The clocks have gone forward, the sun is beginning to shine (last week’s flurry of snow an aberration), and the optimism of summer is making itself known. Soon, I hope, the daily overtime for the day-job will come to an end (it started before Christmas), and then perhaps I will have the energy to craft… Continue reading Notes From My Office: April 2022
Nature Notes: March 2022
British Summer Time began on Sunday. We’ve finally started having the sunshine and warmer temperatures that make it seem like summer might actually arrive as well, though there are forecasts for sleet later in the week. When I was a child, I was told that summer began when you could stand on seven daisies with… Continue reading Nature Notes: March 2022
Card of the Week: Whale in a Bottle
I still haven’t made any Easter cards yet. Or Mothering Sunday ones, for that matter. I should probably get on that, given that we’ve only a few days, and a couple of weeks, for one and then the other. In the meantime, though, I’ve been playing with the Lisa Norton Message in a Bottle stamp… Continue reading Card of the Week: Whale in a Bottle
Learning to Crochet Clothes
For a while now I’ve been meaning to expand my crocheting repertoire out of the blankets and Edward’s Menagerie toys I usually make, and learn to make clothes. Trouble is, as with the cards I make, I like simple things, and most of the clothes patterns I come across I tend to then put away… Continue reading Learning to Crochet Clothes
Card (Parts) of the Week: The Wildflower Garden
After the Flamingo comes G for Garden. Huzzah - back on track with the alphabet! The Wildflower Garden, full of flowers good for pollinators: the bees and butterflies just waking up. We currently have buttercups and other yellow flowers sprinkling an otherwise threadbare lawn. And the odd crocus planted by the squirrels. The Wildflower Garden… Continue reading Card (Parts) of the Week: The Wildflower Garden
Theme and Variation
It’s not news to say that I like making simple cards. I like a card I can make quickly, that I can make more than one of easily, and that is in a style that can be adapted without much thought to other circumstances. I do intend to learn some of the more complicated fancy-fold… Continue reading Theme and Variation
Easy Chocolate Fudge Cake
It feels a bit – odd; insensitive, maybe – to write about light-hearted, essentially fluffy things at the moment, with the news so full of the horrors of war and man’s inhumanity. It’s part of the reason why I’m late today, with my talk of easy, lazy chocolate fudge cake. But sometimes, when all is… Continue reading Easy Chocolate Fudge Cake
Card of the Week: F is for Flamingo
I know, I’ve skipped a few letters. I did mean to have a Daffodil for D, but it appears that I haven’t any daffodil stamps or dies. A shame, because I do like daffodils. Such a bright, cheery flower for this time of year. Such a strong hint of spring, sunshine on the way and… Continue reading Card of the Week: F is for Flamingo
Notes From My Office: March 2022
Today is Shrove Tuesday. Otherwise known, in Britain, as Pancake Day, and in other countries or languages as some variation on Fat Tuesday. The day on which the eggs, milk and butter – all the rich foods – are used up before their banishment for the duration of Lent. Hence the pancakes in Britain. Traditionally,… Continue reading Notes From My Office: March 2022
Card of the Week: Snowdrops
It is the time for snowdrops, though the Polar Bear still isn’t flowering. I only ever seem to make snowdrop cards at this time of year, despite the fact that, obviously, I still have the stamps the rest of the year. And despite the fact that I seem to have collected several snowdrop stamps, or… Continue reading Card of the Week: Snowdrops
Life Ever Crafting 