Birthday cards

A birthday card for a fellow cardmaker, stamped and hand coloured.

A card for my mother-in-law, cupcake is stamped and hand coloured.

And a card for my mum, a perpetual dieter! Stamped and coloured again.

With another picture on the back!

Mama made Monday - felt food

I've said before I'm not the sewing sort, but last summer I had a bit of a fad on making things with felt.

The cake was made using a kit my husband bought for me, but the sandwich was created entirely from my imagination!

Of course there were grand plans to make enough stuff for a pretend picnic - but that plan has yet to come to fruition! Poppy does like playing with the cake though, so more cakes might get made soon.

An unseasonal scarf

I bought this shocking pink snowflake pompom wool for £3.99 in a sale, and couldn't wait for winter to knit it!

Soft burger rolls

Home made bread is great, but sometimes you don't want it crusty!

These rolls are lovely and soft, great with burgers.

This recipe makes 6 generous rolls.

Mix the following ingredients into a dough; 1 egg, 4 fl oz milk, 3 tbsp butter (actually I used I can't believe it's not butter!), 2 tbsp sugar, 1/2 tsp salt and 2 cups bread flour and 1 1/2 tsp yeast.

Knead well, and leave to rise until doubled in size.

(I do all this in the breadmaker.)

Punch down the dough and divide into equal sized balls, place on baking tray and leave rise for 20 - 30 mins.

Brush tops with milk and sprinkle with sesame seeds if desired.

Bake for 15 minutes at 200 deg C.

Mama made Monday - my first knitting project.

(Yes, I know it's Tuesday.)
This is a lovely idea started by Talie on her blog "Being Me." The idea is to share things you have made for your children - feel free to join in!

So this is the first thing I ever finished knitting!

I learnt to knit as a child, producing an ongoing scarf of odd bits of wool.

When I was a bit older I remember starting a tea cosy. And maybe a cardigan.. But I never finished anything.

So, pregnant and bored I decided to try again.

I started with a pattern for an intarsia blanket which I quickly abandoned in favour of knitting the humble square. Okay, so the stitching together isn't that neat, but it works as a blanket.

Still pregnant and still bored, I decided to knit a back piece to cover up the untidy stitching, and I finished that too. Which, to be honest, made a rather warm pram blanket for a June baby.

It didn't get an awful lot of use, but now it sits on Poppy's bed engulfed by soft toys. And reminds me that it is possible to finish something!

Hand tied bouquet

In my new role as wedding planner I have turned my hand to floristry.

This is my first hand tied bouquet using just £3 worth of roses from Lidl - lots cheaper than a florist!

It's actually very easy - you strip the leaves from the stems, then place them in your hand one at a time, making sure the stems cross each other. Tie some ribbon around them, cut the stems to equal lengths and hey presto - hand tied bouquet.

Wedding Invitations; second prototypes

My friend liked the purple colourway so here's practice number 2.

And she wants to send the cupcake card to all the children, so I also made this one in purple.