This Week... Cakes, Duck, Hair & Zines

Friday afternoon/evening saw me delving into, and impromptu cakey bakey sesh. It was Fubby's birthday, except it was also a leaving shindig at work, so he was coming home late. I was a bit bored, and it turns out I had everything I needed for cupcakes, hurrah! 

It also turns out I had enough ingredients for snickerdoodles too. Both were a hit - yes even the cupcakes, I pimped them up with blackcurrant jam, and almond buttercream, bakewell cupcakes anyone? - result! 

 This week also saw my first book review on UK Handmade. you can read it here! :)

I hope everyone had a great Valentines Day? We don't go overboard, but we give each other cards, I tend to always make one. Last year it was a Star Wars theme, another year it was World of Warcraft. Beginning to run out of ideas now though :)

We stayed in and got ourselves the Waitrose Valentines Meal - Cheese tarts to begin with, followed by stuffed duck, with vegetables and potato rosti, and passion fruit panna cotta for dessert, very delicious, and very filling. We had also treated ourselves to Guylian chocolates because they were on offer, we didn't manage to finish all 32 of them though :)

I have new hair. I'm not a big fan of having my picture taken, but thought I would make an effort. There were some of me smiling, some of me being serious, some of me looking scared (of the camera), and some of me just being daft. I asked Fubby which one I should choose... he chose this one... thanks Fubby. 

Very excited by my little parcel in the post. I happened to see a tweet by Lizzie Stewart, saying there were only 20 copies left of her Solo zine - so for second time in a week, spontaneity kicked in, and I made an impromptu purchase. I love it, witty and observational. Who knows if I will mange to get the next one - fingers crossed. 

This Week... Birthdays, Blogs, Books & Bracelets

Today's blog post is brought to you with the letter 'B'. How was that for alliteration? It wasn't planned either, I have only just noticed as I typed it in! 
I thought it would be nice to do a weekly round up, I haven't decided if it will be an ongoing thing yet, ask me next week ;)
This week has been pretty quiet, other half has been getting over his cold, and we are trying to sort out our wedding catering. 

Birthday! - We went out for a meal, to celebrate a friend's birthday. That is him there with one of his presents. 

 

Blog Post - I was lucky to be interviewed and featured in the Sue Bulmer blog this week, that was very exciting. It was odd seeing my drawings somewhere other than my own blog. It was lovely that Sue was interested in my drawing project, I never expect anyone to want to read anything I say, even on here I always think I am chattering away to myself, the stats say otherwise though  - *waves at readers*... unless they are just trying to humour me ;)

Product Photos - I imagine you will be seeing more of these. I have an endless amount of product photos to take, but had to stop all of last week, due to a bulb situation. We now have two bright matching LED bulbs, no more filament breakage for me, no siree!

Finished - I am loving these books. Sorry to say, that like a lot of people, I didn't pick them up until the first one was put on television, but who cares, I am reading, and appreciating them now right? This one was so full of drama, but I won't divulge, I wouldn't want to ruin it for anyone. I raced through it, but unfortunately I can't read the next one until my fella has finished reading it... I did buy them for him for Christmas after all. :)


Look out for another update on The Doodle Olympics, it will be coming at ya very soon! 

Biggest update ever!

I am finally back home and getting back to normal after celebrating my 30th up in the Lake district. We had a wonderful time staying at Ann's Hill Lodge, Bridekirk (Near Cockermouth). There was a hot tub, a breakfast basket every morning, speakers fitted into the bathroom ceiling, where you could relax in a huge copper bath, and the lovely Vanessa, who owns the Lodge, even made me cupcakes for my birthday :)

I am also taking an idea from the maker of lovely things, Lee May of Bonbi Forest. She is in the middle of her 29 Project, where she takes a photo every day for the final year of her 20s. Obviously I am too late to say ta ta to my 20s, but thought I would give a big 'howdy' wave to my 30s instead. For someone like me, who always forgets to use a camera, this will be a very challenging excercise. So I have a couple of pics from the beginning of my holiday, and then the 30 Project begins :)

The night before we left for the Lakes, Lauren Child, author of Charlie and Lola and Clarice Bean, gave a lecture at The Lightbox in Woking. I have it in my head that one day I would like to write a children's book, so I found the talk really inspiring. At the end I was able to get my copy of Clarice Bean signed :)

We travelled up to the Lakes on Friday. On the Saturday we went to the Taste Cumbria Food Festival in Cockermouth where we spent far too much money on handmade chocolates, strawberry vodka, bread, dipping oil, chilli sauce and Wild Boar Burgers - Yum! For the last part of the afternoon we went on to Keswick, where we stumbled across the Pencil Museum, home of the Derwent art pencil, it is only small, but we did find it interesting. This is part of a pretty display of pen nibs.

We also took a walk through the town up to Derwent Water.

30 Project

Day 1 : My birthday!

Our breakfast arrived with some adorable little birthday cupcakes!

In the evening our host Vanessa dropped us down at the Royal Yew for my birthday meal. It was wonderful, the food was lovely and came in unbelievably large northern sized portions.

Day 2:

We went back to Keswick and took the launch around some of Derwent Water. This is the jetty where we were dropped off ready for Cat Bells.

On our return, from a nearby village, I took a little pic from the jetty.

Day 3:

We began our walk up Wansfell Pike. The beginning of the walk takes you passed a waterfall in Ambleside, this is taken from a bridge at the bottom. I didn't take any photos after this point as I was too busy getting puffed out on the never ending steps up to the summit of Wansfell Pike :) It wasn't all hard work though, we stopped at Troutbeck half way round the walk and went to The Mortal Man for a lovely pub lunch. Who can say no to a venison, pheasant, and rabbit pie after a couple of hours walking?

I loved the hallway at The Lodge where we stayed, it had a really high ceiling and a pretty chandelier!

Day 4:

Just one of the scrumptious breakfast baskets left at our front door every morning. Spot those homemade muffins, possibly the best muffins I have ever tasted!

After breakfast we went to an animal farm where I fell in love with this Tapir. I love their noses, they remind me of Cedric Sneer from The Raccoons (he was actually supposed to be an aardvark but I'm not convinced) :)

Day 5 :

We took a visit to Windermere, taking another launch back to Ambleside. It started off pretty misty, but then brightened throughout the day.

The Copper bath!!!

Day 6:

I took a couple more photos inside the Lodge as we wondered around getting ready to leave, this is the wood burner in the second sitting room.

The second bedroom.

Now I know this probably isn't exciting to most people, but as soon as we arrived home Friday night, I had to put the adaptable shelves we had bought at Lakeland, Windermere, straight into the herb and spice cupboard, and now it is so much tidier!

Day 7:

The walls in our house are bare. We have had some empty frames sitting on the floor for a while now, but finally, we now have 3 Rob Ryan cards in a frame, not only that, but the frame is now actually on the wall!

Day 8:

Yummy gingerbread we bought from the Grasmere Gingerbread shop.

Naughty cat, I had opened my wardrobe for one second and in he popped. You can see by the motion that he realised that he had been rumbled, and was in mid escape :)

Happy Birthday to me!!!

It isn't quite my birthday just yet, but I do turn 30 on Sunday, so today I thought I would treat myself, and make myself a pendant. I was given some lovely turquoise chips as part of a christmas present last year, from my friend Liz, and as they were a gift I wanted to use them to make something for me. So I have mixed the chips up with a couple of my own Cleo polymer art beads, a couple of tigers eye beads and some Swarovski Elements. I think it looks awesome! :)