

I am hoping...
that we can talk Billy's mum into babysitting next week so we can go to the flicks and satisfy my ongoing and lifelong love of James Bond. Note: she never needs persuading!!

I am hearing...
the sound of baby laughter and the creak of a bouncy chair.

Around the house...
there are not enough flowers, the DVDs have yet again grown into piles and need put away and the dining table is covered in folded clean baby clothes.

One of my favorite things...
is the custard tart I have in the fridge!

Here is a picture thought I am sharing...

(Click the first image to go to the Simple Women's Daybook page ;)

tagged...I'm it!

Drum roll please......

I have been tagged by Cloudhopping ;)

The rules are as follows:

1. Link to your tagger and list all these rules in your blog.
2. Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.
3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post by including links to their blogs.
4. Let them know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blogs.

Now if only I can think of 7...here goes...

1. I love baking, seriously love it, and am currently making vanilla extract with vodka and loads of vanilla pods.

2. I have a secret addiction to "Charlie and Lola" and make Billy watch it every night at 6pm with the excuse that Toby loves it.

3. I own a lot of shoes and beautiful clothes I no longer wear, either because they no longer fit (yet) or a pram is not easily paired with Terry de Havilland platforms, stiletto boots or nude and gold leather tango shoes *sob*

4. I still sleep with a soft toy...I used to sleep with two but now Toby is often found with his arms wrapped round the other one, usually with an ear or foot in his mouth.

5. I have 12 letters after my name (5 italicised) along with two brackets and a full stop.

6. I used to be a Samaritan.

7. I love burying my face in my cat's fluffy tummy and am secretly proud of the fact she won't let Billy do it.

I am going to tag the following bloggers, all UK etsians...

bigbluebed.blogspot.com
clairesblog.paynedesign.co.uk/blog
www.boulieblog.com
lazygiraffejewellery.blogspot.com
illusio-creative.blogspot.com
marmalady1.blogspot.com
amandasainsbury.blogspot.com

My mad week!!!

This has been a mad week in more ways than one!!

I have made new items, been featured on blogs, almost reached 400 etsy hearts, bought two domain names, designed a new website, been featured on quite a few treasuries and sold 4 items ;D

Oh and Toby had his 3rd round of injections *sob*

So this is a kind of catch up post!!

Above is a set of 8 cola bottles.

oooo Vanilla Slice ;)

Cornish Pasty

Bacon Butty

and the first in a new line of badges...this one is a cola bottle ;)

This week I was kindly featured on the blogs of 3 etsy sellers...

Fellow UK etsian BigBlueBed who makes the most amazing weaved Dorset buttons (click the image to read the article) and described me as a "wonderful genius" and says I make her salivate (thanks Blue ;D)...

GrooveyCrafts for her weekly etsy interview feature (again click the image to read) and her description of my shop as the "perfect shop for Christmas stocking fillers"  that "trigger the conversation for hours on what that item meant to that person and how funny it was", which is what I hope my work does...

and Ottoman, who makes the most amazing moss and felt creations...some of which have now migrated onto my Christmas list!!  In this she refers to my shop as "utterly charming" *beam*(again...click!!)

I am also completing another interview for a feature next week so watch this space ;D

Oh and whilst doing a google search for my shop name I came up with this link (click the image...you know the drill!!) which is about Blackpool football but crazily, and somewhat  magically, contains a review and link to my Blackpool Rock...and an article on "I Like"

And finally I would like to thank my two lovely buyers, one on Folksy and one on Etsy, who truly made my week by buying two pieces each :D

Etsy Storque

I had to post again!!

I am on the Etsy Blog, "The Storque", for the second time and it is soooo exciting!!

Click here for the article.

See the image at the bottom left of the grid of nine...

The piece is so new I only just listed it and I haven't even blogged about it yet. I'll do so in the morning ;)

Strawberry Fruity Pop

There is something really moreish about really sugary strawberry flavoured hard sugar!! And these lollipops fill the craving perfectly ;)

They are one of the UK's best selling lollipops and still come in strawberry, lemon, orange and blackcurrant flavours.

The strawberry, with its embroidered yellow "pips" and green top "stalk" is the wrapper of the lollipop, which inside is hard clear strawberry flavoured sugar.

Everything, even the lolly stick is made of felt...

Cornish Pasty

I love Cornish pasties...they remind me of picnics and outdoor lunches by the sea...

The pasty originally evolved to meet the needs of Cornish tin mining. A hearty meal wrapped in a pastry casing made for a very practical lunch (or "croust" , as they used to call it) down in the dark and damp tunnels of the mine. Some mines even built huge ovens on the surface to keep the miner's pasties hot until it was time to eat.

Tradition has it that the original pasties contained meat and vegetables in one end and jam or fruit in the other end, in order to give the hard-working men 'two courses'.

In my mind this pasty contains beef and potato with little slices of onion!!

Perfect with Branston pickle :D

Folksy Featured Seller!!!

I received an email a few days ago from the admin at Folksy telling me that they love my work and have chosen me as a featured seller for October. This means I am often on the front page (it rotates between the 7 featured sellers) and the side bar of people's searches!!

yippee :D

Dolly Mixtures

I love sweets of all kinds...I am not picky. But there is a special place in my heart for pick'n'mix. The ability as a child to get loads of little sweets with your 10p was exhilarating!!

And so this is my first in a new line of traditional British sweets...all stored in pink and white striped paper bags as they would be in shops of old ;)

Dolly mixtures are perfect little squares and tubes of brightly coloured and white fondant that look great in felt and would be fabulous as table decorations, boardgame pieces, mini pincushions or just dainty little memories for the foot of a stocking...

Conkers

Conkers epitomise autumn to British children. The excitement of finding a huge green, spiky bundle and breaking it open to see what is inside is unparalleled!! Or maybe that was too big a statement...stringing a HUGE conker and beating everyone else in the playground beats that feeling just slightly ;D

To memorialise these memories I had to make conkers even though they are not food for humans (they are poisonous) but are food for British squirrel...and they are nuts!!

I have myself drilled a hole in a conker for Jacob and whilst watching cbeebies today with Toby I noticed that conkers are mentioned a lot in their autumn snippets...proving that not everything has changed since my sister and I were young.

New shop banner

As I started thinking about business cards and marketing I realised I needed to sort out my branding...so I had to stop just using cropped photographs as banners and avatars.

So in the early hours of a morning a few nights ago i reworked my banners and avatars using my images, the shabby photograph frame used in this blog, a name tag with typewritten wording and a tiny gold crown...

And I kind of like it!!