A Cup Of Tea & A Catch Up

So it isn't just wedding prep that has been keeping me busy for the first 8 weeks of the year (although that has played a large part), there have been other crafty goings on. My friend Anna was given the green light to move to Australia, so I made a goodbye and good luck card. It's not he most obvious goodbye card, I should probably explain that Anna has Japanese roots, and loves pandas and cherry blossom.

My friend Rachel and her family moved into their very own home for the first time, so I made her a card to celebrate!

 

My fiance turned 34 so I made him a card. This one was a little ambitious and a tad optimistic. You will be forgiven for not being able to work out what is going on in the middle, but you try cutting out a discworld being held up by elephants, standing on top of a turtle surrounded by stars! Fiance is a big Terry Pratchett fan! 

It was Valentines Day last week, so obviously I made a card for my fiance for that too. As well as Pratchett, he is also a big fan of Professor Brian Cox, and the impression of him made on Channel 4's Very Important People. Apologies for the use naughty words! 

I'm trying to not bake this year because I need to get into my wedding dress. This makes me sad. So far, however, I've failed. I had some dried fruit that needed using up, so I HAD to make Mary Berry's Bara Brith... twice. It was very tasty. I've also set myself a challenge. I received Mary Berry's Baking Bible for Christmas, so to make up for not using it much this year, after we are married I plan to go through the book making every recipe. I won't be setting myself any kind of time limit, as I've worked out that even if I do one a week it could take about 5 years - eek. It's possible that I've bitten off more than I can chew (bah awful food related pun), but I'm determined. I've been through the index, choosing recipes alphabetically, then going back to A, and continuing through until I ran out of letters and recipes. There is going to be a lot of chocolate towards the end! I'm looking forward to it though, I'm going to be facing all those recipes you usually flick by because they look too hard, or don't have a photograph. 

I've had a bit more time to play with polymer. I wanted to make some more animals, but the first attempt led to a whole afternoon of me smooshing clay up and getting a bit hulk like. I did discover the colours below though, and paused mid angry rant, to appreciate how pretty they were. 

Eventually, with fresh eyes, fingers and patience that arrive with a new day, I managed three bears (bears should always come in threes), and a sea lion (you can tell because he has external ear flaps). I still need to finish them, but that will have to wait for now. 

Oopsy it looks like I baked again. Okay this really was the last time I had planned to don a pinny before October 12th! Honest!
My fiance didn't want a normal birthday cake, he isn't a fan of icing and buttercream (weirdo), he didn't even want candles, but he got them anyway (and secretly I think he really liked them). It was a honey and walnut cake, it looked a bit caught, but it tasted fine, I'm putting it down to a high sugar content (sugar and honey). It wasn't burnt it was caramelised! I also baked up some ginger and chocolate snowman cookies: that we had been given as a mix for christmas, but hadn't had time to make, and some snickerdoodles (I may have also baked a second batch of snickerdoodles because we ran out so quickly) ;).