new shoppers

I was really delighted on friday when an order popped into my inbox from an old school friend who I haven't spoken to for 20 years!! She had been on the website and ordered a bag for her and one for her mum for mothers day. Interestingly Kathryn chose a vintage paisley colourway that I very nearly didn't include in the collection because it was a misprint, but so many people liked it when they saw it that I added it in at the last minute!!!

no food colouring in sight!

I bought a big bag of Sicilian blood oranges last week, which were delicious, however the last 2 had been languishing in the fruitbowl, so I thought, I would make an orange version of lemon drizzle cake. Anyway I couldn't find the bottom of the cake tin so I made cupcake versions instead. Obligatory sprinkles for the children and candied orange peel for the grown ups!!. The juice was such a deep red that it turned the icing a beautiful shade of blossom pink, and not a drop of artificial colouring in sight (except for the sprinkles!!!)

easter bunny egg cosy

Chocolate is rife in our house at Easter so I like to give something a little different and because Easter expectations aren't as great as Christmas's I feel I can get away with giving handmade goods. This year the lucky recipient's are going to get a make-your-own Easter Bunny Egg Cosy

easter hen cress heads

In amongst the various seeds I sorted on Friday I discovered a rather old packet of cress. So this afternoon the children created their very own easter cress heads. We cut up an old egg box to create 'nests' for the hens to rest on and then they got happy with the glue and paint, before adding cotton wool, seeds and a drop(ish) of water.

As we had some grown cress in the kitchen I added it to one hen so you can see what the end result may look like if we remember to water the other two. Rather funky chickens I think!

egg mayonnaise & cress sandwiches

And whilst the children messed around with feathers, glue and paint I made the boy's sandwiches for school tomorrow - egg mayonnaise and cress (with added crispy bacon). Simple yet surprisingly delicious.

happy weekend everybody, check back in next week for a nice making tutorial.

the end of a busy week

I have felt like a headless chicken on a hamster wheel all week. I have had a to do list that has grown and grown all week with one job leading to ten others. I thought mr. h was going to explode by thursday evening. There just aren't enough hours in each day to fit in children, designing, sorting PR, doing press packs, website stuff, blogging, and all the normal day to day necessities such as food shopping and cooking, I take my hat off to working mums the world over, I've been neither a good mother nor a good business women this week!! And I owe my friends and family kisses all round for being so amazing.
anyway mr.h and mr.p came up trumps on friday night, mine came home with 2 lovely steaks and a bottle of nice wine and jo's came home with a great bunch of ranunculas, so 10 out of 10 and a gold star for both. They then had to tolerate a great deal of squealing when we discovered that the lovely lobster and swan had added us to her making my day list, we were so excited especially as she authors one of our favourite blogs, thank you, you made our day!!!

beautiful ranuncula

My March edition of Martha Stewart Living arrived in the post yesterday. I've only had the chance for a quick flick through but I did spot a 'Fact' that research by Rutgers University showed that women's moods were heightened for up to 3 days after receiving flowers. I should be in a good mood all weekend as hubby came home last night with these beautiful ranuncula.

sorting seeds

We only planted the last of our bulbs 2 weeks ago but now that it is March I know I need to think about sowing the seeds for our summer harvest. I also have aspirations to have a vegetable patch and cutting garden like Sarah Raven but our crop normally ends up being a few carrots, radishes that are to peppery for the children to eat, tomatoes that never go red and lettuce that goes to seed before we get around to eating it.

However I do start off with the best intentions and this afternoon I decided to have a quiet moment to organise the seed box; working out which packets are out of date, sorting out what I need to plant when and what I need to buy. All I need now is a sunny day, some compost and to think about what tricks I'm going to use to keep the dreaded slugs away. Any ideas?

pressing flowers

This year's abundance of snow drops seems to be over but on our morning walk to school we have noticed the daffodils, violets, crocuses and primroses are now braving the early morning frosts. It brought to mind something I saw in an old copy of Country Living, where spring flowers had been pressed and used to decorate blown eggs. A perfect activity for the children. I rummaged through my 'craft cupboard' (a synonym for junk cupboard) and found my old flower press. It even had some daffodils and primroses in it, probably decades old, but I was able to get a step ahead of myself and decorated some eggs.

Meanwhile the children have been out in the garden picking Spring's early offerings and putting their goods in the flower press so they can decorate their own eggs in a couple of weeks time. Needless to say if the children are involved I will need at least twice the amount of required eggs!

my present

On Friday Jo blogged about shopping in Stroud for a present to celebrate the launch of my website, well it was such a lovely gift I felt I had to do a post with some pictures. I studied embroidery for my degree, and have a real thing for vintage embroidered linen. My nan used to do this type of embroidery, and I just love it, I have quite a large collection buy am unable to resist it when I see it. Anway Jo fought her phobias of second hand goods and bought me this lovely tablecloth embroidered with daffodils and purple tulips, she also made me a pudding basin filled with minature purple tulips. such a lovely and thoughtful gift thank you!!

sew pretty homestyle

There are so many brilliant books to fuel those of us that are artistically inclined and some are definitely better than others. We thought we would do a regular review on books that we've seen and really liked.

First off is Sew Pretty Homestyle by Tone Finanager. Sarah first showed it to me on one of the only beautiful sunny days we had last year, I sat in her garden loving every page, went home and ordered my own copy. It's bright pages are full of easy to follow ideas, the pictures are fab and you want everything that you see. Sarah has been prolific at label making and I'm particularly fond of the corsages, which I've adapted and added to tiny shopping baskets making great gifts for little girls.

However my best creation so far is the stuffed dog. I made this for my Goddaughter when she was born. I used a pretty rose fabric, made little fairy cakes decorated with roses for the mum and everything in white boxes tied with pink ribbon, rose stickers with a sweet smelling rose to top it off. Gloriously pink for a new born girl.